The Illuminati Hunters

[LastCenturion]

Before I start, let me just say that this title is not my idea. It's the title that the group as a whole voted on. I defer all blame/credit to Josh and Lucas.

Anyways.

This is my first campaign journal, so... let's get started.

Spoiler: The Setting

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The game is set about 15 years ahead of our own world, with the assumption that in perhaps 3 years there is a major shift in power. Not a reversal of roles or anything, but all of the world's governments became basically all at once either isolationist, totalitarian, or both. Population has also taken a decent hit, but no more than 10%. The specifics will be developed as we go. Our goal as characters is to depose the current goverment and reinstate democracy worldwide.

Spoiler: The System

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We're using a custom mix of D&D 3.5e stuff and d20 Modern stuff. Basically the entire d20 Modern stuff, but 3.5 system rules and whatever classes you want if the DM says yes. Low (low low low) magic, as in there's basically nothing at all magical around. Oh, there are also some houserules and minor fixes to various classes.

Spoiler: The Cast

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There are five characters in the group, who I will be referring to by PC name throughout. Including above, when I credited the people who named the game. We're all human through part coincidence, part people just didn't want to stick out THAT much. The five people are, in order of how I put them on this list:

Josh.

Spoiler: Josh

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Josh is the party face. I'm not sure what his build is, but he's focused almost entirely on talking to people and getting it right. He claims that he can partner with the techie to jump on people's comms and convince them that we're friendly. We'll see how that goes.

Lucas

Spoiler: Lucas

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Lucas is the heavy weapons guy. The main role he wants while we fight is to jump into rooms in front of everybody and make sure we aren't about to get shot by hiding people. He calls it a "corner checker". Not sure what his build is either, but he has a lot of ammo and a lot of guns.

Asteraeoth

Spoiler: Asteraeoth

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Asteraeoth, whom I will refer to as Aster for brevity, is basically Robin Hood in a trench coat. His words. I know his build includes Urban Ranger, but other than that I'm in the dark.

Dimpki

Spoiler: Dimpki

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Dimpki is the techie, who the DM is playing as an NPC because the rest of the party (not me, I was neutral) said we needed one. He speaks 15 different languages including Lojban and Javascript, and I assume is fairly operational. He's also the demolitionist if we need one, but only in a minor capacity.

Alanna

Spoiler: Alanna

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Alanna is the melee one, but I'll be calling her something else. Me. If you hadn't figured it out through process of elimination, I'm playing Alanna. My build is a Samurai (OA) 5, Kensai 3. The DM let me swap the Ancestral Daisho for an Ancestral Ogachi, so I'm playing a greatsword wielding cosplayer. My backstory is that I used to do ren fairs, at which I would smith armor and things. Hence, my chain shirt and greatsword. It's a +3 Large Greatsword, through Monkey Grip and the Kensai feature. If you've ever played one of the Monster Hunter games, it's the one guy with the great sword from them.

As a part of character creation, my group allows us to fight against various enemies in a "sandbox" mode where nothing changes outside of it. Arena fight, basically. Anyways, each of us went up against a tank full of soldiers one versus one in turn. Here's how it went. In retrospect the DM was probably going easy on us because the tanks barely fired, but hey.

Josh: Managed to get on top of it, then opened the hatch and went to work on the guys inside with a grenade.

Lucas: Almost got flattened, but managed to blow up the tank before it blew up him.

Aster: Had a nice time running around in circles, but couldn't actually do anything to the tank. Eventually the soldiers popped up out of it and shot at him, which he beat them at.

Dimpki: Blew up the tank with some hand-made land mines, then got the soldiers with a handgun. I ran the tank here, because the DM was playing the techie.

Me: Literally sliced the tank in half with a readied action (I got almost maximum damage crit), and killed the soldiers one or two at a time for the next minute or so.

Session One:
We mostly created and introduced characters in this session, without really trying them out. Not sure there's anything worth sharing, because we just met on the subway towards the Town Hall in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. All going there to raid it, incidentally. That'll probably be session two.

Second Session

[LastCenturion]

Session Two:

Spoiler: Let's GO!

