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Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log


Edsel

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Campaign Log Session 12

 

GAME SESSION TWELVE

Actual Date: 7/22/2006

 

This session a new player character was introduced into the game. Samuel Nagakura whose vigilante name is Ken Seidai enters the campaign. The character is the son of an American mother and a Japanese father. His family still lives in the Hudson City area. The vigilante Ken Seidai uses a katana and carries a Colt Python as a backup weapon. A full background is available for this character.

 

I initially thought that this entry would be fairly brief since most of the session was taken up by combat rather than role-playing. However, it seemed to grow in the writing.

 

Saturday, February 8th

Ken Seidai cautiously approached the house. His dark colored costume and layers of clothing made his movement a little stiffer than he’d have liked but it was either dress in layers or freeze to death. A few flakes of snow drifted out of the sky which only seemed to add to the chill in the air. He paused in an especially dark shadow and squinted to see the address on the house. 3221 Durham Street, yep, this was definitely the correct address.

 

It had taken weeks of research to find this house. He had started by spying on two or three of the known dealers in this area, people who were a part of Buckshot’s gang, at least that’s what he been told. Once he’d gotten their street names from some customers he’d figured out what their real names were. Then he found out the names of people that they ran with. Finally he found out that this house was apparently owned by one of the names on that list and so were several clandestine bank accounts. The name was an alias but this house had to be involved in some way. There was far too much money owned by the alias that owned this house. He was sure this was something big.

 

If there was one thing that Sam Nagakura could spot it was a front for money laundering. He’d been doing forensic accounting for longer than he had been a vigilante. Sam Nagakura found the prey and then he became Ken Seidai to take it down.

 

The house had bared windows and only the slightest hint of light escaped from the heavy drapes. No doubt the door was at least as sturdy as it looked. He wasn’t sure how he’d handle this yet, this was the first time he tried to take down an establishment like this one. Then his thoughts were rudely interrupted.

 

The two lookouts he’d previously avoided apparently chose this moment to get out of the car parked in the street and head toward the house. It was probably just bad luck that they chose this moment to go inside and rouse their replacements for the next watch. Ken was caught in a bad spot right at the corner of the yard without much cover there was no way that they could fail to see him. As the first man registered his presence Ken flew to the attack.

 

“Hey dawg, what the fu…” was all the first man managed to say before the katana flashed down upon him. The gun the gangsta had been raising fell to the ground along with him. The second man fired a quick shot but missed wildly. He too soon felt the sting of the sword as it slashed across his chest. Ken turned to run; he’d lost his surprise he’d have to try this some other night.

 

He got to the edge of the yard before he heard a shot behind him and felt a terrific punch in his back and then everything went black…

 

 

By 3:15 AM the Weekend Warriors arrive at the second house on their list. They are leery of trouble since there is a chance that the thugs here might have been alerted due to their earlier raid on the first house. They notice disturbed snow in the front yard and what could be blood. It looks as if a struggle of some sort has taken place. They have little time to ponder this as they immediately launch into their attack. They have pretty much decided that stealth is out, so their strategy revolves around going on the attack as soon as they arrive. In this way, even if they are spotted, the enemy has little time to respond and is immediately put on the defensive.

 

The raid takes less than 30 seconds (about 2 turns) to carry out. The Weekend warriors are very successful since it appears that they did catch the gang members by surprise. None of the vigilantes suffer any injuries. No doubt that this was due in part to the gang being preoccupied with two grievously wounded members and a prisoner.

 

Ken Seidai arrived about 10 minutes before the Weekend Warriors. The gang was taken by surprise by the turn of events. They knew that one of their other houses had been hit so they were apprehensive and on guard. Whenever they had the altercation with Ken they thought that perhaps that was going to be it for the night. Ken badly injured two of their members and when he turned to flee he was shot in the back by one of Buckshot’s chief lieutenants, a fellow named Drive-By. Fortunately his armored costume kept him from suffering BODY but the STUN damage was enough to take him down and thus he was captured by the gang. The Weekend Warriors launched their attack just as the gang had finished dragging their wounded back inside and just before they could start to work over Ken.

 

The Weekend Warriors soon discover Ken being held prisoner within the house tied to a chair. It doesn’t take long for the vigilantes to determine that they are all in the same line of work (Ken has a reputation as a vigilante).

 

In addition to rescuing Ken the Weekend Warriors are able to take a prisoner. One quick interrogation later they are able to determine in which of the remaining houses they can find Buckshot. Ken is in good shape so he is able to quickly reclaim his weapons and he agrees to join the Weekend Warriors on their raid of the next house. The Weekend Warriors are eager to have him along. Buckshot should prove to be a tough target and odds are that he and his homies are expecting trouble. The vigilantes will need all the manpower and luck they can get.

 

 

The second house does turn out to be a much tougher nut to crack. Upon their arrival they are spotted by a lookout who is wearing night vision goggles. D-Man quickly notices and blinds the man by illuminating him with his flashlight. When they attempt to storm the house they are met with fire from three sides. Buckshot and one of his boys are firing out of the house as they approach. A thug with an AK-47 opens up on them from across the street. Two more gangsters emerge from a car parked of the other side of the house and open fire with MAC-10 Submachine guns.

 

This erupts into an all out war that rapidly reduces the local property values as the Weekend Warriors return about as much fire as they are given. D-Man alternately engages targets with his .408 ChayTac and his 10-guage shotgun. Choir Boy starts spraying the hostiles with 7.62mm SLAP round from his FN-SCAR assault rifle. Sweeper starts squeezing off .454 Casull rounds. Lost in the noise are the silenced shots from Crucible’s .45 ACP SOCOM pistol. Ken is able to dash up to the house and hides between a parked car and the wall.

 

Soon the .408 CheyTac drops the AK-47 armed goon across the street. The two MAC-10 wielding gangsters are taken out too. Ken manages to jump to the hood of the car, then to the roof and is soon able to chop the arm off of a thug who is firing through an attic vent.

 

This battle last just over 30 seconds (nearly 3 turns) and in the end an amazing amount of ammo has flown through the neighborhood.

 

Buckshot is dead. He was dropped by a bullet from Crucible’s gun. Many of the top people in his gang are dead or incapacitated as well, but the Weekend Warriors have suffered as well. Choir Boy was hit in the foot by a round, fortunately it is not very serious (3 BODY wound). Crucible was hit three times in the chest with a MAC-10 at the same instant he killed the shooter. He has suffered only minor chest injuries thanks to his armor (3 BODY but he was knockout cold). Ken got hit again but his armor stopped the bullets however he was knocked out temporarily.

 

At the end of the battle both Ken and Crucible were lying unconscious in the back of the house with a single gangster standing over them. Fortunately the thug realized that he was alone and the other vigilantes were coming for him. He fled without finishing off the unconscious Weekend Warriors.

 

Worst off of the vigilantes is Sweeper. He suffers a head wound which is eerily similar to what happened to Choir Boy. A 12-guage slug from Buckshot’s shotgun has come within a hair’s breath of killing him. Heroic paramedic efforts of D-Man are the only thing that saves his life.

 

Sweeper has 11 BODY normally, he suffers a head wound taking him to -9 BODY (2 shy of death). This is a lot like the Choir Boy incident and another validation for wearing a helmet, or some sort of head protection, when you are expecting a fire fight.

 

Buckshot was wearing body armor but Crucible hit him with a Reversed Ogive (THV) round. It is a very effective round at close ranges and fortunately this was. The bullet ripped through Buckshot’s armor and (as seems to be a frequent occurrence) got a high damage roll.

 

While D-Man is making his heroic paramedic efforts to save Sweeper’s life the rest of the team quickly gathers any useful equipment, including Buckshot’s unique shotgun. As quickly as they can they load Sweeper into their car and depart the scene. They realize that the volume of gunfire that was just exchanged is bound to draw the attention of the HCPD sooner rather than later.

 

The team quickly contacts Dr. Bryce Conner, the same doctor who just got through treating Choir Boy for his similar injury. They inform the doctor that they have another patient for him and arrange a place where they can take Jacob for medical attention. Though the group has recovered a little over $90,000 in cash from the two houses they have hit tonight they have to give $50,000 of that to Dr. Bryce and his associates up front to obtain the vital and confidential medical care that Jacob will require.

 

Dr. Bryce Conner is a doctor who can arrange this sort of clandestine medical treatment no questions asked. He is frequented by Mafia and other criminals. Due to Ryan Gray’s former mob ties he knows how to contact the doctor. When Choir Boy was previously injured a phone number to contact the doctor was among his possessions, which is how the team got in touch with him at that time.

