Corporation – Operation Pisces
23.08.07
Well tonight, I got to play in a game of Corporation. My character is female, named Jodi Kazan. Originally trained as a pilot for the Western Federation; currently working for a little-known Corporation called Amazon, based in the SA Freestate.
The mission briefing was thus: although much of the flora and fauna of the Earth has been destroyed, there are creatures that survived. Reports have come in of sea creatures (sharks, whales, jellyfish etc.) been sighted with cybernetic modifications. This is illegal under UIG law and Amazon itself acts to preserve what is left of Earth’s wildlife. The source of the creatures has been traced to an undersea lab complex. My job was to go in and destroy the labs.
I was supplied with scuba gear, an electric spear gun and five explosive charges with radio detonators. Transport was on a fast jetboat out to the target zone. Making sure the captain wasn’t peeking, I got changed into the scuba gear and took two of the explosives plus detonators, plus the spear gun. I left my Cougar behind (stupid!)
Swimming down into the ocean, I saw a metal cylinder with a hatch and a window leading into a cliff; over this was a huge open pipe, large enough to take a whale. Looking through the window, nothing was visible to I went in via the hatch. It was an airlock; inside the cylinder were two scuba suits. The ceiling was the underside of the pipe; a hatchway with a locking wheel paralleled the pipe. Stepping through, led to a corridor under the pipe with three doors leading off. Suddenly there was a surging sound, as if something large had passed down the pipe. Picking the left-hand door; it led onto a L-shaped corridor. At this point a guard rounded the corner. I pointed the electro spear and, putting on my best intimidating voice, said “Drop the weapon and turn and face the wall. This is a high-power electro weapon, at this range my friend, it will fry your brains.” Unfortunately, he wasn’t intimidated and pulled his gun, putting a shot into me. The histonamide and synaptic modulators were well up to handling this (but it still stings); realising that the spear gun was pretty ineffectual out of the water and cursing my stupidity in not bringing the Cougar; I launched into a close combat assault. I tried to grab the gun off him but got shot in the chest; at point blank range; I fired the electro spear and hit him for maximum damage.. He broke and ran for the door. I tried the Voice again “Hold it right there. This thing is now set to full power and I’ve got a perfect shot.” This time it worked and he surrendered. Quickly relieving him of the pistol and ammo, I marched him down to what seemed to be a rest area with some spare uniforms and helmets. I learnt there were two other guards and two laboratories. There was no way of locking the door or restraining him; but I don’t kill unnecessarily. I produced one of the explosives and armed it; then I got changed into the smaller of the two uniforms ( it fitted; maybe they do a “one size fits all”) “Now, you are going to stay here. And to make sure you do, I’m going to put this bomb outside the door. If you open the door, then the proximity detector triggers the bomb. Do you understand?”. He understood. Closing the door, I deactivated the bomb and moved back down the corridor to the main passage.
Now dressed as a guard, I entered the door at the opposite end. Still the huge pipe overhead. Following this through another door, it led to a large cavern. The pipe entered above, the cavern was filled with an array of cylinders and massive test tubes, holding sea creatures. There were also huge pools. Moving amongst these were white- coated scientists; as I watched they were modifying a shark, installing some kind of cybernetic jaw. Slipping out again, I paused for thought. At the other door off the main corridor I heard voices; laughing and joking. The other two guards?
Then a message came via SVC. The boat was under attack from a giant shark with a metal tail; the last thing I heard was “Don’t come up, help is on its way, repeat, don’t….”
Returning to the laboratory, I slipped in without being seen. The pipe was overhead, so I used my T- Jump (I’m a telepath – didn’t I say?) to jump up onto the pipe. I placed one of the explosives onto the pipe; then T-Jumped back down; again without being noticed.
Heading back to the other door, I opened it and marched in. The two guards looked up, one said something but I growled back “someone’s got to do the rounds” (Ok, they must have been blind). Through the next door was another laboratory like the first; I did the T-Jump up to the pipe and placed the second explosive.
