Deadlands Reloaded - Chinese Ogres and Wooden Indians
This is the log of our 11th Deadlands Reloaded session (on April 27th, 2013).
As evening slowly crept over Portland the posse considered two things they were going the face: They wanted to catch Chief Barrelbelly on camera to prove his murderous doings and collect the $1000 reward, and they needed to find Lotus Blossom Wen. While Toni (the Muckraker) and Gus (the Blessed) decided to set up the camera and to wait at the Barrelbelly saloon, Tyler (the ex-Agent), Hunter (the Bounty Hunter) and Matt (the Huckster) headed into Chinatown to look for the beautiful Chinese lady.
Triad Shenanigans
Soon enough the three found the only building that fit Bu's description - if it could be called that - and sported both a laundry shop and a Dim Sum Kitchen. Tyler barreled into the laundry and intimidated the shop lady by thrusting his bowie knife into the counter. As Hunter tapped on his gun and gave her a meaningful glance, she spilled the beans [adventure card "Spill the Beans" played]: The night before a fight had taken place between the Portland triad of Xu Lieh and some "outsiders", i.e. Kang's people, in the yard behind the laundry. The local triad had won.
In the yard they found signs of the recent struggle, but a number of triad goons showed up soon enough. They traded a few threats and insults, but then fists and bullets started to fly. The first wave of martial artist went down quickly, but reinforcements were obviously on the way. Tyler shouted for Lotus Blossom Wen, and Matt heard a faint cry from up above, where a rickety series of stairs and galleries led to the upper stories. The huckster had used up all his readily-available power against the first wave, but the manitous reveled in the slaughter and readily provided him with more juice [Arcane Inspiration adventure card played].
Tyler and Matt raced upwards, while Hunter slowly followed trying to slow down the pursuit. To his horror a huge blue-skinned ogre mage emerged into the yard, and began throwing spells at the trio. Tyler just managed to get up to the topmost level, before a magic blast destroyed part of the stairs. Up there he ran into a duo of triad goons who gave him trouble, while Hunter and Matt desperately tried to hold off another handful of fighters and the ogre, who after running out of magic began to ascent the stairs that creaked and swayed ominously under his weight.
Tyler went down under a flurry of blows from his opponents, while Hunter and Matt hauled themselves up past the broken stairs, only to see the ogre climb up behind them as well. As Hunter shot down the two mooks, Matt grabbed a bundle of dynamite from Tyler's bag and threw it at the ogre. Hunter dragged the unconscious ex-Agent into a room and Matt jumped after them, as the dynamite exploded right behind the ogre and brought him and the whole gallery structure crashing into the yard.
Inside the room they found Lotus Blossom Wen, lying there either deeply unconscious or dead. Another room held a stash of gold and ghost rock, but as the way down was blocked the most precious thing in there was a coil of rope which allowed them to abseil through one of the windows. Hunter's sharp eyes [Adventure card "Windfall" played] allowed him to grab the most valuable loot in the room: A bag of glittering diamonds. He almost died getting it out of there through: As the last through the window, his grip slipped the rope and he fell 20 feet unto the street. Badly shaken Matt (-1 wounds) and Hunter (-3 from wounds) limped away from the gathering crowd and the fire brigade (the explosion had set off a fire in the building), dragging the unmoving bodies of Tyler and Wen along.
[The players violated one of the fundamental rules of rpg wisdom - don't split the party - and almost paid dearly for it. If the dynamite had deviated (Matt failed his throwing roll) in a different direction, say down into the yard or back towards the PCs, instead of into the wall behind the ogre, the fight would almost certainly have gone badly. The characters were shaken several times, but managed to always pull themselves together before the adversaries could take advantage of it. Lesson learned: Being ganged-on by martial artists in tight quarters is bad! The star of the show was one of the unnamed goons who managed to evade two of the huckster's Blasts (8 needed on a d8 each time) and soak a 3D6 Bolt, only to trip over his own feet in his melee attack). The Arcane Inspiration was badly needed, otherwise the huckster would have been Dealing with the Devil heavily.
The big downside was 2 of the 5 players were not involved. But since they stubbornly refused to take any hints and come to their fellows aid, they had only themselves to blame. One thing that I find myself unable to do in Savage Worlds is to cut back and forth between two different groups, when one is involved into a full-blown fight. I can do that more easily in a more free-form system like Fudge, but here the logistics of running a combat are just too much.]
