Hey everyone!
Want to share my run of today of Dogs of Leadgrave, for VDS, with you all. The group was made up of 6 players, 3 Human, 3 Immortal characters.
Since I had more time than I normally do for this one, I started the session not with the drop pod crashed, but with the group getting to the drop pod with the newly liberated Immortals. That gave them a straightforward intro to the system and let me feel out the group, as I was not close to all players.
The group liked to interact with the environment A LOT, which sent a number of curveballs my way. You’ll see this peppered through the report.
They tried to unlock the drop pod in many ways, one Immortal headbutted the quartz window to allow the humans to exit by squeezing through and try to unlock it from the outside, missiles were almost deployed. Finally Kade and his bunch arrived and they got out by trading favors as intended in the adventure.
The following fight with the dogs was straightforward and quick as the employment of a Gravity Pod and a pushed Chains roll make quick work of the dogs, before they even had the opportunity to try and howl. They tried tracking the dogs and succeeded, getting the info they were supposed to only get later, but decided not to pursue it in order to go to Leadgrave first. A smart choice.
In Leadgrave things went as expected, with some gear being handed out and info gathering. The Wreck was when S*** hit the fan.
Initial Dogs roll was 8 from the 2d4, and in the first round they already had a howl and summoned 8 more. The group fought and fought and there was no end in sight to the Dogs! Finally they decide to just hightail it and be chased, employing Runes and Missiles to delay the Dogs pursuit - by the time they gained some distance, there were 21 (TWENTY-ONE) Dogs chasing them.
They traded a Jet Bike for Burr’s Truck so they could block the entrance to the Devil’s Den, and picked apart the other Jet Bike they had to get to its core, a small nuclear reactor. Having that, and getting lucky with the Houndmaster’s first roll being a Regroup (so no attack from him then), they decided to live (?) up to the Death Squad name and chucked and shot the reactor on the Houndmaster, exploding it and caving everyone in, but heroically finishing off the threat and keeping their promise to the people of Leadgrave.
I then asked them to roll a d20. a 10 was rolled. I finished the session with:
“Ten years later, where once stood the Devil’s Den, we see from above the rubble stirring slowly. As we pan in to take a closer look, rocks shoot upwards, and a withered hand stretches up with a rune bracelet around its wrist.”
It was a chaotic and very fun session, that showcased beautifully the kinds of adventures I had with VDS since its debut. My spiral-bound copy was left with one of the players, who wanted to present the system to their monthly group.