Back with the guards; “anyone want a drink,” I said, before moving out into the main corridor. I quickly recovered the scuba gear; got suited up and then moved back to the airlock. There I was faced with a gruesome sight; pressed up against the window was the captain of the jetboat; entire left side of his body including his arm, missing. I activated the smeaker; to find that there was another boat on station.
Pulling the inner hatch to; I activated both detonators. Two muffled explosions from deep in the complex. I closed the hatch, then exited the airlock. Nearby, on the seabed, were the remaining explosives and detonators, so I collected these.
Swimming up to the surface, it appears that Histonamide is able to cope with oxygen narcosis, decompression stops were not needed. At the surface; I made it to the boat as, about 3 km away, appeared a huge shark with a metal tail …
=============================================================================
The game halted due to time constraints; but what a blast! I really enjoyed the game and it demonstrated just how versatile this system is. There are no rules for scuba diving, or specific Skills (although perhaps I could have sought out a Task Chip); so it was all made up on the spot.
We used Intimidate, Disarm and Bluffing; all of which, in other RPG’s; have complex rules. In Corp they don’t; so you’re more inclined to use them.
But, what makes this stand out for me, is that this entire Mission was conceived, written and GM’d by my 10 year old son Ben. And that, to me, is the grip that this game has.
Thursday 23 August 2007
Wednesday 22 August 2007
Corporation - Redemption Spire Episode 2
The second episode opened in a briefing room back in Drome Spire. A further two agents had been drafted in to Division Alphanor and despatched to assist; as intelligence reported that there were higher levels of security than originally planned for and that the original exit route had been compromised.
The new Agents were Stoopod (Daniel), a gunbunny toting an M50 and Grave (Jon), a Teccie. They were given the same entrance route and took the next scheduled sub-orbital flight. Exiting over Redemption Spire, Grave landed safely but Stoopod was caught in the thermal updraughts and had to make a second attempt. On the balcony they found the rope the first Team had left and quickly abseiled down to the 643rd level. Making contact by smeaker they joined the others outside the door to the laboratory. Stoopod and Grave went to the guardroom and looted the bodies of their handguns.
This is where things started to go wrong. Moving down to the next set of doors and seeing the two guards; Stoopod eased the doors open and threw in a frag grenade. Unfortunately he missed his aiming point and the grenade fell the wrong side of the security station. It exploded but did little damage. It did, however, set off an alarm and alert the guards. The Division burst in through the door and a firefight started; then, with a tremendous roar, Stoopod cut loose with his M50, blowing both guards to pieces in short order. Riku shot out the (previously unnoticed) security camera. Searching the remains of the security station they found an X-Ray scanner (linked to the device round the door) and a commlink.
Stoopod opened the door behind the guardpost; he was hit several times by gunfire from a door across what appeared to be an engineering lab. He slammed the door; Grave tried to throw in a grenade but was hit as soon as he opened the door.
The commlink crackled to life:- "G74, report status...... G74 please respond...." Winter was designated to respond but was unable to think of anything to say (he had been busy applying a medpack at the time). "G74, please report status.....G74, please respond....". Winter finally thought of something... "Uh... hello" , he said. A general alarm went off (klaxons, flashing strobes, steam jets(!), the lot). "General alert...security breach on Level 643... Squads 365 and 568 to investigate"
It gradually dawned on them that perhaps the mission was FUBAR, so they made plans for escape. Picking the lock on the double doors at the end of the corridor, they exited onto an L-shaped corridor; facing a bank of elevators and some stairs. The indicator on the elevator showed it was on its way up.
Now things got worse. Stoopod, Riku and Grave took positions facing the elevator doors; whilst the others ran off down the corridor. The doors opened and two guards wearing full combat armour, carrying machine pistols, exited the elevator. Stoopod let fire a full burst at the nearest guard; only to see with dismay the flickering glow of an ion field take most of the damage. The guards returned fire, injuring Stoopod and Grave. Riku moved back into the corridor leading to the laboratory and climbed out of the window.
