STS Fulton: Session 100?!

Kind of mind blowing, but I'm about to run our 100th session of the STS Fulton campaign tonight. Incredibly grateful for the players in this game. I've still got two more PCs to add to the graveyard (both played by James!) with blog posts on each but wanted to just take a moment and marinate on how much fun I've been having and how lucky I am.

Knucklebone Casting

I've got this big stack of post drafts that I wrote and then left sitting for a long time. This post is an attempt to start clearing some of them out, inspired by Ramanan "just blog whatever man nbd" Sivaranjan and the encouragement of K over at noise sans signal.

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Benton Molina has a whole blog full of evocative fantasy writing over at Incunabuli but today I'm going to talk about his post on knucklebones and adapt for two games I've been playing. You should definitely go read the original post (and the rest of the blog, it's fantastic!) but the basic concept is that wizards cast spells through the use of special replacement fingerbones. Each knucklebone is created for a specific purpose and requires rare materials, careful runic inscription, and a skilled hand to implant them. They also might be passed down in families or buried with their owner (and thus very powerful temptations for grave robbers).

Different knucklebones then become interesting treasures that prompt follow-on questing to find someone to surgically install them, or the creation of a specific knucklebone could be a player-driven quest in and of itself. They are also a dangerous thing to possess, making you a target for assassination (or at least amputation).

Beyond the inherent danger of procuring and possessing knucklebones, what is the cost to a PC for having such power at their fingertips? In all cases the creation of a new knucklebone should require special materials, exotic engraving processes, and a skilled surgeon.

I'm on the fence about if I'd make them roll for the actual surgery. Probably just impose a monetary and time cost. Up to you and the specific creation methods used if you think the engraving methods would require a magic practitioner rather than just a skilled craftsperson.

Down below are specific proposals for both how to use these in Troika and Knave.

These are ancient animal knucklebones but close enough.

Troika

For every knucklebone implanted permanently reduce maximum Stamina by 1. When casting that spell in the future reduce its Stamina cost by 1, to a minimum of 1. If you do not have the relevant Skill gain it at Rank 1.

Intent: A permanent Stamina investment reduces your overall survivability but gives you more opportunities to cast that spell in a day. Also gives you a way to learn forbidden or lost arts that you cannot train.

Knave

For every knucklebone implanted permanently reduce CON by 1, reducing your corresponding inventory slots and healing bonus. If your CON is 1 you cannot implant any more knucklebones. Treat the knucklebone as a spell book of the relevant spell, usable once per day but taking up no inventory slots.

Intent: Again reducing the ability to bounce back from danger and overall inventory flexibility in trade for a spell that is much harder to take away. Represents the strain that knucklebone implantation has on the body. Can be circumvented by a committed player by continuing to add to CON at level up.

Inspiration Tables

Edit: At some point after I picked this post back up to finish it Benton reactivated Incunabula. Yay! And lo, he made a truly wonderful d100 table of knucklebones. Beat me to the punch! Go read all those for some bespoke knucklebones or use the lists below for inspiration.

Knucklebone Materials

1. Star metal
2. Metal forged in lava
3. Metal forged in dragon fire
4. Wood from the first tree
5. Wood from the world tree
6. Thousand year old ice
7. Living coral
8. Living wood
9. Fossilized wood
10. Dinosaur bone
11. Lich bone
12. Frozen gelatinous cube
13. Rare thing ground up and gelatinized with gelatinous cube juice
14. Teeth from a living relative
15. Wood from a hundred kinds of trees pressed together
16. Nightmare hoof
17. Owlbear toof
18. Dragon tooth
19. Lightning glass
20. Hippopotamus tusk
21. Metal from a monarch's crown
22. Knucklebones from a medusa's victim
23. Heart of a ghost
24. Weapon used to kill a monarch
25. Pauper's last penny
26. Funeral pyre wood
27. Faerie stag antler
28. Corpse-eye coins
29. Wood from a hundred year old shipwreck
30. Cornerstone of a holy temple
31. Bone of a god
32. Minotaur horn
33. Narwhal tusk
34. A complete set of baby teeth, ground up and reformed into a single knucklebone
35. Moon rock
36. Cockatrice coxcomb turned to stone
37. Gemstone appropriate to the spell (diamond, ruby, etc)
38. Giant's inner ear bones
39. Ambergris
40. Mithril forged in complete darkness
41. Amber with a mosquito inside
42. Clockwork
43. Roc talon
44. Single black pearl
45. Polar bear's toenail (ice cold)
46. Metal that's never felt sunlight
47. Purest copper
48. Wax
49. Chunk of a throne
50. Wooden stake that's killed a vampire

