Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

[Manic Typist]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

The interview doesn't look TOO bad, actually.

[DEFCON Clown]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

The interview doesn't look TOO bad' date=' actually.[/quote']

I agree, in fact I don't see any problems with it. What were the other players objections and fears about it?

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Having read the interview, I can understand why the other players were upset -- the implication that every member of the group participated in a mass murder and murders of two major figures of organized crime along with an alias that can be tracked back to a specific costume and fighting style...

 

Yeah, that's trouble in Pearl City, folks.

 

"People don't hear what you don't say. I want you as quiet as an ant not even thinking about ****ing on cotton."

-- Joe Moore, Heist

 

Matt "Glad-I-don't-have-a-character-in-this-pickle" Frisbee

[Eosin]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

What were the other players objections and fears about it?

 

I am not tweaking about the majority of it. The concerns are that Sweepers personality profile is now pretty tight.

• Caucasian (probably have a good physical description without hair and eye color)
  
• Early 20s
  
• Lost parents to crime
  
• May hang out at martial arts dojos (he does)
  
• Trained in exotic weapons (3-section staff)... he is
  

 

Now, I think that has to narrow the field of suspects down to a pretty tight window. Sweeper has a trick in there but it probably won't stand up to scrutiny.

 

Part 2 ---

I am infiltrating Los Toros [El Azteca]... err, I was. Sweeper kinda let them know that we might have someone on the inside. Still, not a biggie. We put a whole lotta fire power on his organization and chances are that they were gonna clam up tight after the park masacre.

 

Part 3 ---

Free and public admission of 10 premeditated homicides with post mortem vivisection.

 

Part 4 ---

"I got friends on the force." Man, want to talk about giving IA a bone. We don't have any friends on the force barring my background but you can be that Mayor Umstead is gonna want this issue resolved quickly.

 

The Omega Team (our last DC game) tripped the VIAS unit near the end and it was a real bear. Those boys hunt you, just like you hunt the criminals and they don't want to give you an award.

[Edsel]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

If you are like me sometimes I have a hard time with acronyms.

IA = Internal Affairs

Not VIAS but VAIS = Vigilante Activities Investigation Squad.

 

In this campaign the Hudson City Police Department has a VTF (Vigilante Task Force) it is not a full blown squad, just a task force. Until now they probably haven't been too concerned about the Weekend Warriors since they were new and had kept their activities pretty covert. They killed but left few obvious signs that they were the one responcible.

[RDU Neil]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

From a GM and metagaming perspective, I'll be interested in how this whole "interview fallout" plays out.

 

Vigilante genre style like this has almost as many tropes as supers. Things like the cops never trying as hard as they could to catch the characters... and/or sympathetic sources inside the PD that hold back the authorities.

 

In games, there is often a difficult clash between expectations of the players (GM included) and the genre expectations. Like in a supers game, where some folks just can't accept that a simple domino mask can hide an identity, while others accept that trope... you guys are running up against some clashing expectations.

 

Classic vigilante genre bits tend toward the extreme... criminals are utter, unredeemable scum who must be killed. Police are ineffective/corrupt in almost all matters. Almost all issues can only be resolved by bloody violence.

 

Realistic concepts like effective police and federal taskforces that use competent profiling and put tons of resources towards effective investigations... that isn't really in genre for classic vigilante style shoot-em-ups.

 

Not to say those more "realistic" elements aren't cool and appropriate... but are they in conflict with the more classic "masked vigilantes" feel of the game.

 

It is a tough call. Questions like these are subtle, but can make or break a campaign. If the "fun" of the campaign is the players using the most ridiculously high end weapons and ammunition to go on killing sprees... is it really appropriate to threaten them with realistic "profiling" and "taskforces?"

 

Maybe... maybe not. That is really up to the play group. This seems to be a world where ongoing mass murders of criminals by a select group of distinctive individuals with distinctive methods and weapons in a modern city with witnesses possible everywhere is plausible... that being only slightly less unrealistic than superheroes, really... does it "fit" to have to sweat every piece of ballistic evidence and/or profile?

 

Again... I'm not saying yes or no... it is completely up to what the play group of Edsel, Eosin, Night Stick and Choir Boy decide is appropriate. It is just a question of "theme" for this game. Is this a more tradition, nihilistic, "it is fun just to kill bad guys" kind of game... or is it a modern crime drama/police procedural style game where such wild vigilantism is doomed to eventually be caught or killed?