Grave tried a dive and roll to get past the guards and ended up next to one of the huge glassteel windows.Stoopod ran off down the corridor, bullets zipping past him.
Meanwhile, Winter and the others ran up the stairs to find a helipad with a Gates-Learjet GL61 helicopter. At the opposite side of the helipad a squad of guards were exiting a stairwell. They piled into the 'copter and tried to get it started. Stoopod joined them. Grave tried to gapple a guard and take him as a hostage but he messed it up and had to run for his life up to the roof.
The helicopter took off with Grave flying. Riku called via smeaker for pickup; there was some debate over this but Grave hovered the 'copter over the balcony and Riku climbed in. It was then that Ilyana, in the co-pilot seat, noticed on the radar two blips closing fast. Her PDA identified them as X40 Pursuit helicopters, armed with RPG's. Stoopod opened fire on them with his M50 but did little damage. A few RPG's were fired; then Riku climed into the co-pilot's seat and took over. With his piloting skills they escaped and rendezvoused with an E.I flying wing carry-all out over the South Atlantic.
The debriefing session:
Colonel Kazan reviewed the Mission statements and reports. There were a lot of accusations thrown (GM: this was a fun bit to listen to; basically everyone blamed James for setting off the alarm; but he didn't. Players, please take note: NPC's are not stupid. As soon as the grenade went off, one of the guards triggered a local alarm linked to a central security station. Hence the call on the comlink.)
Riku handed over the 500c scrip and the ODESSA file.
Board of Review Findings:
1. The Mission was a failure
2. The killing of the two unconcious guards was unecessary. Missions must incur the minimum collateral damage; these people could be EI customers
3. The use of heavy weapons on Missions of this nature is to be reviewed
4. There was evidence of insubordination within the Division. Refusal to follow a Division Leader's orders is a disciplinary offence. It is the judgement of the Board of Review that this was the prime cause of the failure of the Mission.
. The Divison are insubordinate, belligerent and uncordinated. Deep cover traing is to start immediatly
===================================================================
Well, that was my second session of Corporation and it went with a blast! Having gained two extra players during the break; I had to get them there somehow. However; it was clear right from the outset that Daniel was not going to accept Ben as a Division Leader.
GM's thoughts:
There was a marked tendency and train of thought to fight to the bitter end. I think this is a legacy of computer games. One all the alarms started going off; they were all for fighting it out. When I suggested the possibilty of escape; most of them looked blank; or said they would get shot to pieces.
The new Agents were Stoopod (Daniel), a gunbunny toting an M50 and Grave (Jon), a Teccie. They were given the same entrance route and took the next scheduled sub-orbital flight. Exiting over Redemption Spire, Grave landed safely but Stoopod was caught in the thermal updraughts and had to make a second attempt. On the balcony they found the rope the first Team had left and quickly abseiled down to the 643rd level. Making contact by smeaker they joined the others outside the door to the laboratory. Stoopod and Grave went to the guardroom and looted the bodies of their handguns.
This is where things started to go wrong. Moving down to the next set of doors and seeing the two guards; Stoopod eased the doors open and threw in a frag grenade. Unfortunately he missed his aiming point and the grenade fell the wrong side of the security station. It exploded but did little damage. It did, however, set off an alarm and alert the guards. The Division burst in through the door and a firefight started; then, with a tremendous roar, Stoopod cut loose with his M50, blowing both guards to pieces in short order. Riku shot out the (previously unnoticed) security camera. Searching the remains of the security station they found an X-Ray scanner (linked to the device round the door) and a commlink.
Stoopod opened the door behind the guardpost; he was hit several times by gunfire from a door across what appeared to be an engineering lab. He slammed the door; Grave tried to throw in a grenade but was hit as soon as he opened the door.