Inscription / Processing Methods

1. Burned with focused sunlight on top of a mountain
2. Tapped with a needle used to tattoo someone's whole body
3. Chisel made of star metal forged under a new moon
4. Beholder eye beam
5. Vampire fang
6. Gelatinous cube acid
7. Etched by tiny living grey ooze
8. Narwhal tusk needle
9. Unicorn horn
10. The lockpicks of a master thief, melted down
11. Devoured by grave scarabs
12. Melted by the stomach acid of a giant starfish
13. Water dripped for a hundred years
14. Water jet
15. Lightning strike to melt an overlaid pattern into the knucklebone
16. Casting the desired spell a hundred times into the bone
17. Bound in angel hair
18. Graven with diamonds
19. Carved in a dream
20. Compacted by the pressure of the deepest sea

Dying on the STS Fulton

We've had a few deaths, then a TPK, and a WHOLE lot of close calls in this game. My ideal is that whenever a PC dies the player response is "yeah that makes sense" and no one is surprised. A little upset is fine, heck I sometimes think I get more upset when their PCs die, but I always want it to feel fair.

The first death happened within the first few sessions. Two PCs went to talk to a sleeping dragon, one ignored warnings about not asking to ride the dragon, and the dragon killed her. Everyone on the same page with that one. It also helped to set the stakes for the game early one, which I appreciated.

Next two PC deaths were much later, due to a battle with some naked bandits. This one was a little more random but I think (hope?) fit in with the general potential danger of the setting. I'm also very intentional with trying to make encounters be more than "enemy kill!"

How do these deaths get handled from a play perspective? I have a standing policy of "immediate integration" for new PCs which means the new character shows up, everyone is groovy, and play continues.

The first death was real close to them landing their pod so we just handwaved it "oh yeah new PC was just walking slow." For the next two, the party was way out from their drop pod so I said that the Fulton shoots down new cryo pods because it can detect that someone from the Expedition Party has died. This does not stand up to scrutiny AT ALL because it can be exploited in all kinds of ways by my (very clever) players but we all agreed that it was a cool, hand wavey convenience and not meant to introduce new tools or resources for them. Highlights the importance of everyone being on the same page.

Great so random individual deaths are covered. What happened with the TPK? The party attempted a very bold plan of action to steal an airship from an island of pirates. It was not going well. After two PCs went down Gucci triggered the party's suitcase nuke and that was it, Total Party Kill and Total Pirate Kill. The one downside was that two of the players were not in attendance but I tried and failed to come up with some kind of rationale for how they might have survived the nuke that leveled the island they were on (no refrigerators). I really couldn't think of another way to handle it, and the players were sad but okay, but it still broke the general rule of "if you're not here then your PC is safe." It was a pretty extreme situation, at least.

All the best TPKs are player-driven.

In a more standard fantasy game a TPK might just mean you roll up a new party and pick a town to start in but the STS Fulton has an in game method and logic for where new PCs come from. That logic, as represented by the station AI H3LENE, dictated that there would not be a new party thawed out of cryo right away. In fact, 200 years passed in game before H3LENE woke up the next set of PCs. This gave the world a chance to progress and in turn gave the players a new, but still familiar, situation to deal with.

