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Made in us
Grisly Ghost Ark Driver






As the Stargrave thread was getting derailed, I have started this thread for discussing any edition of Five Parsecs [1st & 2nd ed. were self-published by the designer Ivan Sorensen through places like DriveThruRPG and Wargames Vault, 3rd ed is published in a retail format by Modiphius Entertainment.]

Five Parsecs is a RPG-lite solo miniatures skirmish/sandbox game. The solo play is integral, as is the campaign system. You generate a Crew, a ship, a starting world, set difficulty of play and Victory Conditions, then begin the campaign. It is mini-agnostic, so use whatever figures you like.

Please feel free to ask any questions or post links to session reports etcetera. As for answering questions I am not the best candidate, as while I own both 1st & 2nd ed 5P, I've yet to play them. I have played 2nd ed. Five Leagues (the fantasy version), and so have compared the rules to see the tweaks to combat and OpForce AI. {The 5P AI is more detailed than 5L, and ranged combat more decisive, while melee is more decisive in 5L.}

Some links: [Unless otherwise noted, the following links all go to Boardgame Geek. If you have a BGG account, and find the linked content useful, please give the author a "thumbs up". (None of the content is mine, so I'm not self-promoting.)]
Five Parsecs From Home: Solo Adventure Wargaming 3rd ed. Main Page at BGG
Five Parsecs From Home Review by Thomas M This is a review for 3rd ed.

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/287660/item/8426944#item8426944 Turn 3 of James Bass' 5P Campaign {3rd ed.}
https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/287660/item/8436168#item8436168 Turn 4 of James Bass' 5P Campaign
https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/287660/item/8437993#item8437993 Turn 5 of James Bass' 5P Campaign
https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/287660/item/8440692#item8440692 Turn 6 of James Bass' 5P Campaign [Just posted 25 Aug 0221]
{If Mr. Bass has posted his crew creation and turns 1 & 2, I could not find them. These entries are in the monthly Solitaire Miniatures Games on Your Table geeklist. If you are curious about a given game, scroll up or down, and you may find an entry and AAR for it. Or check previous months.}

Modiphius Entertainment's Five Parsecs page
2nd ed. Five Parsecs From Home


This message was edited 6 times. Last update was at 2021/08/26 01:03:13


Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarves, Dwarves, Elves, Undead, Northern Alliance [WiP], Nightstalkers [WiP]
Dropzone Commander: PHR
Kill Team: Deathwatch AdMech Necron

 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka





Has 5 Parsecs got a "choose your own adventure" path feature? Just curious as to how it accomplishes the RPG part of the game.

Casual gaming, mostly solo-coop these days.

 
   
Made in gb
Leader of the Sept







You can either stay on the planet you are on, or pay to go to a differnt planet.

You then roll up random patrons offering jobs with random rewards and dangers, and then you go do the job agaisnt random enemies that use one of about 7 different AI settings.

The RPG side is that you are effectively rolling up a story for your crew to follow, and your decisions determine how many of them get killed or injured along the way

The character generation system is also based on several random tables that you can use or ignore to give back story and flavour to future experiences.

and then you are trying to get money to maintain and upgrade your kit in an RPG kind of way.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/08/26 09:22:00


Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!

Terranwing - w3;d1;l1
51st Dunedinw2;d0;l0
Cadre Coronal Afterglow w1;d0;l0 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka





Oooooooh....I seeeee.

Casual gaming, mostly solo-coop these days.

 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





One thing my family has done is mix 5 Parsecs, with the incredible Stars Without Number RPG. A result is taking 5 Parsecs from insanely robust, to functionally infinitely robust.

Also a word of note. The review I see occasionally shared that bags on the combat legitimately doesn't seem to get that this is an RPG/story engine first, and a miniature wargame second. Ivan, the creator knows swingy dice and randomization leads to memorable stories/moments, so yes, some firefights are over in seconds, while others are grueling protracted battles.

Complaining about rolling too many dice for too long in battle just feels like someone missed the point.

11527pts Total (7400pts painted)

4980pts Total (4980pts painted)

3730 Total (210pts painted) 
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




Lincoln, UK

I was tinkering with the idea of running up a couple of Traveller subsectors, but Stars Without Number may do a better job!