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It took us like twenty minutes to start. Once that was done, and we were actually ready to do something, everybody was a little bit antsy. We ended up on the beach, with a vessel about 300 feet out. First thing I do is start swimming towards the boat. I'm a good swimmer. First thing Lucas does is try to ride Aster. Finally calmer heads prevail and Josh talks a boat out of a nearby beachwalker. Except me. Everybody was being so counterproductive and slow that we reached the boat at about the same time, me swimming and them riding a motorboat. We get about 50 feet away when a boat comes from their rig out to us. Standard military boat, four soldiers. They ask us what we're doing, so I climb up on their boat and whack it, trying to sink them. They're almost sunk already, because I rolled poorly for damage. I love my sword. Lucas also manages to hit one of the soldiers, so that's one fewer shot to make later. Surprise round is over, and the fight is on.

Spoiler: Boat Battle

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Aster wins initiative, but he didn't bother getting on the boat because he was fighting with Lucas or something. He's on the beach with Dimpki, who is ineffective in combat. Aster builds a sandcastle. Next up is Josh, who pulls out a Deagle and misses his shot. Lucas continues shooting, nearly dropping the first soldier. Two of the guards gang up on me, the other two divide their shots between Lucas and Josh. I get hit twice in the leg, but I'm still up. Josh takes a bullet to the arm, but is fine. Finally, I finish the job of chopping their boat in half with two quick slashes.

We had to end the session here because people were needed elsewhere, but next time we're picking up right there.

Third Session

How's my writing? I'm trying to write it as we play, so if it's a little bit disjointed and rambling that's why.

[wobner]

Session Two:

How's my writing? I'm trying to write it as we play, so if it's a little bit disjointed and rambling that's why.

it does read a little chaotic to me, but thats partly your parties antics. I'm wondering why you destroyed the boat, and two players staying on the shore, even if one isn't much of a combatant, is strange.

i'm also confused, you were heading to the town hall of carmel by the sea, then you were raiding a boat off the coast, that was apparently a military ship, had soldiers anyway. why were either targets? the goal? why the change in targets? what kind of ship was it? Writing while you play can make it difficult, but if you could add that in later it would help me alot.

[LastCenturion]

it does read a little chaotic to me, but thats partly your parties antics. I'm wondering why you destroyed the boat, and two players staying on the shore, even if one isn't much of a combatant, is strange.

i'm also confused, you were heading to the town hall of carmel by the sea, then you were raiding a boat off the coast, that was apparently a military ship, had soldiers anyway. why were either targets? the goal? why the change in targets? what kind of ship was it? Writing while you play can make it difficult, but if you could add that in later it would help me alot.

Destroyed the boat because they weren't going to let us pass. We changed targets between sessions because the first session was really informal and we set up differently the second time. Aster staying on shore confused me too. His player says that he doesn't know why he did it either, so... both boats are small motor boats, but the one we're headed towards is a VLFS (very large floating structure).

[wobner]

Destroyed the boat because they weren't going to let us pass. We changed targets between sessions because the first session was really informal and we set up differently the second time. Aster staying on shore confused me too. His player says that he doesn't know why he did it either, so... both boats are small motor boats, but the one we're headed towards is a VLFS (very large floating structure).

Thanks for clearing some of that up, but i'm afraid i wasn't clear in some of my questions. My apologies.
You are still going to have to kill the four men on the boat, right? even having sunk it they are a threat, after all you climbed into theirs so they can do the same or head back to the rig, right? and why didn't you want to capture it? why spend your attacks on the boat instead of cutting them down? thats where i was coming from, sorry.

I was also looking for information on what this "rig" had to do with the stated goal of restoring democracy, overthrowing the evil powers that be. Is this just looking for plunder and experience? or is there some sort of mcguffin here? person of interest? intellligence? or do you need the vlfs, are you going to take it over? i assumed plunder and experience since you said 'raid', but the change of tagets made me wonder.

[LastCenturion]

Thanks for clearing some of that up, but i'm afraid i wasn't clear in some of my questions. My apologies.
You are still going to have to kill the four men on the boat, right? even having sunk it they are a threat, after all you climbed into theirs so they can do the same or head back to the rig, right? and why didn't you want to capture it? why spend your attacks on the boat instead of cutting them down? thats where i was coming from, sorry.

I was also looking for information on what this "rig" had to do with the stated goal of restoring democracy, overthrowing the evil powers that be. Is this just looking for plunder and experience? or is there some sort of mcguffin here? person of interest? intellligence? or do you need the vlfs, are you going to take it over? i assumed plunder and experience since you said 'raid', but the change of tagets made me wonder.

