Okay, so updated when you least expect it, right? Been over a year, so it seems like a perfect time to post something!
I’ve really gotten into solo-RPGing (as in tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons), which kind of sounds like a loserly thing to do, but honestly it’s fun and it’s really no more loserly than reading a book or playing a video game by yourself. I usually just sort of make a character for whatever system I feel like playing with at the time in a notepad text on my phone and use random generators (especially the Adventuresmith app) and sort of make a half-assed scenario to frame some dice rolling and play out battles. I don’t really keep any record of anything while I do this aside from little things in the text file. It’s for fun, it’s for me. However I’ve gotten a lot of enjoyment out of reading others’ logs and “actual plays” on the Lone Wolf G+ Community and figured maybe I’ll share some of my own. I really like it when people include visuals and details into the process, so I’m including map screenshots and character sheets with my play notes. Hopefully there are others like me who get a kick out of all that. Oh, and a note on my notes: They’re half-narrative, half-shorthand. Throughout the game I got into moods where I wanted to be more detailed and others where I didn’t. I honestly didn’t care to do a whole lot of editing either, so I didn’t, lol. Just keep that in mind, these are very much notes and is not meant to be fancy prose. So, this will be the first in a little mini-series (probably only two or three posts) of my recent solo play of a Dungeon Crawl Classics funnel. I thought it might be fun to include the map and my character’s movements across the dungeon, so hopefully the added visuals help communicate the story/events to everyone. I guess I’ll get into this, right?
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Whoa, time got away from me there. However, we did get around to that second session, and a third! Here’s the recap of session two of our most recent Doctor Who game.
Episode 2: Construction of the Satellite Cast of Characters: The Dude, amnesiac savant, played by D. Doc Mox, biology-specialized scientist, played by G. Professor Joe Frazier, adventuring archaeologist, played by me. Fattius, a near-human, shapeshifting alien, played by M. The Doctor, everyone’s favorite Time Lord, played by K. *theme music* “What do you mean, imploded? Like the moon just crumpled in on itself and turned to dust?” “No, it’s not a true implosion, it’s more like… What’s the word for when a raw egg’s shell breaks apart and sinks into the gooey bits?” “Uh, a mess?” “No, no, that’s not the word, but yes, yes it is essentially a mess.” After the events on Emicar IV, the Doctor and companions decide to let the fate of the Dude be a mystery. Although the Doctor did perform a scan of the ships surrounding the imploding moon and had a rather knowing look as the group debated their actions. They decided on going after the source of the problem: the Lugs Corporation. After a bit of research, the Doctor feels like he knows where to go, and sets the Tardis on a course. The Tardis lands on level 39 of an under-construction space station in orbit above Earth. Scans reveal a striking similarity to Satellite 5, which, since they were in the era of the Third and Great Bountiful Human Empire, shouldn’t really be active for quite some time. There is outdated technology present, far behind what should be available in the current age. With something of a shrug, the group steps out. Fattius is instantly uncomfortable on the well-populated satellite. This is his home era, and his people are on the lookout for him. He doesn’t say anything to the group, but becomes somewhat paranoid and constantly eyes the people around him. Fattius notices that the security around here is obviously subcontracted out to a mercenary company. This, he points out. As he does so, Doc Mox’s smartphone begins jingling from his lab coat. He pulls it out, and receives an update and news bulletin, giving the group confirmation that this is essentially the headquarters for the Lugs Corporation, and also a breakdown of what’s on each level of the station. The lower levels (25 downwards) are recovering from a recent Sycorax attack, Dalek ships have been spotted in the area, there are some levels for temporary refugee housing (starting on level 98), the communications array sits on levels 120-124, with the security team HQ on level 125. Oh, and there’s a food festival going on level 58! Sounds fantastic! They mill around level 39 and the group notices some down-trodden workers about. Professor Frazier approaches one, a woman who identifies herself as Nancy. He engages her about the injustices committed against her and others by the Lugs Corp, but she seems to accept her lot in life. The professor extends an invite to the Food Festival, but is turned down with an odd look. Fattius decides to shapeshift into the form of one of the mercenary guards, and sneaks up on the