Sunday Afternoon Game Report - John Carter of Mars, Session 4
Yesterday (Sunday), the Sunday gaming group met up for their as can be regular weekly scheduled gaming session (barring illness, weather, or working). Due to Tammy's working on-call and my recent illness, this was the first time the gaming group played since August 11th or so. The Sunday afternoon gaming group continued on with their John Carter of Mars Roleplaying Game campaign in the sword & planet science fantasy world of Barsoom, created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. You can read about the previous session by following this link. This post is somewhat long, so I've put it behind a cut for those who don't want to read about my roleplaying game campaigns.
CHARACTERS
Kartos of Pakku (Steven P. Ross) - Adaptable Explorer
Jaxti Jarr (Tammy Powers) - Canny Scientist
Haju Hallan (GM/NPC) - Disciplined Panthan
Date: Padan 6, Teean 1, Ord 1
Kartos of Pakku asks if everyone is okay. Haju Hallan replies that he is uninjured, and Jaxti Jarr tells the other two that she feels fine and did not take any wounds. The three characters watch as the ruins finish collapsing, eventually settling, though there is dust everywhere. Jaxti shows the others the device she obtained in the ruined structure. It glints in the sunlight, but there is nothing obvious about it. Both Kartos and Haju are intrigued by her find, but the mercenary tells her that unless the device can be of assistance to them immediately, he has no interest in it. Jaxti examines the device closer [she spends 3 Momentum to do so], but there is nothing that she can learn or figure out about it in the field. She realizes that she requires a lab.
Kartos looks around, trying to see if there's something that he can acquire as well, but there doesn't appear to be. He checks the ground for tracks, but finds nothing. Haju keeps an eye on the general area, scanning and checking to see if there is any form of movement [he spends a Threat To do so]. Haju shouts to the others, telling them to get down! He tackles Jaxti, knocking her down, and she falls on the device [spending a Luck point] and is gratified to see it is not damaged.
The trio is attacked by a group of green Martians, and Kartos is struck by radium rifle fire as the characters try to get to cover. Haju makes it to cover, and tells the others that he's hiding some 10 ads away. Another shot from the green Martians strikes close, and Haju attempts to fire in that direction and is able to hit his targer [he spends 2 Momentum and 1 Threat to do so], taking one of the green Martians down. There follows an exchange of fire, during which Kartos is struck several times. He suffers quite a bit of damage [2 Confusion stress and 4 Fear stress, among other things]. Realizing they can't win this fight against the green Martian scouts, Haju comes up with a plan and after he maneuevers to where she is, he and Jaxti leave Kartos where he is and race away, so as to lure the green Martians into a trap.
The plan works well, though it is a close thing. The green Martians chase after them, and Jaxti and Haju lead them towards the rock hoppers' burrows. Four of the green Martians fall into the burrows and disappear, while two others get half-stuck in the soft earth of the burrows that are quite deep. Jaxti and Haju managed to get safely across, and turn back to see what has befallen the green Martians. The two are trapped, but continue to struggle. Kartos, having made his way slowly to the area, arrives on the scene, coming up behind them.
As Jaxti and Haju approach, Kartos offers to help the two green Martians, Hax Sorav and Tal Shazat, but they refuse. Jaxti watches and considers what to do, whether to show them mercy and pull them out or to kill them so the two green Martians don't follow them. However, the latter is not an option, since they are no longer fighting and thus it is not honourable. On the other hand, if they pull the two Greens out, they can potentially gain allies, contacts, and perhaps some good will with the green Martians. Haju, after careful consideration, offers them a choice: a truce or death. Hax Sorav accepts the truce, stating that in exchange for saving his life and that of his companion, they will not follow them, but will go back to report to their Chief and leave the red Martians alone...for now. Asking their names in exchange, once the player characters free him and Tal from the burrows (the latter's legs are somewhat damaged from the burrower attacks), Hax says that he will remember both Jaxti Jarr and Haju Hallan and what they have done this day.
Once the two green Martians have left the characters' sight and line of fire, Haju tells the others that they need to seek some shelter. After a zode or so of travel, they find a cave some distance from where they encountered the green Martians, and determine that it is relatively deep but not too much, that there are no animal residents, and there are signs of an old fire pit. While Jaxti scans the area of the cave with her energy scanner, Kartos fixes up the fire pit and gathers some moss off the cave walls, while Haju goes in search of some wood.
On Jaxti's device, lights start flashing and she is temporarily blinded. She learns that the device's battery is not low, that perhaps she can fix it - though she doesn't have the tools to do so at the moment, and that the flashing light is a locator beacon! Once Kartos has finished his work and Haju returns with the wood, she tells the two red Martians that she seems to have activated a locator beacon on her energy scanner. Kartos asks her to try her device once more. [She spends some 5 Momentum to do so, on two attempts.] There is no energy signature on the device, but there is a loud *BEEP!*, some form of language is spoken, and then the device appears to turn itself off.
