Emma Drake, Agent 008 in "Russian Hellfire" (pt.1 - Just the Mechanics)

Make that 008. Drake, Emma Drake

I know in the last post I mentioned there would probably be little to no mechanics, due to the extra amount of time it takes, and my fear of it breaking my momentum. Another reason is I played this adventure very fast and loose, constantly on the go, in bite size bits and pieces. As a result, I kept no notes as I went, other than tracking my "Grit" (the in-game combo of HP + Hero Points from "Magnum Fury".  I just kept in mind where I left off, and picked back up there next time. Even the Chaos Factor (from the "Mythic" GME) I kept track of in my head. So all of the session reports coming out of this adventure are being reconstructed from memory.

However, my good friend from the G+ Lone Wolf Solo Roleplaying group Lino Pang expressed an interest in them, which made me reconsider. They'll be scant, since as I say, reconstructing from memory, but here's what I can recall in case anyone else is interested.

The Mission and City was generated by the James Bond RPG supplement "For Your Information" Mission Generator.


The Target and her Motivation was from "UNE" (Pleasant Entertainer, Capture Secret Society, I believe).


I personally felt the scenario I spun from the above was a bit hackneyed, but it turned out okay. And I really felt uncomfortable about the mission. Something didn't feel right about the mission (assassination) versus who the target was. It just seemed a bit extreme. I was hoping "Mythic" threw something in that would give me a reason not to carry it out.


The guys showing up was a Mythic Scene Interrupt, NPC Negative of some sort.


The escape plan was generated by questions and the resulting answers from the "Mythic" charts. Again, it seemed a bit preposterous but, oh well. Later I thought of ways I would have refined and polished it if I hadn't been having to play under the conditions I did (like adding a police uniform and credentials), but again, it is what it is.


Which Double-Oh was killed, and Emma Drake's number itself was generated from a chart of them also in "For Your Information".


The name of the target and the name of her (insipid) pop song were both from random generators Googled up online.


When the Mooks grabbed Annuska, I considered tailing them, possibly leading to a car chase. But I REALLY wanted a big Action set piece shoot-out. Then it hit me how I could stop them so that Emma could catch up to them.


I only rolled a Partial Success on the first shot to take the lead car out. I spent a point of Grit to turn it into a Full Success. It was critical to stop them so 008 could catch up.


The time spent crouching behind the car for cover was a result of only getting a Partial Success on the attack versus the first group of Mooks. I didn't want to keep spending Grit on every Partial Success, so I took a "Miss Your Attack Action", meaning they got to shoot at me twice. The targeting of the gas tank was my use of the "Clever Girls" rule from "Magnum Fury" to gain Advantage on my dice roll. I needed to take those guys out.


I only got a Partial Success on my "Mouth" roll to persuade Annuska to come with me. I took "The Action is only Partially Successful or Less Effective Than Hoped For". She's going with me, but she doesn't trust me. This could come back to haunt me later...

The "Mythic" Chaos Factor started at 5, went to 6 when the Mooks showed up, went to 7 when I blew the gas tank, went to 8 when the cop showed up, but lowered back to 7 when we got past him, which is where it starts next session


I spent one "Grit" on the sniper shot to take out the lead car. I spent one (and Burned it) to Speak Perfect Russian (by Burning the point of "Grit" I get to speak Russian the rest of the adventure, BUT my max "Grit" is now reduced by one from 10 to 9). I may have spent a couple more in there to get full Success on some of my rolls.


In any case, I Recovered one "Grit" for "Kicking Ass" , I recovered one for acting on my "Attraction" Flaw, and one for acting on my "Duty" Drive, meaning I started next time at my (current) max of 9.


I think those are ALL the mechanics I can recall from the first session. I will try to incorporate the mechanics in my next write up. I will most likely do them as a recap after the write-up as I did here, as I REALLY don't like to break the flow of the narrative.


Hope that this has been instructional!

Emma Drake, Agent 008 in "Russian Hellfire" (pt. 1)

Meet Emma Drake, Agent 008

Last weekend I started a series on how I came to the decision to use "Magnum Fury" as my system of choice for a "James Bond"/Spy-thing. It was long, and ultimately pointless, really, and I had a change of heart about it, or at least how it was to be presented, so I nuked it.

What I really want to do is just simply recap the session. If I don't keep it short and to the point my chances of finishing it are drastically reduced, so I'm going to attempt to do so. There will probably be a minimum of mechanics, if any, and the prose will hopefully be sweet and to the point. First though, I will go ahead and quickly give you 008's stats for "Magnum Fury".

