Friday, October 30, 2015

The Climbers Recap: The God Smiter, Part II

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Now to conclude my penultimate session.

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/Hardholder) is former assassin and who wears customized scrounged armor made from Kevlar and ceramic inserts. 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. His gang of mercenaries now run White's former holding: the Big Ship.
  • 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 warned him of danger from the psychic maelstrom. He built a weapon to kill 'the gods' and is working for a ghost in the maelstrom.
  • November Orleans (the Skinner/Battlebabe) 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. She works for the "gods" but hopes to betray them.
  • Violet Jefferson (the Touchstone/Scholar) is descended from 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. She recovered from the wound November inflicted but they have not reconciled.
We begin after an attack by a group infected by the Climbers was repelled by Gator's gang. The God Smiter only needs two things: power from the Big Ship's nuclear reactor and a psychic to target the gods. November is on her way. Then Jarhead's gang pointed out that Violet's followers are infected. Then the power went out.

The highlighted stats are:
  • Gator: Hard, Sharp.
  • Jarhead: Hard, Weird.
  • November: Hot, Sharp.
  • Violet: Cool, Sharp.

The God Smiter, Part II

Gator quickly dons his night vision goggles as everyone else stumbles around in the pitch blackness.

Violet and Jarhead both read a sitch again. Violet gets 13 while Jarhead rolls a soft hit. She marks experience.

”Are any of my followers not infected?” Violet asks.

”Boo has definitely been itchy as has his son. Starbuck though has not scratched himself.”

”Are the infected actively being controlled?” she asks.

”As of this current moment as they are confused as you are, so no.”

”How much time do they have?”

”This is progressing way faster than you would expect so the normal rules don’t apply here. The gods are fast tracking the disease. You don’t think they are going to burst soon but they might sleepwalk at any moment.”


Violet thinks back on who seemed itchy. Around her everyone voices their surprise and concern. “Jarhead, How many car batteries do you have?”

“Uh two or three,” he says feeling for a flashlight.

“You know that thing Memo rigged? We need three of them now. ASAP. Gator, do you have another room that’s not ventilated?”

Gator reads a sitch and gets a 10. He also marks experience.

Jarhead asks his question first. “What should I be on the lookout for?”

”This is a coordinated attack. A power outage will only slow you down. So look out for the next wave of attackers.”

”At least my gang got bigger,” Gator says. “What’s my enemy’s true position?”


Gator finishes scanning the room. A couple of the Republicans scratch their arms but no one looks ready to cause trouble right now. His mind goes the gap, a chasm in the ship that leads to the reactor. They probably cut the lines there.

”What is my best way in?”

The gap rips through several decks of the ship. The only ways down are a crumbling staircase down or rappelling straight down. Unless one wanted to spend an hour snaking through blackened corridors. The most direct route, he decides.

”What should I be on the lookout for?”

”The gods are trying to stay one step ahead of you, so your usual tricks won’t work. I will try to surprise you, no guarantees though.”


“Boo, Garber. Out of here,” he barks.

“What’s going on?” Boo says.

“I think you know what’s going on.”

“Listen to him,” Violet says. “You are showing signs. We don’t want to take any risks.”

Gator turns to his man. “Gremlin, we need to get these guys locked up and quarantined. Sorry Boo and Garber you guys are infected.”

Garber stammers, “maybe we are infected but you don’t need to lock us up someplace.”

“Yeah we do. Either that or there is one other option.”

”Do you want to go aggro?” I ask. “I’d say manipulate but I don’t think you’re bluffing.”

Gator goes aggro and gets a 10. He also marks experience.


Cowed Boo and his son let Gremlin leads them outside to another room and seals them in.

Outside.

The speed boat shoots across bay, skidding to a halt in the jury rigged harbor at the base of the Big Ship. Morgana helps them out and leads them to the elevator.

Then the electric lights go out.

”What the hell?” Morgana says looking up the shaft at the distant square of light.

“Did you guys just lose all power?” November asks.

“Yeah. Jack! Jill!” she shouts, rousing a pair of muscular twins. “You are on manual.”

Tern and November quickly grab a pair of large handheld flashlights from the boat and jump on the lift as the twins slowly pull it up.

“Where’s your main power?” November asks, checking that the lights work.

“The reactor? It’s down below by the south end.”

“Let’s go.”

Five feet below them, Jonker calls out. “I’ll stay here.”

In the workshop.

Jarhead connects a pair of wires and a string of christmas lights illuminate the workshop.

Gator peels off his goggles. “We’ve got a couple of options. I could go to the reactor or Violet you could go.”

“I’ll go,” she says, shaking off the last of Jarhead’s drugs.

“Gremlin knows the layout a little bit so take him with you,” he adds.

”What should I do?” Starbucks asks, looking around the room. “Should I stay here or come with you?”

”Come with me,” she says leading the pair of men off toward the far end of the ship.

Back to November.

Morgana leads the others across the deck of the ship. Around them, confused citizens of the Big Ship complain about the loss of power.

“Tell me the lay of the land,” November says.

This is an excuse to roll read a charged sitch. November gets a hard hit. She also marks experience.

What is my enemy’s true position?

Which enemy is most vulnerable to me?

What’s my best way past to the reactor?


“There’s a gap, a chasm that cuts through the bowels of the ship,” Morgana says grabbing a few men to follow them. “You can drop straight down to the reactor level. Next to the gap and hanging into it in places is a metal staircase. Those are the fastest ways down. Otherwise you need to take the back way through miles of pitch black tunnels.”

“Sounds like a good ambush spot,” the dancer says.

“I had thought of that.” Morgana grabs another armored figure to join their growing force.

“Who do you have who is a good shot?”

Morgana points to pair of tall men following them as they near the end of the market. “Pin and Tail are both good shots. And myself.”

As they head down some stairs into the ship, November doffs her coat and strips to her chain mail bikini. “So here’s the plan. You guys watch the top and keep them pinned down. They are not fighters, so they shouldn’t be armored or well equipped. I’ll lead the rest of the men down the stairs to take them out.”

Then I decide Violet’s group arrives. She hears November outlining her plan as she arrives.

Violet leads Gremlin and Starbuck out of the darkness.

“Any of you guys good snipers?” November asks as they approach.

“I can do very well in a pinch,” Violet says.

November explains, “OK, some of us are drawing fire up here while the rest of us make our way down the staircase.”

Violet interrupts. “By the way, weren’t you supposed to find Gator?”

“Yes but he needs power right?”

“As much as I hate to say this, they need you alive. Go, we’ll take care of this,” Violet orders.

Violet uses towering presence and gets a 13, November interferes but only gets a 5. She chooses to back away hands where Violet can see them.

November backs away and puts up her hand. “Alright, I just cased out the whole place,” she says sourly.

“We appreciate it.”

“You are going to fuck this whole thing up!” she says and walks away.

Morgana turns to Violet. “We’ve got this covered up here, you and the others sneak down the stairs.”

“Got it.”

Violet acts under fire to sneak and gets an 8. She marks experience.

Violet hurries down the metal stairs trailed by Gremlin and a few other soldiers. Gunshots echo in from the gap, as Morgana’s sharpshooters pin down the infected.

As she rounds the last loop, she can see the shadows of the climbers moving along the bottom of the gap. Then a figure peels from the shadows beneath the stairs, gun raised.

Lily.

Violet rolls indomitable and gets a 10. She marks experience and uses two of her three hold.

She sees Lily in front of her and with no cover, decides to ignore all harm and disable/maim/kill her.

”That’s your choice,” Gator tells me of the last item.

”MY choice, yes,” I say with some evil laughter.


Violet moves before her former friend can pull the trigger, knocking the gun into the wall beside them and then delivering a quick crack to the side of her head. Lily falls flat on the floor.

Workshop update.

Gator paces within Jarhead’s workshop. The air grows thicker as they consume what little fresh air remains.

Something shuffles outside the door. Then the banging begins.

“No business except on party business!” Jarhead shouts as fists slam again and again against the steel door.

To November.

November and Tern move quickly and quietly through the darkened corridors, back toward Jarhead’s workshop.

Several different growls come from up ahead.

November keeps her flashlight down low. “Tern, any idea of what that might be?”

“Sounds like dogs,” she says readying her gun. “There were some dogs on the ship.”

November reads a charged sitch and gets a 7. What’s my enemy’s true position? She also marks experience.

November shines the light forward. A half-dozen feral green eyes reflect in the darkness.

”The gods have anticipated your attack and deployed dogs,” I say, thinking of her arresting skinner move.

