Author Topic: Technical Difficulties Gaming Podcast: Red Markets Beta Campaign: The Reformers  (Read 116229 times)

The Lost Carol

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign
« Reply #15 on: August 22, 2015, 11:58:39 AM »
We just did Enclave Generation and our first round of Negotiation. It was a lot of fun. I don't have a lot of time, so I'll get the Negotiation write up written later, but for now, here's the Enclave the Reformers reside in:

ENCLAVE CREATION NOTES

1.Enclave Name
Village of Four Seasons

2.Location

A vacation town in Central Missouri, a peninsula where the Osage River meets the serpentine Lake of the Ozarks.



3.Defenses
Some of the Tourists brought a small amount of  guns, which was used in the initial defense. Via land there's only one way in or out; State Route 54. Some of the townsfolk have formed a defense force. There's talk of building fencing around the water line, but that's a project with a timeframe of T-Minus Never; there's just too much land and too many smaller peninsulas. A group of house boats, both made of both Tourists and Latents live, defend the water from River Pirates and any casualties that try to make the trek to shore.

4.History
The Village of Four Seasons is an IRL village in Missouri, that has a lot of resorts and homes/vacation homes, as it is located on the Lake of the Ozarks. During the Crash any Casualties would have to go through the lone entrance to the Village. Once the region realized what was going on, refugees ran for the Village, with no Vectors in their wake. They created a wall along this choke point, and guard it with their meager weapons.

There are four major groups in town; the Landowners, people who owned vacation homes or businesses in Four Seasons, the Groundskeepers, the staff and workers of the businesses within Four Seasons, the Tourists, any other land based refugees, and the Skippers, the Latents and Refuges that own houseboats on the Lake of the Ozarks. The Landowners live in their houses, the Groundskeepers in their businesses, and the Refugees have set up in empty homes near the wall and tent cities the marina and with the house boats that swarmed the Village, the Latents and Tourist houseboat owners surround the peninsula and dock at the marina.

With all this protection, it's just the long haul of the apocalypse; survive, and don't get bitten.

5.Top Exports

Tele-Medicine: There are multiple medical centers just outside the area, meaning many doctors are Landowners. They provide Tele-Medicine to the whole of the Loss via Ubiq.
Livestock from nearby farms and deer herded from the National Parks for venison.
Fish from the lake. Fishing is one of the most popular recreations in the lake at present, so now they sustainably fish for survival.
Beer: Four Seasons is home to the Horseshoe Brewing Company (IRL The Horseshoe BEND Brewing Company,) which means that, by God, there's still some easily obtainable alcohol in this patch of the Loss, and everyone wants it.

6.Top Imports
Training Materials (Defense / Other): There aren't a whole lot of trained military in Four Seasons, so they need all the training they can get.
Vegetables / Agricultural: The area is very hilly, so they can't grow as easy as they could.
Fuel: Duh.
Firearms: Duh harder.

7.Competition

River Pirates

The Dredgers: A group that dredges the waterways for Casualties; both for their bounty and, you know, to get rid of them, other than the Skippers.

Jeff's City: See trinite's write up. Jefferson City, MO

Camdenton, MO; a city south of Four Seasons

8. Social Structure
Locals 'Landowners' VS Workers 'Groundskeepers' VS Refugees 'Tourists'  VS Houseboat Latents & Refugees 'Skippers'

Elder Statesmen Landowners VS the Meritocratic / Skilled Tourists , Skippers, & Groundskeepers

Democracy / Meritocracy with social Elite as a Council

Economic Model: Minimum Income / Collectivist So long as everyone works, everyone gets at least enough income to survive. Due to the shape of the landmass, everyone needs to work together to ensure that this clean area stays that way. Definite small town mentality; including in wealthy / working class prejudices.

9.Neighborhoods

Landowners
Keep Their Homes

Tourists
Near Choke Point

Groundskeepers
Empty Houses / Businesses

Skippers
Throughout the Lake, docking at the marina on occasion

VIPlaces
Horseshoe Brewing Company

10.VIPs

Landowners Head
Doctor Wayne Hamilton (Of the Four Seasons Hamiltons), Head of the Regional Health System

Tourists Head
Master Sergeant Woody Mallory, Rebel from the Missouri National Guard

Groundskeepers Head
Carly Sweet, Hotel Manager, Four Seasons Lodge

The Skippers are a confederation and don't have an overt leader.