We'll have to kill them, but it's likely a mite easier to kill people if they're struggling to stay afloat. It's also a mite harder to shoot people if you're struggling to stay afloat, so it also helps us not get shot at. We don't have a lot of info on why we're doing this, we just rolled Gather Information and the DM said "The Illuminati is in this giant rig over here". The McGuffin that's on it would then be judicial and legislative control of Carmen.

[LastCenturion]

Session Three:

Spoiler: Fun with Boats

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We pick up right where we left off, with the enemy boat sliced neatly in two by yours truly. Aster and Lucas didn't make it to this session, but Josh played Lucas and it was fine. First, Josh went, and he took out the heavily wounded captain of the opposing vessel. Lucas bursts down one of the other soldiers but can't finish the job, and the soldiers go. They can't stay upright on the rapidly sinking ship, so one sounds the alarm. The other two pull some pins and throw frag grenades up into our own boat, killing the civilian that was piloting the boat and wounding Josh and Lucas. I start swimming for the big rig, figuring that my friends have got this in the bag.

A few quick bursts of gunfire later, the boat catches up to me.

Spoiler: Infiltration Time; Come On!

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The VLFS is on alert now, and there are some guards watching us pull in. There's a dock at water level on the bottom floor, with a lot more guards than the rest. We ping the DM with some questions and decide on the following plan: Josh and Lucas will circle the rig at a distance while I swim in and take out the snipers that are keeping us away from the dock. Inside, there are immediately some guards. I try and sabotage some of the nine remaining boats, but no luck. Fine, I'll do it straightforward-like. I charge the guards, catch them by surprise, take out one and nearly take out the other, but he immediately radios in my presence. Darn. He also manages to get me with two shots in the arm, but then I run him down and shove my sword through his neck. Neat. Then there are a lot of people coming, so I dive back into the water, dragging the bodies with me. They're baffled, but brought along a minigun and riot shields, so they're confident. I hightail it out. We'll get em next time.

Spoiler: Another Way

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Outside the garage space, the facility is on high alert. I'm probably not going to be able to swim back to the boat, but there's a ladder not too far from where I'm clinging, so let's try that. I climb up onto the walkway, and presto appear-o! Nobody! There's one guy walking along, but he's around a corner. I tase him as soon as he spots me, hit, and he... makes his save. Darn. Draws the attention of a sniper, who misses two shots in a row. And I can hear footsteps from across the rig. Stealth is impossible! Attack on the guy that I tased, and I miss. Oh well. Some shooting happens and I make a clean dive back into the ocean. This might take a while...

Spoiler: A Little More Thought

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Some planning ensues, and I climb back up on the ladder. This time I let myself be known, and stand in front of the ladder going complete defensive mode for a while, letting everyone come and get me. They shoot, but I can block most of the bullets coming my way. Then out come the frag grenades. Three grenades to the face and I'm on my last legs, but the boat is here. Mission accomplished, so I backflip into the ocean (for style) and swim around to meet up with my friends.

At this point we ended the session because Josh had left a little earlier, and Lucas and Josh both needed to take actions now.

Session Four

[LastCenturion]

Session Four:

Spoiler: Friends!

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This time, everybody is here. It turns out Aster was hiding on the boat mysteriously (retcon), so him, Josh, and Lucas all pile out of the boat and onto the dock, guns drawn. I'm still swimming around, trying not to bleed out. This isn't going to be a thing that I'm heavily involved in, so the voice is that of a narrator rather than an actor.

Spoiler: Walk On In

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Everyone (Josh, Lucas, and Aster) step under a balcony while the guards are distracted, and Aster hauls me out of the water so I can deal with a sniper, because they decided that it's worth it, because I'm good at climbing. The patrol comes around the corner, and Josh almost takes one out with a readied action. Lucas goes to throw a grenade, but Aster runs in and stabs a guard, taking him out. I manage to get onto the balcony, and by some miracle don't get shot dead. Aster does, but he has enough health left to not die from that. A few more rounds (ammo, not combat) see the other two soldiers and the sniper bleeding out on the metal.

At this point the DM had to leave, so we stopped early. Nothing much happened, but it was still fairly fun.

Session Five link will be here