She counters that she is already practically naked.

November moves to seize by force, specifically the hall, using her shotgun. She gets a 13 and chooses not to dismay. She deals 4-harm (3-harm from the shotgun +1 merciless +1 for terrible harm - 1 for a small gang of dogs).


Her first blast tears through the lead hound as it leaps forward. Tern unloads next to her, automatic fire ripping through most of them.

November suffers 3-harm from the dogs -2 for her armor -1 for little harm. I have her make a harm move and gets a 4. So she’s fine.

As the echoes of gunshots die down, all that can be heard is a solitary dog, limping away into a corner. November kicks aside the leader and tries to wipe its blood from her skin. She and Tern continue forward, following the trail of blood. By the time they get there Exit, Lily’s dog, is already dead, its blood growing sticky.

They continue on.

Back to the workshop.

“We do need to get November in here,” Gator says shouting over the banging.

“We could open up one of the side vents,” Jarhead suggests, grabbing an acetylene torch.

”But I’ve done that before,” Gator says,”they might anticipate that.”

”How did that turn out for you?” Jarhead asks.

”Not very well.”

”Well then they probably won’t think you’re dumb enough to try it again.”

”That’s a good point. Let’s try it.”

Jarhead begins cutting. The air fouls but after a few minutes fresh air moves into the chamber.

Gator climbs in. “Seal this up after I’ve gone.”

“No! No!” Jarhead says stepping between his gang and the vent. “We’re going to leave this open so we have some fresh air.”

Gator hoists himself up. “Well I wouldn’t call this air fresh, make sure you wear a mask.”

The ex-mercenary looks back down. “When I get to the door, I’ll give this knock.” He raps against the metal duct. Then he shimmies around and disappears.

Back to Violet.

Violet steps out into the open space beneath the gap. A pair of men lie bleeding out on the rough ground. She swivels her rifle to fire on one of the three left standing.

Violet seizes by force and gets a 13. She marks experience and takes all options, doubling downs on little harm. So no harm for her.

She blasts him before he realizes she is there. As the others turn their attention from above, she fires again, dropping a second. Gremlin backs her up downing the third. Quickly they check the casualties. Two dead and one crippled. Violet kicks away his weapon and ties his hands.

Violet advances and takes Intellectual for +1 sharp. She now is at +3 sharp.

“There it is,” Gremlin shouts, pointing to a sparking bundle of wires. “I need some sort of insulator and then I can get these lines together.”

Violet uses Archaeologist to find something in this Golden Age ruin. She gets a 10, choosing to do it quickly and without any trouble. She also marks experience.

Violet scans the wreckage. She spots some tire scraps among the debris. She tosses the insulator to Gremlin who goes to work on reconnecting the mains.

Back to November.

November and Tern slowly creep up the hallway. A dozen men and women block their path to the workshop, pounding their fists bloody trying to get in.

November reads a charged sitch and gets a 10. She also marks experience.

What is my best way past to a position where I can snipe them?

Arresting skinner is my answer.

What should I be on the lookout for?


As she considers her options, she notices a rustling in the vents.The sound of a heavy but very quiet man grows closer, making its way from the workshop and down the hall.

Reinforcements are coming and you don’t get caught in crossfire.

What is my biggest threat? is her last question.

The gods.


November motions Tern to follow her and they back track to a side room where the ducts open. As they wait, November borrows and dons some extra clothing.

Gator pulls himself the last few inches and looks down into the side room, spotting November and her friend.

“Hey. This way,” he whispers. He slides the grate out of the way and slips down without a sound.

November nods to him. “The people in the hall, they are just people, I can distract them while you two take them out. There are about twelve of them now but there may be more if we wait. You know your situation, what’s best?”

“We’re just waiting for power,” he explains. “Violet’s working on that.”

Fastening on a jacket, she says, “I figure that the best plan would be to keep the entrance clear until the power comes on.”

Gator considers the lighting situation to which I reply, ”We don’t need eyes, we are guided the gods.”

Suddenly the lights turn on one by one.

“Never mind. Let’s go this way,” Gator says, grabbing the edges of the vent.

“Shall I go first?” November asks.

“Sure.” He begins to drop down when he says, “Actually when you get near there, you just knock this on the grate. Don’t stick your head out.”

“Okay, just let me know when we are getting close, you know the lay of the land here.”

He pulls himself up. “You know what I’ll lead the way.”

As Violet gets the power up and running, I look through my notes for radiation poisoning but it turns out I have nothing prepared. Oh well.

Jarhead watches as his crew begin to relax a little. Even as the climbers bang uselessly against the door, his gang lower their weapons and relax their guard.

Someone gives a distinctive knock in the air ducts.

Shazah bolts upright. “He could be infected! They are still out by the door.”

“No I’m not,” Gator says. “I’m coming through.”

”Just wait,” Jarhead says moving to the duct. “What’s the password?”

“I just gave the password,” the ex-mercenary says through his teeth.

“Sh-should we just shoot him?” Shazah stammer aiming his sword gun at the vent.

”If you shoot me I will be really angry.”

Jarhead shakes his head. “Let’s not shoot him. Come on through.”

Gator slides down into the room. “I’ve got November. Let’s get this thing done.”

Jarhead nods. “Yes, let’s do this before anymore shit happens.”

The pounding gets louder as November slips down.

“I thought you took care of the problem,” Jarhead says to Gator.

“If we take care of this,” Gator says pointing to the device, “it takes care of all of the problems.”

“Okay,’ he sighs, turning to his gang, “Make sure we are not disturbed at all.”

As most of the crowd focus on the door, Jarhead directs November and Gator to their places. Shazah keeps an eye on Gator as the muscular man squeezes into the device’s main seat. He grips the trigger and watches as Jarhead puts a metal colander on November's head. The dancer tries to remain still as he screws the electrodes into place.

“We don’t want to dig into the skull but we do want contact,” he explains. Finished he points her to the repurposed dentist’s chair rigged up to the God Smiter.

“I wrote up a custom rule for this device,” I explain.

”Nice,” Gator says.

“You are probably not going to like it.”

”Ah, not nice.”

Here is the move:

Custom Move: The God Smiter: When using the God Smiter roll +hard. On a hit you harm your target (which must be connected to the psychic maelstrom). Deal 2-harm (ap). On a 10+ choose 1, On a 7-9 choose 2. If you choose to attack a broad group choose an additional option.
  • Those around you are exposed to Psi-harm equal to your hard.
  • Those around the God Smiter suffer 1-harm (ap) from psychic bleed over.
  • You deal collateral damage to the psychic maelstrom.
November helps and gets a 7 (giving Gator a +2 bonus due to Cooperative),

“I’m afraid to roll this,” Gator says.

”This is a weapon to kill the gods,” I say, “there are consequences.”

With all the bonuses, he gets a 10. He also marks experience.

He chooses 1-harm ap to everyone and Psi-harm. So basically he aimed well.


Jarhead powers up the device. A soft blue glow appears over the Tesla sphere filled with red triangles and odder icons. Gator takes careful aim, the machine guided by November’s mind. He pulls the trigger.

A piercing whine resounds inside everyone’s head. Blood leaks from Jarhead nose as November whimpers. Farther way Memo and Rox scream while Shazah bites down on the blade of his sword.

Then a wash of raw maelstrom energy flows from the display and collides with the inhabitants of the room.

November gets a 10 on her psi-harm roll while Jarhead gets a 13. Ouch.

November opens her eyes, the screams breaking through her unconsciousness. Jarhead curls in the corner of the room, quietly rocking back and forth. His crew, those not drooling on the floor, busy themselves welding the doors and vents shut, a mad gleam in their eyes.

Gator scans the display as lines of static crisscross it. The banging at the doors at least stopped.

”Hit them again,” November mumbles.

Gator reads a charged sitch and gets a 11. November helps with an 8 which brings it up to 13. He also marks experience.

”Did it work? Did we kill the gods?” he asks.

”You killed most of the gods. There is a survivor.”

”Who is the survivor?”

“Zio-Pentex-Rlyeh-Zach” I say squashing a bunch of random (mostly villain) names together.


The blue fog clears. A single red triangle appears. “There’s one more.”

The group gives some suggestions for final question.

”Can you kill it without firing the gun?” Jarhead says.

”What did November do?” November suggests.

”Can I kill it now without firing the gun?” he asks.

”Yes, but you’d have to kill November, because it is hiding in November’s head,” I tell him.


Gator squints at the target. “November stay very still. It’s inside you.”

He fires again.

