[Unknown Armies] Clerks, Detroit Style: Actual Play.
Hi there everybody,
My group recently played the first three sessions of what we hope will become a medium length campaign of Unknown Armies (by medium length, let's say somewhere between 8 to 10 sessions). I've decided to post these notes on the sessions in order to refresh the memories of my players (and myself!). I'm also posting these notes for the interest of any and all UA fans. Comments, speculation, criticism, and "wouldn't it be cool if..." suggestions are all welcomed! Keep in mind, however, that my players will be reading this, so I won't be able to answer any "so, how do you see the campaign ending" type questions.
(Actually, I wouldn't be able to answer such questions anyway, since our game sessions are mostly improvised. The pre-game notes I made for the first session were made on a napkin in a restaurant.)
These posts are LONG, so I’ll break them up into rough scenes, to give you mental breaks/breaths while you’re reading.
Oh, one more thing before we hit the "actual play" (and is it me, or have those words always sounded vaguely pornographic? "Actual Play: Britney Spears!!! Download now!!!"). The campaign is set in the city of Detroit. It should be noted that none of my group have ever been to Detroit, and we really don't know much about it. This is, in fact, one of the reasons why we chose to set the campaign there; not knowing the "true" Detroit allows us to play around with the city, make things up, and improvise details safe in the knowledge of not being contradicted by the "facts". ("Hey, there's no abandoned motor factory on 8 Mile Road!!! I used to live near there!!!") Consider this to be a fictional take on Detroit, if you will, and not a Lonely Planet guide to the city.
The other reason we chose Detroit is because it carries a number of associations and images that we think are pretty cool and worth exploring. Detroit: a city that went boom and bust. The Motor City. General Motors, Ford, Chrysler. The home of Motown and the (arguable) home of Techno. Gangs. Rampant crime. Abandoned factories, closed down in the name of "globalization". Local communities with their economic hearts ripped out. Chain link fences. Urban decay.
So, with this in mind, I hereby present...
CLERKS, DETROIT STYLE.
SESSION ONE:
OPENING SCENE: FROM WINDSOR TO DETROIT
Windsor, Canada. Mike and John, two guys in their early twenties, are getting ready to go to a danceparty in Detroit tonight. They get dressed in casual clubbing gear, drink some beer, listen to some tunes (Detroit Techno, something from the Underground Resistance label). The tunes continue in their car, as they drive towards the bridge that spans the water between Windsor and Detroit.
The streets of Windsor are clean and well lit. As they drive by a park, they see people jogging, lovers walking arm in arm, people walking their dogs. Mike and John are excited; it's gonna be a good night.
"We gotta pick this stuff up at a corner store. Got the address right here."
"God I hate driving to this place."
"Yeah, but they got the goods and the tunes, so we gotta do what we gotta do."
They cross the bridge, drive into Detroit. The contrast is ... striking. The streets are sad lonely places, cloaked in darkness. It seems every third streetlamp is shattered, or flickers like something out of "Twin Peaks". They drive past forlorn abandoned factories, the faded former glory of Detroit. The big three. General Motors, Ford, Chrysler. All gutted. Shapes of homeless squatting in the factories, warming their hands around fires. As they drive past a park they see a circle of kids kicking a fat kid. They stop at a red light, and two homeless guys shamble towards the car.
"Cantaloupe!!! I got a cheap cantaloupe!!!"
"Wash your windscreen! One buck! Windscreen!!!"
Mike turns to John, getting creeped out.
"Can I run this red?"
John nods quickly. "Yeah, punch it Chewie."
Mike hits the pedal, and they run the red light. A few minutes later, they park their car in front of a corner store. Although the front door is open, cold bars stand across the windows, and a neon Coors sign flickers mournfully. Above the front door, another sign says “Leong’s Corner Store and Delivery”.
SCENE TWO: LEONG’S CORNER STORE (OUR CAST OF CHARACTERS)
Two young guys are in the parking lot; one is squatting down beside a motorcycle, working on it with a number of tools, the other is standing over him smoking a cigarette and waving his hands around as he talks.
The smoker is Alex Gustav, a college kid who’s scraped together cash from scholarships, his parents, and working long hours at Leong’s Corner Store and Delivery to put himself through medical school. Well, perhaps it’s more accurate to say he’s an ex-college kid. He’s recently dropped out due to increasing self-esteem issues, and lost his girlfriend due to a combination of the two. He hasn’t been able to bring himself to tell anyone about any of this yet.
The mechanic is Xavier Cruz, a Puerto Rican who did two years military service in order to get his U.S. citizenship. He spent most of that time in the motorpool, explaining the ease with which he works on the motorcycle in the car park. He’s been out of the military for about a year now, and in that time has been approached a number of times by one of the local gangs, a group of Puerto Ricans called “El Mortido” – “The Dead Boys”. [If any readers out there spot any mistakes with the language here, please let me know!] Xavier has been tempted to work with them, especially since it would be very easy for him to then keep an eye on his younger sister Maria who runs with El Mortido, but he’s decided to go straight since leaving the military. Nonetheless, he maintains friendly relations with the gang, and with most of the other street-level players in the local area. He does deliveries for the corner store, as well as maintaining the delivery van; an old ice-cream van that still has the oversized ice-cream cone on top. They decided to keep the ice-cream cone because they thought it had less chance of being stolen that way.
“So, when are we gonna finally meet this Laura you keep talking about?” Xavier peers at the engine as he says this.
