We begin just before Christmas 2000.
The party consists of 4 players, weirdly divergent in role-playing experience. 2 guys, 2 girls and me. Both the guys, Mat and Paul, are experienced role-players but only Paul has played TMNT before (and I allowed him to reintroduce his old character). One of the girls played in a RoleMaster game once, Jane, and the other, Jo, hasn't ever role-played.

THE CHARACTERS
Paul, being the most experienced, gets to keep Liam the Lamb. A level 3 ninja sheep. He also comes into the game with some previously played back ground, a Ninja Master (Cicero the chicken) and a connection with the New York A.L.F. His favourite weapons are the paired wakazashi and his Ingram SMG. He has a high PE of 27 but a ridiculous ME of 5.

Matt plumps for a tried and tested formula by taking on Patch, a wolverine with only partial speech. He has good PS, PP and PE giving some great bonuses in combat. His mutation is due to an accidental encounter with 'strange stuff', and consequently he has a limited wild education from living on the fringes of society.

Jane plays Avril, a chameleon. With a high PS and Spd, a prehensile tail and the ability to camouflage, she makes an excellent scout. Avril was the deliberate experiment of a Xenoco researcher, but raised as a pet. So once again, a limited wild animal education, but this time a fugitive as well. She uses a bow and revolver, as befits her sneaky nature.

Jo, my least experienced player and the reason for playing the game in the first place, comes up with Felicity the Fox. With a good ME PE and Spd she becomes highly trained as a specialist in terrorism. Hunted by Biox and the law, Felicity is my starting point in the game.

IN THE BEGINING
Felicity breaks out of the Biox facility and steals a Cherokee jeep (filled with some VERY suspicious equipment) to make a speedy getaway. Avoiding capture by driving into a derelict building site, she stumbles upon Patch and Avril scratching a quiet life from the 'fringes of society'. A paranoid moment passes as they make introductions and decide to team up against the human tyrany. I generally run my Turtles games with the majority of humans as the 'bad guys'.
They eventually find a safe place to stop and catch their breath, after a run in with a small branch of the AKA, when Liam makes himself known. An intoduction to DigDog, a brief walk through the sewers and a meeting with the A.L.F. follows. Felicity arranges with Dilbert the Dangerous Duck to go and get her Cherokee Jeep. On the way back they pick up 9 baboons and run the Brooklyn Bridge, the jeep is shot up a bit but they all get back safely.

At last... I have them where I want them...

FURTHER THE CAUSE
More introductions are made, to an amicable Catskill, an intimidating moment with BlueBack, and the inevitable first meeting with Dr. Maurice the Mole (who will see them all in the coming weeks). Catskill takes them under his 'wing',decides they could be useful to the A.L.F cause and sends them out on some training exercises. Felicity gets her new Cherokee jeep resprayed and license plates changed by the A.L.F. chop shop. Because they have to do it out of the kindness of their hearts, they paint it fuschia pink (Felicity is disgusted and dosn't use it for a month!).

JETTY PROBLEMS
The party realise how effective both the SMG and the Climb skill can be when they try to steal the Military boat. They use a river over flow outlet to sneak up on the docks, splitting up they swim out to a nearby jetty and the boat. Avril falls in to the river while trying to jump into the boat and their cover is blown. Felicity takes control of the boat with Avril and Patch, as Liam opens up from an adjacent dock with his Ingram, carving the soldiers into mince meat. Being the only one with a SMG, Liam attracts the most retaliation fire getting seriously wounded. They eventually return to the HQ succesful, and Liam is rushed off to Dr Maurice.

They spend a few days recuperating, watching TV, licking meat and generally loafing about, when Catskill approaches them with the vehicle problem.

PEDAL TO THE METAL
The animal exodus is working but they need more large capacity vehicles, could they go and 'find' some. Realising that New York is going to be well guarded by the Military and not wanting to face that at the moment, they decide to steal some random vans and a greyhound coach from Queens, where security is lighter. A couple of white vans and a pizza delivery truck later they feel confidant enough to plan a job on the greyhound depot.