This time he rolls a 9, November helps by staying very still and gets a 10 so no collateral damage for her. That bumps it to a 11. Gator chooses to deal psychic damage again. He also marks experience.

November gets a hard hit on psi-harm.

Jarhead gets a 6 so he is okay-ish.

Sucks for the NPCs though.


The blue mist washes over the room again as the final god explodes into a mess of memories and rage within November’s mind. Overwhelmed she faints.

“It’s good that Allison sleeps upstairs because she may be the sole survivor.”

In the days to come, most people resumed their normal lives. A med team came down from the Autodoc and treated the infected. With the gods gone, the disease seemed to spread slower.

I explain to the group that the gods are dead, dead dead. November loses her status as the Messenger. The climber victims became themselves again.

“Even Lily?” Violet asks.

”No Lily is dead, you are going have to explain that to Starbuck. You also find Exit, their dog, filled with bullets. You’ll need to explain that to Starbuck, too.”


Violet helped Gator with the clean up, patching up the wounded and avoiding Starbuck. The woman he loved was dead by her hands.

Jarhead meanwhile dealt with the real wreckage. Five souls, five people who worked for him, had lost their minds to the maelstrom. Shazah and Rox seemed different but he guessed they now fit in better with Memo and Waters. They seemed fine, he thinks, damaged. Like me. But fine.

“I have some ideas,” he says on the broken mind, “I have that bionic spine thing.”

”You do still need a brain,” I say.

”That’s horrible,” Violet says.


November found herself relieved. Tern seemed distant but the rest of her gang remained intact. Only Shadow was shaken by the loss of the gods.

“You were suppose to save us,” he said sorrowfully before focusing on saving his people.

End of Session

Onto Hx:
  • November gives -1 Hx to Violet. “We haven’t exactly been on good terms,” she says.
  • Violet gives +1 Hx to Jarhead.
  • Jarhead gives +1 to Violet. This resets her Hx with him and earns her an experience. He reveals his new secret: he is planning to install kill switches in the people under his care. Once he finds their minds that is.
  • Gator gives +1 to Jarhead since they defended the room together (and he ordering Jarhead’s gang around for him).
Next time we will reach the end of the game.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Kickstarter Progress Bar 2015

kickstarterimagefornewsarticleTime for my third annual kickstarter progress report. I'm up to 25 projects backed though I have slowed down after last year's splurge.

For those somehow still unfamiliar with it, Kickstarter is way for developers and artists to raise funding from their fans and potential fans. During an age of limited financing this is often the only way for great products to see the light of day in our niche industry. Despite the occasional hiccup, I still find the Kickstarter process continues to work well.

Fully Completed


TelepathTacticsTitleScreenDraftResized-1The only video game I've thus backed, Telepath Tactics uses the Fire Emblem-style design of turn based team combat. I'm a sucker for old school games like that. Despite some slippage of dates, in the end I got everything I was promised. The game is pretty fun, though I haven't had time to play through it fully yet. The designer has provided some interesting analysis of the financials on his end which really sheds some light on the economics of video game design.
not godzillaLast year I wrote a post on my ideas for a Mecha vs. Kaiju game based on this Fate adaption. I had a lot of fun playing with the developer at DunDraCon and I'm glad to have the final product in my hands. The final physical book ended up 9 months delayed but I think the product was worth the wait.
worlds in peril
Worlds In Peril applies the rules of Apocalypse World to the superhero genre. I reviewed it here. The pdf release was only a few months late. I've received all the materials at this point so this one is done.
savepointtavern
Save Point Tavern is going to be a gaming bar here in Sacramento. While the bar hasn't materialized (last report said they were doing construction at the site), my reward (a sticker) did arrive. I'll call this complete and watch for their opening day announcement.

Main Project Completed

Now we get to projects, though technically complete, still have some extra rewards coming. Items still on this list tend to have ambitious stretch goals.MummyBookI backed Mummy: the Curse at the beginning of 2013. After some delays (including a nasty one due to printer difficulties), I finally got my completed book 9 months late. In that I was pretty satisfied. However a number of other books were promised as stretch goals: a story anthology, a city book for Rio de Janeiro, and Dreams of Avarice, replicating an in-world artifact. Very little has come out in the months since.

I know there is an issue for Onyx Path and retaining enough freelancers to work on supplements. According to their Monday Meeting notes two of these books are currently in the red lines. Basically I'm beginning to think Onyx Path is overstretched. Hopefully they can figure out to expand enough to fulfill their promises in a timely manner.
Obsidian Portal
As I researched where all my kickstarters were at, I realized that the full project for Obsidian Portal remains to be completed. Most of the functionality (and almost all of it that I care about) is complete: improved maps, name generators, custom URLs, and improvements to the overall system. But we are still waiting on natural editing and the file locker two years out.photo-mainAnother project with a lot of stretch goal products, the Strange has been better at delivering new items over the past couple years. Only a couple of books remain out of a vast collection of supplements. Unfortunately I've barely read any of them, having lost interest in the setting shortly after the kickstarter. At least I only spent a little money on it. The book itself came out exactly on time which was nice.
US
The print editions of Urban Shadows should be out in the world by now, not that it matters to me because I foolishly did not back it for more than the pdf. Even so I have another item to look forward to: Dark Streets, a supplement that gives the Urban Shadows treatment for several cities around the world. You can find my review of the game here. Next time I'm ready for an Apocalypse World based game, this will be it.photo-mainThe cards for Backstory Cards came out a few months delayed and most of the stretch goals were incorporated into that. The concept is to provide starting points for describing the relationships between the PCs, other characters, events, and the setting for the purposes of character creation. Now we are in a state similar to Hillfolk, where the creators are releasing a series of monthly additions. Overall I'm pretty happy with this. I need to make use of these cards at some point.
photo-main
Feng Shui 2 arrived by GenCon essentially on time. The book is beautiful and well presented. While the system doesn't add anything for me, the philosophy and setting for the game are quite compelling. I've received several of stretch goals and now am just to wait for a supplement and a few adventures.

Delayed

Then we have the projects for which I am still awaiting completion of the main product. Specifically those that have fallen behind schedule.photo-mainI posted a review of TimeWatch recently, a time travel game using the GUMSHOE system. Since I wrote that I've gotten a post editing (and pre-layout) version and looks good. Given that the original book was due to arrive almost a year ago, I suppose it could be worse. I'm still excited for the game and due to delays in my own life, it hasn't held up anything for me.

The project I backed secretly for my wife did not appear this summer either (missing both her birthday and our anniversary). So now I hoping it will arrive in time to be a Christmas present (crossing fingers). According to the kickstarter reports, it ran into that all too common problem of printer troubles.
sprawl
My wife got to try out The Sprawl at GenCon. A cyberpunk adaption of the Apocalypse World system, it seemed overly fiddly to me from the draft rules. This is another that is overdue (currently at 8 months late). I did receive the audio reward however and the book is layout. So the pdf should appear any week now.
paranoia
At the end of last year, I contributed to the kickstarter for a new edition of Paranoia, a game which like Feng Shui that I heard a lot about but never played. You play clones (6 in fact, think of them as extra lives) under the benevolent rule of your friend the Computer. Except everyone is secretly a traitor and needs to be eliminated. Basically it is a game of backstabbing, silliness and satire with an emphasis on the humor. Their plans were clearly overly ambitious (6 months to complete a box set!) but it looks like it should be in layout this month. So there is a possibility that a pdf will be available before the end of the year. I don't expect the print version until next spring at the earliest however.
dark eras
Remember how I said Onyx Path is over extended? I also contributed to Dark Eras, their historical setting book. This only slightly behind schedule at the moment (a month) but I expect it to be a few months before we see a pdf release. It looks like the main hold up for this are all the bonus chapters that funded and which need to be completed, edited and added to the main book.

Delayed (with Caveats)

These projects are not technically delayed, it's just that I asked for the more expensive printing and so I've got some time to wait still.
M20
First up is Mage: the Ascension, the 20th anniversary edition. I paid for the deluxe edition so I've been held up by the same printing issues that dogged the Print on Demand version. In any case I received the pdf last spring and like far too many games, I haven't read it fully yet. This kickstarter generated a lot of extras so I expect we'll be seeing this again in next year's post (though higher up the page).
dracula dossier
Then there is the Dracula Dossier, a massive two book improvisational adventure that includes a unredacted version of Bram Stroker's book and an almost limitless number of ways to use it. Which doesn't cover the extras: a dice bag, handouts, several adventures, and more. This was the item that forced me to cut back on kickstarter. I went for the signed limited edition Dracula Unredacted in the style of Stoker's original edition and spent more than I really should. So far I've received the finished pdfs, my limited edition version of the director's Handbook, the roll-out book, several adventures, and the pdf handouts. My copy of Dracula Unredacted was lost but should be arriving fairly soon. Now I just need the group and time to run it.