“Lenna! Her name’s Lenna!” Alex says, waving his cigarette to make the point.
“Yeah, sorry, Lana, whatever. Thing is, you’ve been talking about her so long man that I’m starting to think she’s a figment of your imagination.”
“Lenna’s not a figment of my imagination Xavier! And that’s LENNA, not Lana! And she’s, well, been kinda, uh, busy and stuff lately and …” Alex’s voice starts to trail nervously away as he spots Mike and John walking into the corner store. “And, um, hey look! Customers! We better go in there and take care of ‘em.” Alex follows them into the store. Xavier smiles and shakes his head as he finishes screwing something onto the motorcycle, then follows Alex.
They walk pretty much smack-bang into Tina Leong, the manager of Leong’s Corner Store and Delivery. Not a difficult thing to do, considering Tina takes up the entire doorway, and more besides. Tina’s a second-generation Chinese-American somewhere in her mid to late 30’s. Tina was attractive, once. You can still see it if you look closely at her face, look beyond the fat and the fatigue-worn eyes. But now she can barely fit through the door, and her face is worn with care. Then again, maybe you’d turn to guilt driven binge eating too if your marriage had fallen through after having a one-night stand with a dead man. [This is Tina’s “trigger event”, which the player came up with. I’ll try and post that later.] Tina doesn’t miss her husband, but she still misses her son terribly. She’s come to see the local neighbourhood as her extended family, and is extremely active (and well liked) in the local community.
“Hey Alex, Xavier, I want you to keep an eye on things for a few minutes. Just gonna take this box of groceries over to Old Man Winters. And I hope you’re not gonna smoke that in the store Alex; a medical student like you should know better!” Alex bashfully stubs out the cigarette, and steps into the store with Xavier. Meanwhile, Tina starts to walk down the street, holding a small box of groceries.
SCENE THREE: HOME DELIVERIES AND DRUG DEALS (SUPPORTING CAST)
A series of short scenes follow, introducing a number of people that circulate in the local community, and how our clerks interact with them.
Tina walks down the darkened street, and steps into an apartment block. She knocks on Old Man Winters’ apartment door. She knows he’s home, because she can hear the television on. The television’s always on. “You’re playing for … a new car!!!” Tina can’t remember the last time she saw Winters outside of his apartment. Maybe never. Apparently, he used to work at one of the motor factories, but that was a long time ago. The only cars he sees now are the ones on game shows. She knocks on the door again.
“Go away! I’m watching my shows!” Winters yells from inside.
“It’s just me! It’s Tina! I’ve got some groceries for you!”
“My shows! I’m watching my shows!”
“Okay, I’ll just leave these outside the door for you, okay?” Tina sets down the box, and walks outside.
Meanwhile, Xavier and Alex eye off the two Canadians who have obviously arrived for a drug deal. Alex thinks they look a little nervous, so he decides to mess with their heads a little.
“So, uh, you guys gonna buy anything?”
“Uh, well, uh, yeah, uh …” Mike and John look around, “Uh, yeah, gum, we gotta buy some gum.” Alex looks at the gum, looks back at the Canadians.
“That’s three bucks a pack.”
“What!?!? Hey man, what are you tr-” Mike starts to get angry, but John quickly puts his hand out, silencing him. “We don’t want any trouble Mike; we just wanna do this, and get out quickly, okay?”
Mike nods, begrudgingly taking out money for the gum. At this moment, a member of the Oak Park Posse strolls in.
The Oak Park Posse is one of the two major gangs in the local area, along with El Mortido. The two gangs currently maintain a truce of sorts, and both gangs have also declared that Leong’s Corner Store is not to be robbed. This is because the clerks, especially Tina, are very active in the local community and are well liked. Tina’s been known to offer extremely extended credit to some of the poorer families in the neighbourhood, and has gone so far as to sometimes give away basic drugs and painkillers and medical supplies for free. (Alex helps out with this considerably, often boosting said supplies from his university campus, using his pass card, and with help from his ex-girlfriend.) If the gangs hit the local store, local sympathy for the gangs would drop dramatically. They also realize that having a trained doctor (Alex) on-hand to treat any gunshot wounds they may pick up is a good thing, and thereby don’t want to alienate such a useful resource…
Tiger, the gang member, nods casually to Alex and Xavier.
“Hey Xavier,” he drawls, “how’s it goin’ ma man?”
“Good Tiger, I’m good.” Xavier nods back. “Look man, if you’re gonna do anything, don’t do it in here, okay?”
Tiger looks at Xavier coolly, then slowly nods. He steps out of the store, into the parking lot. The two Canadians look at each other, then hurriedly step out after him. Mike nervously gives Tiger some cash. Tiger slowly counts the cash, smiles, puts a hand in a pocket, then gives Mike a handshake.
At this moment, Tina steps around the corner, headed back to the store.
“Hey!” She yells. “What are you doing? Are you dealing drugs outside of my store? I’m talking to you!” Tiger shrugs his shoulders, says nothing, trying to look cool, pretending not to hear Tina. “Listen, you get out of here! And you kids too,” Tina looks at the Canadians “get out of here!” Tiger sees the anger in Tina’s eyes, then slowly takes a step back, gives a “yeah, whatever” shrug, then slouches off down the street. The two Canadians quickly jump in their car.
Tina shakes her head as she steps back into the store.
