Campaign Report, Session 1 - FIRE FROM THE SKY!

Our gaming group opened a new campaign on October 5th, officially called "Fire From The Sky!"

The campaign is set in the greater Twin Cities (Minnesota) metro area, with players being from 'all walks of life'.

The rules in use are the new 6D6 System - a very interesting, easy, roleplay-based system, based more on roleplay and group consensus than strict rules structure. The goal is to tell a good story and have fun!

CHARACTERS AND PLAYERS

Dwayne (yours truly) - Referee/GM/Grand Poo-Bah/Cat Herder/whatever title you think fits.

"Kelda" (Chad) - an electronics wizard and artist, making a name for herself in the local art scene.

"Chris Burkhardt" (Mark) - Ex-Army sniper, mechanic, and shop owner - currently on the run from Russian mafia assassins.

"Anders" (Tim) - U of MN Graduate Student, Teacher's Assistant (electrical engineering), and hobbyist pilot.

"Abel" (Jeff) - U of MN dropout, petty criminal, and hacker.

"Steven Mann" (Jason) - Travelling construction worker.

Note: for this first session, two players (Mark and Jason) were not present due to real life commitments.

This session occured on Oct 5th, 2015.

INTRODUCTION

The year is 2012, during the summer. The situation is much as in our 'real' timeline. However, about six months previous to the start of this campaign, a random stellar EMP event caused a significant amount of damage to the world's infrastructure - mainly in the form of damage to cell phone towers, power distribution systems, satallites, and so forth.

Fortunately for us here in the Western Hemisphere, we were largely 'unaffected'; the pulse was relatively weak, and we were on the 'dark side' of the planet in relation to the pulse's origin.

Unfortunately for us, several of those who were affected blamed us. North Korea, China, et al, have laid blame for the event squarely on our shoulders, claiming we're developing a new weapon system, planning on world conquest, etc. The usual crowd of disgruntled conspiracy folks on social media forums (Facebook, YouTube, et al) have taken up that banner. Various terrorist and 'freedom fighting' groups have declared jihad, revenge, etc, against the US as well. In other words, no change on that front.

BACKGROUND
[Note: Mark's character, Chris Burkhardt, has been ported to the new game system, having been in a solo campaing for some time using the Gurps rules.]

Several months ago, a visiting Russian industrialist narrowly avoided an assassination attempt by local thugs (led by a Russian mafia assassin). Only the timely intervention of Chris Burkhardt saved the day (he had stopped to assist the visitors with a vehicle breakdown). Chris became the 'star witness' in the upcoming murder trial (one bodyguard was killed, along with seven attackers).

In the week following this action, Chris' business (an auto repair shop) was torched, and his home was burglarized, with a warning left, telling Chris he better not testify - the 'or else' was implied.

In response to this, Chris went 'camping' - aka, moving from location to location randomly, attempting to ensure he was difficult to locate...

THE SESSION
Abel has been hired (via an email account) to locate a 'person of interest' - Chris Berkhardt. The emailer states that Chris needs to be located, as he is the star witness in an upcoming trial, and he (the emailer) needs to locate Chris in order to protect him from assassination attempts. Sensing potential danger - and an opportunity - Abel states a lofty price ($50,000) for his services. The emailer doesn't blink, wiring the payment within the hour.
After verifying the transfer, Abel receives instructions to head downtown to the HCGC, in order to receive a packet of information - everything the client has on the 'target'.

Kelda and Anders are both at the HCGC [Hennepin County Government Center, MN], giving presentations to members of the Hennepin County Board for potential artistic improvements to the center. Kelda is an up-and-coming local artist, specializing in combining electronics, water, and motion (aquanautics). Anders is assisting with first- and second-year engineering students, who are assisting U of MN artists with their presentation. Anders spends a significant amount of time 'assisting' his students - repairing damage, putting out fires (literally), and trying to ensure the under age students don't get into the free champaigne (a task at which he fails, understandably).
Kelda's presentation goes beautifully, and it is soon obvious her ideas for the project are the front runner. She spends a good portion of the event answering questions from media, posing for pictures, and avoiding the alcohol-fueled attentions of one of the board members.

Chris Burkhardt is downtown currently, only two blocks away. He has been called downtown yet again to answer questions for a court disposition, go over strategy with the District Attorney's team, and so forth.

Abel, per instructions from his client, has arrived at the art presentation even at the HCGC. He hangs around the buffet table, then heads to a specific pillar, keeping an eye on the scene. He is watching for someone who may be out of place.

Anders [Tim] is at the art presentation event. Anders is a graduate student at the U of M, and is supervising/assisting a group of first- and second-year engineering students, who are assisting U of M artists (in essence, keeping them on track, under control, out of trouble, out of the free champaigne, etc.) He knows of the artist, Kelda, who has a growing reputation in the local art scene, and is also a former U of M student.
Anders has noticed an individual 'hanging around' the buffet table. He thinks he recognizes the individual, but can't remember exactly where from. However, Anders is soon distracted, having to put out another fire (literally) caused by his charges...

Kelda, an up-and-coming artist, has earlier given a presentation to a Hennepin County board, giving her ideas for new art sculptures to be placed in the HCGC's public atrium. She is now answering questions from the press, posing for photos, and resisting the advances of one member of the artistic board...

While watching his students recover from their near-disaster, Anders recalls that he has met the artist, Kelda, earlier. Two years ago, in fact. Anders, who is a part-time pilot, did a favor for a college friend, flying her and a group of friends to Grand Rapids, MN. For what purpose was never stated. Anders does recall, however, that Kelda, the artist, was one of those other passengers.

Meanwhile, following instructions from his client, Abel has drifted from one pillar across the atrium to another. Moments after he does, a door behind him opens and he is 'bumped'. A moment later, an old, grizzled Asian-descent janitor stammers broken apologies to him, as he is passed by a number of other janitors, heading out to begin clean-up. Moments later, Abel notices something in his pocket. He pulls out a smallish envelop. He scans the janitors and crowd, trying to identify who may have given him the envelop. However, all he sees is the janitor, talking animatedly to another janitor, as they head off to do their jobs...


