Wow. I’m behind on my blog posts. Nine days and two games since the last one. Sorry, folks. I should catch up this weekend.
So. The last Gammatoba game – almost two weeks ago – went a little differently than I expected it to. The brave mutants of the Red Valley, in their expedition to Great City One to prove themselves worthy to join the Fort LoGray Legions, had found a crashed flying saucer. After clearing out the strange creatures and automated defenders, they managed to get the computers online enough to run a diagnostic on the engines. They discovered that the Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator ((I think I might have called it a Q-13 Space Modulator, but I can’t remember, now. I meant Q-36.))Â was damaged and needed to be replaced, and that the energy crystals were drained.
I let them know that the inhabitants of Xi were the best bet to get another space modulator, while Ishtar were most likely to be able to recharge the energy crystals. I had pointed out a Xi cube and an Ishtar ziggurat on their way into the city ((I wanted to show them something from Xi, Ishtar, and Area 52, so I described the cube, the ziggurat, and the crashed flying saucer, immediately derailing my plans for the game right at the start. So, I wanted to bring in the other two alternate world sources of Omega Tech, by having them deal with them to get the saucer flying again.)), and expected them to mount an assault on both the other sites.
The group surprised me. So far, the most complex their strategies got was, “Get ’em!” ((I’m being unfair, I know, but that’s the style of play they’ve shown so far.)) But instead of charging in, they decided to barter with the others to get what they needed. So, I sighed to myself, tossed the encounters I had prepared aside, and started improvising madly.
The meeting with the Xi Trade Construct went well, and everyone seemed to have fun with it. It was a neat chance to riff on some interesting ideas I’d picked up from a bunch of sf novels and movies about AI and transhumanism ((And also to get the group to trade in a whole bunch of Omega Tech in return for the space modulator.)). Over at the Ishtar ziggurat, I had them meet with a priest in his fish outfit, who agreed to recharge the energy crystals in exchange for retrieving some sacred scrolls from the Badders who had stolen them.
This let me recycle an encounter that the group had avoided previously, beefed up somewhat to handle the higher level of the party. The fight went pretty well, with some neat tactics on the parts of the players, and some close calls for them, as well ((The hidden badder guards opening with a barrage of grenades can really put a damper on the player’s actions.)).
So, things wrapped up with the characters returning the scrolls to the Ishtar, and getting the crystals recharged. I think there’s probably two sessions left in the Gammatoba mini-campaign, then we’re going to return to Storm Point.
I’ve got some plans for that brewing, too.