Fate of SHIELD: Episode 4 - Foom

Previously on Fate of SHIELD: Arcade kidnapped the team and took them to Murderworld! They managed to defeat his first set of movie monster robots, based on Freddie, Jason, Otis, and the Kraken from Lord of the Rings, but they were running out of Dendrotoxin to keep Wendigo at bay and they'd found two teens kidnapped by Arcade to make things "more interesting"...

The team, having taken a couple hours to rest and regroup, headed down to the lake.  Using the canoe on which they found Flynn, they crossed the lake and entered a river the lead deeper into Arcade's artificial forest.

After a few minutes of concerted rowing, the team reached a mountain with too steep a grade to continue on by river.  There was, however a cave leading into it.  Landing their canoe, the team started searching the area.

Lacey, Richards, and the heavily injured Stalson stuck to the open areas, but Flynn and Rennaker headed into the woods.  The teen, true to obnoxious form, demanded Rennaker arm him and questioned her leadership and her interest in protecting others when she did not immediately give in.

Richards, getting nearer the cave, spotted a prone figure in front of it.  He hurried closer, watching cautiously for traps, and discovered it was Agent Savage.  He managed to carry the Iced agent back to Stalson and Lacey.

Meanwhile, Flynn had returned, having abandoned Rennaker.  After a discussion with Stalson, the agent armed Flynn, who stashed the gun he'd received.  In the woods, Rennaker ran up against a wall of trees, clearly being forced back to the group by Arcade.

As Savage woke, Richards and Stalson tested him, confirming he was a human and not another of the mad assassin's robots.  Lacey spotted a light in the cave, but it was distant and the was waiting fot Rennaker before moving out.  The senior agent arrived back not too much later and Savage recounted being seperated from Gott and being taken away.  As the story wrapped up, Lacey pointed out that the light had moved closer, and it sounded like something was breathing to make it happen.

Richards had a spark of memory over a recent summer blockbuster about a dragon named Fin Fang Foom, and sure enough the titular dragon emerged from the cave.  The gargauntan automotan tried to catch Richards, who ducked out of the way.  The team quickly began attacking it, but couldn't make a dent as Foom ducked down to scoop up Rennaker.  Savage and Stalson laid suppressing fire into the dragon, who was ranting about how the team would fail to stop him.  Meanwhile, Richards, Lacey, and Flynn darted behind Foom into the cave.  There, Richards noticed a small, exposed section of metal on the automaton's back.

Richards began scrambling up the back of the dragon and the sharp-eyed Stalson fired into the eyes of the monster to keep it distracted.  Savage and Rennaker managed to get the senior agent free and she dropped free of the dragon as Savage swung himself up to help Richards.  Richards reached the panel but couldn't get it open, which wasn't a problem for Savage, who kicked it open.  Flynn and Lacey retreated further into the cave as Richards began using the terminal he'd found to get into the robot's systems.

Foom grabbed at Rennaker, but it was too late; Richards hit a final button and Fin Fang Foom was shut down.  Stalson raved about how amazing Richards was while the rest of the team gathered themselves.  After a few moments of recovery, and the teens not returning, the team moved into the cave.

They came to a T-section with no obvious hints as to which way the kids had gone so the team split with Savage and Rennaker going to the right and Richards and Stalson going to the left.  Richards and Stalson eventually came upon a castle courtyard with no one apparently in it and a drop off so that if they went down, they couldn't come back up.  On the other end of the T-section, Savage and Rennaker found Flynn and Lacey sitting at the edge of a drop down into a set of city streets filled with shambling figures.

Richards and Stalson doubled back and joined them and team dropped down into the zombie infested city.  They moved slowly at first, dodging around packs of the walking dead, but eventually the zombies caught on and they began to chase the team.  Between fires, zombies, and rubble, they were herded to a dead end near a large office building with a single light on inside.

The zombies finally caught the team and tried to pull Rennaker and Lacey under.  Rennaker managed to fight them off of herself and Savage and Stalson got Flynn an opening to put several zombies down and save Lacey.  Richards, meanwhile, went inside to investigate and was confronted by Arcade.  The mad assassin offered Richards a job, but the SHIELD agent refused.  Arcade further threatened the team while taunting Richards with an exit nearby.

Unfortunately for Arcade, Richards had had enough and allowed himself to transform into Wendigo with a timed release on more dendrotoxin.  The Wendigo crushed Arcade, who turned out to be a robot decoy and started out towards the SHIELD team, but the new dose of dendrotoxin kicked in just in time, putting Richards down for the count.  The team headed to the surface, dropped Flynn and Lacey off at home, and finally made their way back to The Observatory.

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Fate of SHIELD: Episode 3 notes

I thought the session went well.  Again, the villains didn't quite play out like I had planned.  Jason just wasn't strong enough to handle the team on his own and Freddy appeared too late.  The Kraken and Otis did fairly well, but only because they got into one-on-one fights, which won't always happen.

The team did a good job keeping up with Arcade's barbs and catching the hints I was dropping as him.  I was particularly glad no one meta-gamed the Coulson jab, but am also glad that's out there now, so they may start trying to find out about it.  On the show, there was about 6 months between season 1 and season 2, and I'm picturing most of this team's adventures are probably happening in that six months.

Lacey and Flynn were brought over from our Camp Grizzly game, to fulfill a promise to one of the players, nod to it being the Halloween session, and tweak the GM from that game.  Watching the reactions to them (and the distrust) was pretty fun and should be good again this week.

It'll be nice to get Savage and Gott back this week and that should help balance out against what I have coming.

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Fate of SHIELD: Episode 3 - Murderworld

Previously on Fate of SHIELD: Wendigo was brought down by the team, but the cannibal spirit possessed Richards!  They got help from a shaman named Michael Twoyoungmen and Richards managed to create a device to suppress Wendigo.

The team managed to convince Dr. Twoyoungmen to let Richards attempt to keep the Wendigo under control, but only if Savage was taught how to do the ritual to re-entrap the spirit should things go wrong.  Savage and Gott also agreed to escort the shaman to his department's rendezvous site, where he'd give them the repaired totem and begin work on a second one, so that one could be given to HYDRA as a decoy.

The other members of the team identified a stolen shipment of dendrotoxin and located the warehouse with Zorya's help.  They landed their quinjet about 30 minutes from the warehouse in northern Washington, and rode in on motorcycles.  The thieves had made a mistake in letting their van get caught on camera and then leaving it parked outside the warehouse.

When they arrived, they found the warehouses in the area mostly abandoned and the target warehouse looked mostly so, aside from the suspect van.  The team first checked the adjacent warehouse to their target, because they were nearly identical.  They found a mostly square building with empty floors and used the roof to scout the roof across the street.  Richards hacked into the security systems of the target building and the team couldn't find any evidence of guards.

Richards stayed on the abandoned roof, ready to cause a distraction, while Stalson and Rennaker moved into the target building.  They split up and found mostly nothing.  They were investigating the offices on the third floor of the building when sudden static burst over the comms and Richards went silent.  Rennaker and Stalson rushed to help them, but as they neared the door, a blue mist enveloped them and they were knocked unconscious.

The three members of the team awoke at once in a featureless, small, white room with no apparent doors.  A stereotypically geeky voice mocked them from somewhere unseen, introducing their kidnapper as first Webber Torque (whom none of the team recognized) and then as his name within underground circles, Arcade!  Richards recognized that name.  Stalson mocked Arcade, who explained he'd been hired to kill whomever came after the dendrotoxin.  When Stalson called that stupid, Arcade further explained that his employers were expecting Agent Coulson, whom Arcade claimed was not dead.  Stalson retorted that Arcade was misinformed and Arcade told the team he'd been bored by them and started the ceiling descending towards them.

The team worked frantically, but couldn't find a way out.  The ceiling reached them and dropped softly as a tarp, with the walls also falling away suddenly.  The team cut their way out and found themselves in a vast woods.  They were immediately suspicious and Stalson fired a round at the sky, trying to ping the roof.  Nothing came of it, so as Rennaker and Richards searched the area and assessed that Richards only had about an hour left of his Icer injection to control the Wendigo.

Stalson spotted a cabin off to the team's east, so they began to move towards it.  As they moved, Richards saw something tracking after them.  The headed towards the mysterious figure.  They cornered it and found...  A large man, carrying a machete, and wearing a goalie mask.  It was, from all appearances, Jason, and he lashed out at Richards.  Stalson and Rennaker tried to intervene, but  Jason ignored them and focused on Richards, who had turned and begun running back to the cabin.  One of Rennaker's shots rang true, though, and tore into Jason's scalp, exposing a metal skull.  Arcade was employing a robot of the horror movie icon.

Richards made good time away from Jason and reached the cabin mostly in the clear.  He ducked inside and spotted a figure laying on the bed.  Back in the woods, Stalson tried to hold Jason back, but was thrown aside.  Rennaker stayed focused on her shooting, putting more bullets into Jason, to light effect.

