Shadowrun 2070, and D&D
Shadowrun 2070 - the main difference being that 2050 is cyberpunk as imagined in the 80s, and 2070 as it's imagined now. Wifi, Augmented Reality, RFID chips and 3D Printing everywhere.
Streetrat: Son of Labrat, Ork Rigger
Ripper K: Orca-form Changeling, Face and Brawler
Oracle: White-hat hacker
Giant Dad: Apparently human, also supposedly called The Legend, who rumour holds has been around forever.
Astronauta Peligroso: Troll Luchadore
Ocelot: Elf gunslinger
Giant Dad: I'm going to call you Astroboy. So what brings you to Seattle, Astroboy?
Astronauta: The food.
Oracle: We COULD strap you down and have a machine-gun installed in your arse. If you really want.
Ripper OoC: I wonder if the Tokyo Parasite Museum has got any interesting specimens since the start of the Sixth Age.
Giant Dad: Probably - behold! The Insect Shaman! And its natural enemy, the Dwarf with the Incendiary Grenade Launcher.
Ocelot: We call him Warhammer.
Giant Dad: Check out the front of the museum, where you can get the action figure! Comes with its own lighter. Start 'em young.
Ocelot: Known bugs - may set your entire house on fire.
Giant Dad: Has been known to start laughing in the presence of naked flame.
Insect Spirits are bad news. Just ask Chicago. THAT was the kind of situation that would have required experts, like our old characters.
Inkubus: You really want to give me the chance to set off a nuclear device in the middle of an Insect Hive? Wow - I thought I'd never get to top that Ambergel factory.
GM: On goes the mask.
Astronauta: It never comes off. I Live Every Day In The Luchadore Way.
The other PCs haven’t met the charming but rather fearsome-looking Ripper before, and are further unaware of his ‘adult entertainment’ work. This leads to some amusing conversations.
Giant Dad: What the fuck is that!
Ripper K: The name's Ripper - nice to meet you.
Ocelot: I'm Elise - I mean Ocelot!
Ripper K: That's OK, most of the people I work with use assumed names.
Astronauta: You look like you could go a few rounds - we should give it a go some time.
Ripper K: Thanks. I'd enjoy that.
GM: *hysterical laughter*
Off to the Infinity Club, where the music is as loud as can be expected, despite our ear-plugs.
Streetrat: I can still hear it - it's coming in through my Eustachian tubes.
Ocelot OoC: I'm wondering if we've been hired by Inkubus. 'Ah, I can't be bothered recovering it myself - I'll just hire somebody'
Streetrat OoC: 'I've got six girls to entertain'
This is, as you may have guessed, the same module he's already run for Ripper and another group of players. I guess I won't be doubling up my XP points then, and I'll have to try extra hard to suppress player knowledge. Not that I mind, overly - it's easy enough to let the other players come up with ideas, then run with them. Anyway - Nabo, the Ork music star and likely after the stolen disc.
Giant Dad: He sounds like an Ork version of Justin Beiber. I hate him already.
Ripper K: I wonder if my agent knows his agent.
Oracle: Are you talking about Agent Programs?
Ripper K: No, theatrical agent. Well, specialist theatre.
The module now takes a different path to the version our GM ran online for the other players. Oracle hits the social media to locate which hotel Nabo is staying at, and dispatches a mini-blimp drone through which he can hack into Nabo's internet node. We probably won't even have to go to the concert.
Oracle's player: This will take a while.
GM: No it won't.
Oracle's player: Wait, what?
GM: He left an open node.
Oracle: OK gang, this is going to take a few hou- ….. scratch that, this guy is a complete moron.
Oracle gleefully forwards everything Nabo is doing to the rest of the team, and plants one of his software agents inside the node.
Oracle: ORAC, you're up.
Ripper K: Do you have one named Zen, as well?
