FLIGHT LT. HARRY RATHBONE
30, RAF Engineer (RAF)

A member of the RAF. Although he's been designated as a "Flight Lieutenant", his training is as an engineer, and he has never actually flown a plane - he's been promoted to the somewhat nonsensical rank during the chaos of the last year.

Recently, a nuclear warhead has been discovered missing in one of the RAF's ROTOR bunkers in Kelvedon, on the edge of the Zone of Alienation. Nobody knows how it went missing -- there was no attack or break-in, it's just that one day somebody noticed that the paperwork refers to warhead A37940 as being part of the silo's inventory, but it no longer seems to be there.

Tasked with recovering the warhead, and covering up any suspicions that it was lost in the first place (the RAF are not in a position to be discovered to be incompetent), Rathbone is on the trail.

ACTION: 2
INFLUENCE: 3
INSIGHT: 3

TRAITS
Machine Empathy (+)
Intuitive (+)
"I'm comfortable around Nuclear devices" (-)
Trusting of authority (-)
Guilty about his part in starting the War (-)

RELATIONSHIPS
Dr. Jasper Whitton, Teammate, "He thinks I'm his friend" , 2(-)
Wing Commander Marmaduke Forbes-Smythe, RAF Command, "He's optimistic I'll improve", 3(+)
Sarah Simmons, Fiancee, "She worries my job is too dangerous", 2(+)
Prof. George Cuthbert, BERB Scientist, "He used to like me, not so sure now", 1(-)

AGENDAS
Fractional: Retrieve the lost Nuclear material discreetly (5)
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] +3

Personal: Get hold of an airworthy aircraft (9)
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] +2

EXPERIENCE SCENE
October 26th, 1962. As the Cuban Missile Crisis reached its height, RAF Bomber command demanded that it's Vulcan bombers were airborne and ready to release its YELLOW SUN II nuclear bomb over Russian forces should Macmillan order it. But one of the aircraft was reporting a problem as it taxied for takeoff. Harry was ordered to jump onboard and fix the arming & release mechanisms of the warhead.

As he did so, the severe ratting of the pot-holed runway, and jolts of electricity from bare copper wiring in the cramped conditions of the bomb bay distracted him as the four huge Bristol Turbofans starting to spin up for full take-off power. He quickly shorted the arming fuse and connected a line across to allow the release to fire, and jumped out at the last moment.

However, that night, Hell was unleashed. And rumour had it that a Vulcan bomber had dropped a nuke over Soviet forces in East Germany whilst the Americans & Russians were still negotiating. Needless to say, a peaceful resolution was impossible after this attack came to light, and Harry has his hasty "fix" on his conscience.

WAR FACT: The RAF were heavily involved with the starting the War.

SGT. SANDY SUTHERLAND
55, WW2 Veteran/Gamekeeper (Army)

A burly Scottish Army NCO who served in WW2, but after that he demobbed and returned to civvy-street as a gamekeeper for some Scottish landowner. And he was down visiting old war buddies in Oct '62 as a long holiday before showing his respects to his fallen comrades at the Cenotaph in time for Armistice day. But then the nukes fell, and he's trapped in London, and gets called back up by the Army who need everyone they can get their hands on.

ACTION: 5
INFLUENCE: 1
INSIGHT: 2

TRAITS
Sharpshooter (+)
"Big damn Hero" (+)
"I'm too old for this shit" (-)
Stalker (+)
Scottish Highlander (-)
Determined when he wants to be (+)

RELATIONSHIPS
Robin Normal, Teammate, "He hero worships me", 3(+)
Geoff Davis, Pub Landlord, "Thinks I'm his best mate", 2(+)
Brigadier Alistair Pycroft, Army Officer, "He's jealous of my medals", 1(-)
Beast of Blackfriars, "It's hunting me", 3(-)

AGENDAS
Fractional: Capture the "Beast of Blackfriars" alive (3)
[ ][ ][ ] +4

Personal: Get Geoff's pub up & running (9)
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] +2

EXPERIENCE SCENE
A few days after the War broke out, Sandy, Geoff and his daughter were heading back to his pub only to discover that it -- and a lot of the street -- had been firebombed by a Soviet attack blimp, and was burning brightly.