Horseshoe Bend Brewing Company Owners
Charles & Kristi Case
« Last Edit: October 04, 2015, 12:07:40 AM by The Lost Carol »
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trinite

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #16 on: August 22, 2015, 05:23:56 PM »
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Alethea

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #17 on: August 23, 2015, 09:40:37 AM »
An update to Pixie's character sheet: budget for this job in parenthesis, 3 charges from the laptop have been used but haven't figured out how to get Preview to let me mark that yet - https://www.dropbox.com/s/wqumjsvdor5mwg7/Pixie%20post%20ep.%200.5.pdf?dl=0
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The Lost Carol

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #18 on: August 25, 2015, 10:51:59 PM »
Busy weekend and start of week. Much horrible, very monster, PHD in horribleness, etc.,

Market Ticker (GM Commentary) for Enclave Generation

I love our enclave. I think the players did a great job coming up with stuff, and there's a lot of ideas to be had for the Enclave. Google Maps is super helpful; we came up with Four Seasons after looking around the Lake of the Ozarks and finding the Village randomly.

I'd really been more thinking of one shots and market fiat / expecting scores, but now having the Enclave to play with helps set up the building blocks for the campaign.


Negotiation

After some roll play between the players and their dependents, we went into finding contracts and negotiating for one. The players managed to find two of the possible four, and ended up taking Connie Mercer's contract. They'll take a four leg journey to investigate the Little Pittsburg Mine in Lingo, MO, an abandoned coal mine and see whether or not there is still a viable-enough amount of coal to mine for use in Jeff's City. After hard fought back and forth with the tele-conferencing Connie, they managed to get Expenses for a full 70 Bounty!


The actual map of the Little Pittsburg.

They managed to find all of Connie's spots and exploit them, but a few fails at the end (including a crit!) managed to prevent them from getting 100% Mark Up. Oh well, after setting their budgets (since I forgot to do that before they started the game,) they set off, and the game this Thursday will be the legs and the investigation of the mine. Just making sure there's coal.



Market Ticker

I'm glad we made it out of Negotiation OK. The players did well, and I think I managed to be the NPC and their sources well enough. The roll playing of dependents was also full of great roll play.

If you're playing online, things will go wrong. Just accept it and don't freak out. My computer alone crashed, kept muting me briefly, and did some weird echo thing where it was replaying my audio 45 seconds after I said it. Just work out the kinks as best you can and be thankful for players being good at roll play.

I had Connie mess up the name of the Reformers, then I kept doing it for the rest of the recording / post game. Maybe a little too good? lol

All in all, 'twas a blast. Can't wait for the contract to be done!
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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #19 on: August 26, 2015, 10:09:53 AM »
Here's Elder's updated character sheet with budget:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/456r1jkaq75wo63/Elder%2008-26-2015.pdf?dl=0

The Lost Carol

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #20 on: August 27, 2015, 10:23:27 PM »
They survived! It was awesome!

MARKET FIAT CONTRACT ONE: Big Trouble in Little Pittsburg

Taking the road, our heroes opted to dip their toes into the legs and opted to go for leg one of four:

Leg d20 Encounter Table Roll 18: OMG PUPPIES

While travelling down the highway to get to Lingo, MO and the Little Pittsburg mine, the players came across a gaunt dog trotting down the highway. After being very cautious they let the dog approach and found a note that said "Can't go on. Please send food." They elected to put one Ration in and follow the dog. After rolling Awareness they came across the owner, Anton, and found the dog's name is Bruno. He was the last survivor of a wiped out Taker crew that was in St. Louis, trying to get ink from a location there. He was very testy about his injuries, and after some failures and successes managed to convince him to take a blood test. He was bitten, and is Latent. After they agreed to pick him up on their way back he, in gratitude, gave them a Lockpick Kit and a dose of Supressin ("I don't need it anymore...")