Undeleting Nabo's data enables us to backtrack to a elven decker named Zipper, and the Cathode Glow Club, and any amount of unreleased song lyrics and Ork Porn. Also a photo of the stolen disc, and a disc sleeve saying "Carrion Sessions '48 - For Enlightenment, seek out absent friends." The plan - have Ripper seduce Zipper. Complication - Ripper doesn't know a damn thing about retro tech.
Giant Dad: We need to geek him up.
Oracle: What? Oh, you mean Clank.
Giant Dad: How do you feel about spikes?
Oracle: Nah - cogs and brass.
Giant Dad: You'll need to wear a top hat.
Ripper K: I've worn worse.
Astronauta: And a monocle.
The augmented reality sprites at the club all have googly eyes, like Clippy. And they're all watching us.
Streetrat: If any of them actually are Clippy they have to die.
Ocelot: We're being watched by the spirit of Microsoft Office
Giant Dad: And then a barfight broke out over Mario Party.
Ripper manages to seduce not only Zipper, but her dwarf friend as well, and after reducing them both to happy unconsciousness unlocks the door for everybody else. The disc isn't in her apartment, but there is a handwritten letter from one Loomis directing her to set up the auction. There's a Kerwin Loomis who runs a nightclub called Coda out in the Barrens.
Streetrat: Coder as in programmer or Coda as in epilogue?
Ripper K: It's a musical term too. So that's two links. And a pun, too, since the disc has musical data.
Ripper K: At this rate the client is going to regret agreeing to that early completion bonus.
The Coda is the worst kind of dive. Happily, Loomis has an apartment above the club, and Streetrat's drones spot the suspicious activity next door before we blunder into it ourselves. He switches his POV to one of the drones and investigates closer - there's a team of armed and armoured individuals watching the club. And one of them is probably a mage. Happily, suddenly appearing at all the doors and windows with two armed drones and three scary-looking individuals demoralises them so completely they readily agree to Ripper's terms. They go wait at the local Stuffer Shack, while we - still posing as some kind of Barrens organised crime syndicate - go have a private word with Mr Loomis. Then they can do whatever they like with him. Evidently nobody told this team of runners that another team had been hired for the job. We head in to have a polite chat with Loomis, who panics and threatens to break the disc. He also insists the disc was willed to him by his father - the big-name rocker K-spot. There never was a theft.
Oracle: So how much were we being paid not to care?
Loomis caves, especially after he finds out just how many people already know about the disc.
Giant Dad: How much are you willing to pay to get out of here alive?
We drop Loomis off at the Ork Underground and head back to the Cathode Glow to use their vintage tech to find out what's actually ON this disc. It seems to be music data, as claimed, but there are multiple levels of encryption on it.
Giant Dad: Don't mind us, Astronauta and I will just be having Fight Club outside.
Ripper K: If anybody asks just tell them you're re-enacting John Carpenter films.
The music is melancholy and introspective.
Giant Dad: We're listening to Linkin Park?
But since we're good shadowrunners, it's time to take the disc to the client. We'll just neglect to mention the one-to-one copy we made so Oracle can run full decryption on it. We will include all the data we have on that other team, including the number of their fixer. But either way, our Mr Johnson seems very pleased - especially since we got it all done in less than 24 hours. The other group of players is still slogging through the same module four sessions later - and that other shadowrunner team are probably still waiting at the Stuffer Shack.
D&D - mostly a continuation of a dungeon crawl, and the capture of the enemy wizard, whereupon things become Political. It's always so helpful when the bad guys keep copies of their correspondence around the lair.
Kavorog: Murder and psychopathy are all part of being an adventurer.
We find a satchel full of potions and adventuring gear in the bottom of a cistern.
Kavorog: Looks like a bug-out bag. Or a bugbear-out bag.
GM: What do you want to do with these guys?
Lamech: Skin them and use their scrotums as a coin purse.
GM: You're a bloodthirsty little... aren't you?
