accomplishedWhat follows is the first post about the Friday night Atomic Highway RPG campaign.
CHARACTERS:
Ishara Tannhauser (Kathy Bauer) - Remnant Scavenger
Dexter Mahoney (Nick Roberts) - Nomad Road Warrior
Adrian Horfeld (Tom Robinson) - 'Steader Sentinel
Wynona (Winnie) Jones (Joanne Clarke) - Remnant Lore Keeper
Emilie Leduc (Angela Marsh) - 'Steader Healer
William Petosegay (David Matchuk) - Tribal Wastelander
Katelin (Greasy) Johnson (Ellie Bauer) - Remnant Greaser
May 10th, 2214 AD
The first session of the game began with an introduction to the world of the Atomic Highway Roleplaying Game, learning the basic mechanics of the game, and then proceeded through a small sampling of the game world glossary. Following this, the player characters partook in several samples of combat, both personal and vehicular, that taught them the basic combat mechanics of the game. Once that was done, during the first hour and a half, we got down to actually playing the game...
The place: The bartertown of Byetown (formerly Ottawa, Ontario). The time: 200 years after the Apocalypse. The year 2214. This is the world after the Apocalypse, where the world is different, life has changed and mutated somewhat, but people still survive. It's a world where new heroes will emerge to bring hope to the people of this small area...
The adventure begins as Ishara Tannhauser (Kathy) is racing through the ruins of The Oval, with the murderous tribesmen that she stole something from in hot pursuit. The natives throw spears at her, though fortunately one of them is a poor shot with a bow. Concealed in the ruins, Ishara doesn't know what to do, but with the tribesmen converging on her, she decides to take the chance, and races into the open grounds of the former main entrance of the stadium. With a swarm of the natives after her, Ishara thinks she's out of luck. As the natives converge on her, the explosive backfiring sound of a vehicle can be heard, as a souped-up, machine gun firing Cherokee enters the area, kicking up dust. The tribesmen scatter before the gunfire, and a voice from inside the vehicle shouts, "Get in!" It's Dexter Mahoney (Nick).
On the western edge of Byetown, Adrian Horfeld (Tom) hears a sound in the ruins of an abandoned building, and enters cautiously, only to be greeted by the sight of a young woman bandaging up what appears to be a slightly ruffian-like girl. The woman, Emilie Leduc (Angela), is one of the bartertown's healers, and she's working her mojo on Katelin ("Greasy") Johnson (Ellie), one of the local mechanics. The two women are surprised to see him there, and warn him immediately. A noise to his left alerts him, and he turns to see what appear to be two plague rats!
In the heart of Byetown, Wynona ("Winnie") Jones is enjoying a drink at the one of the local bars, Molly Malone's. She's approached by a couple of rowdy types, either raiders in drag or remnants, and engages in a heated conversation about matters concerning an item that she recently acquired from a salvager. She tells them that she doesn't have the item, but when the two draw knives on her, a voice from behind warns them to leave the Lore Keeper alone. William Petosegay (David) approaches the group, spear in hand. The two raiders don't take kindly to his approach, and one slashes at him with the blade, while the other closes on Winnie.
As Ishara attempts to swing herself into the vehicle, two of the tribesmen attack her, one throwing his spear and the other reaching her. The spear doesn't strike her, thudding into the side of the vehicle, and before Ishara can draw her knife, Dexter partially rises out of the vehicle on the driver's side, and fires his handgun at the tribal. The tribal goes down, and then with a revving of the engine, the Cherokee accelerates away from The Oval, heading back for Byetown proper. The tribals attempt to chase the vehicle, but fall behind in its dust wake. Dexter introduces himself to Ishara, who thanks him for his timely assistance, but he tells her to thank him for it by buying him a brew at his favourite watering hole. He asks her what she stole that riled up the tribe at The Oval so much, and she shows him what she obtained - it's a "baseball".
In the abandoned building, Adrian tells Emilie and Katelin (she tells him to call her Greasy) that he knows what plague rats are, as the two creatures attempt to close in on the three of them. Greasy throws a wrench at one of the creatures, bonking it, but it doesn't go down, and attempts to charge towards the girl. Before it can strike her, Emilie hits it with her staff, and sends the beast reeling. The second rat attempts to attack Adrian, but he strikes it with his mace, and crushes its skull. Emilie warns him not to let the creature's bodily fluids touch him, but Adrian says he knows how to deal with them. As the other plague rat attempts to get at Emilie, she clubs it with her staff, knocking it down, and Adrian swiftly moves in and kills it with the mace. Once he's sure the two plague rats are dead, introductions are made all around, and the sentinel ushers the healer and the greaser out of the ruins, being careful of any other plague rats in the area. Adrian offers to accompany Emilie and Greasy back to Byetown proper, and the two gratefully accept his offer.
Back at Molly Malone's, Winnie Jones and William Petosegay confront their two knife-wielding attackers. Most of the bar's patrons move aside, and watch the fight with interest. William easily blocks his attacker's knife arm, and then slashes him back with a vicious uppercut that sends the man reeling. William presses the attack, and renders the man unconscious, taking his knife as his prize. Winnie surprises the other attacker with a bruising attack, though he wounds her with the knife, and this serves to enrage him. She is able to hit him again, knocking him into her table, and he falls unconscious. The two mutually introduce themselves, and Winnie thanks William for coming to her aid. They decide to wait until Winnie's attackers recover, although the wastelander offers to bind her wounds, which she gratefully accepts. Abe Hargiven, the landlord, tells them he wants no more funny business, as two of Molly's other patrons bind the attackers' up, leaning them on the floor near the bar. When William asks Winnie why they attacked her, the lore keeper says that she doesn't have a clue as to why. The sharp-witted William knows she's not telling him the truth, but doesn't press the issue.
And there's the writeup on the first session of Atomic Highway with the Friday night group, not including character generation. I had a lot of fun running this game session, and the players had a good time with it, enjoying the character interaction and some of the activity going on in the game session, and got to experience the game world with a bit of panache. As noted in another LJ post, I decided that rather than start the characters all together, the player characters would be somewhat known to each other, but not necessarily friendly. And that they would encounter each other in smaller groups, each dealing with some events going on. I also knew that I wanted to do a bit of in media res as well, and I managed to pull that off remarkably well. The players enjoyed that element of the game session, Kathy telling me that it reminded her a lot of the days back when I was running the TORG: The Possibility Wars RPG, which definitely made me feel all warm and fuzzy. (I loved that game, still do, and had a good time with it.)
In any event, I had a terrific time with the Friday nighters, and am looking forward to next Friday night's session of Atomic Highway.