Ah, the glory of the game.
So, this past Thursday I GM'd a d20 Modern game.
(Edit: No, I will not insert an LJ-Cut. I'm a rebel.)
It was sort of impromptu but sort of not. I ran a proposal by the guy that normally runs the game stating that it would be 'fun' sometime to have me run a game in his universe, because everyone seemed interest in me running a game but I'm one of these people who is far too meticulous in their worldbuilding to run a game of their own.
Anyway, I found out on the Monday (night) that I would be running the game on Thursday (afternoon). This gave me preparation windows of late Tuesday night, late Wednesday night, and Thursday morning to attempt to get all of the exposition I needed and prepare encounters and NPCs and whatnot. I was also walking into, for lack of a better word, a clusterfuck.
The initial pitch for the game was a mecha game with occasional bouts of ship-to-ship combat and on-foot adventures. The game, up until that point, has involved conspiracies, a grand total of, er, two? combats (one of which was a three-round mecha combat), and a whole lot of running away -- pretty par for the course for this group.
The last "session" involved the PCs crashing a pair of space ships into a space station of some kind hidden in Jupiter's atmosphere that somehow caused the planet to grow in size (I didn't say it made any sense), destroying an orbital colony and forcing us to get the fuck out of there before shit got crazier. We went through a jumpgate to a colony around Mars, where one of the players bounced his strike cruiser off of the colony (lesson learned: jumpgates should be close to and pointed at space stations). We then docked with and entered the colony for a meeting and then OH NOES PLOT TWIST GIANT ROBOTS SOMEHOW ARE ATTACKING THE SECURE FACILITY AT THE CENTER OF THE COLONY.
A combat ensues. The outcome at the end of that session, which is what I had as a starting point, was one PC hospitalized, one PC jailed and awaiting deportation, two PCs in limbo because they hadn't attended and for whatever reason they didn't make it to the combat scene, one PC inside a facility trying to hunt and kill a sniper, and a PC in a portion of the same facility deep underground being spoken to by ghosts (I didn't say it made any sense).
"Surprise, Tyler! You have two days and change to make this make sense and get the PCs reunited and to Earth."
So, here's the gameplan I quickly cobbled together, along with the bits of plot or required goals that were supposed to be put in play.
* Getting the PCs to Earth once they leave the station is an easy one. The jumpgate is on lockdown because of the events near Jupiter, someone crashing into the colony after exiting, and the mecha attack on the colony (someone had to get the robots there, after all). This means the closest other settlement (and jumpgate) is near Earth, which requires 16.3 days of travel time using the speeds for this progress level. This is perfect, because the GM also requires one day of training per level, and the PCs are due to hit level 13. This gives me a three day buffer with which to have space combat.
* The PC chasing the sniper gets in a fight. I intend to make it challenging. Per the original GM's instructions, if the PC fights in a sound tactical manner, this NPC is to provide him with "clues" (a.k.a. "plot hooks") over the course of the combat. Given that the two are apparently old rivals, my plan is to do this through plenty of back and forth banter as both characters play defensively and talk trash to each other.
* The PC in the hospital (who happens to be the chief inspector, somehow) receives a visit from his boss, the colony's director. This PC has a mission objective to get another PC to Earth. This ties in perfectly with the objective for the mission, so I plan to have the director order this PC to finish the mission in a timely manner. I figure this will be a very simply social encounter. He's already on thin ice because of previous activities, so this is a good motivator, as the PC he is ordered to escort to Earth is...
* The PC arrested and awaiting deportation. Bumping a space colony with your strike cruiser is not going to make you any friends, but having diplomatic immunity because your sidekick is an ambassador from Earth is a perfect way to get your ass to Earth. This guy was just along for the ride, so no prep work was needed.