To a prisoner -
Lamech: So, Mr. Human Shield - you don't mind me calling you Human Shield, do you? - What else should we know about this dungeon?
Streetrat: Son of Labrat, Ork Rigger
Ripper K: Orca-form Changeling, Face and Brawler
Oracle: White-hat hacker
Giant Dad: Apparently human, also supposedly called The Legend, who rumour holds has been around forever.
Astronauta Peligroso: Troll Luchadore
Ocelot: Elf gunslinger
Giant Dad: I'm going to call you Astroboy. So what brings you to Seattle, Astroboy?
Astronauta: The food.
Oracle: We COULD strap you down and have a machine-gun installed in your arse. If you really want.
Ripper OoC: I wonder if the Tokyo Parasite Museum has got any interesting specimens since the start of the Sixth Age.
Giant Dad: Probably - behold! The Insect Shaman! And its natural enemy, the Dwarf with the Incendiary Grenade Launcher.
Ocelot: We call him Warhammer.
Giant Dad: Check out the front of the museum, where you can get the action figure! Comes with its own lighter. Start 'em young.
Ocelot: Known bugs - may set your entire house on fire.
Giant Dad: Has been known to start laughing in the presence of naked flame.
Insect Spirits are bad news. Just ask Chicago. THAT was the kind of situation that would have required experts, like our old characters.
Inkubus: You really want to give me the chance to set off a nuclear device in the middle of an Insect Hive? Wow - I thought I'd never get to top that Ambergel factory.
GM: On goes the mask.
Astronauta: It never comes off. I Live Every Day In The Luchadore Way.
The other PCs haven’t met the charming but rather fearsome-looking Ripper before, and are further unaware of his ‘adult entertainment’ work. This leads to some amusing conversations.
Giant Dad: What the fuck is that!
Ripper K: The name's Ripper - nice to meet you.
Ocelot: I'm Elise - I mean Ocelot!
Ripper K: That's OK, most of the people I work with use assumed names.
Astronauta: You look like you could go a few rounds - we should give it a go some time.
Ripper K: Thanks. I'd enjoy that.
GM: *hysterical laughter*
Off to the Infinity Club, where the music is as loud as can be expected, despite our ear-plugs.
Streetrat: I can still hear it - it's coming in through my Eustachian tubes.
Ocelot OoC: I'm wondering if we've been hired by Inkubus. 'Ah, I can't be bothered recovering it myself - I'll just hire somebody'
Streetrat OoC: 'I've got six girls to entertain'
This is, as you may have guessed, the same module he's already run for Ripper and another group of players. I guess I won't be doubling up my XP points then, and I'll have to try extra hard to suppress player knowledge. Not that I mind, overly - it's easy enough to let the other players come up with ideas, then run with them. Anyway - Nabo, the Ork music star and likely after the stolen disc.
Giant Dad: He sounds like an Ork version of Justin Beiber. I hate him already.
Ripper K: I wonder if my agent knows his agent.
Oracle: Are you talking about Agent Programs?
Ripper K: No, theatrical agent. Well, specialist theatre.
The module now takes a different path to the version our GM ran online for the other players. Oracle hits the social media to locate which hotel Nabo is staying at, and dispatches a mini-blimp drone through which he can hack into Nabo's internet node. We probably won't even have to go to the concert.
Oracle's player: This will take a while.
GM: No it won't.
Oracle's player: Wait, what?
GM: He left an open node.
Oracle: OK gang, this is going to take a few hou- ….. scratch that, this guy is a complete moron.
Oracle gleefully forwards everything Nabo is doing to the rest of the team, and plants one of his software agents inside the node.
Oracle: ORAC, you're up.
Ripper K: Do you have one named Zen, as well?
