Athventurecon 4 after action report.

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Crimson Cutlass: The Band of the Crimson Wave had risen high - Athventurecon 2 and 3 saw them gain a long lost global map, make allies with a Spice Cartel from a hostile nation, and open up a new source of lumber - then they refused a direct order from their King.

Thus, what they built began to be torn away. The loss of Royal Letters of Marque were a surprise. Their latest shipment of saffron refused delivery, and they wandered into a contested zone between two countries. They had managed to keep the news of their outlaw status from the company of King's Men attached to their ship. Then, in the warzone the master of soldiers got herself captured, and her XO by mercenary band "Athenry's Maniacs" attached to Avalon. In the battle to rescue her, both sides took losses, but, in the end, the mercenaries joined the crew and swore loyalty.

Dr. Nyx had taken command of the ship's company after the capture of Black Nell. Nyx decided she wanted to retain command. Nell wanted her troops back. The soldiers split their loyalties, and battle broke out with the varied PCs choosing which commander to support. The battle ended when Moridin detonated a powder keg below decks which eliminated Dr. Nyx's faction.

Magnanimous in victory, Nell and Captain Morgan trained all in mock combat games. (GM letting everyone do two rounds of Gamingly so the PCs could get some Swaggering for the Climax Battle). Cabin Lad Jim brought the session to a halt when he shot out the rope supporting the mainsail. Meaning Fiona the Unhangable and her ship, the Fifth Noose was able to grapple unopposed.

What do you mean no one put out the fire below decks from Moridin's actions earlier and The Crimson Wave was burning? Several Aces in a row brought the group right up to Fiona. The Swaggering duel was intense, but the nine cats who burst from Fiona's cabin acted as minor antagonists who, more often than not, tilted the battle in favor of the players. Fiona was driven back into her cabin, and, when the cats were cleared away not Fiona, or one cat could be found.

And the fire on the Crimson Wave was put out.

On return to Eire the Ship's company was ordered to arrest the players. Surprise! The King's men were mostly dead. Their uniforms were worn by the members of the Manics! The Crimson Wave and Fifth Noose sailed off into the sunset with Castile as their destination.

Next year they will learn their actions sparked war between Castile and Avalon. Between that and losing an entire shipment of Saffron, their Castile allies...are no longer allies.

7 players (and the Referee) had a good time.

Battle Born:

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Cruz Band -- Sgt. Paul Pepper, "John" the Skia Tech-Ninja, "George," the Cimmer DOC, and a compliment of Cruz RINGOs (Recon, Intercept, N-close Assault, Gunner, Ordinance) started off dropped against Stygians who were interfering with Project Silver Hammer at Upsilon Sigma Sakai Research. The battle went poorly. George - who, as a Cimmer would only treat wounds honorably earned in battle ("Mishaps are your own problem.") ironically ruptured his suit joints, increasing the criticality of his wounds. Despite commendation-earning performance from RINGO 1-I "Zak" (who did not miss a single Tasking Star Point or ECM in the entire session), George died bathed in plasma. George could only say "I deserve this" as he sautéed in his Suit. The smell of cooked garlic and mushroom made the RINGOs hungry.

Father McKenzie (Chaplain: Church of Ono) was a fine replacement.

And so the squad set off to rescue J. Waxmell Walker and his assistant Doctor Robert. They failed to recruit Ob-La-Di the Feligh, but survived the non-linear, hallucinatory time space distortions in the interim lab on the marmalade sky world Lamda-Sigma-Delta-1968 to retrieve Waxmell and Waxmell's Silver Hammer. They survived the Kraken on Omicron-Gamma 1968, where they found Dr. Robert, being abducted by a group of nine mutant Stygians. They were very short, none were blue, and, for some reason, naked.

Still, the mission assignment was only to retrieve Waxmell's Silver Hammer. Mission accomplished. Back to the U.S.S.R. to smash he Stygian blockade. Did the players stick around for the test of the Hammer? The Stygians urged the players to not let Waxmell activate. A device intended to create Wormholes? The players may not have read the Era 10 background, but remembered the events of Lands-Sigma-Delta and heeded the Stygian warning. They tripped away as the Shockwave of the exploding Hammer arced across the system.

Of course the Squad was blamed and court martialled. Assigned to drop against the Kro? Not really a punishment when that's already you day job.

Deja Vu... Wasn't this last year's mission? No. Last year the Kro were the antagonists.

5 players (and the Referee) had a good time.

Magical Kitties Save the Day: an Atlas Game, not a Better Game. You are CUTE, you are CUNNING, you are FIERCE! You are a kid friendly Magical Kitty and you have a human you protect without letting them know you are magical. All the kitty krew's humans were missing. They were found in "Labyrinths and Lunch," a game store run by a benign but misguided witch. The kitties tried to stop the warring Kingdoms of Games from their ceaseless battles over prime display place and had to rescue their humans from the enchanted games in which the witch had placed the humans in the mistaken belief they would be happier trapped in worlds of fantasy.

The kitties rescued humans from Crimson Cutlass (where they saved their human, in the guise of a pirate queen from being slain in her cabin by manics), and Battle Born (where their confused human "More Stygians, but short and naked?") was rescued from a crashed ship in danger of being crushed by a Kraken - they escaped before the troopers arrived. Good thing, too, because even Magical Kitties do not want to face plasma.

Two players had been in the Cutlass game and three in the Battle Born. Ok, one who had been in both was Laura. Either way, someone appreciated the metahumor.

Behind a wizard summoned wall in an alcove on a Wiz War board another human ("Magical Kitties? Must be one of Tony's custom cards") was found. The humans managed to lure the two wizards into the same hallway where they were more concerned with each other than the kitties.

A fourth human rescued from jail in a Monopoly Board while the car token tried to run them over, the dog token tried to bite them, and the boot token tried to kick them. A lucky CHANCE card got the kitties to the exit portal on GO!

A fifth human was pulled out of a line of victims waiting to be Guillotined. It was almost Family Business. Both Guillotine and Fam Biz are about not being executed.

The players finally figured out they could reach through portals and pull things out of the games (not the humans). Removing the steel ball and plastic cage Mouse Trap had no real hazards. They just had to get across the board. Along with the human were all the varied "problem games" (Call of Cthulhu, Cards Against Humanity, etc) King Candyland of the Kid Game Kingdom had locked away. Not good for the game store civil war...

Except the players were able to convince Brigid the witch that trying to help humans feel better about life by trapping them in game world was still kidnapping, and that enchanting the games to organize their own displays want exactly a brilliant time saving idea.

8 Players - three of whom returned after Cutlass or Battle Born (OK, one was Laura) and the GM had fun.

Finally, Laura and I played an upcoming system called Fey World. Rules? Obviously pulling from the D&D school. Game background? Author spent 15 years researching European folklore to write it. It's a game I'd get to steal ideas from an put into a more elegant rule set. Still, we figured out who was stealing from all the Magifactories. By the end of the game I'd figured out just enough to max my character abilities. The other five members of the party had their hands full with one goblin (Norse style, Red) while I managed to convert a defensive spell into an auto-hit attack and subdue the second untouched goblin, single handedly, in two combat rounds in a move the GM said was the most clever skill/spell combo to come out of the system in all testing and play. Almost like I spent my teens and 20s trying to abuse every system I played? In defense of the other players, two other players had poor dice (our witch rolled several nat-1s on different d20s in a row in a run even RUSTY would pity).

Anyways, five players (and a GM) had fun. As I type the post con pints are dying down.

Yours,