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« on: June 06, 2012, 03:16:23 AM »
I promised you guys this story a while back, and I don't think you ever got it, so here goes:
It's a high school game of 2nd Edition Mage: The Ascension. My good friend Erik is Storytelling, and he's got four players: Alex, Ed, Chuck and me. We roll up our characters, as it is supposed to be a one-shot, and Erik takes Alex and Ed aside in a conspiratorial fashion. He's got special plans for them. When the game starts, we find out that their characters are missing, and it's up to Chuck and myself to find them. We go through about 30-40 minutes of investigation before our characters are overcome by something I don't remember--Gas? A magic spell? In any case, we pass out.
All the while, Alex and Ed are patiently waiting for their special moments in the spotlight.
Erik hands me and Chuck new sheets and tells us that we wake up as two completely different characters with all of the memories of our previous ones, including the bit where we fell unconscious. We are, understandably confused. Ed and Alex are there to greet us, but not as their main characters, either. They're playing two sinister NPCs who we don't know. We ask them what happened, why we passed out, what the fuck we're doing in different bodies, etc, but they give us no response. Instead, they handcuff us and shove us into the backseat of their car at gunpoint so that they can drive us off to God knows where. At this point, both of us look down at the sheets Erik handed us.
Chuck: So we're these other characters now?
Erik: You are, but from your perspective, you're still your original PCs.
Me: But these guys have completely different stats and skills. How does that work?
Erik: You don't know. You suddenly realize you have all these new abilities.
Me: Okay...
With a thrill that borders on pure glee, I see that my new character is an Akashic Brother with three dots of Do and a Dex pool of four. I tell Erik that I'd like to karate kick whoever is sitting in the seat in front of mine, because these people obviously don't have our best interests at heart. I succeed and roll enough damage to kill Ed's NPC instantly. My character kicks a hole in the front seat and the poor bastard sitting there. (To this day I have no idea how he had the leverage to do that, but...magical karate!) Chuck, meanwhile, makes a Dex+Athletics check to slip his cuffs under his ass and around his legs so that he's got his hands in front of him. Just as Alex's character (who's driving, I think) turns with his gun drawn to shoot me in the face, Chuck wraps the cuffs around his neck and strangles him to death.
We all turn to Erik expectantly, waiting to see where the game goes from here, but he's got nothing. He throws in the towel.
All told, Chuck and I had fun, but Alex and Ed did nothing but sit around for the better part of an hour waiting, only to be killed off in a few short rounds of combat. I'm sure it could have been a really great game for all of us, but player logic and bad luck on their part cut it short.