Friday, September 25, 2015

Wordslingin'

Into the North! In this week’s session, we followed the webbled dog to the city of Mainz, where the grass is lush, the walls are stone, and the organized crime is active. Highly, highly active...


[Georges the GM sets the scene.]
Georges the GM: “Last game, we ended with my favorite thing: splitting the party.”

[Before rejoining the rest of the PCs in Mainz, Lukas travels to Nicely to meet our old friend Tatsugoro. Who may not be quite as much a friend as he once was.]
Zac: “It’s not an ambush without dice!”
Brock: “I’m confident I have more dice than Tatsugoro.”

[Lukas asks Tatsugoro about the situation in the Brotherhood and whether there might be any factionalism against Mark Kim.]
Tatsugoro: “Scavengers are not good hunters.”
Lukas: “Do you know any hunters?”
Tatsugoro: “There are some who might be... unwise enough to challenge Mark Kim.”

[Lukas also points out the connection between Mark Kim and Zoltan.]
Lukas: “This is... was an SRID hit man.”

[Tatsugoro is understandably suspicious of Lukas’ motives.]
Tatsugoro: “I wonder why you want me to ask question about Kim’s business.”
Lukas: “I just don’t want you taking anything I say for granted.”
Zac: (dryly) “As though there’s any danger of that.”

[Ways to know people are evading you, part 1...]
Lukas: “My question is, why would a package you were delivering to me have been accessed by the NGIS.”
Tatsugoro: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Zac: “’I don’t know what you’re talking about’ isn’t exactly a conversation-ender.”

[Lukas is not happy with Tatsugoro’s evasion.]
Lukas: “As our sponsor in the Brotherhood, I would have hoped I could always count on you to tell me the truth, even if it was uncomfortable.”
Zac: “I’d never have known you were an orphan. That was straight-up mother guilt.”
Brock: “I wasn’t always an orphan.”

[Tatsugoro lays out his priorities in the truth-telling game.]
Tatsugoro: “My loyalty to the Brotherhood must be superseded by my loyalty to my friends. My loyalty to my friends must be superseded by my dedication to my employer. And my dedication to my employer must be superseded by my devotion to the State.”

[Of course, ‘friends’ does rank somewhere on Tatsugoro’s priorities.]
Tatsugoro: “Hypothetically, I will tell you that certain members of your party have come to the attention of the NGIS.”
Lukas: “I appreciate your latecoming forthrightness.”

[Tatsugoro does want to help. Truly.]
Tatsugoro: “As a gesture of good faith, I will help you get out of this place in spite of the three or four members of the Brotherhood who have taken a keen interest in our table.”

[Meanwhile, the rest of the PCs are in Mainz, in the United Mercantile Federation.]
Georges the GM: “In the UMF, the more money you have, the more rights you have.”

[Georges the GM sets the scene.]
Georges the GM: “Mainz is a good distance from… pretty much everything.”

[We have been following the webbled dog mostly by Hermes pings and by radar, not by visual contact.]
Georges the GM: “You don’t know what your targets look like.”
Julie: “Except that they have a dog.”

[Torgath surveils the building where the dog is being housed via the expedient of a sandwich shop across the street.]
Ariel: “They don’t know I’m there. I rolled well.”
Zac: “Even the sandwich shop staff don’t know you’re there.”

[Meanwhile, Lyta and Fennec decide to get rid of our two and a half ton truck in favor of something easier to navigate cities in.]
Zac: “We pick the most boring and commonplace van.”
Brock: “What do they have in taupe?”

[Fennec is the one tasked with selling the truck and purchasing the van. She rolls well… but not well enough.]
Zac: “I do realize that going to the UMF and talking to a used-car salesman is probably the hardest haggling roll there is…”

[More of the same.]
Zac: “Does this guy have what I need?”
Georges the GM: “Yup. He’s got the taupe van of your dreams.”

[Fennec tries to put a positive spin on the truck we’re selling.]
Zac: “We have this marvelous truck, not too many miles, no bullet holes in it.”

[As Lukas arrives in Mainz, we receive another visitor.]
Fennec: “Smith, eh? Friend of yours?”
Lukas: “After a manner of speaking.”

[Fennec introduces herself to Smith. The rest of the PCs know Smith is actually a deep-cover agent of Markus’ kin. Fennec does not.]
Mr. Smith: “My name is Markus. Nice to meet you.”
Zac: “How many Markuses do I know?”

[Next on the agenda: reprogramming the webble so it will access the local wifi networks instead of looking for the Hermes connections that are much sparser in the North. As previously, we have to get pretty close.]
Zac: “We have a van. We could park in front. Totally nothing suspicious about a windowless van.”

[Later that evening, Lyta, Fennec, and Torgath are purchasing some weapons from Markus’ Kolson contacts. Sadly, we are ambushed by people who already have guns.]
Ariel: “How easy is it for me to get to their car?”
Georges the GM: “Pretty easy.”
Brock: “Getting there in one piece less so.”

[Brock is the master of rubbing decisions in people’s faces.]
Brock: “You know what would be handy right now? A deuce and a half.”

[It turns out the people who ambushed us were members of the Forzi, a rival cartel to the Kolsons.]
Kolson Contact: “Drop me off at this burger joint. I’ve gotta meet some people about retaliation.”

[In the firefight, the windshield of our new van got shot.]
Julie: “So my question is, in the UMF, how much is a 36-hour mechanic who can replace a windshield?”

[Fennec once more haggles with people in the UMF.]
Ariel: “Why don’t we let the guy who’s good at haggling haggle?”
Brock: “Because nothing gives me more pleasure than watching Fennec fail.”




Heavy Gear Roleplaying Game

0 comments :


 
Hermes 72 - Heavy Gear RPG - Most artwork Copyright 2002 Dream Pod 9, Inc.