Geoff, having to limp on just one leg just panicked, and his daughter ran off to the nearest neighbours to try and grab buckets of water to help. Sandy sighed and headed into the blaze complaining that he was too old for this kind of thing under his breath. As he headed down into the cellar, his chest started to get tight, but seeing a barrel of single malt scotch about to catch light, he was spurred into action and prevented the fire from spreading too far. This was good, as after the smoke had cleared, Sandy noticed that Geoff had stored a significant cache of firearms & ammunition in a dusty corner of the cellar.

WAR FACT: Geoff's pub has a hidden cache of weapons in the cellar.

CORPORAL ROBIN NORMAL
30, Special Boat Section Marine Commando (Navy)

A member of the Special Boat Section of the Royal Marines. At the start of the war, bodies recovered from the blast zones were being ferried into the BERB's "Betterment Center" next to Battersea Power Station by the truckload, in what was rumoured to be a "zombification device". The Navy saw this as evidence that the BERB had finally gone insane, and ordered Robin to take out the Director General, which he did, with ease.

However, defenseless and in a state of chaos after the assassination, Russian Paratroopers and Mobile Biological Weapons, captured the facility a few days afterward. During this occupation, a huge number of secrets & much of the technology developed by the BERB to protect London fell into Russian hands. After a concentrated, and bloody street-to-street battle, it was retaken a few months afterwards and the RAF assumed control. But several of the Russians escaped into London with stolen secrets, blueprints and artifacts...

When Robin realised what has happened, he went back and punched out his former commanding officer. That the a single big glaring black mark on an otherwise exemplary service record. As Robin was decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal, he was assigned to the SIS by this CO citing "Irreconciable differences" rather than being drummed out of the service. His Duty Officer in the SIS doesn't really know this background, just that he is a bit "shellshocked".

ACTION: 4
INFLUENCE: 3
INSIGHT: 1

TRAITS
Small Arms trained (+)
Can kill with his bare hands (+)
Xenophobic (+)
No longer a man of violence (-)
"Ladies First" (-)
Zombie Slayer (+)

RELATIONSHIPS
Sgt. Sandy Sutherland, teammate, "He thinks I'm a coward", 1(-)
Jean Coulinder, French Terrorist, "He's scared that I'm coming for him", 2(-)
Captain John McCarthy, Former CO, "He thinks I'm a loose cannon", 1(-)
Lynn Davis, Daughter of Geoff, "We've got to 3rd base", 2(+)
Grace, Younger sister, "She looks up to me", 2(+)

AGENDAS
Fractional: Get the French Fishing Fleet to agree to Naval control (9)
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] +2

Personal: Rescue my little sister (3)
[ ][ ][ ] +4

EXPERIENCE SCENE
At the start of the War, the Navy had discovered that the BERB had brought in "recovered" Nazi scientists (from Operation SURGEON) who had worked on similar Twisted Technology during WW2 and made them devise a way to reanimate the dead at the Battersea's "Betterment Center". Robin was given orders to assassinate the Director General of the center, and he managed this with ease, suffocating the man with a plastic bag during a smoke break.

As Robin was running back to his CO waiting in a Zodiac on the Thames, a couple of uncoordinated, shabbily dressed men turned to stop him. When Robin got closer, these men had ragged, decrpid bodies and rotting flesh. Reacting quickly, he drew his service weapon and shot both through the head and continued onward, barging past a third which had climbed up and into view. He dived onto the Zodiac and made his escape along the Thames.

WAR FACT: The BERB were using a "Zombification Device" at the Battersea Betterment Centre.

