#cue system

Cue System : Cosmic ➠ Valiant ➠ Anarchy!

Coucou mes p’tites patates théâtreuses! Le Cue system… Qu’est-ce donc que cette diablerie? C’est du jeu de rôle, mes p’tites patates, ce loisir qui nous fait nous prendre pour des elfes ou des vulcains- c’est pareils, oui – et qui nous plonge dans l’épouvantable addiction aux dés dotés de faces anormalement nombreuses! Le Cue system est tout simplement le moteur des jeux édités par Catalyst game…

Cloaked and covered head-to toe, with a full-faced mask, Hafiz speaks in a breathy, low tone. It's obvious he uses amplification in his mask to make himself heard. He explains the situation as Nalan drives the team to the entrance to Akicilik.

"A few of my brethren were harvesting our crop when they heard something on the wall behind them. It turned out to be sledgehammers - breaking through the wall. It seems we have been discovered - we're unsure by whom, but there has been some recent construction on the street level."

Upon arrival to Akicilik, the team observes that the "brethren" includes a number of ghouls - and given his covering, they conclude that Hafiz is likely one as well.

They check the hole, now abandoned, and Tiku's newly-summoned earth spirit starts to patch it up. As they further discuss the situation. Hafiz all but begs them to help make sure they are safe; to check on the team that found them, and to hide them if necessary.

Melon, finding it difficult to connect from underground, moves back to the street and snoops on the communications and cameras around the construction site, finding that there is some vague chatter on the subject, and a good amount of personnel and machinery on site.

Kix informs Jotun of the situation, his conversation with Nalan having been interrupted by the arrival of Melon (and her new-found infatuation - or maybe confusion - with the Technomancer). Jotun is, understandably angered by all of it, as Tiku is doing the opposite of hiding - he's patching the hole, and has just started warding the area.

Almost on command, the chatter blows up about the new, and rather powerful, astral presence. Security may be on its way, and the team decides evacuation is the best idea. Kix, of course, had suggested this at the beginning and lets the team know that.

In hopes of a distraction, Jotun calls Ivar and asks for some violence directed at the construction area. Iron Legs tells him to give him a minute but comes back soon with a question: "How do you feel about mortars?"

The Akicilic are getting more nervous by the minute, but are drilling into the nearby sewer in order to form an escape route. They are waiting for the signal from The Security Team, but preparing admirably. Some are gathering what crop they can, others are gathering what posessions they can.

Melon's various hacking attempts are unsuccessful - it seems there is more security presence than when they began. However, he still has access to the communications - and finds that the Corporate Strike Team is one minute away.

Tiku makes the call to evacuate, Jotun calls in the mortar strikes for Ivar's contacts, and Hafiz turns up his amplification to inform the rest of the commune. Chaos ensues, but the evacuation goes well for the moment. The Akicilik start through the sewers along with Tiku, and Kix. Melon and Nalan start back toward Yeni in the van, Melon trying to convince her to head back in order to better his connection in his current battle with a security decker - from Mitsuhama.

The strike team arrives just as the mortars do, and Jotun decides it's finally time to abandon his guard post in the commune's tunnels. He rushes through, collapses the escape route behind him, and runs after the group of 60+ individuals.

There is something brewing, however. A large, dark, powerful magical presence some distance away has started growing tentacles. They extend quickly, and detach, becoming some form of serpent, and they're coming for this group.

Tiku throws up a quick-and-dirty ward, while Kix takes cover and readies her AK. Jotun walks calmly into battle, axe glowing, and the serpents arrive.

The first engulfs and traps Jotun, while the rest attack the ward, unable to get through for the moment. Gunfire, axes, gnashing maws and lightning are the order of the day, damaging the nasty unknown enemies while the ward holds true until the last moment.

The team is victorious, but the Akicilik are shaken. They cower, scream, and cry, unsure of what just happened, but they follow the team and Hafiz to their new home - an abandoned subway station.

In the aftermath of the Vandals fight, there was much to take care of.

Tiku locked himself in the basement of the Madrassa to study the posessions of the dark mage, assisted by his free-spirit contact Creases the Sky. They look into the artifacts, and identify that it's probably a very powerful free spirit, and a corrupted one at that. The artifacts are carefully warded, and placed away from the rest of the commune.