Still to Come

Finally we've got the projects that have not yet reached their release dates. these remain in the clear, though for some the clock is ticking.
wraith
The clock is specifically ticking for Wraith: the Oblivion 20th anniversary edition. I don't expect to get the book next month because, again, I went with the deluxe version. But more importantly the book remains in redlines. So a pdf is still some months away as we need to get second drafts completed, editing done, and finally layout.
beast
Next up is Beast: the Primordial, the controversial new line from Onyx Path. Supposedly they are shooting for a June release but we'll have to see. Onyx Path has a lot on its plate. I am heartened by the Monday Meeting notes which indicate the main book is well along in the post editing process.
no thank you evil
No Thank You Evil is a fantasy roleplaying game by Monte Cook Games geared towards young children. Since it is for ages 5 and up, I'm not exactly worried about it being late. I've got 4 years until I need it for my son. Anyway according to the last report, its moving into editing. Maybe it will be out this spring after all.
microscope explorer
I've been seeing dribs and drabs for the last item on the list for the past few months. Microscope Explorer is a supplement to Microscope, a collaborative history building game. Microscope Explorer expands the possibilities of Microscope to time travel, family tress and more. The developer was very timely with his kickstarter for Kingdom so I expect this project to remain close to schedule.
masks
My latest kickstarter which just ended was for Masks, a new Apocalypse World based game that focuses on teenage super heroes and how learn to establish themselves in a city with many of generations of heroes in it. I don't really need another super hero game but the mechanics sounded interesting and so for that reason I backed for a pdf. The kickstarter was wildly successful and hopefully I'll be able to report good things by this time next year.

The Future

I have no new kickstarters on my horizon right now, something my wallet is happy about. I'm sure I'll another one or two by next year however.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Double Feature: The Woman in Black and High School of the Dead

I'm watching and reviewing at least two horror movies a week in an effort to better enjoy my Halloween season. Along the way I'm adding some thoughts on adapting them to gaming.

I'm adding another haunted house story this week with The Woman in Black. I also watched the anime, High School of the Dead, as I continue to be very loose in my own definitions.

As an aside seeing the Hammer Films logo at the beginning of The Woman in Black reminds me that I've never really watched the classic Hammer Horror films. Expect some reviews along that line in the coming weeks.

Warning: lots of spoilers!!

The Woman in Black

woman in black imbd
The Woman in Black is a very quiet film of slowly building tension and a growing sense of eeriness. Some of the scares are lost on someone who has to deal with an rampaging 1-year-old every few minutes. By which I mean, please watch this film alone in the dark if possible.

The premise is that a spectral woman in black forces children to kill themselves whenever she is spotted. In her appearance, the wetlands that she haunts, and how her presence heralds death she reminds me of the legend of the banshee. She even wails. Of course her story goes deeper than that.

Daniel Radcliffe plays a widower in Edwardian England whose wife died in childbirth leaving him to raise their son alone. This Arthur Kipps remains haunted by his wife, in danger of losing his job at the law firm and barely holding himself together. As his last chance he is sent to review the papers of the late Alice Drablow to make sure the firm has the final will. Drablow's son died as a young child, drowned in the wetlands that separate her island home from the mainland.

With the exception of the local gentry, Mr. Daily, everyone in town tries to convince Kipps to move on quickly. It seems they fear he will see the lady in black and thus endanger their children. Of course this only drives him on.

Eventually he makes it to the grand if decaying home. The creepy location holds many secrets and as he works, we the audience watch as the woman moves about in the background.

It takes some time for Kipps to unravel the mystery, haunted by spectral cries and both the ghosts of the woman and her child. It seems that Alice's son was actually her deranged sister's, now the woman in black. She never forgave her sister for stealing him or for letting him drown. So now she steals the children of others.

Eventually Kipps accepts what is going on. With two children dead already due to his poking around, he tries to stop his own son from coming to town. When that fails, he decides on a desperate gambit to lay the ghost to rest. With Daily's help, he reunites the ghost with her son. Things seem to work.

But the ghost vowed never to forgive her sister and continues the killings, sending Kipps's son into the path of a train. Oddly I found that when Kipps sacrifices his own life failing to save his son, it actually gives the film a less depressing ending. He and his son are reunited in death with his wife and escape the horror of the movie, leaving the woman in black to menace us the audience.
the-woman-in-black
Overall I think this film is excellent and most issues I have with it are issues I have with the entire genre.

The one issue I have with the movie is suspending my disbelief that things have lasted this long. Giving how extreme the ghost's activity becomes at night, I can't see how Alice managed to live at the house by herself for so long. With the number of deaths over the years and how many townsfolk put one and one together, I'm surprised no one burned down the house. I know there's a sequel set in the 1940s which clearly shows people don't understand how fragile old houses are.

Gaming Discussion

Warning: ranting

Now for my major problem with the genre as a whole. Vengeful ghost stories always make me consider what it means to “never forgive.” The concept of an implacable monster that will relentlessly hunt for victims forever implies some troubling issues for the world at large. A single ghost like this is fine but there are a lot of dead people on our planet. Even if a small number become killer ghosts, most old cities and towns should be unlivable by this point. We never hear about killer Neanderthal ghosts or spirits from tribes no one remembers existed, let alone the dozens of murderers who die every century in any given location. Yet we are expected to believe some ghosts who will haunt the world for centuries.

In the West, it always seems those ghosts that are remembered are a threat. You don't see forgotten spirits being a danger (out of sight out of mind). Eastern ghosts do get riled up by being forgotten, though after a certain point even they stop being restless. It just always bothers me that it's the memory that is dangerous, as if we damn ourselves. Which I guess given the nature of superstitions is true.

Rant over

Anyway getting back to gaming.

The movie itself could make a nice introduction scenario for a period Hunter: the Vigil game or any game pitting low powered mortals against the supernatural. Geist: the Sin-eaters of course has a natural lead in though to make the Woman in Black a real threat she would need to be a Geist herself or a very powerful ghost. Mortals work better given the lack of an easy way to fight the ghost. Weakness helps breeds fear.

I also want to comment on how the Underworld in the new World of Darkness (or the Skinlands in Classic World of Darkness) helps deal with the issue of huge numbers of ghosts. In those settings ghosts are tied to the world by anchors. If those anchors are lost, the ghost finds itself banished from the living world forever. Thus ancient ghosts are rare as their anchors die (if mortal) or crumble (for places or things). It allows for a natural decline in the population of ghosts on Earth.

Though I now am filled with a desire to run a horror game where ghosts are powered by the belief of the living, essentially tulpas of our fears.

High School of the Dead

Highschool_of_the_Dead_vol01
From ghosts to zombies and from movies to anime, I move to High School of the Dead. Like many zombie stories, this series isn't actually about the scares but instead the psychology of the survivors and man's inhumanity toward man. We watch as these young protagonists are forced to discard the trappings of civilization to survive.

However, it would be really nice if the creators were not obsessed with breasts and panties. The level of nudity, jiggling breasts and panty shots exceeds tastelessness and enters the realm of the grotesque. I have to mentally block it out to enjoy the series. At first, it felt like sticking anime cosplayers into a period drama just to make your audience happy, but by the middle of the series it is just ugly.

Despite this I like the series overall (even if I have to keep ignoring what seems like 1/3 of each episode). The psychological element, especially as narrated by our male protagonist, is really compelling. At first the heroes struggle to kill zombies, those who were their classmates and teachers, in order to survive. But soon they find other survivors to be a larger threat. They struggle for resources, to protect themselves (especially the women), and find themselves killing the living to survive. Some struggle with the fact that they enjoy this new life and can't stand the thought of returning to how they once were.

Meanwhile around them civilization crumbles. People protest as martial law is declared. Police do inhuman things to maintain what order remains. People obey their consciences and die or suffer while others descend into insanity or barricade themselves in their homes, killing those who seek help.

Our cast spans a nice range of high school archetypes. We have the brain, a kendo champion, a delinquent, his former girlfriend who happens to trained in the spear (got to love Japanese sports), and a nerd whose obsession is guns. Rounding out the gang (ugh the horror of that pun) is an absurdly voluptuous nurse.

