Sunday, July 22, 2012

At Your Door


The Saturday Savages started At Your Door this week. Curtis and Jackson actually showed up this week and made characters (Sheriff Carter Jones and Dr. William Blake, respectively). 


WARNING: SPOILERS CONTAINED WITHIN

If ever you think you might play this adventure, read no further! 

The game started Friday, 13 July 2012, with Lord Stang receiving an e-mail from Robert Jatik of Full Wilderness (an environmental organization dedicated to the maintenance and expansion of protected wilderness reserves) who claimed to have an unusual and sensitive situation requiring his particular skills… so, over the weekend, Stang and his most trusted advisors (Joey Roberts, Leonard Tipple, and Dr. Blake) flew to Samson California. Before leaving however, Stang made a call to Sheriff Jones, to let him know they would be in the country and if he could help out they could pay him handsomely.

On Monday morning (16 July 2012) they met with Jatik who explained that he had reason to believe a company his organization funds research at was actually using their money to conduct illegal and potentially very dangerous genetic research (not what they were hired to do!). His evidence turned out to be some sort of strange, almost alien creature with many mouth-like orifices and tentacles…

Unfortunately the researcher that provided them with the specimen has also disappeared…

The first task, however, Jatik required of them was to escort the specimen to another laboratory to determine what exactly it was that they HAD!?

Along the way they were ambushed. Two truck and two motorcycles cut them off and a dozen, heavily armed men jumped out and demanded that they open up the back of the truck containing the specimen.



When Lord Stang made a move to go for cover and pull out his pistol the man covering him shot – everyone else went for their guns and an extremely short, extremely violent gun-battle broke out on a downtown street of Samson, California. Six of the attackers were wounded in the battle, and miraculously NONE of the players characters… Dr. Blake shot three of them himself!?

With half their number down the remaining baddies skedaddled.

The players' characters spent the rest of the afternoon answering questions for the police – who seemed more than a little suspicious… Their weapons were seized and they were told not to leave town… They were eventually able to deliver the specimen to the lab… and that’s pretty much where we left off.

Unfortunately we won’t likely be playing again for a couple weeks… 

Leonard “Tips” Tipple



Leonard “Tips” Tipple – Wild Card Forensic Accountant/Investigator (Dave)
Ag d4, Sm d10, Sp d10, St d6, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 4, Toughness 5
Skills: Fighting d4, Shooting d4, Notice d4, Stealth d4, Intvestigation d10, Streetwise d8, Accounting d10, Knowledge (Computers/Hacking) d10
Edges: Investigator, Luck
Hindrances: Anemic, Bad Eyes
Gear: Clothes, Trench Coat, Cell Phone, Shotgun (Range: 12/24/48, ROF 1, Damage: 1-3d6) , Knife (Str+d4), Laptop

Since starting to work for Lord Stang six months ago, Leonard Tipple has been trying out some new lines … “They call me Tipple. Leonard Tipple. But you can call me Tips.“ He never imagined that accounting could be so cool. Well, actually, he had imagined it plenty, but never thought it would actually happen. Leonard is thrilled with his new job – a huge pay increase, top of the line computer equipment, control of a huge portfolio, and the opportunity for plenty of adventure. Compared to his years working at Grant Thornton in downtown London, this was like being in a James Bond movie.
  
Tipple had been one of several accountants assigned to Lord Stang’s portfolio at Grant Thornton. His deep knowledge of computers and a passion for reading fraud and commercial crime case histories led him to quickly uncover systematic skimming of hundreds of thousands of pounds from Lord Stang’s accounts. When Tipple contacted Stang privately and brought these irregularities to his attention, Stang was so impressed that he immediately hired Tipple as his personal accountant/investigator. Now, Tipple works full time looking into anything Stang invests money in and acting as a general get-information-for-me-guy. Stang turned out to be a bit of a gun aficionado, and had insisted on weapons training for Leonard and all his other staff. Despite his best efforts, Leonard’s complete lack of coordination and poor eyesight made him completely ineffective with anything except a shot gun.
  