END
At this point, the session ends due to time constraints.

The Dellorfano Protocol Maps

I made a thing today! Taking a page from Stacy Dellorfano's playbook, which the role playing community has come to call The Dellorfano Protocol, I created a random map with the use of two six-sided dice.

I rolled all doors from a d6: 1 for open door, 2 closed door, 3 and 4 as no door, 5 as no connection, and 6 as a secret door. I added a summoning circle to the secluded secret corridor and an underground river. I'm assuming that this is a section of a sprawling underground caverns occupied by many unsavory creatures.

The style of map-making shamelessly mimics Dyson Logo's. You should definitely check out his blog and his Patreon page, where you can donate and subscribe to his works of art! They're really amazing! The scanned images can be found here.

Continuing Defense of Herdis - Day Three, Part Two

ooc: Tim was not present for this session (sick)

3-7-2015
The party [Torleik, Hrolfr, Creos, Cedrik, Ragnar] are on the east bank of the major river, across from Herdis, investigating an orc sighting.

Having made it across the river without being spotted, Torleik leaves the naval captain and seven seamen to defend the longboat, with orders to stand guard and be ready to cast off at a moment's notice. With the party and 13 Northmen, they depart.

The war band makes it to the woods facing them with no issues, and sneak/slink through the woods. Approaching a known clearing near the swamp, two alert orc sentries are spotted. One is reaching for a warhorn at his belt.

The party quickly reacts, and the sentries are cut down with arrows from several of the accompanying Northmen, Creos, and Torleik, barely killing the sentries before the alert is sounded. Within moments they are within sight of the clearing. What they see is... disturbing, even to Northmen.

An unnatural archway has been constructed in the clearing, made of tree limbs, vines, etc. Covering this arch are the body parts of many slaughtered Northmen, in particular their heads. At the center of the arch, at its base, is a pair of hands (also from Northmen). Framed between these hands is a mirror, which is studded with Christian symbols.

Through the archway can be heard... bells, which may resemble a ship or ships' bell. Also noticable is the smell of fish. Looking through the archway itself, vision is distorted, as if looking through heat waves in the summer sun. Clearly, this is a magical artifact of some power.

Torleik approaches the archway to investigate. As he nears, the heads mounted on the arch begin to sound in a very discordant manner, getting louder the closer he approaches. The sound being made is very disturbing to all who hear. Clearly, this noise will be heard by any orcs nearby.

After a quick, almost heated discussion, the party decides to torch the archway, destroying it. Torleik has two leather skins of lamp oil with him. He hands one to Hrolfr. They station themselves, each at one base of the arch. The noise is almost deafening. Simultaneously they pour oil onto the base, then light it on fire. Torleik uses a torch, provided by another Northman, while Hrolfr casts a quick Create Fire spell.

As the fire starts to take hold, the noise from the heads over the archway increases to an almost unbearable level. Irritated, Torleik takes out his hammer and takes aim at the mirror held at the base of the arch. As he starts his swing, Cedrik the cleric yells out, "NOOO! That's a priceless religious artifact!" Torleik manages (barely) to switch the aim of his attack, and misses the mirror. Cedrik rushes up, and works on the hands holding the object. He is obviously attempting to cut the mirror free, but having trouble doing so.

Meanwhile, the archway is in flames, and about to come down on them. Seeing this, Torleik pulls out his knife. Pushing Cedrik aside, Torleik takes two mighty hacks, cutting the mirror free. Cedrik grabs the mirror, and the trio rushes away from the archway as it begins to fall...

Knowing there may be orcs nearby (there IS a major orc army in the area, after all), Torleik rallies the group. They can now clearly hear the approach of a large group of orcs - probably a large portion of the orc army; it sounds as if hundreds of orcs are approaching.

The party cuts through the forest a bit, reaching the easier to cross open field, and sees no sign (yet!) of the orc army. It appears that some portion of the forest is still blocking clear sight lines to the army. They head across the fields towards the boat.

The group forms a loose wedge and heads towards the boat. Part way there, they stop for a moment to assess the situation. Someone (Creos?) notices sections of cut grass in this area. Looking ahead, he notices movement in the grass, between the party and the boat. The boat is still a long ways off. And the orc army is getting closer...

It's a trap! Torleik and the Northman leader re-form the troops into a classic tight Viking wedge (a form of shield-wall) and prepare to engage. Torleik decides it is best that the shield wall attempt to bash/force its way through the intervening orcs, and make for the ship as fast as possible once through the orcs. The 13 Northmen have formed the wall, with most of the party behind it (Torleik, Cedrik, Ragnar, Hrolfr).

The orcs, realizing they've been spotted, rise up (they are covered with cut grass as camoflage) and form their own shield wall, preparing for combat. There are approximately twice as many orcs than the party (35-40) that can be seen.

Creos kills one orc, with an arrow through its throat, before the combat starts. Then, being much, much faster than the rest of the party - or the orcs - he decides to run ahead to the ship, telling them to get ready to depart once the group is aboard.

Before the two opposing shield walls crash together, Creos runs around the orc group. As he does so, he is spotted (though he wasn't really trying to be stealthy). Rising up behind the orcs is a much larger orc. And he is riding what turns out to be a war-boar! A small chase ensues, as the war-boar riding orc leader attempts to cut Creos off. However, the war-boar isn't as fast as Creos, and can't get in front of him before Creos is well past the danger. Frustrated, the orc leader returns to assist the larger melee.

Meanwhile, the shield walls approach each other. As Creos slips past the orc leader, the two forces are one turn apart. The forces engage, with several rounds of pushing occuring. The Northmen manage to hold their line as they successfully push against the orc wall, knocking over and killing/trampling several orcs, though the orcs manage to fill in the gaps and maintain the integrity of their shield wall.

The war-boar riding orc leader charges back to join the battle. Rather than go around and hit the Northmen from the side or behind, he instead comes from behind his own line and goes THROUGH his own orcs! Doing this, he kills at least five of them, but also barrels over (killing) four Northmen. The orc wall has been attempting to envelop the Northmen as well, sending orcs around the edges of their wall. However, the party members have been covering the sides, preventing the orcs from surrounding them.