guard and chokes him out and steals the merc’s stun gun. Frazier notices and hurries on to join the Doctor & Mox, who are making their way to the elevator. Fattius manages to catch up as well, but Joe pretends to not be associated with the shapeshifted alien. * * * Meanwhile, the Dude, having teleported away last episode, wakes up and finds himself strapped to a table. There are intravenous needles and tubes stuck in him. The teleports on Emicar IV were not from benevolent saviors, but Saturnynians, and he is being prepped for transformation into one of them! Thinking on his feet, the Dude manages to pull some paper clips and rubber bands from his clothes and clamps the IV tubes shut, stopping the process. Not feeling well, he still wriggles out of the bonds, only to be confronted with a Saturnynian nurse or guard, it’s hard to tell which. Dude puts up a fair charade of being partly through the process, but it is only a matter of time before talking is not enough. Despite some rather impressive stunts using paper clips and rubber bands, he is eventually beaten down, as more of the vampiric fish aliens enter the room and assault him. As his last breath escapes his lips, a terrific memory fills his mind… * * * Back at the Satellite 5 construction site, the Doctor and companions partake of the food festival. While the Doctor and Fattius each find something tasty, Professor Frazier barely keeps his sample down and Doc Mox can’t even swallow any future alien food. The group doesn’t dally long, though, and after some research on Mox’s smartphone, they discover the executive branch resides on level 174. Wanting to confront the CEO of Lugs, they head on up in the elevator. They are somewhat waylaid by security and secretaries, even with the use of psychic paper, but eventually they get to the closed door of the executive office. Fed up with being delayed, the Doctor and Frazier storm in Mox and Fattius in tow. Within, the CEO can’t be more apathetic. Professor Frazier lays into him, expressing sheer outrage at the crimes committed by Lugs. The executive all but laughs at the group, and goes on about the amazing communications array on the satellite, enabling them to control what comes in and out, media-wise. He says that it doesn’t matter about the wasted planets, they supply refugee housing and all that. Fattius, Doc Mox, and Professor Frazier all exchange looks. “Hey, Fatt, stun this motherfucker and let’s go to communications,” Frazier says. “I’m calling security!” the CEO cries as he slams a panic button. Before anything else can happen, the Doctor sweeps out his arms and guides the group towards the elevator. Inside, Mox asks, “Where are we going?” The Doctor turns toward him, straightens his coat, and says, “Communications, of course.” Fattius nods, and shapeshifts into a spitting image of the CEO. “Nice,” remarks Doc Mox. Between Fattius’s looking identical to the CEO and a couple wallets of psychic paper, the party manages to get to level 120 without incident, and is even given unfettered access to the communications array. Quickly the Doctor, Fattius, and Mox begin running diagnostics and searches, looking for planets that, statistically speaking, are close to “implosion.” Just as quickly they send “official” orders that all mining on all planets is to be stopped, and the “near-death” planets are to begin evacuations. Unfortunately, the group then realizes that these commands need to be manually processed through the entire array. There are four other consoles they must access on floors 121-124 above them. Security is looking for them, and time is of the essence. Keeping their wits about them, they formulate a plan. The Doctor will go to 124, Mox to 123, Fattius to 122, and, since Professor Frazier has little to no knowledge of this level of tech, whoever finishes first will handle 121. The plan is to not only relay the messages, but to also disable the array so that no contrary orders will be sent soon and set the Lugs Corporation back a few steps in their agenda. The timing has to be perfect. With Joe Frazier staying at level 120, milling about and pretending to be busy, the techies of the party head up the elevators to their respective floors. In a cinematic montage, they each send their messages and disable their respective consoles, with Fattius bringing up the rear and handling level 121. After a few moments, Frazier begins pacing nervously, deciding that he will use his “squareness gun” to delete his console out of existence, but only until he sees at least two of his party come from the elevator. Doc Mox and the Doctor are first, gesturing to Professor Frazier to “do it now, come on, now.” With a quick look around, Joe fires the blaster, leaving a clean, square section of empty space and smoking wires where the console once was. Rapidly they enter the elevator to find Fattius waiting. Back down they head to their Tardis on level 39 to make their escape. The lift dings as they arrive, and upon exiting the elevator, an alert rings out over the intercom, and