Game Report - Wearing the Cape Beta Playtest - Session 2

Two new Heroès Sans Frontières heroes got a big problem with a Verne Chieftain in Africa

• GM: Fábio Emilio Costa
• Players:
• Rafael Sant'Anna Meyer as _Blackstar_ (Type: Dragon);
• Jean da Silva as _Quimera_ (Type: Metamorph);
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I had GMed yesterday Wearing the Cape for two players: one with a Bosnian Dragon from Sarajevo called Blackstar and another with a Metamorph based on the game Prototype called Quimera (Chimera in portuguese). I GMed the adventure The Verne Chieftain I put sometime before here in the playtest community.

They came into Sierra Leone and were presented to Roque Santeiro refugees’ camp. There, Diana talked about their station, mission and so. Their first mission was something that was simple enough, escorting a convoy with supplies and new refugees for Roque Santeiro from Freetown airport. They received the people and supplies from an Antonov cargo airplane comissioned by RAF (English Royal Air Force). Blackstar did a check for seeing for spies and so, and she tied, so she received a Boost, that she used before an Conflict.

Blackstar and Quimera left the normal warriors for the UN Blue Berets and took chance against some D-Class Ajaxes. They had some problem, specially when Quimera Compel himself for a narrative detail, as he’s a Utopia Corporation Runaway Prototype , which I chosed to use by putting him under a more powerful stance based on Quimera background (she was used as an experiment with a Vernetech virus to give people powers). Anyway, they have not too much problems.

I decided to skip over the camp attack and go direct for the Investigation part of the adventure. Diana declared they where at Class B Intervention Protocol and splitted the local HSF between the activity. Blackstar and Quimera started bby getting with a local tribe for clues. They had some problem, speciall they are Islamic and even Blackstar also being Islamic, she being a woman they didn’t want to speak with her. Quimera (that although originally a she, now uses a masculine form) came in help and they did their way, taking a clue on for a local Witch Doctor (a Merlin) that was selling the Breakthrough Enhancer Drug (BED).

In the city, Blackstar had a Success With Style into a Contact check, and she found an old time acquaintance, a Weapon Smuggler that had gave her the clue about the Witch Doctor. When they came and tried to talk with him, they felt the consequence of a Success with Cost in the tribe, when they were found and confronted initially by Panther, one of the Elite Four for the main villain (they didn’t know in the moment).

It was when Blackstar called that she would “go first on the son, then on the father”. I triggered Panther Aspect, that changed into a leopard, and fought Blackstar… She was able to stop Panther, and we did the first negotiation: he turned into a Double Agent for the players, and they provided him with an Experimental retroviral for Panther’s daughter (that is infected by HIV). After receiving the retroviral, Panther talked and gave to the PCs clues about the Elite Four.

Diana confirmed Panther’s info about the Elite Four and they go for another of the Elite Four, Kilimanjaro, and they get into for Kilimanjaro’s tribe and family. While she was talking with Kilimanjaro’s family (at that time, Quimera’s player had to get out the adventure, and Quimera was posted into Roque Santeiro’s security), the player had been Successed with a Cost, and Kilimanjaro shown herself and a conflict started. Although the thunderbolt she took straight in the chest, Blackstar didn’t fought and opened herself for Kilimanjaro and she came for the reason. But he had did it via a Success with a Cost. I spared the cost for another time.

By this, she discovered that Derek, the Verne Chieftain, had not be able to build another installation anyware to create BED (because of the Vernetech). But anyway, Kilimanjaro were up for helping.

Blackstar had able to discover Derek HQ and they were ready for getting into. Blackstar had been put the infiltration team, with Diana, Corin, Squirrel Girl (Lesley Dimantas, a medic and metamorph), and two extra heroes: Sugarplum, a Merlin with Glamour-based powers for illusion and elemental control, and Jiminy Cricket, a 9-year kid with the strategist mind of a Mastermind and the power to call the good feelings over other’s heart.

They started the inflitration andf have a first fight, but they had bad luck in the dice and, although won, they had taken some consequences. Next level, they were not the same luck and Gave in after Jiminy Cricket was took by one of the Super-Goons as part of a Epic Fail, and they were took to Derek’s main room.

There, it had a kind of James Bond moment where Derek presented himself and gloated his plan for the Heroes, and also I revealed my on-hold Cost on the Success with a Cost for Blackstar: Panther and his daughter and Kilimanjaro were taken as hostages. Then he sent them for a below level, there was a like of a Thuderdome arena, where lots of Goons was put (I gave 4 for Blackstar), however she had more strategy and some help from Diana and Sugarplum, while Corin take the normal guys and Jiminy Cricket used Bellax Analytica to help the team.

They had found a way to get back Kevin’s room and they did a big negotiation, with help of Jiminy Cricket with his Pretty Please power. They could not fight back because Panther and Kilimanjaro and Panther’s daughter were still hostages. But Blackstar with the help of Jiminy Cricket they convinced (by taking a Success with Style) to surrender himself, after all (she could not win HSF heroes by himself).

In the end, we had some critics about the system:

• The Opposition Dice in opposed rolls left me (as a Narrator) without some options for the GM Cheat for when things get over and potentially goes wrong. Maybe in conflict the GM should have the idea to “roll on screen” Defense. For other actions, like Investigations, this sounds very cool, but in conflicts the letallity level goes really amok;
• I felt also a little complex to solve damage on-the-fly, if I don’t not the WR/AR previously, so it’s somewhat difficult to create on-the-fly mooks;
• In the character creation, a good thing should put the “normal” Stunts near the Power Stunts, maybe after the Type descriptions;
• The Powers are somewhat mismanaged (you see Heavy Hitter either as a Power Stunt for Ajaxes and as a “common” stunt);
• Maybe you could create more Power Stunts and put them on a group of “common” Power Stunts, like you did for Superhuman Attribute and things like that.
• As a tip, I think the Sentinels should goes into a Appendix.

The setting was considered a good point by the group, although some of the guys thought the setting could be not that directed for a “thing”. But they loved the Roque Santeiro, and all the things. They loved the setting, but the thing was a little with the system, but we thought (all) there’s lots of potential (I didn’t was part of Phase I playtest, so we could not say how much the system changed).