Aeon B-Team Season 6 Session 6

 

Cast

• Amar Gupta aka The Iron Sikh (played by Christian): Brick. Taxi Driver. Ass-Kicker. Sikh. Tagline: “Being a man of faith means to live it.”
• Amie-Belle T. W. Lee aka Whisper (Played by Curtis): Cold War era super-soldier/spy that got put in the Freezer, because she got poisoned. After getting thawed out and cured she tried to back to work, and was given an “adjustment period”. Uncle Sam called 2 years later, with work… because once you’re in, you’re in for life. Tagline: “In and out without a whisper.”
• Beauregard K. “Bo” Ratnam aka Wirerat (Played by Brice): Technopath, inventor, and hacker. He specializes in co-opting enemy systems and tech assets. Tagline: “Nice tech – I’ll borrow that.”
• Rafe Hanlon aka Nyx (played by Chris D.): An umbrakinetic petty thief still on work release several years later, on his way to becoming a true agent and hero. Tagline: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
• Vincenzo L. dePrezzo aka Threshold (Played by Rory): Doctor, Mathematician, and Scientist (yes, capitals) and Spatial Manipulator. Threshold can bend space like a pretzel, teleport, obliterate things, and has extraordinary senses. He’d rather be in a research lab than fight. Better known for his work with Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations, and disaster relief than famous battles. Tagline: “I can be there in a snap!”Derrick K. Ratnam aka Ledgerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened…
• Jodie R. Swann aka Surferboy (NPC): Dude. Aero- and Hydrokinetic. Really laid back, but wants to make a difference. Has a advanced glider/drone he rides on. Tagline: “Like. Let’s just chill, dude.”
• Layla A. de Blackburn aka Nox (NPC): CIA-trained child assassin all grown up to be Daddy’s Little Monster. Maybe a little mad. Argues with her shadow often. Tagline: “No, we shouldn’t do that…should we?”
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): Bo’s best friend and assistant. A sentient drone in the shape of a stylized shiny metal rat mindlinked to Bo. Specialties are rapid repair construction and modifications. Imagine if K-9 and R2D2 made a baby and it looks a bit like a rodent. Tagline: “Repairs and upgrades in progress”
• Tierney M. Ward aka Rush (NPC): Speedster and former member of the Bullet Hell Brigade. Tagline: “Was that fast? I thought that was fast.”
• Zubayr Sajjad Marou aka Five Stars (NPC): Driver. Pilot. Klubbe gig worker.. From N’Djamena, Chad. Used to go by Darryl Bell to sound more American. Tagline: “I can get you there in time.”

Vanguard to the Rescue!

India is in a record heatwave (summer of 2019) and people are dying due to extreme heat, electrical outages, and lack of water. We fly over in our "totally not a quinjet" and upon landing are greeted by Prime Minister Modi is there to greet the team as they land and thanks us in advance for our help. No pressure there! Threshold as team leader demure's diplomatically and tells him lets wait and see before congratulations but we will do the best we can.

Nyx and Nox team up and power stunt Control Visible Light 2 with a 1,500 mile radius that will last for a week. This provides shade and helps to cool the entire region.

Bo gets to work on the electrical grid, winds up finding and giving plans on how to fix a lot of the weak points and computer crashes. Over the next week he also invents some TL9 electrical generators to help power things and sets up satellite internet (hijacking old satellites, many of them Russian) bringing the internet and power to many rural areas.

Whisper and Nyx spend time escorting Bo around, entertaining the children and doing humanitarian things such as getting supplies where they need to go.

Threshold talks to green supers group and members of Doctors Without Borders that are already on the scene, meeting at least one old friend. He then works out a plan with Surferboy and some of the green heroes who are earthmovers.

A small lake is created in New Delhi. The earth movers and threshold dig a really big hole. Bo puts together a submersible drone that Threshold teleports to the ocean and it goes deep and provides live underwater video. Threshold, Nyx, and Nox (each of whom has Warp and the same power source, though not focus) link up and power stunt a permanent portal to the ocean. It brings 800 gallons of water per second (and only water) to the now filling up lake. This cost 7 wildcard points, lots of FP, and significant skill penalties - though we spend all day for bonuses from Time Spent.

