Just Outside the City: From West Point to Kip-town

Spent the first bit of the game filling out info on their holds.  Both have manufactories (West Point makes lumber, Kip-town - cows).  We sped up time a month and just let them ease into things.  I didn't make any hard moves, lots of vague future badnesses and some apocalyptica vomitting but honestly, nothing heavy.

It was the two hardholders, Bullet at West Point and Baby at Kip-town and Dent, the Faceless, roaming between the two, hammer in hand.  Dent has become an unmitigated bad-ass.  Or as JJ said so aptly, "Take moves from other character types...why would I?  I have so many awesome choices with the Faceless...as soon as I get enough XP together, I will be able to TALK to my mask and ask it advice."

Baby talks to Turk and Mary, the Kipsie's elderly parents and confidants.  She plays it smart, keeping them alive and keeping the Kipsie's second on as her second because they know Kip-town and she does not.

Her hold-related gang is a group of fucking savage heyenas, real bastards.  They were Kipsie's old gang but their leader now is a bald monster named Monk.

Bullet is doing the same kindsa shit down south, meeting with the town leaders from Bear who have relocated to West Point.  Not much is decided, they are just getting the feel of this leadership thing.

Bullet meets with an Elder from Cannibal Country.
Baby meets with a messenger from Dog-head, the warlord from the city, the guy whose lady-friend they kidnapped the first game, bringing her back to her dad in Poles fro execution.

Bullet and Dent play bad-cop and good-cop on the cannibal, whose name is Mariner.  Truth is, Bullet wants to let them into his town for some good ole commerce but he doesn't think his people are ready for that, after reading a sitch and getting info on how much they fear cannibals.  Also, Dent was eye-fucking Mariner the whole time, offering to kill him, introducing himself as, "Dent, killer of cannibals and anything else that walks."

But Bullet and Dent know shit now.  They know a bit about the Cannibals and have pieced together that this is where Gams is getting her drugs.

Baby states that if Dog-head wants to talk to her, he'd have to come up to Kip-town.

So, ya know, Dog-head get's on his old garbage barge and floats up to Kip-town.

The barge meets some of the Road Demons first and they toss some grenades at the boat, take some shots.

Things don't go to well from there.

Dog-head wants Monk's head for firing at him.  Baby doesn't want to give the leader of her new, brutal hold-gang.

She get's the boys together.  She has bartered for the services of the Green Mountain Boys, a clan of bikers from northeast somewhere whose family was prepared for the end of the world.  The Road Demons were sent away while Dog-head was in town.

So its just the Green Mountain Boys and Baby's boys against Dog-head's barge coming up river.

JJ wants Dent in on this, so he activates Dent's be-at-the-battle move and there he is, floating alongside the barge in a motor-powered dingy.  Dent often spends time with the river-folk or squid-eaters, as they are soemtimes called.  It is how he often rationalizes being almost anywhere there is a battle for his move.

"How'd you get up here, Dent?"

"I was playing cards with some squid-eaters and I fell asleep, when I woke up, I made them drop me off and I started walking south...so...here I am."

It took all of about 4 rolls to take the boat and drop Dog-head like a bad habit.  When Baby is Seizing by Force, I rarely see a roll under 10.  Dent is now a fucking brute, since he took the Rasputin move, he has 3 armor when he is moving forward towards a goal.

Nasty stuff.

Dent took the survivors for his own and they are following him because they are scared shitless.

I should have broken the combat down into finer points...rolling under fire to get the bikers into position and Dent up the side of the barge, seize by force to attack, etc.

Things to do:

• I believe I need re-read the bits about gangs and battle moves.
  
  Write up the city as either a threat under the Hudson Valley front or a front all its own.

As it is, it was a fun game, our first step into what Barry called our Game of Thrones era and I like the dichotomy of having some hardholders and some wandering knights.

I will write down the holds for reference later.

Also, I need to write up Kipsie's more detailed personal map of New York State, along with what he has pieced together about the rest of the U.S. from rumors and hearsay.

The Kipsie had his own personal gang of biker/reavers but he also did a bunch of Hudson River business through other gangs, keeping them employed through a complicated series of barter and trades, sending them out to kill river-folk villages who could threaten his river-crossing monopoly.  I jotted down their details before the game.  Don't have the notes with me, here's what I remember.

Road Rats: bunch of squid-eaters who came upon some bikers.  Leader: Dotty

Night Riders: specializing in night raids, using plumbing pipes and night vision goggles.

Green Mountain Boys aka The McGillicutties: (based on a real family from Vermont whose patriarch went into the mountains after the Civil War, thinking that the war would surely end soon) clan of bikers from northeast somewhere.

Dirty Bastards: dirt bikes, hockey helmets and small arms fire.  Leader: Dirty

Long Riders: hardened group of bikers from out west somewhere.

Night Riders: specializing in night raids, using plumbing pipes and night vision goggles.

Not the Cavefish?

Quote from: Judd on October 02, 2010, 03:55:21 PM

Night Riders: specializing in night raids, using plumbing pipes and night vision goggles.

Not the Cavefish?

Sorry, I'm not recognizing the reference.

Sorry, I'm not recognizing the reference.

Full Throttle, one of the classic LucasArts adventure games.  The Cavefish were a band of rival bikers who used night-vision goggles.

Did the PC who killed the Kipsie inherit the gangs and connections, or is everything chaos now? 

I'm really enjoying your AP, it's a lesson in moving shit forward and saying goodbye to the situation of last session without tears.  Something I need to keep in mind.

Did the PC who killed the Kipsie inherit the gangs and connections, or is everything chaos now? 

I'm really enjoying your AP, it's a lesson in moving shit forward and saying goodbye to the situation of last session without tears.  Something I need to keep in mind.

Thanks, Danny, glad you like it.

Yeah, she inherited everything and is making good on deals the Kipsie made.  That is why she kept his parents around as advisors and the Kipsie's former second, Dancer around as her bodyguard and confidant, even though when she read him, she knew that he secretly wanted to see her go down the same way the Kipsie did.

I need to write up the fronts in the city, I think, though I've got some time, it is two weeks until our next game.