 

After getting Jacob delivered and the other team members’ lesser injuries tended to it is close to 6:30 in the morning. The team disperses for a few hours so that they can get as much rest as possible. The basket ball tournament is due to begin at 10:00 AM so they must all arrive there by that time to cover any possible trouble that either gang might still be able to foment. As it turns out the basketball tournament is quiet, apparently the Weekend Warriors and Libra succeeded in quashing any planed violence.

 

At the basket ball tournament Crucible and Knockout make contact and exchange information about the outcome of their raids. Knockout tells him that Blade and Hammer were injured during their operations. Both are expected to make full recoveries but they will be laid up for a while. Shango’s gang was crippled and his chief lieutenant was slain but Shango himself escaped through a secret passage into the storm sewers that Libra was unaware.

 

 

Before noon the news of the firefights that took place in Freetown are all over the media. Local TV stations are blaring stories with reporters on site and several of the newspapers are printing extra editions. All told it is believe that something like 35 people were killed in the overnight violence.

 

Throughout the day local, national and world media descend on anyone in a position of authority demanding to know what will be done to curb the violence. The few witnesses to the events of last night have apparently been talking to someone since the media has already placed the blame for about of half the body count on the vigilante group Libra. In addition there are unconfirmed rumors that the new group the Weekend Warriors was also involved.

 

The immediate response of the HCPD is to cancel all leave and the city grants emergency funds for overtime pay. The police say that they will double normal patrols. That evening mayor Umstead and police commissioner Ringwald call a joint news conference to respond to the demands for action that have been growing all day.

 

At the press conference the mayor and commissioner are bombarded with questions and demands for a plan of action to curb the vigilante and criminal violence within the city. They promise an increase in the police budget and the expansion of the anti-vigilante task force in an effort to track down those responsible. But their best efforts seem to fall short of what the assembled press and spectators are demanding. The crowd has worked itself up into frenzy.

 

That night the vigilante Renegade goes on a rampage in Latin City and kills several members of the Los Toros street gang. The vigilante is able to avoid the responding units of the HCPD, but just barely.

 

Sunday, February 9th

The next day the state government steps in to address the outcry from the public (to a large part the outcry is originating from activists and pundits who are milking the situation for all it’s worth). The Governor, flanked by state senate and house members and the mayor holds a press conference to announce the state’s intervention in the “escalating cycle of violence currently racking Hudson City.”

 

A special detachment of State Troopers will be tasked to Hudson City to help the local law enforcement regain control of the streets. In addition a limited number of National Guard has been activated. The guardsmen will assist the HCPD in their administrative and clerical duties in order to free up the maximum number of police for patrol duty. Starting tonight at 10:00 PM a curfew will be imposed, since the vast majority of lawlessness has been occurring after dark. The curfew will be lifted when the authorities are confident that things are back under control. Those with night jobs will have to obtain special street passes, free of charge, from the HCPD (a large administrative task in which the National Guard will be doing most of the clerical work).

 

The state legislature is working on an emergency funding bill that will provide funds for Hudson City to expand the Anti-Vigilante Task Force into a squad level unit. This will be known as the Vigilante Activities Investigation Squad. Its duty will be to pursue, full time, those who have chosen to take the law into their own hands.

 

During the night only a single murder occurs in Hudson City, about a third of what was usual until the recent escalation. No vigilante activity is noted and even the street gangs seem to be laying low in view of the expanded police presence. However most people realize the city and state cannot afford this level of law enforcement for very long.

 

My assessment of this situation is that the gangsters and outlaws of the city can afford to lay low. Their disputes and such will simmer below the surface for the time being. A power vacuum has been created with the death of Buckshot, but with the increased law enforcement activity it will be difficult for Shango or any other gangs to move in on his former territory. Odds are that a survivor of the gang, or an unknown, will rise to take power over his former areas.

 

The Weekend Warriors are in a good position to lay low for a while. Penny Dreadful’s latest Velloric-inspired crime has been stopped, but the bloodshed may actually make her consider it a success (an urban war was her plan after all). Jacob Johnson will be out of action for at least a month and during that time the other Weekend Warriors will have to manufacture a new identity for him. They can also pass time working on their goal of establishing a base of operations.

 

Monday, February 10th through Saturday, March 18th, G.Y. 2

Sweeper is pretty much bedridden until March 4th (reaches 1 BODY). On March 7th (recovered to 2 BODY) he is able to contact Zhu Hsaio who visits him on March 8th. Zhu Hsaio uses his Ch’i healing on Sweeper and is able to give him back 5 BODY (bringing him to 7 BODY). It is March 18th before he is fully healed.

 

During the month of downtime the group does a lot of work on obtaining property for a base. Their two previously listed prospects are abandoned when they hit upon the idea of establishing a bed & breakfast in the Vidersea area near Embassy Row and near the coast at the southeast corner of 8th Avenue and Broome Street.

 

Over this period the rate of violent crime drops to near all-time lows. Police patrols are a much more common sight on the streets of Hudson City. But the financial strain of this level of police activity starts to rapidly drain the city coffers. Vigilante activity becomes scarce. By the second week of March, with a month of low crime, the fervor in the press and the public outcry has subsided. By March 15th the level of police activity has dropped back to normal and the curfew is canceled. However the city is still gearing up the new VAIS (Vigilante Activities Investigation Squad) unit. VAIS is expected to be activated as a squad on April 1st. In addition a reward system has been announced that will pay those who provide evidence leading to the arrest and conviction of suspected vigilantes.

 

During this month the members of the Weekend Warriors have managed to build a new identity for Walter Aldrich, alias Jacob Johnson, alias Sweeper. However details of the new identity and the activities of the police who are seeking Sweeper, based on upon the leads provided by the interview, will have to wait until our next session.

 

Session Wrap-up

 

Recovered Weapons & Equipment

The team recovered $91,247 from the two houses that they hit this session, but $50,000 of that was used to get Sweeper the clandestine and urgent medical attention that he needed. A lot of weapons were also recovered:

 

(6) AK-47 Assault Rifles, fully automatic, (5) MAC-10 Submachine guns, one has a silencer, and two 30-rounds clips of AP ammo, (3) H&K MP5 Submachine guns, (4) SKS Carbines, (1) LAR Grizzly pistol in .50 AE (this was Buckshot’s), (2) Browning HP pistols in .40 S&W, (2) Ruger P89 pistols, (1) Glock 17L pistol, (4) Combat knives, (3) Switchblade knives, (4) M67 Fragmentation grenades, (1) Mossberg 590 shotgun, (1) Daewoo USAS-12 Assault Shotgun, fully automatic, (1) Pair of polarized sunglasses (provides 5 points of flash defense).

 

In addition the team claimed Buckshot’s shotgun, it is a custom built 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun that features a pair of 8-round magazines. The ammo can feed can be selected with the flick of the thumb. This allows two different types of ammo to be loaded at the same time. Buckshot kept one magazine of slugs and one of buckshot in the weapon.

 

Body Count & Damage

Buckshot and his chief lieutenant, Drive-by, were killed along with 12 other gang members. The total is 14 dead and 8 badly injured. Of the injured one was maimed when Ken chopped off his left arm below the elbow.

 

Experience Awards

Each player character got 3 EP this was mainly a combat session but a major plot was unraveled and Buckshot was removed from the picture. The team was awarded a 2 EP donation to their base due to the excellent work that Crucible’s player has done working on the plans.

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Good stuff! Thanks again for the entertaining read.

 

So how'd your new player do? From the writeup, it sounds like he jumped right in there...

 

- Vassoom

 

Pretty well. He has only played Hero system a few times so he was getting a lot of tactical advice from the rest of the group. I'm sure he'll get the hang of it in a couple of sessions. I think he'll make a fine addition to the group.

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Yeah, An all I got was this dang headwound!:(

 

Call it fate :rolleyes:

 

Could have been anyone who got the headshot ~ you just happened to be at a bad angle from Buck-Buck. The mac-10 shot that took me to -48 STUN could have easily been the head shot (now wouldn't that have been ugly? How long does it take to REC from -100 STUN?).

 

I think when the new guy starts to get the hang of the game he will perk up. In the meantime, a little coaching can go a far way.

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Edsel, sir, you make me almost wish I was back at Ft. Sill, just so I could commute to your game! I have all sessions printed out and in their own special binder just so I can show the people around here what a Dark Champions game is really all about! Thanks for sharing this with all of us.

 

Matt "Yeah-I-really-have-no-life-outside-of-gaming-but-I-don't-care" Frisbee

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Edsel' date=' sir, you make me [i']almost [/i]wish I was back at Ft. Sill, just so I could commute to your game! I have all sessions printed out and in their own special binder just so I can show the people around here what a Dark Champions game is really all about! Thanks for sharing this with all of us.

 

Matt "Yeah-I-really-have-no-life-outside-of-gaming-but-I-don't-care" Frisbee

 

You are too kind. :o

 

BTW I have the entire campaign log in a single Word document (I can convert it to PDF easily as well). If anyone wants a copy I'd be happy to email them one.

