I’ve been in a gaming group for nearly three years now and l ran my first game for them (or more properly two of the usual three). I’ve been echoing about it for a while and they know I was keen on Godlike, then Wildtalents, then Jorune and half a dozen other games.
So, last night we started.
After a brief handout explaining the political situation in 1949 (the game setting), the state of the world, the state of technology and the popular movies and music that year, the players received a letter that they were being co-opted into the Peacetime Draft. After a journey to Virginia, the players were introduced to the characters who would be in the game.
Jim was playing Charlie Roper. An enlisted African-American who never saw action in World War 2 (probably due to issues with authority). He lives in a dingy apartment in LA and has a job keeping the books for local shops. Charlie has the ability to induce siezures in living systems.
Graham was playing Drew Fraser. A college professor who also had a decorated career during World War 2. He has a fiancée, a tenure at the University of Chicago and a good life. He also has the ability to ‘play’ with vectors of invisible force (essentially similar to a telekinetic).
There were three other characters.
Sergeant Roger Stevens – a career Marine with an impressive build and a raft of military related skills. He also has the ability to vocally command others to perform tasks in a form of mental domination. It’s not dependent on language but does require that the target hear him.
Elijah Zaida is a young kid who encountered some sort of energy parasite that the Office of Special Projects believes is extraterrestrial. As a side effect, he’s apparently invulnerable.
Doctor Ian Parker, MD is an unwell man who insists on wearing a thick coat. We don’t know any more about him.
The Players were introduced to Senator Joe McCarthy who ranted for a couple of minutes on the dangers of letting down our guard. After he left, the briefing was continued by two CIA agents, Remsing and Dean. Remsing is relatively sympathetic to the PCs, Dean is from the southern states and refers to God in his speeches.
They were then told that Roper and Fraser would be accompanying Stevens to a small island off the coast of Alaska. Contested territory – to see what was going on there. Something large was moving around. This starter was inspired by Issue 2 of Warren Ellis’ Planetary comic book and I used a couple of scenes from the comic to illustrate some scenes.
They take a long flight to some godforsaken airfield in Alaska, then a helicopter onwards. The island is 20 miles long and 8 miles wide and consists of snow covered mountains, dense forests and permafrost. They set the helicopter down at the only flat plain, a short stretch of ground leading to the only beach.
After camouflaging the helicopter, they hike to the foot of one of the mountains and are faintly disturbed to find a footprint – a booted footprint. They set a watch and camp for the night – during the night Fraser is disturbed to hear the sound of giant leathery wings….
Next day, they hike to the top of the mountain and as they reach the top, the wind carries the stench of decay. Over the ridge of the hill, protected by dense trees and snowfall is a massive corpse.
What creeps them out more is that they find a Japanese soldier in the bowels of the beast, eating the flesh. The soldier is unable to speak english and the PCs are unable to speak Japanese but they managed to force him to draw in the dirt – how he got there…
He claims he was flying a plane and was attacked by a giant pteranodon-type creature which forced him to bail out. He had been surviving by eating the flesh of this giant lizard.
They took him as a prisoner and returned to the helicopter. As they took off, they noticed another giant object…
…which caused them to land and take more pictures. Finally able to leave, they take off…
…and return to Alaska, then take a military transport back to Langley for debriefing.
Dean and Remsing provide a short debrief – they’re pleased with the outcome, very pleased that the things out there are dead and explain that the pictures were blank, possibly due to high levels of radiation on the island…
More to come….next session.
The System I was using was a very cut down version of Humanydyne, which I’ve mentioned before. The PCs were pre-generated, there was no combat and there were only really a couple of power rolls and perception rolls. Next time we play this I’ll actually have translated the combat section from the French…