HtV 1e - Scientist #2

It’s been quite a while since I’ve played this game and I’ve gotten bored with it, then excited about it, then bored with it, and then excited about it in a vicious loop. That’s how I tend to engage with solo role playing and it doesn’t feel very healthy. For one thing, it prevents me from ever finishing a story! And, I want to finish stories. Stories are what make TTRPGs so fulfilling and fun.

So, this is me coming back to a game and doing my best to make a rockin’ part 2!

---

OOC:
I ended last “session” by giving Joan the keys to my car so she can drive us to where we’re going while I get some sleep. I don’t know where we’re going. I’ll draw a GameMaster’s Apprentice card to get a location: Disaster Site! Oooh, I’m curious now! What kind of disaster site? More cards to give me some inspiration: Humiliate Artificial Skill. Hmmm, what could that be? I’m going to go with a collapsed building that was supposed to be some altar to advanced technology that was built without proper planning or consideration for that advanced tech. The company’s name is CityX.

IC:
Joan shook me awake and I blinked through the flashes of street lamps passing by us at a slow pace. “What?” I began, turning to look at her. She smiled down at me, glancing up at the road as she removed her hand from my shoulder.

“We made it. We’re here,” she answered my unspoken question.

I reached down and pulled the lever that let my seat back swing back up as I sat up. “Where is here?”

“The CityX disaster site,” she said, gesturing to the lights at the end of the road we were on.

“Why are we here?” I asked in confusion. “What does this disaster have to do with the servitor?”

OOC:
Ah, isn’t this the best part of solo rpgs? I have no clue what the connection is, but I’m about to figure that out! I think that she’s tracked other sightings or interactions with this servitor and this disaster site is the central location. That makes sense to me.

IC:
“This is the central point revealed by my tracking efforts of the servitor,” she answered, matter-of-fact. “There has to be some kind of connection.”

So, she had no idea what the connection could be. Wonderful. I rubbed my eyes to clear them and cracked my jaw with a yawn. “OK, then. Well, how are we going to get in?” I asked. She looked at me like I was stupid. Perhaps I was, or am.

“We’re going to break in, of course,” she finally said. Great.

She parked my car about a block away and then we walked up to the disaster site. Chain link fence surrounded the site and large bulldozers and back hoes and other construction equipment surrounded the building. Without pausing, Joan grabbed the fence and hopped over it, looking to me to follow her.

OOC:
Time to see if Casper has it in him! He’s got three dots in Athletics, so probably. Roll: 0 successes.

IC:
The spikes at the top of the chain link grabbed my pants and tore a long hold in my pants as I leapt to the ground. “Great,” I signed under my breath. Joan just smothered a grin.

I looked over the disaster area. “OK, what are we looking for?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “Whatever. Any clue that will tell us why the servitor is centered around this area.”

“A needle in a haystack; gotcha,” I answered. Sarcasm always comes to my defense.

She pulled two flashlights out of a pocket and handed me one. “We’ll split up. They might have cameras and someone might already be on their way. You go that way,” she said, gesturing to the right, “and I’ll go the other. Call out if you find anything interesting.”

I took the light, and went the indicated direction.

OOC:
This will be a Wits + Investigation roll. I think I’ll remove two dice because, if something were obvious, the workers would have likely removed it already. That leaves me two dice. I’ll spend Willpower to add 3. Roll: 1 success. What do I find? Drawing a GameMaster’s Apprentice card: Sheet music, digital player, archive of personal compositions. Odd, but cool.

IC:
 I approached the enormous pile of rubble and started to peer into it with my flashlight. There was a light coating of dust everywhere, and I knew it probably wasn’t safe to breath it in. And I didn’t even have a face mask. I pulled my shirt above my nose for what little protection it offered.

I developed a method: I’d step up onto a large chunk of debris, then peer in all the gaps and holes I could reach from that debris with the flashlight. After about fifteen minutes, I found myself about a third of the way up on the pile and with a discovery. It was a small, metal box. I think it had been a clipboard before the disaster. I was able to force it open and found a small iPod, some sheets of music, and some blank sheets with musical notes drawn on them. It seemed weird, so I called Joan over.

OOC:
Is this kind of thing what the witch in question uses for magic? Does Joan even know? I’m just going to say Yes to that.

IC:
Joan scampered over the debris, I swear I thought she was going to cause some kind of cave-in or rock-slide. She arrived without dying or killing me, and took a look at what I’d found. Her face cracked into a wide grin.

“This is it!” she exclaimed. “This is our connection?”

“How do you know?” I asked.

OOC:
This seems like a great time for the witch in question to appear and take their stuff back. Does that happen? Good odds: Yes. The GMA cards have spoken!

IC:
“I’ll be taking those back,” a smooth baritone voice called out from a shadow. I started in surprise, almost spilling the papers on the ground. There were hardly any shadows here because of all the work lights shining on it. How had this guy sneaked up on us?

OOC:
A GMA card gave me this guy’s name: Niall. Does Joan know him? It seems likely. Answer is: Yes. But not a critical yes.

IC:
“Niall,” Joan said, her face going hard. “How did you know I was here?”

OOC:
Did Niall have some kind of magickal ward up? Or just mundane tech? Roll high or low says mundane tech.

IC:
The man smiled at her and gestured back to the trailer office sitting by the locked entry gate. “Oh, the foreman is a friend of mine. He lets me watch the security camera feeds. And, when the motion detector went off and I saw it was you, I just had to come see you in person.”

I looked between Joan and this Niall. “So, you two know each other?” I asked.

OOC:
And, how does Niall know Casper? Why would his servitor try to grab him? He probably has some kind of goal that he needs Casper for. I’ll roll with that!

IC:
Before Joan could say anything, Niall cut in, “Oh, yes, we know all about each other. And, I know you too, Casper. I’m a big fan of your work.”

