Real Life Group Game Journal: Game 1, It's all the rage right? Options

[Paul]

So after seeing Hyphz's posts, I though why not. We just started a new campaign, using starting level 400 point characters.

Dramatis Personæ

Buck: A beat down, aging military veteran who is homeless, and nearly possession-less. Buck's ware, like his life is second hand, and used. In OOC terms he serves as the Street Samurai.

D-Train: Vagrant, Grifter, former medical student full time hedonist and part time junkie, D Train lives in a small trailer park and has small time dreams. He's just looking and living for the next score. In OOC terms he is the Face.

Rowdy: Just a good ole' boy stuck in the city, Rowdy is nearly manic in his positive belief that he can be someone, and make it big. Maybe a little too manic...In OOC terms he serve as the teams Rigger.

A Block: Leader of the gang crew in the ware house, an ork and tough as nails. He has a weakness for drugs, fast women and alcohol.

Mr. BadAss: Basically the most serious opponent the PC's could face in this game, he is a physad and not nearly as stupid as A Block.

Pae Ho: The Korean gangster who owns the stash the players are stealing from, and the guy who will be looking for them now. He is someone I hope to throw at them in four or five games, and is no joke.

The Play by Play

The players start the game at a meet with their Fixer, an eastern bloc dwarf known to them as Griggs. Griggs hires them to send a message to a Seoulpa Ring that has started operating in territory controlled by the people who back Griggs. (The players correctly suspect it to be the Vory but have not given voice to such yet.) He's learned the Ring has stored a large stash of street drugs, small arms, munitions and some assorted goods in a warehouse on the north side of downtown. He believes, and convey's this to the PC's, that the goods will be moved by Monday morning, so the job has a timeline. He also relayes a few known security concerns in the neighborhood, and reveals that due to repeated vandalism that the traffic drones in the area are pulled after dark and on the weekend. He also states that if nothing else no one should possess these goods if the PC's can not recover it.The players agree to take the job, and agree to 3,000¥ in payment. Half up front, the other half on the other side.

The players spend the first day performing recon of the target area. They discover through careful leg work several things-ere are between 6 and 8 Ring members inside the warehouse, and they have between 4 and 5 street kids serving as look outs on the streets surrounding the warehouse. They manage to discover that the gang has booby trapped the roof on the adjacent factory building (Which is abandoned, and derelict), and that the building has very lo-tech security approach-pit bulls! No cameras, nothing hi tech. The rigger makes good use of his drones and discovers that in the apartment complex facing the warehouse the gang has assumed control of three apartments on the corner, and have set up a snipers nest.

To balance this however there is a large public event occurring over the weekend at a nearby film school, and there is a homeless shelter and soup kitchen nearby. This is handy and allows them to press flesh with some of the vagrants on the down and out, with some liberal application of some cheap synthahol, street drugs and nicsticks that there is definitely a series of underground escape passageways used by the gang. But no one has any specifics. The players spend a night in the rain, on a nearby parking garage watching things.

They settle on this plan of action: They decide to contact their Fixer and arrange for call girls to be sent to the gang bangers at the warehouse, whom they had previous heard complain about not being able to bring in fleshy entertainment while standing watch to their superior. After giving the ganger's sometime to settle in the move up onto the roof, bypassing the simple trip-lines and because they don't kill dogs, they use less than lethal munitions to take the dogs down. But one of the gangers pops out just then to check on things, and they need to take him down fast. A damned risky maneuver on the part of Rowdy-he basically jumped off a third story landing onto the ganger, and some damn lucky die rolling ends up knocking the ganger out, and only doing some light damage to Rowdy.

After scouting the main floor they realize the gangers have a hidie hole in the basement sub-level. Buck decides to kick the tires and light the fires, and pumps two fragmentation grenades into the basement. I'll be honest I wasn't quite expecting that. He pretty much managed pretty much mess up...well everyone. Only two people didn't end up dead. One because he was brutally tough, the other because he wasn't in that area. The PC's descend into the area and see the carnage they've wrought. Buck appears unfazed, but the other two definitely look at him in a new light. Rowdy finishes the wounded tough guy-because they pretty much had no way to help. (No one knows D-Train is a former medical student yet.)

