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Dangerous and Deliberate

Scrapjacks – Salvage and Survival in the Big Empty is different from my other rule sets. Exploit Zero, Nightwatch, Insurgent Earth, even When Nightmares Come are more casual games, made for quick pick-up, fast play missions. Scaffolds to get miniatures on the table and create a memorable adventure with minimal effort.

Although it has the same DNA, the core mechanics in Scrapjacks were adapted for the demands of deep space salvage work. (Or how I imagine deep space salvage work.) Every resource – air, power, time, movement – is limited. Functioning, fighting, finishing the job all require planning and coordination.

Progressing room to room, searching for valuables in the bowels of a derelict space station or starship, Scrapjacks is an outer space dungeon crawl in a very dangerous and deliberate environment.

Vitals and Action Dice

That’s the most prominent change. Each character still has their Free Move and an Action Dice Pool of a D6, D8, and D10. In earlier games, those dice could be used to attempt any action; in Scrapjacks, each die type is assigned to a Vital, that is in turn associated with a category or type of action.

Load for physical exertion.

Focus for mental acuity.

Grit for resolve/stamina.

The Two Dice Bonus mechanic is still present for Role-related skills, (roll 2 of a die type and take the better result) and each player’s Action Dice Pool is renewed at the start of every Sweep Phase.

But…

When players activate a model, they commit to a plan of action, aware they can only attempt each kind of action once in that activation – unless they want to risk precious air and power to activate a second time. ( A Push.)

Any unspent action dice automatically become Reserve Dice that allow that model to respond during the enemy’s turn – with an action in that die type’s category.

Example – Iona “Thumper” Vale activates.

Inside the first MHU, she uses her Free Move to reach a sealed hatch
POI.

She then declares Break/Brace, which uses Load, and because this is her Role specialty she rolls two D10s and keeps the better result. One die shows a 2, the other a 7. Success. The hatch tears open in a shriek of metal. The POI’s loot is hers.

Next, she spends her Focus (D8) to fire her Coil Pistol at a rogue work droid. A hit but the droid makes its DD roll.

She leaves her Grit (D6) unused. That die immediately becomes a Reserve Die she can use during the imminent Hitch Phase when the remaining droids activate – or some new problem emerges.

Her Free Move and Action Dice Pool will renew at the start of the next Sweep Phase. The Sweep and Hitch phases repeat as long as Scrapjack models are in the MHU room tile.

Shadow Divers
Is a great non-fiction book about two deep sea divers who found a missing WWII U-Boat off the coast of New Jersey. (Get your copy here) I kept this story – and the rigors of underwater work – in mind as I hammered out Scrapjacks.

Floating in a dark, cold environment, under immense pressure, with limited air/time. Every movement an exertion. Murky light. A defined selection of tools. Only thing missing were hostile divers, sharks, maybe a school of angry electric eels. And the occasional tremor of an underwater quake.

Deep Space Stories

As a system, Scrapjacks supports a kind of tense storytelling. It has loot, combat, hazards. Your team presses through a wreck, exploring and creating a narrative from the Points of Interest and Objectives. There’s a mission generator, a menu of narrative complications and escalations, the opportunity for ‘off-contract’ salvage. There’s the siren call of more gear and better treasure just a little further in, as well as the inevitable BBEG waiting at the end, be that Shodan, a Xenomorph XX121 Queen, or the Burning Man from Event Horizon. (deeply disturbing movie)

Scrapjacks need a healthy dose of good luck, but the game also rewards cooperation, calculated vigilance, and decisive action. Remember, the goal profit, not body count. You and your crew want to pay off your Vasstar lien and retire to a beachside hab on a warm, tropical planet.

Despite the shiny, optimistic VRG promo-vids, that’s not guaranteed. But it is possible.

Til next time. Good luck out there, jack!

Scrapjacks – Salvage and Survival in the Big Empty is available in Print at Amazon and PDF at WargameVault.

Pick up the Free Quick Start Rules HERE.