Oil and Water (8/30/2025)

GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Alex Cook, Nessa, Bob Quintero, Tim Goehle
System: Streets of Jade

On Wednesday I asked the terrible question to Mendez “Do you have any Streets of Jade scenarios that you’ve written up? I’m heading down to Stratigcon this weekend and have almost no time to prep, so I’m hoping you might have a scenario or situation that I can borrow and run there.”

Turns out yeah, he did have something he had run before, but it wasn’t written up, so over the next two days he feverishly assembled the scenario Oil and Water (which will be available soon to playtesters as well) and Saturday morning I gave it a shot!

The pitch

Before making character I like to give players a lead in to the game. A little taste of how the game will start so they can pick characters that excite them, give what’s going down.

I gave the pitch for the game, something along the lines of “Streets of Jade is a game about martial and political battles between gangster clans wielding supernatural powers powered by magical jade. It’s a game of privilege and power disparity where your loyalty to your clan will be tested against your own ambition and desire.

I gave a brief history of Kekon and the occupation (as it would be relevant to the adventure) and then read from the text Mendez wrote:

It’s a winter night on the Janloon docks, the first without rain in a week. Fog rolls in off the ocean, over the wharf and between the warehouses. It’s as chilly as it ever gets here, 57 Fahrenheit, and the dockworkers and sailors who pass by wrap raincoats and slickers around them and pull hats down over their faces. You’re here following a tip from your faction’s informants about a shady deal that’s about to go down right here on the wharf. A massive car carrier ship, over a hundred meters long, has docked beside the quay and lowered a ramp. The crew are busy moving several automobiles from the hold onto the quay; waiting onthe other side are a motley assortment of individuals.

You’re here because your factions got a tipoff that a shady deal’s about to go down right here on the quay. Word has spread through the criminal underworld that anyone who wants to acquire some high-quality jade without having to g o through the Green Bone clans should show up right here with a lot of cash. They should have known they couldn’t keep a secret like that from the most powerful organizations on Kekon.

Picking Characters

We then passed the characters around the table and read their high concepts and description. After some back and forth we got these troublemakers:

Nessa played Kasun, the Chrome Dragon mechanic who was ready to get what was hers. She’d quietly been turning members of the crew against their leader Okan and was making her plans to break away. She learned that a deal was going down on the docks in No Peak territory involving jade being transported in cars and convinced Okan to bring her along as a second in command. She was right in the mix.

Alex played Gagesh, the Tuni rockfish snitch who tipped off clans off illegal jade trade for a fee. He had informed the Jo Sun Clan what he learned and they reached out to No Peak to get authorization for him to be there, and bring friends along…even if they were Mountain allied! Kasun was his inside operator but he needed backup…someone green.

Bob played Asim, the former coast guard commander, now member of Six Hands Unity. Despite Six Hands affiliation with the Mountain clan, Gagesh knew he had the familiarity around ships, dock connections, stealth, and jade needed to pull this sting off. He awaited the action from a tug boat parked just opposite the carrier ship.

Tim played Ochongo, the counterintelligence operative who worked for Haedo Shield to track down and stop exactly this kind of operation. Though he was there officially, his true motivation was to see if these jade smugglers knew anything about the human traffickers that abducted his sister years ago.

The play is the thing

Perched in various spots to observe the deal (except Kasun) was was right in the middle of it, the characters split their attention between getting the cars that had already rolled off the carrier and commandeering the ship.

Captain Yomenzo, the seller, was dressed the part of the modern pirate with a big scarf, large earrings, and a floppy hat. He descended the gang plan to make the deal with the prospective buyers, pitting them all against each other!

Gagesh, who was in the guard tower (he paid off a few night guards to let him take their shift) signaled an alarm to get everyone’s distracted while Kasun convinced her “boss” Okan to outbid the Ygutanian Directorate who was flashing stacks of cash. Since they knew it was counterfeit anyway, who cared how much the spent, plus, these cars had value themselves! Kasun’s ploy worked and as an added distraction the threw stacks of cash in the air! Kasun, four Dragons who were loyal to her, and (unfortunately) Okan got in the six cars and drove off. Ostensibly to meet back up at the shop, but five of the cars never made it.