Sunday's game session of the John Carter of Mars Roleplaying Game campaign was the first in close to a month, and as such, required getting back into the mindset and the story being told in this adventure. Once the players and I got back into the Barsoom mindset and I re-familiarized the players (and myself!) somewhat with the game rules, things went rather well. The session didn't have any real "new" things happen, and the game went pretty much as I expected it to go, though I thought that a couple of bits could have been handled somewhat better on my part.
That said, I'm really looking forward to the next game session. :)
CHARACTERS
Kartos of Pakku (Steven P. Ross) - Adaptable Explorer
Jaxti Jarr (Tammy Powers) - Canny Scientist
Haju Hallan (GM/NPC) - Disciplined Panthan
Date: Padan 6, Teean 1, Ord 1
Kartos of Pakku asks if everyone is okay. Haju Hallan replies that he is uninjured, and Jaxti Jarr tells the other two that she feels fine and did not take any wounds. The three characters watch as the ruins finish collapsing, eventually settling, though there is dust everywhere. Jaxti shows the others the device she obtained in the ruined structure. It glints in the sunlight, but there is nothing obvious about it. Both Kartos and Haju are intrigued by her find, but the mercenary tells her that unless the device can be of assistance to them immediately, he has no interest in it. Jaxti examines the device closer [she spends 3 Momentum to do so], but there is nothing that she can learn or figure out about it in the field. She realizes that she requires a lab.
Kartos looks around, trying to see if there's something that he can acquire as well, but there doesn't appear to be. He checks the ground for tracks, but finds nothing. Haju keeps an eye on the general area, scanning and checking to see if there is any form of movement [he spends a Threat To do so]. Haju shouts to the others, telling them to get down! He tackles Jaxti, knocking her down, and she falls on the device [spending a Luck point] and is gratified to see it is not damaged.
The trio is attacked by a group of green Martians, and Kartos is struck by radium rifle fire as the characters try to get to cover. Haju makes it to cover, and tells the others that he's hiding some 10 ads away. Another shot from the green Martians strikes close, and Haju attempts to fire in that direction and is able to hit his targer [he spends 2 Momentum and 1 Threat to do so], taking one of the green Martians down. There follows an exchange of fire, during which Kartos is struck several times. He suffers quite a bit of damage [2 Confusion stress and 4 Fear stress, among other things]. Realizing they can't win this fight against the green Martian scouts, Haju comes up with a plan and after he maneuevers to where she is, he and Jaxti leave Kartos where he is and race away, so as to lure the green Martians into a trap.
The plan works well, though it is a close thing. The green Martians chase after them, and Jaxti and Haju lead them towards the rock hoppers' burrows. Four of the green Martians fall into the burrows and disappear, while two others get half-stuck in the soft earth of the burrows that are quite deep. Jaxti and Haju managed to get safely across, and turn back to see what has befallen the green Martians. The two are trapped, but continue to struggle. Kartos, having made his way slowly to the area, arrives on the scene, coming up behind them.
As Jaxti and Haju approach, Kartos offers to help the two green Martians, Hax Sorav and Tal Shazat, but they refuse. Jaxti watches and considers what to do, whether to show them mercy and pull them out or to kill them so the two green Martians don't follow them. However, the latter is not an option, since they are no longer fighting and thus it is not honourable. On the other hand, if they pull the two Greens out, they can potentially gain allies, contacts, and perhaps some good will with the green Martians. Haju, after careful consideration, offers them a choice: a truce or death. Hax Sorav accepts the truce, stating that in exchange for saving his life and that of his companion, they will not follow them, but will go back to report to their Chief and leave the red Martians alone...for now. Asking their names in exchange, once the player characters free him and Tal from the burrows (the latter's legs are somewhat damaged from the burrower attacks), Hax says that he will remember both Jaxti Jarr and Haju Hallan and what they have done this day.
Once the two green Martians have left the characters' sight and line of fire, Haju tells the others that they need to seek some shelter. After a zode or so of travel, they find a cave some distance from where they encountered the green Martians, and determine that it is relatively deep but not too much, that there are no animal residents, and there are signs of an old fire pit. While Jaxti scans the area of the cave with her energy scanner, Kartos fixes up the fire pit and gathers some moss off the cave walls, while Haju goes in search of some wood.
On Jaxti's device, lights start flashing and she is temporarily blinded. She learns that the device's battery is not low, that perhaps she can fix it - though she doesn't have the tools to do so at the moment, and that the flashing light is a locator beacon! Once Kartos has finished his work and Haju returns with the wood, she tells the two red Martians that she seems to have activated a locator beacon on her energy scanner. Kartos asks her to try her device once more. [She spends some 5 Momentum to do so, on two attempts.] There is no energy signature on the device, but there is a loud *BEEP!*, some form of language is spoken, and then the device appears to turn itself off.
Sunday's game session of the John Carter of Mars Roleplaying Game campaign was the first in close to a month, and as such, required getting back into the mindset and the story being told in this adventure. Once the players and I got back into the Barsoom mindset and I re-familiarized the players (and myself!) somewhat with the game rules, things went rather well. The session didn't have any real "new" things happen, and the game went pretty much as I expected it to go, though I thought that a couple of bits could have been handled somewhat better on my part.
That said, I'm really looking forward to the next game session. :)