Merli Basmi Reloaded - Another Re-statted Character from the Night City PD Campaign

So seeing as the Winter post was such a huge hit.  I decided to get off my but and re-stat Merli, Winter's partner and fellow SIFT-Div detective.  For those of you were awaiting this and you know who you are.  There you go I'm a man of my word.  For those of you who have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, I refer you to this link here.  So without further ado let me tell you about Merli.

I think Merli's player would appreciate the humour in his
character being portrayed by Will Smith.

Merli Basmi was born into a large Corporate family of Brazilian origin.  His parents worked for Biotechnica, and died when he was a child.  They were smart though and made sure that their children would be provided for in the event of their demise.  Merli and his siblings were raised in a Corporate creche for the rest of his childhood.  (In fact he became incredibly attached to one of the nannies working there seeing her as something of a surrogate mother.  She remains an important part of his life even though he is now an adult).  Merli possesses a genius level intellect and a doctorate.  Yet he chooses to work as a Detective for the Night City Police Department.  You read that right, not as a Forensics Specialist or Pathologist as a Detective.  He routinely does his own autopsies and lab work, rather than pushing the work onto the already overworked NCPD Crime Lab.  Needless to say he's regarded as something of an eccentric.  Nobody doubts his skills though, as he has proven himself a capable investigator in both Narco and Homicide.  He was a natural choice for a special unit such as SIFT-Div.

Merli has an interesting origin in terms of character creation.  Instead of playing a pre-gen since he was a first timer Merli wanted to generate his own character.  I remember it took up most of the first session of the campaign (and is partly the reason I now have a Session 0 policy), and took many a strange turn.  It started with me reading out the available roles for Cyberpunk 2020.  (This was before I stopped using the roles, and switched to more free-form style).  I figured he'd seize upon a Solo or a Cop, you know a combat role since that's what most first time RPG players want to do.  Is just kill stuff.  Nope, he decided he wanted to play the party's healer.  In this case that meant playing a MedTech.  Yeah it kind of threw me for a loop.  How do you explain a MedTech being part of a police unit?  It's not like they're Edgerunners who can't afford to explain to the hospital how they got shot.  It's a question that never really got answered and I just rolled with it to save myself the hassle.  The stuff about him being a Pathologist was more an explanation Winter's player and I came up with in between games.  That we never really remembered to share with Merli's player.  Everything about Merli was odd.  He actually had a +9 in Driving, why?  Your guess is as good as mine the player just wanted to invest the points that way.  He also didn't originally have any Cybernetics (due to the player wanting to actually play before the session was over).  The player actually ended up creating his own personality type for the life path for Merli.  Intelligent and outlandish.  It fit his as well as the jumpsuit he wore over his corporate business suit.  Like I said Merli was an odd guy.

Whoever made this poster could've made it about Merli's
work situation with SIFT-Div.

Yet in spite of all of that.  He was the one sane man in SIFT-Div.  May sound hard to believe but it's true.  His partner Winter was an ex-cyber criminal, not much better than a spoiled brat.  Who was so obsessed with Johnny Silverhand that she would've abandoned Merli if someone offered her a chance to go to a Samurai concert.  (An event that never came up in game, and for that I'm somewhat grateful).  Then you had the leader of SIFT-Div (whose name escapes me now) who was a Machiavellian schemer.  Who basically used SIFT-Div as his own personal hit-squad.  And was only able to get the unit because he blackmailed the mayor of Night City.  In hindsight Merli may have been crazy but you know compared to his colleagues he was the voice of reason.  Now while I said he was the voice of reason, that doesn't mean he didn't do some pretty dumb things in his career.  The crowning achievement being practically kidnapped by a drug-dealer and then being beaten by said drug dealer's cook with a rolling chair.  Now to be fair Winter was supposed to keeping an eye on him so she could tail the drug dealer and Merli after they left Club 404.  But that's a story for another time.

I'm actually quite happy with how Merli turned out this time around.  Other than some adjustments to his Social stats (COOL, ATTR and EMP) to fit his personality more and a boost in Reflex.  He's pretty much the same in terms of Stats.  As it turned out 2 Luck was the correct amount for him since he had a bad habit of getting the short end of the stick.  He was Murtaugh to Winter's Riggs.  I've also taken the liberty of giving him the Cybernetics he was missing in his first incarnation.  Which I gotta say was kind of hard to do.  Since R. Talsorian seemed to make Cyberware more with Solos and Netrunners in mind than MedTechs.  His skills have also been adjusted to better suit his police training.  Most notable being the addition of the Rifle skill.  Much to my regret Merli and Winter were issued a shotgun for some additional firepower which was constantly being left in the stake-out van.  Due to the fact that neither of them had the skill to use it.  As I mentioned before he's gotten a little bump in his Reflex stat so he'll be a bit more combat effective.  Since more often than not he was the primary combatant in the partnership.  Largely due to the fact that the person who planned to play a Solo dropped out before the first session even started.  I've also given him the Nightmares disadvantage to reflect an event on his life path regarding an accident he had.  An accident that I don't remember ever being specified.

Merli Basmi

INT: 10  REF: 7/7 TECH: 8  COOL: 7  ATTR: 8  LUCK: 2  MA: 6  BODY: 5  EMP: 7

RUN: 18  LEAP: 4.5  LIFT: 200  SAVE: 5  BTM: -2
DAM: +0  REP: 3 (Just an eccentric Cop trying to do his job)

Alienation Check: 7  Skill Points: 62

Skills: Awareness/Notice +5, Biology +6, Bureaucracy +3, Chemistry +4, Diagnose Illness +6, Drive +3, Education & General Knowledge +4, Expert: Forensics +3, Handgun +5, Human Perception +5, Interrogation +5, Know Language: English +8, Know Language: Portuguese +8, Library Search +2, MedTech +2, Persuasion & Fast Talk +5, Rifle +2, Streetwise +2

Advantages:
Bilingual Background 4 SPs

Disadvantages:
Close Personal Tie (Former Nanny) -2 SPs
Nightmares -2 SPs

Cybernetics:
Cyber Optics (with Image Enhancement, Micro-optics, LowLite, Infrared) 3  2430 EB
Chemical Analyzer                                                                                         4  200 EB

Gear: 
Concealable Armoured Vest (Consult the Datafortress 2020 NCPD Sourcebook)
Shoulder Holster
Armalite 44 Semi-automatic Pistol (equipped with 911 chip, cookie cutter and gun cam)
Street-tech "Burst"
2 spare magazines of 12mm ammo
Badge, Police ID (Acts as a marker for NCPD cookie cutters)
Officer in Distress Button (Consult the Datafortress 2020 NCPD Sourcebook)
2 sets of Plascuffs
Evidence Kit
Notebook
Medkit

Anyways that about wraps it up.  I'm very happy and proud of my work here.  I feel so much better about this version of Merli compared to how I felt when we first rolled him up.  Lately I've been thinking about re-statting and roughly detailing some NPCs as well as the first adventure from the NCPD campaign.  Which I ran Merli and Winter's players through.  If you'd like to see that be sure to +1, re-share, follow this blog and comment down below.  Until next time have a nice day and may you roll many crits.

Winter Hyland Remastered - A Re-Statted PC from Night City PD Campaign

So today I thought I'd do something different.  Rather than a writing about a campaign idea I may have had or character concept I'd thought up.   I thought I'd tell you about an old Campaign I once ran and one of the PCs that was involved in that game.  It was back in High School I had just left my first gaming group and struck out on my own.  With the intention of playing games other than Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition.  I'd run a few games of Boot Hill (which was my first non D&D love when it came to Tabletop RPGs) but those had been poorly received.  Clearly the group I started out with enjoyed Roleplaying for different reasons than I did.  So I made the decision to start my own group and run games with them.  Not an easy task at a Catholic High School in a small town in Canada.  It wasn't exactly a breeding ground for players.  Somehow I did manage to get something that resembled a group together.  Though a large part of the recruitment was done by the one friend I'd been able to talk into playing with me.  The rest of the group was made up of co-workers and acquaintances of hers.  In the end it ended up only being her and one of her co-workers that actually played for long.  (One actually left after character creation and never came back, the other never showed up to character creation and proved to be a problem player when he did finally show up.  The single friend from high school who I'd recruited's brother showed up for one session.  Only to get his character's arm blown off by his own grenade!)

This is basically what I had in mind when I was thinking up
this campaign concept.

Now what was the campaign you ask?  Well around this point of my life I was watching a lot of Countermonkeybard videos.  Specifically the ones about Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun.  The idea of playing augmented cyber-criminals intrigued me.  Of course as you may have noticed I never do things the easy way or the way it was intended.  Also around this time I really into Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex (I didn't see the Film until my later teens/early twenties).  It was pretty much the only contact I'd had with Cyberpunk as a genre.  And if I'm honest it's kind of a bad starting point.  Since now being more educated on the subject I'd call the GITS franchise more Post-Cyberpunk.  But I'm rambling, point is I decided that I wanted the campaign to be about Cyber-cops rather than Cyber-criminals.  Specifically a special task force within the Night City Police Department known as SIFT-Div.  (I no longer remember what SIFT was supposed to stand for).  It was supposed to be kind of along the lines of a unit that didn't get tied down by red tape and got results.  I actually had a plot line in mind that never got explored about how the NPC head of SIFT-Div (the PCs' boss) had gotten dirt on the Mayor of Night City and blackmailed him into approving the creation of the unit.