As the orc leader barrels through the shield walls at high speed, Ragnar turns to attack. Making a good, quick tactical decision, he targets the war-boar's unarmored leg, and sheers one off! (The war-boar was covered in makeshift plate armor, at least around it's upper torso). The boar tumbles behind the party line, with the orc leader spilling off. He roll several times, and manages to roll back onto his feet, hardly without pausing.

The orc shield wall is starting to come apart by this point, as the orc leader's attack has split it in two sections. The Northmen maintain discipline and maintain formation, while the orcs attempt to close their ranks. They have taken 40-50% casualties, it appears, by this point.

Meanwhile, Creos has approached the Northmen boat rapidly. His extremely fast approach doesn't frighten the Northmen defenders, as they've seen some of this odd being's capabilities. However, their response does NOT appear normal to Creos. Only one Northman on the ship is acknowledging his approach. Stopping away from the boat, Creos looks, and notices that most of the defenders are actually dead, their throats having been cut. They've been propped up on stakes to simulate being alive and alert! The long being on the boat appears human, but Creos notices orc-like features on his face. And this orc-human is pulling up a bow.

Creos reacts. Not having enough time to pull out his own bow, Creos runs to the boat and leaps up. Easily clearing the side, he attacks and skewers the orc deceiver before he has a chance to shoot. A quick examination after this proves the remaining Northmen are all dead. Seeing the main combat is nearly over, Creos begins ready the boat for launch - as much as he can, that is; Creos is no sailor.

Back at the main battle, the orc leader, now without a mount, approaches the rear of the Northmen shield wall, preparing to attack Torleik, the obvious and largest target. He and Torleik exchange one blow. The orc leader misses, while Torleik has scored a good hit, dropping the orc's hit points by half. The berserker, Ragner, has also turned to engage, and finishes the orc leader off with one more blow! The rune mage Hrolfr, casting a flame jet spell to assist against this dangerous orc, changes targets, and uses the spell to finish off the war-boar, which is still thrashing on the ground in pain.

Seeing their leader killed so easily, the remaining orcs begin to disperse. Besides, the orc army is only a few turns away, and it's numbers can finish off these pesky Northmen, right?

Torleik and the Northmen party hightail-it to the boat, barely getting there in front the orc army. The army reaches effective arrow range just as the Northmen party casts off from shore. A few rounds of arrows miss, some wildly, some falling close on the ship, but they manage to get the boat into the river and make it across a few minutes later. They return the boat, and the Northmen bodies of the sailors, to the boathouse.

Only FOUR Northmen, plus the eight Northmen sailors, were lost in this series of skirmishes, compared to at least 25-30 orcs, a war-boar, and the orc leader. And the Northmen have destroyed a powerful magical artifact, keeping it out of orc hands, and recovering a valuable religious artifact in the process.

This ends the session.

Continuing Defense of Herdis - Day Three, Part One

ooc: These notes are an overview, not a session play-by-play...

7-21-2014
ooc: Note that Jeff was not present for this session.

The previous evening, after defeating forays by large numbers of orcs, the defenders of Herdis had posted  twelve (12) night scouts to watch for possible enemy action. At approximately 5 am, only TWO of these scouts returned to the town's walls - and one had a broken leg. The cleric, Cedrik, tended to his injuries.

During the next several hours the defenders watch the Orc army attempting, and for the most part failing, to cross the smaller river bordering Herdis in two separate attempts, both of which were out of bow range of the defenders. The orcs attempted to place eight separate bridges across this river. The orcs were pathetic in their crossing attempts. Eight bridges (probably built to serve as both bridge and ladders for scaling the town's walls) were used. Three were destroyed by their efforts, two being destroyed and dislodged when the orcs dropped a large battering ram into the river. This battering ram was soon stuck in the muddy river bottom a ways downstream. The remaining bridges were left in place by the orcs, to allow the rest of their army to cross, though slowly.

The orcs did manage to get several groups across the river, though in small numbers. Rather than grouping for a massed attack, these orcs came at the town walls in groups of about 100 or so. Three waves of orcs rushed the walls. Lacking ladders, their attempted 'barrel-of-monkeys' approach failed each time, and they were easy pickings for the defenders on top of the walls.

During the middle of this third attack wave, the cleric Cedrik spotted a strange sight; he notices a group of flying orcs, grouped in a ring and wearing feathers! He sees them heading for the sacred tree in the center of Herdis. These orcs are also lugging a circular object, who's purpose is unknown. However, it looks nefarious. Fortunately, Cedrik noticed this sneak attack just in time, allowing the town's remaining archers to take the orcs out with a well-aimed volley of arrows. Because of their heavy load, the orcs are sitting ducks (almost literally!) and easily taken down. Once the carried ring crashes into the town, it is quickly destroyed.

Until around mid-morning, a total of eight orc waves have attempted to storm the walls. Each is beaten back with heavy orc losses, and minimal casualties for the defenders.

8-19-2014
Continuing Defense of Herdis - Day Three (Continued)
ooc: all five players were present for this session!

It is mid-morning in the embattled northern town of Herdis. Eight waves of orcs, and one sneak attack, have been repulsed by the valiant defenders of Herdis.

At this point a massive storm is beginning to brew over the center of the town. Creos, with his excellent vision, has spotted a small group of Orcs near a swamp, across the smaller river near the town. To his vision, they appear to be engaged in ritual magic. Are they the cause or source of this storm? Creos informs Torleik, heir and representative of the Northmen King, of his findings. And though he seems to detest magic, Creos heads out to investigate.

Creos makes a stealthy approach to the smaller river, easily avoiding any orc sentries (the brewing storm is very distracting!), and makes it across the river, which is not too difficult for him. Spotting where his target is, Creos is within bow range of them. However the wind has been steadily increasing, and is now strong enough to make a shot from this location very difficult, at best. Using the intervening swamp for cover, along with the storm, Creos sneaks across the swamp, and still is unseen; the brewing storm is very distracting! Once he is much closer, Creos determines that the orc shaman (or whatever he is) isn't calling or causing the storm; he appears to be very frustrated, and it soon seems this orc was attempting to stop the storm (and failing). It appears likely to Creos the storm was actually interfering with the orc shaman's efforts, based on the orcs rage.