Everything goes ok until they have to shoot a security guard because he noticed the compound security cameras had mysteriously stopped working. This alerts the other security guard and he calls the police. A hurried search of the offices turns up thirty keys for the coaches in the compound, they take all of the keys but only one coach, Felicity is the only one of them who can drive. As Avril and Liam join Felicity in the coach Patch keeps look out from a nearby rooftop, joining them later. Avril is bounced around the inside of the coach as Felicity almost trashes it in a shop front while being chased by the cops. Liam and Patch are dropped of at high speed to deal with the troublesome police car they can't get away from, as it comes round a corner they open up with shotgun and SMG, causing a major disaster to the cops. They limp back to the HQ, Avril is rushed off to see Dr Maurice.

PARTY IN THE PARK
Catskill tells the group about the AKA meeting in central park and would they like to contribute to the A.L.F's planned pandemonium, they say they would. A couple of nights before the rally they steal a car (!) and troup off to Central park, being careful not to be seen. They scout the area out, noticing the military guard post down the road, a deserted appartment block over looking the rally site, and that there is an underground tunnel system attached to the lake. They decide to wire the tunnel system up with loads of explosives and detonate it via radio from the appartment block. They get side tracked when a group of AKA members walk past. After a short chase throught the back streets, some auto weapons fire, grenades, explosives etc etc they get back to HQ and assemble their equipment, going back to the park the following night to set it all up. They avoid a militray patrol and set up the explosives, while patch keeps a look out.

The day of the rally and everything goes according to plan for once. They spend a few listless hours watching the rally gather sympathisers, until there are around 2000 people watching the 'festivities' on stage, and listening to the anti-mutant speeches. Catskill, Blueback and a rhino, dressed in costumes of old presidents with comically large heads, mingle in the crowds and await their time. Which occurs when Jonathan Storm, leader of the NY AKA faction, takes to the stage. Catskill and co jump up on stage and reveal themselves, declareing "Down with Humanist Repression, Long live the Mutant Revolution", and opening up with indescriminate LMG fire, as they make their hasty retreat the party detonate their explosives, causing more panic and death and bloodshed. They exit the building by the back way and drive at a sedate pace back to HQ.

This seems like clinical terrorism at its worst. I am trying to emphasise that the A.L.F are a terrorist organisation and in this setting, at least, are also very dangerous. I also handed out lots of experience for this escapade, as if they were getting experience for killing or subduing 2000 minor menaces.

LETS GO SHOPPING
After the Party in The Park the A.L.F decide to lay low for a while. A news black out concerning the rally is enforced and President Walkens statement is redoubled on the airwaves. The party become restless, and ease the tension by going shopping, included on the shopping list is a new gun for Patch and a top range PC for Felicity.

Liam has dreams of a radioactive wasteland... He decides he needs to prepare...

STOP GAP
I'm six sessions into the game now and finally, my new rule book turns up. Going from 2nd printing original TMNT to 14th printing of the revised edition is interesting.
Everyone in the group looses some of their combat bonuses. Rules are clarified, like the 'only one hand to hand combat skill', which was never clear in the original version.
I appreciate the new weapon proficiency bonuses and skills but there is no longer a shuriken WP!
We decide to modify the 'no skill above 98%' rule. We allow skills above 98% but 98-00 is always a failure and include negative modifiers for difficult acts.

BIOX OR BY CROOK
One of the things coming out of Felicity buying a computer is the fact that the group now have access to much more information than they did before, most of it worthless. They visit a number of websites the ALF ones around the world and compare them to their situation in America, the AKA site, President Walkens propaganda site, and BIOX...

Felicity has a grudge against Biox. Seeing as the A.L.F don't want anything done for the moment the party have to keep themselves busy and a raid on Biox to release the other poor incarcerated animals seems like a good idea, better than a raid on the Military base anyway. With that thought they begin preparations.

They scout out the area efficiently, checking adjacent buildings, finding good hiding places, security lighting and guard rotations. The party come up with a cunning plan and put it into operation a couple of nights later. A motorcycle, car and a van are stolen (!) from the Northern part of NY, Queens is no longer considered an easy alternative for vehicle theft, and borrow an A.L.F driver, Cheeky the chimp for the van, they all drive out to the Biox neighbourhood. Avril successfully and quietly gets inside the compound and into position, hanging below he outside window of one of the guard posts. Liam and Avril are in position outside the front of the building waiting for the guard change. The guards are dealt with primarily using knock out gas, but Liam is forced to do his leaping paired wakazashi attack when the alarm goes off.