It's worth noting that plot hooks are just a counter that increments until you roll and trigger a final encounter with extra loot. Story points are bonuses. That seems kind of sparse, but it's up to you to flesh out the bare rolls into an actual story. I feel where this system would shine is as a "journal" game, where you write a blog or a file to retell the campaign.

Also note that Two Hour Wargames has Fringe Space, where they have scaled back the traditional wargaming shootout to make hostile encounters just one part of the ongoing campaign. It also has a basic but functional starship combat system.
   
Made in us
Grisly Ghost Ark Driver






SamusDrake wrote:
Has 5 Parsecs got a "choose your own adventure" path feature? Just curious as to how it accomplishes the RPG part of the game.
Flinty has covered the basics, but as a player you will have a fair amount of choice. [Please note this is from 2nd ed.; details may have changed in 3rd ed.]

1. If your crew has a Patron, the Patron may have a mission for you.
2. If you have an Enemy (and you can have more than one), one of them may come gunning for you. By the same token, one of the actions your crew can take in the CAMPAIGN turn is hunt for your enemy. If successful, that's the Encounter for this CAMPAIGN turn.
3. If you are currently on a Quest, you either will a) have an Opportunity Mission that proves to be a false lead, or b) have an Opportunity Mission that gives you a Quest Clue. Eventually, you will fight an Opportunity Mission that completes the Quest, and you get the rewards.
4. If other options are unavailable, roll for an Opportunity Mission. It is possible to have a quiet turn. "Was hoping to finish off those organ-leggers, but they are laying low, and we can't find them."

The game has lots of opportunities for you to add your own input. In fact, you have to, as most of the results are essentially "seeds" which you need to grow into a proper plot development. At least for me, that has been great fun.

There are also Story Points and one use "plot coupons" to mitigate bad luck, or to move things in a more interesting direction. They are optional, so for players who want a gritty no-holds barred game can ignore those rules.

Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarves, Dwarves, Elves, Undead, Northern Alliance [WiP], Nightstalkers [WiP]
Dropzone Commander: PHR
Kill Team: Deathwatch AdMech Necron

 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka





Quite an involved game then. Cheers for the elaboration.

Casual gaming, mostly solo-coop these days.

 
   
Made in gb
Leader of the Sept







It is. Quite a few bits of paper needed to record info about your crew, the planet you’re on, the people and organisations offering you jobs and the bad guys you’re about to fight. And then there are the AI operational rules and weapon stats (not many of them really) that are good to have on a summary sheet.

Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!

Terranwing - w3;d1;l1
51st Dunedinw2;d0;l0
Cadre Coronal Afterglow w1;d0;l0 
   
Made in be
Fresh-Faced New User




I've been very interested in this but I just don't do solo games. I never get around setting up, gaming is a social thing for me.

However I've been thinking of getting some boardgaming/rpg buddies to play coop with me. Or me as gamemaster. Am a little afraid the combat system and crew customization is a bit too limited to keep this interesting enough. Having a relatively combat system would be ok though I think because we have some serious analysis paralysis going on usually plus slow play because we mostly game to chat.

Would this work or would it be completely unsatisfying to play in this way? It'd be a way to get to use all my random 40k figs.
   
Made in us
Gargantuan Gargant





New Bedford, MA USA

I'm still waiting for my book to arrive, but I have read through the PDF and I am excited to play.

   
Made in nz
Squishy Squighound





Hey all, pardon the shameless shill but I gave Parsecs a thorough video essay review a month ago. It's a gorgeous system abound with great ideas, which also happens to be a solo miniatures game.

Here's a link!

I like to actually clock in a decent amount of games before talking about a system, and Parsecs being a dedicated solo system let me really engage with what it had to offer.


   
Made in us
Grisly Ghost Ark Driver






Dirk wrote:
I've been very interested in this but I just don't do solo games. I never get around setting up, gaming is a social thing for me.

However I've been thinking of getting some boardgaming/rpg buddies to play coop with me. Or me as gamemaster. Am a little afraid the combat system and crew customization is a bit too limited to keep this interesting enough. Having a relatively combat system would be ok though I think because we have some serious analysis paralysis going on usually plus slow play because we mostly game to chat.