Creos also determines that getting an arrow shot off against the orc is nearly impossible - the wind from this new storm has really increased - so he returns across the swamp, then back to the river, remaining undetected (as far as he can tell) the entire way. Fearing the increasing storm, Creos makes a herculean leap across the river, covering a full one-sixth of the river's width (25 feet!), then swimming through rough, choppy waters the rest of the way. Once on land again, he runs straight to the city walls (which seems suicidal, when you consider the storm center is directly over the town). Still running, he vaults the wall in one leap (a twelve-foot high wall on an eight-foot earthen berm...), and safely returns to Herdis.

Meanwhile, this storm has been brewing and increasing in intensity; it spans the horizon, covering the entire visible sky! The ferocious winds rip off parts of one long hall, injuring several people inside (but no deaths), and causes other minor structural damage in the town.

This storm (which is definitely not a normal storm!) finally crashes, sending a spiralling black cloud into Herdis, touching ground in the central grove, near the sacred oak tree. The storm dissipates very quickly after this apparently-magical tornado touches the ground.

Where this tornado hit lays a single individual, a human male. He is barely conscious, dripping wet (soaked), and covered in seaweed (!) and bloody gore. He is dressed similar to the Norsemen present, though in a differing manner, and he is clutching a vicious-looking, well-used two-handed axe.

This new individual, Ragnar, is a human male, a Viking from the original Earth, originally from Norway or Sweden around the year 850-900 CE. Only one person present is able to speak his language, though it is a much-older (original) variation of the region's Norse tongue, the rune mage Hrolfr, who is also from that region of old Earth, but from a slightly older time period (around 800 CE). Over the remainder of the day, Hrolfr shows this newly-summoned character around the town, explains the military situation, etc. Ragnar the berserker (for that is what he is) finds himself trapped in this new world, having been summoned/brought here by some magical force. He is a skilled fighter, and is also well-trained in the martial arts (warfare, siege works, etc), having travelled extensively across old Earth. Seeing few other options, this berserker offers his sword to the commander Torleik, at least for the duration of this military campaign.

The orc army near Herdis has already been decimated by this point. The storm's appearance has (at least temporarily) demoralized them, and there are no more attacks on this day. The remainder on this side of the river are scattered, but cannot get across; the storm has destroyed what was left of their bridges! Torleik leads a cavalry sortie, and drives the orcs back towards Herdis, where the defenders easily pick them off with arrow barrages.

The Defense of Herdis appears to be over, at least for the moment. Torleik's father, leading his army, is due sometime in the following day or two.

However, the defenders notice what appears to be a lot of activity in or behind the swamps located across the larger river (on the east side of Herdis).

Torleik, Creos, Hrolfr, and Ragnar, accompanied by 13 other Northmen, make their way slightly south of Herdis. There, they convince a sea captain to launch a boat with a crew, so the party can investigate what is occurring on the east bank. The captain agrees, and with seven other sailors gets a long-boat launched. The group quickly crosses the river. Torleik and crew head out through the forest and to the swamps.

Arriving through the woods, the party first kills several alert orc sentries, barely in time to avoid their alerting other orcs in the area.

At this point the session ends.

Continued Defense of Herdis

Night falls after Torleik, his command, and Hrolfr dispatched more than 600 orcs. The story continues from Creos's perspective. (Played on November 29, 2011.)
Creos withdraws to his perch in the large tree off the end of the MADS longhouse where Torleik and Hrolfr have set up camp. His experience during the recent mana collapse around Herdis continues to disturb him. Questions abound in his mind. What exactly happened? Why did it cause my features to fluctuate and cause me such pain? Why did it set off a flashback? What did that flashback mean?
The inhabitants of Herdis celebrate their victory. Their carousing irritates Creos. He grabs the dwarven hammer from a nearby branch and climbs to upper branches of the elder oak, far above the limits of the city walls. He finds solace among its red and orange leaves.
As he settles into his new perch, he recalls distant flashbacks, those he'd long forgotten during his rather uneventful, solitary life. Horrific screams. Blazing fires. Clashes of swords. Disfigured bodies of women and children in their homes. He cannot, however, see the faces of the attackers, and this maddens him. He looks over the city, piercing the dark to see the orc horde, and his anger swells. He scans the area beyond the city from the forest to the northeast to the southwestern woods.
He sees six pairs of men scaling over the northwestern portion of the wall. They're quiet, wearing only linen and carrying small arms. Curious, Creos descends to the ground, jumps over the wall and watches the pairs split off into separate directions. He follows the nearest half dozen, who head west along the ditch that parallels the road. They get a small fishing boat from a longhome near the road and use it to cross the river.
Creos swims across the river as he follows the covert operatives, but he loses them in the nearby woods. Maintaining a cautious advance to the south, he catches a strong scent of blood and the rhythym of drums to the north, deep within the forest. He moves closer to investigate and discovers several orcs amassed around what appears to be a doorway made of bones.
A large orc at the doorway sacrifices ravens, dripping their blood on about a dozen diminutive orcs, possibly children. They wear armor embedded with feathers, and they dance in place to the beats that engulf them. The drums' cadence begins to accelerate, and the small orcs lift off the ground, their hands clasped together to join themselves in a flying ring. They levitate into the dark canopy above the treetops and out of sight. At once, the drumming ceases, and a moment the later the remaining orcs disband.
Creos hides a little to the west, and when he believes the coast is clear, he returns to his observation point. He sees about a dozen orcs sentries had remained to guard the gate. Too many to allow him a chance to snoop around. However, he notices something about the gate that he hadn't before--the lifeless husks of a woman and child mounted to the doorway.
Disturbed by this, Creos returns to Herdis by the way he came, leaving behind the humans he'd tailed. He wakes Torleik and delivers the new intelligence. Torleik calls for a runner.