Market Ticker

You never realize what PCs will do. I hadn't actually written up Anton's story, but now they have a new NPC and a new Contract they can either worm their way into and / or make a score out of. Go with the flow.

Pregenerated Leg Text

18: Encounter - OMG PUPPIES: There's a Dog with an Assistant Dog's Harness with Camera Mount and ProGo on him jogging up the road. He's got a note in his collar. "Can't go on. Please send food." If they put a (1) Ration in the pack and leave the dog, they'll receive a Drone delivery in two legs / at    the Enclave with a Lockpick Kit. If they follow the Dog, roll awareness.
   Crit Success: They meet Anton, lone survivor of a Taker group returning from a failed mission.    He's grateful for the help, and gives the Lockpick Kit and a Supressin ("I don't need that many anymore...") (And 50 Cal Bullets)
   Success: As above. Only gives Lockpick Kit.
   Failure: He's DOA. Roll Self-Control at the dead man and his mourning dog. Can take the Dog with a successful Profession: Animal Handler check. Has all above equipment, Attack Training, and Hardy Breed. Person taking Dog roll Sensitivity; you're taking the dead man's Dog. He has the Lockpick Kit, Supressin, an uncharged Hand Gun, and One Bounty.
   Crit Failure: The dog sidles up to the sobbing man. Awareness check. He's living and has Latent look. Crit Success you recognize he's a Vector. Failing to notice means he snaps the Dog's neck and starts with the Apologies. Roll Self-Control, then initiative. Has above mentioned loot, Dog is available if alive.
   NOTE: in living scenarios they can just up and kill Anton. Has all loot available, but Dog will attack.

After the intensity of the encounter they effectively said 'Fuck it' and spent the charges on Elder's truck to make it straight to the site.
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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #21 on: August 27, 2015, 11:05:31 PM »
Then they arrived at the Mine. Outside, they saw the ATV left by Connie's people, as promised. Outside the mine was a windowless building with the door pulled off the hinges. Inside was a huge gout of blood covering the wall. After calming down they went inside, and tried to search. They didn't find much inside the Mine Office / Locker Room, but did find an open safe with Two Bounty, a handgun with half charge, and a diary. He indicates they were the Taker crew Frag, mentioning the members Marjorie, Gunge, and Wizard, with the author being named Turbo ( ;) ). He was on watch duty as, it turns out, they were the original crew sent to do this mission, which was three weeks ago. Despite the blood, there was no body, and there were drag marks leading into the mine. After collecting the things, and realizing the other two rooms in the building were just a bathroom and laundry room, they tentatively went inside the mine to search for coal.

Inside the mine, they took it slow and followed the drag marks. They went towards the air and escape shaft to confirm it was still viable, which it was. They then took the left, shorter fork, and went down the side tunnel. There, they saw their first Casualties at the very end of a coal-less tunnel. Electing to go down the other small side tunnel, where the drag marks led, they ran into a shocking site; a body stripped of most of the flesh, with claw marks along the chest that scrapped the bone. Using Pixie's med skills, she determined that the bite marks were consistent with only one eater, and that it was maybe an animal? Definitely not normal human.

They went up the other, longer side tunnel, and with Freebird barely succeeding in an awareness check he realized this tunnel was not structurally sound. Turning back, they went all the way up the main tunnel, passing a few more casualties and going off the written map. They found coal, and even some mined coal! Successful in their mission, they elected to fill up the flatbed of the ATV for coal to negotiate for some bonus Bounty and turned around to leave.

As they drove, the closer Casualties had stumbled into the tunnel out and were kind of unavoidable. With Freebird using Elder's silenced handgun and Elder using a steady foot, they managed to lure the Casualties backwards and kill all three in relative quiet. They looted the bodies. They only found another diary, but elected to read it outside of the mine. As they got closer out of the mine, Elder failed a Drive check and accelerated too fast.

That's when they heard the scream. (Another!) crit success from Pixie made her realize that wasn't human, or Casualty, or animal. Advising Elder to floor it, they sped down the tunnel, and behind them was an abomination. It was once a man. It was also once a Casualty. But as the black veins of the Blight spread, they all threaded around his limbs and head, giving him long, black, clawed feet, long, tri-clawed hands, and a long, almost mole like head. With some failed Self-Control checks by the non-drivers, they found their first Aberrant.

