Big Trouble in Lunar China [Campaign]

[Slag]

By request, here's a recap of my Ninjas & Superspies campaign staring (in alphabetical order) DarklordDC, Mattbaby, Phalanx, and Thorowendain. I've put it in instalments for ease of reading. Here's the first section, Enjoy!

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Frontier 2000: Big Trouble at Lunar China

The Frontier 2000 Setting in Brief:

The year is 2005 and trouble is brewing. However, this is not the 2005 of our history, but an alternative history – a counterfactual present. The Space Race of the 1960s is alive and well and has continued at its same fevered pace until the present. Many nations have set foot in space and a few have even permanently colonized parts of it. The U.S., China, a greatly-reduced Soviet Union, and India all have permanent space stations. The former three all have permanent moon bases and the Indians are working on building their own. Private industry is in space as well via the Enterprise Space Station, the Goddard Lunar Industrial Complex, and the Orbital Mining Group (OMG) that harvests minerals from the asteroid belt for use at the Enterprise and Freedom Ship Yards.

The Characters:

Andrew Staunton, Captain, USAF Space Command: [Played by Phalanx] Captain Staunton is a Gadgeteer Agent working for the American Space Intelligence Agency (SIA) under the cover of a USAFSC Military Diplomatic Attaché and NASA test pilot. He has an on-body computer with a head jack and knows Tae Kwon Do. His real skill, however, is piloting and is able to pilot just about anything that drives, floats, flies, or travels in space (including the Astronaut/Cosmonaut military skill program from my Rifter 25 article). He has been assigned by the SIA to visit the Chinese Deng Xiaoping Lunar Complex (a.k.a. “Dungville”) to investigate claims that a revolution may be brewing among the beleaguered peasant population.

John Hudson, SIA: [Played by Thorowendain] Agent Hudson is a Wired Agent working for the SIA as a Deep Cover specialist and Information Gathering Agent. He has several cyber disguises and implants and knows Aikido (I allowed this MA selection even though it’s Exclusive). He too has been sent to Dungville under cover as a translator and diplomat to explore rumors about the revolution.

Jeff King, (a.k.a. “Captain Kirk”): [Played by Mattbaby] Jeff King is a Tinker Gizmoteer with a specialty in Computer Hacking and Forgery (using the Forgery Giz skill program from my Rifter 25 article). He is a free-lance master hacker (under the “Capt. Kirk” moniker) and rogue hired via the web by the U.S. Government to assist Hudson in things involving computers and forged documents.

Huang Shu: [Played by DarklordDC] Huang is a Commando Merc and former Chinese Special Forces Space Commando skilled in Military Intelligence and Deep Cover Infiltration who has gone “freelance”. He knows Pao Pat Mei (Leopard Style) Kung Fu with Arts of Invisibility (Stealth and Vanishing) and is trained in zero-G combat. He was hired freelance through the Manpower International mercenary company to assist the U.S. team at Dung Station. He assumed the identity of a Chinese peasant sent to Dungville as one of the many peasants involuntarily sent to there to reach colonization population quotas.

The Beginning: Slow Boats to Luna:

Staunton and Hudson, American Agents:

It started for Staunton and Hudson with a trip to Langley AFB in Hampton, Virginia. Called in suddenly without prior warning or word of why they were called, they knew not what to expect. After a long walk through security checkpoints and a short wait in the reception area they were hustled into a dark conference room where NASA/SIA agents, including General “Buzz” Aldrin, were waiting to give them their assignment: “Boys, we’re sendin’ y’all to Dungville.” There was trouble brewing at Deng Xiaoping Station and it was up to them to find out what was going on.

Deng Xiaoping Lunar Station and People’s Colony, the pride of the People’s Republic of China’s space program and crown jewel of Chinese space expansion, has already gained quite the reputation for overcrowded, unsanitary, and unsafe conditions earning it the slang-name “Dung Station” or “Dungville” among the American Astronauts. The Chinese government’s strategy in space is to win through force of numbers and to do so they are force-resettling hundreds of peasants to Mao Space Station and Deng Moon Base via a state-run “lottery” system. If a revolution was to break out at Dungville it could seriously hamper Chinese efforts in space. The rumor that the peasant uprising might be democratic in nature adds to the U.S. interest in the situation.