ROBERT "BOB" MOSCOW
21, Young MI6 Agent (Intelligence Services)

ACTION: 2
INFLUENCE: 4
INSIGHT: 2

TRAITS
Trained to live in Russia (-)
Fresh out of school (+)
Good listener (+)
Polyglot (+)
Impulsive (-)
Has faith in those of higher rank (-)

RELATIONSHIPS
Dr. Jasper Whitton, Teammate, "Shows signs of sociopathy" 2(-)
"P", Head of MI6, "Thinks I'm a young hero", 2(+)
My parents, "They wish I'd joined the flock with them", 1(+)
Oliver Soames, "Doesn't mind me dating his sister", 1(+)
A Relationship to a 'common' NPC, to be decided, at -2

AGENDAS
Fractional: Discover who leaked info on the Betterment Centre to the Navy (5)
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] +3

Personal: To be decided (9)
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] +2

EXPERIENCE SCENE
Just after the War had gone hot, with bombs going off and Soviet forces in the channel, Bob was wondering what was going to happen about the Russian assignment he had trained for. Spying a flash coming from one of the filing rooms, he looked in to see his old friend Oliver Soames with a camera, taking photos of Top Secret files.

An argument started between them, Robert pointing out that Oliver was not allowed in here -- and certainly not with a camera -- regulations are regulations after all. But Oliver pointed out that Bob wasn't allowed in here as well, and this was a procedure that was well above his Pay Grade. And anyway, he'll put in a good word for Bob with his sister, who is quite the firecracker, eh?

WAR FACT: The Russians know who is spying for MI6, and possibly, much more.

Unfortunately, Mark took his character sheet home with him, so I don't have all his stats to hand, but from what I remember.

PROF. JASPER WHITTON
BERB Scientist (BERB)

EXPERIENCE SCENE
A few weeks into the War, the Director General of the BERB's Betterment Centre in Battersea had been assassinated. A few days later, Jasper and his supervisor, Prof. George Cuthbert were in one of the labs in the Centre, trying to continue their work despite all the chaos and disorganization that the BERB had found itself in. A huge explosion above them interrupted the two men, and emergency warning klaxons starts to wail.

Peeking out of the lab, and into the main hall of the Centre, Jasper spotted Soviet soldiers rappelling down lines from Russian blimps floating above the power station, and they were gunning down any resistance with blasts of automatic fire. Above all this noise, the cries of things that weren't quite human could be heard, but not seen.

A couple of Russian trooper spotted the open lab door and fired a burst at Jasper and Prof. Cuthbert. This also happened to smash the fish-tank of experimental Bio-Engineered Squid, which split out and onto the floor, potentially getting knocked into the drains and out into London's sewer system...

Trying to start a fight-back, Jasper desperately tried to use a pocket compass to puncture an oil drum, lighting it and rolling it down towards the fuel bowser in the main hall, where the Russians were firing from. Despite having a good theoretical understanding of the physics of rigid bodies, that didn't help in practice, and the barrel went awry. However, it did cause enough of a distraction to allow Jasper to dash to a nearby emergency access hatch which led to a escape route through the Tube tunnels, but he had to leave Cuthbert & the Center to the mercy of the Russians.

A few months later, after a concentrated, and bloody street-to-street battle, the Battersea Betterment Centre was retaken a few months afterwards and the RAF assumed control. But several of the Russians escaped into London with stolen secrets, blueprints and artifacts. But Prof. Cuthbert had survived (as a prisoner of the Soviet GK-11 Field Unit) and was rescued in the counterattack, although he's now regarded with a great deal of suspicion by the British Government & Military.

WAR FACT #1: A lot of the BERB's Research & Technology fell into Russian hands at the start of the War.
WAR FACT #2: The Russians use Blimps as thier primary form of air transport.

Fantastic start! Hopefully you can keep us informed of progress.

