Anecdote Megathread

[clockworkjoe]

Just finished a one-shot of the new Delta Green with four friends who had never played or heard of it before they sat down (Other than what I told them to see if they were interested). Their mission: to search the apartment of a recently-deceased Friendly and former DG agent to make sure his heirs didn't find anything incriminating or dangerous when they came to collect his things. By the end of the day two of the agents were dead, one was missing time, the fourth had a psychotic fear of identical twins, and a state park four hours away from the man's apartment had been burned to the ground with nearly twenty dead.

Mission. Fucking. Accomplished.

(Full write-up to follow)

Demo adventure?

[D6xD6 - Chris]

Just demoed Delta Green at the FLGS using "Last Things Last."

They decided to stay at a motel rather than drive in a storm to the cabin.  One of the demo characters is an FBI agent, so of course I had them overhear a prostitute trying to escape a crackhead next door.  After killing the crackhead and threatening the motel manager, a high-speed chase through a severe thunderstorm, and Grand Theft Auto-style car switch in the boondocks of New Hampshire, they finally made it to the cabin, wherein they failed repeatedly to start a fire, only to succeed. . . for the vector to escape in body of a dead squirrel.

They loved it, of course. 

[Jace911]

Demo adventure?

Indeed, albeit heavily modified.

Full write-up is on a google doc because it actually exceeds the character length for this forum. It's a copy of a Fbook chat conversation I had with Tomsawyer, so forgive the terrible formatting and kind of scatterbrained narrative:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AZUhuky9roDSC2nVH6Dj8IGqJuQHtWi7EOMyjcRxclY/edit?usp=sharing

So yeah. First op: clean out an old man's apartment. Twelve hours later: two agents dead, a dozen civilians missing/dead, state park burned to the ground.

[Jace911]

Last night we finished K-Cell's second opera, which was much more of a success than the first. :V

Of the six agents who participated only one ended up in the hospital (And relapsed into alcoholism), one earned some gnarly torso scars and is halfway to becoming a Lamplighter, one developed wilderness-centric agoraphobia, one blacked out and can't remember where she was or what she did during the climax, one developed a totemic obsession with the SCAR-H she was armed with, and the sixth had her preexisting paranoia of twins blossom into a general paranoia of everyone around her.

Oh, and they tried to blow up some dinosaurs with a dynamite-strapped cow but the dinosaurs were too crafty for them so they had to blow up a fake meth lab instead.

[clockworkjoe]

Future Perfect?

[Tomsawyer]

Oh, and they tried to blow up some dinosaurs with a dynamite-strapped cow but the dinosaurs were too crafty for them so they had to blow up a fake meth lab instead.

Hey Operation Cowabunga was a brilliant plan 

Also it was Yithian enhanced dynamite so it was more powerful then usual.

[Jace911]

Future Perfect?

Yep. I changed the Monolophosaurus to a pair of Dakotaraptors because I wanted at least one "clever girl" moment (Which I got) and I also wanted to see the looks on the players' faces when they realized that the 1200lb raptors could climb trees and mimic voices.

Hey Operation Cowabunga was a brilliant plan 

Also it was Yithian enhanced dynamite so it was more powerful then usual.

All it took was one juvenile raptor making off with your cow bomb and suddenly your "brilliant plan" of blowing up all the raptors with one explosion turned into "chase a six foot juvie raptor through the forest, at night, with no NVGs and no idea where either of the adults are". :V

[Jace911]

Just finished playing in my first-ever Better Angels game run by Tomsawyer. The premise: the supervillains TANK WASHINGTON and THE SINISTER SHROUD were ordered by their archdemons to "steal Christmas"  as payment for two huge favors the hosts pulled during the last heist, which shall never be spoken of again. They left it up to us to determine what that meant, so we decided the best way to accomplish this would be to build a doomsday device called the Disappointerizer, which when activated at the strike of twelve on Christmas Eve would transform all the Christmas presents in the city into the one thing their recipient didn't want for Christmas. The GM ruled that was a Cataclysmic environmental change and doubled it to affect the entire city, so to pay for it we decided to pull a heist a few days before.

