Quote of the Week from my gaming group...

[BoloOfEarth]

Those poor, poor fools...  Also, I want to see this entry

The Wikipedia page isn't my best work -- I was trying for subtle but mostly it came out a bit dull.  But if you want to see it:

 

Wikipedia entry:

 

Patrick “Paddy” McGinty (October 30, 1870 – unknown) was a United States politician from Massachusetts.  As a member of the Republican Party, he was elected the 50^th Governor of Massachusetts and was one of the state’s first Irish-American governors, serving from 1925-1927.

 

Biography

 

McGinty was born and raised in Dunmurry, Ireland.  He served in the 14^th Engineers battalion of the Royal Army during World War I, achieving the rank of Sergeant Major. 

 

He moved to the United States in 1920 and took up residence in Arkham, Massachusetts where he worked briefly in a local quarry before opening an automotive repair shop. Allegations were made during this time of ties between McGinty and Irish mobster Dan O’Bannion but they have never been proven.^{[citation needed]}

 

McGinty gained fame in April of 1924 when he and several associates assisted the Boston police in capturing Patrick Malone and members of his infamous Crimson Gang following the King-of-Ireland Massacre.^{[1, 2]}  He was also credited with the rescue of a wealthy Boston socialite from kidnappers, after which he announced his candidacy for governor of the State of Massachusetts.

 

His campaign for governor was rife with accusations of malfeasance ranging from exposes linking McGinty with bootleggers, to claims that he was personally involved in manslaughter as well as numerous acts of property damage and destruction.^[3]  Despite this, McGinty secured his party’s nomination and was elected governor by a narrow margin in 1924 (ironically, running on a platform of law and order).

 

1925-1927

 

Governor Patrick McGinty’s administration took place at the height of prohibition, and was marked by frequent scandals ranging from nearly constant allegations of collusion with bootleggers, to several accusations of conspiracy to commit murder.  ^{[4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]}

 

At a press conference in January 1926 responding to allegations of ordering state police to halt a murder investigation, Gov. McGinty said, ‘To Hades with the lot of you” and announced he would no longer speak directly with any reporters.^[12]  All future inquiries during McGinty’s administration were handled through a series of short-lived press secretaries.

 

Likely due to the many allegations of illegal and illicit activity, McGinty was denied re-nomination when the Republican Party instead chose Alvan T. Fuller to run for governor in 1926.  McGinty left office in 1927 and retired from the public eye.

 

McGinty disappeared sometime in 1929 and was legally declared dead in 1936.

 

- - - - - - - -

 

I was having fun with the citations (note the number of cites about scandals), most of which are scans of newspaper clippings that are less than complimentary of McGinty. As the heroes dig into it, they'll learn that all of the scans were posted by the same person, identified online as SarEinBU.  A little digging will reveal her to be Dr. Sarah Einstein, an Egyptology professor at Boston University who inherited her great-grand-aunt's scrapbook of clippings and journals.

 

I'm actually much prouder of my Last Will and Testament of Patrick J. McGinty, which I'll post soon.  And his letter to Shadowboxer, revealing where he hid all his mystic books.  Which I'm almost positive the players have completely missed.  But more on that later.

[BoloOfEarth]

(Continuing the Boston Champions game...)

 

The heroes get a full description of Marathon, and learn that the other-world version also had a spear and a shield, but no such items were stolen.  The spear allowed Marathon to teleport himself, or his teammates.

 

Maker:  Maybe he kept some for his private collection.

Shadowboxer:  Or sold them for someone else's private collection.  Remember, that's why the university stopped letting him go on digs.

 

The heroes get all deductive and stuff.

 

Pops:  Maybe the Professor got his hands on the spear from this world, and is using it to teleport his lab around every time PRIMUS gets too close.

 

Honey Badger is keeping an eye on the building while the rest of the team assembles costumes to disguise their identities.  (He's the only one who has done any real crimefighting, and does so publicly.)  While doing so, he notices someone else keeping an eye on the building:  a very neatly-dressed man - almost obsessively so - sitting in a car.

 

GM: He's mostly reading papers, making some notes on them with a red pen, and glancing every now and then at a pocket watch.

Honey Badger:  Pocket watch - you don't see those every day.  What is this guy, a professor, grading papers?  Hey, maybe he's The Professor.

GM:  Watching his own lab from across the street?  Besides, he strikes you more as an accountant.  Or a lawyer.

Pops:  That's even worse.

 

Shadowboxer uses his shadow-sight to see what the papers are the guy is reading.  They're pages from a will, some guy setting up a living trust for his wife and kids.

 

Shadowboxer:  Anyone we know?

 

The heroes turn their sights on getting into what they're pretty sure is the Professor's lab. Since Shadowboxer's shadow-sight can't see inside, Nexus sends her spirit Contact to scout it out.  When he doesn't return after a half hour, and she can't locate him by spell, they get worried and decide to break in.

 

Honey Badger:  We'll enter from the roof, drop in through the skylight...

Maker:  What if there's no skylight?

Honey Badger:  There's always a skylight.

GM:  Even if there is a skylight, there's also the point that this is a 5 story building and the lab you're heading into is on the 4th floor.  Dropping in through a skylight only puts you into the room above the lab.

Honey Badger:  So we give the 4th floor lab a skylight into the room above it.

 

As the heroes are planning and arguing, the Boston Commons make their move, entering the building under one of Sense's Veils right under the heroes' noses.  Since the heroes captured the villains' shapeshifter/mimic earlier that day (he was supposed to mimic Attache to get them into the Professor's lab), Whitey mind controls Attache to open the doors for them.  Pops teleports the heroes into the hallway outside the lab, but the villains are already inside, having closed the door behind them.

 

Pops:  So, do we break in and jump into the middle of a fight, or wait for the noise to die down and mop up whichever side won?

 

They hear what sounds like a howitzer go off inside, and see the wall next to them crack.  The plaster on the hallway side falls, revealing badly damaged armor plating.

 

Honey Badger:  We should probably go in.

 

He rips a hole in the wall and climbs through, followed by several other heroes.  They see the Boston Commons facing off against a bunch of robots.  Two rolling robots similar to Johnny Five from Short Circuit.  Two more flying robots like the ones they fought earlier.  And over a half-dozen lab robots similar to the ones that worked for/with Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies.  Plus two human lab technicians, who have grabbed up prototype weapons for an impromptu field test.  In the middle are five racks full of various equipment, all wired into an ancient-looking spear.

 

Honey Badger:  Are any of them shooting at Honey Badger?  'Cause that's Honey Badger's job.  And Honey Badger don't care.

 

Marathon runs across the room to get the spear.  Maker flies in with a stealth field on, zips over to the racks, and does a Move-By Grab on the spear, flying back with it toward the hole in the wall. Gerrymander nearly crit-fails a Tactics roll, and puts a Barrier wall around Marathon and the racks, not realizing Maker is already outside that area.

 

Shadowboxer:  That's not so bad.  He didn't know she was already outside that area.

GM:  Smarter would have been to put a Barrier over the hole in the wall so she can't get out.

Shadowboxer:  True, there is that.

 

As Marathon gets upset over being walled up, albeit temporarily, things get temporarily political.

Common Man:  Just like a true conservative - throw up walls and block things, just to prove you're in control.

 

Malarky casts a spell to catch most of the Commons in a field of brambles and briars (AoE Entangle), including four alt-selves of Common Man that were there at the time.  Gerrymander turns desolid and walks out.  As he passes by a trapped Common Man:

 

Gerrymander:  Just like a true liberal - completely ineffective.

 

Pops teleports across the room, ending up beside one VIPER technician holding a tiny pistol.  Circe uses her TK to disarm the tech (Chad).

 

Pops:  (grinning at the disarmed technician)  Hiya.

Chad:  (picks up various components on the nearby lab table and holds up one finger)  Just a minute.  I'll be right with you.

Pops:  No problem, take your time.  (OOC:)  How many Phases is it going to take him to get whatever that is together?

GM:  Like he said, a minute.  Maybe two.

 

Honey Badger picks up a roller bot and squeezes, causing considerable damage to it.

 

Honey Badger:  Look at that.  Cheap Chinese construction.

(Every lab robot and roller bot in the lab stops what they're doing to give Honey Badger the bird.)

 

Maker flies out the hole, and Circe decides to follow her just in case she needs backup.  When Gerrymander tries to stop her, Circe mind-blasts him, so he grabs her and squeezes.  Malarky responds by hitting Gerrymander with his drunkenness spell.

 

Gerrymander:  (finally getting a good look at Circe)  Hey, you're pretty hot.  What say we blow this joint, go hit a club.

Circe:  Um... yeah?  Sure?

 

Honey Badger goes out to back Circe up in case she needs any help.  Sizing up the situation, instead of attacking, he walks up to the other side of Gerrymander and puts his arm companionably around the villain's shoulders. 