While this image looks nothing like Winter
it does pretty much sum up her approach to
life.  Being a bratty, angst-filled college
drop-out, know it all.  Poking her nose
where it didn't belong.

I'm getting side-tracked again, sorry about that.  I'm supposed to be talking about the character not the campaign overall.  So the character was Winter Hyland the daughter of a Microtech technician.  With a promising future awaiting her in the field of Computer Science when she graduated.  What happened you asked?  She tired of paying off her tuition with money earned tutoring dumb Corp kids.  So she turned to a life of Cyber-crime, stealing money from various places on the net.  She built quite a reputation for herself as the Hacker known as a Lady Cypher.  So-called because of her avatar's appearance as a Victorian era aristocrat with a face of ever-shifting green code.  In hindsight Winter really wasn't much of a hacker, her reputation owed mostly owed to her prolific activities and pure dumb luck.  Her crowning achievement was infiltrating the ZetaTech data fortress.  Her last crime before she was picked up by NCPD's NetSec Department.  She was looking at jail-time if the head of SIFT-DIV (who was in need of a computer specialist) hadn't stepped in to place her under his authority.  It was either work for the NCPD or go to jail, some choice.

Back when we first started this campaign Winter's player didn't know anything about role-playing.  So the approach to character creation went something like this.  I gave her the campaign pitch and told her what kind of roles I had in mind for the SIFT-DIV team.  Then gave her the option of calling dibs on one of the roles listed.  She immediately went for a Netrunner/Tech hybrid.  (Back then I was using the Interlock Unlimited from over at DataFortress 2020.  Which allowed for hybrid role characters.  I've since done away with the Role System in my campaigns).  Rather than rolling the character herself she left that in what she referred to as "your capable hands".  I went home created a character then came back the next day and showed it to her.  She was instantly in love.  I actually wrote up a little biography for Winter which I'm still very proud of.  If you're interested I managed to dig out the original document from my files and upload it to my GoogleDocs.  Despite the fact that I imagined her as sort of a Cyberpunk version of Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  (The Lifepath results for look & style as well as a personality of moody and rash were really pointing towards it).  The character sort of took on a life of her own when the player got ahold of it.  She developed into a huge Johnny Silverhand fan.  (After the player read some quotes by Mr. Silverhand in the Core Rulebook when she finally got around to reading it).  In hindsight Winter probably would've worn a bunch of Silverhand and Samurai patches on her leather jacket.  Proudly displaying her allegiance, not unlike what a metalhead friend of mine calls a battle jacket.  Her fascination with the Rockerboy came to the point of obsession.  (She very easily could've gone the direction of obsessed fan that every musician lives in fear of).  She once actually only went out with a guy because he could get tickets to a Samurai concert on very short notice.

Anyways all this reminiscing about the old days got me going back through the old files.  And I realized how much of a mess Winter was in terms of stats.  I clearly had no idea what the hell I was doing when I made her for her player.  (Keep in mind I was 17 and new to Cyberpunk).  Now that I'm older and have my gaming style a little more established.  I thought it'd be fun to go back and revamp the character a little.  Using the character creation method that I currently use for my campaigns.  (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about I refer you to this link).  Overall I'm quite happy with how the new version of Winter turned out.  She's a great deal more rounded out than when I first built her.  (She actually has a believable level of training in firearms for a Criminal turned Cop in a special unit.  She can somewhat handle herself in a fight with minimal skill.  And she has enough skill in Drive to have a license.  Something she lacked when she was first built).  She also has social stats more in keeping with her personality.

Winter Hyland

INT: 9  REF: 6/6  TECH: 9  COOL: 4 ATTR: 7  LUCK: 7 MA: 6 BODY: 6  EMP: 6/5

RUN: 18  LEAP: 4.5  LIFT: 240 SAVE: 6  BTM: -2
DAM: +0  REP: 7 (As Lady Cipher persona), 1 (as plain old Winter)

Alienation Check: 27  Skill Points: 58

Skills: Athletics +3, Awareness/Notice +2, Basic Tech +9, Brawling +3, Composition +4, Cyberdeck Design +4, Cybertech +2, Driving +2, Education +3, Electronics +6, Fast Talk & Persuasion +3, Handgun +5, Human Perception +2, Interface +2, Know Language: English +8, Programming +6, System Knowledge +2

Advantages: Computer Aptitude 4 SPs, Technical Aptitude 4 SPs

Disadvantages: Compulsion (Johnny Silverhand Groupie) -4 SPs, Criminal Record (Paroled) -4 SPs

Cybernetics:
Neural Processor                            2 1000 EB
Interface Plugs                                1  200 EB
Universal Link                                 4 400 EB
Chipware Socket                              2 200 EB
Cyberaudio Basic Hearing Module 3 500 EB
Phone Splice                                    3 150 EB
Wearman Stereo Music System       7 100 EB
Wide Band Radio Scanner               5 100 EB
Total Alienation: 27, Cost: 2,650 EB

Gear: 
Concealable Armoured Vest (Consult the Datafortress 2020 NCPD Sourcebook)
Shoulder Holster
Armalite 44 Semi-automatic Pistol (equipped with 911 chip, cookie cutter and gun cam)
Street-tech "Burst"
2 spare magazines of 12mm ammo
Badge, Police ID (Acts as a marker for NCPD cookie cutters)
Officer in Distress Button (Consult the Datafortress 2020 NCPD Sourcebook)
2 sets of Plascuffs
Evidence Kit
Notebook
Used Cyberdeck (All she could afford on a student budget).
Tech Toolkit
Electronics Toolkit

Interface
Commands: Detect/Conceal +2, Locate +2, Infiltrate/Login +2, Query +2, Edit +2
Targets: File/Database +5, System +5

Anyways that about wraps it up for me.  If you liked this post be sure to +1, comment below, re-share and follow this blog.  Who knows if things do really well I may re-stat Winter's partner Merli Basmi. Until then have a good day and may you roll many crits.

Update: Came back and edited a few things that I left out and forgot the first time around.
Update #2: For those of you waiting for Merli's re-statting, rejoice.  It's here.

Looting the Corpse - Cyberpunk Style

My earnest attempt to make up for February's lack of posts continues.  I was looking around for something to do when some inspiration came my way.  As some of my long time readers may know I'm a member of the Cyberpunk 2020 group on Google+, recently one of the members Jon Smejkal posted an old write up of his.  Specifically he detailed a deck of cards that he used whenever his players used to loot dead mooks in Cyberpunk 2020. Go show him some love over on his blog, he's a fan of Paul D. Gallagher famous for writing Augmented Reality.  (Click here for the PDF and here for the Dead Tree Version if you don't know what Augmented Reality is).  So he can't be all bad. I very much enjoyed some of the ideas John put forward for what you could find in someone's pockets.  I made a comment on his post in the Community about how I might use the cards with some modifications for my campaigns.  That's when he replied, that he'd love to see me post those modifications once I made them.  To be honest when I first said that it was mostly meant to be polite. Since I haven't been running a lot of Cyberpunk lately.  But then he got me thinking why not make those modifications now?  I mean with my single player busy with schoolwork it's not like I'm doing much in terms of gaming.  I've got a lot of free time on my hands, I might as well.  So here's my attempt at making a custom Loot Deck for my Cyberpunk 2020 Campaigns.

Logical place to start this kind list really.

• 1 EB*
• 16 EB*
• 25 EB*
• 64 EB* 
• 81 EB* 
• 144 EB* 
• 169 EB*
• 254 EB*
• 289 EB*
• 400 EB*

*I used EB because it's in the official Rulebook, but this could easily be Credits, NuYen or GURPS Dollars whatever your favourite Cyberpunk system uses.  I personally use Credits.  If the numbers seems kind of random, don't worry they're supposed to be that way.  I wanted to simulate how people never seem to have a logical amount of money on them except when leaving the bank.  If you want to simulate this even more remove on EB from the amount given and roll 1d100.  This can be in Credstick or Cash form, your choice.

