Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 289 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
We had one player off planned this week, and another cancelled at the last minute due to real life medical emergencies – normally I wouldn’t play with two down, but as we didn’t really find out until the last moment and everyone else was online, and given the nature of where we were and what we were doing, I advised that we should push on with the game.
The players having arrived in a very quiet, simple, out of the way village, set to with making lives better for people. One of the team pointed out that making it too obvious that things had improved would cause others to investigate, so they realised they’d potentially caused a great deal of risk to them – and immediately set to disguising their efforts, and applying cammo and concealment to what they had done.
Behind the scenes though, I was glad that they got Hunter out of the plane to come and investigate the “strange chemical smell” that had been hinted at in the village. With his gas-spectrometer and chemical sampler, he was able to narrow down things a lot more – and they could discover that “Mary Pat” was the source of the strange chemicals.
MP is a miner, going out hunting for gems – and she uses the chemicals for cleaning and treating her finds – mostly Rubies. Real life Afghanistan is loaded down with considerable mineral wealth, but sees very little income from the treasure trove due to corruption and inefficient mining techniques – something I’ve been reading up and researching on, and wanted to throw into the mix. When they do get to the smuggler market, they’ll find a gem dealer with a wide variety of gems – and a strange whiff of the same chemicals, and we’ll see if they link the two people together.
MP is also actually an intelligence agent, planted into the country to observe things and build up contacts – which she’s been working on for some years – so she’s not as innocent as she seems, and is actually a little concerned about Tads and the team turning up, but is trying to play it cool.
However, depending on how the team treat her, and how far they push, they could find a rich and lucrative source of gems – and more importantly, a possible source of talismongerable minerals – as MP mines by hand using an axe, rather than using explosives – so the gems aren’t “ruined” like they are in a commercial mine.
Otherwise, there wasn’t much to do at the village, and once we’d established things, we pressed on ahead through several days and had the team lift off, get close to the market, and then do the final push. I had them meet the art dealer and see the pictures at the end of the session, so the players would have time to think about things and come up with ideas.
I had the pieces of artwork laid out on a PowerPoint slide, showing the dimensions and types – and as soon as the screen-share went up, at least two of the players commented and noted that this was “Germaine’s painting” – so they clearly recognised it. That’s where we ended the session, as I wanted them to have a good think.
What I’m hoping they will think about is that they *know* that Kulkachev is a bit of an art ignoramus – they’ve seen his collection back in Batumi, and have already determined that he has fake pieces in his collection. And because they have 6 whole days to “drive” back with the pieces, but can do the journey in less than 6 hours by air – they have an opportunity to get a fake made up to supply to him, with him being potentially none the wiser, leaving them free to hand over the painting to Germaine – who would be ecstatic.
Of course, that means betraying the person who gave them the job – and if they get caught, it’s a world of hassle. But hey – that’s the murky grey world of Shadowrun, right… and the Johnson is often out to double cross the team, so it’s nice to be able to have the opportunity to “return the favour”…
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Thursday 30/06/61, Location: 35.14575, 67.11577, Time 05:00
2. Tads replaces spirits, quick trip back to the tilt-wing. Hunter asked when the warlords come. Some info - local, constant changing, some from the kabul mafia. Traders are more reliable. Aswon - try to find out, maybe meet them at the smuggler market and get some sort of non-aggression pact, or do a deal?
3. Realise they can disguise the stuff from the bottom, make it look craggy. Tads does that and makes food, shapes larders, builds some facilities for the village as a whole.
4. Hunter comes to the village to try and track down the smell mentioned by the others. Does get watched/pursued by the kids. Hunter detects piranha solution, mentions it. Info provided to Aswon and Hunter. Hunter quarters the area, eventually tracks it down to MPs house. Wonders if it's something to do with the drugs trade - maybe throwing off sniffer dogs / sensors.
5. Tads and Hunter go to find MP. Explain they've found something that will hurt the villagers. Tads spots a brief look of anger/annoyance, she explains the peroxide is for dying her hair, maybe she spilt some other chemicals, she'll be more careful. Hunter explains the "danger". MP says she will go to check, hurries away.
6. Kai asks Hunter to check into the smuggler market for protocols. Oldest kid kicks Hunter in the bum. Hunter catches him and lifts him, he squeals, the other kids mock him, then lets him go and he runs away, still being mocked by the other kids. Tads advises him to check his pockets, just in case.
7. Kai doing more biotech stuff. Aswon doing Talismongering - bit of a bust. Then working out defensive strategy for the village. Talismongering is a bust, Sut, gets distracted by rolling boulders - but then more sensible ideas.
8. More of the same on Friday, ask locals about interesting rocks / samples. They find some from one of the villagers - 1 unit. Rock with quartz veins, tiny glimmer of yellow. Aswon wants to buy, umm, ah, agree to have Aswon teach him how to shoot / services his AK74. Aswon shows off his "find", Hunter and Tads spots a tiny citrine, quite pure, but very small. Tads - can we get the locals to go looking for more? Aswon, need to be careful though, or will encourage raiders, do some more thinking about the area, come up with list of possible gems based on the geology of the area.
9. Saturday, planning for the trip to the smuggler market. Results from the search - Kabul Mafia running the show, control the area, permissive for outsiders/cyber/female/magic. Tads planning on covering up anyway to disguise herself. Team leave on saturday, look for somewhere about 20km away to rest and stage from. Tads - worth contacting Anahita, seeing if she knows anything about this place? Aswon - I don't think so, likely she only knows about the local area to her.
10. Leave saturday night, head to a staging spot 20km west of Paghman
11. Head over sunday afternoon for the meetup. VTOL aircraft and offroad vehicles around the west end. Vehicle mask as some big tilt-wing. Call from Mr Kulkachev to Kai - let me know when you have arrived. . Kai responds, already here, looking around. Directed to the helipad, 2 mins. Meet mr sterotype, to show the artwork. Kai mentions they need to keep eyes on the artwork. Team spot the Jewel of Muscat in amongst the goods, but don't mention it.
12. Gems possible based on geology: Beryl, including Emeralds, Corundum including Rubies, Lapis Lazuli, Pegmatites, Tourmalines, Kunzite and other Spodumene, Aquamarine, Garnets, Sapphire, Topaz, Flourite and Quartz.
Full Version: 3rd edition smuggler campaign writeup
A question for any of you old timers / lore monkeys / knowledge ninjas...
Is anyone aware of any more lore, knowledge or information from splat books, adventures or fiction about "Yomi Island" - or more than is noted down at https://shadowrun.fandom.com/wiki/Yomi_Island ???
Upcoming plans will see my team staging a breakout of a few key prisoners from the island, and I'd rather make use of any existing lore or information, if there's anything out there.
Is anyone aware of any more lore, knowledge or information from splat books, adventures or fiction about "Yomi Island" - or more than is noted down at https://shadowrun.fandom.com/wiki/Yomi_Island ???
Upcoming plans will see my team staging a breakout of a few key prisoners from the island, and I'd rather make use of any existing lore or information, if there's anything out there.
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 290 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
With the players having had the “dilemma” shown to them and being aware of the potential to get Germaine the painting, it was time to move on to the black market, and some shopping. The team are doing pretty well financially at the moment, with about 750K in the bank, so there’s some options open to them – though I know they’re looking at saving up for some new cyberware for Hunter.
I’ve planned out the market a few weeks back, and have been slowly refining and adding new details and vendors as I thought about things, or got inspiration from listening to the players and their plans. Some of the vendors are repeats from the Tehran market – I wanted to try and portray them as being part of the scene for the area, and it’s more than feasible for them to travel from Tehran to Kabul in the several months it’s been since the last market. Some are new, giving some fresh opportunities for gear and resources – including the local drug dealers.
My search history has no doubt flagged me with all kinds of agencies and systems again as I looked into the opium trade, the production of heroin, international smuggling and the costs involved and cross-referenced that with the gem smuggling that is rife in Afghanistan, as well as the black market prices on various organs. No doubt there’s a note on my file at various three letter agencies that says “harmless-wannabe writer. Pls ignore. Also searches for dragons…”
I’d put in a couple of drug vendors to give them some choice and options, as well as some potential RP interest, and added in the gem vendor to give some follow up to the discovery they made about Mary Pat, and to see if they wanted to follow up on that. They discussed this very, very briefly and they seem to have decided that they don’t care – which is more than fair enough!
Here’s a list of the current vendors I have at the market – those marked with a star were also present at the previous market in Tehran. The letters are used to show their location on a map – I snipped the area from Google maps and dropped it into PowerPoint, then added the tents over the tap and labelled them up, creating them in little clusters of like-kind products.
Stalls
A* Guns Norikito, Japanese Yakuza aligned - wants to know who Shimazu works for. Disgusted by Ronin. Sells Renraku VSP guns and other good Japanese gear, with scopes and accessories.
B* Electronics Repair gear, spare parts, wire, cases, replacement optics, low end security cameras, stuff needed by gangs to secure their bases, bulk discounts available. Run by Imran and Falooq
C Organs Pashtar and Son - organs to order, some "stock" kept. Blood matched and will supply on a large number of criteria
D Drugs Gulpari, Khost province, 85% Heroin, 5k per kg.
E Guns Khan, selling old Russian and American weapons in bulk, with crap ammo - functional but *very* basic, but low costs
F* Bio/nano Haramishas - good supply on muscle toner / augments, extended volume and adrenal pumps.
G* ID / Passes Manuel - info broker, fee based service for checking goods costs in area, monitors supply and demand, new service - bit of a pyramid scam, 1k pcm
H Drugs Abdul Ahad, Paktika region, 80% Heroin, 4k per kg
I Slavers Xi Pen - bunch of Vietmanese and Filipino slaves - industrially trained, not sexual.
J* Bio/nano Mr Cee - Shiawaise affilitiated, has a wide variety of reflex recorder cultured bioware for combat skills, and level 3-5 (but not 1-2) damage compensators
K Gems Paul Fowler, selling Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, lapis lazuli, garnet, and tourmaline, spodumene, garnet, Kunzite.
L* Bio/nano Mr Rand, South African Bioware shipper - Superthyroid glands for executive protection
M White goods Maalek - selling goods made in far east at 20%
N Slavers Bunch of liberated Bunraku / P-fix slaves, mix of races and sexes, from Japan, being moved west towards Turkey and the Balkans.
O Drugs Daruka, local Afghan warlord, selling 90% pure heroin, 5K per kg, Helmand province
P* Guns Mr Wei, Chinese, Triad funded, will refuse to speak to Kai - dirty Mongol. Lots of cheap ammo, and cases of basic SMGs and machine pistols at .8 SI, but poor quality
Q* Electronics Viktor Pavel - Encryption. Sells chips and encoders / decoders using Russian algorithms (they are actually compromised by the FSB) but are much cheaper than usual
R Magic Curses, blood magic and voodoo
S* Cyber Bulgarian cyber systems - mostly dermal sheathing / body plating, or limb replacements. Unknown brand, but actually *extremely* good and massively under costed
T Vehicle Stolen supercars from Hong Kong.
Hopefully we’re back at the game tonight, and they can see the remaining shops, and we’ll get to move things along a little bit!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Sunday 03/07/61, Location: 34.58482, 68.97008, Time 17:00
2. Discussion - Aswon in favour of deliver the painting and telling Germaine, then going back in an hour. Hunter - can we magic track it. Tads, need a 2nd mage.
3. Kai mentions that he remembers spotting fakes in his art collection to the rest of the team. Got a moral obligation to Germain to say we've seen it, and it still exists. But we need to be careful in case it turns out it was us that told her, would damage our rep. High risk potentially. We do run the risk of it going out of sight / contact again.
4. A - best thing we can do is not sell that info to Germaine, just tell her, not selling it. doing it as a favour for a friend, keep it on the downlow.
5. T - possible alternative, we don't know anything about art, we don't know if we're we're being underpaid. Aswon - better to be straight with Germain, not about biz. KISS.
6. Tads - suggests taking a splinter of wood from the frame for a ritual link.
7. Kai - let's do the job, just be careful.
8. Kai - checks distances on the way back, fuel points. Hunter - we can go back to the ranch, then take it in the truck - he doesn't know we've got air transport, and doesn't NEED to know that. Rest of team nod.
9. Agree to go around the market - head down past the car place, 10 hypercars. Marius falters in his stride. Tads wants to study them later to be familiar with them for illusions in the future.
10. I first - industrial labour. Aswond - sweatshop labour then.
11. Then N - team also not interested.
12. D - Offers a sample. Gets a sliver for Hunter to check. Starting bid of 7k per kg. Hunter does good analysis. Aswon calls contact, advises. Low end of cost. Min kilo level.
13. H - Abdul will welcome them in, warn about D, he is a thief. Good roll from Hunter, 80% 6k, very touchy people. Finest quality in the region, offers coffee. So how many kilos? Kai says 6 - offers a price of 46k. Kai - it's lovely coffee - must negotiate more. Coffee is expensive, that's why the discount is not much. Bartering... 10kg for 45k, Kai - need a short while to speak to my contacts, offers a free sample.
14. O - Daruka, smoking a cigar, several guards, fatigues, scars, Tads suggest moving on. Aswon merc background test - not great. Might be soldiers or wannabes. Suspicious. Thows water bottle "that is to get the taste of prattle out of your mouth" Aswon - "you can hear him then" D "we can hear him in Kabul." Sliver for Hunter, good test. "Best quality so far". D - my people know better than to mess around with it. K - not going to insult you by haggling. We'll take it now. Hunter picks a random one, checks, they pay. I am Daruka, here is my number, you are good business people. You can buy more later if you wish. Asks to see Shimazu's blade. Drawn, shown, chatting in Pashtu, attempt to translate. "Could cut a person with that" Aswon translates subvocally, Shimazu shows off a little and sheathes. Abdul curses and spits at the team. Aswon shouts back that he should take lessons from D.
15. L - recognises Mr Rand. He doesn't really recognise the team, so they remind him about Tehran market. Reminds them he has the best superthyroid glands in all of asia...
16. J - Mr Cee, explains all the goods are in a reefer truck, pack in dry-ice, 24 hour timeslot.
17. F - quick check basic info.
18. C - Pashtars. Explain the business model. Aswon "good to know" takes a card, ushers team out.
19. S - Marius remembers, passes over details again. Comes from an independent cyberware manufacturer. Hunter appraises quality, at least alphaware. They can do cyber to order. Hunter takes details.
20. B - get replacement cred reader. 1K. Marius gets 20k worth of "random electronics" for repairs. Get contact details. They cover from Tehran > Kabul > Parkistan/India. Aswon/Hunter does a run back to the bird to drop off. Rest get in the food queue.
21. R - smell of incense, windchimes, hougan in wicker chair, top hat. No technology. Aswon goes to check the books. "This is not pigskin..." Aswon, want to learn about things, not how to do things. You want to learn about the loa, then. Be an apprentice. Nah - no talent. You can still learn the ways, do the things, just not do magic. Tads does a check - voodoo blood magic, curses, pain and suffering.
22. Q - recognise, get details. Marius looks for a PEM and rigger decryption module R7 decrypt module 126k, pem 56k - 180k bulk offer. 3 week lead time. Marius asks Kai, says it's a good deal. Kai says yes. Where to - azerbaijan, will you ship. Yes.
23. M - team find out that it has top end white goods. Team "joke" about getting a sound system for the bird for attack runs. Aswon suggests some goods for the farm.
24. K - Hunter detects whiff of pirhana juice. Aswon - where are they from. All mined in one of the provinces - are you looking for anything in particular. Explains about the juice and his security. Tads suggests getting a gem for Germaine - he thinks, she's been seen wearing a variety of gems, decides no - too expensive.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
With the players having had the “dilemma” shown to them and being aware of the potential to get Germaine the painting, it was time to move on to the black market, and some shopping. The team are doing pretty well financially at the moment, with about 750K in the bank, so there’s some options open to them – though I know they’re looking at saving up for some new cyberware for Hunter.
I’ve planned out the market a few weeks back, and have been slowly refining and adding new details and vendors as I thought about things, or got inspiration from listening to the players and their plans. Some of the vendors are repeats from the Tehran market – I wanted to try and portray them as being part of the scene for the area, and it’s more than feasible for them to travel from Tehran to Kabul in the several months it’s been since the last market. Some are new, giving some fresh opportunities for gear and resources – including the local drug dealers.
My search history has no doubt flagged me with all kinds of agencies and systems again as I looked into the opium trade, the production of heroin, international smuggling and the costs involved and cross-referenced that with the gem smuggling that is rife in Afghanistan, as well as the black market prices on various organs. No doubt there’s a note on my file at various three letter agencies that says “harmless-wannabe writer. Pls ignore. Also searches for dragons…”
I’d put in a couple of drug vendors to give them some choice and options, as well as some potential RP interest, and added in the gem vendor to give some follow up to the discovery they made about Mary Pat, and to see if they wanted to follow up on that. They discussed this very, very briefly and they seem to have decided that they don’t care – which is more than fair enough!
Here’s a list of the current vendors I have at the market – those marked with a star were also present at the previous market in Tehran. The letters are used to show their location on a map – I snipped the area from Google maps and dropped it into PowerPoint, then added the tents over the tap and labelled them up, creating them in little clusters of like-kind products.
Stalls
A* Guns Norikito, Japanese Yakuza aligned - wants to know who Shimazu works for. Disgusted by Ronin. Sells Renraku VSP guns and other good Japanese gear, with scopes and accessories.
B* Electronics Repair gear, spare parts, wire, cases, replacement optics, low end security cameras, stuff needed by gangs to secure their bases, bulk discounts available. Run by Imran and Falooq
C Organs Pashtar and Son - organs to order, some "stock" kept. Blood matched and will supply on a large number of criteria
D Drugs Gulpari, Khost province, 85% Heroin, 5k per kg.
E Guns Khan, selling old Russian and American weapons in bulk, with crap ammo - functional but *very* basic, but low costs
F* Bio/nano Haramishas - good supply on muscle toner / augments, extended volume and adrenal pumps.
G* ID / Passes Manuel - info broker, fee based service for checking goods costs in area, monitors supply and demand, new service - bit of a pyramid scam, 1k pcm
H Drugs Abdul Ahad, Paktika region, 80% Heroin, 4k per kg
I Slavers Xi Pen - bunch of Vietmanese and Filipino slaves - industrially trained, not sexual.
J* Bio/nano Mr Cee - Shiawaise affilitiated, has a wide variety of reflex recorder cultured bioware for combat skills, and level 3-5 (but not 1-2) damage compensators
K Gems Paul Fowler, selling Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, lapis lazuli, garnet, and tourmaline, spodumene, garnet, Kunzite.
L* Bio/nano Mr Rand, South African Bioware shipper - Superthyroid glands for executive protection
M White goods Maalek - selling goods made in far east at 20%
N Slavers Bunch of liberated Bunraku / P-fix slaves, mix of races and sexes, from Japan, being moved west towards Turkey and the Balkans.
O Drugs Daruka, local Afghan warlord, selling 90% pure heroin, 5K per kg, Helmand province
P* Guns Mr Wei, Chinese, Triad funded, will refuse to speak to Kai - dirty Mongol. Lots of cheap ammo, and cases of basic SMGs and machine pistols at .8 SI, but poor quality
Q* Electronics Viktor Pavel - Encryption. Sells chips and encoders / decoders using Russian algorithms (they are actually compromised by the FSB) but are much cheaper than usual
R Magic Curses, blood magic and voodoo
S* Cyber Bulgarian cyber systems - mostly dermal sheathing / body plating, or limb replacements. Unknown brand, but actually *extremely* good and massively under costed
T Vehicle Stolen supercars from Hong Kong.
Hopefully we’re back at the game tonight, and they can see the remaining shops, and we’ll get to move things along a little bit!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Sunday 03/07/61, Location: 34.58482, 68.97008, Time 17:00
2. Discussion - Aswon in favour of deliver the painting and telling Germaine, then going back in an hour. Hunter - can we magic track it. Tads, need a 2nd mage.
3. Kai mentions that he remembers spotting fakes in his art collection to the rest of the team. Got a moral obligation to Germain to say we've seen it, and it still exists. But we need to be careful in case it turns out it was us that told her, would damage our rep. High risk potentially. We do run the risk of it going out of sight / contact again.
4. A - best thing we can do is not sell that info to Germaine, just tell her, not selling it. doing it as a favour for a friend, keep it on the downlow.
5. T - possible alternative, we don't know anything about art, we don't know if we're we're being underpaid. Aswon - better to be straight with Germain, not about biz. KISS.
6. Tads - suggests taking a splinter of wood from the frame for a ritual link.
7. Kai - let's do the job, just be careful.
8. Kai - checks distances on the way back, fuel points. Hunter - we can go back to the ranch, then take it in the truck - he doesn't know we've got air transport, and doesn't NEED to know that. Rest of team nod.
9. Agree to go around the market - head down past the car place, 10 hypercars. Marius falters in his stride. Tads wants to study them later to be familiar with them for illusions in the future.
10. I first - industrial labour. Aswond - sweatshop labour then.
11. Then N - team also not interested.
12. D - Offers a sample. Gets a sliver for Hunter to check. Starting bid of 7k per kg. Hunter does good analysis. Aswon calls contact, advises. Low end of cost. Min kilo level.
13. H - Abdul will welcome them in, warn about D, he is a thief. Good roll from Hunter, 80% 6k, very touchy people. Finest quality in the region, offers coffee. So how many kilos? Kai says 6 - offers a price of 46k. Kai - it's lovely coffee - must negotiate more. Coffee is expensive, that's why the discount is not much. Bartering... 10kg for 45k, Kai - need a short while to speak to my contacts, offers a free sample.
14. O - Daruka, smoking a cigar, several guards, fatigues, scars, Tads suggest moving on. Aswon merc background test - not great. Might be soldiers or wannabes. Suspicious. Thows water bottle "that is to get the taste of prattle out of your mouth" Aswon - "you can hear him then" D "we can hear him in Kabul." Sliver for Hunter, good test. "Best quality so far". D - my people know better than to mess around with it. K - not going to insult you by haggling. We'll take it now. Hunter picks a random one, checks, they pay. I am Daruka, here is my number, you are good business people. You can buy more later if you wish. Asks to see Shimazu's blade. Drawn, shown, chatting in Pashtu, attempt to translate. "Could cut a person with that" Aswon translates subvocally, Shimazu shows off a little and sheathes. Abdul curses and spits at the team. Aswon shouts back that he should take lessons from D.
15. L - recognises Mr Rand. He doesn't really recognise the team, so they remind him about Tehran market. Reminds them he has the best superthyroid glands in all of asia...
16. J - Mr Cee, explains all the goods are in a reefer truck, pack in dry-ice, 24 hour timeslot.
17. F - quick check basic info.
18. C - Pashtars. Explain the business model. Aswon "good to know" takes a card, ushers team out.
19. S - Marius remembers, passes over details again. Comes from an independent cyberware manufacturer. Hunter appraises quality, at least alphaware. They can do cyber to order. Hunter takes details.
20. B - get replacement cred reader. 1K. Marius gets 20k worth of "random electronics" for repairs. Get contact details. They cover from Tehran > Kabul > Parkistan/India. Aswon/Hunter does a run back to the bird to drop off. Rest get in the food queue.
21. R - smell of incense, windchimes, hougan in wicker chair, top hat. No technology. Aswon goes to check the books. "This is not pigskin..." Aswon, want to learn about things, not how to do things. You want to learn about the loa, then. Be an apprentice. Nah - no talent. You can still learn the ways, do the things, just not do magic. Tads does a check - voodoo blood magic, curses, pain and suffering.
22. Q - recognise, get details. Marius looks for a PEM and rigger decryption module R7 decrypt module 126k, pem 56k - 180k bulk offer. 3 week lead time. Marius asks Kai, says it's a good deal. Kai says yes. Where to - azerbaijan, will you ship. Yes.
23. M - team find out that it has top end white goods. Team "joke" about getting a sound system for the bird for attack runs. Aswon suggests some goods for the farm.
24. K - Hunter detects whiff of pirhana juice. Aswon - where are they from. All mined in one of the provinces - are you looking for anything in particular. Explains about the juice and his security. Tads suggests getting a gem for Germaine - he thinks, she's been seen wearing a variety of gems, decides no - too expensive.
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 291 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
So, looking back at my plans for the session, I decided to change things around a little, and added one new vendor:
U Guns Bruce, Australian ex special forces, discerning weapons.
• Morrisey Elan+custom APDS - 20 rounds = 1000 Nuyen.
• Steyr TMP+RC3+30 rounds 6 mags, APDS=2500 Ny,
• Ares Trollstopper X-7 taser (Conceal 2, 1 shot, SS, 16S stun, Weight 3kg, Avail 14/2 weeks, Cost 5000, SI2, Legal 4P-F),
• Ares Anzio 20 Anti-material rifle (Conceal NA, 3 round mag (20 X 102mm), SA, 18S AV, Weight 27kg, Avail 20/1 month, Cost 10,000, SI 4, Legal 2-H No silencer!
• Rifle APDS, 100 rounds, 300 Ny per 10.
• Gyrojet rifle (Conceal 3, Ammo 12 ©, SA, 14M, Weight 4, Avail 8/1 week, Cost 2000, SI 3, Legal 5-K
With knowing what was coming, and the probably confusion and angst that might cause, I wanted to put in something that might end the session on an up, with them having the chance to get some new shiny toys.
But, that was for later.
First, we had to get that drama out of the way. We got the meeting with the ID broker out of the way, then I had the local girl arrive with the memorised message. Would he take the bait? Would he wander off on his own at the lure of a ‘special item’? Would the rest of the team stop him? The answer it seemed was that he was more than happy to head off into the darkness, while the rest of the team looked at cars.
I’m not a car person, but the place I work at does have several petrol-heads, so I’d “consulted” with them on a nice selection of cars to put in, equating our current hyper-cars to the ones on display in 2061. I could have changed the names, and made up fluff – but ultimately they’re just window dressing, and the team couldn’t afford one, even if they wanted to. But, for the car people in the game, they got a very strong idea of who and what they were dealing with, and even Tads did a quick browser search once she had the names to get an idea of what they were like. Not that Tads being a girl can’t be into cars, I’d just like to point out… but she’s not. She’s also not into fashion, or shoes, or handbags, or anything like that. She did admire the paint jobs on some of them or how pretty they were – comments that caused winces of pain to some of the others when she announced which one was her favourite based on the pearlescent colour shifting paint job…
But anyway! They were gawping at the cars, Shimazu was off on the dark on his own. I’d pre-rolled the stealth attempt for the courier, and got Shimazu to roll his perception – and he didn’t spot her at all. I’d again pre-rolled before the session, deciding on the damage level and number of dice to allocate to cast and drain, so it wasn’t a ‘fix’, and there was a chance for the attacker to take stun. As it turns out, she didn’t, and was free to carry on with her business without impediment.
So, Shimazu gets asked to make his Willpower test, and actually gets a couple of successes. I ask him if he wants to re-roll or buy any. He thinks for a moment, and then says no. I ask him “are you sure” and it goes very quiet – and then he says no again.
Ok.
So, down he goes with a deadly wound, blatted hard enough to start bleeding out. His spirit that was “on guard” is a F4 great form. I had it immediately flee back to Tads to report in, rather than trying to fight. It’s of above average intelligence, so I think it could get a sense of the power of the manabolt and didn’t fancy its chances, but did the best thing it could in the circumstances. Of course that throws a spanner in the works for the attacker, who knows now that reinforcements are probably soon going to be arriving – and they have to flee the scene. That gives the rest of the team time to turn up and save Shimazu before he goes too far into his overflow. He did lose a magic point – almost inevitable at this point, considering his grade, and was on a deadly wound even after first aid – which stabilised him.
Then Tads gets upset because she can’t fix him all the way, with only a F6 heal spell – so he’s down to a Moderate wound, and needs to rest for a few days – and Tads is now looking to up her spell to a F8 or maybe even a F10, so that doesn’t happen again! Of course that’s going to take time and karma, and has her plotting away trying to balance the two inbetween giving me evil glares.
But overall, they managed to save him, and get him back up. The team had a good old discussion about why it might have happened, and who they have upset (because that’s a short list…) and what they’re going to do about it. They’re feeling a lot more paranoid all of a sudden, and were very careful when they went gun shopping – but then managed to pick up their new toys.
The SMG is a standard book version, with some recoil compensation added, allowing at least one burst with no modifiers, and some APDS ammo. Nice, but nothing earth shaking.
The rifle ammo gets Hunter back into a good position for taking down armoured targets, and gives him options – while still keeping things like elementals/spirits as being a big threat thanks to their Immunity to Normal Weapons.
The taser was a custom design, something a little bit over the top and silly. I pushed the power up to a level that it would consistently affect even big trolls with their large dice pools – but made it a single shot weapon both in terms of mode, and with only enough power for that one shot and a hefty recharge time, making it a very tactical use item.
And of course – the big gun, for Aswon. Again, the size and weight of it becomes a major factor – this isn’t something you can just walk around with casually. But it’s an absolute beast in terms of power and range, and should let him perform a decent anti-material role. I’m also adding a special 3-round burst mechanic like the Lone Star Thunderbolt, and somewhat based on the G11. He can fire all three rounds, turning the gun into a 21D can of whoop-ass. But then he’ll have to soak an 11L hit from the recoil. Not that he knows this yet – but that’s going to be a fun description of a bruised shoulder and being pushed back half a metre from the incredible recoil!
Tuesday then, I expect them to go pick up the artwork, get it onboard the Broadsword and get back to the ranch, and then lay low for a few days while they heal up or practice with their new toys, before getting in the truck to go do the delivery.
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Sunday 03/07/61, Location: 34.58482, 68.97008, Time 19:00
2. Aswon: So - guns and the ID seller left - do we need IDs?
3. Tads - does Marius jr have one? Stunned silence... no. Aswon - sinless bugger - we should sort that out. Does Nadia have one? Marius - yes, but she's not going to use it.. Some discussion about Nadia, her real ID, her dad, finding her.
4. Find Manuel at G. Team discuss -Aswon suggests trying to get a free spin, do a search on Yakut as the team "know the truth" and they can verify his info. Tads - or follow up on Nigeria and see what happened? Aswon - that was a temp thing though. Tads - or ask about King Arthur. Hunter - bog off!
5. Kai - do we need to do a freebie ask, what's the guys rep? It's not that expensive, go to speak to him.
6. Manuel - good evening, what can I do for you? K- met you before in Tehran, might need your services. Manuel - sales pitch, vague. K-what got you into the business. Manuel - just what I'm good at. Kai:we're in shipping, infiltrations, that kinds of things. How often do you update? M-oh, daily, always putting updates on. 1 year deal, 1k per month. K-1 month, M, smallest I normally do 3 months at 2k pcm. K - tries to negotiate. 2m for 2k. Manuel folds, and agrees. 4k for 2m, Kai - thought it was 1k? Manuel explains. Settle on 11k for 1 year. Hunter checks - seems slick and professional. All get sorted by the end of the night.
7. Slight woman in Burka approaching group. "I have a message for the gentlemen with the Sword." Looks around, Shimazu gives a nod. "Mr Patel, a seller of some repute is aware of your skill, and has an offer for you. He has a special item, that would be of interest to a discerning artist. If you would like to view the item, please come to the north side of the house in fifteen minutes where you will be given an opportunity to view the item one-to-one. Please come alone, as all the other potential bidders will do. There will be a sealed auction at 23:00 for the item." Shimazu - I'll be there.
8. Aswon - so who's Mr Patel? Shim - no idea. Aswon - maybe it's something weird like they have the pair to your sword? Marius - we're going to have to flee the country because Shimazu has chopped someone in half...
9. Go to the car showroom, sparkly floor, turntables, lots of viewers - nearly all with no hope of ever affording. Marius twitches a little at all the inaccurate things mentioned by the people watching / looking at the cars.
10. Shimazu heads over to Kai, how much cash do we have? Kai - you can have access to all the cash we have, don't lose it or spend it all. Aswon - keep a line open to Kai for auction/smuggling advice. Aswon - What about a mindlink. Marius - probably behind a ward if it's a magic doohickey.
11. Shimazu fails perception test, gets bolted, gets 2 successes, RR, still 2, doesn't want to buy any.
12. Falcon, cast Manabolt at S, F8, TN4, Casting 6+4 SP=10 dice, 5 successes. WP rolled = soaked.
13. Shimazu goes down, spirit warns Tads, rest of team run that way.
14. Aswon arrives at the scene, doesn't see anything, drops into astral, sees the spell sig - gets that locked down. Others arrive, Aswon dashes off to look for astral sig, with Hunter as well - don't spot anything. They continue to search.
15. Tads casts sterilise, then stabilise. Kai biotechs, stabilises on deadly. Aswon suggest to Marius to check the bird - all quiet. Tads starts to heal. Aswon spots the woman who delivered the message. Tells Kai - apprehend her please. A-you sure? K - yeah, make sure she doesn't get away. Marius - puts the bird on startup ready for an evac. Tads aces the heal spell, max of 6 boxes. Aswon looks for anyone from the organisers. Tads - does the woman in the burkha have the right signature.
16. Aswon talks to a guard, very quickly explains the situation. Told to go get her. Shimazu on moderate+1. Does psychometry on himself, gets 2 successes: Brief flash of insight, disjointed impressions, superficial. Mist, sword swing, go down, white hand, black hand taking something.