Would this work or would it be completely unsatisfying to play in this way? It'd be a way to get to use all my random 40k figs.
This seems challenging. You'd be attempting to shoehorn the campaign system into a format is wasn't intended to cover. Perhaps your group could make if work if you play co-op. When something (random event, job opportunity, Encounter etc) is generated, the group discusses it, and comes to a consensus about the exact details. Normally, the solo player would have full control over the details. Similarly, everyone gets one character, instead of running a crew of six. Otherwise, if you GM, it would probably be easier to use a dedicated RPG instead. NewTruthNeomaxim mentions Stars Without Number above. There's a free version you can try at DriveThruRPG:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/230009/Stars-Without-Number-Revised-Edition-Free-Version?cPath=36869


Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarves, Dwarves, Elves, Undead, Northern Alliance [WiP], Nightstalkers [WiP]
Dropzone Commander: PHR
Kill Team: Deathwatch AdMech Necron

 
   
Made in nz
Squishy Squighound





Dirk wrote:
I've been very interested in this but I just don't do solo games. I never get around setting up, gaming is a social thing for me.

However I've been thinking of getting some boardgaming/rpg buddies to play coop with me. Or me as gamemaster. Am a little afraid the combat system and crew customization is a bit too limited to keep this interesting enough. Having a relatively combat system would be ok though I think because we have some serious analysis paralysis going on usually plus slow play because we mostly game to chat.

Would this work or would it be completely unsatisfying to play in this way? It'd be a way to get to use all my random 40k figs.


Parsecs 3E has has a section covering running it RPG lite style, cooperatively with friends. I think it can work really well for this purpose. The games are quick to setup and finish so you can easily crack out 3 or so games in the usual RPG session time. If you want to focus on socialization and chatting while playing, this is ideal as the rules are light even compared to most 'rules light' rpgs.

The customization doesn't look too in-depth, but it's honestly going to be all that you need given what the system does. It's way more concerned with emergent storytelling and giving you tight, tactical decisions than it is with granularity.

There's also a section covering how to run a campaign around a story, as opposed to the more 'open world' default style, along with suggestions for making your own storylines.
   
Made in de
Perfect Shot Dark Angels Predator Pilot




Stuttgart

Dirk wrote:
I've been very interested in this but I just don't do solo games. I never get around setting up, gaming is a social thing for me.

However I've been thinking of getting some boardgaming/rpg buddies to play coop with me. Or me as gamemaster. Am a little afraid the combat system and crew customization is a bit too limited to keep this interesting enough. Having a relatively combat system would be ok though I think because we have some serious analysis paralysis going on usually plus slow play because we mostly game to chat.

Would this work or would it be completely unsatisfying to play in this way? It'd be a way to get to use all my random 40k figs.


What may be a fun alternative is an idea described in I think the first edition of five parsecs, a versus mode where each player (or team) rolls to create their own crew, and then fights against the other player/s crew. The combat rules are simple enough, and only having a couple of minis on each side keeps the combat rounds short. Only issue is the turn structure, as in the current rules the player team activates some miniatures first (successful roles in initiative), then all enemies activate, followed by the remaining miniatures. But there are enough game systems out there with similar activations, so an alternative could be copied from another game. Another possibility would be to roll of at the beginning of the game to determine the "NPC" team and the "player" team.

The RPG elements of the game contain a lot of rolling on tables to see what happens, I believe this is more fun if playing solo or maybe coop with another player, but in a bigger group this may get boring, at least from my experience. Another issue may be slightly imbalanced teams when rolling the characters before a versus fight, but on the other hand this may pose some tactical challenges to the opposing team!
   
Made in pl
Horrific Hive Tyrant





 soak314 wrote:
Hey all, pardon the shameless shill but I gave Parsecs a thorough video essay review a month ago. It's a gorgeous system abound with great ideas, which also happens to be a solo miniatures game.

Here's a link!

I like to actually clock in a decent amount of games before talking about a system, and Parsecs being a dedicated solo system let me really engage with what it had to offer.