the elevator deadlocks shut behind the group. Unconcerned, they rush to the corner where the Doctor parked the Tardis. It is gone! While Professor Frazier blows some holes in, and Fattius disables the wi-fi of, some Smilers, the Doctor performs a scan with the sonic. The Tardis is nowhere on Satellite 5. He manages to hone in and put a lock on his box, stranding it between Satellite 5 and its new location, which the Doctor determines to be roughly early 20th century Earth… * * * The Dude, lying on the floor, feeling his blood pool around him, begins to feel something else. Something he had forgotten. Something he has not felt in a long time: he remembers his life, and who he is. Left alone in the bunk next to the bed, golden energy begins to swirl around his body. A bloody grin crosses his scruffy face before it contorts into a scream as the energy envelopes his entire body. As his long hair burns and his skin changes, Dude focuses and is able to send this energy throughout the Saturnynian ship, miraculously, and horribly, forcing every other living being into cardiac arrest. As the energy dims and clears, the Dude’s form becomes visible again. No longer is he a long-haired, disheveled man of middle age, but an older, more attractive, and ginger-haired man. He stands up, dusts himself off, and walks over to the nearest terminal. All the memories flooding his mind are almost too much, but he focuses enough to operate the computer. The Saturnynian ship has docked with an orbital space station, currently under construction. Casually and confidently Dude strides through the now-ghost ship, stepping over dead and dying Saturnynians. He exits the air lock, onto the station where his ship has docked. He breathes deep, closing his eyes, as if sensing his surroundings. His renewed senses direct him to level 39. There is a blue box in the corner. Dude walks over to it, runs his hands over the doors. He pushes, trying to open them. They don’t budge. Using his regained memories, he pulls out his remaining paper clip and manages to jimmy the Tardis lock, and enters. Remembering how confounding the console was to him, before, Dude smiles. Not anymore. He is a Time Lord, awakened, aware, and capable. He manages to set a course and takes off… *cue sting and outro music* Well, unfortunately my “season premier” (from last year, wow!) did not produce any further “episodes,” but we have not been without game nights! I’ve been so busy that I didn’t bother to type up any recaps, but since things have slowed down, I have decided to get back at it.
For this most recent game, my wife, V, ran Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space, a favorite in our house. Episode 1: Race to the Beginning Cast of Characters: The Dude, amnesiac savant, once again played by D. Doc Mox, biology-specialized scientist, played by G. Professor Joe Frazier, adventuring archaeologist, played by me. Fattius, a near-human, shapeshifting alien, played by new player, M. *cue theme music* Opening scene is the Tardis landing in a cave. With little hesitation, the companions all step out as the Doctor is fiddling with the console. The instant the last of them exit, the Tardis’s alarms ring out & it begins to de-materialize, with the Doctor shouting through the doors: “It’s the defense system, it’s heading towards the surface! I’ll try to reset it but make your way there!” As the whooshing of the Tardis fades, the companions try to take in their surroundings, but the walls & floor of the cave begin to shake. Rocks rain down from above. A particularly big one landing on Joe’s leg, nearly breaking it! I had to spend a Story Point to prevent it! Bad rolls right off the bat! Shortly after all this, a tell-tale ding from an intercom system & a female voice announces something to the effect of: “Attention inhabitants of Emicar IV: All mine tunnels have collapsed. Moon destruction in 2 hours, 45 minutes. Final evacuation shuttles lift off in 2 hours, 30 minutes. Thank you from the Lugs Corporation.” Uh oh. After that, things became a little frantic. An underground (& essentially abandoned) city was found. A remaining native Emicaran (who were a near-human species) was quickly packing up the last of his belongings. From him, they learned a little, but only a little. Another quake ruptured a gas line, poisoning most of the party. After the vapors cleared, the native was nowhere to be found. Quickly the companions found their way to an elevator. Fattius, being the only one of the companions familiar with this level of technology, had to use his Engineers’ Mate to access & operate the elevator. Despite this, they only made it up one floor. Outside the elevator was a control room full of computer consoles. The intercom dinged, counting down the time & noting that life support systems in the lower levels were failing. Fattius was able to pull up a map of the complex & stabilize the life support systems, but for how long no one could be sure. The party was on level 5, & they knew where the stairs were to get