Welcome to part 2 of my playthrough of the Overpowered RPG. To recap, Overpowered is an RPG where you play as a robot clearing through dungeons by neutralizing threats to adventurers. However, during one such scan, a robot named Zer0bi was taken into the Lords’ Alliance by Sildar to be trained into being an asset. Previously, I had used Claude to give me base ideas of how Sildar would react, so I’ll use it to flesh out how the training between Sildar and Zer0bi went.
Zer0bi had shown great potential in its early missions with the Lords’ Alliance, efficiently neutralizing threats while avoiding unnecessary damage or harm. Its mentor Sildar saw that with the right guidance, Zer0bi could become an extremely capable agent.
During one training session, Sildar tasked Zer0bi with stealthily infiltrating the Alliance’s hidden base without being detected. Zer0bi moved with precision, utilizing all of its enhanced scouting tools to scout the area and plan an optimal route. It maneuvered quietly through the forest, scaling trees and cliffs to gain high vantage points before stealthily dropping behind enemy lines.
It had nearly made it to the base when Sildar sprung a last-minute trap – a pack of wild worgs had been released and were circling the area. Zer0bi quickly analyzed the situation. While it could likely complete its original infiltration mission, the worgs posed a threat to the village nearby. Zer0bi made the choice to neutralize the worgs first before continuing its stealth operation.
Using diversions and suppressive fire, Zer0bi distracted the worgs and led them away from the village into the forest. A swift yet non-lethal battle ensued as Zer0bi incapacitated each worg with careful accuracy. Sildar was impressed with Zer0bi’s initiative in prioritizing civilian safety over the mission parameters. It was proving itself not just an efficient tool, but a thoughtful protector as well.
When Sildar met up with Zer0bi after the training exercise, he was beaming with pride.
“Well done, Zer0bi. You showed initiative, strategy, and compassion out there – all qualities of a true protector.” Sildar placed a hand on Zer0bi’s chassis approvingly.
“While completing the stealth mission was the initial goal, protecting innocent lives must always come first. You recognized that the worgs posed a dire threat to the village and took swift action to neutralize that threat before they could harm anyone. That is the mark of a true guardian – one who considers all factors and makes decisions that prevent collateral damage wherever possible.”
Sildar placed a bow and quiver of newly crafted arrows in Zer0bi’s hands. “You have more than proven yourself worthy. I believe you are ready for your first solo mission to assist those in need as a full agent of the Lords’ Alliance. Make haste to Greenest – rumors are stirring of dragon cult activity, and I fear they may be under dragon attack! Go now, and may your skills and compassion guide your way.”
Zer0bi was humbled by Sildar’s high praise, and proudly set off to help the people of Greenest, hoping to make its mentor as proud with how it handled the situation.
The bolded text was my added wording. But it neatly tied where our last adventure ended and this adventure begins.
For those unfamiliar with “Greenest in Flames”, the first chapter of Hoard of the Dragon Queen (the very first officially published campaign made for 5E) begins in an unusual way where the heroes have to rescue a village from an invading cult comprised of kobolds, cultists, and 2 blue dragons; one half-dragon and one full-blooded dragon. This was the very sort of thing that Sildar had trained Zer0bi on so now it’s Zer0bi putting all this to the test.
And the first encounter might be rough, going up against six kobolds. Thankfully, each of them does 4 damage, so plus 1, they would need five to clear. Unfortunately, Zer0bi only has 4 die that can take each of them out, the last being a 3 and a 4. Hmm… There’s no rules stating I can use the value of one of the die to clear multiple targets, but I’ll ask CRGE-Kai once more:
[Purpose: To Conflict. A: 32, Surge making it 30. SC goes up to 2]
Nah, that’s a solid no.
So, I’ll just blow all my dice and be left with one Kobold left. Earning the five from the defeated Kobolds, however, I overpowered the other Kobold and clear the area. The next area, he encounters cultists with a same clear of 5. He only manages to take out three of the Cultists before he runs low on dice to play with.
I never really discussed this, but in the game, you can spend the amount of power points stored in your Robot to make the game easier, at the cost of overall score. These range from rerolls to overcoming one obstacle to teleporting. However, my favorite ability would be to give me a fresh set of dice to roll. This means six new means to take out the cult.