17. Messenger back to edge of car park, doing directions. A+H saddle up, hi. Steps back with recognition. My boss wants to speak to you, don't hurt me, reaches into burka, pulls out money. Get back to team before they get intercepted by security. Security is now on alert, looking for trouble.
18. Tads - marius, if the bird is in the air, can you look for people leaving / arriving. Marius does - gets a slight glimpse recorded, but not detected live
19. She spots the blood, falls to her knees and begs for mercy, she didn't know, it wasn't her fault. Shimazu - can we probe her mind? Tads - carrying a spell, would be better to do a mind link.
20. Shimazu, drops to one knee, we're going to read your thoughts, easy or hard, she is massively intimidated and gives in. Tads casts, Shimazu shares the psychometry image with everyone. Aswon tries to penetrate her masking - no magic. Kai tries to calm her,
21. Tall, male ork, wearing brown suit, yellow lining, brown trilby, paid in Japanese nuyen cash, bit unusual, thinking about it - female voice. Dick Tracy, film noir, good fieldcraft. She's been paid about 5,000 Nuyen, about 3 years salary. Shimazu tries to do psychometry on the money. 2 successes, money, cold, revenge, calculated.
22. Kai - Tads, can you go high and search for the mage based on the signature. Tads - not really, explains why. Team suspect the person or people (may not be a single) will have left, Tads - they had chance to follow up, but haven't.
23. Woman is terrified, get her to think about family, intimidate her, send her off. She was mid way through offering the money, but Aswon tells her to take it and run.
24. Aswon "ok, paranoid mode on, but still want to shop". Drop mindlink. Hunter - am I being paranoid, or is it meaningful that it's Japanese. Unusual to have that much in large denomination notes. Hunter - might be yakuza links? Tads thinks about the shoes - fit with the outfit.
25. Quick run down of A, E and P.
26. Spot U - empty tent, closed boxes, supping a beer. Who are you fellas, and you, shiela. Aswon got any rifles. What you after. Just said - but then gives description. Asks Aswon a test - gets an answer. Slaps the Anzio on the table. 10k+1k for the box of ammo. Team impressed and take it. Beers for Hunter and Aswon, fresh one for himself. Card - Bruce - "Guns". Kai asks about arrows - nah, no primitive stuff. Get 3k worth of rifle APDS.
27. What else have you got - weapons systems. Like what. give me a use case - ok, flexible, pulls out the steyr TMP, get marius over. MArius likes it - gets him a beer, 2.5k
28. Big handgun, hmm, pulls out the trollstopper. "It'll stop a rhino - or a troll, even on roids"... 5k. Team hum and har. Kai - this is a pressie to myself. Get it.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
So, looking back at my plans for the session, I decided to change things around a little, and added one new vendor:
U Guns Bruce, Australian ex special forces, discerning weapons.
• Morrisey Elan+custom APDS - 20 rounds = 1000 Nuyen.
• Steyr TMP+RC3+30 rounds 6 mags, APDS=2500 Ny,
• Ares Trollstopper X-7 taser (Conceal 2, 1 shot, SS, 16S stun, Weight 3kg, Avail 14/2 weeks, Cost 5000, SI2, Legal 4P-F),
• Ares Anzio 20 Anti-material rifle (Conceal NA, 3 round mag (20 X 102mm), SA, 18S AV, Weight 27kg, Avail 20/1 month, Cost 10,000, SI 4, Legal 2-H No silencer!
• Rifle APDS, 100 rounds, 300 Ny per 10.
• Gyrojet rifle (Conceal 3, Ammo 12 ©, SA, 14M, Weight 4, Avail 8/1 week, Cost 2000, SI 3, Legal 5-K
With knowing what was coming, and the probably confusion and angst that might cause, I wanted to put in something that might end the session on an up, with them having the chance to get some new shiny toys.
But, that was for later.
First, we had to get that drama out of the way. We got the meeting with the ID broker out of the way, then I had the local girl arrive with the memorised message. Would he take the bait? Would he wander off on his own at the lure of a ‘special item’? Would the rest of the team stop him? The answer it seemed was that he was more than happy to head off into the darkness, while the rest of the team looked at cars.
I’m not a car person, but the place I work at does have several petrol-heads, so I’d “consulted” with them on a nice selection of cars to put in, equating our current hyper-cars to the ones on display in 2061. I could have changed the names, and made up fluff – but ultimately they’re just window dressing, and the team couldn’t afford one, even if they wanted to. But, for the car people in the game, they got a very strong idea of who and what they were dealing with, and even Tads did a quick browser search once she had the names to get an idea of what they were like. Not that Tads being a girl can’t be into cars, I’d just like to point out… but she’s not. She’s also not into fashion, or shoes, or handbags, or anything like that. She did admire the paint jobs on some of them or how pretty they were – comments that caused winces of pain to some of the others when she announced which one was her favourite based on the pearlescent colour shifting paint job…
But anyway! They were gawping at the cars, Shimazu was off on the dark on his own. I’d pre-rolled the stealth attempt for the courier, and got Shimazu to roll his perception – and he didn’t spot her at all. I’d again pre-rolled before the session, deciding on the damage level and number of dice to allocate to cast and drain, so it wasn’t a ‘fix’, and there was a chance for the attacker to take stun. As it turns out, she didn’t, and was free to carry on with her business without impediment.
So, Shimazu gets asked to make his Willpower test, and actually gets a couple of successes. I ask him if he wants to re-roll or buy any. He thinks for a moment, and then says no. I ask him “are you sure” and it goes very quiet – and then he says no again.
Ok.
So, down he goes with a deadly wound, blatted hard enough to start bleeding out. His spirit that was “on guard” is a F4 great form. I had it immediately flee back to Tads to report in, rather than trying to fight. It’s of above average intelligence, so I think it could get a sense of the power of the manabolt and didn’t fancy its chances, but did the best thing it could in the circumstances. Of course that throws a spanner in the works for the attacker, who knows now that reinforcements are probably soon going to be arriving – and they have to flee the scene. That gives the rest of the team time to turn up and save Shimazu before he goes too far into his overflow. He did lose a magic point – almost inevitable at this point, considering his grade, and was on a deadly wound even after first aid – which stabilised him.
Then Tads gets upset because she can’t fix him all the way, with only a F6 heal spell – so he’s down to a Moderate wound, and needs to rest for a few days – and Tads is now looking to up her spell to a F8 or maybe even a F10, so that doesn’t happen again! Of course that’s going to take time and karma, and has her plotting away trying to balance the two inbetween giving me evil glares.
But overall, they managed to save him, and get him back up. The team had a good old discussion about why it might have happened, and who they have upset (because that’s a short list…) and what they’re going to do about it. They’re feeling a lot more paranoid all of a sudden, and were very careful when they went gun shopping – but then managed to pick up their new toys.
The SMG is a standard book version, with some recoil compensation added, allowing at least one burst with no modifiers, and some APDS ammo. Nice, but nothing earth shaking.
The rifle ammo gets Hunter back into a good position for taking down armoured targets, and gives him options – while still keeping things like elementals/spirits as being a big threat thanks to their Immunity to Normal Weapons.
The taser was a custom design, something a little bit over the top and silly. I pushed the power up to a level that it would consistently affect even big trolls with their large dice pools – but made it a single shot weapon both in terms of mode, and with only enough power for that one shot and a hefty recharge time, making it a very tactical use item.
And of course – the big gun, for Aswon. Again, the size and weight of it becomes a major factor – this isn’t something you can just walk around with casually. But it’s an absolute beast in terms of power and range, and should let him perform a decent anti-material role. I’m also adding a special 3-round burst mechanic like the Lone Star Thunderbolt, and somewhat based on the G11. He can fire all three rounds, turning the gun into a 21D can of whoop-ass. But then he’ll have to soak an 11L hit from the recoil. Not that he knows this yet – but that’s going to be a fun description of a bruised shoulder and being pushed back half a metre from the incredible recoil!
Tuesday then, I expect them to go pick up the artwork, get it onboard the Broadsword and get back to the ranch, and then lay low for a few days while they heal up or practice with their new toys, before getting in the truck to go do the delivery.
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Sunday 03/07/61, Location: 34.58482, 68.97008, Time 19:00
2. Aswon: So - guns and the ID seller left - do we need IDs?
3. Tads - does Marius jr have one? Stunned silence... no. Aswon - sinless bugger - we should sort that out. Does Nadia have one? Marius - yes, but she's not going to use it.. Some discussion about Nadia, her real ID, her dad, finding her.
4. Find Manuel at G. Team discuss -Aswon suggests trying to get a free spin, do a search on Yakut as the team "know the truth" and they can verify his info. Tads - or follow up on Nigeria and see what happened? Aswon - that was a temp thing though. Tads - or ask about King Arthur. Hunter - bog off!
5. Kai - do we need to do a freebie ask, what's the guys rep? It's not that expensive, go to speak to him.
6. Manuel - good evening, what can I do for you? K- met you before in Tehran, might need your services. Manuel - sales pitch, vague. K-what got you into the business. Manuel - just what I'm good at. Kai:we're in shipping, infiltrations, that kinds of things. How often do you update? M-oh, daily, always putting updates on. 1 year deal, 1k per month. K-1 month, M, smallest I normally do 3 months at 2k pcm. K - tries to negotiate. 2m for 2k. Manuel folds, and agrees. 4k for 2m, Kai - thought it was 1k? Manuel explains. Settle on 11k for 1 year. Hunter checks - seems slick and professional. All get sorted by the end of the night.
7. Slight woman in Burka approaching group. "I have a message for the gentlemen with the Sword." Looks around, Shimazu gives a nod. "Mr Patel, a seller of some repute is aware of your skill, and has an offer for you. He has a special item, that would be of interest to a discerning artist. If you would like to view the item, please come to the north side of the house in fifteen minutes where you will be given an opportunity to view the item one-to-one. Please come alone, as all the other potential bidders will do. There will be a sealed auction at 23:00 for the item." Shimazu - I'll be there.
8. Aswon - so who's Mr Patel? Shim - no idea. Aswon - maybe it's something weird like they have the pair to your sword? Marius - we're going to have to flee the country because Shimazu has chopped someone in half...
9. Go to the car showroom, sparkly floor, turntables, lots of viewers - nearly all with no hope of ever affording. Marius twitches a little at all the inaccurate things mentioned by the people watching / looking at the cars.
10. Shimazu heads over to Kai, how much cash do we have? Kai - you can have access to all the cash we have, don't lose it or spend it all. Aswon - keep a line open to Kai for auction/smuggling advice. Aswon - What about a mindlink. Marius - probably behind a ward if it's a magic doohickey.
11. Shimazu fails perception test, gets bolted, gets 2 successes, RR, still 2, doesn't want to buy any.
12. Falcon, cast Manabolt at S, F8, TN4, Casting 6+4 SP=10 dice, 5 successes. WP rolled = soaked.
13. Shimazu goes down, spirit warns Tads, rest of team run that way.
14. Aswon arrives at the scene, doesn't see anything, drops into astral, sees the spell sig - gets that locked down. Others arrive, Aswon dashes off to look for astral sig, with Hunter as well - don't spot anything. They continue to search.
15. Tads casts sterilise, then stabilise. Kai biotechs, stabilises on deadly. Aswon suggest to Marius to check the bird - all quiet. Tads starts to heal. Aswon spots the woman who delivered the message. Tells Kai - apprehend her please. A-you sure? K - yeah, make sure she doesn't get away. Marius - puts the bird on startup ready for an evac. Tads aces the heal spell, max of 6 boxes. Aswon looks for anyone from the organisers. Tads - does the woman in the burkha have the right signature.
16. Aswon talks to a guard, very quickly explains the situation. Told to go get her. Shimazu on moderate+1. Does psychometry on himself, gets 2 successes: Brief flash of insight, disjointed impressions, superficial. Mist, sword swing, go down, white hand, black hand taking something.
17. Messenger back to edge of car park, doing directions. A+H saddle up, hi. Steps back with recognition. My boss wants to speak to you, don't hurt me, reaches into burka, pulls out money. Get back to team before they get intercepted by security. Security is now on alert, looking for trouble.
18. Tads - marius, if the bird is in the air, can you look for people leaving / arriving. Marius does - gets a slight glimpse recorded, but not detected live
19. She spots the blood, falls to her knees and begs for mercy, she didn't know, it wasn't her fault. Shimazu - can we probe her mind? Tads - carrying a spell, would be better to do a mind link.
20. Shimazu, drops to one knee, we're going to read your thoughts, easy or hard, she is massively intimidated and gives in. Tads casts, Shimazu shares the psychometry image with everyone. Aswon tries to penetrate her masking - no magic. Kai tries to calm her,
21. Tall, male ork, wearing brown suit, yellow lining, brown trilby, paid in Japanese nuyen cash, bit unusual, thinking about it - female voice. Dick Tracy, film noir, good fieldcraft. She's been paid about 5,000 Nuyen, about 3 years salary. Shimazu tries to do psychometry on the money. 2 successes, money, cold, revenge, calculated.
22. Kai - Tads, can you go high and search for the mage based on the signature. Tads - not really, explains why. Team suspect the person or people (may not be a single) will have left, Tads - they had chance to follow up, but haven't.
23. Woman is terrified, get her to think about family, intimidate her, send her off. She was mid way through offering the money, but Aswon tells her to take it and run.
24. Aswon "ok, paranoid mode on, but still want to shop". Drop mindlink. Hunter - am I being paranoid, or is it meaningful that it's Japanese. Unusual to have that much in large denomination notes. Hunter - might be yakuza links? Tads thinks about the shoes - fit with the outfit.
25. Quick run down of A, E and P.
26. Spot U - empty tent, closed boxes, supping a beer. Who are you fellas, and you, shiela. Aswon got any rifles. What you after. Just said - but then gives description. Asks Aswon a test - gets an answer. Slaps the Anzio on the table. 10k+1k for the box of ammo. Team impressed and take it. Beers for Hunter and Aswon, fresh one for himself. Card - Bruce - "Guns". Kai asks about arrows - nah, no primitive stuff. Get 3k worth of rifle APDS.
27. What else have you got - weapons systems. Like what. give me a use case - ok, flexible, pulls out the steyr TMP, get marius over. MArius likes it - gets him a beer, 2.5k
28. Big handgun, hmm, pulls out the trollstopper. "It'll stop a rhino - or a troll, even on roids"... 5k. Team hum and har. Kai - this is a pressie to myself. Get it.
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 292 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
No major events this week really – we were dealing with the clear up from the previous week’s assassination attempt, and doing travelling and a bit of maintenance stuff. They decided to get a scope and bipod for the big gun – both legal items that that could easily get shipped to the ranch, so I made up a little bit of fluff on the spot, dug out some stock images from a quick Google search and then told them they would be along soon enough.
Just as they were about to leave, Aswon called the contact so I threw in a little extension, with him asking for an extra kilo, to see what they’d do. They wavered for a minute, then realised it really wasn’t going to take long (as long as nobody else tried to assassinate any of them!), and decided the risk was worth the reward – but also that nobody was going alone. With that done, they were up in the air and on the way.
Tads did a quick loop back and check for the astral signature on the way – as she said to me after “I wasn’t expecting to find anything, but it’s professional to check”. Falcon is of course long gone, having beaten a hasty retreat after the attack, so the search didn’t reveal anything, but it’s good that they seem properly incentivised to take the threat seriously!
As they closed in on Tashkent, I described the situation for them, reminding them that the restaurant is in the middle of town with no good places to land – and they quickly decided to brute-force the situation. Calling ahead they made sure the contact was ready, and then they went into a hover over the back of the building, relying on spirit concealment and invisibility to hide them, while Aswon levitated down, did the transaction then returned – mightily impressing his contact along the way! But, they have more than enough resources to make something like that work, so it seemed fair enough, and allowed us to move on nicely.
Their journey to Tashkent and from the city back to the ranch all went without a hitch as well. I rolled for the borders, but never got anywhere even close to detecting them – hardly surprising given the borders in question. But they also made sensible decisions like avoiding the oil fields or major population centres – so again they made the effort to be sensible, so I think it would have been churlish to throw anything in or at them.
Back at the ranch there was a little splash of flavour for Marius – and the player looked at me and asked if I was trying to trigger flashbacks to bringing up his own children, so that seemed to have hit the mark. This bit was probably where I was least confident in the corresponding narrative – I’ve got no kids, and no intention to having any, so dealing with the parental emotions to them is a little alien to me. Hopefully it’s not too wide of the mark…
After that it was time for a 3-day training montage really, with no major events or activities, so we quickly fast-forwarded through them and left it ready to go on the morning of travel, with the players able to mark off a number of hours of training time towards their next karma spends. They did investigate Aswon’s new rifle carefully and discovered the “hidden” fire mode, which let me throw some extra fun at them. The rifle does 18S (anti-vehicle) as standard, but in the 3 round burst mode, it rises to a 21D (AV), which is enough to put a serious crimp on anything that’s not an APC, MBT or Thunderbird probably. The downside of course being that it’s neither subtle nor light!
In the end they have decided not to take the bait and dupe or forge the artwork, and play it straight – so the delivery part coming up with also be pretty straight-forward. I’ve nothing planned for the journey over there. It’s 770 km, so a long drive for a single day over the types of road they will be using – but they’re also in a well armoured ex-military vehicle and very well armed, so it’s going to be some foolish and unlucky bandits that try to mess with them. Police checkpoints or the like are probably going to be the most serious impediment to their journey, but I’m sure they’ll handle that no problem.
Timeline wise, we’re coming up on the end of the probe race, with a few more Shadowrunner caused “natural accidents” to take out the rest of the first round of contenders, and the first Surge effects are two months away. In 3 months’ time the ring of fire will go crazy, and there’s going to be a major time of strife around the pac-rim area, which will give them some opportunities – but they’re also aware that the “old man” has a job for them towards the end of the year. This will see them needing to be down in the vicinity of Australia by then, so I’m going to start channelling them down that way with a lovely job for Masuru and something to get Shimazu his “hero following” for the main plot.
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Sunday 03/07/61, Location: 34.58482, 68.97008, Time 20:30
2. Marius brings the bird back in to land
3. Hunter looks for scopes for Aswon, matrix search: Leupold X-10 Arrow scope, 5-15 magnification, 50mm optic, up to 100mm of eye-relief, large eye box, heavy construction, 5000 Nuyen+shipping. Optical mag 3, low light, thermo. GRS heavy duty bipod and adapter rail, 450Nuyen+shipping
4. Marius - can someone magic stay in astral and look for the signature? Aswon - Shimazu, you should do it as you're the most likely target. S-I have to keep my hand on my sword to do that- though that's not exactly a problem at the moment.
5. On the walk back - Tads talking about the psychometry image - coming out of the mist, probably Tehran? Or where they after the sword? Aswon - we did respond very quickly, and they saw the spirit go. It could be the iranian government, using what little knoweldge they have, and they know the sword was stolen. Or it could be sword thieves. Marius - if they're after the sword, then they have to eliminate Shimazu. Kai - I don't know, it wasn't the insta death? Aswon, oh it was... Kai but wouldn't they have doubled down. Aswon - it was a killing blast, they might not have gone for a 2nd due to drain, and the response time. Kai - but does that make it personal, if it was that focussed. Aswon - some people are just killers, professional assassins, some just like the sensation. Tads explains about how difficult it is to get to that high force. Aswon - if it is pro-mage-assassin, that's a small group, might be worth looking.
6. Back to Aaabdar and art dealers, they are ready. Marius - take loads of pics, all angles, make sure it's orignal and recorded. Kai asks for sterilise. Tads examines in astral, Hunter runs bugscanner over physical. Tads 6 successes. Virtuoso piece. Assenses - maybe it was an initiation / thesis piece.
7. Kai looking at the pic to try and assess it artistically (good) and check magic societies for the painter (nothing). Done in 2011, so on the cusp of the awakening.
8. Where are we delivering them to or are you carrying them? Marius - take to the ramp. Aswon, no - to the car park? Escort, they do a photo, then leave with the team after taking a photo and reporting in.
9. Now about 21:00, 800km to Tashkent, arrival around 23:00
10. Aswon calls, can you get me additional kg? Marius is just powering up. Call Daruka, additional 4kg for 20k. Deal - there soon. Tads - who's going too? Kai, shimazu. Hunter - no, me. Shimazu stays here. S-yeah, I want to rest. They go to tent, swift and businesslike exchange, then back, no fuss. Call Cyrok Borgein back. Aswon offers a deal to Cyrok.
11. Tads goes back for an overflight with lots of spirits to search for signature - no sign, gets back to body ok. Then tells Kai she needs cash for upping her heal spell. Commissioning from Toloya Popov cat shaman
12. Nowhere to land, thinking about hovering over the top, levitate Aswon down with the goods and the cred-reader.
13. Back to the ranch, 1700km, 03:30 back to the ranch. Leave the artwork in the Broadsword, behind a F14 ward. Hunter and Aswon staying up - paranoid. Rest to bed.
14. Nadia up because baby is being an arse with teething, Marius takes over, Nadia to go to sleep. Rest crash.
15. Monday 4, Aswon and Hunter up into the hills to test the gun. Hunter spots the burst fire mode. Changes mode - Aswon spots and splutters, what are you doing. Shooting at 1.5km. Stages to 21D, obliterates target. Then Aswon says "give it back to the grown up". Then practices. "race you back" but Aswon is carrying the gun.
16. Tads to call Popov to get quote for F8 heal. Kai happy in general with the cost. 5 rings, yes - lazy. Who is this. Tads. F8 heal please., Decent tradition. 15k - no 12.5, decent customer. Leather skin with healing crystals. Get it into a poster tube. Bring me some milk as well, yeah. Goat? Whatever, I like Milk. Only 260km from Batumu, so planning for a week.
17. Marius checks the truck over, otherwise family time. Shimazu heals up. Hunter doing sword work and maintenance. Tads spell design, food production, local healing. Aswon more martial training, Kai training.
18. Bow arrives - Aswon presents to Kai, traditional bow. then collapsible bow. Traditional bow is virgin telesma, tads spots it.
19. Shimazu calls Sato, how are you. Not good. Explains the assassination attempt. Keep your ears open, check the MO, think it's personal. Keep your ears open - interested in finding them. You're ok though, going to get better? Yeah, just a bit slower. Sato gets a 14 on walls have ears test...
20. FF to Thursday 7/7/61, setting off at first light, taking it steady.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
No major events this week really – we were dealing with the clear up from the previous week’s assassination attempt, and doing travelling and a bit of maintenance stuff. They decided to get a scope and bipod for the big gun – both legal items that that could easily get shipped to the ranch, so I made up a little bit of fluff on the spot, dug out some stock images from a quick Google search and then told them they would be along soon enough.
Just as they were about to leave, Aswon called the contact so I threw in a little extension, with him asking for an extra kilo, to see what they’d do. They wavered for a minute, then realised it really wasn’t going to take long (as long as nobody else tried to assassinate any of them!), and decided the risk was worth the reward – but also that nobody was going alone. With that done, they were up in the air and on the way.
Tads did a quick loop back and check for the astral signature on the way – as she said to me after “I wasn’t expecting to find anything, but it’s professional to check”. Falcon is of course long gone, having beaten a hasty retreat after the attack, so the search didn’t reveal anything, but it’s good that they seem properly incentivised to take the threat seriously!
As they closed in on Tashkent, I described the situation for them, reminding them that the restaurant is in the middle of town with no good places to land – and they quickly decided to brute-force the situation. Calling ahead they made sure the contact was ready, and then they went into a hover over the back of the building, relying on spirit concealment and invisibility to hide them, while Aswon levitated down, did the transaction then returned – mightily impressing his contact along the way! But, they have more than enough resources to make something like that work, so it seemed fair enough, and allowed us to move on nicely.
Their journey to Tashkent and from the city back to the ranch all went without a hitch as well. I rolled for the borders, but never got anywhere even close to detecting them – hardly surprising given the borders in question. But they also made sensible decisions like avoiding the oil fields or major population centres – so again they made the effort to be sensible, so I think it would have been churlish to throw anything in or at them.
Back at the ranch there was a little splash of flavour for Marius – and the player looked at me and asked if I was trying to trigger flashbacks to bringing up his own children, so that seemed to have hit the mark. This bit was probably where I was least confident in the corresponding narrative – I’ve got no kids, and no intention to having any, so dealing with the parental emotions to them is a little alien to me. Hopefully it’s not too wide of the mark…
After that it was time for a 3-day training montage really, with no major events or activities, so we quickly fast-forwarded through them and left it ready to go on the morning of travel, with the players able to mark off a number of hours of training time towards their next karma spends. They did investigate Aswon’s new rifle carefully and discovered the “hidden” fire mode, which let me throw some extra fun at them. The rifle does 18S (anti-vehicle) as standard, but in the 3 round burst mode, it rises to a 21D (AV), which is enough to put a serious crimp on anything that’s not an APC, MBT or Thunderbird probably. The downside of course being that it’s neither subtle nor light!
In the end they have decided not to take the bait and dupe or forge the artwork, and play it straight – so the delivery part coming up with also be pretty straight-forward. I’ve nothing planned for the journey over there. It’s 770 km, so a long drive for a single day over the types of road they will be using – but they’re also in a well armoured ex-military vehicle and very well armed, so it’s going to be some foolish and unlucky bandits that try to mess with them. Police checkpoints or the like are probably going to be the most serious impediment to their journey, but I’m sure they’ll handle that no problem.
Timeline wise, we’re coming up on the end of the probe race, with a few more Shadowrunner caused “natural accidents” to take out the rest of the first round of contenders, and the first Surge effects are two months away. In 3 months’ time the ring of fire will go crazy, and there’s going to be a major time of strife around the pac-rim area, which will give them some opportunities – but they’re also aware that the “old man” has a job for them towards the end of the year. This will see them needing to be down in the vicinity of Australia by then, so I’m going to start channelling them down that way with a lovely job for Masuru and something to get Shimazu his “hero following” for the main plot.
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Sunday 03/07/61, Location: 34.58482, 68.97008, Time 20:30
2. Marius brings the bird back in to land
3. Hunter looks for scopes for Aswon, matrix search: Leupold X-10 Arrow scope, 5-15 magnification, 50mm optic, up to 100mm of eye-relief, large eye box, heavy construction, 5000 Nuyen+shipping. Optical mag 3, low light, thermo. GRS heavy duty bipod and adapter rail, 450Nuyen+shipping
4. Marius - can someone magic stay in astral and look for the signature? Aswon - Shimazu, you should do it as you're the most likely target. S-I have to keep my hand on my sword to do that- though that's not exactly a problem at the moment.
5. On the walk back - Tads talking about the psychometry image - coming out of the mist, probably Tehran? Or where they after the sword? Aswon - we did respond very quickly, and they saw the spirit go. It could be the iranian government, using what little knoweldge they have, and they know the sword was stolen. Or it could be sword thieves. Marius - if they're after the sword, then they have to eliminate Shimazu. Kai - I don't know, it wasn't the insta death? Aswon, oh it was... Kai but wouldn't they have doubled down. Aswon - it was a killing blast, they might not have gone for a 2nd due to drain, and the response time. Kai - but does that make it personal, if it was that focussed. Aswon - some people are just killers, professional assassins, some just like the sensation. Tads explains about how difficult it is to get to that high force. Aswon - if it is pro-mage-assassin, that's a small group, might be worth looking.
6. Back to Aaabdar and art dealers, they are ready. Marius - take loads of pics, all angles, make sure it's orignal and recorded. Kai asks for sterilise. Tads examines in astral, Hunter runs bugscanner over physical. Tads 6 successes. Virtuoso piece. Assenses - maybe it was an initiation / thesis piece.
7. Kai looking at the pic to try and assess it artistically (good) and check magic societies for the painter (nothing). Done in 2011, so on the cusp of the awakening.
8. Where are we delivering them to or are you carrying them? Marius - take to the ramp. Aswon, no - to the car park? Escort, they do a photo, then leave with the team after taking a photo and reporting in.
9. Now about 21:00, 800km to Tashkent, arrival around 23:00
10. Aswon calls, can you get me additional kg? Marius is just powering up. Call Daruka, additional 4kg for 20k. Deal - there soon. Tads - who's going too? Kai, shimazu. Hunter - no, me. Shimazu stays here. S-yeah, I want to rest. They go to tent, swift and businesslike exchange, then back, no fuss. Call Cyrok Borgein back. Aswon offers a deal to Cyrok.
11. Tads goes back for an overflight with lots of spirits to search for signature - no sign, gets back to body ok. Then tells Kai she needs cash for upping her heal spell. Commissioning from Toloya Popov cat shaman
12. Nowhere to land, thinking about hovering over the top, levitate Aswon down with the goods and the cred-reader.
13. Back to the ranch, 1700km, 03:30 back to the ranch. Leave the artwork in the Broadsword, behind a F14 ward. Hunter and Aswon staying up - paranoid. Rest to bed.
14. Nadia up because baby is being an arse with teething, Marius takes over, Nadia to go to sleep. Rest crash.
15. Monday 4, Aswon and Hunter up into the hills to test the gun. Hunter spots the burst fire mode. Changes mode - Aswon spots and splutters, what are you doing. Shooting at 1.5km. Stages to 21D, obliterates target. Then Aswon says "give it back to the grown up". Then practices. "race you back" but Aswon is carrying the gun.
16. Tads to call Popov to get quote for F8 heal. Kai happy in general with the cost. 5 rings, yes - lazy. Who is this. Tads. F8 heal please., Decent tradition. 15k - no 12.5, decent customer. Leather skin with healing crystals. Get it into a poster tube. Bring me some milk as well, yeah. Goat? Whatever, I like Milk. Only 260km from Batumu, so planning for a week.
17. Marius checks the truck over, otherwise family time. Shimazu heals up. Hunter doing sword work and maintenance. Tads spell design, food production, local healing. Aswon more martial training, Kai training.
18. Bow arrives - Aswon presents to Kai, traditional bow. then collapsible bow. Traditional bow is virgin telesma, tads spots it.
19. Shimazu calls Sato, how are you. Not good. Explains the assassination attempt. Keep your ears open, check the MO, think it's personal. Keep your ears open - interested in finding them. You're ok though, going to get better? Yeah, just a bit slower. Sato gets a 14 on walls have ears test...
20. FF to Thursday 7/7/61, setting off at first light, taking it steady.
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 293 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
Fairly straight-forward this week, with the delivery of the stolen artwork to the buyer. The team elected not to do any funny business with duping the artwork, and to deliver as requested, swapping into the truck to hide their true capabilities from Kulkachev.
I’d sort of hoped they would pull a fast one, getting the artwork forged and returning the original piece to Germaine as that would have opened some interesting doors – Germaine would have been ecstatic with them and arranged for it to be shipped by them to her final buyer, and that would have made an interesting plot reveal. But – no plan survives contact with the players, something I’m sure every GM knows all too well, and I certainly didn’t want to force them. Stuff will go on in the background, and I’ll find an alternative way to get things where I want them. <cue evil GM laughter and hand gestures>
I had nothing planned for the team, so there were a couple of rolls for random encounters on the journey, but it turned out to be nice and quiet in general terms, with the main thing of interest being the huge number of people travelling the same way as them and the massive difference to the last time they were here. I tried to get over the complete about-face from their winter visit to them, comparing the fully open and packed guest houses with the boarded up and run down atmosphere they’d previously encountered. None of them however wondered (at least not out loud) if they’d be able to find a room to stay in – unless they were just really happy that they could stay in the truck for at least one night.
The delivery itself went off without a hitch, though several of the team did get properly paranoid at the handover, watching the skies and expecting the ambush to hit at any moment – but it was all very benign and simple. Kai/Fozzy semi-botched his art roll, so I told him he wasn’t sure if Kulkachev was talking bollocks or was actually an art pundit with deep insights. The team suspect he’s a wannabe, but they aren’t 100% certain, and I’m happy to keep them guessing.
After that it was down to the hotel, and a bit of RP for taking on the room and deciding what to do, with the team getting to play tourist for a bit, while Tads went for a quick flap to the north. We’d previously established that creatures such as the Grey-headed albatross can maintain horizontal speeds of 100kph+, so covering the 250km to Sochi at a speed of 50kph seemed entirely reasonable.
Again, I rolled up for a random encounter to and from Sochi, and nothing came up – so I’m going to gloss over this and have her fly up and back while the team are out doing some tourist shopping, and we’ll pick up next week with them on the way back to the Ranch, and getting ready to kick off their next major job.
I think it’s time to bring another Great Dragon into the mix… have an NPC guest lined up already to come join us on the discord and play him, and give the team their briefing, so we can start to work towards that!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Thursday 07/07/61, Location: 40.02442, 48.95752, Time 06:00
2. Team ready to depart at dawn, gear in truck. Discuss north or south - near Warlord and through Tbilisi, or closer to Mt Ararat. Kai - go south. Marius - I'm driving, we're going north. Executive decision. Take the camping gear just in case, load all the paintings and statue into the truck rear.
3. Nadia asks Marius for a picture of the hotel. Innocent why? Then realises. Brown delivery truck PVPs.
4. Nice smooth 6-hour journey to Tbilisi. Stop in Tbilisi for rest, stretch legs, dinner. 2nd half of journey uneventful but slower traffic. Get to Batumi about 18:00. Decide not to deliver early. Aswon says he will sleep in the truck in his hammock, just in case. Kai agrees.
5. Pass the guest house, now open, where they formed the magic group.
6. Weather is dry/clear. All guest houses seem to be full. Hunter - I'll sleep on the roof. Team work on things - it might be a hassle, but they can do it for one night. Treat as hostile camp, keep watch.
