Gloom City: Mayhem

 

That, but all fuckered up.

You're driving. Fast. They're right behind and mean you no good. Your car is a bad-ass...

1. 71 Plymouth 'Cuda in "sassy grass" and the sweet racing looking shit on the sides,
2. 69 Mustang Boss 429 Fastback in black with black on black everything,
3. generic year Ford Police Interceptor Utility Hybrid, nondescript slate, all tinted, heavy ramming frame, very very customized,
4. red 22 Maserati Ghibli Trofeo. It goes really fast,

but wind is whistling through bullet holes in the side door, one headlight is out, and...

1. the hood is missing. A grinding noise comes out of the gearbox when you shift down from 4th. Good luck on that whole slowing down-speeding up thing.
2. going over the center divider back there did something. Getting really hard to turn (50%) right/left.
3. when was the last time you filled up? Tank's just about on E.
4. hope you didn't need that fluid that just sprayed all over the windshield. Oh yeah wipers don't work.

You glance over at the person in the passenger's seat. Last you looked, it was really bad. It's...

1. your partner.
2. your lover.
3. that fucker you picked up, because of the thing.
4. empty; there's just you shaking your head. There was someone there, right?

The ballistic armor you're wearing that's identified by...

1. the Federal Bureau of Investigation...
2. Special Weapons and Tactics...
3. Department Of Analytics...
4. nothing, you sketchy mfer...

is chafing like crazy and barely useful after...

1. getting hit with those burning rounds. The only person you know who uses those hit you dead center, and that after you had been so close for all those fucking years.
2. buckshot real close from a door-buster by an assault squad dude storming the building you were vacating. Ouchies.
3. like everyone went berserk and started the cavalcade of carnage. That whole meetup between everyone could have gone better.
4. the four parallel gashes that ripped straight through the material and sheared the plates, barely missing your flesh and likely vitals. You don't know what did it. You're not even sure what could do that.

Driving is gonna get tougher, though; you're feeling the aftereffects of the initial conflagration:

1. wait, is it blood dripping in your eyes from a gash across the forehead (1-3), that you can't hear shit from explosiony things right next to your ears (4,5), or is it that your taste and smell are screwed after the faceful of whatever noxious bullshit that was (6)?
2. a concussion. It's probably a concussion. Good news is you don't really have time to fall asleep.
3. your arm feels nasty and you notice a grinding feeling from some of the bones on that side. You were winged, better get used to driving with one hand.
4. you're feeling a little something on your side, reach down and come away with a handful of sticky redness. Your clothes are going to be ruined that's for sure. Oh yeah, you probably want to get that checked. Soon.

Oh well, at least you managed to keep

1. that clip half filled with those special bullets.
2. the probably cursed silver and platinum crucifix missing the one emerald out of the 5 inset onto it. You should probably try to remember if they're looking for the thing, or if you're looking for the last gem from them.
3. one file cabinet, labelled with 5 letters, having letterhead (from which Department or Office?), a bit of redacted black bars, and completely unintelligible language obviously written with an otherwise standard if old fashioned typewriter.
4. the skull. Everyone always has to have the skull, right?

If you can just get to the Freeway, you're pretty sure your car knows the way. And you can always count on

1. Diego at Mission Santa Clarissa halfway up the coast. He did say he'd probably have to kill you if he ever saw you again, but you have what you need to apologize now. Hopefully.
2. One of the Triplets in Alpina all the way up the Rockies. But only ONE of them, the other two are batshit crazy. Now, was it Roman, Yulia, or Stefania? Wonder who's at the Chateau right now.
3. the Crow-girl's nest or roost or whatever she likes to call it. Spotlight City, top floor of whatever high-rise going up on the Strip that's not-yet totally open to the public. The unsafest safe-house ever, but since everyone will see you, no one ought to make any moves.
4. Blake at the Agency office in Sin Angeles. You're really hoping that the invite a while back wasn't for a retirement party, so his grimacing visage will grace your unannounced arrival in likely the dead of night.

 

 

You don't actually need one of those ear thingies; it just came with the suit.

[And now the postlet from the old berg!]

Well, alright! I thought this might be a fun way to generate a fast start for my Violent Dudes thing*. On one of my more or less daily runs, a bunch of option this and option thats were flitting about my thought-space, and I realized that a short menu table of options might make for some instant flavor. A chase, some stakes, and possible timers tbd by the Director (that's what they call the GM in Night's Black Agents I think!)**, and with plenty of wiggle room for input by the player ought to connect everyone into the Westlands Amerigo*** right away. And with options I figure random is most fun, but obviously if someone wanted to pick and choose down the lists, or even ignore the heck out of much of it, one or two things might be inspiring.

I probably forgot a whole plethora of options I wanted to use originally, but a few got added on while I was tossing down the mini-tables. I might come back to it if more basic options come to mind that would be worthwhile. But these things give a lot to work with, since most of it is opened ended, player flavor, or just hooks left to be fleshed out in the future. And if there's one thing I personally don't have trouble with, that's adding details to existing material once that rpg-ball's got a'rolling.

Speaking of details, I don't know if the alternate naming of everything will stick yet, but it's pretty easily returnable. I've had one person say they'd rather have real world place-names, and another say they liked the weird but familiar names most everything's getting as of yet. It's probably...a little goofy when I'm really aiming for slightly disconcerting, but reasonably serious, so I'm about 40% to keep it like that, and 50% to change back. I always like to leave a bit back, so 10% is a sacrifice to the gods. Just in case.

*oh, silly me. Gloom City: Mayhem is what I've thought of this setting for a while now.

**Night's Black Agents? Wow, I'd still like to play that, but I figured I'd probably maybe brew up something, probably Zeroturn for this stuff. Or find something really fighty. 

***That's what I was calling it? Hm. Maybe Westland works for me, actually. But I figure at heart this is for Gloom City Glare World, just with the desert and highways between the....City.