Jenkins' Story - Epilogue

Viper was tired. She had spent the last week or so looking for clues to Jenkins' murder, but it felt like walking in circles. Some piece of the puzzle was missing, or someone wasn't talking the truth. She'd spend the next days getting in touch with her gang but today all she wanted was some sleep.

[After the failed investigation, I decided to play an adaptation of the Confrontation scenario with Viper being attacked in her apartment by the guy that killed Jenkins.]

As she filled a glass of water, Viper heard some scraping metal sounds. She put the glass down, prepared her pistol and looked at the door: someone was indeed fiddling with the locks.

[Right before the killer entered the apartment, I made a Rep unopposed challenge. If she succeeded, she would be suspicious and grab her weapon. Otherwise, she would be unarmed for the In Sight test.]

Viper took cover behind a table as the door opened. The same man who fought her and Jenkins appeared and fired a pistol. The shots buzzed past her head. She fired back and the man dropped to the floor. However, she was not sure if he was hit, and how badly.

[Both characters took the In Sight test. The killer fired first and scored an Obviously Dead result, luckily avoided by Viper's star power. She then fired, knocking the killer down.]

Not willing to take chances, Viper vaulted over the table and fired again, hitting the man in the chest. He groaned and dropped his pistol, lying with open arms on the floor.

[Viper won the initiative and fired again, scoring an Out of Fight result. That was enough to finish this fight.]

Viper could hear police sirens in the distance. Quickly, she searched the man's pockets. He did not have any ID card, but she recognized a name in his com-link call logs: Jean Sellers -- the waitress she questioned at the City Hall district.

[I decided to use the "Who Did It?" rules from New Hope City PI to find a connection between the murder and one of the persons of interest that showed up during the case.]

This was all very confusing to Viper. Jean didn't seem to have reasons (or resources) to hire a killer to take care of Jenkins. Anyway, those questions would have to wait. She left her apartment and slipped into the dark streets of Lower Polariston, before the police arrived.

Conclusion
This is the end of the Jenkins' Story campaign. The "Who Did It?" rules gave me another hook for a new adventure but, for now, I intend to let Viper rest. Maybe later I will start "Stories of Hope: Viper" or something like that.

Jenkins' Story - Finale?

This is the conclusion of Viper's investigation on Jenkin's death.

Day 7:
Viper questioned a computer technician about Jenkins. He admitted buying some holovids but gave no useful information. She came back to Jenkins' former boss but had no success either.

Day 8:
Viper continued to follow some clues but found nothing. Whoever killed Jenkins had covered their tracks or left the city by now. She couldn't help feeling that something was not right; nothing she uncovered even explained why Jenkins was killed. "You have been causing problems to the wrong people..." she remembered the strong guy who knocked her out and possibly killed him.

Conclusion
I was not able to gather the eight clues that were needed to solve the case. Still, it was interesting (and challenging) to build the story around the investigation rolls. In this case I played it in a rather abstract way, using the tables to set up the NPCs and encounters. I could have set up a board and played a Chillin' encounter to meet each of them, instead. This investigation might have gone in different directions, as I met other characters (from the Possible Enemy Forces deployed on the table.)

One big hindrance to this investigation was the fact that Viper is a ganger, and thus belongs to the lowest social circle in New Hope City. This put her at a disadvantage every time she would question someone, because of the way Questioning rolls work. A detective would be in a better position for this task, as expected.

This is one of the types of investigation covered in New Hope City PI. It also includes ideas and tools to play vigilantes, who bring justice to criminals in their own terms, and something like the replicant hunters from Blade Runner.

Anyway, this is almost the end of the Jenkin's Story campaign... look for an epilogue soon.

Jenkins' Story - Part 7

Here is the report of the next two days in Viper's investigation...

Day 5:
Having found out that Jenkins' list was related to some smuggling scheme, Viper decided to do some research on shipping records and news related to smuggling in the City Hall. However, she spent the whole morning going through files and public records and found nothing. [I rolled a 1 on the "advance the investigation" table, so I must find another object. I rolled the City Hall district for its location, so I came up with this interpretation... anyway, I failed the roll to find the object.]

Viper then decided to go back to Terry Gardner's office and ask him about smuggling deals with Jenkins. However, since her previous invasion and failed attempt at tailing him, the man had added her to the office security's "black list," so she was not even allowed to enter the building. [I rolled a 6 on the "advance the investigation" table: find a person. I rolled an engineer but since I had rolled that profession before, it would be the same person. However, because of my previously failed attempt at tailing him, he would refuse my re-questioning... so this was a failure.]

Jenkins' Story - Part 6

After a long break, here is the continuation of Viper's investigation.

