Storymaker #2

I laid out another spread of the Storymaker deck and opted to try and create stories again. I chose to mix things up a little and instead of Blades in the Dark, I went for Action Potential, a Forged in the Dark game set in the far future that I ran for a little while before my Catalyst writing project began. Either way, here we go again!

Hook – Desolation
Shadowrun – The lore of Shadowrun has all sorts of desolate places, but I opted for something relatively “close to home” for this one and went with Glow City, out in the Redmond Barrens.
7th Sea – One of the most desolate and unforgiving places I can think of in the 7th Sea setting would be in the Ussuran wilderness…
Action Potential – There is a lot of desolation in deep space, but I went for something that most would choose to ignore. I named a solar system the Kerguelen System (named after desolate Antarctic Islands on Earth), also known as Dark Rock 642. A former mining colony whose planet was destroyed from over-extraction by the Dark Rock company.

Subject – Politics
Shadowrun – While there isn’t a whole lot of politics going on in Redmond, Sonya Scholl has been the mayor of the city for a long time, so she was an obvious choice.
7th Sea – Civilization is spread pretty thin throughout Ussura, so the closest thing to a politician in the middle of nowhere would be a Boyar (land owner) for a local village.
Action Potential – The sole remaining planetary body in DR 642 (the locals call it simply Kerguelen) is tired of the corporation exploiting their lands and treating them as disposable labor and a revolution has begun to try to overthrow the local President.

Action – Free
Shadowrun – Sonya is not as young as she once was and her guard detail has gotten complacent. Someone has kidnapped the mayor and the city council is worried about the missing politician (likely because no one else wants to manage the mess that is Redmond).
7th Sea – The local Boyar has gone missing and the people of his village are worried. The time of the annual blood tribute to Matushka is only days away. If the leader of their community does not pay tribute to their protector, misfortune might befall the entire village.
Action Potential – The Dark Rock Corporation is none too thrilled by the employees rising up and trying to become independent. The leader of the uprising was captured and imprisoned and the locals want them broken out of the local prison.

Allies – Witness
Shadowrun – Finding people willing to talk in Redmond is often a hard sell at the best of times. If the runners play their cards right, they can find help in an unlikely source: the Rusted Stilettos. This increasingly unstable group was none too amused to see others attempting to hide within the glow of the old reactor.
7th Sea – No one knows the Ussuran wilds better than the Woodsmen and Hunters of the area. One or more of them heard the cries of someone being dragged off into the deep wilds.
Action Potential – Outside of the corporate complexes, the scoundrels can find allies in the settlement leaders and the laborers of the planet.

Threats – Authorities
Shadowrun – The powers that are behind the abduction are the local crazies: The Halloweeners. While they don’t have a bone to pick with Mayor Scholl, per se, they are interested in causing carnage to mask the pyromania they wish to inflict.
7th Sea – The local Douma (Senate) officials are interested in snatching up more prime hunting grounds (even though Matushka provides, no matter how much land you control). The Boyar was content with his small hunting hamlet and refused to give up his pocket of land.
Action Potential – The threat here is the “rightful owner” of DR 642: the Dark Rock Corporation. They have soldiers all over the planet and run the local prison.

Bonus – Blood
Shadowrun – (Threats) The Halloweeners want to generate more virulent strife between Scholl and the dragon Urubia. They kidnapped the mayor to steal small amounts of her blood in order to leave her DNA at various sites of sabotage around the Funhouse.
7th Sea – (Subject) The Boyar’s blood is needed to avoid bad harvests and potential starvation of the village.
Action Potential – (Allies) the corporation made an example of the workforce (even those who didn’t participate in the attempted liberation) and killed several personae in a display of intimidation.

Shadowrun
The team is contacted through their usual channels to speak with their fixer as a proxy for a Mr. Johnson (the local politicians would likely be recognized). The mayor of Redmond, Sonya Scholl has been kidnapped and carried off into Redmond. The Johnson requires the runners to pursue the kidnappers and bring back the mayor alive. The team is forced to deal with the violent, gang-laden culture of Redmond in pursuit of a lead, eventually heading to the edge of Glow City, where the mayor is a pawn in a local gang’s scheme to sow anarchy.

7th Sea
The Heroes are exploring the wilds of Ussura when they encounter a small hamlet. The locals welcome the foreigners into their homes and share the bounty of the hunt, but after a night of merriment and alcohol, the locals express their fears about the coming of the tribute. Every man, woman and child is to donate a drop of blood to Matushka, but the local Boyar was recently set upon by creatures in the night and dragged into the wilds. If the tribute is not completed, misfortune will come for the entire village. As Heroes venture out to find the missing man, they must battle the elements, endure Matushka’s tests and ultimately confront a local tyrant bent on claiming the village after Matushka’s Will is exacted.

Action Potential
The scoundrels are contacted their one of their associates, who tells them of a distant Dark Rock world where the laborers witnessed one of the planets shattered in the company’s greed and wish to throw off the corporate shackles to save their world. They need their recently-captured leader freed from the local prison to help re-invigorate the revolution. In return, the people of Kerguelen would be indebted to the crew and offer them safe haven whenever they needed a place to lay low after a score.

~ by 1nsomniac on May 8, 2024.