 

Gerrymander:  Hey, dude, back off.  She's totally into me.

Honey Badger.  Oh, no problem, pal.  But if you're taking my friend out, I just wanted to give you a few tips.  (looks significantly at Circe).  One, you make sure you act like a gentleman.  (Gerrymander nods, while Circe continues to look mildly baffled)  Two, you have to make sure she gets home safe afterward.  (As Circe's player continues to look confused)  And in case you (looking at Circe) haven't figured it out yet, I'm TOTALLY trying to coordinate with you here, so Three (rolls dice)...

Circe:  Oh.  OH!!!  (grabs dice, then looks at the character sheet)  Do I even have Teamwork skill???

Honey Badger:  (facepalming and shaking his head)  Apparently not.

[BoloOfEarth]

(finishing the Boston Champions adventure;  again, McGinty appears with prior permission from Drhoz and McGinty's player)

 

The battle done, PRIMUS is called to cart off the captured supervillains.  As the heroes wait for PRIMUS to arrive...

 

Byron Timmons:  (enters the room and almost walks into the bramble/briar patch) Oh, my! 

Maker:  Who is it?  George Takei?

Byron Timmons:  (heads toward Shadowboxer, completely nonplussed at the trashed robots and unconscious supervillains scattered about)  Mister Shadowboxer and... (inclines his head to Honey Badger) Mister Honey Badger?  I am the lawyer of record of an estate for which you are both named beneficiaries.  (Hands each of them his business card)  If you would be so kind, please call my secretary and arrange an appointment so that we may distribute your portions of the estate.  Thank you, and good day.  (He climbs back out the hole in the wall and continues on his way as if this is a completely normal situation.)

 

The two heroes go to the offices of Crane, Poole, and Schmidt (seeing one lawyer who bears a striking resemblance to William Shatner) for the reading of the will.

 

Shadowboxer:  Whose estate are we beneficiaries for?

Byron Timmons:  This is the estate of Patrick J. McGinty, former governor and late of Boston.  He disappeared from the public eye in 1929 and was declared legally dead in 1936.  The will was signed shortly before his disappearance.  (pause)  I should warn you, Mr. McGinty apparently considered himself quite the smart wit.  (disapproving sniff)

 

Timmons reads the relevant portion of the will.

 

Timmons: 

"I instruct my lawyers, money-grubbing lot that they are (another disapproving sniff), to hold and maintain the property at 15 W. Haven Street, Boston, Mass., along with that detailed in the Corbitt proviso.  Trust funds have been established for the properties’ annual taxes, care, and maintenance (and if I find you shysters skimming …" well, what follows are some… rather colorful instructions as to the properties’ care and maintenance.

 

"On or shortly after February 13, 2015, the property at 15 W. Haven Street, Boston, Mass., and all its current contents are to be turned over to Shadowboxer, along with the balance of the trust fund established for that property’s taxes and maintenance.  At 11:17 pm on the above-noted date, Shadowboxer may be found on the 4th floor of the Ronald McNair Building on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

 

"Upon signing over the deed to the Haven Street property, the lawyer of record shall also give Shadowboxer the accompanying sealed envelope, with instructions not to open the envelope nor read the contents until well within the grounds of the Haven Street property.  And don’t think I’m not laughing my arse off at my own cleverness."  (another disapproving sniff)

 

"Upon transfer of the property above, I also bequeath four bottles of neat whiskey and two boxes of cigars to Shadowboxer’s associate Sugar Beaver…" -- I assume this is more of Mr. McGinty’s famed ‘wit’ and that he means you, Mr. Honey Badger, unless you (looking at Shadowboxer) have a Sugar Beaver associate of which I am unaware.   "… to distribute to his teammates as he sees fit.  He’d damn well better care about it, too, as I’m leaving him good Irish whiskey, not watered-down American piss-whiskey like he’s used to drinking.  And the lasses had best not start spouting any of that “smoking and alcohol are no good for you” crap.  The boys can light up and drink as they please."

 

"As they prepare to take on the tasks at hand, I tip a glass in their honor and wish them the best of luck.  Better them than me, says I."

 

Honey Badger:  Aw, man!  I was looking forward to meeting Sugar Beaver!  I was sure that was a girl!  Think about it... Sugar Beaver...  Sounds like a hottie, doesn't it?

 

Shadowboxer has one of the magic-using heroes check out the envelope, who verified it has a minor enchantment to preserve the paper and keep anybody from peeking at the letter inside, but nothing dangerous.  They check out the house and grounds; in addition to the old Victorian home, there's a garage (formerly a stable), an old stone well, a rose-trellis arch leading to a hedge maze, and a gazebo.

 

Honey Badger:  Is there an arrow in the gazebo?

GM:  No, but there are three bullet holes in it.

 

Inside the house, Shadowboxer opens and reads the letter.

 

        Well, lad, we’ve had a few interesting conversations over the past few years, but it seems time’s running out for this old man.  I guess you can’t spend years beating back a shit vortex without getting a wee bit of muck splashed on you.  And in our line of work, you’re doing well if the muck doesn’t do quite a bit more than just stink.  But I dug my fooking hole, so I guess I’ll have to lie in it eventually.

        I’m counting on you lot to keep fighting the good fight.  You’ve got a rough road ahead, lad, but you’ve got friends to protect your arse – and they’ve got you to protect theirs.  True, they’re an odd lot, especially that Syrup Otter lad.  I can only hope they’ll get the job done.  Heaven knows stranger things have happened in this old world. 

        I wish I could offer you more than some well-read books and a pat on the back, but my days of being much help are well behind me.  It’s up to you lot to find a way to win the day.  Beat the blackguards back and kick some monster arse for me.  And when you find yourself swimming underwater in a whirlpool of shit, well, lad, just keep looking for a crack in the crust. 

        A final word of advice:  you’ll find a splash of whiskey and a walk in the sunshine might help you keep your sanity.  Well, what little sanity you might have, given that you’re crazy enough to get into our line of work.

                                                                Your friend,

                                                                Paddy McGinty

P.S. Please pass on my apologies to that Malarkey lad for our first meeting, and I hope everything grows back well enough.

 

(Note that none of them have yet met McGinty.)

 

The heroes take a tour of the house.  Timmons assures them that all of the furnishings and everything in the house had been put into storage in the 1930s, and brought out (and restored, where necessary) about a month or two ago.  One thing the heroes notice:  There are no books to be found anywhere in the house.

[BoloOfEarth]

Curious, Shadowboxer asks Timmons to see the entire will. 

 

The Last Will and Testament of Patrick J. McGinty

 

I, Patrick Joseph McGinty, being of sound mind and body (no matter what those fooking friends of mine may say, and who the Hell are they to be throwing stones anyway?) do hereby distribute my estate as follows:

 

To my long-suffering and dedicated wife Susan, I leave the bulk of my estate beyond that specified elsewhere in this Will, with the provision that all of it reverts to charity if she remarries an Englishman after I’m gone.  Dead or no, I’ll not be having no fooking Brit living high on the hog off money I fought damned hard to take and keep.

 

To my business partner Paul Rondale, in the unlikely event he survives me, I leave my entire interest in Rondale & McGinty's Automotive & Electrical Repair Shop of Arkham, Mass.  And damn me, since he’s the more responsible of the lot still breathing, I leave him the objects in my office and workspace to dispose of properly.  (You know the things I’m talking about, Paul.)  Or if he wishes, he can keep them and bid adieu to his sanity, not that he has much left at this point.  Paul should be made aware that I’ve already taken care of storing my private library for the posterior of future generations.

 

To my friend and driver Aldous Quinn (if Rondale and company ever get off their lazy arses and get Aldous up and moving again), for his loyalty and invaluable assistance dealing with the damnable New England Shit Vortex over the years, I leave my Dusenberg J towncar, a bottle of neat whiskey, and a packet of cigars, that he may drive out to the coast, have a smoke, and tip a glass in my memory.

 

I instruct my lawyers to use funds from my estate to purchase a carnival fun-house mirror (the type that makes you look skinny) to bequeath to Prof. Deborah Einstein of Harvard University.  I’d have gone for the type that makes you look fat, but they don’t make them that blasted large.

 

I leave my phonograph player and collection of jazz records to Dr. Alicia McPool of Radcliffe College, in the hopes that it might help her cope with the incessant screaming.

 

To my associate Amy Wells of Arkham, Massachusetts, I leave my little black bag of “medical tools” and the glass jar that formerly housed our associate Col. Lancaster. 

 

To agent Landing of the ONI, I leave my journals and notebooks, so he’ll finally know everything we have been up to these past years and can have a proper stroke.

 

As to my campaign manager Norman J. Plaski, who insisted he be mentioned in my will:  Hello, Norm. 