Surferboy then sets up a permanent water filtration system and very fancy animated water fountain  so our creation looks pretty and will be a pleasant new landmark.

The earth movers from the greens start building aqueducts and the group and a lot of volunteers start carrying fresh water out from the lake. Threshold spends the next week teleporting all over the country, possibly even outside to a few remote villages. He gets video feed from a cell phone with Bo and the government coordinating things and telling Threshold where to go that is most urgent. 

Threshold then warps in, asks for some volunteers and starts making portals back to the lake. He needs to spend no FP and just a few seconds to do each portal, though they only last a few seconds he can simply reopen another one (No Strain and Reliable 10 on Warp). People ferry water and any other supplies back and forth for a few hours then he moves on to the next location.

Threshold knows Hindi, Kashmiri, Nepali, and Tibetan as well as CF: Indian so can make himself understood in most of the country, significantly speeding communication and organizing, especially with his Charisma and leadership skills. He uses this to spread the news of what is happening while creating portals and resting between. He tells all the locals the shadey sky is the work of the heroes Nyx and Nox to help cool things off and it will only last a week, So the farms should not suffer more than they are from the drought and there is no reason to be scared. he also tells everyone about the lake he and his friends made in New Delhi so everyone knows that fresh water is coming. The govt is also broadcasting news and advisories to the population.

Summary

This was a great humanitarian mission. No combat so not an exciting session but everyone got to meaningfully contribute - most in more than one way and the GM made sure everyone had a chance to explain what they were doing. As team leader I also tried to give suggestions and make requests so everyone had plenty of good stuff to do. I doubt the group (or the GM) would be happy with this as a steady diet but it was to me at least a refreshing change form combat and showing just what a team of powerful GURPS supers can do to make the world a better place.

High point abilities, power stunts, Godlike Extra Effort, and Impulse Points made a meaningful impact.

GM Recap

Strategies for Monster Hunting

 Author Comment: Been sick the last moth and a half, maybe little longer. Recovered a bit after getting out of the hospital but backslid when antibiotics ran out, however think the new round is doing much better. This put me behind (again) on my supplement and other projects, but while I have not been able to stay on the computer long enough to write much I have been thinking of ideas - hence this post.

I have been working, or rather thinking about my Spirits Template supplement. One purpose of the manuscript is to give spirits a place in the campaign as something more than "monster of the week" and make them feel a part of various genres. Monster Hunters is one of those genres and I have an interesting character in a MH campaign that is on hiatus, the two things gelled in my head and here are some strategies for a Monster Hunter campaign.

The Monster Hunter Series

GURPS supports the genre with an excellent series of supplements and a few settings. GURPS Monster Hunters 2: The Mission in particular is useful for other genres, especiall6y mysteries. 

The MH genre is in fact typically a mystery, often episodic and with an overarching big bad. The genre is usually cinematic in feel, has plenty of action, and requires some strategy and tactics to cope with bad guys who are often tougher than the heroes.

This makes for an interesting campaign, though it can be challenging for the GM to run.

Discovery

Before you can fight the bad guys you need to find them, or let them find you but that is more dangerous. This is part of the difficulty for the GM and the fun for the players; at least some players. You have a mystery to solve and that requires some skills and perhaps magic or powers.

GURPS Monster Hunters 2: The Mission really does an amazing job here, but perusing GURPS Mysteries and GURPS Action will also be helpful in dealing with investigations.

Ideally everyone in the group will have a role to play, even if a small one and the group all is interested in how the investigation is going. Leaving it all up to a few die rolls is easy and good if no one really wants to spend time on this stage but can be very disappointing for the player who made a Sleuth and frankly skips a lot of potential roleplaying. However, if everyone is waiting around for the sleuth to do their work they can get bored so time management is essential for that player and the GM.

How to Play a GURPS Detective is now on my (already lengthy) proposed pitch list. However, if you play the sleuth I highly recommend reading The Mission supplement.

