Thanks to
+frksience ez playing James Steele (basically
Black Dynamite!),
+Mike Dulay playing Speedy,
+James Austin Petier,
+Dave Morris Prince Osman Al'Din,
+Arne Jamtgaard Tasha Santiago,
+Ken Kthulhu playing Thomas Michaels.
Basic Narrative.
It was a dark and stormy night.
Jack Smith (Vaclav's Character) was finally able to get all his friends and comrades to check out the martial arts themed tavern he help build. There were posters of every action hero include James Steele (Jesse) and various props and training equipment strewn about, and all the patrons look fit and dangerous.
The group was having a round of drinks when Jeni comes in, a barfly they all know. She has come from the rain and looks distressed. Only the Prince notices how distressed she really is and the desperation of her cadence and the frightened expression that almost freezes her. Even Tasha tries to talk to her, but Jeni seemed unable to say anything.
It becomes clear the source of distress, as several rough looking people emerge from the bar door. They all looked soaked by the rain, wearing jackets they appear to have something dangerous tucked away.
Seeing this, everyone vacates the bar except the group of friends, still unable to decide what to do with the situation. Many are cautious, Speedy doesnt like trouble and James, despite his size and strength, is already looking for cover. When Tasha, Osman, and Thomas stand up for Jeni, she panics and starts her way to the kitchen exit, but more men arrive.
Petier could see how tense the situation is becoming and this gang is an unusual sort, sporting ritual scarring and strange tattoos. He uses fast draws the pistol to intimidate the men into leaving. A much older and taller man laughs at Petier even when he shoots off his glasses, he flashes Petier a fanged grin and a half smile that seems to unnaturally reach past his ear.
Then they pounce on the group, alarmingly fast Speedy kicks a chair under one of them when one tries to make a rush at Jeni, Osman swats him away when he was going to fall on her. The gang of thugs were very fast but everyone was ready for them, Tasha defends Jeni from another thug, while one of the stock but huge older thug, about 400lbs, pulls out a golden 1911 and shoots at prince missing and hitting his own man who tried to flank them.
One of the thugs lunges at Petier who is by the kitchen door, Petier uses his "Laptop bag" to interpose and surprises one when the bag unleashes a burst of 5.56mm rounds. Speedy amazingly slides and throws hotsauce at Mr Fangs Mc'Smile and stuns him long enough to duck behind cover and let Osman empty a Glock19 full burst into one of the thugs chest. Thomas was springs to cover the rear as the thugs who came from the main door was trying to gang up on Jeni, Osman, and Tasha.
The Thugs have closed into melee, but are beaten back by group. "Mr Big" seems to pounce with the grace that would have been impossible for his build of a house. Tasha is knock backed with such a force she is flung against the bar. The Pieter, releases the laptop bag's disguise and it collapses to the floor revealing a styer AUG and manages to take out another one from across the room. The Prince manages to take out another thug trying to close in and Thomas surprises them with modernized Iklwas and stabbing Mr Big from behind. The house of a man isn't phased and his expression freezes as his skin seems to gray and molt. Speedy helps the girls out and notices that one of the surviving thugs flee in terror when he saw Mr. Big freeze up.
Petier is then grappled by Mr. Fangs Mc'Smiley which he defends by dropping his styer and close combat shooting into is torso. Mr. Fangs falls down with a hole big enough to see through. By then everyone is fleeing the scene as Mr. Bigs molting with gray texture the skin extending to his eyes and lips. He seems to be expanding stretching his clothes taught.
When everyone was almost clear of the room, Mr. Big standing still explodes after taking shots to the face. Everyone dives for cover, one of the last thugs trips and falls catching most of the fiery blast. It didn't kill him, leaving much of his body burned to the bone, and unmercifully still alive to stumble around to the horror of everyone.
When everyone's eyes regained focus, most stood shocked and frozen at the presence of a fiery skeletal figure with bony wings and massive horns... shaking off the bits of flesh remaining.
Technical Notes
- I can't seem run off of Roll20, it had a lot of technical issues compared to running it off the event.
- The drawback is i need peoples email or google account so that I can invite them to the hangout. Which is a small price to pay.
- Dry runs, practice, and technical discussion are important prior to games to maximize the experience. One is that it gets all the head ache and pressure out of the way.
- I can't use the Jukebox because some people don't have headphones and it needs everyone to have noise canceling mics and headphones so that feedback can be minimized. Sadly there is some material requirement but its relatively cheap and a good investment since you will be using it a lot when you get it and improves the experience immensely
- Sound Track was Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo which is Jazz music from Minmi, Seatbelts, Nujabes, Tsuchie, Fat Jon etc..
- The Special background effects cut down the narrative load very well and effectively. You don't need to repeat yourself, it allows players to discuss from amongst themselves, and frees up the chatlog and discussions for planning and what to do next.
- I need to have a community so that I don't "spam" people with my invites.
- 5am prep prior to the 7am game was very helpful for last minute details
- I think I will extends to 3 hours. So that there is more opportunity to roleplay. I will be drawing from Christian Blouin's social combat and expanding it to Logistics based Ops.
- I realize that I really can max deal with 6 players, and it leaves me muddled with what happened lol.
- There is need for shortcuts in dealing with the load. I have to make some notes.
- I need the other laptop to keep my notes in Gdocs
- I really leave it to the players to make the rolls, it makes things go faster.
- I can run combat pretty fast, but I think i need to put all the elements on the initiative notes. (Everyone puts up their initiative which i SPD + Combat Reflex).
- I wish I can accommodate more, but that means running a game Before Work 6am-9am and being in the office by 6am lol. Fortunately the setting lends itself for multiple adventures and all sorts of adventures because of Yes-and and Yes-but.
- I will need to make a lot of "narratives" in my Notepad that will allow me to cut and paste into the adventure.