Little Lenny Tipple had grown up in London, and though a bit scrawny and easily winded, he’d spent a lot of time in back lanes exploring with his buddies. His parents, Martha and Terrence, live in a 3rd floor walk-up apartment, and both work in retail in downtown London. They are proud of Leonard, their only child, though they are a little worried that at 29, he still hasn’t had a serious girlfriend. Martha is eager for grandchildren.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Joey Roberts




Joey Roberts – Wild card Streetwise Teen (Patrick)
Ag d10, Sm d6, Sp d8, St d6, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 5
Skills: Fighting d10, Shooting d6, Notice d6, Stealth d6, Streetwise d8, Lockpicking d6, Knowledge Electronics d6, climbing d4
Edges: Quick, Acrobat
Hindrances: Enemy (Minor: London Street Gang), Wanted (Metropolitan Police: Outstanding warrants for various crimes)
Gear: Clothes, Skateboard (run=d10, Improvised weapon Str+d4, -1 to hit), Submachinegun (Range: 10/20/40, ROF 3, Damage: 2d6, AP: 1)

TEEN KILLED AFTER GANGLAND PARTY SHOOTOUT
 Bob Smith
London Tribune
Late last night members of the gang the Peckham Boys attacked and killed Daniel Thompson, 17 years of age. Thompson had been at a party where tension between two factions of youth led to violence. Shots were fired, but no one was seriously wounded. The use of weaponry sparked panic and people quickly fled the scene. Thompson took shelter from pursuers in a store but then decided against it, leaving the building through a back door; unfortunately the group that was searching for Thompson was just outside and assaulted him at the nearby bicycle racks. The attack lasted no more than a minute but in that small amount of time Thompson suffered multiple stab wounds. Bystanders tried to help Thompson but he perished despite their efforts.

The press got it mostly right I guess, but there’s more to it than that. I’m Joey Roberts, and if the Peckham Boys had done what they’d set out to do, I’d be the one dead in an alley. Here’s why…

The story starts before I had even heard of the Peckham Boys. My mother, Mary, is a very loving woman. At one point, February in 1994, most, if not all, of this love was directed to one man.  He loved her like she deserved for that month but then he left, no goodbye, no money, no anything. I had scared him away. I was born on October 18th that same year. My mom was busy with me and had a lot of difficulty finding hours that she could work but managed to get on as a nighttime janitor with various businesses on Lye Avenue and to secure a flat on Bournemouth Close. Between raising a child and working nights she didn’t get a lot of sleep but regardless of how tired she was she always put lots of love and care into both duties. This was noticed by her employers over the years, and by the time I was five the owner of a small grocer, Mr. Stanley Roberts, had offered her a much better paying job as a full time employee in his store.

A few weeks after my seventh birthday Mr. Roberts came and found me to ask me a question. He told me that my mother had been working for him for two years now and that it was going quite well. I told him that I already knew this, I wasn’t oblivious to what my mom did during the day and Mr. Roberts son Gabriel, who was two years older than me, and I often talked when we played football with the other kids. Then he told me that he was going to ask my mother to marry him. Mr. Robert’s wife had died a quite a few years ago from and he seemed honestly interested in being married again. I gave him a lame lecture about how he had to treat my mom nicely, lame because I didn’t believe that he would. I was right.

Five years later it was 2006, and my twelfth birthday. My parents Stanley and Mary and my brother Gabe got me a skateboard. It was awesome, and a lot of afternoons and evenings from then on were spent riding back and forth on Bournemouth close, attempting various stunts. I donated quite a lot of skin to the Bournemouth Asphalt Foundation.

