Background
A Night to Forget is an up-and-coming metal band that started up in Northern California. They currently have around 5,000 regular fans and a social media reach of around 8,000. They are only locally famous, most folks outside of California have not heard of them. The band was started by Elara Neon, Rebel Starr, Alton Bionic, and Chyna Sparks as a way to pay off their debts and work for themselves. After a year, Craig Johnson joins and took over as lead vocalist and since they have connections with Network News 42, also take over as the de-facto tour manager. The band saw immediate results - going from a stale band to having semi-crowded gigs at their smaller local dive bars. They were able to raise some money so the group decided to go on a small tour down the California coast starting in San Francisco and ending in Night City. They hired a Solo for security, and a Nomad as a driver. The band, usually pretty democratic, noticed that Craig was pushing for a very specific tour route. This wasn’t too abnormal though as he tends to be pretty controlling.
Referee Notes
Have your players replace any of the band members that make sense for their player characters. You can expand the band and/or crew as needed. For example, fixers can be in charge of publicity and booking gigs before being pushed out by Craig, leading to some fun backstory. Try giving your players a night to remember.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, Craig has made a shady deal with Network News 42 to increase their visibility as well as a cash investment to cover the tour expenses. During their San Mateo gig, they are attacked by NN42 agents as Craig has refused to make the required payments. During the chaos, he is kidnapped. The group has to decide if they want to go after him (and recover their credchips that he was holding), or continue on to play their tour.
When the fixer gives the gang their scouting information, there are a few different ways you can set up that encounter. I would recommend having NN42 contract out their hit to a small gang of your choosing and task the gang with sneaking, intimidating, or blasting their way to the information. If you have a group with higher level characters, having them attempt to infiltrate NN42 by the same means would be a great challenge. Always remember; style over substance.
If the players decided to not rescue Craig right away, have them perform a couple gigs before they are attacked on the road - or at least before they are forced to detour to Night City. Get creative with reasons to push them to Night City - while needing repairs or parts works well story-wise, a revenge chase, arrest, or needing a drug fix are good alternatives.
The legendary rewards in this session are somewhat high level. If you use this as an intro session, the rarity of the items should help balance them as the game progresses. Remember that Rare items are illegal and/or highly coveted so a robbery or police action could be interesting twists. These weapons also provide stat bonuses. Have the players track this on their character sheet to make it easier to remember. If the players really screw up the last mission, use a random loot table to generate rewards instead of giving out high level items.
The legendary rewards in this session are somewhat high level. If you use this as an intro session, the rarity of the items should help balance them as the game progresses. Remember that Rare items are illegal and/or highly coveted so a robbery or police action could be interesting twists. These weapons also provide stat bonuses. Have the players track this on their character sheet to make it easier to remeber. If the players really screw up the last mission, use a random loot table to generate rewards instead of giving out high level items.
List of Band Members:
Name | Class + Position | Stats |
Elara Neon | Rockerboy: Guitar + Vocals | ​Charismatic Leadership +5 |
Rebel Starr | Rockerboy: Vocals + Bass | Charismatic Leadership +4 |
Alton Bionic | Rockerboy: Lead Guitar | Charismatic Leadership +6 |
Craig Johnson | Rockerboy: Lead Vocal + Manager | Charismatic Leadership +8 |
Chyna Sparks | Techie: Equipment ,Sound + Medical | Jury Rig +7 |
RenRen | Nomad: Driver + Bouncer | Family +6 |
Additional Details
The Deal: NN54 provided ANTR with 10,000EB in exchange for an exclusive streaming rights and recording contract, as well as control over where the gigs are played. As Craig didn’t give this info to the rest of the group, it caused animosity with the rest of the group as he made a lot of decisions without their approval and was very controlling.
Tour Lineup: San Fran - Daly City - San Mateo - Sunnyvale - Los Gatos - Little China, NC
Map of Cali Cities: Link
Session Key Events
Session Key Events: Help Craig
Intro + San Mateo Attack
Head to Night City
Stop at a bar in Little China
Approached by a runner who refers them to a local fixer
Meeting with fixer at arcade
Given a scouting mission to find Craig's location
Information is brought back to the fixer and rewards distributed.
Session Key Events: Continue with Tour
NPCs/Bosses
Network News 42 Thug - Variation 1
Solo
Automatic Rifle
Rifle +6
Network News 42 Thug - Variation 2
Solo
Auto-Shotgun
Rifle +6
Ky Wredex - Network News 42 Boss
Corpo
Taser
Flash Grenade
Anti-Dazzle
Pistol +8
Nomad Thugs
Solo
Rifle or Pistol +4
Tao Steadman - Nomad Boss
Nomad
Sniper Rifle
Rifle +9
Pistol +7
Little China Teenage
Solo
Combat Sense +3
Perception +7
Persuasion +5
Amari - Legendary Character
Fixer
Streetdeal +9
Oratory +5
Intimidation +7
Unique Gear/Rewards
Name | Type | Acc. | Con. | Avail. | Damage/Ammo | Shots | ROF | REL | Range |
Suds Joliet DPI Sticks (Charismatic Leadership +3, Cool +1) | MELEE | -2 | N | R | 1D6 | NA | 1 | VR | NA |
StreetTach "Joliet" Pistol (Pistol +3, Ref +2) | P | -1 | P | R | 2D6 + 3 (.45 Cal) | 8 | 1 | VR | 50m |