Glow in the Dark: Relics Score 1 Part 2

Glow in the Dark: Relics Score 1 Part 2

or

Murder on the Pineapple Express

We had to break last session in the middle of underground shenanigans against the Monarchs, insect/plant mutants who take slaves to work their irradiated narcotic fields in the Boneyard. The tribe had come to the Boneyard to raid their lair for drugs, which they could then sell for food, which they sorely needed.

It’s tricky to handle scheduling conflicts when you have to cliffhanger, but Rooster the Driver and Tuesday the Shark were the only ones who could make it. Luckily, they were both in Rooster’s dualie Boss Mustang, Layla. Nestor and Torch had ambushed a Monarch guard and it was easy to rule that Rooster’s desperate drive up an escalator weakened the subway nexus they were in. A freak cave-in separated the present players from the missing ones, and we continued on, having turned our frowns upside down.

Changing what the conflict’s about: In my last post, I mentioned that I was worried that the Shark (a social class) might not be the best fit for the wasteland, but I’ve had a Shark in 2/3 of my playtest groups and I think it’s good now. Tuesday wanted to convince the remaining Monarch guard that the previous violence was a big misunderstanding and that the tribe was here to barter with the Monarchs, tech for drugs. It wasn’t completely impossible – the guard was outmatched and alone (at least until the “reinforcements” clock filled up), and with her “bogus trade goods” item, Tuesday boosted her effect. It was still a desperate roll, but she pulled out a partial success. Rooster protected her from the wasp-thing’s claw-hands by putting Layla into a quick J-turn, throwing the mutant free.

Trauma club: The next major challenge was meeting Queen Hymenoptera and reducing her suspicions to the point where she’d actually barter. The Monarchs’ leader was all of 4′ tall, a bug-headed Brundlefly mutant whose legs had merged into something of a thorax, with twisted toes and long nails curved in mockery of a stinger. Vine-arms wrapped around the heads and necks of four human slaves, which supported the tiny monarch like a living palanquin. When Hymenoptera spoke, it was through the mouths of these slaves.

This was mainly a handful of Barter and Sway rolls, but the devils’ bargains were juicy AF. Tuesday’s first offer was a flashback, where she and Rooster combined their playbook items (a “speed inhaler” and “party drugs”) into a chem cocktail they could offer as a goodwill measure. The Monarchs happily offered some of their own supply for Tuesday and Rooster to try, and Rooster traumaed out resisting the drug-harm (in keeping with his poor decisions, he took “Reckless”). Tuesday accepted the harm, and a tick on an “Addicted” clock. Finally, Tuesday offered tech for the Monarchs’ drugs and she was truthful (and compelling) enough about the details that she piqued the Queen’s greed. Deal or no deal, the Monarchs would try to find out where the tribe’s Hidden settlement was.

Escape: Hymenoptera took the pair of PCs topside to show them the Monarch’s territory, less a friendly tour and more a prideful show of force. Look at how much turf we have. Look how the very plants here do our bidding. Getting the actual drugs was fairly straightforward, but considering Tuesday and Rooster hadn’t brought any tech to trade, things got sticky once they got back to their car.

Rooster (who was now back among the conscious) flashed back to giving wirecutters to the slave pens. They broke free and swarmed the guards just as Tuesday pepper sprayed them and Rooster ticked off “Ballistic Weapon” and “+Big” on his playbook. He refused a devil’s bargain to shoot up some slaves as he hosed the three escorts, but accepted a counteroffer to simply use up all his ammo for his SAW. He squandered ammo here (squandering resources like entire belts of 5.56mm gives +2 friction, like killing does in normal Blades) but would be able to tick that Reckless XP. The guards were overwhelmed and then they were dead. Spent brass littered the subway platform. Rooster and Tuesday clambered into Layla and gunned it into the tunnels. We had a brief chase but Rooster, driving in the dark with NVGs on and no headlights, was more than a match for the handful of winged Monarchs who pursued them.

Next time! Payoff, Friction, Fallout, Upkeep, and Downtime.

~~~

We probably could’ve finished sooner. I probably called for a few too many action rolls during the negotiations. My best guess is that I was mentally prepared for your more typical assault/sneak kind of session, and I (mistakenly) felt that switching to a social approach needed the same volume of rolls? I don’t think it did. After Tuesday managed to shift that paradigm, there was plenty of complications to go round. Hell, Rooster got the group’s first trauma! I glossed over it in the writeup but I called for probably 2-3 extraneous Barter or Sway rolls, and it eats up time when you only have 2 hours to play. I also didn’t want to feel like we were rushing the scene or not giving it pride of place, either. I was caught off guard but I know now, in hindsight, that it was way more interesting doing this socially.

What happened also wasn’t really in line with what I had in mind for Relics. This turned out to be a Dealers score (we all agreed, too). That said, I had half-assed some Relics tribe XP triggers that I thought were maybe too broad, but I feel more vindicated about my choices now since we couldn’t contort the action into something “Relics-ish”. I don’t know if the starting situation’s to blame. Anyway, here’s what I’ve got for the Relics’ tribe XP triggers so far. Yes, it’s just a 4X game. 🙂

Execute a successful exploration, exploitation, expansion or extermination.

Explore: Gather data on the locations and factions of the wasteland.

Exploit: Reclaim pre-war technology or culture.

Expand: Rebuild the wasteland in your image.

Exterminate: Subjugate or destroy those who stand in your way.

Also! I’m getting some art done! Preliminary Boneyard sketch by Matt Plog (http://mattplog.deviantart.com/)

#glowinthedarkrpg