Dr Marcus: Episode 1

[oldskoolrebel]

We played our first game tonight, which went off OK, but not as well as it could have, due to my poor planning and a malfunctioning flash drive. Gamer Mac took some pictures of my half finished board and primed models. I'll give a proper write up later... I'm too busy watching Torchwood just now!

(Colin this was meant to be one of the Character's scenario briefings)

Prelude
Dr Marcus sat back and swirled the amber liquid in the glass. He raised the glass to his lips and enjoyed the fiery taste of the brandy. Marcus reflected on the conversation over dinner- finally the plans where beginning to take shape. It looked as though he was correct about Harun Al-Omar- he’d just joined the team and he’d was already proving himself to be a valuable addition. Harun was able to provide intimate information about Cairo and it’s people, in fact Harun had even been able to arrange an alternative guide for them, a local guide who wouldn’t screw them over like last time. Rene’s money was being well spent. Rene Theroux, successful business man, philanthropist and hobby Egyptologist agreed to bank roll the expedition- provided that he could come along. And the expedition, well the expedition involves finding the fabled lost valley of the dead. It was then the waiter arrived.

“M'excuser monsieur, I have been given this note for you… You are Dr Marcus Edwin, oui?”

Marcus glanced up at the man and nodded, the waiter smiled and handed him a small envelope, instantly Marcus recognized the scrawl on the front.

“Avery” He whispered. “What’s this about.”

   Marcus opened the letter and read it, twice, before handing it over to Harun. Harun, glanced down at the note, his head immediately jerked up. Marcus noticed the worried look creep across Harun’s face before his normal taciturn visage returned.
 “Lets go” Marcus’ voice was barely audible. Harun nodded in agreement his hand swaying to the ever present dagger at his side, the dagger which he passed off as an ancient family relic and a ‘traditional ceremonial piece of grab’.

   As the pair made a quick exit through the service door, the confused waiter glanced at the opened note now lying face up on the table.

“Marcus get yourself back to the University immediately… Don Chianti is sending men to get you… Get yourself out!                       -Jack Avery”


To be continued...


Cheers
Andy

[Operator5]

Nice write-up Andy.

I look forward to seeing the pictures (even if everything was not ready on time---it can still be inspirational).

[gamer Mac]

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, doing some 1:1 scale painting in the kid’s rooms.
It was a fun game and a good start to the campaign. And I got to blow things up.
I have emailed you the pictures I took.

[kidterminal]

Nice start, we will we get to read the rest?

[oldskoolrebel]

OK Sorry this took so long, and please excuse the unfinished buildings, and unpainted models!

Episode 1: Snatched from the Streets!



The Chicago Observer can exclusively print details of a disturbance in the city last night. The disturbance happened late last night downtown and was reportedly a kidnapping attempt. The police have not released a statement however our sources can officially reveal that Dr Marcus Edwin, a doctor at the University of Chicago was the intended victim. The University of Chicago released a statement saying that Dr Marcus was not available to comment on the disturbance and that he would not be attending the University today.  The kidnapping attempt was reported to have been made by the infamous ‘Chianti gang’.

The disturbance was made even strange by the appearance of men in military dress. Our reporter witnessed these men assisting Dr Marcus in escaping from the gangsters and then left the scene without further comment.  Chicago Police department denies any military presence in the area on the night. The Police have made no effort to explain what happened to the ruins of a car which had been ripped apart by a suspected car bomb in the incident.

So I’ll put up the PDF of this scenario somewhere for your perusal. Basically on the night we had 8 players who divided themselves into two teams.

Team 1- The University of Chicago Archaeological Society
Dr Edwin Marcus (Grade 3 Professor)
Professor Harun Al-Omar (Grade 3 Professor)
Jack Avery (Grade 3 Industrialist)
Sarah O’Connell (Grade 3 Private Investigator)


Team 2- The American International Intelligence Agency (AIIA)
Captain Howard Black (Grade 3 G-Man)
Ex-private Hugh Johnson (Grade 3 War Veteran)
Sergeant Max Simpson (Grade 3 Allied Officer)
Specialist Travis Roberts (Grade 3 Allied Officer) Played by Gamer Mac.