Staunton and Hudson would be joining the American Diplomatic Liaison Team under Ambassador Wu and traveling to Dungville under cover as a Military Attaché (Staunton) and a Translator (Hudson). The Diplomatic Team was scheduled to visit there as part of a multilateral summit on space affairs as the nations of the world debated over territorial possessions in space, space-way routes, and mineral rights. They were briefed on their job and also given some intelligence on their marks: Long Wei, a Tibetan monk believed to be the spiritual leader of the revolutionary movement, and Po Jen, a young revolutionary believed to be the de facto leader of the movement.

Two days later Staunton and Hudson were strapped into a SO-1 Lift Lion (a militarized version of the famous civilian Morgansen-Sistani LEO-6 reusable orbital launch vehicle) and awaiting launch to the Freedom Space Station. For Staunton, whom has served at Freedom Station flying SF-53 Space Fighters, this was old hat. For Hudson, despite his training in zero-G and low-G combat, this was to be his first time in space. Within a second the situation went from quiet anticipation to the full force of 13 Gs as the SO-1 launched skyward. After what seemed like forever of being crushed into the soft seat the rockets cut out and soon they were floating in orbital freefall. Hudson held on to his lunch and was amazed at how fast he was adapting to the freefall when a small object floated back to him from the pilot’s compartment: a busted red wooden cherry. He was now one of the few people to leave the surely bonds of Earth and dance among the heavens.

Eventually the orbiter went into a slow spin as it matched up to the spin of Freedom Station for docking. The sound of Strauss filled the cockpit as they lined up. “Dammit, guys,” Staunton admonished the pilots, “cut that out.” With a chuckle the pilots killed the recording and the docking was completed. Hudson caught on quickly to moving in zero-G as his training came back to him. They reached a hatch and slowly descended outward to the rotating cylinder of the station, gravity slowly increasing until a near-one-G level was reached, the centrifugal force of the spinning cylinder simulating gravity.

After a couple of days the team was strapped into an interplanetary shuttle and launched to the moon – a slow, three-day journey. They reached the Armstrong Lunar Base where they were introduced to Ambassador Wu, the American Ambassador to China, and his team. They would be working closely with Wu, whom informed them that he did not like why they were there admonished them to keep quiet and low-key. After another day of acclimation and debriefing they loaded into another shuttle and flew on to Dungville as part of the American Diplomatic Liaison Team. Deng Station was beautiful, at least what they could see of it. The “visitors’ complex” was a large, ornate dome decorated as though it were the Imperial Palace. Lush rugs, beautifully carved woodwork, landscaped ponds, vases and jade statuary, you name it. They were not permitted past the guarded door to the “workers’ complex”.

They were immediately greeted by the Chinese welcoming committee and shown to their rooms. Of the greeters two made it a point to make contact with Staunton and Hudson: a Chinese People’s Liberation Air Force Space Command officer named Sheng She (a real poster-boy for the Chinese Communist Party), and his assistant, a quiet and reserved (but cold and menacing) well-dressed Vietnamese man that went by Bing Mao. Bing’s eyes bored into them like daggers of ice, particularly for Hudson as if Bing sensed a rival. The two greeters were quite cordial, however, as they helped them to settle into their rooms. Finding their rooms to be bugged Hudson and Staunton settled in and made plans for their upcoming mission while attempting to remain discrete and unrecorded…

[Nekira Sudacne]

Awsome

I wish I could play, but I'm not in the DC area.

looks great

[Slag]

Awsome

Thanks!

I wish I could play, but I'm not in the DC area.

That's your problem, love.

[Slag]

Slag, I love the name. Truly great stuff. But who is taking jack Burton's role? Since I havn't finished perusing yet.

*EDIT* No Jack Burton...Still good stuff Slag.

Gracias!

Hudson's about the closest to Jack Burton in attitude as you'll see in the next installment...

