Team Oxracers, Ep. 9: Rolling around the track for practice (and for levelling up)
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After Jane has worked her destructive magic on the Kando’s interior and they welded and fitted the last parts of the makeshift rollcage, it was close to the evening. Before continuing, they all take a moment to admire Jane’s work to transform the unassuming stock production Kando into an… unassuming 24h clunker run contender full of random decals and taped up lights.
The pile of former Kando interior parts begins to resemble Ludo’s stacks of car parts as seen in the front area of his storage yard.
Afterwards, Michael, Corazon and Lucas each have a few quick practice laps around the track before it becomes truly dark. Based on their feedback, Jane makes some small final modifications to the brake alignment and brake force in the last remnants of sunshine.
“I went third, right after you guys, and was quite surprised - the brakes seem to be holding up very well, even after the workout you two gave them”, Lucas comments.
“That’s one side effect, I guess, of the cut back wheel wells. Much better brake airflow due to half the wheel being out in the open”, Jane explains while being half under the car.
“The Kando’s gearing is great”, Michael comments. “I am just about running into redline approaching a few corners… and if that’s so, then you two” - he points at Corazon and Lucas - “don’t run into redline either.”
“I love the handling”, Corazon notes, oblivious of the thinly-veiled insult Michael had thrown at him. “Already felt like a driving god, throwing this thing around the twisty track.”
Mary meanwhile has pulled up a camping table, and five chairs and a light. “Folks: now that everyone has gained some experience in doing their stuff, there is one thing left for us to do.”
“Yay!” Jane exclaims, wiping her hands on a dirty rag. “Levelling up is always fun!”
The five Oxracers sit down at the table in the Swedish evening and pull out their character sheets, a pen - and dice, of course.
Corazon is the first one to level. “I am a COMPETITOR, of course, on my path of being, err, becoming a driving god. My main skills are Racecraft and… Sportsmanship? Anyway. After the first laps at race speed I am now level 2. I can assign two skill points and choose a special skill. As a future driving god, this special skill is obviously going to be Showmanship, and that’s where I am putting one of my skill points right away. The other skill point goes into Racecraft, I suppose.” He writes some numbers on his character sheet.
“Nice”, comments Michael. “I am also a COMPETITOR, and since I have a real life racing license, I start at level 2. I also had my first laps at race speed, so I level up to level 3. So, three skill points and a special skill. For me, that special skill is going to be Mechanical Sympathy. The race is long, and that skill will hopefully help us get to the finish line. So, it is one skill point there, one in Racecraft, and one in Sportsmanship.” Michael throws an aside glance at Corazon before he updates his character sheet.
Next in line is Jane. “I am a GREASEMONKEY, and I also level up to level 3 outright since I have already gained a lot of experience when turning the Kando into a car that’s fit to compete. My two main skills are Modifications and Repair. There are a few interesting special skills to choose from, but what I am going with is Improvisation. Since we only have very limited spare parts, I have to rely on my tools and my intuition to fix anything major. Since all modifications are done for now, I’ll assign two skill points to Repair and one to Improvisation.” She scribbles the corresponding numbers on her character sheet.
Lucas is up. “I am also a COMPETITOR, not very experienced, but eager to learn. After my first laps at close to race speed, I level up to level 2. For my special skill, that’s going to be Luck. Luck is a passive skill that allows me an extra saving throw in case something goes wrong when I am behind the wheel - so you could call this beginner’s luck. As a passive skill, Luck does not get skill points assigned. I’ll therefore assign one skill point to Racecraft and one skill point to Sportsmanship.” He dutifully records things in his character sheet.
Mary is last. “And I am a LINCHPIN. Every team needs one force that holds it together, and for us, that is me.” She smiles proudly. “My two main skills are Negotiation and Moral support. With the past negotiations for the Kando and the parts, I level up to level 2. I can also choose a special skill, and that’s going to be Espionage. Ties in nicely with my outside extra special skill, I guess.” She grins. “Since I don’t expect any difficult negotiations to happen in the near future, I put one skill point in Moral support and one point in Espionage.” She also takes some notes on her character sheet.
“Now we need to roll on our energy increases due to us levelling up”, Jane announces. “A 1d6+1 for each level we gained.”
“Alright.” Corazon grabs a die and makes a flamboyant roll… with a less than flamboyant outcome. “Meh. Two. So 2 base energy plus 2 plus 1 makes 5 energy.”
“That’s barely a single stint”, Michael remarks. “So we have to rotate you out every two hours tops.”
“But then I’ll be completely fresh again for my next turn”, Corazon retorts.
Michael shrugs. “Yeah, because there is not a lot to recharge. Anyway, now it’s my turn to roll. Twice, because I am at level 3 now. Four. And Two. So 2+4+2+1+1, 10 energy. Nice, that’s a nicely rich energy roll. So I can do two stints if necessary… but would need a longer break afterwards.”
“Rich energy - does that even exist?” wonders Lucas.
“Okay, my turn.” Jane grabs the die. “Five. Three. Neat. 2+5+3+1+1 makes 12 energy. So unless you guys consistently wreck the thing, I should easily be able to keep up with repairs throughout the race.”
Then it’s Lucas’ turn. A single roll because he is just level 2. “Six. Very nice.”
“Lucky, you could say”, comments Michael.
“So that’s 2+6+1=9. Not quite two stints but I think I could do them, in a pinch”, Lucas muses.
Mary takes the die. “Three. So 2+3+1 = 6. Okay I guess. Can always take a catnap, if necessary.” She smirks. The others react with various facial expressions.
“Alright”, Mary concedes. “I’ll see myself out then - and put my newly acquired Espionage skill to good use. See ya later, folks.” She gets up, moves behind Jane’s large Saarland station wagon and seems to vanish there. A few seconds later, an ordinary tabby cat scurries towards where the other teams are located…
NOTE 1: FEEL FREE TO INCLUDE MARY-AS-CAT IN YOUR PRE-RACE RP - as long as she is only doing cat things, you don’t need to clear this with me. See Episode 7 for some background if you haven’t read all episodes yet.
NOTE 2: If there ever happens to be a fire in your pit area at some point (for whatever reason), one of my characters may be able to help - just let me know.
OOC 1: No, I originally didn’t want to invent an entire class and skill system for a racing tabletop RPG, but apparently I did now…
OOC 2: And I know, this stuff has no effect on what actually happens in the challenge - but the Oxracers don’t know that. 