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Hm. The group should really consider going in and bugging the VAIS offices before they become fully active.

 

Wouldn't that be wicked?

 

Oh, and AWESOME!!!!

It'd be a more useful in the long run to get an informant inside the VAIS, but bugging their HQ would be almost as good. I don't know if any of the WW have Secret IDs that would provide that kind of access.

 

Our Hudson City group has a female Asst. District Attorney they rescued from being murdered as a Contact who feeds them info and helps with investigations somewhat, but what they really need is a contact inside HCPD. They had a possible candidate in a female Asian-American HCPD detective sergeant named Ellen Kwan, but their last exploit earned her get an official reprimand and right now she's not in a cooperative mood. That may change with time (or not).

 

So far HCPD and the city administration has largely ignored our three super-vigilantes (we're 250 point street-level supers, not ordinary Joes with guns like those much braver souls in the Weeked Warriors), not only because two of us rescued the governor and mayor at a charity banquet, but because thus far we've avoided any body count (all three heroes have CvK, which haven't prevented more than a few broken bones and hospializations among the bad guys). The police make occasional vague rumblings about preventing vigilante justice, but thus far nothing concrete has come of it.

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Ah... to BE IN a game where the GM takes into account things like the PD's overall response to recent events in the city, having informants in the special investigative squads, etc etc. Makes me tingly.

 

Aside from me (when I used to run Dark Champions), our group only had one other guy whose mind ran to those sorts of things. He works as a defense attorney and one of his undergrad degrees is Criminal Justice, not to mention being a total HERO system geek, so he would have been the perfect DC GM, except that HE NEVER HAD ANY TIME. Sigh. The other guy who understood HERO well enough to run it (we have three players who can make characters, but whose heads would explode if they had to GM a session of it) could think tactically and design really interesting set-piece encounters, but wasn't really interested in or enthusiastic about keeping up with "what the world is doing" while the PCs do their thing.

 

Alas.

 

Sounds like a neat game. The post-session logs are a really good idea, too. Why didn't our group ever think of that...??

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Ah... to BE IN a game where the GM takes into account things like the PD's overall response to recent events in the city, having informants in the special investigative squads, etc etc. Makes me tingly.

 

Aside from me (when I used to run Dark Champions), our group only had one other guy whose mind ran to those sorts of things. He works as a defense attorney and one of his undergrad degrees is Criminal Justice, not to mention being a total HERO system geek, so he would have been the perfect DC GM, except that HE NEVER HAD ANY TIME. Sigh. The other guy who understood HERO well enough to run it (we have three players who can make characters, but whose heads would explode if they had to GM a session of it) could think tactically and design really interesting set-piece encounters, but wasn't really interested in or enthusiastic about keeping up with "what the world is doing" while the PCs do their thing.

 

Alas.

 

Sounds like a neat game. The post-session logs are a really good idea, too. Why didn't our group ever think of that...??

 

Probably because it is a lot of work to keep track of that many items at the same time. I have a hard enough time keeping track what happened three sessions ago -- which is why I keep session logs in the first place. (It is also why I never try to run "real world" stuff, either, even though I love playing a setting like that.

 

Matt "Still-thinking-of-moving-to-Oklahoma-City-to-play-in-Edsel's-game" Frisbee

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

I don't think that my game would be possible without me keeping the campaign log. As Matt states there is a lot going on and its hard to keep track of everything. Each play session starts with me reading the log entry from the last game aloud, that way everyone remembers just what happened two weeks ago.

 

I also maintain a People, Palces & Things document that has a brief entry for anyone or anything that the team has had an interaction with. This is available to the players. If they hear a name they can look it up in this document and see if that name has come up before. There are currently 113 entries. I keep a tally of the captured/acquired equipment that the team has at their disposal too.

 

I also keep a calendar of future events but that is only a guideline. The time tables of the other factions in the game can and do change based upon what the players do. The calendar also allows me to know the weather, sunrise, sunset, phase of the moon, moonrise, moonset, etc. ahead of time. I also keep an eye out for holidays and other days of significance to Hudson City.

 

I also have a GM Only list of stuff that doesn't go in the campaign log. That is where I keep track of what the NPCs in the game know that the Weekend Warriors don't. For instance any evidence left behind that the team didn't cover-up. Plots that are unfolding that the team doesn't know about yet. What exactly do the cops know or suspect about the vigilantes, etc.

 

Lastly I have written notes on plots that I am still fleshing out for possible inclusion in later games. I often jot down notes when watching TV or reading a book.

 

I run the game every other Saturday. A big challenge coming up is that I am due to run a game on August 5th, Go to Gencon Aug. 9-14 (counting travel days) and then run another session on August 19th. It is a lot to manage. However, when I was younger I ran a similar game every Saturday so I only had a single week to get things in order before I ran the next session. Frankly, I am not sure how I managed that.

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Well, be it born of necessity or inspiration (if indeed the two be different), the campaign logs are a great idea. One of our players is a software developer, and he set up a wiki on his website for use in our games, but I used it mostly to post alternate rules and additional source material for the Star Trek game I used to run, not to recap adventures or keep a running encyclopedia of people, places, and things.

 

Ironically, though, me and some of the players in a high-flying four color superheroes game I ran a few years back have recently started cobbling together such an encyclopedia from old game notes (some of the players, fortunately, kept detailed running notes on their laptops). Funny that we've only just now hit on this brilliant idea for a game that is no longer running.

 

However' date=' when I was younger I ran a similar game every Saturday so I only had a single week to get things in order before I ran the next session. Frankly, I am not sure how I managed that.[/quote']

 

Eyuch. I used to do that. And, like you, I don't see how. Oh, wait, I remember... I had a pointless, brainless job that required no thought or effort, and I could use work time to write adventures.

 

I don't think that will work now that I'm going to be in grad school.

 

Landon "I AM moving to Oklahoma, although not specifically for Edsel's game (grin)" Schurtz

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

I don't think that my game would be possible without me keeping the campaign log. As Matt states there is a lot going on and its hard to keep track of everything. Each play session starts with me reading the log entry from the last game aloud, that way everyone remembers just what happened two weeks ago.

 

I also maintain a People, Palces & Things document that has a brief entry for anyone or anything that the team has had an interaction with. This is available to the players. If they hear a name they can look it up in this document and see if that name has come up before. There are currently 113 entries. I keep a tally of the captured/acquired equipment that the team has at their disposal too.

 

I also keep a calendar of future events but that is only a guideline. The time tables of the other factions in the game can and do change based upon what the players do. The calendar also allows me to know the weather, sunrise, sunset, phase of the moon, moonrise, moonset, etc. ahead of time. I also keep an eye out for holidays and other days of significance to Hudson City.

 

I also have a GM Only list of stuff that doesn't go in the campaign log. That is where I keep track of what the NPCs in the game know that the Weekend Warriors don't. For instance any evidence left behind that the team didn't cover-up. Plots that are unfolding that the team doesn't know about yet. What exactly do the cops know or suspect about the vigilantes, etc.

 

Lastly I have written notes on plots that I am still fleshing out for possible inclusion in later games. I often jot down notes when watching TV or reading a book.

 

Edsel, I'm not entirely certain, but I believe we may actually be long lost twins who were tragically and secretly separated at birth. Or maybe it's just the "great minds think alike" axiom. :D

 

Either way, it's eerie how similar our two styles of GMing are:

  • I keep a daily log of each episode in my Dark Champions campaign, and read it aloud to the player's each session to kick off the night's game.
  • I also use a calendar tracking both (historical) past incidents, as well as probable future events, subject to change or adjustment as dictated by what those unpredictable PCs do next, as well as daily weather, sunrise/sunset info and moon phases data.
  • I have a detailed Equipment list (currently an Excel spreadsheet) provided to the PCs documenting all builds for weapons, ammo, armor, tools, cybernetics, and other items either identified or carried by the party. I also provided the players with a campaign rules summary document detailing all of my house rules, listing which optional rules are in effect for the game, as well as general campaign setting info to better "paint the picture" of the world they are inhabiting.
  • I have a detailed GM-only document listing campaign and NPC info not generally known to the players, or "not yet discovered" information for things they will eventually uncover. Currently running at just under 100 pages, it documents all of my planned long-term main story arc plans as well as detailed "side adventure" plotlines, including dialog snippets and detailed data points (Ex: the specs on that armored attaché case they intercept from a courier, the description and type of biometric safe they need to crack and how to defeat it, etc).

I also generate tons of "props" and handouts for use in-game, which I notice that you seem to enjoy, as well.

