Monday, August 31, 2015

RPG-a-Day: 25th through 31st

Finally we reach the end of August and the RPG-a-Day entries. Time to look at my favorite mechanics, inspiration, and websites.

Favorite Revolutionary Game Mechanic

What does this even mean? There have been many mechanics that people have called revolutionary: hero points, fail forward, unified roll mechanics. But many of these have roots going back decades and I question how revolutionary they really are. In my opinion many "revolutionary" ideas codify what people were doing all along. Maybe not all players and game masters used them but those willing to bend the rules as written to play the game enjoyably did.

I guess with that definition I'd have to go with autosuccess on clue detection. It's obvious when you think about it: always allow players to find the clue that leads them to the next scene. But without having it spelled it out for them, many game masters seem to be happy reveling into their sneakiness and subtlety while the their players scratch their heads in frustration.

I suppose simulationists might make the counter argument that always finding the clue isn't realistic. Perhaps not but I'd much prefer to play in a world of TV detectives than the real world where so much goes unsolved. In the end of the day we are playing a game, a game about stories, and satisfying stories follow certain rules.

Favorite Inspiration for your game

Easy. Witch Hunter Robin. This anime series follows a teenage witch hunter operating in quasi-modern day Japan. Unlike most of her team she possess supernatural abilities herself, specifically pyrokinesis. There is a weird conspiracy angle to it also involving ancient witches, primordial gods, and genetic engineering. I've mined it for ideas for mortals hunting monsters to wizards or other beings operating on the edge of society. It is perhaps my most watched series.
Witch Hunter Robin
As a second inspirational source I use is music. Since I do so much horror and mystery these days, my favorite music to get into a plotting mood is the sound track to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It positively drips with eeriness and dread.

Favorite idea for merging two games into one

I've done a bit of thought on this lately. My big one has been merging parts of the Old World of Darkness and the new World of Darkness: Vampire: the Masquerade clans and politics in the Requiem ruleset and with a New World of Darkness toolkit mentality. Or Wrath: the Oblivion dropped into New World of Darkness perhaps with Sineaters, Geists, and Mummies.

Favorite game you no longer play

Most games I love I expect I'll return to eventually. I've done so for the Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game and I might for GURPS someday. But I don't expect I'll run or play second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons again despite owning a lot of books for it. I don't love the rules and as I said last week I'm kind of burned out on dungeon fantasy.

It remains a favorite (and secures its spot on my bookshelf while each year the 3rd edition section shrinks) because of its settings. TSR created so many evocative settings: Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Planescape, and more. I never explored them enough or tried to make them mine. So they sit there inviting me to play. Occasionally I'll dust one off and try to pull inspiration from it.

Favorite RPG website/blog

Hmm, a tough one. I visit a lot of gaming sites on any given day. Some are blogs, some forums, others company websites. I'd say of all of them I find RPGnet provides me the most ideas to consider.
Favorite RPG playing celebrity
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Hmm, had to do a bit of research on this to properly weigh the options. I think in the end I have to go with Wil Wheaton if only for TableTop (I also have no issue with any of his acting roles including Wesley). Promoting gaming to the masses (or at least expanding the variety among those already playing) is a worthy endeavor, one I was willing to put my money into (for funding the third season).

Favorite non-RPG thing to come out of RPGing

One thing roleplaying games have helped provide me with are some of my dearest friendships. I can't imagine that I would have found half of my current crop without roleplaying. I met Alec and Jared through my High School GM Glen, Mike through Jared when starting my own game, and many others through similar chains.

Monday, August 24, 2015

RPG-a-Day: 18th through 24th

Now for the third week of RPG-a-Day entries. This week we probe of my favorite genre games and the perfect gaming situation for me.

Favorite SF RPG

I have never been quite satisfied with any of the science fiction RPGs out there. Partly I think this comes down to two issues. First I hate running games in other people's worlds. Second people have wildly diverse visions of what the future will be like. The latter makes it hard to get everyone on the same page with any given setting. My favorite science fiction setting to read and think about is definitely GURPS Transhuman Space but in play I couldn't able to make it work as well as I'd like.  I did much better in my corporate version of Star Trek but that was just a specific use of Fate, not a dedicated science fiction RPG.
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Favorite Supers RPG

Over the years I've played around with running a Superhero game. I looked at Champions but combat seemed too slow. I played Aberrant but it's a bit unbalanced. I enjoyed a good game of Mutants & Masterminds and thought that would work. But ultimately I like Worlds in Peril best. It's fast paced, has truly limitless character creation (balanced by narrative considerations), and is easily tweaked. I'm still not sure when I'll run my game but now I know the system I'll use.
Worlds in Peril

Favorite Horror RPG

Clearly this one goes to the new World of Darkness. More specifically the Mortals line (with additions from Hunter: the Vigil). Being a fragile normal person in a world of vampires, werewolves and worse is pretty scary. Character creation is quick, the rules robust but simple, and I like how the system has just enough crunch to satisfying my desire for rules mastery. From a game master perspective it also has the advantage of supplying lots of story seeds and potential hooks.

Favorite RPG setting

I've mentioned (above in the SF RPG question) that I don’t really like to use published settings. I much prefer a toolbox. The new World of Darkness setting generally gives me just enough material to work with while leaving lots of empty space for me to fill in. Out of the various game lines I'd say I favor Hunter: the Vigil setting best. Between it and the blue books of the main World of Darkness, I have a cornucopia of story seeds and setting material.

Perfect Gaming environment

My perfect gaming environment doesn't me involve travelling very far and occurs around a large table in a relatively quiet environment. Perhaps there is some light instrumental mood music in the background and a few healthy snacks but overall there shouldn't be much to distract me from the game.

I'm hoping that when my son and Child 2.0 are older and I've secured my gaming table that I should be able to approximate this. So I'll have it, some day.

Perfect game for you

The perfect game for me would be one with a rule set that encourages collaboration. The setting should include some element of the fantastic like psychics or magic. Of course the rules are nothing without a good group of proactive players working together to tell a good story and flexible game master. I guess as a final option I'd like the system with intricate and /or extensible rules to play with.

Favorite House rule

I think I've mentioned this before but adapting Unknown Armies's Madness Meters to Hunter: the Vigil worked wonderfully for me. I got the tension and fear responses I wanted without any resentment about lost experience or conditions to remember. People organically went crazy in their own special way. Some couldn't handle the violence. Others were distracted by their growing superstitions. One guy rarely failed a roll and slowly made his way towards sociopathy.

Friday, August 21, 2015

The Climber Recap: Kill White

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We made it past the month of weddings and finally my players and I resume semi-regular gaming! Though as is often the case, Gator is late.

As in my earlier actual play reports, small green text indicates out of character talk, mechanics and other game aspects outside of the fiction.

Our main characters are:
  • Gator (the Gunlugger) is an assassin and part-time bodyguard who wears customized scrounged armor made from Kevlar and ceramic inserts. Camouflaged for the jungle, his face was ruined in a fight with an alligator. His eyes are always sizing things up and his brutal life has left his body a hard sheet of muscle. He runs a gang of mercenaries and was hired to kill White, the warlord of Miami. He always completes a job.
  • Jarhead (the Savvyhead) is a thin African-American man with a short goatee, long dreads, and clothes covered in pockets and gear. Travelling around in an old news van, he repairs items for a living. He is investigating a device that can bend space and time. He has also obtained employees in the form of a young woman Allison and her brother Waters as well as a little girl named Memo. His old mentor Sir Fredricks wants to talk with him. Too bad Jarhead left his mind in the psychic maelstrom.
  • November Orleans (the Skinner) is descended from a family which left New Orleans before it sank. She is a beautiful woman of mixed heritage with dark eyes and skin, a sweet face and lush body. She dresses herself in a mix of scavenged clothing that somehow works together and wears a necklace made from rows of antique coins which jingle and shine as she moves. Her main profession is as a dancer, especially belly dancing, but she has a sideline business in cooking and animal training. Oh and now she works for the "gods".
  • Violet Jefferson (the Touchstone) is descended by survivalists and her clothing and gear reflects her origins. Plain looking but fit, she carries a pocket copy of the Federalist papers and founding documents of the United States of America, an idea she hopes to revive. Her followers are demanding her help to liberate Miami from a tyrant. November blew off half her face recently.

While we wait, we review people’s experience totals as I just finished writing up the previous session (in other words I caught up, finally). We determine Violet is missing a move. After much debate, she takes +1 hot to patch up her disability.

November comments however, “You could retire your character to safety and say ‘good job guys! You’ve got this democracy thing. Violet out.’”

We also discuss Violet’s impending playbook change. She intends to take Scholar and after some examination, I tell her that she would not lose any of her moves for that change.

We also discuss how much more of the game remains. At this point (the beginning of this session), it looks like 4 or so sessions. Enough time to resolve who takes over Miami, deal with Gator’s past, and cover the gods.

“I’d like to see the gods resolved,” I mention.

”He just wants to resolve theology that’s all,” November says. “No big. Like two sessions?”

“I think that’s what I said. Easy.”

Start of Session

Next we do highlighting. After all the talk last session about highlighting Hx, I decide to deliver. So we get lots of helping/hindering this session.

”I didn’t know you could highlight Hx,” Jarhead comments.

”I’m the MC I can do what I want.”


In addition to Hx people highlight:
  • Hot for November by Jarhead
”Cool,” she says.

”No, no. He said hot.”

  • Jarhead marks Weird by Violet.
  • Violet gets Sharp by November.
”November knows me best,” she admits.

”Yes I do,” November says. “She’s the kind of girl who shoots first and asks questions never.”

  • When Gator arrives he marks Hard from Violet.
As I get dinner ready, November (holding my son) says, “Sebastian would like to highlight your Hx.”

Gator laughs and when I return says, ”but I still need something highlighted.”

“Hx is a real thing,” I tell him.


We begin with the love letters replicated below.

For Everyone

Last time we played a Tomahawk missile hit the Music Bowl in an event that the locals will recall as “the Night of Fire”.

Many people died during that event including:
  • Amber: crushed to death in a stampede.
  • Pandora: killed by falling debris.
  • Pellet: died holding up a doorway so the Council of Elders could escape.
Now the survivors rally for an assault on White and The Big Ship.