Ice ran down my back and I almost shivered with the chill. “How— how do you know me?” I asked, failing to keep the quaver out of my voice. “How could you possibly know what I do?”

Niall shook his head with a mischievous grin. “No, I don’t think so,” he said, simply. “Just give me back my stuff. And we’ll leave proper introductions for another day.”

Joan glanced at me and said under her voice, “Run!” I slammed the metal box closed and turned to run.

OOC:
I’ll have a -1 because of the unstable footing, and another -1 for the torn pants. My Dexterity + Athletics is 5 dice, plus 1 for a Specialty in running. I’m rolling 4 dice! I won’t spend Willpower. Roll: 3 successes!

IC:
I ran. My morning workouts had not quite prepared me for exactly this, but I was in shape enough that I didn’t have too much difficulty. I heard Niall snarl something, but I didn’t look back to see if he was following me. I got to the fence and jumped up, trying to flip over it as fast as I could.

OOC:
It seems right to have to roll for the climb as well. I’ll have -1 dice for the box in my hand. One success! Is he following me? Good odds: Yes.

IC:
I flipped over the fence and heard my pants rip some more. As I was back-stepping away from the chain link, Niall slammed into it scaring the crap out of me. Almost literally. I turned and ran as fast as I could. I heard him climb the fence behind me and start to run after me.

OOC:
Does Niall give up the chase after some time? Bad odds: No. I’ll need to roll Stamina + Athletics to outlast him. I don’t have stats for him and don’t want to roll against myself. I’ll just roll with a -1 for being chased. Roll: 3 successes again. My boy can run!

IC:
I ran, and kept running. I ran past where my car was parked, and had no idea where Joan had run to. I ran and ran, doing everything I could to stay at least one step ahead of Niall. After a while, I heard him slow as he tired out.

“Don’t think you’re safe, Jasper!” he called after me. “I know where you work! I’ll come find you, and you’ll give me back what belongs to me. And I won’t be so nice about it!”

I kept running for another five minutes before I felt that I’d finally lost him. Then I slowed, found someplace to sit, and let the fear work its way through me. I shivered on that park bench for close to ten minutes before Joan finally found me. She sat down next to me and eased the metal box out from my grip.

The lid creaked when she opened it. “He must have lost this in the collapse. He obviously needs it. And you. Why does he need you?” she asked me.

Words failed me. I tried to answer that I hadn’t the faintest clue, but couldn’t manage to say anything. I just shrugged. She accepted that answer.

After another couple minutes, she sighed and stood. “Let’s get back to your car and get back home. But, not your home. If he knows where you work, it’s a good bet he knows where you live. I’ve got a safe house you can use for the foreseeable future. At least until we take care of him.”

I nodded and stood to follow her.

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HtV 1e - Scientist #1

One of the very first games I ever played when I got into tabletop RPGs was Hunter: the Vigil 1e. Of course, back then there was no 1e attached to it. It was a brand new game in the New World of Darkness. Not only was this game one of the first that I played, it was the very first long campaign that I ever ran. We had a lot of fun with it. I started with the Spearfinger module, then we transitioned to my own campaign plans set in Mexico City. We still quote this game, even though we played it more than 15 years ago!

Recently, I decided I wanted to revisit the game, and so created this character, a scientist who has just had their eye-opening moment. The plan is to play through the creation of the Hunter cell he’ll belong to, and to follow the story where it flows. I hope you enjoy reading it!

The game play is separated into Out of Character (OOC) sections where I talk through questions or thoughts about the game, and draw cards from the GameMaster’s Apprentice Deck as the oracle or for inspiration, and In Character (IC) sections where I write the actual game play prose. 

---

OOC:
What was his reason for stepping into the shadows? “Gather Restrained Agreement.” He went to pick up something that was not quite legal and experienced something. Something chased him, made of black smoke, smelling of ozone. It terrified him and he wants to discover what it was.

IC:
I went back to where it all started. Rather, back to where my eyes were opened, the scales being ripped from them. It was a dirty alley way, trash piled up in the corners. It smelled terrible, like piss and rotting… something. I hated it. It made me want to puke and run. Perhaps part of that reaction were the memories. I could still remember the way it moved, like a dark cloud of oily smoke. It drifted behind me, smokey tendrils reaching out for me. Light flashed inside it, like a distant storm. I could smell the ozone from the lightning strikes.

I shook my head. I was here to answer questions, not to get lost in my memories. The foremost question in my mind was this: am I going crazy? In order to answer that one, I needed to determine if I’d actually seen what I thought I had last night. I stepped farther in and gently pushed the trash around, looking for some sign, some trace of that… THING!

OOC:
I roll Wits + Composure to see if he spots anything. -1 for the general state of chaos. No successes.

IC:
I don’t know what I expected to see, but I certainly didn’t find it. There was nothing to suggest any kind of monster had been in the ally the night before. In fact, there was nothing to suggest that even I had been in the alley the night before.

OOC:
Something has to happen. Does someone come talk to me? Yes, Joan.

IC:
A noise behind me. I turned, on edge, ready to run or fight but… neither was needed. An older woman stood at the entrance of the alley, her coat torn and patched.

OOC:
Is she a Hunter? Yes, and has been tracking this thing. Does she know he encountered it last night? No.

IC:
“What are you doing here?” she barked, like that from a tree.

I blinked at her. That was certainly not the question I’d anticipated. “Uh, me? Nothing,” I said. What a ridiculous answer.

“Clear out then,” she barked again. “I got work to do.”

I nodded, feeling very stupid at having wasted so much time there. I stepped around her to leave, but something made me turn back. She’d already dismissed me and was looking at the ground, pushing the trash around with her toe, much as I had just done.

“What are you doing?” I asked back at her.

OOC:
That seems like a Socialize roll. -1 because she’s not inclined to help. Spending WP, 2 successes!

IC:
She hesitated, then just says, “Hunting.” I scoff.

