frustratedWhat follows is the first post about the Sunday afternoon Atomic Highway RPG campaign.
CHARACTERS:
Stan Mikita (Steven Ross) - Bartertown Scavenger
Lantra Snap'n (Tammy Powers) - Nomad Raider
May 13th, 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, 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 on a relatively cold, bright day in Byetown. Lantra Snap'n (Tammy) has just returned from a run out to Wabaton. There's talk of plague in the area, and apparently lots of wolf sightings. She brings back a wolf fur coat for her son, Chev. She decides to take her kids, Chev and Kya, over to Monals, an eatery in the semi-populated land just to the west of Byetown proper, as it's a good restaurant. And one of the kids' favourites.
Entering Monals's, she sees Stan Mikita (SteveR) sitting at one of the tables, waiting for his breakfast. Mona Dokaa, an indentured servant who works there and has a lot of responsibilities there, greets her, and tells her that Ross Calvert, the owner, isn't there at the moment. Mona tells Lantra that she heard from the hauler Jazz Beaverton that a convoy from Tradebeaucoup is heading for Byetown. It's been 15 years since the last trade convoy from there.
Their conversation is interrupted by the roar of engines from outside. Lantra tells the kids to stay at the table, and she goes to the nearest window to check out what's going on. It's the Conger Boys. She returns to the table after telling folks what's going on, tells Chev and Kya that they need to hide, and takes them to one of the bolt holes. She hears the male voice of someone outside say that they know what they're looking for, so spread out and find it. Stan checks out one of the other windows, and sees the bandit members spreading out there as well, so he returns to his table and continues to eat breakfast. Turning back to the main area, Lantra sees that most of the folks have fled to bolt holes, except for some of the old codgers and the hardier folks, who, like Stan, continue to sit and eat their meals. Lantra goes and conceals herself as well.
The doors are forced inward, and three members of the Conger Gang enter - their leader, Dale Conger, his second (and supposed wife), "Madd" Matilda (who carries an uzi), and a third thug-like fellow. After exchanging pleasantries with Mona, Conger wants to know if they've seen Lantra Snap'n. One of the codgers, John Heyward, says she's not been in, and Conger tells those assembled that if they see Lantra, to tell her that he wants to make a trade with her, and has some information about The Garage she might be interested in hearing. Lantra reveals herself, and after Conger chastizes Heyward for lying to him, he gestures to the third fellow, Brute, who goes over and taunts Heyward, then slapping him with his knife hilt, sending him down to the ground unconscious and bleeding.
Lantra asks why he's looking for her, and Conger asks her what she knows about Black Jack. She tells him what she knows - that "Black Jack" Derringer used to be a sentinel until his wife was slaughtered by vermin. He's a one-man crusader with a particular dislike of scavengers. He tells her that they're looking for Black Jack, as there's a favour to repay. Conger tells her that the Boys are also looking for something that's been taken from them. It was brought to this area, and while he doesn't tell her what the item is, he asks if Lantra has seen it. She says she hasn't, as she's just come back from Wabaton. He asks if she knows of any scavengers, and she replies that she knows many of them. The two engage in a bit of witty banter about scavengers, and Matilda is amused. Conger tells Brute to stop taunting the codgers as they're harmless, and Madd Matilda reinforces that with her uzi. Heyward starts to come around, blood trickling from the side of his head.
Lantra learns from Conger that The Garage has hired Shawn Martyr, the bounty hunter, rumoured to be from Sinktown. The bounty for her is dead or alive, but her kids have to be brought to the Garage alive. The info apparently came from Willow Johnson, one of Lantra's few friends left at The Garage. The payment for Martyr is a Hummer, the news of which is quite a shock to Lantra.
As noted in a previous post, this was for me, a very frustrating and somewhat annoying game session of Atomic Highway due to the actions and sheer invisibility of one of the players. That said, there was some good stuff to this session as well, notably the play of Tammy and her character's interaction with some of the NPCs that entered the game in this adventure.
Anyway, I don't plan to dwell on this game session, as it's time to move on down the road with the Atomic Highway system, and just see what the next session brings.