As Elder continued to succeed in Drive checks (with a Will thrown in), Freebird with his Rifle and Pixie with her Shotgun shot at the creature giving chase. Freebird used a ton of charges to OHKO the left leg, with the black veins fraying like rope and the fleshy bits exploding like... flesh, Pixie did some damage to the right leg. Going in for the kill, Freebird used a Called Shot to take out over half his chest HP in one hit, and Pixie did the rest. The beast fell.

After realizing evidence of an Aberrant would be worth a ton of bounty, Pixie was 'elected' to take it. They agreed that decapping it seemed like the best idea. After succeeding in her First-Aid Test (and making sure she had gloves on), she also had to roll Self-Control as the scalp of the human the Aberrant once was was visible as she splintered off the head. Now with a load of coal, an Aberrant head and before and after footage from Pixie's Laptop, the Reformers fled the Little Pittsburg, victory in hand. They picked up Anton and Bruno (where Anton barely made his self-control check,) and headed back for the Four Seasons, a job well done, the aftermath and post Contract info to be done next session as we had gone over.)

Market Ticker

I only had a brief bit of info written down for the Mine Office. Again, you don't always realize what you need 'til you're in game. That's why improv and Yes And-ing are so important.

The dead Taker crew may or may not be a reference to something. ;) Sorry, Caleb!

The below attachment is the Modded map of the Little Pittsburg. I divided it into 20 zones. I rolled once to determine where the body of Turbo would be, and once to determine where the Aberrant was. I rolled 17 for the body and 16 for the Aberrant. trinite BARELY made the Awareness check, or the chase scene might've been a bit longer and they might've said to hell with the Contract.

I came up with this Contract by rolling on the Market Fiat table and rolled energy, I tried to figure out what would be a good Contract. I searched "Energy Production in Missouri", and found this Department of Energy page, which indicated that Coal makes up a huge part of Missouri's energy, and is something that would still be used after the Crash.

http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=MO

I then modified the search to "Coal Production in Missouri", which came up with this "Read More" site for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which is actually a call to action article about asking for historic maps for ABANDONED UNDERGROUND COAL MINES.

http://dnr.mo.gov/geology/geosrv/coalminemaps.htm

The phrase "Abandoned Underground Coal Mines" sung to me, and I had my answer. They even had the map I used in game, and with a name like "Little Pittsburg Coal Mine in Lingo, Missouri" I had no choice but to use it.

Next came the twist. At first I thought an earthquake to seal them in might be interesting, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that would be too railroady. I then wanted to include an Aberrant. I know the rules aren't as defined yet, so I hope I didn't take too much artistic license from Caleb, but based off of the description of the Blight I think I came up with what I hope is an acceptable inference of what they COULD be. I also find it hilarious that the RPPR crew keeps ignoring / failing to find the Aberrants, and not only did my players select the Contract with the Aberrant hiding in it, they found it AND killed it.  ;D

We had so much fun. It was great, and I'm proud and glad of the fact that my players had fun. I was so nervous going in, and I did make mistakes (too many Awareness Tests, for one), but I did my best and it worked. I'll reserve greater detail for Caleb's eyes, but for you, the fans; Caleb's doing good. Red Markets was great! Can't wait for next session!
« Last Edit: August 27, 2015, 11:09:35 PM by The Lost Carol »
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trinite

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #22 on: August 28, 2015, 02:44:31 PM »
I really liked the mission, and the map was an awesome find. I like your technique for randomly placing the encounters within the mine; it really fit with the procedurally-generated aesthetic of Red Markets. And it led to an exciting chase scene! Man, hearing those charges get marked off with the Hungry ATV sure made me nervous!
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The Lost Carol

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #23 on: September 11, 2015, 10:31:10 PM »
After a mini-hiatus we were finally able to conclude Mission One and Start Mission Two!