Hunting in Fallujah - Part 4

Twinkies.
The team cases the storeroom. Isaac finds Twinkies and passes a few to Haarold and Viktor, though Viktor refuses them. (I got sand in my Kraken! They find no immediate threats. Haarold sets a frag grenade trap in the door they came through. Viktor checks the door at the other end of the room for traps, finds none.
Opening the door, the team discovers an unoccupied store. They shoot out three cameras, but the CCTV system was not in operation. They find nothing of consequence and move toward the front of the store. Haarold gets bearings, but while he does, keys jingle just beyond the plastic curtain hanging. The store owner enters, fiddles with a few things. A voice from outside a roll-up door calls to him, and he opens the door. The store owner argues with the visitor, saying that he hasn't seen any Americans. Apparently, the visitor wasn't convinced: he opens fire on the store owner.
The team, listen

Hunting in Fallujah - Part 3

After regrouping, the team moves forward.
Isaac suggested that they continue through the sewers with some semblance of disguise, and he followed through on it. Before the rest could decide, however, someone outside rattled the garage door, wondering why it was closed. They shot off the latch, and the door rose. Viktor took cover, but the other three remained exposed. The new arrivals commenced firing on the team, and Haarold took a bullet to the stomach. Good thing he wore repaired armor. The team dispatched several contacts, especially Liam, who wiped out several of them as well as the two in the Hiluxes parked just outside the door. Swiss cheese.
The team faced more contacts before Viktor heard the tank approach. He informed the team, and they began a coordinated retreat to the lower level. Isaac left a present in the Conquest, a claymore on the driver's seat rigged to the dome light, while Haarold gave cover fire. They regrouped at the top of the ramp while the contacts remain content to fire on the garage from outside. Haarold set up another claymore there, with tripwire and facing the wall for projectile distribution.
In the maintenance room, Viktor found an open crate of AK-47's and ammo. He topped off and helped Liam outfit himself with an AK and ammo as well. Isaac watched their six. Haarold rigged explosives, including a claymore with enough command wire to reach the sewer access at the back of the room. After everyone made it through the hatch—which was gas operated and turned on lights below when it opened&mdashHaarold pulled the trigger. The explosion knocked Haarold down the stairs into the water below. They all heard the garage collapse. In the well-lit tunnel, the group moved forward. Viktor took point, followed by Haarold, with Isaac and Liam behind.
Before long, they reached a door without markings. Haarold checked it for booby traps before picking the lock. Inside, there was a light to the left at the top of a set of stairs, aimed at the door. Liam took out the light, a motion sensor light, and they opened a door at the top of the stairs that had no lock. Behind the door was a basement storeroom covered in dust. None of the food and water was out of date.

Hunting in Fallujah - Part 2

The team fights for their lives.
The Knight Conquest stalled again. Isaac tried to revive Haarold, but the downed soldier was not breathing and had no heartbeat. Liam woke for only a moment. Isaac saw the wound on Haarold's head, bandaged it, and revived Haarold to a weak thready pulse and labored breathing.
A wall exploded behind the vehicle as Viktor attempted to restart the Conquest. Isaac pulled Haarold out of critical condition with an epi; Haarold awoke with a great gulp of air. Liam woke, too. Viktor started the Conquest as a tank pulled into view behind them. He tried to pull into a nearby alley, but its max speed was 15 MPG and it stalled before traveling much at all. However, a fortuitous last-ditch key turn started the engine with a roar. The truck lurched into the alley as Isaac fixed the minigun and popped the canopy, and they continued at a fair clip. Liam took over driving. One last insurgent ran into the alley, but Isaac made easy work of him. (Pfft!)
Liam drove into a nearby parking garage, down the lowest level. The team began scavenging for parts. Haarold remained in the truck to recuperate with some water and a protein bar.
Viktor found a mechanical room. It was locked, so Liam blew open the door with his shotgun. Viktor entered and found a generator, and though the lights were on, the generator was not running. Liam snapped a chem-light, and they both discovered that the room was bigger than at first blush. Viktor shone a Mag-Lite and found a sewer access near a stairwell leading up. Liam returned to repairing the Conquest.
At the ground floor, Isaac and Haarold discovered two contacts inside the entrance to the garage. They heard the two team members mount silencers, but they don't know what they heard, nor did they ever find out. Meanwhile, Viktor scouted around the lowest level while Liam started patching up the truck, TIG welder in hand. He walked up the ramp to join Haarold and Isaac after Isaac moved the bodies out of sight from the garage entrance.
Viktor moved to near the entrance, scanned the alley, and saw nothing. When Liam began using an angle grinder, the noise drew four hostiles, two with AK's, one with an RPK, and one unarmed. Haarold, Viktor and Isaac rocked and rolled on the four men, who didn't know what hit them. Viktor discovered their idling Hilux just outside the garage. He had to take out a hostile on a third floor balcony nearby before he drove the vehicle into the garage and parked it.
A moment later, Liam drove the patched up Conquest to the ground level to meet the rest of the team. Isaac searched the four fresh kills and found a Kevlar helmet, US Army issue, which he gave to Haarold to protect his head wound, and a piecemeal set of Dragon Skin, which the team used to repair their own body armor. Viktor scavenged a magazine with 30 rounds of 762x39 AP.

