Lights of Hoover 1: A night in Cocktail

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Judd

  • 203
Lights of Hoover 1: A night in Cocktail
« on: January 17, 2011, 10:28:21 PM »
Harlan, the driver, played by Pete

Doc Dez Setter, the angel, played by Anthony

They had been heading west out of Lost Angeles for two years now.  It can take a while to get out of there since the whole west coast turned into a volcanic, seismic disaster.

Hoover Dam is something of a legend, a place that still has electricity, still runs lights.

Shig and Mox, doc's triage team, were out on a dune somewhere far enough away so they could have sex but not far enough that trouble couldn't take them if trouble came.  Harlan and Doc were sharing a pipe when the horizon lit up.  It was just dark, hours until dawn.  It was their first good look at the miracle of Hoover Dam.

They set out.

The first ring town that sits on the peripheral of Hoover is RV, a once-moving caravan that settled around some good wells and never left.  They looked it over, saw how the RV's were now boarded up walls with chain link and barbed wire filling in the gaps.  Doc read a sitch and knew to be wary of someone in those walls putting a gun in his face and keeping the angel in town.  "Yer our doctor now, dammit."

They moved on around the ring.  The next town was Gas, a series of fortifications set up around a gas well.  Again, they moved on.

Next up was Cocktail, a two story shack with lots of bikes outside.  Blinking outside was a neon cocktail glass that lit up the night.  They heard a shot from within and saw a man get dragged outside and left for dead.

This was their place.  Croaker, their 4x4 Cadillac ambulance, drove on up.  Doc and Harlan walked in, leaving Shig and Mox on the hood of Croaker, playing cards.  Each pair had an air-horn in case things went poorly.



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Judd

  • 203
Re: Lights of Hoover 1: A night in Cocktail
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2011, 09:32:40 AM »
Doc and Harlan walked in debating about trading away their bacon.  Apparently the west coast eats mostly pig and Harlan was sick of it.

Doc: Wait, you're trading our bacon?  I love that bacon!

Harlan: If I never see pig again it'll be too soon.  Let's see what we can get for it.

Doc: But...but its bacon!

They barely noticed that the gambling table had a stand-off, with one biker holding a large pistol at another.  They managed to trade their bacon for some beers (COLD beers!) when the shot went off.

When doc went over to deal with the wounded, the shooter waved him off.  "He's a cheater, let him bleed to death while the rest of us play as a reminder."

Doc ignored him and started going to work.  "I'm not ignoring a shot man."

"Doc, you best step away from that dying man, dammit!"

Harlan put down his beer and walked over, putting some bacon on the table.  "Let's not get violent.  Behold, the peaceful power of bacon.  Let's be friends."

Rolled a manipulation roll with help from Doc and scored a 12.

The gun went away, bacon stowed.

"Bacon, huh?  I guess I my point is proved."

Doc dragged the shot man, with a GSW to the chest out to Croaker and Harlan leaned up against the bar, enjoyed his cold beer and started haggling for a pitcher.

Cocktail is a two-story shack with a neon sign outside of a flashing martini glass.  No one knows what the fuck a martini glass is but its obviously some kind of old world symbol for booze and whores, right?  The first floor is drinking and gambling and the second floor is all whores.

Word was now out, an angel was in the joint.

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RichD

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Re: Lights of Hoover 1: A night in Cocktail
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2011, 04:47:59 PM »
Behold the peaceful power of bacon.  I love it.  :)

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Judd

  • 203
Re: Lights of Hoover 1: A night in Cocktail
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2011, 11:56:30 PM »
Some named NPC's:

Fuse - gang leader, shot, now getting his shit together in Croaker.  Doc noticed his tattoo, a burning tire with notations letting him know that Fuse worked his way up from an oil-change-kid to a gang leader.  He's got a meet in a few days that he wants to get to.  He's talking with Doc about bartering a deal for his gang's security during their travels for the angel-work and a trip to the meet.

Fuse's gang wants to kill Last (see below).

Bar - little asian lady who owns Bar, with a biretta and a stern glare.  She hired Doc to visit her place once a week to see the girls for some gas and some company.

Last - as in, last straw...he shot Fuse and another guy who died in front of Cocktail that night.  He apologized to Bar who accepted the apology.  He was setting up to leave Cocktail.

Abondo - prostitute who the doc administered meds to.  Doc told him that he was going to set up a school for doctors, a hospital and if he could make his way there, he'd see him trained to do medical work.

That pretty much ends the night.  It was a short night but a solid start.

We ended the night by making up Sarah's character, Cybelle, a lady Brainer in sun-bleached S&M gear.  Should be a fun addition to the group.

I'm looking forward to playing more.

Anthony and I had a neat conversation while Pete was away from the table for a bit that I'd like to write about.  Another time...

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Judd

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Re: Lights of Hoover 1: A night in Cocktail
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2011, 01:59:10 PM »
Anthony and I had a neat conversation while Pete was away from the table for a bit that I'd like to write about.  Another time...

Anthony and I were sitting there talking and he was trying to get a grip on the setting.  What's the world like?  What about religion?

And I feel for him because I haven't given them much.  Pete has gamed with me a bit more, so he knows he can make up shit about Lost Angeles and the seismic disruptions that have rendered the west coast a volcanic wasteland and I'll be totally cool with it.  Also helping with his comfort level, Pete has read Apocalypse World.

We have this blank page behind the characters, the two years it took them to get from Lost Angeles to Vegas.  Anthony wants to know about religion, so I made up this one town, inspired by the Shreyas quote in AW about the lack of societal context.

"So there's this shit-hole town you found and all it had was a working big screen TV and a working DVD player, with only one DVD, a Madonna concert.  Every week the folks in town gather around and watch it and it has become holy scripture to them.  They quote her lyrics to their kids.  They take the words they hear her say in backstage interviews very seriously.  They have heard some religious texts that mention a Madonna and so they assume that this one is a saint or prophet of some kind."

"But we knew better.  How would we have known better?"

"Maybe you found an old entertainment magazine while doing a house call and so you know some world-that-was entertainment icons."

It was a neat moment and hopefully, it helped to give Anthony some context.

Pete's driver, Harlan, worships Saint Dale, the #3, who died on the track so that we could continue driving.  His uncle was a driver and he lost faith, felt that Dale had abandoned him, so he wondered west into the volcanic wasteland on foot and was never seen again.  Harlan drives his uncle's car.

Its good stuff that they have given me.  As I said before, I can't wait to play some more.