How do you handle TPKs in your game? I liked (and the players liked) the time jump so much that I think I'd go for it in a more fantasy type game as well.

STS Fulton Campaign

Landing page for the STS Fulton campaign I've been running in Troika.

Session Count:102 (as of 12/28/2023)

Tempo: Every Thursday night

General Posts

Five Things: STS Fulton

Current Party

PCs in bold, NPCs in italics, backgrounds custom written for the campaign

 

Ashlee Leblanc, Procurement Specialist (Peanut Butter)

Clint Thircord, Rocketeer (James)

High Priest Basura Lixo, Scavenger (Sugarplum)

Jason Kelce Gamma12, Organ Incubator (Vegas)

Windril Pondo Tuttus, REDACTED (Juice)

Xerxes Armiger, Psyker (Eclair)

Graveyard

PCs in bold, NPCs in italics

 

Beatrice Bonne Nuit, CorpSec Goon, pissed off a dragon [Session 2 or 3] (Sugarplum)

Antone Bioerde aka "Cook Jackson", Cook, slain by naked bandits [Session 55] (Sugarplum)

Truffle, beloved truffle dog, slain by naked bandits [Session 55] (Sugarplum)

Davian Zatharis aka "Mollusc Man", Scientist, slain by naked bandits [Session 55] (Juice)

Hippolyta Bain, Asteroid Miner, shot by guards while trying to steal SKY KING FULMINARIS's lightning sky ship [Session 70] (Eclair)

al-Jazari, Biosimulant, Torn apart by lightning sky ship minigun [Session 70] (Vegas)

Gucci Zircon, Space Attorney, Vaporized by a suitcase nuke [Session 70] (Sugarplum)

Gray Jackson, Navigator, Vaporized by a suitcase nuke [Session 70] (James)

Jettadiah "Jett", Amnesiac Test Subject, Vaporized by a suitcase nuke [Session 70] (Juice)

Jonnifer Macleod, Engineer, 3rd Class, Vaporized by a suitcase nuke [Session 70] (Peanut Butter)

Abrahan Caseus, Goat Wrangler, Old age / natural causes [between Sessions 70 + 71] (Helpful Waffle)

Finn McCool, Spliced Prisoner [Sharkman], Sliced and diced by angry mole creatures [Session 96] (James)

Billybob Hornton, Goat Wrangler, Lost a goat whistlin' battle [Session 99] (James)

Using Luck in Troika

When I first started running Troika I had a hard time with Luck Tests. I didn't really know how to use them and, with one memorable exception, my players never really got in precarious spots from their luck being low. For context, Luck is a stat that can vary from 7 to 12 and you test it by rolling 2d6 under or equal the stat. Succeed or not, your Luck goes down by 1, making you less likely to succeed on following attempts.

After almost 80 sessions of my STS Fulton campaign I think I've got a better handle on it so figured it's worth sharing what's been working for me. Of course I'm curious to hear what others' experiences or tips are as well!

1. Don't say "Test your Luck"; always ask "Would you like to test your Luck".

The specific phrasing of a Luck Test being a player choice is right in the Troika rules but it's something that I worked to internalize so wanted to repeat it. Luck is a resource that decreases whenever used, making it harder and harder to succeed as it goes down, so it should be up to the player whether they choose to expend it. It gives my players a greater feeling of control over the outcome which is always what I'm going for.

2. Luck is for stuff that happens to you.

Rough equivalent to a saving throw in other systems, used for somehow protecting yourself from dragon breath, airship mounted miniguns, getting horrible spores in your mouth, and other similar events.

3. Luck is also for fixing undefined details

If the players ask a question about the situation that I don't already have an answer to and doesn't follow from establishes facts then I will sometimes ask them if they want to Test Luck to make reality match what they're looking for. "Is this important enough to spend your Luck on it?" For smaller questions I'll often just agree, but testing Luck gives an avenue for finding out if something more impactful goes the player's way.