”So they were all connected me?” November asks.

“I rolled the dice randomly,” I say.

”Whatever ‘gods’.”

”The Council of Elders survived,” I mention. “Those jerks made it through.”


Name one true thing about White as a person. What does he look like? how does he act? What are his likes and dislikes?

I run over what is already known about him, ending with his now deceased freaky minions.

“We’ve cornered the market on freaky minions,” Violet says.

After some joke answers like being him being immortal, November states, “he’s 12 years old.”

”That would be surprising,” I say.

“I’m going with that,” she decides.

“He fought and killed an alligator when he was 7,” Jarhead says next. “He still bears the scars to this day.”

”So some sort of feral child or something?” I say.

”Why weren’t we playing with him earlier?” November jokes.

Violet considers it for a while. “He’s probably pretty fast in combat.”

”He could be a ninja,” I suggest. “A ninja with the soul of a demon inside him. Some sort of nine tailed beast. No. Wait. That’s Naruto.”

“He fights in close range,” she states. “He’s very fond of daggers.”

”I could get in a knife fight with him,” November comments.

“Totally!” I comment. “A knife fight in the interior radioactive parts of the ship.”

Violet adds, ”he also likes to use shrapnel.”

Later when he arrives, Gator adds that he hates spiders.

“I think you are projecting,” I comment knowing Gator’s real world feelings about arachnids.

Jarhead

You acquired a gang last session. What are they like? Do they follow you because they are attracted to your weirdness or because they think you can solve their problems?

Don’t forget Sir Fredricks wants to talk to you.


I also included the rules for creating a new gang but I’ll omit those here.

In the end Jarhead says, ”they are just as enthralled with technology as I am but not as good at making it. So I’m like a god to them.” He calls them technologically inept technophiles.

Mechanically he goes with well armed and self-sufficient, and ultimately (after playing with choosing loose-knit) savage as their downside. I helped his decision by comparing them to the war boys of Mad Max: Fury Road.

”That would actually be funny,” Jarhead says. “They love the technology but they are meat heads.”

Violet

You still have the climbers. The device Memo made you is still doing whatever it does but roll +hard anyway.

You find yourself outside the burning ruins with Jarhead and his people (which is growing fast as survivors flock to him). Lily, Joshua and Starbuck catch up to you. They demand to know who hurt you and want to bring them down. What do you do?


Violet makes her hard roll with a 11. 

This is her second success which means by the rules I wrote for the climbers that she’s fought off the infection. Not that she knows that.

She also rolls Fortunes and gets a 9. As usual she chooses +judgemental.

“No plague option, how sad,” I comment.

”I did the plague once, it sucked,” she tells me.

November

You and Wisher got out just in time but you can feel the angry buzzing of the gods in the back of your mind. Wisher doesn’t seem to want to leave your presence and the gods keep whispering “Kill him. He hurt us. Eliminate him. Murder. Pain.”

What do you do?


I’ll save her response for the session proper.

Gator

Your men got out fine. You still have to deal with the revelation that November is working for the gods and wants your help (and they are always watching her).

You get some rest before dawn but you wake up feeling your wife’s cold dead hands on you. She keeps whispering that Gabi hates you.

As you break camp, some of the men question assaulting the Big Ship. What do you do?

Kill White

The gods buzz angrily in the back of November’s mind as she and Wisher climb through the burning wreckage of the Music Bowl.

“Kill him,” they hiss. “He hurt us. Eliminate him. Murder. Pain.”

She concentrates for a moment, projecting her thoughts. He hurt us? What do you mean?

“Fire. Fire, pain,” they whisper. “Murder him for us. Murder the child.”

She glances to the man beside her. “Can you see if Amber and Sharp made it out? I’ll meet you over there,” she points, “it looks like the survivors are gathering there.”

Wisher nods and heads off. Once he is out of sight, she races for the wastes and performs a ritual to the gods.

Calmer but with voices of hate, they tell her, “White, he has hurt us, he must be destroyed.”

November tries to decides who to go to move on White. I tell her that the forces are in disarray without Violet. “She was one of the heads of this until you shot her. In the head.”

The dancer orients herself by the fires and the growing light to the east. She heads for Gator’s camp.

To Violet and Jarhead.

Jarhead’s van bounces along the fire lit parking lot of the Music Bowl. Violet glances in driver’s side mirror. Lily’s motorcycle keeps pace, silhouetted by the raging fires. Jarhead pushes through the cramped confines of the back, crawling over his helpers and guards to peer over Violet’s shoulder.

“Eyes up!” He says pointing to a group of heavily armed men and women moving to intercept them. “Shit, shit, shit.”

Violet picks out their blue circuit board tattoos in her headlights, their chromed weapons, and recycled bits of armor and clothing. Tech worshippers.

“Don’t look at them, just keep driving,” Jarhead says. “We don’t know them. Maybe they’ll leave us alone.”

Violet swerves away. As they leave the strangers behind, Lily pulls alongside Violet. “Alright we got that taken care of,” she shouts. “Now are you going to tell what happened to you!”

Given Violet’s head injury, she acts under fire to recall all details. She gets a 12! and recalls all details plus some stuff she missed the first time.

Violet thinks back. To the fungus infested tunnels. Chasing Cougar. The ceremony. Blood. The pieces of the puzzle fall together with crystal clarity. November lured Cougar to a ritually prepared chamber. There she slit the giant’s throat, bleeding her onto a pattern in the soft earth. Strands of mycelium swelled with each drop, a throbbing pulse of mental energy reaching her weakly as it grew. November unlike Cougar or herself was maskless, unaffected by the plague. November worked for the enemy, a force working against her and her aims. She felt she had no other option and shot first. November returned fire and everything went black.

“I guess I found the Messenger,” Jarhead mutters as she recounts the events.

“But what is she the messenger of?” Violet says.

Jarhead twists his head to look at her. “Come on really? They never said they were looking for the good side of life.”

Lily gets shakes her head. “What!! November sent Boo and the others to the Autodoc! And she shot you in the face.”

Violet nods.

“You got the jump on her and she shot you in the face?” Jarhead comments.

The gang cracks up.

“I’m about as confused about that as you are,” Violet says sourly.

Allison calls out from the back. “Well she does have that really big shotgun.”

“You’re clearly not a war leader,” Jarhead tells Violet. “Stick with motivational speaking.”

“And didn’t she also capture Cougar?” The young woman shouts forward as she pushes up to the front. “November sounds pretty dangerous.”

Violet looks back through the rearview mirror. “You’ve seen what happens when she has her way.”

“You’ve seen what happens when she dances?” Jarhead says.

Memo suddenly climbs on top of the pile of junk on the front passenger seat. “Maybe we should talk to someone who can handle her? Like Gator.”

“Gator can handle her?” Jarhead says.

“If he can’t handle her then who?” the little girl asks. “Maybe White, I heard he took a gator once.”

“They have things in common, wonderful.”

Violet muses. “That’s not a bad idea.”

To Gator as he arrives! I explain Jarhead is scared of his own gang.

”And you call me out for not being leader material,” Violet says.


Gator wakes with a start. Rubbing the feel of sharp cold fingers from his skin, he gets up and surveys his team. Already the mercenary company is readying to move on. The growing light to the east begins to overtake the blaze behind them.

As he gathers his gear, he listens as the men discuss their task.

“Do we really want to take the Big Ship?” One of them questions. “That place is a fortress.”

Gator’s eyes size up the dissenter. Crudehammer shifts uneasily in his swat gear under his gaze.

Gator tells him, “we don’t need to take the Big Ship, we just have to kill White.”

We also decide Crudehammer favors grenades.

The balding man turns to him. “Okay we kill White, how do we do that? That scrawny little kid’s not going to show himself. Not off the ship.”

“So we either find a vantage point to snipe from, we lure him out somehow or we sneak in.”

Crudehammer frowns. “I don’t how good your rifle is, but you’ll have be pretty far out to have height on the Big Ship.”

Gator nods grimly. “I know.”

“I know he was looking for help at one point,” the younger man offers. “He needed somebody to fix things.”

Gator grins. “I know somebody who can fix things. We could pose as his guard.”

Crudehammer shrugs.

“Either way we are not going to attack it by force,” Gator reassures him. “If we can’t get height or get him out, then we’ll sneak in. I’m working on a plan. Everybody just be ready.”

Morgana glances only for a moment as Jarhead’s van approaches. As she turns to direct the last of the breaking of camp, Gator strides forward. Lily’s motorcycle continues to shadow the van.

He notes Violet in the driver’s seat with a frown. A raw wound covers the left side of her face. The scoring and charring tells him what did the damage. But not why.

Gator says, “Lily found Violet. That’s good. Her face is fucked up. That’s not good.”

As Violet pulls the vehicle to a stop, Gator heads for the driver’s side window. “What the fuck happened to you?”

“I got shot in the face, what does it look like?” she says loudly.

“Kinda of looks like you got shot in the face,” he says. “With a shotgun or something.”

Lily stops behind him. “You’ve got to hear the whole story though.”

He glances back at her. “Looks like she took a shotgun to the face.”

“Yes we have established this,” Violet says with a scowl.

“You’re looking pretty good for taking a shotgun to the face.”

“But it’s the who that’s important!” Lily interrupts.

“So who shot you?” Gator asks.

Violet fills him in, holding back none of the details.

Gator runs over the story. “So November shot you. And you shot November because she was killing Cougar. Cougar was a waste anyway. Why keep her around?”

“I thought I could get some intel from her,” she explains.

Gator look into the van. “Okay, hey Jarhead are you in there?”

Jarhead squirms out of the back. “Hey how’s it going?”

Gator turns to him. “Remember that thing about Sir Fredricks? About November doing something dangerous. Could you find out about that? Now?”

“About Sir Fredrick's?” the tinkerer says.

“Fucking talk to Sir Fredricks,” Gator orders.

“Who is Sir Fredricks?” Violet asks as she gets out of the van as well.

“He’s a dead guy who knows Jarhead.”

“He’s not technically dead,’ Jarhead corrects. “His body is still alive.”

“Jarhead! Do it now. This is not a request.”

Violet stands beside Gator. ”You know what Jarhead, just do it!”