[Slag]

Captain Staunton’s Sim-Dogfight and Growing Rumors about Hudson:

While Huang and King were en route to Dungville, Staunton and Hudson were looking for ways into the peasant complex. They communicated via radio-linked PDAs, but plans were not progressing. Their stress was reflected in immature pranks on each other. Hudson made up some facial silicon mask moulds for a couple of cover identities and arranged the services of a prostitute named Mi Ho as an excuse to get an ID. To cover his tracks he arranged a visit to a back room behind the lounge’s bar rather than use his own room. He finds and disables a camera pointing towards the bed and comes up with a plan.

Not the least bit interested in Mi Ho, he tells her what he “likes” and blindfolds and ties her up while he grabs her ID (she had no papers since she wasn’t “officially” there) and runs the ID back to his room while Mi Ho makes a lot of “noise” at his request. After scanning in the ID and sending the image back to Earth he returns to the room where Mi Ho asks if the “two times” were enough. Confused, Hudson looks out to see the bartender smoking a cigarette and smiling. Hudson returns the ID, pays and releases Mi Ho, and returns to his room. He awaits the false ID and looks for another way past the guards and into the peasant complex until the ID arrives while performing the translator duties of his cover identity.

The Diplomatic meetings were proving dull for Staunton. Obviously things for the other nations’ pilots was no better off. Staunton made contact with one of the Soviet Cosmonauts named Sergei. Soon the two of them and other space pilots slipped out of the meeting and went to the guest’s lounge to down Vodka and swap fighter stories. After unsuccessfully hounding each other for information on the flight characteristics of each other’s fighters they settled back and raised hell like only fighter jocks can. Soon he and a Chinese “Taikonaut” started talking trash. Knowing that Hudson needed a way past the guards Staunton issued a simulator-duel challenge with the Chinese pilot.

Half drunk and highly competitive it didn’t take much cajoling before it was on! Staunton PMed Hudson to “be ready”. Staunton and the Taikonaut went off to the simulators while the Russians and Indians tagged along with the Vodka. The simulators were of older Chinese combat capsules. Though Staunton couldn’t read the dials he was a capable pilot, and both pilots’ inebriation leveled the playing field some. To complicate matters the Soviets insisted on Russian Rules: best of three rounds; after each round the loser takes one shot and the winner two.

The first round went well for Staunton. The Taikonaut attempted to take a height advantage over the simulated lunar surface, but Staunton piloted well and reversed his nose to set himself up for a shot. His missile was fired without lock, but managed to self-lock. The Chinese capsule was hit for bad damage. Flying in for the kill Staunton’s capsule took some gun hits, but he managed to finish off the Taikonaut. Irate, the Taikonaut screamed for another go.

After taking the Vodka shots the two squared off for a second pass. This time the Taikonaut was ready: he got onto Staunton’s tail and fired a missile. Staunton’s capsule was rocked by the hit, but not destroyed. Engines down, he fell towards the lunar surface. The Taikonaut, emboldened, moved in for the kill. With one action left before hitting the lunar surface Staunton chose to fire one last shot rather than eject and preserve “life”. As the Taikonaut swooped in for the kill Staunton fired a missile and shot down the Chinese pilot’s capsule before “dying” himself when his capsule impacted the lunar surface. Simultaneous kills!

His adversary was irate! The Taikonaut wanted blood on the third pass! As a Russian pilot named Yuri attempted to give him his Vodka shot he threw the glass in Yuri’s face. Staunton seized the opportunity: “He just wasted Vodka!” Staunton yelled to Yuri, “You going to take that?” Yuri, drunk, enraged, and egged on, began to pummel on the Taikonaut. Alarms went off throughout the visitors’ complex and guards rushed to the simulator room.

Meanwhile Hudson, seeing the alarm and disguised as a Chinese peasant, goes up to the door to the peasant’s complex. There is only one guard, but the guard is on high alert and Hudson has no ID. Despite his attempts to fast talk the guard Hudson has no success and is forced to retreat. He hides in a closet where he changes out of the peasant garb and cyber disguise. Leaving the closet he is asked by a Chinese guard what he was doing in there. The only excuse he can think of: “I was taking a leak! The bathrooms were full!” Shocked and amused the guards let him go, but his reputation, already bizarre thanks to the stories involving Mi Ho, grows further. No one knows what to think of Hudson! In the background Bing Mao is watching.

