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View Full Version : [Shadowrun 4E] Bad Foot First (A campaign journal)



Kaulesh
2010-10-27, 12:40 AM
This will be my first campaign journal and we're all first-time players (and the GM has played once but never GMed) so bear with me.

The first session was mainly devoted to character creation for the new guy plus some minor "getting to know each other" fluff. The party is as follows.

Meet the Cast!

BSF, a troll street sam. The character isn't done yet. The player was late to this session and was told to just pick a character from the book. At the end of the session, the GM and player got together to shave a hundred points from that character so he wouldn't be too out of our league. As an amusing note, the player is bad with names. One of the other players pulled out his Qur'an and flipped it open randomly. Street Sam is now known as Al-Kafirun, or Al for short.

The human covert ops dude. I don't actually know much about him. All I know is that he's got a camo suit, katana, and harpoon. He also rides around on his moped.

The elven mage. Hermetic, with the noncombatant (?) quality. Has a cat spirit. No commlink. Lives on the street.

Saving the best for last, we round out the party with a human decker. He's an amnesiac with an evil twin. This can only end well. He's also come into contact with a powerful Matrix entity. Presumably that happened before I lost my memory because we haven't exactly worked out the details yet. The only character with a decent vehicle. Said vehicle, a GMC Bulldog, is pimped out with two weapon mounts, a shifting license plate, loads of sensors, and a mod that changes the vehicle's ID at random points or when instructed to do so. Goes by the handle of Col. Panic. The real name he's chosen after losing his memory... has already been forgotten. :smalleek:

And it begins!

We all start out in different locations, receiving calls from a mutual fixer friend of ours. Meet him at 12:35 at so and so bar if we're interested. I arrive ten minutes early and begin scanning Matrix traffic.

Dropping into AR, I can see that the place we're supposed to meet our friend in is a bar called Snakeskin or something to that effect. The bar totes a nifty animated sign of a snake chasing its own tail. It sheds its skin every once in a while. The skin falls into a mug, which floats through the door into the bar's interior. I walk in and sit at the table my contact is occupying.

Arriving right on time is the mage. Doing nothing particularly interesting, he joins me.

Shortly after the mage arrives, the doors open and close on their own. The more experienced runners either place their pistols visibly on their tables or are obviously thumbing a safety in their pockets. What is described as a "bad Photoshop effect" approaches our table. Covert Man drops his cloak as he sits down.

Our contact introduces us to Johnson, a small, nervous man described as looking like a rat. Johnson tells us what he wants us to do - keep an eye on the man in the corner of the room. Tail whoever buys something from him. Don't interfere with the man or any buyers, but find out what he's selling. Fixer and Johnson negotiate a price and finally settle on 550 nuyen each for an evening of work. We all agree and get 50 ny as an advance payment. Fixer and Johnson leave.

Covert Dude also disappears. His player had to take care of some things.

I decide I'll sit somewhere where I can easily see the dealer and pretend to be jacked in. I have no skills related to shadowing, sneaking, or anything like that. Glitch. I decide to sit right next to the guy, turn to stare at him, and loudly say "I'm jacked in. Don't mind me!" The man facepalms.

Street Sam decides what I'm doing is a bad thing and tries to find a shady corner to keep watch from. He apparently forgot to turn his reflex enhancers on and tripped over a relatively short waitress. He received the Dealer's attention, who performs a double facepalm which he slowly slides down his face, a slap to the face and a point of stun damage from the waitress (how she reached his face, we'll never know), and a possible lawsuit from injuring her.

Mage decides the safest bet is to sit at the bar and order a drink. He does so, while covertly keeping an eye on the man.

A big, tough orc and a big, tough Amerindian enter separately. The orc sits at the end of the bar and orders drink after drink. The Amerindian approaches the dealer and sits next to him. "Whatever you got, I want some of it. You're getting lots of attention here - looks like the fuzz is on your back. That stuff must be good."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just a duffel bag enthusiast."

"Come on, there's got to be a reason you're being tailed. Tell you what, let's work out a deal. I take care of the two goons keeping tabs on you and you give me some of that."

"Fine. Deal with them and we'll see."

The big, tough Amerindian addresses the puny decker who is seated across the table from him. "Oh, it's you. I thought I told you never to show your face in here again!"

Somewhat worried at the moment: "I don't believe I know you."

"Oh, you don't know me, eh? My sister came crying to me last week and told me what you did. I told you to never show your face here again. If you know what's good for you, you better get the [fudge] out of here. Now."

I... get the [fudge] out of there and hightail it to my van out back. I tune a directional mic toward the bar and keep tabs on things.

Amerindian approaches Street Sam and attempts to deliver a kidney punch. Sam dodges out of the way, getting a nasty, cyber-enhanced dent in his armor for his trouble. Sam tries to stab the guy with his own knife and whiffs. Amerindian pulls a knife and tries to gut him. He manages to miss all important organs. Sam takes off his kiddie gloves and... slaps the guy across the face with them. The guy takes 5S to the face and walks stiffly back to Dealer. Sam decides to get out of Dodge and joins me in my van.