• Car keys.  (Vehicle may be the dead group of mooks getaway vehicle or maybe off-site your choice). 
• Pack of Non-Cancerous Cigarettes (1d20 left, let's face it Smoking's cool dying of cancer isn't.  So in my setting most Tobacco companies have removed the carcinogenic elements from their products.  Extra points if you take a page from Gibson's book and have them be Chinese.
• 1d6+2 Doses of Street Drug (If you use Ocelot's Drug Lab like I do your typical Drug addict needs at least four doses to make it through the day). 
• Deck of Cards or Pair of Dice roll 1d6 to decide which. (Even in the age of phone games there's nothing like shooting the shit before a job over a game of dice or cards). 
• Key to Housing (May get you into a shitty cube in the Combat Zone or maybe into a Corporate Dormitory.  Maybe you could burglarize it for more stuff, use it as a temporary warehouse or just sell the key on the black market so some other guy can burglarize it.  If only you knew where the guy lived).
• Cellphone (1d100 percent Battery Power, most likely a Prepaid Burner). 
• Business Cards (May be plot-relevant, may just be for the local strip-club or escort service). 
• Cigarette Lighter (1d100 percent fluid left) 
• Matchbook (1d10 matches left, I put two methods of lighting your smokes in hopes that the poor sap will have kind of light).  
• Lottery Ticket (In Night City this would be LateNite BodyLotto, in my setting this might be an official lottery or the local Numbers Game.  Roll 1d1000 twice if the same number comes up twice you've got a winner.  Good luck trying to collect though.
• Skillsoft Chip +3 (1-4 chance on d6 that it's for the predominant language of the local area, 5-6 it's an incredibly detailed Tourist Map, giving a bonus to Area Knowledge).
• Pen (even in the Cyberpunk Future People need to write stuff down)
• Phone Number hastily scrawled on a scrap of paper.
• Swiss Army Knife or Multi-Tool 
• 3D Printed Vending Machine Pistol (Probably a .22 or .25 caliber, useful for point-blank assassinations and last minute self-defence against unarmored targets and not much else). 
• Small Notebook (40% chance it contains notes about the plan of attack against the PCs, otherwise it's something personal.  Grocery list, love poem, etc.  Let your imagination run wild a little if they really seize upon it).
• Sunglasses (Following Cyberpunk Tradition they are probably mirror-shades).
• Small Piece of Cheap Jewelry (Chains, Earrings, maybe a Wedding Band if you want to make the players feel bad). 
• Absolutely nothing! (To quote Scott Pilgrim "Wow what a jerk.")
• Wireless Earbud Headphones (If the corpse has a phone on it, there's probably music on the phone.  It seems that every corpse the PCs loot has lousy taste in Music).  
• Package of Snack Food (10% chance it's full, otherwise the porker ate it all.  Future equivalent of Skittles or a bag of peanuts). 
• Snack Bar (%90 chance it's just an empty wrapper, otherwise you've got yourself the equivalent of a Snickers or a Granola Bar). 
• Pocket Sized Photograph (Sentimental or perhaps it's a mugshot of a target.  The PC or an NPC Macguffin they're in charge of would do nicely). 
• Hip Flask (10% it's been drained dry, might explain why the guy's now dead.  Otherwise you just scored yourself some free liquor). 
• Slightly Pornographic Magazine (He's just reading it for the articles, honest.  50% chance the centrefold's been torn out). 
• Braindance or VR Chip (Never something complex, essentially the equivalent of a Dating Sim for a Handheld Console.  At least in terms of complexity).
• Miniature Cybertech Toolkit (Used for personal maintenance). 
• Small Book of Crossword Puzzles (roll 1d100 to determine percentage of completion). 
• Small Box of Unopened Condoms (He's not gonna need them anymore). 
• Bottle of Medicine (Pills might be for allergies, insomnia or a host of other mundane medical problems.  Could probably get you high, about enough for one dose). 

There you have it my attempt at making a deck of cards for when the players loot the body in Cyberpunk.  What I have here amounts to about a deck of Forty which is about what Jon had for his.  I figured I'd restrict myself to the same limit, it falls just short of your standard deck of cards.  There's plenty of things here that might add some colour to when your characters loot corpses after a gunfight.  When they loot, just draw 6 cards and that's what they get.  Some of it they might find a use for, other stuff has no real use other than when fenced.  (I actually quite like the food entries myself, it's something you could describe your character munching on the deadman's snack.  Hey killing people's hungry work).  I might construct a deck of cards with these entries on Roll20 for use in my own games.  I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did while writing it.  Hopefully it's of some use to you, it kind of took a Film Noir bent to it in hindsight.  I probably shouldn't be surprised since for me part of the appeal of Cyberpunk is it being Film Noir in a Dark Future.  If you liked this be sure to +1, re-share and follow this blog for more, posts like this.  As always have a nice day and may you roll many crits, I'll see you later.

Yakuza 2019 - Actual Play Report #3: Breaking Hearts and the Game

This is going to be a short one, mostly because the session itself was so short.  (The reason why will come later, be patient).  It also only consisted of a single die roll and the rest was just a nice roleplaying vignette.  The rest of the post will probably be padded with my reflections on the events that occurred.  If roleplaying social encounters and reflections on the nature of roleplaying itself isn't really your thing.  You're welcome to skip this session.  Alright are they gone?  Good, for those of you still here I'm going to get right to the report, but first some housekeeping.  If you're just joining us and have no idea what's going on, you can read the first session here.  If you're a returning reader and you missed the last session, you can find it here.  Alright, with that out of the way let's get into it.

The Game Changer

When we last left off my character the ethnic Korean Yakuza Amphetamine Dealer Tae Joon-Ho; was standing over the corpse of the man who had ordered the murder of his boss and best friend.  That man was Yoshida Goro a lieutenant of the Akemi-gumi, the Yakuza group that Joon-Ho was a part of.  The man that Joon-Ho's late immediate superior Koizumi Takahiro had answered to.  Until he had discovered that Yoshida had been embezzling funds meant for the Akemi coffers.  Instead of going to the family bosses with this information Takahiro had decided to blackmail Yoshida.  Hoping to swing a promotion for both himself and his subordinate Joon-Ho.  Like most people who end up being blackmailed Yoshida had not been a fan of the idea and ordered both of them killed.  Joon-Ho had only escaped assassination because he had left the apartment to buy Takahiro cigarettes.  At first Joon-Ho had sought out Yoshida in hopes of getting his aid.  (He had no idea about Takahiro blackmailing the Akemi-gumi lieutenant, until said lieutenant had revealed it to him). Walking into an ambush Joon-Ho barely escaped with his life, by getting the drop on Yoshida and beating him to death.  (Then making sure the job had been done properly by shooting Yoshida three times in the head with the man's own handgun).  

The Ledger proving Yoshida's embezzlement.  I never got why criminals
and embezzlers in movies kept these kind of incriminating records around.

Standing over his would-be killer's corpse, Joon-Ho grabbed some tissues from the desk and cleaned his hands of the blood.  He pocketed the now soiled, tissues in order to dump them later along with Yoshida's gun.  He then grabbed another handful of tissues to prevent fingerprints as he began to rummage through the Akemi Lieutenant's office.  Looking for either dirt that would prove Yoshida's embezzlement even from beyond the grave or at least the kilo of Amphetamines.  That Yoshida had admitted to having the hitman steal from Joon-Ho's apartment when he killed Takahiro.  The profits from its sale and maybe a sampling of the wares (Joon-Ho often got high on his own supply and was kind of jonesing for a post-kill fix) would be great right about now.  The drawers to the desk proved to be locked and Joon-Ho didn't have time to be fiddling around with the lock.  He didn't want to be here when somebody came to investigate the gunshots.  He finally struck pay dirt when opened one of the cabinets in the office.  Inside was a book, which when opened revealed itself to be a ledger.  Ordinarily Joon-Ho (who only had a Middle-School Education) would never have been able to make heads or tails of such a thing.  But still high on adrenaline Joon-Ho was able to focus enough to recognize certain irregularities.  There was a Yoshida listed in this ledger, but it wasn't Yoshida Goro. It was Yoshida Ishimaru, which meant that Goro either was using an alias or had a relative helping him embezzle Akemi-gumi funds.  On close examination there were funds still unaccounted for, just the ticket Joon-Ho needed to keep the bosses from whacking him.  It didn't really prove his innocence in all of this, but it certainly proved Yoshida's guilt; which Joon-Ho could finagle to prove his innocence.  He took the ledger with him as he left, recovered his gun from the entryway door and left through the back stairwell.

(For those of you wondering from the out of character side of things.  The GM had me roll an Intelligence check to make heads or tails of the ledger.  Since Joon-Ho doesn't have any points in the Accounting Skill it would've been nearly impossible for him decipher its secrets.  I rolled a crit.  The only die roll of the entire session which also brought it to a screeching halt.  Apparently the GM had not taken into account the possibility that I'd actually make the roll.  She also had not been prepared when I brought up the idea of presenting the evidence to the bosses.  Meaning she hadn't expected the character and myself to take the story in that direction.  Where she had nothing prepared in terms of game notes.  No information on the bosses, their personalities, how they'd react or anything.  Whereas from my end it seemed to be the obvious thing to do.  I guess it just goes to show you that people have very different ways of thinking).

