DANGER CLOSE is shaping up so nice, y’all. I’m in the midst of heavy playtesting, and the last few days have seen a lot of tweaks in the rules. I figured I’d share one of my playtest logs, to share how these things go!

Image: Rebel Troopers by Richard Lim

First of all, this is DANGER CLOSE:

And you can find it on itch.io.

I will run a squad of Rebel Alliance soldiers against a compound of Stormtroopers. The squad is lightly armed – they don’t have any fancy equipment or gear. They’ll be up against a Threat Level 3 and a Threat level 4 combat engagement, which, by my estimation, should be tough and risky, but not impossible. I want this fight to hurt – they might fail, and if they succeed, it should be costly.

A second test here is the new Mobility score I introduced; the squad’s light gear allows them to maneuver more easily, which greatly benefits them when making the Advance Roll before combat starts, and when maneuvering around the battlefield.

Mission: Storm Lantern

The Squad

Osk Squad, Rebel Alliance Special Operations

Sergeant Droda is the kind of NCO who leads from the front and regrets it later. A human from Corellia with more scars than commendations, he keeps Osk Squad alive through sheer stubbornness.

• Sgt. Droda (Human)
• Vadd (Twi’lek)
• Zarne (Human)
• Koven (Twi’lek)
• Noman (Duros)

Their mission: breach an Imperial compound on the outskirts of a garrison town and retrieve a stolen comm cipher before it can be shipped offworld. Alliance Intelligence tagged the operation STORM LANTERN.

Sector A: Compound Exterior

Cover: Normal | Space: Transitional | Threat Level: 3 (Heavy)

A courtyard ringed by cargo containers and dense treeline. Imperial supply crates stacked in haphazard rows. Somewhere beyond the duracrete walls, a generator hums.

Advance Roll

All five troopers roll their Mobility checks (4 or under on a d6). The dice come up 4, 3, 3, 1, 3. Every single trooper makes it. That’s a +2 bonus to the Advance Roll.

Rolling 2d3+2: 3 + 1 + 2 = 6. Against Threat Level 3, that’s an Advantage. The squad starts In Cover and Flanking.

This is about as good as it gets for an opening. Osk Squad has crept through the treeline undetected and caught the Imperials flat-footed.

Exchange 1

Droda held up a fist. The squad froze. Through the gaps between cargo containers, white armor caught the fading light. Four stormtroopers, maybe five, clustered near a loading ramp. None of them looking outward.

Droda dropped his fist. Five blasters spoke at once.

Intent. Everyone is in an optimal position. All five troopers open fire.

Offense Roll. The math here is brutal: 5 troopers firing (+5 ATK), all Flanking (+5 ATK), Mobility 4+ (+5 ATK), Assault Rifles (+5 ATK). That’s 20d6. The result: three 6s among them. “One or more 6s” means Success, gaining +1 Momentum. Two or more 6s means an additional +1. So Momentum jumps from CONTESTED all the way up to BREAKING THROUGH.

Defense Roll. Each trooper rolls 1d6, taking an Injury on a 2 or lower (In Cover). Results: 4, 6, 6, 1, 6. Koven rolled a 1. I spend 1 Grit to reroll. A 2. Bad luck doesn’t care about second chances. At Threat Level 3, there’s a 2-in-6 chance of taking 2 Injuries instead of 1. The roll: a 6. Just 1 Injury. Koven is Grazed.

The courtyard erupted. Blaster bolts stitched across the loading area, catching the Imperials in a vicious crossfire. Return fire was scattered, panicked, but one bolt skipped off a container and caught Koven across the shoulder plate. He dropped behind cover, teeth clenched, hand pressed to the scorch mark.

“I’m good,” he hissed. “I’m good.”

Momentum Gain & Loss. With Momentum gained, the squad gets +1 ATK next Exchange. But all troopers are currently Flanking, which means they must either become Engaged (consolidating their position) or stay Flanking with -1 DEF next round. I move Koven, Noman, and Droda to Engaged. Vadd and Zarne stay out on the flanks.

Enemy Tactics. Roll 1d6, triggers on 3 or under (Threat Level 3). A 6. The Imperials are too rattled to regroup. Safe for now.

Exchange 2

Koven is Grazed, so I have him Fall Back. Mobility check (4 or under): a 1. He makes it to a Fortified position. Now the interesting decision: Vadd and Zarne are still Flanking, and in a much better position to deal damage than the Engaged troopers. But they both have -1 DEF from staying out on the flank.

I could go all-in on offense, but the smart play is to have Droda and Noman provide Covering Fire for the two exposed troopers while Vadd and Zarne do the killing.