Richards locked the cabin door and then crept to the bed and pulled back the covers to reveal a teenage girl of a bookish sort, wearing a man's leather jacket and tied down despite being unconscious.  Richards started freeing her just as Jason reached the cabin and started banging on the door.  Stalson moved in and swept the robot killer's legs out from under it, dropping it to the ground.  Unfortunately, that made Rennaker miss her shot on the killer.

Inside, with the girl put safely in a corner, Richards set a booby trap in front of the door, with water and electrical wires  He unlocked the door and slunk back.  Unfortunately for him, another figure, with long knives for fingers, appeared at the back door of the cabin.  Arcade's version of Freddy keyed on Richards, who began to fire rounds at him.

Stalson pushed Jason through the door, leaving him in the booby trap Richards had set.  The robot slowed for a moment and then focused on Stalson.  In the moment of opening, Rennaker shot Jason's right eye out, shorting out the robot's sensors and further slowing it.  Freddy retreated over the roof of the cabin, but Stalson managed to catch him and pin the robot down beneath the deactivated Jason.  With Freddy unable to avoid their fire, the team took him down easily.

They woke the girl, who questioned them as to her whereabouts and eventually introduced herself as Lacey.  She explained that she didn't know how she'd gotten there, and was awfully accusatory once she discovered the team was SHIELD.  Rennaker took a serious dislike to the girl, but restrained herself.  Lacey, for her part, didn't like Richards very much, calling him creepy.  The team checked her quickly, determining that she was a real person, not anther of Arcade's robots.  Richards quickly stripped the power cores from Freddy and Jason, reasoning that they might be useful at some point, and their removal would keep the robots deactivated.

From in the cabin, the team could see a lake down a hill.  Stalson quoted game theory, saying he was certain it was where Arcade wanted them to go next.  They moved quickly down the hill.  It quickly became apparent that distances weren't taking the length of time to travel that they should.  They determined that Arcade had them in some sort of complex simulation.  Richard suggested he could build a small EMP from the power cores and set to work near the beach of the lake.  The team could a small boat out in the waters, but ignored it for the moment.

Arcade broke in to mock the team again, before sending out a new threat in the form of a bear-masked Jason clone called Otis.  The figure lumbered down the hill as Richards scrambled to make the EMP and Rennaker and Stalson prepared their defense.

Unfortunately, the situation changed quickly as a long tendril grabbed Rennaker's ankle and began dragging her toward the water.  Stalson couldn't take the chance to let Otis reach Richards, and charged the murderer.  Lacey stole Richard's gun, which frightened the scientist for a moment, until she fired wild shots in the direction of the killer robot engaged with Stalson.  Richards, for his part, was running out of time, with only a few minutes left before the Icer would wear off and Wendigo would be free.  Arcade taunted that he couldn't wait to see what would happen when Richards' timer ran out.

Rennaker wrestled with the Kraken pulling her into the water, repeatedly freeing herself and being re-grasped.  Eventually, though, she got free long enough to turn and shoot, hitting the Kraken square in it's eye.  A moment later, Richards completed the EMP and slammed a hand down on the button, rushing to dive into the water.  The device went off, shutting down the robots and saving the team.  Richards' Icer device was still active, but he was almost out of time, with only 3 minutes left on it.

Grabbing Lacey, Stalson and Rennaker sprinted back to the cabin.  Richards swam towards the canoe out in the lake.

At the cabin, Lacey discovered something banging against her in the chest pocket of her leather jacket.  It turned out to be a single Icer round, which Stalson took from her.  The two SHIELD agents shared a suspicious look at the girl.  Stalson started covering himself in lubricant from the dead robots, hoping it would confuse Wendigo.

On the lake, Richards found a teenage boy in the boat.  Cursing the luck, Richard started back to shore, but only just made it before the Wendigo spirit was free, roaring rage into the night.

Stalson charged down the hill, with Wendigo keyed on him.  They came together and Wendigo tried several times to chomp Stalson, and very nearly killed him by slamming him into a tree.  Stalson managed to ride Wendigo's arm for just long enough to insert the new Icer round and hit the manual injection button.  Wendigo screamed as it was slammed back into Richards' subconscious.  Soon, the heavily bleeding Stalson was laying on the ground next to the heavily naked Richards.

From above, Arcade complained about his cameras being disabled, meaning he'd missed all of the Wendigo action.  Rennaker, followed shortly after by Lacey, arrived and administered first aid to Stalson.  The team got the boat pulled in and discovered that the person in it was Lacey's boyfriend, Flynn.  After a few barbs from Flynn and a shirt wrapped around unclothed Richards, the team retreated to the cabin to regroup.  And it turned out Flynn had yet another Icer round on him...

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Fate of SHIELD: Postmortem - Wendigo

Now that he's been taken down, I'm going to share my character sheet for Wendigo.

Wendigo (Paul Cartier)

High Concept: Cursed Beast-Man of the North

Trouble: The Hunger Never Ends

Other Aspects: Crushing Strength, A Frozen Heart, Kill Me And Take My Curse

Skills:

Great: Physique

Good: Fight, Notice

Fair: Athletics, Lore, Provoke

Average: Burglary, Deceive, Investigate, Will

Stunts: 
A Force of Nature: uses Physique instead of Athletics to defend against physical attacks.
Track By Scent: uses Notice to track, may track when there are no visible signs.

Locking Jaws: +2 to Physique when biting someone and holding on with the bite; count as grapple that does bite damage each exchange.
Powerful Jaws and Claws: unarmed is weapon 2.

Physical Stress: OOOO

Mental Stress: OOO

Refresh: 2

One of the things the players never really figured out about Wendigo is that he was almost never tracking them by sight, but rather by smell.  It never played a huge part in the combat or tracking, but I tried to keep it in mind as they tried to keep pace with him.

While it was possible for the players to save Cartier, I figured he'd probably end up dead, so the curse aspect and the plans for how to save a team member were some of the first things I planned for him.  The team has found two of the three potential routes I'd come up with to save the victim, so they're doing pretty well.

Originally, Wendigo was built to only use A Force of Nature at close range, but it quickly became apparent that it wasn't going to be a factor if that was the case, so it got tweaked to the current wording.  It didn't save him, obviously, but it kept him from being completely picked off at range.

I could have given Wendigo a few more stress boxes or more refresh or stunts to make him closer to being as unstoppable as he is in the comics, but I wanted to keep him in the range of the players' power levels.  Over time I likely will pump some of the villains up that way, but it feels organic where it's at so far.  Especially in the context of the show keeping most of the villains (except for Lorelei, Marcus Daniels/Blackout, and maybe Deathlok) within the same power range as the main characters.

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Fate of SHIELD: Episode 2 notes

This week's game went well, I felt.  Like the previous week, a lot of my plans fell into place without me necessarily pushing it.  I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I've planned a few routes to the same place and figured appealing clues for them.

I also think the lack of a true GMPC helps.  Both Zorya abd Savage are very background characters used slightly more like contacts than active team members.  I think over the next few sessions, since Savage has been along for the ride all this time, I'll have the players start fleshing out his aspects so he's a little big more than just a prop (especially since Zorya has her own stats in case of need).  It looks like, for now, he'll stick around.  That also gets us to a more organic-feeling team size of five, rather than four; Savage kind of plays the bridge between the action-heavy Rennaker and Stalson and the more social/tech oriented Gott and Richards.

It felt good, for that matter, to have the whole team together.  No missing players this week meant that the team felt a little more balanced out.  They did a great job debating the issues at hand with one another and pushing for answers in a way that really reflects the nature and tone of the show.

Wendigo was more effective this week, despite Stalson dropping 18 damage on him in a round (at least in the raw, before Wendigo's defenses).  I got the sense the players were more worried about him and they layered on a ton of aspects over several turns to get it to the point at which all that damage could happen.  The curse falling on Richards was one of my preferences (the other was Gott), and the player realizing he'd been had was pretty fantastic and probably mirrored the character quite a bit.

The hope for our next session is to quickly resolve the Shaman bits with Richards and roll into our next freak of the week.  It's got a bit of a Halloween theme to it, but it's been planned since before I knew it would be our Halloween session.  Should be another good one.

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Fate of SHIELD: Episode 2 - Totem

Previously on Fate of SHIELD: the team encountered an 0-8-4 dubbed Wendigo and they were betrayed by HYDRA agents within their squad!  They were forced to retreat to The Observatory to regroup!

As the team moved through the armor towards the Quinjet, Zorya stopped them, suggesting they might want some of the safeguarded ordanence from The Observatory.  She told the team of a gatling gun, a repulsor rifle, and a surface-to-air missile launcher.  The team discussed it briefly and decided to take the gatling gun and the repulsor rifle, which were carried by Savage and Gott respectively.  They were about to board the Quinjet when Stalson decided to reveal another secret.

