SHIELDBREAKER: Play Report 2

This is the second session in what I'm calling the SHIELDBREAKER campaign. On the whole I think things went more smoothly this time, although I forgot to prep those NPC cards / setting cheat sheets which I will definitely do before next time. Still, I'm glad to see things are coming together! Also, I still cannot figure out formatting in blogger for some reason, so this post is a bit messier than I'd like :/.

Click here for the Session 1 Play Report!

Characters

·       Cynope: Quenduin Amazon. She works for the Pearl Panthers to afford care for her sick sister, but has grown fond of the thrill, bringing a professional wrestling persona to her work.

          -- Player: Dan D

·       Jim Casper: Tartarian-Mutant Specialist. Working in a storehouse in the tartarian kingdom, he learned about a mysterious martial cult, and has since been attempting to learn more about it. Has a mutation, a slit on his body which must be fed ancient artifacts.

          -- Player: z_bill

·       Razlow: Kobold Garlic Knight (Fighter). In the early stages of transforming into a Garlic Berserker. Was a soldier in the dogu kingdom but deserted when he discovered he was turning into a garlic berserker.

    -- Player: Murdoc

Play Report

• ·       Since unfortunately Michael Kennedy couldn't make it this session, I retconned it so that Slayer was incapacitated by the SWORD at the end of last session, explaining why she is not present this session and providing an excuse for Arnold Tanaka to send the new party members as backup. 
•       The party went to The Forum. Occulon was giving a talk, and in addition to his goons were a table of union representatives, dogu (who may or may not have been associated with the mafia), and a table with the Grim General's daughter Zeffre and Nova Arkham soldiers. 
•       Cynope wrestled with Zeffre WWE-style as a way of taking attention away from / annoying Occulon. Zeffre was into it, they had fun, she gave her a note with a set of coordinates.
•       They follow Occulon and some of his goons down an alley and hear them mention something about the dogu and the SHIELD, but are found snooping.
•       They head to the upper floor of the Forum to get a map or some other information. After bribing a bureaucrat, they get a map which adapts in real-time to the changes being made to the city, including those changes made by the SHIELD.
•       They head to Zeffre’s coordinates. On the way they fight a DNEa, a double-helix shaped snake-like creature. The DNEa dropped 30 gold worth of its weird blood, and a partially-digested frog-like creature that seemed like it could be valuable or have special properties, but could not be properly identified.
•       They talk with Zeffre and choose to ally with her, agreeing to work with her behind the Grim General’s back in exchange for assistance tracking down the SHIELD. She does not disapprove of her father per se, but wants some kind of independence from him and leverage against her brother and the savant Edward Nzimbe. Her mesmerist alters their mesmeric network to sync her into it. Arnold Tanaka, the party's handler, seems to have some kind of acquaintanceship with Zeffre. 
•       They head to Dengo Sensorium, as they know Asimov Dengo is the head of the dogu mafia, and the dogu mafia are somehow tied up in a gang war with Occulon, who seems to be involved with the SHIELD. They try to find Dengo but are routed to a manager, a handsome dogu male with blue hair who goes by Noma but is actually Tezura Niko working undercover, and his female blue-haired assistant (who is actually his golemite companion Aleph). He gives them Dengo’s passcode to the private bath on the top floor.
•       They begin a negotiation with Dengo, but he takes a hostile stance. After they convince him to give up some information (that Occulon is working with the SHIELD), Tezura and Aleph attack Dengo. The party chose to fight Dengo with them. They nearly kill him, and then get him to give his partial decryption of the SHIELD’s location, somewhere connected to either the Forum, Occulon’s factories, or the Grand Stable system. Tezura says Dengo will be taken to jail and possibly extradited. 

The Breakdown

      I'm happy to say I think I'm starting to get a better feel for OSR, and I think this session went really well! I regret forgetting to put together the NPC cards and cheat sheets that I had intended to, but will definitely do so before next time! In retrospect, having the first arc be such an elaborate intrigue in a setting the players are not familiar with may not have been the best plan 0.o; I'm used to my home group who have been playing in this setting long enough to be more comfortable with that sort of thing. That being said, the feedback I'm getting is that the group had fun and are ok with being a little overwhelmed with all the moving parts.