More 7TV - MEGAfilms Studios First Pilot?

The whole of MEGAforce tried a quick game of 7TV recently. 

As T'Other One and I have only played once before, and Andy and Grim were completely new, we kept it simple. 

Set, Cast and Script 

T'Other One had set up the terrain, some of his excellent Deadzone stuff along with some scatter from the Aliens game. 

He'd also sorted a couple of casts, Colonialist oppressors and the poor innocent Xenos, mostly taken from his Aliens; Another Day in the Marine Corps, but including three domed helmeted creatures, apparently from Venus, for some firepower. The aim was simply to amass the most Victory Points. 

The Studio ready for action

And Action!

The game started gradually, with an early casualty on the Human side when one of the Grunts was set on fire with a Ray Gun and then immolated by the Xenos Queen's Fiery Breath. 

The sneaky humans managed to bag a couple of the objectives and gain revenge on the Venusian who had burnt the trooper earlier. 

The action hotted up, with Xenos creeping nearer. One even scuttling in to shield it's Queen who was Distracted (overacting diva). The second Xenos climbed up to the gantry to tackle the trooper there, leading to a protracted scrap that sadly remained unresolved by the end of filming. 

The shielding Xenos avoided the attention of the human star and survived to fight the human co-star, but after a bit of a scuffle, fell to his knife. Adding insult to injury, the human was unaffected by the dying Xenos' Acid Blood.

"Get me my Agent"

Coming to her senses, the Xenos Queen clambered up to grab an objective, then stole the scene to advance down the gantries towards her rival. Another fiery breath proved ineffective this time, as the director shouted "Cut". MEGAfilms had only booked the studio until 10.30, so filming was stopped. 

Tallying the VPs, the plucky Xenos had one point more, which counts as a draw. What swung it our way was the human star and co-star each having a status at the end. 

Did the Reviewers Like It?

Well, what a game. We're still learning, so there was a lot of looking up rules, and mistakes were made, but I think the rest of MEGAforce really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, we never got into the Finale where the action really hots up. Unfamiliarity slowed us down, alas.

We've already determined to replay this game (the studio bosses thought the script had promise, but needs more pizazz, so they've called for it to be re-filmed) so hopefully things will go faster.

I haven't yet got to grips with any strategies yet. Simply throwing Plot Points in to boost very risky rolls probably isn't the best, and I'm sure I could make more of the various presence strikes (the various non-damaging attacks that apply status effects). When we used them they were nice, but they often seemed harder to use than straight up melee strikes. I suspect they'll come into their own when used against higher Health cast members.

When I discussed my first game, I may have seemed somewhat ambivalent. 

I still maintain that 7TV is one of the best skirmish systems I've played. I'll admit that I'm currently struggling with the meta, but, as T'Other One said, once we find the right setting, it'll click.

7TV is available from Crooked Dice 

**EDIT**

T'Other One has kindly shared his photos, showing a bit more of the action. 

Early stages, see those sneaky humans grabbing objectives

Inconclusive melee

First casualty

Marine in cover faces the approaching Venusians

Whoosh!  Good job those barrels don't hold fuel

And here's the two casts.  We actually removed one trooper and one Xenos.  We never used the Special Effect that brings the Horde on, it does sound like a fun ability.  I suspect it would have seen use in the Finale.

Human Cast, Star, Co-Star and two different types of Extra

Xenos Queen (Star), Xenos', Venusians and (unused) Xenos Horde