“Goddamned drug dealers … poor kids don’t realize what they’re getting into …” she mutters as she steps into the store. She sees Xavier and Alex, and shoots them a glance that says “Why didn’t you do something about that?” Xavier sighs to himself, and goes back to restocking the shelves.
Not long after this, another familiar face appears at the corner store. It’s Dave the junky, his eyes haggard and hollow. Alex recently boosted a heap of clean needles, and has been giving them out with Tina’s blessing. Dave shambles inside, shaking and shivering.
“Hey guys … um, hey … um, Alex, I’ve just come by to pick up some … um, stuff, you know …” Alex nods.
“Sure thing” he says softly. He runs down into the basement, and grabs some clean needles from the wardrobe full of stuff he’s boosted from the university. He runs back up, and gives them to Dave. The clerks realize that what they’re doing is of dubious legality, but they sure as hell don’t see anyone in authority trying to do anything about the drugs and junkies on the streets. They know clean needles alone won’t solve anything, but they’ll hopefully keep people alive long enough to … well, to hopefully find a way out.
“Thanks man” Dave murmurs as he starts to take a packet out of his pocket.
“Woah!!!” Alex says. “Don’t do that shit here!”
“Oh … sorry man … sorry … I-”
“Look,” Alex says, his voice softening again, “here’s some brochures about that support group I told you about. I think they could really help you Dave. Why don’t we both go down there tomorrow?” Alex could’ve been a good doctor. He cares about the injured people. Pity he dropped out of college.
“Here you go Dave” Tina hands Dave some simple groceries; bread, milk, fruit juice.
“Oh, thanks … I, um, I don’t have any cash on me tonight …”
“Hey, you can pay us next time Dave, okay?”
Dave looks around at the clerks, his eyes suddenly filling with tears.
“Um … thank you, thanks … I … I’ll check out that group Alex … but, uh, I gotta do this one last thing first … just this one last thing … um, sorry … thank you …” Dave staggers out of the store, tears streaming down his face. The clerks silently watch him shamble down the street.
“You know, the mayor keeps talking about wanting to clean up Detroit, but nobody ever wants to actually help these poor bastards!” Tina says. “I mean, all we hear is, ‘Drugs are bad! Drugs are bad! There’s a war on drugs! If you take drugs you’re a loser!’ But we never see any government programs to actually help these people! If the cops bust you with some drugs, you’re more likely to go to jail than to a drug counselor! Fat lot of help that is!” Alex and Xavier nod. Tina’s getting fired up. Getting inspired. “I’m going to make a petition, asking for some kind of clean needle exchange and safe, uh, what are they called, shooting alley to be set up. I mean, it’s not the whole answer, but maybe it’s a start. I’m gonna go upstairs and make that petition. Alex, you’re working the graveyard shift, right? Well, I’ll see you both in the morning.”
Tina heads upstairs to the apartment that she shares with her parents (the previous managers of the store …it’s been in the neighbourhood for quite a long time). Xavier nods to Alex, and heads to his own room, attached to the back of the store.
Alex rubs his eyes, and settles in for the graveyard shift. It’s fairly uneventful, except for a few more junkies who crawl in for clean needles and a visit from Lonnie, the local pimp, with two of his girls, Cindy and Candy. Lonnie tells Alex to be careful; the 8 Mile Boys, the gang on the other side of Oak Park, have apparently been hassling people and businesses in the local neighbourhood. That’s unusual; the Oak Park Posse stays on this side of Oak Park, while the 8 Mile Boys stay on the other. Why are they moving into the local neighbourhood?
SCENE FOUR: THE RETURN OF THE MOTOR CITY, MEN IN BLACK, AND THE SAGA OF FORTY BUCKS.
It’s morning, and Tina puts her new petition and some breakfast for Alex on the front counter as he rubs his eyes. Xavier comes out of his backroom, and puts on the TV. The Mayor is giving a press conference. Accompanied by a small number of industrialists headed by entrepreneur/industrialist Holden A. Martin, the Mayor proudly outlines his new vision for Detroit. It is a program of urban renewal, a program of rebuilding. Motor factories will be reopened. The economic heart of Detroit will start beating once again. Detroit will fulfill its historical promise, and become, once again, the motor city.
The phone rings. It’s Old Man Crandle, calling himself Crandleson, because he’s owed the store well over forty bucks for well over a few months. Could the clerks bring him some milk and eggs and bread and a couple of 40’s? Tina turns to Xavier and Alex.
“Could you ask him to pay at least some of that fifty bucks he owes us? I’ve gotta pay for some new stock that’s coming in today, and things are pretty tight at the moment. I don’t know if I’ll be able to pay you guys on time this week.”
“Don’t worry!” Alex says brightly, “We’ll handle it!”
Alex and Xavier carry the groceries down the road to the apartment block (the same one where Winters lives). They both slow as they see a new, nondescript black car parked across the road from them. Two men in dark suits step out of the car, look around, and start talking to each other.
“Cars like that don’t belong in this neighbourhood,” Xavier says as he and Alex step inside.
They knock on Crandle’s door, and put the groceries down. Could Crandle settle the bill please? Well, there’s this rather large jar of pennies and crumpled up bills that he was going to use to pay his electricity bill…
“That’ll do!” Alex says brightly. Alex steps over and starts counting out the money.
“But … but …” Crandle stammers.
“What the hell is going on here?” The three men turn around, and see Laticia standing at the open doorway. Laticia’s a young mother of two, the second of which she’s currently nursing. “Are you boys bothering Crandle?”