The commlink crackled to life:- "G74, report status...... G74 please respond...." Winter was designated to respond but was unable to think of anything to say (he had been busy applying a medpack at the time). "G74, please report status.....G74, please respond....". Winter finally thought of something... "Uh... hello" , he said. A general alarm went off (klaxons, flashing strobes, steam jets(!), the lot). "General alert...security breach on Level 643... Squads 365 and 568 to investigate"
It gradually dawned on them that perhaps the mission was FUBAR, so they made plans for escape. Picking the lock on the double doors at the end of the corridor, they exited onto an L-shaped corridor; facing a bank of elevators and some stairs. The indicator on the elevator showed it was on its way up.
Now things got worse. Stoopod, Riku and Grave took positions facing the elevator doors; whilst the others ran off down the corridor. The doors opened and two guards wearing full combat armour, carrying machine pistols, exited the elevator. Stoopod let fire a full burst at the nearest guard; only to see with dismay the flickering glow of an ion field take most of the damage. The guards returned fire, injuring Stoopod and Grave. Riku moved back into the corridor leading to the laboratory and climbed out of the window.
Grave tried a dive and roll to get past the guards and ended up next to one of the huge glassteel windows.Stoopod ran off down the corridor, bullets zipping past him.
Meanwhile, Winter and the others ran up the stairs to find a helipad with a Gates-Learjet GL61 helicopter. At the opposite side of the helipad a squad of guards were exiting a stairwell. They piled into the 'copter and tried to get it started. Stoopod joined them. Grave tried to gapple a guard and take him as a hostage but he messed it up and had to run for his life up to the roof.
The helicopter took off with Grave flying. Riku called via smeaker for pickup; there was some debate over this but Grave hovered the 'copter over the balcony and Riku climbed in. It was then that Ilyana, in the co-pilot seat, noticed on the radar two blips closing fast. Her PDA identified them as X40 Pursuit helicopters, armed with RPG's. Stoopod opened fire on them with his M50 but did little damage. A few RPG's were fired; then Riku climed into the co-pilot's seat and took over. With his piloting skills they escaped and rendezvoused with an E.I flying wing carry-all out over the South Atlantic.
The debriefing session:
Colonel Kazan reviewed the Mission statements and reports. There were a lot of accusations thrown (GM: this was a fun bit to listen to; basically everyone blamed James for setting off the alarm; but he didn't. Players, please take note: NPC's are not stupid. As soon as the grenade went off, one of the guards triggered a local alarm linked to a central security station. Hence the call on the comlink.)
Riku handed over the 500c scrip and the ODESSA file.
Board of Review Findings:
1. The Mission was a failure
2. The killing of the two unconcious guards was unecessary. Missions must incur the minimum collateral damage; these people could be EI customers
3. The use of heavy weapons on Missions of this nature is to be reviewed
4. There was evidence of insubordination within the Division. Refusal to follow a Division Leader's orders is a disciplinary offence. It is the judgement of the Board of Review that this was the prime cause of the failure of the Mission.
. The Divison are insubordinate, belligerent and uncordinated. Deep cover traing is to start immediatly
===================================================================
Well, that was my second session of Corporation and it went with a blast! Having gained two extra players during the break; I had to get them there somehow. However; it was clear right from the outset that Daniel was not going to accept Ben as a Division Leader.
GM's thoughts:
There was a marked tendency and train of thought to fight to the bitter end. I think this is a legacy of computer games. One all the alarms started going off; they were all for fighting it out. When I suggested the possibilty of escape; most of them looked blank; or said they would get shot to pieces.
Wednesday 8 August 2007
CORPORATION
Corporation – The first game Weds 08/08/07
This was the first playing of Corporation at Halesowen Boardgamers. Corporation is a game set in the 26th Century, where Earth and its surrounds are controlled by vast mega-corporations. The players are Agents of a Corporation, undertaking various missions. The game only came out last year, the rules are excellent, well-written and work well and the rulebook itself is a work of art. Check out http://www.corpgame.com/ for further info.
The players were the junior members of Halesowen Boardgamers, all Executives of Eurasian Incorporated. Ben C played Riku, a droid engineer; James played Winter, an Observation specialist; Matthew G played Fish, a Hacker; Matthew played Gaarak, a Security Specialist (thief); and Charlotte played Ilyana Dumas, a master of unarmed combat equipped with some assassins devices.
