[HOE] The twisted tale...

[Nyarlathothep132@aol.com]

The players were.....


A WITCH, who never used her spells or did very much of anything.

A SYKER/MARTIAL artist, with no name, who spent most of the game scoring incredible results on Monkey Goes to the Mountain and bouncing around.

Another SYKER, with a death wish and not much else to the character.

Finally, a MYSTIC LIBRARIAN, with a bow and arrow. That's about it. Got shot in the same leg 7 times in a row, and spent most of the game being carried around. 

(These are new roleplayers)

The scenario was simple- a space ship crashes in the mountains, near a Gonzer-run Observatory/Monastery type place. PC's go investigate, find that a detatchment of Orbitals have gone after the ship and slaughtered most of the Gonzers. The gonzers had weapons that could EMP the cyborgs (give the PC's a fighting chance) but they lost or broke most of 'em without actually getting around to using them. Later on, a raiding party of Black Hats land, trapping the PC's beneath the observatory. The ship's "reactor core" was breaking down, and it was one o' them supernatural ones, causing all manner of crazyness, like zombies and such. The cyborgs, black hats, and zombies all blast each other to bits while the PC's try to get to the ship to shut down the core before it blows to bits and releases Ye Horrible Monster From Beyond Time and Space.

The first PC died at the observatory- the syker w/ a death wish. Taking up a half empty SAW from the ship's captain, he charged a group of Black Hats. Didn't hit a thing, and prompty got turned into a fine red mist by high-rolling automatons and heavily armed black hats. (Of course, in the first session, each automaton's gun jammed and they were slaughtering black hats left and right, so there was a karmic balance.) He didn't end up with a head, so no harrowed.

The second two PC's died while climbing up the ship's spine to get to the reactor- the last, badly damaged cyborg was taking potshots at 'em from the top of a looooong ladder tunnel type deal. I had expected the syker/martial artist to do what he always did- monkey goes to the mountain, but he never did it. I expected the Witch to use Eldritch shield, but they didn't. I had been keeping the cyborg's roll's low, doing a lot of minor wounds to the syker/martial artist (everyone had stiff penalties from the darkness, awkward position, and wounds). Eventually, the S/MA takes a hit and slips from the ladder- not hitting the Witch, who was #2 in line, but slamming right into the Librarian. I gave 'em plenty of Deftness and nimbleness rolls to grab handholds on the way down, but to no avail. This was a long tunnel, and falling damage is unforgiving. The librarian broke the fall..and the spine...of the syker/martial artist. The librarian's head didn't survive, and the no named syker didn't become harrowed.

At that, it left a witch, in total darkness, with only a revolver, on a ladder, in the middle of a ship about to explode, with no means to shut it down (the Librarian was going to do that...), with zombified crewmen and a light can to deal with.

Never had a chance. I had tried to split up the posse's tasks so that the two combat guys would clear a path, the Witch could help defend/ support, and the librarian could save the day. Didn't work out.

I was generous with fate chips, and even fudged in their favor every so often ( I never normally do that, but they are newbies.)

There are no hard feelings- the deaths came naturally, and up until that time I gave everyone time to Do Cool Stuff. 

I've had an entire group sent to federal prison (Unknown Armies), Institutionalized...twice (unknown armies), blown up in a nuclear explosion (Twillight 2000/Godlike), and eaten by an unholy horror. (Call of Cthulhu)

Maybe I'm a killer GM...