 

To my lawyer of record (at this writing, Edward Wade Poole of Crane, Poole & Schmidt) I leave my lucky pocket watch, with the instruction that it is to be passed on to succeeding lawyers of record upon each preceding lawyer’s retirement or death.  This watch is to be kept within the possessor’s earshot at all times until the completion of the Corbitt proviso and final disposition of the properties listed therein.

 

I instruct my lawyers, money-grubbing lot that they are, to hold and maintain the property at 15 W. Haven Street, Boston, Mass., along with that detailed in the Corbitt proviso.  Trust funds have been established for the properties’ annual taxes, care, and maintenance (and if I find you shysters skimming off the top, don’t think I won’t come back and haunt your greedy arses).  The lawyers may, if they wish, rent out either or both properties in the interim to save money on taxes and maintenance until final disposition detailed below and in the attached Proviso.  But if either place gets destroyed, they should know that it’s coming out of their damned hides.

 

On or shortly after December 30, 2014, the property at 15 W. Haven Street, Boston, Mass., and all its current contents are to be turned over to Shadowboxer, along with the balance of the trust fund established for that property’s taxes and maintenance.  At 12:17 am  on the above-noted date, Shadowboxer may be found on the 4th floor of the Ronald McNair Building on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

Upon signing over the deed to the Haven Street property, the lawyer of record shall also give Shadowboxer the accompanying sealed envelope, with instructions not to open the envelope nor read the contents until well within the grounds of the Haven Street property.  And don’t think I’m not laughing my arse off at my own cleverness.

 

Upon transfer of the property above, I also bequeath four bottles of neat whiskey and two boxes of cigars to Shadowboxer’s associate Sugar Beaver to distribute to his teammates as he sees fit.  He’d damn well better care about it, too, as I’m leaving him good Irish whiskey, not watered-down American piss-whiskey like he’s used to drinking.  And the lasses had best not start spouting any of that “smoking and alcohol are no good for you” crap.  The boys can light up and drink as they please.

 

As they prepare to take on the tasks at hand, I tip a glass in their honor and wish them the best of luck.  Better them than me, says I.

 

- - - -

 

Timmons insists that, as far as he knows, that is the entirety of the will.

 

So, where is McGinty's library?  And how long is it going to take the heroes to find it?

[Steve]

Funny. The way Mr. McGinty writes, I imagine hearing the words in John Constantine's (actor Matt Ryan's) voice from the TV series.

[Major Tom 2009]

The Wikipedia page isn't my best work -- I was trying for subtle but mostly it came out a bit dull.  But if you want to see it:

 

Wikipedia entry:

 

Patrick “Paddy” McGinty (October 30, 1870 – unknown) was a United States politician from Massachusetts.  As a member of the Republican Party, he was elected the 50^th Governor of Massachusetts and was one of the state’s first Irish-American governors, serving from 1925-1927.

 

Biography

 

McGinty was born and raised in Dunmurry, Ireland.  He served in the 14^th Engineers battalion of the Royal Army during World War I, achieving the rank of Sergeant Major. 

 

He moved to the United States in 1920 and took up residence in Arkham, Massachusetts where he worked briefly in a local quarry before opening an automotive repair shop. Allegations were made during this time of ties between McGinty and Irish mobster Dan O’Bannion but they have never been proven.^{[citation needed]}

 

McGinty gained fame in April of 1924 when he and several associates assisted the Boston police in capturing Patrick Malone and members of his infamous Crimson Gang following the King-of-Ireland Massacre.^{[1, 2]}  He was also credited with the rescue of a wealthy Boston socialite from kidnappers, after which he announced his candidacy for governor of the State of Massachusetts.

 

His campaign for governor was rife with accusations of malfeasance ranging from exposes linking McGinty with bootleggers, to claims that he was personally involved in manslaughter as well as numerous acts of property damage and destruction.^[3]  Despite this, McGinty secured his party’s nomination and was elected governor by a narrow margin in 1924 (ironically, running on a platform of law and order).

 

1925-1927

 

Governor Patrick McGinty’s administration took place at the height of prohibition, and was marked by frequent scandals ranging from nearly constant allegations of collusion with bootleggers, to several accusations of conspiracy to commit murder.  ^{[4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]}

 

At a press conference in January 1926 responding to allegations of ordering state police to halt a murder investigation, Gov. McGinty said, ‘To Hades with the lot of you” and announced he would no longer speak directly with any reporters.^[12]  All future inquiries during McGinty’s administration were handled through a series of short-lived press secretaries.

 

Likely due to the many allegations of illegal and illicit activity, McGinty was denied re-nomination when the Republican Party instead chose Alvan T. Fuller to run for governor in 1926.  McGinty left office in 1927 and retired from the public eye.

 

McGinty disappeared sometime in 1929 and was legally declared dead in 1936.

 

- - - - - - - -

 

I was having fun with the citations (note the number of cites about scandals), most of which are scans of newspaper clippings that are less than complimentary of McGinty. As the heroes dig into it, they'll learn that all of the scans were posted by the same person, identified online as SarEinBU.  A little digging will reveal her to be Dr. Sarah Einstein, an Egyptology professor at Boston University who inherited her great-grand-aunt's scrapbook of clippings and journals.

 

I'm actually much prouder of my Last Will and Testament of Patrick J. McGinty, which I'll post soon.  And his letter to Shadowboxer, revealing where he hid all his mystic books.  Which I'm almost positive the players have completely missed.  But more on that later.

 

 

While the idea of dropping McGinty into a Champions setting is funny as all-get-out, I can't help but feel that

doing so is the gaming equivalent of announcing that the End Of Days are upon us ( )...

 

 

Major Tom 2009

[Houston GM]

Honey Badger.  Oh, no problem, pal.  But if you're taking my friend out, I just wanted to give you a few tips.  (looks significantly at Circe).  One, you make sure you act like a gentleman.  (Gerrymander nods, while Circe continues to look mildly baffled)  Two, you have to make sure she gets home safe afterward.  (As Circe's player continues to look confused)  And in case you (looking at Circe) haven't figured it out yet, I'm TOTALLY trying to coordinate with you here, so Three (rolls dice)...

Circe:  Oh.  OH!!!  (grabs dice, then looks at the character sheet)  Do I even have Teamwork skill???

Honey Badger:  (facepalming and shaking his head)  Apparently not.

 

Best part of the whole adventure.

[pinecone]

Best part of the whole adventure.

Awesome!

[BoloOfEarth]

Best part of the whole adventure.

 

Yep.  I was laughing so hard it took me a few minutes to continue the game.  I let them go ahead and coordinate the attack without a roll.  It just seemed the right thing to do after that.

[Lucius]

I can remember when the Teamwork Skill didn't exist as such, and it was, if I recall correctly, a DEX roll to coordinate.

 

I don't really care for the idea of requiring a full Skill for that. I've also often thought the Teamwork Skill if it's to exist ought to have other uses to justify it.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary notes that Lucius has also bought Teamwork Skill "Usable by Others" for just such situations as described.

[BoloOfEarth]

I consider Teamwork an Everyman skill, so everybody has at least an 8- chance to coordinate an attack with someone else.

[FrankL]

I finished the solo CoC adventure "Alone Against the Flames" and learned some very important things about CoC:

 

1) put points in Spot Hidden. It doesn't matter how you justify it in the backstory, do so! When taking my character's personal skills (not professional), I choose stealth, violin, fighting (brawl), and archeology. Why violin? I wanted Harold to be a little more well-rounded as a person. Forget that! Next run, those 20 points are going into Spot Hidden. Spot was the most common check. I made several spot hidden checks (I passed two and missed two). One of the misses would have been a success if I had taken it before. NOTE: consider playing as a police detective and thus justify Spot Hidden as a professional skill.

 

2) if a crazy, homeless man teaches you a chant "to be used only if all else fails," speaking it is never a good idea, even if all else has failed. I stopped the cultists, but there's a 16-mile diameter barren place in the Connecticut landscape now and "my spirit floats amongst the stars."

 

3) Being a hero takes second place to living (I already knew this one, but it was reinfornced). I rolled back the last bit to try a different escape plan. That worked and I got away from the bonfire, singed and hurt. Without the sacrifice (me), something or things descended on the town. I found a bicycle in an alley and sped away. The book then said this. "You hear screams behind you and what sounds like the rush of wings high above. If you look back at the bonfire, turn to __. If you keep going, turn to __." I said, "I've got 1 HP left. This is no time for heroics. I peddle like crazy!"

 

Even though I plan on running the adventure again, I'm keeping Harold's sheet. I found a book of poetry that gave me 4 points to the Mythos skill. Professor Matthers might have other adventures, and a professor of chemical engineer has great potential. He was on his way to take a seat at Miskatonic U when he got stranded in the village of Emberhead.

[Houston GM]

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection.

 

Cast of characters: 

Dent: ork, rat shaman

No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer

Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist

Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic

Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems

Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator

Mr. Johnson (NPC): the name given to anonymous employers of shadowrunners

 

Dreamchipper - Upper Management

This module was previously described by Drhoz (here and here).