 

And here I thought I was the only one. Eerie, I tell ya! My group typically gets together once a week on Wednesday evenings, and it is definitely a challenge staying prepared enough to run weekly sessions. But we typically have enough impromptu cancellations due to real life scheduling issues that I'm able to maintain my sanity, such as it is. :nonp:

 

Glad to see another kindred spirit in the obsessive-compu, er... massively-detail-oriented GM fold. :cheers:

 

- Vassoom

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Situation Report

Analysis by Crucible

 

In light of the recent stand down from martial law in Hudson City it can be expected that a brief explosion in criminal activity will sweep the city as those who have lain low vent their pent up frustrations. Most of March was spent utilizing the reprieve given by the presence of the National Guard to collate data points and form plans to deal with future threats. Currently we are engaged in several high sensitivity operations that remain largely reactive. A concentrated effort to analyze and predict the future actions of these various investigations is necessary to ensure that we are not caught unaware.

 

TL 6: Penny Dreadful and the Veloric reenactments.

To date, Penny Dreadful has been thwarted in large by the activities of the Group. She has had several partial successes in recreating the scenarios of the Veloric fiction novels. She seems to be organizing the scenarios in chronological order according to the date of the books publication. Gunmetal Holiday was the latest event and has been resolved with the help of LIBRA. Velorics’ next book concerns deformed and mutated children in an orphanage running riot over the facility and killing nearly everyone involved before taking their own lives. There is a high probability that Penny will use an actual orphanage in this next reenactment. I have secured a list of all accredited orphanages within the greater metropolis region. In addition, I have visited several myself under the guise of writing a research paper for the VOLT Foundation on juvenile crime and placement within group homes.

 

TL 4: Aztec Slayings

The Mexican drug czar – cultist El Aztica operating from the Durango region has affiliated with the Los Toros gang of Latin City presumably to smuggle narcotics into the US. Part of this affiliation has resulted in a rash of Aztec style sacrificial murders or sacrifices committed by the gang. Los Toros is locally run by a brutal thug named Chukko (sp?) and according to word on the street he is still in command of his organization. The Nahuatl Dagger was appropriated from the Thorson Museum for justified fear that it might be an object through which the cult side of the organization could gain additional power. This hunch proved correct when Los Toros members attempted to hijack the vehicles that should have transported the now secured dagger. There are strong indications that the cult operates out of The Aztec club in Latin City and I suspect that this is where they may perform their sacrifices. Recently, any doubt we had to the daggers mystical ability was dispelled. The dagger set off photosensors in the Flag National Bank vault during the middle of the night. Later that week, cultists traced its location though unknown means to one of the safe houses where a pitched battle occurred. Several methods of securing the dagger have been contemplated and discarded as ultimately insecure. Ultimately, the Group may need to consult with an expert on mystical matters if we plan to ever keep the dagger secure.

 

TL 7: Petty Retort

Since the ending of martial law Card Sharks organization has been on a spree of kidnapping and bizarre crimes with no other motive than the victims all appear to be wealthy and have injured his organization at some point in the past. There are precious few leads left by Card Sharks operatives but the situation seems to be escalating. Coincidentally, the World Poker Championship is due to conclude later this week (OK, not a coincidence but we have yet to ascertain what the finale of this operation will be). Currently, I have integrated myself into the elite social circles surrounding the heiress to the Fordham fortune whom I suspect will be one of the next kidnap victims.

 

TL 4: The Candy Killer

Street walkers are disappearing from the Strip, presumably to meet some horrible fate at the hands of a twisted killer. Little is known about this case other than the trend appears to span several months and involves younger prostitutes. Current high visibility suspects include Caligula and Siddhartha.

 

Nottingham Bed & Breakfast

Remodeling continues along projected completion dates for the Nottingham site. I continue to look for a sizable parking garage which can be purchased down in Riverside Hills. Contractors tell us to expect completion in early summer. The contract date specifies June 3rd but with the help of John Black some electronics work has finished ahead of schedule. The Group has serious issues with maintaining covert operations and needs this facility to open ASAP.

 

Morbidity and Mortality

Recent missions undertaken by the group lead me to believe that we have several serious issues in squad level tactics. Two near fatalities and several other close calls have diminished our operating strength for over two months now. The Group should consider finding a 6th member who can integrate into the team. This would give us 3 two-man squads for wet operations. Currently, the disparity in operational tactics between various team members has been the obvious reason for such catastrophic near misses. As of now, much of the cockiness and disdain for body armor has diminished by a significant factor. With the Addition of Cutter (Ken Sedai), we have two melee combatants who function as tertiary shooters at best. This is both a severe liability and an asset. On the other hand, the heavy weapons guys have proven to risk collateral damage during nearly every firefight. Both use augmented weapons with special ammo which is about as necessary as using a 30-30 to hunt rabbit. Any consideration for future members of the Group will need to focus on finding a side arm shooter to help balance the various fire teams.

 

Finances

The Group is well funded at this point in time with easy access to nearly untraceable liquid assets thanks to the hard work of Cutter (Ken Sedai). A shell corporation based out of the Cayman Isles handles most expenses. Our petty cash has been bolstered by the recent influx of cash but if I need to continue observation of Ms Fordham we could run through that quickly.

 

More to come...

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

As you might have guessed from Eosin's post, last night we played session 13 of the Weekend Warriors campaign. Cardshark is becoming active with a new scheme and other things are cooking in the city. Right now the story has five concurent plot lines in motion.

 

I will try to get our next log entry done as soon as possible. However, Wedensday morning Eosin and I leave for Gencon and with the upcomming trip there are lots of things I need to be doing. I may or may not be able to post an update before Gencon. If all else fails I may be typing up the campaign log on my laptop during the road trip to Indy.

 

If you don't see the campaign log for session 13 by Tuesday evening, then you won't see it until sometime after Gencon.

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

Right now the story has five concurent plot lines in motion.

 

Which one did I miss? I was too tired last night to remember the fifth but I was trying to "organize" our investigations so we can come at them with some sort of plan.

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

There is also the trouble brewing between the Highway Mobsters and the Satanic Skulls. The outlaw biker gangs.

 

EDIT: BTW I think that I will get the campaign log done and posted before Gencon. I got about 2/3 of it done this evening.

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Campaign Log Session 13

 

Yea! I actually got it done before I have to leave for Gencon early tomorrow morning. :celebrate

 

GAME SESSION THIRTEEN

Actual Date: 8/5/2006

 

Saturday, March 18th, G.Y. 2

At the start of the session the item 013Props.pdf is distributed to the players. Unfortunately there is a typo in the prop, the phrase “wound be hunt” should have been “would be hurt.” There is also the standard problem that the news clipping generator does not like quotation marks so it puts a small box where the quotation marks should have been. I did this prop in a hurry as you might be able to tell.

 

The player of Sweeper was unable to attend this session since his wife had a scooter accident shortly before game time (she will be fine, just scratched up a little). From a game point-of-view the character Sweeper spends these few days taking care of maters pertaining to the establishment of his new identity. Sweeper is therefore unavailable during the events of session thirteen.

 

 

A month of time has brought a noticeable improvement to the weather in Hudson City, this morning it is sunny with seasonable temperatures.

 

The news this morning contains data about Cardshark kidnapping a local software designer, George Malcomb. (This is the newspaper article that is contained in the file 013props.pdf.) In addition there is also a news story about a battle that took place between members of the Highway Mobsters motorcycle gang and some of their rivals in the Satanic Skulls. This was made noteworthy since it took place just outside of Janson Field. Yesterday was Saint Patrick’s Day and a family celebration had been held inside the old stadium. As the crowd was dispersing the Highway Mobsters and Satanic Skulls exchanged a few shots. A stray bullet struck and killed a 12 year old girl who was with her family. The bikers all fled the scene and police are investigating the incident.

 

The Weekend Warriors do a little quick research on George Malcomb in an effort to determine a possible motive for the Cardshark kidnapping. They find out that George Malcomb is a moderately wealthy software designer who does most of his work in network security. Several months ago he was in the news when a new security measure he authored led to the discovery of several intrusions into some local financial institutions. Apparently someone was covertly accessing accounts and transferring funds around. It may have been some sort of a money laundering scheme but the new software exposed it and led to the operation being shut down. It did not result in the culprits being traced or apprehended.

 

 

Over the last couple of weeks Kierian Foster has been looking into unusual activity taking place in Latin City. His new job at the VOLT foundation is of some use in this regard. He has determined that there are numerous reports of a new religious cult of some sort (details are sketchy) operating in Latin City. The majority of the reports come from areas known to be under the control of the Los Toros gang. The reports are in an area enclosed by the City Rail Yard on the west, Port Avenue to the north, MacDonald Street to the east and Ring Avenue to the south. This narrows it down to about a half square mile area. Kierian notes that Club Aztec lies within this area.