Over the next few years other grocery stores moved into the area and were gaining popularity. By 2010 business was declining for my parents so it was mutually agreed that I get a job. Gabe was unable to work because he was studying Business Administration at Greenwich University. I couldn’t find work at first and I didn’t want to let my family down, so I turned to crime, none of my offences were more than petty theft, just enough to make it look like I had a minimum wage job. It was during this time that I got to know the Peckham Boys, who was involved and what their territory was, I had to be careful where and who I stole from.  I had a few close calls with the police and it was only a matter of time until I got caught. Luckily for me I had kept looking for work.

I was hired by Hermes Couriers, and started work quite promptly. Within six months I had risen through the ranks and was getting more difficult but more rewarding jobs. I carried important documents for various businesses in central London and eventually was even carrying messages and documents for nobility. There was this one man, Lord Stang, who often had papers and packages delivered to and from obscure locations. He’d need a document delivered to an apparent drunk at King’s Cross station one day and then an amazingly heavy package would be sent to him from an accountant the next. I never asked questions, though I did wonder. I just rode between destinations and dropped off the package or envelope. Though sometimes it took a little work and a few questions to find the places Stang sent and received stuff from. Anyway, Stang took notice to my punctuality and offered me a job. He wasn’t specific on the job details, but it was a good offer and I needed the money.

Now, the reason that the Peckham Boys don’t like me. Stang is eccentric, he likes the superhero save the day kind of stuff, and he was looking into some gang activity in central London. So, I told him what I knew about the Peckham Boys. With this information Stang was able to uncover a major drug house and put a few people in jail, which is great. The only problem is that the Peckham Boys found out it was me who told him. Now, they’re on the lookout for me. Stang’s been able to arrange pretty good protection for my family so they’re safe for now.

What I’m really saying is maybe Daniel Thompson was at the wrong party, but that’s not why he’s dead. He’s dead because he was going to hide in a grocery store owned by the parents of an ex-criminal who ratted out some of the Peckham Boys and looks a lot like him.

Lord Stang




Lord Stang – Wildcard Playboy, Millionaire British Lord (Rick)
Ag d10, Sm d4, Sp d8, St d6, Vg d8,
Pace 6, Parry 6 (+1) , Toughness 5, Charisma +2
Skills: Fighting d10, Shooting d10, Notice d4, Stealth d6, Investigation d4, Persuasion d4, Driving d8, Knowledge: Occult d4, Piloting d4
Edges: Filthy Rich, Noble
Hindrances: Code of Honour
Gear: Clothes, Hat, Glock (Range: 6/12/24, ROF 1, Damage: 2d6, AP: 1), ‘Brolly Sword ( Str+d4, Parry +1), cell phone, fancy cars, etc, etc…

Lord Stang is a playboy, multi-millionaire British lord (Filthy Rich, Noble) that fancies himself a British Secret Agent type (like John Steed or James Bond). He also identifies with Bruce Wayne, although he finds the Batman costume a little gauche.  But he's really a bit of an airhead - not the sharpest knife in the drawer. 

Not that that's slowing him down.  He's thrown his not insubstantial financial resources behind his investigative fancies.  Luckily for him, he's been fortunate enough to have some more capable associates - Leonard Tipple and Joey Roberts - who carry him (and keep him alive) through their various (mis)adventures.  Of course, Lord Stang thinks (incorrectly) that he's played a major role in leading their successes, and lets the press know about it regularly.

He's also put significant effort into acquiring a few of the gentleman sports.  He's put a lot of money into shooting, fencing, fisticuffs, and driving expensive cars.  His success in those pursuits is definitely due more to a certain natural agility - not due to mental abilities.

Lord Stang is a member of the British Paranormal Society - though his membership was granted more because of his wealth and title than because of any genuine knowledge of the occult or supernatural, which (so far) is superficial, at best.  As a member, in the early 1990's he actually met Professor Trevor Bruttenholm - a past society member of note (and founder of the Bureau for Paranormanl Research and Defense). 