“Well, look, he’s just paying for the bi-” Alex starts.
“They’re taking all my money away from me Laticia!!!” Crandle croaks in a broken voice.
“Well shame on you Alex and Xavier! Shame on you!” Laticia steps into the room, her voice rising in indignation. “You boys oughtta know better! You know what it’s like in this community! Hell, you are part of this community!” Alex and Xavier look at each other.
“Well, okay, look, we’ll just take a little bit for these groceries today, okay?”
Laticia nods, satisfied, then leaves.
Alex looks back at the jar again.
“Well, now that she’s gone…” he starts to reach for the jar.
“Hey!!!” Crandle croaks in disbelief.
“Alex.” Xavier says. “Look, Tina probably won’t be too happy if we leave Crandle nothing for his electricity.” Alex nods.
“Hmm, okay. But remember that you owe us a good forty bucks old man!” Crandle nods his head, then gratefully reaches into his pocket, and hands something to the clerks.
“I want you boys to have this. It’s always brought me good luck. I hope it brings you luck too.”
It’s a yellow smiley-face fridge magnet.
As the clerks step out of Crandle’s apartment, they see the two Men in Black knock on a door at the far end of the corridor.
“Go away! I’m watching my shows!” Must be Winters’ apartment. The two Men in Black shrug, move to a door further along. They knock, the door opens, they show some I.D., and then step inside.
When the clerks walk down to the lobby, they check the name on the letterbox for the apartment the two Men in Black stepped into. D. Samuels.
“Hey, isn’t that Dave? Dave the junky?” Alex says.
They walk down the road towards the corner store.
“Well, that might have been a good thing we did back there, but know how is Tina gonna pay for the new stock?” Alex asks. Xavier narrows his eyes as he sees a familiar car parked up the road from the store.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got an idea. Just go into the store and distract Tina for a few minutes.” Xavier starts jogging up the road towards the car as Alex steps into the store.
“So, what happened?” Tina asks.
“Yeah, well, uh, we got him to pay.”
“For the groceries?”
“No, no, for everything.”
“Everything? That’s fantastic Alex! Wow, I can pay for the new stock and pay you and Xavier on time this week!”
Meanwhile, Xavier jogs up to the car. His sister Maria is in the passenger’s seat, and Raoul, one of the senior El Mortido lieutenants, is in the driver’s seat. They dropped by because Maria wanted to tell Xavier to be careful. The 8 Mile Boys have been making strikes in the local neighbourhood. Xavier thanks Maria then asks for a favour. Could he borrow forty bucks? Maria looks to Raoul (whose hand is snaking a little too high on Maria’s inner thigh for Xavier’s comfort…). Raoul shrugs, and nonchalantly hands Xavier the money.
“Hey Xavier, why don’t you come by the crib tonight? We’re having a party. It’s gonna be great.”
“Maybe. We’ll see.” Xavier nods. Raoul’s eyes narrow.
“Maybe you should drop by the crib earlier tonight. Maybe you could help us with something. I mean, we just helped you; maybe you could help us. It’s only fair, no?”
Xavier looks at the money in his hand, then looks at Raoul. He knows accepting money from El Mortido could get him in trouble later on. He looks back at the store, sees Alex through the front window painfully counting out every single penny in front of Tina, buying time. He nods slowly.
“Okay, I’ll drop by the crib later.” Xavier jogs back to the store, slips the money into Alex’s hand.
“Oh, see! That’s everything!” Alex says.
“Fantastic!” Tina sighs. “Thanks guys!”
“And that’s not all!” Alex says, as he slaps the yellow smiley-face magnet on the side of the cash register.
SCENE FIVE: DAVE THE EX-JUNKY
As Tina is smiling and Alex and Xavier sigh, the front door opens.
“Hi guys!” The clerks turn around, to see the happy, smiling face of … Dave.
“Um, I just wanted to say thanks for everything you’ve done for me. Look,” he digs in his pocket, “here’s some cash. I’m sure I owe you more, and I’ll try and make it up later, but I just wanted to drop by and say thanks!”
Alex looks closely at Dave’s face. Dave really does look happy … and healthy. His eyes aren’t haggard and hollow. In fact, his eyes are clear. They aren’t bloodshot or dilated or anything you’d normally expect to see in the eyes of a junky. He isn’t shaking anymore. He still looks slightly weak and frail but … he looks healthy.
“Dave … what … happened to you?” Alex says slowly.
“Well, I was thinking about everything you said to me, and, well, it just suddenly struck me. Just how damned STUPID it was. Sticking needles in my arms, my legs, my – well, you don’t really need to hear that. But I just realized how stupid and pointless it all was. So, I’ve decided to stop. I’m gonna get on with my life. I’m gonna head down to that group you told me about. So, I wanted to say thanks Alex. Thanks to all of you.”
“But … but …” Alex slowly shakes his head, “you look so … good.”
“Yeah, well, you know, it’s a new day!” Dave smiles. Behind Alex, Xavier’s eyes have gone wide. Sure, Alex is (or was) a medical student who knows intellectually that such sudden recovery from hard-street drugs isn’t possible, but Xavier knows the streets pretty well. He’s seen junkies. And he knows they never recover, at least not like this, not this quickly. And not the ones as far gone as Dave. This isn’t a wonderful miracle he’s seeing. It’s something horribly horribly unnatural.
“Wow, well, um, good luck Dave!” Tina smiles, filling in the silence left by Alex and Xavier.