up & out. As they struggled against the shaking walls, floor, falling rocks, & poison gas in their system, the party eventually made their way up. Save Dude, who had decided that infiltrating the air vents was a wiser choice. As the rest of the party struggled with broken elevators & quakes, Dude made his way up crumbling air vents. The intercom dinged again, less than an hour left and now Saturnynians were abducting fleeing natives as they tried to reach the evacuation shuttles! “Please do not resist the Saturnynians. Thank you from the Lugs Corporation.” After some miracles (& a lot of Story Points!) the group made their way to the ground floor. The surface, sky, & presumably, escape, waited outside. It was chaos. Families with nothing running towards shuttles, workers competing for space, and horrible Saturnynians kidnapping others. Some people were being teleported away as well. The party spotted the Tardis in the distance in the chaos. All made for it, save Professor Joe Frazier & Dude. Joe was conflicted (due to his Code of Conduct bad trait) about just leaving the women & children to fend for themselves in the chaos. Dude was more self-involved, and was able to time a teleport just right and shoved a young woman out of the way while he was beamed away. Joe ended his short reverie and ran for the Tardis, firing off a shot and distracting some Saturnynians so that some people could escape. The party got in the Tardis, Joe pleaded with the Doctor to help the people. The Doctor sadly and regretfully said that there was nothing they could do, the planet was about to completely implode in minutes. They were already dead. As the whooshing of the Tardis began, the group realized Dude was missing. Joe explained what happened, and the group stood silently. They wondered where that teleporter had taken Dude, and if they should even bother trying to find out. *cue sting & theme music* Overall a fun game. A second session is planned, will post a recap when/if it happens! =D
*cue sting & outro music*
lol, Joe's player just happened to blurt out, "Now he looks like Patrick Swayze!" & it instantly became canon. RIP, Mr Swayze, absolutely no disrespect. Hey hey! Been busy. Was playing around w/Publisher today, made some stuff. Specifically, character sheets for playing Futurama using the Vortex system! For those unfamiliar, Vortex is the system used by Doctor Who: Adventures In Time And Space, Rocket Age, Primeval, & I think maybe one or two more games. Anyway, my wife & I decided that it would be the perfect way to play a Futurama RPG! Below is a PDF of the character sheet. There's also a zip file containing it & 5 others, each w/a different caption, a la the show's opening sequence. Enjoy!
So, last night I had a couple friends over. One of which, let’s call him M, lives a few hours away, so I don’t get to see him so much, the other, G, lives relatively close by but due to being super busy I haven’t seen him in a while either. Being the geek-types that we are, we decided to get a table top game going. I was thinking something casual, maybe Munchkin or some Magic: The Gathering. Then, my wife chimes in:
“Or, we could play some Doctor Who,” she said, referencing the RPG published by Cubicle 7. We have a newborn, so I would be the one running it. I was immediately apprehensive. Not because I don’t enjoy the game, quite the contrary. My favorite campaign of all time was a 4-6 session Doctor Who game ran by my wife sometime last year. I was apprehensive because it was nearly 10 pm, meaning I had to leave for work in a little over 2.5 hours, & I had nothing prepared, I’d never run this system, & M had never played table top RPG’s aside from some dabbling several years ago. Despite this, I didn’t make a fuss & the let my friends cast their votes. G, who had played in the aforementioned campaign from a year ago, was all about some Doctor Who adventuring. M, who was always curious & willing to try new things, was also all about it. So, I said: “I guess I’ll put my improv skills to the test,” to which my wife reminded me that I tend to be a much better GM when I improvise as oppose to planning. Go figure. Anyway, I was a little excited, because I had just picked up the 2nd Doctor Sourcebook at my FLGS during a Free Comic Book Day sale on May 3rd. It’s a great product, new traits, gadgets, & many 3-4 page adventure seeds using serials from Patrick Troughton’s reign as the Doctor. I, being put on the spot, chose the Tomb of the Cybermen adventure, because no one else present had watched those episodes & I have. So, I pulled out some of the pre-gens from the box set we already had (the 11th Doctor version) & let them all pick out some. My wife chose River Song, G chose Rory Williams & M chose “The Alien,” a generic pre-gen suited for Subterfuge & Coordination. After a quick rundown of the rules & his character’s traits, M seemed more than ready to go. I skimmed the adventure seed & tried to fill my brain with my memory of the episodes from the serial, & we were off! I’ll say