Rest for the Wicked

Joon-Ho disposed of Yoshida's gun and the blood-soaked tissues which he'd used to wipe his hands.  By dumping them in the dumpster behind the bar where he'd bought the Type 54 from Shiori.  Then he went in search of a cheap hotel to spend the night at.  He managed to conceal the blood-stains on his jacket and shirt by rolling up his sleeves.  After buying a room, he went to the lobby payphone and dialled the cellphone of his girlfriend Honda Miu.  (I know that cellphones are a thing, but pay-phones are so Noire and a little more anonymous nowadays).  Joon-Ho tapped the top of the phone as he listened to the receiver ring.  

"Hell...o...?" Miu's voice had a hint of suspicion and nervousness when she answered.

"Miu, baby it's me Joon-Ho." 

"Oh, thank God.  Did you know about what happened?  The police have been looking all over for you!  Are you safe?" she still sounded a little nervous but more relieved than anything.  

"Yeah, Takahiro's dead.  A hitman killed him, would've killed me too if I hadn't been out buying cigarettes.  I got the son of a bitch though." Joon-Ho sighed at his girlfriend's ignorance of the hell that he'd been living for the past couple of hours.

"Oh...so it was Mr. Koizumi... I'm sorry Joon-Ho.  I'm surprised though, the police wouldn't tell me who it was.  In fact, I was pretty sure it was you for a while there...  The police were already here when I got here.  Did you... call them anonymously or something?" Miu's words came like a wave in Joon-Ho's ear.

He rolled his eyes at her apparent ignorance that criminals didn't exactly call cops when they had a crime committed against them.  

"You didn't tell them anything did you?  No I dealt with him a different way, sweetheart."

"I didn't tell them anything because I don't know anything.  I mean they didn't find anything at the apartment, at least not that they told me, anyway.  Should I come over to where you are?  I'd feel a lot better if I could see you with my own eyes, Joon-Ho." her voice was once again filled with just a hint of panic.  

"Good, if they ask you anything, if they visit you at work; don't tell them nothing.  Yeah come over." he gave her the Hotel's address and his room number.  Probably the wrong decision, but he felt the need to see her after all that had happened today.  After that he went upstairs to wait for her.

A Hotel Room not unlike the one where Joon-Ho was staying.
Though I imagine his was cheaper looking.

Once in the room Joon-Ho flipped on the TV turning the channel over the news.  Hoping to see whether the police had released a statement about Takahiro or Yoshida's murders.  He stripped out of his shirt and jacket, revealing his Irezumi tattoo of a wanton Geisha smoking a traditional tobacco pipe with smouldering eyes.  (Really it would've been accurate to call it a Yujo since Geisha's aren't prostitutes or Courtesans.  Which is more what I was going for when I thought up the idea of Joon-Ho's tattoo.  Something classy and kind of sexy.  Rather than the traditional Samurai, Demons and Dragons that most Irezumi portray).  The sad truth of the world was that bloodstains don't come out of clothes.  The garments would have to be disposed of and new ones procured.  That was partly the reason he had called Miu over, since he couldn't go out in public shirtless.  The pants would have to stay for now, since he didn't want to be caught with his pants down by a hitman.  About twenty minutes after he had called her, there was knock at the door.  He reached for the Type 54 and approached the door, looking through the peephole.  

Honda Miu, cabaret girl and Joon-Ho's
current girlfriend.

He saw Miu in a disheveled state.  Still wearing the same clothes he'd seen on her, when she'd left his apartment; which seemed like an eternity ago now.  Despite her dishevelment she was still beautiful not in the way she was dressed or dolled up, but in the way she carried herself.  Her posture was straight and her eyes focused.  Not the look of someone born with natural beauty, but someone who had spent her whole life attaining it.  Joon-Ho opened the door for her not wide and not very long.  Long-enough for her enter the room and for him to look up and down the hall.  Making sure that no one had followed her.  Miu smiled upon seeing her boyfriend but didn't go in for her usual kiss.  The circumstances didn't exactly warrant such displays of affection.  Never breaking eye-contact with Joon-Ho as she sat down on the bed, when eye-contact did break it was because Joon-Ho was looking up and down the hall.

"You weren't followed, were you?" asked Joon-Ho despite having confirmed that fact himself.

"Not to my knowledge.  If I had, I wouldn't be here, so why ask?" she sniped back at him.

Joon-Ho walked over to the bed sitting down right next to her, intimately close.

"Considering the fact that I just pissed off some very dangerous men and am being hunted by the police?  Can't be too careful." he elaborated.  

"I didn't mention this on the phone, but... the police said you weren't a suspect.  But that's pretty suspicious.  It's your apartment of course you're a suspect.  I just smiled and nodded.  Do you have someone looking for you, Joon-Ho?"  

Joon-Ho smiled at his girlfriend's display of loyalty "Clever girl.  Yoshida mentioned something similar before he tried to kill me.  His boys are probably after me." he turned it over in his head.  Maybe Yoshida had a Cop on his payroll or had provided him an alibi just so he could murder him?

"Hmm, you never mentioned a Yoshida.  Do I know the guy?" asked Miu.  "Doesn't matter I came here to find out what you plan to do.  If I can help, I will."  

Joon-Ho took out the single cigarette he had found after searching Takahiro's corpse after finding him dead in his apartment.  He lit it, took a puff and said, 

"He was a very dangerous man, which is why dangerous men worked for him.  Turns out I'm more dangerous than he was.  And yeah, there is something you can do for me.  I'm gonna need some new clothes there's money on the nightstand.  But first..." this is where he turned her face towards his own and planted a kiss on her lips.  

"Ew, cigarette smoke~If I smell like that my customers won't love me anymore." giggled Miu, her eyes lighting up after the kiss had been broken.  She put her arms around Joon-Ho and leaned in close.  "I do love you, but I don't rely on you.  I'm a self-made woman you know?  So you don't have to worry about a thing.  Just focus on getting out of this with all your fingers, okay?" she winked at that last part.

"Oh, I know you are.  I also know you'd hate to lose these fingers." smiled Joon-Ho as he began to gently caress Miu, before going in for another kiss lowering her down onto the bed.  Things had been breaking down with Miu for some time and they might still after this.  Right now though, he'd nearly gotten killed and his survival instincts had kicked in.  

Reflections

That's where we left it, if this had been a movie.  It would've been the kind where the screen fades to black just as the sex scene starts.  While the session itself was very short it did serve as a teaching moment in many ways.  For the GM it was a lesson in preparation, you need to be at least minimally prepared for multiple possibilities.  You can't just expect the players in a game to follow a single track that you have meticulously planned out.  Anything can throw a monkey wrench in your best laid plans, be it the player making a decision that you hadn't expected or a rogue die roll.  (Both of which occurred in this session, apparently I was supposed to be on a train to Hokkaido to hide out with Joon-Ho's biker friends.  Which ended up not being the decision I made, since I thought only a guilty man would run.  From my character's perspective he's innocent or at least completely justified in everything he's done).  The point being you need to be able to adapt your plans and improvise.  If you don't have stats prepared for a certain NPC, recycle the stats from another.  Make up details as you go along, roll with the punches so to speak.  Part of the fun of tabletop roleplaying is the ability to tailor a world to a player character's actions.  In my GM's case she couldn't adapt on the fly and needed some time to figure out how to recover.  Fortunately she's running a single-player campaign, online with a very understanding veteran player; who has GM-ed extensively himself.  If any one of these factors had been different this could've been a lot worse.  She's had an opportunity to learn from her mistakes while the kid-gloves are still on.  I hope it's a lesson that she will take to heart.  

Which leads into the second part of my reflections.  The scene with Joon-Ho's girlfriend Miu was my attempt to salvage something that resembled a session, from what my GM perceived as the wreckage.  I'm a player who likes to role-play more than he likes to roll dice.  I put forward that I wanted to narrate a little bit before we left the game, hoping to urge her to improvise a little.  I'd wanted to know a little more about the NPC Miu since she featured so prominently in Joon-Ho's LifePath.  I knew the GM had notes about Miu so at least she'd have a base to improvise from.  It resulted in what I thought was a nice quiet scene.  Which was also a first for me, the first time I've ever been in a game.  Where romance or sexual encounters were handled in a mature manner, if at all.  It'd been something that I'd wanted to try ever since the Aki campaign.  Honestly I'm quite happy with how it had turned out.  Since we primarily use the Cyberpunk 2020 system for our games, romance shows up a lot in the characters' backgrounds.  Meaning that such topics would eventually have to show up eventually in gameplay.  I've wanted to tackle the subject ever since that occurred to me.  So this was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.  Incidentally if any of you are looking for a good essay on Sex & Romance in RPGs (specifically Cyberpunk but applicable to many games), click here.  The link should take you to Datafortress 2020 where you can download Kristian de Valle's essay on the topic.  Well that about covers it for me, if you like this post; be sure to +1, comment and follow this blog.  As always have a good day and may you roll many crits. 

Yakuza 2019 - Actual Play Report #2: Killing in the Name of

After a month it's finally here, the 2nd part of the actual play report for Yakuza 2019!  We sat down yesterday and played to find out what would happen to my character Tae Joon-Ho.  It was a blast and I can't wait to share it with you guys.  For those of you just joining us, you can find the first part here and the notes about our Session 0 here.  With that bit of housekeeping out the way let's get on with the game itself.