“Hunting what?” I ask.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she answered. The tree bark in her voice was softer this time.

I paused for a second. What did I have to lose? I could ask if she was hunting the very thing that I encountered the night before. If that’s not what she was looking for, she’d just think me crazy. She already did, I was sure.

“Was it a living cloud with internal lightning?” I asked. “Is that what you’re hunting?”

OOC:
Does she react violently? Even odds, I don’t know her yet. Yes.

IC:
Before I understood what was happening, I found myself slammed against the wall of the adjacent building, the bricks cold against my back. Her forearm was against my throat and I felt something jabbing into my gut. I was pretty sure it was a pistol of some kind.

“And what do you know about it?” she snarled.

OOC:
I need to calm this down. Persuasion, which I don’t have. I’d be rocking a Chance Die. Willpower! Fail.

IC:
“Hey now, there’s no need for that—” The side of my head exploded in pain. She pistol whipped me! I stumbled away and scrambled to get my hands up to defend myself. She was on me again, her hands flashing towards me.

The blow connected and my vision went white. I was rattled and couldn’t keep track of her. Still, I reached out, but the world tilted under me, and I collapsed.

OOC:
She knocked me the fuck out! Does she take me away? Good odds: YES! She thinks I can lead her to the whatever-it-is.

IC:
I awoke sometime later with a headache the size of Montana. I’ve never been, but it seems pretty large on the maps.

OOC:
Are we in her van? Even odds: No. Her hideout must be close to where we fought.

IC:
I found myself tied to a chair, my pockets turned out and my watch and necklace gone. The space I was in was dark, except for a circle of light all around me. I blinked, but it didn’t help me see anything in the darkness. From that darkness came a voice.

“So, Casper Jones, what were you doing in that alley, huh? That is your name, right? Casper?”

My thoughts were slow. Yes, that is my name. How did she know? I asked her. There was an exasperated sigh.

“From your driver’s license. And your Quinn Corp employee badge. What were you doing there?” she asked again. “Trying to put a leash on your Servitor?”

I blinked in confusion. “My… what? I don’t have a servant, or what did you say? A servitor? What is that?”

OOC:
Must roll to make her believe me. Presence + Persuasion. 2 dice. Willpower! One success. My dice don’t like me much.

IC:
There was a pause, then she sighed, “You really don’t have a clue, do you?” she asked softly.

I shook my head, and winced at the pain that caused. “No, I don’t. What are you talking about? And why did you attack me?”

OOC:
Does she answer my questions? Poor odds: No.

IC:
She ignored my question. “So, how did you know what I was looking for?” She asked. “You’ve seen it, haven’t you?”

I paused. Should I tell her? Would that make her hit me again? I decided it probably wouldn’t.

“I saw it last night. I came here, well, there to pick something up. When I got there, the something I was looking for wasn’t there, and that thing was.” There was more to the story, of course, but I wasn’t ready to share it with her.

OOC:
Does she push the issue? Good odds: YES!

IC:
What happened then,” she asked.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” I answered forcefully.

OOC:
Roll Manipulation + Intimidation. Chance die. Fail.

IC:
She stepped into the light and I got a really good look at her. She was shorter than me, but not by much. Her hair was a dirty blonde that looked like it hadn’t been washed in too long. But her eyes were what intimidated me. They were hard like flint, cold like ice, and burned with a cold flame.

“What. Happened. Then?” she asked. Her voice burned with her inner cold.

OOC:
I don’t know what happened. It must have been traumatic. “Fail Pandering Ward?” It influenced him to go back and kill a test subject? Sounds OK to me.

IC:
“It— It touched me,” I said. “An oily tendril reached out and touched me.”

I paused. She waited. Her patience ran out. “That’s it?” She asked, disgusted.

I shook my head. “No, that’s not it. After it touched me, I found myself back at the lab. I was holding a syringe, and my trial subject experiment was dead!”

“You think the servitor made you do that?” She asked. Her voice was calmer now, more understanding.

“I know it did,” I answered. Emotion threatened to break free in my voice. “I never would have killed her myself destroyed so much of my life’s work!”

OOC:
Does she ask for more details? Even odds: No.

IC:
She nodded and stepped away from me. “Ok, I believe you,” she said.

“Will you let me go?” I asked.

She looked at me, her gaze meeting mine. “Are you going to go to the cops?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No, I’m not. They would never believe me. And, they’d ask too many questions.” She nodded, then moved behind me to cut me free.

As I stood up from the chair and stretched, she came around to where I could see her again.

OOC:
Does she ask me to join her hunt? Not going to leave that to chance; of course she is! That’ll be fun.

IC:
“I could use your help tracking down this servitor, and the witch who created it. Are you interested in helping me?” she asked.

I didn’t have to think about it. Of course I was interested.

OOC:
He’s not in the medical field, so maybe he destroyed an experiment, not a patient. And, the cops won’t be involved this way.

IC:
I went home and crashed out. My head had just touched the pillow, it felt like, when…

OOC:
“Fix Obvious Nightmare.” Ok.

IC:
… my phone rang. My boss. “Yeah?” I croaked.

“Where are you?” he demanded. “Everything’s gone to shit!” he shouted.

I groaned and got up to head into the lab.

OOC:
Is it obvious that I sabotaged the experiment? Even odds: No.

IC:
Owen, my boss, waved at the cabinet of petri dishes when I walked into the lab, his face red. “It’s dead! All dead!” he shouted. “What the hell happened?”

OOC:
I’m going to lie that I don’t know. I’ll get +1 for it’s not obvious. Two successes!

IC:
I shrug and explain that I have no idea, but I’ll get right on it to find out.

OOC:
Does he want to know? No, he wants it back on track.

IC:
“No!” he screamed. “There’s too much money invested in this. We need results!”

He told me I have to recreate it. This was months worth of work. I had no idea how I was going to create it, but I told him I’d get to work.

