For no good reason whatsoever I have an urge to do a set (in the movie sense) for a good old fashioned S.F. firefight. Enough so that if you listen carefully you can hear my printer chugging along on PCom.

Basic design is sort of like this: [_i_] for the ground level. A few one story bits of terrain for cover on the ground level, as well as the supports for the second level - there is also a control booth planned for the third floor (stealing bits from First Light).

A backdrop forms one edge, so combat is partially contained, there are 'running away' points on two of the three floors, doors leading off stage to the right and left.

While I am designing it with Spycraft Farthest Star in mind I suspect that it is more likely to see use in Necromunda....

The general idea that I have for a scenario is a handoff gone wrong, with both the PCs and the group that they are dealing with being ambushed. Alternately the other side might just be planning a betrayal right from the beginning.

Normally I design a scenario, then come up with the likely theaters of conflict, this time I am doing it all backwards.

Any ideas? There is no urgency here - I just feel like building PCom at the moment. This one will likely be built as three modules, so that it can be reused. Feel free to suggest sets other than PCom, First Light is already on the agenda.

The Auld Grump

Heh, no.

I have already plopped down the tiles, mostly the plain variety, with a few pipes thrown in. (Spray glue does wonders, but lordy it stinks....) The board is currently set up to be 5x7 tiles, with a clear area in the foreground. (This will have props and scenery rather than permanent structures.) Three sections make up this board, right, left, and center. A 49 inch wide board should be big enough for a reasonable encounter.

After gluing down the boards I realized that some of the rail tiles from SoM would have worked well with the industrial theme. Because I am designing this set to be modular this is not a huge setback, but it does mean coming back to it tomorrow. I do not have any of the rail tiles to hand at the moment, and I do not recall how 'streety' they look. If push comes to shove I can use the rails from the bridge instead.

The 2nd level is planned to be about 7 inches wide, over all, while the third is mostly going to be a single walkway, the bridge of First Light is going to be a control room. I think that shall be the only enclosed portion of the whole setup, and will be accessed from above, depending from one of the platforms. I may need to think about how minis will be moved in and out of the thing. The inhabitants of the control room will be directing the attack rather than participating - this will introduce the Mastermind for the arc. The easiest thing to do is have the bad guys escape before the PCs can get into the room, using the door offstage.

The pipes on the underside of the walkways look pretty nice, the downside is that the underside of the platforms do not look nearly as spiffy. Some thought will be needed to bring it up to snuff - the easiest is to simply glue a second copy to the bottom of the foamcore.

An elevator runs up the levels from top to bottom in the extreme left (facing) rear corner.

The stack of cardstock is a bit over an inch high at this point, with a fair amount already glued down.

Now I have to come up with a backdrop, I am thinking some bits of Mayhem Industrial might help at this point - I want it to look like a disused factory.

As I began planning it out on graph paper I realized that at least part of the inspiration was visiting my father's workplace as a child - he worked at the Boston Naval Shipyard at the time, so I have an idea as to what the location is being used for - as an unseen piece of mental scenery there is going to be an overhead crane - controlled from the third floor control room.

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* Mind you, the setting does not see print until some time next year....

*EDIT 2* Hmmm, I really should back burner this - the game does not see print for a year, and I already have how many games in various stages of planning? And really, all I have planned for this one is a firefight and the lead in and follow up to same, not enough for a campaign.

So I will build the modules, then use them for Necromunda....

Steampunk Spycraft...
Pirate Cthulhu...
Delta Green Spycraft (and its related game XCom Spycraft)...
Iron Kingdoms....

All this, and I am only running six or eight sessions a month. Yeah, best to shelve this for now... though I will keep my notes. Near midnight after 12 hours of work, and not enough sleep is a poor time to begin planning a campaign. I am amazed at how much I got done on this in three hours though.... The basics are printed and planned, several pages of notes, and all the tiles cut out and glued down.

Caffeine and adrenaline running out, systems shutting downnnn.... Gzzzzzzz.....

And the location has been ported over to the FLGS for use with Necromunda. With the new control tower that is coming in PCom:RS I should be able to make a replacement without much difficulty.

And considering that it will likely be a year at the minimum before I even think about running the SF game.... I kind of wish that I had spent my feverish energies on something a little closer to being run. I am amazed at how much I got built in such a short time though.

Necromunda sidesteps the question of what to use for walls, it is better for that game if it remains mostly open.

The Auld Grump, who won't get to play in the Necromunda campaign....