So what have we got?
Player characters:
Ines the Dog Handler (puppeteer)
Guillermo the Gearhead (human magnet)
Miguel the Enforcer (pyrokinetic)
Diego the Stalker (manbeast, rot-eater)
Because I wanted to get into using the dice system and trying out the core gameplay in this opening session, we haven't learnt much about how they look or disport themselves yet: I'll delve into that more deeply beginning in the first full 'standard' session next week.
Looks-wise, we do know that Diego, being a man-beast, has fangs and claws, and a ruddy-furred vulpine face. We also have the various 'I hate ____' and 'I must protect _____' statements for the PCs.
The Ark
An ancient office building, collapsed above the 12th floor. "The 13th floor" is the exposed 'roof' and any remaining superstructure, where the slaves live and grow food for the People. There's a child born into slavery up there, called Eriel, whom Diego wants to rescue.
We started with two bosses in play: Marlotte, the officious 'secretary' who tries to guard access to the Elder on the upper floors; and No Smoking, a collector of artefacts - especially vehicle - who lives in the subterranean parking garage. We realised shortly after the assembly (of which more anon) that there had to be another, more tough-guy mob boss kind of figure. So we added Fernando, commander of the 'security team' who operate out of the old CCTV monitoring station and are self-appointed cops. The PCs were friends with Fernando when they were growing up but aren't any more. Guillermo has a positive relationship with Elon, one of Fernando's enforcers.
The PCs mostly make their den on the 5th floor, except for Ines, who sleeps next to her fighting dog in a cargo elevator stuck between the 2nd and 3rd floors.
DEVs: food 7, tech 3, culture 1, warfare 1
The Assembly
The People decided to set up a pigsty. All PCs worked on the project, although Diego didn't net any successes - but you still get the XP, so hey. Overall it went well, and the project is just 3 work points away from completion.
The Other People
Some well-fed looking mutants came to the Ark. They said they come from a settlement out in the Zone, another Ark. They ask some of the People to come with them to their Ark, as guests. The PCs and some others talked to the Elder, who was indecisive. Fernando volunteered to take some mutants and go to see this other Ark and "if they're a threat, we can eliminate them." The PCs did not join the trip.
The Expedition
Rumour has it there's a "science place" – maybe an observatory – in the mountains to the east. Diego scouted the way first from the top of the Ark and located a way that took them past 6 rations of grub and, in a rusting ancient playground, an artefact – a glossy lifestyle magazine from the Old Times. As they left they playground, the mutants skirted a flotilla of floating, fleshy creatures with long tendrils that drifted on the wind. Guillermo strayed a little too close and let a tendril drag across his backpack – a strange acid dissolved one of his grub rations inside.
The party came to an ancient highway, where the way through was past a giant spider that lurked in the gloom under an overpass. Miguel crept up toward the web where it laid in wait, but before he could use his pyrokinesis to set the web ablaze, the spider scuttled out towards him and tried to bite him. He only just fended it off. Diego, who had been covering Miguel's approach from a good shooting position for his scrap rifle, shot the spider in the eye. That was almost enough to kill it, and Ines' dog Danny finished the creature off.
The session ends there with the PCs still out in the Zone.
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