I find the structure of each episode interesting. Typically it starts with some soliloquy from the delinquent but his ending soliloquy doesn't always coincide with the end of the actual action (not counting previews or the randomly spaced snap shots of the world's decline into savagery and chaos). In fact I don't think I've really found much in common in how the episodes flow except to end with some hint of worse to come.

I also like that the characters examine how the zombies behave and there is some underlining logic. While the cause of the worldwide outbreak is unclear, the monsters obey some rules. They don't see and react to noise alone. Head shots kill them but other damage causes no reaction from them. They are strong and hungry but only really seek out things making noise. If not for their numbers and strength, they might easily be overcome by snipers and perhaps some specialized vehicles with front mounted wood chippers (heck just set one up in an alley and turn on a siren behind it).

Gaming thoughts

Remove the porn and you would have a serviceable survival horror story. Working their way up from improvised weapons and sports equipment, the player characters slowly acquire first police weaponry and then military arms, growing in skill and numbers. But eventually those they save become liabilities and they must either sacrifice what they've fought for or rise to establish a new order. along the way we would need some way to track their relative sanity, perhaps using Integrity from World of Darkness 2nd edition or the Madness Meters from Unknown Armies.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Double Feature: The Burrowers and Dreams of the Witch-House

In an effort to improve my Halloween season, I'm watching and reviewing at least two horror movies a week adding some thoughts on adapting them to gaming along the way.

Finishing off my research into haunted houses, I watched Dreams of the Witch-House, part of the Masters of Horror TV series and an adaption of the classic Lovecraft story of the same name. But first I'll discuss The Burrowers, a recent film (2008) about the old west and the monsters that live below it.

Warning: lots of spoilers!!

The Burrowers

burrowers
First some advice. Don't watch the trailer, it gives a bit too much away. I'm not sure why trailers are so bad at this. It seems like a straightforward thing unless a movie sucks.

Set in 1879 in the Dakota territories, the Burrowers follows Coffey, an Irish immigrant. He seeks to marry Mary Anne, the daughter of one of the local settlers. After introducing him the movie jumps to the next night at the Mary's home where something begins killing and grabbing her family. The last few barricade themselves in the cellar before a creature pulls the eldest brother down from below.

The next day Coffey and Clay, an older authority figure, find the family, some murdered and others (like Mary Anne) missing. Coffey goes to his boss Parcher for help. Together they, Clay and the teenage son of Parcher's girlfriend, Dobie, head out after the "Indians" who did this.

The movie starts off slow focusing on interesting and fun moments between the characters. We get to know these people, particularly Coffey and Parcher. Coffey has a kindness the others lack such as an empathy for the minorities they encounter. Parcher's life meanwhile reflects that of the West, full of rough living, violence and a pride in taming the land. This competent warrior and settler remains a tad callous from his years of hard living.

The movie contrasts Parcher with Victor, the evil cavalry man who "helps" the posse at the beginning. The vile soldier is quite willing to torture otherwise innocent Native Americans to get answers. Unsurprisingly this does not lead him to the true monsters responsible and the protagonists break off to conduct their own investigation. They are joined by Victor's cook Callahan/Walnut, a freed black who only Coffey really treats like an equal.

The initial investigation turns up some odd aspects to the crime: strange wounds, insufficient blood at the scene and odd holes in the ground which eventually becomes their way of tracking the things.

Night by night we learn more about the creatures. First we watch as they twist the long grass before surfacing. Then we learn that the natives call them 'burrowers'. Finally we discover what happens to those they take when the team discovers an abandoned wagon and discover a girl buried just below the earth. With the same strange cut as the dead victims, she seems paralyzed except for her toe. They send her back with Dobie just before things begin to go poorly for everyone.

The gang suffers a deadly encounter with some natives while the boy is attacked by the monsters. Paralyzed and buried alive, he tries to call for help by moving his pinkie. Meanwhile the others bury Clay, a victim of the battle with the natives.

The group presses on, unaware of the boy's fate. As things turn grim, Parcher uses the others for bait only to be attacked himself. He avoids paralysis but slowly sickens as the monsters' poison softens his flesh. They encounter a Native American woman who tells them much about the beasts. They come every third generation and used to feed on the soft parts of the buffalo.

She also knows Parcher is doomed. Unfortunately only Parcher speaks her language and he hides that information from the others. Instead he pursues a cure from the Utes, a dangerous tribe that has fought the creatures in the past.

Eventually they are taken down one by one by bad luck and violence between each other and the natives. Coffey survives to see the last few killed by Victor's hand. Though one batch of the creatures dies, in the final scenes we watch as another group devour Dobie. In the end no one is saved and Mary Anne remains lost forever.

There are some problems with the film. The most trite is that some of the ideas that never seem to pay off. We see several times that Coffey can throw quite far and accurately. But nothing comes of that. The paralysis always leaves one part of the victim unfrozen but it only leads to a sense of creepiness.

More irritating is what feels like inconsistent characterization of Coffey. We learn quickly that he knows how to work within this group. Later however he ignores Parcher's advice and makes a stupid mistake that leads to Clay's death. It just feels off.

Otherwise the film works well. The violence is graphic but kept short and tasteful. The characters interesting and compelling.

The monsters are intriguing, moving like crickets with odd inverted limbs and biting with oddly featureless faces. Stakes and bullets can't kill them but like vampires they burn in sunlight. They can be poisoned but only the Utes, now murdered by Victor, knew that secret.

Overall this is an excellent movie and one I would not mind watching again.

Gaming Ideas

I think one could have a lot of fun creating a sequel to this movie. Since the creatures come every third generation (so perhaps every 50 or 60 years?), you could set game during World War II when they next return. While most of the able-bodied men are overseas, the PCs (elderly men, women, children and those unfit for service) must defend their isolated towns in North or South Dakota from the monsters.

Or you could set it two steps farther in quasi-modern day 2000s as the creatures return again (perhaps running the 1940s game as a grisly one shot which the PCs later uncover in their investigations).

Even the original story is a good scenario idea (if one where most of the PCs are not expected to survive). Four or five PCs team up with a military escort to hunt down the murderers of a frontier family. After the initial information gathering scenes, they encounter the monsters and the horror begins.

The monsters would be easy to stat. They have sting that numbs and (slowly) dissolves the flesh. When ingested it paralyzes. They can tunnel quickly (perhaps as fast as a man can walk) and seemed to be harmed by normal weapons. But they can't die except by sunlight. They seem slow and easily fought off by an able opponent, relying on their poisons to cripple their prey.

In terms of a system, I could see using GUMSHOE, GURPS, or a period variant of World of Darkness. The choice depends on how much detail you want in your characters. Given the high possibility of PC death, a lighter system might be best.

Dreams of the Witch-House

witchhouse
This short film isn't really a movie but is surely horror. Based on a Lovecraft story about an ancient witch and the strange horrible house she once lived in, it follows the basic outline of that story well with a physics graduate student (Walter) taking the role of the unsuspecting boarder at the house.

Warning: this is decidedly R-Rated with nudity and violence to a young child!

So I've owned this movie for a few years and while I don't think it's amazing, I did think it was a fun little film. Unfortunately I find now as the father of a little boy (much like the one used in the film) that this movie is much more horrifying to me and a little unwatchable. Make of that what you will.

The premise is our protagonist rents a room in a decaying 300 hundred year old house. He is looking for quiet and a place to study. It reminds me of my graduate days (though not with quite so dire a living conditions).

Ironically Walter discovers the room shares the same odd geometry as his research into distortions in space-time. He also finds despite the landlord's emphasis on quiet, the place is quite loud at night.

Anyway he finds himself the subject of attention by a human faced rat-thing and an ancient witch that torment him at night. He tries to convince himself that these are dreams despite the wounds he acquires along the way.

The reclusive occupant in room #2 on the ground floor slowly reveals himself as the prior subject of the witch's attention. Now a broken old drunk, he claims to have been forced to kill children for her and now seeks to save Walter from the same fate.

The other important characters are Walter's next door neighbor Francis and her toddler son Danny the baby. The two hit it off early on. However as the witch begins to manipulate him, stealing and seducing him while he babysits Danny, their relationship crumbles.

As for myself, as I can only watch Walter's struggle and the scenes with Danny with growing dread as the witch's plot to sacrifice the child draws closer and closer.

Walter again and again tries to look for rational reasons: dreams, then sleepwalking, before accepting the truth. Of course by then he sounds crazy and no one believes him.

He clings to the hope that he can trapped the witch with geometry but it is too late. Though he "kills" the witch, he is too late to save Danny from the rat-thing.

They blame him for the murder and he cracks. While committed to a psychiatric center, clues turn up to support his story. To ensure he won't tell his tale the rat-thing burrows into his flesh and kills him.

