Hospital 911 AAR

“Speed is of primary importance.”

That’s the last thing you heard the Captain say as you led your team out of the SWAT van. That and …

“You’re on your own.”

The situation is a “disturbance” at the Emergency Room of a hospital located in a large US city. This isn't out of the ordinary for a place known on Friday nights, as the Metropolitan Gun & Knife Club.

But this one sounded different. Hospital security had made a 911 call and dispatch had sent out a couple of cruisers, but then it got out of hand. That’s when they called you and your four-man SWAT Team.

It wasn't until after you were inside that you saw just how different this would be.

Only five more days left to join the Hospital 911 Kickstarter.

Welcome to Free Ports - And a Bottle of Rum AAR

This is the first adventure using Free Ports, the And a Bottle of Rum supplement. It's the story of Arthur, a newly commissioned pirate captain, working for a wealthy merchant in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy. Arthur arranged a deal where he was given command of a small 5th Rate ship called the Misguided Virtue. 

Free Ports has 15 Encounters in the book some linked, and some not. All can be used over and over with different results. We pick up our story with the Misguided Virtue arriving at Puerto Libre, a small Spanish controlled town; the seat of the local government.

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Being a controlled town (New Market, the other town in Free Ports, is a loose pirate haven) all captains must report to the Port Official when they arrive and present their papers. 

Arthur, Carl (the Chief Gunner) and Diego (Pilot) take a small boat to the docks. Usually pirates would attempt to enter the town at night and never sail their ships under the guns of the forts during the day. But Arthur has faith that the newly rechristened Misguided Virtue will not cause a stir. With such a small crew and no visible additional guns, she looks like a small merchantman.

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Each town in Free Ports has an Area Map like the one that first appeared in 5150 Urban Renewal. Here's the B&W version of Puerto Libre. The South Docks are used for non-military traffic so that's where the Virtue lands. Arriving in the Day Time means the Activity Level (3) is lower than the morning but there are still many (4) PEFs moving about.

Unless the PEF resolution affects the adventure I'll just leave it or make a small reference.

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After speaking with a few citizens, the trio make their way towards the Port Official's office. The main office is farther in town but Arthur hopes what he needs can be handled down at the docks.

As Arthur goes inside Carl and Diego wait outside, ready to run or sound the alarm should the Watch head this way. Once inside, Arthur must take a People Challenge to interact with the Port Official. Except he's not in!

Arthur is told that the Port Official does not work out of this building but can be found at his office in the Government Area. "If you're lucky you can still catch him there. But if you can't, here's temporary papers that will last for 24 hours."

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This is Arthur's first time in Puerto Libre so I had him go to the Harbor Master building to find out where the Port Official office was located.

I then had him take a People Challenge versus the aide that was there. As he was interacting with the aide and not Senor Gomez, the Port Official, In tweaked the People Challenge results. The consequences of failure would be the same, but I tempered the success to reflect the lack of power of the aide.

Scoring a result of "recruit" I interpreted that to mean he could gain temporary papers that would be adequate for 24 hours should he be questioned by the Watch.


Arthur's goal is to find a smuggler known only as El Pelican. Where is he? To find out we use the Where Are They Table - Puerto Libre. This represents asking around for the location of someone. This saves time as you don't need to play out an encounter and it also drives the story, making up the details for you. Here's how it works:

1. I refer to the table in the book.
2. I go down the column to the Circle and Profession I am looking for. All of the Classes from And a Bottle of Rum have been incorporated into Professions and similar Professions grouped into social Circles.
3. Going to the Smuggler row I see that Smugglers can be found in the West Side during the day but at the Docks at night.

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Arthur decides to wait until nightfall, instead of heading deeper into Puerto Libre. If he's lucky he may find El Pelican before the morning and not need to see the Port Official. It's better to wait by the docks and near the ship in case of trouble. The trio head for a nearby Inn to grab a meal and some drinks while they wait.

"Tommy Run" Machinas/ Urban Renewal Crossover AAR

Previously

Here's an AAR of how Machinas - Death Races in the Wasteland can be used with other THW games. In this case Urban Renewal. Somewhere outside New Hope City.

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Billy Pink is a Rep 5 Star. This gives him 10 Attribute Points to divide between the three Machinas Attributes. I choose 4 Savvy, 3 Tech and 3 Speed. The game starts with Billy rolling down a straightaway. He's intercepted by Wasteland Warriors - Gangers. I roll 1/2d6 and score 2 Gangers.

I roll up the info on the Gangers and their vehicles, lay out the info as a Dashboard for each vehicle, and roll to see in what spots they are on the road. Billy, as he is being chased, is in the 1st spot, the blue Ganger the 2nd and the green Ganger the 3rd.
As the Bonus Cards are used they are discarded, each card equal to 1d6. As the Attributes are reduced. we flip the cards to reflect it.

As the Gangers are Non-Players, the game mechanics will run them.

Each turn starts with the Challenge Phase.  The chasing vehicles roll to see if they can pass or move forward. The tail end Ganger can.

Even though the blue Ganger won't contest the pass, the green Ganger must still roll for success.

You can pass more than one vehicle in Machinas. The green Ganger continues on and tries to line up an attack on Billy Pink. Both cars roll dice to see the results. It's a combination of Savvy and Speed with each car getting 1d6 for each point of Savvy and an auto success for each point of Speed.

 They bash but to no effect.

 Next turn the Gangers roll to pass and this time both are successful.
It's called the Pass Phase for short but it includes lining up the target to shoot at it or bashing into it.

 Each driver has Bonus Dice that they can choose to use, or in the case of the NPCs , they are rolled for. The green Ganger successfully lined up a Bash but I used 5 (half) of my Bonus Dice and gained an advantage. Scoring 3 more successes than the green Ganger caused him to lose control and wreck.

 The blue Ganger evades and tries to line up an attack  but can't.

 The Challenge Phase sees the blue Ganger move out to pass. As Billy can't fire backwards he's at a disadvantage. So I try and drop back (pass) and slip behind the blue Ganger. This is resolved as if passing, but in reverse. The blue Ganger rolling badly also helped!

 The Twin 50s cause damage to the opposing car, it loses one Speed or one auto-success. Time to attack!

 Billy goes for the Bash.

 And succeeds.

There are rules for stopping and salvaging parts from the defeated vehicles. Normally Billy would do that but that increases the chance of more Gangers. Besides, he has a job to complete.

In Honor of the Upcoming Free Ports -

We revisit the following free scenario for CR 3.0 and And a Bottle of Rum.

Machinas shipping today!

15mm Hospital 911 Kickstarter for ATZ-FFO is live!

Check it out!

"Tommy Run" Part Three - The Employer

This happens an hour after this AAR.

Billy leaves the Casino and it's time to check PEFs again, Each time you leave a building during an encounter you restock the PEFs outside to the starting number. It's also a new Day Part so there's five PEFs to resolve. I use the optional PEF resolution and have a couple of nothings, a couple of Exchange pleasantries and potential problem. Police.

When you meet a NPC, if they are the same Profession as someone you've met before, roll 1d6 to see if you have met them in the past. If you score a '1" you have. Billy rolls a "1" and he has. two cops actually. Rolling at random he gets lucky and scores Kay Dee and not Calzak. For more info on how each knows Billy take a look.  

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Billy makes his way to his seat and the fight begins. His perspective Employer sits down next to him and the interview begins.

Billy left the fight, took City Transit back to his Condo in the Financial District. Nothing to do not but wait.