As they try to locate the hidden stash they are attacked by the remaining ganger, and a brief but brutal fight ends the only way it can with three on one. The bad news is that ganger managed to call the snipers nest, so the PC's-who had a drone trained on that apartment-learn that reinforcements are on the way. They load the stash as the gang arrives, and use the remainder of the riggers drones to delay them long enough to get out the other side of the warehouse, and on the road, away from the snipers nest. The drones manage to duck and dodge some machine gun fire, and the rigger smartly breaks contact. The gang pursues, and it's off to the races in a classic car chase scene!

The car chase was, from a mechanics stand point the most difficult part of the game to run. Keeping track of both combat, and vehicle positioning was a little bit distracting. But we pulled it off. It was several rounds long, and it was pretty back and forth but in the end they manage to trash the opposition's vehicles, but they do not manage to kill any of them. They also managed to break combat before the prescripted time I had planned on police response showing up in that part of town.

After making the delivery the PC's are paid the rest of their cut, and despite being a little rough around the edges they are generally just a little lighter on the ammunition. (And in a lot of trouble with a certain Bosnian pimp.)

Feel free to ask specific questions or give me comments, obviously this isn't a complete blow by blow of each scene, but it is a comprehensive overview of game one.

[Paul]

Behind the Curtain Stuff


The players are contacted by their Fixer, and once at the meet will be given an opportunity to accept a job that entails the following: a local Seoulpa Ring has stashed a shipment of Tempo, BT's, small arms and munitions at a warehouse on the corner of Westlake and Republican. The PC's will be paid to:

Infiltrate the warehouse, confiscate the stash and return it to a location in the Barrens.
If they can steal it, destroy it.


It's a simple smash and grab, enforcement style run. They'll be offered 1500¥ up front, and either another 1500¥ upon competition, and they can keep a reasonable amount of the recovered small arms.


The Warehouse

The Warehouse is nothing special, a ramshackle two story brick and sheet metal building. There are no windows on the first floor, and a limited number on the second floor. It is on the city power, sewer and water grid. Security has three layers-

Punk kids as loo outs. These kids are neighborhood kids, unarmed, and only work when the warehouse actually has something in it. They use their commlink's to warn the occupants of the warehouse, and don't fight unless they can clearly overwhelm their opponent.
Pit Bull inside the building. Trained to be viscous to any one who isn't a gang member, and to attack on command. They also bark when people get too close to the warehouse, or if they are disturbed.
6 gangbanger's-4 Mooks, 1 Boss,and a bad ass as his back up in command. All have heavy pistols except Mr. BadAss who has a sword in addition to his pistol.


The ganger's have commlink's, and have been instructed to contact their boss, Pae Ho-a Korean Gangster who's no joke-if something unusual happens. Unless there is shooting I'll require the leader to get 4 hits on a perception test before he calls. But the hit's will be cumulative over a 12 hour period. I've mapped the surrounding neighborhood. (I need to figure out a way to post those maps for you guys to look over.) And the ganger's have several escape and evasion routes. (three in the underground warehouse, one on the second floor of the warehouse that leads into the derelict print shop next store, and of course two vehicle doors, one roof top exit, the two vans and the two man doors-these guys can scatter like rats!)

The stash is under the warehouse in an Ork underground style secret warehouse. The underground warehouse is lit by track lighting, and is rigged to blow if raided.

[Paul]

Seriously? Nothing?


Damn I'm good.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Hey, it sounded fun... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[ZeroPoint]

....

Can I play in your game?


But really, I like how you gave the players a few different angles without having to spell it out for them, which is a problem I always have.

3000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) payment is pretty lean but good if your going for more streat/gritty which it looks like you are.