* The two PCs with non-functioning giant robots are going to be directed to Earth. Somehow. The original GM instructs me that one of these PCs (who is a noble) has been stripped of nobility and is now a wanted woman in her homeland. She is wanted on suspicion of treason and the assassination of a head of state (crashing starships into space stations can do that). The plan as presented is to have a knight from the Church of that state (which is a theocracy) come to arrest her, and pending the defeat of the knight or her running away, sick the covert ops group from this PC's own house on her. The gameplan is to have three knights (of lower level) approach her and ask her to surrender, with the leader challenging her to honorable combat. If she wins or runs, then three stealthy types (also of lower level) attempt to ninja her either alone or amidst the party if the opportunity presents itself. Finally, to get a bit of starship/mecha combat in, on their way to earth, they encounter enemy ships from this same faction (that they vastly overpower) as a temporary speedbump and to buy me time if the game is proceeding at a fast pace. The original plan is to do this after levelling.
* The second PC with the non-functioning robot is also a member of the same faction and in the same bind, but she is safely hidden away somewhere because she is a hacker and had not yet left the cargo bay with her giant robot. So, plausible plan. This theocracy is pretty controlling, so any mecha created in that region has to be constantly verified against a database of authorized pilots. Once these two were stripped of any rank or title, they were stripped of authorization. This explains why they cannot pilot giant robots and during the downtime the hacker PC can 'fix' this problem, which is the 'training' for her level. Problem solved.
So, in brief,
Sniper Fight > Attempted Arrest > Hospital Visit > Escort Prisoner > (Option) Downtime > (Option) Covert Ops Attack > Trip to Earth w/ Downtime > (Option) Starship Battle.
So people show up and we finally started at whatever the hell time we started at.
In my ever present wisdom, I decide to start with the sniper fight. What better way to warm up than a combat where I have to play someone with a personality that I have no idea how to play, right? There's a little trash talk from the NPC to the PC, but the PC doesn't respond. The PC then walks into a trap with a motion-sensitive midnighter grenade (think advanced smoke grenade), before being shot at with a jammer round (disables electronic devices within the square it hits for three rounds). Considering his gameplan revolved around stealthy electronic gadgets and a motion sensor, this was not to his advantage. He then got shot three times with darts filled with muscle relaxant (1d4+1 Dex damage, DC 14 halves effect).
This was probably a poor way to start this battle (i.e. strong), because he then spent forever on his turns before leaving the building through a window and calling for his powered armor and heavy weaponry. By the time he got back and flew way down to the basement for whatever reason, I looked at the clock and noticed an hour had gone by. An hour with almost zero exchange in dialogue and maybe three or four rounds of combat.
It was at this point that I decided it may be a good idea to cut away temporarily (I was expecting the fight to be over one way or the other by this point) and deal with the attempted arrest. So, I advised the two PCs with giant robots that their robots weren't operating indicating invalid authentication codes. One of the players (the player of the PC who was about to get her ass kicked by the police) starting pitching a fit (as expected) about "how could they hack the hacker's robot", after I explained in my problem diagnosis that it was a simple yet time consuming fix that she could fix with about two weeks of idle time. The player was clearly not happen that his character had lost her mecha (because he had previously lost a PC and a spaceship and blah blah blah blah) and seemed pissed off merely seconds in.
So she climbs down and as she's walking away, I have one of the knights call out her name. She doesn't respond, so I have the knight get her attention again. She turns, there's a bit of exposition, a bit of posturing, and an order to surrender with a bit of a "you don't have a choice" tone. So, the player has his character surrender. This catches me a little off guard, considering the number of hints that there was something wrong and sticking around was an option that could be avoided (NPCs were in heavy armor reducing movement, PC was in light armor; NPCs were operating under the orders of the PC's third-in-command operating under the title of head of state, which would imply a ruse or a coup, etc).
Unceremoniously, a neural scrambler was plunked on her head -- and he seemed mad at me about this, completely ignoring the fact that he tried to detain my previous PC (to brainwash him) except he didn't use a neural scrambler and I managed to evade pursuit and cause havoc for quite some time (until another PC intervened to detain me), and his old character (who was the head of the house at the time) bitched out his staff for not using a neural scrambler on the two occasions they had restrained me temporarily, but that's another story for another time -- and she was escorted onto a launch (shuttle), a scene which was observed by the hacker PC.