 

 

During the time that the Weekend Warriors have been laying low, John Black has been researching the Nahuatl Dagger. It has been pretty hard for him since he doesn’t really have the skills for this sort of work but he has been learning and spent a month in his efforts. He finally uncovered some obscure texts that talked about the obsidian daggers used by the Aztec. He found several theories that claimed the ancient Aztec considered such daggers to have great spiritual powers. They acted as a conduit to channel the soul of the sacrifice into the service of the deity that they were used for. Other writings claim that such items were a sort of spiritual magnet that drew nature spirits to themselves. In general there is a lot of scary talk about these sorts of items being used in channeling spirits, or demons, or opening gateways, or other things that sound like they are best left alone.

 

 

Ryan Gray visits Gunsmith Cats today to pick up another 40 of the 7.62mm SLAP rounds for his gun. He expended much of his previous ammo during the early morning gun battles on February 8th. While there he gets into a conversation with Minnie-May who mentions the rash of vanishing prostitutes over the last few months. May is a little incensed about the lack of regard that the authorities seem to be displaying. In fact the story of the latest disappearance is buried on page 11 of the newspaper. Ryan says he’ll look into the matter to see if there is anything unusual going on.

 

It should be noted that Minnie-May is a former prostitute, though she was never a street walker. She once worked at Satin Angels.

 

During the noon news on channel 8 WSLH an incident occurs that soon has the town abuzz. While the live newscast is being given “the” Cardshark and several of his agents walk onto the set. Cardshark addresses the TV audience, he apologizes for interrupting the broadcast but he explains that he needs to borrow a few items from the WSLH studios, and then the screen goes to static. In about 10 minutes the station is back on the air. The shaken co-anchors explain that Cardshark and his men only stuck around long enough to steal two of the stations television cameras. A security guard at the station attempted to intervene but was cut down by what at first glance appeared to be a normal playing card that Cardshark threw at him. Closer examination showed that the card was metal and had razor sharp edges. Police arrive at the studio as the broadcast continues.

 

At almost the same time a team of Cardshark agents carryout another kidnapping. This time the victim is Miranda Skirvin. She is the heiress to a wealthy hotel chain. Unlike Paris Hilton, Ms. Skirvin is dignified, refined and in her mid-30s. She was at the Hudson City Country Club having lunch with some friends when the Cardshark agents burst in and took her in front of the startled crowd.

 

These events have the Weekend Warriors concerned. It is pretty obvious that Cardshark is up to something grandiose. Sam Nagakura, the teams newly acquired research specialist, immediately starts digging into the latest victims background to see if there is any connection between Ms. Skirvin and Mr. Malcomb. He finds none. Kierian Foster seems to recall Ms. Skirvin having some dealings with the VOLT foundation so he heads over to his office at the foundation to do a bit of snooping. He soon discovers that she is a major contributor to the foundation. The VOLT foundation is an anti-crime organization which has been a bother to Cardshark but this seems to be a tenuous motive at best.

 

They realize that the only reason to steal television cameras is if you want to film something, possibly something for broadcast. They immediately start listing what would be necessary, aside from cameras, for a television broadcast. They quickly realize that you’d need a transmitter, some rudimentary studio equipment (lighting, mixing board, etc.) and most importantly an antenna to broadcast from. They reason that to broad cast over a wide area you’d need to use one of the tall antennas that the local TV stations use. For the most part these aerials are located on top of the tallest buildings in the city (Harpcor Tower, the Morehead Building, etc.). Then the idea is floated by someone that perhaps a mobile antenna on an aircraft or a blimp could be used. The conversation goes on for a while but it is mostly just speculation.

 

The team is very confounded by whatever Cardshark is up to and fears that more kidnappings will follow.

 

 

This evening Ryan Grey dresses like a street bum and hangs out on the strip some so he can observe the goings on there. He realizes that there is almost no chance of seeing a girl vanish or get abducted. He knows that an abduction would start off looking like a normal pick-up. He gets a feel for the area and makes some notes about who frequents which areas. This is all very sketchy data since spending only a few hours is not enough to build much of a profile of the area.

 

Sunday, March 19th (The day the swallows return to Capistrano)

Early in the morning, just after 1:30 AM, there is a minor disturbance at the main branch of the Flag National bank. The security system in the vault is triggered when an odd light emerges from one of the safe deposit boxes. The light is just a faint green glow that seeps between the seams of the door on a particular box. The night security notes the occurrence and it is quickly determined that there are no intruders, just a sensor being tripped by the unexpected light. The security desk makes a note to contact Mr. Kierian Foster in the morning and remind him of the regulations which disallow any live electrical equipment being kept in a safety deposit box. What else could have caused the light from within the box?

 

In the morning Kierian is very startled by the phone call he gets from Flag National Bank. Though he doesn’t tell them, he has nothing electrical or anything equipped with a light in that box. It simply contains an old gold and obsidian dagger secured within a strong metal box. The Nahuatl Dagger…

 

Kierian makes the required Sunday visit to the bank (which incurs a special fee) and retrieves the box containing the dagger from the safe deposit box. He is very uneasy about all of this since he has realized that Monday (tomorrow) also happens to be the Vernal Equinox. He figures that there is bound to be some sort of cosmic significance to this. Also as far as he knows the El Azteca cult is probably still looking for the dagger. In fact the odd glow may be something that they are responsible for. He contacts the rest of the Weekend Warriors and a discussion ensues. Kierian wants to get rid of the dagger in some way, perhaps dump it several miles off the coast in some deep waters. However in the end John Black volunteers to take custody of the dagger. His intention is to go and sit with the dagger in one of the team’s safe houses during the equinox and see what happens. An experience that Kierian is not too keen to share since he thinks it is too dangerous.

 

Kierian thinks that the cultists may figure out a way to trace the dagger mystically, in fact he wouldn’t be too surprised if that was what the glowing was all about. He thinks that the team would be better off putting the dagger beyond the reach of the cult or figuring out some way to destroy it. Kierian relents however, and turns over custody of the dagger to John.

 

The discussion about what to do with the dagger is barely resolved when the news of the latest Cardshark kidnapping breaks. The reputed mobster Richard “Lucky Ricky” DeLuca (see page 160 of Hudson City) was nabbed at a pizzeria in Little Italy while having lunch. He is one of the most powerful capos of the Morelli family. His two bodyguards were both seriously wounded in the brief battle with the Cardshark team that ambushed them. This news provides more fodder for the team as they begin to research if “Lucky Ricky” has run afoul of Cardshark lately. A quick web search finds some articles about a hit carried out on a supposed Cardshark illegal casino last September. The rumor is that the “Lucky Ricky” was the man who ordered the hit. The underground casino was located in Mint Ridge, very close to Little Italy.

 

Still in a reactive mode this news story starts a new conversation about what Cardshark is up to. They now realize that the people kidnapped thus far are all relatively wealthy and they have all done something to annoy Cardshark recently. There is a lot of talk about the various victims somehow forming a suit of cards or something of that nature. So theories are floated about who might be a club or a diamond, or who might be a jack or a queen. Basically it seems to be a lot of confusion. Somewhere in all of this someone recalls that the World Series of Poker has been enjoying much higher than expected ratings on cable lately. Perhaps the stolen cameras and the people being abducted are related to that in some way.

 

 

In the early afternoon there is news that a HCPD patrol car was involved in a chase after some Highway Mobsters (biker gang). The reason for the chase is uncertain but since the police have been stopping and questioning Highway Mobsters and Satanic Skulls about the incident outside of Janson Field it probably had something to do with that. The chase was brief and ended when the HCPD car spun out of control and crashed lightly wounding one officer and causing some minor property damage. There is an unconfirmed report that the officers crashed when one of their front tires was shot out by one of the bikers. The suspects escaped.

 

 

Ryan has spent what spare time he has had going through old news reports about missing prostitutes. He has identified a trend of sorts. Prostitutes go missing with regularity, this has been the case for many years and it’s not really unusual for big cities. Many move away, get out of the business or become victims in isolated crimes. However, for about the last 18 to 24 months there has been about a 50% increase in the number of missing girls in Hudson City. It also seems that this increase is all within a certain segment. He feels that a disproportionate number of working girls between the ages of 17-24 are vanishing. It also seems as if most of these are women new to the profession. From this he extrapolates that the most likely victims will be younger prostitutes who appear to be in relatively good health.

 

Since he now knows the names of some of the women whom he suspects have fallen victim to whatever is going on he heads back to the strip in order to ask some questions. He trusts that the financial incentives he will be able to offer will allow him to get some of the streetwalkers to talk.

 

After several hours of work he manages to find three different women who claim that they knew one or more of the missing girls. In every case he finds that there are no reports of the girls having trouble with clients or pimps prior to their disappearance. It is like they were doing business one day and then just disappeared into thin air. This leads him to believe that they were either picked up by a complete stranger who seemed harmless, or they were picked up by someone that they knew and trusted. There seems to be little room for a middle ground.