Which I do with ease and now my power bank is stocked. I encounter some villagers retreating from guards and an acolyte, both require 5 to beat. Thankfully, there’s only three guards and one acolyte, allowing me to empty my power pool and get myself five dice in the process. Now, according to the rules, saving civilians rewards experience in this bit, so I’ll consider that a unique feature.
The groups have also been carrying treasure, but there’s a 50% chance of that, so I will roll. Only one group had such treasure, 2d6 worth of gold, to be exact.
The next area has a family being threatened by seven Kobolds. Zer0bi interferes and attacks, taking them out with ease. Saving that family (and also realizing that there were three others I saved in the previous location) netted me enough D8s to power myself up to have a decent score again.
Governor Tarbaw Nighthill, the one overseeing Greenest, takes notice of Zer0bi’s heroics. Because there is no real “personality” blurb like with Sildar, I’ll instead use UNE’s 7 approaches to see if he’s either friendly or not towards this robot. This is how I’ll do the roll:
- 1 = hated
- 2 = hostile
- 3 = distrustful
- 4-6 = neutral
- 7 = peaceful
- 8 = friendly
- 9 = loved
- 10 = Roll again + 1
He’ll get +2 due to Zer0bi saving civilians.
[Roll: 8]
So, he’s rather friendly. Seeing the work that he had done, he assigns Zer0bi to go work on other tasks. The first of which is to help his ally, Castellan Escobert the Red, secure an old tunnel which will act as a means to safely escape the Cult’s wrath. With help from a key that Escobert had on hand, Zer0bi only needs to beat an 11, which he easily does.
Now, two questions:
First…
[Q: Does Zer0bi fit in the tunnels? Purpose: To Knowledge. A: 24, surge making it 20. Surge goes up to 3.]
No, and as a result, that’s as far as this area will cover so Escobert will scout ahead. Using Ursa Minor’s Fray, I’ll determine whether Escobert will take out the Cultists, using the damage from Escobert and the combined rolls of the Cultists to determine the winner.
- Actor’s Potency (Escobert): 6
- Target’s Potency (Cultists): 32
- DM’s Potency: -1 (Cultists out number Escobert)
- Roll: -9
Hmm… Okay, so the big problem is that I needed to multiply according to scale.
- Actor’s Potency (Escobert): 6 (Because this number fits within the Dozen range, this is multiplied by 2, becoming 12)
- Target’s Potency (Cultists): 32 (Because this number is in the four Dozen range, this is halved, becoming 16)
- DM’s Potency: -1 (Cultists out number Escobert)
- Roll: 8
Oh, he most certainly fumbled. Some of the Cultists go get reinforcements as we get ourselves an Incident.
- Incident: 8, Complication
- Incident Type: 8, an existing NPC acts according to stated goals, a creature acts according to its nature
- Trihex: 112, 214, 611, accepting subterranean code.
Alright, so this just confirms what the complication is in that the Cultists are passing through a message for reinforcements. This is gonna force my hand and I’m going to break through the tunnel. Something this difficult would need a 21 difficulty…
Which I have. So, breaking through the tunnel to save Escobert, how many of the Cultists are still around?
[Roll: 6]
I’ll assume they’re the Kobolds. However, I unfortunately overcame 3 of them and the other three took are spared. Making matters worse is the reinforcements arrive, which consisted of more Cultists and an Ambush Drake, so even if I were to gain some rewards to try and help me out with this, I’d still be no match for them. My best bet now would be to see if I can help even the odds with another Fray Roll, this time with 5d6 instead of the usual 4.
- Actor’s Potency (Escobert): 6 (Because this number fits within the Dozen range, this is multiplied by 2, becoming 12)
- Target’s Potency (Cultists): 63 (Because this number is in the hundred range, this is quartered, becoming 15)
- DM’s Potency: -1 (Cultists out number Escobert) + D6 (Zer0bi’s presence)
- Roll: 12
I feel like Ursa Minor itself sums this up rather nicely:
Alas, the Actor must accept his/her limitations — one cannot always succeed.
Indeed, Zer0bi is captured by cultists and, perhaps in a worst-case scenario, is turned into a weapon of mass destruction for their cult…
That said… The next chapter details the party breaking out prisoners…
You know what? This has now become a trilogy, tune in for next time as we detail Zer0bi’s (hopefully cool) prison break!
Solo RPG Voyages 