Violet helps Gator’s manipulate a person and gets a 11. She marks experience. Gator then gets a 12.

After some deliberations, Jarhead takes the experience.


“Alright,” Jarhead says. “You know what? Sure, I’ll do it!”

The smaller man pulls the Tesla sphere out of the back and then grabs Gator’s hand.

He gets an 8 on his augury roll and marks experience. Gator helps rolling Hx to get an 8. November slips in to help as well with a 11. Both mark experience.

“Awesome,” Violet says. “Wait! What?”


As the pair concentrate on the humming device, November slips through the growing crowd donning an extra scarf across her face as she spots Violet. Sensing what Jarhead’s purpose she grabs the scrawny inventor’s shoulder and gives a mental push.

Jarhead reaches through the psychic maelstrom to Sir Fredricks, reaching deep and broad.

I give November the option of being bound up with the augury (since she rolls high enough not to be exposed). She opts to stay out of it.


Instantly Gator and Jarhead feel a presence in their minds. The smell of dust thickens the air as the pair's thoughts intermingle. A roiling hot intensity settles on them.

“Gator meet Sir Fredricks,” Jarhead says within this Maelstrom space.

"It’s about time Jarhead!" Fredricks shouts. "What took you so long!”

"I’ve been busy."

”I’ve been trapped in here for five years!” the professor cries.

"Really? Has it been that long? But look I’m almost there."

“My body wastes away and I am but a ghost in these realms," the presence laments. "I will choke the life from you yet!”

"Can you hold off on the choking?" Gator interrupts. "What’s going on with November?"

“November is involved with the Others." The professor switches focus. "Jarhead I need you to build me a device. A device to allow me to escape from this realm.”

"Yeah I’m trying."

“Try harder!”

"Working on it," Jarhead says. "It's taken me five years to get this far. At least I’ve got helpers now who are competent."

“If only I had a helper who had been competent.”

"Are you trying to ask for my help or not?" Jarhead asks, the cheer dropping from his voice.

“What Others?” Gator asks.

"The Others," Sir Fredricks says. "The ones who have been in this realm far longer than me. Other minds, the ones that don’t sleep."

"What does that mean?”

"The old ones, the ones from the Golden Age. They are still here. All of the infected, all of them. They linger in this realm. They live, dream, mumble, rave and scream. It's horrible! Five years!"

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jarhead says.

"The infected? All of them?" Gator asks. "I’m confused."

"He’s talking about the old gods who control the infection," Jarhead explains.

“The infection, they are the infection!” Fredricks raves.

"So they are the infection," Jarhead says. "Climbers are gods. Wow, that’s not scary at all."

The professor harrumphs. “You have no idea what you are talking about.”

"Why don’t you enlighten him?" Gator says.

“I could explain it...but you didn’t even put the safety protocols on that device!” Suddenly Jarhead is struck by Sir Fredricks's rage. His limbs twitch out of his control for a moment before Jarhead thrusts the mad professor from his body.

Jarhead has to roll acting under fire as the psychic entity attempts to possess him. Luckily he gets a 11.

“Let me out of here Jarhead! Let me out!” the professor rails.

"We are working on it," Gator says calmly. "So what do you mean by ‘she’s working with the infected'? Is she infecting people? She’s helping the climbers?"

Sir Fredericks lowers his voice. “I told you she’s working with the old minds. They’re crazy. They’ve been here fifty years! Can you imagine what that would feel like? Fifty years without a body, without sensation. Hungering for the world.”

"But if they are the climbers then they are in the world."

“Yes as a mindless fungus.”

"Then what is November doing?"

“She’s satisfying their base interests,” Fredricks says.

"Base interests of murder and death?" Violet asks.

“They are crazy, they think they can get stronger by drinking blood. They are lost, hopelessly deranged.”

"How do we stop them?" Gator asks.

“Stop them?”

"You’ve been here five years. Have you been doing nothing in that whole time?" he admonishes.

“I’ve been trying to keep sane!" he exclaims. "Maybe we could build a weapon or doorway to attack them. But I need to get out of here. Jarhead you must help me.”

"Do you really have a body to go back to?" Jarhead says.

“I can still feel it faintly. Growing weaker and weaker by the day.“

"Who kept you alive?" the inventor asks. "It was Trista wasn’t it."

“She loves me!” he cries.

"She’s just using you. That’s besides the point though."

Gator puzzles over the information. "So we need to find someway to stop the gods. By building a door, which sounds like a bad idea. Or a weapon, which sounds like a good idea."

Jarhead adds, "with a door...doors are not necessarily selective. I suggest a weapon."

"Can you do that Jarhead?"

"I can when I’ve got some time."

"What do you know about White Sir Fredricks?" Gator asks.

“He has unique abilities. He’s a freak! A prodigy,” the old man says. “Something about him is unnatural.”

"They say that about me too," Jarhead says.

The professor addresses the mercenary. “Not unnatural like Jarhead’s unhinged mind or your scars. He was born different. His mother died of the climbers while he was in her womb.”

"So he’s infected and not infected?" Gator says.

“Something happened to his chromosomes, no one's really sure. He projects into the maelstrom while remaining connected to the real world. It's something none of the old minds understand so they fear him.”

"So the old gods fear him," Jarhead puzzles. "November works for the old gods, and the old gods are bad, so does that mean November is bad?"

Gator stays silent, keeping his thoughts and November's secrets to himself.

By which I mean I recap last session for him. It has been two months in real life.

Violet starts the next scene by reading a charged sitch. She fails, helped by November interfering. For her part November gets a 12 on her Hx roll, marks experience, and gains an advancement. She increases her Weird by 1. Violet also marks experience.


Violet watches Gator and Jarhead carefully as they mumble into thin air. The roar of engines pulls her gaze to the south.

A pair of motorcycles flank the Militia jeep as it pulls up to the gathering. While A.T. and Mox carefully climb out, Fire pulls her bike right next to them and dismounts.

“You made it out, good,” Fire says. “We need to act on this now. What’s Gator doing? Gator?”

While the teen waves a gauntleted hand in front of Gator’s face, Violet explains. “They are looking for information.”

“Now!?” Fire says, turning to face her. “We have more important things to be doing than looking into the freaking maelstrom. There’s bound to be another missile any time now.”

“True. Did you make it to the ship? Did you find out anything about the situation there?”

A.T. and Mox catch up to gathering as Fire fills her in. “I got to the holding nearest the ship. 711. The whole place was cleared out. Recently too. White must have grabbed the entire holding. I don’t know what happened to them but I expect we’ll be seeing them soon.”

November slips through the growing crowd of mercenaries, technicians and Militia. She whispers, “we’ve got to take White down.”

The topic threads through the crowd. “We need to move now,” Wire says.

“We need every man,” a soldier mutters.

“Somebody better wake up Gator,” Allison says.

I quickly outline for Violet how bad a frontal assault would be. They would need to slog through waist deep water and radioactive mud or paddle a boat across the 200 foot gap. All while exposed to 50 caliber machine gun fire. Or they could try to scale the rusty wet anchor chain while exposed to pot shots from the deck.

“We don’t have time for this,” Fire says as she moves to shove Gator.

Violet shouts, “a full out assault is going to get everyone killed! We need to find a way to get on that ship without getting turned into swiss cheese by those machine guns. Give them some time.”

Violet rolls towering presence and gets a 12, gaining +1 forward against Fire.

”I probably look pretty intimidating right now,” she says. “I did survive getting shot in the face.”

”See I did you a favor,” November says.

After some debate, I decide Fire chooses to attack Violet.


Fire glares at her. “Why don’t you shut up.”

Fire moves quickly, arm stretching out for a punch. November interposes herself, knocking the thuggish woman off-balance. As the hot-headed teen struggles to regain her footing, Violet rushes in and grapples her.

November helps Violet gets a 7, which exposes her. At least she marks experience. Violet then rolls acting under fire to dodge Fire and grapple her.

“I’m trying to get her to use her head,” she says.

”Good luck with that.”

Violet gets a 9 which with the +1 makes it 10.


“Use your brain for once,” Violet says as she pulls fire’s arms behind her back. “You can’t stop White if you are dead.”

Caught in a bodylock, Fire fumes and struggles. “If you don’t fight you are useless anyway.”

“Shut the fuck up kid,” November says, her scarf knocked askew. “Listen to your betters.”

November rolls to manipulate and Violet chooses not to help or interfere.

Violet looks up. “Hi there traitor. I deal with you in a second.”

November gets a 10 and marks experience.

As Fire quiets down, November tells Violet. “If you want to get on that ship, we have to get across the water and past the guns without being shot. We need a way to incapacitate the guns or make sure they don’t feel like they have to use them.”

We quickly review intel they logically would have from Taters about how White runs his remote holdings. He would send a few men to keep an eye on it along with a few people infected with the climbers as an insurance policy. The rest was coordinated via radio. He didn’t seem to have a forward base for aiming his airstrikes.

Violet considers the options. “We pretend we are a delegation from the arena offering surrender. Then we get on board with concealed weapons.”

The Tesla sphere stops humming. Gator and Jarhead blink to awareness.

“Welcome back boys,” November says, her eyes on Gator. A.T. slips next to the scarred mercenary.

“This is unexpected,” Jarhead says watching as Fire fumes in Violet’s bear hug.

November reads a person on Gator. He chooses to help her. He gets an 11 and an experience. November gets an 11 total.

A.T. speaks up. “We were just discussing our options for getting onto the Big Ship.”

“Okay,” Gator says. “We have two options. One, we try to sneak on board. White is looking for a mechanic, a fix it person. So we could use Jarhead.” Jarhead sighs as he continues. “Some of us could get on board with him.”

As Gator considers the team roster, November offers, “I’m good with costumes.”

November uses her hold to ask, “what is Gator feeling (about me being there)?”

He answers surprised that you popped out of nowhere. “I don’t want to shoot you,” he offers.

”That’s one party member that doesn’t want to shoot me,” she says.

“And Jarhead has never shot anybody,” I mention.


Gator gauges her warily but nods. “The other option is we sneak in under cover of darkness, which is going to be freaking hard.”

“We could always mount two prongs,” she suggests.