That seems vaguely reminiscent of a scene from the game we've just finished over Skype. Just watch out for Vulcan bombers is all I'll say ;)

- Neil.

Games Co-ordinator
Dragonmeet

"There is no place for Messiah here - it`s only hobby" - Deckard @ The Burning Wheel Forums

Wow! Thanks for posting all of that. It's great to see some Hot War AP kicking off. Looks like there is a whole pile of stuff there from character and game creation that is ripe for some really exciting situations.

So, how did everyone enjoy that session? Were people comfortable with the experience scenes, did you find the creation of the B&W photos easy or hard? I'm always really keen to hear how things went around the table.

Edit: And I hope you don't mind, but I've added the game creation sheet for this into the Hot War Wiki.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

Ooh thats made me frisky for some Hot War action. I hope you keep us up-to-date with the ongoing story!

And of course, can I also congratulate you on a most magnificent campaign title! Magnificent!

Neil

Take the King's shilling at http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/

In general :)

During the game creation stage, there did seem to be a bit of a rush of "yeah, yeah, I want to create my character", but after James came up with French Terrorists the rest fell into place quite easily. The biggest issue was coming up with NPCs at this stage; this didn't quite "click" I think, and the group needed a fair amount of prodding.

The Black & White photos went down really well. People came up with them pretty easily, and although they knew that they could put PCs into them, I found it interesting that nobody did. Similarly, as most of the group had played DitV before, the Experience scenes went OK as well (and they love the "players not involved can add or subtract a die by adding detail" part of the conflict rules. And I love it as it helps keep everyone engaged with what's going on, even if their character isn't directly involved at this time).

The biggest issue was a relationship to one of the "Game Creation NPC". I think, because people were so excited about character creation, when they were picking Relationships, the players often had forgotten all about the NPCs we came up with at the start, and struggled with this part a little. Also, whilst Fractional Hidden Agendas came easily, it seemed a bit harder to come up with Personal Hidden Agendas that they were excited about.

And Steve's experience scene worked out really well. Everyone loved that!

I think it's all holding together well. I spent some time coming up with some Detailed NPCs this weekend, and the first real session should happen this week, so I'll try to get some AP details here for that at some point.

Cheers,
Warren

There seems to be a flip/flop with factional/personal agendas. Groups always find one harder to come up with than the other, although which one it is is never consistent. However, in my experience that difficulty helps you think really hard about what would make a great agenda. Hopefully the stuff that the players came up with will prove fruitful during the game.

I'm excited to hear how your first session of play went.

Cheers
malc

Contested Ground Studios

So we played the first actual session of our Hot War game this week. We had an extra player (Pete) turn up, and he quickly created Dennis, a by-the-book US Navy Lawyer who was over here dealing with a "Friendly Fire" incident in training prior to the outbreak of the War and is now stranded in London. And as Steve wasn't there, it was more sensible to have Harry Rathbone (his PC) get called up for service in the SIS later.

As per the book's advice, I decided to start in media res, and framed a scene where the team were called to an incident outside St.Peters, Vauxhall. They arrived in their Land Rover* to see half-a-dozen "zombies" attacking a handful of people defending the doors of the church. Rich didn't hesitate and decided to have Sandy run the nearest Zombie down under the Landie's tyres, which went well.

This is where I think I made a bit of a mistake -- I had statted the Zombies up as a mob, with the bonus traits & attribute points, but I made the PCs take that mob out five times, which meant that this combat took longer than I would have liked, with a lot of just 1 point successes and so on.

But eventually, the Zombies were taken care of, and Jasper decided to inspect their remains (and discovered that the bodies are highly radioactive, and that the electrodes in the skull were a BERB-adapted pre-War German design, but had been "messed around with" a bit). Pete had his character go into the church to see if everyone was alright (one of the defenders had taken a severe injury during the fight) and got preached to a bit. Bob Moscow followed him in, and encountered his parents who tried to convince him to stay & join the Flock, but Bob refused and left with Dennis (Influence conflict).