 

Tough questions... but his interview (IMO) has really forced this question to the forefront. In some games the interview would be melodramatic flavor to show the soul searching of Night Stick... good for interpersonal role playing, but not to be used to screw the players. In other games, such an interview is a HUGE mistake and could utterly destroy the current configuration of the game because the authorities WILL KNOW WHO YOU ARE now.

 

Either is potentially correct... it is just not always obvious what kind of game is being run (what kind of story is being told) until these events happen.

 

Cool stuff. I'm looking forward to reading how it plays out.

[NightStick]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Boy - oh boy - oh boy.

 

This can of Whuup_ss turned out to be more of an embarrassment than anything.

 

And Yes, I would have not gone through with the interview if I didn't feel as though Edsel and I had established it as canon earlier in the week.

 

C'est la vie!

 

Next session ought to be quite interesting! If I survive it, Jacob will most likely "go visit his aunt in Hawaii" or something like that.

 

Meenwhile, just as things look great on the personal side, Sweepers's luck kicks in again!

 

BTW Edsel, The last session write up was FANATSTIC!

[oroborous]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

After reading the interview I can see where an ultra-paranoid character might wanna break out some false papers and crawl into the woodwork. IMHO the worst thing he did was give the team a name, because once you've named something you've admitted it exists and taken away some of its mystery.

 

If I were GMing this group, I would warn any characters with a CAK disad that they are in jeopardy of having to buy it off and earning an 11- Bloodthirsty rep. in the process.

[Eosin]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

If I were GMing this group' date=' I would warn any characters with a CAK disad that they are in jeopardy of having to buy it off and earning an 11- Bloodthirsty rep. in the process.[/quote']

 

I think the team is teetering on a "Bloodthirsty" rep. Since this is DC none of us have a CAK, in fact "vigilante mentality" or "Ends Justify the Means" appear on pretty much every character sheet.

[Edsel]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

In some games the interview would be melodramatic flavor to show the soul searching of Night Stick... good for interpersonal role playing' date=' but not to be used to screw the players. In other games, such an interview is a HUGE mistake and could utterly destroy the current configuration of the game because the authorities WILL KNOW WHO YOU ARE now.[/quote']As I see it now It'll be more of a melodramatic thing. The character is going to have to change identities, but since he intends to start the transisition within the next day or two I won't force him to sacrifice any points, I'll let him transfer his deep cover to a new identity as he abandons the old one. The character can keep his trustworthy friends and contacts (e.g. Rally, Zhu Hsaio, etc.) so it'll really just amount to adopting a new ID and making a name change on the character sheet. This has just become a role-playing opertunity. That's not to say that there isn't any danger, it wouldn't be any fun if there wern't danger. The VTF may become a more active threat until/if the team manages to calm down their rep some.

[RDU Neil]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

As I see it now It'll be more of a melodramatic thing. The character is going to have to change identities' date=' but since he intends to start the transisition within the next day or two I won't force him to sacrifice any points, I'll let him transfer his deep cover to a new identity as he abandons the old one. The character can keep his trustworthy friends and contacts (e.g. Rally, Zhu Hsaio, etc.) so it'll really just amount to adopting a new ID and making a name change on the character sheet. This has just become a role-playing opertunity. That's not to say that there isn't any danger, it wouldn't be any fun if there wern't danger. The VTF may become a more active threat until/if the team manages to calm down their rep some.[/quote']

 

Danger? Oh definitely. Melodramatic roll playing needs danger too!

 

Just the danger could be different in different games. Realistic games, players have to fear entire FBI taskforces committed to nothing but bringing them down. In a more melodramatic game... instead there is one crusading cop who is a cool NPC/Named Character who makes it his mission to find the PCs while the rest of the PD laughs at his obsession over a "crank article" or some such.

 

Both have a dramatic plot element to them... but very different in feel and tone of the game. Again... it will be interesting to read how it plays out.