Hunting in Fallujah - Part 1

The team sets off to find an HVT in Fallujah.
There were two possible locations for the HVT: a complex in the center of town, known as an insurgent HQ with its own generator, or a trucking company and warehouse on far east of town, rumored to have an underground bunker. Rafik and his entourage were typically in four vehicles.
The team has no difficulty getting through the friendly checkpoint, though the officer spends about 15 minutes poring over their papers. Other friendlies shared their amusement over the Knight Conquest having an XBox. Before the team set off, the officer of the watch ordered an IR strobe placed on the vehicle. Haarold discovered that the checkpoint crew put the IR strobe over the crease of the weapon bay doors. They moved the strobe.
The checkpoint officer, Captain Reynolds, offered some intel on a map of the city, circling the hospital, marking it with a '1400' and saying, "Tomorrow." He held out his hand to shake Isacc's hand, transferring to him a note containing radio frequencies, call signs, etc., including one labeled, "Spooky," a heavily-armed C130. After spending half an hour at the checkpoint, the team started toward the city.
Friendly armored vehicles were buttoned up. Infantry wore armor. A pair of Apaches flew overhead through a clear mid-afternoon sky.
Liam drove, while Isaac sat shotgun. Haarold and Viktor were in the back.
They took side streets toward the hospital, skirting around debris and holes. As they traveled through an intersection, Haarold called out, "Incoming!" Everyone turned to see (and hear) an RPG heading right for them. It made contact with Haarold's door, but the armor held against the blast.
Liam put pedal to the medal and missed their planned turn. An 12.7mm shot pierced the windshield and blasted the monitor on the console, which struck Isaac in the chest. Liam took a bullet to the head, but he remained conscious and unhurt thanks to his helmet. Haarold popped the turret, while Viktor took aim out the back in time to take a shot at one of two Hiluxes that came in to trap them.
When Haarold began spraying the left side contacts, Isaac spent the rest of his magazine on the remaining two standing on the right. Viktor's shot missed. Liam spun the vehicle around through the median. Haarold took aim at the heavier Hilux, while Isaac focused on the lighter one. Viktor knelt in the turret's ring mount. Haarold sprayed both vehicles and took them out. Isaac saw a contact take aim with an RPG and attempted to take him out without success. Viktor caught the location of the 12.7mm, took a braced aim, and wiped it out. At that point, the Conquest stalled.
The RPG struck the front of the vehicle, sending shrapnel into Isaac, whose armor took a beating. The Conquest took serious damage. The blast knocked out Liam. Viktor took out one of the contacts behind them. Haarold knocked down the RPG contact in front of them. After more gunfire and RPG's, which miss, Isaac put the truck into neutral and pulled the emergency brake.
Isaac and Viktor pulled Liam out of the driver's seat without leaving the vehicle, and Viktor took over driving. Haarold took a head shot from an AK contact but managed to take out the contact. Isaac, having had reloaded his HK, sprayed half a magazine at the five forward contacts to no effect. Haarold tried another blast from the minigun, but its belt broke; he dropped down into the truck and buttoned up the turret. Viktor started the truck and drove it into the first northbound side street. Haarold passed out in the back.

First Intermission: Reboot

Re-introducing a character, Liam, with a new concept - "driver". While shopping for the vehicle, we were given a tip regarding the van we were to purchase, it was a wreck. Liam suggested a different dealer, siting all of the issues with Shane's offerings.

Haarold and Isaac exchanged information with Liam and met up with him at Securicorp's firing range. Bring a variety of armaments to the range, Haarold left a few "gotchas" for Liam to find. He "passed" the inspection test easily and turned out to be quite gifted with pistol. Isaac spent time showing off his golden Desert Eagle, and the group spent time getting to know each other. They eventually drop off the box truck at the warehouse and Liam drives them to a falafel shop in the H1 he borrowed from Shane.

Liam introduces us to "Crazy Akhmed", who is very congenial. Liam shows off custom work he did for Akhmed, a Lamborghini LM002. Akhmed had three Knight Conquest vehicles he purchased for $120 and was willing to let them go for the same price. The group took an afternoon to pick up the two bags of cut, unmarked diamonds from the warehouse and visited a jeweler that Liam knew. They successfully negotiated a sale for $180,000 and $10,000 for Shane's Hummer, courtesy of Liam's gripe with him.

Liam, Haarold, and Isaac spent the better part of a week working on building a working KC. They were left with a full set of spare tires on wheels, wiring, one driver-side rear and passenger rear door. One cargo door, one top mount lift door, two complete sets of seats, 2 extra windshield, 1 radiator with oil cooler and trans-oil cooler. 2 extra fuel tanks, 1 complete rear suspension assembly. Got the driver's IR system working. One spare set of MBC filters, miscellaneous parts. Liam's mechanical skills came to shine, as the rebuilt vehicle better than factory on body and engine (better than 1/4 skill), with a great job on electrical and sub-systems (better than 1/2 skill). The weapon deploy system, lacking a weapon, works perfectly.

On the way to pick up Victktor from the hospital, Isaac and Haarold play X-box -- Isaac pwnd. Liam hammered it down, drifted around a corner, and power-stopped in front of the hospital. Stopped on the way for cigarettes and vodka for the Russian. Roark phoned the group immediately after the pickup, and called them in to brief on a new high value target, Sayed Rafik, wanted alive. The man just surfaced in Fallujah and generally travels with an entourage. He was  instrumental in IED training for the insurgence. The right side of his face was scarred with burns, with reports of a missing ear and other scarring. His right hand is missing two smaller digits. He'll give us two to three hours before he briefs the other teams.

The group takes time to visit Ahkmed to outfit the KC with a 7.62 minigun on a ringmount, which they were able to install in 45 minutes, with round trip to the warehouse and ammo pickup at Securicorp, 2 hours burned. The team ended up with an hour lead-time on the other teams, all said and done.

(And we called it a night; 5 xp gained per character.)

First Intermission: Convolescence

Late February, 2012: Haarold and Isaac enjoyed well deserved reprieve from the raid and successful capture of Jalal Al'Saratti, a former Hussein informant, while Vicktor recovered from his life-threatening injuries at a local military hospital. Over the weeks that followed, Haarold occupied himself with custom weapon-smith work for SecuriCorp and refining various skills he used during the Warehouse Raid. Isaac spent a considerable amount of time at the military hospital under advanced instruction for medicine.

(Jeremy's character, Liam Sweeny, joined the party during a between session operation and was found to be a competent addition to the group.) Interested in finding better transportation around town than the cube truck obtained during the Warehouse Raid, Isaac and Haarold visited a local "fixer", Shane, another employee of SecuriCorp. He was a true fixer and was able to procure a custom 4x4 Ford V10 van for $30,000, a steal based on the $54,000 sticker price. Of course, no VIN could be found, but in this area, it probably wouldn't be scrutinized. The men risk it, and purchase the van.

