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Rawhead
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Location: Leicester, England

Re: Birmingham (UK) Urban Renewal - My Campaign

Mon 19 Jan 2015, 14:05

First Session - final prep

So my first session with the group was last night, so on Saturday I did my final prep for the game.

I decided to start the PCs in the zone, having just left the Ark - I wanted to get them into the action as fast as possible, get them rolling dice and killing stuff. I generated 3 zones for them to explore (they'd be sent out to see what they could bring back to prop up the Arks dwindling supply of grub and water), and by combining any potential threat with the key ruin I came up with some pretty nice little encounters for them to cut their teeth against.

Having spent some time on Google maps I've got a big satellite map of the Birmingham zone. I went out to Staples (other print shops are available) and had it printed up in A2 format - it wasn't especially cheap (£11.99) but it makes for a great looking prop that i'll give to the players as soon as I can.

I'm a fan of props, so I rounded up an old box of .357 caliber brass I had up in the loft (I used to do a lot of target shooting), along with some beads to represent water and grub. I also got some A4 plastic wallets for the PCs to store their character sheets and bits in.

I got some rigid card holders for the players to store their mutations in, as well as any artifacts they find.

I managed to round up some yellow, green purple (couldn't find black) normal d6's for the players to use - hopefully they'll either get used to where the icons are or they'll cave and buy the official dice :)

Finally I printed up some character sheets, an Ark sheet , zone sheet and a modified google earth shot of the school I intend to use for their Ark.

Everything set - I headed up the motorway. In my next post, I'll do character generation and the story of the hand grenade ;)

Cheers
 
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Tomas
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Re: Birmingham (UK) Urban Renewal - My Campaign

Mon 19 Jan 2015, 14:35

Great stuff, I love the props! :)
Fria Ligan
 
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Rawhead
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Re: Birmingham (UK) Urban Renewal - My Campaign

Mon 26 Jan 2015, 14:08

Okay folks, here's the character gen results from our first session :


Kim the Enforcer
A pretty vanilla Enforcer with a 4,3,3, 3 attribute spread (he took a second mutation). He drew Luminescence as his first mutation, and Mind Terror as his second. Big and armed with a scrap axe, he pretty much does what you'd think.

Vaughn the Stalker
A 5,4,3,2 stat spread with a broad range of skills. Tracker was a lucky draw on the mutations, a bow helps keep him out of the attentions of enemies - he hopes. He tried to slide by with the name Bob, but we threatened to call him by alternating girls names until he relented and chose Vaughn.

Axle the Gearhead
5,3,3,2 stat spread, a good rating in Jury Rig combined with Tinkerer should make him popular. Four armed and Puppeteer should make for some interesting shenanigans. In character gen I rolled a grenade for him as his starting Artifact - I didn't really wanted to give him a grenade so Sahuls per fixer Milax offered to trade it for a Wrench. He took the offer, but there's a gagging clause on the deal - who knows where that grenade might show up :)

Gallows the Chronicler
I really wanted a chronicler in the group so I was really please someone chose one. A 4,4,3,3 stat spread and rank 3 in Inspire makes him a very strong ally in combat. His Human Magnet mutation means he can look after himself. Best of all, he's taking notes through the sessions so I can get him to tell the story of the previous session - for an extra XP point of course.

Overall character generation went pretty quickly - its simple enough that you don't get confused (3 hours to gen a latest ed Shadowrun character, and I just copied a template with a few mods...) but there's enough options that you don't feel constrained - and the characters all have a strong roleplaying hook.

Move was an overlooked skill - at the end of the first session they all agreed that they needed to put some points into it. I was also surprised that only half of them took second mutations - but i guess a point of stat that you can never get back is a hefty price.

I'm encouraging the players to bring props for extra xp (the gearhead is well ahead on this score, as i'll explain later) - hopefully they'll all bite.

Coming next - the first session, fresh from the Zone.
 
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Tomas
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Re: Birmingham (UK) Urban Renewal - My Campaign

Mon 26 Jan 2015, 18:53

Cool, nice characters, looking forward to the play report. :)
Fria Ligan
 
ajevans
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Re: Birmingham (UK) Urban Renewal - My Campaign

Mon 26 Jan 2015, 22:08

Sounds cool. I'm apart to start running a game based in the West Midlands as well. I'm thinking of having Dudley Castle as the Ark.
Hi there - on my map Dudley is in sector I2, i know that's hardly central but you might be able to use it ? Let me know if you'd like my maps - i've got Google Earth satellite and road maps as jpgs for 20 miles by 20 miles centered on Birmingham.
Sounds great, would love to see them.
 
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Rawhead
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Re: Birmingham (UK) Urban Renewal - My Campaign

Tue 27 Jan 2015, 11:42

Sounds cool. I'm apart to start running a game based in the West Midlands as well. I'm thinking of having Dudley Castle as the Ark.
Hi there - on my map Dudley is in sector I2, i know that's hardly central but you might be able to use it ? Let me know if you'd like my maps - i've got Google Earth satellite and road maps as jpgs for 20 miles by 20 miles centered on Birmingham.
Sounds great, would love to see them.

No worries - PM me your email address and I'll get them over to you.
 
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Rawhead
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Re: Birmingham (UK) Urban Renewal - My Campaign

Wed 18 Feb 2015, 13:18

Seesion 1 Notes

Sorry for the delay in posting this - don't you hate it when real life gets in the way of gaming :)

So I had session one all planned out, I'd generated 3 sectors for the players to explore. I started the game with the players in the zone, having just left the Ark over the horizon behind them. I wanted to get them straight into the action, the Ark could wait for session 2.