 

Ms. Johnson: "I am looking for some professionals to assist my employer in retrieving some stolen property. The job must be carried out by a low-profile group that can recover the goods with a minimum of attention. Are you whom I am looking for?"

Jonathan Bridges: "The people I work with specialize in 'low-profile' and 'minimum of attention.' As long as the price is right, I'll make it happen."

Ms. Johnson: "Excellent. This is not exactly the place for a business meeting. We will meet at The Banshee at exactly 1:00 a.m. Ask for Urlan."

Jonathan Bridges: (muttering to himself as she walked away) "The Banshee isn't exactly a great place for a business meeting either."

 

No-Step: "Ms. Johnson has a tail. He didn't look like a second bodyguard."

Jonathan Bridges: "Let's tail the tail. I'd like to get acquainted with the opposition."

Concealed by No-Step's city spirit, the pair easily tailed Ms. Johnson, her bodyguard, and their tail ... until Ms. Johnson boarded a private helicopter....

Jonathan Bridges: "She can afford a private helicopter, but she can't afford to meet anyplace nicer than a dive bar in the Barrens?"

No-Step pulled out his binoculars, to get a better look at the helicopter. The tail pulled out a phone, presumably to report in. Happy Jack pulled out his collapsible naginata, to terminate the call before it happened.

[shhkkkht]

tail: (seeing a well-dressed troll holding a naginata) "Oh God! No!!"

Jonathan Bridges: (slamming the blunt end of the haft into the tail) "At least you got my name right."

 

Ms. Johnson's tail was just a street snitch who had been hired over the phone, for 100 nuyen, to see who she met with.

 

Thanks to No-Step's binoculars (and the orkish ability to see in the dark), the team was able to determine that the helicopter belonged to Global Technologies, a small local skillsoft and simsense corporation.

 

Eye Spy: "It's a small company named 'Global'. I think somebody's compensating for something."

 

Important global employees (NPCs):

Urlan Manes: president and CEO of Global Technologies; Native American; presumably the "Urlan" Jonathan was going to meet with

Roxanne Wunter: VP of Global's skillsoft division; also the Ms. Johnson at the previous meeting

Thomas Martelli / Junior: VP of Global's entertaniment division; an ork

 

Byte Force: "Whatever they need us for, it's big. It involves the CEO and a senior VP."

Happy Jack: "According to my contacts, their annual shareholders' meeting is Friday. It's shaping up to be a showdown between Urlan Manes and Thomas Martelli."

No-Step: "So the snitch could have been hired for some intracorporate spying unrelated to the theft."

Audacity Jane: "That doesn't help much if Martelli starts interfering with our investigation."

Happy Jack: "A boardroom battle may explain the secrecy. They may be trying to hide the theft from the shareholders ... or from Martelli."

No-Step: "Don't knock out the next snitch, Jack. Let's see if we can feed him misinformation instead."

 

Roxanne clearly expected the team to arrive just before 1 a.m., giving them plenty of time to arrive first. The team decided to arrive first and do a proper reconnaissance.

 

No-Step: "There's a front bar that's full of customers. There's a back bar that's currently empty. Then there's a private back room off of that back bar."

Dent: "Kind of obvious where the meeting is."

 

Audacity Jane and Dent stationed themselves in the front bar, posing as normal customers. Urlan and Roxanne arrived 20 minutes early, accompanied by two bodyguards. Since the bar lacked magickal protections, No-Step and a hearth spirit stood watch in the Astral. Jonathan arrived 3 minutes before 1 a.m. And was directed to the back bar, where Roxanne and the bodyguards waited.

 

Jonathan Bridges: "Good to see you again, Ms. Wunter. Shall we step into the back room and speak with Mr. Manes?"

Roxanne Wunter: "How do you know who we are?"

Jonathan Bridges: "You're hiring a team of investigators. I asked them to demonstrate their competence."

Roxanne Wunter: "..."

Jonathan Bridges: "As you were leaving our previous meeting someone tailed you."

Roxanne Wunter: "Who?"

Jonathan Bridges: (showing her a picture of the unconscious tail) "Anyone you know?"

 

Roxanne escorted Jonathan into the back room, which was appointed with a vinyl couch a card table, a few chairs, and a naked light bulb dangling from the ceiling.

 

Jonathan Bridges: "Mr. Manes. I see you chose this spot for the ambiance."

Urlan Manes: (turning on the white noise generator) "No ... for the amenities."

 

Urlan Manes: "Last night, a member of my staff assisted several thieves in stealing three data chips from my company. Although security put up a spirited defense, all of the thieves managed to get away. I must have these chips back. The thieves are of little consequence. The stolen merchandise is vital."

Jonathan Bridges: "I like clear priorities."

Urlan Manes: "Time is of the essence. However, you must complete this job silently. Even a hint of your activities could be disastrous."

Jonathan Bridges: "My team prefers quiet jobs. I'm sure the current possessor of your property will eventually notice that it's missing, however."

 

Of course, the meeting was interrupted by someone who already knew about the "quiet" job.

 

Audacity Jane: (over the radio link to Jonathan) "Heads up. There's a well-dressed ork headed your way, plus four bodyguards armed with sliverguns."

Jonathan jumped up from his chair and braced himself against the door.

Urlan Manes: "What are you doing?"

Jonathan Bridges: "Are you expecting company? A well-dressed ork with an armed entourage?"

Urlan and Roxanne: (looking at each other and rolling their eyes) "Junior."

Jonathan Bridges: "Junior?"

Urlan Manes: "Thomas Martelli, Jr. His late father founded Global's entertainment division. Junior is the VP of that division."

[thud]

Someone tried to slam open the door ... with a spectacular lack of success ... thanks to the troll braced against it.

 

Jonathan Bridges: (opening the door) "Mr. Martelli. I'm Jonathan Bridges. It's a pleasure to meet you." (pause) "Would you mind having your bodyguards stay out here? Nobody else brought theirs into the meeting."

Thomas Martelli, Jr.: "And what if they decide not to stay out here?"

Jonathan Bridges: "If your bodyguards try to force their way into this room, my bodyguards might interpret that as a hostile act, which would be ... unfortunate."

Thomas looked past Jonathan, but only saw Urlan and Roxanne. He then looked around the back bar, but only saw his four bodyguards, Urlan's bodyguard and Roxanne's bodyguard.

Thomas Martelli, Jr.: (sneering) "What bodyguards. I don't see any bodyguards."

Jonathan Bridges: "Good."

Thomas Martelli, Jr.: "..."

Jonathan stepped aside to let Thomas in.

Thomas Martelli, Jr.: (entering the room) "Urlan, and the lovely Roxanne. It seems I was not notified of this impromptu company meeting."

Urlan Manes: (smiling smugly) "I left a message. Perhaps if you check your voice mail?"

Thomas Martelli, Jr.: (sarcastically) "Of course you did." (looking over at Jonathan) "Is this your investigator? How delightful."

Jonathan Bridges: "I'm a fixer. I employ investigators. And other ... talented individuals."

Thomas Martelli, Jr.: (giving a wheezing laugh) "You will, no doubt, prove as efficient and loyal as Urlan's pet, Tee Hee."

Urlan turned red at that statement.

Thomas Martelli, Jr.: (leaving the room) "If you need my assistance, well, you know where to find me."

 

Urlan assured Jonathan that "Junior" was merely an annoyance, and unrelated to the investigation.

 

Tee Hee, on the other hand, was Urlan's (former) star programmer. He had assisted the thieves in the heist, and had thoroughly wiped the R&D files for the experimental chips. He was also the naive and forgetful sort. Roxanne had gone to his apartment, only to discover that he'd been kicked out weeks before for forgetting to pay his rent.

 

No-Step (ooc): I think this team is full of experts on figuring out where people end up when they can't afford their rent.

 

Urlan Manes offered the right price, so the meeting concluded. Forewarned by the events at the previous location, they quickly noticed that someone was tailing Jonathan.

 

Jonathan Bridges: (over the radio link) "Here's a perfect opportunity to spread some disinformation, but we only have a couple minutes to come up with a plan and implement it."

No-Step: "No problem. It's never taken less than thirty minutes to come up with a plan before."

 

Eye Spy: "We could disguise ourselves as Lone Star and arrest you."

Dent: "What does that accomplish?"

Eye Spy: "Um..."

Byte Force: "They will think Jack's in jail, rather than investigating anything."

Eye Spy: "Yeah. What he said."

 

It took less than an hour to determine that Tee Hee was crashing at the apartment of a former Seattle University professor.

 

Dent: "Sleep with your professors. Get good grades -and- free rent."

No-Step: "It worked for you."

 

Tee Hee was easily and quietly abducted from the apartment.

 

Eye Spy: "That seemed too easy. Does anyone else think that was too easy?"

