The Tortoise and the Hare, Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf, and In and Out
Cast: Rosa Hernandez, Noah "Flyboy" Grewal, Darren O'Neil (Gangrel), Catherine Maia (Mortal), Paula Lange (Mortal), Walter Kravic (Mortal)
Synopsis: Rosa Hernandez finds out the CIA are hanging around O'Hara Airport to an alarming degree. She proceeds to warn Noah of his situation while seeking some sign that the Second Inquisition is after him. Noah obviously wants her off his case and hires the PCs after him. Rosa will later hire the PCs to help a DEA agent go against a cocaine trafficker and corrupt official to undermine Noah's authority.
Analysis: Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of these two adventure hooks and I'll get into the reasons why later. The easiest explanation is that while it's an interesting story of the Jyhad between two Kindred, the player characters aren't given many options to deal with it and the most interesting elements of the two competing characters are barely touched on.
The opening does show that Rosa Hernandez has come a long way from the vicious PETA animal wrongs activist eco-terrorist she once was to someone who actually deserves to be part of the Chicago Primogen. She's employing a spy to keep an eye on the Second Inquisition and has successfully deduced that the place they're most likely to be monitoring is the airports for Kindred coming and going. Her private detective, has figured out the CIA are there in large amounts but not why or how.
Noah "Flyboy" Grewal is probably the best new character to come out of Chicago by Night 5E and is a character that adds a face to the Second Inquisition as well as Thin Bloods both. He's a corrupt CIA pilot that doesn't actually want to help them wipe out Kindred and has become corrupted by both the wealth as well as power available to them. However, the only reason he's got any leverage is his CIA friends that provide him oomph beyond his Blood Potency.
The first adventure is fine because it tests the ability of the PCs to identify the problem and deal with it. The problem is a Primogen vampire is sniffing around his territory and wants to take it from him. If the PCs kill a bunch of people or go to speak with Rosa, they're bound to screw things up. They have to figure out a way to allay her fears about the CIA and throw her off the scent. All the while while the ST needs to figure out what cover story that Noah will give as to why the CIA is there at all. I feel like this adventure lacks, "The PCs interrogate one of the agents and find out Noah is a mole, siding with Rosa or the Prince" as an option.
The third adventure is the opposite of the "capture a runaway hooker for Olaf", in that Rosa Hernandez tries to tug on their heartstrings by getting them to help a DEA agent make a big bust of a cocaine smuggling ring as part of her Jyhad against Noah. Barring the PCs being among the most moral goody-goodies of the undead, I can't imagine most of them have any desire to participate in the War on Drugs and potentially screw up all manner of secret Kindred business (which it absolutely will).
I feel like a more interesting end to this is the discovery of Flyboy as a Second Inquisition plant and the fact he might actually try to bribe them. After all, the SI hates other Kindred and is a resource he's been managing to use fairly handily. I also would think there should be an option to betray Rose and/or Flyboy because the PCs should play their own angle to the Jyhad. Maybe THEY want O'Hara airport and just need the CIA to back off.
Cast: Rosa Hernandez, Noah "Flyboy" Grewal, Darren O'Neil (Gangrel), Catherine Maia (Mortal), Paula Lange (Mortal), Walter Kravic (Mortal)
Synopsis: Rosa Hernandez finds out the CIA are hanging around O'Hara Airport to an alarming degree. She proceeds to warn Noah of his situation while seeking some sign that the Second Inquisition is after him. Noah obviously wants her off his case and hires the PCs after him. Rosa will later hire the PCs to help a DEA agent go against a cocaine trafficker and corrupt official to undermine Noah's authority.
Analysis: Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of these two adventure hooks and I'll get into the reasons why later. The easiest explanation is that while it's an interesting story of the Jyhad between two Kindred, the player characters aren't given many options to deal with it and the most interesting elements of the two competing characters are barely touched on.
The opening does show that Rosa Hernandez has come a long way from the vicious PETA animal wrongs activist eco-terrorist she once was to someone who actually deserves to be part of the Chicago Primogen. She's employing a spy to keep an eye on the Second Inquisition and has successfully deduced that the place they're most likely to be monitoring is the airports for Kindred coming and going. Her private detective, has figured out the CIA are there in large amounts but not why or how.
I really think this should have been Malcolm as he's a loyalist Gangrel and ex-cop but I understand if they wanted to focus on his newfound role as a Goblin Driver.
The first adventure is fine because it tests the ability of the PCs to identify the problem and deal with it. The problem is a Primogen vampire is sniffing around his territory and wants to take it from him. If the PCs kill a bunch of people or go to speak with Rosa, they're bound to screw things up. They have to figure out a way to allay her fears about the CIA and throw her off the scent. All the while while the ST needs to figure out what cover story that Noah will give as to why the CIA is there at all. I feel like this adventure lacks, "The PCs interrogate one of the agents and find out Noah is a mole, siding with Rosa or the Prince" as an option.
The third adventure is the opposite of the "capture a runaway hooker for Olaf", in that Rosa Hernandez tries to tug on their heartstrings by getting them to help a DEA agent make a big bust of a cocaine smuggling ring as part of her Jyhad against Noah. Barring the PCs being among the most moral goody-goodies of the undead, I can't imagine most of them have any desire to participate in the War on Drugs and potentially screw up all manner of secret Kindred business (which it absolutely will).
I feel like a more interesting end to this is the discovery of Flyboy as a Second Inquisition plant and the fact he might actually try to bribe them. After all, the SI hates other Kindred and is a resource he's been managing to use fairly handily. I also would think there should be an option to betray Rose and/or Flyboy because the PCs should play their own angle to the Jyhad. Maybe THEY want O'Hara airport and just need the CIA to back off.
Originally posted by Suggestions for Improvement
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