Awesome review! Thanks for the link
   
Made in de
Perfect Shot Dark Angels Predator Pilot




Stuttgart

I already asked in my own thread about 5 Parsecs, but I figure this is a better place: What are you guys using for the different enemies as models? My next fight would be against Big Bugs but I am totally not sure what to use to represent them. The closest models in my possession that would fit the bill would be some Genestealers, but they don't give of the impression of an oversized bug. They rather like a nightmarish dinosaur claw monster that had nothing to eat for some month.

On a related note: What was your weirdest enemy yet? Mine where some punks only hitting on a six equipped with hunting rifles
   
Made in nz
Squishy Squighound





Brickfix wrote:
I already asked in my own thread about 5 Parsecs, but I figure this is a better place: What are you guys using for the different enemies as models? My next fight would be against Big Bugs but I am totally not sure what to use to represent them. The closest models in my possession that would fit the bill would be some Genestealers, but they don't give of the impression of an oversized bug. They rather like a nightmarish dinosaur claw monster that had nothing to eat for some month.

On a related note: What was your weirdest enemy yet? Mine where some punks only hitting on a six equipped with hunting rifles


I had Red Nebular's freebie not-genestealer lined up for print for both Big Bugs and the Vent Crawlers, but never got around to getting em done.

Weirdest enemy so far was a single Abductor Raider, rooting around a lunar base for no discernible reason. He was vapor in a couple of turns, but managed to nick one of the crew on the way down. I was sure it'd lead to an invasion but it didn't happen!
   
Made in us
Grisly Ghost Ark Driver






Brickfix wrote:
I already asked in my own thread about 5 Parsecs, but I figure this is a better place: What are you guys using for the different enemies as models? My next fight would be against Big Bugs but I am totally not sure what to use to represent them. The closest models in my possession that would fit the bill would be some Genestealers, but they don't give of the impression of an oversized bug. They rather like a nightmarish dinosaur claw monster that had nothing to eat for some month.
Have you seen Wargames Atlantic's Giant Spiders? They also have sci-fi bits so some can be intelligent tool users with energy weapons, as opposed to just an appetite enslaved to instinct.

"Bugs, Mr. Rico! Thousands of them!"

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Dropzone Commander: PHR
Kill Team: Deathwatch AdMech Necron

 
   
Made in us
Grisly Ghost Ark Driver






A cut & paste from a Nordic Weasel e-mail: This expansion is PDF only, of course, and originally Bug Hunt was a supplement for 2nd ed. Five Parsecs. It seems it is stand-alone now, but I'm not sure as I don't own it.

*****

However, today I have the first expansion for Bug Hunt available for you

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/378121/5-Parsecs-Bug-Hunt--Expansion-1

This adds spawn points, more alien variety (both in regular mobs and adds alien pack leaders), new support options and a new thing to investigate on the battlefield. This will fit any campaign and can be used as a toolkit, using only the pieces you enjoy.

If you don't own Bug Hunt yet, you are missing out Based on Five Parsecs, this features tense, exciting battles against alien hordes in the best movie-style. You can pick up your copy here

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/346547/Five-Parsecs-Bug-Hunt

Kings of War: Abyssal Dwarves, Dwarves, Elves, Undead, Northern Alliance [WiP], Nightstalkers [WiP]
Dropzone Commander: PHR
Kill Team: Deathwatch AdMech Necron

 
   
Made in ca
Skink Chief with Poisoned Javelins




Michigan

I love a good solo game!

I feel like I don't know about enough of them either, but this one looks like a lot of fun.
   
Made in us
Roarin' Runtherd




Minnesota

I just got my copy of 3rd edition yesterday and started reading it. It's looking really interesting, and I like the character generation / options. I've not played any previous edition, so no idea how it compares to those. Very easy to read so far. Now, to figure out what mini's to get!
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut





The Battle Barge Buffet Line

Any tips for a Parsecs noob? I'm considering getting into this again as I finally painted my first pandemic era figure (singular.. as in one!) and it got me wanting to do some sort of minis gaming again.