At this point we were told that the building we were playing in was closing, so we relocated to the GM's house. This was probably a good thing, as on the walk from the mall to his place I got to rant and bitch a bit and I think that got me more in the right mindset to be running his game. Yeah, I know.
Anyway, we got to his house, and at this point the hacker PC decides she's tired or something and goes to bet and totally bails out on me (AND I KNOW YOU'RE PROBABLY READING THIS RIGHT NOW AND I AM VERY MUCH WELL NOT REALLY ANGRY BUT VERY MUCH E-SHAKING MY FIRST IN FEIGNED RAGE) leaving the rest of the group with absolutely no motivating factor to get on the rescue attempt.
Which is fine, because the rescue attempt can't even happen for a little while because there's still a fight with a sniper that needs to be wrapped up and a guy that's in the hospital for six days and a guy in prison that I need to get to the dock.
So, back to the sniper fight because it's the current part in the story line. Plink plink plink, I'm chargin' my plasma, pew pew pew, I'm chargin' you, pew pew pew, I'm grapplin' you, oh no unarmed electrified damage, escape the grapple and jump through a trap that was originally set to pin the PC but instead provided an impenetrable barrier that the NPC could run away behind, fight over. I pitched him a softball clue but I don't even think he knew that he was supposed to pick up the bat, so that aspect was a total bust. The combat was pretty good if a little bland simply because of the sheer feeling that we were playing a tabletop wargame (which is really what happens when you pit me and this player against each other).
So he gets out, I have my PC get in touch with him and let him know he acquired what he went into the building for, and the BUT I AM LE TIRED OKAY TAKE A NAP AND THEN FIRE ZE MISSILES PC messages him to say that OMGWTFBBQ the noble has been kidnapped.
Anyway, we finally get to deal with the hospitalized PC. Some stuff happens, he gets hassled by the director, he meets up with Hellga the nurse, who enjoys sponge baths and wants to be on American Gladiators, speaks with the PC that spent time fighting the sniper, they both end up deciding to go to Earth. I can't remember but I think at this point there was no real incentive to rescue to the other PC because quite frankly they didn't like her, so I threw in an offer of money for the cop PC and an offer of contact with a mastercrafter for the sniper-hunting PC (with the GM's consent).
They pick up the arrested PC and escort him to my character's ship for 'storage'. They then realize that nobody has a launch to get him docked with his ambassador sidekick's ship (who we are then supposed to escort to Earth), ignoring the fact that the ship he's on is a small ship and can fly inside the strike cruiser's docking bay. At this point I point out once again that the kidnapped/arrest PC is being held in a launch so they could potentially kill two birds with one stone.
Thus begins the elaborate plan to disable the launch, prevent escape, and force the surrender of the occupants. In short, they're going to station a ship in orbit to prevent an escape attempt, then they're going to throw a sapper tag (essentially a big power draining magnet) on top of the shuttle, and then surround it with explosives. Finally, they're going to demand surrender or threaten to blow the whole thing up. While in a docking area with relatively high security due to recent events.
Smooth.
Finally, the cop PC has the brilliant idea of holding inspections for all of the ships in the area due to all of the recent acts of "terrorism". They figure they'll orchestrate an "inspection" and try and find the missing PC, and once the PC is located begin an operation to take them back by force using the aforementioned Plan B.
So, the inspections are set up, and with everyone being all stealthlike, the cop PC asks if he can come in for the inspection. Without hesitation, the knight lets him in, where he sees two knights playing cards and the kidnapped PC staring off blindly into space with a neural scrambler on. Discussion ensues where he explains that he's also been knighted (true), asks what's going on, the knights explain, he asks for proof, they provide proof, he sends it off for verification, and it seems legitimate. So then the sniper-hunting PC comes over.
Oh, I suppose I should give you something to work with. This PC stands around eight feet high and is wearing powered armor, carrying a sapper tag (which is a mecha weapon) on his back and various other pieces of gadgetry.
So, while one knight is talking to the cop and fixing herself a drink, she happens to notice this beast of a man walking over. She whispers to the cop that it appears they might have a problem, at which point he coolly says "Oh, he's part of my team."