The game started with the Archaeological society on the board, but split up. Jack and Sarah started towards the bottom of the board, Dr Edwin and Prof Harun started outside the restaurant being approached by three grade 1 Brunos. The AIIA would roll each round to see if when they would enter, and every so often gangsters would pile out of parked vans.



Dr Marcus though that he seen something at the side of the restaurant and made a b-line for it, followed closely by the professor, seeing this the three Brunos moved to cut them off. Ultimately Dr Marcus’s eyes had played a trick on him, and he discovered nothing useful (i.e. the encounter was blank). The Brunos made best use of Dr Marcus’s distraction and attacked; two rushed the doctor while the third turned to deal with the Professor.



 Mean while, Jack and Sarah started to move towards the restaurant, stopping along the way to speak to a paper boy, and bumping into two ½ grade mooks. The mooks where quickly dispatched, Sarah shot one causing him to run away while Jack expertly shot the second in the head, putting him down. The pair crept close to the restaurant, until Sarah noticed Luigi Gucci, a gangster of some notoriety. Sarah shot at his cause a wound to his legs, but Luigi turned around and let rip with his Tommy gun hitting poor Sarah. Sarah and Luigi continued to exchange furious shots. Jack had noticed that the unarmed doctor was struggling with the two Brunos and spend towards him.

Indeed the Doctor was struggling against the Brunos- the vast majority of the hits hand been to his arms and as a result he was finding it harder to hit his opponents. It was around then that the AIIA arrived.  Captain Black led by example by running ahead (converting hero points to extra movement), while Specialist Travis hot wired a parked car. The rest of the agents moved into positions to cover the Doctors retreat.
The arrival of the Agency was noticed by the gangster’s leader and gave the call for more of his boys to emerge for the vans- despite the fact that the agency had arrived, things where looking bleak for the doctor when he was hit and lost all use of his arms.



When Captain Black reached the Doctor- he assaulted the single Bruno now fighting the Doctor (the second Bruno was now fighting Jack Avery). Now free from his opponent the Doctor started to run towards Sergeant Simpson; a soldier who was calling him by name and offering him sanctuary. One of the gangster drivers started a van and was getting ready to grab the doctor in the back of it. The driver was shot several times by ex-private Johnson- an event that most people don’t recover from.
Specialist Travis had been able to drive the car into the gangster’s midsts and rig it to explode. He immediately bailed out the car, but didn’t move fast enough- and was caught in an explosion. The explosion ripped through the car and the surround gangsters, a near by van and poor Sarah O’Connell. With this heavy blow causing chaos through out the gangsters, Dr Marcus managed to slip away unseen.



Over all the players done well, despite the fact that Marcus was almost kidnapped. The appearance of the AIIA definitely swung the game for them- even though the agency didn’t use normal ‘covert’ measures i.e. CAR BOMB! Additionally poor old Sarah O’Connell became collateral damage.

Interestingly enough Dr Marcus went straight towards the ‘empty’ encounter chit- which is a shame because he missed the old 6 gun that wash stashed across the streets. Additionally Jack was carrying the Doctor’s and Professors equipment around the entire game and never took the opportunity to pass it to them!

Next round the players will have to venture deep into Don Chianti’s territory to rescue a colleague who became a kidnap victim on the same night as the attempt on Dr Marcus. The newspaper that Jack Avery picked up will give the Archaeologists a bonus in the next game.

[gamer Mac]

Sorry you never mentioned we had to be covert
You shouldn't dish out TNT to nutters if you don't want them to use it
You seem to be having some problems with the photos?

[oldskoolrebel]

Pictures fixed!  Well in a fashion- I've posted thumbnails.

The Forum or photobucket was doing something strange to the code... it wasn't resizing but instead was displaying a photobucket broken link icon  .

Well tune in next week for another installment!

@ GMAC: Yeah, with my flash drive buggering up I lost all the character sheets and the scenario introductions for the players; including the AIIA briefing  . We'll I hope to give you one next week... although I'm afraid that your character will be losing his explosives in favour of a pistol with attached silence. Don't worry though you'll get them back!

Cheers
Andrew

[Operator5]

Awesome stuff! Can't wait to see what your group considers covert. 

[oldskoolrebel]

Ditto, OP5. Should be interesting, I'm looking forward to the next installment myself!

I've hopefully uploaded the scenario to a pdf sharing server, for those who'd like to read it click here (Crosses Fingers).

Cheers
Andy