Elizabeth Debicki as 008

Name: Emma Drake (Agent 008)

Style: Smooth

Career: Spy

Drive: Duty

Flaw: Attraction

Muscle: 2

Moves: 4

Brains: 2

Wits: 3

Mouth: 3

Fists: 4

Knives: 3

Guns: 4

Tools: 2

Rides: 3

Talents: Sexy, Smoldering, Stunning

And now for, the session itself...

As Emma Drake set up the sniper rifle, she thought back to M's office. The mission was assassination. The place, Moscow. The target, Russian pop star Annuska Tarasovna, who has has a hit single across Europe "Reject Your Sugar". She and 003 met "innocently" enough in his cover identity as a music journalist and began a relationship. Now 003 is dead, killed by the KGB, lured into an ambush.

Julia Volkova as Annuska Tarasnova

MI-6 believes Tarasnova is working for the KGB and set 003 up. They want her taken out in retaliation to show the Russians that they can't act with impunity. They've received information Tarasovna is to conduct a large financial transaction at Sberbank in Moscow, no doubt her payoff for the job, at which time she will be vulnerable.

The plan is to set up a sniper position across the street, stage a "protest" in front of the bank, with police called when things get disruptive, to provide cover and a distraction. In the chaos after the escape is to occur by exiting the building and leaving in a phony police car arranged to be

parked out front.

As she finishes she sees the "protest" getting rowdy below. Through the scope, she spots the target approaching. She looks nervous and scared. Suddenly two large, dark sedans roar up to the sidewalk, forcing protesters to scatter. Three men leap out of the lead sedan and grab Annuska, throwing her in.

008 comes to a quick decision as the two cars pull away from the sidewalk. Acquiring the lead sedan as it raced down the street, Drake put a powerful .300 Winchester Magnum round from the Accuracy International AWM into its engine block. Quickly working the bolt, she compensated as the car skidded and slewed, putting two more rounds into both the front and rear tire, smoothly and methodically working back to the second car, putting the last two rounds of the AWM's 5-round magazine into is engine and front tire as well.

Without pausing to see the results of her work, 008 raced down the stairwell of the building, pulling her silenced Glock-19 from its shoulder holster on the run.

As she exited the building people were running and screaming, panicked by the gunfire and screeching automobiles. Drake sprinted down the street, dodging civilians as hardmen and their captive spilled from both vehicles. The men began grabbing weapons from under the jackets, looking about wildly in all directions, trying to find the source of the shots that had taken out both cars.

008 took cover behind a parked car on her side of the street and braced on the roof as she began rapid firing. The whispering Glock worked left to right, taking out the goons from the lead vehicle, including a spectacular headshot, over the shoulder of the captive girl, to the thug behind her who tried to use her as a shield.

As she swiveled the pistol to track on the four guys from the second car they had spotted her.

Their confusion had only been momentary before they scrambled for cover themselves behind another car that had squealed to a halt diagonally in the street during all the bedlam. Before she could lock onto the next target the four men began a hailstorm of return fire, forcing Drake to duck.

As she crouched behind the car, slugs peppered the body, broke out window glass, punched into the interior. This was no good. Two of them could keep her pinned down while the other two reloaded and advanced. She had to finish this quickly.

Popping up over hood, 008 began rapid firing the pistol, targeting the gas tank. The explosion rocked the street as the fuel tank erupted, blowing the four burning scarecrows in separate directions.

Emma trotted across the street as she dropped the clip from the Glock and rammed home a fresh one. Quickly scanning the four burning figures they were quite dead. Same for the three she had gunned down from the first car. She approached the girl, who crouched stunned and terrified in the street, knocked to ground from the force of the exploding car.

Despite the fear etched into her features she was even more beautiful in person than in the file photo Drake has studied. She was glad she hadn't killed her. Perhaps the smart thing to do, the safe thing to do would be to do so now. Complete the mission and go home. Some would even say duty demanded it. But she was a Double-Oh. With that came a certain amount of autonomy. The ability to change the mission parameters as needed if she saw fit. In her eyes, duty demanded THAT as well.

Instead of playing it safe, of taking the quick and easy way out, she was going to do her duty as she saw it and follow through to the end. That was what duty demanded.

008 held out a hand to her and said in flawless Russian. "You need to come with me. It's not safe here.". She could see the doubt in Tarasnova's eyes, but she took the offered hand as Drake helped her up.

She didn't know for sure who the bad guys were. They looked and moved like KGB. In any case the mission had changed now. Instead of eliminating Tarasnova, Drake needed to find out why she had been targeted by what had appeared to be her own people.

Okay, so I guess I couldn't keep the fiction short. But I am enjoying the writing. This seems like a good place to stop, as this was also the end of my first scene and first session, so I'll post this while I start work on the next. Until next time...

Not 007, but close...