4. Use Luck to power special abilities

I've primarily used this so far for a couple special abilities for backgrounds, like the ole "pull something momentarily useful out of your sack-o-crap", but there's no reason you couldn't more broadly apply it. Stuff like finicky equipment, unreliable cybernetics, or cold calling potential contacts could all work. I also just put a straight "+1 Luck" in a particularly fortune favored background.

5. Use Luck for supernatural favor

I said "favor" very specifically because it felt too mean (to me) to take away from the meagre Luck reserves that most players seem to have. It's not come up yet (soon!), but I could see giving a bonus over and above the normal Luck cap to represent divine influence or exceptional fortune. Maybe more to come on this one.

Pulling Punches in Troika

A lot of the follow-on complications in my longish running STS Fulton campaign stem from an incident in a cake shop that escalated very quickly. A critical stage in that escalation involved James' character accidentally killing a town guard. The PC in question attacked with a club, wanting to subdue the guard, but I interpreted it as a killing blow based on the damage. Oops. We talked about it and decided to let it stand, but it never felt quite right. It's come up a few times since in discussion but was intensely relevant during last week's game.

During the session we came up with basically "if it reasonably makes sense you can incapacitate someone" (i.e. the "good plan doesn't require a roll" approach) or that they could try to use Wrestling to restrain someone and then if they could maintain it then they could tie that person up. Still wasn't really satisfied but just had a flash of inspiration so wanted to get it written down.

First thing to note is that all weapons in Troika do damage based on a roll of a d6 and then compared against a lookup table (see below for a sample).

Melee Weapons

d6 Roll ->	1	2	3	4	5	6	7+
Axe	2	2	6	6	8	10	12
Club	1	1	2	3	6	8	10
Greatsword*	2	4	8	10	12	14	18
Hammer#	1	2	4	6	8	10	12
Knife	2	2	2	2	4	8	10
Longsword	4	6	8	8	10	12	14
Mace#	2	4	4	6	6	8	10
Maul*#	1	2	3	6	12	13	14
Polearm*#	2	4	4	8	12	14	18
Shield	2	2	2	4	4	6	8
Spear	4	4	6	6	8	8	10
Staff	2	4	4	4	4	6	8
Sword	4	6	6	6	6	8	10
Unarmed	1	1	1	2	2	3	4

The second bit is how dying works in Troika. If you go below 0, you die instantly. If you hit 0 exactly, your friends have until the end of the round to get you back up above 0 or you die at end of round.

So how do you knock someone out in Troika? A player can decide to pull their punch and take a -2 on their damage roll. If they get their enemy to 0 exactly, the PC knocks them out instead of killing them. 

This makes Clubs decent at subduing, Unarmed the best, and Hammers and Mauls unlikely but possible. It also means it's pretty hard to knock someone out with stabby / slashy weapons. Weapon choice has an impact and while you're trying to knock someone out you're leaving yourself open to getting wailed on. The player also has a choice to make on how many full power hits to do before trying to soften the blow and take a prisoner. All of these are about the right feel I was going for, but will see how it plays and update as needed.

 

One Shot Shenanigans: Troika! Odd Couple

I'm three regular campaign summaries behind at the moment but I wanted to get this session report out to mix it up a bit. Skip down to the postlude if you just want quick thoughts about Troika! but some of it won't make sense without the context.

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My campaign has suffered a bit in the past month. I had to cancel one session because I was working a lot and didn't have time to play. This past weeks session I cancelled but managed to reschedule from Thursday to Saturday based on availability. Most of that fell thru at the last minute so I was left with two of my normal six players about an hour after our usual start time. We took advantage of the time to do some lovely catching up and then decided to hit the hay early like responsible adults.