Shane gifted them with a high quality bottle of Vodka for Vicktor. Roark calls at 08:30 for an appointment at his office at SecuriCorp. At 09:30, Liam, Vicktor, Isaac and Haarold arrived to find that  some great Intel was found from the Hotel Raid procurement of the laptop. We have a new High Value Target (HVT), instrumental in IED training for the insurgence. The right side of his face was scarred with burns, with reports of a missing ear and other scarring. They've narrowed down his possible locations to Faluja, more likley of the two, and Tikrit. It would be similar to the Warehouse raid, where the HVT frequents a fortified location. The payout alive would be $200,000 to the team that extracts him. $50,000 dead. There are two other teams meeting with SecuriCorp later that day, competition to our own team.

Roark indicates that we can contract a Conquest for $5,000 per mission, which the team agrees to; the new van has no real armor to speak of. The contract was effective immediately upon leaving the building, with approximately a 90 minute lead on the other teams being briefed. Vicktor's evaluation of the information given points the team to Faluja.

In the final checkpoint before entering Faluja, we were held up by a First Lieutenant to "thoroughly check our paperwork". Vicktor attempted to bully the officer into letting us through worried that he's trying to delay for another team. Dropping SecuriCorp's name to get through did not work as a tactic. Isaac was able to flex his rank surreptitiously, keeping the Lt. from revealing it to the group.

The team enters on the Old Bridge, and the city is a "ghost town". Liam carefully picks his way through the street litter when Haarold notices a drain culvert grate that appears to have been tampered with. He called, "Stop!" He noticed a trip-wire boobie-trap running across the road from the culvert to the wall of a building. Isaac noticed an aggressor running from a building to the potential IED location with rifle in hand and is able to take a shot, clipping him in the left leg. Vicktor hit an aggressor in a Toyota HiLux with a recoil-less rifle, but didn't seem to phase him. Another HiLux sandwiched us in place.

Liam gasses in reverse, plows through the HiLux behind the team, spins out of control but they end up around the corner and with cover. The engine stalled, while an RPG explodes behind the vehicle. A group of four aggressors exit an alley and fire upon the vehicle. The two firing RPGs fail to hit any target, one of the aggressors fires an AK47 to the vehicle, and another has a MALF blow up in his face.

The second HiLux with another .50 cal recoil-less rifle tears through the rear of the vehicle, hitting Vicktor, once again and Isaac took a hit to the helmet. Liam accelerated in reverse to pull the same maneuver to ram into and through the aggressor. The Conquest took some (2 pts) armor damage from the two collisions and .50 cal, but was still running clear.

(OOC: The session ended here in interest of us getting real life sleep.)

Character Sheet: Lenny "Weps" Ramis

Lenny "Weps" Ramis

Lenny is a 23 year old spaceship gunner, spacer, planet-side adventurer, a Regina Rally race winner, and now co-owner of a trading company, Red Dwarf, LIC.  His experience in the Navy had given him valuable skills, but left him with a general distaste for Navy Officers. He had very little regard for his CO, whom he saw as complete tool.  She just couldn’t see the humor in Lenny’s jokes.  Reversing the flow of the latrine vac is hilarious!  Lenny was quickly booted planet-side, where he was placed in the Security Group where he manned and maintained the base missile and gun batteries. On his off-duty time, he thoroughly enjoyed piloting grav sleds, generally as fast as he possibly could get them to go, or skydiving off of them.

Lenny grew up in a seedy suburb in a Mountainous region of Regina in the Spinward Marches with his aging mother, Despenia, and fiery little sister Griz (short for Griselda).  Regina is a Terran Prime, rich world; a capital of this sub-sector -- though they saw none of the wealth.  He was never really that envious of those better off than he.  His entertainment as a child was taking his sister climbing and survivalist camping, when he wasn’t trying to cut classes from public schooling.

From a young age, Lenny suspected he was different.  He could hear the thoughts of others, particularly that of a strange man that used to hang out at a local coffee shop.  Everyone called him “The Old Bastard”, a man who would often stare unblinkingly off into the distance for minutes on end.  On occasion, he seemed to be speaking to himself.  People simply thought he was crazy, but Lenny knew otherwise.  He had a found a friend in The Old Bastard, someone who understood him, someone he could talk to, without talking at all - literally.  This knowledge he kept secret from all but the Old Bastard himself.

Just before leaving for the Navy, The Old Bastard was discovered as a psi, and arrested. According to the official reports, he 'committed suicide' to prevent his revealing other psionics to the authorities, but Lenny just knew that they - obviously Imperial Authorities - executed him.  He intends on finding the people responsible for the Old Bastard’s death and bringing them to justice, legal or otherwise.  In order to do this, he believes that he must improve his psionic skills and strengths.  Whether that means he is willing to go undercover remains to be seen.

• Lenny "Weps" Ramis Character Sheet (GURPS 4e - Google Docs)
• Traveller: Red Dwarf, LIC. Collection (Google Docs)

[Edit: Added in the Collection of documents for this campaign.]

Moderator Comments and Background #1

Greetings from the Moderator!
Well, life has surely been interesting, so far, for this adventurous duo.
Their actions to date have covered the following activities:

[Session One]
No sooner had the pair met (in a bar, of all places; where else?!) than they were accosted by the proverbial 'roving gang of hooligans', who were actually employees of the Imperial Megacorporation Dagudashag. These misfits accused the duo of being 'Oberlindes scum' [employees of a regional trading and shipping firm, Oberlindes Lines, LIC; OL]. Of course, they aren't, but when has that ever stopped drunk spacehands? The pair escaped serious injury, even though outnumbered at least six-to-one, and were soon hired by OL to do some 'side work'.
Oberlindes and Dagudashag were at the beginnings of a regional Trade War, contesting over the Imperial Navy's awarding supply shipping contracts to OL after Dagudashag failed to meet obligations...
Their first mission was scouting a local warehouse used by Dagu to process local cargoes. After several days of observation (and nearly been spotted and blowing the entire mission at least once...) the two managed to 'sneak' into the warehouse and determine its layout, security, etc.
Two days after this, 'commando' raiders from OL looted and torched the facility in the overnight hours.

