Thursday, August 23, 2018

Captain Nemo - Unleash . . . Tickle?




August 23, 19-

It's been ten years since Captain Nemo gave me command of his vessel, the Nautilus.  Since then, my friends and I found an island and turned it into our base.  The natives, we befriended, and I ended up finding a wife, a lovely and intelligent woman who picked up my language far quicker than I could learn hers.

We also discovered a baby creature resembling the ones who attacked our vessel years earlier.  This one, the offspring of a much larger beast, watched its mother get slaughtered by British naval ships.  Despite its species' propensity for violence, this little guy attached itself to us once we rescued it.  I named him Tickle, since he liked to tickle my arm with his tentacles.

Now he's fully grown and seeks to help us guard our island from outside threats.  I believe the time has come to put our little friend to the test.

Captain Nemo is a roleplaying game from THW Games Design.  In the base game, Nemo loans you command of the Nautilus and sends you on a series of missions.  If you prove yourself, if ultimately gives you his ship and retires.  These missions vary from collecting food, to fighting opponents, and even attacking naval vessels and sea monsters.

Not long ago, I had finished the missions and got the Nautilus.  However, the game doesn't have to end, and I decided to run the missions as post-quest encounters.


"Captain!"  Mr. Mars motioned for me to look through his binoculars.  "Ship approaching and rapidly!"





I looked through and saw it, a British Cutter.  The natives had told us about soldiers who assaulted other villages and kidnapped their people.  The natives here were our friends, and I wasn't about to leave them to the mercy of the British military.

Perhaps it was time for Tickle's first test.

Captain Nemo contains two types of table for Naval Battles, one for ships and one for sea monsters.  I used the sea monster one with the enemy vessel in place of the Nautilus.  Since this was Tickle's first test, I started him at Rep 3.  Unfortunately, I generated an enemy ship with a Rep 5 captain.  Tickle's first challenge was going to be a tough one!


"Open the gates!"  I called to my crew.  Tickle spent most of his time resting in the giant cave that we converted into the Nautilus' hanger.  With the gates opening, the giant creature sawam out.  Noticing the enemy ship, he bee-lined straight for it.




Despite having the lower Rep, Tickle gained the advantage and struck the enemy ship, causing minor damage.  The ship attempt a ram but missed.  The battle went back and forth for several minutes (real time) until Tickle finally gained the advantage.




Finally, the ship failed its final roll and keeled over (See what I did there?).

We could hear the screams all the way from the shore as the great beast dragged the ship and its crew to the depths.  An hour later, he returned to the cave and slept for several days straight.  We don't know the details of what happened, but I dread the thought.  And although what he did to the ship and its crew may have been horrifying, what those men would do to the natives, I fear, would be worse.  As far as I'm concerned, they're the real monsters!


That ended the encounter with Tickle winning.  Awarding him Increasing d6 (1 for the ship kill and I decided on 2 more for completing the encounter against a tougher foe), I rolled 3d6 and scored 1d6 higher.  Tickle gained experience and increased to Rep 4.


"Captain, soldiers on the beach!"  Mr. Toad pointed and I saw a small group of soldiers appear on the shore with weapons drawn.  Quickly, they vanished into the brush, heading straight for the nearby village, and we hurried to intercept them.  Whether they survived the attack or were dropped off before mattered little.  They sought revenge, and I determined to deny them all.  


I chose a Confrontation encounter for this one, with my group consisting of myself, Mr. Toad, and Mr. Mars.


Rolling for the enemy, I got 4 opponents, Rep 5, 5, 4, and 4 from the British Navy.  Now, usually you don't face the Naval soldiers on a Confrontation encounter, but I decided to make them the enemy after the previous encounter.  That's the beauty of THW games, it only takes a few tweaks to change the variables as you see fit.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the entire battle, so I'll summarize.  We won on the Action table and opened fire.  All of us carried weapons that fired more than one shot, and everyone scored a hit with at least one of their shots.  I hit once and missed the second.  Mr. Toad missed his first and scored with the second.  And Mr. Mars scored with both of his shots.




The numbers represent what I rolled for damage.  We scored kills or incapacitating shots on the first 3 opponents.  The 4th took off running, though I heard the natives found him, and although they didn't volunteer inf on what occurred, I chose not to ask.

My characters were already Rep 7 and above so instead of rolling our Increasing d6, I just kept them to go toward our retirement. 

A short game, but a fun one, especially with my first test of playing as the Sea Monster.

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