“No worries Tina! And thanks, thanks for everything. I gotta get going, but I’ll see you guys later, okay?” Dave smiles, steps outside into the sunshine.
“Well, uh, that’s nice isn’t it guys? He’s really-” Tina turns and sees Xavier, wide eyed. “Xavier, are you okay?” Xavier slowly shakes his head.
“No … that … that ain’t right … that …” He keeps shaking his head.
Alex agrees that it’s “highly unusual”, says he’s going home to get some sleep and to check his medical texts for any reference to Dave’s unusual condition. Xavier steps out too, giving Alex a lift home, but then deciding to stop by the El Mortido crib on the way back to the store.
While Alex and Xavier are gone, Laticia stops by the corner store to pick up some groceries. Laticia and Tina make some small talk, and Laticia mentions she’s glad that Tina extended some further credit to Old Man Crandle.
“But, hang on.” Tina says, confused, “Crandle paid for all of his bills in full today.” Laticia gets pretty angry at this point. She tells Tina what happened in Crandle’s apartment earlier.
“Well, I thought I’d helped them to see sense, but I guess they was just lying to me! They must have just taken all his money as soon as my back was turned, leaving him nothing!”
“Oh Laticia, I’m so sorry, that’s terrible! Look,” Tina says, pulling out the forty bucks that actually came from El Mortido and not from Crandle, “you take this back to the apartment and give it back to Crandle. And tell him sorry from me.”
“Thanks Tina, you’ve got a good heart.”
“Oh, and Laticia, would you like to sign this petition I have here?”
“Sure Tina.” Laticia signs, and heads back to the apartment block.
SCENE SEVEN: THE EL MORTIDO CRIB.
After dropping Alex off home, Xavier drops by the El Mortido crib. Everyone greets him warmly, and he spends some time talking to Juan and Martinez, the most senior guys in El Mortido. Could Xavier head over to a certain address and pick something up for the party tonight? Nothing dangerous, hey, the address is in the university district. Nothing dangerous at all. Just a delivery run. Xavier considers offering to just pay the forty bucks back, but he knows it’s too late for that now. He slowly nods his head, slides the address into his pocket.
“See you at the party tonight.” He says. He steps outside, gets on his bike, and rides for a while, thinking about the things he’s seen the past day.
SCENE EIGHT: MORE MEN IN BLACK.
Late in the afternoon, Alex and Xavier arrive back at the store. Tina isn’t happy with them. How could they take all that money from Old Man Crandle?
“I gave the forty dollars back, so I’m sorry to say that there’s no way I can pay for the deliveries and pay you guys on time this week.”
Xavier sighs, now knowing he’s gotten himself into debt with El Mortido for no good reason at all. No good deed goes unpunished.
“Hey, I was looking at some of my medical texts today,” Alex says, eager to change the topic, “and what happened with Dave should be … well, impossible. Cells can’t regenerate that quickly. It just … doesn’t happen.”
“Yeah, that is pretty strange…” Tina agrees.
“That’s not all.” Xavier says. “A little while ago, I dropped by Dave’s apartment to talk to him, and he was gone. Not only that, his apartment’s completely empty. It’s been totally cleaned out.”
“Okay, that’s weird.” Tina says. “We should really find him and talk to him. I’ll lock up the store.”
However, at this moment, the two Men in Black pull up out front, and walk into the store. Their names are Smith and Jones and their I.D.s show that they work for the City of Detroit Buildings & Safety Engineering Department (B&SE). It turns out that the Mayor, as part of his program of urban renewal, has decided to crack down on local liquor stores. No more liquor stores are to be opened in the city of Detroit, (the city currently has 338 neighborhood liquor and 379 beer/wine-only stores), and furthermore, B&SE inspectors will cite stores for signage violations (cannot cover more than 25% of wall and cannot clutter windows), dumpster enclosures, poor pavement and parking lots (including inadequate drainage), and deteriorated building conditions. And isn’t that neon Coors sign a little too big, given the new signage regulations?
“Well, is City Hall going to help us pay for these improvements, or are we going to have to do them ourselves? If not, it seems to me that the Mayor is doing all he can to put us out of business. And he thinks that’s going to clean up the city? Well, let me tell you Smith and Jones, there are much worse things than neon Coors signs on the streets these days. I mean, what about that crackhouse across from Oak Park? Why isn’t something being done about that? Or about the junkies? Or the gangs?” Tina’s getting pretty angry.
“Hmm, this is an interesting petition.” Smith (or is it Jones?) says as he picks up the petition on the front counter.
“You can sign that if you want.” Tina says.
“Hmm, perhaps ma’am.”
“Actually, if you could bring this to the attention of the mayor, I’d be grateful. If he really is concerned with cleaning up the city, that is.”
“Well, uh, we’ll make sure he sees this.” Jones (or is it Smith?) says as he pockets a page of the petition. He then hands Tina a sheaf of papers. “Here are the new signage regulations, plus everything else you need to know. Good day.”
The clerks watch the two Men in Black get into sleek car.
“You know, those two guys went into Dave’s apartment this morning.” Xavier says.
“Yeah, that’s right.” Alex says.
“Right then. We’ve got to find Dave and find out what the hell is going on.” Tina says. They lock up the store, and jump in the ice cream/delivery van.