[Session Two]
Soon after this, the duo and the nearly-famous JBT [Johnathon B. Templeton, a Scout who lost almost his entire body, and is now essentially a starship...] to scout out a Dagudashag refueling facity in the outskirts of the nearby Forboldn system. The group faked a fuel leak, got the Dagu facility to send out a repair crew to assist.
While the repair crew was aboard, Lenny used his unique observation skills to ascertain important data from the local Dagu head (who was foolish enough to work on critical data when Lenny could see his computer; I guess he was too busy and confident...), which included the layout of the refueling facility.
The group was also able, through observation of Jump coordinates and vectors, to determine the relative destinations of various Dagu raider groups, which were setting off to raid/interdict OL shipping assets...

[Sessions Three and Four]
During these sessions, the group, using a ship with improved weaponry supplied by OL, and with a larger fleet of raiders and cargo ships, went to the Dagu refueling facility they had scouted previously (in the Forboldn system). In that system, they interdicted all Dagudashag shipping that entered the system. This was a normal refueling spot for Dagudashag (a shortcut, bypassing numerous local systems of nominal trade value to that company). In a three week or so time span, they intercepted approximately 30 ships, seriously hurting Dagu's bottom line in this region of space.
In one memorable action the pair's ship (the modified fat trader "Pride of Regina" managed to intercept a yacht, which was carrying the local head of Dagudashag for this region. This pair of actions (intercepting Dagu shipping and capturing their local leader) effectively ended this Trade War, and Dagudashag has been slowly removing assets from the local systems.

[Sessions Five and Six]
THE REGINA RALLY!
Soon after the Trade War sessions were complete, Taezon finally received his scout/courier (a benefit of dedicated service to the scouts). Not only did he receive a ship, he received a Ship. It had longer legs (Jump 3, not Jump 2) than other scout/couriers, and it was FAST: 6G acceleration.
They took the ship a few parsecs away on a trading/test run, making a little money in the process.
Then they immediately entered their newly named ship, the Red Dwarf, in the prestigeous Category Three level of the Regina Rally.
To make a long story short the ship had no serious problems with the Rally. It was easily faster than any other ship in its category; apparently speed kills. ;)
However they did run into a few problems...
First, an Imperial Baron, Tran Elsinore, was to be the final participant in the Rally. However, the pair of Taezon and Lenny beat him in final registration by a mere hour. The Baron was outraged, and first attempted to buy them out of the race (against the rules, but heard of none-the-less). When that failed, he threatened them with various Imperial problems, which of course failed (and probably wouldn't have worked, regardless).
The real kicker was when the Baron, using his racing ship, Fireball, attacked the Red Dwarf while refueling at a gas giant in the Knorbes system. After a three hour combat, the smaller Red Dwarf managed to get away from the larger ship and make its escape. More on this in a bit...

After this, there were no other problems for the Red Dwarf and crew in the actual race. This ship was just too fast for the other participants. There was one serious issue remaining, however...
The Red Dwarf (the fifth ship of its class off the construction lines) began developing CRACKS in its main keel sometime during the Rally. The crew finally discovered them just over half-way through, and this made refueling (and potential combat) difficult, to say the least...
[You should have seen the looks on the crew's faces when they found the cracks; it was priceless!]
And of course, soon after his development, there were reports of Vargr Corsairs in the next system... which they managed to avoid (as they had enough fuel to essentially bypass the system entirely).
Using local geography (i.e., bypassing systems where they would need to refuel at a gas giant and/or enter a planetary atmosphere), they were able to prevent the Red Dwarf from developing any more serious cracks in the keel, and won the Rally handily.

They are now completing their Rally-required obligations for the next game-month.

Soon after the Rally was won, they had a private meeting with a Noble, who explained that the Baron (Elsinore) had recently developed terminal brain cancer, and this caused him to 'snap' when he couldn't enter the Rally, then attacked the players. Soon after being beaten in combat, he realized the stupidity of his actions and made amends for them.
He gave the Red Dwarf crew Traveller's Aid Society memberships (Cr 1,000,000 each in value), as well as giving them ownership of his racing ship, the Fireball, newly rebuilt and restored to original specifications. (Not as good or fast as the Red Dwarf, but still a nice ship.)

What is in store for the now-famous crew of the Red Dwarf? How will they make money to pay for the construction of their 'dream ship'? How will they deal with crew (and other) changes?

Tune in for more developments!

After the Rally

Hello from Captain Taezon Bhaasch. As Lenny has said things are real chaotic following the finish of the race. We are currently shaking down a new vessel to ensure we can provide prompt and reliable services. She's no Red Dwarf but she'll do just fine. Let me be the first to say that although the Red Dwarf suffered an unrepairable failure of the keel, the design is sound and once the materials issues and structural engineering is sorted out, vessels of her class will go on to even more amazing feats beyond winning races.

Welcome, from Weps!

Hello, racing fans! Life has been amazingly busy in the last few weeks since the completion of the race.  We are have mixed feelings about the Red Dwarf and its grounded status.  As many of you know, Captain Taezon had been waiting a long time for his first commission as an independent scout, and when the opportunity to captain the newest, fasted ship off the scout line, he obviously jumped at the chance.  Our first run with this rare ship was a short hop across the galaxy from Regina, enough to demonstrate its amazing qualities.

Timing was incredible in that the Regina Rally was right around the corner.  The experience of the race will be remembered for a lifetime and more.  It is unfortunate that the Red Dwarf did not survive past the finish of the race, but the knowledge that the safety of our men and women in service will be spared from unspeakable fate is worth it.

We have some exciting news to share.  Red Dwarf Racing, LIC (Limited Imperial Charter) has officially changed its name to Red Dwarf, LIC.  We will bring the same success we had in racing to the you, the traveler, the businessmen and women.  Stay tuned, and watch this site for more news.

Lenny "Weps" Ramis