Combat

Most monsters use stealth and have superior senses, making combat often a close-up affair. They may get the jump on the characters and catch them off guard. Even if the party is on the offense its hard to get too close and still surprise those with superhuman senses and perhaps magic.

Combat thus calls for a variety of weaponry, cutting weapons and exotic material are typically better than standard bullets - much less fighting unarmed!

Mobility is key, often better than heavy armor that slows you down. Nightvision is good too. Expect high resistance rolls, various defensive traits, and overall toughness. Typically the monster will have a weakness so carry things to take advantage of common weaknesses, holy water, salt, wooden stakes, silver, etc. Shotguns are often the best firearms, range is typically short and often in a building so long range weapons are not needed and shotgun slugs have a lot of stopping power and custom loads easy to make. The downside is low ammo capacity but your often only fighting a few major bad's at a time and will die if the fight last long anyway.

Shotguns have a lot of different action and loading options, the two best for this kind of campaign tend to be pump and semi-automatic.

Pump shotguns are manually cycled by pulling on the ammo storage to cycle a new round into the chamber. The manual action is typically RoF 2 but a round can be ejected and a new one inserted directly, bypassing the tube. This allows changing ammo types on the fly with a Ready or Fast-Draw roll to load 1 shell. Because they are cycled manually they are very reliable and can fire less than lethal rounds without jamming.

Semi-automatic shotguns typically have RoF 3 and are either magazine or tube fed. Magazines hold more shells (5 to 20, more with a drum) and a magazine can be inserted quickly, as per a rifle. Tube fed work like pump actions above, improved RoF and loading a new round to swap ammo types. The tube is mounted under the barrel and holds fewer shells (5 to 7, more with wider revolver style tubes).

However semi-automatic shotguns are gas or inertia powered and many will not fully cycle with less than lethal loads. See the specific gun for details as some are built to handle this, though most are not.

Tube fed shotguns do not hold as much ammo and are reloaded 1 to 2 shells at a time instead of an entire magazine. A shooter can however reload during pauses in combat to top off the weapon rather than swapping out an entire magazine (which may only be half empty). Loose rounds can be carried in pouches on the side of the gun for +1 to Fast-Draw (GURPS Tactical Shooting, p. 73).

One interesting item I had pointed out to me was a shotgun revolver. Most modern ones seem to be .410, though my hunter carries an older Russian made 12 gauge (8 OTs-62 Revolver). A good machinist could probably make something effective, especially if they can get some blueprints.

Shortswords and knives, especially silver plated are also useful, but you better be very very good if using one on a vampire or werewolf! A sharp wooden stake is a classic for vampires, but awkward to use. Consider a Tonfa with a sharpened end; it can be used to parry and works with Brawling or Karate skill. If you have that machinist or a good craftsman consider adding an endcap that can take different attachments, wooden pointy end, silver pointy end, and a nice iron head for those faerie.

As many of your foes will have enhanced senses flashbang grenades or tear gas (even if they do not breath) may have a greater effect on them, giving you a few seconds to hit hard or run away. Anything that emits a strong odor is also good, even if they have Doesn't Breathe if they can track by smell it will impede them. Ultrasonic noisemakers may also be useful and that machinist friend? One can make a CO2 powered whistle pretty easily.

The whole idea is to try and get them off balance without messing with your own capabilities (so have gas masks, respirators, eyeglasses, nose plugs, and ear protection available) and then kill them fast.

When attacking high skill is vital for Deceptive Attacks and Targeted Attacks, even better if the foe is stunned from a flash bang grenade in their face.  Speaking of that, paint guns are quiet and can carry holy water, potions, or act as charms. GURPS High-Tech even has an under barrel one that can be mounted to a rifle or carbine.

Staying Under the Radar

This is another vital and interesting aspect of the genre. How do you stop a bunch of monsters and not attract the attention of the police?

Mask of Humanity, Pyramid #3/97 and Safe as Houses, Pyramid #3/58 offer some ideas, and my current project has an entry (if it makes the final cut) but this can be a very difficult task. Using heavy firepower is going to attract attention, and often there is a mess to clean up and you may not have much time to do it.

Is there a "cleaning service" you can call on? A secret government agency as a Patron? Perhaps just good police Contacts. Propaganda can also be used for disinformation campaigns ot throw people off the track.