Offense Roll. Vadd and Zarne fire with their Flanking bonus, plus the +1 ATK carry-over from last Exchange’s Momentum gain. That’s 8d6. The results: 2, 4, 1, 2, 3, 1, 3, 4, 5.

Rough. The best result is a 5, which gives me a choice: Hold Position (no Momentum change, but +1 ATK next Exchange) or Success at a Cost (+1 Momentum, securing the win, but -1 DEF for a random trooper).

This is the kind of decision that makes DANGER CLOSE sing. Hold Position is safe but means another full round of defense rolls for everyone. Success at a Cost ends the fight now, but someone’s going to be exposed in the final exchange of fire.

I take the cost. +1 Momentum secures victory. Rolling 1d4 to see who pays the price: a 2. Vadd takes the -1 DEF.

Zarne kept the Imperials’ heads down while Vadd did something either very brave or very stupid. The Twi’lek vaulted a cargo container, landed in the middle of a cluster of stormtroopers, and put three of them down before they could turn around. It wasn’t textbook. It was effective.

Defense Roll. One last volley of return fire as the Imperial position collapses. Droda, Noman, and Zarne roll 1d6 each, Injury on 2 or lower: 1, 3, 1. Droda and Zarne both use Grit to reroll: 2 and 5. Droda still takes a hit. He rolls for Injury severity at TL 3: a 6, so just 1 Injury. He’s Grazed.

Vadd, with his -1 DEF from Success at a Cost, rolls 2d6 and keeps the lowest: 3 and 5. The 3 is above the Injury threshold. He’s fine. Koven rolls from his Fortified position: a 6. Safe.

When the blaster fire stopped, Droda was leaning against a container, hand pressed to his ribs. The shot had punched through his jacket but only scorched the skin underneath.

“Sector clear,” Noman reported, scanning the courtyard through his Duros-wide eyes.

Droda straightened up. “Stack on the door. We breach in thirty seconds.”

After-Action

The compound exterior is secured. All Grazed troopers (Droda, Koven) reset to OK as the squad catches their breath. No serious wounds, but a lot of Grit spent. Osk Squad checks weapons, swaps power packs, and prepares to breach the compound.

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Sector B: Compound Interior

Cover: Normal | Space: Transitional | Threat Level: 4 (Overwhelming)

Osk Squad breaches into a cavernous industrial space. Catwalks overhead, cargo crates forming narrow corridors below. And a whole lot of white armor.

Advance Roll

Mobility checks: one failure this time. That’s only +1 to the Advance Roll.

Rolling 2d3+1: 3 + 1 + 1 = 5. Against Threat Level 4, that’s Spotted. The squad starts In Cover and Engaged.

No flanking advantage this time. The Imperials saw them coming.

Exchange 1

The door blew inward and Osk Squad poured through, splitting to cover. Vadd went left, Noman right. The first blaster bolt hit the wall above Droda’s head before he’d taken three steps.

“Contact! Multiple contacts!”

The interior was crawling with stormtroopers.

Intent. Maximum of 2 troopers can flank from this position. I send Vadd and Noman to Move Up. They both roll Mobility checks: 5 and 6. Both fail. They reach their Flanking positions, but they’re also Flanked themselves. Exposed on both sides.

This creates a hard decision. I could pull resources to protect them, but that means barely anyone is shooting. Instead, I have Koven provide Covering Fire for Vadd (+1 DEF), while Droda and Zarne both fire and burn 1 Ammo each for +1 ATK.

Offense Roll. 4d6: 6, 1, 1, 4. A single 6 among four dice. I’ll take it. +1 Momentum. The squad shifts to GAINING GROUND.

Defense Roll. Droda, Koven, Zarne (In Cover, Injury on 2 or lower): 3, 4, 5. All safe. Vadd (Flanked but with Covering Fire, so 2d6 keep highest): 5, 5. Safe. Noman (Flanked, Injury on 3 or lower): 5. Safe.

Everyone survived. Lucky.

The crossfire was deafening. Bolt after bolt ricocheted off durasteel crates and catwalk railings. Vadd and Noman had pushed deep into the stormtrooper positions, drawing fire from every direction, but Koven’s covering bursts kept the worst of it off Vadd.

“Keep pushing!” Droda shouted over the din. “They’re giving ground!”

Momentum Gain. Since Momentum was gained, Flanking troopers face the usual choice. I keep Vadd and Noman Flanking (the aggressive play), accepting -1 DEF next round. They’re both uninjured, so the risk is manageable.

Enemy Tactics. Roll 1d6 against TL 4: a 3. Triggered. Rolling for tactic: 3 – Push Forward. All troopers reduce their Defensive Position by one step.