7. Friday 8th, refresh spirits. Tads - he had spies all over town, should we drop the disguise early. Aswon - we might want to watch for tails.
8. Kai, Aswon, and Shimazu take the cable car up, rest head up the winding road. Guard "Egar", with cyber eye and cheek. "You can't park here" "what happened to your face". It's....I am Aswon. Ahh yes. Attack, Mr K paid for surgery. Let the guards know, truck go up, take the CC. Great view, lots of boats. Get to the top, spot the guards, guns are dirty now and poorly maintained.
9. Kids are coming down, 35kph, truck near miss, shout at M, he ignores and drives. One of the kids gets shoved and shouts more. Continues up.
10. Kai scopes out the security in case they have to come back for Germaine. Aswon - defences are still significant to the exterior. Marius arrives, has to lower suspension to avoid arch, but in ok.
11. Kulkachev comes out with guards, casual dress. Kai welcomes. You made good time, uneventful journey, ahh, that's why you were so quick. We've honed our skills a little since we last me. How have you been. The town is busy, good time of year. You have my things. Yes, in the truck, where do you want. By the front door. Aswon looks up at sky, team get defensive. Get stuff out, over to the door and start unboxing. Kulkachev examines, start talking. Kai not sure if he's talking BS or legit. Kai makes out he's knowledgeable and compliments. Is it for anywhere in particular, or to move on? Guards disarm, take paintings in. Into the gallery, makes as little sense as before. Kai goes back to the Constable, admires it again. Shows Kai the Mondoodlian. He likes the red.
12. Kai asks about the statue, one of the two davids, scale is well off. *Not actual size. Not my area - but beautiful piece. Now, this other painting, that looks interesting...
13. "Don't know much about it. Recommended by a friend, said it had interesting history, not too expensive.
14. Kai - is this the same person who recommend the statue. No, multiple people. I'm very well connected you know... Kai continues to chat, waiting for Mr K to get bored. Ask for reader, Pay is 75k
15. As we deal in the art world, know some dealers, would you be interested in pieces if we come across something. I have very discerning taste, but ok. I like the Mondoodlians. I'll take any more of those. Are you staying? Batumi is very busy. We were thinking about 1 night. Clicks fingers - I will get your suite like last time. Point at guard. Team leave as Mr K goes for a meeting.
16. Marius looks at the archway, can't get out now the truck is lighter. Can't get air out of tyres - run flats. Aswon - use the spirits? All manifest inside the truck. Just squeeze out, tiny scrapes.
17. Back down the hill and to the Plaza Hotel. Valet comes out and looks sceptical. Do you have a reservation. Mention Mr K. Valet runs in to get the duty manager. Arrange the "VIP" spot out the front of the hotel. No space underground. Manager apologies for other people being in the suite. Squirming.
18. Some of the team feel a bit bad, but Kai goes "frak it, Mr K has arranged this." Manager mugs at the valet to make the VIP spot.
19. Tads plans to go after lunch to start the flight to Sochi and back. Rest of team do tourist stuff, shopping, photos, gifts.
20. Saturday 9th, leaving Batumi
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
Fairly straight-forward this week, with the delivery of the stolen artwork to the buyer. The team elected not to do any funny business with duping the artwork, and to deliver as requested, swapping into the truck to hide their true capabilities from Kulkachev.
I’d sort of hoped they would pull a fast one, getting the artwork forged and returning the original piece to Germaine as that would have opened some interesting doors – Germaine would have been ecstatic with them and arranged for it to be shipped by them to her final buyer, and that would have made an interesting plot reveal. But – no plan survives contact with the players, something I’m sure every GM knows all too well, and I certainly didn’t want to force them. Stuff will go on in the background, and I’ll find an alternative way to get things where I want them. <cue evil GM laughter and hand gestures>
I had nothing planned for the team, so there were a couple of rolls for random encounters on the journey, but it turned out to be nice and quiet in general terms, with the main thing of interest being the huge number of people travelling the same way as them and the massive difference to the last time they were here. I tried to get over the complete about-face from their winter visit to them, comparing the fully open and packed guest houses with the boarded up and run down atmosphere they’d previously encountered. None of them however wondered (at least not out loud) if they’d be able to find a room to stay in – unless they were just really happy that they could stay in the truck for at least one night.
The delivery itself went off without a hitch, though several of the team did get properly paranoid at the handover, watching the skies and expecting the ambush to hit at any moment – but it was all very benign and simple. Kai/Fozzy semi-botched his art roll, so I told him he wasn’t sure if Kulkachev was talking bollocks or was actually an art pundit with deep insights. The team suspect he’s a wannabe, but they aren’t 100% certain, and I’m happy to keep them guessing.
After that it was down to the hotel, and a bit of RP for taking on the room and deciding what to do, with the team getting to play tourist for a bit, while Tads went for a quick flap to the north. We’d previously established that creatures such as the Grey-headed albatross can maintain horizontal speeds of 100kph+, so covering the 250km to Sochi at a speed of 50kph seemed entirely reasonable.
Again, I rolled up for a random encounter to and from Sochi, and nothing came up – so I’m going to gloss over this and have her fly up and back while the team are out doing some tourist shopping, and we’ll pick up next week with them on the way back to the Ranch, and getting ready to kick off their next major job.
I think it’s time to bring another Great Dragon into the mix… have an NPC guest lined up already to come join us on the discord and play him, and give the team their briefing, so we can start to work towards that!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Thursday 07/07/61, Location: 40.02442, 48.95752, Time 06:00
2. Team ready to depart at dawn, gear in truck. Discuss north or south - near Warlord and through Tbilisi, or closer to Mt Ararat. Kai - go south. Marius - I'm driving, we're going north. Executive decision. Take the camping gear just in case, load all the paintings and statue into the truck rear.
3. Nadia asks Marius for a picture of the hotel. Innocent why? Then realises. Brown delivery truck PVPs.
4. Nice smooth 6-hour journey to Tbilisi. Stop in Tbilisi for rest, stretch legs, dinner. 2nd half of journey uneventful but slower traffic. Get to Batumi about 18:00. Decide not to deliver early. Aswon says he will sleep in the truck in his hammock, just in case. Kai agrees.
5. Pass the guest house, now open, where they formed the magic group.
6. Weather is dry/clear. All guest houses seem to be full. Hunter - I'll sleep on the roof. Team work on things - it might be a hassle, but they can do it for one night. Treat as hostile camp, keep watch.
7. Friday 8th, refresh spirits. Tads - he had spies all over town, should we drop the disguise early. Aswon - we might want to watch for tails.
8. Kai, Aswon, and Shimazu take the cable car up, rest head up the winding road. Guard "Egar", with cyber eye and cheek. "You can't park here" "what happened to your face". It's....I am Aswon. Ahh yes. Attack, Mr K paid for surgery. Let the guards know, truck go up, take the CC. Great view, lots of boats. Get to the top, spot the guards, guns are dirty now and poorly maintained.
9. Kids are coming down, 35kph, truck near miss, shout at M, he ignores and drives. One of the kids gets shoved and shouts more. Continues up.
10. Kai scopes out the security in case they have to come back for Germaine. Aswon - defences are still significant to the exterior. Marius arrives, has to lower suspension to avoid arch, but in ok.
11. Kulkachev comes out with guards, casual dress. Kai welcomes. You made good time, uneventful journey, ahh, that's why you were so quick. We've honed our skills a little since we last me. How have you been. The town is busy, good time of year. You have my things. Yes, in the truck, where do you want. By the front door. Aswon looks up at sky, team get defensive. Get stuff out, over to the door and start unboxing. Kulkachev examines, start talking. Kai not sure if he's talking BS or legit. Kai makes out he's knowledgeable and compliments. Is it for anywhere in particular, or to move on? Guards disarm, take paintings in. Into the gallery, makes as little sense as before. Kai goes back to the Constable, admires it again. Shows Kai the Mondoodlian. He likes the red.
12. Kai asks about the statue, one of the two davids, scale is well off. *Not actual size. Not my area - but beautiful piece. Now, this other painting, that looks interesting...
13. "Don't know much about it. Recommended by a friend, said it had interesting history, not too expensive.
14. Kai - is this the same person who recommend the statue. No, multiple people. I'm very well connected you know... Kai continues to chat, waiting for Mr K to get bored. Ask for reader, Pay is 75k
15. As we deal in the art world, know some dealers, would you be interested in pieces if we come across something. I have very discerning taste, but ok. I like the Mondoodlians. I'll take any more of those. Are you staying? Batumi is very busy. We were thinking about 1 night. Clicks fingers - I will get your suite like last time. Point at guard. Team leave as Mr K goes for a meeting.
16. Marius looks at the archway, can't get out now the truck is lighter. Can't get air out of tyres - run flats. Aswon - use the spirits? All manifest inside the truck. Just squeeze out, tiny scrapes.
17. Back down the hill and to the Plaza Hotel. Valet comes out and looks sceptical. Do you have a reservation. Mention Mr K. Valet runs in to get the duty manager. Arrange the "VIP" spot out the front of the hotel. No space underground. Manager apologies for other people being in the suite. Squirming.
18. Some of the team feel a bit bad, but Kai goes "frak it, Mr K has arranged this." Manager mugs at the valet to make the VIP spot.
19. Tads plans to go after lunch to start the flight to Sochi and back. Rest of team do tourist stuff, shopping, photos, gifts.
20. Saturday 9th, leaving Batumi
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 294 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
Oh boy – a fun one for me this weekend, and I wonder if I’ve given one of my players a horrible nightmare… but I’m getting ahead of myself a little.
We started off in Batumi, handling a micro-downtime. Tads had shapechanged into a giant bird and was doing the 250km flight up to Sochi to go buy a high-force heal spell. I didn’t have anything particular planned, and a quick roll for random encounters didn’t bring anything up – not that I thought it would be an issue with a flock of spirits to protect her, so that was handled “off camera”, and to keep things moving we also abstracted the night of R&R in the coastal town. Other than Marius wanting to get Nadia some presents, they had nothing specific in mind, so we just moved on to the following morning, and the team heading back to the ranch.
And then I told Marius about the exam. “What exam?” he asked. Well, it was news to him, as he’d not been told – but now apparently there’s an exam. Of course, he hadn’t been studying for anything either. There was a bit of discussion amongst the players, and lots of very genuine head scratching. It looks like they were out of game, very confused. Marius of course has a perfect memory, so I gave him an intelligence check on a pretty low target number, and then reminded him that back in episode 277, a mysterious briefcase had turned up at the Ranch, keyed to his biometrics and containing books on “Nuclear Reactors: Engineering Operations Manual for S1B reactor, Columbia Class submarines” and “Pebble bed reactions: Design considerations for Ultra-High Temperature sealed reactor operations” along with chips on subjects like “Nuclear materials storage, Radiation Hazards and Mitigation factors, Nuclear medicine, High Pressure water exchange systems, Electrical generation techniques for high pressure turbines, Nuclear Epitaxy, Quantum diffusion bonding”…
Then there was the sudden flash of several people vaguely remembering, as I read back the bit of the writeup detailing this, and them suddenly recalling that someone had sent them a shit-ton of material on high level scientific principles.
That they then ignored and did nothing with.
Of course, the people at Ares had assumed that Marius, being an intelligent guy, knew that he was supposed to start studying this, and have left him for 3 months to assimilate the first lot of knowledge. And now there’s a test.
And I’m wondering if the player is going to get that weird nightmare where you turn up at school and there’s an exam, and you’ve done no revision, and everyone else knew about it, but you missed the memo, and oh god, oh god, oh god, the world is on fire. Because if he doesn’t, then Marius really should be!
As they dug into things further, I hinted that Ares would be disappointed with him. Not angry. But disappointed. He’d have let himself down, his friends down, the company down… oh, and they might not send through any more updates for his cyber-ware. That was the final nail I think, and suddenly this became and *important* thing that needed to be done!
Next up was coming back with some news from Sato, filling in a bit of information and adding to the suspicion that the hit in Kabul was organised by Falcon. There’s more to come, though I think the team are very strongly leaning in that direction now and are just covering bases.
And the last main thing in the session was the bit of washed out road on the way home, which was just a random encounter inspired by some of the weird weather stuff I’ve been seeing cropping up after the storms – but Marius managed to spot the hazard easily enough and they dealt with it fine.
Back at the ranch, with Hunter and Marius planning on doing some revision and study, and the others also planning on some training time, it seemed like a good point to do a karma award, with the team getting between 17 and 19 karma for the last 17 sessions of play, covering everything they’d done since leaving Nigeria – the Nenet tribal stuff, rescuing and helping the other crew when they were shot down, the journey to England, the King Arthur plotline, and then the job for Kulkachev. They could have gotten more – but decided not to play both side of the line…
When I set up the art heist, I deliberately set things up so that Kulkachev gave them enough time to do the job by truck, and allowed nearly a week for transit. They would need only a day to do the actual travel, giving them plenty of slack time. I’d checked their skills and contacts, and had worked out in my head a feasible plan using those skills – not that I expected them to do it exactly that way of course. But I knew there was a workable plan they *could* use! So if I was in their place, I would have…
Got the team to do a distraction when collecting the artwork, to cover Tads as she cast a trid phantasm over the Jewel of Muscat. The phantasm would have added a tiny inconsistency, such as a jumping dolphin in front of the prow of the ship – something that shouldn’t be there, but also wouldn’t look out of place in the context.
The team then took photos, as did the art dealers, to prove they were passing things over. I’d have given them a check to spot the illusion, but if it was small enough, and the team had distracted them well enough, it would have been very unlikely to get spotted. But it would have then established that the picture was in theory not the “original”, when the team took it on – and that the art dealers were shifting a copy.
The team then had 6 days to find a forger. I’d set up a contact via Kai’s art dealer in Tehran (which was on the way they had to go) who could do the job, and duplicate the real painting, adding in the dolphin. The team pay the forger, keep the actual original, and then deliver the copy to Kulkachev.
He gets a test to spot the forgery then. Chances are, because he’s incredibly uncultured that he won’t spot it. But even if he does, or someone who does know about art later spots it, and he checks the records he was provided with, he can see the team’s pickup photos have the mistake in – and more importantly, so does the art dealers copy. So as far as he’s concerned, *they* are the ones screwing him over. He’d probably even pay the team to go deal with them then, as he thinks he can trust them! Talk about double-dipping… <grin>
Meanwhile, the team take the original to Germaine, who would have been grateful. Very, very grateful indeed. And that would have triggered another job for them to deliver the painting to her client, and collect their big fat reward!
That was my thought process – and I think it’s relatively straightforward. Actually inspired by an episode of Hustle (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0608714/?ref_=ttep_ep4) that used this as a key plot point (though in a different way), I knew the team absolutely had the technical ability to pull this off.
Of course, they chose not to, so they lost out on the chance of a fat payout and a nice karma award (though being fair, they were unware of either!), and I try not to railroad the players like that. The painting will come up again later, for sure, and they’ll have their chance to get it to Germaine and her wealthy and important buyer – just later on.
At least they got some rep from Kolkachev for a job well done, with no hassle, and a reasonable payout too.
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Saturday 09/07/61, Location: 41.65046, 41.63027, Time 11:00
2. Team check out, ready to head back. Changer colour scheme, head back on the same route.
3. 3/4 of the way back from Batumi to Tbilisi, email to Marius - confused. Pass to Hunter. He checks, it's come from an Ares subsidiary. Hunter call Julius to check, is it safe to talk. As safe as anything...Gives details. Might not be safe to talk, think it's black ops. Arrange to call back in an hour, on a secure / burner line. Set up a bounce call using the sat-phone, call the number on the email, asks for ID. Routes to "Enquiries", how can I help. About the exam. Explains needs a secure matrix connection and install anti-cheat system. Marius "recalls" it's been 3 months since chip delivery. Hunter calls Julius back. Cathedral type background. "What the frak are you involved with?" Hunter, chips, exam in nuclear physics. It's a bit like Bond special gear department. Have you got an in with them? Hunter puts on hold, asks Kai - do we tell him about meeting DK and the others. Yeah. Give him some details.
4. Just how high level. "Peak", where were you? "Why" Nahhh, couldn't be that... maybe we should meet up some time for dinner sometime. Somewhere quiet. Got an leave due? I know a ranch in the middle of nowhere, great for unwinding. You're in bumfukistan. Hunter to Kai - can we pay for his ticket? Kai, go on then. Send him a free ticket from the lottery. Take care, bye.
5. Aswon advises - don't bring him to the ranch, might be dangerous to him, make them think they have a leak, probably track him, if he intersects with us. We can work around that with a big jammer maybe but it still has risks. Maybe somewhere neutral.
6. Get to Tbilisi ok. onwards, about 19:30 Ludmilla calls Kai. Arranges to get stuff dropped down by courier, get address. Are you available to work, might have something soon. Kai - maybe, we have time but we can check the job.
7. Reaction check - random encounter, road subsidence. Excellent reaction check, stops in time. Farmland either side. Aswon pokes with spear, collapses into a sinkhole. Team fix with shape earth and some engineering knowledge.
8. Arrive back at the ranch about 23:00
9. Marius gives gifts to Nadia - photos, tourist tat, jewellery. Nadia is *very* happy, and whisks Marius away for some quiet time. Marius Jr is better and is sleeping.
10. Hunter gets a shadowland secure room sorted out that evening. Kai - I want to talk to Germaine about the painting. Aswon - but should make it clear we're not going to go fetch it as we were involved. Tads agrees.
11. Sato calls Shimazu - I'm still making enquiries, but I've found that someone in the middle east has been digging into a team, matching your general descriptions. Spreading some cash around for quiet info. Male, private detective types, building up a profile. Different descriptions from everyone I've spoken to though. Sounds like a pro. Shimazu - thanks, keep looking, will keep in touch.
12. Tads - sounds like an illusion, the same person who paid the woman to lure Shimazu off, likely to be the same person. Hunter to Shimazu - ask for a timeline when this was done, next time you speak to him.
13. Probe race news - Ares/Novatech/Yamatetsu, others are pretty much out, New Islamic Jihad kicking off, news of drugs bust in Jakata.
14. Sunday morning. Kai gets alert about delivery between 12:00-14:00. Hunter sends email to Julius. Comm code delivered via pizza box lid.
15. Delivery from Ludmilla
16. 3 X Heavy Machine Guns, Russian PKP Pecheng 7.62mm fully automatic units, either 100 round box magazines or belt fed using non-disintegrating belts
17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PK_machine_gu...ny4thOTBr24.jpg
18. Can be mounted to a standard Russian light vehicle mount or infantry support tripod
19. Conceal NA, FA, 10S damage, RC2 (bipod deployed),
20. 4 X 100 round boxes of AV ammo in 7.62 X 54R
21. 1 X SVD-P Russian sniper rifle. 1.2m rifle, 10 round box magazine, Semi-Auto, 12S damage, optical scope zoom 2 with low-light. 4.68kg
22. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SVD_(rifle)#/...RMY-2016_01.jpg
23. 50 rounds of APDS ammo
24. Sword: Monomolekulyarnyy razrushitel, Str+2M, +1Reach, Conceal 3, Weight 2.5kg, 1m long, 5cm wide blade, shaped like a Ninjato and finished in "vanta black"
25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninjat%C5%8D#.../File:Ninto.png
26. Shield: Zashchitnik kreposti, Ballistic 2/3, Impact 2/3, Weight 5
27. https://kula-tactical.com/wp-content/upload...-5-680x680.webp
28. Plan to have a week of downtime.
29. Karma award. Aswon+Hunter 19, Marius, Shimazu and Tads 18, Kai 17
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
Oh boy – a fun one for me this weekend, and I wonder if I’ve given one of my players a horrible nightmare… but I’m getting ahead of myself a little.
We started off in Batumi, handling a micro-downtime. Tads had shapechanged into a giant bird and was doing the 250km flight up to Sochi to go buy a high-force heal spell. I didn’t have anything particular planned, and a quick roll for random encounters didn’t bring anything up – not that I thought it would be an issue with a flock of spirits to protect her, so that was handled “off camera”, and to keep things moving we also abstracted the night of R&R in the coastal town. Other than Marius wanting to get Nadia some presents, they had nothing specific in mind, so we just moved on to the following morning, and the team heading back to the ranch.
And then I told Marius about the exam. “What exam?” he asked. Well, it was news to him, as he’d not been told – but now apparently there’s an exam. Of course, he hadn’t been studying for anything either. There was a bit of discussion amongst the players, and lots of very genuine head scratching. It looks like they were out of game, very confused. Marius of course has a perfect memory, so I gave him an intelligence check on a pretty low target number, and then reminded him that back in episode 277, a mysterious briefcase had turned up at the Ranch, keyed to his biometrics and containing books on “Nuclear Reactors: Engineering Operations Manual for S1B reactor, Columbia Class submarines” and “Pebble bed reactions: Design considerations for Ultra-High Temperature sealed reactor operations” along with chips on subjects like “Nuclear materials storage, Radiation Hazards and Mitigation factors, Nuclear medicine, High Pressure water exchange systems, Electrical generation techniques for high pressure turbines, Nuclear Epitaxy, Quantum diffusion bonding”…
Then there was the sudden flash of several people vaguely remembering, as I read back the bit of the writeup detailing this, and them suddenly recalling that someone had sent them a shit-ton of material on high level scientific principles.
That they then ignored and did nothing with.
Of course, the people at Ares had assumed that Marius, being an intelligent guy, knew that he was supposed to start studying this, and have left him for 3 months to assimilate the first lot of knowledge. And now there’s a test.
And I’m wondering if the player is going to get that weird nightmare where you turn up at school and there’s an exam, and you’ve done no revision, and everyone else knew about it, but you missed the memo, and oh god, oh god, oh god, the world is on fire. Because if he doesn’t, then Marius really should be!
As they dug into things further, I hinted that Ares would be disappointed with him. Not angry. But disappointed. He’d have let himself down, his friends down, the company down… oh, and they might not send through any more updates for his cyber-ware. That was the final nail I think, and suddenly this became and *important* thing that needed to be done!
Next up was coming back with some news from Sato, filling in a bit of information and adding to the suspicion that the hit in Kabul was organised by Falcon. There’s more to come, though I think the team are very strongly leaning in that direction now and are just covering bases.
And the last main thing in the session was the bit of washed out road on the way home, which was just a random encounter inspired by some of the weird weather stuff I’ve been seeing cropping up after the storms – but Marius managed to spot the hazard easily enough and they dealt with it fine.
Back at the ranch, with Hunter and Marius planning on doing some revision and study, and the others also planning on some training time, it seemed like a good point to do a karma award, with the team getting between 17 and 19 karma for the last 17 sessions of play, covering everything they’d done since leaving Nigeria – the Nenet tribal stuff, rescuing and helping the other crew when they were shot down, the journey to England, the King Arthur plotline, and then the job for Kulkachev. They could have gotten more – but decided not to play both side of the line…
When I set up the art heist, I deliberately set things up so that Kulkachev gave them enough time to do the job by truck, and allowed nearly a week for transit. They would need only a day to do the actual travel, giving them plenty of slack time. I’d checked their skills and contacts, and had worked out in my head a feasible plan using those skills – not that I expected them to do it exactly that way of course. But I knew there was a workable plan they *could* use! So if I was in their place, I would have…
Got the team to do a distraction when collecting the artwork, to cover Tads as she cast a trid phantasm over the Jewel of Muscat. The phantasm would have added a tiny inconsistency, such as a jumping dolphin in front of the prow of the ship – something that shouldn’t be there, but also wouldn’t look out of place in the context.
The team then took photos, as did the art dealers, to prove they were passing things over. I’d have given them a check to spot the illusion, but if it was small enough, and the team had distracted them well enough, it would have been very unlikely to get spotted. But it would have then established that the picture was in theory not the “original”, when the team took it on – and that the art dealers were shifting a copy.
The team then had 6 days to find a forger. I’d set up a contact via Kai’s art dealer in Tehran (which was on the way they had to go) who could do the job, and duplicate the real painting, adding in the dolphin. The team pay the forger, keep the actual original, and then deliver the copy to Kulkachev.
He gets a test to spot the forgery then. Chances are, because he’s incredibly uncultured that he won’t spot it. But even if he does, or someone who does know about art later spots it, and he checks the records he was provided with, he can see the team’s pickup photos have the mistake in – and more importantly, so does the art dealers copy. So as far as he’s concerned, *they* are the ones screwing him over. He’d probably even pay the team to go deal with them then, as he thinks he can trust them! Talk about double-dipping… <grin>
Meanwhile, the team take the original to Germaine, who would have been grateful. Very, very grateful indeed. And that would have triggered another job for them to deliver the painting to her client, and collect their big fat reward!
That was my thought process – and I think it’s relatively straightforward. Actually inspired by an episode of Hustle (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0608714/?ref_=ttep_ep4) that used this as a key plot point (though in a different way), I knew the team absolutely had the technical ability to pull this off.
Of course, they chose not to, so they lost out on the chance of a fat payout and a nice karma award (though being fair, they were unware of either!), and I try not to railroad the players like that. The painting will come up again later, for sure, and they’ll have their chance to get it to Germaine and her wealthy and important buyer – just later on.
At least they got some rep from Kolkachev for a job well done, with no hassle, and a reasonable payout too.
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Saturday 09/07/61, Location: 41.65046, 41.63027, Time 11:00
2. Team check out, ready to head back. Changer colour scheme, head back on the same route.
3. 3/4 of the way back from Batumi to Tbilisi, email to Marius - confused. Pass to Hunter. He checks, it's come from an Ares subsidiary. Hunter call Julius to check, is it safe to talk. As safe as anything...Gives details. Might not be safe to talk, think it's black ops. Arrange to call back in an hour, on a secure / burner line. Set up a bounce call using the sat-phone, call the number on the email, asks for ID. Routes to "Enquiries", how can I help. About the exam. Explains needs a secure matrix connection and install anti-cheat system. Marius "recalls" it's been 3 months since chip delivery. Hunter calls Julius back. Cathedral type background. "What the frak are you involved with?" Hunter, chips, exam in nuclear physics. It's a bit like Bond special gear department. Have you got an in with them? Hunter puts on hold, asks Kai - do we tell him about meeting DK and the others. Yeah. Give him some details.
4. Just how high level. "Peak", where were you? "Why" Nahhh, couldn't be that... maybe we should meet up some time for dinner sometime. Somewhere quiet. Got an leave due? I know a ranch in the middle of nowhere, great for unwinding. You're in bumfukistan. Hunter to Kai - can we pay for his ticket? Kai, go on then. Send him a free ticket from the lottery. Take care, bye.
5. Aswon advises - don't bring him to the ranch, might be dangerous to him, make them think they have a leak, probably track him, if he intersects with us. We can work around that with a big jammer maybe but it still has risks. Maybe somewhere neutral.
6. Get to Tbilisi ok. onwards, about 19:30 Ludmilla calls Kai. Arranges to get stuff dropped down by courier, get address. Are you available to work, might have something soon. Kai - maybe, we have time but we can check the job.
7. Reaction check - random encounter, road subsidence. Excellent reaction check, stops in time. Farmland either side. Aswon pokes with spear, collapses into a sinkhole. Team fix with shape earth and some engineering knowledge.
8. Arrive back at the ranch about 23:00
9. Marius gives gifts to Nadia - photos, tourist tat, jewellery. Nadia is *very* happy, and whisks Marius away for some quiet time. Marius Jr is better and is sleeping.
10. Hunter gets a shadowland secure room sorted out that evening. Kai - I want to talk to Germaine about the painting. Aswon - but should make it clear we're not going to go fetch it as we were involved. Tads agrees.
11. Sato calls Shimazu - I'm still making enquiries, but I've found that someone in the middle east has been digging into a team, matching your general descriptions. Spreading some cash around for quiet info. Male, private detective types, building up a profile. Different descriptions from everyone I've spoken to though. Sounds like a pro. Shimazu - thanks, keep looking, will keep in touch.
12. Tads - sounds like an illusion, the same person who paid the woman to lure Shimazu off, likely to be the same person. Hunter to Shimazu - ask for a timeline when this was done, next time you speak to him.
13. Probe race news - Ares/Novatech/Yamatetsu, others are pretty much out, New Islamic Jihad kicking off, news of drugs bust in Jakata.
14. Sunday morning. Kai gets alert about delivery between 12:00-14:00. Hunter sends email to Julius. Comm code delivered via pizza box lid.
15. Delivery from Ludmilla
16. 3 X Heavy Machine Guns, Russian PKP Pecheng 7.62mm fully automatic units, either 100 round box magazines or belt fed using non-disintegrating belts
17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PK_machine_gu...ny4thOTBr24.jpg
18. Can be mounted to a standard Russian light vehicle mount or infantry support tripod
19. Conceal NA, FA, 10S damage, RC2 (bipod deployed),
20. 4 X 100 round boxes of AV ammo in 7.62 X 54R
21. 1 X SVD-P Russian sniper rifle. 1.2m rifle, 10 round box magazine, Semi-Auto, 12S damage, optical scope zoom 2 with low-light. 4.68kg
22. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SVD_(rifle)#/...RMY-2016_01.jpg
23. 50 rounds of APDS ammo
24. Sword: Monomolekulyarnyy razrushitel, Str+2M, +1Reach, Conceal 3, Weight 2.5kg, 1m long, 5cm wide blade, shaped like a Ninjato and finished in "vanta black"
25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninjat%C5%8D#.../File:Ninto.png
26. Shield: Zashchitnik kreposti, Ballistic 2/3, Impact 2/3, Weight 5
27. https://kula-tactical.com/wp-content/upload...-5-680x680.webp
28. Plan to have a week of downtime.
29. Karma award. Aswon+Hunter 19, Marius, Shimazu and Tads 18, Kai 17
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 295 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/AADHEzIFHeBDR7PPTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
So, this week I sprang the exam on Marius. He’d started the ball rolling by calling to confirm he would be sitting it – and as anyone who’s had to deal with automated scheduling systems knows, sometimes they can be incredibly irritating and unreasonable to work with. He actually got a couple of success on his first exam, even though the target number was high due to him defaulting – so he didn’t get the complete failure I’d been expecting.
After the result was given out, I had a chat with the player about how Marius felt about this – it’s always been a strong theme running through how he played Marius that he was in the gifted and talented programmes and so on, and from experience of working in a school and seeing someone like that run into something hard, it can be a very rude awakening for someone used to being able to coast on by. We made a willpower roll, which he got a decent result on, and described how though initially shocked he was at the low mark and how tough the exam was, he’d come out of it with a steely determination not to be beaten.
There were a whole bunch of skills covered, but rather than trying to skill up in those, what I’ve done is given the player a “future tech” skill to invest in, that will cover all of the plot elements that come out later – and that can also be used when he comes across anything similarly advanced in his travel. That means it’s still a karma investment to get the skill up, but we’re not trying to juggle multiple skills and determine which ones are appropriate for a situation – and also that the karma investment can have some payback before the main plot requires it.
Kai wanted some customer injector arrows, and they managed to find some of those – though not any drugs to go in them, as the group has two separate weapons dealers as contacts, and that seemed an easy enough ask. Kai/Fozzy had found some mention online for these – not realising that they were from a later edition (5th edition Run and Gun I believe), so I did a quick search myself to find them, see that they weren’t some crazy crap and just back-converted them.
With that done, and the week of training and downtime “montage” coming to an end, it was time to throw the next job at them. Mr Daruka called, offering Kai a job to ship half a ton of high quality Afghan Heroin down towards China, feeding off the back of the drugs bust that had been reported in the news in the previous session. This led to an interaction that I found somewhat surprising (and just goes to show that sometimes you just don’t know how your players will react!) where Hunter seemed less than impressed about being drugs mules, but Aswon leapt to the defence pointing out that it was the very definition of smuggling. If anything, if I’d thought about it I would have swapped them over in their points of view. It wasn’t an issue here, and the job was taken up by the team for consideration, but I’m glad that I hadn’t keyed any further plot threads off of any of the teams personalities, as that might have backfired!
One of my goals here is to get them introduced to a few new smuggler stops to bridge them down towards south-east Asia, and make sure they have places to go to refuel to make later trips possible. I have a couple of stops already defined with NPCs waiting in eastern Afghanistan (Shergar - A large walled compound built overlooking a small section of farmland, about 10km north of the New Silk Road, primarily for tilt-wings, tbirds, choppers and road vehicles) in the southern part of Nepal about 1100km further on (Trafford - A very rough harbour and road-style landing strip, built as part of the village. The owner here has an obsession with Manchester United football club and the whole village is decorated with memorabilia), another on the coast of West Bengal another 1000km eastwards (Dharabala - A rough dirt strip and run down shacks and outhouses set in a river delta, on marshland. Everything is wet and humid and smelly.) and one more in Yunnan province another 1300km eastwards (Dragon Ridge - The stop sits on the edge of the Maobanqiao reservoir and has a small facility for maintenance of the pleasure craft, with amphibious planes and road vehicles being the main users. The stop is adjacent to a major toll highway). That gets them to within 1300km of Hong Kong, and gives them options.
I also have some stops further south, in the South China Sea itself which were seeded for the Pacific ring of fire job but never used, which lets them come back the ‘scenic’ way if they want to vary their route or go exploring, or to follow up on new opportunities.