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Escape From Athens

I started a new Savage Worlds Campaign with the kids today. We’ve been planning it for some time, but just never seemed to get around to kicking it off. Hopefully now that we’ve got it started we’ll find time to sit down and play a bit more regularly.

Finnegan is playing Dionysophenes, a place guard in the court of King Aegeas of Athens. Keira is playing Athis, a daughter of King Aegeas who was raised among the Amazons.

Queen Medea was fiercely jealous of the young princess and plotted to kill here while King Aegeas was away. Dion happened to be the guard she ordered to do the deed. He could not and told Athis of the plot and offered to help her escape from Athens.

I gave the kids the option of simply stealing away alone in the night and by passage on some merchant ship to wherever it was going or trying to recruit some friends/followers to go along with them. I told them if they recruited enough they could steal a war ship… To recruit guards required a successful persuasion roll. Raises would recruit additional guards. Three failures (or a bust – rolling one on the persuasion die) would mean Medea was on to them and they would have to flee at once.

Now Athis had only d4 persuasion and Dion was completely unskilled at such things (and so tried at d4-2). Athis however being a Noble had +2 due to her charisma bonus and quickly recruited three followers. Dion in that same time failed three times and they had to steal away in the middle of the night.

The assasins were a bit better with the noticing than they were with the stealthing so as they turned down the last dark street in Piraeus that lead to the waiting ship their way was blocked by some of Medea’s men…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Some of Medea’s men called on the other guards to give up the princess – telling them it was futile to go against eh queens will, that she would track them to the ends of the earth if need be…. This was an attempt to intimidate the hero’s followers into leaving or rejoining them. I’d said if they got TWO raises on the intimidate roll the followers would switch sides again.

The one trying to intimidate the archer with Dion and Athis just kept acing – ending up with a total of 17 (6, 6, 5) – looked like he might be switching sides right then and there and shooting someone in the back! Then Finnegan rolled for the archer (6, 6, 6, 4) – “nothing doing” says the archer and let fly with an arrow at one of the would-be assassins….

The rushed those blocking their way to the front, two others rushed the archer taking up the rear.

Athis took out the first of the assasins with a spear to the throat.

The archer was doing well – he’s only gotten one shot off (which wildly missed it’s mark in the dark street) – he didn’t even have time to draw his sword before two attackers were upon him. he held them off for two or three turns..

The skirmish raged on – things going progressively worse for the archer – shaken…

Eventually the archer was overwhelmed and taken down.

Around that time this finished off another of the attackers and Dion had knocked down one himself.

They rushed the other two attackers (that had been fighting the archer) and took them down as well. When they checked on their archer friend they discovered his wounds were not grave and so helped him down to the ship and were away before first light…

A Good quick introduction to the campaign and refresher of Savage Worlds for the kids (it’s been a few months since we last played).

Coming soon on Savage Timmy’s Playhouse:

The Saturday Savages will, hopefully, be beginning their campaign in earnest this week. With any luck we shall see Dion and Athis in action again shortly as well! 

Athis




Athis - Wild Card Amazon (Keira)
Ag d8, Sm dX, Sp dX, St d10, Vg dX,
Pace 6, Parry 6 (8), Toughness 5 (7)
Skills: Fighting d8, Shooting d4, Notice d6, Stealth d6, Investigation d4, Climbing d6, Survival d4, Tracking d4, Persuasion d4, Riding d10, Swimming d4
Edges: Noble, Attractive
Hindrances: Loyal, Minor Enemy,
Gear: Traveling Clothes, Fancy formal Clothes, Superior Medium Armour, Superior Large Shield, Short Sword, Spear,

Athis’ mother came from Thessaly originally but had left and wandered to the land of the Amanzons to raise her. When she became a woman Her mother told her of her father – King Aegieas of Athens – and gave her a dagger he had given her. She wished to meet her father and set out on a long journey over land and sea and eventually came to the city of Athens. Ageas, when he saw her, welcomed him into his palace as a daughter and princess of Athens. Medea, who he was married to at the time, was extremely jealous of the young womans and plotted to have her killed when Ageas was away. Her guard Dion, whom Medea had told to kill her, could not go through with it and offered to help her escape from Athens. 