We held the Kirby City Christmas Tree and the Children's Hospital choir ransom in exchange for [money units]. Tank Washington and some hired goons were threatening to torch the beloved tree live on national television, right in central park, while the Sinister Shroud kept the hostages imprisoned in a nearby public restroom (There weren't a whole lot of options in a park). Tank and the hired help had a brief tangle with some cops, which Tank mostly Terror'd with his fearsome patriotism and the Eaglephone (Devilish device to boost Terror, looked like an eagle's head as a megaphone) until the Pavior showed up and started wrecking shit in a misguided effort to save the day. Tank had to go head-to-head against the Pavior's huge steamroller while the Sinister Shroud used Impossible Beauty to shame the Pavior for endangering children until he quit the field.

Then once the money was delivered Tank Washington went back on his word and flew the Christmas tree out into the forest where it belonged.

Since the GM ruled that the Disappointerizer required a special fuel source to function (Cookies left out for santa, which the Sinister Shroud stole from the children's hospital where he worked as a janitor) there was a brief scene before the device was activated. It was during this time that Tank Washington realized activating the device would likely push him over the threshold of hell and had a sudden change of heart. He confronted his partner in crime as the Shroud was just feeding cookies into the machine, demanding that they back down, but the Shroud would hear none of it. He tried to confound Tank by shrouding the machine in darkness, but Tank was able to blunder into the machine and smash it with his superhuman strength.

The game ended with Tank walking away, intending to turn himself in and repent for his crimes while the Shroud ranted at him by the smashed Disappointerizer.

[trinite]

Just finished playing in my first-ever Better Angels game run by Tomsawyer. The premise: the supervillains TANK WASHINGTON and THE SINISTER SHROUD were ordered by their archdemons to "steal Christmas"  as payment for two huge favors the hosts pulled during the last heist, which shall never be spoken of again. They left it up to us to determine what that meant, so we decided the best way to accomplish this would be to build a doomsday device called the Disappointerizer, which when activated at the strike of twelve on Christmas Eve would transform all the Christmas presents in the city into the one thing their recipient didn't want for Christmas. The GM ruled that was a Cataclysmic environmental change and doubled it to affect the entire city, so to pay for it we decided to pull a heist a few days before.

We held the Kirby City Christmas Tree and the Children's Hospital choir ransom in exchange for [money units]. Tank Washington and some hired goons were threatening to torch the beloved tree live on national television, right in central park, while the Sinister Shroud kept the hostages imprisoned in a nearby public restroom (There weren't a whole lot of options in a park). Tank and the hired help had a brief tangle with some cops, which Tank mostly Terror'd with his fearsome patriotism and the Eaglephone (Devilish device to boost Terror, looked like an eagle's head as a megaphone) until the Pavior showed up and started wrecking shit in a misguided effort to save the day. Tank had to go head-to-head against the Pavior's huge steamroller while the Sinister Shroud used Impossible Beauty to shame the Pavior for endangering children until he quit the field.

Then once the money was delivered Tank Washington went back on his word and flew the Christmas tree out into the forest where it belonged.

Since the GM ruled that the Disappointerizer required a special fuel source to function (Cookies left out for santa, which the Sinister Shroud stole from the children's hospital where he worked as a janitor) there was a brief scene before the device was activated. It was during this time that Tank Washington realized activating the device would likely push him over the threshold of hell and had a sudden change of heart. He confronted his partner in crime as the Shroud was just feeding cookies into the machine, demanding that they back down, but the Shroud would hear none of it. He tried to confound Tank by shrouding the machine in darkness, but Tank was able to blunder into the machine and smash it with his superhuman strength.

The game ended with Tank walking away, intending to turn himself in and repent for his crimes while the Shroud ranted at him by the smashed Disappointerizer.

AWESOME I WANNA PLAY BETTER ANGELS

[trinite]

Yesterday, in Civil War Cthulhu news, I ran my newly-written scenario about the Gettysburg National Cemetery project: "We Cannot Hallow This Ground."