The alarm cause the Yomenzo and the rest of his crew to pull up anchor and flee. Asim was going to sneak onto the boat but a chain that one of the jaded pirates ripped from the dock cleat struck him in the head and sent him into the water below. Ochongo leapt with lightness onto the boat and though he evaded the pirates but one came up behind him and put him in a full nelson and then slammed him using strength into the steel bulkhead. He dropped to the ground with a thud and the stolen ship Mesumian pulled away form Janloon into the night.

Regrouping

Kasun and her crew tried to pull all the jade out of the cars but found it was too much. They all had the itches from handling so much of it and were passed out in a sweat heap when Asim and Gagesh arrived. Once roused they made a plan to find Ochongo and the rest of the jade. Asim knew Yomenzo and he had contacts that could track him down. Also, this wasn’t just any jade, it was jade set in heirloom antiques and personal effects of a time before the Shotar invasion. It would take some time, but with their collective contacts they’d eventually find that Yomenzo was based out of Port Pula.

Meanwhile, Ochongo woke in a dark hull with a raging headache. Was it the concussive blow to the bulkhead, was it the hot and cramped quarters, or was it the immense quantity still on the ship overwhelming his perception. Yes, yes, and yes. He smelled something terrible (eventually found to be the bodies of the Espenian sailors who were killed on this ship when Yomenso commandeered it). In the dim red light he also made out several hunched over figures, Abukei workers who were forced to move the jade for Yomenzo and his crew. They were all locked in a hot metal box beside the engine room sweating and suffering. Ochongo talked to the conscripted workers and asked for their help to break free. They said the would aid him once there was an opportunity but right now, on the boat, against jaded and armed guards, any attempt to fight was suicide.

The final showdown

In Port Pula, Gagesh brough backup from the Jo Sun Clan to tackle what turned out to be an oil rig where the jade was being moved from. They had learned about the famous siblings who crashed their planes into the rig to kill the Shotarian General Damusaro and spotted that one of the planes was still there (unexploded to this day). Further scouting revealed the very bored Shotarian crown princess Ulaia and Inquisitor Meruya who was keeping her there with his devout Revanchists followers.

In a bold move calling in nearly all of their clans the heroes took the ship, freed Ochongo and captured the rig. Kasun lent support by sneaking onto the rig and blowing up the unexploded plane (more distractions) and Gagesh offered Jo Sun Clan’s knowledge of the wilderness to attack from rebeathers underwater. Ochongo broke free and Asim captured Yomenzo. “Now, let’s find out what you know about my friends missing sister!”

Thoughts on the game

While I love each of the players having access to faction resources, and being pulled by different obligations, I felt a little overwhelmed by the lore and spent a lot of time looking up the goals of the clans and their affiliations. I think we’ll need to develop a one page faction sheet that includes a tiny blurb about the faction alongside their command abilities, assets, and goals. I’m pretty sure this can be tackled as a layout issue.

I didn’t remember how to apply apply stress to factions, downgrade assets, or grant them glory so they stayed static during the game. For a one shot I think that’s okay, but I want to brush up on it for next time. We’ve got a lot of boxes.

Giving the GM the same kind of dice pools a the players creates a dangerous possibility, which is creating an obstacle that unjaded characters can’t meet and even jaded ones have real trouble with. On the contest to take the ship I rolled a 17. Nobody even got close to it. On the final contest to free Ochongo I rolled a 15, which meant the non jaded characters nearly couldn’t succeed (they could marshal 2d8 by taking stress but that was less than 5% chance so it was like counting on a natural 20 to succeed). They instead supported the jaded characters, which was the smart move, but I could feel Kasun coveting that jade the captured! I want to test this more in playtesting. It doesn’t help that when I’m the GM I always roll like a monster!

Separating pathos/wounds from advancement made it feel like an expendable resource like hit points, stress, etc. We got a lot of itches and I wish I remembered to have folks test Resolve and Spirit to see if it affected them. I’m excited to test that again now that I looked up the rules for it again!

At the start of the game Alex said “I’m going to add Jade City to my reading list.” Later in the game he said “I’m buying the book right now. I love this setting!” WINNING!