A.T. says, “we should send your team in first and have a second team to sneak in that night if you need backup.”

“I don’t know if you like me or dislike me the way you volunteer me for all sorts of things,” Jarhead mutters.

“You just have to look pretty,” Gator tells him. “You don’t have to do anything. Except build that weapon.”

“It’s not as simple as banging two rocks together,” he protests.

Gator eyes him. “Are you saying you can’t do it?”

“I can do it. It’s just going to take me some time.”

“You might notice we don’t have a whole lot of time right now,” Gator says forcefully. “White has missiles. And he knows how to aim them now.”

“Okay but how far can they reach?”

“Pretty fucking far.”

“And how well can he aim them?” the inventor asks looking to his van.

“Pretty fucking well.” Gator points at the smoke clad ruins behind them. “Can you see the Music Bowl?”

“Can we drive away fast enough?” Jarhead says.

“Probably not fast enough.”

There’s a lot more of this but I’m cutting a lot of extraneous dialog out.

Eventually Jarhead uses his workshop to figure out what he needs to shoot the gods. He’ll need to disassemble the augury, a large power source, November or other psychic for targeting purposes, and he will be exposed to danger.


The smaller man sighs. “If he can hit a moving target, I need to find out what he has. Anyway I need a big power source. Like a nuclear reactor.

“And I’m going to need her,” he says pointing at November. “We’ll need a lot of protection. The gods are not going to be happy about this killing the gods thing, they are going to try to stop it. And should we be talking about this in front of her?”

November shakes her head.

“I’m just going to go somewhere...else,” Jarhead says backpedaling toward his van.

November uses up another hold. “What does Gator wish I would do?”

”I want you on the mission to keep an eye on you,” he says.


A.T. looks at Jarhead’s helpers as they look on from the back of the van. “Do we want to bring more actual repair people beyond Jarhead?”

Jarhead turns and says, “Memo you are staying here. Stay put. Stay.”

As she nods, he continues, “Let’s go Allison.”

“Okay,” she says. She follows him haltingly.

Gator glances at Morgana. “I need you watch over the others. Gremlin, you are also coming.”

Gremlin is Gator’s demolitions and sabotage expert.

The balding man stows his gear and joins the rest of the team: November, Gator, Jarhead, and Allison.

“A five man crew seems about right,” A.T. says. “More than that would seem suspicious.”

“I agree,” Violet says.

“That leaves the roles,” Gator says donning a gasmask. “I’m the muscle.”

“And I’m in training,’ November says.

A.T. and the Militia help them switch out their weapons and heavy armor. Gator leaves his MP5 behind and swaps his armor for something homemade. He carefully dissembles his sniper rifle and with Jarhead’s help disguises the pieces as repair equipment. November simply leaves her armor behind. She buys a bikini made of circuit boards from one of the refugees, a woman named Mercy. Clad in that and some scarves, she joins the others as they take the Militia’s jeep to the coast.

Mercy has an axe and will be one of Jarhead’s gang.

“You can keep your knives,” I tell them. “They are like jello, there’s always room for knives, both hiding them and putting them into people.”


Violet jumps in Lily’s sidecar and the pair race north to the Autodoc.

And that's it for two weeks! Next week assassinations, bad encounters, and zombies!

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Review: Urban Shadows

Time for the first of my promised post-GenCon reviews.

Urban Shadows is one of the latest Apocalypse World based games kickstarted in the past year. As the name indicates, this RPG focuses on politics and action of urban fantasy with the players taking on the roles of vampires, fae, monster hunters and more.
urban shadows
I've had this game in one form or another for quite a while. I contributed to the kickstarter, watch the G+ community and played it at GenCon. What I've seen is what I consider the best game to use the Apocalypse World system yet.

Overview

Urban Shadows focuses on the theme of community and sets itself in a city inhabited by a secret world of supernatural creatures. Think less Twilight and more World of Darkness or True Blood. The available playbooks (the system's equivalent of classes) are divided between four factions.

Mortality focuses on the mundane people of the city: normal humans, both aware and unaware of the supernatural. The Aware is someone who knows about the supernatural and is drawn to that world for their own reasons. The Hunter is your classic monster hunter. The Veteran is someone who used to be a player in the city. They tried to retire but they find themselves being pulled back in. Think Whistler from Blade.
Christ! I'm too old for this! Somebody get me a goddamn wheelchair!
Christ! I'm too old for this! Somebody get me a goddamn wheelchair!
The Night faction focuses on the street and the monsters that live there. The Vamp is your seductive vampire, spinning plots and pulling people into his or her web. The Wolf is your territorial werewolf, part monster part gangleader. The Spectre may be dead but lingers to help or cause trouble for the living.

The Power faction sees the city from a higher level. This is the realm of Wizards and vision prone Oracles who manipulate the city's destiny.

Finally we have the Wild faction, the domain of outsiders like the Tainted, who sold their soul to demons and now do their dirty work, and Fae, exiles and interlopers from distant Arcadia.

There will also be a bunch of bonus playbooks that came out of the kickstarter. Look forward to the Angel, Dragon, Immortal, Scholar, and Vessel.

Innovations: Experience and Debt

The most interesting changes for me from the standard Apocalypse World system are the introduction of corruption and the debt mechanics.

Corruption adds a whole new track of advancement for characters, one where they are rewarded for their darker impulses. Corruption acts like experience, unlocking new moves which in turn give characters even more corruption. The danger however is that if you embrace your inner monster you will lose control of your character as he or she (or it) is eventually forced to retire from play to become a new Threat. So it forms a nice dark spiral where characters are easily tempted by more power at the threat of a loss of agency.

I think it does a good job of modelling World of Darkness's downward spiral of humanity and is an idea I might use next time I want to emphasis that aspect of the game. In Urban Shadows it certainly creates an interesting dynamic where a character either resists their darker impulses or races to concluding their story and retiring to safety before they become a monster.

On the topic of the standard experience and advancement system, that requires characters to interact with each of the four factions. Once each faction is marked they advance. That helps foster the community feel and forces characters to get involved in other people's business.

The other fun mechanic is the debt system. Replacing Bonds or Hx, it codifies the favors owed between characters, including NPCs. The rules do everything you'd expect a favor to do: helping rolls, getting answers, trading favors, granting opportunities, and so on. The result is much more flavorful than Hx and more concrete than Dungeon World's Bonds. Characters can refuse to honor their debts but its risky and you can never lose debts you owe that way. Most likely you end up owing more.

Genre Specific Moves

BasicMoves
A good deal of effort has been put into refining the Basic Moves of the game reflect the genre. These moves are "Unleash", "Escape", "Persuade an NPC", "Figure Someone Out", "Mislead, Distract or Trick", "Keep Your Cool", "Let It Out", "Lend a Hand" and "Get in the Way". From the names alone you can see the social focus of the game. We have only one direct combat move (Unleash) and several moves focused on social interaction of one sort or another. We even have a dedicated escape move which seems to exist to encourage people to bug out and prolong conflicts.

Urban Shadows also provides two other sets of moves: Debt moves and Faction moves.

The Debt moves include "Do Someone a Favor", "Cash in a Debt", "Refuse to Honor a Debt", and "Drop Someone's Name". The first is simple, you do someone a favor they owe you a Debt. "Cashing in a Debt" lets you force a character to help you in some way. "Refusing to Honor a Debt" can get you out of that problem but is risky. You probably will end up owing more and if you fail you might find that no one honors their debt with you any more. "Dropping a name" is a way to turn a Debt into an opening with someone else.

Faction moves focus on getting players involved in the different factions. They also allow one to mark a faction in order to gain experience. The moves include "Hit the Streets", "Put a Face to a Name", and "Investigate a Place of Power". As we can see they are primarily for learning more information and perhaps getting assistance. Factions are groups you go to for help, not things to destroy.

Top Notch Advice

Finally the game master sections add the icing to the cake. These sections are the best I've seen for an Apocalypse World game covering such topics as a thorough discussion of the principles to lots of examples of moves (both MC and player) to handling NPCs and different playbooks to exploring identity and community.

We also get a nice worked example of play to learn from, worked out Threats and Storms (this game's version of Fronts or groupings of Threat linked by a common thread), and a lot on customizing the game. We get example custom moves, an example of solo play, and a whole bunch of advice. Urban Shadows really encourages one to add custom moves and it helps you do it.

Conclusion

Urban Shadows is great game for fast paced political action between supernatural forces. The rules and advice are among the best I've seen and I look forward to getting a physical copy of this well laid out and easily referenced book soon.

Monday, August 17, 2015

RPG-a-Day: 11th through 17th

In for a week, in for the month. Another week of RPG-a-Day entries.

Favorite RPG Writer

Ken Hite will always have my money. I've been a fan of his work since Pyramid Magazine was a once a week ezine. His Suppressed Transmissions series never failed to amaze me and I love his work on Night's Black Agents, The Dracula Dossier, Nazi Occult and numerous other works.

Favorite RPG Illustration

My favorite art I think either has to be the piece below by Jerome Huguenin (for Trail of Cthulhu) or one of the pieces by Samuel Araya. I love mixes of the realistic and the surreal and their art possesses something that immediately gets my creative juices flowing.

Favorite RPG Podcast

Based on my response to the first question of this week it should be no surprise that I enjoy Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff. Their 15 minute segment structure works well for listening while cooking or walk across town. I find the conversations always illuminating. I'm glad to hear they won an Ennie this year.

Favorite RPG Accessory

This would either by my tablet or my dice. I'm not married to my current tablet model so let's go with dice, specifically my Promethean: the Created dice. I like them because they are easy to read, distinctive and for a pair of sentimental reasons. First because I love Promethean itself and second because I actually won them at GenCon through excellent roleplaying.
dice

Longest Campaign played

Several years ago I ran a four year long 80+ session game of Mage: the Awakening called The Darkness That Men Make. It took my players from starting neophytes to the heights of Mastery..and beyond. After over 320 hours of play, my PCs included the head of Chicago's Adamantine Arrow, an Archmage of Death, and a Provost who bound his soul to a near god-like void spirit.

Longest game session played

A long time ago, back in high school I played a game that started after school around 6 or so and ran until the early hours of the morning. We slept and then played until 4 the following afternoon. There was a 4 hour combat in the middle there which we dubbed the never-ending battle.

