NBA: The Skin Trade

21 February 2015: 9am: NBA: The Skin Trade

• Mel White: GM
• John Farish: Adam Clark
• Me: Dmitri Vassilokos, C&I. wheelman, Ukraine
• Tony Lower-Basch: Agent Nathan Blake, NSA Hacker, Dir of Investigations
• Xander: Alan Brown, Secret Service, Detective
• Cathy (Mowgli): Colima Constanza, Peruvian Security Investigations (PSI)
• Mike: Mehed Adulet

We created characters using an improvised Click and Lock system that may or may not have borrowed from Dying Earth, Gaean Reach, and Tony's own Capes. We drew at random 3 Professions cards, one Drive card, and one General skills card, if I read my notes correctly.

Random: 3 Professions, 1 Drive, 1 General

Dmitri Vassilokos
"Customs and Immigration"
Wheelman
(Ukrainian)

Drive:
Altruism
Protect others who can't
Investigative (2)
Bureaucracy 1
High Society 1
General (10)
Athletics 3
Driving 2
Medic 2
Shooting 3

Wheel Artist (Driver)
Investigative Skills
Cop Talk 2
Streetwise 2
Urban Survival 2
General Skills
Driving 10
Mechanics 4
Piloting 4

Mule (Smuggler)
Investigative Skills:
Bureaucracy 1
Forgery 1
Negotiation 2
Outdoor Survival 1
Streetwise 1
General Skills:
Conceal 8
Driving 4
Piloting 2
Surveillance 4

Wire Rat (Gadgeteer)
Investigative Skills:
Architecture 1
Chemistry 1
Cryptography 1
Flattery 1
Forgery 1
Outdoor Survival 1
General Skills:
Athletics 2
Driving 2
Filch 2
Hand-to-Hand 4
Mechanics 2
Medic 2
Weapons 4

General Sheet: This may have been the same for everyone.
Streetwise 1 (I)
Tradecraft 1 (I)
Cover 10 (G)
Network 15 (G)
Stability  (G)
Preparedness 10 (G)
MOS (select a General skill): I chose Driving
Bonus (2 skill points)
Cherries [If General Skill is 8+ then:]
--Gain 3-point refresh for in-genre description or dialogue, once per scene
--Spend points after the roll to reach Target Number
Combat Cherries:
Spend 2 points for
-- Extra Attack
-- Extra damage to same target

So Dmitri had cherries for:

• Conceal
• Driving
• Preparedness

There was a sheet explaining player-facing combat rules that Mel was using. These included:

• A PC's initial attack action always hit.
• Damage was a fixed value, not random.
• Players rolled to defend, and could use Athletics, Weapons, and Hand-to-Hand, and possibly a couple of others, depending on the situation, such as Driving when driving a vehicle.

Folks were part of STOPTIP, which I think was a fictional organization involved in stopping human trafficking.

Nicole O'Keefe was the STOPTIP Director of Operations. Nathan was the Director of Investigations, and also the Director of the Division of Resources, and of the Division of Operations. None of the PCs knew anything about the supernatural, or at least, that's how we played it, and Mel didn't correct us, so I assume that was all right.

The action started at Port of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and we were told that there'd be a refresh after the scene, which opened with a raid in progress. This involved a warehouse, "container cranes" I think, and a van as well.

My notes say "2 pts for dealing with van". I don't know if that meant whoever dealt with it would get a 2 point refresh or if it cost 2 points to deal with it or if we were supposed to help define what was wrong with it. Regardless, the van inside the warehouse was boobytrapped. I think it was full of leaping black spiders of Leuwich.

At this point, I mentioned that I was an arachnaphobe. Mel offered to change the spiders to scorpions. I said that they could stay spiders so long as he wasn't about to show pictures of the creatures, and he assured me that he wasn't.

Dealing with the van involved an 8 digit identity code. There was also a chase involved, with someone in a car, and either that person or someone else seemed to be surprisingly strong.

Game quotes:

Someone: A nice straightforward assassination attempt would be such a _relief_ right now...

Someone: Jesusfricking bugs!

After the scene, the PCs figured out that there was a boat that had the bugs and needed to be stopped. My notes say:

• Sewer Conduit
• Locked Grate
• Trieste
• Timur Reefe (?)