Audacity Jane: "You're accustomed to performing extractions from corporate high security sites. Extractions from low security apartments are supposed to be easy by comparison."

 

Byte Force: "That professor is going to be surprised to wake up and find Tee Hee gone."

Dent: "If Tee Hee's as much of an airhead as Roxanne said, then he won't be surprised. Disappointed, but not surprised."

 

Next ... What do you do with a captured decker early in the morning?

[TheQuestionMan]

Shave his belly with rusty razor Spurs

Shave his belly with rusty razor Spurs

Early in the morning

 

Way heh and up he rises

Way heh and up he rises

So early in the morning

[Lucius]

 

Throw 'im in the brig, until he gets sober,

Throw 'im in the brig, until he gets sober,

Throw 'im in the brig, until he gets sober,

Early in the morning

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary sings, THAT's what we do, with a drunken sailor, and the other end clamors to do the drunken airman version

[Houston GM]

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection.

 

Cast of characters: 

Dent: ork, rat shaman

No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer

Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist

Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic

Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems

Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator

Urlan Manes (NPC): President/CEO of Global Technologies; hired the team to recover stolen goods

Roxanne Wunter (NPC): Senior VP at Global; Urlan's liaison to the team

Thomas Martelli Jr. (NPC): Senior VP at Global; Urlan's rival

Tee Hee (NPC): a decker, a thief, and a former Global employee

BTL chips: "better-than-life" chips; stick one in your datajack and get an illegal high; addictive; repeated use causes brain damage; the 2050 equivalent of hardcore drugs

 

Dreamchipper - What do you do with a captured decker?

This module was previously described by Drhoz (here).

 

The team had been hired to recover several chips stolen from Global Technologies. Tee Hee (one of the thieves) had been captured by the team ... but he didn't have the data chips.

 

Dent took the usual shortcut of using Mind Probe on Tee Hee, who turned out to be a treasure trove of information.

 

Dent: "A fixer named Cooperman made the arrangements for the theft. But Thomas Martelli was the person who bribed Tee Hee and told him to follow Cooperman's instructions."

Happy Jack: "How much was the bribe?"

Dent: "A Fairlight Excalibur cyberdeck."

Byte Force: "Most deckers would betray anyone for a Fairlight Excalibur."

No-Step: "Does that mean we need to start worrying about your loyalty?"

Byte Force: "I can't be bought that easily."

Dent: "Because we already stole one for you."

 

Dent: "Tee Hee calls these things Dreamchips. They're a skillchip that uses experimental BTL technology."

Byte Force: "Why on earth would they do that?"

Dent: "They're using it to bypass the normal limitations on a skillchip. The Dreamchip contains a false personality which overrides the user's normal personality. Somehow that allows the chip to transfer more skills to the user."

No-Step: "And the false personality controls the user's actions?"

Dent: "Yes. They're planning to sell these to the military. They could create instant soldiers, officers, spies and assassins."

No-Step: "That's unethical. There ought to be a law against that."

Dent: "There is. The use of BTL technology makes it illegal. They're counting on the military not caring."

Happy Jack: "That's probably why they want to keep this job particularly quiet."

Audacity Jane: "Do we get a bonus if we 'silence' the thieves?"

 

When Tee Hee trashed the R&D files, he left an uncorrupted copy on Thomas Martelli's datastore. It was time for the decker to earn his dues.

 

Byte Force: (to Dent) "Fish around in Tee Hee's brain for a map to Global's computer network."

Dent: "They probably changed the security codes since he left."

Byte Force: "That's true, but they probably didn't change the system architecture."

 

Byte Force found everything he was looking for, and a lot more.

 

Thomas Martelli had instigated the plot. He had contacted Booker Pengrave, an executive at Hollywood Simsense Entertainment, a rival simsense company. By stealing the Dreachip prototypes and R&D, Global's value would crash. HSE and Pengrave would be able to acquire Global cheaply. Then HSE could manufacture and sell the Dreamchips. For his role, Thomas Martelli would become an executive at HSE.

 

Eye Spy: "I think Urlan made the understatement of the year when he called Junior 'an annoyance'."

Dent: "When are you going to pass this information on to Roxanne?"

Happy Jack: "For now, I'm not."

Eye Spy: "Why not?"

Happy Jack: "Urlan is paying us to recover the stolen merchandise, not for information related to the thieves. He was quite specific about that. I'm willing to sell him the information we've discovered, but he hasn't paid us for it yet."

 

Byte Force: "I found some notes about the team that did the run on Global. They say that 'Val' the rigger is running 'Cleo'. They also say that 'Griffin' the street samurai is 'messed up with Jack the Ripper'." (pause) "What personalities are on those Dreamchips?"

Dent used Mind Probe on Tee Hee again.

Dent: "Jack the Ripper, Cleopatra and Genghis Khan."

Eye Spy: "What kind of lunatic would think those personalities were a great idea?"

Audacity Jane: "People who watch the history channel for fun."

 

Dent: "Apparently the Jack-the-Ripper chip started out as a spy, but it turned out to be too homicidal ... so they turned it into an assassin."

Byte Force: "I know that strategy of product design. It's not a bug. It's a feature."

 

Dent: "The Genghis Khan chip is supposed to have all of the skills to be a great military leader."

No-Step: "So it turns the user into a megalomaniac, then gives him the skills to carry those ambitions to fruition."

Dent: "Without an army, that's not too dangerous."

Audacity Jane: "And if he goes up to Fort Lewis and recruits an army...?"

Eye Spy: "Oh @#$%! We're going to have to fight an entire army to get just one chip?"

Audacity Jane: "No. At worst, that just means we'll need to get the chip out of a Fort Lewis morgue."

Eye Spy: "The morgue?"

Audacity Jane: "There's a long-standing tradition of snipers shooting military leaders."

 

Dent: "The Cleopatra chip is designed for extended espionage assignments."

Eye Spy: "And it's based entirely on powerful men's habit of doing all of their thinking below the waist."

No-Step: "We should brainstorm who she might seduce. That might narrow down where we should investigate."

Happy Jack: (ticking off on his fingers) "Governor Schultz, any general or admiral based in Seattle, any top executive at a Tier 1 or Tier 2 megacorp, any mafioso capo or yakuza oyabun..." (pause) "Have we narrowed our investigation down sufficiently?"

No-Step: "..."

 

Byte Force: "I discovered why Martelli and Urlan hate each other." (pause) "Martelli's father, Thomas Martelli, Sr., changed his will shortly after his son goblinized. Urlan became the new beneficiary."

Eye Spy: "His father was such a racist that he disinherited his son? That sucks."

No-Step: "Is Urlan a racist?"

Happy Jack: "He and Roxanne clearly dislike Martelli, but I don't know whether that's racial bias or personal animosity."

Dent: "Did either of them seem biased against you?"

Happy Jack: "No, but some people have a bias against orks, but not trolls." (pause) "Urlan is clearly interested in keeping Martelli's inheritance for himself, regardless of racial bias."

No-Step: "I'm not entirely certain we're working for the right side in all of this."

Happy Jack: "I would say we're working for the wrong side. We don't help people oppress orks and trolls." (pause) "So how do we fulfill our agreement with Urlan, get paid, and still ensure that Martelli wins?"

GM: (headdesk)

 

There remained a small problem of what to do with Tee Hee. Jack and Jane solved the problem using a backboard, handcuffs, straps and a magemask.

 

No-Step: "You two seem extremely competent at this. Is there something that you're not telling us?"

Audacity Jane: "Why don't I tie you up the same way, then you can find out for yourself."

 

Happy Jack also plugged Tee Hee into a simsense player.

 

Happy Jack: "It's hard to plan an escape when you're immersed in an action VR."

Dent: "Harder still if you plug him into porn."

Happy Jack: "Given the number of sex scenes in the 'action' simsenses, there's not much difference."

 

In order to give Tee Hee meals and bathroom breaks, Jack and Jane would turn off all the lights, then untie him (using their thermographic vision to watch him).

 

Tee Hee: (sitting on the toilet in the dark) "It's no use. I can't go when somebody's watching me."

Audacity Jane: "I'm tired of this drek. I'm just going to slit your throat and be done with it."

Tee Hee had the predictable involuntary reaction to overwhelming fear.

Audacity Jane: "It looks like you can go when somebody's watching you."

 

Next ... Kick the Khan.

[DusterBoy]

Giggles hysterically. I love these guys and wish I could play in this campaign.

[Weldun]

If they're worried about Urlan possibly being a racist (which I don't think that he is, but each GM should tweak these things to fit the group after all), they could just complete the contract AS AGREED and still share the details of just how illegal the chips are with ESE. Especially the subjects of the three prototype chips that they had not kept properly secure...

To be honest, Inkubus only sided with Global on this one because he figured that he had a half-decent chance of getting into Ms Winter's pant. He was, of course, recursively correct in this regard.