right now, of course the story did not at all follow the episodes, but was still most entertaining. The Vortex System which powers the Doctor Who RPG is a brilliant piece of work & is, in my opinion, a perfect balance of complexity & simplicity, & what follows is a brief recap of the game, which I feel is a testament to the greatness of this system. I had the Doctor be something of a background NPC & allowed my players to drive the action. M, who decided his character was a Silurian named Jym, stealthed his way about rather successfully. G’s rolls did not help Rory much, while my wife played River pretty much how one would imagine River being in this story. They met up with the expedition & got into the tomb, after Jym allowed a man to be electrocuted to death from touching the door, which Jym knew had a lot of juice flowing to it (thanks to his gadget). River’s squareness gun removed the need for a strength check as well. Inside, Jym hacked the system to open the hatch down into the Cybermen’s labyrinthine lair, which River, the Doctor, & 2 NPC’s entered. Rory & Jym stayed above with the distrustful scientists & managed to access the rest of the tomb. Instead of exploring, Jym stole a datapad from one of them, but was caught by their security officer, & a fight ensued. Down below, River convinced the 2 men to head back to the hatch, while she used her technology to map out the maze & made her way to the Cybermen’s central hibernation chamber. Between her & the Doctor (& a fair use of Story Points) they managed to short circuit the hibernating Cybermen’s brains, although the Cyber Controller survived & emerged, stumbling & glitching towards them. Meanwhile, upstairs, a tussle took place, with some blaster fire going off. Jym & Rory ran down separated corridors. Jym triggered a fire defense system & lost his pursuer, while Rory used speed & stealth to lose his. Jym, being able to shapeshift, took the form of one of the other workers exploring the tomb & made his way back to the control room. Rory stuck to the shadows & remained out of sight but within earshot, but not before finding a Cyberman transmitter & mercilessly beating a conversion chair into pieces with a hot pipe, which burned his hands rather badly. Jym managed to fool to scientists about his identity & went down the hatch to catch up with River & the Doctor. He found them running for their lives from the stuttering & malfunctioning Cyber Controller & eventually made their way back to the other 2 NPC’s who became lost down there. Due to River’s poor navigation, they all remained lost down there for quite some time, but eventually found their way back to the hatch. The NPC’s, being horribly confused as to why their friend (whom Jym had taken the form of) was speaking to these outsiders like he knew them, confronted the group, only to be socked in the face by River Song. “She hit me! Why did you hit me?” At this point they made it back up to the control room, only to be held at taser point by the scientists. River told a pretty convincing story (aided by the sounds of the damaged Cyberman below) & most of the staff ran out, confused & overall just over the craziness. The two main scientists remained, unswayed. They wanted the Cyberman, they wanted to harness the technology for their own purposes. Rory, hiding in the background, managed to silently signal River with his transmitter & mobile phone. River made an educated guess & sonic’ed the devices from across the room with the quickness. Claxons roared out, & blast doors began closing up the only exit from the tomb. A hasty escape was needed! Throughout all this, Jym was casually assembling a bomb using jiggery-pokery. They all escaped (Rory having to spend a couple Story Points), just as the self-destruct sequence began. They ran down the mountain side back to the expedition base, hardly stopping to hear the questions of “What about the other 6 or 7 people still in there?” Jym, as casually as he made it, tossed the bomb at the expedition’s ship as the party escaped to the TARDIS, safe & sound as the entire expedition lost their lives to a self-destructing Cyberman tomb & a Silurian homemade bomb. *cue Final Fantasy victory music* It got a little rushed at the end, because I was going to be late for work otherwise, but it was an extremely fun session. This game was a blast. Zero prep, one inexperienced player, a GM not entirely familiar with the system, & a time crunch. Thanks to the system, these didn’t hurt the game at all. M had no problem grasping the rules, I had no problem running it & many laughs were had by all. I never would have expected such a fun session to come out of a zero prep game. Granted, I had more than fair knowledge of the scenario, but other than that, that’s it. I just really wanted to share this because it was such an awesome, unexpected, Game Night. Happy Gaming! |
RPG materials & musings, along with some fiction, poetry, & other randomness. Updated when you least expect it.
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