When we last left our heroes Pixie ended up reading the journal she found in the mine and found suspicious information concerning the goings on in Jeff's City One member of the dead Taker crew, Wizard, was a plant by the Governor of Jeff's City, and seemed to know more than he wrote. She elected to share the information with her crew, and they elected to keep quiet for now. They negotiated with Dr. Wayne Hamilton (of the Four Seasons Hamiltons) to buy the Aberrant head. He offered Twleve (12) Bounty, and after a failed roll and no refresh of will 12 would be all they get. They also decided to off load the ATV, put kept the handgun as that was something Freebird wanted. They only were able to sell the ATV at half price rounded up, meaning Two Bounty (2), and after crit failing the coal they only got 4 Bounty instead of Eight ( 8 ). Connie was grateful for their work (perhaps showing it a little too much for her tastes,) and deposited the Bounty into their Ubiq accounts, a Contract well done.

Starting Mission Two was the vignettes. Elder took his friend Jesse out to a Venison steak dinner at the Brewery and discussed how they would leave the Loss, Pixie tried to teach her adopted daughter Eliza how to swim (and encountered a floating hand,) and Freebird taught his son Davion how to load cylinders (not the guns, just the cylinders.)

Our heroes knew about the job the Taker they encountered, Anton, had tried to complete, and it was a Sixty (60) Bounty job at Hazard Pay to recover ink for Jeff's City. They attempted to find other jobs, but Elder had to tap a reference to find one; the tech support guy of his old Enclave of  Adam-ondi-Ahman (the techie is faithful but not the most knowledgeable of Mormonism.) Turns out the Brewery is looking for glass bottles and other brewing supplies to expand their rare business, and what better place to grab stuff then the Anheuser–Busch plant in St. Louis.

Since they'd already be going near St. Louis for Anton's job, they elected the bold strategy of completing Anton's job, and then scoping out the plant, either to take what they can and make a scarcity or just grab it and negotiate with the owners of the brewery.

They conversed with Anton about what he knew. His crew was Q Cell, consisting of himself, Anton/Quinton, his brother Jace/Quentin, friends Laura/Quark and Kyle/Quincy, and Anton's dog Bruno(with his own Taker name of Quiggly). They took the job from the Governor of Jeff's City, Jeff Carnavan. They learned that he wanted the ink to fill out paper documents used for the tolls and other city administration. They asked whey he needed bagged ink versus a supply of pens; Q Cell asked too, and were told that they needed the bagged ink to resupply printers, and with Jeff being a history buff the odds of him being crazy enough to use inkwells are high. Still, even with keeping records for the potential of interaction with the government to be made a settlement that much ink is suspicious.

The area is supposed to be relatively clear; while gangbangers and a cell of Freebird's old group Anton knew occupied St. Louis, because of the size of the city there's too much for the whole city to be taken by one faction; since the warehouse is on the outskirts, Q Cell didn't encounter much trouble from them... just the Dead Weather that brought in 40+ Casualties. While Jace had died on an earlier mission, Kyle was killed in the insanity, and Anton, Bruno, and Laura barricaded themselves in the Men's Room. While planning their exit, Laura started to make apologies, and bit Anton in the shoulder. He wounded but didn't kill her, and he and Bruno barely ducked and weaved their way out of the building and down the lonely road where they were found by the Reformers.

In addition to the 60 Bounty the Contract is worth, Anton had two requests for side quests; he'd pay them if they could Closure Kill Laura and Kyle, and in the Men's Room he dropped a backpack with some of his treasured belongings; bringing that back would pay as well. Thus, they went off; for sure doing Anton's job, and maybe swinging by the Anheuser–Busch plant for a Score.

This time they elected to take more legs; in addition, Pixie took the initiative to scout the map and saw that a Planned Parenthood clinic was located in Rolla (Rawl-Ah) as a mini-Score. This would being during leg two, which meant they did the first two. I rolled Roll Play: What Do You Miss Most About Normal Life? (Pixie: the banality of homework, Freebird: billiards, Elder: the beaches of home (Baja California)).

Leg two before Rolla meant they encountered some Downed Power Lines; they attempted to see if they were still live; while making an awareness check Pixie managed to see the fried corpse in the middle of them. Going around meant spending a charge of Elder's now hybridized truck.