 

 

Early in the evening there is another kidnapping by Cardshark. The fourth victim is Jacques Bordeau (page 133 of Hudson City). He was attending a charity supper at the Berkley Grand Plaza when several members of the wait staff revealed themselves to be Cardshark agents. The agents were lead by a man believed to be Dead Man’s Hand. The normal wait staff was found locked inside a linen closet.

 

As is becoming the pattern the Weekend Warriors quickly do some background research on Mr. Bordeau. They discover that he recently made a large donation to Gamblers Anonymous who used some of the cash for their reward fund. The fund is used to encourage people to divulge information about illegal gambling to the authorities. This makes Mr. Bordeau fit the profile that the team has worked up for likely victims.

 

Kierian begins research on the wealthy of Hudson City who have in the last year, done anything that might have annoyed Cardshark. He is hoping to identify a likely target and then keep a close eye on the prospective victim.

 

Monday, March 20th

Today the city is struck by a cold wave of artic air with accompanying snow. It is not a massive storm so the city is not overly affected. It is more of an annoyance than anything. The citizens of Hudson City take some small comfort that tomorrow is the first day of spring.

 

 

At mid-morning John Black gets a telephone call from his daughter, Karin Kimble, to tell him that his grandson Tobias Kimble (age 16 months) is being hospitalized due to complication stemming from the flu. The doctor’s believe that he will be fine but he is having a good deal of respiratory distress. They have just admitted him to the children’s ICU at Everett Memorial Hospital as a precaution. His doctor believes that the boy should only require some support until his own immune system is able to fight off the bug. He is predicting a 72-hour stay. John Black visits the hospital and his Grandson, for a few hours around noon.

 

 

At just after one o’clock in the afternoon Cardshark kidnaps its fifth victim. This time the target is Brad Quinn (page 21 of Hudson City). Mr. Quinn was attending a ribbon cutting for a new, but minor, expansion tunnel that was being added to the Hudson City Underground. Several of those gathered for the ceremony were Cardshark agents led by Pokerface. Apparently the Cardshark agents released some sort of a narcotic vapor into the area which impaired everyone present. The masked Cardshark team was easily able to hustle the startled Mr. Quinn away from the muddled crowd. The substance used has yet to be identified. All but one attendee quickly recovered. One spectator, a man with a pre-existing respiratory condition has been hospitalized.

 

Some quick digging into Mr. Quinn’s recent past turns up his most likely Cardshark connection. Several months ago he helped the authorities set up a sting operation against some well organized night-time burglaries that had been targeting merchants in the underground. Several suspects have been arrested and are shortly due for trial. There are rumors that Cardshark may have been the organizing force behind the burglary ring.

 

 

Kierian and Sam have been researching the wealthy of Hudson City attempting to find any who might fit into the profile of a likely target for Cardshark. Their efforts have yielded two people who seem to be possible targets.

 

Candice Vanderberg (page 55 Hudson City) had a store in the Gadsden Consumerplex shut down by the authorities last October. One of her employees alerted her about a Cardshark casino that was secretly operating out of Joker’s Wild Novelties. Apparently the store was a simple front and a sizable Casino was operating in the large back room of the business. Candice was offered a bribe to keep quiet but she refused and went straight to the police with the discovery. Cardshark’s people escaped but they were forced to close down a profitable operation.

 

Melissa Fordham is the jetsetter daughter of Jeffery Fordham (page 87 Hudson City). Last summer she was in the papers when she revealed the location of a Cardshark casino that operated inside the Harpcor Towers. The rumor is that she lost one night and being a spoiled child she had a tantrum and revealed the location to the cops in a fit of revenge. Her daddy’s lawyers managed to keep her out of trouble in the affair but she probably earned some indemnity from Cardshark.

 

After some careful consideration Kierian decides that he will begin to shadow Melissa Fordham, chiefly because she is young and hot and has a much more active social life. He figures that if Cardshark makes an effort to nab her he might be able to intervene or at least follow them. The favored theory of the Weekend Warriors is that Cardshark is gathering players for a Poker game of his own. Perhaps he’ll try to televise it in some way and thus emulate the popular World Series of Poker. The stakes of such a game are open to speculation but they are bound to be high.

 

Since a poker game of this type only requires seven or eight people, and five have already been gathered, Kierian decides to start shadowing the spoiled little rich girl immediately. As a result Crucible is unable to join D-Man, Choir Boy and Ken at tonight’s Nahuatl Dagger vigil. Besides Kierian has already expressed his desire to either destroy the dagger or cast it into the sea. He has little doubt that anything good will come from this. Sweeper is also unavailable since, in his new identity of Giles Sebastion, he is tying up a few loose ends.

 

 

Tuesday, March 21st (The Equinox and Earth Day)

The three vigilantes, Demolition Man, Choir Boy and Ken Seidai wait in the safe house with the Nahuatl Dagger sitting on the coffee table. The night is quiet and cold. A fresh layer of snow covers the outdoor world. It is the night of the Equinox. At 12:17 AM the moon rises above the horizon and the dagger begins to emit a faint greenish glow. The glow intensifies as the moon rises higher in the sky. D-Man reaches out and touches the dagger it seems cool to the touch but it is slightly numbing, as if it is vibrating in some barely perceptible manner. At about one o’clock the attack begins.

 

Two cars screech to a halt in front of the driveway pinning in the cars that the vigilantes used to arrive here. Six armed men spill out of the cars. They use the cover of the parked vehicles in the drive way to full advantage. The visibility from the safe house is not too good either since a brick garage, without windows, faces the street from which the attackers are approaching. This provides the attackers a way to approach without being seen. Also unseen are an additional pair of attackers who approach the house by climbing over the back yard fence.

 

The battle is a very near run thing. The attackers set the house ablaze with Molotov cocktails. The firebombs set the roof on fire and two more are hurled through rear windows into the back rooms of the house.

 

Choir Boy slips out the front door and engages in a duel over the parked cars with several of the attackers. He holds his own until one of the firebombs goes off at his feet. He suffers a little STUN but manages to get out of the flaming hex. He is surprised by one of the foes who approached from the rear of the house. The bullets fail to penetrate his body armor but enough STUN gets through to knock him out. Before he goes down he manages to cut down one of the attackers.

 

Demolition Man tries to cover Choir Boy by firing out of the screen door in the garage. He is eventually knocked out by numerous hits, which do little BODY but plenty of STUN. However he accounts for three of the attackers before he joins Choir Boy in the world of slumber.

 

Thankfully Ken Seidai fairs much better in this battle. He manages to burst out of a side window and catches an attacker flat footed. Ken’s katana quickly cuts the man down nearly cleaving him in two. The thug’s death gurgle is swallowed up by the muffling snow and Ken is able to circle the house.

 

One attacker is standing a short distance from Choir Boy spraying the hapless vigilante with an MP5 submachine gun. Fortunately the vigilante’s body armor is good and only a little BODY penetrates but he is driven way into GMs digression as far as his STUN goes. The thug then retrieves Choir Boy’s FN-SCAR Rifle and uses it to shoot the Stunned Demolition Man. D-Man suffers a 5 BODY wound to the shoulder and is knocked to -13 STUN. The thug has little time to revel as the unseen Ken Seidai gets behind him and slashes him open.

 

It is now down to Ken and three of the thugs. Two have held back (the drivers) and the last one is now involved in a game of cat and mouse with Ken Seidai. A nearby HCPD patrol car is coming down the street attracted by the noise of the gunfire and the light of the flames. The cat and mouse game is short lived as Ken’s superior movement and DEX allow close on his foe. A final bit of tension is generated when Ken misses with his initial attack. Thankfully the thug misses him as well. Two quick strokes later the thug is down and the two drivers are scrambling into their cars to flee the approaching police car.

 

Ken Seidai is the physically strongest of the Weekend Warriors, a very lucky thing. He quickly throws his unconscious comrades into one of their vehicles. As the police screech to a halt and scramble out of their car he guns the van, drives around the house and through the fence, back onto the street and makes good the vigilantes’ escape. The Weekend Warriors manage to retain the dagger for now...

 

Session Wrap-up

 

Recovered Weapons & Equipment

Nothing of note was recovered by the team. They had to leave the battle post haste to evade the HCPD patrol car. In fact Choir Boy’s FN-SCAR(H) rifle was left behind in their hurry to escape. D-Man’s weapon remained with him since they were still in their slings. Most importantly the vigilantes managed to retain the Nahuatl Dagger.