Kix checked into her drug-dealing, gaining additional help in selling her product at the next rave. They think they have a good plan for undercutting the competition, and are going to be agressive in doing so.

Melon looked into the Elven Weapons Dealer that was previously supplying the Crimson Vandals. He discovered a very binary character - family focused, protective, and smart, but at the same time dangerous, potentially violent, and depraved. He's careful about his public appearance, both in the meat and the matrix.

Jotun went about his security duties, checking on the recent additions to Yeni. All seems well, for now. He also talked to Ivar Iron Legs, who needs some help with a couple local go-gangs. Jotun suspects mind control.

Amidst all this, there is a meeting of the larger Anarchist community of Istanbul, and a trip to the Grand Bazaar. Jotun acquires some throwing axes. Tiku goes to his favorite Talismonger. Kix checks in on known dealers (and finds nothing). Melon scouts out a building which is frequented by The Elf - and finds it secure and mysterious.

The meeting goes as usual, and there are discussions of Anarchist philosophy as well as more specific problems and solutions of day-to-day life as farmers and conscious community members. In the middle of one such discussion, a masked and covered man from an underground community called Akicilik quickly stands and answers a call.

Maggie, concerned, goes to check on him and finds that there is an issue - their community has been discovered, and they are worried for their safety.

Vignette (n)

a) a short descriptive literary sketch b) a brief incident or scene (as in a play or movie)

...

Tonight, I'll be offering my players the choice of "Vignettes" rather than a group-focused Event Brief. These will be more individual-focused events rather than having to proceed as a group. Kix has her drug-dealing, Jotun has a contact worried about an impending gang war, Tiku has magical research to do do with a contact, and Melon has information coming to him about the arms dealer who was supplying the Crimson Vandals.

I've run Shadowrun in this manner before, but I'm still a little nervous in terms of running Anarchy. I think this should be done in individual scenes - I'll set the scene for each player, and give the proper cues, then I'll take turns with the players whose characters are involved in the scene. We'll still go in turn-order, but I'll get a narration between each player (if necessary), in order to change the scenes.

The other players will, of course, still be able to use plot points to add to the narration, and will be encouraged to do so.

Our last session went so well.

SO. WELL.

Part of the reason it went well is, I think, because most of it was combat. Combat is easy. There's a clear goal. There are clear enemies, and most of my players know how their characters react in combat.

But the other part of it was because I provided context, and that's incredibly important when the players have as much control as they do in Shadowrun: Anarchy. The more they know about the world around them - NPCs, settings, motivations, etc. - the better the narration they provide.

In this particular session, I provided context in a couple ways: Cues and Location Cuts.

Location Cut is a term I've come up with for a scene that's going on at the same time as the current player-character-focused narrative, but in which the characters have no direct involvement. In our game it was an NPC originally created by my players, who was sitting with other (more off-the-cuff) NPCs, and discussing the enemies that PCs were currently fighting.

The conversation provided context, of the meta-information variety. They players now knew more about who they were fighting, and could create a better story with that information. In our case, it also provided some "practice" taking turns in narration. The players didn't have any particular attachment to the characters involved, and created the right story for the information they had. I think this translated to the later narration that involved their player-characters.

The other part - Cues - provided more specific direction for their narrations. As I mentioned in a previous post, I discoverd that other Cue System games ACTUALLY INCLUDE CUES DOESN'T THAT MAKE SENSE IN A SYSTEM CALLED THE CUE SYSTEM WHAT THE HELL CATALYST WHY WHY WHY WHY WH...

Okay, calming down now.

In my preparation of "contract briefs" for future sessions, I've taken to providng cues for each scene, as well as the brief as a whole. When it's appropriate, I'll give the players the cues, and I encourage them to ask me to remind them as necessary (I've even thought of writing them down, hardcopy-wise, and passing the card around the circle).

This means that I take the first narration, set the scene, maybe take some NPC actions, and then provide the cues for the scene. What's interesting is that I can also reveal cues as the scene progresses. A player might succeed at a perception test, and I can give them more cues. Or they may chase an NPC to a new area, where additional cues apply.