The group all come close to being knocked out themselves due to the stun guns that the Biox guards use, but, because of the careful planning, they have adrenaline injections to offset most of the debilatating effects. All the animals are released, by a strange quirk of fate the first cell that Felicity opens contains a much maligned fox, and are loaded into the van driven by Cheeky the chimp. The group beat a hasty retreat before the cops even show up on the scene. The released animals disapear into the Animal Exodus program, and a single scientist that Liam decided to kidnap is handed over to Catskill. Everyone is appauled to find out how singlemindedly experimental Biox has been, and learn of President Walkens involvement.

They all have a well earned rest, and nobody needs the good doctor this time...

CRACKER JACKPOT
Liam is worried about the future and has a suspicion that it will all end in flames. He has decided to assemble a nuclear survival kit and wants to spend in the region of $10-$20,000. He has precisely $98 at the moment. He has already dabbled in small time crime, suchas mugging people at cashpoint machines, and an armed raid on a pizza delivery firm but the dividends are not high enough. He discusses his predicament with the rest of the group and putting aside a bank raid or a post office bust they come up with the brilliant idea of hitting a crack house!

Because Liam has a good street drugs knowledge and knows NY well, they isolate a busy crack house and decide to hit it during the early evening. They approach the building across the rooftops of a nearby block of appartments. There is a brief moment of hesitation as most of the party worry about falling of the building, it is a very long way down. They leave Patch on the roof with his new crossbow keeping watch as Liam, Felicity and Avril negotiate the staircase. Before they get to the appropriate level Patch spots a large black sedan pull up outside and two Mafia-like men, one carrying a briefcase, enter the building.

They begin a simultaneous attack Patch shooting at the drug guards outside and on the fire escape, the rest begin an assault on the crack house appartment. The regular guards are dispatched fairly easily but the mafiosi have hard armour and automatic weapons, Avril goes down in a hail of bullets. Felicity uses grenades too short a range, and it's left to Liam to use his full-clip-trick and 'bring the situation back under control'. Once the cordite has cleared, Felicity begins first aiding Avril as Liam raids the appartment. About $10,000 is picked up in small change, the drugs are set alight, the mafiosi are stripped of their heavy gear, SMG armour etc. and the suitcase is picked up. The group beat a hasty retreat.

Once back at the HQ every one pays a visit to Dr Maurice. The suitcase is dealt with when they are all conscious, it contains a plasma pistol $200,000 and a quantity of clear saches of a blue gel. Liam takes the lions share of the cash, Patch swipes the plasma pistol and Felicity sets up a lab to begin to find out what the blue gel is.

A.K.A. SLAPDOWN
The whole group goes on a mass spending spree. A 72" plasma screen TV, plastic explosives, new armour and weapons are all on the shopping list, as well as lots of other stuff!

Flush with their successes over the previous weeks they decide it's time they took on the AKA Headquarters. Everything goes alright to begin with, they knock out the local power grid with some stealth and explosives. The idea is to use a new purchase, night sight goggles, to attack the AKA HQ in darkness. With a minimal amount of survailance they get on to the rooftops again and break in through the roof entrance, leaving Patch to shoot at the few AKA members on the street. Liam, Felicity and Avril execute a pincer movement on the main bunk room cutting 8 out of 10 AKA in short order, but not before they manage to fire back. The resultant weapons fire alerts the rest of the building to the conflict and things rapidly start to go wrong.

The combat started with the party having the weapons advantage but as more of the AKA come up stairs more SMG's and eventually a LMG all come into play. Avril goes down in a hail of bullets, Liam gets cut down after doing some serious damage with his wakazashi's. Felicity grabs Avril and jumps from the third floor window in a desperate attemp to escape, as Patch enters the scene and makes a grab for Liam. Patch jumps off the roof with Liam in his arms to make his escape. Felicity and Patch with their inert companions run for the nearest sewer entrance barely getting down the drains in time. Once in the sewers they can make a controlled escape, the AKA don't go in the sewers much.

