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Godsend Agenda is a rather unique game where your character's chosen background/race can have a serious impact on how they perceive the world. The only problem with this approach is that the GM has to work a little harder to get a diverse party together. When you have potential mortal enemies together in a group you sometimes need a little help to get them to work together. This scenario does all that work for you. The adventure also makes a great campaign start enabling you to get the characters together for long enough so that they bond as a group.
The Scenario
The adventure showcases “ExtrodinAgents”, a reality show akin to "big brother" or "Survivor" with the heroes as the stars. The stated intention of the show's creator is to build a superteam that isn't under the control of a government or terrorist group. During the course of the adventure/show the heroes face a series of challenges from slightly silly (Evacuating 1000 store manikins from a town before a fake volcano explodes) to potentially deadly (infiltrating a facility on lands owned by the world's most powerful and "evil" corporation)...all the while being followed by a director, cameraman, and sound engineer.
Of course, there is more afoot than just a simple TV show but I'll avoid putting any spoilers here. Suffice to say at least three of the major factions in the Godsend Agenda universe make appearances during the course of the adventure. The villains are well fleshed out and there are a number of additional hooks in their backgrounds that a GM could use to create follow-on adventures. I can imagine groups that enjoy roleplaying having a blast with this scenario just from trying to live “the celebrity lifestyle”.
The scenario as written is reasonably short (3-4 sessions at most at my guess) but offers lots of opportunities to add in customized encounters so that you can stretch it out to fill an entire campaign. Anyone who has seen a reality TV show could easily expand the campaign, for example by adding a rival team, adding a "weakest link" element, or by increasing the attention paid by some of the factions running around in the Godsend universe. Fans of the most recent "Wild Cards" trilogy could also mine ideas from the "American Hero" show portrayed in the "Inside Straight" novel.
Overall the scenario is a lot of fun to play, introduces a potential master villain for the heroes, and puts the heroes in contact with the setting's equivalent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Artwork
The cover art is really nice and quite dynamic. The interior art is also really clear, black and white ink, and appropriate to the content. I like to show my players images of the bad guys they are facing and this adventure allows me to do this.
The Final Word
This scenario is a lot of fun and works well as an opening adventure for a long-term campaign. The TV show's suggested tasks would make a good training ground for new players learning the rules. One semi-negative point might be that for this adventure to really shine you would probably need to spend some time expanding it and thinking about more tasks to fill out the time between major encounters. This is a rather cool little adventure and well worth picking up.
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