Dionysophenes




Dionysophenes (Dion) - Wild Card Greek Hero (Finnegan)
Ag d10, Sm d6, Sp d6, St d8, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 7 (9), Toughness 6 (8)
Skills: Fighting d10, Notice d6, Stealth d8, Intimidate d4, Throwing d6, Boating d6, Repair d6, Swimming d6
Edges: Alertness, Brawny
Hindrances: Code of Honour, Minor Enemy
Gear: Clothes, Average Medium Armour, Average Medium Shield, Spear, Short Sword

Came from humble origins as a sailor’s son and spent his early years working on ships. While sailing on a ship to Laconia with an Athenian diplomat they were attacked by pirates. Through quick action and bravery Dion saved the ship (and the diplomat) and upon their return to Athens was offered a job as a guard at King Ageas’ palace. Some years later, after Athis’ arrival, Queen Medea ordered Dion to kill her. This he could not do, so he offered to help Athis escape Medea… 

Sunday, July 15, 2012

A New Campaign for the Summer

For those that have been paying close attention to the Other Blog  might have noticed I’ve been reading a bit of Hellboy lately and even painting up a few BPRD type characters… while it’s mostly inspired me to want to get the 1920s Cthulhu Campaiogn going again going again… but I probably won’t be prepared fro that until fall.. but in the meantime I thought I’d run a series of Modern adventure-scenarios perhaps inspired by Hellboy and the BPRD… Though the players characters weren’t really told that to begin with…

So for our first session we made a few characters. “Modern Investigative types” I told them. And then a ran a quick scenario to “try them out”…

Now it’s been a long time since I’ve run anything modern-ish… so they didn’t even think of taking stuff like DRIVING… (I allowed them to make a few modifications to their characters afterwards… probably could have done with a bit more tweaking… but… oh well…)

The players are to provide more detailed character backgrounds by next week, but here’s brief intro to the group so far…

Lord Stang (Rick’s characrter) is a playboy, millionaire British lord (Filthy Rich, Noble) that fancies himself a British Secret Agent type (like John Steed or James Bond) but is really a bit of a thicko with no real skills at all, except that he’s a remarkably good shot (Shooting d10)

Leonard Tipple is a Forensic Accountant/Investigator that works for Lord Stang. (Investigator, Knowledge: Accounting, Anemic, Bad Eyes)

Joey Roberts is a rough and tumble streetwise teen with a bit of a criminal record and some outstanding warrants… (Enemy, Wanted, Quick, Skateboard, Uzi, and a lot of d6s…)

For our quick introductory scenario I told them that Edward Jones, a thug from an Organized Crime Syndicate, that they had helped put behind bars had escaped custody and was on the loose again. With Roberts streetwise and Tipples investigation they tracked him to a hide out on a lonely moor in the Scottish Highlands.

They decided to drive up in the middle of the night, break in and capture the fellow…

This didn’t work out so well for them…


(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


It was overcast and nearly pitch black out on the moor… They tried pulling the door off with the Land Rover’s winch… this didn’t work… so they tried bashing the door in WITH the Land Rover… which only succeeded in damaging the Land Rover….

Also Jones had been alerted to the possible arrival of some visitors. When he heard (and saw) them driving up the road to his hide out he scarpered.


When Jones saw that it was that blasted fool Englsih Lord that had put him behind bars, decided to start sniping them…

Jones had a sniping rifle and night vision equipment…. The other’s had a pistol, a shotgun, and uzi and no idea where Mr. Jones was at…

Stang was shot – TWICE – and took two wounds… The flailed around in the dark trying to comw up with a new plan, but realized very quickly they were in over their heads. They bundled back into the busted Land Rover and escaped with Jones shooting holes through their truck as made their get-away.