He told them he felt the need to come clean.  He recapped the events of HYDRA's revelation and then said that he'd known what the signal meant.  He went on to explain that he'd chosen to act on SHIELD's behalf rather than HYRDA's because he still believed in SHIELD's ideals.  In the process, he had betrayed the people he really worked for: HYDRA.  They'd approached him the academy and brought him along slowly until he'd had no choice but to join them.

The team was immediately against him.  Gott wanted Stalson locked away and potentially tried and executed.  Savage glared at the man he'd not so long before been joking with.  Richards argued that he could have killed them more than once, but hadn't, which was worth a chance.  Rennaker couldn't trust him at just his word, though.  She gave Savage the order to lock him in the interrogation room and the field agent moved to comply as Stalson gave no resistance.

Richards explained that he could build a lie detector as Gott argued for a full interrogation.  Rennaker shot down the full interrogation as the hunt for Wendigo was time sensitive.  She told Richardsto get his machine ready.  By the interrogation room, Savage punched Stalson across the face.  Stalson took the blow with no retaliation and went into the room.

The team briefly split up at this point.  Savage and Gott headed north in the Quinjet to the very first logging camp struck by Wendigo.  They searched the wreckage of the Roxxon site and found a journal that appeared to belong to a professor Paul Cartier.  In it he detailed orders to search a nearby abandoned mine.  Someone dubbed SV pushed him deeper and deeper under threat of violence until he found something.  After some translation help from Zorya, they realized it was a totem with symbols of the Wendigo.  SV broke it, apparently, and Cartier reported being very hungry...

Meanwhile, Richards completed his lie detector and he and Rennaker set to interrogating Stalson.  Richards ran Stalson through a series of calibration questions, then asked Stalson if he was part of HYDRA.  Stalson confirmed it and when asked why he'd split from them, he explained that he shared more ideals with SHIELD than HYDRA.  Rennaker, mostly satisfied, excused Richards and asked questions of Stalson's history with 0-8-4's and if he'd ever heard of other organizations within SHIELD.  He listed TASK, STRIKE, and HYDRA, which satisfied her.

Not long after, Gott and Savage returned, handing over the journal to Richards, who was able to interpret the events recorded within to determine that SV, a Roxxon employee forced Cartier to take the totem, which was not what SV was looking for.  The totem, now broken, released the Wendigo spirit, which empowered Cartier.  Cartier then went on a rampage as Wendigo.

Planning to find the totem and take it from Cartier to stop him, the team used Richards' Icer tracker to fly the Quinjet to the woods near where they'd recently fought Wendigo.  They unloaded their gear and followed Richards' tracker signal out into the snowy woods.  As they approached, Wendigo's pacing stopped, a clear sign it had noticed them.  They froze and slowly retreated back to the Quinjet, where they'd make their stand.

Savage dug in against the jet, Rennaker lined up her shot, Gott did the same, and Richards set up an Icer mine before climbing in to man the Quinjet.  Stalson put his sniper rifle in an easy to grab position and headed back into the woods, moving quickly, to bait Wendigo out to the ambush.  Wendigo reacted strongly, and gave chase one Stalson gave himself a superficial cut to let the scent of blood into the air.

At first, it seemed Stalson might outpace Wendigo for some reason, but the beast surged and nearly caught him.  He dodged around the  Icer mine, but Wendigo did not, taking the full blast.  It was slowed, but not stopped.  The team unloaded on the beast.  Wendigo, pinned between too many positions of fire, couldn't do much to avoid the damage and so plowed on after Stalson.

Stalson reached his sniper rifle just as Wendigo caught him.  The beast began to squeeze the life out of him, but Stalson brought his sniper rifle up under Wendigo's chin and pulled the trigger.  Wendigo, acting on some preternatural instinct, jerked it's head at the last second, avoiding being killed but having it's jaw badly damaged.  It dropped Stalson, who rolled away, leaving Wendigo wide open to the cannon mounted on the nose of the Quinjet.

Richards opened fire and the beast stood no chance.  Wendigo was pounded with bullets and slumped to the ground, dead.  For the briefest moment, Richards had a flash of the Wendigo, staring at him from over the corpse, then it rushed him and his vision went black.  He woke up a moment later, none the worse for wear.  The team loaded Wendigo's body onto the Quinjet for study, especially as there had been no evidence of the totem anywhere nearby.  The lifted off and headed back to The Observatory.

Once back, the team moved Wendigo's body to the lab.  It appeared to have shrunk slightly in the trip, as if it was reverting back to Cartier.  Richards accompanied it back and the rest of the team dispersed, finally able to get some rest.

In the lab, Richards began to sense the problem.  The corpse of Wendigo smelled... Delicious.  It had almost completely turned back into Cartier and the totem had dropped from the body.  Richards fought the urge to eat the flesh of the corpse, as something inside him screamed for the satisfaction.  Zorya, sensing that something was wrong, woke Rennaker, who rushed to the lab.  Unfortunately, in the intervening moments, Richards had blacked out and locked the door.  He hovered over the corpse, fighting against himself as Rennaker demanded Zorya unlock the door.  The AI managed it quickly and Rennaker managed to stand Richards off.  She called in Savage and Stalson, who restrained Richards by shooting him with an Icer.  Rennaker declared she'd stand guard and the others tried to return to their sleep.  Stalson locked the totem away using a drone.

In the morning, Gott began making calls to experts in First Nations anthropology, eventually reaching an old contact, Michael Twoyoungmen.  While Gott tried to be cagey about just what had happened, Dr. Twoyoungmen quickly ascertained what had happened and informed Gott he'd be there in about six hours.  They agreed to meet at the University of British Columbia's liquid mirror telescope.

Stalson began loading one of Zorya's drones with Icer rounds, in hopes that it might put Richards down if it came down to it.  Richards, still out from the Icer, had a vision, with Paul Cartier talking to him about the Wendigo spirit.  In the vision, Richards got the idea of using Icer injections to keep the Wendigo at bay so that he could continue to function.  He resolved to start work on it when he woke up.

The team moved about their business for another few hours, tracking the events of Hydra's rise against SHIELD.  Everything on that front seemed bleak, with SHIELD on the run at every turn and most governments turning on the agency.  Zorya informed Rennaker that The Fridge and The Sandbox had fallen, leaving only The Hub as a major SHIELD holdout.  Savage and Stalson locked Richards in an interrogation room and Rennaker continued her watch over him.

He woke there, restrained.  At first he tried to feign sleep, to prevent them from immediately using the Icer on him again, but Rennaker saw through the bluff.  He tried to hurriedly explain to her that he could fix the problem, but Zorya's drone shot him before he could get it out.  He tumbled back into sleep.

Not too much later, Dr. Twoyoungmen arrived and was greeted by Rennaker and Gott.  Rennaker introduced herself and Gott ran the situation down before they blindfolded the shaman and led him into The Observatory.  They led him to the lab, having sealed Cartier's corpse into a storage bay in case they needed it for study, and produced the totem, which Dr. Twoyoungmen said would be inert with what had happened to Richards and Cartier.  He quickly found the broken piece of it and set to work preparing to repair it.

Meanwhile, Richards woke again, and managed to get the team to hear him out.  He explained his Icer device and planned to make it.  He worked efficiently, but slower than he had hoped, completing it just as the urges for human flesh returned.  Stalson was watching over him at this point, and Richards almost made a move to attack him, but the field agent was faster, locking Richards up.  Stalson used the opening to strap the Icer injector to Richards' forearm, suppressing the Wendigo.  He asked Gott to bring a cart of fruits, vegetables, and grains for Richards, remembering the shaman's earlier admonition that Richards not eat flesh for the time being.

Richards and Gott asked about the supply of Icer rounds and Stalson told them he thought they'd run out relatively soon.  Richards back-engineered the ingredients of the Icers and gave them to Gott, who began researching locations to find them.  Elsewhere, Dr. Twoyoungmen had nearly completed his repairs on the totem...

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Fate of SHIELD: Episode 1 Notes

Since I'm GMing, I'm gonna try and make a habit of putting some quick notes up between sessions and recaps.  I'll try and avoid secrets and spoilers, but once enemies are taken down, their character sheets will go in these entries.

All in all, the session hit all the things I'd hoped for.  We hinted at Victoria and Stalson's secrets (more blatently for him with his getting leaked).  There were secrets hinted at with Richards, too, though nothing was really behind that at the moment.

I liked getting some traction with Sparks and Savage, who were part of the associated characters for Rennaker.  Each player gave me two or three, but these two really struck a chord with the team.  Sparks may be dead, but Savage should be a useful NPC with minimal input from me.  I'm picturing Savage as played by Aldis Hodge.

Given the TV spinoff nature of the game, all of the players cast actors for their characters.  Stalson is Alexander Skarsgard, Rennaker is Michelle Trachtenberg, Richards is ___, and Gott is Steve Carrell.  Zorya is currently actressless, since she has no body and her main defining characteristic is a Russian accent.