Although they have taken onboard Tads suggestion of using some of the unused storage space to carry a triple fuel load instead of their normal double, I’m going to strongly encourage Kai to pursue the smuggler stops. He has the knowledge skill ‘smuggling routes’ so I think it’s easily going to occur to him that they have the option of using the cargo space for extra fuel now – but if they ever get a very heavy, or a very bulky load to move then they wouldn’t be able to do that – and if they don’t have the stops already visited and onboard, that might make a job impossible to do. Hopefully he’ll take the hint and push for them to visit! If they don’t – well, that’s their choice. Maybe they’ll do it later – but if not, then it’s going to impact their abilities down the line. The choice is theirs, but it will have consequences – and thankfully at least all of the players are decent and accept stuff like that without winging.
As for the actual run, I intend for this to be 90% milk run. The Broadsword has a signature of 7 naturally thanks to the stealth design and features baked in, which is pretty good for an aircraft that size. Add on the spirit concealment (normally a force 5) and the border forces are looking at a target number of 12 to spot them – and again thanks to the EDs present on the player craft, they need more than one of those. But – on top of that we have Marius who has a specialisation of ‘Stealth (Vehicles)’ at rating 6 – so statistically we’re looking at actually needing 18s to spot the team, making it a very remote chance that passive defences alone will find them.
It’s not an auto-pass of course. If there is an alert and there are interceptor jets up, or magical patrols, that massively affects things either due to the size of the dice pool spotting them, or the fact that their concealing spirit is very obvious in the astral plane! So they can’t afford to be too laid-back… but this should be relatively easy.
When they get to the destination, the contact there is going to push a little, and hint at trying to rob or extort the team, though I’m going to try and be *very* careful with the implementation here. The local drug warlord is capable, but the team should be able to wipe the floor with him in a fight, and if they show him the type of firepower they have, they’ll back down immediately. This run is mainly aimed at two objectives, and kicking off a major fight isn’t one of them!
First of all, this is a ‘proper’ smuggling run. It’s not tied in with the over-arching plot. There’s no ulterior motives. No major NPCs with hidden agendas pulling strings. It’s just a plain, simple, straight-forward job that is exactly on-brand for the team, just to let them do what it is they are ‘supposed’ to be doing from their point of view.
Secondly, it’s a way to get a chunk of cash into their pockets from a seized opportunity, to allow them to finance a major expansion. I don’t know what they’re going to choose – maybe to take Hunter for some major cyber-ware upgrades after he received his bonus essence points from his campaign special. Maybe to buy him a decent deck for all the searches and info-trawls he has to do. Maybe for Marius to finish upgrading his rigger deck with all the utilities they could ever need for him to be god-like in combat. But, I’m intending for them to be able to pretty much double their money on this deal, so they can afford to really push one of the team further down their personal goal track.
So of course, with that being the intention… this is the time when the team keep arguing for fiscal caution! Murphy’s law strikes again…
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Sunday 10/07/61, Location: 40.02442, 48.95752, Time 10:00
2. Aswon calls Spook & tip her off that people are asking about us, we've had one murder attempt. If she hears anything call me, don't ask around keep her head down - unless she has a handy shortlist of mage assassins, in which case we're interested in that.
3. Marius sits exam - gets 2 successes with 1 reroll,
4. "Your test results have placed you in an unacceptable position. Based upon your current performance, further upgrades and enhancements will not be offered, and no further support will be available. It is essential that your grades are raised to an acceptable level to allow us to review this decision. You may resit this examination in five days."
5. 0>1, 4 hours, 1 Karma
6. 1>2, Test vs 3s, 1 Karma, Base time 15 days / 60 hours, spend 2 gk, 4 success 15 hours, takes to Tuesday morning.
7. Hunter also learning, gets 2, takes 30 hours to get to level 2
8. Marius 2>3, Test vs 4s, 2 Karma, Base time 30 days / 120 hours, rerolls+buy 2, total 5, 3.5 days
9. Hunter 2>3, Test vs 5s, 2 Karma, Base time 30 days / 120 hours,
10. Marius sits 2nd exam with Hunter "helping" over the shoulder, Hunter gives 1 success complimentary, Marius gets 3, buys 2, total of 6.
11. "Congratulation, You have passed Advanced Tech 101. Further course materials and upgrades will be provided."
12. Tads gets heal 8
13. Aswon SUT 5, Paracritters 4, Talismongering 4
14. Shimazu relaxing, doing training with the kids in the local town.
15. Kai: Archery, Pistols and Edged weapons. Antiques >3
16. Spook sends message back "Will keep ears open without poking head above parapet"
17. Aswon calls Mr Hu about injector arrows, Kai calls Mr Wu. Both have availability for "Silent Striker" arrowheads, Hu can get 1 dozen of R4, 40 per, post them out.
18. Silent Striker + Wu can get 3 dozen or R6 60ny per head, 36
19. 3k for both including shipping.
20. Both ask about drugs. Nothing from Hu, Wu will go looking. What do you want - neurostun style.
21. Towards end of the week - Sato and Spook both come back with fragments, both strongly leading in to it being the Courier from Tehran as a likely assassin.
22. Shimazu wonders if it's eye for an eye, or a death oath, needs more info on their psychology.
23. Daruka calls, how are you, depends, how are you. Having a break, are you available for work. Did you manage to sell the product. Yes, happy customers. Unusual line of business for us. I have a business opportunity for you, same lines. Towards the Philippines, about 500kg.
24. Kai - timescales? New op. South china sea. Check news
25. Aswon reminds team about the drugs bust. Tads - what are the fuel costs?
26. Hunter - are we drug dealers now? Aswon - yeah, smuggling. They're goods. Shimazu - could be a trap, might be to do with the courier. Hunter works out cost for 500kg, can't afford it. Kai - because we're new to this business. Work out they could buy 100k and still have 150kg.
27. Tads - what is the etiquette for discussing with him, and keeping it business? Kai- play it straight.
28. Shimazu - not a fan of the drug dealing side. Lucrative offer, sounds tempting, might lead us down the route to the courier.
29. Marius - however, agree with everything you just said, but if it's a trap, or they find out and look to get us, we're still expecting it, it could be a chance to reverse it. Shimazu, we can lay a trap in time, need more information.
30. Journey is approx 6.5k km, so just over 2 stops each way.
31. Tads - check my maths, if we do 100k cash, that's only 13kg. Team work out the maths, realise they need to ship big. Discussion over it being a sellers market. Aswon do, but take it super cautiously.
32. Marius - do we start turning down jobs because they can be a setup?
33. Kai, I think we can do it. Marius - approach it like everything is an ambush, super careful.
34. Shimazu, little unhappy but will go with team.
35. Tads - if everything is treated like an ambush, disguise is an active spell, need to bear in mind things like sustaining / shielding.
36. Aswon - never use the same tactic twice. Tads - but unusual vehicle. Marius, powerful magical attack, rely on the stealth for the bird, magic for defence.
37. Marius - hit the fuel stops at night in a dark bird, time it carefully,
38. Kai - we need to talk to the guy in a minute, recaps teams thoughts,
39. Tads - he may have a min price for his contact for future deals, worth bearing in mind.
40. Aswon - do you want to call Ludmilla about a job? Kai - deep sigh. No - let's deal with this guy first, Might be low duration.
41. Kai calls back. Ahh, Mr Kai. Sorry for delay, some financial discussion and availability. Latter we're available. Former we are constrained. Hmm, a deal. We're reliable and fast, but we have fuel costs, understand you want to establish a route, but we want to be honest about capabilities. We have 500k to invest. We want to make as much profit as possible. Hah! Don't we all!. I'll bow to your expertise on profit margins. Is that enough for your client. Not ideal, could you stretch to 750k. Kai checks bank. Hunter - how much weight? 500k for 100kg. What can we expect. Well, the area is dry, you can expect good money and to be very happy. Kai to team - shall we go to 600k? Hunter, that's a hard limit. Bit of haggling. 125kg for 600k, but they have to sell Daruka's contact details hard to the far end.
42. Kai checks smuggler routes - Shark tank, south china sea.
43. Delivery contact: Tse Chi Lop, GuanDong province.
44. Kai contacts - Jahnu Sidana, he can try to get the team an into to Trafford. Start working out routes. Tads suggests getting more fuel barrels and double stacking fuel. Nadia can get fuel barrels with a few hours’ notice.
45. Hunter: Get me a pump! High speed electric pump!
46. Pick up Sunday 17th
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/AADHEzIFHeBDR7PPTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
So, this week I sprang the exam on Marius. He’d started the ball rolling by calling to confirm he would be sitting it – and as anyone who’s had to deal with automated scheduling systems knows, sometimes they can be incredibly irritating and unreasonable to work with. He actually got a couple of success on his first exam, even though the target number was high due to him defaulting – so he didn’t get the complete failure I’d been expecting.
After the result was given out, I had a chat with the player about how Marius felt about this – it’s always been a strong theme running through how he played Marius that he was in the gifted and talented programmes and so on, and from experience of working in a school and seeing someone like that run into something hard, it can be a very rude awakening for someone used to being able to coast on by. We made a willpower roll, which he got a decent result on, and described how though initially shocked he was at the low mark and how tough the exam was, he’d come out of it with a steely determination not to be beaten.
There were a whole bunch of skills covered, but rather than trying to skill up in those, what I’ve done is given the player a “future tech” skill to invest in, that will cover all of the plot elements that come out later – and that can also be used when he comes across anything similarly advanced in his travel. That means it’s still a karma investment to get the skill up, but we’re not trying to juggle multiple skills and determine which ones are appropriate for a situation – and also that the karma investment can have some payback before the main plot requires it.
Kai wanted some customer injector arrows, and they managed to find some of those – though not any drugs to go in them, as the group has two separate weapons dealers as contacts, and that seemed an easy enough ask. Kai/Fozzy had found some mention online for these – not realising that they were from a later edition (5th edition Run and Gun I believe), so I did a quick search myself to find them, see that they weren’t some crazy crap and just back-converted them.
With that done, and the week of training and downtime “montage” coming to an end, it was time to throw the next job at them. Mr Daruka called, offering Kai a job to ship half a ton of high quality Afghan Heroin down towards China, feeding off the back of the drugs bust that had been reported in the news in the previous session. This led to an interaction that I found somewhat surprising (and just goes to show that sometimes you just don’t know how your players will react!) where Hunter seemed less than impressed about being drugs mules, but Aswon leapt to the defence pointing out that it was the very definition of smuggling. If anything, if I’d thought about it I would have swapped them over in their points of view. It wasn’t an issue here, and the job was taken up by the team for consideration, but I’m glad that I hadn’t keyed any further plot threads off of any of the teams personalities, as that might have backfired!
One of my goals here is to get them introduced to a few new smuggler stops to bridge them down towards south-east Asia, and make sure they have places to go to refuel to make later trips possible. I have a couple of stops already defined with NPCs waiting in eastern Afghanistan (Shergar - A large walled compound built overlooking a small section of farmland, about 10km north of the New Silk Road, primarily for tilt-wings, tbirds, choppers and road vehicles) in the southern part of Nepal about 1100km further on (Trafford - A very rough harbour and road-style landing strip, built as part of the village. The owner here has an obsession with Manchester United football club and the whole village is decorated with memorabilia), another on the coast of West Bengal another 1000km eastwards (Dharabala - A rough dirt strip and run down shacks and outhouses set in a river delta, on marshland. Everything is wet and humid and smelly.) and one more in Yunnan province another 1300km eastwards (Dragon Ridge - The stop sits on the edge of the Maobanqiao reservoir and has a small facility for maintenance of the pleasure craft, with amphibious planes and road vehicles being the main users. The stop is adjacent to a major toll highway). That gets them to within 1300km of Hong Kong, and gives them options.
I also have some stops further south, in the South China Sea itself which were seeded for the Pacific ring of fire job but never used, which lets them come back the ‘scenic’ way if they want to vary their route or go exploring, or to follow up on new opportunities.
Although they have taken onboard Tads suggestion of using some of the unused storage space to carry a triple fuel load instead of their normal double, I’m going to strongly encourage Kai to pursue the smuggler stops. He has the knowledge skill ‘smuggling routes’ so I think it’s easily going to occur to him that they have the option of using the cargo space for extra fuel now – but if they ever get a very heavy, or a very bulky load to move then they wouldn’t be able to do that – and if they don’t have the stops already visited and onboard, that might make a job impossible to do. Hopefully he’ll take the hint and push for them to visit! If they don’t – well, that’s their choice. Maybe they’ll do it later – but if not, then it’s going to impact their abilities down the line. The choice is theirs, but it will have consequences – and thankfully at least all of the players are decent and accept stuff like that without winging.
As for the actual run, I intend for this to be 90% milk run. The Broadsword has a signature of 7 naturally thanks to the stealth design and features baked in, which is pretty good for an aircraft that size. Add on the spirit concealment (normally a force 5) and the border forces are looking at a target number of 12 to spot them – and again thanks to the EDs present on the player craft, they need more than one of those. But – on top of that we have Marius who has a specialisation of ‘Stealth (Vehicles)’ at rating 6 – so statistically we’re looking at actually needing 18s to spot the team, making it a very remote chance that passive defences alone will find them.
It’s not an auto-pass of course. If there is an alert and there are interceptor jets up, or magical patrols, that massively affects things either due to the size of the dice pool spotting them, or the fact that their concealing spirit is very obvious in the astral plane! So they can’t afford to be too laid-back… but this should be relatively easy.
When they get to the destination, the contact there is going to push a little, and hint at trying to rob or extort the team, though I’m going to try and be *very* careful with the implementation here. The local drug warlord is capable, but the team should be able to wipe the floor with him in a fight, and if they show him the type of firepower they have, they’ll back down immediately. This run is mainly aimed at two objectives, and kicking off a major fight isn’t one of them!
First of all, this is a ‘proper’ smuggling run. It’s not tied in with the over-arching plot. There’s no ulterior motives. No major NPCs with hidden agendas pulling strings. It’s just a plain, simple, straight-forward job that is exactly on-brand for the team, just to let them do what it is they are ‘supposed’ to be doing from their point of view.
Secondly, it’s a way to get a chunk of cash into their pockets from a seized opportunity, to allow them to finance a major expansion. I don’t know what they’re going to choose – maybe to take Hunter for some major cyber-ware upgrades after he received his bonus essence points from his campaign special. Maybe to buy him a decent deck for all the searches and info-trawls he has to do. Maybe for Marius to finish upgrading his rigger deck with all the utilities they could ever need for him to be god-like in combat. But, I’m intending for them to be able to pretty much double their money on this deal, so they can afford to really push one of the team further down their personal goal track.
So of course, with that being the intention… this is the time when the team keep arguing for fiscal caution! Murphy’s law strikes again…
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Sunday 10/07/61, Location: 40.02442, 48.95752, Time 10:00
2. Aswon calls Spook & tip her off that people are asking about us, we've had one murder attempt. If she hears anything call me, don't ask around keep her head down - unless she has a handy shortlist of mage assassins, in which case we're interested in that.
3. Marius sits exam - gets 2 successes with 1 reroll,
4. "Your test results have placed you in an unacceptable position. Based upon your current performance, further upgrades and enhancements will not be offered, and no further support will be available. It is essential that your grades are raised to an acceptable level to allow us to review this decision. You may resit this examination in five days."
5. 0>1, 4 hours, 1 Karma
6. 1>2, Test vs 3s, 1 Karma, Base time 15 days / 60 hours, spend 2 gk, 4 success 15 hours, takes to Tuesday morning.
7. Hunter also learning, gets 2, takes 30 hours to get to level 2
8. Marius 2>3, Test vs 4s, 2 Karma, Base time 30 days / 120 hours, rerolls+buy 2, total 5, 3.5 days
9. Hunter 2>3, Test vs 5s, 2 Karma, Base time 30 days / 120 hours,
10. Marius sits 2nd exam with Hunter "helping" over the shoulder, Hunter gives 1 success complimentary, Marius gets 3, buys 2, total of 6.
11. "Congratulation, You have passed Advanced Tech 101. Further course materials and upgrades will be provided."
12. Tads gets heal 8
13. Aswon SUT 5, Paracritters 4, Talismongering 4
14. Shimazu relaxing, doing training with the kids in the local town.
15. Kai: Archery, Pistols and Edged weapons. Antiques >3
16. Spook sends message back "Will keep ears open without poking head above parapet"
17. Aswon calls Mr Hu about injector arrows, Kai calls Mr Wu. Both have availability for "Silent Striker" arrowheads, Hu can get 1 dozen of R4, 40 per, post them out.
18. Silent Striker + Wu can get 3 dozen or R6 60ny per head, 36
19. 3k for both including shipping.
20. Both ask about drugs. Nothing from Hu, Wu will go looking. What do you want - neurostun style.
21. Towards end of the week - Sato and Spook both come back with fragments, both strongly leading in to it being the Courier from Tehran as a likely assassin.
22. Shimazu wonders if it's eye for an eye, or a death oath, needs more info on their psychology.
23. Daruka calls, how are you, depends, how are you. Having a break, are you available for work. Did you manage to sell the product. Yes, happy customers. Unusual line of business for us. I have a business opportunity for you, same lines. Towards the Philippines, about 500kg.
24. Kai - timescales? New op. South china sea. Check news
25. Aswon reminds team about the drugs bust. Tads - what are the fuel costs?
26. Hunter - are we drug dealers now? Aswon - yeah, smuggling. They're goods. Shimazu - could be a trap, might be to do with the courier. Hunter works out cost for 500kg, can't afford it. Kai - because we're new to this business. Work out they could buy 100k and still have 150kg.
27. Tads - what is the etiquette for discussing with him, and keeping it business? Kai- play it straight.
28. Shimazu - not a fan of the drug dealing side. Lucrative offer, sounds tempting, might lead us down the route to the courier.
29. Marius - however, agree with everything you just said, but if it's a trap, or they find out and look to get us, we're still expecting it, it could be a chance to reverse it. Shimazu, we can lay a trap in time, need more information.
30. Journey is approx 6.5k km, so just over 2 stops each way.
31. Tads - check my maths, if we do 100k cash, that's only 13kg. Team work out the maths, realise they need to ship big. Discussion over it being a sellers market. Aswon do, but take it super cautiously.
32. Marius - do we start turning down jobs because they can be a setup?
33. Kai, I think we can do it. Marius - approach it like everything is an ambush, super careful.
34. Shimazu, little unhappy but will go with team.
35. Tads - if everything is treated like an ambush, disguise is an active spell, need to bear in mind things like sustaining / shielding.
36. Aswon - never use the same tactic twice. Tads - but unusual vehicle. Marius, powerful magical attack, rely on the stealth for the bird, magic for defence.
37. Marius - hit the fuel stops at night in a dark bird, time it carefully,
38. Kai - we need to talk to the guy in a minute, recaps teams thoughts,
39. Tads - he may have a min price for his contact for future deals, worth bearing in mind.
40. Aswon - do you want to call Ludmilla about a job? Kai - deep sigh. No - let's deal with this guy first, Might be low duration.
41. Kai calls back. Ahh, Mr Kai. Sorry for delay, some financial discussion and availability. Latter we're available. Former we are constrained. Hmm, a deal. We're reliable and fast, but we have fuel costs, understand you want to establish a route, but we want to be honest about capabilities. We have 500k to invest. We want to make as much profit as possible. Hah! Don't we all!. I'll bow to your expertise on profit margins. Is that enough for your client. Not ideal, could you stretch to 750k. Kai checks bank. Hunter - how much weight? 500k for 100kg. What can we expect. Well, the area is dry, you can expect good money and to be very happy. Kai to team - shall we go to 600k? Hunter, that's a hard limit. Bit of haggling. 125kg for 600k, but they have to sell Daruka's contact details hard to the far end.
42. Kai checks smuggler routes - Shark tank, south china sea.
43. Delivery contact: Tse Chi Lop, GuanDong province.
44. Kai contacts - Jahnu Sidana, he can try to get the team an into to Trafford. Start working out routes. Tads suggests getting more fuel barrels and double stacking fuel. Nadia can get fuel barrels with a few hours’ notice.
45. Hunter: Get me a pump! High speed electric pump!
46. Pick up Sunday 17th
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 296 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
A very simple session this week – that could almost have been a travelling montage. After some long term campaign stuff that they’ve been facing for a while now, as I’ve said previously I want them to get a “traditional” smuggling run in and feel like they can still get this kind of stuff done.
As such, I didn’t want to throw anything major at them, and it was mostly worldbuilding. So, the drug lord has moved into one of the old Forward Operating Bases used by the military during the Afghan peacekeeping era, and has made that his base. They were wary, but not too concerned – and with the various assensing and astral checks, as well as copious firepower, they got the deal done. The NPC (and me!) wanted to up the budget and really push them as far as possible, but they stuck to their guns pretty hard. Oh well – I’ve tried to hint that this is a prime time to strike, for maximum profit – but I’m not going to force their hand.
With the pickup sorted, they headed over to “Trafford”, a site I’ve been waiting to introduce to them for a while. Based on a 30 second clip I once saw on some discovery channel show about some bar in south-east asia that was stuffed full of football stuff – way more than a theme bar, this was taken to whole new levels of extreme. So, I figured the 2060s are still going to have those people around, and maybe one day they’ll do a break in somewhere and see a signed shirt in a frame on the wall and think “We know who’d pay very good money for that!”…
They avoided the “Tir Patrol”, my wacky bunch of fake elves, choosing not to get involved in their story, and headed off to the east, clocking up a few more timezones and then coming in to land at another new stop. Nothing particularly special here, other than meeting another team – again, no particular reason, and no agenda other than trying to flesh out the world, and remind them that there are other teams with other resources that are all still working away towards their goals in the background. This time as they got to see their craft, they got a bit more information on the kind of smugglers they are, and could put them in context against themselves.
Once they have the delivery done, and the Nuyen in pocket, I’m looking at giving them a couple of options in the area, with some jobs coming from Spook, and potentially a few others, depending on which way the players decide to go. But, having now established two more smuggler stops along the southern side of the Himalayan range, they’ve opened up a good chunk of India as being available for work, a whole bunch of the SE-Asian countries, and can get from their home base back down to the Pac-Rim much more easily now. So – jobs a good un!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Sunday 17/07/61, Location: 40.02442, 48.95752, Time 10:00
2. Tads stocks up the house with food. Nudges kai about calling germaine. Kai says no... on my list.
3. News update - a "meteorite" has struck the Gigas probe, damaging it and sending it off into a wild and uncontrolled orbit, corkscrewing out of control. This leaves only the Novatech and Yamatetsu probes still on course for the comet.
4. Kai - weapon details
5. Barbed heads - require a biotech (
test to remove from target without causing 1 additional box of physical damage
6. Explosive heads - explode on contact, raising power of attack by +1. Not silent...
7. Injector heads - can inject 1 dose of a chemical on impact, providing the target does not soak the attack. Make an archery (5) test on recovering the arrow to re-certify the injector for use again.
8. The new take-down bow has an accessory arm for a laser sight / laser rangefinder, good to 100m
9. Smuggling route knowledge - what you are doing at the moment "works" - but won't help you in the long run. If you get a cargo that is heavy (taking up most of your lift capacity) or large (taking up most of your room in cubic metres) when you *can't* pack extra fuel barrels - without additional smuggler stops, you will have to turn down jobs because you don't have logistics in place.
10. Kai - smuggling routes
11. Jahnu Sidana comes back to you with details about "Trafford", located at 28.76007, 81.29737, just over the border into Nepal. A smuggler stop catering for boats and aircraft from a rough strip.
12. When Kai signals they are ready, Daruka will tell them to head for 32.0761, 64.83217, the old forward operating base in Sangin, Helmand Province, 1688km from the Ranch. Kai gives a reasonable ETA for trip. Kai asks Daruka if he has fuel available - he says no. Team plan on filling from the barrels there. Fly over, south over the Caspian, avoid Espirit. Arrive at around 14:00
13. Kai covers the logistics during flight.
14. Tads - ask each stop about their neighbours too. Hunter - yeah, let's fill the map up. Aswon - if we do get hold of the courier - what are we going to do. Parley or kill. Shimazu - interesting question. I'd like to kill them personally. Aswon - fair enough. But we don't need a blood crazed myfic thing with a death pact chasing us. Shimazu - that's two enemies in one place from my POV. Aswon - ok, but they won't be expecting someone to talk - maybe there's a way to sort this out. Tads suggest land two valleys short and refuel there.
15. Beige landscape, public gallows some blood stains. Told to land near there. All cash on one credstick. Come in invisible, two jeeps with HMGs doing perimeter security, a dozen guards approach with hand truck. Daruka comes over. Greetings, offer a few extra kilos. Kai - sorry, over commitment.
16. Take the top layer of drugs off. 600k for 123kg of drugs. Daruka minions push drugs upinto the bird, bug scanned. Strap the goods down.
17. Daruka gives contact details. Kai - once we've dropped off, we'll contact you and let you know. Daruka goes for crushing handgrip
18. Takeoff, secure the load. Aswon calls Spook to ask current rates and about contact. Usual pleasantries. Good news, going to be in the area, got some biz, few questions. You can meet the team. That kai - he's crazy. Oh you're on speaker. So anyway, the crazy man has us in the area. New bird, barely hear it. Drugs run - oh, really. explains xenophobia. cover yourself up, pretend to be Chinese. Got anything lined up for the return journey? No, will put the feelers out. Get details of Dragon ridge from Spook. Open for journey west, or other places if they pay. Tell spook they have 7000 kg or 200CF,
19. Hunter plotting route - generally works, international airport, plan on diverting north.
20. Heading to Trafford, arrive 5pm, 3200km - 24000 Nuyen
21. Get to Trafford, STOL strip, only 7-800m long, Tads says they can firm up the strip as a service? Aswon - personally rather get closer. Tads- don't disagree, but worth point out. Monopoly prices, stop is in an old high school.
22. Nepalese man, wearing the strip, introduces as Ryan Giggs. Kai and Shimazu go in. Red football strips. Tries to take Kai inside - kai, we're busy. Anything you need? Come, let me show you... persuades them to go in. Shows them the massive fan collections. Kai takes notes of the things he is after in his collection.
23. Marius spots first, then Hunter, Marius and Shimazu do. Spot the "Tir Patrol" closing in. Marius starting the engine, everyone else wanting to go. Kai - WTF are they? I can't remember. Marius explains with scorn. Ignores Other teams: Greenbough and his box van of fake elves, searching for ancient cairns
24. 2000km to Dragon Ridge, 4 hours, Kai calls ahead. 9pm. Spot the tilt-wing zephyr coming in to land. Area looks closed from the highway. Tilt-wing lands, jet ski comes out, starts heading out. Hunter recognises crew from the Zephyr. 12500 in fuel
25. Liu Chen, owner, average height Chinese man, slightly portly, limp. Mid 40s. Aswon asks about name - it's the mountains. Ancient time, dragons mate, very good luck. Aswon asks if Lung lives there. Assured he does, has a lair up in the mountains, must have seen him.
26. There are bunks to rent, meeting rooms, local food.
27. Zephyr looking at them funny, do we know you. Kai introduces. What you doing, taking cargo east. Kai, same here. Kai compliments on their landing.
28. Hunter analyses, small high value couriers, Kai talks to them and finds the kind of business they do. What about you. Kai, not competing. Hakim impressed with your spirit. Kai - keeping a mix of jobs. Zephyr make excuses and leave. Hunter and Marius stay on the bird, rest of team get bunks.
29. Kai calls Germaine. Rings lots, drunken answer, hello, I'm a little merry. Just a bit of a courtesy call. Got some information, about the painting. What's that darling. say that again. Asthma inhaler, goes quiet, say that one more time. Explains again. We had a job, we delivered it to a certain client. Didn't know that it was part of the deal until we picked it up. Thought you ought to know. Interesting. So, Kai, where have you been recently. Kai explains the job from Kabul to Batumi. Goes quiet for 20 seconds, not sure if call has dropped. Kai - have courtesy for our clients, but this hit different, it was definitely the painting. Did you go boating in Batumi? Puts on speaker, say again. Did you go out on the water on a boat. No went up to a house on the hill. Ahh, a cable car, interesting. But you didn't go on a boat. Ok. It's been lovely to hear from you Kai, when can I expect to hear from you again. Checks team - maybe 1-2 weeks, we're over in the east at the moment. Maybe give me a call when you're back. Would love to, can tell you about our holidays.
30. Shimazu psychology - very distracted at the end. Kai think about it - fishing for which organisation. Means there is another player in Batumi, her first choice. Team posting watches.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
A very simple session this week – that could almost have been a travelling montage. After some long term campaign stuff that they’ve been facing for a while now, as I’ve said previously I want them to get a “traditional” smuggling run in and feel like they can still get this kind of stuff done.
As such, I didn’t want to throw anything major at them, and it was mostly worldbuilding. So, the drug lord has moved into one of the old Forward Operating Bases used by the military during the Afghan peacekeeping era, and has made that his base. They were wary, but not too concerned – and with the various assensing and astral checks, as well as copious firepower, they got the deal done. The NPC (and me!) wanted to up the budget and really push them as far as possible, but they stuck to their guns pretty hard. Oh well – I’ve tried to hint that this is a prime time to strike, for maximum profit – but I’m not going to force their hand.
With the pickup sorted, they headed over to “Trafford”, a site I’ve been waiting to introduce to them for a while. Based on a 30 second clip I once saw on some discovery channel show about some bar in south-east asia that was stuffed full of football stuff – way more than a theme bar, this was taken to whole new levels of extreme. So, I figured the 2060s are still going to have those people around, and maybe one day they’ll do a break in somewhere and see a signed shirt in a frame on the wall and think “We know who’d pay very good money for that!”…
They avoided the “Tir Patrol”, my wacky bunch of fake elves, choosing not to get involved in their story, and headed off to the east, clocking up a few more timezones and then coming in to land at another new stop. Nothing particularly special here, other than meeting another team – again, no particular reason, and no agenda other than trying to flesh out the world, and remind them that there are other teams with other resources that are all still working away towards their goals in the background. This time as they got to see their craft, they got a bit more information on the kind of smugglers they are, and could put them in context against themselves.
Once they have the delivery done, and the Nuyen in pocket, I’m looking at giving them a couple of options in the area, with some jobs coming from Spook, and potentially a few others, depending on which way the players decide to go. But, having now established two more smuggler stops along the southern side of the Himalayan range, they’ve opened up a good chunk of India as being available for work, a whole bunch of the SE-Asian countries, and can get from their home base back down to the Pac-Rim much more easily now. So – jobs a good un!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Sunday 17/07/61, Location: 40.02442, 48.95752, Time 10:00
2. Tads stocks up the house with food. Nudges kai about calling germaine. Kai says no... on my list.
3. News update - a "meteorite" has struck the Gigas probe, damaging it and sending it off into a wild and uncontrolled orbit, corkscrewing out of control. This leaves only the Novatech and Yamatetsu probes still on course for the comet.
4. Kai - weapon details
5. Barbed heads - require a biotech (
test to remove from target without causing 1 additional box of physical damage6. Explosive heads - explode on contact, raising power of attack by +1. Not silent...
7. Injector heads - can inject 1 dose of a chemical on impact, providing the target does not soak the attack. Make an archery (5) test on recovering the arrow to re-certify the injector for use again.
8. The new take-down bow has an accessory arm for a laser sight / laser rangefinder, good to 100m
9. Smuggling route knowledge - what you are doing at the moment "works" - but won't help you in the long run. If you get a cargo that is heavy (taking up most of your lift capacity) or large (taking up most of your room in cubic metres) when you *can't* pack extra fuel barrels - without additional smuggler stops, you will have to turn down jobs because you don't have logistics in place.
10. Kai - smuggling routes
11. Jahnu Sidana comes back to you with details about "Trafford", located at 28.76007, 81.29737, just over the border into Nepal. A smuggler stop catering for boats and aircraft from a rough strip.
12. When Kai signals they are ready, Daruka will tell them to head for 32.0761, 64.83217, the old forward operating base in Sangin, Helmand Province, 1688km from the Ranch. Kai gives a reasonable ETA for trip. Kai asks Daruka if he has fuel available - he says no. Team plan on filling from the barrels there. Fly over, south over the Caspian, avoid Espirit. Arrive at around 14:00
13. Kai covers the logistics during flight.
14. Tads - ask each stop about their neighbours too. Hunter - yeah, let's fill the map up. Aswon - if we do get hold of the courier - what are we going to do. Parley or kill. Shimazu - interesting question. I'd like to kill them personally. Aswon - fair enough. But we don't need a blood crazed myfic thing with a death pact chasing us. Shimazu - that's two enemies in one place from my POV. Aswon - ok, but they won't be expecting someone to talk - maybe there's a way to sort this out. Tads suggest land two valleys short and refuel there.
15. Beige landscape, public gallows some blood stains. Told to land near there. All cash on one credstick. Come in invisible, two jeeps with HMGs doing perimeter security, a dozen guards approach with hand truck. Daruka comes over. Greetings, offer a few extra kilos. Kai - sorry, over commitment.
16. Take the top layer of drugs off. 600k for 123kg of drugs. Daruka minions push drugs upinto the bird, bug scanned. Strap the goods down.