The cemetery project required the exhumation and reburial of over 3,000 corpses scattered over the battlefield, in various states of decay after months in the ground. Every corpse had to be picked through to determine its identity as well as possible, or at least whether it was a Union of Confederate body.

I used Trail of Cthulhu, with a few small adaptations to fit the period (no Drive skill or Electrical Repair, and Cop Talk changed to Soldier Talk). Characters were a James Woodrow, a stalwart ex-military police detective; Melrose Pierce, a sardonic but sympathetic newspaper reported named Melrose Pierce; and Mrs. Violet Wesley, a widow searching for the missing corpse of her slain husband.

After attending the Gettysburg Address, they were personally charged by President Lincoln with investigating a spate of suspiciously empty battlefield graves.

Oh, and here's the main "handout" for the scenario, being held by yours truly.

[Kamen]

Man I really hope I get to play in one of your Civil War scenarios someday, Trinite, they sound so freakin' cool!

[trinite]

Man I really hope I get to play in one of your Civil War scenarios someday, Trinite, they sound so freakin' cool!

Thanks, Kamen! Actually, this one and my second one (General Order No. 11) would probably work very well over Hangouts. And I'm always looking for more playtests, since I'd like to publish them eventually...

I'd just need an app to do a little screen sharing for the map for this one.

[j_train1]

Ran a session of The Play is the Thing, used Taming of the Shrew.
The players right out of the gate changed the plot by the father, Baptista Minola changing the plot where he didn't want either of his daughters getting married. The younger daughter Bianca Minola, didn't like that decison and threw a hissy fit she was promtply locked up in her room with a guard standing out side.(another edit) We find out she didn't want Hortensio(edit) ,but actuall was in love with the Guard who was guarding her door. So when the suitors came disguised not as music teachers ,but as Horticultuist(edit) He rejected their offer and a fight broke out? (edit) It turned into a running Yakky Saks scene where Hortensio was killed by Petruchio(Villain onstage ability). While Petruchio left the house he was approached by Lucentio who was trying to convince Petruchio to help him rescue Bianca ,for it seemed that the "guard" who was guarding Bianca was actually Lucentio in disguise. Petruchio rejects that offer and chases off Lucentio by Baptista's order. It seems Petruchio is now working for Baptista(edit) as a knight.
Lucentio breaks into the house to rescue Bianca to escape and elope. They are caught by Baptista and Petruchio ,while trying to hide in Katherine's room. A swordfight ensues and Lucentio is killed by Petruchio (Villian onstage ability). Bainca throws herself on her love impaling herself on the sword that is sticking through Lucentio. (edit) Petruchio is then ordered to kill himself by Baptista for the death of Bainca.(edit)   Katherine then tries to use a knife to kill her father for she now wants to inhierit the whole estate and then she won't have to marry anyone(fails edit)
So we close with Katherine and Baptista surrounded by death and blood.

Therefore one of the comedies of Shakespear has turned into one of the bloodest on record.

[Review Cultist]

Man I really hope I get to play in one of your Civil War scenarios someday, Trinite, they sound so freakin' cool!

Thanks, Kamen! Actually, this one and my second one (General Order No. 11) would probably work very well over Hangouts. And I'm always looking for more playtests, since I'd like to publish them eventually...

I'd just need an app to do a little screen sharing for the map for this one.

Why not use a shared google doc or image thing on G-drive?

[trinite]

Man I really hope I get to play in one of your Civil War scenarios someday, Trinite, they sound so freakin' cool!

Thanks, Kamen! Actually, this one and my second one (General Order No. 11) would probably work very well over Hangouts. And I'm always looking for more playtests, since I'd like to publish them eventually...

I'd just need an app to do a little screen sharing for the map for this one.

Why not use a shared google doc or image thing on G-drive?

I could do that, but for this particular scenario I'd really like a way to draw on the map and share it in real-time. I got the printed version laminated, so I can use dry-erase markers on it. But if everybody wants the 200mb TIFF file, I'm happy to share it.