The players hit exactly the notes I was hoping for in their conflict between linking back up with SHIELD, taking on HYDRA, and hunting down Wendigo.  Likewise, their decision, relatively unprompted, to prioritize Wendigo was just what I was hoping for.

Wendigo himself didn't quite seem to work how I hoped.  Most of his powers focused on physique defense, but that left him vulnerable to gunfire; I wanted that to some degree, but he felt a little too vulnerable.  Suffice it to say, his minor milestone will be changing things slightly.

I'm looking forward to next week, which should hopefully resolve Wendigo and drop a few hints about our Big Bad.

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Fate of SHIELD: Episode 1 - Hunger

Our game opened with the two SHIELD teams arriving at the hot springs where the mysterious 0-8-4 had holed up.  Bravo team was being led by Agent Stalson, accompanied by other agents gathered from throughout SHIELD's western teams.  Bravo moved up via inflatable boat across the lake, landing near the outdoor hot springs and moving towards the domed-over indoor hotsprings.  The cold, winter night combined with the heat from the springs filled the area with fog, reducing visibility to about 10 yards.  Stalson ordered a cautious advance to the rear doors of the building.  Agents George, Dyson, Laughton, Oliverez,Watson, Garcia, and McKenzie were with him, gathered from other teams throughout the western region.

From the south, up the road leading to the springs, and pulled in close to the southern doors.  Agent Victoria Rennaker, operating as field commander for SHIELD's CANWEST response team, gathered her own agents to begin their end of the engagement.  With her were Agent Richards, newly assigned scientific-minded agent; Agent Sparks, an old flame of Agent Rennaker's called in from New Mexico; Agent Savage, field operative called in from Portland; Agent Redd, specialist; Agent Short, field operative; Agent Calrissian, field operative; and Agent Barone, communications specialist.  Sparks began grumbling about Rennaker's approach, so she detailed him, Redd, and Savage off to move up to the doors.  Sparks quickly spotted the 0-8-4 via a pair of yellow, glowing eyes staring out of the darkened building at the assembled SHIELD agents.

Bravo secured their door with C4 and quickly circled the building to join with CANWEST at Rennaker's command.  Agent Richards suggested attempting to blind the creature with a flashbang, theorizing that whatever heightened senses allowed it to sense their approach would likely be more detrimental to SHIELD than the 0-8-4.  Agent Redd threw his in, and things went haywire.

Agent Gott, who had been monitoring the situation back at The Observatory (where Commanding Agent Stephenson and Agents Gott, Murphy, Dresden, Ramirez, and Patel had remained), was suddenly replaced by static.  Similarly, the Observatory AI, Zorya, was cutoff.  A strange pulse could be heard within the white noise of static on the comms.  Several of the agents seemed to nod to themselves, as if they almost understood it.  Sparks spun and raised his rifle, ready to fire on Rennaker, but Stalson got there first, almost as if he had known it was coming, just narrowly missing blowing Sparks' head off.  Agent Short shot Agent Redd dead in the confusion.

Richards, who had been toying with his Icer, suddenly felt a gun barrel in his back.  Agent Calrissian threatened, "This is your one recruitment offer, kid, better take it," but Richards thought fast and shot him in the foot with the Icer, knocking Calrissian unconscious. Nearer the door, Agent Savage traded fire with Agent Short, neither quite able to get a clean shot.  In the same moment, Zorya broke through to Rennaker on a secondary channel, warning her that it appeared that HYDRA was responsible for the sudden betrayal of her team.

Agent Watson confirmed it by screaming "Hail HYDRA!" and charging past Agents Garcia, Oliverez, Laughton, and McKenzie while pulling the pin on his grenade.  Watson closed on Rennaker, but lightning fast reflexes allowed her to spin away, diving into the SHIELD jeep and bracing herself.  McKenzie made a diving grab for Watson, but the motion only jarred the grenade loose, The four loyal agents and Watson were caught full-force by the blast and killed.  The jeep took minimal damage, being rolled to one side.  Stalson, who had been atop it, was thrown to the ground, but he quickly recovered and put another bullet through the shoulder of Sparks, who shot back at Stalson, missing.

Short took a shot at Richards, who managed to dodge, but ended up in the mud.  And then things turned for the worse.  The 0-8-4, screaming "WENDIGO!" crashed through the doors, scattering Sparks, Short, and Savage.  Zorya came back on the secondary channel to Rennaker and informed the agent that HYDRA was within the Observatory and that she had lost contact with Stephenson and most of the remaining agents.  Victoria retorted that she was a little busy and several of the agents, SHIELD and HYDRA both, fired at the Wendigo.  Unfortunately for Short, Wendigo was only angered, and the hulking white beast grabbed him by the throat and took a big bite.  Sparks prepared to use the distraction to kill Rennaker, but Stalson was ready and shot the traitor dead.  Savage turned on Wendigo, but missed.

Richards also fired on Wendigo, slowing it slightly with his Icer, but not stopping the raging force of nature.  Stalson fired a moment later, quickly followed by Rennaker, dealing Wendigo the first real damage it had taken since it had appeared weeks before.  Enraged, but shocked by the fact that it had been wounded, Wendigo rocked the jeep as the Agents ducked for cover.  It moved so fast as to have nearly vanished, as the agents could hear it retreating in the distance while crying "Wendigo!"

Stalson cuffed Calrissian, who was still under the effects of the Icer and Rennaker, Stalson, and Savage rocked the jeep back onto it's wheels.  Richards defused the C4 that had been planted by bravo and the team began the hour long drive back to The Observatory.  On the drive back, Zorya contacted Rennaker again, asking permission to patch in the entire team.  Rennaker agreed and the team was informed of events at The Observatory.  Agent Gott was locked in the communications room, trying to get the main channels back online.  Agent Ramirez was identified as HYDRA and cornered by two of Zorya's drones.  The other agents were still unaccounted for, but it appeared that Agent Dresden was the other HYDRA agent.  Zorya also privately informed Rennaker that most SHIELD facilities had been overrun, with only The Observatory, The Hub, The Fridge, and The Sandbox holding strong.  She added that there seemed to be an assault on the Triskelion by Captain America.  Rennaker relayed some of that information and Zorya informed the team that she would be allowing them in through the hangar bay and opening the main entryway as well in an effort to flush out the traitors.

Savage cut around the main entrance on foot, where he was backed up by two automated, motion-tracking turrets.  Stalson began cutting from the Hanger to the Armory (located centrally between three spoked wings of The Observatory).  He stopped briefly to check on Gott, who was securely locked in the communications office.  He then moved on.

Back in the Hangar, Rennaker and Richard had strapped the slowly recovering Calrissian to a wheeled dolly.  They briefly discussed their suspicions of Stalson, who had seemed to act a little too fast on HYDRA's revelations.  Rennaker began to shadow Stalson through the facility.  Zorya, whose drones had been hunting Ramirez, had them move in for the kill, and one of the two rogue agents was neutralized.

Stalson found no one in the armory and evidence that the bunks in the barracks for science staff had been ransacked, especially the one belonging to Richards.  He moved down the hall.  Rennaker checked on Sparks' bunk in the same barracks, but couldn't tell what had made her feel uneasy about it.  Stalson reached the lab after passing the body of Agent Patel, who had clearly been shot by the HYDRA agent.  He reached the doors to the lab and knocked, only to be answered by a shot.

He peered inside and saw Dresden, a gun trained on a heavily wounded Agent Stephenson and another on the door.  Agent Murphy appeared to be down and dead across the room.  Rennaker pulsed out the code that had played over comms earlier on the door and Dresden finally noticed who he'd shot at.  He opened the door and let Stalson inside.  He encouraged Stalson to help him get information from Stephenson.  Stalson looked like he might do it for a moment, but just as Rennaker arrived, he drove his combat knife up into Dresden's throat, killing the HYDRA agent.  Both SHIELD agents rushed to Stephenson's side.

The Agent in Command was clearly dying from several bullet wounds.  Rennaker had more training in medicine, so she stayed to try and keep him alive while Stalson rushed back to the barracks to get a better medkit.  Stephenson reminded Rennaker of their mission and left her in charge of The Observatory, a change Zorya quietly noted.  By the time Stalson returned and Savage joined them, Stephenson was dead.

The remaining agents, Rennaker, Gott, Richards, Savage, and Stalson all gathered in the lab for the moment, discussing the next plan of action.  Savage and Stalson both advocated for interrogating Calrissian, and Rennaker agreed, taking the first shot at it.  She prepared the interrogation room while Richards set to work restoring Zorya's ability to control all the systems of the laboratory wing.  Once the interrogation began. Calrissian hinted at knowing her secrets and hinted that HYDRA wanted The Observatory to try and get alien technology (to which Richards scoffed "there are no aliens, the Battle of New York was just modified humans").  He also hinted that someone still on the team was part of HYDRA.  The team began discussing what Calrissian had said when another problem cropped up.