A few bits are pretty silly. The gore is a tad tasteless and a sex scene is added for no real reason. They use an absurd amount of blood in a few scenes. The Necronomicon makes an appearance containing diagrams out of a physics textbook.

The movie is cheaply but well made and overall the story is told well. As long as the subject matter doesn't cross your trigger threshold, I'd recommend a look.

Gaming Ideas

Horror is a hard genre for a roleplaying game. So much of it relies on isolation both physical and social. In this story if Walter had someone to discuss this problem with, it would lose a lot of its power over him. Thus a direct adaption would lose a lot of the power of the original narrative.

I'd say adapting this story as a prologue to the real game might work better. The PC investigators find Walter's notes and the police reports. Then they must finish what he started, track the witch (whose body was never found) through space and time, and end her evil forever (and possibly retroactively). Obvious concept choices would include fellow graduate students, his professor and his or her colleagues, and perhaps skeptical but dogged police officers.

I will say the game has some nice ideas for how to handle the Physics skill for finding clues. For researching how a Trail of Cthulhu game might play out, its worth a look.

Friday, October 16, 2015

The Climbers Recap: The God Smiter

creepersbanner
Now for my penultimate session. I’d hope to bring this game to 20 sessions or more but honestly I’m ready to move on. The increasingly long delays between sessions have eroded my interest and sapped momentum. Once the Climbers is complete I’ll be able to focus on my Night’s Black Agents campaign and making that a better, faster paced game. This session we fight the gods.

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/Hardholder) 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. His gang of mercenaries now run white's former holding: the Big Ship.
  • 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 warned him of danger from the psychic maelstrom. He built a weapon to kill 'the gods' and is working for a ghost in the maelstrom.
  • November Orleans (the Skinner/Battlebabe) 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. She works for the "gods" but hopes to betray them.
  • Violet Jefferson (the Touchstone/Scholar) is descended from 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. She recovered from the wound November inflicted but they have not reconciled.
This session we managed to start on time. My son was very active but mostly quiet for a change.

As of last session, Gator now runs the Big Ship as hardholder and is busy dealing with a climber infestation. Jarhead has numerous projects occupying his attention: White’s new body, Violet’s recovery, shock collars and the God Smiter. November’s plans are also moving quickly.

As if the “wheels of universe are being greased for you, probably in blood. The gods are like that.”

Wound-wise people were in good shape, the downtime left Gator and November unharmed and Violet at 1-harm. Jarhead never rests so he is still at 2-harm.

”I ain’t got time to rest.”

Finally Lily has left Violet’s followers, upset at how things turned out.

“It’s probably not going to come back to haunt you,” I say.

We dub her “the last deserter” and Violet comments, “she probably wasn’t a true believer anyway.”

Start of Session

First highlighting:
  • Gator marks Sharp (by Jarhead) and Hard.
“I want to see gods die this session.”
  • Jarhead highlights Weird (thanks to November) and Hard. I struggle with the last one but since violence is in the air choose I know he will roll hard for his gang soon.
  • November unsurprisingly gets Hot (by Jarhead) and Sharp.
“November’s stats are obscene,” I comment.

”I don’t need your puritanical judgements,” she says.

  • Violet marks Cool (by Jarhead as well) and Sharp.
“I want to see this scholar in action.”

“I finally know people!” Jarhead says.

”It’s only taken the entire game.”


Next Violet rolls Fortunes and gets 8. She chooses disease.

“That will be fun,” I cackle.

”I’m tired of argumentative,’ she explains.


Then Gator rolls Wealth and gets a 12, so all is good. He marks experience and I mark up my countdown clocks and we begin.

The God Smiter

Jarhead tightens the last bolt holding the Tesla sphere in place. Behind him Rox attaches the final leads while the rest of the gang keeps watch.

Violet props herself up in her gurney as she pours over some Golden Age document on her tablet. Her fingers manipulate the touch screen like cold sausages. She tries to shake the cobwebs from her head from Jarhead’s drugs. Distantly she notices a metallic banging.

We establish Violet’s wealth at 9.5 barter. “Just tell me when you want to buy that fleet of attack motorcycles.”

I also point out she could leave Jarhead’s care if she wanted. “You could get a lawn chair and soak in some rays for a week.”


Shazah looks over to Jarhead, his massive sword gun pointed at door.

Jarhead frowns and calls out, “Who is it?”

A woman’s voice barks, “I want to talk to Violet.”

“Not much of a name,” he says.

“It’s Fire! Let me in,” she says after a long pause.

Jarhead glances at Violet. She nods. The tinkerer says, “cool beans. Let her in. Be careful though.”

The powerful warrior unlatches the door. An armored teenager girl pushes past him toward Violet.

“What are you doing lying around here for?” she accuses the survivalist. “I figured you at least would have something to do around here?”

“There’s plenty to do, but we have time to do it,” Violet says calmly.

“What do you think about this mess here?” Fire says loudly.

“What Gator?”

“Yes, Gator! A.T. thinks Gator is a good guy but I know you at least wanted some sort of real change after White.”

Violet sighs. “Gator...he’s made up his mind. It seems like the people here seem to agree with him. The best way to make democracy work is to use people who are behind it. If we don’t, it won’t be long before somebody else, possibly worse, takes his place. My plan is to let them be. We are going to find somewhere else and make it work there.”

Violet rolls manipulate a person to make Fire see reason, she gets a 7.

“That’s not horrible, I could do a lot worse,” she says.

“You could do one worse, that would be a lot worse.”


Fire eyes the weary woman before her. After a long moment she crashes down into the chair beside her. “Damn it,” she mutters. “The Militia is falling apart. Most of them seem to want to give up on restoring democracy.”

“It’s not too late,” Violet says, struggling through the haze in her head. “We just have to find the right way.”

“But we need people,” Fire says staring her in the eyes. “With A.T. running things the Militia is useless. Maybe if you talk to them, you can get their spirits back up. Then we could all work on this new place.”

Violet nods. “It won’t be easy but if we put our hearts into it I think we can. I’ll talk to them.”

Thus agreeing to pay Fire’s price.

The young woman leans back and stretches. “Alright. It’s just been frustrating. We put so much effort into this just to see it all fall apart.”

“It’s hard,” Violet says, studying her potential ally.

Violet reads a person and gets 8. She also marks experience.

Jarhead decides to joins the conversation. “She’s interrupting my concentration,” he says. He helps her roll successfully though it doesn’t change the result.


Jarhead comes up beside her.

Fire looks up. “So you’re some sort of wonder maker aren’t you?”

“Me? Well I’m not going to toot my own horn but yes,” he says smiling.

“I heard you have ways of seeing things,” Fire says with surprising gentleness.

“Yes. I see things. I see you right now,” he jokes. “Come on lady spit it out.”

“I mean you can find things in the Maelstrom,’ she says.

“I can sometimes. The Maelstrom is not easy to deal with. Why? What do you want?”

She looks away. “There’s somebody I’ve been looking for.”

“Who are you looking for?”

“A man,” she says turning back towards him, her eyes low. “His name is Adam.”

Hmm I think we’ve heard that name before.

“Is he dead?” Jarhead asks. “Alive? Undead?”

“I don’t know. I want to find out.” Finally she looks him in the eye. “He failed me.”

“I can take a look but it will cost. Anything worthwhile in this world costs something.”

“How much?”

“I can do it for one barter but I can’t do it now. It will take a day or two.”

“I’ve been waiting a while,” she says getting up.

“Alright hommy?”

She looks at him oddly and leaves.

Violet finally asks, what does she intend to do?

”It’s pretty clear she intends to try to wrest part of Militia from A.T. and establish democracy someplace.”

“Well then that’s fine.”

Next we jump to Gator.

We establish that his wheel of punishments is finished.


Gator shifts in his cracked leather chair. Around the round table, his key advisors and warriors share space with the latest crop of petitioners looking for something from the new government.

Currently an odorous pair of women occupied those chairs.

Joe’s Girl scratches her balding head. “Joe’s feeling really sick right now,” she explains.

Jessica pipes up. “He’s all really hot to the touch.”

“Have you checked his eyes?” he asks.

Jessica rubs her arms and glances at Joe’s Girl.

Gator reads a person and gets a 9. He gains experience.

“He’s been looking off into space,” Joe’s Girl says. ”He’s really sick.”

”What do they wish I would do?” he asks.

”Get someone to take care of Joe,” I tell him.


“Has he gone to any healers?” the new leader asks.