Maybe your party has a top notch forensics specialist, all your kills are quiet ones, and the monsters cooperate by using hidden lairs far from nosey neighbors and no one notices the missing people or dead bodies piling up. However it seems much more likely you're going to need some kind of help keeping things quiet.

How this is accomplished is likely an important part of the campaign, and can add a lot of flavor and fun as well.

Aeon B-Team Season 6 Session 5

 

Cast

• Amar Gupta aka The Iron Sikh (played by Christian): Brick. Taxi Driver. Ass-Kicker. Sikh. Tagline: “Being a man of faith means to live it.”
• Amie-Belle T. W. Lee aka Whisper (Played by Curtis): TBA. Tagline: “TBA.
• Beauregard K. “Bo” Ratnam aka Wirerat (Played by Brice): TBA. Tagline: “TBA.
• Rafe Hanlon aka Nyx (played by Chris D.): An umbrakinetic and a petty thief out of prison on work release. Tagline: “Not for glory, not for fame…. For one person. In the dark. Where no one will ever know or see.”
• Vincenzo L. dePrezzo aka Threshold (Played by Rory): TBA. Tagline: “I’ll be there in a snap!”
• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Ledgerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened…”
• Jodie R. Swann aka Surferboy (NPC): Dude. Aero- and Hydrokinetic. Really laid back, but wants to make a difference. Has a advanced glider/drone he rides on. Tagline: “Like. Let’s just chill, dude.”
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): AI in a robot body shaped like a large rat. Surprisingly capable and provides telepresence for Wirerat. Tagline: “[whir-click-beep].”
• Tierney M. Ward aka Rush (NPC): Speedster and former member of the Bullet Hell Brigade. Tagline: “Was that fast? I thought that was fast.”
• Zubayr Sajjad Marou aka Five Stars (NPC): Driver. Pilot. Klubbe gig worker.. From N’Djamena, Chad. Used to go by Darryl Bell to sound more American. Tagline: “I can get you there in time.”

A Short Session

This session was very short, 1 to 2 hours by the time we actually got started.

Nyx was thanked for his pentagon mission, apparently the leak was a janitor.

Threshold has been supervising the wounded and spent a day analyzing the equipment we brought back. He can't replicate the jammers but his notes will look good if and when he publishes a paper on them and may be useful to a gadgeteer. Bo also analyzed them and they merged notes.

Bo and Whisper have been going over intelligence data on all the missions to date.

Nox is trying to get Nyx to have more fun, so far Nyx is resistant and reluctant.

Afterthoughts

Next mission will be a humanitarian one, looking forward to that and hope we can make a difference.

We seem to be dealing with a lot of injured or sick people and in writing this note a thought occurred to me. I might ask the GM if Threshold can take a Cutting-Edge Training perk (GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks, p. 16) for Medic! or perhaps just the Physician skill. This would allow him to make two rolls per day instead of one, significantly speeding up recovery time. With Medic! (19), power stunting his Para-Radar for the Bioscan option (it already has Microscopic 6, Penetrating 2, and Profiling) he can quickly diagnosis and monitor patients health and keeping people alive is in genre.

GMS Recap

Aeon B-Team Season 6 Session 4

 