In Washington, Agent Romanoff had begun dumping SHIELD's files onto the internet.  Zorya urged Rennaker to prevent the files on The Observatory from leaking with the rest of the data.  Rennaker assigned Zorya and Richards to lock that information out.  Somehow, Rennaker's own file seemed to disappear, too.  Unfortunately, Richards couldn't prevent most of the team's information from getting out.  With the team re-united, he began Googling the members, showing off his Academy records and Savage's old afro.  The team also discovered that Stalson had once had to destroy his hometown, as it had been invaded by some sort of reptilian insects that Stalson said could turn people into more of their number.  SHIELD had managed to keep it hidden until Romanoff leaked the agency's files.

The team resolved that they couldn't leave Wendigo on the loose and that SHIELD appeared to be broken, though it was hard for them to give up on the idea that they should try and regroup with what remained.  Richards offered that he might be able to discover a way to track the chemicals in the Icer rounds, and set to work on it.  Savage and Stalson headed outside to patrol the perimeter and make sure no other HYDRA surprises.  Savage admitted the desire to kill Calrissian and Stalson expressed a great deal of hate for HYDRA.

Eventually, those tasks were completed, and Savage and Stalson made a last attempt to try and get information from Calrissian.  Calrissian accused Stalson of being the other HYDRA agent, but Savage didn't believe him and when Calrissian couldn't give any information, the two agents killed the traitor.  Richards told the team he'd found a way to track Wendigo, but that it would only work until the Icer chemicals weakened enough in Wendigo's system to become undetectable.  That gave the team about 24 hours.  The geared up and took The Observatory's quinjet, headed to where Richards' tracking array said Wendigo was stalking back and forth in the woods...

Other posts on Agents of SHIELD

Fate of SHIELD: Part 7 - The Armory

Part 1 - The Observatory
Part 2 - The Mission

Part 3 - Sample Characters

Part 4 - The Show
Part 5 - The Drones

SHIELD has a fairly extensive collection of weaponry and ammunition, but not every item is available to every team at every moment.  Being the base of operations for the CANWEST response team, The Observatory stocks more than the standard compliment of arms.

Beyond the compliment of drones Zorya controls, the base boasts two other forms of automated defense.  First is a series of motion tracking guns at the entrance to the bunker.  The second is a set of blast doors scattered about the bunker, able to seal airtight at either Zorya's directive or on a dead switch.

The base's armory is centrally located between the three spokes of barracks (one ending with a hangar, a second with a lab, and third with the main entrance).  Should it be sealed, it would curtail movement through The Observatory significantly.

There is a 8-person compliment of assault rifles with according ammunition, three sniper rifles with several forms of ammunition (including explosive rounds). There are two-dozen assorted handguns and agents often bring their own sidearms when assigned to The Observatory. There are a similar number of combat knives kept in stock.  Zorya specially safeguards four specific singular weapons.  First is a SAM missle launcher, second is a repulsar rifle brought by Agent Stevenson, third is a vibranium sword, and fourth is a gatling gun.  Zorya jealously guards these items and only allows their use on mission with directive from Agent Stevenson or above.

For their most recent mission, CANWEST has been provided a compliment of 12 ICE-ers.  These items are currently all assigned to agents and are not present in the armory.

Part 6 - Roxxon

Camp Fate-zzly Epilogue

Depending on who you ask in our group, the aftermath of our characters' tragic adventure can vary a little bit.

In the GM's eyes (I think), Lacy and Karen (who hid out all night) were the only survivors.  Karen, who dodged most of the encounters with Otis, was traumatized but not destroyed.  Lacy, on the other hand, lost all her campers, her friends, her semi-reconciled sister, her new and first boyfriend, and almost died while severely injuring or killing a child.  She was ruined by the events at the camp.  And all signs point to Otis surviving.

A second running theory is fairly similar to the first, except that in it, Lacy is so traumatized by the events at the camp that she becomes Otis, killing people to save the psychotic delusion of Flynn she believes is real.

The third theory, which I subscribe to because I always believe in the triumph of good over evil, is as follows.  When the police reached Lacy, she managed to convince them to check on Flynn.  They got a paramedic helicopter to him and managed to get him to the hospital.  They found Otis's mask, but not his body.

Flynn was in the hospital for months and when she wasn't in school, Lacy was by his side.  Aside from Karen, they were the only two who could understand what they'd been through, so they leaned heavily on one another, and eventually married.  Years later, when the camp was foolishly re-re-opened, they visited to see if they could take down Otis once and for all.

A bit of commentary:

I really enjoyed Camp Grizzly, I think in large part due to the fact that we got a lot of interpersonal play out of it.  Because the villain didn't show up till towards the end of the second session, we were all focused on what characters and NPCs we liked and didn't like.  Because it was an 80's movie parody, we could all make pop culture references to amuse ourselves.  It was a good balance and while my Agents of SHIELD game is going to jump straight into the action, my hope is we can do some of the same relationship building over sessions.

And in case there was any doubt...

Camp Fate-zzly Part 3

The group at the van (Roger, Herbert, Flynn, Lacy, and about eight campers, including Kimberly and Gary the DnD fan) climbed over the tree and started walking.  Not much firther down the path, they spotted a bear trap and Roger disarmed it so they cluld take it with them.

Back at camp, Bubba the Lasy started gathering the remaining counselors and campers for a daring plan to escape across the lake.  The assembled group headed down to the docks as the storm broke and set about unsecuring the canoes.  Nervous but determined, they set out across the lake.

As the path before them continued to narrow, Flynn's group grew increasingly nervous.  They felt like they were being stalked, perhaps by an actual cannibal named Shia LeBeouf.  They eventually happened upon a cabin with what looked like Morris' jeep parked nearby.  Roger silenced the others and snuck towards it, only to be shot at by an old man and then chased by an orange-haired hillbilly clown.  Flynn, Herbert, and Lacy began to skirt the edges of the cabin's clearing, to try and get to the truck.

Bubba the Lady's group made landfall and ran to a nearby dorm, only to find the door bashed in and the radio sputtering.  Bubba used it to try and call the police to come and save the kids, but couldn't be sure if she was getting through.  And it was only moments before Otis arrived and she rushed back out to face the bear-masked killer.

Back at the cabin, Flynn's group were almost to the truck when the kids made a little too much noise and the shotgun toting elder turned on them.  Herbert made a run for the road as Flynn charged the old coot and hit him with a crowbar that they'd had in the van.  In the intervening moments, the old man had already fired off a shot, which wounded Herbert.  The angry chef turned and joined Flynn in attacking the man shooting them as Lacy tried to keep the kids out of the line of fire.

They circled and missed one another a few times, but eventually Flynn's mouthiness distracted the old man long enough for Herbert to get a solid blow in.  The old man nearly shot Flynn a moment later, but the teen managed to dodge.  Out in the woods, Roger was having problems of his own, as the clown chasing him was firing arrow after arrow ever closer to the outdoorsman.  Roger began laying snares and other traps to slow the clown, who managed to dodge most of them, as well as the bear trap, before scrambling into the trees.  Having led the archer clown far enough away, Roger began doubling back to help the others.

Across the lake, Otis grabbed onto Bubba the Lady and began dragging her into the water.  Bubba was a mighty lady, though, and turned the tables, pushing Otis under the water as the kids watched on from the shore.  For a time, it looked like she might win out, but as they drifted further out into the lake, the fight with Otis and the press of the water overcame Bubba.  Using her last burst of strength to drag Otis down with her and save the kids, Bubba the Lady died in the lake.

At the cabin, Flynn put the old man down for good with a solid blow to the head.  Unnerved, he yelled for Lacy to start the jeep with the keys they'd kept since the night before.  She managed to and got the kids in, but before Herbert and Flynn could join them, an arrow popped one of the tires of the jeep and the kids scattered.  Lacy only managed to keep three of the girls and Gary from sprinting into the dark woods.

Trying to find shelter, the teens ran to the house.  Herbert pushed the door open and Flynn got the kids and Lacy inside and told them to duck.  Herbert began checking the other rooms as Lacy and Flynn spotted Roger coming in from the tree line, badly hurt by an arrow in his leg.  Before either could go to pull him in, the door on the other side of the house opened to reveal Dawn.  The asthmatic little girl rushed to Lacy, declaring "You're my new mommy!"

Herbert came across an old woman in the den, who almost immediately attacked him with an axe.  He struggled to stay ahead of her as she swung the blade at him, only just narrowly avoiding being disembowled.  Meanwhile, Dawn declared her hatred for Flynn and explained that her father was named Jeremy, the true name of Otis.

As Herbert managed to wrestle the axe from the old woman and kill her, Lacy left Flynn with Dawn momentarily to pull the struggling Roger into the safety of the house.  The outdoorsman paused a moment to scoop up the old man's fallen shotgun and its single round.  Reassembled the teens, and cook, headed upstairs to where Dawn claimed her room and her fathers were.