Now in Rolla, they investigated the Planned Parenthood location. After using criminality to confirm that it wasn't broken into, they all made checks: Pixie found Three (3) Bounty's worth of IUDS, Freebird found Three (3) Bounty's worth of non-perishable medical supplies (nitrile gloves, band-aids, rubbing alcohol) which provided a bonus half-charge on Pixie's med-kit, and using Criminality Elder found a potential Score; the head of the clinic was in talks with a supplier to purchase some new mammogram machines and other medical devices prior to the Crash; if they could raid that business and their warehouse they could sell the machines to the doctors of the Four Seasons and make some Bounty.

With goods and a potential Score in their pocket, they opted for one more leg before the night ended. After rolling they encountered a Drone Farm; where giant combine/harvester drones tending the fields and normal drones tend the big drones, run by the Department of Agriculture, not the DHQS. Freebird wanted to scope it out and take Drone parts, whereas Elder and Pixie more reluctantly went to check. After finding two casualties near the door Freebird took them out with pistol shots. Elder running to look, he jimmied the lock with his new Lockpick Kit from Anton and they went inside while Pixie stayed in the truck. Freebird found a stack of solar panels, and grabbed two, each being worth Two (2) Bounty for a total of Four (4) Bounty. Elder elected to keep watch rather than grab more, and he didn't see the two Casualties that were attracted by the gunfire coming; but Pixie did. Using their athletics to kite the Casualties they managed to get the panels in the truck, themselves inside, and booked it to the warehouse. As they got a closer look, they saw a downed helicopter crashed in the parking lot, leaving a cliffhanger for next time (whenever it may be.)

All in all, another blast. We had some excellent role play, and was impressed by Pixie's initiative to come up with a mini score; perfect opportunity for Yes And. More legs meant more risks, but rolling a Role Play and an Obstacle meant little risk but no reward, whereas the Encounter was hella risky and only brought Four Bounty. Can't wait for our next session!

Market Ticker

That was a great idea for a mini score by Pixie; I did want to reward that initiative. I also tried to make a mix of rewards for successful rolls; not just cash, but a potential job as well. I had to be hella quick on my feet, but with great role play and ideas by my players it was fun to do so and I think I mostly succeeded. Without delving too deeply, also the economic vibe really starts to hit as you progress from effective one shot to campaign. Game's looking good!
« Last Edit: September 11, 2015, 10:34:27 PM by The Lost Carol »
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trinite

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #24 on: September 12, 2015, 02:42:49 PM »
I thought you did a great job running the market, Greg.

Freebird thinks Pixie and Elder are wimps for not helping him grab more loot, and has vowed to keep the solar panels, put them on his house, get a fridge, and have cold beer.
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The Lost Carol

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #25 on: September 21, 2015, 08:52:54 PM »
They survived yet another mission, by the skin of their teeth!

MARKET FIAT CONTRACT TWO: CRYING OVER SPILLED INK (STORYLINE MISSION ONE)

Upon their arrival at the warehouse, the scoped the place out. The downed helicopter held one occupant, the pilot who had been mangled in the crash. They also located Five (5) Casualties in the parking lot. They broke into the foyer and further into the office and shipping and receiving departments to locate the shipping manifest. What Pixie ended up finding was a stack of inventory sheets for each individual shipment, meaning she'd have to comb through them all to find the appropriate shipment and location in the warehouse, and anything else that would be of interest. She found three possible shipments, one of office supplies including pens, one of bags of ink, and one of cartridges of ink. As it was requested, they opted for the bags. They also located other interesting shipments, especially from gun supplier. While inside they could hear signs coming from inside the warehouse.

They came up with the brilliant idea of dead driving the outside casualties to remove them from the property, and checked the helicopter. Elder checked for hidden notes, and found a note saying "Go to St. Louis Metro Area Warehouse, Investigate", dated 11 days ago (which was four days removed from Mission One and nine days from when Q Cell attempted to get the ink,) on DHQS letterhead. Something is now truly amiss. After that discovery, they checked the box trucks to see if they were usable. One was, but they'd need to hotwire it. Freebird snuck inside and found that there were about Sixteen (16) Casualties still inside. By throwing something at a far away forklift to bring them to it, then knocking on the forklift next to the door, he managed to kite all the Casualties to him, allowing them to dead drive the 'remaining' Casualties and locate one of Anton's former Taker crew, Kyle, and kill him and document it for Anton's request.