[Houston GM]

Giggles hysterically. I love these guys and wish I could play in this campaign.

 

I wish this campaign was still running. But it's fun to dredge through the old memories (even if it's somewhat inaccurately) and entertain others with the shenanigans.

 

If they're worried about Urlan possibly being a racist (which I don't think that he is, but each GM should tweak these things to fit the group after all),

 

Urlan really seems biased against Martelli Jr., not orks in general. It would be easier to argue that the author of the module was biased against orks. 

For example, in the background description for Martelli it says: "He grew up rough and mean. By his 18th birthday, he was spending weeks away from home, usually in the Ork underground."

 

Obviously, as PCs we weren't reading that. But if you're trying to demonstrate how bad the antagonist is, you probably want to say something with more juice than "He hangs out in the same neighborhood where the PCs live."

 

But when we handed the GM a solid premise for a follow-on adventure ("Make sure Martelli wins"), he was certainly willing to run with it.

 

Ratting out Global would have been a simpler way of taking Urlan down a peg, but that course of action would have been as unpalatable to a few of the PCs as monogamy would be to Inkubus. SR may not have the concept of PsychLims, but a good role-player will certainly include a few ... just on general principles.

[Drhoz]

Shadowrun 2070 – the main difference being that 2050 is cyberpunk as imagined in the 80s, and 2070 as it's imagined now. Wifi, Augmented Reality, RFID chips and 3D Printing everywhere.

Streetrat: Son of Labrat, Ork Rigger
Ripper K: Orca-form Changeling, Face and Brawler
Oracle: White-hat hacker
Giant Dad: Apparently human, also supposedly called The Legend, who rumour holds has been around forever.
Astronauta Peligroso: Troll Luchadore
Ocelot: Elf gunslinger

Giant Dad: I'm going to call you Astroboy. So what brings you to Seattle, Astroboy?
Astronauta: The food.

Oracle: We COULD strap you down and have a machine-gun installed in your arse. If you really want.

Ripper OoC: I wonder if the Tokyo Parasite Museum has got any interesting specimens since the start of the Sixth Age.
Giant Dad: Probably – behold! The Insect Shaman! And its natural enemy, the Dwarf with the Incendiary Grenade Launcher.
Ocelot: We call him Warhammer.
Giant Dad: Check out the front of the museum, where you can get the action figure! Comes with its own lighter. Start 'em young.
Ocelot: Known bugs – may set your entire house on fire.
Giant Dad: Has been known to start laughing in the presence of naked flame.

Insect Spirits are bad news. Just ask Chicago. THAT was the kind of situation that would have required experts, like our old characters.

Inkubus: You really want to give me the chance to set off a nuclear device in the middle of an Insect Hive? Wow – I thought I'd never get to top that Ambergel factory.

GM: On goes the mask.
Astronauta: It never comes off. I Live Every Day In The Luchadore Way.

The other PCs haven’t met the charming but rather fearsome-looking Ripper before, and are further unaware of his ‘adult entertainment’ work. This leads to some amusing conversations.

Giant Dad: What the fuck is that!
Ripper K: The name's Ripper – nice to meet you.
Ocelot: I'm Elise – I mean Ocelot!
Ripper K: That's OK, most of the people I work with use assumed names.

Astronauta: You look like you could go a few rounds – we should give it a go some time.
Ripper K: Thanks. I'd enjoy that.
GM: *hysterical laughter*

Off to the Infinity Club, where the music is as loud as can be expected, despite our ear-plugs.

Streetrat: I can still hear it – it's coming in through my Eustachian tubes.

Ocelot OoC: I'm wondering if we've been hired by Inkubus. 'Ah, I can't be bothered recovering it myself – I'll just hire somebody'
Streetrat OoC: 'I've got six girls to entertain'

This is, as you may have guessed, the same module he's already run for Ripper and another group of players. I guess I won't be doubling up my XP points then, and I'll have to try extra hard to suppress player knowledge. Not that I mind, overly - it's easy enough to let the other players come up with ideas, then run with them. Anyway - Nabo, the Ork music star and likely after the stolen disc.

Giant Dad: He sounds like an Ork version of Justin Beiber. I hate him already.

Ripper K: I wonder if my agent knows his agent.
Oracle: Are you talking about Agent Programs?
Ripper K: No, theatrical agent. Well, specialist theatre.

The module now takes a different path to the version our GM ran online for the other players. Oracle hits the social media to locate which hotel Nabo is staying at, and dispatches a mini-blimp drone through which he can hack into Nabo's internet node. We probably won't even have to go to the concert.

Oracle's player: This will take a while.
GM: No it won't.
Oracle's player: Wait, what?
GM: He left an open node.
Oracle: OK gang, this is going to take a few hou- ….. scratch that, this guy is a complete moron.

Oracle gleefully forwards everything Nabo is doing to the rest of the team, and plants one of his software agents inside the node.

Oracle: ORAC, you're up.
Ripper K: Do you have one named Zen, as well?

Undeleting Nabo's data enables us to backtrack to a elven decker named Zipper, and the Cathode Glow Club, and any amount of unreleased song lyrics and Ork Porn. Also a photo of the stolen disc, and a disc sleeve saying "Carrion Sessions '48 - For Enlightenment, seek out absent friends." The plan – have Ripper seduce Zipper. Complication – Ripper doesn't know a damn thing about retro tech.

Giant Dad: We need to geek him up.
Oracle: What? Oh, you mean Clank.
Giant Dad: How do you feel about spikes?
Oracle: Nah – cogs and brass.

Giant Dad: You'll need to wear a top hat.
Ripper K: I've worn worse.
Astronauta: And a monocle.

The augmented reality sprites at the club all have googly eyes, like Clippy. And they're all watching us.

Streetrat: If any of them actually are Clippy they have to die.
Ocelot: We're being watched by the spirit of Microsoft Office

Giant Dad: And then a barfight broke out over Mario Party.

Ripper manages to seduce not only Zipper, but her dwarf friend as well, and after reducing them both to happy unconsciousness unlocks the door for everybody else. The disc isn't in her apartment, but there is a handwritten letter from one Loomis directing her to set up the auction. There's a Kerwin Loomis who runs a nightclub called Coda out in the Barrens.

Streetrat: Coder as in programmer or Coda as in epilogue?
Ripper K: It's a musical term too. So that's two links. And a pun, too, since the disc has musical data.

Ripper K: At this rate the client is going to regret agreeing to that early completion bonus.

The Coda is the worst kind of dive. Happily, Loomis has an apartment above the club, and Streetrat's drones spot the suspicious activity next door before we blunder into it ourselves. He switches his POV to one of the drones and investigates closer – there's a team of armed and armoured individuals watching the club. And one of them is probably a mage. Happily, suddenly appearing at all the doors and windows with two armed drones and three scary-looking individuals demoralises them so completely they readily agree to Ripper's terms. They go wait at the local Stuffer Shack, while we – still posing as some kind of Barrens organised crime syndicate – go have a private word with Mr Loomis. Then they can do whatever they like with him. Evidently nobody told this team of runners that another team had been hired for the job. We head in to have a polite chat with Loomis, who panics and threatens to break the disc. He also insists the disc was willed to him by his father – the big-name rocker K-spot. There never was a theft.

Oracle: So how much were we being paid not to care?

Loomis caves, especially after he finds out just how many people already know about the disc.

Giant Dad: How much are you willing to pay to get out of here alive?

We drop Loomis off at the Ork Underground and head back to the Cathode Glow to use their vintage tech to find out what's actually ON this disc. It seems to be music data, as claimed, but there are multiple levels of encryption on it.

Giant Dad: Don't mind us, Astronauta and I will just be having Fight Club outside.
Ripper K: If anybody asks just tell them you're re-enacting John Carpenter films.

The music is melancholy and introspective.

Giant Dad: We're listening to Linkin Park?

But since we're good shadowrunners, it's time to take the disc to the client. We'll just neglect to mention the one-to-one copy we made so Oracle can run full decryption on it. We will include all the data we have on that other team, including the number of their fixer. But either way, our Mr Johnson seems very pleased – especially since we got it all done in less than 24 hours. The other group of players is still slogging through the same module four sessions later - and that other shadowrunner team are probably still waiting at the Stuffer Shack.




D&D - mostly a continuation of a dungeon crawl, and the capture of the enemy wizard, whereupon things become Political. It's always so helpful when the bad guys keep copies of their correspondence around the lair.

Kavorog: Murder and psychopathy are all part of being an adventurer.

We find a satchel full of potions and adventuring gear in the bottom of a cistern.

Kavorog: Looks like a bug-out bag. Or a bugbear-out bag.

GM: What do you want to do with these guys?
Lamech: Skin them and use their scrotums as a coin purse.
GM: You're a bloodthirsty little... aren't you?

To a prisoner -

Lamech: So, Mr. Human Shield – you don't mind me calling you Human Shield, do you? - What else should we know about this dungeon?