[By the way, I got the information for this scene from the following website: http://www.ci.detroit.mi.us/mayor/re...r%20Stores.htm It was one of the very few websites I looked at before we played the first session, and it stuck in my mind because it seemed directly related to the plight of the clerks]
The clerks head down the road to a record store where Dave used to work, and sometimes still hung around. Leroy, a powerfully built guy who can only be described as a music snob, runs the record store. He often criticizes his customers’ choices, and pretty much tells people what they should and shouldn’t buy. Basically, imagine the Soup Nazi from “Seinfeld” working in a record store. Posters of Detroit Techno heroes and record labels are on the walls, such as Underground Resistance, Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May.
The clerks ask Leroy if he’s seen Dave lately, explaining that the ex-junky recently dropped by the corner store and paid some money he owed them. Leroy immediately checks his cash register, sighs when he sees all the money is still there, and says he hasn’t seen Dave lately. Maybe the clerks want to check out the crackhouse down across from Oak Park?
“Of course, I dunno if that’s a good idea. I mean, it’s a crackhouse. Full of junkies. Not to mention that it’s Oak Park Posse turf. And the 8 Mile Boys have been making strikes across the park lately.” Leroy looks at the clerks, especially the incredibly overweight Tina and the bookish Alex. “I know you got a good name and all, but you wanna be careful.”
“You got any Perry Como records?” Alex chimes in. Leroy fixes Alex with a long hard stare. Pauses.
“You’re joking, right? Okay. When I say, ‘you’re joking right?’ you say yes. Okay?” Leroy pauses. “You’re joking, right?”
“Actually, my parents listen to him, and he really isn’t all that ba-”
“Get out.”
The clerks drive down to the Oak Park crackhouse, park the ice-cream delivery van out front. Xavier, slightly edgy, puts a rolled up ski mask on the top of his head (so it looks like he’s wearing a wool hat). The clerks walk into the crackhouse, past the front door hanging off its hinges, and up the dirty creaking stairs. As they climb they can hear … music. Dance beats. They push open another filthy door to see … a group of about 20 or so people dancing. Smiling. Having a good time. At the far end of the room, Dave has set up a pair of turntables and is spinning some records.
The clerks look around themselves, amazed. Alex recognizes some of the junkies who have dropped by the corner store recently for clean needles. He sees some used needles thrown into corners and wonders if those are the very same needles he helped dispense.
“What’s going on here?” Alex says as he grabs a dancer. “What’s happening?”
“Hey man!” The girl pulls her arm back. “We’re having a party, is all!”
“No no! I mean, the drugs! You’re a … a junky!”
“Yeah, well…” the girl looks down, somewhat shamefaced. “I know. But Dave came by today, and a heap of us were here, and we started talking, and we just suddenly realized how USELESS it all was. You know, sticking needles in our arms. It was a total waste of our lives. So, we’ve decided to stop. And now we’re having a party to celebrate!”
“But … but … you don’t just decide to … to stop! I mean, you’re … junkies!” Alex says, wide-eyed. The girl he’s talking to is certainly gaunt, but looking into her eyes, he can see she’s healthy. He steps away from the girl who keeps dancing.
The clerks walk over to Dave, who changes records and steps over to them. He looks pretty happy. And yeah, him and his friends have all decided to stop doing junk. What about the money he paid the clerks? He borrowed that from some friends who seemed happy that Dave was turning his life around. What about those guys in suits outside the apartment? And why is the apartment totally cleaned out? Well, turns out those guys were looking to buy on behalf of the Detroit Buildings & Safety Engineering Department. And since Dave is turning his life around, he decided to sell.
“Hang on.” Tina breaks in. “You owned that apartment?”
“Well, it was actually my parents’ apartment, but it became mine after they died. I mean, in the end I didn’t pay for electricity or anything, but the fact that I actually had a room to sleep probably kept me alive longer than I should have been. Anyway, when these 2 guys show up looking to buy, I figured it was a great chance for me. I’d decided to turn my life around, and here were these guys offering me money. So, I said yes. I’m gonna visit my younger brother in L.A. I ain’t seen him in a while. And L.A.’s kinda bright and sunny, you know? It seems like a good place to start again.”
“Wow, well, that’s just … uh … good for you Dave!” Tina says.
The clerks see a commotion on the other side of the room. Jackie Z and Tiger from the Oak Park Posse have stepped into the room and are hassling one of the ex-junkies. From what the clerks can see, Jackie doesn’t like what he’s hearing.
“What the fuck do you mean? What do you fucking mean you don’t want it? You’re a fucking junky for fuck’s sake!”
Tina and Alex step over to the gang bangers. Xavier steps into the crowd, and starts slowly working his way around the other side of the room.
“Look Jackie, just calm down, okay? These people have made a decision, and you’ve gotta respect that.” Tina speaks calmly, trying to defuse the situation.
“A decision? A fucking decision? These people are not capable of making decisions!”
“They have, and they don’t want you around. You can’t just … force it onto them.”
“Oh yeah? The hell we ca-” Jackie stops, looks at Alex, then back to Tina, a look of shock, then anger, slowly creeping across his face. “What have you done to these people? What the FUCK have you DONE to them?”
“Woah, Jackie, no, we aren’t selling anything to them if that’s what you think-” Tina puts her hands out.
“I KNOW most of these junkies went by your fucking store! What the FUCK have you given them? What have you DONE to them?” Jackie puts his hand into his jacket, starts to pull out a gun … only to find that he’s staring down the barrel of a massive .454 Casull. Tina may be big, but she’s surprisingly fast when she needs to be.
“Jackie, you might wanna rethink that.”
