After a great deal of work, and some minor timing glitches, the Test Group was able to really work the systems for Critical Mass, Those Revolting Goblins, and Schlock!
(Names of the innocent testers will be shortened to first initial to protect their identities.)
Critical Mass is still feeling kind of slow to me, but handles the material well. We played it Supers style, and had a few highlights. T's character Amanda, shelf-stocker at a grocery store, successfully chased a speeding car on foot until a slip sent her barreling into a school bus full of children returning from a field trip. The impact caused the bus to smash through a guard rail and hang precariously off an overpass. T was able to fire up some serious dice rolls and drag the bus up and to safety without assistance, and without killing herself, but lost the car.
(Names of the innocent testers will be shortened to first initial to protect their identities.)
Critical Mass is still feeling kind of slow to me, but handles the material well. We played it Supers style, and had a few highlights. T's character Amanda, shelf-stocker at a grocery store, successfully chased a speeding car on foot until a slip sent her barreling into a school bus full of children returning from a field trip. The impact caused the bus to smash through a guard rail and hang precariously off an overpass. T was able to fire up some serious dice rolls and drag the bus up and to safety without assistance, and without killing herself, but lost the car.
G's character, Sam the Accountant, went a bit over the deep end when agents sent to capture him spent three rounds unloading on him with automatic gunfire. He wound up "Hulk Smashing" them with their own surveillance van. Sam did feel bad about it after, in true heroic fashion.
Those Revolting Goblins generated almost as much animosity as laughs, perfect for a bunch of Goblins. High point of the game went like this.
Because the names come up, T's playing Wakkel and G's character is Nozpik.
Wakkel succeeds in Overcoming her Shortcoming of Dim finding that the locked box is trapped.
T: Wakkel shakes the box around and slams it on the table a few times. She squints one eye and looks in the keyhole. She chews on the corner.
C snickers.
GM slides T a Booger Token.
T: Sweet, thanks. Wakkel shakes it a bit more, looks again and says, "Ah-ha, a trap thingie!" I guess I will disarm the trap.
GM: You're Curious at the moment correct?
T: Uh, yes...
GM: So have that affect the failure, and set the stakes.
T: Okay, I succeed and it's disarmed. I fail and I poke my finger on the shiny, sharp, pointy bit while trying to check that out instead.
GM: Dart trap, eh? Don't you mean the shiny, sharp, pointy bit with the green ooze dripping off it. Does that work?
T: Oh joy, a poison dart. That's fine, it makes it DANGEROUS! OoooOOoooo...
G: Shouldn't her Curiosity adversely affect the roll too? I mean, that's green ooze.
T: Shaddap you.
GM: Well she's also curious as to what's in the box, which would be a bonus, they would most likely cancel each other out.
G: I can see that.
C: Told you to let me whack it! I'm all Destructive at the moment...HUGE BONUSES!
G: Just don't mention the green ooze to my goblin. He'd want to lick it, being Hungry and all.
T: I'm going to mash a Booger to the bottom of the box for luck. +2 bonus, right?
T hands a Booger Token to the GM.
GM: Correct, the Gods smile upon you.
T makes her roll and succeeds again.
GM: Good job, you disarm the trap.
T: Cool. Wakkel jabs at the lock with her small, pointy, stabber thingie. She twists and turns it, and with a quick jerk, the trap mechanism is pulled free.
G: What's in the box?
T: Wait a sec, I'm not done! Wakkel hands Nozpik a shiny needle covered with thick, dripping, DELICIOUS green ooze.
T smiles at G.
G: That figures.
Schlock! did exactly what it should, again. Maude, the psychotic diabetic finally snapped after years of not being able to enjoy candy. She cut a bloody swath through sugar filled teens assuring an entirely new cast for the sequel of Easter. But our diabeetus crazed slasher wasn't the scary highlight of the night, oh no. That went to C. C decided to Laugh in the Face of Death for bonus points in the early game. In the most sadistic move I have ever witnessed in any RPG, he decided to do a shower scene with his Fodder Character...Granny.
You could tell he had been planning this since he found out he'd be testing with us, just because of the level of detail he approached it with. Rest assured, LFD scenes will use the Random Scenes Table when I play forever more. Everyone was squirming a bit. We all hoped that Maude would show up and end this quick, like really quick. But she didn't. And even with everything stacked against Granny surviving this scene, she kept washing...areas... Ugh. Finally she toweled off (with more description) and put on her robe. And with the final bit of Lead Room, C drew our attention to the medicine cabinet mirror and we barely noticed Granny opened the bathroom door. Then C SLAMMED the last result upon the table (making a few of us jump). A sledgehammer came rocketing down out of the shadow filled hallway, crushing Granny's towel wrapped head.