The first zone was a fairly simple one - an undamaged sector with a railway station as its primary focus (I always examine the sector in Google maps before I generate the primary ruin, I want to make sure its based on a real life structure). The threat in the zone was a pack of Zone Dogs, and there was no artifact present.

Unscathed Ruins
Rot 0
Threat Level 2
Artifact X
Threat - Monster - Zone Dogs (6)

The groups Stalker made his roll, and so they approached the station stealthily without spooking the pack of prowling dogs. They took shelter behind a rusted out van, observing the dogs pacing around the station entrance. The Stalker came up with a plan - he would divert the dogs away from the station so that the rest of the group could get in and look around. He made a break for it, deliberately kicking up some noise to attract the dogs which duly started pursuing him. He made a Move roll, with the rest of the PCs hiding in the back of the van. Most of the dogs followed the Stalker, but they made a decent roll and a couple of them peeled off towards the van while the Stalker started regretting not putting more points into his Move skill. A brief but vicious fight broke out between the 3 players and the dog splinter pack - the Chronicler got nipped at but suffered no damage while the Enforcer buried his scrap axe into another dog insta-killing it. The Junker and the Chronicle managed to dispatch the remaining dog without it getting another attack in. Meanwhile the Stalker managed to make some pretty impressive rolls despite his paltry move skill, and managed to parkour his way to safety.
I ran the search of the station as more descriptive than dice rolling, describing the area and letting the players decide where they wanted to search. They managed to recover a packet of Skittles from a busted vending machine, and found half a packet of cigarettes i a shuttered up kiosk.
They spent the night holed up upstairs in an abandoned building, listening the the cries of the rest of the dog pack (they rolled badly and didn't return to harry the group in the night).
 
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Rawhead
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Re: Birmingham (UK) Urban Renewal - My Campaign

Wed 18 Feb 2015, 13:28

The next sector was a creepy overgrown residential area, a dilapidated mansion with a treasure in the cellar was the main ruin and a rot wind would get them there pretty quickly.

Overgrown Ruins
Rot 0
Threat Level 3
Artifact : Battery
Threat - Phenomenon - Rot Wind

Again the Stalker managed to make his roll easily, so the players started hacking their way through underbursh to get to a large building concealed by the flora gone wild. As the old mansion came into view, they noticed the trees behind them starting to stir, and then twist and writhe under the effects of the rot wind. A frantic bout of Move rolls ensued as the players tried to make it to the shelter of the mansion, the Chroniclers special ability saving the Enforcer from a bad roll - again the player bemoaned their neglect of the Move skill :) They all just about managed to get into the mansion and slam the door shut before the wind and mutating gardens swallowed them up.
Once inside the mansion they wanted to explore, but the shuttered windows and the trees ominously pressing against the sides of the building made for a blackout so the Enforce kicked off his Luminescence ability. He managed to overload his roll and affect himself, so the light he generated came from his eyes temporarily blinding him and burning shadows of the rest of the party into the walls around them. They decided to explore/hide in the basement, so led the Enforcer downstairs. Searching around the basement, the Junker came up trumps and found not only a roll of gaffer tape but a car battery ! He managed to rig it into the single light bulb in the basement which glared with a brief intensity before blowing out - a suitably impressive feat which the rest of the party were impressed with.
They spent a creepy night in the old mansion with the rot wind raging outside, before venturing out the next day through the now twisted greenery.
 
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Rawhead
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Re: Birmingham (UK) Urban Renewal - My Campaign

Wed 18 Feb 2015, 13:36

The final sector I'd lined up as the big fight of the session, a bunch of Zone Ghouls nested in an old Church. Before they had ventured into the zone I had told them stories about the horrors of the bestial Zone Ghouls and in fact one of the key NPCs back at the Ark has been crippled by one - I want the players to fear and loathe Zone Ghouls, so when they find some willing to parley it should come as a big shock :)

Decayed Ruins
Rot 0
Threat Level 4
Artifact ; Hunting Rifle
Threat - Monster - Zone Ghouls (6)

The Stalker made yet another good roll, so the party approached the abandoned Church carefully from concealment, and spotted a Zone Ghoul climbing the side of the church and entering through a high window. They decided to go for a frontal attack, but some not-so-great stealth rolls meant the Ghouls were ready from them.
The Enforcer burst in through the doors first and let rip with his luminesence mutation - another overpowered roll resulted in all of the Ghouls taking a point of physical damage. The fight was brief, bloody and very one sided. The Junker expended a couple of rounds of precious ammo to take out 2 ghouls, the Chronicler used his Magnetism power to blow some coins salvaged from the station kiosk to double tap another Ghoul and Enforcer managed to put down the rest.
Searching the Church they found the mummified remains of a human in uniform strung over the cross at the back of the Church - with a scoped rifle over his shoulder. The scope was damaged beyond repair, but the rifle was in good order and the Stalker called dibs.

Their water and food running short, the party decided to head back to the Ark loaded with loot from their excursion into the Zone.
 
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Rawhead
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Re: Birmingham (UK) Urban Renewal - My Campaign

Wed 18 Feb 2015, 13:41

There's a few things I learned from the session that i'm going to put into play next session :

The stalkers roll when entering a zone is pretty easy to make at least a couple of successes out of, and they're always going to select the Threat before anything else. I'm going to start putting some modifiers on this roll depending on terrain and how cunning the threat is.

The PCs are deadly - even beginner PCs are a tough bunch, especially with their mutant powers to back them up. I definitely need to up the enemy numbers to give them a proper threat.

That being said - the session went really well. We managed to do character gen and explore 3 sectors in a single, 4 hour session. The mechanics flowed smoothly, the roleplaying was good and I managed to creep them out several times.

Next session is going to be set in the Ark - lets see if they can handle politics as well as they did exploring the zone.

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