Favorite Fantasy RPG

I ran D&D so long that part of me is dead now. Rangers, Paladins, and Wizards seem so blah to me that I can barely summon the urge to play regardless of how the rules have changed. Since D&D dominates fantasy RPG landscape, I see too much of it in other games. So for this question I’ll have to go with Arcana Evolved which at least injects some new ideas into the mix.

Monday, August 10, 2015

RPG-a-Day: 4th through 10th

Since I posted several RPG-a-Days last week I guess I'll have to continue with it this week. So its time for 7 more RPG-a-Day entries.

Most Surprising Game

Honestly there haven't been that many games that surprise me. I have a good bead on what a game will be like. Most often it is my players who throw me for a loop, heading off in a direction I failed to see or understand. A surprise in a game is typically a downer for me because it means the game failed to live up to the hype in someway. Geist: the Sineaters for instance, despite being a well written game, failed to open any new avenues of play for me which I think was a first for White Wolf.

Most recent RPG purchase

My most recent RPG purchase was at GenCon and the last book I bought there was Dread. I didn't expect to come across a physical copy but as I was searching for a copy of Spark I ended up in the wrong booth and ran across it. I've played the horror game a few times but had yet to read the text itself. It's an okay read so far and I'll probably finish it in another couple of days. Now I just need a set of Jenga blocks.

Most recent RPG played

Since Sundays are when my online group plays this would be Apocalypse World, specifically the Climbers. It's possible that as of this posting that we've played our final session. If however we go by calendar date, the final game would be the Fate game I played at the end of GenCon where our heroic cybernetic bloggers uncovered the awakening of the Internet and its possession of people through craigslist.

Favorite Free RPG

I like to pay for my games and I don't know that I've picked up many for free. Fate however was pay what you will. So I can say I didn’t pay anything for the main book (before anyone gets uppity, I have since shelled out for a physical copy and bought supplements from Evil Hat directly). Since I've gotten significant usage out of it, I can say it's a favorite of mine.

Favorite appearance of RPGs in the Media

Honestly I don't pay much attention to how RPGs depicted on TV or in the movies. Most of the time it seems to be used mock geek culture. Sometimes it's good-natured mocking (like how not to run a D&D game), other times not so much. As someone who would like RPGs to go more mainstream, my favorite media appearances are when some celebrity reveals that they are a roleplayer. So news media primarily.

Favorite media you wish was an RPG

It seems like all my favorite media either has a dedicated RPG already (Doctor Who, Marvel) or could easily be adapted to it (X-files, Sense8). I don't see much media of any sort left that isn't already represented, let alone media that I like. All most lack is a dedicated world book. I like to make my own worlds so I don't really need stats for my favorite characters.

I suppose if we included campaigns I've played in the past as (very) limited release media then I might have some choices. In particular I'd love to explore the world of Into Darkness more with others (as a player).

Favorite RPG Publisher

Currently I have to say Onyx Path with Pelgrane Press as the runner-up. They are both producing a lot of great content right now. Onyx Path's spread is particularly impressive from all of the classic World of Darkness including anniversary edition material and Vampire 4th edition to 11 game lines (excluding blue books) for new World of Darkness to things like Exalted, Scion, and Aeon.

Friday, August 7, 2015

The Climbers Recap: Before the Night of Fire

creepersbanner
As I write this we are rapidly approaching our first session of the Climbers in 8 weeks (!) and I’m almost caught up in recapping the log. This session, just prior to our long hiatus, got off to a late start, so late in fact that I began the character creation process for the game we played in the interim (Night’s Black Agents by the way).

As in my earlier actual play reports, small green text indicates out of character talk, mechanics and other game aspects outside of the fiction.

Our main characters are:
  • Gator (the Gunlugger) is an assassin and part-time bodyguard who wears customized scrounged armor made from Kevlar and ceramic inserts. Camouflaged for the jungle, his face was ruined in a fight with an alligator. His eyes are always sizing things up and his brutal life has left his body a hard sheet of muscle. He runs a gang of mercenaries and was hired to kill White, the warlord of Miami. He always completes a job. 
  • Jarhead (the Savvyhead) is a thin African-American man with a short goatee, long dreads, and clothes covered in pockets and gear. Travelling around in an old news van, he repairs items for a living. He is investigating a device that can bend space and time. He has also obtained employees in the form of a young woman Allison and her brother Waters as well as a little girl named Memo. His old mentor Sir Fredricks wants to talk with him. Too bad Jarhead left his mind in the psychic maelstrom. 
  • November Orleans (the Skinner) is descended from a family which left New Orleans before it sank. She is a beautiful woman of mixed heritage with dark eyes and skin, a sweet face and lush body. She dresses herself in a mix of scavenged clothing that somehow works together and wears a necklace made from rows of antique coins which jingle and shine as she moves. Her main profession is as a dancer, especially belly dancing, but she has a sideline business in cooking and animal training. Oh and now she works for the "gods". 
  • Violet Jefferson (the Touchstone) is descended by survivalists and her clothing and gear reflects her origins. Plain looking but fit, she carries a pocket copy of the Federalist papers and founding documents of the United States of America, an idea she hopes to revive. Her followers are demanding her help to liberate Miami from a tyrant. November blew off half her face recently.
Last session ended with two characters becoming enemies as Violet discovered November’s dealings with the gods (and human sacrifice!) and shot her. November then returned the favor and left Violet for dead. Jarhead meanwhile continues to try to save A.T., the leader of the Militia, while Gator makes his way south to the others. Oh and White launched a rocket at the Music Bowl and missed...for now.

“When last we left our heroes-”, I begin.

“Heroes”, Violet air quotes.

“Everyone's a hero in their own story.”

November comments about “shoot first ask questions never.”

The sniping back and forth goes on all night. I’ll include the funnier bits.
I recap the current level of damage: Gator and November at 3 o’clock (1-harm), Jarhead at 6 o’clock (2-harm) and Violet is itchy, scarred and in pain at 9 o’clock (3-harm).

Violet explains she was confused about what exactly happened last session because she was wrapped up in her own situation.

“Thinking quickly, making poor decisions,” I comment.

“I have to shoot her before she starts stripping,” November says mockingly.

“How often does that come up in conversation?” Jarhead jokes.

”More often in Apocalypse World games,” she says.

”That move makes no sense though,” Violet says to which we all agree. Not that it will stop November from abusing it.

Start of Session

After some delay in finding November’s character sheet (since we just moved) we do Hx highlighting.
  • November gets Hot (by Jarhead) and Weird highlighted. 
“You say that with such resignment,” Jarhead comments to me.

“Arg, she’s going to take her clothes off again,” November comments.

  • Jarhead highlights Weird (by Violet) and Sharp. 
  • Violet marks Hot (by November who laughs evilly) and Hard. 
”Thank you,” Violet tell me.

”I’m always a fan of the players.”

  • Gator highlights Hard (by November) and Sharp. Though I’m tempted by Cool. 
Violet rolls Fortunes and gets an 8. For her want she chooses +judgemental and will get 2-barter and +insight if she finds her followers.

Before the Night of Fire

Jarhead removes the final bandages from Fuse’s torso.

“Well I owe you one,” the spiky haired mercenary says.

“Yes, yes you do,” Jarhead says as he turns to his other patient.

The worn old man lies on a gurney, breathing slow but regular. The leader of the Militia is healthy but his mind refuses to wake up. Jarhead scratches his goatee as his helpers return from their latest search.

“She’s nowhere in the Music Bowl,” Allison says as her brother nods beside her.

He nods absently, distracted by the readout on the machine beside A.T.

Elsewhere November slips past the knots of worried refugees into the arena. Her play at searching for Violet seems to be working but with the missile strike there are bigger concerns. Though not as big as mine, she thinks to herself, keeping her thoughts from her patrons, “the gods”.

I award an experience to November for killing Cougar as payment by the gods.

Gator and his band of mercenaries trudge out of the ruins. Ahead the Music Bowl looms over a field of rubble and concrete. Hundreds of refugees cluster in its shadow while on one end a crude roller coaster rumbles.

Gator glances behind him where smoke still rises in the distance from yesterday’s missile impact. “Let’s find Jarhead,” he tells his gang. Together they march across the no man’s land.

”I want to keep an eye on them,” he explains.

As they near the arena, a young woman with a gray dog intercepts them.

“Gator, where have you been?” Lily Miami asks as Exit stands close to his master.

“I was at the Autodoc,” he says. His shadow partially covers the dark-haired woman as he begins to move past her.

“Have you seen Violet?” she asks grabbing him with a sleeveless arm.

Gator stops. “No, I thought she was here.”

“She disappeared a few days ago,” she explains. “Boo and the rest went to the Autodoc to see if she went there.”

Gator glances north. A dark cloud continues to rise from the ruins.“We were taking a roundabout way here. I didn’t see her. It would be good to find her. We need to pick up the pace on White.”

She follows his eyes. “That explosion, you know what it was?”

“A rocket landing.”

Her eyes widen. “A rocket? You mean like a missile? Shit. We’ve got to find Violet.”

“Where’s her people?” he asks.

”Some of us are still here, the rest went to the Autodoc. We’ve got a radio set up if news comes in.”

“You should be fine then. Who is in charge now?” he asks.

“We’re a republican democracy,” she explains.

“So who’s in charge?”

She puts her hands on her hips. “We haven’t elected a representative yet.”

The players laugh.

“Alright then. I’ll talk to somebody, at some point, and find out where you are at. It sounds really really efficient.”

“Hey! At least our system is fair.”

“My system works right now,” he says as Wire shoves Lily aside.

“You said we had people to see, Gator?” the older mercenary asks.

“Yes.” Gator leads them into the Music Bowl.

Down in the foundry, November mingles with the Militia members keeping a vigil by A.T.’s bedside. Nearby Jarhead works on some strange medical equipment. The steel doors open and Shadow and Fuse raise their weapons.

Gator strides in, his hardened warriors shuffling in behind him. As Jarhead’s guards relax, the tinkerer turns and exclaims, “Hey Gator good to see you!”