Making some Calls...

A familiar phone booth where Joon-Ho was planning his next
move.

When we last left off Tae Joon-Ho my ethnic Korean Yakuza drug-dealer was in a phone booth.  Where he'd been hung up on by the secretary of Yoshida Goro, the Yakuza lieutenant.  That his own boss Koizumi Takahiro reported to.  After having an initial meltdown over being hung up on by the secretary, essentially cutting off his only lifeline.  Joon-Ho began wracking his brain trying to figure out who could've murdered his boss and friend.  Had it been his girlfriend Honda Miu?  Takahiro and many of Joon-Ho's other friends had been telling him to dump the cabaret girl for years.  She was also the only one that had access to the apartment that Takahiro would've lowered his guard to.  She also knew where the gun and amphetamines had been kept.  Was it the rival dealer from the Izumi-kai Takenaka Shuichi?  Who Joon-Ho had caught selling outside a bar on Akemi-gumi turf?  That didn't add up, he'd been with Joon-Ho while Takahiro was getting murdered.  Joon-Ho made a mental note to deal with him later though.  The last suspect on his list was Yoshida Goro the lieutenant within the Akemi-gumi that Takahiro had reported to.  He certainly had the resources, but he lacked motive.  He was making good money supplying amphetamines to Takahiro which Takahiro then supplied to Joon-Ho.  Why jeopardize that?  

"You have eight minutes remaining, to make another call please dial the desired number.  If you'd like a refund please hang-up."  The pre-recorded woman's voice droned from the receiver.  Bringing Joon-Ho back from his thoughts, he began dialling another number, making the most of his remaining time.  The first number was for the cabaret where his girlfriend Miu worked as a hostess.  Joon-Ho impatiently tapped the phone as he listened to it ring, waiting for his call to go through.  A woman answered the phone, probably one of Miu's co-workers.

"Hello Titty Typhoon, are you calling to book?" 

(As a side note I about burst out laughing when the GM typed this.  She then explained the idea was that the club got the name.  Because it's trendy among the Japanese to use foreign words even when they don't know the meaning).

"No I'm calling on a personal matter.  Is Miu there?" said Joon-Ho.

"Oh, Mr Fujin, is that you?  Miu just went home, so you'll have to see her tomorrow."  the girl on the other end replied.  Joon-Ho didn't recognize the name as Miu had never mentioned it, but he didn't let on.  There were more pressing matters at hand, than who his girlfriend was screwing behind his back.

"Okay, thank you for your time." with that Joon-Ho hung up.

If Miu had left the club that meant she'd gone back to his apartment.  Which was probably now a police crime scene or about to become one, he'd never be able to get to her.  Besides her co-worker had already established her alibi.  Putting the coins that'd fallen into the change slot back into the coin slot he began dialling another number.
"Yello," the voice on the other end was that of Sato Soma, the Bosozoku biker that Joon-Ho had spent two years in prison with.
"Soma, it's me Joon-Ho.  I need a favour."
"I'll do what I can, man, but I mean, you know we're not around, right?  We're all up in Hokkaido right now.  If things are super bad, you can come up and lay low with us for a while.  You know we'd be willing to put you up anytime."
Joon-Ho began mentally cursing himself, after last night's drunken binge he'd forgotten that Soma and his gang were up in Hokkaido.  Not even on the same island of Honshu as he was.
"Shit man, I forgot.  It's nothing, I'll catch you later."
"Sorry I couldn't be more help, man, call me if you need anything I can help with from up here though!  I always got your back bro." comforting words from Soma that offered little comfort to Joon-Ho in his current situation as he hung up.

A Japanese Pub not unlike the one where Joon-Ho had Shiori
meet him.

The last number on the list of people Joon-Ho could call when he was in a jam.  Was Shiori Sato (no relation to Soma, Sato is a very common name in Japan) a childhood friend that Joon-Ho had dated for a time.  She was an ethnic Korean (like Joon-Ho though she opted to use a Japanese alias) and also a dealer, the only difference being that she dealt in firearms rather than drugs.  He waited for the phone to connect and breathed a little easier when it did.
"Hello?" said the familiar voice on the other end.
"Shiori?  Look I'm in a bit of a jam could you meet me at the Pub near the Yoshida Office?"
On the other end of the line Shiori sounded a little pensive as Joon-Ho heard her talk to someone else on the other end.  He couldn't quite make out the exact details of the conversation.  In the end she answered in a curt voice.
"Sure.  I'll be there in five."
"Before you go, one more thing.  I need a gun, I've got money." if things took a turn for the worse, Joon-Ho didn't want to walk into an ambush unarmed.
"You looking for anything in particular?" replied Shiori at the other end.
"Like I said I'm in a jam but a Type 54 will do." beggars couldn't be choosers, but she was making the offer.
"Let me ask her." Joon-Ho could hear Shori set down the phone and walk away.  Her footsteps were even not rushed or slowed in anyway.  The other voice from before returned, this time Joon-Ho could make it out as feminine.  He was aware that Shiori had a business partner but he'd never met them.  This was his first clue that she was in fact a woman.
"Yeah, we've got it.  I can give you a quote once we're there.  See you." with that Shiori hung up.

Where you going with that Gun in your hand?

Hanging up the phone and exiting the booth, Joon-Ho looked over his shoulder as he walked.  Making sure that he wasn't followed to his meeting with Shiori.  He was positive he didn't see anyone, but that still didn't put his mind at ease.  Just because they weren't following him now didn't mean that there wasn't someone out there looking to kill him.  When he got there the bar was nearly empty it being open at this time of day was more a formality than a business practice.  By Joon-Ho's watch Shiori showed up two minutes after he did, exactly five minutes after she'd hung up on him.  If nothing else, she was punctual.  She had a wallowing frown on her face, but her eyes lit up at the sight of her old friend.  Joon-Ho was sitting at a booth in the back with his back to the wall.  She sat down at the same booth, sitting across from him.

"Hey hey.  How's it going?  It's been a while." 

"Like I said I'm in a jam, how's it going with you?" Joon-Ho was happy to see her both as a friend and as a person doing business with her.

"It's going..." here she let out a sigh "It's going okay I guess.  Things are just a little tough right now,

The Norinco Type 54 a Chinese copy of the Tokarev T-33,
colloquially called the Black Star pistol.  It is a pistol very
commonly used among the Yakuza.  One of the few handguns
I've researched where use by a criminal organizations is part
of it's Wikipedia Article.

but aren't they always?  What's this jam of yours and how does this help you?" any thoughts Joon-Ho had of concern for his friend were erased when slid over a menu.  That seemed to slide slower than most menus slide, as if weighted down.  Joon-Ho discreetly lifted the cover of the menu to reveal what he'd come here for.  The Type 54 pistol to replace the Smith and Wesson that he'd had to get rid of.  After he'd found Takahiro dead in his apartment.  

Continuing the conversation Joon-Ho said "Remember my boss?  Takahiro?  He's dead.  I found him shot in my apartment this afternoon.  My stash was gone and the gun that killed him?  Was the one you sold me a while back."

 "Great...Always pleasant to find out when a weapon you procured shot someone.  I try to hard not to think about things like that.  Sucks for Takahiro though.  He was a pretty cool guy, if you could get over how self-absorbed he could be..." Shiori didn't seem to share Joon-Ho's grief at Takahiro's death.

"This thing as ammo right?" Joon-Ho nodded towards the gun under the menu.

"It costs extra." Shiori began to smirk a little "Nothing in life is free, you know?"

Joon-Ho reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a roll of bills.  Forking over the 100,000 Yen he expected to pay for a gun like this.

"Ain't that the truth." he said awaiting Shiori's response.  

"But... Friendship has a way of opening doors.  80,000 is a fair price for you." Shiori responded lowering her price.

"Take the extra, give me some ammunition if that makes you feel better about it.  I'd like to be remembered fondly by my friends." countered Joon-Ho at her offer.

(Hindsight Joon-Ho totally got screwed over in this deal, but I thought it was some nice roleplaying on my part).

Shiori slipped a magazine under the cover of the magazine with the gun.

"Well, I won't disagree with the extra funds.  Every Yen is needed in this day and age.  I imagine you're in a hurry.  I'm gonna stay here for a while, but don't let me keep you from wherever you need to go."  Shiori took the money and pocketed it without counting.  A sign of her trust of an old friend. 

Joon-Ho discreetly collected the illegal firearm, loading the magazine into the pistol.  Which he then deposited into his inner jacket pocket.  Before leaving he left Shiori with these words.

"Takahiro was like a brother to me.  I need to do right by him.  I know things didn't work out between you and me, but you're still my friend.  One of the few I got left in this world." with that he got up and began walking to the bar's door.

If this had been a movie, the camera would've probably focused on Shiori as she watched Joon-Ho leave.  As she delivered her final line of the scene. 

