Mini Six: Doom Agents

01 A Day by the Sea

For the third time I ran a tabletop RPG session for my class using the Mini Six system, and this time I have integrated it with the English curriculum we had. The week’s lesson theme was Natural Disaster and I also had to teach them about Descriptive Essays.

The RPG became a teaching tool in this situation, because students were able to interact verbally with each other in the context of the narrative. I did some research on the seaside towns in Fukushima, Japan to prepare for the session. During the game they also had to roll dice to determine that the action they declared succeeded or failed. And then had to write their game experiences as in-universe stories for homework using a structured set of questions I sent them via Google Forms.

Dramatis Personae

• Sabrina as Berry, the scientist
• Athirah as Tirr, the engineer
• Malvinder as Michale, the reporter
• Nasha as Musk, the spy
• Haqqi as Captain Lucci, the soldier
• Lutfi as Naruto, the bodyguard

Here is the actual play report as taken from the students’ written homework (with some paragraphs written by the GM) and edited for grammar, spelling, punctuation and clarity. A number of students who did not play listened in and submitted their homework as one of the characters being played:

Sabrina as Berry: Agent Berry was a nerdy scientist who wore round glasses and a white lab coat. One of its pockets was constantly filled with junk food such as chocolates or cookies to energise herself during work. She was a timid person but actually she had hidden skills that not everyone knew of.

Athirah as Tirr: Agent Tirr was a metallurgy engineer from Dubai who likes to research about new metals or minerals. She was constantly invited by well-known companies to join them in their team to handle big projects. However, she became a secret agent for her second career.

Malvinder as Michale: So basically I’m a reporter and my job is to update everyone what had happened and how it had happened. I came all the way from America and I’m a professional reporter.

Nasha as Musk: The six agents were sent to find a missing agent named Ishikawa in Japan. He disappeared near Okuma at the east coast of Honshu, Japan. The last message that was received from him was that someone is trying to create “an evil thing”.

Gamemaster (GM): It was a lovely morning when the team drove a black Range Rover into town. Arriving at Okuma, they stopped at a takoyaki eatery. Agent Naruto showed the owner a photo of Agent Ishikawa and asked if he had seen him. (A successful Diplomacy roll occurred.) “I have seen him before. He loves my takoyaki. He said he was staying at the Sakura Hotel.”

On the way to the hotel up the street, a pompous police officer by the name of Saito stopped them, asking why there were so many gaijin in a car. “Will you be making trouble here in Okuma?” Hot-headed Agent Naruto who was Japanese wanted to punch the cop, but the others held him back. Agent Michale managed to sweet talk the officer into letting them pass.

Malvinder as Michale: As the bodyguard was from Japan and we told the policeman that all of us had come to visit him.

GM: Before long they pulled up in front of the Sakura Hotel.

Malvinder as Michale: As we reached the beach we saw many people there. Apparently a festival would be held in 4 days. It’s the festival where the fishermen would give thanks to the Shinto gods. So, the other two men and I exited the car and went to the hotel near the beach to find the victim. Out of a sudden the  walls at the hotel started to crack so we decided to leave the hotel and run away to save our lives. As we came out from the hotel the whole building just collapsed. (Everyone succeeded in their Athletics roll to flee the hotel.)

GM: The earthquake was vicious. The pavement began to undulate and crack. Windows shattered. Drivers panicked and got into fender benders. Some street lamps fell onto the road. People were screaming and running in panic.

Sabrina as Berry: While the three of us sat still in the car waiting for them, Tirr and I spotted a couple of men walking toward us with katanas in their hands. So, we decided to drive away the car to Tamura and I called the reporter to tell them to meet up at the Katsurao junction.

GM: The armed newcomers had intricate and detailed tattoos all over their bodies. What was even more shocking was that their eyes were all milky white.

Israqi as Lucci: I shot one of the Yakuzas on his leg but he still continued running towards Michale wielding a katana. But Michale (upon getting the highest Initiative) grabbed a rock and knocked the Yakuza’s head. However the rock broke into pieces and Michale was stabbed through the chest. I shot the Yakuza again, targeting his head (with a Called Shot, and succeeding the Shooting roll). While Naruto looked after Michael, I covered them with my gun.

Nasha as Musk:The reporter was stabbed and badly injured. But I couldn’t help him because I had followed Tirr in the car en route to Tamura. I felt bad for him.

Malvinder as Michale: So the soldier carried me in his arms. I couldn’t see nor think. My sight was getting so blurry as I was losing a lot of blood.

GM: Meanwhile Agent Naruto had stabilised the mortally wounded Michale with swift application of first aid. Although Michale was still unconscious, he was no longer bleeding to death. (He rolled First Aid twice to get Michale up to Incapacitated status.) In the meantime, Musk, Berry and Tirr made contact by phone and planned a rendezvous.

Israqi as Lucci: No cars were available there (thanks to a bad Streetwise roll) but we spotted an old Malaysian Proton Iswara. So we took the car and Naruto drove us to the Katsurao junction. But we met the women at the intersection. Fortunately, they had a scientist who used her medical skills to transfer blood from Naruto to the Michale. (Michale’s status rose from Incapacitated to Wounded.)