“Well we don’t really have anyone,” she says. “People have been saying that the creepy guy you’ve got down in the old workshop can patch people. But we haven’t gone down there.”

“That would be Jarhead,” he explains as she claws at her mangy hair. “He could provide such services, you’d just have to make a deal with him.”

“We don’t really have anything. There hasn’t been time to do any scavenging yet. We don’t have anything to trade.”

“If you make a deal and honor that deal, I’m sure he’ll work something out with you.”

The pair nod to him. “Okay we’ll go talk to him.”

“Tell him I sent you and to treat you fairly,” he tells them as they rise. “He’s pretty good at that.”

Gator sips a glass of water as he waits for the next batch. Suddenly heavy gunfire rattles the room as the main guns rumble to life.

“Secure the deck!” he shouts to his advisors as he heads for his sniper’s perch.

On to November. We review the notable members of her gang: the giant Lafferty, Tern (a road warrior biker chick), Jonker (a driver sort), Sunset (all white robes and meditation hiding swords and shotguns), and the Kite family (survivalists who know how to decontaminate food and water).

November and Tern work on the motorcycle. November looks east. The dancer shields her eyes from the blazing sun overhead. The Big Ship looms in the distance, towering over the shoreline ruins.

Tern tightens another nut. “It will be good to get back on the road. I can’t stand being in one place this long.”

November nods and asks her about her travels. Moments stretch out they quietly exchange stories. Slowly Tern falls under her spell.

November uses Hypnotize on her and gets an 10. Her goal is to make Tern and Lafferty her second in commands, bound to her by Hypnotize and Manipulation. She also marks experience.

November stops mid-sentence. Only the sound of rolling waves fills the air. That and the scattered footfalls of a couple dozen people moving through ruins around them.

November rolls read a charged sitch and gets a 9. What should I be on the lookout for? she asks. She also marks experience.

Her sharps eyes spot one, a blank faced woman, as she runs past. The runner moves without fear or hesitation, cuts covering her legs where her clothes have worn away.

“Climbers,” she whispers. “It is an attack.”

As Tern looks around, November says, “stick with me, we need to get to cover before Gator’s men start shooting. Jonker should be a block over in that ruined hardware store.”

The roar of machine gun fills their ears.

Back to Gator.

Gator scans the bay from his perch. As he loads a round into his sniper rifle, he notes the scores of people slogging through the waist deep water.

He reads a sitch and gets an 11. He gains experience.

He starts with, “what should I be on the lookout for? Which enemy is the biggest threat?”


The machine gun fire churns the bay, slicing down the blindly racing figures. The survivors don’t react to the carnage. Searching the crowd with his scope, he picks out women and children among the climber swarm. He scans the ruins for reinforcements finding only empty shells. He focuses on a small knot of former warriors in the crowd.

He grabs a voice tube, “focus fire on unarmored! They are all infected, we need to wipe them out.”

Gator rolls Leadership and gets a 9. “They didn’t turn on me at least,” he says.

Then he goes aggro against the armored foes to snipe him and gets a 8. He gains two experience for those actions.


Taking aim he begins to fire on the main threat as his men mop the floor with the softer targets. The churning water obscures his quarry, but his gun’s mighty blasts knock some sense into them. The fighters scatter, trading progress for survival.

Gator’s gang exchanges harm dealing 4-harm to the climbers, reducing them to a small gang.

In the midst of this my wife takes to showing the baby off to the other players.

”Stop swinging him at the computer!”

“But it’s fun!” she says.


Jarhead looks up as the blasts of the guns thrum through the hull. “Good to know the guns work. I betcha he wish we upgraded them.”

“What’s going on?” Violet says from her gurney.

“Shazah see what is happening,” the tinkerer orders.

The muscular warrior hurries out.

Back to November. She rolls acting under fire to avoid trouble from the bullets flying through air. Despite getting a +2 for reading a sitch earlier (because she has perfect instincts) she gets a 6!

A few stray rounds fly overhead as Tern weaves her motorcycle through the ruins. She pulls up short as a whistling noise shrieks past them. A white blur strikes the building where Jonkers was working, exploding in a spray of rebar and concrete.

Smoke and fire rises from the structure as November and Tern picks themselves off the broken asphalt. The dancer rubs the spot where a chunk the size of a child’s head bounced off her breastplate.

Back to the battle. As Gator engages in other activities the climbers advance. His gang mows down most of them, reducing them from a small gang to a few survivors.

Gator instead opens his brain to see where they came from. He rolls hard since this is a battle. He gets a 14! Since this is advanced he sees past the maelstrom. He gains experience since he has Battlefield Instincts.


The guardians of the Big Ship carve the attackers into smaller and smaller knots. The machine guns wind down as the defenders must fire straight down at the encroaching swarm.

As the climbers pull themselves up the rusted hull of the ship, Gator looks out past the battle into the new wetlands of Miami. His eyes caught subtle hints among the attackers: a syringe sticking from a neck, icons fashioned from old plastic cups around another. These people came from 711. White infected them and sent them against the Autodoc.

Then he looks beyond. Step pyramids rise from a jungle that appears beyond these people. He pushes past the ornate stones and blood soaked stairs. Past the illusion. He sees the gods for what they truly are: withered old men and woman, their minds trapped in the maelstrom so long that they’ve turned to goo. Minds filled with hate, feeding on each other until nothing is left but sickening mush. A mush that hates and hungers.

”Damn old people.”

“Fucking old people,” November says.

”Who else would it be in Florida.”

Jarhead agrees, “I suppose we shouldn’t be too surprised.”

”Damn snowbirds.” Violet adds.

November decides to read a sitch to learn how she can rescue Jonker. It is a new situation, so I allow it. She gets a 12! She also marks experience.

What is my best way in? Knock down a telephone pole and race across.

What is my enemy’s true position? The fire has engulfed half of the building but only on the exterior.

What is my best escape route from the inside? Use Jonker’s car to smash through the far wall. It will damage the car.


November scrambles to her feet. The building shudders as the fire licks at it. “Tern, head for the back! I’ll catch up to you!”

As her second in command tears off, November turns, pulling her shotgun. She blasts the rotten wood of a nearby telephone pole. The thirty foot beam crashes down, smashing a hole in the burning structure.

I have November roll acting under fire for all of this crazy action. She gets a 13.

This next bit happens a bit later as I switch between the players but for the purposes of narrative we’ll put it here.


Racing across the beam, she jumps through the flames and into the smoke-filled interior. Jonker coughs and pulls himself off the floor.

“We’ve got to get out of here!” she shouts. “There’s a weak point in the wall. We’ve got to go through it.”

As flaming debris drops down, the crazy haired man protests. “It’s going to wreck the front end. I just fixed this thing.”

The flames begin to spread through the building. “It’s going to be metal slag if we wait!”

November rolls manipulate a person and gets a 7. She also earns experience and advances.

“We are going to fix this thing before we leave Miami,” he says adjusting his goggles as he gets into the armored car. “I’m not leaving my ride.”

“Of course,” she says sliding into shotgun.

To see how the escape goes I have her roll acting under fire again. It is another 13.

Jonker punches it. The car crashes through the wall with the sound of flexing metal and popping headlights. The windshield becomes a mosaic of star patterns but November makes out blue sky as they race from the inferno, over the grill and into the streets.

Back to the workshop.

Shazah races back into the workshop. He slams the door close and bolts it shut. “We’ve got crazy people climbing up the side of the ship!” the tattooed warrior shouts.

“That’s not good,” Jarhead mutters. “I wish he’d let me upgrade those guns.”

Jarhead asks who is in the workshop. I tell him Rox, half his gang (Mercy is out getting supplies), Waters and Memo.

The tinker heads for the door. “As much fun as it would be to just stick here, it’s going to a whole lot harder to get supplies if everyone is dead outside. We’ve got to go out there.”

“I’ll go with you,” Violet says pulling herself from her gurney.

Jarhead rolls Leadership to rally his gang. He fails with a 5. At least he gets experience.

“Let’s go!” Jarhead shouts to the others.

“Hell no!” Shazah says. “I’m not going out there. I’m not getting covered in spores.”

The other warriors looks to each other and nod.

“Yeah boss that’s a bad place out there,” says one with a chromed football helmet.

Jarhead’s shoulder sag. “What? Some gang you are.”

“We should seal the air vents too,” Shazah says. “Just in case.”

“That’s not actually a bad idea,” Jarhead says. Then Rox lights the welding torch. “No, not permanently!”

The crowd ignore him and immediately go to work on sealing the place up.