After an introduction to the game system they were given a briefing sheet. I ran Redemption Recovery, the intro mission in the rulebook; but wrote it out again and statted the guards; plus noting some useful rolls. Told to choose a leader and given the designation Division Alphanor, they elected Ben. A few prompts from Kazan, their Briefing Officer about equipment and had they considered exit routes etc. and they were ready to go. Their mission was to travel to Redemption Spire, Cape Town and recover a stolen piece of cybertech from a Comoros reverse engineering lab. The entry point was to exit a sub-orbital shuttle above the Spire and, using drop suits, land on a ledge on the 644th floor
On the shuttle, gaining access to the cargo bay was relatively easy and they exited approx. three miles above the Spire. Gliding down, they were caught in a vicious thermal up draught; Garaak landed ok but the others had to try again. Ilyana and Winter landed the second time but both Riku and Fish had to make a third attempt. Fish nearly snagged a communications antenna on the way in.
Ilyana swung down off the ledge and through the middle window on the 643rd floor. To her surprise it was open! As the others followed she scouted the room, noting a computer terminal on a desk, a chair and a filing cabinet.. The cabinet held sheets of paper with rows of numbers; nothing of interest. Noting a line of light under the door and correctly surmising that it probably led onto a corridor; Riku slid one of his AV bugs under the door and linked into his PDA. The bug showed a corridor with a security camera and three doors, the middle one transparent. Fish set up his computer using the rooms data socket and hacked into the camera. The image showed three doors; the left hand one had a sign [G74], the middle transparent one read [DECON] and the right-hand one read [CHEMICAL STORE]. Fish looped the camera signal to show an empty corridor (nice idea Matthew G!).
Deciding it was safe to enter the corridor; Riku slid a bug under the door marked Chemical Store, but it was dark inside. Ilyana noticed the transparent door led onto a corridor lined with red-glowing lights, ending with another transparent door. Winter and Gaarak, at the door marked G74, heard a radio playing Skansa music. Summoned by smeaker (sub-vocal communicator); Riku slid an AV bug under the door. The bug showed four guards in combat armour and helmets in a guardroom.
A plan was quickly decided. Winter opened the door, threw in a KO gas grenade, then slammed the door. When they opened it again there were still three guards awake, a fifth was unconscious in a doorway at the rear. Without further ado the Agents opened fire on the guards and a vicious fire fight erupted. At its height, Fish withdrew back to the office to check on the cameral looping. Winter took heavy damage but eventually the guards were taken down. Gaarak executed the other unconscious guards (“ because they are witnesses!”. The radio was still blasting out Comoros Skansa; outraged by this, Riku threw the radio down the toilet.
They checked out the other doors; the Chemical Store held, well, chemicals; one office (identical to the one they had entered by) had 500c slip in a drawer (slip is unregistered cash, illegal under UIG rules) and the other office held an encrypted data disc labelled ‘ODESSA’. Riku took both the disk and the slip. He intends to turn them over to Eurasian.
Opening the transparent polymer doors; the Division ascertained that there was some kind of scanning device at the far end.
The game stopped at this point due to time constraints, and is to be continued in two weeks time.
This was my first running of Corporation and the game delivered in every area. The rules are simple; intuitive and yet flexible enough to cover every situation (the thermal up draughts mentioned above being a case in point). Combat is fast and effective (it must be noted here that I down-powered the guards; cash-strapped Comoros wouldn’t have guards with ion shields guarding a tin-pot facility like this). Having said that, Winter is down to 1/3rd of his HP; thus demonstrating that Agents are above-human; not super-human.
This was the first playing of Corporation at Halesowen Boardgamers. Corporation is a game set in the 26th Century, where Earth and its surrounds are controlled by vast mega-corporations. The players are Agents of a Corporation, undertaking various missions. The game only came out last year, the rules are excellent, well-written and work well and the rulebook itself is a work of art. Check out http://www.corpgame.com/ for further info.