[Houston GM]

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection.

 

Cast of characters: 

Dent: ork, rat shaman

No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer

Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist

Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic

Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems

Jonathan Bridges / Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator

"Face" Cooperman (NPC): a fixer; probably using the Genghis Khan dreamchip

 

Dreamchipper - Kick the Khan

This module was previously described by Drhoz (here).

 

The team had determined who was in possession of the dreamchips ... but finding them and recovering them was a more difficult task.

 

Since Jonathan Bridges and Cooperman were both fixers, it wouldn't seem too suspicious if Jonathan tried to meet Cooperman for a business deal.

 

No-Step: "Were you able to arrange a meeting with Cooperman?"

Jonathan Bridges: "According to the people I spoke with, Cooperman stopped returning calls a few weeks ago."

No-Step: "So that's a dead end."

Jonathan Bridges: "I wouldn't say that. Apparently he's quite the medieval history buff."

No-Step: "He's using the chip, not selling it."

Jonathan Bridges: "And he's the primary fixer for the Blood Rumblers go-gang." (pause) "I may not be able to reach Cooperman, but I bet we can find Genghis Khan's new horde."

 

Byte Force: "Go-gangs are pretty mobile. How do we make a quiet run against a large, well-armed, moving target?"

Eye Spy: "They have to sleep sometime."

No-Step: "It's a large gang. They probably won't all sleep at the same time."

 

Byte Force: "Why don't we 'accidentally' lose a few kegs of beer out of the van when we're near the Blood Rumblers. They'll take advantage of their 'good fortune', and we'll take advantage of their inebriation." (pause) "We can spike it to boost the alcohol content first, and put tracking devices on the kegs."

No-Step: "Don't you think Cooperman will be too suspicious to fall for that?"

Happy Jack: "I don't think Cooperman is running the show. The Genghis Khan chip is."

 

The plan worked ... sort of ...

 

Eye Spy: "Some of the gangers stopped to grab the kegs, but the rest of them are chasing me."

Dent: "They're looking for more beer."

Eye Spy: "I don't have any more!"

 

Once again, the photoelectric paint job saved the day. Eye Spy broke line-of-sight, changed the paint scheme from a food service van to a Shiawase utility van, then put the van into a bootlegger turn so it was driving the opposite direction.

 

Audacity Jane: "As soon as you get past them, break line-of-sight again, then change into Lone Star colors."

Eye Spy: "Okay. Why?"

Audacity Jane: "If they swing back around, I want to be able to shoot them without seeming out of character."

 

The ruse worked, and the team was able to follow the tracking devices back to where The Blood Rumblers were. Unfortunately, the Blood Rumblers were having a meeting with a larger go-gang, the Red Rovers, and there wasn't enough booze to get them all completely drunk.

 

Dent: (returning to his body after scouting Astrally) "They're forming an alliance. They're working out the details."

Happy Jack: "Negotiations are a delicate thing. If something goes wrong, they could all pull out guns and start shooting."

No-Step: "How do we get to Cooperman without turning this into a bloodbath?"

Byte Force: "Can we spook them into running, then run them into a trap?"

Happy Jack: "It would be easier to get them attacking us, then get them to chase us into a trap."

Dent: "They have too much firepower for any of us to soak up, including you Jack."

No-Step: "If they're shooting at my illusion, the amount of firepower doesn't matter."

Happy Jack: "So they chase your bait down a dark alley. We create chaos, grab Cooperman, then split."

Eye Spy: "Creating chaos ... that's playing to our strengths."

 

No-Step: (decribing the illusion he intended to use) "Two little old ladies, wearing flannel nightgowns, riding on an underpowered motor scooter. The will both be swearing at the go-gang, and the one in back will be shooting at them wildly with an Uzi III."

Eye Spy: "They won't chase that. They'll be falling over laughing."

Audacity Jane: "If you really want to enrage the go-gangers, have your little old ladies shoot at their bikes."

 

Byte Force: "We need to lubricate the pavement and get an 80 motorcycle pile-up."

Dent: "We don't have anywhere near that much lubricant."

Byte Force: "Water is a lubricant. Find a fire hydrant."

 

The team had additional ideas of how to cause a massive accident.

 

Byte Force: "Use flash-paks to blind them."

Audacity Jane: "Use smoke grenades to blind them."

Dent: "Use the city spirits' Accident power."

Happy Jack: "Use a concussion grenade to knock the ones in front off their bikes."

Dent: "Now that's just overkill."

 

Audacity Jane: "I can narcojet Cooperman, but how are we going to get him out of the alley?"

Happy Jack: "You rappel down into the alley, tie a rope around him, and I pull him up to us."

Audacity Jane: "You expect me to drop down into the middle of an alley filled with angry go-gangers?"

Happy Jack: "Drop a tear gas grenade first. That should clear you some elbow room."

Audacity Jane: "You expect me to drop down into the middle of a cloud of tear gas?"

Happy Jack: "Wear a gas mask ... or are you worried that it's going to mess up your hair?"

Audacity Jane gave Happy Jack an icy stare.

Eye Spy: "Jack, you are either the bravest man I have ever met, or you have a deathwish."

Happy Jack: "Jane's not going to kill me. She may need me to pull her up out of the alley."

Audacity Jane: "Do you expect me to forget what you said afterwards?"

Happy Jack: "I'll figure out some other way to be completely indispensable by then."

 

Audacity Jane: "Some of the go-gangers might be able to see through the smoke. Or they might start shooting randomly."

Dent: "We'll have to get them fleeing mindlessly in fear."

Audacity Jane: "Some people respond to fear by going full-auto."

No-Step: "I'll use some watcher spirits to make sure they're doing 'flight' instead of 'fight'."

Byte Force: "Nobody in their right mind is scared of watcher spirits."

No-Step: "In the middle of a cloud of smoke, nobody can see that they're watchers. They're just disembodied voices."

Audacity Jane: "What can they say that's going to terrify go-gangers?"

 

Several minutes later, in the accident filled, smoke filled alley....

 

Watcher spirits: "OH MY GOD !! I smell gas! They're going to burn us alive! RUN !!"

 

As the team was driving away...

 

Dent: "Should I take Cooperman's chip out?"

No-Step: "Wait until Eye Spy can monitor his vitals."

Dent: "Should I hold off on doing Mind Probe?"

No-Step: "Go ahead and do it. Tee Hee said these chips could do brain damage. I'd like a 'before' and 'after' picture."

 

Later, Eye Spy, No-Step and Dent monitored Cooperman as they removed the Genghis Khan chip.

 

Eye Spy: "He's flatlining!"

Dent: (still maintaining the Mind Probe) "He's dead."

No-Step: (casting Treat Deadly Wounds) "He's. Not. Dead. Yet."

Eye Spy: "That was cool."

Byte Force: "Except for the Monty Python quote."

Dent: "Well, he is a snake shaman."

Audacity Jane: (speed-dialing an organ legger) "We've got a fresh one for you ... oh ... wait ... false alarm. Sorry."

[Weldun]

Audacity Jane: (speed-dialing an organ legger) "We've got a fresh one for you ... oh ... wait ... false alarm. Sorry."

 

"Dead is dead. Parts is parts. Dead guy is parts." - Ripperjack

[Houston GM]

The shadowrunners were an ork/troll group. Against stereotype, they specialized in stealth, subtlety, bluff, illusion, deception and misdirection.

 

Cast of characters: 

Dent: ork, rat shaman

No-Step: ork, snake shaman, healer

Byte Force: ork, decker, chemist

Eye Spy: ork, rigger, drones, paramedic

Audacity Jane: ork, combat, stealth, security systems

Happy Jack: troll, combat, disguise, negotiator

Val (NPC): a rigger; using the Cleopatra dreamchip

 

Dreamchipper - Party Crashing

This module was previously described by Drhoz (here).

 

The team had determined who was in possession of the dreamchips ... but finding them and recovering them was a more difficult task. One dreamchip had been recovered, but two more remained.

 

Happy Jack: "Val has started dating Booker Pengrave, a junior executive at Hollywood Simsense Entertainment."

No-Step: "And she'll continue dating him until she meets a senior executive."

Happy Jack: "Are any of their senior executives trolls?"

Byte Force: (checking the Matrix) "No."

Happy Jack: "So ... that rules out Plan A."

 

Happy Jack: "Pengrave is holding a big party at his penthouse tonight. Jane and I can go in there, scope out the place, then figure out the best way to break in later."

Audacity Jane: "How are we getting in there?"

Happy Jack: "We'll deliver a few cases of expensive wine. That should get us all the way to the bar. If we need to do more scouting, we can come back again a few hours later as part of the cleaning crew."

Dent: "How much is all that expensive wine going to cost us?"

Happy Jack: "Maybe 100 or 200 nuyen."

Dent: "Per bottle?"

Happy Jack: "No. For a few cases."