Then, as the book suggests, I threw in a flashback to the mission briefing. The characters were all gathered in Briefing Room A, deep in the bowels of Down Street Station. Their duty officer, the incompetent playboy toff Fothergill (Rich had wanted this guy to be rather like Hugh Laurie's character in Blackadder 4) walked in and told them their mission:

Their specific duty was to investigate and arrest radical elements believed to be operating in the Southwark area of the city. There were reports of increased unrest and anti-Government protests throughout the city. In addition, a Royal Navy barge carrying refugees had been sabotaged with homemade explosive, and an enterprising seaman had given us a description of a suspect fleeing from the docks into Southwark the night before the bomb went off. Some of the PCs matched this description to Jean Coulinder, a member of the French Resistance during WW2 who was a known troublemaker.

Fothergill also reminded the characters that, as a secondary duty, there seemed to be an increased number of Mobile Biological Weapon incidents recently which are affecting areas along the banks of the Thames. The Intelligence Service is suggesting that this could be due to these "radical elements" obtaining some Twisted Technology of their own.

At that point the characters left, and due to the number of destroyed bridges, the quickest route to Southwark was over Vaxhuall bridge, and from there, into our first scene.

At that point we resumed with the PCs in the Land Rover (with a couple of Zombie corpses tied to the roof rack that Jasper had taken for later study) at a makeshift roadblock next to the Imperial War Museum. The French guards were lazily resting on old rifles and smoking roll-ups, and after an Influence conflict, they wouldn't let the group in with the corpses on the roof, no matter what. They agreed to leave the car here and head into Frogtown on foot, looking for a pub in order to "make enquiries" before it got too cold & dark.

Tom had his character split from the rest of the group, take off his suit jacket & tie and tried to blend in. He did so, and after a couple of unsuccessful attempts to intimidate (where he gained the trait "Honorable Combatant" after being unable to shoot someone in the back -- great Trait for a "cloak & dagger" spy, eh?), got talking to some locals, posing as a disaffected Frenchman who was looking for revenge on the British Government.

Meanwhile, after a 15 min walk, the rest of the group discovered a old terrace house which was emanating loud, drunk, singing in French, and a copper kettle hung outside the door. A pub! (or whatever the closest the French might be able to get to it). They wandered in and they elected to buy** a pitcher of potato vodka from the still upstairs, rather than the wine that was also offered. This group decided that they needed to be on the river, as everything seemed to be focused around it, and getting some French Fishermen onboard would be handy. Although the patrons kept themselves to themselves, pretty much, they did get the name of "Andre Roux", a local fisherman who was trying to start a union, and they should go & talk to him.

Meanwhile, Tom had Bob convince a local that he wanted to "help do something about the British", and asked about Jean Coulinder. The local responded that his cousin, Remy, had helped Jean out in the past, and he would be the best man to talk to. Remy worked at the South Bank water purification plant most days, pumping the bellows.

There was also a conversation between Robin (Intolerant Royal Navy Marine) was talking to Dennis (Bureaucratic US Navy Lawyer) and the fact that Dennis had got a US officer off of a Friendly Fire incident during joint special forces training lead to fisticuffs. James got to roll Robin's pool of 7 dice against Pete's 2, and won with three successes, and took Dennis down to a crisis point!

The party dragged the unconscious Dennis out, met back up with Bob and returned to the Land Rover, and we drew these scenes to a close.

Pete got to frame his Crisis scene next, and decided that it would be back at their field unit's new off-site premises in a block of flats on Clarges Street. It was the next morning, and Dennis had a cracking headache, a chipped tooth and "Glass Jaw" as a new negative trait.

And that's pretty much where we left it. We're not sure if we'll get chance to play again before Christmas/New Year, but so far, it seems to be shaping up pretty well. The biggest hiccup was my mistake with the Mob rules & zombies at the start of the session, I think.

