My Lancer table was on a break for Thanksgiving, so I only ran my Masks game, Session 1
It was a learning experience for all players, as they’re not just new to the game, but to the the system in general. We began with a short sequence of them arriving and waiting at the main HQ (called here the Eternal Spiral) from being called by one of the responsible adults to investigate a threat. They had a little chat together, playing around with their powers, and also discussing what their team name should be.
Shortly after Cheetah (the adult person in charge) arrived and revealed the threat to them; shadow-like constructs were attacking the financial district of Astorro. There were several small foes, and a larger one that apparently was commanding them around, but they still didn’t have all the info. Since two of the PCs have shadow related powers, there was both a suspicion of someone close being involved, as well as hope that they could de-escalate the situation.
In the midst of this, Living Shadow, mother to one of the PCs and currently bearing the Legacy of their family, interrupted the call to both berate the PC for - allegedly - losing control of his powers and demanding he uphold their good name while on the field. He wasn’t quite able to convince her, instead accepting the call out and promising to do better.
After the briefing was done, the PCs left to the center, using their related powers for mobility. Arriving there, one of them attempted to use his super senses to inspect the threat, and while he could see from distance that the core of the larger construct was actually a person, he felt a feedback from the experience, emitting a large sound and drawing attention to the heroes.
They stand as a team, while the minor constructs advance, and one of the uses his gravity powers to create a field ahead of them to make advancing enemies float. Meanwhile, another one that had telekinetic powers uses it to throw one of the PCs towards the main threat. He manages to hit bulleyes, but doesn’t do any damage, just draws attention. While one of the teammates is near the main villain, another PC that has shadow abilities uses his powers to create a bridge of shadows, making it so that the others can cross over the still advancing minions. While they do so, the PC that had been throw takes a heavy attack, but withstands it; as a consequence, he calls out his allies on why they took so long, but his words doesn’t hurt them.
They get together as a team once more, and The Invisible Hand (the villain) mocks one of them for not knowing what he’s doing, never having worked a day of his life; he talks back, catching the villain by surprise and drawing his attention, as he’s not used to people rebuking his words. Meanwhile, one of the PCs channels his powers to create a sentient construct, and it attacks The Hand; taken by surprise and infuriated, he starts digging into the ground, throwing concrete and asphalt at the heroes. The one with telekinetic powers channels his energies into launching those pieces of debris right back at the villain, who flails around in panic, accidentally hitting the telekinetic back, but unable to stop his energies from dissipating.
While The Invisible Hand is throwing a tantrum, the Doomed telekinetic has a vision from his nemesis, congratulating him from winning their first round, and warning him to expect more. With the district safe, the session ended with the heroes watching as the failed businessman complained about his investments, wondered what caused him to gain such power.
What about y’all, had any interesting games?
I ran one of my player groups through part 2 of Frozen In Time by Michael Curtis for Dungeon Crawl Classics.
One of my PC’s has color spray with chain casting and I got to learn just how OP that is in DCC (several one-sided fights). I’m still figuring out being a game Judge, but it’s been really fun.
So far this group has gone through the level 0 funnel “Hole in the Sky” by Brendan Lasalle where they lost so many characters to the the pumpkin monster before breaking a demon out of a prison dimension.
Had a wine & lore dump session with a partial group in our DnD 5e game. All of the speculation of my players lead me to realize how well historical events I have come up with fit to the official lore from Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons. I got also to introduce a NPC who will come relevant in three levels when they can tackle one of the better adventures from Candlekeep Mysteries.
We also played Alice is Missing for the first time and while it didn’t meet all of the hype, we had fun evening and I must play it again to get some more familiarity with the storytelling it assumes from the players.
I had a similar experience in my 5e game, no real combat but basically the intrigued that drove the game got tenfold more complex and was revealed to involve each member of the party in a varying but believable way.
Seperatly, I also played Alice is Missing the month before and it lived up to the hype I wanted, but it’s very up.my street. What I seek in an RPG is being able to move between being immersed enough to feel what my character feels when I want it, but when I don’t, be able to act as my own drama maker for later. AiM absolutely delivered that for me. It also didn’t need magic or tech to deliver any agency which is a big plus to me.
We’re playing 5e rhyme of the frost maiden. Just defeated a chartalin dragon.
I’m pretty sure the dm pulled some punches and let us get away with murder via our monk jamming the unmovable rod ontop of the dragons head and activating it as it climbed out a hole locking it in place.
Finished up the last session of my 3-shot intro of Scum and Villainy to my group that usually floats more dungeons and dragons.
Although by the end, the players ultimately weren’t as in love with the system as I am, a good time was had by all. The crew snagged a storm drive for a squeaky-voiced intern at HNN, committed war crimes against a bunch of suits who want to detonate stars for capitalism, and saved the crystalline princess of a galactic empire that was usurped by the current hegemon. It ended with two marriages, a simmering bromance, and a poor mystic jaded by the knowledge of what a projector is.
We have been in session 5 of a Mausritter campaign.
Three mice and a hireling ventured beyond the big gate to figure out what happened to the legendary city of Amberfount (actually “Funkenquell” as we play in German). At the end of the last session we just reached the top of the clockwork tower to free Ari (cliche female mouse in distress) and encountered an old techno-necro-mouse with time-magic powers who rules over the swarm of cockroaches we justed passed.
One of the three heroes managed to flank the evil one and hurt him, while the others where slowed down and then had to defend against roaches coming from behind. The necro-mouse got to give a little bad-guy monologue and fell down the tower like a Disney villain.
Meanwhile the roaches managed to kill one of the heroes though! With the overlord gone, they accepted a truce and the remaining mice got to carry their dead comrade out. With a ceremonial push-into-the-well that was the end of that character.
I found it rather hilarious that the GM actually tried to give us opportunities to revive the dead hero. However, we failed all dice rolls and were too skeptical after previous necro-shenanigans. Also, the player was fine with losing his character.
After some discussion, we decided to try a new meta-rule: If your character dies, you become the GM next session. Let’s see how that will play out. The campaign will take a break over christmas.
techno-necro-mouse sounds rad as heck
Meanwhile the roaches managed to kill one of the heroes though! With the overlord gone, they accepted a truce and the remaining mice got to carry their dead comrade out. With a ceremonial push-into-the-well that was the end of that character.
I found it rather hilarious that the GM actually tried to give us opportunities to revive the dead hero. However, we failed all dice rolls and were too skeptical after previous necro-shenanigans. Also, the player was fine with losing his character.
Sounds like OSR to be fair, you never know when someone will bite the dust (and who will get their goodies)
After some discussion, we decided to try a new meta-rule: If your character dies, you become the GM next session. Let’s see how that will play out. The campaign will take a break over christmas.
That’s an interesting meta rule, I’ve GM’d “gaiden” episodes in a previous Lancer campaign I was in - they were like simulation combats and the GM also got to play