Chief Barrelbelly
At the Barrelbelly saloon Toni and Gus had been waiting and keeping an eye on the wooden Indian. Soon enough people came running by shouting about a firefight in Chinatown and then the fire alarm bells started ringing. Soon they found themselves alone in the saloon. A fog was creeping in and Toni decided the needed the flash to be lighted from off the side, so she instructed Gus to handle that while she operated the camera. All was set to capture the murderous thing on photograph...
... but then the badly beaten up rest of the posse struggled in, with Lotus Blossom Wen in tow, desperate for healing. Of course Gus took good care of them (just having taken the Healer edge for his last advancement), and soon enough Tyler was revived and Matt and Hunter feeling much better. Only Lotus Blossom Wen could not be woken and Gus had already declared her dead, when Matt noticed the faintest of breath. She seemed to be in a magic or poison induced coma.
Just then the clock struck midnight and Gus raced outside to take up his position with the camera flash. At the twelfth stroke, Chief Barrelbelly indeed began to move and turned his hateful gaze on Gus. Fear gripped the posse's mind, but all except Hunter shook it off and Gus ignited the magnesium. The flash was timed perfectly and Toni took her photo, but the statue ignored this and headed down the street. But when Tyler dowsed it with lamp oil, the Chief felt threatened and turned on the posse, grabbing Tyler by the coat. They used a rope to trip him up, Matt cut off the Indians fingertips with an axe to free Tyler, who ignited the oil covering it, and finally Gus dispelled the magic holding the spirit within the wooden statue. The wooden statue was left sitting in the middle of the street burning fiercely until only a blackened stump remained.
Would the evidence be enough to collect the $1000 reward? The photo that Toni took? The burned statue sitting in the middle of the street blocks away from the saloon? The deep foot tracks in the road? They wouldn't know until ... next session.
[I had originally planned for a few more interventions in this fight, but it was getting late, I didn't want to drag this out, and simply forgot some stuff. Still, the end of Chief Barrelbelly was fitting and we'll see how the authorities react to the story.
In both battle maps you can see that I used (or tried to use) the abstract movement system proposed on the Peginc forum, but I found it hard to switch in mid-game and convey the changes adequately to the players, so I'll probably stick with gridded movement for the remainder of the game.]
As evening slowly crept over Portland the posse considered two things they were going the face: They wanted to catch Chief Barrelbelly on camera to prove his murderous doings and collect the $1000 reward, and they needed to find Lotus Blossom Wen. While Toni (the Muckraker) and Gus (the Blessed) decided to set up the camera and to wait at the Barrelbelly saloon, Tyler (the ex-Agent), Hunter (the Bounty Hunter) and Matt (the Huckster) headed into Chinatown to look for the beautiful Chinese lady.
Triad Shenanigans
Soon enough the three found the only building that fit Bu's description - if it could be called that - and sported both a laundry shop and a Dim Sum Kitchen. Tyler barreled into the laundry and intimidated the shop lady by thrusting his bowie knife into the counter. As Hunter tapped on his gun and gave her a meaningful glance, she spilled the beans [adventure card "Spill the Beans" played]: The night before a fight had taken place between the Portland triad of Xu Lieh and some "outsiders", i.e. Kang's people, in the yard behind the laundry. The local triad had won.
In the yard they found signs of the recent struggle, but a number of triad goons showed up soon enough. They traded a few threats and insults, but then fists and bullets started to fly. The first wave of martial artist went down quickly, but reinforcements were obviously on the way. Tyler shouted for Lotus Blossom Wen, and Matt heard a faint cry from up above, where a rickety series of stairs and galleries led to the upper stories. The huckster had used up all his readily-available power against the first wave, but the manitous reveled in the slaughter and readily provided him with more juice [Arcane Inspiration adventure card played].
Tyler and Matt raced upwards, while Hunter slowly followed trying to slow down the pursuit. To his horror a huge blue-skinned ogre mage emerged into the yard, and began throwing spells at the trio. Tyler just managed to get up to the topmost level, before a magic blast destroyed part of the stairs. Up there he ran into a duo of triad goons who gave him trouble, while Hunter and Matt desperately tried to hold off another handful of fighters and the ogre, who after running out of magic began to ascent the stairs that creaked and swayed ominously under his weight.
