Played on 9 Nov 2026
Characters
GM: Cinna
Chia
Shaw / Shadowrun69
Researcher Sol
Structure truther Brad (me)
Session recap
Renowned streamer Jimmy Juice has been mixing dangerous substances, causing explosions and general distress. We've been hired to find him, and put an end to the havoc he's been causing.
Word is that he's in this structure that used to be a office building. Shaw distracted the vain policemen guarding its entrance by inviting them as guests in their livestream. The window of opportunity Shaw created was enough for the rest of us to sneak into the building, but not Shaw themselves. They ended up firing a shotgun and feigning a crisis to compelling the policemen into action, in order to successfully enter the building.
Inside, the lobby was covered in Turbocrete but otherwise, fairly bare. We discovered some research logs that noted the peculiarities of different substances, though there were no traces of these substances nearby.
Chia noticed a patch of Satan's Grass near a doorway and while Sol grasswhispered and learnt why it's scared (something spilled on the floor and is causing ouchies), Shaw managed to annoy the inanimate grass, which reached out and enveloped them. Good thing Chia brought some climbing gear. We tossed Shaw some rope and managed to pull them out easily.
We finally got around to opening the door, which revealed a steep incline and Jimmy on the other end. He was kneeling down and carving into a trilobite-like creature. Shaw charmed him into agreeing to meet by the Purple Borg to collab. A foreign liquid was also trickling out of the sprinkle and Sol collected a sample of it.
As Jimmy was leaving for the Borg, Shaw's moderators informed them that they had reached a 100 subscribers. Earlier, Shaw had promised that at this milestone, he'd drink a vial of the samples Sol had been collecting. Shaw tried to worm their way out of the scenario, but eventually downed a vial of Satan's Grass. It caused him to do everything in reverse, from movement to speech, but it only was momentary as Brad's recommendation of drinking another vial to undo the situation worked.
The crew proceeded to search for a route to the Purple Borg, with Chia charging ahead to an alleyway with a conveyer belt. The machines attempted to augment each individual, with Brad believing that the jab it was giving was a hoax and nothing to fear. Shaw left with a built-in antenna that gave them better signal and Brad turned orange, but some time in the recuperation room did the trick in alleviating any real danger.
Moving on, the crew found an orb with three buttons. Recklessly, they pressed them one after another, creating chaos that they had to dodge. The acid that the orb sprayed upset a nearby waldo that takes it cleansing job seriously. The crew stab the waldo and managed to injure it, but quickly realised that it'd take much more combat to bring down the waldo.
Amidst the turmoil, Jimmy and the creature appeared on a boat and quickly realised that it's him we were after. Shaw managed to aim their knife at Jimmy's arm and caused him to drop one of his cameras, which infuriated Jimmy who triggered a massive explosion that sent us falling to the level beneath. Funnily, this provided the crew with the clearance they needed to toss the orb upwards, laced with the corrosive Purple Substance, to destroy Jimmy.
We walked out of the Structure with Jimmy taken care of, some vials of samples in hand and an alien that took to Sol.
Map of the Structure
Player notes
Afterwards, we talked about how we were initially intrigued by the game's setting but it didn't add much to our experience. We reflected on why:
We were using a free preview of the rules, which understandably is limited in a few aspects (e.g. single class, single entity etc). We probably would have gotten a better sense of what the game wants us to experience if we had a quick-start adventure designed around these limitations, rather than our GM creating their own scenario. Instead of leaving us wanting a taste for more, we ended up unsure about whether this game could deliver upon its intriguing premise.
It also seems like a game that is best played as a campaign, due to the gig economy being at its core. You probably need multiple sessions to delve -> find Doodads and map valuable areas -> negotiate sales -> feel the crushing pressure of the economy but we could only experience the delve itself in a one-shot.