Undeleting Nabo's data enables us to backtrack to a elven decker named Zipper, and the Cathode Glow Club, and any amount of unreleased song lyrics and Ork Porn. Also a photo of the stolen disc, and a disc sleeve saying "Carrion Sessions '48 - For Enlightenment, seek out absent friends." The plan - have Ripper seduce Zipper. Complication - Ripper doesn't know a damn thing about retro tech.
Giant Dad: We need to geek him up.
Oracle: What? Oh, you mean Clank.
Giant Dad: How do you feel about spikes?
Oracle: Nah - cogs and brass.
Giant Dad: You'll need to wear a top hat.
Ripper K: I've worn worse.
Astronauta: And a monocle.
The augmented reality sprites at the club all have googly eyes, like Clippy. And they're all watching us.
Streetrat: If any of them actually are Clippy they have to die.
Ocelot: We're being watched by the spirit of Microsoft Office
Giant Dad: And then a barfight broke out over Mario Party.
Ripper manages to seduce not only Zipper, but her dwarf friend as well, and after reducing them both to happy unconsciousness unlocks the door for everybody else. The disc isn't in her apartment, but there is a handwritten letter from one Loomis directing her to set up the auction. There's a Kerwin Loomis who runs a nightclub called Coda out in the Barrens.
Streetrat: Coder as in programmer or Coda as in epilogue?
Ripper K: It's a musical term too. So that's two links. And a pun, too, since the disc has musical data.
Ripper K: At this rate the client is going to regret agreeing to that early completion bonus.
The Coda is the worst kind of dive. Happily, Loomis has an apartment above the club, and Streetrat's drones spot the suspicious activity next door before we blunder into it ourselves. He switches his POV to one of the drones and investigates closer - there's a team of armed and armoured individuals watching the club. And one of them is probably a mage. Happily, suddenly appearing at all the doors and windows with two armed drones and three scary-looking individuals demoralises them so completely they readily agree to Ripper's terms. They go wait at the local Stuffer Shack, while we - still posing as some kind of Barrens organised crime syndicate - go have a private word with Mr Loomis. Then they can do whatever they like with him. Evidently nobody told this team of runners that another team had been hired for the job. We head in to have a polite chat with Loomis, who panics and threatens to break the disc. He also insists the disc was willed to him by his father - the big-name rocker K-spot. There never was a theft.
Oracle: So how much were we being paid not to care?
Loomis caves, especially after he finds out just how many people already know about the disc.
Giant Dad: How much are you willing to pay to get out of here alive?
We drop Loomis off at the Ork Underground and head back to the Cathode Glow to use their vintage tech to find out what's actually ON this disc. It seems to be music data, as claimed, but there are multiple levels of encryption on it.
Giant Dad: Don't mind us, Astronauta and I will just be having Fight Club outside.
Ripper K: If anybody asks just tell them you're re-enacting John Carpenter films.
The music is melancholy and introspective.
Giant Dad: We're listening to Linkin Park?
But since we're good shadowrunners, it's time to take the disc to the client. We'll just neglect to mention the one-to-one copy we made so Oracle can run full decryption on it. We will include all the data we have on that other team, including the number of their fixer. But either way, our Mr Johnson seems very pleased - especially since we got it all done in less than 24 hours. The other group of players is still slogging through the same module four sessions later - and that other shadowrunner team are probably still waiting at the Stuffer Shack.
D&D - mostly a continuation of a dungeon crawl, and the capture of the enemy wizard, whereupon things become Political. It's always so helpful when the bad guys keep copies of their correspondence around the lair.
Kavorog: Murder and psychopathy are all part of being an adventurer.
We find a satchel full of potions and adventuring gear in the bottom of a cistern.
Kavorog: Looks like a bug-out bag. Or a bugbear-out bag.
GM: What do you want to do with these guys?
Lamech: Skin them and use their scrotums as a coin purse.
GM: You're a bloodthirsty little... aren't you?
To a prisoner -
Lamech: So, Mr. Human Shield - you don't mind me calling you Human Shield, do you? - What else should we know about this dungeon?