Day 4:

Having no other leads, Viper decided to continue looking for people in the list of names she found previously. She located a Christine Steele, working at a small legal / accountancy office in the Financial district. [I rolled another person of interest: Accountant, female, Rep 3 / Fit 3 / Pep 2 / Sav 1, carrying a BA Pistol.]

Viper went to the office in the most sober clothes she had, and a thin briefcase. She told the receptionist she had been called for a meeting with some lawyer and was told to wait. When the receptionist was busy with a call, she slipped into the office area and found Christine's desk. She was talking with some tech support guy and did not seem happy. When she noticed Viper staring at her, she asked "huh? Who are you? And who let you in here?", at the same time looking around. The tech support guy just looked puzzled. This was Viper's cue to step closer and intimidate the accountant into answering her questions.

As it turns out, Christine had bought some smuggled goods from Jenkins, "but none of the really illegal stuff." She didn't even know what else Jenkins dealt in, but she had seen some bad-looking types at his place once. [This time, I got two more successes than the person of interest, allowing me to get some answers and solve a clue.]

[I decided to try to solve another clue and rolled a 1. Adding 3 due to the clues already solved, this resulted on a "find object" encounter. I thought it would be nice to try to recover some sample of what Jenkins smuggled, so I decided the encounter would happen during the evening, rolling a casino in the Pub & Rec district.]

Christine said she had met Jenkins on at the Centauri casino in the Pub & Rec district. Viper decided to check the place at night, to look for some information and maybe find out what else Jenkins was smuggling. The place was run-down, and security was kept by a couple of nasty Zhu-Zhus. She spent a couple hours looking for clues but didn't find anything. [Unfortunately, I failed the roll to find the object.]

To be continued...

Jenkins' Story - Part 5

This post continues Viper's investigation on Jerry Jenkins' death as part of the "Jenkins' Story" campaign.

Day 2:
Viper woke up, checked the stashed clues hidden under a floorboard and left her place. She knew Tanya, an "entertainer" who used to hang around the Magic Seven, a gaming house at the spaceport. And Tanya knew lots of people, so she might recognize some names in the list stored in the data module that Viper retrieved.

[Using the investigation rules, I rolled a "Get info from a person of interest" mission: a farmer (female) - Rep 4 Fit 2 Pep 3 Sav 4 - in a Gaming House at the Spaceport district, during the day. I guess I could have set up a table and played this like a Chillin' encounter but instead I skipped straight to the gaming house.]

Viper arrived early in the afternoon, so there weren't many patrons around. She found Tanya and called her to talk in a corner. "Do you know any of these people?" Viper tone was demanding, and it seemed to bother Tanya. She looked the list up and down, then sighed. "No, I don't. What's this anyway?" Viper frowned, "I'm trying to help a friend, that's what," and left.

Jenkins' Story - Part 4

Jerry Jenkins was kidnapped and killed. Police investigation concluded it was a robbery gone wrong, as so many that happen in the spaceport district.

Viper, Jenkins' associate, knows there is more to it. Not that her statement to the police made any difference. She wants to find out what really happened and be sure it won't bring her any more trouble. Based on the previous games, I "promoted" Viper to a Rep 5 star:

Viper (real name: Lucy Sharp) - Rep 5 star ganger
Fitness 5 / People 4 / Savvy 3
Cruel, Sure handed
Home: Lower Polariston

She has done some jobs for a private investigator... mostly following people, stealing useful evidence, asking some questions. So she will be running this on her own. Her case notebook starts like this:

"Jerry Jenkins, former clerk at a holovid rental shop, has been murdered. Someone, seemingly a hired thug, ambushed him and Viper in an alley at the Midland Terrace district, knocking out both. Days later, Jenkins' body showed up in the spaceport district. This was two days ago. The body was found in the morning, the crime might have happened during the night."
[Case difficulty: level 4, requiring 8 clues to solve. It is not a time-pressed investigation, so Viper will have 8 days counting from the first clue found to solve it.]

Day 1:
Viper took a regular shuttle to the spaceport. It was almost lunch time so there weren't many people aboard. She hoped that the police had done a sloppy job and there was still some clue to be found in the alley where Jenkins' body was found.
[I rolled for the first clue, getting a "find an item" mission. Since it was the first item, the location is the crime scene -- the alley at the spaceport. I decided to go during daytime.]

Looking for meaningful clues in a dirty alley proved harder and more frustrating than Viper expected. As she walked away, however, she spotted a security camera of the Green shop across the street. It took some cajoling and a generous tip but she left with a copy of the footage. It showed someone in a dark blue trenchcoat, right arm around the waist of another person seeming very drunk (or hurt...) entering the alley and leaving alone a few minutes later. Viper wondered if the police had seen that video.
[I got a success on the Find an Object table, meaning it was found -- and thus the clock started ticking: eight days from now to complete the investigation...]

