I am currently running a Savage Rifts game for some very good friends that I have been gaming with for over a decade. We end up telling lots of good stories together. Last nights game was a reminder why I love this hobby.
The players started the session outside of a walled city on the shores of the Missouri river. The city is controlled by a self proclaimed Baroness of the Black Market cartel. She controls the only bridge within a couple days travel. She is keeping the gates to her city shut and forcing the refugees from Tolkeen to wait outside until she allows a few groups through at a time. She charges insanely high tolls to use her bridge, or she takes one member of the group into indentured servitude for a year as the price for the rest of the group. Then has her soldiers capture the rest of the groups on the other side of the river.
The party comes up to the city and the refugee tent city that has sprung up on the outside the gate. They use their Know a Guy edges to get access into the city. They put on a small performance of pre-Rifts Jazz music for the Baroness and reduce their toll with an a amazing performance. The Face character due to hindrances attempts to seduce the baroness and follows her around as she decides which refugees get to use her bridge.
This is where the fun starts. The players decide to stay the night in this mercenary Black Market town. I was not prepared for this. I let them take the lead and create elements of the story as they ask whats in the town. While the Face character is seduing the baroness, and trying to get her to change her evil ways admist the nights pillow talk, the other players are in a hotel bar trying not to kill all the mercanary slavers in the city. Of course as a good GM I throw a match into the powder keg.
One player is a Burster, a pyrokinetic psychic, is the most agitated. I have a couple thugs mistreat a servant girl. That was the breaking point. He ends up using his powers to ignite parts of the hotel on fire while threating the owner to get him to unlock the electric collar the servent girl is wearing. They find out the Baroness controls all the collars. All the while our driver/robot armor character starts taking out thugs with his Techo Wizard lighting machinegun. and the new member of the group, in his aweosme stolen glitter boy killer power armor, is rounding up a couple thugs that ran from the hotel trying to alert the Baroness.
While the three of them are planning how to bring this city down around them. The Baroness is alerted to the situation and sends her troops, pretty much the entire town, to take care of the situation. She, along with the pacifist Face character, approach the hotel. Out front of the hotel the Burster, robot armor and power armor pilots are prepared to fight the horde of mercenaries. Then the Face character goes first in the combat rounds, he gives a speach to warn the barnoness this whole town will be destroyed if she does not let him and his friends leave now. He then gets multiple raises on his presuasion roll. thoroughly convinced she tells them to get out of her sight and never come within miles of her city. Then the Face character uses a magic device of his and mind controls the Baroness to give him the handheld computer that releases the slaves collars. Her people are so terrified or trusting of her that they watch in shock as she hands it over.
The party drives out of town a massive combat avoided, a powerful enemy made, and over a hundred slaves are released to escape into the wilderness.
This town was simply supposed to a quick stopping point and a little flavor on their journey to their final destination. It turned out to be one of the most memorable game sessions I have ran. This is what happens when all the players are interested in creating a great story together. That desire to create stories together is why I love this game.
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