Lies! We didn't sleep, we shot the shit and then I started proposing various one shot recipes for their preparation and consumption. I was thinking Maze Rats or Troika! since they were a ton of fun to run before for IntroCONso and character creation is a snap. One of my regular crew (I'ma call him Peanut Butter) who played in that Troika! one-shot for IntroCONso perked up immediately and the decision was made pretty quickly. Vegas had never played before so we got him spun up and they got to rolling up their characters.

Sidenote: You can see what they've played in the regular Lamentations campaign over here.

Troika! is a retroclone of Advanced Fighting Fantasy and has three stats: Skill, Stamina, and Luck. Doing things is generally Skill, you want a high one, and they both rolled as low as possible there (4). On the other hand, Peanut Butter maxed out on Luck (saving throws-ish). Both of those facts came into play very prominently later as the session got closer to ending. So we had:

Jonice "Jonesy" Tuscany (Peanut Butter)
  Sorcerer of the College of Friends
??? (Vegas)
  Zoanthrop

If you don't have Troika! (why don't you there's a free artless version dammit!!) then you might not know that a Zoanthrop is a person who has willingly had their forebrain removed, turning them into some kind of wild animal man thing. Most likely they're naked, it says. This one wasn't naked, however, as Jonesy made sure to cover him up in loincloth and poncho. They decided that Jonesy probably knew this guy pre-op and has been trying to reign him in a bit after failing to convince him not to auto-lobotomize. Jonesy calls him "Erik" but unclear if that was his name before. Hell of an odd couple though! Guy who just wants to be friends with everyone and spread the love and barely-a-guy. That's the magic that the dice give you in Troika!

We decide that these two don't travel the million spheres on one of the golden barges but that they are aware of their life on one of those spheres. It's small enough that you could travel around it and it wouldn't take your whole life so that's what they're doing. At a local tavern they overheard some anglers complaining of lake monsters and another guy freaked out about trees that tried to kill him. They introduced themselves to the fisherfolk by way of "Erik" jumping forward and saying "spooooooky fishessss!" Vegas got into character real quick.

They asked about nighttime attacks and came up with day trouble only. Their plan was to go out and do some recon during the day in a borrowed boat. Only Jonesy had any skill in swimming and it's not much (5 or less on 2d6) so they were hoping they don't get into trouble. 

Of course "don't get into trouble" and "reconnaissance" turned into "let's hang out on this lake all day and see if we can find the monster." They managed to catch some regular fish before attracting the attention of a fifteen foot long tentacles monstrosity. It started off trying to grab "Erik" and pull him into the water but caught a couple of mighty club hits for the effort. It then went straight for murder tentacles.

Jonesy tried to Jolt the thing which would have been super effective in the water but alas, rolling 5 or less on 2d12 is really hard. Then he declared that he was taking out his knife to which I replied "Oh yeah? Where is it on your inventory list?" Even getting stuff out in combat is a roll based on what number line the thing is on (1-12). Of course poor Jonesy failed that one too even though the roll wasn't so bad (I think?).

Meanwhile "Erik" was just smashing back and forth with this giant tentacle thing. I toned it down after the first exchange because I realized 7 skill and damage as medium monster was way too strong for two starting schlubs with no armor. Oops. Second session of Troika!, still don't have an idea of mob strength yet. It was still close, but "Erik" got in a killing blow and they had until the end of the round before other it started to sink. Unfortunately the black end of turn die came out before they could secure the beast and it sunk into the depths of the lake. That was the only kind of initiative bag trickery that came up in this combat. It also wasn't quite as fun to pull the dice from the bag myself and shove them at the camera; much prefer making the players pull the init dice out.

Jonesy wanted proof that they had killed it so he prepared to dive in. The sorcerer wasn't a very good swimmer (one point in it) but he was still better than his empty-headed companion (no points). Since they both had a base skill 4, that put their chances of actually passing a swimming test at 28% and 17% respectively. Not good. Jonesy was committed though so he took off his gear and I think did some breathing exercises or something. He also created a pair of helping hands on the side of the boat to help pull the like back up once he'd secured it. "Erik" would help pull it up too. Prepped, Jonesy dove into the water!