Dealer informs the guy that he didn't actually take care of us but offers him some product for 650 ny. Guy obliges, they exchange wares, and the guy begins to celebrate.

Shortly, Dealer exits the bar and heads down an alley. Sam follows him to a house he can recognize as a meth lab. Sam enters and begins to search the place.

Mage notices that there's a pile of shattered mugs next to the orc who walked in. He goes over to talk to him and is informed that the orc is being "haunted" for lack of a better word by a spirit who is pissed at him for dumping toxic waste in his forest. Mage goes full Astral, slumps to the bar, and swiftly gets the spirit to leave the orc alone. I, somewhat worried about hearing a thump and then nothing from my remaining teammate, hack in. I only manage to get a normal user account but find an email containing the security password. I log into security and access the cameras. I'm not totally stupid around magic, so I know that Mage is just in the Astral realm at the moment. Nothing to worry about.

Now I get to see Amerindian partying away. He eventually enters the restroom. To my surprise, I find that there's a camera in there. "We value your privacy. This camera was installed by accident." I watch the guy enter a stall and pull out the small bag he purchased earlier. From it, he produces an inhaler and snorts up. His eyes bulge and he leaves the restroom. With my 1337 h4xx0r skillz, I enhance the image and can make out some markings on the vial that's in the inhaler. I save a copy - that could come in handy. Switching back to the camera in the main room, I see Amerindian chatting away with two elves. I faintly hear that he mentions a gang. The elves get pissed and attack. He handily trounces them and rushes outside looking for another fight. I cower in my van.

Sam finds some meth in the fridge and gathers some in a plastic bag. This stuff is worth a pretty ny or two. At about this time, he hears heavy footsteps coming down a set of stairs toward the door he carelessly left open. Slamming heavily against the wall near the door, he hopes to catch the other man by surprise. No such luck. He hears the thud and quickly rushes into another room.

Sam follows and is surprised when the same trick works against him. He takes a shotgun blast to the back, but his armor miraculously manages to soak it all in. After a long struggle with plenty of misses, Sam lands another smack to the face with his shocker gloves, rendering Dealer unconscious. He relieves the unconscious man of his shotgun and ammo and hooves it out of there.


End session. Fission mailed? We didn't exactly follow orders - Dealer is out cold but I'm fairly certain I know what he huffed while he was in the crapper.

Will Sam get past the enraged Amerindian alright? Will Mage ever come up with stats for Kitty? Will I ever be useful? Will Covert Dude ever return or was he cowering in the corner the whole time? Find out next week on Bad Foot First!

Kaulesh
2010-10-29, 08:02 PM
Now that my situation in the game hasn't crossed my mind for a bit, a thought occurs. Let's see if you follow my thought processes.

1) Our troll bruiser is taking out a meth lab solo.
2) Our pacifist mage is doing something or other in a bar.
3) Our decker (me) is cowering in his van while an enraged Amerindian rages in the parking lot.
4) The Amerindian has some cyber and an active PAN.
5) Unwired has rules on hacking into cyber
6) Unwired also has an example of what you can do with hacked cyber

That's all you're getting. If anyone is interested in this, they'll have to wait until the session is finished and I do a writeup.

huttj509
2010-10-30, 12:17 AM
Now that my situation in the game hasn't crossed my mind for a bit, a thought occurs. Let's see if you follow my thought processes.

1) Our troll bruiser is taking out a meth lab solo.
2) Our pacifist mage is doing something or other in a bar.
3) Our decker (me) is cowering in his van while an enraged Amerindian rages in the parking lot.
4) The Amerindian has some cyber and an active PAN.
5) Unwired has rules on hacking into cyber
6) Unwired also has an example of what you can do with hacked cyber

That's all you're getting. If anyone is interested in this, they'll have to wait until the session is finished and I do a writeup.

Haven't read 4e rules on hacking cyber, but my thoughts are

"Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself!"

Kaulesh
2010-11-03, 08:58 AM
Haven't read 4e rules on hacking cyber, but my thoughts are

"Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself!"

Not quite. That was my thought, but it turns out that the guy didn't actually have cyberarms.

My story rambles horribly. Just an advance warning to anyone who decides to read. Perhaps my writing style will improve in the future.

Mage was absent for this entire session. He apparently sleepfollowed us through everything. This leaves Street Sam, Covert Ops, and I to do everything. We learned a valuable lesson this day - wired reflexes are sweet when we use them but horrible if the only people who have them are our enemies.

Session 2

The scene begins with Street Sam finishing his search of the meth lab. He finds two syringes full of some type of liquid and takes them. He rushes back to the bar, where he finds the enraged Amerindian moving somewhat jerkily and wildly.