Finding that video footage gave Viper an idea. In the evening, she went to another Green shop in the Pub & Rec area, where Jenkins was a regular. There was no use asking the clerks about him or suspicious people. However, she remembered that Jenkins once mentioned hiding a data module in a bathroom stall. Many places in New Hope City had universal bathrooms as an easy solution to conform to different, possibly multi-gendered alien species, androids and so on. Green, however, catered to Basic culture and maintained separate restrooms for ladies and gentlemen. With a combination of stealth, patience and nerve, she checked the stalls of the men's room and actually found a data module. Later that night, she discovered it contained lists of names and codes, but they meant nothing to her.
[This was another close call, where I almost failed at finding the object. The location was randomized by the rules, and I just tried to fit it in the context.]

To be continued...

Jenkins' Story - Part 3

So here we go for another part of Jenkins' Story, where hopefully his luck will turn better.

May 2220: following a disastrous guard job, Jenkins was arrested and spent three months in jail. Now he has been released, although he is sure the New Hope City authorities will be keeping a closer eye at him. He plans to visit his former boss at the holo-vid store, to try to get his job back, and then lay low for a while.

[And then my plans are disturbed by a Confrontation involuntary encounter...]
Jenkins meets with Viper in the Midland Terrace neighborhood, and while they are passing through an alleyway, a tall muscular man stops in front of them. "You have been causing problems to the wrong people," he grunts.

Before Jenkins can react, the man lunges forward and hits him in the face, knocking him down. Still on the ground, he kicks the man on the left knee while Viper punches him in the stomach, making him drop to his knees.

Jenkins gets up and kicks the man on the head but he parries his leg to the side. Viper moves in, intent on hitting him with her knee, but the strong man trips her. She hits her head on the ground, going out of the fight.

The stranger gets up and lands another strong punch on Jenkins' face, knocking him out. [To be precise, he rolled an Obviously Dead result, and my Star Power roll only reduced it to Out of the Fight!]

Viper wakes up to find a police officer staring at her. There are no signs of Jenkins or their assaulter.

A few days later, Jenkins' body is found in an alley of the Spaceport district. Apparently he was further beaten up and shot.

Conclusion
This involuntary encounter took me by surprise. As the enemy did not draw guns, I figured that I could keep it as a simple fist fight. I did not want to have more trouble with the police right away, and I wanted to run the encounter with Jenkins and his former boss... the bad Star Power roll ruined it all. Then, another bad roll at the Confrontation Mercy table got him killed.

This is not the end of this campaign, however: Jenkins' untimely death seems a good opportunity to try the New Hope City PI supplement, so I will fudge things a bit and give Viper a friend who is a private investigator. She will want to find out who killed Jenkins... maybe not for justice but at least to know what kind of trouble he got into, and if it can spill on her.

Jenkins' Story - Part 2

Here is another part of Jenkins' Story in New Hope City. This time I decided to set up a board and play with the aid of a tablet, instead of using the computer. It turns out that switching between reader, dice roller and note-taking apps works quite well. I also built a number of miniatures of the 5150 Paper Warriors set, as well as some PEF markers.

February 2220
At the beginning of the month, Jenkins receives a call from someone called Audrey. She sets up a meeting at a cheap hotel near the spaceport to talk about a job proposition [an involuntary encounter.]

Jenkins meets with Audrey and some "friend" of hers. It seems that they work at an industry in the spaceport area and need someone to guard them during a certain "transaction." The pay is not great but he takes the job. Audrey and her friend want him to guard a deal where they will be selling some drugs. They are afraid that Steve, their former "partner in crime" will try to interfere. Although Steve is a pharmacy clerk, he has contacts with gangers.

The deal takes place at a building in the spaceport, in the evening. This time, Viper comes along with Jenkins, so they stand in front of the building [the table setup was also very similar to the picture above.]

Time passes and there is no sign of gangers. A group of workers leaves a nearby building and walks down the street. Jenkins nods at them and they seem to tired to care. Late in the night, a single ganger comes around the block, pointing a weapon at them. Jenkins shoots first, knocking the ganger to the ground. Viper shoots and misses, and then the ganger shoots Jenkins in the chest [an Obviously Dead result, reduced only to Out of the Fight by a bad Star Power roll!] Viper shoots again, this time hitting the ganger in the head. Worried about the police sirens, she picks up Jenkins and carries him away. Across the street, a single worker going home late witnesses the firefight, hidden behind a dumpster...