Slick.
So the PC walks over and rather casually tosses the sapper tag onto the launch, which immediately begins draining the power. The knight demands the meaning of this, at which point point he says he's owed an honor duel with the detained PC and can't let them leave with her. He's a minor noble, but he doesn't have the authority to override a head of state, so the knight rather coolly informs him that she can't honor his request but will certainly forward the request along and that he may get his honour duel before the trial.
I forget exactly how the dialogue went from here because I'm a little tired, but I do remember that the PCs eventually backed off, promised to come up with a way to remove the sapper tag (because nobody had any depolarization charges or whatever the removal tool is), and essentially abandoned the PC here and took off towards earth.
Really, I'm not sure why they did it. They had drained all power from the ship, which means if a fight broke out they would have no way to send out a distress signal and they were in heavy armor so they wouldn't have been able to run away before being dropped (they were low level). The PCs had (mostly) evacuated the area, except for a couple of ships that were there and unoccupied. The only people there were the PCs and a few of their ships crew members function as "inspectors", and these three NPCs. It would have been a perfect massacre, which is what they had originally wanted to do and what these blood hungry PCs tend to do anyway, but I guess they have a soft spot for people playing cards or something.
At this point the PC's player went on this big rant about how the PC has loyal supporters and if I was a good GM I would find a way to get him back into the action. Now, personally, I would have done so if it was at all plausible, but they were in the middle of a neutral faction's main colony where the only members of the state there are representatives of the church that are hunting her, and that her minions are all the way on -- you guessed it -- Earth.
I really, really wanted to yell out "SUDDENLY GANDALF APPEARS. He charges down with House Astra's boys and scatters all of the knights. You win." and just walk away, but I guess I wasn't yet disgusted with it.
Anyway, they take off and bail out. It's midnight and I need an out, so I throw the easy as piss starship combat encounter at them before the downtime instead of after. As they're traveling, they encounter three ships from this same faction that hail them and indicate that there is a "surprise inspection because of suspected terrorists" or however the cop had worded it earlier, meant to be a total "we're going to fuck your shit up either way" comment. Except the regular GM takes my dialogue (which is all for show before the fireworks) and makes it sound like legitimate banter, until one of the PCs gets the bright idea to radio home base and call for reinforcements. It was the guy in the strike cruiser, so he was told reinforcements would arrive -- in about thirteen days -- and that he has permission to engage.
Except he doesn't. So a combat that should have been over quickly because he has a huge honking ship runs for an hour before I have the enemy big ship just self destruct because he was boxed in by faster ships and I really didn't want to give the GM yet another recurring NPC. This was also a guide into why mecha are effective in starship battles and why NPC-controlled ships get tooled by PC and heroic NPC pilots.
After they blow the shit into millions of pieces and begin salvaging it, I have the launch with the knights and the kidnapped PC fly into range and then slow to a stop. OH WHAT A SMALL WORLD THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE PICKED UP BY THESE GUYS. So the knights surrender, the PCs rescue the other PC (who is probably quitting the game), the sleepy naptime PC is going to get shuttled to Earth by another random trio of NPCs I made up on the fly to answer other PC questions, and everyone got their level.
So in the end, all objectives were accomplished with only minor hurdles. I feel bad about one PC being out of the action for so long, but the rescue attempt was lengthy and slow because of the actions of the other PCs and the initial arrest could have been avoided (the option was there). I feel bad about wasting so much time with the sniper fight, but that one didn't go as planned because there was no talking. It was all business when it was supposed to be a cheesy movie style epic, but I should have probably clarified with the PC that that was my intent for it. My bad.
Otherwise, it went as expected, and in one session we had two combats (with the potential for up to three more) and three or four social encounters, and I effectively performed damage control and got everyone back together and (briefly) focused on the same objective. It was not the ideal scenario I would have wanted to take control in, but I worked with the clay I was given.
I think all in all it was a "decent" game for me to try and get into the swing of things, considering the last game I ran was a one-shot where all of the PCs died to mundane animals.