An inauspicious beginning, if ever there was one… 

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Operation Uranus

Back at it – I thought I’d run some Savage Worlds Skirmishy games over the summer. I’m sure the East Front campaign will pop up now and again…

North West of Stalingrad, 19 November 1942

SITUATION

BPO Psykiks have detected the presence of strong supernatural energies to the North West of Staligrad behind the Italian lines. A diversionary attack has been arranged early in the day to the east so resistance should be minimal. The Team had the option of going during daylight or waiting until night. They chose to go during daylight hours and scary things always happen at NIGHT! So the small BPO team basically executed a frontal assault on dug in Italians…

FORCES

Soviet Forces

Leytnant Lennady Stepanoff (Christian)  - Platoon Commander
5x Soviet Scouts

Serzhant Boris Trotsky (Dave) – Second in Commmand
8x Soviet Riflemen

Efreytor Androv Virgilovski (Rick) – BPO Rifleman (part of Trotsky’s Squad)

Rayadovoy Ioseph Dizaleski  (Patrick) - BPO Sniper


Axis Forces

Cpl. Spagetti
9x Italian Bersaglieri Riflemen
10x Veteran SS Troopers
(plus others that weren’t encountered)


THE GAME
 (Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

Things could have (SHOULD have) gone very, very badly for our heroes – advancing in the open, in broad daylight, against an entrenched enemy…

A clever combination of extremely lucky shots aided and abetted by a number of Jokers (Trotsky’s squad got TWO in the first four turns or so!?)

They were effectively able neutralize opposition at their end of the trenchline by severly wounding the caporal (with a submachinegun, rocknroll, and a shooting of d8 – which in concert couldhave messed them up!) and the MG team (which also could have messed them up!)

Ths others also got some extremely lucky shots in – taking out Italians in the trenches while shooting at them on the run!? (had to use german casualty figures as I don’t have any dead/wounded Italians…)

The Scout section wasn’t so lucky…

They were shot up pretty good… but the wildcard characters were able to make it to the trench relatively unscathed… (though short a few bennies!)

Trotsky’s DP gunner continued to fire while his loader was shaken and rolled three ones – jamming the gun! They weren’t able to unjam it for a number of turns…

The Soviet BPO team made it to the Italins trenchline and the few remaining Italians surrendered – it was at that point that they started taking fire from the woods beyond!

Unfortunately it was at that point that I stopped taking pictures apparently….

Anyway, there was a veteran squad of SS troopers there that covered the escape of… well.. whatever dark and mysterious evil was lurking  within the woods… MWA-HA-HA-Ha-Ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa….  

Stepanoff’s Scout team suffered four (of five!) casualties, one was killed in action, the other three were lightly wounded and will return to play after missing one game. Trotsky’s squad suffered two casualties – one seriously wounded, the other lightly wounded. The seriously wounded rifleman will join the two previously seriously wounded riflemen – who remained in grave condition and will miss further games…

Cpl. Spagetti was seriously wounded when he surrendered, two others of his squad surrendered. Of the rest four were killed in action, two suffered serious wounds, and one was only lightly wounded. The Italian POWs were unable to tell the BPO anything about what was going on in the woods. They said the SS didn’t allow them anywhere near it – they’d even shot one of their squad mates who’d wandered over to the edge of the woods to piss a couple days earlier.

Three of the SS were killed in action, three were seriously wounded and in no condition to talk so they were summarily executed. Whowever else had been there had packed up quickly and scarpered. All that remained in the woods was an alter of some sort. The BPO team thought that looked like some sort of sacrificial alter, but there was no trace of blood or any other indication that it had been used as such…

Risk was pretty excited as this was the first character he ever had that made it to Veteran.


Coming Soon to Savage Timmy’s Playhouse:

More game reports, hopefully...