AP:Limits

The Cast:

Carly as... Saffron, the Maestro'D
Jared as... Nero, the Operator
Matt as... Buzz, the Angel
Joe as... Batty, the Gunlugger

Saffron co-owns a club with Gams, a little place called Secrets. There's burlesque-style performances and pictures all over the walls from old 1950's books and magazines - an aesthetic Saffron is trying to recapture. There's old mostly destroyed statues from a museum that she looted, and there's a still and some really expensive drinks from Before. It's an evening before the show.

Nero is there doing companionship work with a dancing girl named Dallas who's new and friendless and throwing drinks and barter at him for the pleasure of his company.

Batty is at a table in the place making a deal with Tarry. Core, who leads Tarry's gang, wants him as extra security and muscle at the Overpass Market in a few days. He thinks Moses and his crew are going to try and make a move. Batty agrees.

Meanwhile, Buzz is talking with Bosch who's Saffron's bouncer. He wears an old cosmonaut suit that was looted from the same museum as the statues. It's giving him a rash and Buzz could you look at it? Buzz looks into the maelstrom, sees this rash is no big deal, but sees a cluster of bullet wounds in Bosch's torso that haven't happened yet. He's like "You need to head inside, Bosch."

That's when guys with guns bust in led by Big Stan, one of Moses's crew. They open fire on Buzz and Bosch and Buzz shoves Bosch out of the way and gets shot up. He's laying there bleeding and he's like, "What do you want?" and they're like, "You're coming with us." All this is happening in the foyer outside of Secrets. There's a secure door between Big Stan and co. and the inside.

Meanwhile, on the inside, when they hear the gunfire going on outside, people start to get freaked out. Nero notices that there are a few people on the inside of the club who are not startled at all. Nero sees that a guy at the end of the bar, Coach, is eyeing Saffron like he's about to do something and Nero shouts at him, trying to distract him. It works and he gets shot a couple times by Coach as the people in the club start to pull weapons.

Saffron ducks under bullets and grabs the arms of dancers and gets them all safely to a secure upstairs area. The patrons can fend for themselves. She grabs Dallas who's screaming and reaching for Nero and hauls her away too.

So then Batty gets up from his drink and he's this guy in SWAT team gear, and he just walks through the crowd to get his assault rifle which is in a cabinet by the door. Bullets are wizzing by him and plinking off him and he stumbles a bit when a shotgun blast hits him in the back, but he keeps going and puts a few knives into people on the way to the cabinet killing about half the people who are starting shit in the club. They freak out and hide behind tables.

Nero uses this opportunity to fuck off from where he was pretending to be dead and sneaks up the stage and rolls behind a curtain to stay safe while Batty gets his assault rifle and, terminator style, walks around the club dispatching the remaining guys with several rounds from his assault rifle. A couple try to run and they don't make it to the door.

Oh, but outside Buzz hears the gunfire from the inside and so he starts taking shots at the gang outside. He manages to land a few shots but they charge his room and Big Stan breaks his arm disarming him. She's dragging him away and he hears gunshots coming from inside his room where Bosch was hiding out.

That was our first session! Carly thinks it was bullshit that people infiltrated her club, but hey they have been planning this operation for MONTHS. Also, Jared doesn't like it when I say, "... in the fiction."

Next week: I wonder what's going to happen to Buzz? I wonder if Bosch survived his encounter? I wonder what Nero's crew has been up to?

I loved watching Batty go all terminator and just basically walk over to get his assault rifle. I think the phrase "so many knives" came out at one point.

Buzz started shooting at Big Stan because he read her and asked if he came out and gave himself up, would they leave Bausch alone, and she said of course, and goddamn she was lying! Poor Bausch.

I was thinking about this game and taking harm and how it's like with IAWA you sometimes hope that harm is all you get when the MC makes a hard move. Fuck! No! Not dragged away to Moses. Just give me the 4-harm and leave me for dead!

I liked the fictional details too. It rains buckets nonstops - I gotta think about problems with flooding and things like that. Sometimes the rain turns to ice, though, and then getting around is miserable.

There's greenhouse gardens that deadly, deadly fuckers control. Of course, right? In order to hold real estate that can grow things you need to be SCARY.