Two days later, Jenkins is arrested due to an anonymous tip. He is charged for brandishing a weapon and for disturbing the peace, and this time is found guilty. He spends the next two months in jail [and his People skill is reduced by 2 points, ouch!] Despite all this mess, Viper remains loyal to him.

Urban Renewal: Jenkins' Story

I have finished reading 5150 Urban Renewal, the revised edition for Two Hour Wargames' 5150 New Beginnings. There is a bit of streamlining of the rules (for instance, no more stunned status or hit locations) but, more than that, there is a considerable overhaul of the campaign system.

In Urban Renewal you start a campaign with your Star alone. Recruiting grunts is a mission in itself, and sometimes you may actually want to do missions on your own. There is a defined goal: improve your character as much as you can before retiring, over a span of at most 10 years -- the campaign officially starts at January 2220 and time advances by months. This way, characters now will want to complete jobs mostly for a better chance to improve their Rep and skills, balancing risks and rewards.

To try out the campaign system I created the following character:

JERRY JENKINS (Star) - Sales Clerk (LWC) / Cash 2
REP 5 / FIT 4 / PEP 5 / SAV 3
Resilient, Greedy
Equipment: BA Pistol, Com-link
Home: Lower Polariston

Instead of making my Star as a bounty hunter, ganger or some other more "adventurous" type, I decided to go for one of the "ordinary joe" professions. Jenkins is a clerk at a holo-vid store, with plans of getting rich quickly. He has made some deals involving contraband and is looking for other profitable jobs. So let's get started:

January 2220:
Jenkins decides to look for others who might be interested to work with him. [This is my first encounter for the month and I set it up as a Chillin' encounter at a bar in Lower Polariston, during the evening.] On the way to the bar, he notices three women leaving an abandoned building. He recognizes their jackets: one of the local gangs. Jenkins walks into the bar, sits at the counter and looks around. There is just a bunch of old drunk men sitting around, no one he would want in a risky job. Not long after, the three ganger women enter the building. Eventually, Jenkins starts talking to them and gets on their good side [a successful People challenge.] He writes down Viper's comlink ID and tells her that he will call if a job comes up. When Jenkins leaves the bar, he is approached by a man in a trenchcoat, coming from an alley: a robbery. He draws his pistol when he sees the robber's machine pistol pointed at him. Shots are fired but no one is hit. While Jenkins runs away from the robber, police sirens can be heard in the distance.

Jenkins then starts looking for jobs [I spend another encounter to look for jobs, getting two offers.] He meets with a certain Mr. Rolf in a Green shop at the Financial district. Rolf is looking for someone who will "retrieve" something for him. The pay is good, so he accepts the job and gets the details. So now Jenkins must break into a restaurant in Middleton and steal some body parts (!) from there, no questions asked. The catch is that the restaurant owner's brother is a police sergeant who has the habit of protecting the place.

Jenkins contacts Viper about the job, but when he mentions the involvement of a police sergeant, she says that she will not take part in it. He decides to break into the restaurant late in the night, so he prepares and takes the train to Middleton. He moves down the street to the restaurant without drawing attention, forces the lock of a side door and enters. Once inside, he catches the sergeant off guard, causing him to snap fire and miss [thanks to the Resilient attribute and Star power.] Jenkins shoots back and also misses. In a rush of adrenaline, he jumps at the sergeant. Taken by surprise, the man fires again but Jenkins pushes his arm to the side and knocks him out with a well-placed pistol whip. He manages to find the body parts while hearing police sirens. As he runs down the street, two police cruisers appear and quickly he has two pistols and two shotguns pointed at him. Jenkins surrenders and is arrested, charged for attempted murder and stealing. Surprisingly, he manages to get bail until his judgment.

Nine days later, Jenkins is summoned to court. After a long and taxing trial, he is considered not guilty due to some technical issues! His lawyer boasts his own ability to defend him... but maybe someone in the shadows wanted to avoid exposing the whole issue with the body parts in the restaurant... [Some lucky rolls allowed this "not guilty" result while rolling 3 dice against 7 of the accusation, so I came up with this idea about some "shadowy" influences...]

This completes the first month of Jenkins' campaign. Characters that may re-appear later: Mr. Rolf, Jocelyn and Hannah (the other two gangers he met in the bar), Jonah (the police sergeant). Despite his failed mission, Viper has remained in the group.

Conclusion
My first impressions about the campaign system of 5150 Urban Renewal are very positive.  As I am still "learning my way" around the new campaign system, this took me a few hours to play. In a way, it reminds me of Larger Than Life, also from Two Hour Wargames: very narrative-driven, a real blend of RPG and wargame. I played this in the computer, as it made it faster to set up different boards than doing so on the table. I will continue Jenkins' campaign to see how far he goes.