Meanwhile all the pilots wind up in the brig including Staunton, who the other pilots have begun to call “Crazy Man”. Staunton and Hudson get the long, angry talk with Ambassador Wu and are no closer to infiltrating the peasant complex. They will need the assistance of Huang and King for that!

[Slag]

Mi Ho!

Yes, I went there.

And russian rules flight sim duels...good stuff Slag. Keep it coming.

Thanks!

Mi ho apparently did.

You ARE a sick puppy!

To-What could be on your mind?

[Slag]

Huang Shu, Freelance Commando:

Huang relaxed in feigned retirement at his remote Asian villa. A former Chinese Space Commando that had quit after a spiritual crisis with the Chinese Government’s methods, Huang had made a reasonable living as a freelance mercenary. He had just recently finished with a simple mission (find and retrieve a kidnapped daughter for a Hong Kong bank owner) and was ready for the next mission…hopefully one that would pay better than the last. He soon got his wish: an envelope arrived in the mail. In it were two tickets to an opera in Singapore. His tickets put him next to an older Englishman whom talked the whole time of arias and other operatic terms. After the Opera he invited Huang to coffee at a local Café.

There it was all business: the Englishman introduced himself as Colonel Wilmington, a former SAS officer and current recruiter for the Manpower International mercenary company. He informed Huang that while he’d certainly love to have Huang on the MI team he was acting instead as an intermediary on behalf of an employer that wanted Huang for a deep cover mission: Huang would assume the identity of a Chinese peasant slated for relocation to Deng Moon Base where he would contact and assist an American Agent named Hudson. He was informed about Po Jen and Long Wei and the basic mission of the American Agent. He was to give them all aid in the completion of their mission. In return he would receive $5 Million in an unmarked account.

Huang was inserted into China with forged documents and a peasant’s clothing and possessions. He reported to the Chinese Space Colonization office near Shanghai for launch into space. Under an assumed name he was unceremoniously strapped into a Chinese knock-off of a LEO orbiter with a dozen other scared and worried peasants. The woman next to him screamed in panic as the rockets started and they lifted off. Once they reached orbit and freefall several of the peasants threw up, filling the cabin with spinning spheres of spew. Eventually they docked (without any relaxing Strauss) to Mao Space Station where they were herded into another ship for a voyage to the moon. They were strapped into a crowded shuttle with other groups of peasants and sent on a four-day trip to Deng Station. Huang resigned himself to four miserable, crowded days as they completed their voyage.

Things were little improved when they reached Deng Station and were unceremoniously dumped into the general populous to fend for themselves. Huang found a mat at a flop house and managed to secure a job as a bus boy at the visitor’s lounge on the visitors’ complex by joining the Communist Party and through some clever role-playing on the part of DarklordDC. It didn’t take long to discover that Dungville earned its reputation and that there is an undercurrent of despair and hopelessness among the populous that could feed rebellion and revolution. Huang set out to make contact with his contact Hudson and try to find the elusive Long Wei…

Jeff King, Freelance Hacker and Forgery Expert:

Agent Hudson had all the know-how and cyber disguises necessary to blend with the Chinese populous if he could ever get past the guards into the peasant’s complex. However, he needed the proper papers and an ID card. He managed to get a hold of an ID card to scan for copy from a prostitute named Mi Ho, but lacked the tools to make his own. He needed a professional forger with the right tools.

Meanwhile, King, known in the hacking world as “Captain Kirk”, was kicked back at a Café in Prague enjoying an Espresso courtesy of someone else’s credit card number. Prague was nice despite the January cold, but petty larceny and online gaming had lost their flair for a hacker of the infamous “Captain Kirk’s” ability. He needed a nice, high-paying job with the opportunity for adventure. Hooking up to the old wireless LAN he checked out an online Cyber Café where this generation’s best hackers were known to hang and chat, swap code, or talk about some their L33T HAX0RZ. A cyber-pal alerted King to just the thing he was looking for: a website detailing an opportunity for work on “The Top Floor” (space).