"Wow. What dramatic guy."

Familiar Faces

Shuichi a rival drug-dealer, I'd been wanting to
take care of him ever since the last session.
About a month ago, a note to you GMs in the
audience.  Sometimes players will latch onto a
character they just hate.  Whether you intended
it to be that way or not.  Time away from the
game can make them hate that NPC even more.

Unlike other criminal organizations the Yakuza keep offices that advertise exactly what they do.  Yoshida Goro's office was no different, with a sign proclaiming without shame it's true purpose.  As Joon-Ho started to walk towards the building, he saw a familiar face.  Hanging around in a nearby alleyway.  Tankenaka Shuichi the rival drug-dealer with the Izumi-kai that Joon-Ho had caught dealing on his turf earlier that afternoon.  The talk with Yoshida could wait, Shuichi and Joon-Ho were going to have a talk first.  The kind where he gets even more beat up than the last time the two of them met.  He began walking over to the rival Yakuza.  Shuichi appeared to notice that Joon-Ho was coming his way, but hadn't recognized him yet.  After squinting a bit a look of fear came across Shuichi's face, prompting him to turn around and run for it!

Joon-Ho gave chase the bastard had pulled this the last time he had seen him.  This time he wasn't getting away, not if Joon-Ho had anything to say about it.  Last time Shuichi had had a good head-start, this time he hadn't been so lucky.  Joon-Ho was right on top of him and things only got worse for the rival dealer.  Joon-Ho shot out his leg to trip him which caused Shuichi to stumble but not topple to the ground like Joon-Ho had hoped.  It didn't matter though because Joon-Ho followed up the trip with a hard punch to the back of Shuichi's skull!  (I actually gave my own skull a light tap to test how effective this is.  Let me just say it smarts).  With this punch combined with the momentum the fleeing amphetamine dealer went down like a sack of potatoes.  Apparently it didn't do too much harm though, as he soon hopped back up with is hands up in surrender.

"Wait, man we can talk about this!!  I'm not part of the main business, I only work for the front, dude, please." he pleaded.

"Better start talking ass-wipe!  I get real cranky when people keep ducking me!" threatened Joon-Ho his fist raised in preparation for another punch to the other Yakuza's face.

"Look, I get it.  I saw what happened to your buddy.  But doesn't it make more sense to go after the person who ordered the hit instead of the guy who works for the front of the business.  I don't know why you're after me!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?  Who ordered the hit?"

"I don't know who ordered the hit!  I told you, I just work for the cover up! ... You... do know what I'm talking about right?  You wouldn't come after me if you didn't...right?"

(This is the part where making a Streetwise check when I first met Shuichi instead of punching his lights out without talking, would've been useful).  

"Alright I've got some questions, what the fuck are you doing dealing on Akemi turf?" said Joon-Ho becoming more confused and pissed-off.

"I thought that was a bad idea myself, but my superiors told us to push as many boundaries as we could get away with.  I think it was a power play.  Or maybe more like advertisement?  I ran into others from the Akemi-gumi who turned a blind eye, so I guess it was working, to an extent." 

Joon-Ho still couldn't wrap his head around what the fuck Shuichi was talking about.  He needed to get a second opinion. 

"Alright, we're going to see Mr. Yoshida, he's gonna interested in what you have to say.  Or I could shoot you here for being a thief and a snitch.  Your choice." a look of fear crossed Shuichi's face as Joon-Ho said these words.

"I can't go in there.  I'd rather you shoot me now.  If it was found out that I went there, I'd be more than just dead.

An Alley not unlike the one that Joon-Ho left Shuichi in.

Seeing that being diplomatic was getting him nowhere Joon-Ho reached into his inner jacket pocket.  Pulling out his newly acquired Type 54 and pointing it right in Shuichi's face. 

"You could always say you were under duress." he offered.

"You really don't know do you?  Tell me.  What do you think the Izumi-kai is?" a look of disbelief took form on Shuichi's face.

"I don't keep tabs on every gang of upstarts that call themselves Yakuza." frowned Joon-Ho.

"Heh.  Thought so.  The Izumi-kai is a front.  For a crew of contract killers.  They hire little shits like me to call this dump a "family"in order to keep things running smoothly.  Hiding the darkness in the shadows, if you will.  I'm not the one who killed your friend.  And the hitmen from the Izumi-kai are far too skilled for you.  You'd be better off getting your vengeance on the guy who ordered the hit, not me." a huge shit-eating grin crossed Shuichi's face as he said this.

"Yeah that'd be intimidating if I was a scared little shit like you.  Thing is I'm a Yakuza of the Akemi-gumi, with balls of enough bass to build a Buddha."  With that Joon-Ho took the butt of his gun and struck Shuichi on the side of the head.  Apparently it wasn't hard enough because Shuichi just laughed it off.

(I rolled a 2 on my 1d6+1 for damage to pistol-whip him). 

He wasn't laughing for long when Joon-Ho delivered a concentrated kick to his kneecap!  Which caused Shuichi to double over onto the ground in the fetal position.  Writhing in pain and screaming/groaning.  Joon-Ho didn't blame him a blow like that was probably enough to shatter the man's entire knee.  He wasn't in pain for long as Joon-Ho began curb stomping the prone Shuichi.  When he was done Shuichi had blood pouring out of his nose and his eyes were rolled up into the back of his head.  He was losing blood fast, but was still breathing if with some difficulty.  He'd die if he didn't get some medical attention but that was Shuichi's problem, not Joon-Ho's.  Who promptly turned around and began walking back to the Yoshida Office.  Leaving the snitch piece of garbage to bleed out. 

(It was a this point the GM asked why I hated Shuichi so much.  Apparently she finds him to be largely pitiable.  I really don't have an answer, there's just something about him that I hate).

Into the Lion's Den

Joon-Ho honestly had thought it'd be a lot harder to get into Yoshida's office.  He expected to be stopped by bodyguards or at least the secretary he'd talked to earlier on the phone.  Instead he was able to practically waltz right up to the third floor of the building.  Where Yoshida Goro himself had his actual office.  He entered the room without hesitating, only paying token attention to his surroundings.  Wanting to make a good impression on a senior member of the Akemi-gumi, he bowed his head out of respect.  It's a good thing he did too, because at that moment there was the report of gunfire and a bullet whizzed right above his head.  Burying itself in the wall right behind him.  Joon-Ho was out of the office like a bat out of hell, back through the door he had entered from.  He pressed himself flat against the wall to the right of the door and drew his pistol.  (It was at this point that the GM told me to roll Initiative, which I was happy to do.  I had no qualms about killing a senior citizen like Yoshida, especially one's that are trigger happy enough to fire a shot at me).

That's when a second shot came, burying itself in the corner that Joon-Ho would have to peek around to take a shot in retaliation.
"Merciful Buddha, are you trying to kill me!" Joon-Ho shouted into the room that the bullet had come from.
"Why yes, glad you figured that one out.  Sniffing around with the Izumi-kai?  Stealing precious stock?  Killing a family member?  You had it coming really." the speaker was an elderly sounding man that Joon-Ho assumed to be none other than Yoshida Goro.
"The fuck are you talking about?  I'm just a guy who went out for cigarettes and came back to find my boss and best friend dead!" Joon-Ho waited for a response from the older man.
It came in the form of another gunshot this one a little more on the mark, but still not hitting him.
"Will you stop that?!  Let's talk about this like men of honour, okay!" the way Joon-Ho saw things the two of them weren't enemies.  No one had been killed or injured yet, they still could be useful to one another.
"Alright," said Yoshida "please come in.  Let's settle this like... men of honour."
Joon-Ho took that as an invitation to enter the room, he was pleased to find that Yoshida lowered his gun, even if he hadn't put it away.  It was a lot farther than he had been a few seconds ago.  He entered the room still a little cautious and set his own gun down on the floor.  As a sign of good-will towards his host, who in turn locked the door behind Joon-Ho.
(Hindsight giving up the gun was probably the smart move.  Joon-Ho's only got a +2 in Handgun, which means he pretty much can't hit anything unless he's at close range, unless he gets lucky.  If he gets into a fight it's better for him to get in close and fight bare handed.  I'll have to invest points in Handgun at a later date).

Yoshida Goro a lieutenant within the
Akemi-gumi.  If you ask me he looks
like a Japanese version of Bill Shatner.  

Yoshida indicated a chair opposite his own at his desk.
"Please have a seat."
Joon-Ho was happy to oblige the Akemi Lieutenant and promptly sat down.
"As I said before I didn't kill Takahiro, he dropped of this month's supply last night.  We got drunk and when we woke up I went out to get him some cigarettes." explained Joon-Ho.
"And when you returned he was dead?  A likely story.  But you can relax.  I know it wasn't you.  The police have already contacted me.  It was quite a pain to tell them you weren't a suspect." said Yoshida completing Joon-Ho's sentence and setting the young dealer's mind at ease.
"Takahiro was like an older brother to me Mr. Yoshida, I had no reason to kill him and if I did I wouldn't have done it in my own apartment."
"This was a hit by the Izumi-kai that much is clear.  The question is who ordered the hit?  Someone with money, who recently made an enemy of Koizumi Takahiro, who also had motive to steal a large quantity of amphetamines." theorized Yoshida.
"I'd come to the same conclusions." Joon-Ho decided to leave out exactly how he'd come to those conclusions.  As it's hard to convince someone you're innocent of one murder by admitting to another.  "Who has those kind of resources though?"
At that moment Yoshida cocked his gun and pointed it at Joon-Ho.  "You tell me."