Eventually arriving back at the ALF HQ, where Dr Maurice performs some deft surgical procedures and brings Avril and Liam (after a 4 hour operation) back from the brink of death. Avril suffers from minor brain damage.

THE EGG!
The party spend a couple of weeks recovering, then decide to visit the abandoned zoo in central park, leaving Patch to play around in the sewers. The zoo turns out to be uninteresting, apart from the depressing thoughts that animals used to be incarcerated in the cages.

Patch, meanwhile, has caught the scent of Blue Back stalking the sewers. When they all eventually meet up again they decide to follow the scent and find out what Blue Back is up too. The scent leads them to an alley way oppposite the Feet of Liberty. Blue Back, hiding in the shadows waiting for an opportune time to make the dash across 200 meters of killing ground. When the party arrive things change, Avril is given the job of breaking into the old ALF base and securing the Phoenix Device, Patch climbs to the rooftop, where Blue Back has spotted some guards, Felicity and Liam set themselves up to provide covering fire, should it be needed... they do. Avril makes it 150 meters before failing a prowl and attracting the guards attention, she immediately freezes and uses her chameleon powers to remain hidden, even in the exposed location. However the guards are suspicious and flip through the thermographic, ultraviolet abilities of their goggles. All hell breaks loose as Liam, Felicity and Patch open up with SMG and rifle. The guards fire Plasma rifles as Avril sprints for the entrance to the Feet of Liberty.

To cut a long combat short... Patch manages to push a couple of guards of the roof, and later robs their bodies. Avril gets the egg and makes her exit through the river tunnel. Felicity goes unconcious. Liam goes unconcious after taking some of the recently acquired combat drug. Blue Back carries the ko'd people back to the Warehouse. The doctor is called once again for Liam.

They have the egg! and begin to understand what Blue Back intends for the city of New York.

A FRIEND INDEED
A week passes, giving everyone a chance to get some healing, when Crowley turns up trying to find out what Blue Back was doing at the Liberty base. Felicity, in her anaesthetised state, accuses Crowley of being President Walken! Alas, she dosn't do it until after Crowley has left the premises.

Four days later a group of Military soldiers absail through the sky lights in the warehouse and cause general mayhem among the few remaining animals still present. They are trying to find out what Blue Backs plan is, so foolishly use only tranquiliser guns. They are carved up. Blue Back and Catskill decide it would be a good idea to move their base of operations to the safe house in Brooklyn.

REACT TO THE REACTOR
Time skips forward a few more days, giving everyone the chance to finish healing. Then the planning begins. Patch scouts out the perimeter of the Manhattan Power Plant, even going as far as to measure how long and how frequently the guards patrol the grounds. They pinpoint a good dark area of the compound to scale the wall and take out the guards with no problems.

Felicity, Avril and Liam attempt to hack the electronic door lock on the side entrance of the building, failing, setting off the alarms. Drat! They know that time is of the essence now and break through two more doors before the robotic security is activated in earnest. Nobody likes the scuttling robotic security and they lock themselves in the room outside the main reactor. Liam and Avril suit up and go in. Liam has to scare a scientist away from his post as Avril places the egg in the main reactor on the rods. By the time they are finished a whole host of weird insect like robots have accumulated outside their room. Everyone loads up and then they fling the door open and open fire on the robots.

They clear a path through the debris and decide it would be a good idea to vacate the premises, now that they are all low on ammo. They run in to the car park and spot a single parked vehicle, deciding that four wheel drive is better than walking, Avril hotwires it as Felicity and Blue Back (carrying Liam) jump in. Patch opens the gate and can see the flashing lights of the nuclear support team coming down the road. He jumps in as Avril slowly cruises past. Once on the main roaad Avril stamps on the accelerator, and the jeep lurches in to motion...

TEMPORAL TANGENT !
Its not my fault, Jane specifically said that she was going to do 60mph, and I had decided a long time ago that the time machine would become active at 50mph!

Unfortunately the only one to remain concious as the jeep lurched back in time was Blue Back, so noone gets the description of time running increasingly faster backwards. Oh well, I can't have it all my own way.

Needless to say this is the end of the first section, Temporal Tangent is going to be the beginning of the next section.