(Edit: No, I will not insert an LJ-Cut. I'm a rebel.)
It was sort of impromptu but sort of not. I ran a proposal by the guy that normally runs the game stating that it would be 'fun' sometime to have me run a game in his universe, because everyone seemed interest in me running a game but I'm one of these people who is far too meticulous in their worldbuilding to run a game of their own.
Anyway, I found out on the Monday (night) that I would be running the game on Thursday (afternoon). This gave me preparation windows of late Tuesday night, late Wednesday night, and Thursday morning to attempt to get all of the exposition I needed and prepare encounters and NPCs and whatnot. I was also walking into, for lack of a better word, a clusterfuck.
The initial pitch for the game was a mecha game with occasional bouts of ship-to-ship combat and on-foot adventures. The game, up until that point, has involved conspiracies, a grand total of, er, two? combats (one of which was a three-round mecha combat), and a whole lot of running away -- pretty par for the course for this group.
The last "session" involved the PCs crashing a pair of space ships into a space station of some kind hidden in Jupiter's atmosphere that somehow caused the planet to grow in size (I didn't say it made any sense), destroying an orbital colony and forcing us to get the fuck out of there before shit got crazier. We went through a jumpgate to a colony around Mars, where one of the players bounced his strike cruiser off of the colony (lesson learned: jumpgates should be close to and pointed at space stations). We then docked with and entered the colony for a meeting and then OH NOES PLOT TWIST GIANT ROBOTS SOMEHOW ARE ATTACKING THE SECURE FACILITY AT THE CENTER OF THE COLONY.
A combat ensues. The outcome at the end of that session, which is what I had as a starting point, was one PC hospitalized, one PC jailed and awaiting deportation, two PCs in limbo because they hadn't attended and for whatever reason they didn't make it to the combat scene, one PC inside a facility trying to hunt and kill a sniper, and a PC in a portion of the same facility deep underground being spoken to by ghosts (I didn't say it made any sense).
"Surprise, Tyler! You have two days and change to make this make sense and get the PCs reunited and to Earth."
So, here's the gameplan I quickly cobbled together, along with the bits of plot or required goals that were supposed to be put in play.
* Getting the PCs to Earth once they leave the station is an easy one. The jumpgate is on lockdown because of the events near Jupiter, someone crashing into the colony after exiting, and the mecha attack on the colony (someone had to get the robots there, after all). This means the closest other settlement (and jumpgate) is near Earth, which requires 16.3 days of travel time using the speeds for this progress level. This is perfect, because the GM also requires one day of training per level, and the PCs are due to hit level 13. This gives me a three day buffer with which to have space combat.
* The PC chasing the sniper gets in a fight. I intend to make it challenging. Per the original GM's instructions, if the PC fights in a sound tactical manner, this NPC is to provide him with "clues" (a.k.a. "plot hooks") over the course of the combat. Given that the two are apparently old rivals, my plan is to do this through plenty of back and forth banter as both characters play defensively and talk trash to each other.
* The PC in the hospital (who happens to be the chief inspector, somehow) receives a visit from his boss, the colony's director. This PC has a mission objective to get another PC to Earth. This ties in perfectly with the objective for the mission, so I plan to have the director order this PC to finish the mission in a timely manner. I figure this will be a very simply social encounter. He's already on thin ice because of previous activities, so this is a good motivator, as the PC he is ordered to escort to Earth is...
* The PC arrested and awaiting deportation. Bumping a space colony with your strike cruiser is not going to make you any friends, but having diplomatic immunity because your sidekick is an ambassador from Earth is a perfect way to get your ass to Earth. This guy was just along for the ride, so no prep work was needed.
* The two PCs with non-functioning giant robots are going to be directed to Earth. Somehow. The original GM instructs me that one of these PCs (who is a noble) has been stripped of nobility and is now a wanted woman in her homeland. She is wanted on suspicion of treason and the assassination of a head of state (crashing starships into space stations can do that). The plan as presented is to have a knight from the Church of that state (which is a theocracy) come to arrest her, and pending the defeat of the knight or her running away, sick the covert ops group from this PC's own house on her. The gameplan is to have three knights (of lower level) approach her and ask her to surrender, with the leader challenging her to honorable combat. If she wins or runs, then three stealthy types (also of lower level) attempt to ninja her either alone or amidst the party if the opportunity presents itself. Finally, to get a bit of starship/mecha combat in, on their way to earth, they encounter enemy ships from this same faction (that they vastly overpower) as a temporary speedbump and to buy me time if the game is proceeding at a fast pace. The original plan is to do this after levelling.
* The second PC with the non-functioning robot is also a member of the same faction and in the same bind, but she is safely hidden away somewhere because she is a hacker and had not yet left the cargo bay with her giant robot. So, plausible plan. This theocracy is pretty controlling, so any mecha created in that region has to be constantly verified against a database of authorized pilots. Once these two were stripped of any rank or title, they were stripped of authorization. This explains why they cannot pilot giant robots and during the downtime the hacker PC can 'fix' this problem, which is the 'training' for her level. Problem solved.
So, in brief,
Sniper Fight > Attempted Arrest > Hospital Visit > Escort Prisoner > (Option) Downtime > (Option) Covert Ops Attack > Trip to Earth w/ Downtime > (Option) Starship Battle.
So people show up and we finally started at whatever the hell time we started at.
In my ever present wisdom, I decide to start with the sniper fight. What better way to warm up than a combat where I have to play someone with a personality that I have no idea how to play, right? There's a little trash talk from the NPC to the PC, but the PC doesn't respond. The PC then walks into a trap with a motion-sensitive midnighter grenade (think advanced smoke grenade), before being shot at with a jammer round (disables electronic devices within the square it hits for three rounds). Considering his gameplan revolved around stealthy electronic gadgets and a motion sensor, this was not to his advantage. He then got shot three times with darts filled with muscle relaxant (1d4+1 Dex damage, DC 14 halves effect).
This was probably a poor way to start this battle (i.e. strong), because he then spent forever on his turns before leaving the building through a window and calling for his powered armor and heavy weaponry. By the time he got back and flew way down to the basement for whatever reason, I looked at the clock and noticed an hour had gone by. An hour with almost zero exchange in dialogue and maybe three or four rounds of combat.
It was at this point that I decided it may be a good idea to cut away temporarily (I was expecting the fight to be over one way or the other by this point) and deal with the attempted arrest. So, I advised the two PCs with giant robots that their robots weren't operating indicating invalid authentication codes. One of the players (the player of the PC who was about to get her ass kicked by the police) starting pitching a fit (as expected) about "how could they hack the hacker's robot", after I explained in my problem diagnosis that it was a simple yet time consuming fix that she could fix with about two weeks of idle time. The player was clearly not happen that his character had lost her mecha (because he had previously lost a PC and a spaceship and blah blah blah blah) and seemed pissed off merely seconds in.
So she climbs down and as she's walking away, I have one of the knights call out her name. She doesn't respond, so I have the knight get her attention again. She turns, there's a bit of exposition, a bit of posturing, and an order to surrender with a bit of a "you don't have a choice" tone. So, the player has his character surrender. This catches me a little off guard, considering the number of hints that there was something wrong and sticking around was an option that could be avoided (NPCs were in heavy armor reducing movement, PC was in light armor; NPCs were operating under the orders of the PC's third-in-command operating under the title of head of state, which would imply a ruse or a coup, etc).
Unceremoniously, a neural scrambler was plunked on her head -- and he seemed mad at me about this, completely ignoring the fact that he tried to detain my previous PC (to brainwash him) except he didn't use a neural scrambler and I managed to evade pursuit and cause havoc for quite some time (until another PC intervened to detain me), and his old character (who was the head of the house at the time) bitched out his staff for not using a neural scrambler on the two occasions they had restrained me temporarily, but that's another story for another time -- and she was escorted onto a launch (shuttle), a scene which was observed by the hacker PC.