Cast

• Amar Gupta aka The Iron Sikh (played by Christian): Brick. Taxi Driver. Ass-Kicker. Sikh. Tagline: “Being a man of faith means to live it.”
• Amie-Belle T. W. Lee aka Whisper (Played by Curtis): TBA. Tagline: “TBA.
• Beauregard K. “Bo” Ratnam aka Wirerat (Played by Brice): TBA. Tagline: “TBA.
• Rafe Hanlon aka Nyx (played by Chris D.): An umbrakinetic and a petty thief out of prison on work release. Tagline: “Not for glory, not for fame…. For one person. In the dark. Where no one will ever know or see.”
• Vincenzo L. dePrezzo aka Threshold (Played by Rory): TBA. Tagline: “I’ll be there in a snap!”
• Derrick K. Ratnam aka Ledgerdemain (NPC Ally): Spin doctor and media liaison for Project VANGUARD. Twin to Bo. Tagline: “Well, actually that’s not how it happened…”
• Jodie R. Swann aka Surferboy (NPC): Dude. Aero- and Hydrokinetic. Really laid back, but wants to make a difference. Has a advanced glider/drone he rides on. Tagline: “Like. Let’s just chill, dude.”
• Stainless Steel Rat aka “Sir” (NPC Ally): AI in a robot body shaped like a large rat. Surprisingly capable and provides telepresence for Wirerat. Tagline: “[whir-click-beep].”
• Tierney M. Ward aka Rush (NPC): Speedster and former member of the Bullet Hell Brigade. Tagline: “Was that fast? I thought that was fast.”
• Zubayr Sajjad Marou aka Five Stars (NPC): Driver. Pilot. Klubbe gig worker.. From N’Djamena, Chad. Used to go by Darryl Bell to sound more American. Tagline: “I can get you there in time.”

Another Paramilitary Mission

Most of the team is doing some recon in Europe, Nyx, Threshold, and Whisper get assigned a rescue mission. A reporter was captured by a rebel group in Afghanistan. We fly in and land in a nearby field.

Nyx and Threshold have their super senses jammed and the bright sun weakens Nyx's powers.

Threshold can tell what buildings in the small village the jamming is coming from, appears to be 7 buildings and guesses the reporter is in one of them.

We split the group up, Nyx and Nox head to the south towards the closest building with a jammer and it is kinda off by itself and might be a communications or storage building. Whisper heads straight down the middle to draw the fire as much as possible. Threshold teleports on top of a building between the main road and the south building that Nyx and Nox are headed for.

Nox arrives before Nyx and sees a glowing pulsating metal sphere that seems to be the source of the interference, Nox arrives a few seconds later and they disable it.

Threshold gets s a free attack when he ports to the roof and using his Obliteration Beam in Cone mode destroys the roof of two buildings, causing the 3 sentries to fall in.

Whisper attacks the only guy on the street, doing some damage with her hatchets but not taking him out.

The bad guys get a turn, shooting Threshold in the face who needs to use a wildcard point to make it a flesh wound and still falls prone (but still on the roof). A few shoot at Nyx on his way to the building but are all comfortably avoided. Whisper, as hoped gets the bulk of the shots but her armor mostly reduces it to minimal damage - though she also needed to use a wildcard point for a flesh wound.

Whisper jumps onto the building and goes after a guard up there, this keeps more guards focused on her as she is now in plain sight of everyone.  Threshold pops over behind some guards shooting at Whisper and obliterates their rifles and the roof, knocking 4 more to the ground.

About half the guards have been disabled, at least partially in the first few seconds of the fight. Whisper dodges off the roof, leaving a grenade behind taking out two more of the enemy.

Nox and Nyx power stunt a large Obscure and cover the area in darkness, somehow not affecting our team.

Threshold pops over to the north of a central building that seems a likely candidate and obliterates the wall to see what is inside.  He sees the reporter and three terrorist's.

One powers up the other two and  they charge Threshold but miss, Threshold ports away and obliterates the jammer and more of the building with the reporter. All that is left is a small corner they were hiding in (the leader holding the reporter hostage) exposing them to Whisper who can now reach them without going around the former building.

Nyx starts taking out the remaining southern guards, Whisper goes after the hulked out terrorists trying to reach Threshold using a grenade. Threshold ports to the ground  in front of the leader and hits him with the Obliteration Beam (using Selective Area to avoid the reporter) and he falls unconscious.

As soon as he passed out all the bad guys did.

Threshold patches him up and checks out the reporter then teleports her to the base while the rest search and restrain everyone.

The team finds a Delta Force unit that had previously been sent in and been captured and tortured, Threshold portals them all to the base for emergency treatment.

Aftermath

We rescued the reporter and as a bonus several Delta team members. Also retrieved 4 functional and 1 scraped (by Nox) jammers and a number of high tech (ETC) rifles. Most of the terrorist's were captured alive, Whisper being the only one who killed any and our bosses are happy with the mission results.

GM Recap