OOC:
This is a difficulty 7 of 10 challenge. That means I’ll need 20 successes and each will take me an hour or a day? An hour is more cinematic and will more likely lead to exhaustion. Rolls: Fail, 2, 3, 1, 3, 3, 1, 2, 4, 2. After 10 hours, it’s done.

IC:
It took me ten hours and one aborted start to recreate everything. By the time I was done, I was absolutely fried. I locked up and started towards the parking lot, and my car.

OOC:
I think either the hunter of the servitor should show up. Is it the hunter? Even odds: Yes.

IC:
I found the woman who assaulted me leaning against my car. I groaned when I saw her.

“It’s late,” she said. “Pulling an all-nighter?” she asked conversationally.

“No, fixing the ruined experiment,” I said. “I really want to go home. Can you let me into my car?”

She shook her head. “No-can-do, muchacho. We’ve got a servitor to hunt down.”

I looked at her sourly. “I really need some sleep,” I told her.

OOC:
Can I get some sleep where we’re going? Even odds: Yes.

IC:
“You can sleep on the way,” she said, then held out her hand. “Keys.”

I groaned again, but gave her my keys.

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The Start of Good - Session 1

Session 01

Scene 1

Scene Setup: Birthe is walking back to the ground car she's rented after having landed the contract to hunt down the ghost assassin 'mech.

Chaos: 5, I'm not going to roll to modify the first scene.

--//--

Birthe walked quickly away from the building housing the interstellar comm relay where she'd just finalized the contract with Felicidad to hunt down a rogue 'mech. She pumped her fist excitedly, trying to contain her emotions. It was just so hard! She'd been working for a long time to land work as a mercenary, and this was her first contract. Her first real contract. There had been others, small security details, training, that kind of thing. But they were boring. This opportunity reeked of action!

The leather seat squeaked under her as she slid into it and the groundcar's door thumped solidly closed behind her. She looked over at Roger, who took in her demeanor and enormous smile and grinned. "We got it?" he asked.

"We got it!" she yelled, letting her emotions run free through the shout. She hands drummed on the dash as Roger laughed and eased the 'car out into traffic and down the road to the hangar that served as their headquarters.

"Do we have a lead to start?" he asked.

I don't know how much information Felicidad gave Birthe to help find the assassin 'mech. I'm going to ask the oracle! Did Felicidad give Birthe a specific lead? 50/50 shot, I think. 79, that's a No. So, Felicidad knows the 'mech is in this system, but doesn't know where it is apart from that.

Birthe shook her head, a blond curl swinging back and forth by her eye. "Nope. She doesn't have any more information on its whereabouts than knowing its in this system," she said, her voice all business. "So, we've got some legwork to do before we can mount up for the hunt."

Roger nodded slowly to himself as he listened and moved a lane over to the on-ramp that headed towards the spaceport. "Well, if Felicidad wasn't able to find them with local resources, I doubt we'll be able to. I think we should head out to the latest hit location and examine the area, see what we can find."

Birthe nodded back. "Yes, that's definitely an action we should take. But let's do the office work while we're in an office. We can head to the field once we've exhausted that avenue."

Roger smiled tightly, his expression feral and ready for the hunt. "You got it boss."

Before I end this scene, I want to know if anything unexpected happens. The merc contract is going to be publicly registered so anyone can find out the details. I don't know if there's anyone trying to stop them, so I'll ask the oracle. Does someone try to stop them right now? I think it's unlikely. Roll: 66, that's a no. That's also a random event.

Random event time! I love it. "Move away from a thread, Ambush, The Physical." So, there's an ambush, but it moves them away from the current thread. So, it has nothing to do with the contract. What is "The Physical?" Their physical presence, maybe?

Suddenly, a metallic disk whirred out from behind a barrier on the highway, skidding to a halt on the road in front of the groundcar. Roger cursed and yanked the wheel to steer away from it...

First skill roll and it's not even my main character! That's going to be a Pilot/Ground roll. The TN is 18 as he doesn't have that skill, so he'll roll Dex+Rfl. I rolled a 17. Fail!

... but it was too little too late. The front corner of the groundcar sped over the disc and it exploded with a thump and a bright flash of blue-white light. The electronics in the 'car died suddenly, and the wheel's refused to turn in response to Roger's frantic steering. The silence in the 'car loomed large as the concrete barrier sped towards them, then stopped their forward momentum with a heavy THUD!

Do people rush out towards their vehicle? Likely. Roll: 90, that's a no.

Birthe and Roger, with reflexes honed by combat and time spent in other dangerous places, quickly pulled open their doors and rolled out, sidearms drawn and at the ready, scanning for targets.

Except, there weren't any.

"What the hell?" Birthe muttered out loud, scanning their surroundings, looking for whomever had ambushed them. A passing car lit its hazard lamps and coasted to a stop ahead of them. She glanced at it but quickly dismissed it as not a threat.

"I'm with you, Boss," Roger said as he reached up to scratch the side of his head in confusion while he held his pistol out in front of him and also scanned for targets. "Why would someone hit us like that only to run away?"

She pursed her lips and then straightened and holstered her pistol. "I have no idea," she answered, then turned to greet the good samaritans who'd stopped to see how they could help.

That's the end of this scene! It was a fun one. I think Chaos is going to go up to 6. They didn't have control of this scene. So, next time I play will be a new scene! Woo!

Scene 2

Scene Setup: The random event moved me away from my thread, so I think this scene has to be about that. They're being held at the planetary security station "for their safety," but it's really about being questioned.

Chaos: 6, scene modification roll: 7, no change.

Threads:

• Find the transporting assassin 'mech.
• Discover who ambushed them on the highway.

--//--

Birthe fumed silently as she sat next to Roger in the holding room. The Planetary Defense force was holding them there, "for their own safety," and had been for the last five hours. Birthe knew how to be patient; she'd had to be patient all those long years in prison when she didn't control her own life. But, she'd expected to be in control now that she was pursuing her destiny, and didn't appreciate being held here because someone had attacked her!