And immediately failed his check. Drowning is brutal in Troika! (d6 additive damage per failed check) but we have him a mulligan since he was going in on purpose and wasn't really even in the water yet. Didn't matter much though, because now that Jonesy was in the water and dove down in earnest he failed again and started taking damage (d6). He secured the rope on the corpse and tried to use the rope to assist in his assent. He got big bonuses for being able to use the rope, probably needed to make 7 or lower at this point (58%) but still failed (2d6). "Erik" was barely able to haul the spluttering friend sorcerer onto the deck. Jonesy had very nearly died (and not passed a single check the whole time) but they had a big gross monster fixed to the hull. Success!

They returned to town to incredulous celebrations. The townsfolk gutted and salted the monster to leave it in the sun in the hopes of preserving it as a tourist attraction. Jonesy laid up for a bit after his very much near-death experience then spent the festival week casting minor magics and making friends. "Erik" just... did "Erik" things, I guess. He's a weird guy. An old lady, impressed by Jonesy's displays (stuff like Protection from Rain, too stronk) brought him a trio of plasmic cores but warned him of their addictive, destructive properties.

Sidebar: At this point we could have stopped or kept playing. It was general stopping time for our normal sessions but since it was the weekend we kept rolling.

Towards the end of the celebration they searched out the truffle gatherer who had fled the forest after being attacked by trees. He was grateful that they didn't think he was crazy and described the hill where he usually found the best mushrooms, right next to the lake. Jonesy stocked up on oil for the burning and they rolled out.

Found the copse easily enough, didn't approach. Instead Jonesy cracked open his Second Sight (detect magic) and saw an evil aura extending from the trees down into the roots. They circled over to the lake side of the cliff, saw a beech down below, and decided to go down. They had no rope but there was plenty of roots hanging down over the side. "Erik" also detected an acrid, foul smell down there, cementing their decision to go down. The man-beast scampered down the cliff easily enough and next it was Jonesy's turn for a feat of athleticism.

You might think that all of these handy climbing roots (and commensurate bonuses) would make this climb a cinch but nope! Jonesy barely failed his physical task again, taking a decent chunk of damage in the fall. He needed to rest and take advantage of the fact that eating a provision heals in Troika! "Erik" searched about and found a handful of gold coins. Rich! He also found a crack in the cliff, and they both went inside. The dirt turned into more finished stone and they found a mucked up chamber with more than half a dozen cracked eggs. More importantly, they found two miniature lake monsters!

The initiative bag jumped in a little bit here, ending some rounds early before everyone had a chance to act. Initially they were more hungry than anything and the players had an idea of that but then things devolved into blows pretty quickly. Maybe this is actually where Jonesy went for rations in his pack and failed the check to grab it in a tense situation. Either way, "Erik" hopped in front of his buddy and handily slew the two creatures inside of a few rounds between his turns and beating the creatures when they attacked him.

Sidebar: In Troika! someone always gets hurt when there's a melee combat, doesn't matter if it's your turn or not. Makes holding a door or facing off against a bunch of minions really interesting. Also makes facing a single, more dangerous creature more of a gamble for everyone not just the PC that gets attacked on the creature's turn. I love it.

They didn't waste too much time after dispatching the creatures beyond noting the improved stonework and remaining unaccounted for eggs. They coiled underneath that room and went further into the caves, spotting a mass of tree roots. Jonesy slowly approached one and it tried to grab him! He dodged, backed up, and lit them all up with his extra oil. Preparation!

They came to a large room with a pair of sarcophagi surrounded by an oily liquid. "Erik" took a running start and leapt onto the closer coffin. Unfortunately a hideous, alien creature exploded out from it and tried to kill him, letting out a horrific howl.