[oroborous]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

I saw this video and thought of Nightstick

 

enjoy

[Eosin]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Journal Notes

The Compound

a.k.a. Preliminary Weekend Warrior Base Design

 

Events have escalated in the past few months as life in Hudson City continues to succumb to a wave of violence. My companions seem satisfied to carry on with ad hoc semi-public staging areas and public drop points but I have been growing more concerned that we will make a huge mistake at some point in the future that will lead us all to terminal stays with the New Jersey Department of Corrections. We need secure, private locations to stage our operations and dispose of incriminating evidence. Such a compound would ideally be able to handle the rehabilitation of anyone injured in our efforts.

 

Initially, I looked throughout Hudson City for a derelict location such as an abandoned warehouse or mill. I even considered the old National Brewery building, which seemed ideally suited on first blush. However, after sitting down to focus on key elements I discarded the idea for a simpler approach.

 

Key Elements

Internal vehicle storage

Access to major transportation nodes

Access 24/7

Activity should not attract undue attention

Alterations and advanced security should be plausible to hired technicians.

 

Keeping those issues in mind, it became apparent that my companions and I would need to perform a substantial amount of work ourselves in order to install the security systems and perform building modifications; work that may be beyond our capabilities. And that does nothing to explain why an old factory suddenly has vehicles coming and going at all times of the day and night. The more I pondered the idea, the less likely it seemed to be feasible.

 

What we needed was some sort of walled compound that would reasonably have around-the-clock traffic. This prompted me to remember a bed and breakfast in Irish Town that my wife and I stayed at during our honeymoon. It was both private and public. Couples and businessmen came and went during all hours. Delivery trucks routinely stopped by and the owners had a three-panel van that they took to the farmers market each morning in the wee hours before dawn. A quick search revealed several facilities in Hudson City that would be ideal for our needs including several that possessed stout privacy walls, though none of them was anywhere near the locations that would be ideal for our use. It came to a decision over security versus shortened drive time. Security always comes out on top.

 

Around this time, we were fortunately introduced to another like minded soul; one who specialized in forensic accounting. Using his knowledge to set up off shore accounts and shell corporations, inquiries were made into the purchase of one of the facilities. It didn’t take long to secure the property rights along with applicable licensure to the Vidersea Retreat, a walled bed and breakfast catering to tourists and diplomats. The location on embassy row ensured that the Retreat commanded high prices in exchange for discretion and security. Thankfully, those were exactly the items we were looking to secure for ourselves.

 

We have begun modifications to the most isolated lodge including the erection of additional fencing to ensure that guests don’t accidentally stray into the secure zone. A massive security gate with electronic access was erected at the southern end of the secure zone as an additional safeguard. Among other things, we are working towards the conversion of a secondary building into a full scale garage. One benefit of the current hostilities and concern over terrorism is that many companies now build secured underground facilities that are reminiscent of the bomb shelters of the 60s. Two of the largest sizes have been ordered for the secure zone and another for the manager’s office. These deep seated and reinforced shelters should provide adequate security for the storage of routine amounts of explosives. Nothing that we could build onsite would be safe for the 300 lbs of C-4 and I assume that most of that will be kept off site.

 

It’ll be several months before the compound is fully usable but it can still serve as a secure location until everything else comes on line. I expect to be upgrading the security systems first thing to ensure our privacy.

 

The location issue left us with unforeseen complications. The team would need a south-side location that could store vehicles and perhaps have the ability for a team member or two to go to ground for a few days. This issue proved easier to solve than anticipated thanks to a conversations with Knockout from LIBRA. She recommended the purchase of a parking garage. A short term/long term unit would prove the easiest to manage. The central core could have one of the maintenance rooms removed and fitted with a “bolt hole.” Again, it would take little to arrange for us to blend with every other person using the place.

 

Finally, I did some research using the access of the VOLT foundation to investigate some of the local self storage facilities. Several possess units large enough to store an entire house including the car. The real issue would be which locations would provide us with enough anonymity. I used a fake ID to check out several locations in different parts of town. Some obviously cater to folks wanting to keep their business “private” including at least one that conveniently ignored a fully operational meth lab. While I can’t fathom hobnobbing with the kinds of clients these places expect, I can make use of the illicit nature of the, to further our own goals. Still, the rental were done with full thought towards law enforcement one day reviewing every once of evidence collected from each location. Routine access shouldn’t be a problem since the cameras don’t film routine entry by vehicle, nor do they film the actual access of the storage units; instead, they monitor the perimeter for unauthorized entry. I rented units in Ardmore, Mint Ridge, Riverside Hills, Redhill, Pier Point, and north Eastwood. In addition the semi-secure location, each unit is supplied with some non-perishables, a blanket, and a clean weapon.