Not much "agenda" stuff came up in play so far, but James certainly seems to be trying to position his character ready to deal with his fractional agenda (get the French fleet under direct Navy control). It's a shame that the Flock/church stuff didn't seem to get picked up by the players, but hey. I'm not really worried about anything yet, as it feels like this session was mostly "platform" before they (hopefully) get stuck in after Christmas.

* I was tempted to have them walk, or have a gazogene powered truck, but I thought it would be reasonable for the SIS to have acquired half-dozen or so ex-Army Land Rovers that could be requisitioned by Field Units in case of "emergencies". The brass won't be happy if it gets used recklessly or it gets too damaged however.

** My guess is that pounds, shillings & pence are more-or-less useless after the War, and I'm thinking that the general unit of currency is the "Ration Coupon", but mostly, everything gets done by barter.

Hey Warren,

That sounds like a really solid first session of play. I wouldn't be at all concerned with agenda stuff not coming in to the frame very much this time. With a game the length you are planning, agendas will likely start popping up once everyone has established themselves and the characters really get rolling. As you comment, the session is mostly a platform to kick things off, which is a great attitude to take. All the stuff that you created as a group during the game creation session will doubtless come in to play, in big a small ways, as the game plays out. It's funny that sometimes the tiny things, the most seemingly insignificant NPCs and little details becomes major facets of the game and the stuff that you thought at the start might be big ends up being background detail or simply a subplot for a couple of characters. So it goes in many games, not just HW!

It's great to see a crisis scene popping up that early though! How did Pete take to that? It sounds like he had a really good idea of what do with it and picked a really appropriate trait as a result. Oh, and I know Clarges Street! A company I worked for had a flat there for when we went down to the Big Smoke on business! Nice part of town to have some off-site premises!

Great stuff again Warren, thanks for taking the time to write all of this up.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

So we finally got around to the second session. Pete has said he won't be able to make the next few sessions due to real life commitments, and we had Steve around for this session so there was a small retcon: Pete's character, Dennis, the bureaucratic US Navy lawyer who had been punched out at the end of last session was assumed to still be unconscious, and was left to "sleep it off".

So we open with Steve's character (Harry, and RAF nuclear technician) arriving with his fiancee (Sarah) at Down Street, and getting told by Fothergill that as Operational Field Unit Foxtrot (the player party) were a man-down, he should get over to their base on Clarges street and "fill in". I have to say that the group had a pretty good time playing up to classic chauvinistic attitudes of the 60's, seeing Sarah and getting her to fix them all breakfast, etc.

We also filled in some details about the Clarges street flat; the whole "modern" (i.e. a 1960's concrete monstrosity) block was used by various SIS, Police & Government units, and acted both as a base of operation and living quarters for the operatives and their families. The room given over to OFU Foxtrot was pretty much a converted three-bedroom flat; each bedroom had been divided into two by blankets hung up on string, with camping beds, sleeping bags and other improvised furniture crammed into each half. The main living area was also the mission briefing/planning room, with maps and pinboards covering the walls. Oh, and the only bathroom had to also double as a photographic darkroom. The new arrivals of Harry & Sarah were given a bed the other side of a blanket from the comatose body of Dennis, which didn't please Sarah very much :)

After introductions, the party split into three; Jasper wanted to conduct an autopsy on the Zombie corpses, but he wasn't allowed to do it in the flat. The best facilities for that kind of thing were at the Betterment Center, now under RAF control. So Jasper dragged Henry along, hoping to use Henry's RAF contacts to get in, whilst Sarah was left to go shopping and pick up some food for the group.

Bob wanted to go and meet with the man he had found out about last session as someone who worked with Jean Coulinder. He knew that this man, Remy, worked at the South Bank water purification plant (i.e. Bankside power station). Sandy & Robin decided to go with him to look for French fishermen to get information from. So Bob got dressed up in "authentic French clothing" and grabbed a lift into Frogtown, and then made his way to Bankside on foot, and managed to get talking to Remy whilst he was on a smoke break.