Next to her, Roger seemed a picture of serenity. His eyes were half-closed and his breathing had slowed. She wasn't sure if he was actually sleeping or just trying to.

Does someone come in? Even odds. Rolled a 7, that's a critical Yes. I think that means they come in hot and aggressive.

The door to the holding room slammed open and two security guards flowed in, clad head to toe in tactical gear, carbines held loose and at the ready in front of them. Behind them entered a lieutenant they hadn't met yet. The slamming door made Birthe start in her chair, and Roger's eyes flew open, but neither moved from the seats they sat in. They were both unarmed and at an extreme disadvantage.

I need a name for this guy. I know this system was settled by people with American Jewish names, so I'll roll on the Everyone Everywhere list to get his name. Davidow.

Lieutenant Davidow, for that was the name on the right breast of his uniform, smiled tightly at the pair. "Looks like the two of you are in a bit of trouble, doesn't it?" he asked.

Birthe's brows furrowed and she glared at him from underneath them. "Trouble? Why would we be in trouble? We were the ones who were attacked!"

Davidow's slight smile faded and his eyes hardened. "We're certain that whomever attacked you was acting in self-defense," he said. His tone was steel cold. "The weapon used against you was a non-lethal, defensive weapon, to which you reacted with lethal force!"

Roger scoffed at that, but pressed his lips together tightly as Birthe turned her glare on him. Turning back to Lt. Davidow, she took a deep breath to try and keep her anger under control. "What are you talking about?" she demanded in a tight voice. "We didn't fire our weapons!"

At this point, I'm going to make a roll to see how this interaction is going to play out. The Planetary Defense force obviously doesn't want them on planet, wants to blame them for the attack they suffered. This seems like a Negotiation skill roll, which Birthe doesn't have. So, that'll default to a CHA roll with a difficulty of 12. Her CHA is 4, and rolling for an Untrained skill is a -4, so she has no chance at succeeding.

"Didn't fire your weapons?" Lt. Davidow asked skeptically, his brows raised. "I have a forensics team that has analyzed both of your sidearms that say otherwise, and bags full of bullets they pulled from the ferrocrete dividers surrounding that area of the highway that you both fired!"

A growl grew in the base of Birthe's throat and her hands gripped her chair's armrests hard enough to make the formed plastic creak.

Roger's hand rested lightly on her forearm as he cleared his throat. "Lieutenant," he began, his voice deep and smooth. "Surely you're mistaken." He smiled and leaned forward slightly in his seat. The lieutenant frowned at him and took a half-step back with one foot, his hand dropping minutely towards the sidearm holstered on his hip.

"I wasn't talking to you, Mister," Davidow replied, his voice hard.

Roger smiled back at him, "But, I am talking to you," he answered smoothly, almost as if he didn't notice the implied threat in the lieutenant's body language. "I'm sure there's a way out of this where everyone gets to leave happy."

Davidow frowned at that and Roger amended, "Or, if not happy, at least not too upset." He added a small chuckle at the last.

Roger is going to roll Negotiation now. He doesn't have the skill yet, but I'm going to spend some of his leftover XP from character creation to give it to him. I like the idea of him being a smooth criminal. I'm applying 80 of his XP to give him Negotiation at rank 3. TN 8, roll: 10, success.

Davidow's tight smile returned and his eyes glinted with triumph. "Well, I suppose we can come to some sort of agreement," he allowed and his posture eased. "The planetary government wants you exiled from this system," he said, letting them in, for the first time, on the problem at hand.

Roger frowned and shook his head. "We have an active contract with a resident of this system, we can't leave." Davidow shook his head and opened his mouth as if to speak, but Roger didn't give him a chance to get any words out.

"Besides, the planetary government doesn't have jurisdiction over the entire system, correct?" Again, the question was rhetorical and he didn't allow Davidow to answer. "So, how about we just leave the planet and never come back?"

Davidow's mouth closed with a click. The gears behind his eyes turned for a moment, then he grimaced. "I suppose that's acceptable." He stood there for a long, uncomfortable moment, then took a large step back and motioned to the two guards that had accompanied him into the room.

"Escort them back to their hangar and see that they are sent back up the gravity well to reunite with their ship."

Birthe looked at Roger, alarm showing in her eyes, but he shook his head slightly to her. She ground her teeth in frustration, but followed his lead.

"Fine," she said, standing. "But we're not leaving without our gear that you took from us."

Davidow nodded and made a gesture to one of the guards for them to give them back their equipment.

End of scene. We kinda had control of the scene, so I'll drop Chaos to 5.

Scene 3

Setup: Back in the hangar and getting ready to head back up the gravity well off the planet. This will be the giant terrestrial planet in Orbit 2, Jacob. It has the highest gravity so will be better for long-term habitation. So, we're kicked off Jacob.

Chaos: 5, modification roll: 5, that means the scene is altered. While we're packing, the people who attacked us on the highway make another attempt.

Threads:

• Find the transporting assassin 'mech.
• Discover who ambushed them on the highway and why we've been banned from Jacob.

NPCs

• Lt. Davidow - Planetary Defense officer who kicked them off of the planet.

--//--

Birthe and Roger worked to pack up their makeshift office. They'd intelligently left just about everything in or on the boxes they were packed them in so they could leave at a moment's notice. This was that moment. Noteputers were swept back into cases, hardcopy printouts were shoved back into files, and clothing was balled up and shoved into duffels. All this happened while a squad of planetary defense force watched.

The defense force soldiers are going to walk away to give the attackers the chance to attack undeterred. Does Birthe see that? I'm going to give her a -1 since she's distracted packing. TN 7, roll: 4. That's a failure!