The players were the junior members of Halesowen Boardgamers, all Executives of Eurasian Incorporated. Ben C played Riku, a droid engineer; James played Winter, an Observation specialist; Matthew G played Fish, a Hacker; Matthew played Gaarak, a Security Specialist (thief); and Charlotte played Ilyana Dumas, a master of unarmed combat equipped with some assassins devices.
After an introduction to the game system they were given a briefing sheet. I ran Redemption Recovery, the intro mission in the rulebook; but wrote it out again and statted the guards; plus noting some useful rolls. Told to choose a leader and given the designation Division Alphanor, they elected Ben. A few prompts from Kazan, their Briefing Officer about equipment and had they considered exit routes etc. and they were ready to go. Their mission was to travel to Redemption Spire, Cape Town and recover a stolen piece of cybertech from a Comoros reverse engineering lab. The entry point was to exit a sub-orbital shuttle above the Spire and, using drop suits, land on a ledge on the 644th floor
On the shuttle, gaining access to the cargo bay was relatively easy and they exited approx. three miles above the Spire. Gliding down, they were caught in a vicious thermal up draught; Garaak landed ok but the others had to try again. Ilyana and Winter landed the second time but both Riku and Fish had to make a third attempt. Fish nearly snagged a communications antenna on the way in.
Ilyana swung down off the ledge and through the middle window on the 643rd floor. To her surprise it was open! As the others followed she scouted the room, noting a computer terminal on a desk, a chair and a filing cabinet.. The cabinet held sheets of paper with rows of numbers; nothing of interest. Noting a line of light under the door and correctly surmising that it probably led onto a corridor; Riku slid one of his AV bugs under the door and linked into his PDA. The bug showed a corridor with a security camera and three doors, the middle one transparent. Fish set up his computer using the rooms data socket and hacked into the camera. The image showed three doors; the left hand one had a sign [G74], the middle transparent one read [DECON] and the right-hand one read [CHEMICAL STORE]. Fish looped the camera signal to show an empty corridor (nice idea Matthew G!).
Deciding it was safe to enter the corridor; Riku slid a bug under the door marked Chemical Store, but it was dark inside. Ilyana noticed the transparent door led onto a corridor lined with red-glowing lights, ending with another transparent door. Winter and Gaarak, at the door marked G74, heard a radio playing Skansa music. Summoned by smeaker (sub-vocal communicator); Riku slid an AV bug under the door. The bug showed four guards in combat armour and helmets in a guardroom.
A plan was quickly decided. Winter opened the door, threw in a KO gas grenade, then slammed the door. When they opened it again there were still three guards awake, a fifth was unconscious in a doorway at the rear. Without further ado the Agents opened fire on the guards and a vicious fire fight erupted. At its height, Fish withdrew back to the office to check on the cameral looping. Winter took heavy damage but eventually the guards were taken down. Gaarak executed the other unconscious guards (“ because they are witnesses!”. The radio was still blasting out Comoros Skansa; outraged by this, Riku threw the radio down the toilet.
They checked out the other doors; the Chemical Store held, well, chemicals; one office (identical to the one they had entered by) had 500c slip in a drawer (slip is unregistered cash, illegal under UIG rules) and the other office held an encrypted data disc labelled ‘ODESSA’. Riku took both the disk and the slip. He intends to turn them over to Eurasian.
Opening the transparent polymer doors; the Division ascertained that there was some kind of scanning device at the far end.
The game stopped at this point due to time constraints, and is to be continued in two weeks time.
This was my first running of Corporation and the game delivered in every area. The rules are simple; intuitive and yet flexible enough to cover every situation (the thermal up draughts mentioned above being a case in point). Combat is fast and effective (it must be noted here that I down-powered the guards; cash-strapped Comoros wouldn’t have guards with ion shields guarding a tin-pot facility like this). Having said that, Winter is down to 1/3rd of his HP; thus demonstrating that Agents are above-human; not super-human.
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