As the other two continued towards the river in the Land Rover, they all heard an unearthly, monstrous scream, and could see fire & smoke rising through the fog from Blackfriars, on the North Bank opposite the water purification plant. A large, indistinct, but certainly inhuman, shape was in the Thames, heading south at some speed, crashing past a few small boats loaded with fish, nets and other junk. I told Rich that his character recognized the shape as "The Beast of Blackfriars" (one of the NPCs he took a Relationship with, and it's also a part of his Fractional agenda to capture it alive). Rich then had Sandy take aim with his rifle, and fired off a couple of shots, and dived in after the Beast. Robin also fired at it with his service revolver, but all they managed was to drive it off; but Rich did recover a small, black, squidlike thing that looked similar to "The Beast"-- a related bioweapon, or child, or something else entirely perhaps.

During this, Bob convinced Remy to follow him to the Land Rover. Poor old Remy got knocked out by Robin for his troubles (it seems to have become a running gag that Robin will punch out at least one character per session now) and got dragged into an abandoned building and tied to a chair. A short interrogation later, and Bob found out that Jean Coulinder is a regular churchgoer, and could be found amongst "the Flock". I believe that Bob then shot the poor guy in cold blood and Bob, Robin & Sandy (along with the squidlike thing in a water-filled crate) headed back to Clarges street.

Meanwhile, Jasper & Henry used a wheelbarrow to transport the zombie corpses across town to the Betterment Center at Battersea. After some negotiation with the RAF guards, both men made it inside, and saw (but did not get a chance to talk to) a relationship that both of them had at character creation -- Prof. George Cuthbert, a BERB scientist who used to run the facility before the Russian assault, but is now a broken man being watched closely by the RAF.

Besides that, the two science-types discovered that the Zombies were manufactured using the same kinds of techniques that the BERB had pioneered, as the animated bodies had been pumped full of some highly radioactive serum; Henry realized that the isotopes, half-life and so on meant that these zombies were irradiated using the fissile material from the lost RAF nuclear warhead that he needs to recover (his Fractional Agenda). Also, the electronic brain implants seemed to be scavenged mix of repaired BERB & Soviet technology.

After taking some learning all this, both men were escorted out of the Center and returned to Clarges street to meet up with the rest of the team. The squidlike thing was being kept in Sandy's room, and Jasper went straight to have a bath (Mark, his player, needed to leave a little early).

There was another fun scene with Sarah and the rest of the group; she had gone shopping, bought only basic food, and used the rest of the ration coupons she was given to buy herself a "new" dress. She also pestered Henry about getting married again, talking about wedding dresses and the like.

And the final scene of the game was with all the group (bar Jasper, who was in the bath) getting a angry visit from Royal Navy Captain John McCarthy, Robin's former CO, and now in charge of the "managing" the refugee crisis. Another barge has been bombed! You guys are supposed to have fixed this! What are you going to do about it? Plus, he revealed that he doesn't trust some of the team -- like that BERB bloke -- who might have orders to disrupt things. With that he throws a manilla envelope on the table and storms out.

The envelope is opened, and contains Top Secret Government files linking the disgraced Prof. George Cuthbert and their very own Jasper to the creation of the rogue Mobile Bioweapon that's known as the "Beast of Blackfriars"...

Your Hot War gaming sessions seem great fun hope the rest of the game goes well!
I loved your inclusion of the IWM, I work there and have wondered how long it would be before people started to use it. We have tanks on the ground floor by the way!

The phoenix games club have a hot war game starting in may, so I'll ask the DM's permission to post about it.

How did you guys come up with your black and white photos?

Hope is good, but what we need is caffeine!
http://www.phoenixgamesclub.org.uk/