[Paul]

Can I play in your game?

If you're ever in West Michigan let us know. We always keep a seat open for guest shots.

But really, I like how you gave the players a few different angles without having to spell it out for them, which is a problem I always have.

I like to way over plan. It means I have an answer in advance, almost always. I tend do things like map out the target area, and areas of importance (Usually to a 4 or so block radius), I make a short list of easy facts any one could find by doing a simple "Google" style search (Oh look there's a Lone Star substation right next to the targets house on Google Maps. I guess that means driving up in our tank is probably a bad idea!); any possible pre-planned NPC reactions (Some are cowards, others would definitely react in a certain way under certain circumstances-"Hey he had a gun, I'm not sticking around to get!"); I do the weather up for a few days prior, and after the job; terrain features...well I think you get the idea.

I really want an IPAD so I can stop killing my printer, and actually just lay the screen down and make it a functional GM's screen/map/tool.

3000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) payment is pretty lean but good if your going for more streat/gritty which it looks like you are.

Yeah, this game is a lower powered game. So I expect the money to end up being a grittier campaign. In fact two of the players negotiated an exchange for their 3K for approximately 4500K of equipment. In fact it's how the street sam got a weapon for the game-because he actually started the game homeless, with no possessions. He's actually quite worried as to where he's going to store his two new ill gotten gains. Heh.

[bustedkarma]

Sounds like a good game right there.
I'm with you on the vehicle scene, tough to plan, tough to execute cleanly.

[Seriously Mike]

I really want an IPAD so I can stop killing my printer, and actually just lay the screen down and make it a functional GM's screen/map/tool.

iPad? Hell, get an Android tablet or an Atom-based tablet that can run Windows instead. Either the same or much better for a fraction of the price (well, it may be quite a large fraction, up to 3/4 for the Atom tablet, but Chinese get good ideas sometimes, I give them that).

Also, I like the detailed NPC behavior. I'm planning to implement something similar in my "fast and loose" campaign (complete with bonus karma "achievements" called Milestones - there will be 54 Milestones, divided into four categories: Physical, Mental, Social and Storyline plus two wildcards. They will be awarded for inventive and/or impressive deeds like environmental kills, breaking enemy group's morale, deciphering clues, defusing tense situations peacefully and advancing the storyline). Also, car chase. I'd add some "luck rolls" to check if enemies losing control over their vehicles didn't cause more mayhem like pile-ups and explosions. Because sometimes you just have to give the players a bit of pink mohawk entertainment.

[Paul]

Sounds like a good game right there.

It was a good time. I also now have two independent sets of consequences for them to deal with-reaction to them basically butchering the hired help-and the Bosnian's they hired from know who they are. They also know, in basic terms, how to find the PC's. The flip side is however they'd be happy with some reimbursement for their merchandise. The PC's only paid a rental fee. They could have easily made ten times that off a real sale, or over the expected lifespan of the merchandise. if pushed to violent confrontation the Bosnian's have more resources than the players, but they're pretty easy going business men. Give them their respect and they won't serve up your liver.

And to add to the Players ever growing list of problems the Ring is basically pretty unhappy with them, but currently lacks any knowledge to their identities, or how to find them. They have the resources to bring, in the short term some pretty serious pressure to bear. So I'll try and find a way or two to make sure they run into each other again, somewhere down the line. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

I'm with you on the vehicle scene, tough to plan, tough to execute cleanly.

Yeah I have a 2x4 foot laminated one inch grid square map that I use dry erase markers, and woodcrafter's spools to do the visual representation and we stuck hard to the 45 second rule. (Any rule we don't know, or have a question on we devote up to 45 seconds of our game time towards discussing, then I make a ruling on the field, and the play stands until after the game is done.) Keeps the breakage in time down to a minimum.

As soon as we play again I'll throw a second thread!