GM: The old pink Iswara had malfunctioning air conditioning and its stereo was stuck to a radio channel that only played classic Japanese songs. Additionally, its volume was turned all the way up and there was no way to turn it down. Or turn it off.

So they ditched it and climbed into the Range Rover, driving toward the town of Tamura where (because Naruto failed both Streetwise and Driving rolls) Naruto rear-ended a bus which was empty except for one driver. The driver jumped out of his bus and came fiercely at Naruto who was behind the wheel.

Naruto punched the driver, then told everyone, “Get on the bus!”

On the commandeered bus, Michale had an idea. He used his laptop to try to locate the missing Agent Ishikawa’s phone. (A successful Computer Use roll later…) The wounded reporter used his espionage programs to triangulate Ishikawa’s phone and discovered that he was on the beach farther south from Okuma, very close to the town of Iwaki.

Sabrina as Berry: Because of the heavy traffic, we decided to use another way to reach Iwaki. As we saw a small boathouse, we broke into it and stole the motorboat within it travel to Iwaki by river.

Hafizie as Lucci: We tried to approaching Ishikawa’s location by driving a boat down the river towards the sea but the situation grew weirder. The water had receded and was far away from the beach side. At the same time there was a dark line along the horizon where the ocean met the sky.

Haqqi as Lucci: We saw two groups of people further up along the beach. The first group of 20 people were tied up, arranged to create a pentagram on the sand. They were obviously abductees and Ishikawa was among them! The second group were 4 people armed with wakizashis. They wanted to sacrifice the first group! And one of them saw us and said loudly, “Don’t get in my way”. Three of them ran towards us, each with a gun in his hand!

Malvinder as Michale: We heard a rumbling noise from the sea which grew louder as we prepared to engage the attackers.

Israqi as Lucci: When I saw them coming, I took a shot at one but only hit his shoulder. One enemy was killed when Berry shot him after the rest of us missed our shots. The leader who remained with the abductees on the beach drew his blade and stabbed Ishikawa through the heart.

GM: At that range, everyone but nerdy Berry failed to shoot what appeared to be cultists who were prepared to sacrifice their captives to some dark deity of the ocean. The agents ran forward to close the distance. Meanwhile, the lead cultist had stabbed another captive. After an exchange of gunfire at closer range the attacking cultists fell, leaving only the leader who was about to stab a third person.

Naruto flared his arms back, his head pointed down and forward he ran Naruto-style towards the leader. However, (he failed his Athletics roll and) he tripped on some foliage on the beach. He fell forward, tumbling several times onto the sand and gouging a long mark on the beach. When he regained his composure, the lead cultist had stabbed the third person.

Israqi as Lucci: Naruto killed the last enemy.

GM: As the team untied the survivors, out beyond the beach and the pier where a disused fishing boat was aground on the sand, they noticed that the black line on horizon had grown thicker… or nearer. There was no defined outline; the black line turned into fine white mist then blended into the blue sky. There was a strong wind coming from the sea and the rumble grew even louder. Naruto asked one of the survivors where the nearest village so they could warn them.

Instead of getting aboard the disused trawler, the agents and the survivors ran along the road northbound towards the nearby town of Hirono.

Hafizie as Lucci: A very frightening sound was getting louder. At the same time we saw a big wave like a tsunami getting closer to us. We tried to run as fast as we could to save our lives but we failed as the tsunami hit us. All of us became separated from each other.

Haqqi as Lucci: Out of the blue, the sky became dark and the wind grew strong. Suddenly we were hit by a tsunami.

Nasha as Musk: The tsunami was very dangerous.

Sabrina as Berry: However, it was too late to save ourselves as the tsunami struck us. I was drowning and could not see the others. It was a nightmare when the tsunami arrived and even the innocent became the victims of this nightmare.

Athirah as Tirr: I cried at that moment, thinking about my family and friends. Where were the others? No one could help me as all off them were to busy trying to save their own lives.

GM: The agents were swept away by the terrible energy that unleashed the seawater upon them. They saw big trees uprooted and buildings fell as they were pulled into the miasma of water and debris. They saw the trawler by the beach was being pushed inland towards them. But it was all they could do not to be sucked by the vortices of the tsunami.

GM: The fishing trawler bobbed and tipped in the rough waters. Ropes swung about on its sides. One of the rope swung towards Lucci who now could not see any of his team-mates. Perhaps if he could grab the rope, he could pull himself aboard the boat and see if he could rescue his comrades.

He reached out. But the waters pulled him under. The rope swung by ungrabbed.

Lucci was pulled deeper into the raging dark waters. And then darkness took him.

To be continued?

Notes:

• I appreciate the homework by the students. Not everyone got the details right, but those who submitted tried their best. Good job, everyone.
• I am now unsure if there is a river big enough for a small boat to travel on from Tamura to Iwaka.
• Now that the class roster has increased to 15, how should I run a session effectively to include everyone? Ideas?
• Naruto did not submit his homework. NARUTO! Where are you?
• Will our agents survive? Stay tuned to find out.

Addendum:

• The group decided on a TPK and to play new characters in the same setting.
• Later, I ran the same scenario for my colleagues during my RPG workshop at the workplace.