 

These measures may seem extreme but after years on the force it became apparent that people who are fleeing law enforcement get captured because they don’t have any place to go outside of their normal circles. These redundant measures should ensure that there is a place to lay low no matter where the need suddenly presents itself.

[Eosin]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

NOTTINGHAM B&B

Val Char Cost Roll Notes

4 BODY 2 10-

4 DEF 6

9 SIZE 18 512” Area

 

 

Cost Powers END

10 Satellite Link: (Total: 50 Active Cost, 10 Real Cost) Clairsentience (Sight Group), MegaScale (1" = 1,000 km; +1), Can Be Scaled Down 1" = 1km (+¼) (45 Active Points); OAF Immobile (-2), Activation Roll 11- (can only see target area if satellites are available; -1), Requires A System Operations Roll (-½), Limited Vision (can only see what a satellite could see; -½) (Real Cost: 9) plus IR Perception (Sight Group) (5 Active Points); OAF Immobile (-2), Linked (???; -½) (Real Cost: 1) 4

3 GPS Imaging: CK: Hudson City, Usable Simultaneously (up to 8 people; +1) (14 Active Points); OAF Immobile Fragile (-2 ¼), Extra Time (1 Minute, -1 ½) 14-

14 Tactical C&C ~ Closed Radio: Mind Link , Specific Group of Minds, No LOS Needed, Number of Minds (x8) (35 Active Points); OAF (-1), Affected As Radio And Hearing Groups, Not Mental Group (-½) 0

4 Communications Suite: HRRP (Radio Group) (12 Active Points); OAF Immobile (-2) 0

 

12 Compound Surveillance System: (Total: 37 Active Cost, 12 Real Cost) Clairsentience (Sight Group And Infrared), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½) (37 Active Points); IAF Immobile Fragile (-1 ¾), Activation Roll 15- (-¼) 0

14 Communications Surveillance: Clairsentience (Radio Group), x4 Range (740"), Discriminatory, Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½) (52 Active Points); OAF (monitor stations and antenna) Immobile (-2), Activation Roll 13- (-¾) 0

Notes: This radio scanning and encryption system monitors all phone and radio transmissions within a short distance of the compound.

2 Video Recorder: Eidetic Memory (5 Active Points); OAF Bulky Fragile (-1 ¾)

Notes: DVR Connected to the External/Internal Sensors. It is not immobile since it can be disconnected and moved.

 

8 Generator: Endurance Reserve (100 END, 10 REC) (20 Active Points); OIF Immobile (-1 ½) 0

3 Heating/Air Conditioning: Life Support (Safe in Intense Cold; Safe in Intense Heat) (4 Active Points); Costs Endurance (-½) 1

7 Incinerator: HKA ½d6 (standard effect: 1 BODY, 2 STUN), Area Of Effect (One Hex; +½), Penetrating (+½), Invisible Power Effects (Fully Invisible; Heat Baffles & Scrubbers; +1) (30 Active Points); OAF Immobile (-2), No STR Bonus (-½), No Knockback (-¼), Real Equipment (Requires Regular Maintenance; -¼) 3

Notes: Often Used to Dispose of Evidence, Bodies, etc.

 

 

 

Skills

17 Hidden Base: Concealment 16-

21 Nottingham Bed & Breakfast: Disguise 18-

 

0 Labs

3 1) Debriefing: Interrogation 9-

3 2) Engineering I: Electronics 9-

3 3) Evidence Analysis: Criminology 9-

3 4) Explosive Ordinance: Demolitions 9-

3 5) Garage: Mechanics 9-

3 6) ITS: Computer Programming 9-

5 7) Recovery Room: PS: Medicine 14-

7 8) Reference Library: KS: General Knowledge 16-

11 9) Trauma Bay: Paramedics 13-

 

Total Powers & Skill Cost: 156

Total Cost: 182

 

Here is the initial sketch.

 

[Edsel]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

I saw this video and thought of Nightstick

Pretty cool. Of course Nightstick is the player's handle on these forums. The character's name is Sweeper. Sweeper will need a few more points before he becomes that good. It has been a real challenge to the characters in this campaign having to make due with 100 total starting points. It makes it especially hard to build a martial artist.