That’s bad. Everyone just got Flanked.

Exchange 2

The stormtroopers surged forward. What had been a defensible position became a shooting gallery. Droda felt bolts sizzle past on both sides. Somewhere to his left, Koven was shouting something he couldn’t make out over the noise.

I’m in a tactical pickle. The squad is GAINING GROUND, which means two 6s on the offense roll wins the fight. But everyone is Flanked, and Vadd and Noman also carry -1 DEF from staying out on the flank. Nobody is Grazed, so the worst case is Wounded (not fatal), but it’s a risky all-or-nothing moment.

I decide to split the difference: Vadd and Noman keep firing from their exposed positions while Koven and Zarne Fall Back. Droda provides Covering Fire for Vadd.

Mobility checks for Fall Back: Koven rolls a 5 (fail, only reaches Fortified/Limited) and Zarne rolls a 1 (success, reaches Fortified/Engaged).

Offense Roll. Vadd and Noman fire: 2 troopers (+2 ATK), Flanking (+2 ATK), 4+ Mobility (+2 ATK), Assault Rifles while Flanking (+2 ATK). Total: 8d6.

The dice clatter: two 6s among them. That’s +2 Momentum. From GAINING GROUND, that pushes straight to VICTORY.

Noman popped up from behind a crate and put a bolt clean through a stormtrooper’s chest plate. Two more went down in rapid succession. Vadd, bruised and furious, was firing from the hip, walking his shots across a catwalk where white-armored figures were trying to reposition.

And then, all at once, it was over. The surviving stormtroopers broke. Some threw down their weapons. Others simply ran.

In the ringing silence that followed, Koven slumped against a wall and slid down to the floor. “Remind me,” he said, “why I didn’t take that posting on the medical frigate.”

Droda pulled him to his feet. “Because you’d be bored.”

“I’d be alive and bored. There’s a difference.”

Noman was already at the compound’s central terminal, his long Duros fingers moving across the interface. “Cipher’s here. Intact. Transmitting to Alliance Command.”

Droda keyed his comm. “Baseplate, Osk Actual. Storm Lantern is go. Package secured. Requesting extraction at primary LZ.”

“Copy, Osk Actual. Shuttle inbound. Good work out there.”

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Playtest Notes

What worked well:

The opening Sector was a textbook DANGER CLOSE experience. The Advance Roll gave us a strong start, and the first Exchange felt like a genuine ambush. The “spend Grit to reroll” moment with Koven was a great narrative beat, especially when the reroll still resulted in an Injury. Sometimes the dice just say no.

The decision in Exchange 2 between Hold Position and Success at a Cost was the highlight of the session. Both options had clear trade-offs, and the choice felt genuinely meaningful rather than obvious.

Sector B was where the system really showed its teeth. Moving Vadd and Noman up to flank, having them both fail their Mobility checks, and then watching the Enemy Tactics push everyone’s defensive position down by a step created a tense, desperate fight. The all-or-nothing moment in Exchange 2, needing two 6s on 8d6 with everyone exposed, was exactly the kind of pressure the game is designed to produce.

The momentum track continues to be the engine that drives the fiction forward. Every shift up or down creates a new tactical reality that demands a response. The squad never felt static; every Exchange forced a meaningful decision.

Casualties: Zero deaths, a handful of Grazes, a lot of spent Grit and Ammo. A clean op, but it didn’t feel easy. It felt earned.

Rules changes coming out of this session:

Two adjustments based on what I saw at the table.

Hold Position now grants +1 DEF this Exchange instead of +1 ATK on the next one. The old version was just a delayed aggressive option, which made it feel like a worse Success rather than a genuine alternative. The new version means Hold Position does what the name says: your squad digs in and weathers the incoming fire. It creates a real fork between “end it now, pay in blood” (Success at a Cost) and “absorb the hit, come back swinging” (Hold Position). In Sector B, if that final offense roll had come up short, I would have wanted that +1 DEF badly with everyone Flanked.

Bonus Momentum from extra 6s now scales with Threat Level. The new rule: on a Success, gain +1 Momentum. If the number of extra 6s exceeds the Threat Level, gain an additional +1 Momentum (max +2 per Exchange). So against TL 3, you need four 6s total to get the double shift. In Sector A, my 20d6 opening volley scored three 6s and jumped two Momentum steps in one Exchange against a Heavy force. That felt too fast. Under the new rule, three 6s at TL 3 is just a regular Success. The Imperials don’t break that easily. This also means Threat Level finally has teeth during the Engagement, not just at setup and on injury rolls. Light fights still resolve quickly. Overwhelming fights grind.