[Paul]

iPad? Hell, get an Android tablet or an Atom-based tablet that can run Windows instead. Either the same or much better for a fraction of the price (well, it may be quite a large fraction, up to 3/4 for the Atom tablet, but Chinese get good ideas sometimes, I give them that).

Thanks, I'll check that out. I'm the least tech savvy person I know, so I'll definitely take advice!

Also, I like the detailed NPC behavior. I'm planning to implement something similar in my "fast and loose" campaign (complete with bonus karma "achievements" called Milestones - there will be 54 Milestones, divided into four categories: Physical, Mental, Social and Storyline plus two wildcards. They will be awarded for inventive and/or impressive deeds like environmental kills, breaking enemy group's morale, deciphering clues, defusing tense situations peacefully and advancing the storyline). Also, car chase. I'd add some "luck rolls" to check if enemies losing control over their vehicles didn't cause more mayhem like pile-ups and explosions. Because sometimes you just have to give the players a bit of pink mohawk entertainment.

Cool. I like to have some idea of who my NPC's are. Sometimes the players never ask but it's nice when they do to be able to say "Yeah this dude totally has a gambling habit." Or "This young lady is a thrill seeking base jumper." or just how dedicated the help might be.

[Seriously Mike]

Thanks, I'll check that out. I'm the least tech savvy person I know, so I'll definitely take advice!

I'm interested in gadgets. Lately I found out that the Chinese make something that can be pretty much called your typical Shadowrun commlink. Now I have it on my wishlist, no matter how crappy it turns out to be. As long as it works... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[taeksosin]

Paul,

Sounds like you had a great game, and you have a group of players that're thoughtful, into their characters, and don't mind that they aren't OMGWTFBBQSAUCE powerful.

Also, thanks for the methodology with which you handle setting up the area (weather, personalities, etc). This is something I'm going to have to incorporate into my setup (first time GM, but been on the player side for most of my time playing PnP) since I'm sure if I don't my players will want that information.

Regarding your setup for the car chase scene, I assume the wood spools represent the vehicles, and you draw in the roadways with dry erase? I'm quite curious, since I want to make things as smooth as possible for me and my players when we start next week.

[Paul]

Also, thanks for the methodology with which you handle setting up the area (weather, personalities, etc). This is something I'm going to have to incorporate into my setup (first time GM, but been on the player side for most of my time playing PnP) since I'm sure if I don't my players will want that information.

I've found the key is too keep it fluid. Few things are ever concrete-but those few things are can easily be codified. Weather? Chances are my PC's can't control. Terrain features, certain physical plant stuff will remain the same no matter what they plan.

A quick couple of jots on the rest usually falls into place. They still manage to hit me with plenty of curve-balls.

Regarding your setup for the car chase scene, I assume the wood spools represent the vehicles, and you draw in the roadways with dry erase? I'm quite curious, since I want to make things as smooth as possible for me and my players when we start next week.

Pretty much. I have some matchbox cars I use for flavor, but the wooden spools come in eight sizes (Hey tht just happens to fit the size classes in D20 games....how coincidentally useful. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ) and they're dirt cheap. I snagged about a hundred or so in eight sizes, plus a plastic carrying case for about 10 bucks at the hobby shop down the road. I've painted most of them so the flat side at each end is either red (Hostile), green (friendly) or unpainted (Unknowns). I've flattened some of the round edges so that the bigger ones can be cars.

I also painted some in other more esoteric colors to be the players. (White, yellow, dark blue, a light green, brown, pink and a sea foam blue green. Everyone hates the pink and yellow!)

I snagged a big pack of dry erase markers from the dollar store, with about 20 colors for about 5 bucks. When we game I burn through them about once a year. (Black, green, brown and blue see the most abuse) I start each game by writing across the top the date-including day, year etc... and the weather at the start.

The 45 second rule is our number one time saver. The players know I am a fair arbitrator but they also know they only get 45 seconds to argue a call or rule at the table. No getting bogged down looking through books or discussing the latest video they saw on YouTube.