Editing User:Gadget/Thicker Than Blood/Episode 1

=Pho Kit! Let's Get Lunch!=

==Pre Game==

Being the first session of the first game I have run in so many years, running was an interesting experience...but I think an overall success. I had spent a number of weeks before hand, and a number of years with ideas on the backburner, getting things together and starting out our new party of runners. Using the "roundtable" character creation and GM input to help the players create a team of viable runners came together with mixed success but, I think, a 3 out of 4 ratio worked favorably. I understand the average resentment to having your GM hover over your shoulder asking questions like "So, what made you decide to take up shooting people in the face as employment?" and allowing other players to openly view your character and have some say in them, but I still hold firm that it allows players to create a far more functional team and can really add to making a character more than just numbers on a page. They area "character" after all, right?

Sadly, my great deal of prep for this game ahead of time took a severe derail this last week with a series of other life events, and a sudden epiphany of a game idea, and so I was not as "statically prepared" as I would have liked to have been. In the end it all worked out, and things went pretty smashingly with only a few minor hiccups. Spending most of the afternoon doing voice training and personal character development really helped me get in the groove, and I was pretty pumped to get the game going.

Otherwise, with only a few minor holes in the character gen process(something I would, again, like to address with future applications of the roundtable approach) the majority of characters seem to be well taken care of, and everyone seems mostly happy with the direction of the game. Hurrah! :) 

==Pho Kit! Let's Get Lunch!==

Nothing like a hot bowl of pho and an iced coffee with condensed milk on a cold January afternoon...especially when the friend who invited you is paying and looking to put some money in your pocket. Well, at least, give you a job that'll put money in your pocket. The job paid alright for what seemed a little danger, but she had asked Paku to put some new talent on it, and hopefully the people he had put together would be able to make it happen without to much collateral damage. Maybe they'd keep themselves alive long enough to even make him some money.

Two of them Paku knew personally and had used in the past, but he needed a fresh hacker and face that wouldn't get them shot. Jackie 13 had been chomping at the bit to hit the big time for a while now and could break legs with the best of them. Paku even respected and liked the psychotic Street Samurai for her ruthless efficiency, even if she made most people's skin crawl. Two-face, though about as trustworthy and likable as a pit viper, knew his shit and would bring some magical talent to the table...and when it came to mojo slingers you took what you could get. "Always pamper the magic," Paku remembered.

The other two had come as suggestions when he had dug around for potential up and comers. Ling Ling; a Japanese immigrant elf out of the Tarislar that even Green Satan had vouched for as being "Able to talk her way into the devil's bed one day, and out of it the next." Satan didn't give explicits, but she had made him a lot of money cutting and selling around town and had kept her ass clean doing it. And, apparently, it was a cute ass at that. The Hacker, Cat, had been suggested by another fixer Paku knew and owed a favor to. She was a flashy little redhead, and a gamble at best, but a favor was a favor, and Paku never welched on a favor owed. Ariel had said she was top gear and versatile, and had done a few jobs for her, but really just needed a break. Besides, the fortune cookie at dinner had said "Have faith in your friends!" and who was Paku to argue with that? Of course, it had also said that now was a good time to learn Chinese and that his lucky numbers were 7, 12, 9, 2, and 8...but whatever.

Paku had contacted the new talent the day before and asked them to join him for a late lunch. He knew if he didn't get to the Pho Kit! early he'd never get to finish his lunch during the meet, and pho was one of his favorites on a cold day. Hopefully, they would be prompt enough for him to get to eat and not have to wait. His usual table for business had been set up per his request, the white noise generator and wards were properly in place, and lunch was served moments after he sat. Nothing to do but eat and wait, eat and wait, eat and...

...Almost choke on his food as the Japanese elf entered the back room. Green Satan hadn't lied when he said she was gorgeous, and even Paku's old loins had to agree. Satan had mentioned she had mojo, and perhaps that's what it was, but Paku couldn't deny the affect she had. If she could fast talk and negotiate as nicely as she looked Paku knew she was a dead ringer for the job. Jackie and Two-Face came next, early and in usual style, and both sitting a little closer to the elf than Paku was sure she was comfortable with, but Ling Ling seemed to take it in stride. Another good sign; she was cool under pressure. Now all that remained was the wildcard...Buddha be praised, let Ariel and his fortune be right! 

Cat showed up on time and, despite looking like a clubgirl that had just gotten ready to go dancing, was polite enough to sit quietly and enjoy her pho while Paku laid out the details of the job. He had laid out what he knew about the job and the negotiated fee; $4000 to go Tacoma, break into the Port Authority, steal a refrigerated case of some particularly nasty contraband magical reagents, and call him so he could set up a drop when the job was done. The reagents were something called Blood Ice. Crystallized blood from some hideous ritual gone wrong that had taken place in Siberia. His client had wanted the case, and was willing to pay well for it, but Paku could care less about what happened to the disgusting stuff once he had been paid. Bad mojo was never good for his Karma, but if it meant a paycheck he'd get it for her. All the fresh meat had to do was break in, retrieve the case, and drop it somewhere and he could call it good.

After he'd laid it out the runners discussed the plan and the elf decided to negotiate a better price. She could fast talk with the best of them and had probably sensed that he was holding out, so he buckled for the rest of the negotiable fee, and was pleased to see them take their $7000 to be paid on delivery. Paku couldn't have been more pleased with himself. Enough to buy them a round of beers on his way out in hopes they would get to know each other.

--

The runners quickly got themselves together and started to investigate the job at hand. Reaching out to contacts, collecting information, and organizing themselves for their trip. Through their initial leg work they managed to put together the gruesome origins of the Blood Ice, discovered that the smugglers had connections to the Vory v Zakone, and managed to score some blue prints of the facility. A solid plan seemed to be forming, and the hacker had discovered that things were perhaps more difficult than originally perceived, when they set out to case the place and perhaps start their run.

Sadly, Cat then made a series of very poor choices with her artificial ID and, during what started as a routine traffic stop of a brightly colored racing car by a suspicious Knight Errant, escalated the situation to end in the arrest of all of the runners except for Jackie. Sadly, with all of the felony class equipment and her using magic against the police officers, Cat was retired from play. Ling Ling managed to talk her and Two-Face out of jail, and quickly beat feet back to Seattle.

Now, down their hacker, and down one day, the runners need to come up with a new game plan. Tell Paku and hope he's forgiving enough to higher a new hacker or find one on their own? Or, maybe risk the run without matrix support...

==Karma Earned==

Jackie 13 = 2

(1 for session participation, 1 GM award for good roleplaying)

Ling Ling = 2

(1 for having her character uploaded, 1 for session participation)

Two-Face = 2

(1 for having his character uploaded, 1 for session particitpation)

Cat(Deceased?) = 0

(As the character has been retired there will be 0 Karma awarded for her session participation)

==Player Comments==

'''Please leave any comments you have about any of the sessions, and if you so choose, an in character telling of the story would be nice and may earn your character more Karma.'''



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|align="left" width="250px"|
|align="center"| [[Thicker_Than_Blood | Thicker Than Blood]] 
|align="right" width="250px"|  [[User:Gadget/Thicker_Than_Blood/Episode_2|Episode 2 >>]]
|}