How do you all choose your crews? Random rolls or based on the figs? Just for the race or the full kit and kaboodle (class, gear, etc)? Do you play on 3d terrain? I don't have much of that but I do have the old Star Wars RPG tiles and I'll likely be using them (and D&D tiles for more organic planetside areas).

We Munch for Macragge! FOR THE EMPRUH! Cheesesticks and Humus!
 
   
Made in gb
Leader of the Sept







I rather enjoy doing all the rolls and then Coming up with a small bit to tie them all together.

Tiles are a good idea to speed up missions. Probably need to mix in some barricades or something though to help with cover.

Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!

Terranwing - w3;d1;l1
51st Dunedinw2;d0;l0
Cadre Coronal Afterglow w1;d0;l0 
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut





The Battle Barge Buffet Line

Did you pick your minis for your crew then as a result of the starting rolls? Yeah, I definitely need something to break up the tiles a bit. They do have some boxes and computers and such if I recall (it's been roughly a decade since I used them) but I agree that barricades are needed as well as some other things to break up big open areas in general. About the only 3d terrain I have currently is an old ork gorkamorka fortress that I used to use as a tourney army carrying/display platform for the one or two tournies I took my orks to back in 3rd/4th editions.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Figured I'd try something new. I was going to go through the whole shebang of assembling and painting minis but then said why not use my collection of Star Wars prepaints instead for the crew. I had some general ideas of what I wanted for my Clone Wars era crew (jedi, wookie, jawa, ewok, mando, clonetrooper) so that I had multiple minis for each depending on what I rolled (rerolling repeats for variety). Basically, I rolled once for each character but assigned it to a specific character after I had my pool of possible choices.

It turned out well enough. I did get something that would well for a jedi (namely the glare sword) but no armor so my clone trooper and mano will be effectively naked unless you can buy gear with starting credits (haven't gotten that far yet). There will be some funny random combos though as my ewok and wookie have to choose between artist and punk classes. I suppose my ewok will be a drifter musician and I will have to add purple hair (mohawk?) to a wookie.

I did however roll three patrons... will those conflict? I haven't chosen them yet or even assigned them as I haven't gotten that far again.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2022/03/03 01:52:06


We Munch for Macragge! FOR THE EMPRUH! Cheesesticks and Humus!
 
   
Made in gb
Leader of the Sept







Patrons don’t conflict as such. They just give a larger range of possible missions. Some of the missions time out, and that affects your standing with the patron, but you don’t need to accept all missions offered. It’s rivals that you need to watch for as rival fights can interfere with completing patron missions on Time. The more rivals you have the more likely to be confronted by them in a turn.

I have a bug enough collection that I picked minis after rolling. But the kit is also sufficiently generic that one model could cover various load outs. Is that a rifle, a rattle gun or a cannon? Could be any of them really..

Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!

Terranwing - w3;d1;l1
51st Dunedinw2;d0;l0
Cadre Coronal Afterglow w1;d0;l0 
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut





The Battle Barge Buffet Line

Very true. I made the mistake of getting too specific with which minis (if you can call it a mistake... it cost me 10 minutes of time rolling so basically no cost). I think I may try to redo it as they recommend just picking a race and rolling from then on with no preconceptions about which figs I'm using. I had a bunch for the mandos and clonetrooper (and wookie and jedi) but I guess I didn't account for some of the weirder combos.

Good to hear about the patrons not conflicting. If I don't redo it then I'll have one rival (for the punk wookie iirc).

We Munch for Macragge! FOR THE EMPRUH! Cheesesticks and Humus!
 
   
Made in de
Perfect Shot Dark Angels Predator Pilot




Stuttgart

So the newest expansion got released and I had my first read through, lots of interesting stuff, storie hooks and two new species.
Haven't played a round yet, but certainly inspired.

My favorite is the expansion of the starship debt, even though it played a minor role in my last games as I managed to pay it off quickly.
   
Made in pl
Horrific Hive Tyrant





Some news https://www.modiphius.net/blogs/news/modiphius-entertainment-acquires-five-parsecs-from-home-five-leagues-from-the-borderlands
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka





The "Five" games certainly deserve the support, and Modipheus has become quite the champion of solo-gaming.

Casual gaming, mostly solo-coop these days.

 
   
 
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