[misterjoshua]

Haha. Sounds fun! I just popped in to watch/say hi. Good to see it’s still going strong. 😀

[misterjoshua]

What did I miss? 😛

[misterjoshua]

Hi! Been a while, thought I’d see how things are playing out ?

[misterjoshua]

@Nightraven Are you making Professor Xavier? 😉

[misterjoshua]

Jack taking over for now, but I’d be interested to know the game we plan on playing long-term as my choice of character will probably depend on this 🙂

[misterjoshua]

I really think you need to make a military rigger

[misterjoshua]

I didn’t know we’d got any gentlemans agreements? And you still played John? ?

[misterjoshua]

I hate rolling dice. It slows my posting down a lot having to work it all out. I much prefer having the GM do it and I never have to see it 🙂

Is Jack interested in running the main game then, or just the interim?

[misterjoshua]

That works for me.

[misterjoshua]

Just some thoughts going forward….

Triads and Tribulations (originally 86ing the 88’s) was a bit of a unique game. We started with a few characters and a general idea of what we wanted to achieve, but no GM and no way of getting there. We then tied it into Mercy’s story of the Triads, and went from there. We used the collaborative storytelling model, and took turns GMing. My point though is that this feels different now, going forwards. Tanya, Fu Shing and the Triads will be the focus of the story, rather than Jan, Al and John. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s different. I don’t think it’ll work with Mercy running the game AND Tanya being the focus. I’d suggest either one of the following:
– Mercy runs the game and tells the story of the 88s, with Tanya as an NPC taking a background role
– Someone else runs the game and Tanya leads the PC team
– If we’re continuing with the collaborative model, I’d suggest some of the players represent other interests, maybe even opposition, other factions, representatives of Rick etc.
Otherwise, with the same person as GM and lead player, everyone else just feels tacked on.

Which book are Drakes in? My other options are to play Johnny Awesome (not sure how he’d fit, but he’s always fun to play) or if we’re going with option 3 maybe the Oni 😉

[misterjoshua]

Thanks. I was pleased with how it went. I wanted it to be a surprise, and felt that the opponent had probably been underestimated. Sending in a willing suicide bomber seemed very Triad (and I was careful to never say it was Rick). If I was being harsh I think everyone could have died, but wanted to avoid that. 🙂

[misterjoshua]

Are there Drakes in 5e yet? I always wanted to make a Chinese Drake who’d fit this pretty well.

On the Drones, I didn’t use rules, it was just GM fiat and narrative. Your opponent was powerful, and I felt it reasonable he with a team of sprites, would be better than Rose. I spoke to Jack about what sort of things a techno with sprites could pull off. Although the drones were silent, they were being actively looked for.

[misterjoshua]

You have a curly bracket at the end instead of a square one. 😉

I’m not ‘out’, no. But I thought it made sense for Jan to try and make an exit here, considering why he started this and where it’s now going. I may be tempted back, or might switch character even.

[misterjoshua]

I’ve done a bit of a summary to wrap up the scene. I’ve really enjoyed it, but I’ll hand over to someone able to keep things moving a bit quicker. We’re now out of combat, so peeps are free to do whatever.

[misterjoshua]

<<SITREP>>
[Tuesday, 26 November, 21:05; Happy Kong Noodle Shop, Chinatown, Seattle]

– The Hai Sung Social Club is no more. Well, at least it won’t be open to business for a good long time. 75% of it has collapsed under it’s weight with most of the supporting walls blown out. You doubt anyone remaining in the Triads will care.
– Glo’s drone spots the Oni clinging to a wire rope ladder spooled down from the VTOL. There’s blood showing through his clothing.
– Ving is dead. Wei Lin seems a bit upset, despite Ving’s personality. Though she helped you escape you’re sure she fears Rick too much to stick around and help you.
– Rick, you’d wager was never at the club and had no intention of showing up. There are rumours he’s in asia garnering additional support.
– Fu Shing and his 2 remaining guards were mopped up by Triads loyal to Rick. Reviewing what’s left of the footage you can see both Fu’s and Ving’s former deputies leading the fight, likely moved up the ranks behind the scenes to replace the former Lieutenants. (This was going to be a reveal outside the club, but we kinda skipped that part)
– There’s no doubt that, from Rick’s point of view, neither Fu Shing nor Ving Sung were part of the organisation after today. This was a clear kill-box operation that everyone kindly walked into.
– The Happy Kong noodle shop is unguarded. Likely no-one knew of that entrance, or thought to cover it. You’re free to move on whichever way you please.
– Rose reports that, on review, a respectfully powerful technomancer and a gang of sprites were in control of the club interior, and forcibly took control of the drones around the site. She mentions this as something to be careful of going forwards. It’s common knowledge inside the organisation that Rick’s Lodgemaster is a technomancer.
– Jan messages the group <<@All: Ving’s dead, and with all this internal bullkak going down they’re unlikely to be bothering us for the foreseeable. I’m done with Triad politics. You’d do well to think the same>>