This may have something to do with where the bugs came from and what might have been done to them. That is, there might have been some hints about the supernatural, but we all played our characters as being unaware, or at least, brand new to all of the weirdness.

Folks did understand that the boat was sailing in, I think, the Hudson River, very near Manhattan, though it could have been the East River. I think folks were dropped onto the boat by helicopter, or possibly the helicopter landed on the boat.

Someone: Did anyone bring flamethrowers?

GM: You know, Preparedness is a wonderful skill...

Someone mentioned "kerosene and flashbang".

Someone: Oh, I am very good with explosives.

Someone else, possibly Nathan, said: _Controlled_ blasts.

Dmitri looked at how much was at stake and came to the conclusion that they had to stop that ship and destroy its deadly cargo, no matter what.

Dmitri: Nathan, we are expendable.

Nathan: Of _course_ we are expendable -- if there is anyone for whom this is a _question_...

I think Dmitri just needed to hear himself say it, though he was very glad to hear Nathan's reply. We were all on the same page here, and that was good.

I think Dmitri wound up in the engine room, or wherever a boat that sized would be piloted or driven from. Alan Brown and Adam Clark were making their way through the ship trying to destroy the cargo.

At one point, Clark wound up covered in the spiders. Brown may have as well, but Clark, iirc, improvised an explosive device using the gas on the stove, as they were in a kitchen area. Mel figured that, as this was a somewhat cinematic game, it was potentially survivable, but it was clear that the player intended to do a sacrificial play, so the GM went with that.

Nathan: Brown, Clark -- what's that status?

Brown (still in shock, and also out of breath, having run when Clark told him to): I'm...

Nathan (clearly meaning the opposite): In your own time, Clark!

Brown managed to choke out that Clark had died, sacrificing himself to save Brown.

Nathan (really, he's not callous, just firm on the priorities): All right. That's for the after action report. Can you get back to the helicopter?

So, folks were trying to control and contain the cargo and the boat. My notes mention piggybacking on an Athletics roll and a 7 point spent "+L" for an 8 point Piloting task, probably for Dmitri piloting the boat.

Someone: You know we all have shotguns, right?

I'm not sure what that was about. I know we were trying to figure out how to do something with the boat -- steer it or blow it up, I think the former, but I'm not positive.

Nathan: Do you have _fuel_ on that boat? Does it run on magic and unicorn farts?

Someone: You know it's a bad day when our _good_ option is to create an oil spill in New York Harbor.

And my notes say something about the Coast Guard and a dead pilot and a body bag. But, folks made it off, except for Clark, of course, and NYC was saved from whatever was on that boat.

I forget how we found our next target, as this was one of the weaker parts of the session. Mel had figured we'd use Network and Cover, which makes sense. I think what happened was that we were all playing characters who, unlike the stereotypical NBA group, were made up of folks who were relatively sane, actually idealistic, on the right side of the law, and utterly innocent of anything paranormal. So, we weren't thinking of the usual tropes.

Regardless, we somehow found out about a shooter named Milos Vladish, who had been sponsored by the University of Virginia six years ago on his entry to the USA. My notes mention Istanbul and a professor named Vukon Balog. I'm not quite sure after all of this time who these guys were and how they were connected to the spiders. But, apparently, the professor was looking for a replacement grad student, which may mean that the original grad student was Vladish.

Nathan (I think): We have evidence linking him to _the_ worst terrorist attack on US soil in 14 years -- we could be having this discussion in a private cell in Jordan and none of our superiors would blink.

That said, we wound up raiding the professor's house. After a bit of trouble, we subdued the "maid / cook", who was tough, but not skilled, according to my notes. I think the manservant's quarters were empty.

Someone: I don't want to kill him. I want to incapacitate him.

Someone: This is not a shooting range. It's a surgery.

I think this referred to a battle with the professor and perhaps a servant or two. They had definitely inhuman abilities. And, at least one of them exploded into gunk.

Dmitri: Are we biohazard now?

Someone, or perhaps Everyone: Yes!

The gunk pooled, coalesced, and drained.

Colima (I think): _You_ are not _human_, mister! And I can not _wait_ to get you onto my slab!

She got a sample in a shot glass. The rest ran away. And at that point, we were out of time.