17. Daruka gives contact details. Kai - once we've dropped off, we'll contact you and let you know. Daruka goes for crushing handgrip
18. Takeoff, secure the load. Aswon calls Spook to ask current rates and about contact. Usual pleasantries. Good news, going to be in the area, got some biz, few questions. You can meet the team. That kai - he's crazy. Oh you're on speaker. So anyway, the crazy man has us in the area. New bird, barely hear it. Drugs run - oh, really. explains xenophobia. cover yourself up, pretend to be Chinese. Got anything lined up for the return journey? No, will put the feelers out. Get details of Dragon ridge from Spook. Open for journey west, or other places if they pay. Tell spook they have 7000 kg or 200CF,
19. Hunter plotting route - generally works, international airport, plan on diverting north.
20. Heading to Trafford, arrive 5pm, 3200km - 24000 Nuyen
21. Get to Trafford, STOL strip, only 7-800m long, Tads says they can firm up the strip as a service? Aswon - personally rather get closer. Tads- don't disagree, but worth point out. Monopoly prices, stop is in an old high school.
22. Nepalese man, wearing the strip, introduces as Ryan Giggs. Kai and Shimazu go in. Red football strips. Tries to take Kai inside - kai, we're busy. Anything you need? Come, let me show you... persuades them to go in. Shows them the massive fan collections. Kai takes notes of the things he is after in his collection.
23. Marius spots first, then Hunter, Marius and Shimazu do. Spot the "Tir Patrol" closing in. Marius starting the engine, everyone else wanting to go. Kai - WTF are they? I can't remember. Marius explains with scorn. Ignores Other teams: Greenbough and his box van of fake elves, searching for ancient cairns
24. 2000km to Dragon Ridge, 4 hours, Kai calls ahead. 9pm. Spot the tilt-wing zephyr coming in to land. Area looks closed from the highway. Tilt-wing lands, jet ski comes out, starts heading out. Hunter recognises crew from the Zephyr. 12500 in fuel
25. Liu Chen, owner, average height Chinese man, slightly portly, limp. Mid 40s. Aswon asks about name - it's the mountains. Ancient time, dragons mate, very good luck. Aswon asks if Lung lives there. Assured he does, has a lair up in the mountains, must have seen him.
26. There are bunks to rent, meeting rooms, local food.
27. Zephyr looking at them funny, do we know you. Kai introduces. What you doing, taking cargo east. Kai, same here. Kai compliments on their landing.
28. Hunter analyses, small high value couriers, Kai talks to them and finds the kind of business they do. What about you. Kai, not competing. Hakim impressed with your spirit. Kai - keeping a mix of jobs. Zephyr make excuses and leave. Hunter and Marius stay on the bird, rest of team get bunks.
29. Kai calls Germaine. Rings lots, drunken answer, hello, I'm a little merry. Just a bit of a courtesy call. Got some information, about the painting. What's that darling. say that again. Asthma inhaler, goes quiet, say that one more time. Explains again. We had a job, we delivered it to a certain client. Didn't know that it was part of the deal until we picked it up. Thought you ought to know. Interesting. So, Kai, where have you been recently. Kai explains the job from Kabul to Batumi. Goes quiet for 20 seconds, not sure if call has dropped. Kai - have courtesy for our clients, but this hit different, it was definitely the painting. Did you go boating in Batumi? Puts on speaker, say again. Did you go out on the water on a boat. No went up to a house on the hill. Ahh, a cable car, interesting. But you didn't go on a boat. Ok. It's been lovely to hear from you Kai, when can I expect to hear from you again. Checks team - maybe 1-2 weeks, we're over in the east at the moment. Maybe give me a call when you're back. Would love to, can tell you about our holidays.
30. Shimazu psychology - very distracted at the end. Kai think about it - fishing for which organisation. Means there is another player in Batumi, her first choice. Team posting watches.
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 297 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
We started off with a bit of training / relaxation time – and throwing in the temptation of the boathouse by the smuggler stop. The players seemed curious, but not enough to risk upsetting the owner or setting off the wards, so they let that be.
After a bit of time for some RP and planning at the start of the session, the team was off crossing several of the Chinese provinces, discovering some of the differing levels of border security along the way, but coming in to land right on time.
In the tower was a police data gatherer, concealed with the best tech they had and with a shotgun mike and camera rig, tipped off about a ‘deal’ by an informant in Tse Chi Lop’s crew. I’d pre-rolled his stealth score, adding in environmental factors and modified for having a thermal blanket with anti-sensor night camo coverings, and the target number to spot him was pretty high – the players needing a 12. As they came in, Tads got a single 12 on her astral perception check, spotted a sliver of life and warned the rest.
I expected the observer to be made then – but Marius only managed to get a 9, even on a full sensor sweep, and that didn’t get any better with a reroll – so they knew *something* was there, but not exactly what. So, very cautiously, in they came, and met yet another asshole they had to deal with.
There was some back and forth amongst the team as they decided how to handle the negotiations, with Hunter pushing really hard to start at 20k per kg, while the others supported Kai at around the 15-16k mark.
The contact here was a thug, and a good example of the Peter Principle – or at least that’s how I tried to play him. Certainly he made rookie mistakes when told about the sniper, as well as during the negotiations and deal, and the players certainly took a dislike to him. Tads in particular was chuntering away about his rudeness, and wondering about demonstrating her power. As the team’s most pacifist player, I know I’ve managed to strike the right level of obnoxious when she’s contemplating violence against the NPCs, or is prepared to let them come to a very sticky end!
They got the drug deal done though, selling for 1.23 million against their purchase price and fuel costs so far of 0.6365, giving them a profit of 593.5K Nuyen. They’ve got a bit more fuel to buy, but that hopefully gives them a nice cash boost that they can consider using for their next major purchase – which I think is going to be more cyber-ware for Hunter.
Next week they’ve got a meeting with Spook, some social time, and then potentially a gun-run down to the Philippines to go meet the Huk once more, and possibly get another smuggler stop or two added to their list.
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Monday 18/07/61, Location: 25.23749, 101.15828, Time 10:00
2. Tads does spirits, herds through wards. Spot the boat-house. Check security, no visible ward on the outside. Building is old, but in good condition. Get back from morning run, mention to the team. Marius - not polite on first time visiting to poke the secret lair or base or getaway vehicle. Tads goes to check it out. Looks normal from the outside. Marius not planning on leaving until 8pm.
3. Kai asks Liu Chen what he wants shifting - he just facilitates the movement of smugglers, makes his money on the fuel.
4. Spend the day doing training / learning / reading.
5. 12ish, spook calls, job and a half. No time restrictions. Aswon asks, can you sort us out a landing pad, somewhere no questions asked.
6. Aswon - did we leave the Philippines on bad terms. Tads - no, that was PPNG, the guy with the hand. Philippines were ok. Dude with the machete on the beach. Marius - but the navy is a step up in detection. Tads - helping the people is always good. Spook knows about someone looking for us, she might being used to get to us. Aswon - it could, but second guess everything. Tads and Aswon back and forth, Aswon she's a people person, she knows who is giving her jobs. Marius - if we used the guy Spook knows, that's another contact. Tads - also possibly more smuggler stops
7. Team spends a few minutes discussing location of their 2 Chinese weapons dealers, type of guns, scale of arms. Aswon offers to give Kai Spooks number, or to meet up when they socialise in HK. Look at the map, the two stops are only 200km apart. Talk about likely Japanese blockades / smuggler stops. Marius remembers pottery and external tourists, might alter things. Marius favours delivery there, and if needed then hop south to the beach place. Discussion about landing, para-drops, alternate landing methods. Engineering roll for hunter - the bird does have reinforced landing struts, but they have no access to spares to fix / repair stuff.
8. Kai calls Harry Wu, not in, leave message, "need supplies to deliver"
9. Text from Sato to Shimazu - got a mission, free to talk? Shimazu, thanks for calling back, no more trouble with the courier thing. All ok so far.
10. Got a weird job, not the courier I'm as sure as I can be. But are you interested. To Paris, special sabotage, something unique. What's the timeframe? Weird, he just wants it done this year. Very precise, only one thing. Sending a message, full stop, underlined twice. Preliminary pay is 150k. Hunter "it's not the Mona Lisa" then. Kai - wash your mouth out, we're not doing that. Aswon - it's not that much, not for an international job. Kai - we can make this work...
11. Aswon, can we talk to the Johnson. Sato - absolutely not, he was very clear. Weird, unearthly...
12. Tads - as long as we're not stealing a painting of a ship. Aswon 200k, or 2m for a national treasure. Shimazu says 250k including fuel. Tads - can we get past security? Aswon, that's why we might need 2m to buy in gear and expertise. Shimazu revises to 250/500/2m for an artefact.
13. Aswon questions for spook
14. How much is "a shipment" in this instance? We need to work out weight/dimensions
15. how well does she know the contacts at either end? Worked for either before?
16. what kind of guns are we talking here: are they after volume or quality?
17. Would they pay for ammo?
18. can they sell us fuel to get back?
19. How far up the coast from Hong Kong is the arms dealer?
20. We do have a Huk contact in the area, is the drop off there or near there, as the ground is not all that suitable, we may need to arrange parachutes or plan some other kind of drop-based delivery .
21. Tads - shall I go for a quick scout of the drop off location? Leaves you all unprotected. Area is a 1-2, cement factory is a 2-3 with some few horrible black spots where people have been murdered. Hundreds of workers during the day, almost no lights, ghost town by night.
22. Fly in, Sichuan was tough but ok, rest were far easier. Smooth journey. Clear sensors coming in to the cement factory
23. Tads spots a life sign in the tower, just a sliver, lets the team know. Marius tests again, still nothing, trusts Tads, knows it's a very definite hiding attempt with good tech. Marius looks for electronic footprint specifically. Both come up zilch. Tads - could be a weird paracritter. Marius still comes in, but keeps engines idling, gun systems active. Marius keeps nose pointed at the tower. Kai calls goes straight to voice mail. Sends text, coming in to land. Few seconds later one emoticon, a Nuyen symbol. Kai thinks it's vaguely positive.
24. Marius - super sus, keeping the engines hot, ready for immediate dustoff. Tads - you wont' have a problem flying through mist will you? Kai checks he is looking as Chinese as possible. Hunter reminds everyone of the price they paid and the amount. Hunter thinks they should aim for 17-18k per brick.
25. Tse Lee gets out, covered by shielding, Tads checks - less powerful than her. Two dozen goons get out of the removal van and spread out. Kai goes out unarmed. Shimazu takes shield, life form has him on edge. The mooks are trying to intimidate, but are not doing a great job.
26. Kai greets, Ahh, you have arrived. Yes, I bring warmest welcomes from Daruka, deep bow, present card with deep bow, Japanese style "this guys spent too much time with the nips." Can we speak in English. Nah, that's their problem, if they'[re uncultured, not my fault. You have some product for me?
27. Yes, we have 123kg, 90% pure. Tadibya: Mutter very quietly - "If your shielding can't soak my spells, that's your lack of magic...!"
28. Kai, get one of your men to come select a brick at random. Hunter - not on the bird! Kai, he can point from the bottom of the ramp. You, go get the drugs, you and you, go get the wheelbarrows.
29. Kai - we noticed a magical anomaly on the tower - is that yours. Is this some kind of trick, are you trying to fool me? No, we want to keep this meeting safe and professional, and under your control. Both look, guards watchful, no spotting. Get a brik, backhander, go get me the analyser.
30. If this stuff is as good as you say it is, what is the price. Our supplier wants a relationship with you for the future. He's set a base price of 16k per kg. Tse Chop spits in rage. Rants, Kai just takes it. AFter the rage wears off, he lowballs at 8k. Kai, express delivery, start of a relationship, business is business, many overheads, more is coming. 12.5. We have other business to attend to tonight, so we want to just get the deal done, we can see you're passionate about your business.
31. Inconceivable, could only go to 10k. Intimidate goes off. Agree on 10k, start transferring the drugs.
32. Aswon spots the sniper and identified. Tells over the comms.
33. Kai - do you speak other languages, dismissive, no. What about your mage - only the language of the ancients. Kai moves to obscure face, we've spotted a sniper. Do you want us to deal with it. Tse turns, points, sends men. His mage spots - lightning bolt pretty much on hit. ASwon sidesteps, Shimazu covers Kai. Mooks start to open up. They call for Hunter to put a round down on the tower.
34. Hunter gets a 23 on his shot. Spots the guy tumbling out the tower with a wingsuit and puts a round through the x-ring.
35. Kai gives the mage a professional nod. Tads gets the signature of the mage. Assensed, G3, foci and ally spirit spotted.
36. Tse Chi gets a call from the other guys, get me all the stuff. Kai, everyone on the bird except me and Shimazu. Do you want us to stay while you examine the gear. No - you may go.
37. Takeoff, east out of the city, loop around and head to HK, get ready to call Swoop to arrange a landing spot.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
We started off with a bit of training / relaxation time – and throwing in the temptation of the boathouse by the smuggler stop. The players seemed curious, but not enough to risk upsetting the owner or setting off the wards, so they let that be.
After a bit of time for some RP and planning at the start of the session, the team was off crossing several of the Chinese provinces, discovering some of the differing levels of border security along the way, but coming in to land right on time.
In the tower was a police data gatherer, concealed with the best tech they had and with a shotgun mike and camera rig, tipped off about a ‘deal’ by an informant in Tse Chi Lop’s crew. I’d pre-rolled his stealth score, adding in environmental factors and modified for having a thermal blanket with anti-sensor night camo coverings, and the target number to spot him was pretty high – the players needing a 12. As they came in, Tads got a single 12 on her astral perception check, spotted a sliver of life and warned the rest.
I expected the observer to be made then – but Marius only managed to get a 9, even on a full sensor sweep, and that didn’t get any better with a reroll – so they knew *something* was there, but not exactly what. So, very cautiously, in they came, and met yet another asshole they had to deal with.
There was some back and forth amongst the team as they decided how to handle the negotiations, with Hunter pushing really hard to start at 20k per kg, while the others supported Kai at around the 15-16k mark.
The contact here was a thug, and a good example of the Peter Principle – or at least that’s how I tried to play him. Certainly he made rookie mistakes when told about the sniper, as well as during the negotiations and deal, and the players certainly took a dislike to him. Tads in particular was chuntering away about his rudeness, and wondering about demonstrating her power. As the team’s most pacifist player, I know I’ve managed to strike the right level of obnoxious when she’s contemplating violence against the NPCs, or is prepared to let them come to a very sticky end!
They got the drug deal done though, selling for 1.23 million against their purchase price and fuel costs so far of 0.6365, giving them a profit of 593.5K Nuyen. They’ve got a bit more fuel to buy, but that hopefully gives them a nice cash boost that they can consider using for their next major purchase – which I think is going to be more cyber-ware for Hunter.
Next week they’ve got a meeting with Spook, some social time, and then potentially a gun-run down to the Philippines to go meet the Huk once more, and possibly get another smuggler stop or two added to their list.
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Monday 18/07/61, Location: 25.23749, 101.15828, Time 10:00
2. Tads does spirits, herds through wards. Spot the boat-house. Check security, no visible ward on the outside. Building is old, but in good condition. Get back from morning run, mention to the team. Marius - not polite on first time visiting to poke the secret lair or base or getaway vehicle. Tads goes to check it out. Looks normal from the outside. Marius not planning on leaving until 8pm.
3. Kai asks Liu Chen what he wants shifting - he just facilitates the movement of smugglers, makes his money on the fuel.
4. Spend the day doing training / learning / reading.
5. 12ish, spook calls, job and a half. No time restrictions. Aswon asks, can you sort us out a landing pad, somewhere no questions asked.
6. Aswon - did we leave the Philippines on bad terms. Tads - no, that was PPNG, the guy with the hand. Philippines were ok. Dude with the machete on the beach. Marius - but the navy is a step up in detection. Tads - helping the people is always good. Spook knows about someone looking for us, she might being used to get to us. Aswon - it could, but second guess everything. Tads and Aswon back and forth, Aswon she's a people person, she knows who is giving her jobs. Marius - if we used the guy Spook knows, that's another contact. Tads - also possibly more smuggler stops
7. Team spends a few minutes discussing location of their 2 Chinese weapons dealers, type of guns, scale of arms. Aswon offers to give Kai Spooks number, or to meet up when they socialise in HK. Look at the map, the two stops are only 200km apart. Talk about likely Japanese blockades / smuggler stops. Marius remembers pottery and external tourists, might alter things. Marius favours delivery there, and if needed then hop south to the beach place. Discussion about landing, para-drops, alternate landing methods. Engineering roll for hunter - the bird does have reinforced landing struts, but they have no access to spares to fix / repair stuff.
8. Kai calls Harry Wu, not in, leave message, "need supplies to deliver"
9. Text from Sato to Shimazu - got a mission, free to talk? Shimazu, thanks for calling back, no more trouble with the courier thing. All ok so far.
10. Got a weird job, not the courier I'm as sure as I can be. But are you interested. To Paris, special sabotage, something unique. What's the timeframe? Weird, he just wants it done this year. Very precise, only one thing. Sending a message, full stop, underlined twice. Preliminary pay is 150k. Hunter "it's not the Mona Lisa" then. Kai - wash your mouth out, we're not doing that. Aswon - it's not that much, not for an international job. Kai - we can make this work...
11. Aswon, can we talk to the Johnson. Sato - absolutely not, he was very clear. Weird, unearthly...
12. Tads - as long as we're not stealing a painting of a ship. Aswon 200k, or 2m for a national treasure. Shimazu says 250k including fuel. Tads - can we get past security? Aswon, that's why we might need 2m to buy in gear and expertise. Shimazu revises to 250/500/2m for an artefact.
13. Aswon questions for spook
14. How much is "a shipment" in this instance? We need to work out weight/dimensions
15. how well does she know the contacts at either end? Worked for either before?
16. what kind of guns are we talking here: are they after volume or quality?
17. Would they pay for ammo?
18. can they sell us fuel to get back?
19. How far up the coast from Hong Kong is the arms dealer?
20. We do have a Huk contact in the area, is the drop off there or near there, as the ground is not all that suitable, we may need to arrange parachutes or plan some other kind of drop-based delivery .
21. Tads - shall I go for a quick scout of the drop off location? Leaves you all unprotected. Area is a 1-2, cement factory is a 2-3 with some few horrible black spots where people have been murdered. Hundreds of workers during the day, almost no lights, ghost town by night.
22. Fly in, Sichuan was tough but ok, rest were far easier. Smooth journey. Clear sensors coming in to the cement factory
23. Tads spots a life sign in the tower, just a sliver, lets the team know. Marius tests again, still nothing, trusts Tads, knows it's a very definite hiding attempt with good tech. Marius looks for electronic footprint specifically. Both come up zilch. Tads - could be a weird paracritter. Marius still comes in, but keeps engines idling, gun systems active. Marius keeps nose pointed at the tower. Kai calls goes straight to voice mail. Sends text, coming in to land. Few seconds later one emoticon, a Nuyen symbol. Kai thinks it's vaguely positive.
24. Marius - super sus, keeping the engines hot, ready for immediate dustoff. Tads - you wont' have a problem flying through mist will you? Kai checks he is looking as Chinese as possible. Hunter reminds everyone of the price they paid and the amount. Hunter thinks they should aim for 17-18k per brick.
25. Tse Lee gets out, covered by shielding, Tads checks - less powerful than her. Two dozen goons get out of the removal van and spread out. Kai goes out unarmed. Shimazu takes shield, life form has him on edge. The mooks are trying to intimidate, but are not doing a great job.
26. Kai greets, Ahh, you have arrived. Yes, I bring warmest welcomes from Daruka, deep bow, present card with deep bow, Japanese style "this guys spent too much time with the nips." Can we speak in English. Nah, that's their problem, if they'[re uncultured, not my fault. You have some product for me?
27. Yes, we have 123kg, 90% pure. Tadibya: Mutter very quietly - "If your shielding can't soak my spells, that's your lack of magic...!"
28. Kai, get one of your men to come select a brick at random. Hunter - not on the bird! Kai, he can point from the bottom of the ramp. You, go get the drugs, you and you, go get the wheelbarrows.
29. Kai - we noticed a magical anomaly on the tower - is that yours. Is this some kind of trick, are you trying to fool me? No, we want to keep this meeting safe and professional, and under your control. Both look, guards watchful, no spotting. Get a brik, backhander, go get me the analyser.
30. If this stuff is as good as you say it is, what is the price. Our supplier wants a relationship with you for the future. He's set a base price of 16k per kg. Tse Chop spits in rage. Rants, Kai just takes it. AFter the rage wears off, he lowballs at 8k. Kai, express delivery, start of a relationship, business is business, many overheads, more is coming. 12.5. We have other business to attend to tonight, so we want to just get the deal done, we can see you're passionate about your business.
31. Inconceivable, could only go to 10k. Intimidate goes off. Agree on 10k, start transferring the drugs.
32. Aswon spots the sniper and identified. Tells over the comms.
33. Kai - do you speak other languages, dismissive, no. What about your mage - only the language of the ancients. Kai moves to obscure face, we've spotted a sniper. Do you want us to deal with it. Tse turns, points, sends men. His mage spots - lightning bolt pretty much on hit. ASwon sidesteps, Shimazu covers Kai. Mooks start to open up. They call for Hunter to put a round down on the tower.
34. Hunter gets a 23 on his shot. Spots the guy tumbling out the tower with a wingsuit and puts a round through the x-ring.
35. Kai gives the mage a professional nod. Tads gets the signature of the mage. Assensed, G3, foci and ally spirit spotted.
36. Tse Chi gets a call from the other guys, get me all the stuff. Kai, everyone on the bird except me and Shimazu. Do you want us to stay while you examine the gear. No - you may go.
37. Takeoff, east out of the city, loop around and head to HK, get ready to call Swoop to arrange a landing spot.
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 298 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
This week the team were off to meet Spook, one of Aswon’s starting contacts, and the broker for their next job. After getting a landing spot sorted out, they met up with her and headed into the city. I’d originally planned for a little bit of RP, and then to push on with the story and the meeting with the Triad boss – however, the team seemed to really buy into the story time, with all of the players engaging and poking fun at each other IC, from the copious amount of stuff they’ve done.
I joked with the wife after the evening was done that we could have an alternate title for this weeks story of “The writers guild strike”, as it almost felt like a clip show / flashback episode, with minimal new content, which got a smirk from her…
Still, I’m more than happy for them to have some RP time, especially in this case as it wasn’t just one or two members of the team involved, but every single player having something to add in, defend or get mock-upset about, so I let that run, which meant it wasn’t a very action packed episode… I mean – land, go get noodles, sleep, go buy new suits. Bosh, job done.
I could have padded out the story a bit more from the 7k for this weeks episodes, but that felt a little unnecessary – I’m sure if people want to, they can go back and find the events referred to and re-read them if they need a reminder (and, honesty also compels me to admit that I’m somewhat tired, having just started a new job and spending time getting to grips with that!), so I think what was written works well enough.
Next week we’re down Shimazu, but I have a few instructions from him – and at this stage of things I’ve got a reasonable idea of how most of the characters *could* act, even if they do throw me the odd curveball from time to time. If nothing else though, I can be reasonably sure I can play them for a session without them being horribly out of character… The most important thing I needed to check was whether he’d give up his sword to security on entering the casino – which he said he would, though only after a lot of complaining and arguments.
But still – we’re off to the gambling hall next week. Who knows – this could be the end of the campaign! I certainly wouldn’t put it past Kai to walk in and put the credstick with 1.2m Nuyen, the teams’ entire funds, on black at the first roulette wheel and then give it a spin, just to see what happens. Even if it came up a winner, I think the rest of the team would shoot him on principle!!!
I guess we’ll have to see what kind of mood he’s in tomorrow night!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Tuesday 19/07/61, Location: 23.18243, 113.74018, Time 00:10
2. Aswon contacts spook, gets directions to building site. has a quiet part of the site not yet being built upon: 22.32964, 114.23163 120m concrete pad, minibus arrives flashing lights, can't see the team.
3. Marius - why are we here. Aswon - not seen her for ages, want to meet the team. M are we leaving the bird here. A she says it'll be fine, and the bird has defences right? We can go for a drink, a meal, plot, plan, be social - for once. Not end up face down in a pool of vodka with the local crime boss - eh Marius. M - don't know what you mean, I don't remember that.
4. Kai gets out, spook flashes lights, then waits.
5. Kai - hello, Spook hands Kai a bottle. Aswon does introductions. Small and petite, modestly dressed. Marius - we're fine to leave the bird here? End of the week, should be fine. Check battery on the cloak. Drop cloak to let Spook see the bird. She asks, can I poke it? What do you mean? Explains. Offers to get a watchman. He arrives in 5 mins with external power. Tads puts an extra spirit on it, engage the cloak again.
6. 1am. Spook drives into HK, avoids main roads, driving with expert navigation.
7. To the sports ball place, flood lights on other side, recreational drugs. Noodle bar in the silverline bus, patio furniture.
8. They order, Spook looks at garden furniture and Hunter/Shimazu, moderate CCTV coverage, but not watching the team.
9. Talk with Spook about the guns, not using their own contacts too far away. Spook covers again what they want, the contact is ok, reasonable rates, not really gouging.
10. Kai - do they have the skill to use bullet presses, things like that? Hunter - probably not have the materials or the facilities. Kai - what are we like load wise? Team covers off load vs space. Cover off the deal again.
11. Spook - can get the stuff from the militia, get the huk on your side, but the japs will hate you - but they'll hate you anyway for being smugglers. Team generally not in favour of an attack, they have a stealth bird. Tad especially don't want to get into trouble. Some joking about being shot down, long walk back, Aswon being bitten, got onto cannon goats, regale Spook with the story. Poking fun at Aswon, then Hunter - defusing landmines with his face. More banter - but hey, I can throw a smoke grenade out of the window. More tales and mockery amongst the group. Spook relaxes a bit, gets table nibbles and some cheap wine. Aswon dobs in Marius "stealing" Nadia. Spook asks about Shimazu and why there aren't funny stories about him. Shimazu - ran into a tree once, oh and I died. Whoah, you can't leave that there. Kai covers the story about the horror, cavalry, shamans dying. Kai covers that Shimazu dived into the way for him. Marius covers throwing his sword out of the aircraft in Nigeria too. Spook looks at Tads, raises eyebrows. Tads makes weird bland statement. Aswon gets Hunter to find holders of the medal, send to spook. Spook ignores tads but plays the Russian national anthem quietly. Hunter mentions the video about the fight, they show Spook. Explain about the Russians in the hovercraft, and Hunter was put forward...
12. Shimazu - Not going back to Iran. Aswon - well not unless we get told. Marius - nope, with Shimazu.
13. Spook fills them in on the local scene and politics a bit, delicate balance of power, stolen high-tech goods and 1st gen knock offs, stuff liberated from think tanks or production sites. No obvious racial bias, normal mix of types.
14. Aswon queries again about the weapons deal, spook summarises again.
15. Spook sorts out a cheap hotel room. F1 ward on the lobby, basic but clean. Tads checks for tracking before everyone beds down.
16. In the morning Spook calls, grandfather fan, invite - not demand. Aswon, oh god Marius is going to give me such a hard time.
17. Ask Marius - he recalls they messed with the Blue Lotus, check with Spook - no, this is the Red Cranes. Kai - underworld politics. Tribal, control of local area. Aswon asks Spook - is the a job we could turn down? Yes, actually - he's asking not sending people round. Have you got tuxes? No, went up in the old tilt-wing. I can get you a tailor, we've got some good ones. Aswon - armoured suits? Sp - of course. 888 casino, 9pm tonight.
18. Team go for standard fashion - go and get suits for everyone. Aswon wants to get people back to the bird for ceremonial weapons.
19. Kai sends message to Ludmilla and Germaine to ask if they want anything bought back.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
This week the team were off to meet Spook, one of Aswon’s starting contacts, and the broker for their next job. After getting a landing spot sorted out, they met up with her and headed into the city. I’d originally planned for a little bit of RP, and then to push on with the story and the meeting with the Triad boss – however, the team seemed to really buy into the story time, with all of the players engaging and poking fun at each other IC, from the copious amount of stuff they’ve done.
I joked with the wife after the evening was done that we could have an alternate title for this weeks story of “The writers guild strike”, as it almost felt like a clip show / flashback episode, with minimal new content, which got a smirk from her…
Still, I’m more than happy for them to have some RP time, especially in this case as it wasn’t just one or two members of the team involved, but every single player having something to add in, defend or get mock-upset about, so I let that run, which meant it wasn’t a very action packed episode… I mean – land, go get noodles, sleep, go buy new suits. Bosh, job done.
I could have padded out the story a bit more from the 7k for this weeks episodes, but that felt a little unnecessary – I’m sure if people want to, they can go back and find the events referred to and re-read them if they need a reminder (and, honesty also compels me to admit that I’m somewhat tired, having just started a new job and spending time getting to grips with that!), so I think what was written works well enough.
Next week we’re down Shimazu, but I have a few instructions from him – and at this stage of things I’ve got a reasonable idea of how most of the characters *could* act, even if they do throw me the odd curveball from time to time. If nothing else though, I can be reasonably sure I can play them for a session without them being horribly out of character… The most important thing I needed to check was whether he’d give up his sword to security on entering the casino – which he said he would, though only after a lot of complaining and arguments.
But still – we’re off to the gambling hall next week. Who knows – this could be the end of the campaign! I certainly wouldn’t put it past Kai to walk in and put the credstick with 1.2m Nuyen, the teams’ entire funds, on black at the first roulette wheel and then give it a spin, just to see what happens. Even if it came up a winner, I think the rest of the team would shoot him on principle!!!
I guess we’ll have to see what kind of mood he’s in tomorrow night!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Tuesday 19/07/61, Location: 23.18243, 113.74018, Time 00:10
2. Aswon contacts spook, gets directions to building site. has a quiet part of the site not yet being built upon: 22.32964, 114.23163 120m concrete pad, minibus arrives flashing lights, can't see the team.
3. Marius - why are we here. Aswon - not seen her for ages, want to meet the team. M are we leaving the bird here. A she says it'll be fine, and the bird has defences right? We can go for a drink, a meal, plot, plan, be social - for once. Not end up face down in a pool of vodka with the local crime boss - eh Marius. M - don't know what you mean, I don't remember that.
4. Kai gets out, spook flashes lights, then waits.
5. Kai - hello, Spook hands Kai a bottle. Aswon does introductions. Small and petite, modestly dressed. Marius - we're fine to leave the bird here? End of the week, should be fine. Check battery on the cloak. Drop cloak to let Spook see the bird. She asks, can I poke it? What do you mean? Explains. Offers to get a watchman. He arrives in 5 mins with external power. Tads puts an extra spirit on it, engage the cloak again.
6. 1am. Spook drives into HK, avoids main roads, driving with expert navigation.
7. To the sports ball place, flood lights on other side, recreational drugs. Noodle bar in the silverline bus, patio furniture.
8. They order, Spook looks at garden furniture and Hunter/Shimazu, moderate CCTV coverage, but not watching the team.
9. Talk with Spook about the guns, not using their own contacts too far away. Spook covers again what they want, the contact is ok, reasonable rates, not really gouging.
10. Kai - do they have the skill to use bullet presses, things like that? Hunter - probably not have the materials or the facilities. Kai - what are we like load wise? Team covers off load vs space. Cover off the deal again.
11. Spook - can get the stuff from the militia, get the huk on your side, but the japs will hate you - but they'll hate you anyway for being smugglers. Team generally not in favour of an attack, they have a stealth bird. Tad especially don't want to get into trouble. Some joking about being shot down, long walk back, Aswon being bitten, got onto cannon goats, regale Spook with the story. Poking fun at Aswon, then Hunter - defusing landmines with his face. More banter - but hey, I can throw a smoke grenade out of the window. More tales and mockery amongst the group. Spook relaxes a bit, gets table nibbles and some cheap wine. Aswon dobs in Marius "stealing" Nadia. Spook asks about Shimazu and why there aren't funny stories about him. Shimazu - ran into a tree once, oh and I died. Whoah, you can't leave that there. Kai covers the story about the horror, cavalry, shamans dying. Kai covers that Shimazu dived into the way for him. Marius covers throwing his sword out of the aircraft in Nigeria too. Spook looks at Tads, raises eyebrows. Tads makes weird bland statement. Aswon gets Hunter to find holders of the medal, send to spook. Spook ignores tads but plays the Russian national anthem quietly. Hunter mentions the video about the fight, they show Spook. Explain about the Russians in the hovercraft, and Hunter was put forward...
12. Shimazu - Not going back to Iran. Aswon - well not unless we get told. Marius - nope, with Shimazu.
13. Spook fills them in on the local scene and politics a bit, delicate balance of power, stolen high-tech goods and 1st gen knock offs, stuff liberated from think tanks or production sites. No obvious racial bias, normal mix of types.
14. Aswon queries again about the weapons deal, spook summarises again.
15. Spook sorts out a cheap hotel room. F1 ward on the lobby, basic but clean. Tads checks for tracking before everyone beds down.
16. In the morning Spook calls, grandfather fan, invite - not demand. Aswon, oh god Marius is going to give me such a hard time.
17. Ask Marius - he recalls they messed with the Blue Lotus, check with Spook - no, this is the Red Cranes. Kai - underworld politics. Tribal, control of local area. Aswon asks Spook - is the a job we could turn down? Yes, actually - he's asking not sending people round. Have you got tuxes? No, went up in the old tilt-wing. I can get you a tailor, we've got some good ones. Aswon - armoured suits? Sp - of course. 888 casino, 9pm tonight.
18. Team go for standard fashion - go and get suits for everyone. Aswon wants to get people back to the bird for ceremonial weapons.
19. Kai sends message to Ludmilla and Germaine to ask if they want anything bought back.
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 299 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
A bit of a change of style for this one – a very laid back, description heavy RP session with no action or real planning going on. The team were off to see “Grandfather Fan”, the head of the Red Crane Triad in central/downtown Hong Kong.