As the pair worked to pack everything, the defense force soldiers slowly filtered out of the hangar until just Birthe and Roger remained. Neither Mechwarrior realized they were now alone, or that anything was wrong until the first flash-bang clattered into the area on the ferrocrete floor.

They are both soldiers, they would have strapped on their sidearms after they were given back. I don't think they would have thought to armor up because they're on their way out. They're certainly not wearing any eye protection for the flash.

With an incredibly loud bang the grenades exploded. Birthe and Roger were not prepared for this and the flashing light and crashing sound slammed into their heads causing them to be stunned instantly.

Are the attackers trying to take them captive? I'm not even going to roll, yes they are. Why else would they use non-lethal weapons on them?

As their vision begian to clear, they saw blurry figures storm towards them, hands reaching out and binding cables held in hands.

I'm going to give both of them a chance to fight the kidnappers off, but they have a -2. TN 8, Birthe: 8, Roger: 10.

Both Mechwarriors, having trained for situations like this, stood and fought, using defensive stances and sharp unarmed attacks against any of the blurry figures that approached them. Quickly, they found each other and stood back to back, defending each other from the attacks by these mysterious attackers.

With these people wanting to take them unharmed, I'm thinking they might want to talk to them, perhaps a cry for help. Do they want to hire them for a job? Likely odds, roll: 33, that's a Yes, and a random event!

"Hold!" a voice calls out, and a grizzled veteran of a man strode out of a dark corner towards the melee. All of the kidnappers froze where they were and took a few steps back, still wary, but not attacking anymore. Birthe and Roger held their ground as they watched the man approach.

"Who are you?" Birthe bit out, anger raging behind her lips.

The man grimaced, his eyes crinkling with what might have been a smile. "The name is Ardon," he introduced himself with his left hand touching his chest. His right hand hovered near the sidearm holstered at his hip. "And, we need your help."

A cry for help, is it? Well, this seems like a wonderful time to add in the random event. NPC Action, Dominate, Success. I only have one NPC, Lt. Davidow. And, I suppose he's against these guys and is going to crash their party.

A siren went off, it's shrill cry filling the hangar, making everyone flinch at the noise. The sound was like white hot pokers in both Birthe's and Roger's ears after the flash bangs. Feet pounded on the ferrocrete as a full company of Planetary Defense soldiers pounded into the hangar, weapons pointed at the group congregated around Birthe and Roger.

After the company assembled, the siren died with a slow wail, then Lt. Davidow strolled in, his head held high, his teeth bared in a victorious grin. "Ah, the famous Ardon!" he shouted across the hangar as he approached the group. "At last, I have caught up to you!"

Ardon's face drew down in a scowl and he turned slowly to face the lieutenant as he approached. "Lt. Davidow," he said in a bored voice. "Your bumbling ineptitude has finally brought you success."

Davidow smiled at him, his teeth bared like a shark. "Ah, yes, that famous wit!" he said. "It won't save you now," he added, his chin dropping so he could look at the other man with menace. "You and your men throw down your weapons. You're coming with us."

Standing in the center of the two concentric circles of the Planetary Defense and Ardon's men, who she assumed had to be rebels of some sort, licked her lips a little nervously. She didn't feel like dying in crossfire today.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" she called out.

Davidow smiled large and chuckled slightly. "Of course!" he said in a loud voice. "Let me explain to you the decades of strife between our two factions while we hold each other at gun point!" His sarcastic tone died. "No, you are owed no explanations. Suffice it to say, you've helped me capture someone I've been searching for, for a long time. And," he turned his attention back to Ardon, "once they comply with my lawful order to surrender, you and your companion can be on your way, off my planet!"

I suppose the question now is, does Ardon surrender? I think that's very unlikely, but I'd like to leave it to chance. Rolling on the oracle tells me that is a Critical No! He, of course, does not surrender.

Ardon, taking advantage of Davidow's moment of split attention, drew his sidearm and pointed it at the lieutenant. "No surrender!" he cried, and the hangar erupted with gunfire.

Birthe ducked down and pulled Roger down with her by the arm. Turning, she rushed towards the hover truck that had most of their gear loaded up on it, pulling Roger behind her. As she reached the vehicle, she yanked open the door and pushed Roger up into the vehicle and across the bench seat so she could climb up after him. The engine started with a roar and the vehicle lifted as the skirt below it filled with air.

Do either of them get hit in the rush? Unlikely, they are not the targets. Birthe: Yes, Roger: No.

Birthe pushes on the accelerator and the fans driving the vehicle spin up, adding to the vehicle's already loud roar. Her hand slips off the lever and she stares down as blood flows down her arm. Her brow furrows; she didn't even realize she'd been hit.

"I'm hit!" she called to Roger over the noise of the hover truck. "Find a first aid kit!" With that, she steered the truck out of the hangar and towards the dropship holding their 'Mechs and waiting to take them back up to orbit.

I'm going to end the scene there. They did not have control of this scene, so Chaos goes up to 6. I'll leave Ardon's and Davidow's fate to be discovered later.

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The Start of Good - Session 0

I feel the need, the need for speed! Not really. I feel the need to write a Solo RPG Actual Play! I want to do something in the Battletech world. I've wanted to play A Time of War for a while and while I've had a few false starts playing A Time of War solo, I believe I now have all the tools I need to play the game how I want to. The tools I plan to use are:

• A Time of War - The actual RPG. I'll make my character here and play the character-centric parts of the story using these rules.
• Total Warfare - When it's time for Mechwarrior action, I'll be using the boardgame rules to run the 'Mech combat!
• Xenos Rampant - There will be times when I want some squad based action. This game will fill that need perfectly.
• Mythic GM Emulator - My favorite GM emulator. The way it works gels with me so well. I love how Chaos can change things and surprise me, and how well it supports random events.
• The Game Master's Apprentice Deck - This deck excels when the need for a random something rises. Need a difficulty? Draw a card. Name? Draw. Smell? Card. I love it.
• The Oracle Story Generator - Five decks to generate different types of adventures! They're for fantasy, but it's not hard to re-skin them for science fiction.
• Everyone Everywhere List - A lot of pages of tables to generate random names. Thirty-one pages of tables!

