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Alethea:

--- Quote from: The Lost Carol on February 01, 2016, 01:30:31 PM ---A sick part of me wants to respond to the ad just to see the game in action; that is, if it'll work.

--- End quote ---

Dooooo it! Think of the stories you'll be able to regale us with!

Jace911:
So for last night's Better Angels game we had one veteran ORE player (Tomsawyer) and three newcomers. I printed out character sheets for Explosion Sound, Headless Headsman, PCG Squad, and Ro-Borg Cy-Man Man-Bot from No Soul Left Behind as pregens but I also offered to walk the newbies through character creation if they were willing. Two of them picked PCG Squad and Headless Headsman while the third rolled up his sleeves to create Doctor Dunwich, a Lovecraft-themed supervillain (Clairvoyance, Hanging Curse, Aqua Form, and Utmost Foulness). Tomsawyer managed to slip a Jojo reference past me and made King Crimson (That Hideous Strength, Crime-Time, Darkness Shrouded, and Cloven Hooves), for which he shall be punished later.

The premise of the game is that these four members of Triskaideka were meeting in the Midwest city of Kirby to plan one of their smaller heists--the ones they use to keep their names in the news and their demons entertained. I more or less gave them free reign to brainstorm their own heist by using the Supervillainy 101 section in No Soul Left Behind, and they decided to pull an armored car robbery as a tutorial and to get some quick Generosity for building Devilish Devices. Once they had their ill-gotten gains, they set to work designing their evil equipment:

The Ghost Piper - Perfect Crime Girls Squad
A bulky backpack mounted organ grinder that plays haunting but beautiful music when activated, giving the wearer the Impossible Beauty power. Because it was also finicky I ruled that it was gas-powered and had to be started with a ripcord like a leafblower, but sadly the player never rolled a 1 on activating it.

The Summoning Hat - King Crimson
A gaudy Ushanka hat which mimicked the Summon power; when the wearer held the open end at an object they wished to summon a spring-loaded glove would shoot out, grab the object, and pull it back in a heartbeat. If the wearer used it to change into costume the hat stretched down to cover their body before snapping back up to their head. It was also Palpably Evil (Hence the gaudy appearance) and Blatant (Spring made a loud "boi-oing!" sound)

The Means of Production - Doctor Dunwich
A blood-red tome named after Dunwich's demon, He Who Seizes The Means of Production, and contained nothing but quotes about communism and the evils of capitalism. Replicated the effects of the Dark Ritual power when read aloud, but it was also Palpably Evil and Easy to Disarm.

Natty Ice Cooler - Headless Headsman
The centerpiece of their plan to hold the dam hostage: a box resembling a cheap scifi prop which could mimic the Alchemy power. Although Headless Headsman was the device's creator he later realized that he had only three dice in Cunning Greed and so passed it over to King Crimson. It had Expensive Upkeep and required Rare Components (Shredded copies of Atlas Shrugged signed by Ayn Rand).

With these in hand they laid out their evil plot: they would hold the lake behind Kirby Dam hostage by threatening to unleash the power of the Natty Ice Cooler, turning the city's water supply into a light beer so disgusting only Satan himself could enjoy it. The Natty Ice Cooler actually didn't have the capacity to transform an entire lake--that would have been Cataclysmic--but they figured that if they demonstrated it on a smaller tank live on camera they could bluff it.

After a round of failed rolls King Crimson bargained for his demon to give him a Master Die for probably the most mundane task a mortal has ever demanded of a hellspawn: finding a tour date before their heist was scheduled to go off. In exchange he agreed to throw the statue of Jack Kirby, the city's founder, off the dam and into the lake. After taking a tour of the dam to case the place, the villains learned that there would be a small celebration in a few days commemorating the anniversary of the dam's completion--a perfect opportunity to stage their ransom. The PCG Squad chatted with Marie the tour guide so she could mimic her with Dead Ringer during the heist while Headless Headsman and Doctor Dunwich scoped the inside of the dam for places they could change into costume during the heist. Since they rolled zilch and 2x1 I told them they had the choice of a very conspicuous janitor's closet out in the open or the men's room.

When the day of the heist came the PCG Squad intercepted Marie in the bathroom. Although the tour guide was very startled to see four extra images of herself in the bathroom mirror, when the music from the Ghost Piper began she decided to take "her" own advice and went home early for the day. Marie, Marie, Marie, and Marie then had a montage scene where they dyed each other's hair, changed their clothes, applied various makeups, and did everything they could to differentiate themselves so they could individually infiltrate the next tour group without looking like identical twins. Prime Mary then met with the tour group in the lobby, deflecting questions about her conspicuous leafblower/organ grinder and ordering everyone present--tourists, staff, and reporters alike--to follow her to the dam's aquarium for a special surprise. Once they had left, King Crimson used the Summoning Hat to change into costume before hefting the statue of Jack Kirby, hauling it outside, and tipping it into the lake.