I wanted to make a really interesting location for this, hopefully something memorable, that would act as an anchor for the NPC (and be a massive pain in the butt for the art director when they try to film this episode of the tv-show!), something to really showcase an opulent and ostentatious show of wealth and over-the-top excess.
Trying to combine the level of theming that you can see at a modern park like Disney, along with the level of investment from the 5* resorts on the Las Vegas strip, crossed with a sense of scale and impressiveness that I remember getting the first time I entered the end section of the ‘Deadmines’ instance in World of Warcraft, itself riffing off the end sequence from the Goonies.
Along with that though, I also wanted to show them some high level security – buildings designed to make avoiding the weapons and cyber-ware scanners almost impossible, with nested wards, bound elementals on patrol, enough CCTV to watch the subtlest of gestures and motions, and enough visible security to make them think twice about funny games – and to wonder about the *non-visible* security that must surely be lurking in the background.
At the end of the last session, while out walking the dog with Tads, I joked that this week could very well be the end of the campaign. She looked at me confused, and I said to her “just think – what will you all do if Kai walks in and slaps down your entire team funds on one number on the roulette wheel and just hopes to get lucky?” She looked at me agog for a moment, and I followed up with “Tell me that he’s not that chaotic. I dare you…”
Sure enough, when we were getting into the casino, the player did indeed threaten to do just that – at which point we had to stop for a minute or two while all the other players threatened to do unspeakable things to him if he dared… fortunately he restrained himself, and kept his initial bet low!
The meeting with the triad boss when well though, with some gentle probing as to what the team would and would not do. The NPC also discussed the team in front of them, discussing with his protégé that sometimes you have to just cut people loose, and throw them to the wolves, while you should save others. The team didn’t massively respond to that – though they may have just been biting their tongues and being polite during the meeting. They didn’t pick up on it later though – so I’m not sure if they made as much of this as I thought they might.
Still – they’ve made an introduction to a very powerful crime boss, and even though they haven’t done much for him so far, Spook has solid rep with him, so her vouching for them carries them a fair way – and got them some new fuel spots that will be of use in the coming weeks.
Next week will be a quick weapons pick up, then time for a bit of stealth and fancy flying as Marius pits the Broadsword and his stealth skill versus some Shimakaze class destroyers maintaining the naval blockade around the Philippines! I think they should be fine, with the magical concealment as well, but we’ll have to see what the dice have to say about that.
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Wednesday 20/07/61, Location: 22.31128, 114.18135, Time 20:00
2. Spook is dressed up, made up and looking like a courtesan. Everyone good to go?
3. Kai - anything we should avoid doing? Spook - be polite, considerate. Tads - wards? Spook, yeah, plenty. Aswon - honorifics. Mr Fan, maybe grandfather if invited. Aswon - any sidekicks? Yeah, Mr Li. Spook calls in for the limo. Aswon - what about jammers / WNG. Spook - take them out/off, it's a live casino. Limo arrives, Aswon - was expecting the van. Spook - no, this is not the place you go to in a mini-van
4. Get close to waters edge, building all lit up, spots and lasers, leds up the core.
5. The 888 casino takes up the bottom 8 floors of the Harbourfront Landmark building, a glass and steel edifice right on the waterfront. To the front of the building is a large and impressive water-feature with three animatronic dolphins that leap in and out of the water, sending spouts of water up to 10m high, lit up by colour cycling lights.
6. Aswon - significance of 3, dolphins? Marius - featured heavy in history. 3, triads, good number, dolphins for good luck.
7. Limo arrives, bellhops not surprised by group / appearance. Sweeping path upward.
8. Going into the lobby, the area features a luxurious marble floor, columns and walls, all made with Florentine Ruin Marble, in an expansive lobby. The lobby rises up at least three floors, and overhead the "roof" is made up of a complex light show / hologram of a teeming ocean landscape.
9. Visitors are taken over raised bridges and through "natural rock" archways which conceal the R9 weapon scanners, with guests then ending up next to the cloakrooms where items can be discretely deposited. Aswons spears goes into hatstand, asks about security, F10 ward F6 air spirits under the water illusion. Shimazu *is* allowed to keep his sword if it's peace-bonded - corded into scabbard and heat-welded in place.
10. After passing through security, they are invited to climb aboard "coracles", seating 3-4 people in 2X2 formation, which rise up on lifting arms, through the ocean display. While climbing fish swarm around them, including sharks, rays and other predators, swimming near them and snapping at them - the bright and distracting holograms also cover the discrete photography, with the lights being timed to illuminate faces and draw attention to ensuire a good face shot.
11. Marius - you're pretty sure that for just a moment, in the middle of the light show, you saw a camera on a floating arm, aimed directly at your face when the lights were brightest.
12. Marius, Hunter and Tads in first vehicle. Marius leans over to tell Hunter about facial recognition cameras.
13. Finally, the guests are deposited at floor 4, and the actual casino entrance. Two large statues of Poseidon guard the entrance to a sparkling undersea palace,
14. with a virtual aquarium playing on the "windows" displaying blue ocean shallows and coral reefs teeming with life, with small crowds watching some of the displays. The roof soars 2-3 stories high, with stalactites illuminated by hidden lights. Clusters of slot machines radiate outwards in a loose spiral, separated with lush deep blue carpet, while frequent statues, sunken ships, treasure chests and other underwater themed decorations provide something to look at regardless of position. "Mermaids" circulate providing drinks to clients, while table bosses are dressed in a style that looks like 18th century naval ratings.
15. In the centre of the vast gaming space, the "lagoon" is a slightly sunken area, holding a large selection of tables for Blackjack, Poker, Roulette and Craps, all visible from the raised area that surrounds it, where people can drink, eat, relax and watch the mid-games.
16. Mermaids approach for drinks orders.
17. Higher stakes games are run in one of two caverns off to each side of the gaming floor, quieter areas that are screened from the general noise and activity of the main floor. Each has a "customer service agent" their armour disguised as aquatic-warrior style imagery standing near the doorway, keeping an eye on people entering and leaving.
18. Finally, at the back of the gaming area is "the shipwreck", Hunter engineering roll - built in place. an area with an apparently rotting gangplank rising up into the broken and twisted remains of a Spanish galleon.
19. Spook - we still have 30 mins, want to play a game or something. Rest of team - NO, Kai. You're not putting it all on Red. Kai - but we could double our money. Team - or lose it all. Spend a grand. Force 6 wards around the outside, and some more F6 air elementals amongst the stalactites.
20. Kai goes to get a 1K chip, to the roulette wheel and puts it on Red. D37 roll. Odds black, evens red, 37=0. Comes up 20(Red), 2k. Goes again, doubles up to 2k, 15(Black), 4k. Doubles up, 14 - loses. Takes out another 1k to tip to the table boss. Thanks him for his time. "Better luck in the next game". Orks working security, no trolls, few elves and dwarves, mostly human. Patriarchal society, neat, tuxes and evening dresses, gold bling.
21. Tads checks out the display. Brief narrative story, following a fish, simple tale. Tads active masking her foci, no problem against all wards.
22. Get a brief snack in the middle, surveillance and recon - spot the super heavy camera focus in the main area.
23. Inside there is an old-world nautical theme, but the area is accessible and comfortable, and as the team rise up several ramps to the upper decks, they can see private suites and gaming areas for the truly wealthy and powerful - and are led to the "Captains Quarters" at the rear of the ship, where there is an expansive view over the whole casino floor.
24. Mr Fan sitting behind a large table, Han Li off to one side. 6 large triad soldiers against the walls, parade rest - clearly wearing mid-grade armour, but with no obvious weapons or even the bulges for heavy pistols. 2 of them are Grade 2 phys-ads, with centering and improved martial arts skills, the other 4 are crack shots with their trank guns
25. Thanks for coming, excuse me for not standing, my legs are a little tired these days. Kai - deepest bow, respectful thanks for time. Most impressive establishment, enjoyed it greatly. Li puts Shimazu's chair down about a metre back from the chair line.
26. Waves, gets repeat drinks of the same as on the casino floor.
27. Thanks spook for arranging. Won't press for details of your current work, just wondered if you would be open to work in the future.
28. K - certainly interested in many ventures of a business variety. Take it you've been briefed on our capabilities and style.
29. Your capabilities yes, your business style -I prefer to hear from you.
30. Our main bread and butter is smuggling, without permits, shipments of goods. "always good to have relocation experts on the payroll". We have expanded into other lines of work, other things like recovery of items not in the correct hands. We shy away from things like people smuggling, kidnapping, wetwork. We have done these things, but we're generally against things like that, leave it to people better equipped and skilled people in those areas. We do lots of unusual tasks, magical or mundane things that will stretch our legs, mysterious or challenging, but always professional. "interesting, very interesting." We work as a team, I'm sure they will add anything that they feel I'm missing. Aswon - independent contractors. Not on the payroll - you can trust us to do the job. Kai - and discreet - we don't like to brag about business. We don't share information about jobs between employers.
31. "I see. Please bear with me one moment."
32. "Outsiders are something you should consider carefully young man. They do not know our ways perhaps, and there are many that dismiss them. But the waters in the China Sea - do we think they never saw the Atlantic Ocean? Or the Indian? All things flow and ebb, change over time. And just because they are from far away, does not make them less worthy. Just different."
33. "Yes Grandfather."
34. "Many will treat them poorly, or as inferiors. And truly some of them are. Those - like the dregs of our society, you should use and discard, tools that are unworthy of a craftsman. But some rocks shine bright, and are not to be used to make a path, but to be treated well. And the advantage to having someone from...elsewhere, is that your enemies find it much hard to plan and take account of their capabilities. Where conflict comes to the fore, they could be the difference between failure and success."
35. "Assuming we have suitable work, you're interested in some independent contracts in the future?" Yes, Spook here speaks very highly of your professionalism and calibre. Tads - we're not local though, so transport costs might be high. K - Tads brings a good point, we're not local, but as you mentioned that might be a good point. A - and we have been known to act as emissaries from time to time.
36. "I see. Well we should swap contacts. for the future. Mr Li broadcasts a vcc, team swap details. "Of course, such things are a two way street - is there anything you have need of?" K - we have had a long journey, do have some errands to run, we could always do with fuelling spots.
37. "Of course, the tank and the bay I think" Mr Li beams info over. Hunter can tell they're somewhere in the SCS from the co-ords.
38. "I'm sure you have more gambling to do, or things to see in the city, won't keep you." Kai very polite response and deep bow to Fan, and a slightly less deep bow to Mr Li. Grandfather nods, Li gives a respectful bow. Spook leads the way out.
39. Spook - subtle sigh of relief, "good job" to Kai. "yeah, was a little worried, but seemed to go well". Hunter - do you want to talk outside. Everything is monitored in here..." Finish the drinks. Spook - happy to go out for dinner.
40. Team decide that some of them are having one spin on the slot machines.
41. Tads - burns through 500, Aswon turns 1k into 800, Marius 200 on Blackjack, 7+ace, +4, +3, +2, Dealer busts, Marius gets 200 profit. Hunter takes 1k, doesn't play, claims he lost.
42. Spook - will get someone to come pick us up. Tads - don't have to go back to the bird, they had sufficient wards to throw off any tracking. Hunter - prefer to go back to the bird with a takeout, personally. Spook, if it's cool with you, I'd like to see the inside of the bird. We can do takeout.
43. Hunter asks Aswon- how is she going to feel about being cut out. Aswon asks spook if she's happy or wants to rep us.
44. "I see what you mean, but I'm happy. Grandfather will remember who brokered the intro. Your rep is my rep."
45. Marius - something to bear in mind, if we work for one OC for too long, we become less independent. Aswon - two words, Ryumyo and Lung, they trusted us to be neutral, so should you. Tads - we don't know for certain they were the dragons, Aswon and Hunter - yeah, we do.
46. Kai - anything for you Spook. No, all my pots are simmering. This meeting was the big worry. Aswon - anything for our young friend. Coded message - no, we're all good.
47. Team say they're heading off tomorrow to go pick up the guns - or at least check them over. Also - Hunter, get us bug scanned will you. especially the weapons - all looks fine.
48. Aswon hugs spook as she leaves, team bed down and get ready to leave.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
A bit of a change of style for this one – a very laid back, description heavy RP session with no action or real planning going on. The team were off to see “Grandfather Fan”, the head of the Red Crane Triad in central/downtown Hong Kong.
I wanted to make a really interesting location for this, hopefully something memorable, that would act as an anchor for the NPC (and be a massive pain in the butt for the art director when they try to film this episode of the tv-show!), something to really showcase an opulent and ostentatious show of wealth and over-the-top excess.
Trying to combine the level of theming that you can see at a modern park like Disney, along with the level of investment from the 5* resorts on the Las Vegas strip, crossed with a sense of scale and impressiveness that I remember getting the first time I entered the end section of the ‘Deadmines’ instance in World of Warcraft, itself riffing off the end sequence from the Goonies.
Along with that though, I also wanted to show them some high level security – buildings designed to make avoiding the weapons and cyber-ware scanners almost impossible, with nested wards, bound elementals on patrol, enough CCTV to watch the subtlest of gestures and motions, and enough visible security to make them think twice about funny games – and to wonder about the *non-visible* security that must surely be lurking in the background.
At the end of the last session, while out walking the dog with Tads, I joked that this week could very well be the end of the campaign. She looked at me confused, and I said to her “just think – what will you all do if Kai walks in and slaps down your entire team funds on one number on the roulette wheel and just hopes to get lucky?” She looked at me agog for a moment, and I followed up with “Tell me that he’s not that chaotic. I dare you…”
Sure enough, when we were getting into the casino, the player did indeed threaten to do just that – at which point we had to stop for a minute or two while all the other players threatened to do unspeakable things to him if he dared… fortunately he restrained himself, and kept his initial bet low!
The meeting with the triad boss when well though, with some gentle probing as to what the team would and would not do. The NPC also discussed the team in front of them, discussing with his protégé that sometimes you have to just cut people loose, and throw them to the wolves, while you should save others. The team didn’t massively respond to that – though they may have just been biting their tongues and being polite during the meeting. They didn’t pick up on it later though – so I’m not sure if they made as much of this as I thought they might.
Still – they’ve made an introduction to a very powerful crime boss, and even though they haven’t done much for him so far, Spook has solid rep with him, so her vouching for them carries them a fair way – and got them some new fuel spots that will be of use in the coming weeks.
Next week will be a quick weapons pick up, then time for a bit of stealth and fancy flying as Marius pits the Broadsword and his stealth skill versus some Shimakaze class destroyers maintaining the naval blockade around the Philippines! I think they should be fine, with the magical concealment as well, but we’ll have to see what the dice have to say about that.
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Wednesday 20/07/61, Location: 22.31128, 114.18135, Time 20:00
2. Spook is dressed up, made up and looking like a courtesan. Everyone good to go?
3. Kai - anything we should avoid doing? Spook - be polite, considerate. Tads - wards? Spook, yeah, plenty. Aswon - honorifics. Mr Fan, maybe grandfather if invited. Aswon - any sidekicks? Yeah, Mr Li. Spook calls in for the limo. Aswon - what about jammers / WNG. Spook - take them out/off, it's a live casino. Limo arrives, Aswon - was expecting the van. Spook - no, this is not the place you go to in a mini-van
4. Get close to waters edge, building all lit up, spots and lasers, leds up the core.
5. The 888 casino takes up the bottom 8 floors of the Harbourfront Landmark building, a glass and steel edifice right on the waterfront. To the front of the building is a large and impressive water-feature with three animatronic dolphins that leap in and out of the water, sending spouts of water up to 10m high, lit up by colour cycling lights.
6. Aswon - significance of 3, dolphins? Marius - featured heavy in history. 3, triads, good number, dolphins for good luck.
7. Limo arrives, bellhops not surprised by group / appearance. Sweeping path upward.
8. Going into the lobby, the area features a luxurious marble floor, columns and walls, all made with Florentine Ruin Marble, in an expansive lobby. The lobby rises up at least three floors, and overhead the "roof" is made up of a complex light show / hologram of a teeming ocean landscape.
9. Visitors are taken over raised bridges and through "natural rock" archways which conceal the R9 weapon scanners, with guests then ending up next to the cloakrooms where items can be discretely deposited. Aswons spears goes into hatstand, asks about security, F10 ward F6 air spirits under the water illusion. Shimazu *is* allowed to keep his sword if it's peace-bonded - corded into scabbard and heat-welded in place.
10. After passing through security, they are invited to climb aboard "coracles", seating 3-4 people in 2X2 formation, which rise up on lifting arms, through the ocean display. While climbing fish swarm around them, including sharks, rays and other predators, swimming near them and snapping at them - the bright and distracting holograms also cover the discrete photography, with the lights being timed to illuminate faces and draw attention to ensuire a good face shot.
11. Marius - you're pretty sure that for just a moment, in the middle of the light show, you saw a camera on a floating arm, aimed directly at your face when the lights were brightest.
12. Marius, Hunter and Tads in first vehicle. Marius leans over to tell Hunter about facial recognition cameras.
13. Finally, the guests are deposited at floor 4, and the actual casino entrance. Two large statues of Poseidon guard the entrance to a sparkling undersea palace,
14. with a virtual aquarium playing on the "windows" displaying blue ocean shallows and coral reefs teeming with life, with small crowds watching some of the displays. The roof soars 2-3 stories high, with stalactites illuminated by hidden lights. Clusters of slot machines radiate outwards in a loose spiral, separated with lush deep blue carpet, while frequent statues, sunken ships, treasure chests and other underwater themed decorations provide something to look at regardless of position. "Mermaids" circulate providing drinks to clients, while table bosses are dressed in a style that looks like 18th century naval ratings.
15. In the centre of the vast gaming space, the "lagoon" is a slightly sunken area, holding a large selection of tables for Blackjack, Poker, Roulette and Craps, all visible from the raised area that surrounds it, where people can drink, eat, relax and watch the mid-games.
16. Mermaids approach for drinks orders.
17. Higher stakes games are run in one of two caverns off to each side of the gaming floor, quieter areas that are screened from the general noise and activity of the main floor. Each has a "customer service agent" their armour disguised as aquatic-warrior style imagery standing near the doorway, keeping an eye on people entering and leaving.
18. Finally, at the back of the gaming area is "the shipwreck", Hunter engineering roll - built in place. an area with an apparently rotting gangplank rising up into the broken and twisted remains of a Spanish galleon.
19. Spook - we still have 30 mins, want to play a game or something. Rest of team - NO, Kai. You're not putting it all on Red. Kai - but we could double our money. Team - or lose it all. Spend a grand. Force 6 wards around the outside, and some more F6 air elementals amongst the stalactites.
20. Kai goes to get a 1K chip, to the roulette wheel and puts it on Red. D37 roll. Odds black, evens red, 37=0. Comes up 20(Red), 2k. Goes again, doubles up to 2k, 15(Black), 4k. Doubles up, 14 - loses. Takes out another 1k to tip to the table boss. Thanks him for his time. "Better luck in the next game". Orks working security, no trolls, few elves and dwarves, mostly human. Patriarchal society, neat, tuxes and evening dresses, gold bling.
21. Tads checks out the display. Brief narrative story, following a fish, simple tale. Tads active masking her foci, no problem against all wards.
22. Get a brief snack in the middle, surveillance and recon - spot the super heavy camera focus in the main area.
23. Inside there is an old-world nautical theme, but the area is accessible and comfortable, and as the team rise up several ramps to the upper decks, they can see private suites and gaming areas for the truly wealthy and powerful - and are led to the "Captains Quarters" at the rear of the ship, where there is an expansive view over the whole casino floor.
24. Mr Fan sitting behind a large table, Han Li off to one side. 6 large triad soldiers against the walls, parade rest - clearly wearing mid-grade armour, but with no obvious weapons or even the bulges for heavy pistols. 2 of them are Grade 2 phys-ads, with centering and improved martial arts skills, the other 4 are crack shots with their trank guns
25. Thanks for coming, excuse me for not standing, my legs are a little tired these days. Kai - deepest bow, respectful thanks for time. Most impressive establishment, enjoyed it greatly. Li puts Shimazu's chair down about a metre back from the chair line.
26. Waves, gets repeat drinks of the same as on the casino floor.
27. Thanks spook for arranging. Won't press for details of your current work, just wondered if you would be open to work in the future.
28. K - certainly interested in many ventures of a business variety. Take it you've been briefed on our capabilities and style.
29. Your capabilities yes, your business style -I prefer to hear from you.
30. Our main bread and butter is smuggling, without permits, shipments of goods. "always good to have relocation experts on the payroll". We have expanded into other lines of work, other things like recovery of items not in the correct hands. We shy away from things like people smuggling, kidnapping, wetwork. We have done these things, but we're generally against things like that, leave it to people better equipped and skilled people in those areas. We do lots of unusual tasks, magical or mundane things that will stretch our legs, mysterious or challenging, but always professional. "interesting, very interesting." We work as a team, I'm sure they will add anything that they feel I'm missing. Aswon - independent contractors. Not on the payroll - you can trust us to do the job. Kai - and discreet - we don't like to brag about business. We don't share information about jobs between employers.
31. "I see. Please bear with me one moment."
32. "Outsiders are something you should consider carefully young man. They do not know our ways perhaps, and there are many that dismiss them. But the waters in the China Sea - do we think they never saw the Atlantic Ocean? Or the Indian? All things flow and ebb, change over time. And just because they are from far away, does not make them less worthy. Just different."
33. "Yes Grandfather."
34. "Many will treat them poorly, or as inferiors. And truly some of them are. Those - like the dregs of our society, you should use and discard, tools that are unworthy of a craftsman. But some rocks shine bright, and are not to be used to make a path, but to be treated well. And the advantage to having someone from...elsewhere, is that your enemies find it much hard to plan and take account of their capabilities. Where conflict comes to the fore, they could be the difference between failure and success."
35. "Assuming we have suitable work, you're interested in some independent contracts in the future?" Yes, Spook here speaks very highly of your professionalism and calibre. Tads - we're not local though, so transport costs might be high. K - Tads brings a good point, we're not local, but as you mentioned that might be a good point. A - and we have been known to act as emissaries from time to time.
36. "I see. Well we should swap contacts. for the future. Mr Li broadcasts a vcc, team swap details. "Of course, such things are a two way street - is there anything you have need of?" K - we have had a long journey, do have some errands to run, we could always do with fuelling spots.
37. "Of course, the tank and the bay I think" Mr Li beams info over. Hunter can tell they're somewhere in the SCS from the co-ords.
38. "I'm sure you have more gambling to do, or things to see in the city, won't keep you." Kai very polite response and deep bow to Fan, and a slightly less deep bow to Mr Li. Grandfather nods, Li gives a respectful bow. Spook leads the way out.
39. Spook - subtle sigh of relief, "good job" to Kai. "yeah, was a little worried, but seemed to go well". Hunter - do you want to talk outside. Everything is monitored in here..." Finish the drinks. Spook - happy to go out for dinner.
40. Team decide that some of them are having one spin on the slot machines.
41. Tads - burns through 500, Aswon turns 1k into 800, Marius 200 on Blackjack, 7+ace, +4, +3, +2, Dealer busts, Marius gets 200 profit. Hunter takes 1k, doesn't play, claims he lost.
42. Spook - will get someone to come pick us up. Tads - don't have to go back to the bird, they had sufficient wards to throw off any tracking. Hunter - prefer to go back to the bird with a takeout, personally. Spook, if it's cool with you, I'd like to see the inside of the bird. We can do takeout.
43. Hunter asks Aswon- how is she going to feel about being cut out. Aswon asks spook if she's happy or wants to rep us.
44. "I see what you mean, but I'm happy. Grandfather will remember who brokered the intro. Your rep is my rep."
45. Marius - something to bear in mind, if we work for one OC for too long, we become less independent. Aswon - two words, Ryumyo and Lung, they trusted us to be neutral, so should you. Tads - we don't know for certain they were the dragons, Aswon and Hunter - yeah, we do.
46. Kai - anything for you Spook. No, all my pots are simmering. This meeting was the big worry. Aswon - anything for our young friend. Coded message - no, we're all good.
47. Team say they're heading off tomorrow to go pick up the guns - or at least check them over. Also - Hunter, get us bug scanned will you. especially the weapons - all looks fine.
48. Aswon hugs spook as she leaves, team bed down and get ready to leave.
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 300 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
Apologies for the delay on this one – work has been a bit manic, and I’ve been preparing for our annual holiday to the Netherlands – speaking of which, this has been written while on holiday, and that means there’s no game this week, so it’s going to be another two weeks or so before the next update.
In terms of this session, it was a fairly straight-forward plan. Go to location A, pick up guns. Take to location B, a new place, to meet a new contact and drop off guns. Fairly straight-forward, though the chance for some betrayal at either side, and with the team still a little paranoid about Falcon, they were being somewhat cautious.
So, hugging the coast, they flew down to “The Mosaic”, a place I found while scanning around on Google Maps that looks really interesting. If you check 19.47113, 108.89276 out, you’ll probably see what I mean. The players had a little chat about this when they saw the picture, coming to the conclusion that the squares visible were used for drying out some kind of drug or product to be shipped on elsewhere. I certainly didn’t dissuade them of this opinion… Still, they cottoned on as to why this place was called “The Mosaic” fairly quickly, and it’s probably going to stick in their minds a little. They also discovered that the owner “Sandpit” isn’t exactly a great source for general goods – he might be ok for pre-arranged stuff, but otherwise sells cheap tat, and his fuel is pricy. It remains to be seen if they remember that when planning future missions. They decided not to buy fuel here, which means they did need to visit one of the other two locations I had ready for them, and get those on their map – which I see as a good thing.
The purchase deal went smoothly enough (though the rest of the team were watching Shimazu very carefully when Sandpit mentioned he had street drugs for sale – the player seems to enjoy playing Shimazu as easily tempted on this side, and after their experience with Ludmilla’s experimental “Combat-X” drugs, they’re trying to keep him on the straight and narrow), and they were soon on their way out of there.
En-route to the Spratley islands, I showed them the Japanese destroyers off in the distance – letting them get a bit of a look at very long range, showing them the kinds of systems present, but with no real details. I wanted to seed this for two planned encounters. First of all, they’re likely to encounter at least one of these on the way out of this mission, and have to evade contact and possibly get embroiled in a rigger-combat, and see Marius earn his pay, possibly with some help from Tads. Secondly, I want them to be generally aware that these ships are *bad news* for smugglers – in the evasion from the Huk gun drop off, I’m going to have the destroyer (or destroyers, depending on how mean I’m feeling) “go active”, ramping up the flux to max and blasting the sky with enough energy to start frying seagulls, and cutting through their stealth. I want the players to KNOW that these are very competent ships, with top-flight systems, that mean business. Ships with Mach 3 SAMs that have an 80km range and a nasty warhead. Ships that will chance their arm with the deck gun, because they might get lucky, and little Iro was the Golden Shell winner in last year’s naval exercises. I want them to get away, but realise that this is down to either good luck on their part, or very fancy flying and some good use of karma re-rolls, spirits and some crazy flying. So that later on – when they encounter an entire squadron of these in a later mission, they realise that they are in fact (and this is the technical term for it) ‘proper frakked’.
“Show don’t tell”, I believe is the phrase. I plan to go one further and add “demonstrations” to the list…
But, that’s planting seeds for the future.
Next up was the landing at Elune’s Bay, a tiny little bit of nothing island. No real natural resources, no land worth having… so why the hell would someone have a base there. I mean, it’s a handy place for smugglers – but why would someone want to set up shop? So, looking at the area, I decided that this is where there’s a nice big Merrow colony, deep underwater. While out walking the dog (where many of my schemes come to fruition as I wander about) I thought “Ok, so there’s Merrow, and they don’t generally like top-siders. But what if they found a little girl… drowning after a shipwreck. And they saved her. And did the whole Tarzan thing – but more as a pet and thing of interest, rather than their boss. And she grew up as a bit of a hippy chick, in tune with nature, and definitely a vegetarian because messing with the fish is forbidden, and you don’t see many cows underwater.
Great, so now there’s a person here. And then when the Merrow need an interface with the outside world, even if it’s just a translator to tell the topsiders to frak-off, that’s why she’s there. And they realise that the smugglers, or runners are not the worst (well of course, they are the worst in many ways, but not compared to the AAAs), so setting up a fuel supply here gives them a handy place to attract people who can supply them with all kinds of useful things.
Ok, now to flesh things out – what makes her stand out. Well, she needs to go talk to her Merrow buddies from time to time, and breathing underwater tends to be hard… so what if they enchanted something to let her breathe underwater? Cool, that makes sense… but let’s twist that a bit – what if they did a “repel water” spell, instead, not really thinking things through. Now we have someone who can wander into the water, have it be repelled away, and she can come down to Merrow High Street and chat with the locals. But she can’t ever wash. Or brush her teeth. Or drink water… all her needs have to come from sucking seaweed or something like that. Man, that’s got to make someone a little eccentric. And smelly… and this concept was in no way inspired by interacting with some people that can smell pretty ripe after 5 days in a field at a live role play event, that probably didn’t have the best hygiene to start off with!
So that gave us Allora, the hippy uneducated elf, a worshiper of certain nature deities, in service to the Merrow and acting as their liaison to the topsiders, and causer of making willpower tests not to lose your lunch if you get too close to her. Bonza.
The players got her on side though with a bit of food and service provision, and got a bit of nice magic loot as a reward, and now they’re off to the Philippines to go and do the drop off at the Huk Guerrilla meeting point – though as mentioned above, this will be happening in a week’s time or so, from when this gets posted.
This session was actually played on the 12th of March – on the 19th, we didn’t have a game. We had a discussion on the 12th, and I explained that on Weds 20th, we were flying out early in the morning – so I certainly didn’t want to have a late night. As we had also just finished session 300 as well, I asked that we log on and instead have a chat on the progress and status of the game.
We met up as normal, and there was a bit of chit chat, before we got down into the weeds, and had a poke around, working through the players to check on how they were enjoying the campaign, what they liked, what they didn’t, how they felt things were going and what they would want to change – if anything – or do differently.
On the whole things were pretty positive. Everyone seems to be enjoying the story and the direction things are going, and they seem happy enough out of game with the mix between smuggling missions and “main plot” missions where stuff is happening to or around them. It was good to get confirmation from the likes of Marius that even though he’s desperately trying to stay away from dragons and magic stuff from an in-game perspective, he’s actually curious to see where things are going from an out of game viewpoint. As he’s one of the two most experienced players with the world-setting, that’s nice, and means he’s somewhat intrigued to see where the meta-plot is going to take them all.
Another thing I wanted to check on was that they didn’t feel rail-roaded or forced down a certain direction of story/plot. This was again pretty positive with only one person raising a thing – when their perch got hit with a missile during the Baikonur mission. I struggled somewhat, with a part of me wanting to explain things (as the mission was done, and they can’t really affect the outcome any more) to justify that – but also not wanting to tell them as it was IC information they hadn’t discovered. If any of them had stayed on the surface, or used a watcher spirit or drone – they would have discovered what was going on, and it would have made sense. For you, my lovely readers – SK was lifting a missile armed platform into orbit, that they could use to screw over the other corps during the probe race. When the launch craft blew up, the platform was jettisoned, but was damaged, and as a result it fired off the missiles, with them going wild and heading off in random directions. If they’d witnessed that, it was *very* valuable paydata they could have fenced off for a fat profit to the other AAAs, and they would have given SK a much harder time than they currently are. As it is, they don’t know why anything happened, and SK is just carrying on as before. *shrug* Sometimes the players don’t get to see everything, and get confused about events – and in this case maybe feel a little railroaded. Ho hum. As it was the only instance raised though, I can cope with that.
One of the players (Shimazu) also mentioned that he doesn’t like the logistics planning that goes on, and that is a part of the game that really bores him – but he does like the tactical planning side, for when they’re going on a mission. That led to a fairly animated (but civil) discussion, where it turned out that 2-3 of the other players DO really like that part, as it makes the world feel much more real to them, and lived in, and they like the different smuggler bases and facilities, and working out what rep they need with who to keep using different places. So, I might throttle back on that just a little at times, or just have to accept that Shimazu’s player might be surfing on his phone for a few minutes while the rest of the team work out their routes.
But, overall, they players are happy to carry on, and have no issues. They’re happy with the team makeup, how everyone is playing and the level of progression. Tads asked when she’s going to get her campaign special as everyone else has theirs, and I told her again that it’s the price she has to pay for being the GM’s wife – she has to wait until it’s ready. She’s really going to like it though when it comes. *big grin*
One of the things they asked for was the opportunity to get more stuff. I took that onboard, and will be planning a couple of missions around this to slot into the list of stuff I have for them, but I also made it clear that if they want to go shopping – just to let me know. If the team decide to do a break in on a Chiba black-facility and steal some top end experimental bioware, I’m more than happy to facilitate that – they just need to let me know so I can plan it. It’s their sandbox, and if they want to do some B&E or robbery style stuff, that’s fine with me. So we may see some proactive stuff popping up in the future where they decide to go and get some AV ammo, cyber or bioware, or magical supplies from some facility somewhere and do a “traditional” shadowrun, rather than some smuggling – though they’ll probably end up having to a do a paying job soon after to pay the fuel bills!