A long moment passes. Tina sees something break in Jackie’s eyes, and Tina slowly starts to lower the gun, hoping to defuse the situation. At this moment Xavier, with the ski mask pulled down, steps behind Tiger and puts a switchblade to this throat.
“Xavier! No!” Tina gasps.
“Hey, it’s okay, we’re leaving, we’re leaving.” Jackie puts away his gun. “Come on Tiger, let’s go.” The two slowly walk towards the door. As they step through, Jackie turns and says, “This ain’t over bitch! This ain’t over!”
The clerks sigh. Xavier rolls back the ski mask.
“Thanks for using my name there Tina.”
“Hey, I didn’t-” Tina stops, thinks back over the past few seconds. “Oh, yeah. Sorry Xavier.”
“Hey guys, I am really sorry about that. So sorry.” Dave says, stepping over.
“Don’t worry Dave, it’s not your fault. But I think you and your friends better get out of here. The party’s over, you know.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Dave nods, and he starts packing things up.
The clerks head back down the stairs and start climbing into the ice-cream van as Jackie Z and about 4 other Oak Park Posse members step out of Oak Park. With guns. Guns that are pointed at the van.
“Shit! Get us out of here Xavier!” Tina yells as she slams the door and crouches down. Xavier turns the key, but the van won’t start. The Oak Park Posse start firing at the van. The window above Tina shatters, spraying the clerks with glass.
“Drive Xavier, drive!!!” Xavier tries the key again, but no go.
“I think the engine’s flooded!”
“Hey, what the hell do I pay you for?” Tina yells.
“You pay me to make deliveries, not to drive through war zones!” Xavier tries one more time, and the engine finally roars to life. The ice-cream van takes off down the road, as the Oak Park Posse put a few more shots into it.
The clerks jump out of the ice-cream van when the reach the corner store, Alex and Tina running inside and starting to pull the shutters down. Xavier, still outside, puts his hand in his pocket and feels the address Martinez gave him.
“Xavier, get inside!!!” Alex yells. Xavier takes a step, thinks, then stops.
“I gotta go. There’s something I gotta do. When I get back, I’ll bring help.”
“Help!?!?! Shit man, we need your help RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!!! C’mon!”
“Sit tight. Call the police. I won’t be long.” Xavier runs to his motorbike, and takes off.
Tina and Alex turn to each wordlessly. Then they keep closing the shutters, and call the police.
Xavier speeds into the University district, comes to a screeching halt outside a fairly nice looking middle class house. He bounds up the steps, pounds on the door. It’s opened by a young guy in his early 20s, tall, with slightly curly brown hair.
“I came by to pick something up. You got it for me?” Xavier says quickly.
“Yeah, sure. Hang on.” He steps into the house, opens a backpack, takes out a package and gives it to Xavier.
“Ben, who’s there?” A woman, unseen, yells out from somewhere inside the house.
“Just a friend Lenna, picking something up! I’ll be back in a minute!” Ben yells over his shoulder, then looks back to Xavier. “So, yeah, this stuff is going to the party tonight, right?”
“Yeah, sure, it’s for the party. Thanks Brad.” Xavier says as he rams the package into a jacket pocket, then runs down the stairs and jumps on the bike.
Meanwhile, Tina and Alex have called the police, and a patrol car has arrived. The clerks tell the cops that the Oak Park Posse is involved, and the cops ask the clerks to stay inside as they walk back to the patrol car.
“Oak Park Posse?” One of the cops says. “They’re some pretty mean motherfuckers.”
“Yeah, that they are.” The other cop nods as they look at each other, the unspoken thought “we don’t wanna die in a slum neighbourhood gang dispute” passing between them. One of the cops walks back to the corner store.
“Uh, look, you guys sit tight in there, okay? We’re gonna do a couple of patrols around the area, see if we can find these guys if they’re on their way here, okay?”
“Uh, yeah, uh, I guess.” Tina says. Tina and Alex watch the cops drive off, then look at each other. Seems like they’re in this alone. And what the hell is Xavier up to?
Xavier pulls up out the front of the El Mortido crib, and bounds up the stairs. There’s a party going on, and it looks like most of El Mortido is there.
“Hey Martinez, Juan.” Xavier says breathlessly as he pulls out the package and tosses it to them. “There ya go.”
“Hey! Good work my man!” Martinez turns to Maria. “Hey Maria, could you cut this shit up?” Maria giggles, then slumps onto a sofa. “Oh for fuck’s sake you just did the last of the old shit! Now we gotta cut this up ourselves!” Martinez gets to work on the coke.
“Hey Xavier, you okay brother?” Juan says as he sees Xavier breathing heavily.
“No. Not okay. Had a run in with the Oak Park Posse, and I think they’re headed to the corner store now.”
“Well that’s not good. Not good at all.” Juan’s eyes narrow. “Maybe some of us should head down there and have a little talk with the Oak Park pussies.”
“Yeah, that’d be appreciated man.” Xavier nods. He grabs a pistol on the way out, jumps on his bike, and takes off, closely followed by Juan, Martinez, and Raoul in a car.
Meanwhile, two cars have come to a screeching halt outside the corner store. Jackie Z and 3 of his boys jump out. Jackie pulls out a pistol, and starts firing into the corner store. Glass shatters and cans of soup explode in the store. Tina and Alex huddle under the counter. Tina grips her pistol tightly, considers leaning around the counter and taking a shot, but then decides not to. With the lead that Jackie and the rest of his boys are putting into the corner store, she doesn’t want to run the risk of catching an unlucky shot to the face if she leans around. Not to mention drawing their fire because they would then know exactly where the clerks are. So, Tina and Alex huddle, and wince every time another shot tears its way into the store.