As this was happening Doctor Dunwich entered the men's room to activate Dark Ritual and change into his supervillain outfit. Unfortunately one of the stalls was occupied, and the man on the seat was very confused when someone walked into the stall and began bellowing quotes from Das Kapital. Out of spite Doctor Dunwich placed a Hanging Curse on the man forbidding him from getting up from the toilet seat unless he wanted to be violently ill, and then began changing into his costume while the man groaned uncomfortably in the stall. Meanwhile Headless Headsman managed to slip himself into the janitor's closet to change without incident and was playing Candy Crush on his phone while he waited for the signal.

Unfortunately, when Marie gestured dramatically to the janitor's closet and gave that signal Headless Headsman found that the janitor's closet had locked when he shut it behind him. This led to a long, awkward pause as the door to the janitor's closet shook and banged while muffled curses could be heard from the other side. Headless Headsman debated using Dominator Strike to simply blast the door down but decided that the shrapnel would endanger the hostages, and was about to activate his scissor-head to cut his way out when he realized he still had the Natty Ice Cooler and could turn the door into light beer--unfortunately as it turned out he had no idea how to activate the damned thing, which led to muffled exclamations of "There aren't any buttons on this fucking box!" Finally he gave up and resorted to activating Hell's Engine, sliding a Patient over to Cunning as the door was hacked to bits by his snapping scissor-head.

At this point the PCG Squad dropped their Dead Ringer disguise (Except for one, who still looked like Marie) and announced that Triskaideka had seized the Kirby Dam and everyone inside. They demanded that the mayor personally come down to negotiate the hostages release face to face, and to demonstrate they were serious King Crimson used the Natty Ice Cooler to turn all the water in the aquarium into light beer, which they then "forced" "Marie" to drink to confirm its disgusting nature for the viewers. As a show of good faith they "released" Marie, who went to the bathroom and changed back into the fourth PCG Squad member.

It didn't take long for the police to respond, arriving on the scene and setting up a perimeter on either end of the dam, but the PCG Squad was able to interfere with their setup by using Glory over the live broadcast to order viewers to send food for the hostages. This resulted in a huge traffic jam of pizza delivery vehicles, taco trucks, ice cream trucks, and various catering services jamming the streets behind the police cordon. SWAT members attempted to commandeer some of the vehicles to infiltrate the dam, but Doctor Dunwich was able to use Clairvoyance to see them coming and warned them against trying anything. Thanks to a Master Die from his demon (In exchange for a secret request) he was also able to spot a SWAT team preparing to breach the lower levels of the dam, and the supervillains decided instead of warning them off they would have Headless Headsman and King Crimson take them out to show the mayor their resolve.

Speaking of, the PCG Squad had rolled so well on their calling out of Mayor Peele (Thanks to Glory) that he not only showed up to the dam to negotiate, he insisted on doing so face to face as requested. The PCG Squad was then able to use a combination of the Ghost Piper and Glory to "invite" him inside, along with his guards and several SWAT members (After they disarmed and grabbed some pizza and bottled water for the hostages, of course). The PCG then set up a 60 Minutes-style interview using the Pox News camera crew in order to broadcast the negotiations to the entire city.

Down in the powerhouse, King Crimson and Headless Headsman got into position just as SWAT was preparing to breach the maintenance entrance. Between the two of them they took apart a six-man tactical team in two rounds, with only one man being critically injured by bolts of electricity and another suffering a skull fracture. The others got away with concussions and sprained wrists, and after surrendering they helped the two supervillains carry their injured comrades back up to the lobby where the negotiations with Mayor Peele were underway. The sight of a full SWAT team limping in front of two supervillains really sold Triskaideka's position, and between that and PCG Squad's already ludicrous social advantages they were able to talk the Mayor into offering up five Money Units (And a getaway helicopter). They released Peele and the injured SWAT team as another good faith gesture, and all seemed to be going well until SKY ARROW came crashing in through the roof.

What followed was a brief but extremely chaotic fight scene, mostly between Sky Arrow and Headless Headsman and King Crimson. I rejiggered Sky Arrow's stats to give him Armor and Carapace for that classic man of steel vibe, but the two of them slowly ground him down with width-5 attacks. PCG Squad tried to use the Ghost Piper to get him to surrender or at least slow him down but he went for her early on, recognizing a devilish device when he saw one, and smashed the organ grinder to bits. She still spent most of the fight using Glory and Devious Corruption to erode his Nurture and Insightful, mocking him for recklessly endangering hostages and giving the good old "we're not so different" speech. Finally, with King Crimson surrounded by darkness and Headless Headsman blasting him over and over Sky Arrow decided to try and bug out. He flew straight up in the air with King Crimson still on his back, intending to drop him from as high as he could, only for King Crimson to summon his entire costume and let go before he could get too high. Sky Arrow was forced to flee the scene from the air, clad in nothing but heart boxers as the mayor's helicopter approached with their 5 money units.