Maude, why did you punish us so? Why did you wait? This may sound weird, asking Maude like she was a Player, and not a Character. That's what makes Schlock! special. No one controls the killer. But they're always there...waiting...watching...killing. When they want.
C didn't get his Schlock! Points for the LFD Scene, but did for Granny's death as well as making players cringe and jump. The padding wasn't enough in the end though. Maybe next Easter?
Thanks to the testers for helping out, and working equally as hard to get everything together. Got some good feedback and ideas, and I'll keep plugging away.
Those Revolting Goblins generated almost as much animosity as laughs, perfect for a bunch of Goblins. High point of the game went like this.
Because the names come up, T's playing Wakkel and G's character is Nozpik.
Wakkel succeeds in Overcoming her Shortcoming of Dim finding that the locked box is trapped.
T: Wakkel shakes the box around and slams it on the table a few times. She squints one eye and looks in the keyhole. She chews on the corner.
C snickers.
GM slides T a Booger Token.
T: Sweet, thanks. Wakkel shakes it a bit more, looks again and says, "Ah-ha, a trap thingie!" I guess I will disarm the trap.
GM: You're Curious at the moment correct?
T: Uh, yes...
GM: So have that affect the failure, and set the stakes.
T: Okay, I succeed and it's disarmed. I fail and I poke my finger on the shiny, sharp, pointy bit while trying to check that out instead.
GM: Dart trap, eh? Don't you mean the shiny, sharp, pointy bit with the green ooze dripping off it. Does that work?
T: Oh joy, a poison dart. That's fine, it makes it DANGEROUS! OoooOOoooo...
G: Shouldn't her Curiosity adversely affect the roll too? I mean, that's green ooze.
T: Shaddap you.
GM: Well she's also curious as to what's in the box, which would be a bonus, they would most likely cancel each other out.
G: I can see that.
C: Told you to let me whack it! I'm all Destructive at the moment...HUGE BONUSES!
G: Just don't mention the green ooze to my goblin. He'd want to lick it, being Hungry and all.
T: I'm going to mash a Booger to the bottom of the box for luck. +2 bonus, right?
T hands a Booger Token to the GM.
GM: Correct, the Gods smile upon you.
T makes her roll and succeeds again.
GM: Good job, you disarm the trap.
T: Cool. Wakkel jabs at the lock with her small, pointy, stabber thingie. She twists and turns it, and with a quick jerk, the trap mechanism is pulled free.
G: What's in the box?
T: Wait a sec, I'm not done! Wakkel hands Nozpik a shiny needle covered with thick, dripping, DELICIOUS green ooze.
T smiles at G.
G: That figures.
Schlock! did exactly what it should, again. Maude, the psychotic diabetic finally snapped after years of not being able to enjoy candy. She cut a bloody swath through sugar filled teens assuring an entirely new cast for the sequel of Easter. But our diabeetus crazed slasher wasn't the scary highlight of the night, oh no. That went to C. C decided to Laugh in the Face of Death for bonus points in the early game. In the most sadistic move I have ever witnessed in any RPG, he decided to do a shower scene with his Fodder Character...Granny.
You could tell he had been planning this since he found out he'd be testing with us, just because of the level of detail he approached it with. Rest assured, LFD scenes will use the Random Scenes Table when I play forever more. Everyone was squirming a bit. We all hoped that Maude would show up and end this quick, like really quick. But she didn't. And even with everything stacked against Granny surviving this scene, she kept washing...areas... Ugh. Finally she toweled off (with more description) and put on her robe. And with the final bit of Lead Room, C drew our attention to the medicine cabinet mirror and we barely noticed Granny opened the bathroom door. Then C SLAMMED the last result upon the table (making a few of us jump). A sledgehammer came rocketing down out of the shadow filled hallway, crushing Granny's towel wrapped head.
Maude, why did you punish us so? Why did you wait? This may sound weird, asking Maude like she was a Player, and not a Character. That's what makes Schlock! special. No one controls the killer. But they're always there...waiting...watching...killing. When they want.
C didn't get his Schlock! Points for the LFD Scene, but did for Granny's death as well as making players cringe and jump. The padding wasn't enough in the end though. Maybe next Easter?
Thanks to the testers for helping out, and working equally as hard to get everything together. Got some good feedback and ideas, and I'll keep plugging away.
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