November moves in to give Gator a hug. The burly killer tenses up and the dancer manages to embrace him.

As she pulls away he says, “Hey November.”

“Hey,” she smiles.

“What’s going on here?” he asks. “What’s the hubbub?”

“Good to see you,” she says and glances to the infirmary.”We need to move on White soon but nobody can find Violet and A.T. is still down.”

“Yeah I heard that.”

“I suggested some of her people go to the Autodoc,” she explains without the slightest tell. “That’s the only place I can think of.”

Jarhead wanders up to them. “That’s interesting, have you seen all the cool equipment I’ve got now?”

As he begins to enthusiastically showing off his new gear, a woman with red mohawk breaks into their conversation. “Hey you are the leader of this band of mercenaries, right?”

“The Free Company,” he corrects her.

”Whatever,” Vega says. “Did your mercs knocked over one of our transports?”

“They wouldn’t have done anything that wasn’t a job,” he says.

“So you are saying, they did do it,” she accuses.

Gator’s people begin to slide their hands to their weapons while the Militia begins to encircle Vega. November slips her hand to the straps holding on her armor.

Gator reads a person and gets a 12+. He gets to ask any three questions. He also marks experience.

How can I get you to back down? he asks first. What is she scared of? is his second.

Gator gauges the situation as a bead of sweat makes its way down Vega’s temple. Twelve to five assuming Jarhead and November don’t jump in to help. I could scare her but that doesn’t help my business.

Vega makes a tactical choice. “You’re lucky that A.T. is out or we’d take you down where you stand.”

Gator notes her eyes don’t flick to her boss. Someone else is scarier to her. Probably Fire from the talk.

“Here’s how it is going to go down,” he explains. “You are going to settle down. Your boy over there, A.T., is looking a little worse for wear. Unless you want the fallout from whoever it is who takes over when he dies, you should just let it drop.”

He rolls manipulate a person, using cool since he is easy to trust and gets a 9.

Vega nods curtly and steps back. “Okay. We’ve got to focus on getting the boss back up, then we can sort all of that out. Jarhead where are we at with all of that!”

Jarhead looks up from his poking at the old man’s head. “Um. Give me one second.”

Jarhead opens his brain to find where A.T.’s mind is off to and gets a 5! At least he marks experience.

First I ask, “why are you interested in the Psychic Maelstrom?”

He explains it is just another avenue of research, something intangible but real.

Jarhead reaches out with his mind. It finds something. He pulls on that thread and it pulls back dragging him with it. The dark-skinned man pales slightly and topples face first onto the concrete floor.

Allison rushes over to him. As she checks his pulse, she says, “he must not have recovered from drilling into his own head.”

“What?” Gator and November say.

Allison she looks up at them. “A few days ago back, before A.T. came in here, he did some surgery on himself. See the bandages here. It fixed the damage to his brain from what happened in the Autodoc.”

As Gator and the others consider what to do, November looks at Jarhead’s van and the strange artifact inside.

November asks me about his augury, Dustwich’s sphere and if it was possible she could use it. I turn to the question to Jarhead and if she could have seen him use it. Jarhead explains he has never used it in the open. But November has a plan.

Next we jump to Violet.

The sun beats down on Violet as she scrambles through the broken streets of Miami. Her head pounds with the heat and horrific damage just south of her left eye. Beyond the distraction of the pain however she moves quick and sure over the rough terrain.

After mounting a mound of bricks, she glances south. The arena remains hidden by the trees and debris but dark smoke continues to rise from nearby. Absently she scratches her arm, the disease working its way into her flesh. She tries to think back to what happened but finds only fragments. Darkness. Pain. Betrayal.

She climbs down the hill and along a deserted street. A few lamp posts lean this way and that, weighed down by the withered corpses atop them.

Then she hears something moving up the hill of bricks behind her. Quickly she ducks down an alley and circles back.

Violet rolls acting under fire to be stealthy and gets a 14!. So she gets a moment of being awesome.

A few moments later she looks down at a slight girl in a hospital gown following the path she just took. She calls down to the dark-haired child.

Memo jumps for a moment and then turns. “I found you.”

Violet slides down a broken wall to Jarhead’s ward. “You were looking for me?”

“Yes I need your help,” the girl says her eyes unbothered by Violet’s wound.

“What for?”

“I need you to get Jarhead out of the Music Bowl,” she says pulling on her long hair. “It’s not safe for him there.”

“Why not?” Violet asks, studying the strange child.

“Something bad is going to happen there,” she says as she tugs her hair across her front of face.

Violet opens her brain on the situation using hard since she knows her enemy and gets a 11. She also marks experience.

I ask her, “You know your enemy-"

”I don’t believe it,” November comments.

”What or who makes the Psychic Maelstrom your enemy?”

She explains whatever drove November to do what she did.

“So the gods are your enemy.”

”I’m a militant atheist,” she realizes.

Violet glances around them, feeling for any watchers. The ruins remain quiet except for the sounds of nature. But something hovers at the edge of sensation, some psychic presence watching quietly and without malice.

Violet asks how she could investigate them. I explain she needs Jarhead or new moves.

We also discuss how much time she before the climbers kill her.

”How many cases have you seen progress?” I ask.

“I think now would be a good time to figure why I shoot first and ask questions later,” she says.

”That’s funny, I think the beginning of last session was a good time for that,” November comments.

”I meant in terms of the climbers. There were some pretty good reasons I shot you last time.”

“I know. I’m not bitter,” November says unconvincingly.

Violet goes on to explain that when she was in her early teens there was a big outbreak of the disease near home. It took a couple of months to bring it under control and in the process someone tried to find a cure using homeopathic methods. It didn’t work very well but gave her a clear idea of what it was like to suffer from the climbers.

I outline the stages of the disease: first itchiness and fever (sometimes one or the other, eventually leading to both), then the green spots begin to appear in the eyes. After that the victims begin to sleepwalk. It varies a lot in duration but at its fastest it take at least a few days until they hit the sleepwalking stage.


Relieved if only partially, Violet asks, “how much danger is he in? Is it something immediate?”

“We need to move him soon,” Memo whines.

“How soon? Next hour, next day?”

“I don’t know how long,” she says. “Soon. If he’s there for a few days he may never leave.”

”I’ve got all of my shit there, I’m never going to want to leave,” Jarhead says.

Violet looks north sharply and instantly regrets the decision.

“I need your help,” Memo says scrutinizing the wounded woman. “If you need something maybe I can help you with that.”

“If you can help me with the climbers,” she sighs.

Memo scrunches her eyes for a moment. “Uh I guess I can help you with that.”

“Good luck.”

Memo looks around quickly. “I can do something, we can come up with something, we can do something. Yes. To stop the climbers.”

Violet reads a person and gets a 9 and marks experience since she rolled hard since she’s cleared eyed. “Is she telling the truth?” she asks.

As Memo digs into a wrecked car, Violet tries to figure out this strange child. She seems sincere but can she really stop the climbers?

Memo pops out the other side of the car. “We can make something to help you. But we’ll need some wire and a battery.”

“Wire?” Violet asks scratching her arm. “How would that work?”

“It will work,” she says ducking back inside. “We just need some wire, a battery and some bits of metal.”

Violet peers inside the dingy wreck. “So what are you trying to do? How will it work? Humor me, Just walk me through it.”

Memo appears with a rusted radio in her hands. “It will slow it down, It will um.” Her voice suddenly switches to monotone. “It will create an electromagnetic field with interferometric properties that will disrupt human beta waves. Tuned to precisely to 440 Hz, it can then disrupt remote synaptic triggering by foreign gestalt intelligences.”

Who is this child? Violet thinks as the girl rattles off instructions like that old instruction manual she read as a child.

Memo takes a deep breath at the end of speech. “So I’ll make this and then you’ll help me get Jarhead out of the Music Bowl?”

“Uh, yes, but after that we need to go straight to the Autodoc.”

“Sure, sure,” she says grinning widely.

In the foundry, Gator glances at Allison and Waters. The two youths gently shake him but Jarhead stubbornly remains unconscious. With some effort they pull the skinny man up onto a gurney.

November explains that she spent some of her time “looking” for Violet over the last few days but really she’s been looking for way to isolate herself from the Psychic Maelstrom. So recently she would have been asking general questions of Jarhead on how his device works.

I turn to Jarhead and ask “if someone showed a genuine interest in your work would you have shown it off?” Especially as November is very subtle.

He says he would have shown them the basics of it.

So November acts under fire to sneak into the van while everyone is distracted. She gets an 11.


Gator notices no one else moving to do something. “Damn, we need him awake.”

As he steps forward, November slips behind the crowd into the van.

Gator shakes the tinkerer. “Wake up, Jarhead. Wake up!”

Then he slaps him.

Next we jump to Jarhead or his mind at least.

Jarhead blinks and steadies himself. Looking down, his feet rest on fresh asphalt. Then he hears the screams.

He glances around. He finds himself on a street, one untouched by the apocalypse. Besides the broken windows, the buildings suffer no structural damage. Down the road a car burns while people rush past. Distant skyscrapers stand unmarred. Movement draws his eyes to the roof to his left where a crowd of people climb up the side and out of windows, seeking the highest point with a dazed look in their eyes.

Another knot mobilizes behind him, attempting to scale a street lamp. It’s the day of the Climbers! he thinks. This is about to become a very hazardous area in few minutes.

As he turns, he notices a young boy beside him. Tears leak from the five-year old’s pale blue eyes. Without thinking Jarhead grabs the child and runs.

“Daddy!!” the boy screams.

“Quiet kid!” Jarhead says shushing him.

As he begins to make some distance, the scene shifts suddenly. He finds himself in the wilderness, miles from civilization. Around him armed men and women practice shooting at straw targets across a forest meadow.

The boy stands taller besides him, several years older and dressed in padded vest and some jeans. As Jarhead calms down, a man hands the child a gun.

“Alright, Alex aim at the target down there,” the mustached man says.

These are memories, Jarhead realizes. I’m in the Psychic Maelstrom.

He scans the his surroundings. Above the trees round blue mountain rise. The Appalachians don’t tell him where he is except somewhere between Arkansas and New York.

He turns to the man. “What’s going on here?”