After contacting the webmaster with interest for the job King hopped a plane to Brazil to meet with a representative. He met an American Agent at a bar in Brasília and was given the basics of his mission: a hacker-forger in service of Agent Hudson at Dungville. He was given an alias (“Marc Jordan”) as a network technician for the U.S. Diplomatic Team and sent up on the next private launch from the Brazilian Space Port aboard a luxurious Virgin Space Lines LEO-9 orbiter. King had no training or experience in space and this was his first launch. The launch was troubling for him, exciting for the mother-and-child seated near him, and less important than the Wall Street Journal to the businessman across from him. Once in orbit King got physically ill from the freefall, but was able to use the vacuum-tube at his seat and avoid undue embarrassment or unsightly mess.

He eventually got used to the freefall as they docked with the private Enterprise Space Station (“Kirk to Enterprise” indeed!) and found moving through weightlessness a challenge. Eventually he was able to descend through a hatch to the outer wall of the spinning drum where the simulated gravity gave him some peace of mind and a leg to stand on. Enterprise Station was amazing! All the best in Western and Japanese luxury: bars, fine dining, a casino, and luxury shops. American, European, Japanese, and South Korean businesspersons wandered the structure enjoying the beautiful view of the Earth from orbit while workers (mostly Brazilian and South American) scuttled about. King was a little concerned about the giant asteroid hurling towards them until it was explained to him that it was just a harvested asteroid being taken to the Enterprise Ship Yards by the Orbital Mining Group (OMG) Corporation.

He was able to enjoy his time there for the next couple of days and even had time to start looking over the briefing CDs that explained his mission and taught him his “cover” job as a Diplomatic computer tech (mostly simple network admin stuff). At the one bar, however, was a loud, obnoxious well-dressed man of Middle Eastern decent with an obvious bodyguard. King was to see him again on the shuttle flight to Goddard Lunar Research Center and Industrial Complex. The shuttle to the Goddard Moon Base aboard Virgin Space Lines was luxury indeed, though the obnoxious Middle Eastern man was making the stewardesses very uncomfortable. He was even openly ogling one Japanese man’s 14 year old daughter! King did his best to ignore the man over the next couple of days and get some work done.

The shuttle coasted gently to the surface of the moon at the Goddard Base Space Port and soon connected to the terminal. After a couple of days of zero-G the light 1/6th gravity of the lunar surface was refreshingly solid. As they tried to board, however, the obnoxious man stopped at the gate the second he stepped into the terminal.

“Behold!” he yelled with drunken dramatics, “A great step for myself and a giant leap for the nation of Iraq! In the name of my father the president I, Uday Hussein do hereby declare…”

“Um, excuse me, sir,” interrupted a coverall-wearing Brazilian maintenance worker, “But could you please step aside? I need to connect the shuttle’s water system so we can prepare her for the next launch.”

“Who is this worm that dares speak to me so?” demanded Uday. “Do you not see the historic event before your eyes?”

“With all due respect, sir,” replied the maintenance guy, “I’ve seen about a dozen ‘great first steps’ on the moon by small nations. It’s not really a historic event any more.”

Uday became irate, “I could crush you like a bug you little…!”

“Sir, please step aside,” interjected a security guard. Behind him were a guard with an MP-5 SMG and another with a German Shepard whose effortless movements in the low gravity suggested the dog had been born and raised on the moon.

Uday became irate and began to argue with the guard. Eventually he shoved the guard. The guards rushed and threw Uday to the ground. When Uday continued to struggle they rewarded him with a long blast of pepper spray to the eyes. The MP-5 provided all the discouragement Uday’s bodyguard needed to stay back. Uday was hauled of to the brig in handcuffs screaming and crying, his eyes swollen from the spray.