Tyler went down under a flurry of blows from his opponents, while Hunter and Matt hauled themselves up past the broken stairs, only to see the ogre climb up behind them as well. As Hunter shot down the two mooks, Matt grabbed a bundle of dynamite from Tyler's bag and threw it at the ogre. Hunter dragged the unconscious ex-Agent into a room and Matt jumped after them, as the dynamite exploded right behind the ogre and brought him and the whole gallery structure crashing into the yard.
Inside the room they found Lotus Blossom Wen, lying there either deeply unconscious or dead. Another room held a stash of gold and ghost rock, but as the way down was blocked the most precious thing in there was a coil of rope which allowed them to abseil through one of the windows. Hunter's sharp eyes [Adventure card "Windfall" played] allowed him to grab the most valuable loot in the room: A bag of glittering diamonds. He almost died getting it out of there through: As the last through the window, his grip slipped the rope and he fell 20 feet unto the street. Badly shaken Matt (-1 wounds) and Hunter (-3 from wounds) limped away from the gathering crowd and the fire brigade (the explosion had set off a fire in the building), dragging the unmoving bodies of Tyler and Wen along.
[The players violated one of the fundamental rules of rpg wisdom - don't split the party - and almost paid dearly for it. If the dynamite had deviated (Matt failed his throwing roll) in a different direction, say down into the yard or back towards the PCs, instead of into the wall behind the ogre, the fight would almost certainly have gone badly. The characters were shaken several times, but managed to always pull themselves together before the adversaries could take advantage of it. Lesson learned: Being ganged-on by martial artists in tight quarters is bad! The star of the show was one of the unnamed goons who managed to evade two of the huckster's Blasts (8 needed on a d8 each time) and soak a 3D6 Bolt, only to trip over his own feet in his melee attack). The Arcane Inspiration was badly needed, otherwise the huckster would have been Dealing with the Devil heavily.
The big downside was 2 of the 5 players were not involved. But since they stubbornly refused to take any hints and come to their fellows aid, they had only themselves to blame. One thing that I find myself unable to do in Savage Worlds is to cut back and forth between two different groups, when one is involved into a full-blown fight. I can do that more easily in a more free-form system like Fudge, but here the logistics of running a combat are just too much.]
Chief Barrelbelly
At the Barrelbelly saloon Toni and Gus had been waiting and keeping an eye on the wooden Indian. Soon enough people came running by shouting about a firefight in Chinatown and then the fire alarm bells started ringing. Soon they found themselves alone in the saloon. A fog was creeping in and Toni decided the needed the flash to be lighted from off the side, so she instructed Gus to handle that while she operated the camera. All was set to capture the murderous thing on photograph...
... but then the badly beaten up rest of the posse struggled in, with Lotus Blossom Wen in tow, desperate for healing. Of course Gus took good care of them (just having taken the Healer edge for his last advancement), and soon enough Tyler was revived and Matt and Hunter feeling much better. Only Lotus Blossom Wen could not be woken and Gus had already declared her dead, when Matt noticed the faintest of breath. She seemed to be in a magic or poison induced coma.
Just then the clock struck midnight and Gus raced outside to take up his position with the camera flash. At the twelfth stroke, Chief Barrelbelly indeed began to move and turned his hateful gaze on Gus. Fear gripped the posse's mind, but all except Hunter shook it off and Gus ignited the magnesium. The flash was timed perfectly and Toni took her photo, but the statue ignored this and headed down the street. But when Tyler dowsed it with lamp oil, the Chief felt threatened and turned on the posse, grabbing Tyler by the coat. They used a rope to trip him up, Matt cut off the Indians fingertips with an axe to free Tyler, who ignited the oil covering it, and finally Gus dispelled the magic holding the spirit within the wooden statue. The wooden statue was left sitting in the middle of the street burning fiercely until only a blackened stump remained.
Would the evidence be enough to collect the $1000 reward? The photo that Toni took? The burned statue sitting in the middle of the street blocks away from the saloon? The deep foot tracks in the road? They wouldn't know until ... next session.
[I had originally planned for a few more interventions in this fight, but it was getting late, I didn't want to drag this out, and simply forgot some stuff. Still, the end of Chief Barrelbelly was fitting and we'll see how the authorities react to the story.
In both battle maps you can see that I used (or tried to use) the abstract movement system proposed on the Peginc forum, but I found it hard to switch in mid-game and convey the changes adequately to the players, so I'll probably stick with gridded movement for the remainder of the game.]