There may, of course, be other tools I bring in or throw out as the need arises. This project is for me. I like writing. I like playing games. I like creating stories. I like when the story surprises me. This project is to scratch that itch.

I have been working on a character for A Time of War, but I'm not going to use him. I'm going to generate an adventure first, then see what character concept I want to make for that adventure. To The Oracle Story Generator!

The first deck I grabbed was for Contracts & Bounties! This feels perfect. I guess that means I'm playing a Mercenary. Battletech thrives in the Mercenary space! The cards gave me this adventure:

"A courageous scholar will hire you to capture and imprison a cloaker because they are revolted by it but the cloaker is protected by teleportation magic."

Yeah, that's very fantasy! I'll need to tweak it a little to get it to work in the Battletech universe. Or, will I...

"A Word of Blake Toyama hero has hired you to capture and imprison the pilot of an assassin 'mech that has been plaguing the border planets of the Free Worlds League. The assassin 'mech seems to have some form of teleportation technology that disgusts them."

There we go, that feels very Battletech. I need a name for the Blakist, so I'll turn to the Everyone Everywhere List: Felicidad Quintero. Felicidad is a woman and is a Mechwarrior herself. She is famous and a hero because (this is where I pull some cards from the Apprentice deck) "Strengthen, Elusive, Freedom." She led a coup to overthrow the Comstar commander of the base she was on and turned the base over to the Blakists. The leader allowed people to hold Blakist sympathies, but didn't allow them to "practice" their religion or follow their pseudo-religious beliefs. Felicidad put an end to all that and now they are all free to be part of the World of Blake.

I did a little looking around at the wiki on Sarna and I'm thinking this is going to be happening around 3065. Stealth armor has been around for a little over a decade now, and Felicidad is afraid that some new technological marvel is coming out. She wants to squash it before it causes a big bang, or before anyone else gets their hands on it.

So, that brings me to my character(s) and their motivation(s). I'm going to be playing a Mercenary, so money is obviously a big motivator. However, a character can't just be motivated by money! That makes for a boring character. A murder-hobo. "Will kill for cash." I'm not interested in playing a character like that for this game. So... what could be their other motivations?

This is the perfect time to roll on the Event Meaning tables in Mythic. Starting Good. Well, that sounds like they have a dark history that they're running from. They want to wash the dark stain of war crimes from their uniform. No, insubordination. Or war profiteering. I like that last one best. They looted stuff and sold it, looking to set themselves up for after the war, and got found out. They did some time in prison and are out now, returning to the only thing they know: being a Mechwarrior! And, they want to do it right, keeping to their contracts and not disobeying orders, or breaking contracts in this case.

I'm going to generate a name now. The name may suggest what military they were a part of during the Clan Invasion. Birthe Nielson. I left it up to the dice and my main character is a woman! With that name, it appears she's from the Free Rasalhague Republic. I honestly know little to nothing about that faction in Battletech. This is a good opportunity to learn more!

She's got to have a right hand, someone who is there with her through thick and thin. This person will be a man by the name of Roger Foley. He'll need a motivation to, so rolling on the Event Meaning tables gives me Carelessness Travel. He wants to travel the galaxy, and what better way to do that than by hitching his cart to a driven mercenary?! He doesn't care what he does in his travels, he just wants to travel. That's fun and will be an interesting addition to the merc unit.

This might actually be a really cool origin story for whatever this merc group turns into. A couple of 'mechs roaming about, pulling odd jobs and paying for service when they have cash to do so. They'll build the merc unit as they go along and hopefully eventually have something they can call their own. That sounds like fun, doesn't it?

While I'm in session zero, I should probably set the ground rules that I'll be operating under:

1. No sexual violence.
2. No sexism/racism.
3. No violence against children.
4. Yes descriptions of violence.
5. Yes adult language.
6. Yes to romance, if it ever comes up and feels right.

I do not believe this project is going to be anything amazing or something that will gain much of a following. But, it seems like fun and I'm going to do it for me. I'm sharing it on this site because I feel like I want to share something creative, and where I create the most and the best is in the roleplaying game area. It's what I do, and I think I'm pretty damn good at it. I think my players think so too. That, or they're very good and protecting my fragile feelings.

I do need to figure out what our unit is going to be comprised of. I'll need two 'mechs for these two chuckleheads to pilot. There are campaign rules in the Total Warfare book, but they're overkill for this project. I will use the rules for rolling to see what I can get, though. Not knowing exactly what I'm going to get is a surprise, and I love surprises in my solo games.

For Birthe, I'm going to try and get her one of my favorite 'mechs: a Rifleman! The Master Unit List gives me an option between the 3N and the 5M. I want the 5M version. Rolled for it and I got it! Birthe drives a Rifleman RFL-5M. Roger wants to drive something a little lighter, I think. He is a wanderer, so he wants more mobility. A Phoenix Hawk sounds like a good 'mech for him! There are two variations available on the MUL: the PXH-1 and the PXH-3M. I examined both on Sarna and that 3M is looking mighty sexy! I'll roll for it. Boom! Got it.

Those are two great 'mechs and I think this is going to be a great start for the game. I don't feel like going through the whole lifepath character creation so I'll use the archetype for Birthe and customize her.

I hope you've enjoyed this world-building post and hope you'll return for furture installments of this very young project. Thanks for reading!

record scratch Hold the phone! I just realized that I didn't create a world or star system for this game! And, I want to! The Campaign Operations book has some rules that I like using to make a star system and worlds around it. Creating them this way adds more surprises to the game and creates other places that may be of interest.

