The Black Campbell

The group picked up on Aquaria last Thursday, where they had made contact with the resistance movement in the Alhous Mountains near Kyros. About a thousand people were living in a cave complex complete with some hot springs, lit by fire and candlelight save in the places where electricity is needed (the infirmary.) They don’t use anything that gives off an electronic signature while inside. The people here — from children to the elderly, are all armed to the teeth, and have been fighting the toasters (or “chromers” as they call them, and the “fleshers” — the humanoid Cylons) in the still-pre-winter mountains and old growth forests around Kyros. The Cylons, it turns out, don’t do well in snow.

The characters produce aerial and orbital reconnaissance for the rebels to use, try to start putting together intelligence, and try to find out if the Aquarians are up for a push on the Cylons. They find out the Cylons still have relatively low numbers due to a successful IED campaign, and a suicide plane attack on the factory that was turning out new units. The resistance movements have been talking to each other — the bad weather and terrain is something the Aquarians are used to, and they do courier work between the small settlements throughout the continent. Some Aquarians know there’s been a war, but they haven’t even seen a Cylon. It’s a culture of communal living but a respect for individual hunting prowess, there’s a good survival skill set for many of the people, and they are ready to be led into battle.

The Cylons, however, have not been resting on their successes. There are several new models of mechanical terror that have been loosed on Aquaria (and it’s assumed, other Colonies). To address some of the isues of the “new” centurions, the Cylons seem to have designed new centurions that have moved away from the biomechanical paradigm of the Seraph (humanoid Cylons) and have them using scrounged materiel, instead of the small-caliber arm-mountd guns. They are shorter, bulkier, and tougher, and like all the newer critters, have FLIR as standard, making them very hard to avoid. For these, we used the design from the stillborn Galactica reboot.

ATTRIBUTES: Agility: d6   Strength: d12   Vitality: d10   Alertness: d10   Intelligence: d10   Willpower: d8

SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES: Initiative: d6+d10   Life Points: 22   Armor: 4W, 3S

TRAITS: Electronic Interface d8, Enhanced Vision (FLIR) d4, Formidable Presence d4

SKILLS: Athletics d6 (Lifting d10), Discipline d6, Guns d6 (Autofire d8), Heavy Weaponry d6, Knowledge d6, Mechanical Engineering d4, Perception d6 (Hearing, Sight d10), Pilot d6, Planetary Vehicles d6, Technical Engineering d6 (Hacking, Security Systems d10), Unarmed Combat d6

They also have “steel wolves”, as the Aquarians call them — robotic wolves with razor sharp teeth and claws, and a bite that can crush bone. They are lightly armored for speed, and have large paws to deal with the snow.

ATTRIBUTES: Agility: d8   Strength: d8   Vitality: d6   Alertness: d8   Intelligence: d4   Willpower: d6

SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES: Initiative: 2d8   Life Points: 14   Armor: 2W, 2S

TRAITS: Built for Speed d6, Enhanced Sensors (FLIR and Hearing) d4, Limited Battery d4

SKILLS: Athletics d6 (Running d10), Unarmed Combat d6

I also borrowed a bit from the Terminator franchise for some of this stuff. There are the centaurions — centurion torso/head assemblies mated to motorcycles, or on Aquaria, “snow machines”, armed with 7mm autocannons.

VEHICLE DATA: Scale: Personnel    Length: 5’    Widths: 2’    Height: 3’

ATTRIBUTES: Agility d6, Strength d6   Vitality d4   Alertness d6   Intelligence d6   Willpower d6

SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES: Initiative: d10+d6    Speed: 150mph    Life Points: 10    Armor: 1W, 2S

TRAITS: Fast Throttle d4, Formidable Presence d4, Unstable Platform d4

SKILLS: Athletics d6, Heavy Weaponry d6, Perception d4

ARMAMENT: 2 7mm autocannons d8W Personal Scale, Skirmish Range [200 yards]; Blades d4W

And lastly, the Decurion — a four-story high tank that is armed with massive autocannons, guided missile pods, and can house a platoon of centurions.

VEHICLE DATA:  Scale: Vehicular    Height: 44’    Width: 45’    Crew: Autonomous, but carries up to 6 centurions.

ATTRIBUTES: Agility d4   Strength d10   Vitality d10   Alertness d8   Intelligence d6   Willpower d6

SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES: Initiative: d4+d8    Speed: 60mph    Life Points: 20    Armor: 3W, 2S

TRAITS: Formidable Presence d6, Large Footprint d4, Stable Platform d4 (ignores snow, up to 10 water)

SKILLS: Athletics d4, Heavy Weapons d6 [Autocannons d8], Perception d6 [Sight d10]

ARMAMENTS: 2 50mm Authocannons: d10W Vehicle Scale, Skirmish Range (5000m); 2 missile pods (armored) d8W Vehicle Scale, Skirmish Range (5 mi)

After the talks with the Alhous resistance crew, they were going to attempt to make contact with the resistance near Heim — the world’s capital, and the other main base of operations for the Cylons. Unfortunately, there raptor had been discovered, and the toasters were waiting. A decent firefight ensued in which were saw the snow centaurions, the steel wolves, and the decurion in action, as well as the new centurions (who are quieter than their older versions.) These forces were being let by a new humanoid Cylon, but one that was a bit creepy — the Aquarians had mentioned the Cylons were taking people and turning them into Cylons; flesh covering, robotic underneath. One of these “IL series”, as it called itself, was waiting for them, and in a strange twist, tried to get them to surrender, rather than kill them…

They were able to squeak out a very tight escape by jumping the raptor right there on the ground to their RP with the exploration vessel Striker (part of their task force) to report back. That was where we broke for the night.