As he guides the boy Alex’s aim, the man explains. “Training. We’ve got to be ready if more infected come by.”

Jarhead appraises Alex’s rifle. The shiny new weapon dwarfs the youth. “What year is this?”

The man looks up at him. “Year? Its 20-”

Suddenly a hiss drowns out the man’s voice and Jarhead’s surroundings turn fuzzy. The ground shakes and everything turns to water for a moment. What is the Maelstrom trying to show me here? he wonders. How do I get out of here?

In other words Gator is shaking him.

“The slap is coming,” Gator warns.


As things return to normal, Jarhead realizes no one has taken notice. “Where are we?”

“Tennessee,” the man says. “About of 100 miles from where Memphis used to be.”

“Memphis?”

“Yeah before they burned it down.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Jarhead says with a smile. “I wonder if I can go over there and check it out?”

He concentrates on Memphis for a moment.

Suddenly he finds himself surrounded by flames. Heat burns his right cheek. I regret this decision, I want to go back, he panickedly decides.

Suddenly the heat fades from around him except from the pain on his right cheek. Gator’s calloused hand holds him up while the other readies for a second slap.

“Ow! I was in Memphis,” Jarhead shouts. “Man it was hot. Where’s Alex?”

“Who?” Mox says leaning in.

”Does A.T. have blue eyes?” Violet asks.

”Yes.”


Jarhead’s mind suddenly puts the pieces together. He turns to the slumbering man on the gurney. A.T.’s eyes remain closed, his pale blue eyes hidden.

“Hold on, I got an idea,” he says and heads for his van.

Back to November.

Meanwhile November slips into the back of Jarhead’s van unseen. Carefully she picks up Jarhead’s strange sphere and begins to twist the knobs and dials he’s attached to it. The device begins to glow a faint green and a hum surrounds her.

First I ask her to act under fire to even use it. She gets a 10. Then she rolls weird for a customized augury roll. Again she gets lucky and gets a 9. She marks an experience and isolates herself from the psychic maelstrom. Of course that is all that goes right with it.

”At least it didn’t blow up in your face,” I tell her.

”My face is important to me,’ she says.

”Yeah, cause you still have one,” Violet comments.


November calls out to Gator, her voice echoing distantly through the maelstrom.

She rolls Lost (that probably shouldn’t work but oh well) and gets a 13. She marks another experience.

After some unhappiness about retconning what happened with waking Jarhead, I work out a compromise that handles the bleeding of the augury as well.


Gator turns, letting Jarhead slide back to the gurney unslapped. “Hey Gator come over here,” November says softly.

He wander to the van, dazed and slightly unsteady. He tries to shake out the cobwebs of his mind but feels a wrenching instead. Everything seems straight but also at an angle. He lurches into the van to sit down.

As he settles down, November slips up beside him, a soft glow surrounding her. ‘Gator I don’t know how much longer we can talk. Whatever is driving the climbers is inside my brain.”

Distantly Gator’s voice reaches them. “Wake up, Jarhead. Wake up!”

November hurriedly continues. “I’ve made a deal with them so I know what’s going on. But under normal circumstances they can hear everything I say. I had to kill Cougar.

The sound of a slap interrupts her as Jarhead cries, “Ow!”

“I don’t have much longer. I had to kill Cougar and Violet came across me and was going to kill me,” she babbles. “I returned fire before I knew who she was. I don’t know what’s become of her. I’m immune to the climbers now.”

“Where’s Alex?” Jarhead asks outside.

“Because of what they can do. They’re serious. I don’t know what else to do. I can’t hold this anymore,” she says as the sphere vibrates in her hands.

“Hold on I’ve got an idea,” Jarhead says.

But first Gator rolls read a person and gets a 10. He marks experience.

”Are you telling the truth?” he asks and she nods.


“What do you intend to do?” Gator quickly asks.

“I need your help taking these guys down,” she pleads.

“Who?”

“The omnipresent psychic maelstrom creatures, they call themselves ‘the gods’,” she says nervously.

”What are you really feeling?” he asks.

”A bit over my head,” she admits.

Then Jarhead opens up the van. Gator stands behind him and stares in disbelief at November and...himself. The moment of paradox collapses in an instant. Jarhead blinks and Gator stands behind him. The second Gator is nowhere to be seen.

Gator rolls acting under fire as reality crashes back together. He gets a 12 and gets to recall both versions of reality with no conflicts or consequences. He also gets to choose where he is.

November gently lets go of the Tesla sphere. “Oh good. You are better. I was thinking we’d have to contact with you with the sphere.”

Jarhead reads a person and November interferes. He gets a 11 and she gets an 8, giving him a final result of 9. Jarhead also marks experience. Jarhead asks if she is telling the truth.

Jarhead narrows his eyes. She might be happy to see me but there’s something she’s not telling me about the sphere.

Carefully he picks it up and cradles it his arms, his eyes never leaving her. As she tries to shrug it off with a smile, he says, “let’s not be touching other’s inventions again.”

She nods and glances over his shoulder at Gator.

“Jarhead,” Gator says.

“What do you want?” he says turning.

“What do you know about Sir Fredricks?”

Jarhead stumbles. ‘That’s an interesting name, “ he says hastily. “Where’d you hear that one from?”

November tries to read a person and gets a 7. Jarhead interferes and gets a 7. Thus November fails.
Jarhead’s eyes flick to November but she can’t read him before he turns back to Gator.

“An old buddy of mine said he was sent by Sir Fredricks,” Gator explains.”He apparently needs to talk to you.“

“Your buddy, he knows him how?” Jarhead asks.

“Gunge,” he clarifies. “He’s dead.”

“Why are dead friends talking to you?” the thin man says, the corner of his eye twitching. “Does this happen often to you?”

“No.”

“You don’t often meet your dead friends?” he asks. “Are these friends dead because you killed them or-”

Gator cuts him off. “I think you’re deflecting. Number one, I actually didn’t kill Gunge, I tried to save him. Number two, you obviously know who Sir Fredricks is. So here’s the deal, there’s two people who can talk to him right now and somebody’s going to do it. One is you and the other is on the Big Ship.”

Jarhead strokes his goatee. “Hmm, that may be very bad. For everyone.”

“So you going to have the conversation?” he asks.

Jarhead runs his hands through his hair. “Ugh, this is not going to go easy. I guess if I’ve gotta. Do you know where Sir Fredricks is?”

“He said you knew how to find him.”

“Damn it,” he says. He turns to A.T. “Let me do this first. Argh. I don’t think I can take you.” He pauses. “Can I take him? Maybe.”

”Sure you can take him kicking and screaming to the Psychic Maelstrom with your augury. It is however a really bad idea.”

Jarhead shelves that thought and approaches his patient. He adjusts the knobs of the sphere and reaches out to A.T.

Jarhead makes his augury roll, marks experience. and gets a 12.

The we jump back to Violet.


Memo twists the last coil of wire and holds up the odd device to Violet. It looks like a set of bed springs married a rubix cube. “We still need a battery though,” she says.

“Let’s look for one,” Violet replies.

Violet acts under fire to find one and gets a 9.

A half hour later they spot a ruined hardware store. Glancing inside, mostly bare shelves greet them. A few tools and supplies remain however. Violet scans an empty battery section before pressing on to the rear of the store. As she tosses aside some debris from the auto section, muffled conversation drifts in from outside.

Quickly she grabs an intact car battery just as several strangers enter the shop. She waves Memo to stay down and glances up into the dingy bowl mirror above her. The green fatigues and well displayed weapons make it clear these are Militia.

A familiar voice shouts, “make sure there’s nothing left here. Make it quick, we’ve got places to be. Those missiles are not going to stop falling.”

In the mirror the dark-haired woman stand in the entrance, her bulky armor all but announcing her.

Violet has met Fire before we decide.

”She’d probably not kill me outright in cold blood,” she says.

”Yeah most people wouldn’t shoot before talking to a person first,” November says.


Violet slowly rises and calls out. “Fire is that you?”

Several guns turn toward her direction.

“Stop, who’s there?” Fire commands. “Who’s that?”

“Violet,” she says keeping her hands where they can see them.

“What are you doing in here?” the lieutenant of the Militia asks.

“It’s complicated. I’m not in a good way right now. So please don’t shoot me.” She gestures to Memo who holds up the battery. “It’s just me and the girl here. We only came in here for a battery.The rest is yours. We’ve got to get back to the Music Bowl.”

”The understatement of the century,” Jarhead comments.

The scowling woman appraises Violet. “You were not kidding when you said you were in a bad way. Who did that?”

“I’m still trying to figure out the particulars myself,’ she says, keeping her fingers from scratching. “The situation was ... complicated.”

”Unprecedented,” November says.

“You’ve been to the Music Bowl recently?” Fire asks, rubbing at a few minor cuts on her face.

“Last I heard there was a prison breakout. I went looking for Cougar because,” she trails off. “Well I found someone who killed her. We fought and the next thing I know I’m lying on the floor like I am now. I was headed for the Autodoc but it seems I’m needed at the arena. If you see any of the other Republicans could you let them know.”

She chuckles. “Yeah I’ll let them know.”

Violet’s voice hardens. “I think I’ll have a few things to straighten out.”

Fire looks her in the eyes, “I think if it happened to me, I straighten things a little bit faster.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Violet says, moving closer.

Fire flippantly waves a hand. “Right but the little girl needs your help or whatever. Take your battery and go.”

“Thank you.”

As the pair exit, Fire stops her. “One thing. You haven’t seen those mercs around?”

“Not for four or five days.”

Fire nods. “Thanks. We’re heading south to deal with missiles. Who knows when he’ll fire again.”

Violet locks eyes with the young woman. “Get him good for me will ya.”

Fire smiles and cracks her knuckles. “Oh sure, looking forward to it,”

Once outside, Memo hooks up the battery. Instantly, Violet feels a buzzing in her head like an angry wasp. The pair head west.

Back with the others, Jarhead chooses to connect to someone (A.T.) and goes deep and broad.

As the strange sphere hums and glows, Jarhead whispers, “Alex come on back.”

November mingles with the Militia members as they look on, watching Gator as he hangs back with his mercenary band.