 

In a previous campaign (The Omega Team) Nightstick ran a character named Nightstick.

 

I have enjoyed Eosin's base building efforts. I really like what he has come up with. I reward the group with bonus base building point each session in which they devote time to role-playing their efforts at establishing a base. I'll probably give them a couple for Eosin's most recent efforts.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Wait, so you are actually going to RUN a bed and breakfeast?

 

 

Everything else looks delicious.

[Eosin]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Wait, so you are actually going to RUN a bed and breakfeast?

 

 

Everything else looks delicious.

 

It'll be functional but freakishly high priced so that there aren't many guests. The actual running of the facility will probably be done by a site manager, garder, cook, and maintance person. I think we will probably see about buying them as followers, DNPC, or something similar. I expect 3-6 rental per week.

[NightStick]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

I saw this video and thought of Nightstick

 

enjoy

 

Cool video - Thanks!

 

B-T-W Repped! (if possible)

 

You are at the top of my list - when I pass out enough Rep that is...

[Eosin]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Just a forshadowing of the most recent session...

:::EDITED::: At original posters request.

 

Also known as "what happens when Buckshot puts a slug through the head of the martial artist who isn't wearing a helmet" or "The beginning of Martial Law as more than 50 die in gangland conflicts."

 

Oh yeah, tonight we were combat whores! Nothing but mowing through Buckshots homeys....

[Eosin]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

I wonder if Nightstick is addicted to smilies? He can't seem to stay away from adding 10 or 20 to each post.... Would that be a Psych Limit, Physical Limit, or Dependance?

[Vassoom]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

I wonder if Nightstick is addicted to smilies? He can't seem to stay away from adding 10 or 20 to each post.... Would that be a Psych Limit' date=' Physical Limit, or Dependance?[/quote']

Personally, I would consider it either a Dependence or a Social Limitation.

 

- Vassoom

[Trebuchet]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

It'll be functional but freakishly high priced so that there aren't many guests. The actual running of the facility will probably be done by a site manager' date=' garder, cook, and maintance person. I think we will probably see about buying them as followers, DNPC, or something similar. I expect 3-6 rental per week.[/quote']At our secret base outside Oslo in our Champions campaign our "groundskeeper" Ian McTavish (a former SAS Sergeant Major; modelled in voice and physique on groundskeeper Willie from "The Simpsons") is actually the secret head of our security detachment. He also has between 4 and 6 attack-trained bull mastiffs on site as additional security. Nobody is surprised that a billionaire's home has security personnel; what would surprise them is the actual quality of those security people. They're all former British SAS or Norwegian Jägers (commandos) and armed with weapons that can actually annoy supers. We've got pretty good sensors covering the area, too, but nothing that looks too good to be at a billionaire's home who is Hunted by an ecoterrorist group, GreenWar (a radical and extremely violent spinoff of Greenpeace which over the years has killed hundreds of people). The security detachment drills regularly with our team MidGuard to practice fighting metahumans. Mentor, who designed the mansion and security detachment, actually ran a scenario a couple years ago of one of these drills as about half of MidGuard tried to infiltrate the house and "kidnap" his character's wife, Kathy Ireland (we used a lifesized dummy which weighed about what an average woman would.). As we more than half expected, the security people hardly slowed down our metahumans, but they would have been very good against ordinary agents or terrorists.

 

Although they wear the same uniform as the security people at the nearby Europa 2000 Foundation which secretly funds our team, those other security guys were probably only ordinary soldiers or cops before being hired by the Foundation.

[NightStick]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Would that be a Psych Limit' date=' Physical Limit, or Dependance?[/quote']

 

A Psych Limit.

[NightStick]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Personally, I would consider it either a Dependence or a Social Limitation.

 

- Vassoom

 

A dependance means it is required.

 

It is not.

 

A social Limitation means that a pre-set number of circumstances / events / items would-could-should trigger a certain reaction,

providing the failure of the die roll.

 

Closer, but no cigar.

[DEFCON Clown]

Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

A Psych Limit.

 

A dependance means it is required.

 

It is not.

 

A social Limitation means that a pre-set number of circumstances / events / items would-could-should trigger a certain reaction,

providing the failure of the die roll.

 

Closer, but no cigar.

 

Imposter! The real Nightstick would have used 6-8 smiles! Get him!