Violet shrugs and grabs her gun. “Let’s go.”

Jarhead tosses her a homemade gas mask. “It’s dangerous to go out alone, take this.”

He turns to the gang as they reach the door. “You guys! I don’t like you as much anymore. Waters, Memo. Don’t let anyone touch anything they shouldn’t touch.”

The kids glance at each other. “Alright.”

“If they make trouble use the detonator.”

Water tries not to search around. “Okay.”

Jarhead rolls manipulate a person with the threat of implied violence and gets a 9.

The tinkerer points to the big red button on the metal endoskeleton. Everyone’s eyes go wide. He closes the door behind him with a solid clang.

We return to Gator and a second round of shooting. He goes aggro and this time he rolls an 11. Since he has Not To Be Fucked With he deals 3-harm +1 for Blood Crazed to the entire small gang. Armor piercing on top of that. There is one survivor. He also marks experience.

Gator snaps out of his reverie. As the waters of the bay calm, he sights the armored climbers, picking them off in a rapid succession of shots. 30 seconds later only corpses fill the bay. Somewhere down below a lone survivor bangs on the rusted hull.

He glances to the deck. Three climbers limp aboard. Fifty or sixty men surround them. The hail of gunfire is deafening and swift.

Gator uses the last of his hold for read a sitch. What is my enemy’s true position?

Something gnaws at him. Some clue he should have picked up on. Like an itch he can’t scratch. Then he spots him. Joe.

Gator rolls Indomitable and gets a 9. He spends one hold from that to get to Joe. He also marks experience.

“There’s one more armored guy at the bottom,” he shouts down. “Keep him off! I’m going after Joe.”

He jumps on a zip line and sails over the market to the far end of the deck. As he slides faster and faster he spots Jarhead and Violet coming up. Around the corner from them Joe and his girls move in with weapons drawn.

He lands in a crouch between the two groups.

Violet and Jarhead both read a sitch. Violet gets an 11, Jarhead a 7. She also marks experience.

“I’m pretty sure I know who is control here,” Violet says.

”Yeah it’s a bone of contention between you and some people,” I remark.

What should I be on the lookout for? she asks.


Which enemy is the biggest threat? is her second question.

Which enemy is most vulnerable? she asks last.

Violet’s eyes dart behind him where long shadows emerge from beyond the corner. The large one lines up with the rifle butt clearing the edge. She ducks down as a blank faced man rounds it, rifle at the ready. A mangy woman with a pistol flanks him followed by an even more ragged one with a knife.

Gator doesn’t hesitate. His MP5 tears through all three as he steps between them and their quarry.

Gator seizes by force. “I tried being nice!” he says. He gets a 12 and doubles down on little harm. He uses the last of his hold from Indomitable to protect Jarhead (who would have been hit for 0-harm and otherwise suffer a harm move). He also marks experience.

Their shots ring off his armor, shots meant for the bewildered inventor. Gator checks their bleeding corpses and glances over to his men as they clean up.

“Hey is that one moving?” Wire shouts from the edge of the Big Ship.

“Let me see,” Morgana says looking down her rifle barrel. A single shot rings out.

“How about that one there? He looks like he’s sloshing around,” Wire says moments before another shot is heard.

“I guess we weren’t needed after all,” Violet remarks.

”My work here is done,” Jarhead says heading back down below.

“Not done yet,” Gator says stopping him. “The gods are sending everything they’ve got at us. I hope you’re ready.”

“I need a certain person’s assistance,” he hints.

The players quickly discuss if November is their best option. Memo comes up as a possibility but they decide against harming a little girl.

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag anyway,” Gator says surveying the damage. “I’ll get her. You stay in your workshop and hole up.”

“Aye-aye,” he replies with a mock salute.

Gator looks at Violet. “Can you keep an eye on him? It’s important.”

“Fine by me,” she says.

The pair turn and head for the stairs. Before they get far however a familiar voice shouts out to them.

“Hey Violet!” Boo says rushing up to them along with several other members of the Republicans. “We’ve been looking for you, trying to catch up.” He catches his breath. “You look a lot better.”

“Better than I was,” she says.

“So what’s the plan?” the older man says searching her face. “Things don’t seem to have worked out like we hoped.”

“Seems that way,” she says. “Short term make sure nothing happens to Jarhead. Long term I’ll fill you in when we get where we are going.”

As she moves to leave, he says, “well it would be nice to know what the plan is now.”

“Alright, the short version is that we are going to found new holding and make this work there. But you heard the gun shots upstairs.”

He scratches his chin. “Yeah a lot of climber problems here.”

“They’ve held them off for now but the climbers will keep coming until Jarhead’s work is done. We need someone to aim it into the Maelstrom. It should end that threat.”

”She’s going to be your scope,” I tell Gator.

”Nice I like it.”


A murmur moves through the men and women around her.

“How can we help?” Boo asks.

“At this point we need to make sure Jarhead’s work isn’t compromised. We need people to shore up defenses too. Half of you stay up top and the rest follow me.”

AOL leads the men upstairs while Starbuck trails behind Boo and his son as they follow Violet to the workshop.

“We’ve got to make sure nothing happens to this device,” she says as they move through the dimly lit corridors.

“Sounds important,” he says scratching at his arm.

”Where did Lily get off to?” Starbucks asks. “Wasn’t she with you.”

“She left,” she says.

“She left?” he says.

November takes the move Cooperative. She takes Jonkers and Tern back to the Big Ship. I add that Jonkers needs supplies to fix his car.

Gator surveys the clean up. Crudehammer looks over the side and drops a single grenade. A boom and blood filled spray later, he gives his boss a thumbs up.

“Burn everything,” Gator orders as a pair of men equipped with flamethrowers arrive. He then directs his staff to conscript every able-bodied man they can, especially those who have been causing trouble lately.

Gator earned two advances in the conflict. He increases his gang from medium to large and loses decadent and perverse from his holding’s attributes.

“You’ve set enough examples now,” November says.


Then he turns to Morgana. “I’ve got a job for you. November should be on shore. Go and retrieve her. Be quick, it’s important. I’ll be in the workshop below.”

She nods and immediately heads out.

A speed boat slices through the water towards the beach, reaching it a few moments before Jonker’s car pulls to a halt.

Morgana hops off as November steps out of the vehicle.

“The boss wants to talk to you,” she says. Behind her, Wire carefully clambers off the boat, a heavy tank sloshing on his back.

“Did he say what about?” November asks.

“I imagine it has to do with the climber attack.”

“Yeah saw that.”

“He said to take you to Jarhead.” Then she turns to Wire and another soldier. “You two clean the beach.”

Wire ignites his flame thrower and begins to torch the corpses floating onto shore. Then November, Morgana, and the others speed back to the holding.

To Jarhead and Violet.

Jarhead pushes on the workshop door. It doesn't budge. “Open up!” he shouts pounding on it.

"Who’s there?" a muffled voice says.

“Me? It’s my workshop.”

"I think it's Jarhead," a voice says.

"Jarhead?" says someone else. "How can we be sure? He could have the climbers."

Violet steps up as the murmur of voices grows in volume. “I can verify for all of you that he does not have the climbers nor do the rest of us!”

She uses towering presence and gets a 10.

The door clangs open. Jarhead stomps inside. His protectors keep their distance as he checks his tools and gear. He glares at everyone as they hold their breath in the stale air. Cautiously Shazah locks the door behind them.

The techno-savages eye Violet's Republicans. They look back unsteadily.

Someone bangs on the door.

“Open up!” Gator shouts from outside.

"Who locked the door again?" Jarhead says testily. “Open it up.”

Shazah looks over his sword gun still pointed at this entrance. "What about the climbers?"

“They’re dead.”

Jarhead rolls manipulate a person and gets a 8.

“Okay but give me a mask," the barbarian demands.

Jarhead throws over his and the warrior opens up the door.

Gator strides in flanked by one of his men. “Is there anything else we need?”

"Hold on one second," Jarhead says as he turns to his guards. "If you guys are not going to listen to me, you can just get the fuck out. I’ll give you masks.”

Rox steps closer to him, her hands raised up slightly. “No, it's just we are really keyed up. The climbers are really scary things and we just want to make sure you're safe.”

His shoulders relax slightly. "Instead of saying 'no we are not going to do it', try saying let’s do it this way so it's safer. Like ‘here Jarhead remember to take your armor'.”

Rox nods and then steps a little closer. “Okay. Jarhead why are Violet’s followers all so scratchy?”

The lights go out.

That sounds like a good place to cut. See you in two weeks for the thrilling conclusion.