Transformers: RP Session 3

The Cast:
Last night, 2.5yo Jose Francisco was cooperative and, shortly after, not present.

7yo Dulce Maria tried her hand at playing Megatron. She/Megatron sent the Knock-Off Constructicons out to look for supplies, but gave no specific orders about not alerting humans to their return to Earth.

10yo Maria de Guadalupe took control of Crane and Drilldozer, while Dulce played Bulldozer and Herc. 5yo Alejandrita (Alay-hon-dri-ta) played Hawk, since Jose took Streak to bed with him. Pictures: [Herc, Drilldozer] [Crane, Bulldozer] [Streak and Firefox (not used, but they are shaped like Hawk, who is gray)]

The Adventure:
The girls set about sacking a construction yard next to a parking lot (complete with about 20 Matchbox cars all set up in parked positions). To show girls how the game worked, and to have a little fun, I had Optimus Prime and Mirage [Prime, Mirage & Laserbeak pictured] roll into the parking lot.

I told the girls "In this alternate human world, since their world was changed starting with the Transformers' arrival in 1984, now it is rather common to have double-lane vehicles; like real semi-trucks today, they can't go down residential streets." What I haven't told them is what kind of huge weaponry humans have developed; not all Transformer technology was wiped out by the Autobots.

Maria said "I can understand a big truck, but why would people need a giant race car?"

I answered "This (pointing at Mirage), assuming it was a human-built race car, could go way faster than that (Matchbox) Ford Mustang over there.

We made some dice rolls, and Prime and Mirage, while pulling into the parking lot, spotted the Decepticons first, despite their numbers. Optimus Prime was about to double-park, but pulled out and rolled into the construction site as if nothing was amiss. I had my girls roll again and a few Decepticons noticed there was encrypted communications going on between the giant semi-truck and the giant race car.

Combat:
The Combaticons all transformed and started to flee. Transformers get a free action right after Transforming, but none of them shot; they all took off. Prime transformed and, instead of using his wind plane as a shield generator, transformed it into a large sniper cannon, and opened fire.

Now the girls got to learn what those stats mean on the back of the boxes: Roll 2d6, add that to the applicable stat. Most of Prime's are 10's, including "Skill." On his lowest possible roll, Prime would make a 12. On their best possible roll (4 base state +6+6 die rolls) the Combaticons could make a 16; it rarely worked out in their favor, however.

Prime hit two Combaticons. Alejandrita was brave and refused to leave Maria and Dulce's characters behind, so Hawk stayed and fired, hitting Optimus Prime; the shot bounced off without leaving a mark (Firepower versus Endurance check). Prime ignored Hawk and refused to shoot Bulldozer, who was trying to get up, and instead leveled his guns at two seperate targets (for a -4 difficulty check) and made glancing blows on each (Herc and Drilldozer). Meanwhile, Mirage had been shooting at Crane.

In the end, Bulldozer got up but was shot while attempting to fly away, and was incapacitated. Hawk stayed there, shooting at Mirage and Optimus, until both Autobots leveled their weapons at him (two of Prime's and one of Mirage's) and all scored hits: since he had been hit three times by that point, Hawk was obliterated. Unable to carry off two fallen Decepticons (Bulldozer and Herc), they nabbed one, put him on the back of Prime in Truck mode, and sped off.

Epilogue:
Crane and Drilldozer made it back to report, but they hadn't seen the whole battle. Megatron was not pleased.

I told the girls "Now you know something about tactics."

"Yes!" Maria said, emphatically.

I continued "Now, if Megatron, SkyShadow and the mercenaries (Slipstream, Scalper & Driller [pictured]) had been there, that would have been a world of bad news for Prime and Mirage."

At any rate, I'm looking forward to the day the humans get a chance to respond with mecha of their own - Jose Francisco has a few toys that dwarf the Transformers and would serve well as the United States' solution to the Transformer problem. After all, I'm sure the U.S. government expected their return.