At this point we were told that the building we were playing in was closing, so we relocated to the GM's house. This was probably a good thing, as on the walk from the mall to his place I got to rant and bitch a bit and I think that got me more in the right mindset to be running his game. Yeah, I know.
Anyway, we got to his house, and at this point the hacker PC decides she's tired or something and goes to bet and totally bails out on me (AND I KNOW YOU'RE PROBABLY READING THIS RIGHT NOW AND I AM VERY MUCH WELL NOT REALLY ANGRY BUT VERY MUCH E-SHAKING MY FIRST IN FEIGNED RAGE) leaving the rest of the group with absolutely no motivating factor to get on the rescue attempt.
Which is fine, because the rescue attempt can't even happen for a little while because there's still a fight with a sniper that needs to be wrapped up and a guy that's in the hospital for six days and a guy in prison that I need to get to the dock.
So, back to the sniper fight because it's the current part in the story line. Plink plink plink, I'm chargin' my plasma, pew pew pew, I'm chargin' you, pew pew pew, I'm grapplin' you, oh no unarmed electrified damage, escape the grapple and jump through a trap that was originally set to pin the PC but instead provided an impenetrable barrier that the NPC could run away behind, fight over. I pitched him a softball clue but I don't even think he knew that he was supposed to pick up the bat, so that aspect was a total bust. The combat was pretty good if a little bland simply because of the sheer feeling that we were playing a tabletop wargame (which is really what happens when you pit me and this player against each other).
So he gets out, I have my PC get in touch with him and let him know he acquired what he went into the building for, and the BUT I AM LE TIRED OKAY TAKE A NAP AND THEN FIRE ZE MISSILES PC messages him to say that OMGWTFBBQ the noble has been kidnapped.
Anyway, we finally get to deal with the hospitalized PC. Some stuff happens, he gets hassled by the director, he meets up with Hellga the nurse, who enjoys sponge baths and wants to be on American Gladiators, speaks with the PC that spent time fighting the sniper, they both end up deciding to go to Earth. I can't remember but I think at this point there was no real incentive to rescue to the other PC because quite frankly they didn't like her, so I threw in an offer of money for the cop PC and an offer of contact with a mastercrafter for the sniper-hunting PC (with the GM's consent).
They pick up the arrested PC and escort him to my character's ship for 'storage'. They then realize that nobody has a launch to get him docked with his ambassador sidekick's ship (who we are then supposed to escort to Earth), ignoring the fact that the ship he's on is a small ship and can fly inside the strike cruiser's docking bay. At this point I point out once again that the kidnapped/arrest PC is being held in a launch so they could potentially kill two birds with one stone.
Thus begins the elaborate plan to disable the launch, prevent escape, and force the surrender of the occupants. In short, they're going to station a ship in orbit to prevent an escape attempt, then they're going to throw a sapper tag (essentially a big power draining magnet) on top of the shuttle, and then surround it with explosives. Finally, they're going to demand surrender or threaten to blow the whole thing up. While in a docking area with relatively high security due to recent events.
Smooth.
Finally, the cop PC has the brilliant idea of holding inspections for all of the ships in the area due to all of the recent acts of "terrorism". They figure they'll orchestrate an "inspection" and try and find the missing PC, and once the PC is located begin an operation to take them back by force using the aforementioned Plan B.
So, the inspections are set up, and with everyone being all stealthlike, the cop PC asks if he can come in for the inspection. Without hesitation, the knight lets him in, where he sees two knights playing cards and the kidnapped PC staring off blindly into space with a neural scrambler on. Discussion ensues where he explains that he's also been knighted (true), asks what's going on, the knights explain, he asks for proof, they provide proof, he sends it off for verification, and it seems legitimate. So then the sniper-hunting PC comes over.
Oh, I suppose I should give you something to work with. This PC stands around eight feet high and is wearing powered armor, carrying a sapper tag (which is a mecha weapon) on his back and various other pieces of gadgetry.
So, while one knight is talking to the cop and fixing herself a drink, she happens to notice this beast of a man walking over. She whispers to the cop that it appears they might have a problem, at which point he coolly says "Oh, he's part of my team."
