Firefly: Combo

The first "Lost Episode" of 2016 had triple duty to pull, giving it an awful lot to carry. Firstly, it had to be a good game in its own right, since that's really what we want from such things. Secondly, it had to be a suitable "season opener" for the 2016 "Lost Episodes". And, thirdly, it had to seed the legend of the Westlake, a lost Alliance POW transport from the war, which will be a recurring element in the sessions for this year.

(Although the "Lost Episodes" will remain an open tabletop game with minimal continuity, I've decided to acknowledge the fact that I usually have mostly the same players. That being the case, I'm slightly increasing the interconnections between the sessions. And, in particular, I'm not going to shy away from using the "Ghost in the Black" storyline, which has five episodes with a linked theme. Oh, and there may even be a two-parter in there somewhere...)

This episode linked back strongly to the war, indeed starting with a flashback to an action on Aphrodite where Mal, Zoe, and a demolitions expert named Alicia were placing explosives under an Alliance bunker. As she finished the installation, Alicia told Mal and Zoe to leave, and she'd catch up. But Mal hesitated due to his... involvement with Alicia. Zoe wanted him to hurry, but he delayed, meeting Alicia as she left the tunnels... only to be caught in the explosion as kit went off early...

From there, the adventure was fairly linear - Mingo and Fanty wanted to speak with Alicia about a locker they'd recovered from the Westlake, and the Crew therefore wanted to track her down. So they visited a retired Browncoat doctor on Persephone, then high-tailed it over to Dyton to extract Alicia from Alliance suspicion, then they took her to Beaumonde to speak to the twins. Simple.

Except not. Because Alicia blamed Mal for the explosion that disfigured her - he was the last to handle the fuses before she set them, and she was sure he'd tampered with them. The truth was even harder, though, in that it was Zoe who had adjusted the fuses. She'd learned that Alicia had crossed the line and was now targetting non-combatants and children. Of course, Mal wasn't for hearing this, so Zoe took steps to deal with the psychopath.

And it went spectacularly well. Every so often, there's a session that reminds you just why you play these games and why you put in all the work required, and this was such a session. And it was almost entirely down to the players - Zoe revealed the secret to Mal, who took it appropriately badly. Shepheard Book, meanwhile, tried his best to help... and proved extremely useful in several other situations, notably when dealing with the Alliance officials on Dyton. And then there was the inevitable showdown between a demolitions expert with a death wish and a warrior woman with the best of intentions.

Finally, at the end... they didn't kill her. It was awesome.

So, yeah, I was very happy with that one. Next up, assuming the move doesn't get in the way, is "Six Cylinders Make a Right", the first of the five episodes in the "Ghost in the Black" arc.