King spent the next couple of days at Goddard Station. He toured the Industrial Complex where dirty factories pumped pollution-heavy exhaust into the airless lunar sky, where the particles simply flew in a gentle parabolic arc to settle gently in a plastic-lined tub for later retrieval and reuse. He toured the historic Goddard Fusion Reactor that, using the freely available Helium-3 isotope prevalent on the moon, had perfected the hydrogen fusion that now cleanly powered most of the Earth and created hydrogen fuel for cars – making fossil fuels “yesterday’s energy source”.

He also visited a local casino where he encountered an incredibly beautiful Russian woman at the Baccarat table on the arm of an older Russian man (with a telling tan line on his left ring finger) that was putting thousands of dollars on the table per bet. She returned King’s gaze with a smile and started up a flirtatious conversation that the Russian man seemed oblivious to. Despite the lure of the cash and the woman, King refrained from the gambling table and went about his business. The next day he met with U.S. Diplomatic Team elements and boarded a shuttle hop to Dungville. In the next gate over Uday was being gently but firmly escorted to a shuttle leaving for Earth.

The inter-lunar hop went fine and King soon reached Dungville where he started work with the Diplomatic Team and made contact with Agents Hudson and Staunton…

[Shawn Merrow]

Sounds like a fun game.

[Slag]

Making Contact:

Huang and King have reached Dungville, but in completely different ways. For King it was the finest in luxury space travel; for Huang it was cramped and unsanitary. Things are no different when they reach the station. For King it’s the same, beautiful palatial visitor’s complex that Hudson and Staunton have been enjoying. For Huang it is all the crowding and filth of the worst sides of Shanghai. While King settles into a nice room that combines the luxuries of western and eastern grace Huang finds a mat in a flop house with several other Chinese peasants.

Immediately King makes contact with Hudson by delivering the forged ID. Unfortunately the ID is for the face that Hudson has already “soured” in his ill-fated attempt to breach the gate into the peasants’ complex, so the ID is worthless. Knowing new IDs are needed and a full debriefing of King is required Hudson meets King at the Lounge and later takes him back to his room where they conduct a silent conversation using strips of paper and computer screens. Staunton, already loopy on Vodka with Sergei and the other pilots, draws the pilots’ attention to the two of them “meeting at a bar and leaving together”, much to the humor of the other pilots. This does nothing to help Hudson’s already growing reputation as a wierdo.

The meeting, however, goes well as Hudson informs King of all that needs to be done. King starts the creation of a new ID to match two new masks created by Hudson. After an hour they finish the debriefing and return to the lounge. The pilots are laughing heartily now since the two young “lovers” have returned after an hour or so. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see what rumors have started and who has been feeding them. Hudson retaliates against Staunton in the most mature way possible: he sticks a bunch of pennies between Hudson’s door and the frame making it impossible to open. The “mature dialog” between Staunton and Hudson continues!

In the peasant’s side Huang has been working hard to get a job on the visitors’ complex in the hopes that he can make contact with Hudson. He applies to a job as a bus boy at the lounge, but such positions are highly sought after. He demonstrates his dexterity in carrying a lot of dishes to the Communist Party Employment Supervisor and takes the Communist Party application test. A former Chinese PLAF Space Commando and former party member Huang knows exactly how to answer the questions correctly, but purposely gets a few answers “wrong” so he doesn’t look “too” knowledgeable. He passes with flying colors, gets an interim Party membership, and gets the bus boy job, making his mission notably easier.

While performing his job as a bus boy Huang manages to make initial contact with Hudson by accidentally “bumping” into him at the lounge. Later he finds an excuse to “argue” with Hudson over the merits of Marxism vs. Capitalism. While arguing Huang attempts to “knock out” a message on the table in Morse code, but Hudson misses the message and wastes several hours listening to tapes of their “argument” searching for “code words” that didn’t exist. Finally the Huang gets the message across and the two arrange a system of Morse code knock communications under the cover of heated debates over economic-political systems. They now have a method of relaying information! Huang agrees to get some work papers for Hudson.