Herbert and Flynn kicked in the locked door of Otis' room and were treated to the grisly site of Shelly and Kevin's remains.  Flynn demanded that Lacy and the kids stay away, quickly closing the door as Herbert searched the room for weapons.  He found a large meathook, which he gave to Lacy after wiping it down and emerging from the room.  They opened the door to Dawn's room and used her blankets to make bindings for her.  Roger began carrying the girl, keeping the shotgun menacingly close, as they were all afraid Otis or the archer would return any time.

They descended and began edging towards the jeep, but the archer was waiting.  He shot Roger repeatedly, causing the teen to spasmodically pull the trigger of the shotgun, killing Dawn in turn.  Flynn used his imposing presence to scare the kids into running for the jeep and everyone but Flynn managed to get in.  And it was then that Otis arrived as the archer clown scrambled down from the roof and ran to a nearby shed.  On his way, he put another arrow into the jeep, blocking the door nearest Lacy from opening.  Herbert managed to get the jeep moving, though it was slow and awkward.

Otis continued to close in and Flynn still hadn't made it into the jeep.  With a gathered force of effort, he slung himself into the back, hefting the crowbar.  Otis closed quickly on the slow moving jeep, and began slashing at the kids.  Flynn swung his crowbar, missing, and Otis took the opening to haul him from the jeep.  Lacy screamed in horror for the boy she now called her boyfriend, but Herbert listened to Flynn and kept going.  Moments later, the clown archer burst from the shed and gave pursuit on an ATV.  Otis began dragging Flynn back to the house.

Sensing his end might be near, Flynn began using all his skills at word play to enrage Otis, first at the now-dead Roger and then at the archer who had inadvertently caused Dawn's death.  Flynn had hoped it might give him a moment to slip away, but Otis managed to cuff him to a radiator.  Otis mangled Roger's body and then returned to Flynn.  It looked for a moment that he might kill Flynn, and he did bring an axe down on Flynn's shoulder, but his rage at Dawn's death got the better of him and he went after the archer and the jeep.  Flynn quickly began trying to free himself.

The jeep broke down at a bridge a little ways away from the cabin.  The bridge itself seemed weak, so Herbert was quick to take the kids and get moving to the other side.  Gary was stuck, though, and Lacy had to pull him from the jeep, leaving them exposed as the archer arrived on his ATV.  With quick thinking, Lacy and Gary rolled under the jeep as the archer got off his ATV and hurried after Herbert and the girls.  They heard the girls and then Herbert scream and then all was quiet.

Lacy and Gary stealthily made it to the woods only moments before Otis arrived.  In his rage, he killed the archer and then mysteriously vanished.  Lacy convinced Gary to stay hidden and determined to go back for Flynn, despite Gary's assertions that the teen was probably dead.  Lacy managed to make a tense and quiet journey back through the woods without being caught by Otis.

Flynn, meanwhile, had engaged with another of Otis' returning children, Don.  Don was furious at his dead family and tried to throw knives at Flynn, narrowly missing.  Flynn, fueled by adrenaline, nearly pulled the radiator from the floor, but his injured shoulder gave out.  Just as Don was looming over Flynn, Lacy arrived and incapacitated the evil camper.  As she tried to break Flynn out of his handcuffs using the meat hook, Otis smashed through the window and almost grabbed Lacy.  She managed to scramble back and as Flynn swung wildly at Otis to fend him off, Lacy managed to get the other teen free.

Otis was at the doorway already, though.  Flynn rose and hissed for Lacy to run while putting himself between them.  Otis was nearly about to overpower Flynn when Lacy slashed him and gave Flynn an opening to shove Otis back outside.  Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, as Otis managed to scramble up, and put an axe blow into Flynn's chest.  The teen crumpled, gasping to Lacy that he loved her.  Things looked bleak for the girl until the sound of an ATV echoed through the clearing.  Gary arrived, hitting Otis with the vehicle.  He managed to get her on and they roared back to the bridge.

Unsure that the bridge could take the added weight of the ATV, they began to run across, but Otis had already caught up to them.  Lacy made it to the other side, but Gary turned and declared Otis "shall not pass!"  He jumped and the weight of the jeep, Otis, the archer, and Gary made the bridge collapse.  Gary made a desperate grab for Lacy's hand, but missed and he plummeted to the river below.  Moments later, the police arrived to find a sobbing Lacy.  Otis' body was never found...

Camp Fate-zzly Part 2

As Flynn returned to the camp, a chorus of screams rang out from the girls showers.  Several of the counselors ran to see what was happening, while Flynn beelined back to Lacy.  Flynn and Lacy discussed the idea of slipping off for a little alone time, and Flynn suggested a trip into the woods he'd just visited.  They made it out to a secluded spot and were ready to get more intimate when Morris' voice came over the PA demanding Flynn come to his office.  It turned out the screams had been from Johnny spying on the girls.  The pair briefly debated skipping out on the summons and leaving the camp, but Flynn's better urges won out and he headed back.

Lacy followed along, not wanting to be apart from Flynn but Morris was none too happy with Flynn, threatening the slacker with being sent away and bad reports relayed to his school and parents.  Flynn, growing increasingly angry at Morris, decided to lie and lie big.  He pointed out that Johnny had been off his watch since Flynn had been out on the nature hike.  He said outright that he hadn't told Johnny he could go off on his own and that he'd been focused on his other campers, which Lacy backed up on.  Morris decided to let Flynn off with a warning.

Morris explained that the counselors needed to secure the barn and that there were reports of a storm rolling in.  Beyond that, he mentioned that Shelly and Dawn still hadn't returned, nor had a few others that had gone out.  Morris intended to go out and get supplies for the storm and left Wes in charge.

It was lunch, so Flynn went to supervise while Lacy went to do her assigned task doing arts and crafts with the campers and making decorated pinecones.  Down at the lake, Roger was serving as lifeguard.  One of the campers, cruelly named Lunchbox, was pushed "accidentally" into the water by Kevin, who was showing off a bit in front of Tracey.  Roger jumped in and saved the chubby kid  Roger's list of people he didn't like was steadily growing.  Bubba the Lady met Steve's other lady-friend, Saffron and became fast friends with her, as well.

Once those tasks were complete, the counselors were assigned storm-prep tasks by Wes.  Roger and Tracey were to tie up the canoes, Chet and Jason were to supervise campers, Karen and Lacy were to secure the girls cabins, Kevin and Flynn were to check the boys cabins, and CJ and Bubba would lock up the sports equipment.  The others would help as needed and keep looking for the missing campers and Shelley.

Flynn and Lacy only finished a portion of their task, then made excuses to go and find one another.  They planned to find a place to be intimate, starting with the barn, which gave them both a bad feeling.  Eventually, they came up with the idea of asking Chet, whose family owned the camp, for the key to Morris' office.  After a little bribery and a bit more lying, they managed to snag the keys from Chet and made off to the office.

Bubba the Lady, in the meantime, had been helping CJ get the campers rounded up before heading down to get the equipment stowed.  She saw Herbert McSherbet, the camp's cook, being quite mean to the kids, including Lunchbox, who'd missed dinner.  The two began to argue and a full blown fight came close to breaking out, before Wes dragged Herbert off to Morris' office for some discipline.

Which meant, of course, that they walked in on Flynn and Lacy.  Herbert used the distraction to take off, as Wes tried to focus on the teens.  He stepped away to let them get themselves decent, and instead Flynn blocked the door and they continued.  Eventually they stopped and Wes had a chance to blow a gasket.  He walked them back to the kitchen, where Herbert had gotten involved in throwing away the kids' dessert.

Roger and Tracey took the arrival of more counselors as a chance to head down to the dock and tie up the canoes.  Jason and Chet had confided in him their plan to head back over to the girl's camp again and Roger was intent on getting his revenge.  He left one canoe free for them, with a little bit of sabotage.  In the meantime, Chet and Lunchbox went missing, leaving Jason to plan alone.

Tracey pulled Lacy aside and informed her twin that Flynn had never had a relationship with Tracey.  This enraged the nerdy teen, who planned to confront Flynn.  Bubba and CJ rather uneventfully cleaned up the sporting equipment as the storm began to roll in.  Angry at the management of the camp, and maybe trying to distract Lacy from her anger, Flynn began to put together a plan to steal Kevin's van and head back to town.

While making a last sweep, CJ and Bubba found blood and followed it to find Chet stabbed near the barn.  They hurried back to the dining hall to warn the others.  Roger checked the clubhouse quickly to see if Lunchbox was there, but he wasn't and the outdoorsman was ready to head back and check in.

In the dining hall, Herbert started to tell a horror story with the intent of scaring the kids.  Flynn, still annoyed, decided to flicker the lights to add to the effect, but when he flipped them, the power went out.  Flynn, was ready to use that as his cue to leave, but was convinced by Lacy to stay and look after the kids.  Wes decided to head out to fix it just as first Bubba and CJ, then Roger, got back with the bad news about Chet.