Xavier comes screeching around the corner on his bike, closely followed by his El Mortido friends in the car. He sees Jackie Z pulling out a Molotov cocktail, a cigarette lighter in his other hand. Xavier brings his motorbike to a sliding, screaming halt as he pulls out his pistol and levels it at Jackie. The Oak Park Posse guys spin around with their own pistols, but find themselves staring down the barrels of El Mortido.
“Don’t do this Jackie, we didn’t fuck up your drug business.” Xavier coolly says.
“Yeah man! Why don’t you and your Oak Park Pussies get the fuck out of here!” Juan yells.
“Juan, we got no beef with El Mortido! These people did something to our customers!” Jackie yells, the unlit Molotov in his hand.
“That wasn’t us Jackie, we aren’t fucking with you.”
Inside, Tina and Alex peer over the counter to watch the tense standoff.
“Somebody is trying to turn us against each other. Somebody is trying to fuck us all over. Somebody is trying to make us do their dirty work for them. Now, does that sound familiar to you Jackie?” Xavier says.
“Goddamn …” Jackie says slowly. “Goddamn … it’s those 8 Mile Boys. Those fucking 8 Mile Boys! They’re turning us against each other!”
“Well, that is no good.” Juan muses, getting angry. “I mean, El Mortido and Oak Park Posse, we have an agreement. But those 8 Mile Boys are fucking around on our turf. And that is no good.”
“Hey, I got an idea,” Jackie smiles, “why don’t your posse and my posse get together, and we go down to the other side of Oak Park, we fuck those 8 Mile Boys up?”
“I like your style Jackie. Let’s go. Let’s fuck ‘em up!!!” The gang members whoop and some fire shots off into the air, pumping themselves up for the confrontation to come. As they get into their cars, Juan turns to Xavier.
“Hey brother, you coming with us, right?”
“Nah, I gotta take care of my friends.” Xavier says, taking a step towards the store.
“Naw, you can take care of them later. Right now, come and help us take care of these 8 Mile fucks. C’mon man, it’ll be cool!”
Inside the store, Tina whispers “Don’t do it Xavier! Don’t go!”
“Nah … that’s … that’s not who I am anymore. I gotta take care of my friends.”
“Hey man, you came up with this idea! You’re not gonna see it through?” Juan asks.
“Don’t worry about him Juan. I guess it’s true what Maria said about him. He really IS a pussy. C’mon, forget about him.” Raoul snorts as he taps Juan on the shoulder. Together, the gang members drive off.
Tina and Alex run out of the store. Tina puts her arm around Xavier’s shoulder.
“I’m proud of you Xavier!”
Xavier hangs his head a little, as the three clerks walk back into the store…
CLOSING SCENE: MIGHT AS WELL DIE WITH A SMILE ON MY FACE
It’s a few hours later. The clerks are cleaning up the store, sweeping up the broken glass, moping up the spilled soup. They’re relieved, but tired; it’s been a long, eventful day, and the adrenaline rush has long gone.
The phone rings. Alex answers, and hears Maria, crying and sobbing.
“Xavier? Xavier? Help me…”
Alex pushes the phone to Xavier.
“Maria, what’s wrong?”
“Xavier … they’re … dead … they’re all dead … oh God … I’m surrounded by bodies … oh God … oh God …” Maria starts sobbing.
Xavier puts the phone down, and runs out of the store, jumping on his bike.
“Hey!!! Where are you going now?” Alex yells, but Xavier’s gone.
Xavier pulls up out the front of the El Mortido crib. He charges up the stairs, leaping over a body that’s face down. He busts into the main room where the party was. The room is full of bodies. Members of El Mortido and the Oak Park Posse lay sprawled across the floor, across the sofas, across the coke-covered table. Maria is curled up in the middle of the room, sobbing, rocking back and forth. And as Xavier steps towards her, he realizes that none of the people have died from violent causes. There are no bullet wounds, there’s no blood, no gore. Just a crib full of dead people … all of whom have horrible enormous grins on their faces.
Back at the store, Tina sweeps the broken glass away from the cash register, taking care not to disturb the yellow smiley-face magnet…
END OF SESSION ONE.
Wow. Okay, that took me WAY longer than I thought it would. Most likely because I went into pretty fine detail. Sorry about that (then again, this is for also for myself and my players, so it’s kinda important for me to hit all the important points.) The session itself took a little less than 5 hours to play. As you can see, however, a lot happened in those 5 hours. We wanted to explore these new characters, and explore the environment they live in. So, lots of character interaction and potential plot threads!
Hmm, I think my fingers are gonna explode from all that typing. I think I’ll leave it here for the moment. However, I will hopefully be able to post the details of sessions two and three before Sunday (which is when we’re hopefully playing session four).
Oh, I should put out that session one was ran before I saw the Angel episode “Smile Time”. No, really, scout’s honour! So, actually, the opening of “Smile Time” REALLY creeped me out, because we closed our Unknown Armies session in the same way!!!
We had a lot of fun playing this session (the next two sessions were also really good … quite tense too), and I’m really digging Unknown Armies. It’s really encouraged us to bring morals, ethics, and the consequences of your actions to the forefront of this campaign.
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