Slick.
So the PC walks over and rather casually tosses the sapper tag onto the launch, which immediately begins draining the power. The knight demands the meaning of this, at which point point he says he's owed an honor duel with the detained PC and can't let them leave with her. He's a minor noble, but he doesn't have the authority to override a head of state, so the knight rather coolly informs him that she can't honor his request but will certainly forward the request along and that he may get his honour duel before the trial.
I forget exactly how the dialogue went from here because I'm a little tired, but I do remember that the PCs eventually backed off, promised to come up with a way to remove the sapper tag (because nobody had any depolarization charges or whatever the removal tool is), and essentially abandoned the PC here and took off towards earth.
Really, I'm not sure why they did it. They had drained all power from the ship, which means if a fight broke out they would have no way to send out a distress signal and they were in heavy armor so they wouldn't have been able to run away before being dropped (they were low level). The PCs had (mostly) evacuated the area, except for a couple of ships that were there and unoccupied. The only people there were the PCs and a few of their ships crew members function as "inspectors", and these three NPCs. It would have been a perfect massacre, which is what they had originally wanted to do and what these blood hungry PCs tend to do anyway, but I guess they have a soft spot for people playing cards or something.
At this point the PC's player went on this big rant about how the PC has loyal supporters and if I was a good GM I would find a way to get him back into the action. Now, personally, I would have done so if it was at all plausible, but they were in the middle of a neutral faction's main colony where the only members of the state there are representatives of the church that are hunting her, and that her minions are all the way on -- you guessed it -- Earth.
I really, really wanted to yell out "SUDDENLY GANDALF APPEARS. He charges down with House Astra's boys and scatters all of the knights. You win." and just walk away, but I guess I wasn't yet disgusted with it.
Anyway, they take off and bail out. It's midnight and I need an out, so I throw the easy as piss starship combat encounter at them before the downtime instead of after. As they're traveling, they encounter three ships from this same faction that hail them and indicate that there is a "surprise inspection because of suspected terrorists" or however the cop had worded it earlier, meant to be a total "we're going to fuck your shit up either way" comment. Except the regular GM takes my dialogue (which is all for show before the fireworks) and makes it sound like legitimate banter, until one of the PCs gets the bright idea to radio home base and call for reinforcements. It was the guy in the strike cruiser, so he was told reinforcements would arrive -- in about thirteen days -- and that he has permission to engage.
Except he doesn't. So a combat that should have been over quickly because he has a huge honking ship runs for an hour before I have the enemy big ship just self destruct because he was boxed in by faster ships and I really didn't want to give the GM yet another recurring NPC. This was also a guide into why mecha are effective in starship battles and why NPC-controlled ships get tooled by PC and heroic NPC pilots.
After they blow the shit into millions of pieces and begin salvaging it, I have the launch with the knights and the kidnapped PC fly into range and then slow to a stop. OH WHAT A SMALL WORLD THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE PICKED UP BY THESE GUYS. So the knights surrender, the PCs rescue the other PC (who is probably quitting the game), the sleepy naptime PC is going to get shuttled to Earth by another random trio of NPCs I made up on the fly to answer other PC questions, and everyone got their level.
So in the end, all objectives were accomplished with only minor hurdles. I feel bad about one PC being out of the action for so long, but the rescue attempt was lengthy and slow because of the actions of the other PCs and the initial arrest could have been avoided (the option was there). I feel bad about wasting so much time with the sniper fight, but that one didn't go as planned because there was no talking. It was all business when it was supposed to be a cheesy movie style epic, but I should have probably clarified with the PC that that was my intent for it. My bad.
Otherwise, it went as expected, and in one session we had two combats (with the potential for up to three more) and three or four social encounters, and I effectively performed damage control and got everyone back together and (briefly) focused on the same objective. It was not the ideal scenario I would have wanted to take control in, but I worked with the clay I was given.
I think all in all it was a "decent" game for me to try and get into the swing of things, considering the last game I ran was a one-shot where all of the PCs died to mundane animals.