Just as I was narrating a shot of Triskaideka's helicopter flying across the lake and into the sunset, Doctor Dunwich (Still in shoggoth form from the fight with Sky Arrow) shoved Headless Headsman out of the cabin.

Just as the player gleefully revealed his demon had ordered him to betray one of them in exchange for the Master Die the Headless Headsman (Who was short on Patient and high on Cruelty) threw one last bolt of lightning at the helicopter as a parting "fuck you". Fortunately King Crimson was able to stop time, and since he had been touching both the money and a parachute (And since the PCG Squad had been touching his shoulder) the two of them were able to bail out before the lightning blew up the helicopter with Doctor Dunwich and the innocent pilot still inside. Headless Headsman watched in spiteful satisfaction as it did, only to double-take over and see King Crimson and PCG Squad touching down on the lakeside with all the money.

Shortly after he hit the water he was belly-flopped by a flaming shoggoth.

Darnus:
Been playing a hard-lock TL10 traveller game with some friends for ~28 sessions. Semifinal session was where we infiltrated the big evil base to steal the mcguffin that would make the bad guy come after us [it's prototype anti-aging drugs that he's using to control his mob]

I'm playing the party face who was, at one point, a psuedo-fox-news reporter, and has basically devolved into a crazy paranoid wreck through the campaign proving his paranoia correct. My go-to lie when dealing with people has been 'GRR WE'RE A SPEC OPS TEAM GRR YOU DON'T HAVE CLASSIFICATION'
So we get onto the base through some basic lying [our ship works for the evil conspiracy, we've taken damage and had a dead space episode while shipping their drugs] and my character is running around barking orders which everyone is listening to because I have a total of +3/+4 to persuade with bonuses from various prep work and just general crazy-high skill level. I lie our way into copying their anti-aging drug [the ruse being that we're making sure it isn't contaminated] steal the BBEG's biometrics, steal the BBEG's location, etc, etc, etc. I'm running with the timid player who's like quietly reinforcing me and an NPC who has basically been indoctrinated by continuous shouting.
Essentially, my lie is that the researchers created a 'nanoplague' in accidentally fucking with the formula for the anti-aging drugs [I've been reading a lot of eclipse phase] which is convincing because I have a scientist telling me how to make it sound convincing whispering in my ear.
There is also the group of 2 OTHER pcs whose job it is to plant emergency c4 on life support [in case things go loud] and, more importantly, to cause a life support fluctuation to add to my lie--making it look like the station is being eroded by the nanoswarm. One of the PCs has come in from vacuum after tapping the station's communication system.
The PCs get in, roll to hide the c4.
Massive fail.
They basically leave it on a rolley chair.
They've also shot the two guards on duty at life support--and a patrol is coming back. So they have to leave the c4 before they can try to hide it again, and they pull the bodies into the deus ex ventilation system that the future guarantees.
Guards come in.
Guards see c4.
Before they can report it in, one of the two PCs loudly yells through the compromised communication system--that they didn't know was compromised--'STAY AWAY FROM THE LIFE SUPPORT ROOM! I AM HOLDING YOU HOSTAGE' before anyone can stop him. This gets the guards to stop.
Roll persuade [it functions as intimidation in traveller, weirdly]
Crit fail.
Guards yell things 'communication is compromised! what's going on? who is this?'
'I AM THE NANOSWARM'
*rolls persuade again*
minor success [discounting crazy high penalties for bullshit]
virtual skype table erupts in laughter, we blow the c4 and the life support, op goes belly up, but this is, surprisingly after we've done everything we need to do, so we all shoot/run our way to the ship and get away.

CADmonkey:
I posted this anecdote in the God’s Teeth – God’s Breath– Episode 5 comments, but maybe I'll share it here too.

My first experience playing CoC was almost 20 years ago, but I can still distinctly remember this exchange in the middle of the game:

Keeper: And then a Byakhee bursts through the window!
Me: What’s a Byakhee?
Keeper: blinks
Keeper: It’s a Byakhee…
Me: stares
Me: I don’t know what that means, can’t you describe it?
Keeper: rolls eyes
Keeper: Can somebody help him out?
Other Player: sighs, opens the CoC book, flips through it, pushes it under my nose, points at Byakhee monster description
Other Player: Here!

Bit of background for that anecdote: My first time playing CoC was with an RPGA* group.  None of them had ever read any Lovercraft (I had read a book of his short stories) but they had memorized the Malleus Monstrorum and spell lists (like all good D&D grognards) and tended to bark nouns at each other in lieu of describing things.  There were similar incidents in other games because I wasn't into memorizing entire rulebooks.

*Back then, the RPGA put out scenarios for games other than D&D, including CoC and Shadowrun.

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