Good thing "Erik" ain't never scared! Forebrain removal really coming in handy here. Jonesy tested his luck and passed, so they both escaped the effects of the howl.

Sidebar: Luck is the saving throw stat in Troika!. It's got a max set at character creation and goes down every time it's tested regardless of result. It can be restored with rest and some consumables. Players can choose not to test luck if they'd rather save it. At this point they had both tested their luck a few times so the numbers were getting less favorable.

There was some back and forth on top of the coffin with Jonesy trying to provide support from the other side. "Erik" was hurting, and tried to flee back to the outside of the room, but failed, falling into the oil. The creature hopped down too but ended up going prone. Their collective plan was to get "Erik" out of the oil, have Jonesy light it up, and then GTFO before heat, smoke, or monster ended them both. The next few pulls from the initiative bag were pretty tense, but they manged to get "Erik" out of the liquid and onto the stone with Jonesy following up with the Ember to light it up.

Their plan was almost too successful, as now they needed to get out of the room without dying horrible because of all the smoke and fire and heat. Think it ended up being three turns to get out, test luck at the end of every round or take damage, something like that. Jonesy got out pretty safe, with his much higher luck, but "Erik" was in more trouble and fell unconscious just at the edge of safety. Our friendly sorcerer rushed back into danger to save his friend, healing him back up with a provision or some water or something enough to for them both to get out of the fire.

Postlude

There are some review bits sprinkled throughout the summary but overall I think it should be pretty clear that I love Troika! The general play mechanic is straightforward, the backgrounds are dripping with verve and beauty, and the art inside is gorgeous.

Sidebar: Before continuing, a disclosure: Daniel Sell asked on g+ at some point if anyone wanted review copies of things. He was non-specific, but I volunteered based on the fact that I really loved Troika! and had backed Crypts of Indormancy. It turns out the review copies were for... Troika! and Crypts of Indormancy. I got review copies of things I had already bought and paid for. I don't really know what that means, I guess? I think if I had already bought something that I later got comp'ed it probably doesn't count as a comp but worth noting at least.

The initiative bag does a great job of adding tension and unpredictability to combat. Having speed, coordination, and decisiveness all represented as the number of dice that go in the bag is an effective abstraction. The fact that someone always gets damaged in melee is another good addition, simultaneously solving the problem of a bunch of PCs surrounding a badass monster and the inverse of that when a single PC tries to hold a choke point against a rush of little booger mobs or something. Spells and ranged weapons aren't contested, however, so maybe it just turns everyone into Legolas. I haven't seen that happen in two sessions but it would also be a lot harder since characters are rolled completely randomly on the background d66 table.

That background table is of course one of the other huge strengths of Troika! with 36 unique and interesting backgrounds oozing with implied setting. Creation is incredibly fast which is a great thing when health never improves over the (short?) life of a character. In my first Troika! session I had two PCs die but they were back with a newly rolled character faster than it mattered. I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the full d666 table (216 entries) that Daniel has planned for Troika!

I'll also note the inventory system as being incredibly elegant in terms of management but maintaining an impact on the PCs. Everyone gets 12 slots and that's (generally) it. You can carry more stuff but it's incredibly crippling. If you need something in a hurry, you have to roll over its slot number. That's it! No endless inventory but also no need to audit all the time to see if anyone should really be a lot slower when they're trying to run away from the awful murder beast.

Peanut Butter has basically guaranteed that I will be running Troika! at every IntrCONso and random one-shot for a while, too. He also said something really insightful after the session that made me appreciate Troika! even more. Part of the baked in setting is this idea of "travelling the millions spheres," so Peanut Butter pointed out how cool it was that both of the sessions we played were happening concurrently somewhere in this universe. I find this very attractive as a method to mix things up with different spheres, sessions, and characters while still maintaining a sort of continuity.

My only real complaint is that I don't like the second printing's cover as much as the first's.