Fallen Flag has evacuated a group of refugees in order to bring them to their own enclave. Between them and safety stands an unknown number of vectors wandering the countryside. In order to save the refugees, the takers must find a way to lead the undead away. Of course, serving as bait for a marathon running zombie is far from a safe proposition, especially when the team is so low on resources. Will everyone make it back?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:14:09 — 66.9MB)
Subscribe: RSS
breaking math on the radio!
I do love that the ranchers baaasically just handed Caleb a hostage? you never wanna give Caleb a hostage he knows how you tick
BULLETHEAD
Excellent episode!
This game really knows how to crank up the stress and fear especially when Vectors are involved.
I think this is my single favorite episode of the entire campaign. NicFit, Mudhead/Bullethead, the short-but-heroic career of Pam the Driver, the job that just…can’t…quite…end…
I think I mentioned this when the campaign first came out for the KS backers, but Ross really gives a master class here in improvisatory GMing. The whole complication with the Vectors came out of the consequences of the previous session, the creation of NicFit as a pivotal character, and the night in the house with the refugees were all the results of creating off of the players’ choices. And then the ENTIRE final act with Han in the house was improvised on the spot. The way he invents off of his players, serving up character-defining choices and white-knuckle stakes — it’s truly brilliant.
it was so good to punish Caleb for Half’s utterly sinful needle trick! I like to think that the apologies and the vector state comes from the equivalent of a Mythos shock, like, you leeearn something about the universe so terrible you become a berserk monster that can only wail. “we were wrong!” from that first appearance of the Meek has stayed with me.
and yeah the final act with Han isolated is–probably the tensest moment we’ve had on air yet? I was aaalmost disappointed he made it, felt like he’d slipped off that metaphorical roof and needed to break his back.
I was fairly surprised that Ross let Aaron live. I was expecting the scene to end with Aaron throwing his empty gun into the zombies and go in swinging, and then Caleb throwing his last grenade into the pile of Aaron+zombies and the car going up as well to top it off. Is snapping someone out of their fight/flight actually in the rules or was that an on-the-spot decision?
Great episode though, I like that the cracks are starting to show in the party and watching the characters deal with trying to make it and not becoming monsters.
I agree with everyone else that this was THE defining moment for Fallen Flag. Well there was one really great line Ahmu says later, but this is the episode. Han hiding for his life, Refurb snapping, Half’s desperate choice to save the team. I kinda feel McReady should’ve gone anyway, despite being gassed, but it was just a nailbiting scene.
I wonder if ‘snapping someone out of a Regret’ is part of the RM rules now?
Really great listening, but two things:
1. I felt that the Wrights possibly having arranged for slavers to pick up the squatters actually cheapened things. If it was just a choice between kicking out squatters who didn’t want to leave and forcing them to keep wandering across the post-apocalyptic wasteland or failing the job, it would have been a bigger ethical dilemma, and ultimately harder-hitting as the crew would have probably just finished the job and told the squatters “that’s life in the loss”. Once you tell the escaped slave that the squatters are going to be enslaved, suddenly it becomes super-obvious right vs wrong (slavery is bad, mmkay?) and the group has to try to do their best for the squatters.
2. The situation at the end was great drama, but I don’t think it would ever arise naturally from Red Markets without the creator of the game there telling everyone how to react. An average group of players would probably have decided to just stand and fight the Vectors or write off the decoy completely. As it was, the Two Banners crew wound up just fighting and killing the Vectors anyway despite all the resources they spent to avoid them, gaining nothing for all those resources spent and actually setting themselves up to be in a worse situation when they had to fight the Vectors (getting the squatters out of the way doesn’t matter, since the Vectors would have targeted people shooting at them before the squatters anyway). Like I said, great listening drama, but I can’t see it going that way in a home game.
1. It was winter and the squatters did not have the resources to survive without shelter. If the slavers did not take them, they would definitely die.
2. Vectors attack the closest target – which would have been a squatter who fell over or was slow. Also keep in mind that Fallen Flag is a large crew with 6 players. A smaller group would not have the resources to kill a vector that late in a job.