Meanwhile Roger formed a second search party with Bubba and Herbert to go out searching.  Roger found Karen where Lacy had left her and she returned safely to the dining hall.  The search party turned theur efforts to rescuing Lunchbox.  Tracey tried to continue her reconciliation with Lacy.

With the news of Chet's murder, Flynn returned to his idea of leaving.   He gathered Lacy, Kevin, and Tracey, organizing them to take a group of kids, head back to town, and send the police back.  The others agreed and gathered a large group of campers.  Lacy expressed concern about a lack of seatbelts in the van, but Flynn glibly replied "Don't worry about it, it's the 80's!"  She didn't think that was much of a justification, but was too concerned with leaving to argue much.

The van had sunk into the mud from the heavy rain, so the group planned to have Lacy drive while Kevin and Flynn pushed.  As they braced to push, Otis struck, dragging Kevin under the van and stabbing him.  At almost the same time Roger and Herbert arrived, having left Bubba to search for Steve and Saffron who'd gone off to get high.

The two extra men helped force Otis to retreat and the group went to a shed to try and find something to help the van out of the mud.  Roger and Herbert began to argue, which almost came to blows until Tracey, stamding by the window, was grabbed from outside by Otis.

Roger dove to try and save her, but was pushed away and left with a concussion.   Meanwhile, Bubba found Steve and Saffron.  The hippie girl was dead, causing much weeping by Bubba the Lady and Electric Steve.  They determined to honor her by stopping the murders.

Herbert, Flynn, and Roger rushed back to the van where Lacy was waiting with the kids.  Otis beat them there, though, throwing Tracey's head st the windshield of the van.  Their arrival and Flynn's bravado seemed to scare Otis away.  Quickly, the pushed planks under the vsn's wheels and pushed it out of the mud.  With Lacy at the wheel, they headed out.

Not too much later Bubba the Lady and Steve got back to the dining hall, informing CJ and the other surviving counselors that Saffron was dead.  The kids remaining began to cry in fear.  Steve wanted to abandon them with Bubba, but she refused and when he got hysterical knocked him out and hid him so she could protect them.

In the van, Lacy had gotten her group to the bridge away from camp, but the rushing river has knocked it out.  Roger spotted a narrow service road, so they turned down that with Lacy carefully navigating the dirt path.  That is, unitl a giant redwood blocked the path...

Camp Fate-zzly Part 1

A few weeks ago, one of our regular players decided he wanted to run a Fate session based on the board game Camp Grizzly (itself based on 80's horror movies).  We pretty quickly made characters along that theme and jumped in.  This should be a two or three part recap of the play.  Because the game leans on horror movie tropes, it gets pretty gory at some points and there are adult situations, so be warned.

I played Flynn Kaden, Mosh Pit Skacker.  Despite all his bravado, he secretly Wanted To Be A Better Guy.  His other starting aspects were Rude And Crude and Secretly Smart.  Joining Flynn as new counselors at Camp Grizzly were Roger, the outdoorsman; Lacy, nerdy sister of Camp Grizzly's Tracey; and Bubba the Lady, new handyperson at the camp.  The cast of the board game were represented as NPCs.

The game began with the kids (and Bubba the Lady) hopping on a bus up to the camp, where they'd take roles as counselors.  At a gas stop, Roger and Flynn, who had already become somewhat antagonistic towards one another, got off the bus to stretch.  Bubba the Lady went inside the small diner and got some pie while hitting on a waitress and patron.

Lacey was content to stay on the bus until Flynn tapped on her window and began to pester her into coming out.  Eventually she did, just to see what the slacker wanted so badly.  It turned out, of course, that he mostly wanted to see if he could get her off the bus.  Around that time, an old man drove by yelling at them that there was a madman at the camp, who'd kill them all.  The kids shrugged him off and were back on the bus in short order.

They arrived at the camp and met CJ, who led them down to meet with Head Counselor Morris.  He introduced them to the other present counselors and assigned them tasks, including which campers in their cabins to watch out for.  Flynn, who'd already taken a dislike to Roger, purposefully chose the nature hike so that the hillbilly couldn't.  Lacey ended up doing arts and crafts and Roger was left with swimming.  Bubba the Lady was off to help get the camp buildings and generator squared away.

The more experienced counselors told the newcomers about tonight being the last night of freedom before the campers arrived, and began inviting them on the activities of the night during dinner.  Flynn ended up talking to Jason and Chet, who invited him on a panty raid over to the cheerleader camp.  Meanwhile, Roger chatted with CJ and Shelly and Lacy stared daggers at Kevin and her sister Tracey.

After a bit, Flynn offered to get Lacy a beer and she agreed; he also bragged about having a relationship with Tracey, which may or may not have been true.  Chet tried to move in on her as she got increasingly tipsy, but Flynn scared him off.  Lacy was greatful to him and seemed to have developed an infatuation from the fact that Flynn was paying attention to her.  Jason and Chet brought up the panty raid again and Roger overheard, managing to get himself invited.  He headed down to the docks early to wait for them, so that he wouldn't be left behind.

Flynn ultimately turned Jason and Chet down for the panty raid, which left them one person short of being able to fully man two canoes.  They ganged up on Roger, telling him none of the canoes would fit three and left him to struggle alone.  Ultimately, Roger had to turn back as Jason and Chet continued on their escapades.  He began plotting his revenge.

Meanwhile, Bubba was getting to know Electric Steve, who was equally interested in Bubba and getting a little high.  He showed Bubba the Lady back to a private area, where they got intimate.  Lacy and Flynn headed back to the cabins, and when they got to Lacy's she invited him inside.  In the terms of the game, they tempted fate then and Lacy changed her aspect from "Horny Virgin" to "Horny for Flynn."

Everyone fell asleep for the night and when the camp wake up call sounded early in the morning, the counselors tried to adjust to their new life.  For Flynn, this meant sneaking out of Lacy's cabin.  He managed to do it unseen, and everyone headed down to meet the campers as they arrived.  Flynn met Johnny, who had a reputation as a peeping tom, but pretty much immediately turned the little brat loose on the camp, far more interested in what he wanted to do than keeping the kids in line.  Almost everyone settled in or breakfast, except Johnny, who was already up to no good.

Lacy met Dawn, who tugged at the teen's heartstrings with her asthma and weakness.  As luck would have it, Dawn was on the nature hike with Flynn.  Flynn, whose urges to be a better guy were kicked into overdrive by his budding relationship with Lacy, ended up watching out for Dawn most of the trip, until Shelly came back and relieved him of that duty.  The group, minus Dawn and Shelly, made it back to camp with no major incidents.

Fate of SHIELD: Part 6 - Roxxon

Part 1 - The Observatory
Part 2 - The Mission

Part 3 - Sample Characters

Part 4 - The Show
Part 5 - The Drones

The activities of the Roxxon Corporation don't have the splashy headlines of Stark Industries, Hammer Technology or even SHIELD.  They have become quietly ubiquitous, though.  They are great proponents of the Keystone Pipeline and maintain logging camps throughout Canada and the United States.  Their agribusiness has focused heavily on GMO foods throughout Kansas and Nebraska.  Their technology department has been at the forefront of efforts to recreate past super solider programs for the US Armed Forces.  Their Chairman, Hugh Jones, moves with the most powerful politicians on the world stage.

Opponents of Roxxon can list a litany of offenses.  They claim much of Roxxon's logging occurs at the edges, and within, protected wildlife sanctuaries.  Roxxon has been accused of manipulating oil prices to increase their own profits, even as they accept sizable tax subsidies from several governments.  Others point out that former Roxxon executives serve on the FDA panels which oversaw the approval of Roxxon's GMO foods.  The Brand Corporation, Cybertek, and Metrobank have all been question for their ties to Roxxon, especially in the wake of explosions at several Cybertek facilities.

Recent reports out of Canada speak of a devastated logging camp torn to pieces by a mysterious figure.  While a few news organizations are claiming it is international terrorism, most have attributed the destruction to disgruntled eco-activists.

Part 6 - Roxxon
Part 7 - The Armory

Fate of SHIELD: Part 5 - The Drones

Part 1 - The Observatory
Part 2 - The Mission

Part 3 - Sample Characters

Part 4 - The Show

Zorya's drones have minimal programming and nearly non-existent decision making ability.  The AI serves as their brain and often can seem to treat them maternally.  She is not, however, afraid to sacrifice them in a time of need.  By far, Zorya's Camera Drones are the most common, with easily a dozen of the tiny robots hovering throughout the compound.  Maintenance Drones are the next most plentiful with a half-dozen managing the day to day repairs of The Observatory.  There are three Service Drones, each dedicated to one of the three crew areas within The Observatory.  Only two Defense Drones regularly patrol the entrance area of The Observatory.

