Gradient Descent - Sessions 003–004 Warden Notes
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After-action reports take forever to write! 😩
What went well
I added the connection from the Floor 3.1 meeting room (31C) to the Floor 1–2 lift (22C) in session 3 because it was the only way I could see for Monarch to give the crew "safe passage" to exit the Deep. I'm reasonably happy with this decision.
The Zhuangzi is effectively the crew's safe haven (for now). For the marines in particular, it seemed appropriate that they be allowed to help themselves to any gear they'd reasonably need to carry out their mission. It's just a case of "you break it you buy it" unless they have a really good reason for not returning an item. I'm also letting them "stash" any items they don't want to carry in lockers.
This StackExchange post inspired me to create an Inflitrator Android Screening test as a Google Forms questionnaire for the players to complete. My goal is to collect some tidbits for Monarch to use when the crew next encounter the AO. Here's a copy for you to play with if you want: forms.gle/ULLxSE1gzvMc61AC7 (docs.google.com).
Although the after-action reports are publicly available, I encourage veteran players to update the returning players on what they missed in the last session. I find this interesting to listen to and I only intervene when something important is misremembered.
I did inject one observation in the form of PVT Minera "realising" that on each occasion, the security androids never initiated violence; it was always in response to something the crew or the Troubleshooters did. Perhaps this was a little heavy-handed, but I wanted to give the players a hint to consider exercising more restraint before resorting to combat.
I decided off-the-cuff that Sal the Teamster can sometimes sense nearby artefacts to give her a somewhat distinct role, though counterbalanced this with a clear implicition that certain gambling debts may be a massive financial drain on her future prospects. I'm likewise trying to encourage Dr Zahir's player to do more out-of-the-box thinking in his role as the crew's cybernetics expert.
PVT Louis seems like a standard-issue jarhead; I'm hoping the spice things up with resurfacing memories of his horrible drill instructor. Three guesses who this person is based on…
The found footage of the Minotaur proved to be just the right type of “jump scare” material for this session. I forgot to cascade the Marines’ failed panic checks, but given that they both acquired some persistent conditions, I'm happy to leave things as they are.
EGLÉ-2’s player is the youngest of the group and sometimes allows his intrusive thoughts to influence his decisions. During the last session, he wanted to force PVT Minerva’s face into the Retinal Scanner in 23F and I had to stop play momentarily to ask if he really wanted to initiate PvP combat between the android and the Marine. After a moment of reflection, he reconsidered his decision. Good choice.
What could have gone better
I completely missed the fact that filled circles ● on the schematic maps represent airlock/bulkhead doors, whereas empty circles ○ represent ordinary office doors. I'll just have to own up and admit my mistake at the next session, perhaps explaining that the airlocks in the reception area (22B) were latched open.
The security checkpoints on Floor 1 use the (±) icon, which according to page 6 represents an airlock or depressurisation chamber. That doesn't make sense to me in the context of the Floor 1 schematic, so I'll probably just ignore it.
Over the course of the last session, the crew had a single random encounter: a lone Troubleshooter, whom I decided on the spot was an (apparent) survivor of a failed raid. I also chose to interpret some of the rolls that didn't result in an encounter as environmental effects: the hull of the spacestation groaning due to thermal stress and the like, but I still feel this procedure needs improvement.
I completely misread the rule about relieving stress on page 20 of the Player’s Survival Guide and failed to give the crew the opportunity to rest on the Zhuangzi. I'll have to make it up to them next session by giving them advantage or something like that.
I think there's a small error on page 7 of the Player’s Survival Guide when it comes to Marine Loadout 09: ABD, GPMG, and HUD. PVT Louis rolled this for his starting gear, but when PVT Minerva upgraded to ABD, I realised that this type of armour includes a HUD (see page 2) along with a bunch of other gadgets, so listing “HUD” on the loadout entry is redundant. Sort of a quibble but maybe it should be replaced with something of roughly equivalent value, such as a boarding axe.
For next time
Session 4 felt a little slow; I'll try to pick up the pace in the next one.
We'll start session 5 with a Bends check, as suggested on page 9 of the module. It feels thematically right for a Bends check to occur as the crew "surface" from the Deep.
I need to track Monarch's Stress. (I assume it starts at 00; the module doesn't specifically say.) The crew found an artifact last session; I think ÉGLE-2 accessed the security checkpoint video feed with his Hacking skill; the crew did significant damage to the station and destroyed several security androids in previous sessions, too. All told, I think that's at least 4d5 to roll at the start of the next session. I think I’ll reveal this stat like I did with the Bends but not explain what it means. Perhaps I'll refer to it as “Bar” in the sense of pressure.
Page 8 says that Monarch recovers 1d5 Stress per week, but that feels anticlimactic when allowing time to pass in the game world in step with the real world. I might houserule this to a flat -2 Stress per week of undisturbed peace and quiet in the Deep (e.g., no violent Troubleshooter raids).
I keep thinking we should have some background music during the sessions. I found a few playlists on Spotify that might serve, but I wonder if one of the players might take on the role of DJ.