In the end this is what it all came down to.

That's when it finally struck Joon-Ho he'd been set up.  He should've never given this bastard the benefit of the doubt.  At that moment one of the last things Takahiro had ever said to him, flashed through his mind.  "Yoshida's a greedy bastard, but that's not necessarily a bad thing."  Joon-Ho was dumbstruck but soon he felt a wry little coming over his face.
"Guess I better start saying sutras, huh?" he quipped.  "Answer me this though, why?"
"Well son.  Your "brother" thought he could pull one over on me. Thought he could pull both a promotion for you and him both, in exchange for keeping my secrets.  I'm not a far of people who try to blackmail me, Joon-Ho.  And that's exactly what your friend tried to do.  Said he'd tell the higher ups about my... fondness of cold, hard cash.  And Takahiro thought I wouldn't be able to do anything about it.  He thought he was safe.  Well his "insurance" was easily bought off and after that is was simply a matter of money.  There's only one thing I love more than money.  And it's power.  And having someone try and take that away from me wasn't acceptable.  The assassin was supposed to kill both of you, but you weren't there.  So I had him steal the kilo so I could sell it for a quick Yen, then I figured I'd leave you to the police.  But when you came here, I thought, well, why waste the opportunity.
As the corrupt lieutenant's speech came to an end, Joon-Ho just kept smiling to himself.
"What is it they used to call Nobunaga?  The Demon King of Sixth Heaven?  The personification of greed itself?  You're cut from the same cloth Mr. Yoshida."  with that Joon-Ho kicked out at the older man!
(It was at this point that my GM commented that Joon-Ho's lines were so cheesy but super fun.  I thought that was appropriate for a Yakuza flick so I kept rolling out lines like the previous one when roleplaying).

This is what the battle map after the fight looked like.
The GM photoshopped it (a skill I never really mastered)
it reminds me of maps from the old 8-bit video games.

Yoshida stumbled back had this finger been on the trigger Joon-Ho would surely be dead by now.  If he hadn't try to get one over on the man currently pointing a gun at him.  Joon-Ho would've been dead anyway a desperate Banzai style charge was the only way out of this.  He leapt over the table at Yoshida slamming the older man into the window behind his desk.  Breaking it in the process and opening a huge gash on the back of the older man's head.  With that the two men tumbled to the floor in a pile, with Joon-Ho on top.  He didn't let up though, he continued to pound away at Yoshida with his fists.  "You've lived long enough old man!  It's time for you to die!" he screamed angrily at the man who'd killed his best friend for money.  Finally the man took his final breath and the gun fell from his grasp.  Yoshida's blood seeped into the carpet of his office, it wasn't enough as far as Joon-Ho was concerned though.  His hatred of the corpse lying beneath him, was so great that being beaten to death wasn't enough.  He grabbed the pistol that'd fallen from Yoshida's lifeless hand and stood.  What came next was Joon-Ho planting three bullets in the dead Lieutenant's head.  If he wasn't already dead, he was now.

Conclusions

That's where we left it.  With Joon-Ho having just killed a treacherous Lieutenant of the the Akemi-gumi in the man's own office.  With his bare hands and the man's own gun.  There's not a doubt in my mind that there will be hell to pay later on down the road.  He's already wanted for one murder (of which he is innocent) and now he's added two more to his name.  If this game were set in the States rather than Japan, Joon-ho would be what the FBI defines as a spree killer.  He's managed to get the police on his tail (for Takahiro's murder and maybe the others once they're discovered), the Izumi-kai (for beating the ever-loving crap out of poor Shuichi, who's honestly better off dead if he isn't) and finally he's got his own organization the Akemi-gumi after him.  For the murder of both Takahiro and now Yoshida.  He'll be lucky to get out of this in one piece.  Overall it was a great session, I was very impressed by how the GM set everything up.  Honestly I think it's a lot better than the stories I've run for her.  Honestly I wasn't expecting the killer to be Yoshida, I liked Miu Honda, Joon-Ho's girlfriend better for it.  She had the opportunity to do it since she knew where the drugs and gun were.  She also had motive, while I couldn't really see a motive for Yoshida.  Though when it was revealed it made perfect sense, as greedy as he was it stood to reason that he might start skimming money.  That's plenty of motive right there, enough to jeopardize an otherwise good business.  The GM actually confided she wanted to bring him back by not having him be dead.  Of course this was after I made sure of Yoshida like any good gangster would.  I'm glad I did because I hate the "not really dead" cliche, it's so overused, in fact it's one of my pet peeves.  Other than that I think this was great for her first arc as GM.  I can't wait to see where the story takes us.  If you liked this actual play report be sure to +1, re-share and follow this blog.  As always have a nice day and may you roll many crits, until next time. 

Yakuza 2019 - Actual Play Report #1: Amphetamine Logic

So it finally happened, what you've all been waiting for.  I finally sat down and played a roleplaying game in a capacity other than as a GM for the first time in three years!  We ran a modern-day Yakuza game using the Interlock System from Cyberpunk 2020.  You can read about how this came about and the character's stats by clicking here.  The GM who is running me through this campaign was the player in the Aki Campaign.  The first actual play report of which you can find here.  What follows is the events that transpired in the first session of our campaign.  Here goes.

Let the Good Times Roll

The avatar for my character Tae Joon-Ho.
A mid-level Yakuza amphetamine dealer.

So our game starts off in my character Tae Joon-Ho's apartment.  A single room apartment of about 4 and a half tatami mats.  His superior in the Akemi-gumi Takahiro Koizumi (who Joon-Ho calls Aniki or bro as a sign of respect) stops by to drop off this month's kilo of Adderall.  The two proceed to get drunk on convenience store beer and high as kites on amphetamines.  Joon-Ho's girlfriend Miu had to work at the cabaret that night so the two men had the apartment to themselves.   Takahiro took this opportunity to tell Joon-Ho some good news.  

"You work a little harder and you'll be upped in no time!  We'll be equals instead of me being your boss.  Mr. Yoshida is a friend of mine, he's as greedy as a cat, but that ain't a bad thing.  Keep doing what you're doing, and I'll put in a good word.  The two of us go way back."  

Looking like a dog that'd been being shown a stick to fetch Joon-Ho said.  "You mean it, Bro!  We're gonna be equals!" Enthusiasm was Joon-Ho's middle name.  

"In all but experience and age." said Takahiro laughing at his own joke.  "You're hardworking, you deserve it.  It won't come right away, but it'll happen.  I've told Mr. Yoshida about you, and once he meets you he's gonna see what you have.  No more of this low-level dealing for you, I'm talking the big jobs.  BIG money." 

Joon-Ho laughed in anticipation a big shit-eating grin spread across his face.  Raising his beer can in offering of a toast he said "Kampai!" to which Takahiro reciprocated, both of them downing their drinks.

  

The Hangover

Takahiro Koizumi, Joon-Ho's immediate
superior and best friend.  Unlike myself
my GM has chosen to use real life photos
for character portraits.  I actually quite
like the look of Takahiro's.

The celebration continued well into the night, despite being hopped up on amphetamines.  The two men somehow managed to get some sleep, passing out on the floor of the small apartment.  By the time they'd both woken up it was near-noon the next day.  Both of them had horrific hangovers, the cocktail hard drugs and alcohol creating a head splitting pain.  "Could you go get me some smokes, kid? ...I'm... no gonna be able to get up for a while..." Takahiro's voice was despondent.  Of the two of him he had come down the hardest from his high.  "This hangover is killing me..."  

"Sure thing, Bro." Joon-Ho was a little less enthusiastic than he had been last night.  He was pinching his forehead as a result of his own hangover, but he was faring a great deal better than Takahiro.  Joon-Ho left his boss and his apartment departing for the local corner store to buy cigarettes.  

Shuichi Takenaka 

As Joon-Ho walked to the local corner store, he passed a bar that he did business out of.  Outside was Shuichi Takenaka a dealer from the Izumi-gumi that Joon-Ho knew because they shared the same profession but otherwise knew very little about.  Shuichi was talking to someone giving what sounded like a sales pitch "Right now, the cost is lower, but who knows what it'll be like tomorrow.  It's a vulnerable market after all."  Son of a bitch!  He was selling amphetamines on Joon-Ho's turf.  (How dare you sell drugs in this neighbourhood!  That's my job!) 