Eye Spy: "Uh ... Jack ... that's not expensive wine."

Happy Jack: "I know. We're going to dumpster dive for expensive wine bottles, fill them with cheaper wine, then reseal them."

Byte Force: "The attendees might be too drunk to notice the difference."

 

Astral recon at Pengrave's party was not an option.

 

No-Step: "There are at least four security mages patrolling in astral space."

Dent: "Either that, or they're peeping Toms watching the orgy upstairs."

 

No-Step: (to Jack and Jane) "We can't even put any spells on you without risking making the mages suspicious."

Happy Jack: "That's okay. We're disguising ourselves as menial labor. That doesn't require much effort."

 

The wine delivery went without a hitch and provided useful information for a later break-in. At the end of the party, Jack and Jane would reenter the apartment disguised as part of the cleaning crew. Once the extra magickal security departed, Jane would climb up onto the roof with her gear. After everyone left (and Pengrave and Val went to bed) she would sneak back down, abduct Val, then rappel both of them down to the street.

 

Of course, the plan hit a snag shortly after the duo inserted themselves in with the cleaning crew.

 

Eye Spy: (over the radio link) "Val and Pengrave are leaving the building. They're getting in a limo."

Audacity Jane: "That's perfect. Because we're kind of stuck here."

 

Eye Spy managed to use her drone to tail the limo to the marina, while the rest of the team (except Jack and Jane) followed the limo at a discrete distance.

 

Eye Spy: "If they leave in a boat, we'll have no way to follow them."

Dent: "We'll just have to make sure they don't get on a boat."

Pengrave and Val were well down the pier, heading to a boat, so Dent summoned a sea spirit, then sent it to use it's Fear power on Val, making her afraid of the water. As Val turned and ran back towards the team, Pengrave chased after her ... until Dent commanded the sea spirit to use its Confusion power on Pengrave. Pengrave immediately ran off the side of the pier and fell into the water.

Eye Spy: "If only I had caught that on video."

 

No-Step: (disguised as a marina security guard) "Are you okay ma'am?"

Byte Force, concealed by No-Step's city spirit, snuck up behind Val and shot a narcojet dart at her ... but he missed her and hit No-Step. No-Step collapsed. As Val stared at No-Step in alarm, Byte Force shot another dart at her ... with much greater success.

Byte Force: "At least I'm batting .500."

Dent: "Remind me to always stand behind you when you're shooting."

[BoloOfEarth]

Our group now alternates between my Champions game and a D&D-4 game.  However, the D&D DM texted me a few days before our normal game day asking if I could run instead.  I didn't really have anything prepared, so I threw something together.  But I did take the time to put together a weekly news page.

 

One article mentions the "newly-formed team of superheroes, as yet unnamed".

 

Nexus:  Does that mean we have to come up with a team name?  You know we suck at that.

(That's true -- past team names have included THEM (The Heroes of Eastern Michigan) and S-Squad (because all the team members names began with "S")

GM:  If you don't come up with a team name, the editor of the Heronet Herald will give you one.  This is the same guy that came up with "Earth-818" for the alternate world.  So, not very creative.   You'll probably end up with something like Boston Area Super-Heroes.

Maker:  BASH!  I like it!  You know, that's actually the kind of name we'd come up with.

 

Maker's player looks through the prior week's news, which included a Name That Dimension contest,with appropriate hokey prizes, to come up with a better name than Earth-818.  She then passes the GM a note:

 

"Maker wants the Foxbat inflatable punching bag and submits Ogygia for Earth-818."

 

Another article in the current news talks about Pops taking down a misshapen creature attacking a supermarket, so I started the night off with that encounter.  Pops is on his way home to get ready for a hot date.

 

Pops:  Why are you picking on me?  You know that if I saw something happening, I'd probably just teleport the other direction.

Nexus:  Hey, at least you know up front you're going to win!

 

The creature is a star vampire, which is normally invisible but becomes temporarily visible after feasting.

 

GM:  As Pops teleports into the store, he sees a badly maimed person lying on the ground, with several other people apparently fighting something invisible, which tosses them aside like gnats while it sucks blood from the maimed guy.  As Pops watches, the creature becomes visible as the blood it's drinking circulates through it's body.  (Shows Pops a picture of the creature.

Pops:  Okay, that's just wrong.  I don't do tentacles.  I don't even like anime.  That's more Honey Badger's or Circe's thing.

 

After a few phases of combat...

 

GM: You notice that, as the blood it drank is being absorbed, the creature is starting to fade away.  You figure it'll be invisible again by the end of the Turn.

 

The creature grabs Pops and latches a tentacle onto his throat to begin sucking his blood.

 

Pops:  Well, at least it'll be visible a bit longer.

 

Pops eventually defeats the creature and turns it over to PRIMUS.  He then pays a visit to his teammate Malarky.

 

Pops:  You know that healing thing you did while fighting the Boston Commons?  Could you do that to me?  (points to his neck)  I have a date tonight, and I don't want her to see this hickey.

 

The heroes investigate, and discover that odd-looking creatures have been popping in and out of existence all over town.  Some pop up in the afternoon, but most show up from about 9 pm to 2 am.  None are reported between 2 am and noonish.

 

Shadowboxer:  I map out all the appearances and look for patterns.

GM:  You actually see two groups -- the afternoon appearances are in one part of town, near some apartment buildings and warehouses converted into condos, that sort of thing.  The late evening/early night appearances are in a different part of Boston.  Most of them have been pretty close to a number of lower-grade bars and other dives.

Shadowboxer:  That would explain the appearances ending by 2 am.  That's when the bars close up.

Malarky:  So basically, we're looking for a drunk summoner.

 

(More to follow)

[BoloOfEarth]

Boston Champions - Songs of Summoning (cont.)

 

The heroes learn that most of the summoned creatures didn't do much more than scare a few people before popping back to wherever they came from.  Curious about the one that Pops fought (which had specifically targeted the grocery store manager while ignoring pretty much everybody else around it), some go to the hospital to see how the mauled man is doing.  Unfortunately, he's still in a coma. After establishing that they're working with the Boston PD...

 

Malarky (to the ICU nurse):  Can I maybe try a wee something that might help perk him up?

Nurse Ratchet:  I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to touch my patient.  (walks away to treat another patient, but keeps an eye on Malarky)

Nurse Nice:  (walks up)  You're one of those new supeheroes, aren't you?  I saw something about you in the news.

Malarky:  Aye, that's us.  I'm Malarky, a bit of a junior mage.

Nurse Nice:  Magic, huh?  So, you can heal him, with one touch?

Malarky (realizing his Healing spell is Area of Effect):  That I can.  Don't really need to touch him, though.  (pauses)  Say, do you mind if I stand over there in the corner for a bit?  Won't be a bother.  (smiles impishly)  And if you should happen to move any really sick patients within, oh, a dozen or so meters of me in, say, five minutes time, who's to say what might happen?

Needless to say, there was some miraculous healing that day in the ICU at Mass General.

Malarky:  Wonder if I can get a date with that nurse...

 

Other heroes go to check the mauled man's apartment.

 

Honey Badger:  Maybe he was dabbling in the black arts...
Enters the apartment to find it a mess -- furniture trashed, possessions destroyed, walls sliced as if by claws, and overly large maggots squirming all over the place.

Honey Badger:  ... and it got away from him.

 

Circe tries reading the man's mind, but he's just as clueless as they are.

 

Mr. Goodman (walking around a mental construct of his trashed apartment):  Would you look at this mess?  Why me?  What did I ever do?  I'm a law-abiding guy, try and keep the peace.  Serve on the neighborhood watch.  Try and keep things nice in my neighborhood, call the police when people aren't being civil.  And this is what happens?

 

Unfortunately, they didn't catch the clue and so they didn't ask if he had made any complaints against neighbors lately.  Instead, they start checking out the bars near where some of the creatures appeared.

 

Malarky:  You guys realize I'm not allowed in a bar, don't you?  I'm only 18.

Pops:  Wait, don't you use booze for one of your spells? 

Malarky:  That's different.  It's not alcohol, it's a spell component.

 

Shadowboxer listens in on a few conversations between patrons.

 

Guy #1:  Hopefully they'll have a better band tonight.

Guy #2:  Yeah, those guys last night were horrid.  I mean, their early stuff was alright, I can dig some good metal, but then they started on their 'new' stuff.  Talk about dark and depressing...

Shadowboxer:  Excuse me.  Couldn't help but overhear.  Do you remember what the band who played here last night was called?

Guy #1:  Something like Road House, wasn't it?

Guy #2:  No, it was Road Kill.

(players groan in agony.  Ah, the lamentations of players are like nectar to the GM!)

 

Circe:  That was the band that tried out at my club last week, wasn't it? (smugly)  Good thing I refused to book them.  They won't be trashing my club.

GM:  Funny you should mention that... (pulls out the game map and begins laying it out)