It's a really interesting way to run, and I think we'll enjoy it a lot.

At the end of our last session, a few of us were talking about upgrading Shadow Amps. Kix's player asked about "Extra Pips" and I replied that I thought it was broken as hell and won't allow it.

She was confused, and asked about my reading of it. Specifically, I read it as "4's on the applicable skill(s) now hit", and Tiku's player agreed that, as I read it, it would be busted good.

Kix's player, however, read it a different way: "One 4 on the applicable skill(s) now hits".

We left our intrepid heroes(?) on the ramp down to the basement level of a parking garage, intent on taking out the Crimson Vandals. Three shots had been fired, despite the presence of mind control magic. Tiku, out of the corner of his eye, recognizes some of the graffiti - signed Beadlehead.

...

Back at Yeni Ankara, Jayne - a.k.a. Beadlehad - sits with some friends. He is downtrodden and despondent, lamenting the recent, sudden change in his friends. "They used to be friendly. Sure, they were protective - they'd beat the drek out of anybody who messed with them - but never actively aggressive. I don't know what to do."

"That's just what the streets do to you," comments a graying human man in tattered business clothes. "It was inevitable."

Jayne is defiant. Disbelieving. "No, I don't believe it. Something happened."

A young street punk comments that it might have something to do with the woman that's been with them. Jayne doesn't recall until that very moment, but starts flipping through pictures and video - spotting her nearly everywhere. He wonders aloud whether he should talk to the Security Team - Jotun, Kix, Tiku and Melon.

But another friend comments that they may already be dealing with it. In a panic, Jayne sends a message to Jotun.

His only reply is a video of him running down the ramp, dodging gun shots and drawing his axe. Above him is a clearly visible tag - "Beadlehead", crossed out in the Crimson-encircled V of the Vandals.

...

Chanting in Or'zet, Jotun engages with Squid - the large and heavily-armored leader of the Crimson Vandals. He lands one blow with his signature axe, while Kix takes pot shots from cover - none landing, but destroying cover in the process.

Tiku commands his spirit to "Geek the Mage", and overrides the mind control effect on Squid. Melon mostly spams messages - "THEY'RE MIND CONTROLLED. DON'T HURT THEM. MIND CONTROLOOOOL"

After the mage reveals herself, the team converges on her. Jotun, Bill (the air spirit), Kix, Tiku, and Melon all focus their energies on her, and the need for self-defense overrides the need for mind-control - the mob mentality spell drops, and the Vandals realize what they're doing just as they miss a rocket, setting the place on fire.

Defenses blown, the mage attemps to make a run for it, nearly making it into the sewers, but Jotun follows, running down the vertical surface and straight into the mage. He knocks her unconscious, and brings the body up to the top...

... where they realize it was an illusion. Somehow, the mage has switched herself and a random Vandal. She attempts to slip out amongst the chaos of the fleeing Vandals, but runs straight into Melon.

Melon, in a panic, follows as she runs. The clever Technomancer realizes she'll be running past Tiku's truck, and opens the door at the exact right time, knocking her on her ass. He jump on top of her, attempting to distract and disable, spamming her 'link with AR feeds and holding her down with his own weight.

In a last show of strength, she gathers the mana around her, and shoves Melon 30 feet into the air - just in time for Jotun to arrive and put his axe through her head.

The team cleans up, disposing of the body and taking her posessions. They leave the garage to burn, but save the unfortunate Vandal who they mistakenly nearly killed. They arrive at Yeni, and get the Vandal - Abby - into the capable hands of Ava.

Tiku settles in for a couple days of research. The mage's grimoire, as well as her other possessions will be interesting to him, and his Free-Spirit contact Creases the Sky.

Kix takes the truck to Nalan for repairs - specifcally for the mage-sized dent in the door.

Melon makes arrangements for Tiku to have food delivered, and in the process decides a picnic might be nice - if it were with Nalan. He asks, and though she doesn't know what a picnic is, and has repairs to do she says yes, and then have a picnic in the back of the truck.

guys

my dudes

all my people