 

Body Count & Damage

At the battle of the safe house the vigilantes leave 2 dead and 4 wounded Latino gangsters/cultists. In the heat of battle they were not able to positively identify their attackers. In addition they left a flaming house and a pair of shot-up cars, one of which is also on fire.

 

Experience Awards

A lot of thinking and investigative work took place in this session and the storyline advanced nicely. Each player character got 3 EP for their participation. Kierian gets a +1 EP bonus for the posting he made on the Hero Boards. No bonuses were awarded for the team’s base construction efforts since there was no role-playing that involved that project.

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

WOW. I've just had to skim and get the gist of things, but way to go on running such a regular and detailed campaign. I'm jealous!

 

Totally agree with keeping all the records, like you said. I keep a database of all NPCs (the players help me out), and it's indispensible. Ditto on the game log, though ours are not as nice and detailed.

 

Dee

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Re: Weekend Warriors -- Campaign Log

 

I just finished reading the session 13 notes, and it sounds like one of those sessions where the players just didn't pick up on the clues, though I'd be hard pressed to say I would have done anything different. In a campaign such as this, I imagine there's a lot of sitting and thinking and spinning of wheels... I wonder if any of the characters tried to check out any of the crime scenes regarding the Card Shark kidnappings? That's about the only thing I would have done that they didn't. Still, it sounds like the group is having fun! Enjoy GenCon!

 

Matt "Staying-home-this-year" Frisbee

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  • 2 weeks later...

Campaign Log Session 14

 

GAME SESSION FOURTEEN

Actual Date: 8/19/2006

 

Monday, March 20th

A little backtracking here to follow events Kierian Foster was involved in.

 

Kierian Foster decides that he needs an excuse to follow around Melissa Fordham. He has been at two different crime scenes involving high profile cases in the last few months (the Velloric kidnapping and the Todberry Asylum caper). If he is at the scene when, or if, Card Shark attempts to kidnap Ms. Fordham and the authorities end up questioning him he wants a good excuse in order to belay suspicions. His hope is that Knockout has a good press contact to which she can direct him. His initial thinking is that he can get press credentials and join the throng of paparazzi that follow Ms. Fordham’s every move.

 

Knockout is able to direct him to Frank Keaton, a reporter with whom she has had dealings in the past and who she trusts. Kierian is soon in a telephone conversation with the reporter. Mr. Keaton proves to be remarkably useful and willing to help. Before long arrangements are made to get some temporary press credentials and a cover story is concocted.

 

Kierian Foster has done private investigation work before, both freelance and on the behalf of the VOLT foundation. His cover story will be that he has been hired by the estranged wife of one of Ms. Fordham’s bodyguards. He has the press credentials as part of his cover to follow around the bodyguard and keep an eye out for any indication that the man has been cheating on his wife. This should work well since the bodyguard is usually close to Ms. Fordham and thus it will give him an excuse to follow her around as well.

 

Tuesday, March 21st

Ken Seidai drives the van out of the neighborhood and fortunately does not encounter any more problems. D-Man is the only person with combat driving in this group but with his injured arm he does not feel up to driving.

 

In their rush to escape the scene of the battle the group has lost the FN-SCAR(H) rifle that Choir Boy was using. It has no serial numbers on it and those markings were eliminated by a very competent gunsmith (Rally). Choir Boy was also wearing gloves during the battle so there is almost no chance that the police will be able to trace the weapon.

 

Choir Boy and Demolition Man both lost blood at the crime scene but D-Man’s blood was spilt in the garage, which burned, and Choir Boy lost blood between the burning house and the burning vehicle. Between the fire, firefighting efforts, snow and the blood of numerous El Azteca cultists it is unlikely that any really useful blood samples will be obtained.

 

D-Man and Choir Boy are soon conscious again and as Ken drives they start making phone calls. First they call Kierian who has a hard time hearing them. He is at the Skyline Club following the Melissa Fordham entourage and thus can’t be of much help. He suggests that they head to the unfinished base and hook up with Giles who has been staying there. Next they call Giles and tell him that they are headed his way and in need of some of his Mystical Chinese healing.

 

As is briefly mentioned in the edited entry for session thirteen, Sweeper (real name Walter Aldrich) has had to assume a new identity. This was part of the fallout from the infamous interview. Until recently he had been using the identity of Jacob Johnston but over the last month the identity of Giles Sebastion has been created for him. This was the product of work done by his team mates, Rally Vincent and Becky “The Nose” Perkins. Giles will be the manager of the Bed & Breakfast that the team is setting up as a cover for their new base. The facility is not open yet but it is under renovation and reconstruction for its new purpose.

 

The three vigilantes arrive at the Bed & Breakfast at 12:45 AM. Over the next hour Giles works his magic and John Black does what he can with his paramedic skills. Eventually someone gets around to checking on the dagger again. They note that it is glowing and start to see a pattern to its behavior. Just before they were attacked at the safe house the dagger glowed very brightly. It started as a dim glow that rapidly increased in intensity up until they were attacked. During their flight from the scene the glow ebbed almost to the point of vanishing, but now the glow has steadily been getting brighter. They begin to worry about another attack since they see an emerging trend here. It is 1:50 AM when the four of them pile into another van and leave the partially constructed base. There is a fear among them that they may have led hostiles to their base even before they have completed building it.

 

It should be noted here that Sweeper is currently down 12 long-term END due to the use of his healing powers. Demolition Man and Choir Boy are still injured since the healing they received has a 6 hour gradual effect.

 

Meanwhile Kierian Foster is still following the mobile party that is centered about Melissa Fordham. After leaving the Skyline Club she had headed to the Fordham estate with most of her friends and hangers on in tow. Kierian (a breaking and entering specialist) has little trouble sneaking into the estate where he soon blends with the other party guests. Figuring that he will hear of anything that happens on the estate he allows himself to become side tracked by a sultry vixen. The evening ends on a sour note for him when she turns out to be a he! The rest of Kierian’s night passes uneventfully.

 

This was the result of Kierian deciding to try and use his seduction skill and the resultant 18 that he rolled.

 

Around 2:00 AM the Dagger’s glow ceases as the four vigilantes are driving around with the intent of heading to Fell’s Point or some other location out of town. Shortly thereafter they become aware of a HCPD cruiser following them which then turns on its lights to pull them over.

 

The vigilantes quickly start hiding weapons underneath their seats since they figure that they can bluff their way past the police and won’t consent to a search of their vehicle. Besides it’s only a single police car and they can subdue the police officers and escape if need be. They decide to pull over since Ken is still driving owing to D-Man’s injured shoulder.

 

As he pulls over a second police car pulls out from behind the first and gets along side them and another police car appears ahead of them to seal them off from the front. Two more scout cars are spotted, one far behind and one a ways ahead on the road.

 

The three nearby patrol cars park behind, beside and in front of the vigilantes’ van. The police pile out of their cars with shotguns and pistols at the ready and demand that the occupants come out of the vehicle with their hands above their heads. The vigilantes decide to make a run for it. As the other vigilantes scramble to recover their weapons, Ken guns the engine and tries to hop the curb and overrun the no parking sign on the sidewalk but his lack of Combat Driving skill causes him to get the van stuck fast on the bent over sign. The vigilantes decide to jump out of the far side of the van, split-up and run for it.

 

They exit the van, which gives them cover from most of the cops and proceed to flee. Sweeper uses his swing-line on a nearby fire escape to swing away at a move of 10” one of the police men fires a shotgun blast at him but misses. It is at this time that Sweeper gets a really good look at the police that have pulled them over. He realizes that the police cars are all rather run-down older looking models and that all of the officers appear to lack the correct bearing. In short he realizes that these are not real police officers. He then realizes that he has no tactical radio and so he can not tell his comrades of his discovery.

 

This week I started cracking down a little bit more on things like character encumbrance and listing equipment on character sheets. When I asked the player to show me a radio on his character sheet, he couldn’t.

 

Choir Boy blindly fires a few shot from his USAS-12 automatic shotgun into the glass door of the business they are next to, he then moves through the holed glass door and escapes through the building. He never realizes that a firefight develops and so leaves the scene of battle unscathed (other than his pre-existing injuries).

 

Demolition Man has another swing-line and uses the same escape route as Sweeper. Sweeper frantically explains that the cops are fakes and since D-Man has a radio he relays the information to Ken. Choir Boy has no radio and is long gone.

 

The remaining three vigilantes turn upon the fake police and pull no punches in the ensuing fight. D-Man gets down the street and engages in a fight against the two phony cops there. They produce non-police-issue AK-47s but lose the fight against the vigilante who is using a 10-gauge, slug-loaded, shotgun. After he arrives at their position he grabs a fallen thug’s AK-47 and starts sniping away the other phony cops (very effectively).

