PinkCat: Running in the Shade “Haunted Junkyard” (A different sort of SR campaign report)

To understand what is going on here, you had best read the first PinkCat: Running in the Shade post, but short summary, this is a campaign report for our Shadowrun campaign set in NorCal through the filter of a cartoon made by one of the team members.

Episode Forty Five: Haunted Junkyard

Guest Starring: Clawz, DoubleUp, Gimmick, and Tora.

Glitter asks the gang to find some special parts for a classic vehicle that she is working on restoring.  The only place that seems to have it is the S. Pektor’s Auto Wrecker out at the end of Really Not Spooky Road.  The main building looks like the mansion from the start of Scooby Doo with the junkyard behind.  Classic setup meeting with the owner leading to warning about the Ghost of the Junkyard.  They venture in to find the part, high jinks and chases ensure as the Ghost of the Junkyard tries to chase us away.  Finally, the ghost is caught using a Rube Goldburg-esque trap and he is revealed to be a former government agent who knew that a shipment of gold was hidden in the yard, somewhere, and needed to keep people away while he searched for it.  Yes, classic Scooby Doo homage.

What really happened:

Shadowrun Campaign News for mid-2020 and two new Seattle Scream Props (#65 & 66)

Just as my monthly Saturday learn to play / open campaign game of Shadowrun was getting back to an even keel, the Situation happened.  So, we have been trying some gaming via the wonders of the proto-Matrix  (supported by Tyche’s Games our local game store).   We have now played enough of  the Sixth World Edition of Shadowrun to add some minor house rules to match our play style.

To support that ongoing campaign, we have two new scream sheets: Seattle Scream 65, the missing mob informant was related to one of adventures (and is a nod to my casual friend, Sean Patrick Fannon) and Seattle Scream 66.

Photo “Underpass” by Allen McGregor is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Welcome June and Summer, Farewell May

Our month of June is named from the Roman month Iunius, or Junius, which in turn is named in honor of the ancient Roman goddess Juno who is the wife of Jupiter and oversees marriage among other portfolio (and is associated with the Greek Hera).   For the Romans, the first half of Iunius is a period of religious purification and was considered the most favorable time to marry.  It will also be the anniversary of this journal, so I may try and do something special for that.

Summer officially starts this month, so, any thoughts on a theme, readers?  Send me your suggestions and I will try to act on them.

May, 2020, saw the following posts on the design journal:

Superheroes – Once upon a Time in 1967 – Issue 1 – Crimes and Crashes

With the current situation, our regular gaming has gotten quite disrupted.  We have been moving things online via Discord and Roll20, Google Hangouts and such.  It is trickier playing online and I feel that much of the ease of role-playing is lost but it is better than nothing.

We did our character creation session about three months ago, so now the first issue of the Freedom Five:

Cover: The team in dramatic poses with a silhouette of the NYC skyline behind. “Introducing America’s newest heroes!” is emblazoned across the bottom.

Opening page: Vulpix and her uncle, le Renard Noir, are looking out over Central Park from the family’s penthouse.  “So, Vulpix, you need to get your new team organized.  Show people what they can do under your leadership.”  Luckily le Renard Noir cannot see Vulpix’ expression of pure panic.

Review – Shadowrun: 30 Nights

Shadowrun: 30 Nights is a Campaign Book for Shadowrun detailing Ottawa and setting 30 “Nights” worth of adventurers there. There is some good information and some interesting adventures, some of which can be adapted to other situations, but not a required book unless you want to play in Ottawa or need ideas for adventures set during the Blackout part of the metaplot.

Shadowrun: 30 Nights, is a Campaign Book for Shadowrun, Sixth World Edition, letting players experience the UCAS blackouts (as discussed in Shadowrun: Cutting Black) directly.

It begins with an introduction with describes the terrible things that happened in the 1977 New York Blackout and leads into a brief discussion of the layout of the nights/ adventures. Then there is one of the required fiction pieces. Next we get a description of Ottawa, UCAS, it is short (twelve pages) but useful including such things as talismongers and weird mana zones within the city but it is lacking a map of the city, which would be exceedingly helpful as places are continually referenced in the city description and the adventures that follow.

May begins, April and the A to Z Challenge ends

We are almost to the first day of May.  May was Maius in Latin and was named after the Greek goddess Maia, probably, who is associated with Spring.  So, what theme would you like to see for May?  Spring and nature?  The fae and faerie?  Something else?  Let me know.

Unsurprisingly April’s writings were primarily for the A to Z Blogging Challenge, which I am pleased to say I completed though, since I accidentally double up on K several were a day later than they should have been).  So, the posts for April, 2020, were:

A new April begins, March ends

April begins tomorrow with a day of tricks and misdirections, though in some ways it seems that the world has been playing enough cruel tricks on us this year, and, as such deception not being my specialty, do not expect anything clever from me.  But I hope to enjoy cheerful cleverness from others.

While April is obviously drawn from the name of the Roman month Aprilis however it is unclear where the Roman name comes from, it may refer to the opening (aperire) of buds and flowers as Spring arrives or in some way to the goddess Venus, to whom it is a sacred month, or something else.  We just do not know, such is the way of history.

I am again doing the the Blogging from A to Z Challenge for April, the theme will be “Interesting Things in the Sea of Stars” so if you have questions about my setting, please ask.

March, 2020, saw the following posts here: