Moon Soldiers Must Die: After Action Report

After talking up Moon Soldiers Must Die! for several weeks now, I finally was able to run the game last night. In a word: Astounding! Given that most of us hadn't played together for more than a session or two (if that), it totally felt like a convention game. And it felt like a great convention game. Non-stop fun, amazing moments, and a total gonzo vibe.

Things began a bit slow. People were late to arrive and there was the obligatory foraging for food. But once everyone was seated, we began creating characters.

Now, I should mention that in a typical convention game or one-shot, I would supply pre-generated characters. Why waste valuable time creating characters? But this is Risus and I had confidence that the players could come up with amazing characters in a matter of minutes. I also had an ace up my sleeve...

Just-In-Time Characters Generation
Borrowing from an idea presented in Spirit of the Century, I decided to allow characters to get started without all their cliche dice assigned. All that I required was a name, a description, and their primary cliche. Anything else could be assigned during play. I've never used this rule before but it totally met all my expectations. It got us playing quickly, and those undefined cliches proved to be fantastic get-out-of-jail free cards for characters in sticky situations.

Anyway, here are the characters that the players created for the game (with all deferred cliches added in):

Herr Doktor Professor Otto von Hauptmann
Cliches: World's Greatest Consulting Detective (4), Retired Master Swordsman (3), Antique's Dealer (2), Rocket Pilot (1)
Tools: Ceremonial Plutonium Rapier

Penelope "Nice Ass" Franklin

Cliches: Hooker With A Heart Of Gold (4), Quick Draw Shootist (3), Former Track Star (2), Sassy Dame (1)

Tools: Victorious Mongoose Concealable Raygun, moisture-resistant corset.

PP-138

Cliches: Tin Can Robot With Raygun Eyes (4), Robotic Head Steward (3), Undefined (2)

Lucky Shots: [] [] []

Tools: Detachable antenna, staff of house-keeping droids, moist towelette dispenser.

Major Tom Angel Jr.

Cliches: Silent Strongman (4), Skilled Marksman (4), Ballroom Dancer (1)

Lucky Shots: [] [] []

Tools: Electromagnetic Slugthrower with Depleted Uranium Ammunition, Wicked Commando Knife, Enormous Chin

Quasar Jones 

Cliches: Brotha' With An Attitude (Shut Yo Mouth!) (4), Kung Fu Master (3), Bartender (1)

Lucky Shots: [] [] []

Questing Dice (When Wielding Afro Picks): [] [] [] [] []

Tools: Immaculate Afro, Countless Razor-Sharp Afro Picks (some explosive), Nunchucks, Gi (worn under bartender uniform).

I'll get into some of the highlights from play tomorrow.