 

Sweeper and Ken Seidai engage many of the others in close combat within the swirling cloud caused by a smoke pellet. In close quarters the phony cops prove to be no match against the two martial artists. Sweeper does especially good and pummels about half of them senseless with his three-section staff. At one point he is surrounded by four of the thugs and he deftly uses his staff’s 1-hex reach to block their fire at him (by striking their weapons and succeeding with multiple blocks). He then turns the tables on them by pummeling them all to a bloody pulp.

 

The three are soon able to depart the scene leaving two dead, five wounded and taking two unconscious captives with them. They also gather up all of the weapons they can, swipe one of the phony police cars and head to a nearby safe house where they can ditch the patrol cruiser for a stashed van. They contact Choir Boy via cell-phone so he can meet them at the safe house.

 

 

By 2:18 AM the four vigilantes have all arrived at the safe house. The dagger is still in their possession and it is no longer glowing. Demolition Man starts his interrogation of their prisoners. Both of the captives have broken bones due their encounter with Sweeper’s staff and D-Man uses this to his full advantage. The result is a painful but fruitful interrogation. They learn that the cult of El Azteca is indeed a reality. The leader of the Los Toros (a tough bastard known only as Chuco) is an adherent to the cult. He was swayed to this new cult by a high priest that came from Mexico named Tenoch. When the dagger disappeared he sought to find its whereabouts. He employed a mysterious Gringo woman that they know only as Talisman. Apparently she assisted Tenoch in discovering a mystical means of locating the dagger and then became very scarce but they think that Tenoch and perhaps Chuco still have some contact with her. The cult has been operating out of an old Santería church called Botanica La Esperanza. The gang itself often gathers at the Aztec Club but the cult activities, including sacrifices, are centered at the church. After they get this information the vigilantes grant their captives a swift death.

 

 

Since they are already near the coast Ken and Choir Boy put the bodies in a van and drive to a boat that they have. They head about a mile off the coast and toss the weighted down bodies overboard. By about 4:00 AM all of the vigilantes have managed to get back to their respective homes and get to bed, all that is except for D-Man.

 

John Black has agreed to take the dagger and drive around to keep it “on the move” until the banks open. During the night he obtains a strong light-tight container in which to place the dagger. When the bank opens at 9:00 AM he immediate gets safe deposit box for the dagger. John Black arrives home to sleep about 9:30 AM and the dagger is back in the Flag National Bank vault in a different safe deposit box.

 

Wednesday, March 22st

By about noon most of the Weekend Warriors are waking from their much needed sleep. John Black is still asleep at this time since he was up until about 10:00 AM.

 

At about noon the first Card Shark kidnapping of the day takes place. Nathaniel Berkley, younger brother of Ben (p119 of the Hudson City source book) is the victim. He is a Vice President of Berkley Enterprises. He is nabbed while at the Blackbridge Racquet Club. Nathan led an investigation into a prospective buyer of a certain property that Berkley Enterprises was selling. The probe turned up evidence that the buyer was using a false identity so Nathan nixed the deal. This must have been a Card Shark deal of some sort since the vigilantes can find no other notable connections.

 

 

It was about 1:30 in the afternoon when Minnie May walked into the back room of Gunsmith Cats. Rally was talking on the telephone.

 

“Yes... Oh fine, I guess,” Rally was saying to whoever was on the other end. She nodded absently mindedly paying no attention to May. “No and there isn’t even a hint of a scar it’s really amazing.”

 

Rally listened for a while and then her eyes widened just a bit. “What? You mean like a date?”

 

May’s ears perked up as Rally listened intently. May noticed a slight edge of fear creeping into Rally’s face. “No, there is no problem. Er... I mean yes I’d love too. Umm, yes tonight would be fine.” Rally paused an odd expression on her face a sort of cross between elation and blind panic.

 

“Where!?... No, no that’ll be fine. At seven o’clock? I’ll be ready.”

 

Rally hung up the phone and plopped down in the nearest chair. She was slightly pale.

 

“Jeeze Rally are you okay? What was that all about?” asked May.

 

“That was Walter. He wants me go on a date with him... I’ve never been out on a date before,” Rally replied, her voice had a perceptible quiver to it.

 

May blinked. “Well then it’s high time you went on one. It’ll do you good. With just the two of us living here I was starting to worry that people would talk.” May jibed hoping the levity would calm down her friend a little. Rally scarcely seemed to notice.

 

“He wants to take me to Botticelli’s! I can’t even afford to park my car at Botticelli’s! Oh May, what am I going to wear?” said Rally with a horrified look on her face.

 

“Wow he must be better off than I thought, that place costs a fortune!” said Minnie May. “We need to put the out to lunch sign in the window and go shopping. I’ll call Becky she’s bound to know where we can get you a ritzy outfit, she knows everybody.”

 

 

Rally retired to her house to change out of her work clothes while Minnie May went to close the shop. Just as she was about to call Becky her own cell phone rang.

 

“Hello, oh hi Jacob, I mean Giles, or should I just call you Walter?” she replied to the voice at the other end of the line.

 

“Oh I think she’s still in shock but she’ll get over it. I don’t think she’s ever had this sort of attention paid to her before. Her whole life has been guns and bounty hunting and trying to find her dad. It hasn’t left her much time for a social life. But listen to me Walter she’s really nervous about this. She may seem tough as nails when she’s out chasing down the bad guys but this is uncharted territory for her. Just remember she’s my friend and if you hurt her I know how to make bombs.”

 

“No that’s not a threat, I just think that she could be very happy about this and I’m a bit envious. I just miss my Kenny... No, its nobody you know."

 

“Flowers huh? You’re really serious about this whole sweeping her off her feet thing aren’t you? Well let me see... She’s always putting flowers on the dining room table. She really seemed to like those blue ones, now what are they called...”

 

 

By about 4:00 PM the Weekend Warriors have all been talking to one another on the telephone and exchanging emails. They have reached several decisions about their future course of action. The team hopes that the El Azteca cultists will be on hold for a while. They feel that the gang has lost too many people lately and is probably hurting pretty bad. Over the last several encounters the gang has lost about 30 members either killed or injured and captured by the HCPD. The team now has pretty good intelligence on just what is happening with the cult and where they are meeting. The Weekend Warriors feel that they ought to have some breathing room with which to plan a punitive strike of some sort.

 

The team decides that they will put their full effort (in the short term) towards supporting the investigation and surveillance of Melissa Fordham that Kierian has been working on by himself up until this time. They know that the recently concluded World Poker Championship featured eight players in the final game. They feel that Cardshark will probably seek eight players so if Melissa Fordham is going to be one of them an attempt to abduct her should happen very soon.

 

 

About 6:00 PM the seventh victim is kidnapped by Card Shark. Maurice Vanderburg, son of Candice (p 55 of the Hudson City source book). Candice had a store in the Consumerplex shut down by the authorities last October when it was found that a Cardshark casino was secretly operating in the large back room of Joker’s Wild Novelties. She refused a Cardshark bribe to keep quiet. Maurice is nabbed while attending the opening of a new children’s amusement area in the mall. Perhaps Card Shark decided that the son would be more photogenic than the older Candice.

 

At the same time Giles is preparing for his date with Rally.

 

Session Wrap-up

 

Recovered Weapons & Equipment

The team recovered four Remington 870P shotguns, two AK-47 Assault Rifles (full auto), and eight Glock 17L pistols. From their prisoners they obtained two phony HCPD badges.

 

Body Count & Damage

At the site of the phony police battle the Weekend Warriors left 3 dead attackers and 5 injured on the street. In addition they took two of the wounded prisoner and then disposed of them after extracting some info. They left a burning van at the scene and 5 phony HCPD police cruisers.

 

Experience Awards

Each player character got 3 EP for their participation. Broken down as follows:

 

1 EP for participating in the session, 1 EP for a successful resolution to the scenario and 1 EP for a significant mystery being solved (exactly who is behind the efforts to retrieve the dagger and where they are operating from).

 

To date the EP totals of the characters are: Choir Boy 24 EP, Crucible 41 EP, Demolition Man 38 EP, Ken Seidai 21 EP, Sweeper 42 EP.

 

Closing Comments

I feel pretty bad for Crucible/Kierian’s player Eosin. This is the second game in a row in which his character has been pretty much left out of the action. Events and the actions of the team have conspired to keep Crucible out of the action through no fault of the player. Next session I’ll do what I can to ensure he is not left out.

 

I also seem to be falling into the same trap that I’ve had in some previous campaigns. Events are happening too quickly. I will be making a conscious effort to slow down the action some. It is pretty silly to have a raging gun battles occur with the frequency that they have been. Days should be passing between these things, not hours! Following the exploits of some of the characters over the last couple of days they would be seriously sleep deprived and exhausted. Secret Identities need to be covered, etc.

 

 

And now that that is done I can go catch up on the Knightshift storyline. :)

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