Jarhead's words reverberate, echoing in the minds of those present. Outside, those in the arena look up wondering who just said Alex. In the wastes beyond, Violet hears a name whispered behind her. Across Miami, heads turn to the west.

As well as White who will use that burst to triangulate his next shot. I warn the PCs bad stuff is coming but keep this detail to myself for now.

A.T.’s eyes blink open.

“That worked?" Jarhead asks. "Of course it works.”

A.T. shifts his head. “Where am I?”

Mox leans over him. “Boss, you’re in the foundry at the Music Bowl. We’ve got a guy here who managed to patch you up. You are going to be OK.”

As Jarhead congratulates himself, the Militia swarm past him to greet their returned leader. He pouts and wanders over to his helpers. “Don’t you think I was awesome Allison?”

She quickly puts on a smile. “Yeah, you brought someone back from a coma. That’s pretty impressive right?”

"Impressive," he says smiling and surveying the workshop. "See someone else do that. Did you find Memo?"

She shakes her head. “No I haven’t been able to find here. She’s not here. I don’t know where she is. I’m worried she wandered off into the wilds. There could be radioactive boars out there.”

"I knew I should have chipped all of you," he says.

“Chipped? What’s that mean?”

He shrugs. "It's an idea I’ve been working on, you’ll find out. Maybe."

After a short while, the crowd begins to mobilize. Mox helps A.T. to his feet and they begin to shuffle out. The giant man claps Jarhead on the shoulder. "Thanks."

Jarhead asks about payment and I remind him, he was doing it for Violet who helped him repair his head.

She notes she was acting with hope the whole time. I agree, but point out she's not there right now.


The scrawny man smiles. "Glad to be of service, goodbye!"

Nearby Gator's gang start shuffling their feet and looking for something to do.

“Shouldn’t we find some place to rest," Morgana asks. "I don’t know if we should stick around the Music Bowl with missiles flying around.”

"One minute," Gator says as he moves to intercept A.T. He catches the old man by the doors.“A.T.”

“Gator,” the moustached man says warily.

"I understand you were looking for me."

A.T. straightens up. “Yes, about a little mystery about some missing weapons.”

“There was a little misunderstanding while I was indisposed,” Gator explains. “So I wanted to see where you are headed. I’m okay leaving it as it is.”

A.T. frowns. “Some good men of mine died defending those supplies.”

November slides up to the men as Gator says. “How about I give some in recompense.”

“What sort?” he asks warily.

“I got one of the guys who did the job.”

Gator rolls manipulate a person using cool since he is easy to trust and gets an 11. November aids and gets an 8. Bumping it to 12 and turning A.T. into an ally. Specifically a friend.

November whispers a sweet word in A.T.’s ear and the older man loses his frown. “I’ll take that man, but I also need to know where those weapons went.”

November glances at Gator. in his moment of hesitation, she says, “we don’t have time for squabbling. You need to take the offer.”

Using the last of her hold on him.

“You’re right,” A.T. sighs. “There’s those missiles. We need to deal with that now.”

Gator nods. ”We need to get Violet and her crew together and we need to do this.”

“I’ll mobilize my men outside.” A.T. says. “If you find Violet you can tell her where to find us.”

Road gives only a brief struggle before the Militia take him away. A.T. mutters something to Mox about joining the tribunal with him and Fire as they exit the foundry. Gator rallies the rest of his men and directs them to make camp well outside the arena. He also instructs the others to radio the Autodoc to see if they found Violet.

Then he and November talk to Jarhead about some treatment for their wounds.

“I’m going to need some payment,” the wondermaker says.

”That’s the right answer,’ I tell him.

November offers him her tablet and Gator pulls some barter from his bag of gear. Jarhead turns to his supplies.

The following comes from his workshop. Basically heal 1-harm for consequences down the line.

“I can do a patch job. It’s not going to be pretty and there will be some consequences down the line,” he tells them.

“What sort of consequences Jarhead?” November asks.

“Some feelings of sickness and exhaustion,” he says mixing up some chemicals. “For speed, sacrifices must be made. You’ll be fine for tomorrow but expect to crash the next day.” He turns around with a needle filled with a purplish fluid. “Up to you guys.”

Gator considers their timeline. “Can you do it on the way?”

“I guess. Where’s Memo?”

Switching focus.

The ruined arena rises up ahead. Memo tugs on Violet’s sleeve as they quickly walk to Music Bowl.

“We have to go now! Now! there’s no time!” she repeats. Violet and she break out into a run.

Violet rolls acting under fire and gets a 9. I remind the group that a psychic pulse could perhaps help someone aim a missile.

“What is it that’s coming?” Violet asks as they approach the huddled mass of tents and refugees.

“Something really bad is going to happen,” the child gasps, white gown flapping in the evening breeze. “Really really bad.”

“Is it just Jarhead who is trouble?” she asks.

“I don’t know, we should get Jarhead out.”

A motorcycle roars up to them. Lily pulls it to a halt and asks, “Where have you been Violet? We’ve been looking for you for days. What happened to you? What happened to your face?”

Violet tries to walk around the bike. “Let’s get inside.”

Lily grabs her. “No I want an answer now. What happened to you?”

“I got shot in the face, can’t you tell!” she shouts, trying to pull free.

“When, how, by whom?”

Memo grabs Violet’s other arm. “We’ve got to go now!”

Violet fixes her good eye on Lily. “Look I got an upset kid who needs me, I’ve been shot in the face, there’s a good chance I’ve got the climbers, I’m in a bad way! We’ll get this straightened out when I get this taken care of!”

Violet rolls Towering presence, gets a 10, and get marks experience.

Lily lets go and swallows. “Alright, hop on. I’ll drive you in.”

The pair climb into her sidecar. “To Jarhead,” Violet orders.

To November.

A knock disturbs November as she settles down in her private room within the arena. She goes to door.

Outside Wisher puts on his most gracious smile. “I have a wonderful gift for you. I’d love for you to see it. Can you come?”

“I was just getting my things together but sure,” she says. “Where is it?”

“It’s just down by the concessions,” gesturing down the hall.

November reads a person and gets a 10. What do you intend to do? she asks.

”He has a gift but he also wants something.”


“So what going on?” she asks wondering about his true motives.

What does he want me to do? is the question.

As they head down the hallway, he explains. “I was hoping to get your help and perhaps your advice. There’s a project I want your assistance with once the current trouble dies down.”

As she opens her mouth to ask another question, a chill runs up her spine. Insistent whispers hiss, “leave him now, move to the nearest exit.”

Thinking quickly she changes the subject. “Wisher, you know what? There’s something I’d like to show you.”

“What is it?”

She turns for the stairs nearest the exterior. “I’ve been thinking about this performance I want to do. It involves these tree frogs. I think I could get them to sing in chorus.”

As she babbles she hurries him outside and away from the arena.

Back to the others.

The rumble of the motorcycle fills the tunnel to the foundry. Lily pulls to a stop.

“We should probably knock,” she suggests. “The last guys came in here uninvited got really banged up.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me,” Violet says.

Memo points to narrow passageway to the left. ““We can go through this way, there’s a hole in the wall.”

Violet dismounts the bike and follows the strange girl into the dark.

“Look out for the trap,” the child warns partway through.

Stepping over some tripwires, Violet passes a familiar crate. Memo crouches near some poorly placed cinderblocks. “These blocks. We can move them.”

Inside the foundry, Jarhead hears chthunks as something heavy hits the ground. A grating noise follows them. As he turns to investigate. Violet calls out.

“Jarhead!”

“Hello?” he replies.

Violet emerges into the foundry with Memo in tow. “Why is there a hole in this wall and why is it full of traps?”

“Why would it not be full of traps? There’s a hole in the wall.” he says.

Allison and Waters look up from their slow loading of the van. ”Can you grab the crate?” Jarhead calls to them.

Memo grabs his arm. “We don’t have time,” she whines.

“We think something really bad is going to happen,” Violet explains as the small child tries to drag Jarhead away.

“We’ve got to get out of here now, we’ve got to go,” Memo says.

“I don’t even like guns anyway,” Jarhead says stumbling after her. Memo frantically pulls him to the van. “Everyone into the van, we are good to go.”

Violet stops him as he moves for the driver’s seat. “Can you broadcast a message over the psychic maelstrom to warn the other people?”

“I can but not while driving.”

“I’ll drive,” she says taking the wheel.

Jarhead crawls through the packed van to his Tesla sphere. As he powers it up, he says, “get us out of here.”

Jarhead makes his augury roll and gets a 9. He marks experience, reaches out to the people of the arena widely.
As the device hums and glows, Jarhead says, “Get out.”

Gator starts to bed down when the roar of vehicles disturbs his thoughts. A flash of light shoots up from the southeast. It flies straight towards the arena, landing with fierce explosion that topples half the structure and leaves the rest in flames.

I tell them the Militia is okay, Wisher got out, the PCs escaped as did some of the cultists. The rest remains to be seen.

End of Session

November speculates that Memo needed Violet to save others within the Music Bowl. Jarhead admits he never would have thought to do that.

On to Hx!
  • November gives +1 Hx to Gator. He resets his counter and gains experience.
”I’m totally confused,” Violet admits, referring to November’s intentions out-of-character.

I clear it up. “November infiltrated the confidence of the gods, probably to betray them.”

”They are worse than White in my eyes,” November says. “But they want White dead so our goals parallel for now.”

As for the exposed secret: November asks Gator what he wants to know.

”Why do you want to play double-agent?” he asks.

”I’ve never met someone I couldn’t manipulate. I’m so full of myself, that I think I can manipulate the gods. But now I have some doubts about it.”

”Why are you so full of yourself?”

”I once started a war between three gangs. I went into a holding and seduced the hardholder of Tampa’s two sons and daughter, a few years back. It was one year after I left home. I got them to fall in love with me and played them off each other to get things. Things got out of control and they murdered each other. They called it the Great Tampa massacre. I still feel bad about it.”

  • Jarhead gives +1 Hx to November, since she played with the thing closest to his heart.
  • Violet gives +1 Hx to Jarhead as her only choice.
Jarhead gets an advance this session and takes a gang.
  • Gator gives +1 Hx to November.
And then weddings and holidays stop any more of the game until June. But I’ll post a new session in two weeks.