I have to create the star type first, and I'm going to be rolling on the Life Friendly column. What would be the point of generating a star system that wasn't life friendly if I want to play stompy 'Mech stories on the planets that orbit it!? The roll gives me a G2V star, which is just like Sol! There is probably some prime real estate orbiting this star.

The star has 12 orbital slots, which means this system could potentially have a lot of interesting things in it. Let's generate what's in each of those slots and see! Since the star in this system is the same mass as Sol, there aren't many calculations to do, just copying orbital placement numbers from the table to the worksheet. I won't bore you with those detail. But, the bit that is interesting is the Life Zone! The inner Life Zone for this star system starts at 0.66 AU and ends at 1.34 AU. That means I have two orbits inside the Life Zone: Orbit 2 and Orbit 3!

The next step is to generate the objects that are in each orbit. This is more dice rolling and consulting a table to see what's there. I'll just list what ends up being in each orbit.

• Orbit 1: Asteroid Belt
• Orbit 2: Giant Terrestrial - Diameter: 17,000 km, Density: 3 g/cm³, Day Length: 14 hours, Gravity: 0.7 G
• Orbit 3: Terrestrial - Diameter: 6,500 km, Density: 4.5 g/cm³, Day Length: 24 hours, Gravity: 0.4 G
• Orbit 4: Giant Terrestrial - Diameter: 18,500 km, Density: 3 g/cm³, Day Length: 18 hours, Gravity: 0.8 G
• Orbit 5: Gas Giant - Diameter: 110,000 km, Density: 1.6 g/cm³, Day Length: 8 hours, Gravity: 2.5 G
• Orbit 6: Gas Giant - Diameter: 105,000 km, Density: 1.1 g/cm³, Day Length: 12 hours, Gravity: 1.6 G
• Orbit 7: Gas Giant - Diameter: 70,000 km, Density: .9 g/cm³, Day Length: 12 hours, Gravity: 0.9 G
• Orbit 8: Gas Giant - Diameter: 100,000 km, Density: 1.1 g/cm³, Day Length: 16 hours, Gravity: 1.6 G
• Orbit 9: Gas Giant - Diameter: 100,000 km, Density: .8 g/cm³, Day Length: 15 hours, Gravity: 1.1 G
• Orbit 10: Gas Giant - Diameter: 120,000 km, Density: .7 g/cm³, Day Length: 9 hours, Gravity: 1.2 G
• Orbit 11: Ice Giant - Diameter: 35,000 km, Density: 1.7 g/cm³, Day Length: 13 hours, Gravity: 0.9 G
• Orbit 12: Gas Giant - Diameter: 90,000 km, Density: 1.4 g/cm³, Day Length: 14 hours, Gravity: 1.8 G

Uh... that's a lot of gas giants! That makes me think that there must be some kind of gas mining going on in this system. Maybe. And, it's odd to me that not a single planet has a gravity higher than 1 G. Did I do it wrong? Yes. Yes I did. Now I have to fix all the gas giants. There, fixed them.

In case you haven't realized it yet, there's a lot that goes into generating a star system in Campaign Operations. Lots of rolls, lots of details. Most likely won't come into play, but I'm one of those gamers that enjoys detail. And now, it's time for another bit of detail: moons. Only giant moons will be of a size to become inhabitable bodies, so I won't generate any additional details for any moon that's smaller than that. Of course, by default, moons are not inhabitable, but I think we'll pull a little Star Wars here and make any that show up potentially inhabitable.

• Orbit 1: No moons.
• Orbit 2: 0 giant moons, 1 small moon.
• Orbit 3: 0 moons.
• Orbit 4: 0 giant moons, 0 small moons.
• Orbit 5: 0 giant moons, 5 large moons, 1 medium moon, 10 small moons, no rings.
• Orbit 6: 0 giant moons, 1 large moon, 1 medium moon, 16 small moons, no rings.
• Orbit 7: 1 giant moon, 0 large moons, 1 medium moon, 23 small moons, has rings.
• Orbit 8: 0 giant moons, 1 large moon, 1 medium moon, 13 small moons, no rings.
• Orbit 9: 2 giant moons, 2 large moons, 4 medium moons, 14 small moons, has rings.
• Orbit 10: 0 giant moons, 3 large moons, 2 medium moons, 14 small moons, no rings.
• Orbit 11: 0 giant moons, 0 large moons, 7 small moons.
• Orbit 12: 1 giant moon, 5 large moons, 0 medium moons, 18 small moons, has rings.

I've gotten to the part where I'm supposed to roll on a bunch of tables and do a bunch of calculations to determined habitability, atmosphere type, luminosity, etc. Honestly, doing all this doesn't interest me, and if I decide that I need to know some of those details for other planets in the future, I can always come back to the tables and make the rolls to determine what their details are.

Right now, I have two planets in the habitable zone. I want to know about those planets.

• Orbit 2: 30% water coverage, Tainted atmosphere, High temperature, Highest life form: amphibians.
• Orbit 3: 20% water coverage, Tainted atmosphere, Medium temperature, Highest life form: amphibians.

Lastly, my system needs a name. I think the Everyone Everywhere list can be of help here. Randomly rolling on that gives me a Jewish (American) name: Blumenfeld. That's the system name. Let's say the system was named after the first family that went to colonize it, and each planet was named after one of the members of the family in age order. That's a big family, but they were colonizers after all!

Blumenfeld System

1. Hiram's Belt
2. Jacob
3. Elam
4. Josetta
5. Divsha
6. Mina
7. Amos
8. Martel
9. Noah
10. Miriam
11. Dalia
12. Carmela

All right, that's an end to this post. I'm not going to add anything else to it. I have a star system! That was a lot of work. The story is going to stay in this system for a while, I think. There are plenty of objects in the stellar system to play on, and lots of stories that can be told. Being a mercenary band starting out and staying in a single star system makes sense to me. Gotta start small! My next post will be session 1 of my actual play.

Thank you for reading.

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