That night Huang follows one of the other visitors’ complex peasant workers and, using his Art of Stealth and Automatic Knock-Out from Behind mugs the poor bastard and takes everything he has, including the papers and ID. Mr. Poor Bastard will wake up with a headache, but be alright despite the “mugging”. Huang arranges to slip Hudson the papers the next day. Huang has also discovered over the past few days that there is an undercurrent of anxiety on the peasant side of Dungville. The rumors of overcrowding and unsanitary, unsafe conditions are true and morale is low.

Knowing that Long Wei, the reported spiritual leader of the budding revolution, is a monk Huang develops a “spiritual crisis” and starts looking for a “spiritual guide”. After visiting a few places he finds Long Wei leading a group in Tai Chi exercises and joins in. After a few visits he talks to Long about his “spiritual crisis” and “unhappiness with the situation”. Long gives him Standard Buddhist Spiritual Guidance Lecture 1.0 and says his goodbyes. It’s not a full contact and Huang has not yet found a “resistance cell”, but he has found Long, and that is a start.

Staunton, meanwhile, has been playing it cool. He’s been purposefully remaining quiet and staying out of trouble while quietly assisting Hudson. His former “incident” with the Chinese pilot gives him good reason to play the “repentant, regretful pilot trying to make good”. He has in the mean time made good contacts among the other pilots, particularly with the Russians, and hopes to take advantage of the situation at a future date. “Crazy Man” Staunton is already becoming the center of a lot of the pilot clique at Dungville.

King, on the other hand, has been doing what he does best: forgery and hacking. He successfully forges the ID for Hudson and begins initial reconnoitering of the Chinese Deng Station Network to look for system weaknesses. Avoiding the temptation that many players have to “go for gold” right from the start, Mattbaby smartly decides to take things one step at a time. King (via Mattbaby) is at first unsuccessful at getting into the system since his American-made network protocols are incompatible with the Chinese protocols. He spends a day of programming to bridge the compatibility gap and tries again. The next day he successfully gets a good overview of the network architecture and begins to plan his next moves. Chief among them is finding the visitors’ complex workers list and adding Hudson’s false identity to it.

Taking a break from the hacking work and the “cover ID” work King retires to the “Feng Shui” garden and pond to play some video games on his laptop. There he encounters one of the Indian delegation’s computer people (“Vikay”) similarly playing computer games in the garden. King and Vikay immediately hit it off as fellow computer geeks and even play a few rounds of networked FPS games. They fight to a virtual draw and gain respect for one another.

It has now been about a week since the group has been at Dungville and they are off to a decent start. All characters have made contact through Hudson, whom has become the de facto “personnel manager” of the group. A wide diversity of talents are represented: Intelligence and Infiltration (Hudson), Piloting, Space, and Liason (Staunton), Deep Cover and Special Operations (Huang), and Computers and Forgery (King). King and Staunton have made good contacts with members of the other delegations (the U.S.S.R. through Staunton and India through King). Huang has successfully infiltrated the peasant side and has located Long Wei. And Hudson acts as the glue that holds them together, keeping everyone informed and meshing these talents. If the mission is going to succeed these are the men that can do it!

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Whew! That's it for "session I", which was actually two weekends worth of game play. Hopefully "session II" will be less text. Hope everyone is enjoying it!

And Phal, TOD, DarklordDC, and Mattbaby: be sure to add anything I left out! And by all means use this space to strategize!

Critical input from the rest of you is welcome as well!

[Nekira Sudacne]

[MODERATED]

[Rex]

Sounds pretty damn good, god I miss the whole group! Sorry I can't be there to help out. About the only thing I can see the group needing is a Dr, sent to study the effects on 0G and the endocrine system or some such, but in reality is there to round out the group. Thats about the best angle I can come up with.

I will keep reading tho, and thanks for the invite!

[Slag]

Sounds pretty damn good, god I miss the whole group! Sorry I can't be there to help out. About the only thing I can see the group needing is a Dr, sent to study the effects on 0G and the endocrine system or some such, but in reality is there to round out the group. Thats about the best angle I can come up with.

I will keep reading tho, and thanks for the invite!

That'd be a great character. I'd allow it!

Oh, and bump up those Geek Points by 1D6+2 for figuring out a way to maximize their RPG value, ala your sig!