But – things seem to be going well, players happy, GM happy. Plot is progressing nicely, a lot of the major parts of the campaign are on the board, they’ve met 4 dragons now and done jobs for them, have another one coming up soon, have met both Harlequin and Eirhan, along with Damian Knight, and its nearly time for the Comet to bring the joys of SURGE to the world.
Fun times!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Thursday 21/07/61, Location: 22.32964, 114.23163, Time 04:00
2. Takeoff from the building site. 675km, 90min journey time, 05:30
3. Tads summoning spirits, taking a bit of stun. Call ahead to the base. "The Mosaic is awaiting your presence"
4. Marius - what? Aswon - looks like a mosaic.
5. Concealed landing, Kai says hello, good morning. Points to sun, warmest wishes of the day to you. Kai - mosaic. Call me Sandpit, many do. Kai - very convenient, nice place, we've been to some shitholes. Sand - believe you've come to purchase some equipment. K - indeed. Do you have fuel. Ahh, we do - it's pricy though. Kai makes small talk while the guns are bought out. Kai - what else do you have, we might want some. Details street drugs, electronics, chips. Minions bring out guns and ammo crate. Investigate chips a little - looking for survival/tactics.
6. Opens one of each type of crate to show contents. Aswon queries about explosives and chemicals - we can get some, nahh...
7. Kai - how are we fixed for steaks? Tads - no, should have asked before we landed.
8. Sandpit - ok, let's discuss price. Kai - what? Ok, thought it was fixed. First deal, ok 60k. Handover of cargo. Kai checks - can we come back with the same com codes, here's my details.
9. Can I interest you in some trid-units? Commlinks? Radios? Takes Kai to a warehouse, shows him the cheap shit. Kai doesn't buy, back to the bird.
10. Take off, head to the Sprately isles, 2000km range, 1/3 tank left. Marius 9 on stealth check with RR,
11. Spot Shimakaze II destroyers steaming north east currently. Aswon - mariners 1 - def warships. Launch weapons
12. Spot the island, 5km long, 20m high. Very long but crap gravel strip - Marius, coming in VTOL. Checking out the "deserted" village,
13. Shimazu checking out the astral. Marius detects shielded electronics and buried equipment. Shimazu spots positive BGC 1 and 2 in the water.
14. Elf in loose clothing comes out as soon as the bird is down, wearing magic robes, but not active themselves. Gets to her knees, sickle, waving in the air. Marius staying on the bird, everyone else going.
15. Hunter - 35 on smell based perception test... matted. "Blessings of the sea to you travellers. Do you seek fish?"
16. "If that fish is jet fuel, then yes please." Shimazu spots her relax a little. "Transport team, need fuel and a brief rest, then move on."
17. Elunes blessing on you. Is that you - no, and yes. Maybe. Grandfather Fan sent us. Ahh, very well. Elune sees all.
18. Tads - perm transmute spell on the robes.
19. Marius, Aswon and Hunter spot the Merrow watching them from the sea.
20. Aswon - someone is watching us. No, someone is guarding us. From what. People in the tin boats. She goes off for a fuel hose, badly damaged - drags it out. Fuel is 15k.
21. Kai - thanks for the fuel. Allora - do you wish for anything else? Kai - always in the market for rare goods.
22. Sometimes we have things for trade - what do you have? Aswon goes to get knife sharpening kit. Makes WP test to come close, what is it? Explains. What do you seek, what do you have? Magical plants? Talks to the merrow - Aswon listens intently. Gets good roll. Merrow dives - they will return soon, do you have anything else to trade? Robes - repel water. Aswon - maybe food would do the job after all? Tads - maybe, get Marius to check their electronics. She complains about the cred-reader. Electronic B/R test - ten minutes of work, remove the sea-cucumber. Tads - food? Not-fish. Meat ok? NOT fish. Can you cook? What is cooking? Hot? Eugh. Fruit and veg. She goes off for 10 min
23. 4 units of "water based" enchanting materials - counts as virgin telesma. 1 does of deepweed.
24. Takes the big pile of fruit in her net bag. Aswon suggests to Hunter to post about encounter on magik-net
25. Takeoff and head east
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
Apologies for the delay on this one – work has been a bit manic, and I’ve been preparing for our annual holiday to the Netherlands – speaking of which, this has been written while on holiday, and that means there’s no game this week, so it’s going to be another two weeks or so before the next update.
In terms of this session, it was a fairly straight-forward plan. Go to location A, pick up guns. Take to location B, a new place, to meet a new contact and drop off guns. Fairly straight-forward, though the chance for some betrayal at either side, and with the team still a little paranoid about Falcon, they were being somewhat cautious.
So, hugging the coast, they flew down to “The Mosaic”, a place I found while scanning around on Google Maps that looks really interesting. If you check 19.47113, 108.89276 out, you’ll probably see what I mean. The players had a little chat about this when they saw the picture, coming to the conclusion that the squares visible were used for drying out some kind of drug or product to be shipped on elsewhere. I certainly didn’t dissuade them of this opinion… Still, they cottoned on as to why this place was called “The Mosaic” fairly quickly, and it’s probably going to stick in their minds a little. They also discovered that the owner “Sandpit” isn’t exactly a great source for general goods – he might be ok for pre-arranged stuff, but otherwise sells cheap tat, and his fuel is pricy. It remains to be seen if they remember that when planning future missions. They decided not to buy fuel here, which means they did need to visit one of the other two locations I had ready for them, and get those on their map – which I see as a good thing.
The purchase deal went smoothly enough (though the rest of the team were watching Shimazu very carefully when Sandpit mentioned he had street drugs for sale – the player seems to enjoy playing Shimazu as easily tempted on this side, and after their experience with Ludmilla’s experimental “Combat-X” drugs, they’re trying to keep him on the straight and narrow), and they were soon on their way out of there.
En-route to the Spratley islands, I showed them the Japanese destroyers off in the distance – letting them get a bit of a look at very long range, showing them the kinds of systems present, but with no real details. I wanted to seed this for two planned encounters. First of all, they’re likely to encounter at least one of these on the way out of this mission, and have to evade contact and possibly get embroiled in a rigger-combat, and see Marius earn his pay, possibly with some help from Tads. Secondly, I want them to be generally aware that these ships are *bad news* for smugglers – in the evasion from the Huk gun drop off, I’m going to have the destroyer (or destroyers, depending on how mean I’m feeling) “go active”, ramping up the flux to max and blasting the sky with enough energy to start frying seagulls, and cutting through their stealth. I want the players to KNOW that these are very competent ships, with top-flight systems, that mean business. Ships with Mach 3 SAMs that have an 80km range and a nasty warhead. Ships that will chance their arm with the deck gun, because they might get lucky, and little Iro was the Golden Shell winner in last year’s naval exercises. I want them to get away, but realise that this is down to either good luck on their part, or very fancy flying and some good use of karma re-rolls, spirits and some crazy flying. So that later on – when they encounter an entire squadron of these in a later mission, they realise that they are in fact (and this is the technical term for it) ‘proper frakked’.
“Show don’t tell”, I believe is the phrase. I plan to go one further and add “demonstrations” to the list…
But, that’s planting seeds for the future.
Next up was the landing at Elune’s Bay, a tiny little bit of nothing island. No real natural resources, no land worth having… so why the hell would someone have a base there. I mean, it’s a handy place for smugglers – but why would someone want to set up shop? So, looking at the area, I decided that this is where there’s a nice big Merrow colony, deep underwater. While out walking the dog (where many of my schemes come to fruition as I wander about) I thought “Ok, so there’s Merrow, and they don’t generally like top-siders. But what if they found a little girl… drowning after a shipwreck. And they saved her. And did the whole Tarzan thing – but more as a pet and thing of interest, rather than their boss. And she grew up as a bit of a hippy chick, in tune with nature, and definitely a vegetarian because messing with the fish is forbidden, and you don’t see many cows underwater.
Great, so now there’s a person here. And then when the Merrow need an interface with the outside world, even if it’s just a translator to tell the topsiders to frak-off, that’s why she’s there. And they realise that the smugglers, or runners are not the worst (well of course, they are the worst in many ways, but not compared to the AAAs), so setting up a fuel supply here gives them a handy place to attract people who can supply them with all kinds of useful things.
Ok, now to flesh things out – what makes her stand out. Well, she needs to go talk to her Merrow buddies from time to time, and breathing underwater tends to be hard… so what if they enchanted something to let her breathe underwater? Cool, that makes sense… but let’s twist that a bit – what if they did a “repel water” spell, instead, not really thinking things through. Now we have someone who can wander into the water, have it be repelled away, and she can come down to Merrow High Street and chat with the locals. But she can’t ever wash. Or brush her teeth. Or drink water… all her needs have to come from sucking seaweed or something like that. Man, that’s got to make someone a little eccentric. And smelly… and this concept was in no way inspired by interacting with some people that can smell pretty ripe after 5 days in a field at a live role play event, that probably didn’t have the best hygiene to start off with!
So that gave us Allora, the hippy uneducated elf, a worshiper of certain nature deities, in service to the Merrow and acting as their liaison to the topsiders, and causer of making willpower tests not to lose your lunch if you get too close to her. Bonza.
The players got her on side though with a bit of food and service provision, and got a bit of nice magic loot as a reward, and now they’re off to the Philippines to go and do the drop off at the Huk Guerrilla meeting point – though as mentioned above, this will be happening in a week’s time or so, from when this gets posted.
This session was actually played on the 12th of March – on the 19th, we didn’t have a game. We had a discussion on the 12th, and I explained that on Weds 20th, we were flying out early in the morning – so I certainly didn’t want to have a late night. As we had also just finished session 300 as well, I asked that we log on and instead have a chat on the progress and status of the game.
We met up as normal, and there was a bit of chit chat, before we got down into the weeds, and had a poke around, working through the players to check on how they were enjoying the campaign, what they liked, what they didn’t, how they felt things were going and what they would want to change – if anything – or do differently.
On the whole things were pretty positive. Everyone seems to be enjoying the story and the direction things are going, and they seem happy enough out of game with the mix between smuggling missions and “main plot” missions where stuff is happening to or around them. It was good to get confirmation from the likes of Marius that even though he’s desperately trying to stay away from dragons and magic stuff from an in-game perspective, he’s actually curious to see where things are going from an out of game viewpoint. As he’s one of the two most experienced players with the world-setting, that’s nice, and means he’s somewhat intrigued to see where the meta-plot is going to take them all.
Another thing I wanted to check on was that they didn’t feel rail-roaded or forced down a certain direction of story/plot. This was again pretty positive with only one person raising a thing – when their perch got hit with a missile during the Baikonur mission. I struggled somewhat, with a part of me wanting to explain things (as the mission was done, and they can’t really affect the outcome any more) to justify that – but also not wanting to tell them as it was IC information they hadn’t discovered. If any of them had stayed on the surface, or used a watcher spirit or drone – they would have discovered what was going on, and it would have made sense. For you, my lovely readers – SK was lifting a missile armed platform into orbit, that they could use to screw over the other corps during the probe race. When the launch craft blew up, the platform was jettisoned, but was damaged, and as a result it fired off the missiles, with them going wild and heading off in random directions. If they’d witnessed that, it was *very* valuable paydata they could have fenced off for a fat profit to the other AAAs, and they would have given SK a much harder time than they currently are. As it is, they don’t know why anything happened, and SK is just carrying on as before. *shrug* Sometimes the players don’t get to see everything, and get confused about events – and in this case maybe feel a little railroaded. Ho hum. As it was the only instance raised though, I can cope with that.
One of the players (Shimazu) also mentioned that he doesn’t like the logistics planning that goes on, and that is a part of the game that really bores him – but he does like the tactical planning side, for when they’re going on a mission. That led to a fairly animated (but civil) discussion, where it turned out that 2-3 of the other players DO really like that part, as it makes the world feel much more real to them, and lived in, and they like the different smuggler bases and facilities, and working out what rep they need with who to keep using different places. So, I might throttle back on that just a little at times, or just have to accept that Shimazu’s player might be surfing on his phone for a few minutes while the rest of the team work out their routes.
But, overall, they players are happy to carry on, and have no issues. They’re happy with the team makeup, how everyone is playing and the level of progression. Tads asked when she’s going to get her campaign special as everyone else has theirs, and I told her again that it’s the price she has to pay for being the GM’s wife – she has to wait until it’s ready. She’s really going to like it though when it comes. *big grin*
One of the things they asked for was the opportunity to get more stuff. I took that onboard, and will be planning a couple of missions around this to slot into the list of stuff I have for them, but I also made it clear that if they want to go shopping – just to let me know. If the team decide to do a break in on a Chiba black-facility and steal some top end experimental bioware, I’m more than happy to facilitate that – they just need to let me know so I can plan it. It’s their sandbox, and if they want to do some B&E or robbery style stuff, that’s fine with me. So we may see some proactive stuff popping up in the future where they decide to go and get some AV ammo, cyber or bioware, or magical supplies from some facility somewhere and do a “traditional” shadowrun, rather than some smuggling – though they’ll probably end up having to a do a paying job soon after to pay the fuel bills!
But – things seem to be going well, players happy, GM happy. Plot is progressing nicely, a lot of the major parts of the campaign are on the board, they’ve met 4 dragons now and done jobs for them, have another one coming up soon, have met both Harlequin and Eirhan, along with Damian Knight, and its nearly time for the Comet to bring the joys of SURGE to the world.
Fun times!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Thursday 21/07/61, Location: 22.32964, 114.23163, Time 04:00
2. Takeoff from the building site. 675km, 90min journey time, 05:30
3. Tads summoning spirits, taking a bit of stun. Call ahead to the base. "The Mosaic is awaiting your presence"
4. Marius - what? Aswon - looks like a mosaic.
5. Concealed landing, Kai says hello, good morning. Points to sun, warmest wishes of the day to you. Kai - mosaic. Call me Sandpit, many do. Kai - very convenient, nice place, we've been to some shitholes. Sand - believe you've come to purchase some equipment. K - indeed. Do you have fuel. Ahh, we do - it's pricy though. Kai makes small talk while the guns are bought out. Kai - what else do you have, we might want some. Details street drugs, electronics, chips. Minions bring out guns and ammo crate. Investigate chips a little - looking for survival/tactics.
6. Opens one of each type of crate to show contents. Aswon queries about explosives and chemicals - we can get some, nahh...
7. Kai - how are we fixed for steaks? Tads - no, should have asked before we landed.
8. Sandpit - ok, let's discuss price. Kai - what? Ok, thought it was fixed. First deal, ok 60k. Handover of cargo. Kai checks - can we come back with the same com codes, here's my details.
9. Can I interest you in some trid-units? Commlinks? Radios? Takes Kai to a warehouse, shows him the cheap shit. Kai doesn't buy, back to the bird.
10. Take off, head to the Sprately isles, 2000km range, 1/3 tank left. Marius 9 on stealth check with RR,
11. Spot Shimakaze II destroyers steaming north east currently. Aswon - mariners 1 - def warships. Launch weapons
12. Spot the island, 5km long, 20m high. Very long but crap gravel strip - Marius, coming in VTOL. Checking out the "deserted" village,
13. Shimazu checking out the astral. Marius detects shielded electronics and buried equipment. Shimazu spots positive BGC 1 and 2 in the water.
14. Elf in loose clothing comes out as soon as the bird is down, wearing magic robes, but not active themselves. Gets to her knees, sickle, waving in the air. Marius staying on the bird, everyone else going.
15. Hunter - 35 on smell based perception test... matted. "Blessings of the sea to you travellers. Do you seek fish?"
16. "If that fish is jet fuel, then yes please." Shimazu spots her relax a little. "Transport team, need fuel and a brief rest, then move on."
17. Elunes blessing on you. Is that you - no, and yes. Maybe. Grandfather Fan sent us. Ahh, very well. Elune sees all.
18. Tads - perm transmute spell on the robes.
19. Marius, Aswon and Hunter spot the Merrow watching them from the sea.
20. Aswon - someone is watching us. No, someone is guarding us. From what. People in the tin boats. She goes off for a fuel hose, badly damaged - drags it out. Fuel is 15k.
21. Kai - thanks for the fuel. Allora - do you wish for anything else? Kai - always in the market for rare goods.
22. Sometimes we have things for trade - what do you have? Aswon goes to get knife sharpening kit. Makes WP test to come close, what is it? Explains. What do you seek, what do you have? Magical plants? Talks to the merrow - Aswon listens intently. Gets good roll. Merrow dives - they will return soon, do you have anything else to trade? Robes - repel water. Aswon - maybe food would do the job after all? Tads - maybe, get Marius to check their electronics. She complains about the cred-reader. Electronic B/R test - ten minutes of work, remove the sea-cucumber. Tads - food? Not-fish. Meat ok? NOT fish. Can you cook? What is cooking? Hot? Eugh. Fruit and veg. She goes off for 10 min
23. 4 units of "water based" enchanting materials - counts as virgin telesma. 1 does of deepweed.
24. Takes the big pile of fruit in her net bag. Aswon suggests to Hunter to post about encounter on magik-net
25. Takeoff and head east
Congratulations on Episode 300! 
What an epic!
What an epic!
Ditto! 
Thank you both - hope it's still being an entertaining read and the "behind the scenes" posts add some context or info that is worthwhile...
Tonight though - I got to have some fun.
Shadowrun smuggler team go to drop off a shipment of guns with Huk freedom fighters.
Sort out payment.
Find the guy also smuggles a rare type of silk known as vampire silk.
Then find out he has an overdue gathering party.
Offer to help - because Kai. Of course he does. Marius facepalms, but accepts the inevitable and warms up the combat drones.
Tads goes for an astral scout - gets mobbed by dual-natured butterflies "oooh - they're so pretty!".
One of them bites her - makes her WP test to avoid their mesmerising appearance.
When she comes back to her body, finds that it has physical bite marks...
"Oh... oh of course. Vampire silk is going to come from vampire butterflies. Of course it does. And they're 15cm across you say Kren? And swarm ins dozens or perhaps 100s? Fuck...." Says Aswon...
Tonight though - I got to have some fun.
Shadowrun smuggler team go to drop off a shipment of guns with Huk freedom fighters.
Sort out payment.
Find the guy also smuggles a rare type of silk known as vampire silk.
Then find out he has an overdue gathering party.
Offer to help - because Kai. Of course he does. Marius facepalms, but accepts the inevitable and warms up the combat drones.
Tads goes for an astral scout - gets mobbed by dual-natured butterflies "oooh - they're so pretty!".
One of them bites her - makes her WP test to avoid their mesmerising appearance.
When she comes back to her body, finds that it has physical bite marks...
"Oh... oh of course. Vampire silk is going to come from vampire butterflies. Of course it does. And they're 15cm across you say Kren? And swarm ins dozens or perhaps 100s? Fuck...." Says Aswon...
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 301 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
And we're back to normal now, the holiday already a distant fading memory... bleugh. Back to work until we can get that lottery win sorted out...
Having left behind “stinky elf” they crossed over the islands, and had a fairly easy time to find their target and get to the landing point. They were more than a little paranoid, and were initially wanting to almost dump and go.
I gave Marius a quick intelligence check thanks to his “photographic memory”, which he easily passed, so I passed him the information about who he could see in the landing area – waiting for them. So, they descended thinking it was the same person they’d already done one weapons delivery to, though this was much further south of their current location (this was back in Episode / Chapter 166). What was surprising was the absolute monster perception roll from Ruby, with 4 sixes rolled out of 5 perception dice, and she managed to see straight through the concealing spirit and spot the Broadsword as they came in. Sometimes the dice just be crazy!
Of course, me being the evil scheming bugger that I am, this was of course “Ruby”, her twin sister. So when Kai came off the ramp and used the “wrong” code name, she immediately thought that it was a Japanese ploy, and got super defensive. Shimazu was not here this week, as he was in the middle of moving house, so I was playing him – so I could at least “diffuse” the situation a little by having him make a really good assensing check and then not kick off the fight any further.
They got that sorted out though, got Emerald to vouch for them and that got Ruby to relax, and they were able to sort out the deal, get paid and find out they’d made a decent profit. Of course Kai then went all ‘white knight’ and told her they had too much money, earning him a lot of respect from the Huk cell leader, and leading to further negotiations.
That led to the conversation about silk, and possible selling, further gun deals and the team coming back here again, and Aswon reaching out to Spook, while Hunter did some research – and I was reasonably happy that the team were going to be buying into this for their next bit of mission.
We ended up the night with some astral recon, and it seemed like a great little cliff-hanger style stopping point – though I’m pretty sure out of came that all the players had put two and two together on exactly what kind of thing they were going to be facing. But with Tads returning with astral bite marks, it removed all doubt and led to some interesting banter back and forth as we were signing off the night.
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Thursday 21/07/61, Location: 11.423, 119.75851, Time 11:45
2. Heading east, 375km to go, just under an hour.
3. Kai asks Hunter to check on the matrix address for the recipient. Dodgy remailer, could be going to TTS or a pager. Send confirmation that the team are inbound.
4. Sensor check on the way in, poor coverage on the western side, dodgy power grids, explains the naval presence.
5. Cheap buildings on the shore, brick built school and 5 a side pitch. Marius spots "Emerald" good intelligence check - remembers meeting her. Lands with tail ramp facing the school.
6. Ruby gets a 17 on the perception check, spots the team coming in. Double take, puts out her cigarette, then heads over. Team drops back ramp, armoured up and descend. Marius keeps the engines idling.
7. "Mrs Emerald, how nice to see you again". Time dilation as reflexes kick in, Shimazu to bodyguard position. Jamal pointing
8. "Why do you call me that - that's not my name." You remind me of someone I met, not too long ago. Anyway, here for business. She gets phone "What's your name". Takes a photo, babbles away. Tads preps stunball, Marius brings autocannon online. Assensing - wary, suspicious, worried. Checks phone - "ahh, you met my sister - My name is Ruby." We have some business to conclude. Ruby calls for some guys to come out - cheap clothing. Covered in white stuff. Armed with machetes. Tads offers to help unload, but team is ok.
9. Ruby sparks up a new cigarette, is there instructions. I mean, it's a rifle - but anything weird. Aswon does an explanation in english. Does an excellent job.
10. Tads suggest getting ruby to record the demo. Aswon - can we not. These guys are terrorists, according to the Japanese. Tads suggests mind-link/translate to do the recording. Kai - can we sort out the money while the rest of the team help tutor your people - we want to be away. Opens a case with a 9 digit code, old credstick surrounded by "plasticine". Hunter smells - cheap and home brewed C4. Kai checks cred reader - 98,834 Nuyen.
11. Kai thinks they're a little over, asks to take 75. Ruby agrees, asks for a moment, then babbles to Emerald. Changes disposition. Why not keep the rest, bring us some more stuff. Aswon - hmmm, not enough to cover an extra trip. Kai - we'd need to come back, with some more stuff. Can we stay for a while, find out what you need. My friends can train your folks. "No problem, but you probably want to turn your engines off so they stop drinking fuel." Kai checks it was "Ruby", then introduces team. "We don't really have more Nuyen, but we have barter goods - what can you get?" Kai - ahh, we're smuggler, traders, maybe we can work something out. Aswon picking up a tiny bit of language "go and get some of the goods"
12. Guy comes out with a shoebox, gives to Ruby. "So - where are you guys going next?" We've got no particular plans to go anywhere. Open to offers - what do you have in mind. Smuggling is our usual, quick and efficient. "Maybe then, maybe we can help each other. Do you know anything about... textiles?" Personally, not much. Antiques and things... more a specialism though. Rub hand over that - carefully. Kai does - very soft and luxurious. We have to pay a lot to get this out. Maybe you can do this, cut out the middle man - bring us some more guns.
13. Kai - do you have a buyer? No, the smugglers take care of it, and probably gouge us. Aswon - you don't have a buyer. No - was hoping you would?
14. Aswon - wait, how is this harvested? By hand? Oh...
15. Team assense - magical aura. A good chunk is raw telesma.
16. Marius gets Aswon a signal via sat-link, to allow him to call Spook. "Potentially have a trade coming back, what do you know about the silk trade?" A little. "Say we had raw, high quality silk - value?" Hello, land of tailors - didn't you get a suit made up while here?"
17. Team continue to train up. Spook comes back with 100 nuyen per kg.
18. Hunter finds out that this area is well known for making "vampire silk". Hunter - what guns do you need? "Yes" - no. Guns are not all guns. Look. Shows panther cannon. Ohhhh!
19. Team start thinking about the guns needed for the jungle in the rainy season, simple, solid, reliable, basic.
20. Vampire silk can sell for 500 Ny per kg, they have 400kg
21. How much do you have? You'd best come with me. Shows them the funky smelling factory and hundreds of km of thread. Team start thinking that this is a go-er...
22. Worker comes up - Ruby-13 is overdue... they were due back this morning. Team of 8...
23. "Sorry, one of my teams is overdue, team of 8. " Aswon How far out? Tads - if I get a direction, I can go look. Aswon - more concerned about incoming Japanese. Marius - might be worth looking in case it's the japs - we might need to get out of here.
24. "So, are you looking for my men?" Maybe. "What about the guns / silk?" It sounds very doable. "In case you haven't noticed, we're fighting a war - we need more than doable" Kai - we're trying to be honest, want a longer term relationship. We're not getting stuff for you, this is an investment.
25. Marius preps the vector thrust drone. Asks if Tads wants to go scout. Tads - I need to go with them. Team preps for jungle combat while Tads scouts.
26. Tads gets bitten, comes back after making a WP test. Bite on the arm, dual natures. Eyes on the wings. Oh - "Vampire" silk...
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
And we're back to normal now, the holiday already a distant fading memory... bleugh. Back to work until we can get that lottery win sorted out...
Having left behind “stinky elf” they crossed over the islands, and had a fairly easy time to find their target and get to the landing point. They were more than a little paranoid, and were initially wanting to almost dump and go.
I gave Marius a quick intelligence check thanks to his “photographic memory”, which he easily passed, so I passed him the information about who he could see in the landing area – waiting for them. So, they descended thinking it was the same person they’d already done one weapons delivery to, though this was much further south of their current location (this was back in Episode / Chapter 166). What was surprising was the absolute monster perception roll from Ruby, with 4 sixes rolled out of 5 perception dice, and she managed to see straight through the concealing spirit and spot the Broadsword as they came in. Sometimes the dice just be crazy!
Of course, me being the evil scheming bugger that I am, this was of course “Ruby”, her twin sister. So when Kai came off the ramp and used the “wrong” code name, she immediately thought that it was a Japanese ploy, and got super defensive. Shimazu was not here this week, as he was in the middle of moving house, so I was playing him – so I could at least “diffuse” the situation a little by having him make a really good assensing check and then not kick off the fight any further.
They got that sorted out though, got Emerald to vouch for them and that got Ruby to relax, and they were able to sort out the deal, get paid and find out they’d made a decent profit. Of course Kai then went all ‘white knight’ and told her they had too much money, earning him a lot of respect from the Huk cell leader, and leading to further negotiations.
That led to the conversation about silk, and possible selling, further gun deals and the team coming back here again, and Aswon reaching out to Spook, while Hunter did some research – and I was reasonably happy that the team were going to be buying into this for their next bit of mission.
We ended up the night with some astral recon, and it seemed like a great little cliff-hanger style stopping point – though I’m pretty sure out of came that all the players had put two and two together on exactly what kind of thing they were going to be facing. But with Tads returning with astral bite marks, it removed all doubt and led to some interesting banter back and forth as we were signing off the night.
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Thursday 21/07/61, Location: 11.423, 119.75851, Time 11:45
2. Heading east, 375km to go, just under an hour.
3. Kai asks Hunter to check on the matrix address for the recipient. Dodgy remailer, could be going to TTS or a pager. Send confirmation that the team are inbound.
4. Sensor check on the way in, poor coverage on the western side, dodgy power grids, explains the naval presence.
5. Cheap buildings on the shore, brick built school and 5 a side pitch. Marius spots "Emerald" good intelligence check - remembers meeting her. Lands with tail ramp facing the school.
6. Ruby gets a 17 on the perception check, spots the team coming in. Double take, puts out her cigarette, then heads over. Team drops back ramp, armoured up and descend. Marius keeps the engines idling.
7. "Mrs Emerald, how nice to see you again". Time dilation as reflexes kick in, Shimazu to bodyguard position. Jamal pointing
8. "Why do you call me that - that's not my name." You remind me of someone I met, not too long ago. Anyway, here for business. She gets phone "What's your name". Takes a photo, babbles away. Tads preps stunball, Marius brings autocannon online. Assensing - wary, suspicious, worried. Checks phone - "ahh, you met my sister - My name is Ruby." We have some business to conclude. Ruby calls for some guys to come out - cheap clothing. Covered in white stuff. Armed with machetes. Tads offers to help unload, but team is ok.
9. Ruby sparks up a new cigarette, is there instructions. I mean, it's a rifle - but anything weird. Aswon does an explanation in english. Does an excellent job.
10. Tads suggest getting ruby to record the demo. Aswon - can we not. These guys are terrorists, according to the Japanese. Tads suggests mind-link/translate to do the recording. Kai - can we sort out the money while the rest of the team help tutor your people - we want to be away. Opens a case with a 9 digit code, old credstick surrounded by "plasticine". Hunter smells - cheap and home brewed C4. Kai checks cred reader - 98,834 Nuyen.
11. Kai thinks they're a little over, asks to take 75. Ruby agrees, asks for a moment, then babbles to Emerald. Changes disposition. Why not keep the rest, bring us some more stuff. Aswon - hmmm, not enough to cover an extra trip. Kai - we'd need to come back, with some more stuff. Can we stay for a while, find out what you need. My friends can train your folks. "No problem, but you probably want to turn your engines off so they stop drinking fuel." Kai checks it was "Ruby", then introduces team. "We don't really have more Nuyen, but we have barter goods - what can you get?" Kai - ahh, we're smuggler, traders, maybe we can work something out. Aswon picking up a tiny bit of language "go and get some of the goods"
12. Guy comes out with a shoebox, gives to Ruby. "So - where are you guys going next?" We've got no particular plans to go anywhere. Open to offers - what do you have in mind. Smuggling is our usual, quick and efficient. "Maybe then, maybe we can help each other. Do you know anything about... textiles?" Personally, not much. Antiques and things... more a specialism though. Rub hand over that - carefully. Kai does - very soft and luxurious. We have to pay a lot to get this out. Maybe you can do this, cut out the middle man - bring us some more guns.
13. Kai - do you have a buyer? No, the smugglers take care of it, and probably gouge us. Aswon - you don't have a buyer. No - was hoping you would?
14. Aswon - wait, how is this harvested? By hand? Oh...
15. Team assense - magical aura. A good chunk is raw telesma.
16. Marius gets Aswon a signal via sat-link, to allow him to call Spook. "Potentially have a trade coming back, what do you know about the silk trade?" A little. "Say we had raw, high quality silk - value?" Hello, land of tailors - didn't you get a suit made up while here?"
17. Team continue to train up. Spook comes back with 100 nuyen per kg.
18. Hunter finds out that this area is well known for making "vampire silk". Hunter - what guns do you need? "Yes" - no. Guns are not all guns. Look. Shows panther cannon. Ohhhh!
19. Team start thinking about the guns needed for the jungle in the rainy season, simple, solid, reliable, basic.
20. Vampire silk can sell for 500 Ny per kg, they have 400kg
21. How much do you have? You'd best come with me. Shows them the funky smelling factory and hundreds of km of thread. Team start thinking that this is a go-er...
22. Worker comes up - Ruby-13 is overdue... they were due back this morning. Team of 8...
23. "Sorry, one of my teams is overdue, team of 8. " Aswon How far out? Tads - if I get a direction, I can go look. Aswon - more concerned about incoming Japanese. Marius - might be worth looking in case it's the japs - we might need to get out of here.
24. "So, are you looking for my men?" Maybe. "What about the guns / silk?" It sounds very doable. "In case you haven't noticed, we're fighting a war - we need more than doable" Kai - we're trying to be honest, want a longer term relationship. We're not getting stuff for you, this is an investment.
25. Marius preps the vector thrust drone. Asks if Tads wants to go scout. Tads - I need to go with them. Team preps for jungle combat while Tads scouts.
26. Tads gets bitten, comes back after making a WP test. Bite on the arm, dual natures. Eyes on the wings. Oh - "Vampire" silk...
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 302 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
With the team having agreed to do the rescue mission, the next stage was for them to enter the jungle and make their way forward to look for the missing people. That time of year for the Philippines is the rainy season, so it seemed appropriate to have it suddenly start to lash it down with rain, and really ramp up the humidity for them as well, and make their characters feel *really* uncomfortable. As the team were going in, Aswon’s player had done a quick google/wiki search on the local wildlife and come up with a list of fairly nasty things, which of course had then made the rest of the players do the “shut up and stop giving him ideas!” line. I calmly explained that it was far too late for that, and then had Aswon give me a random D19 roll. “A D19 – what kind of nonsense is that??” So I then asked him to do a rough count of how many critters were on the list that he’d just read out to me, and that we were quite possibly looking at the same resources…
As it happens, I wasn’t intending to give them any random encounters on the way in, as I didn’t want to distract them from what was coming up, or derail the direction of things. But there was no way I was letting them know that, so I made a couple of wincing expressions or furious notes as I rolled fake stealth checks for my non-existent critters – just to keep them on their toes. I did have them make a couple of survival rolls though, to let the two team-members with that skill feel like they’d accomplished something, and described how they’d avoided some trouble.