Name: Maintenance Drone
High Concept: Fixer of Things
Trouble: Brainless
Phase 1: Work, Work
Skills
Good+3: Crafts
Fair+2: Investigate, Notice
Stunts 
Mechanical Focus: +2 to Crafts to repair Observatory systems

Physical Stress: OO

Mental Stress: -

Refresh: -

Zorya's Maintenance Drones are about 16 inches by 12 inches and essentially rectangular.  A multitude of arms can fold out of their box-like structure.  They have a single repulsor engine in their base which allows them their locomotion.  A single camera lens allows them to identify necessary repairs.

Name: Camera Drone

High Concept: Eye Spy

Trouble: Brainless and Brawnless

Phase 1: Always Watching

Skills

Good+3: Notice

Fair+2: Investigate, Stealth

Stunts 

Sensor Suite: +2 to Notice while inside The Observatory

Physical Stress: O

Mental Stress: -

Refresh: -

Camera Drones are the smallest of Zorya's apparatus.  They are essentially baseball-sized and covered in cameras.  They have repulsor drives on six different points on their bodies, allowing them quick multi-directional movement.

Name: Service Drone

High Concept: Your Wish, My Command

Trouble: Directionless

Phase 1: Information, Food, or Weather?

Skills

Good+3: Rapport

Fair+2: Lore, Notice

Stunts 

Zorya's Mouthpiece: +2 Lore when interfacing with Zorya

Physical Stress: OO

Mental Stress: -

Refresh: -

Service Drones are the largest of the drones at The Observatory.  They are essentially mobile laptops on an adjustable boom above a base with treads.  Two arms may fold out of them so that they can complete tasks, such as cooking, to aid the human occupants of The Observatory.  They are the least complex of the systems within the facility, but they have the strongest connection to Zorya.

Name: Defense Drone

High Concept: Zorya's Lightning

Trouble: Only a Gun

Phase 1: Fire at Will

Skills

Good+3: Shoot

Fair+2: Provoke, Athletics

Stunts 

Coordinated Assault: +2 to Shoot when working in concert with other Defense Drones

Physical Stress: OO

Mental Stress: -

Refresh: -

Defense Drones are essentially a pair of machine guns atop a repulsor array.  A globular camera housing sits in the middle of body of the drone, giving them a strong range of visibility.  When they are attacked (which has only happened in tests, thusfar), Camera Drones will swarm the area and share targeting data in order to get the best accuracy.

Part 6 - Roxxon

Part 7 - The Armory

Fate of SHIELD: Part 4 - The Show

Part 1 - The Observatory
Part 2 - The Mission

Part 3 - Sample Characters

My goal is to keep Coulson's team well away from my players, (and hopefully they'll be too busy to try to get in touch) but they do exist in the same universe.  And it's a fun activity for me to come up with aspects for them.  Plus when I went looking for them, I couldn't find anyone having statted them up.  So I went ahead and did so.  I'm trying to keep spoilers mild, but...

WARNING: SPOILERS!!! (especially for Ward)

Name: Phil Coulson

High Concept: The SHIELD Agent

Trouble: Tahiti Is a Magical Place

Phase 1: This Is My Team

Phase 2: Don't Touch Lola

Phase 3: They're Worth Saving

Skills

Great +4: Rapport

Good +3: Shoot, Fight

Fair +2: Will, Physique, Athletics

Average +1: Deceive, Drive, Contacts, Investigate

Stunts 

Well-traveled: +2 to Contacts when in a place where he's had past missions

Back From The Dead: Once per session may spend a Fate point to downgrade a physical consequence

Lola: Honest to goodness flying car.

Physical Stress: OOO
Mental Stress: OOO
Refresh: 3

Name: Leopold Fitz
High Concept: Youngest SHIELD Academy Graduate
Trouble: Just a Bit Awkward
Phase 1: I'm Fitz, She's Simmons
Phase 2: Hi-Ho, It's Off to Work We Go
Phase 3: A Trained Monkey Could Do This
Skills
Great +4: Lore
Good +3: Craft, Contacts
Fair +2: Notice, Investigate, Drive
Average +1: Resources, Will, Empathy, Deceive
Stunts
Best Mobile Lab Around: +2 to Craft and Investigate when working in his lab
DWARF Drones: May at the beginning of a scene declare that his drones are there in his place, alternately may pay a Fate point to have them join him
Lateral Thinking: +2 to Investigate when following up on a wild theory
Physical Stress: OO
Mental Stress: OOO
Refresh: 3

Name: Jemma Simmons
High Concept: Ace SHIELD Scientist
Trouble: I Just Have To Get My Hands On It
Phase 1: I'm Simmons, He's Fitz
Phase 2: There's the Soliton Hypothesis...
Phase 3: It's Science! I Have to Dissect Something!
Skills
Great +4: Lore
Good +3: Crafts, Investigate
Fair +2: Empathy, Will, Rapport
Average +1: Contacts, Deceive, Drive, Notice
Stunts
Simmons, Bio-Chem: +2 to Craft and Investigate when working in her lab
Analytical Mind: May use Investigate instead of Notice
Academic All-Star: +2 to Rapport with other scientists
Physical Stress: OO
Mental Stress: OOO
Refresh: 3

Name: Grant Ward

High Concept: Once SHIELD, Now HYDRA Killer

Trouble: Is It A Weakness?

Phase 1: I Try to Mask My Pain in Front of a Beautiful Woman

Phase 2: You Brought Me on for Risk Assessment

Phase 3: Yeah, It's Kick Ass, All the Violence

Skills

Great +4: Shoot

Good +3: Fight, Will

Fair +2: Physique, Athletics, Deceive

Average +1: Stealth, Drive, Notice, Investigate

Stunts 

Bolt Holes and Drop Boxes: May use Contacts in place of Resources to obtain mission-related equipment

Deep Cover: +2 to Deceive about his true intentions

Uncanny Accuracy: Extra free invoke on aiming related advantages

Physical Stress: OOO
Mental Stress: OOOO
Refresh: 3

Name: Skye
High Concept: New-to-SHIELD Hacker
Trouble: Who Am I?
Phase 1: Can't Stop the Signal
Phase 2: I Prefer the Term Hacktivist
Phase 3: 100 People with 1% of the Solution
Skills
Great +4: Rapport
Good +3: Lore, Craft
Fair +2: Empathy, Will, Investigate
Average +1: Contacts, Shoot, Fight, Notice
Stunts
SHIELD Armories: May use Contacts in place of Resources to obtain mission-related equipment
Crowdsourcing: May use Rapport for Contacts when trying to solve a problwm through teamwork
White Hat: +2 to Investigate when using digital media

Physical Stress: OO

Mental Stress: OOO

Refresh: 3

Name: Melinda May

High Concept: SHIELD Bus Driver

Trouble: The Cavalry

Phase 1: Zen Warrior

Phase 2: I'm Ready to Kick Some Butt

Phase 3: You Guys Talk a Lot

Skills

Great +4: Fight

Good +3: Physique, Will

Fair +2: Stealth, Athletics, Shoot

Average +1: Deceive, Drive, Notice, Investigate

Stunts 

I Am a Weapon: Unarmed Weapon 2

Mind Over Matter: May spend a Fate point to convert one physical consequence to a mental consequence

Berserker Staff: May spend a Fate point once per scene to gain +2 to Fight

Physical Stress: OOOO

Mental Stress: OOOO

Refresh: 3

Name: Antoine Triplett

High Concept: SHIELD Specialist

Trouble: I've Been Betrayed

Phase 1: Grandson of a Howling Commando

Phase 2: Brains and Brawn

Phase 3: I Bring the Noise and the Funk

Skills

Great +4: Fight

Good +3: Shoot, Athletics

Fair +2: Will, Physique, Rapport

Average +1: Lore, Drive, Contacts, Investigate

Stunts 

SSR Gear: May spend a Fate point once per scene to produce an item handed down from his grandfather

SHIELD Legacy: +2 to Lore about SHIELD or its enemies

SHIELD Armories: May use Contacts in place of Resources to obtain mission-related equipment

Physical Stress: OOO

Mental Stress: OOO

Refresh: 3

Name: Deathlok (Mike Peterson

High Concept: Cyborg Superhero

Trouble: Let Me See My Son

Phase 1: This is My Origin Story

Phase 2: I'm Ready to Kick Some Butt

Phase 3: You Guys Talk a Lot

Skills

Great +4: Fight

Good +3: Physique, Will

Fair +2: Notice, Athletics, Shoot

Average +1: Deceive, Drive, Resources, Investigate

Stunts 

Trample: Once per scene, when you succeed with style on a create advantage roll with Physique and place an aspect on an opponent, you may exchange one of your free invocations for a 2-shift hit on that opponent

Super Computer: Free second invoke of any advantages referencing his computer

Backscatter Device: +2 to Notice if performing no other actions

Physical Stress: OOOO

Mental Stress: OOOO

Refresh: 3

Part 5 - The Drones
Part 6 - Roxxon
Part 7 - The Armory