Once inside they had to keep quiet, as they could still hear noise from the west side of the building, but easily located the bags of ink. After carefully loading them into Elder's truck, they opened up the box truck to fill it up with goodies. The men's room, where Anton, Laura, and Bruno held up before Anton and Bruno had to evacuate. They heard noise from the bathroom, and opened the door and shot Laura's Casualty. Inside they found Anton's Backpack and a gout of blood on the floor, indicating that Laura was the person who bit Anton.

While loading the guns and ammo they were near the conference room, and heard four voices. After Pixie succeeded she realized the voices were making Apologies, meaning Vectors. Despite Elder still wanting to check because he's a self-martyr who wants to help people, they left them alone and continued. They decided to keep getting stuff, especially because Pixie found a shipment from a robotics firm. Freebird then promptly crit-failed an athletics check, meaning he slipped on the concrete floor and generated enough noise to rile the Vectors.

While desperately trying to get up the Vectors (clothed in the black jumpsuits of the pilot; fellow DHQS agents?) began to tear down the door, one getting halfway stuck inside. Freebird took a shot, but only managed to hit the leg with his rifle. What ensued was a comedy of errors as everyone including the GM kept rolling for crap, thus meaning the heroes slowly ran to the trucks and Freebird barely made it out after the second Vector broke through. The Reformers escaped with their lives, both of Anton's sidequests completed, and a ton of guns and ammo to sell as they pondered whether or not to check out the Busch plant or to GTFO back to the Four Seasons.

Market Ticker

Another blast. Also more stuff to learn. The section in the offices dragged as I made Pixie roll to check all the desks instead of one master roll. Just need to remember when to streamline.

But still, so much fun. I made a full manifest of stuff for them to find, from the average (clothes, Starbucks paper products,) to the super useful (guns & ammo and robotics (RE Drones and Dronkeys)), to personal items hiding behind crits (Mormon paraphernalia, a billiard table, and prostheses), knowing they'd been rolling a lot of crit successes, especially Pixie. So, naturally, almost no one rolled crits, and the end was a comedy of errors of fails on all counts. And I continue having to give credit where credit is due; I've got some bright players. Dead driving all the Vectors never crossed my mind; just kiting them and grabbing and go. Dead Driving gets them all out, but might make you at greater risk for the Vectors.

Something I want to look at in most contracts are different aspects of the universe. The coal mine was more of a straight horror scenario, what with a monster and diaries. This is meant to be more or a treatise on greed; this could've easily been a Mr. JOLS if you had the right crew and loaded everything, but make too much noise and you rile the Vectors, causing them to break out of containment with upwards of four screaming Vectors raining down on you. This game is a treatise on economics, so why not make the horrors of capitalism a little more real?
« Last Edit: November 19, 2015, 12:10:29 AM by The Lost Carol »
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trinite

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #26 on: September 23, 2015, 11:32:05 AM »
This was a really fun session, and I think the dice mechanics had a lot to do with that. We had a great plan for kiting the Casualties, and it worked smoothly because we managed to make the necessary spends to roll a bunch of successes. Then after we found the vectors, everything fell apart because we'd spent most of our Stamina on carrying boxes of stuff, and then we  started rolling for crap. Just one or two more failed Athletics checks for me -- or one or two more successes for the Vectors -- and Freebird would have been history.

It occurs to me, just now, that we never bothered to look around for a dolly. That might have helped.
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Alethea

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #27 on: September 23, 2015, 07:03:18 PM »
It occurs to me, just now, that we never bothered to look around for a dolly. That might have helped.

::smacks own head:: gods damn it, yes, yes we should have done that thing.
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The Lost Carol

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #28 on: September 23, 2015, 09:58:22 PM »
Honestly, I'm surprised you guys didn't hotwire the forklifts.
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Alethea

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Re: Red Markets Beta Listener Campaign: The Reformers
« Reply #29 on: September 24, 2015, 06:57:50 AM »
Honestly, I'm surprised you guys didn't hotwire the forklifts.

Forklifts are loud.
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