Hot War: The Law of Supply and Demand

A game running on Mondays under the auspices of The Compendium group: see other activities Outside the club here. The system used, Hot War has adult content and mature themes, so do not read further if you are easily shocked or offended.

Campaign Details

Tone

British Catastrophe, with the emphasis on surviving and some horror.

Cell Mission

To infiltrate the black market and bring it to justice.

Antagonists

• Hunger: An entity working in collusion with the criminal underworld.
• Robert Clay: An East End crimelord, keeping the secrets of Hunger's existence.
• Chief Inspector Angus MacDonald: Responsible for law & order in the East End.
• Gordon Prendergast: The corrupt Permanent Secretary at the Department of Food & Rationing.
• Alice Hinds: A ruthless brothel madam and rival of Clay's.

Supporting Cast

• Jake Stoner: A dispossesed farmer concerned about the use of his land.
• Tom: A mad old vagrant whose wild stories and outrageous claims no-one believes.
• Aqua: A hippy space brother waiting for the aliens to come and save the human race.
• Reverend Graham Poulson: A preacher concerned for the well-being of his flock.

Photographic Scenes: An Album

• A Russian army tank, rended apart in tears & strips of armour, with the remains of body parts scattered around.
• A group of children huddled around a pot for warmth, looking up at the camera. A collapsed wall can be seen in the background.
• A crowded foreground; between the blurred silhouettes, we can see a bare knuckle fight taking place within a circle formed by the crowd of appreciative onloookers. On the opposite side of the circle from our point of view, a bookie is taking bets.

Protagonists

John Szilinski

A Russian soldier, part of a detachment gated into the south of England using twisted technology, resulting in around 30% casualties of some form. With his unit pinned down and cut off, he was tasked with infiltrating London to forage for supplies; in doing this, he has formed connections with the black market and the underbelly of London. Capturing the attention of the SSG, he was recruited to work for them in bringing down the black market to ensure a fairer distribution of food.

Action: 3 / Influence: 2 / Insight:3

Traits

• Tactical genius (+)
• Sympathy for the working classes (+)
• People trust me (+)
• "I know better, they're all fools!" (-)
• Freezes under pressure (-)
• Excellent hearing (experience trait) (+)

Factional Agenda

• Protect my unit & improve their situation. (5x3) Success

Personal Agenda

• Billeted with Rev. Poulson and his daughters, they have become my adopted family; I aim to improve their standard of living. (9x2)

Relationships

• Major Andrew Connor: He thinks I'm an ignorant foreigner. (-2)
• Mother Russia: They treat me like a loose cannon. (-1)
• Sheila Poulson: She sees me as the answer to her family's prayers. (+2)
• Jake Stoner: He turns to me because I know what's going on. (+3)

Experience Scene

• Whilst bivouaced in Sevenoaks, he is sent to a deserted farm to collect supplies, but discovers a small family in hiding there; the father is terrified to be discovered and covers him with a shotgun. He uses his demeanour to attempt to defuse the situation and assure the man that he will not tell his unit he has discovered them, but the man's gun goes off injuring one of his own children. He gives the family his first aid kit and returns to the unit to get chewed out for discharging his firearm and losing his kit.

Major Andrew Connor

An officer trained at the Sandhurst Academy, there is something not entirely honest about him...

Action: 4 / Influence: 3 / Insight: 1

Traits

• I command the respect of my enemies (+)
• Never falls down (+)
• Photographic memory (+)
• Shoots first, asks questions later (-)
• Rubs people up the wrong way (-)
• Too passionate (experience trait) (-)

Factional Agenda

• Find a politician with some dirt on him, then use that to blackmail him and give the Army more leverage. (9x2)

Personal Agenda

• Prove my wife was innocent of war crimes. (5x3) SUCCESS
• Find my wife. (3x4)

Relationships

• John Szilinski: He thinks I'm a tight arsed idiot. (-1)
• General Harold Gronds: He's desperate for me to succeed. (+2)
• Fiona Poulson: The reverend's daughter likes a man in tight trousers. (+1)
• Alice Hinds: She thinks I'm too rough with her girls. (-1)
• Reverend Graham Poulson: He doesn't like me indulging his daughter. (-1)
• Tom: He's happy for me to buy him booze. (+1)
• Aqua: He sees me as a force of order in the cosmos. (+1)

Experience Scene

• He is called in to speak with General Gronds, who passes him a battered box containing his wife's personal effects; she was killed when a Soviet push temporarily annexed Croydon, something the military & intelligence services are keeping quiet about, since it is all cleaned up now. Apparently, however, his wife was communicating with the occupying forces before her death! He demands some leave to deal with this and seek proof that his wife was not a traitor or collaborator; the General reluctantly grants him this, even though he is needed on the front line. After a week of futile searching, he is ordered back into duty, but his distraction causes him to make some tactical errors that lead to unneccesary deaths of British troops.

Personal Diary: Contains adult material and details the innermost thoughts of one of the two main protagonists in this game.

Episodes

LSD9: Into That Good Night:Final Episode

Outside the club