The city's a war zone of rival gangs fighting for turf and resources.

There's insect farmers in the city - it's one of the only sources of protein. Mainly it's big fat crickets - "land shrimp." There's some trout farming too.

Wohooo! I like this one. What the heck are the shooters after Buzz for? And who's going to heal him? And what's Big Stan's deal?

Very nice cinematography on the play-writeup, too.

It is bullshit that they infiltrated the club and shot it all to hell. When Saffron gets whoever was responsible for this in front of her, you'll see devil with a blade in action.

So, bullshit in the "I really hate these raiders" way, and not the "I really hate this GM" way?  Cool.

On another note, proof freaking positive, right here, folks, that gunluggers are the baddest asses around.

There's insect farmers in the city - it's one of the only sources of protein. Mainly it's big fat crickets - "land shrimp." There's some trout farming too.

That's inspired.

Y'know what else is good eats in an environment like that? Frogs. Big, fat, slimy, frogs that secrete this poison out their backs that will FUCK you UP if you lick them just the right amount.

-Jim C.

Jared was out last game so Reno got hauled away to get patched up by his crew after he got shot a few times.

Buzz got hauled away to this house on Moses's turf and meets Jaim. Jaim says "There's a problem in the basement and you're going down to fix it." Buzz wants Big Stan to go down with him but she fucking bolts. There's a scuffle and some gunshots and we don't really know what happened to Big Stan but she didn't want to go downstairs. He gets down there and there's people with all kinds of sick. Their skin is blackening and their hair is falling out. Buzz manages to convince Jaim to let him out so he can look around and try to track the disease to its source, which ends up being some black fungus in Jonah's (one of the patients) apartment.

Batty signed on with Core, who is growing into the underdog of the giant gang war going on in Limits. Crickets, the gang across the river from Core, is getting agitated and building up barricades and shit. Batty, who's maybe the scariest guy in Limits, is around to be visible and shoot people if he has to. Core is expecting Moses to make a move.

Meanwhile Saffron is putting her club back together. Bosch is dead after the scuffle with Moses's crew. She puts word out she's looking for more security and ends up hiring this guy named Sick who's a big fat guy in a chef's apron and boots. He claims to be the most dangerous man in Limits and used to work for Morton driving his trucks. He's no Bosch, but he's close enough. All the corpses from last week's gunfight get piled up outside the club for the scavengers. Then Junior, whose one of the local warlords who fancies himself a white knight, sends one of his lieutenants to discuss his providing protection for Saffron's club (and simultaneously expanding his turf). Saffron and Junior meet to talk it over, and Saffron agrees. The block will be Junior's and he gets use of her club as an outpost for his goons.

Last game, I finally remembered the Harm move.

That was the only thing that happened that mattered!

Hooray!

Was the harm move worth the wait? Or were you like, "yeah, y'know what? I think I'll go back to forgetting that."

It was worth it. The gunlugger was taking on these snipers who'd set up in some buildings across the market and he was serpentining towards them and got shot. It was 3-harm, but he was in 2-armor so no big, but then he rolled like 12 on the Harm move, so I said the sniper's bullet went right through his leg and he was pinned down and stuck behind a school bus with no way of advancing or retreating.

I can see it making combat way more interesting.

And my angel Buzz had no problem stabbing some guard in the throat in order to get the medicine he needed. "Of course I'm going to kill him. My hair is falling out! My skin is splotchy!"

As per the "characters are fucking hot" clause, Buzz's hair fell out stylishly, and the splotches looked kind of like tattoos.

Now that he's cured the disease, he needs to start thinking about that crush he has on basically all the dancers at Saffron's place. Will it break his heart when he learns that Saffron hooked up with Nero? Probably.

Oh, here's a thing: we got to the end of the session, and my guy hasn't interacted with any of the other characters for two sessions in a row now. It feels weird to say that people know him better or worse.

Matt Wilson at the end of last game: "I have to take +1 or -1 Hx with people I haven't talked to? Oooooh, that Vincent is going to get a hot little earful!"

I just realized. Three sessions, and my character has never interacted with any of the other characters. That seems odd.

I was kind of expecting someone to rescue you.