As Street Sam was performing his search, I hack into the Amerindian's comm, lock up his muscle enhancers (how I hacked into bioware I don't know, but I did), and add a nice static effect to his cybereyes. This doesn't phase the guy much and he trounces the two elven chicks from earlier who are now leaving the bar. One is killed instantly. The other is mortally wounded. He scalps her before she dies. Enter Street Sam from previously, along with Covert Ops Guy (Cog) and a Lone Star patrol. Street Sam rushes to the elven chicks while the Amerindian takes a flying leap at the first officer to step out of his car. Street Sam's first aid is for naught as he learns that they've died.

Lone Star officer 1 is also done for, receiving a knife to the neck. The Amerindian lands heavily on the officer. Cog tries to grapple the guy and hold him. Yeah. A guy with Body 3 and Strength 2 against a raging mountain with Body 5 and Strength 6 or 7. Cog is flipped over the guy's shoulder and slams into the patrol car. Street Sam also does a tackle and slams the Amerindian into the car next to Cog. My initiative pass comes up and I do something awesome. I cower in my van.

The remaining Lone Star officer who hasn't left the car opens fire on the guy who just knifed his partner and is now bleeding through the open window. Amerindian takes it like a champ, soaking most of the damage. He punts Cog into the air (prompting the following from our GM: "Do you know what it's like to be a ballistic missile? You do now.") and hops into the driver's seat of the patrol car. Using his last pass, he throws the officer out of the car and takes off. The somewhat heavyweight officer lands on Cog, who manages to soak the damage. His wind is knocked out, but he's okay. Cog and Street Sam pile into my van with me and we take off after the guy.

There is a long chase sequence that consists of Street Sam blowing holes in my windshield, prompting me to quickly find a Mr. T soundboard and play the "Nobody messes with my ride!" snippet. He blows out both of the rear tires on the patrol car while Cog manages to blast the light bar off the top. After some miraculous rolling from me (who hadn't yet purchased Pilot (Ground Craft) and gets to roll a whopping two dice because he's only got a Reaction of 3) and some not-so-good rolling from our GM, we only get two vehicle rounds and the guy doesn't have enough time to break away. We decide not to play out all 20 normal rounds that are contained in a single vehicle round, shortening it to two.

Amerindian crosses a bridge, crashes through the gate on the other side, and slams into a tree. He runs off into the heavily forested island. I skid up next to his battered car, taking light fire from the guards who were supposed to be protecting the gate. Street Sam makes his tracking roll and Cog... passes out or something. His player leaves to do something.

We catch up to the Amerindian in a clearing (handy, those clearings - always one around when you need it), beating up on a hairy ape-man for some reason. This brings about a long, drawn-out fight scene where Amerindian and Street Sam repeatedly miss each other, even after I take out the guy's eyes again. Street Sam manages a shotgun to the face, but the guy is still up. Perhaps this has something to do with the drug he took earlier. The sasquatch's buddies show up. The wounded one points toward the Amerindian, at which point his buddies rip him limb from limb. As the GM told us, it's "reminiscent of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Now roll to dodge, he's trying to bite your legs off. He's spiteful like that." *rolls* "And... he bites his tongue off." Que Street Sam blowing the guy's head to bits with his shotgun.

We hear a *beep, beep* from the guy's corpse. Street Sam searches it and finds a bracelet. The sasquatches approach and thank us for saving their brother Fred. They lead us back to their cave for a feast consisting of a few handfuls of nuts and berries. Being with a tribe of sweaty, hairy ape-men is more preferable to getting caught by the Lone Star patrols we hear in the distance.

When we arrive, Street Sam smashes what he thinks is a tracking device. Turns out, it's a DocWagon bracelet. Oh well, wouldn't have worked on us anyway. The sasquatch leader introduces himself as Barit (pronounced as Barrett) and says we're welcome anytime. New contact - Barit, ape-man leader! The sasquatches hide us from the officers who show up. The officers get tired of fighting with them to search their cave and leave. I'm informed that they've taken my van (NOOOOOOO (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BigNo)). Hopefully they don't raise a fuss about my shifting license plate, ID spoofing chip, and two weapon mounts when I go to steal my van back.

Our fixer haggles with Mr. Johnson, who only wants to pay us half of the agreed amount. They eventually reach an agreement of 300 nuyen and we leave.

After the game, I realize that we didn't loot the body with the exception of the DocWagon bracelet. Assuming the guy's commlink wasn't blasted to bits, I could have gotten a free ID out of that.

After the session ends, we begin to look through equipment for fun. We determine that the most damaging core weapon, some form of rocket launcher, only does 19P. I also inform the GM that I'm going to mount what amounts to a glorified Super Soaker (from Arsenal) at some point in the future and mount it on my van. I also inform him that eye lasers (from Augmentation) are significantly less cool than they sound.