They got far enough into the jungle to suit the encounter though, and then had them make real perception checks, feeding back elements to people based on their rolls. Some of the team noticed details about the trees and the swarm of butterflies, others noticed the Japanese marine dragging away one of the bodies. But it also then got quite chaotic with lots of things happening at once as the butterfly swarm descended to feed while they tried to take out the marine – using magic of course, which sent the butterflies into a frenzy.
Tads quickly realised that her static field was performing exactly as it was supposed to, but then just as quickly realised that she was slaying scores of natural creatures that were just following their instincts, and that her land based protector totem *probably* wouldn’t be that keen on her attempted mass murder! So, she shut down the spells, along with a bunch of other stuff she’d been holding up, and masked the rest – as did the rest of the team.
Taking away their usual toys made them think for a minute, and then come up with a plan, and had Aswon leading the flock about using his spear as a torch, drawing the moths in, and giving the rest of the team chance to do their stuff unmolested. Given his speed and agility, I was pretty happy with this solution and let it run – and Aswon was careful enough to stay clear of the swarm and their soporific gas so there was no problem with that.
Getting the info from the marine then gave them a choice of if they wanted to tell Ruby, and if so, if they wanted to help her. I was hoping they’d say yes, as that then really strengthens the introduction to Masaru, and further work for the Huk – and thankfully they did.
That was cool, and in turn gave Marius something to do in the session, setting up the ferry route after RPing the conversation with Ruby. I took time to show the level of activity and urgency amongst the Huk, trying to get over the fact that despite being dedicated to their cause, they’re all quite terrified of the Japanese marines and the occupation force, and with not having the same kind of resources that the players do, that this was a very serious threat for them to face. Ruby in particular I played as a competent and loyal commander, instantly offering whatever she could to get her troops out, not even pretending to haggle – it was too urgent and too important for her to quibble over.
It’s going to be interesting to see if the team do charge her for the fuel and transfer later, or if Kai is going to have one of his generous moments and just write off the costs – once they have the 400kg of silk sold, they should have a good chunk of cash to use for buying guns and equipment, so they might have enough to really turn the fortunes around for this Huk cell – which again will really help with the missions in the future!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Thursday 21/07/61, Location: 11.423, 119.75851, Time 12:51
2. Paracritters rolls - probably silk from the critters. Vampire like mechanics, name will have stuck.
3. Shimazu aura-reads - Tads is not infected by anything weird, but does have a wound. Wound is easily treated - proboscis for easy feeding. Kai sorts out.
4. Tads - I can control pack, or static aura - should dissuade them.
5. Tads asks Ruby how they avoid getting bitten - stay away from the butterflies, harvest the pupae before they hatch.
6. Marius - double/triple canopy, no air support from the Broadsword, maybe from the drone, but risky due to the density of the jungle. Marius staying back at the bird to control the drone. Tads to put static aura on Hunter and Aswon, on foci, then carry one on herself and one on Kai. Marius is probably immune due to the skin, but also he's staying at the Broadsword to pilot the drones. Ruby confirms they are looking for 8.
7. Aswon leads off, Hunter, Kai, Shimazu, Tads.
8. Team heads into the jungle, it starts to rain, humidity in the high percentages. Hunter and Marius in close communications. Riot of colour, smells, being watched, not huge sense of danger. Not attacked by anything.
9. Aswon tracking rolls - finds an adolescent snake, lets it go, spots foot prints.
10. Good survival rolls - Tads spots a nest of insects in old trees, gets the team back a different way.
11. Make good progress, team to go spotting,
12. Aswon spots muddled foot prints from the workers, and one boot print. Kai spots one person in a noddy suit heading away. Also in a swarm of butterflies. Some detach from the trees and start to head for Aswon and Hunter. Kai warns rest of team about the enemy. They look, spot him a bit better - metahuman size.
13. Tads stunballs from the front - drops the extra auras, stunball at F5, cast at S. Aswon and Hunter spread laterally. Tads gets 4 successes with a reroll, target gets 0, drops like a stone. Thump. Thump, thump, thump, thumb. Hunter detects gas - soporific. Tells everyone to move upwind. Aswon shallow breathing. More butterflies try to land, kill themselves on the static aura.
14. They drop the static auras to stop attracting butterflies. Aswon working to the side, rest of team towards the body. Gets somewhat mesmerised, activates spears to draw the butterflies, keeps it out of his LOS. then drops it once he's away.
15. Find the guy in the noddy suit, Japanese, dragging one local. Mind link and mind probe, but avoid the butterflies. Know about a Huk cell, don't know anything more. Informant. They are based on Nangalao Elementary school area
16. Team tear his suit and alter memory, make it so he hasn't found anything. They find the other 7, all stunned out. Name of the informant in Nangalo is Bulachi. Team start to extract the unconscious prisoners, Hunter > Marius > Ruby, passes on information about the informant.
17. Marius to ruby: I have an update from the team in the jungle. Sensitive. They go outside, Marius relays all. "How much room do you have in your bird?" One how far, two, how many bodies? Shit, we can lose the equipment, but I need to save all the people - about 25. Maybe 20-30 kilometres, just to the next island.
18. Tads - think we need to get out, and abandon any future silk based on this.
19. Ruby - can we split half and half guns, people and silk, and use the money left on the stick to cover the costs.
20. Rubies people set too with a purpose, hive of activity.
21. Marius takes first batch out before team gets back from the jungle, 19 on stealth, heading to 11.3253, 119.51768
22. Marius warns people to get off ASAP when he lands. They move very efficiently.
23. Get back to the island, Ruby has set up bonfires in the building, rest of her people are ready for evac. Tads suggest using shape earth to trash building instead of burning it out.
24. Rest of the stuff is being loaded on the broadsword. Team brief Ruby on Tads plan, then follow through with that. Building dropped first, then trashes the sports area while they hover over it. Tads cleanses the spells as best she can and then they head to the drop off.
25. Get put down, the first lot of gear has already been hidden, and they drop off the 2nd half of the Huk cell. Kai arranges an info dump to Ruby, everything they found out from the scout marine. Mostly recon work.
26. Ruby very grateful to team, still wants guns - or funds. Are the team still happy to do stuff. Ruby very pragmatic. Kai asks if they have outside contacts - but she says no, looks confused.
27. Team now have 400kg of raw silk, and Rubies trust. Hunter asks - do they need all those guns? Aswon contacts Spook to arrange to sell silk, and starts to put wheels in motion to get guns.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
With the team having agreed to do the rescue mission, the next stage was for them to enter the jungle and make their way forward to look for the missing people. That time of year for the Philippines is the rainy season, so it seemed appropriate to have it suddenly start to lash it down with rain, and really ramp up the humidity for them as well, and make their characters feel *really* uncomfortable. As the team were going in, Aswon’s player had done a quick google/wiki search on the local wildlife and come up with a list of fairly nasty things, which of course had then made the rest of the players do the “shut up and stop giving him ideas!” line. I calmly explained that it was far too late for that, and then had Aswon give me a random D19 roll. “A D19 – what kind of nonsense is that??” So I then asked him to do a rough count of how many critters were on the list that he’d just read out to me, and that we were quite possibly looking at the same resources…
As it happens, I wasn’t intending to give them any random encounters on the way in, as I didn’t want to distract them from what was coming up, or derail the direction of things. But there was no way I was letting them know that, so I made a couple of wincing expressions or furious notes as I rolled fake stealth checks for my non-existent critters – just to keep them on their toes. I did have them make a couple of survival rolls though, to let the two team-members with that skill feel like they’d accomplished something, and described how they’d avoided some trouble.
They got far enough into the jungle to suit the encounter though, and then had them make real perception checks, feeding back elements to people based on their rolls. Some of the team noticed details about the trees and the swarm of butterflies, others noticed the Japanese marine dragging away one of the bodies. But it also then got quite chaotic with lots of things happening at once as the butterfly swarm descended to feed while they tried to take out the marine – using magic of course, which sent the butterflies into a frenzy.
Tads quickly realised that her static field was performing exactly as it was supposed to, but then just as quickly realised that she was slaying scores of natural creatures that were just following their instincts, and that her land based protector totem *probably* wouldn’t be that keen on her attempted mass murder! So, she shut down the spells, along with a bunch of other stuff she’d been holding up, and masked the rest – as did the rest of the team.
Taking away their usual toys made them think for a minute, and then come up with a plan, and had Aswon leading the flock about using his spear as a torch, drawing the moths in, and giving the rest of the team chance to do their stuff unmolested. Given his speed and agility, I was pretty happy with this solution and let it run – and Aswon was careful enough to stay clear of the swarm and their soporific gas so there was no problem with that.
Getting the info from the marine then gave them a choice of if they wanted to tell Ruby, and if so, if they wanted to help her. I was hoping they’d say yes, as that then really strengthens the introduction to Masaru, and further work for the Huk – and thankfully they did.
That was cool, and in turn gave Marius something to do in the session, setting up the ferry route after RPing the conversation with Ruby. I took time to show the level of activity and urgency amongst the Huk, trying to get over the fact that despite being dedicated to their cause, they’re all quite terrified of the Japanese marines and the occupation force, and with not having the same kind of resources that the players do, that this was a very serious threat for them to face. Ruby in particular I played as a competent and loyal commander, instantly offering whatever she could to get her troops out, not even pretending to haggle – it was too urgent and too important for her to quibble over.
It’s going to be interesting to see if the team do charge her for the fuel and transfer later, or if Kai is going to have one of his generous moments and just write off the costs – once they have the 400kg of silk sold, they should have a good chunk of cash to use for buying guns and equipment, so they might have enough to really turn the fortunes around for this Huk cell – which again will really help with the missions in the future!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Thursday 21/07/61, Location: 11.423, 119.75851, Time 12:51
2. Paracritters rolls - probably silk from the critters. Vampire like mechanics, name will have stuck.
3. Shimazu aura-reads - Tads is not infected by anything weird, but does have a wound. Wound is easily treated - proboscis for easy feeding. Kai sorts out.
4. Tads - I can control pack, or static aura - should dissuade them.
5. Tads asks Ruby how they avoid getting bitten - stay away from the butterflies, harvest the pupae before they hatch.
6. Marius - double/triple canopy, no air support from the Broadsword, maybe from the drone, but risky due to the density of the jungle. Marius staying back at the bird to control the drone. Tads to put static aura on Hunter and Aswon, on foci, then carry one on herself and one on Kai. Marius is probably immune due to the skin, but also he's staying at the Broadsword to pilot the drones. Ruby confirms they are looking for 8.
7. Aswon leads off, Hunter, Kai, Shimazu, Tads.
8. Team heads into the jungle, it starts to rain, humidity in the high percentages. Hunter and Marius in close communications. Riot of colour, smells, being watched, not huge sense of danger. Not attacked by anything.
9. Aswon tracking rolls - finds an adolescent snake, lets it go, spots foot prints.
10. Good survival rolls - Tads spots a nest of insects in old trees, gets the team back a different way.
11. Make good progress, team to go spotting,
12. Aswon spots muddled foot prints from the workers, and one boot print. Kai spots one person in a noddy suit heading away. Also in a swarm of butterflies. Some detach from the trees and start to head for Aswon and Hunter. Kai warns rest of team about the enemy. They look, spot him a bit better - metahuman size.
13. Tads stunballs from the front - drops the extra auras, stunball at F5, cast at S. Aswon and Hunter spread laterally. Tads gets 4 successes with a reroll, target gets 0, drops like a stone. Thump. Thump, thump, thump, thumb. Hunter detects gas - soporific. Tells everyone to move upwind. Aswon shallow breathing. More butterflies try to land, kill themselves on the static aura.
14. They drop the static auras to stop attracting butterflies. Aswon working to the side, rest of team towards the body. Gets somewhat mesmerised, activates spears to draw the butterflies, keeps it out of his LOS. then drops it once he's away.
15. Find the guy in the noddy suit, Japanese, dragging one local. Mind link and mind probe, but avoid the butterflies. Know about a Huk cell, don't know anything more. Informant. They are based on Nangalao Elementary school area
16. Team tear his suit and alter memory, make it so he hasn't found anything. They find the other 7, all stunned out. Name of the informant in Nangalo is Bulachi. Team start to extract the unconscious prisoners, Hunter > Marius > Ruby, passes on information about the informant.
17. Marius to ruby: I have an update from the team in the jungle. Sensitive. They go outside, Marius relays all. "How much room do you have in your bird?" One how far, two, how many bodies? Shit, we can lose the equipment, but I need to save all the people - about 25. Maybe 20-30 kilometres, just to the next island.
18. Tads - think we need to get out, and abandon any future silk based on this.
19. Ruby - can we split half and half guns, people and silk, and use the money left on the stick to cover the costs.
20. Rubies people set too with a purpose, hive of activity.
21. Marius takes first batch out before team gets back from the jungle, 19 on stealth, heading to 11.3253, 119.51768
22. Marius warns people to get off ASAP when he lands. They move very efficiently.
23. Get back to the island, Ruby has set up bonfires in the building, rest of her people are ready for evac. Tads suggest using shape earth to trash building instead of burning it out.
24. Rest of the stuff is being loaded on the broadsword. Team brief Ruby on Tads plan, then follow through with that. Building dropped first, then trashes the sports area while they hover over it. Tads cleanses the spells as best she can and then they head to the drop off.
25. Get put down, the first lot of gear has already been hidden, and they drop off the 2nd half of the Huk cell. Kai arranges an info dump to Ruby, everything they found out from the scout marine. Mostly recon work.
26. Ruby very grateful to team, still wants guns - or funds. Are the team still happy to do stuff. Ruby very pragmatic. Kai asks if they have outside contacts - but she says no, looks confused.
27. Team now have 400kg of raw silk, and Rubies trust. Hunter asks - do they need all those guns? Aswon contacts Spook to arrange to sell silk, and starts to put wheels in motion to get guns.
Hi everyone - and welcome to another update for the Smuggler campaign. Episode 303 is now published, continuing book 10.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
So, this week it was time to give Marius a bit of time in the spotlight, with an episode or series of events firmly focussed upon him. The rest of the team were going to be able to offer limited support here – with perhaps Tads being the most useful, while the rest of the folks got to hang on as the rollercoaster went a bit nuts, with their inputs mostly being RP based.
Marius got to do a perception test to spot the sub, which he failed – I’d rolled pretty well for the sub’s stealth score, and as it was doing exactly what the narrative should be for this situation – lying dogo in the water and waiting, that suited things fine. Then, when Marius was right overhead, it blasted him hard, locked him up nice and tight, and started to feed data out to the accompanying missile armed destroyers on either flank. Unsurprisingly they tried the “normal” stuff for breaking a sensor lock and getting away – but unfortunately with the modifiers for such close range and having mil-spec sensors, they were not going to get the target numbers required.
Moving onto the missile launch, I tried to give the impression that the enemy here were really not messing about, expending considerable money on the missile launch, in their willingness to take out the team. But, further to that I had them roll their EW and small unit tictacs, feeding them more info on the missile launch strategy, describing how they were being bracketed by the launch, with the enemy boxing them in and outflanking them. With each move they tried to escape the kill-box, I made sure to give them chance to do something, but then pointed out that moving away from one sensor or missile only bought them closer to another – especially with the missiles closing at Mach 4.
The Japanese SAMs were loosely modelled on the AMRAAM in terms of range, speed and destructive power, and also the potential cost of the incoming wave of missiles – letting the players know they were messing with a first tier Navy, someone who has their whole logistics chain behind them funded by a nation-state and tied with several mega-corps. They didn’t have to worry about launching a large wave of missiles and paying for them – they just needed results.
Hopefully it didn’t go too heavy – but the feel I was going for was that of trying to give a sense of hopelessness to most of the players, a sense of crushing inevitability. That weird sensation of things going from “ok” with a nice quiet flight, to “hell in a handbag”, in only a few seconds, of being in a car crash on ice, powerless to do anything to stop it.
Back when they’d been given the Broadsword, in episode 284, I’d asked Marius to stay behind on the chat at the end of the session, and made sure Tads was out of the room, then told him about the “extra engine”, giving him just information that there seemed to be some complex machinery, some form of auxiliary or special purpose engine system embedded in the craft. I asked him if he wanted to share that with the rest of the team, and he elected to keep it quiet, in his back pocket.
That’s one of the strange things about doing the write-up/narrative this way – sometimes there’s stuff that would probably make the story clearer, or provide context, that I have to skip due to the players’ imperfect knowledge of events. I try not to make it too obscure, but as they all get to read this, sometimes details have to be skipped.
So, while it might feel like a bit of a Deus Ex Machina, it’s been there since they got the aircraft – promise! As mentioned in a previous BTS, I have plans for them to come up against these Destroyers again in the future, and I also want them well aware of just how dangerous a foe they are – trained and experienced personnel, fighting with current generation hardware in a well-funded military. They are *very* dangerous, and represent a strong danger to the team. But to do that with “show not tell”, they need to come under fire from these things and experience being their punching bag – which was the main aim of this encounter.
I think that Marius had actually forgotten about the extra engine, but as his character has a perfect memory, I gave him a nudge via private message, just to remind the player of what his character would/should be recalling. After a moments contemplation, he reached the “well, I can’t see another way out of this” conclusion, and tried to engage the drive – then got the message about needing to be at a certain speed. By now the rest of the players were just listening in, not really sure what was going on, but knowing they were in trouble – and not knowing what was going on as they had no out of game knowledge about the 2nd engine.
Marius realised that he needed a stupidly steep dive to try and get that overspeed, and that gave me licence for a bit of narrative description of them screaming through the air, and then the Scramjet kicking in. I’m almost certainly playing fast and loose with the dividing lines between ramjets and scramjets, and the flight dynamics here – but I was certainly aiming for rule of cool. I’d done some reading on some rocket forums, checking for somewhat exotic fuel mixes, trying to get an edge of realism with a sprinkle of future tech in, without going all “just reverse the tachyon deflector dish and we’ll sort it by the end of the episode…” for the vibe.
With their sudden acceleration to Mach 6 it was now time to visit the effects of high g-forces on the team, without suits. Using the rules from Rigger 3, they made their tests at least a little – so there was no damage to them, but it gave them some hefty penalties to doing stuff while they were under acceleration and during the turn, so again the scene has been set for any future uses – and they should be well aware of what happens if they weren’t strapped in and try this!
With the Broadsword now high-tailing it out of the zone at more than 7000kph, the drama could be reined back in and they had a nice quiet flight back to Hong Kong to relax, and start thinking about what this meant for them.
Again, I’d done a little bit of looking at PBAN-APCP supplies and the costs of rocket motor used by amateurs, to get some base line pricing, as well as doing a good chunk of reading on the SRBs used on the Space Shuttle and other similar systems, trying to get something that wasn’t horribly out of whack, but that also fitted in with my campaign economics.
Scramjet supplies
• PBAN = 150 Ny/Kg, 150kg needed = 22,500
• APCP = 200 Ny/Kg, 150kg needed = 30,000
• Beryllium Fluoride = 5 Ny per g at 99.5% pure, 18 Ny/g at 99.99% pure, 49 Ny/g at 99.999% pure, 1kg needed = 5000-49000
• Max cost for raw fuel = 101,500. Engineering 8 test and base time of 4 days to craft the tubes of fuel.
• Heat sink materials = 5000 Ny, but also require and Engineering 8 test and a base time of 7 days to craft.
The scramjet gives them a “get out of jail free” kinda card for a situation they might find themselves in. It could completely solve a lot of situations and plots – so I wanted it to have a meaningful cost as well. It’s a one-shot item, that will require both resources and time to replace before it can be used again, so there’s a very strong tactical element to this – do they need to spend a 100k+ to avoid a situation, and then commit to 2 weeks of engineering time to replace the consumables – or do they risk the fight or situation they’re in. It’s going to be interesting to see if and how much they agonise over using their consumables like this in the future – though it’s going to be a key item towards the conclusion of the campaign when things slide towards a massive confrontation.
Next week we get to do a bit of trading, some social time with Spook, and then the players get to deal with a bit of organised crime warfare in HK and go get involved in a new kind of fight. I have no idea if this will work out or not practically, but I’m looking at a running battle with 100+ enemies facing off against the team, using an almost Anarchy style combat resolution – fingers crossed it works!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Thursday 21/07/61, Location: 11.3253, 119.51768, Time 17:12
2. North out over the water, sensor check - no successes.
3. Call from Spook - Mr Farooq, weaver, but short of ready cash. I can front a little - but he needs time to weave and sell, to then pay you for *that* much. He can only buy about 30kg up front, at 400 Nuyen per kg. Confirmed that he has a solid rep in the area, and she trusts him.
4. Aswon asks how much cloth to make suits for people - Spook, no idea, I'd have to check.
5. Marius - detects a ping from below and behind. Battle stations. Marius checks again, still no hit. Tads on the sensors - has a look - spots a "line"
6. Sub gets 2 X 14s on sensors - solid track, Marius. Aswon " will get back to you spook!" Pick up fire control radar from NE and SW, start making EW and SUT tests. Get an idea of line abreast, sub lying doggo, to catch people trying to thread the needle. Marius starts to do a loop, detects a triple launch from each side. Marius asks for mist, flies evasive. Sensor check vs 5s for missiles. Detects interlocking approach and tac net. Team hang on for dear life.
7. Marius considers the alternate engine...need to be at high trans-sonic speed to initiaite burn reaction, so you need to be in a steep dive to kick-start the engine ignition. Spirits to help with movement/guard. Marius climbs. Tads prepares an illusion of them exploding. Heading for 2k and then steep dive, Hunter "yee-haw!" Good rollover, into the dive. Rocket, G's, Kai and Tads bad, Shimazu, meh, others ok. Marius gentle bank and climb to clear the area. Leave the missiles behind. Marius discovers they can't turn off the scramjet, then power down after 60 seconds, Tads and Kai have bruises. Marius - "everyone ok"? Tads - maybe a net spell would be better next time.
8. Alternate engine - need to be at high trans-sonic speed to initiaite burn reaction, so you need to be in a steep dive to kick-start the engine ignition.
9. Scram-rock, fuelled by PBAN (Polybutadiene acrylonitrile)-APCP(Ammonium perchlorate) and Beryllium Fluoride in a tri-combustion scramjet that will push the vehicle to Mach 6 (7408km/h or 6173.33 m/turn) for about 60 seconds, during which time the Broadsword will cover 124km
10. Chemistry checks for BeF2, leaves detectable signature, Aswon and Hunter chemistry checks. Going to be rare and probably pricy. Tads suggests Ludmilla. Marius passes his mental addiction check, no speed addiction.
11. Crab sideways, then resume course to HK. Aswon calls Spook back. "sorry about that, but we're ok now." Is everything ok, what happened. "Bird go fast, missiles, Japanese unfriendly, don't want to talk about it... where were we, oh yes, if you can trust the guy... " land where you were before, but no facilities. "Ok, we can do a quick check",
12. Marius confirms fuel and range, all ok.
13. Arrive over HK around 19:15, head for the same landing zone.
14. Spook asks if they need a pickup. Arrange for a box van. Security guard doesn't spot them on landing. Spot the stains on the wing edge, do an analysis. Sacrificial ablative heat shield.
15. Spook turns up in the box van, checks that Aswon is in the same time zone.
16. Aswon "we need a hotel and a really good chemist..."
17. "Shall we check with Farooq, give him the first few kg, and then get you bedded down."
18. Hunter - are you staying with the bird Marius? No, I need some R&R. Aswon - it's got a guard, and an aggressive pilot. Marius - I'll prep one of the drones. Kai whispers to the bird "thank you".
19. Load into the van. Aswon in the front with Marius, everyone else in the back, Netted in place by Tads.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fcb1uxs6ql0k3ax/...PTozxFHo1a?dl=0
Here's the "behind the scenes" from this week's run:
So, this week it was time to give Marius a bit of time in the spotlight, with an episode or series of events firmly focussed upon him. The rest of the team were going to be able to offer limited support here – with perhaps Tads being the most useful, while the rest of the folks got to hang on as the rollercoaster went a bit nuts, with their inputs mostly being RP based.
Marius got to do a perception test to spot the sub, which he failed – I’d rolled pretty well for the sub’s stealth score, and as it was doing exactly what the narrative should be for this situation – lying dogo in the water and waiting, that suited things fine. Then, when Marius was right overhead, it blasted him hard, locked him up nice and tight, and started to feed data out to the accompanying missile armed destroyers on either flank. Unsurprisingly they tried the “normal” stuff for breaking a sensor lock and getting away – but unfortunately with the modifiers for such close range and having mil-spec sensors, they were not going to get the target numbers required.
Moving onto the missile launch, I tried to give the impression that the enemy here were really not messing about, expending considerable money on the missile launch, in their willingness to take out the team. But, further to that I had them roll their EW and small unit tictacs, feeding them more info on the missile launch strategy, describing how they were being bracketed by the launch, with the enemy boxing them in and outflanking them. With each move they tried to escape the kill-box, I made sure to give them chance to do something, but then pointed out that moving away from one sensor or missile only bought them closer to another – especially with the missiles closing at Mach 4.
The Japanese SAMs were loosely modelled on the AMRAAM in terms of range, speed and destructive power, and also the potential cost of the incoming wave of missiles – letting the players know they were messing with a first tier Navy, someone who has their whole logistics chain behind them funded by a nation-state and tied with several mega-corps. They didn’t have to worry about launching a large wave of missiles and paying for them – they just needed results.
Hopefully it didn’t go too heavy – but the feel I was going for was that of trying to give a sense of hopelessness to most of the players, a sense of crushing inevitability. That weird sensation of things going from “ok” with a nice quiet flight, to “hell in a handbag”, in only a few seconds, of being in a car crash on ice, powerless to do anything to stop it.
Back when they’d been given the Broadsword, in episode 284, I’d asked Marius to stay behind on the chat at the end of the session, and made sure Tads was out of the room, then told him about the “extra engine”, giving him just information that there seemed to be some complex machinery, some form of auxiliary or special purpose engine system embedded in the craft. I asked him if he wanted to share that with the rest of the team, and he elected to keep it quiet, in his back pocket.
That’s one of the strange things about doing the write-up/narrative this way – sometimes there’s stuff that would probably make the story clearer, or provide context, that I have to skip due to the players’ imperfect knowledge of events. I try not to make it too obscure, but as they all get to read this, sometimes details have to be skipped.
So, while it might feel like a bit of a Deus Ex Machina, it’s been there since they got the aircraft – promise! As mentioned in a previous BTS, I have plans for them to come up against these Destroyers again in the future, and I also want them well aware of just how dangerous a foe they are – trained and experienced personnel, fighting with current generation hardware in a well-funded military. They are *very* dangerous, and represent a strong danger to the team. But to do that with “show not tell”, they need to come under fire from these things and experience being their punching bag – which was the main aim of this encounter.
I think that Marius had actually forgotten about the extra engine, but as his character has a perfect memory, I gave him a nudge via private message, just to remind the player of what his character would/should be recalling. After a moments contemplation, he reached the “well, I can’t see another way out of this” conclusion, and tried to engage the drive – then got the message about needing to be at a certain speed. By now the rest of the players were just listening in, not really sure what was going on, but knowing they were in trouble – and not knowing what was going on as they had no out of game knowledge about the 2nd engine.
Marius realised that he needed a stupidly steep dive to try and get that overspeed, and that gave me licence for a bit of narrative description of them screaming through the air, and then the Scramjet kicking in. I’m almost certainly playing fast and loose with the dividing lines between ramjets and scramjets, and the flight dynamics here – but I was certainly aiming for rule of cool. I’d done some reading on some rocket forums, checking for somewhat exotic fuel mixes, trying to get an edge of realism with a sprinkle of future tech in, without going all “just reverse the tachyon deflector dish and we’ll sort it by the end of the episode…” for the vibe.
With their sudden acceleration to Mach 6 it was now time to visit the effects of high g-forces on the team, without suits. Using the rules from Rigger 3, they made their tests at least a little – so there was no damage to them, but it gave them some hefty penalties to doing stuff while they were under acceleration and during the turn, so again the scene has been set for any future uses – and they should be well aware of what happens if they weren’t strapped in and try this!
With the Broadsword now high-tailing it out of the zone at more than 7000kph, the drama could be reined back in and they had a nice quiet flight back to Hong Kong to relax, and start thinking about what this meant for them.
Again, I’d done a little bit of looking at PBAN-APCP supplies and the costs of rocket motor used by amateurs, to get some base line pricing, as well as doing a good chunk of reading on the SRBs used on the Space Shuttle and other similar systems, trying to get something that wasn’t horribly out of whack, but that also fitted in with my campaign economics.
Scramjet supplies
• PBAN = 150 Ny/Kg, 150kg needed = 22,500
• APCP = 200 Ny/Kg, 150kg needed = 30,000
• Beryllium Fluoride = 5 Ny per g at 99.5% pure, 18 Ny/g at 99.99% pure, 49 Ny/g at 99.999% pure, 1kg needed = 5000-49000
• Max cost for raw fuel = 101,500. Engineering 8 test and base time of 4 days to craft the tubes of fuel.
• Heat sink materials = 5000 Ny, but also require and Engineering 8 test and a base time of 7 days to craft.
The scramjet gives them a “get out of jail free” kinda card for a situation they might find themselves in. It could completely solve a lot of situations and plots – so I wanted it to have a meaningful cost as well. It’s a one-shot item, that will require both resources and time to replace before it can be used again, so there’s a very strong tactical element to this – do they need to spend a 100k+ to avoid a situation, and then commit to 2 weeks of engineering time to replace the consumables – or do they risk the fight or situation they’re in. It’s going to be interesting to see if and how much they agonise over using their consumables like this in the future – though it’s going to be a key item towards the conclusion of the campaign when things slide towards a massive confrontation.
Next week we get to do a bit of trading, some social time with Spook, and then the players get to deal with a bit of organised crime warfare in HK and go get involved in a new kind of fight. I have no idea if this will work out or not practically, but I’m looking at a running battle with 100+ enemies facing off against the team, using an almost Anarchy style combat resolution – fingers crossed it works!
And as usual, here are the notes from the game session to compare / contrast with the narrative:
1. Thursday 21/07/61, Location: 11.3253, 119.51768, Time 17:12
2. North out over the water, sensor check - no successes.
3. Call from Spook - Mr Farooq, weaver, but short of ready cash. I can front a little - but he needs time to weave and sell, to then pay you for *that* much. He can only buy about 30kg up front, at 400 Nuyen per kg. Confirmed that he has a solid rep in the area, and she trusts him.
4. Aswon asks how much cloth to make suits for people - Spook, no idea, I'd have to check.
5. Marius - detects a ping from below and behind. Battle stations. Marius checks again, still no hit. Tads on the sensors - has a look - spots a "line"
6. Sub gets 2 X 14s on sensors - solid track, Marius. Aswon " will get back to you spook!" Pick up fire control radar from NE and SW, start making EW and SUT tests. Get an idea of line abreast, sub lying doggo, to catch people trying to thread the needle. Marius starts to do a loop, detects a triple launch from each side. Marius asks for mist, flies evasive. Sensor check vs 5s for missiles. Detects interlocking approach and tac net. Team hang on for dear life.
7. Marius considers the alternate engine...need to be at high trans-sonic speed to initiaite burn reaction, so you need to be in a steep dive to kick-start the engine ignition. Spirits to help with movement/guard. Marius climbs. Tads prepares an illusion of them exploding. Heading for 2k and then steep dive, Hunter "yee-haw!" Good rollover, into the dive. Rocket, G's, Kai and Tads bad, Shimazu, meh, others ok. Marius gentle bank and climb to clear the area. Leave the missiles behind. Marius discovers they can't turn off the scramjet, then power down after 60 seconds, Tads and Kai have bruises. Marius - "everyone ok"? Tads - maybe a net spell would be better next time.
8. Alternate engine - need to be at high trans-sonic speed to initiaite burn reaction, so you need to be in a steep dive to kick-start the engine ignition.
9. Scram-rock, fuelled by PBAN (Polybutadiene acrylonitrile)-APCP(Ammonium perchlorate) and Beryllium Fluoride in a tri-combustion scramjet that will push the vehicle to Mach 6 (7408km/h or 6173.33 m/turn) for about 60 seconds, during which time the Broadsword will cover 124km
10. Chemistry checks for BeF2, leaves detectable signature, Aswon and Hunter chemistry checks. Going to be rare and probably pricy. Tads suggests Ludmilla. Marius passes his mental addiction check, no speed addiction.
11. Crab sideways, then resume course to HK. Aswon calls Spook back. "sorry about that, but we're ok now." Is everything ok, what happened. "Bird go fast, missiles, Japanese unfriendly, don't want to talk about it... where were we, oh yes, if you can trust the guy... " land where you were before, but no facilities. "Ok, we can do a quick check",
12. Marius confirms fuel and range, all ok.
13. Arrive over HK around 19:15, head for the same landing zone.
14. Spook asks if they need a pickup. Arrange for a box van. Security guard doesn't spot them on landing. Spot the stains on the wing edge, do an analysis. Sacrificial ablative heat shield.
15. Spook turns up in the box van, checks that Aswon is in the same time zone.
16. Aswon "we need a hotel and a really good chemist..."
17. "Shall we check with Farooq, give him the first few kg, and then get you bedded down."
18. Hunter - are you staying with the bird Marius? No, I need some R&R. Aswon - it's got a guard, and an aggressive pilot. Marius - I'll prep one of the drones. Kai whispers to the bird "thank you".
19. Load into the van. Aswon in the front with Marius, everyone else in the back, Netted in place by Tads.
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