Brave New World

I’m down to two players so I have ended the MRQ play by post. By contrast, I have seven players playing in MCWoD. I guess my players just aren’t ready to switch from D&D or D20.

My World of Darkness

The Intrusion in my World of Darkness occurred on October 5, 2007. A large portion of South Dakota was obliterated, Milwaukee was laid waste, and supernatural beings entered the world.

The campaign itself begins a year later, on October 5, 2008 in Chicago. The player characters have been recruited by John “Mac” McRafferty, a former soldier patrolling the Intrusion’s edges, to meet with Doctor Howard of Illinois State University. He knows a few things about the Intrusion and has Mac help him find others with similar interests.

Pulling In Other Sources

I’m pulling in bits from D20 Call of Cthulhu, Dark Matter (Alternity and Grey Matter), Dark Conspiracy, and Chill for the game. I’m also taking some ideas from modern literature as well as TV and movies. Which lead to another journal entry on current events. Greg Stillson is a character from the Dead Zone, a book by Stephen King and a TV show. Now he’s in the World of Darkness as well.

Current Events in the WoD as of 10/2008

The Clinton/Obama team struggles against the rising popularity of the Powell/Stillson presidential hopefuls. Collin Powell surprised Republicans by throwing his hat into the presidential hopeful ring right after the disaster of 10/8. Already popular, the addition of Greg Stillson to his ticket makes Powell look like a sure lock for president.

Until October of 2007, Greg Stillson was an unknown congressman from Maine. When the Vice President was assassinated while hunting, Stillson was wounded in the attack. He still had the presence of mind to shoot and kill the assassin, a deranged shock jock named Marshall Frost, perhaps saving other lives. The President asked Stillson to step into the Vice President slot and he agreed.

When Stillson was asked in November of 2007 why he wasn’t running for President himself, he said, “I’ve only been Vice President for a month. Collin Powell has decades of experience as a soldier and as a top aide to the White House. He can lead our country not only to continued safety but also to even greater prosperity. After he’s continued to keep us safe from terrorists and strengthened our already strong economy, I’ll step up and keep our country strong for another eight years!”

The Clinton campaign has toted social programs, Social Security support, and a planned withdraw from overseas entanglements as strengths of their possible presidency. With the attack in the Midwest on 10/8, however, the old fears of 9/11 have resurfaced and many Americans turn toward two proven warriors for the future.

Whichever team wins the November election, the winners will represent the first President of the United States who is not a white male. While most Americans care only for solid leadership, white supremacists have taken to the streets in a rising tide of violence against minorities and women in positions of power.

Strangely enough, the attacks have been met with force not only by the United States military but also by well-armed gangs. Once feared as drug-dealing murderers, gangs like the Crypts and the Bloods are now killing white supremacists in firefights across the US. Military law has been declared in a few cities and the violence only seems to be getting worse.

Whoever is elected President will not only have to deal with the attack on the Midwest; two wars overseas; the loss of US manufacturing capacity; and the rising threat of South Korea, Iran, and China; but also a rising tide of violence here at home that some fear could lead to civil war and military law being declared in the states most affected by the fighting.

We seem to be living in a world of darkness.

The First Adventure

Six players showed for the first adventure, playing a vampire, a werewolf, and four Awakened (powerful humans). They met Doctor Howard and talked to him about what happened to the world. At his suggestion, the PCs started a private investigation firm. They were hired to investigate a mansion in the slums of Chicago. On the second floor was a ten foot sentient spider of Leng who tried to convince the PCs to worship him. He also had several six inch spiders with him. For most of the battle the werewolf was fighting in the webs with the spider alone while the rest of the party killed the little spiders and generally missed the big one with their pistols. Then the werewolf jumped out of the webs and the rest of the PCs helped him to finish it off. The company gave the PCs the house as payment, though it has many bodies in it the spider left behind as well as the five recently dead cultists to dispose of. The next contract involves investigating a chemical factory that has got some funky stuff going on. Over all, the humans tried to stay away from the vampire, though they were not so standoffish with the werewolf.

The Second Adventure

Four players showed. We played through Come for the Reaping by the Game Mechanics. I boosted the zombies to ghouls and the demon to a whistler demon with some MCWoD traits. Nice zombie shoot and some great roleplaying.

Doctor Howard and Mac were called in to help send the demon back to its own dimension. Woody came along to help drive. We’ve done so much adventuring that I haven’t had time to use the locations I’ve created. After Antarctica I’ll need to put in some downtime.

Some of the racial violence hinted at above came out when some Hispanic werewolves tried to get the PCs to leave their mansion because they were on the gang’s turf. A planned meet on the Moonlit Road (like a werewolf Disney World) went awry when Neo-Nazi werewolves learned of the other gang and wiped them out after a horrific battle. The PC who shared that info did not make it out of the Moonlit Road alive (he went in alone—shudder) but he saved the rest of his friends from a possible ambush.

The PC’s funeral will open the third adventure.

Giving My Players the Creeps

I have managed to freak out two of players, one in each of the first two adventures. In the first adventure, one of the PCs failed a Spot check while opening the door to the lair of the Leng spider. He grabbed the doorknob only to discover it was a bristly, poisonous spider. The player actually pulled his hand back like he’d touched a hot stove and leaned away from the table. Fear can be a more powerful motivator than game mechanics.

In the second adventure, I needed a creepy Ukrainian to “offer” the PCs the chance for a mission in Antarctica. I used the voice, mannerisms, and even some dialogue from Adelei Niska in the Firefly show. One player was hostile toward the NPC because he knew the character he was based on. When the rest of the group convinced him to go along with the guy’s plans, the player wasn’t very happy with the outcome.

Next adventure I’ll have to pull some ideas from the Shining by Stephen King to put into Antarctica. Also, on the plane ride over to board a boat the in flight movie will be The Thing by John Carpenter.

I can hardly wait.

Next Month

A funeral for a fallen hero. Antarctica including the Mountains of Madness. Vampire clan wars. And true horror, the PCs vote in the next President of the United States!

Also, as I finish writing this column I see that Halloween is tomorrow. My next game night is the Friday after. So, I need to inject my World of Darkness with an extra dose of horror.

So what could be worse than sending the PCs on a slow boat to Ice Station Arkham in Antarctica? A John Carpenter double feature of course.

Starting with finding a dead man dressed in a military uniform floating in a raft and having the crew take him on board (I can already hear the PC’s loud howls of protest:)). His dog tags read Michael Myers. Then the sounds of power tools coming from the engine room. Screams. And then the crew and PCs discover that “you can’t kill the bogeyman.”

I love Halloween.

Charlie