[misterjoshua]

Yeah, sorry Jack. I didn’t want it to seem rail-roady at all, so apologies if it did. I didn’t mind either way if you caught the Oni. It was just a mistake. I described a fire door and a corridor. He’d gone through the fire door. You said you went down the corridor. AFAIK you guys hadn’t got much prior knowledge of this place and so taking a wrong path seemed a reasonable outcome. Your IC post sold it well, though there are no magical illusions at play, just dumb luck.

@Adamu: Thanks, I’ve been pretty pleased with how it’s gone and think the narrative style has worked well. I thought there was perhaps a little overconfidence on the player’s part, and decided to counter that with lots of explosions and not walking into the obvious trap (though you guys did) 😛

[misterjoshua]

Sorry Jack. The Oni went up the fire escape to the roof. You couldn’t see him and went down the corridor, which is fair enough as you don’t know the layout or where he was headed. Apologies for the confusion.

And indeed, the building is full of pepper punch and everyone inside is in a bad way 🙂

[misterjoshua]

Woah Adamu, that overexposed a little ?

I had planned for there to be more triads out front, because why would they only guard the side entrance? Security was suspiciously light inside because it was mostly out here – like a kill-box effect. Which, curiously, Fu et al had just wandered straight into. (I’d likely capture them rather than kill).

Up to you guys though. If you want to carry on from here I’ll hand the reigns over.

[misterjoshua]

@John & Tanya
[Tuesday, 26 November, 21:02; Hai Sung Social Club, Chinatown, Seattle]

Tanya catches up to John in Ving’s quarters. There’s no way onward from here. You’re below surface level and the only route is back the way you came. As you turn to trace back you receive Al’s message. <<@All[Al]Hope ya done got out like I said, cuz buildin’s comin’ down in three…two…>>

You’re quite deep into the building now, but at least the collapse will begin on the other side.

<<@Tanya[Rose]The drones are offline. I only lost control for a few seconds, but someone’s tanked ’em. The internal cameras are still showing but there’s something in there, something strong. I’d say a sprite, and a powerful one>>

@Glo
[Tuesday, 26 November, 21:02; Hai Sung Social Club, Chinatown, Seattle]

Before you can decide on a course of action the Oni bursts out through the fire escape and onto the roof. The VTOL is nearing, but pulls up warily from any attempted landing when it sees the state of the structure, leaving the Oni waving furiously. Al’s message only adds to the chaos. <<@All[Al]Hope ya done got out like I said, cuz buildin’s comin’ down in three…two…>>
You could engage the Oni, or try and find a way off the roof, but you won’t have time for both.

@Al
[Tuesday, 26 November, 21:03; Hai Sung Social Club, Chinatown, Seattle]

The wall blows out and there’s a horrifying creak of timber and masonry as the side of the building collapses, bringing the rest of it lurching towards you. The Triads that were waiting outside, aren’t, anymore. Bits of them protrude from the rubble.

[misterjoshua]

I believe Eclipse Phase is heavily ‘inspired’ (rips off, *cough*) Altered Carbon. They’re doing it as a Netflix series next year. Really looking forward to it. The book is really well written. I often struggle to get into books, even if I like the theme, but Richard Morgan is a great writer. I think I prefer it to Neuromancer which I also read recently. Sacrilidge, I know. 🙂

I quite enjoyed the new Bladerunner. It carried on the story better than I thought it would, and I think it kept the feel as best it could. If anything I’d be critical that the world hadn’t moved on enough, considering it’s supposed to be 30years in the future. My missus said it was ‘slow and boring’ which is the same thing she said about the original 😀