Night’s Black Agents: Tribes of Tokyo episode 4

The Empty FIve: Ain't nobody to fuck withThe Ronin decide to strike back at the vampire conspiracy with Operation Black Dolphin, a cunning but risky plan. They must gather many disparate components in order for the plan to work, and a single misstep can ruin it. Part of the plan involves the creation of a fake terrorist group known as the Empty Five. It also involves corpses, Geiger counters and copious amounts of explosives. Will it be enough to change the dynamics of the conspiracy and give the Ronin a chance to catch up or is it too late? Find out in this very special episode of Tribes of Tokyo!

Check out this ‘shopping list’ of items used in Operation Black Dolphin

Thanks to Crazon for the art!

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26 Comments

  1. I just read the shopping list, and holy balls, am I psyched up for the AP. I can’t wait to see what the PCs thought they needed a dead body for.

  2. Please tell me that the whale gun and the batteries were utilized to their fullest potential later in the campaign.

  3. Caleb confirmed for black-ops deep cover.

    When the transhuman autonomist revolution comes, he shall eliminate the entire Springfield cell.

  4. omg Caleb you are a crazy person it’s wonderful

  5. Well that was totally insane. I love it.

  6. I am in awe. That was the best episode yet. Ross making snide comments like ‘have you stacked that house of cards high enough yet?’ really made my day. Caleb’s plan, with all its little twists and turns, and the fact that by and large succeeded, really made my day. Tom’s crazy millionaire contact made my day. Aaron, so far out of his comfort zone you might as well have locked him in Alcatraz with only a bar of soap for company, made my day. ‘Black Dolphin (echolocation, geddit?)’ really really made my day.

    You guys frappe’d fun with awesome and dashed on sprinkles of schadenfreude, and now I’m seriously contemplating remorselessly bribing Ross into passing the episodes along as soon as they’re available.

  7. Author

    All the episodes are already available. The campaign is done and every episode is encoded. They’re just waiting to be uploaded.

  8. who was the crazy millionaire, by the way? I tried googling whatever the fuck name it sounded like you were saying but couldn’t dig up anyone who seemed to fit his description.

  9. that is exactly the face I imagined him having from his cameo here

  10. Ah, so that’s the article. That might have been helpful earlier Ross. Just saying. XD

  11. SO IMMERSIVE!!! I WAS ever so immersed from the sound of the steam baths. This ought to be the highest rated episode. I felt hot and comfortably sweat, like I was relaxing with a some naked Japanese men. I really love when Ross is able to bring the scenes to life in the mind of the listener. Not only that, but it only got better from there.

  12. God damn. Operation Black Dolphin.

    God damn.

  13. Holy shit. Caleb put together a conspiracy against the GM.

  14. Ohh my freaking goodness…I am at a loss for words to describe the pure glory that is this episode, and especially Operation Black Dolphin. That was beyond amazing. Caleb’s brilliance apparently knows no bounds. This episode was, without a doubt, one of the finest pieces of audio entertainment I’ve ever enjoyed. Thank you all, and great work all around! Tom’s roleplaying with Mccaffrey was great, as was Aaron’s panicked discomfort as a revolutionary. Ross’s story continues to intrigue and entangle. Thank you, gents, you always provide fascinating listening.

  15. About half way through the episode and I am starting to think Caleb is not so much playing the game as trying to stage a coup and over throw the GM so all the players can live in his crafted death trap. I am quite enjoying it.

  16. I’ve enjoyed this podcasts series so much that I ordered a copy of Night’s Black Agents off of eBay. The seller misspelled nights (Knight’s), and I purchased the book for $10. Turns out it is also autographed by Ken Hite.

  17. So basically Caleb knows that Ross will react to his plan and have the bad guys spawn countermeasures to foil him. So the next logical step was to completely cut Ross out of the loop so he had no more idea what was happeni.g that the NPC’s did.

  18. Actually, HooliganTuesday, I think that was only half of his plan. The other half was to avoid the much derided “PC Behavior” by Tom and Aaron by telling them he had a plan, but not giving them details. They couldn’t improvise (which is the usual source of PC behavior, in my opinion) without knowing the plan’s goals. They trust Caleb, and don’t want to ruin his plan, so they just do what he asks.

  19. SLight counterargument, Timtombimbom, if i may? I believe his aim in not telling them the entire plan falls under Operational Security and a contingency. If they don’t know the entire plan, they cannot accidentally reveal it should something go horribly wrong. And by not telling them that he’s not telling them info in the event that something goes horribly wrong, he’s also NOT telling them that there’s a remote possibility that… well, something might go horribly wrong.

    In any event, this was the perfect moment for Caleb to grab a cigar, because we ALL love it when a plan comes together.

  20. It does seem like a good idea not to tell Aaron why he’s doing things. He does rather tend to blurt things out under pressure.

  21. @ Hooligantuesday

    I feel that you may be mixing some of my previous characters up with Ishida. Just because he questions the method of an operation does not necessarily mean that he does not comprehend operational security. Also blurting is a time honored skill and takes years of practice to master.

  22. Don’t worry, Caleb, Ross usually seems to find a way to use your plans against you- even if he doesn’t know the WHOLE plan.

  23. I’m re-listening to the Tribes of Tokyo campaign and THIS is the single best moment of the campaign, and it’s one of my favorite RPPR episodes of all time.

  24. “You’re like a violent superman”

    That scene in the car park was great.

    The whole structure of this session was utterly fascinating. Going to try something similar in my GMing. I’m thinking let the players plan a defense of a town, and I plan an assault, and we see how the two plans meet.

    Anyway, great session. Can’t wait for the response by the antagonists!

  25. The campaign up this point had a few Holmes and Moriarity moments between Ross and Caleb, but this feels like the crystallization of that dynamic. It was excellent throughout.

    It’s an excellent example of how Night’s Black Agents can be (and I suspect, is meant to be) played. I’m also looking forward to the blowback that is doubtless to come, especially from Akira.

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