Shuichi was connected with the Izumi-gumi a younger, smaller and less prestigious group than Joon-Ho's own organization the Akemi-gumi.  (That was all the information that the GM would offer me without a Streetwise roll.  I told her it'd be more in character for Joon-Ho to act without knowing all the facts).  As a loyal member of the Akemi-gumi, Joon-Ho couldn't let small-fry like this piss all over their turf!  He started approaching the rival dealer, making himself appear non-threatening.  Acting like he was just a guy running into an old friend outside a bar.  "Mr. Takenaka of the Izumi-gumi, right?"  Before Shuichi could say anything in response, Joon-Ho caught him square in the face.  With a Tae Kwon Do punch so powerful that it knocked the dealer to the ground unconscious.  He turned to the customer that had been trying to buy from Shuichi.  "Something wrong pal?" like he was asking a stranger about their car troubles.  Which was very intimidating considering that he'd just knocked out a man without any apparent provocation.  (As a side note the GM was not expecting me to go this route, apparently I derailed quite a bit by doing this.  I stand by it as doing what anyone would have done if they caught a rival dealer red-handed selling on their turf).  

"S-s-s-sorry sir." Shuichi's frightened customer turned tail and ran.  Dropping his wallet which he had had out to pay for Shuichi's product.  The frightened man ran back to collect the wallet in a clumsy sort of way.  Then ran away again, never looking back at Joon-Ho.  Who was content to let him go, a guy who scared that easily wasn't about to go running to the cops.  He picked up the unconscious Shuichi trying to pass it off as someone helping a drunk guy walk home.  He discovered about a half-kilo of amphetamines on Shuichi which Joon-Ho stuffed back in the rival dealer's inner pocket.  Shuichi would have a lot of explaining to do, once they got back to Joon-Ho's apartment.  Where Joon-Ho planned to interrogate the Izumi Yakuza along with Takahiro.

The Body

When Joon-Ho got to his apartment the door was unlocked, Takahiro must have left.  It didn't matter Joon-Ho was certain that Takahiro would come running back.  Once he got a call about Shuichi dealing on their Akemi turf, Takahiro would want some answers.  Joon-Ho opened the door dragging the unconscious rival dealer into the apartment and that is when he saw it.  

Takahiro was lying on the floor, covered in blood.  A revolver, similar to the one that Joon-Ho kept in the Apartment's AC unit was in his hand.  It didn't make sense!  A lot of users became depressed after they came down, but they usually didn't kill themselves if they had a supply at hand.  There was a whole kilo of Adderall in the AC unit along with the Smith and Wesson!  Unceremoniously dropping the unconscious Shuichi to the apartment floor, Joon-Ho ran over to Takahiro's body.  "Fuck!  Bro, Bro!" he yelled at the unmoving form on his apartment floor, shaking Takahiro and checking for a pulse.  He found none.  His mind went blank, how had this happened?  He checked his dead superior's jacket pockets (I figured it'd be kind of awkward to reach into the pants pockets), finding some business cards, a pack of smokes with one remaining cigarette and about two doses of Adderall.

There was nothing he could do to help his friend, and Joon-Ho was beginning to fear the worst.  He went over to the apartment's AC pulling off the panel and looking inside.  The entire kilo that Takahiro had delivered last night was gone!  So was Joon-Ho's Smith & Wesson, he could no longer deny it.  His best friend was lying dead in his apartment killed by his own gun!  A rage at the helplessness he felt boiled up inside Joon-Ho prompting his to punch the wall in frustration.  "Motherfucker!" the pain of his hand breaking (the GM said that punching a wall required 1d10 damage, of which I took 5.  I didn't change my decision to punch the wall since it seemed like a really in character thing to do) was nothing compared to the anger he felt right now!  He turned around to survey the mess he'd gotten himself into, the door was wide open and heard someone running down the metal stairs outside his apartment!  He glanced near the doorway where he'd left Shuichi he was gone!

Joon-Ho wasted no time, running out his the door of his apartment like a bat out of hell.  Hurtling down the metal staircase in pursuit of the fleeing Yakuza.  It was too late.  As he came to the bottom of the stairs, Shuichi was nowhere to be seen.  Joon-Ho decided to give up his pursuit of the rival dealer for now.  He'd get his if it was the last thing that Joon-Ho ever did.  For now there was a more pressing matter of body and a gun that needed disposing of.  (I failed my Athletics check to pursue Shuichi, so I couldn't interrogate him.  I figured it was a better idea to get rid of the evidence thank you Dogtown Felon's Handbook by Johnathan Ridd).

Cleaning the Mess

Joon-Ho climbed the stairs back to his apartment.  Once inside he grabbed some tissues and carefully extracted the revolver out of Takahiro's hand.  Careful not to get any fingerprints on it.  After that it was a walk down to the local river to dump the piece.  (I was incredibly nervous about Joon-Ho getting caught with the gun on his person.  By like a police stop and search or something, the firearm possession laws are pretty strict in Japan.  I was expecting the GM to take advantage of that fact, thankfully she didn't).  Wrapped in enough tissues to last a man a lifetime the gun sank to the bottom of the river, while a few of the tissues floated before sinking.  Satisfied that the murder weapon would never again see the light of day, Joon-Ho set out in search of a payphone.

When he finally found one he dropped one hundred Yen into it.  Enough to pay for a ten minute phone call, long enough to explain the situation, but not so long that he'd be exposed longer than he'd have to be.  That's when the withdrawal from the amphetamines hit him.  (The GM was using a drug system of her own design which I was very impressed by.  I wasn't expecting her to be implementing house rules this early in her career as a GM.  But hey, more power to her).  Joon-Ho was losing his shit.  He had no idea who had killed his friend.  It could have been that bastard Shuichi, it could have been his girlfriend Miu it could have been the people he was about to call.  For all he knew he could have killed Takahiro himself while high and not have realized it!  He glanced furiously around the phone-booth, even the people walking outside on the street could be suspects.  

Marv from Frank Miller's Sin City, the above quote from him pretty much sums up Joon-Ho's and my own thought process
at this point. 

He popped a dose of Adderall, he did not need to be dealing with withdrawal right now.  (I figured if I was in Joon-Ho's position I'd start popping pills too).  Gulping down the pills he tapped impatiently on the phone box, waiting for the call to connect.  The gun he could take care of on his own, to get Takahiro's body out of his apartment, he'd need to call in some help.  Right now he was trying to get in touch of Mr. Yoshida Goro, the one man who Joon-Ho could call when everything was fucked up.  Ordinarily it'd be Takahiro that he'd call, but Takahiro was dead and part of the Joon-Ho's current problem.  The phone clicked as he connected with the Yoshida's office.  A woman answered on the other end of the line Yoshida's secretary "Hello, Yoshida office, may I ask who's calling?"

A Japanese payphone not unlike the one that Joon-Ho made
his call to the Yoshida office from.

"Tae Joon-Ho, I work for Mr. Koizumi, I need to speak with Mr. Yoshida." Joon-Ho was trying his best to mind his manners under the stress.  

"If you want to speak to Mr. Yoshida, you'll have to set up an appointment and come down in person." replied the Secretary trying her best to be helpful and failing.  

Joon-Ho took another opportunity to look around at his surroundings outside the phone booth.  He was feeling kind of exposed and vulnerable out in the open like this.  

"This is an emergency, I need to speak with Mr. Yoshida, now!" he wasn't shouting but his initial politeness was now gone.  

"Sorry, sir, but you'll have to come down in person.  I'm sure you understand how it is." the secretary on the other end was stilling maintaining her professionalism.  Even if Joon-Ho wasn't.  He was becoming more and more panicked with each delay to speaking with Mr. Yoshida.  

"I would, but I just came back to my apartment to find my Boss murdered!  You have to put Mr. Yoshida on the phone now!" 

There was a click on the other end of the line as the secretary hung up.  Realizing that his last life-line had just hung up on him, Joon-Ho lost what little of his cool was left.  He started slamming the receiver agains the phone (Robert deNiro in Goodfellas when he finds out Joe Pesci's been murdered style) cursing at the voice that was no longer on the other end.  "Motherfucker!  Son of a Bitch!  Fucking bastard!"      

Conclusions 

Overall it was a great first session, I was kind of disappointed that Takahiro was killed so early on.  His death did serve as the impetus for a lot of the action of this session.  So I forgive my GM for killing off one of the friends that I rolled for Joon-Ho's Lifepath.  She didn't pull any punches starting right off by taking away the two pieces of gear that were (in my opinion) most important the character.  His stash of drugs and his piece.  Not to be vindictive but to propel the story forward.  Which I personally think is the mark of a great GM, not bad for her first time.  Considering I did something similar when we ran the Aki campaign.  For those of you that haven't read that actual play report.  In short I kidnapped the player's girlfriend/dependent in the first session.  We ended the session with Joon-Ho still in the phone booth wondering how the hell he was going to get out of this one.  Which was a great place to end it really, the plan is to pick up again on this upcoming Wednesday.  Until next time have a good day and may you roll many crits.  If you liked this actual play report be sure to +1, comment below and follow this blog.  Bye for now.