Pretender Actual Play: Peculiar People

[Nev the Deranged]

So. Just finished GMing my first session of Pretender.

The players:

• Myself as GM
• Cat, playing Gaia Manning, acting Spirit of Gaia (as per Pier Xanthony's Incarnations of Immortality)
• Eyal, playing "Eric" (Elric of Melnibone, as per Moorcock)
• Graham, playing a shapeless alien (yes, as in space alien) entity having taken over a human body and calling itself William Sinclair.

As I explained the mechanics, the players really seemed to dig the game and the narrative focus. Cat had expressed a desire not to have to roll dice constantly, that she wanted more focus on character pathos and drama, and I had assured her she would not be disappointed. Upon learning how the category assignments work, and how there was no focus on survival or leveling up, she was pretty psyched. Everyone was happy about being able to be as cool as they wanted to be right off the bat.

So, we fleshed out the characters a little more.

Gaia ended up with a lover named John, a musician; and a cadre of ten or so followers who all work on her organic produce farm and are part of her crusade against the Monsanto Corporation (think Pentex in the 80s with an agricultural bent) which is involved in all sorts of bioengineering and agricultural genetic modification and such. Basically perverting nature is their game, and even before she took on the mantle of the Living Earth she headed up a grassroots campaign to shut them down. Her cadre are all aware of her Pretender status, and some of them might also be Pretenders. She is aware of the general state of the planet, and can focus her attention on any part of it. She can also become diffuse enough to spread herself around the entire globe, and then coalesce anywhere on it's surface, essentially transporting herself anywhere on Earth within minutes. She has a strong distaste for manmade objects, the less organic, the worse, and technology often stymies her. Completely synthetic substances resist her ability to sense or manipulate. She can cause plants to grow or wither at will, and affect the weather patterns by concentrating long enough. She has held the office of Gaia for about ten years, only a few of her inner circle knew her before her ascension.

Eric's main Connection is Stormbringer, although I am either going to need to play that up a little harder (Sorcerer demon style) or get him to add another more humanoid Connection. His Enemies of course are the Lords of Chaos, whom he beleives have agents in Monsanto, perhaps guiding their efforts to pervert nature and pave the way for the advent of Chaos in this realm. Which is how he met Gaia and hooked up with her little movement. He has been in this plane for a few weeks, acclimating himself and following the traces left by Chaotic influence in the area. We decided that since Stormbringer is wholly unnatural to this plane that it appears as a hole in Gaia's awareness, but that Eric's race had existed on Earth at some point in the past that he still registered, although definitely as a Pretender of some kind.

William's situation is a little different. "He" is actually an alien from another galaxy, sent to Earth to study our culture. Sort of an extraterrestrial anthropologist. Unfortunately he got stranded here (of course, when will these alien types learn?) and since his typical form is an amorphous blue gel, he has to absorb and mimic human bodies to fit in. He can actually absorb anything, but although he can then shape his biomass to mimic it, the actual thing is destroyed. This includes living entities, which are basically "eaten" by him when absorbed. As an anthropologist of his race he is extremely intelligent and capable of absorbing information just as easily as matter, in any format, including text as well as human brain tissue. So when he becomes someone, he has all of their knowledge and memories- but applies no emotional context to them of his own, they are just data. By studying how humans interact, he is able to appear very charismatic, and read people's expressions and subtle cues very easily. This is how he senses Pretenders, because they don't quite fit the template he's come to associate with humans. William is intensely curious about lots of things, including Organic Farming, but mainly in the space program and SETI, through which he hopes to send an SOS to his people. His Contact is none other than Carl Sagan, and his Enemy is Senator Walter Proxmire, who vehemently opposes all space programs of any kind as wasteful spending, and seeks to shut down SETI permanently. Since he is from another planet entirely, we decided that although he shows up in Gaia's awareness, the readings are inconclusive, arousing her curiosity- and wariness.

More tomorrow after I've slept and gone over notes. I wanted to write it all up tonight but I am running out of steam. It was a good time and I'm pretty certain everyone enjoyed it and really digs the game mechanics. Everyone's stats are pretty high, but I figure I can just ramp up the Adversity to even things out, and make things really hairy. Although letting them throw down 7 or 8 dice fairly often pretty much guarantees they have to cram a lot into each scene anyway, so maybe it's all for the best, eh?

until morning.. or afternoon...

D.

[Nev the Deranged]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, the title is from a song I heard today that really struck me as sort of a "Pretenders theme song", although YMMV relevance wise to your group or themes.

Peculiar People, by Mute Math:

We can fly with the wings of eagles
We can fly with the wings of eagles
We are peculiar people this I know
We can fly with the wings of eagles

We are peculiar people
We are peculiar people
We must set our hope and future to the sky
We are peculiar people
We are peculiar people
We will shed our human skin and learn to fly

With a word we can drown a mountain
With a word we can drown a mountain
Into the seas surrounding don't you know
With a word we can drown a mountain

We are peculiar people
We are peculiar people
There is more to who we are than meets the eye
We are peculiar people
We are peculiar people
And no one will convince me otherwise

We were born to, we were born to fly
You and I, we're summoned to the sky
We were born to, we were, we were born to fly


I couldn't find a link to the actual song anywhere, but it's pretty cool, mellow, a bit reggae inspired, decent tune. If someone finds an mp3 or whatever feel free to throw the link up here.

[Nev the Deranged]

Pretenders:
Peculiar People

http://ivanhoeunbound.com/pretender.html (Official Pretender Website)

Players:
Dave: GM
Cat: Catherine "Gaia" Manning, the acting Spirit of Gaia.
Eyal: "Eric", incarnation of the Eternal Hero.
Graham: "William Sinclair", amorphous alien anthropologist, in a stolen human form.

Relationship Map:
((omitted due to limitations of the medium))

NPCs:
   Connections:
Joshua: Gaia's boyfriend, a musician fairly well known about town. Knows and accepts her Pretender status.
Stormbringer: A demon of Chaos in the shape of a sword. In a constant power struggle with Eric for dominance of the relationship. (*1)
Carl Sagan: Astrophysicist and proponent of the SETI Project, knows about William and wishes to help him contact his people (and of course is interested himself).(*2)

Enemies:
Monsanto, Inc.: A company on the bleeding edge of agricultural bioengineering and genetic research. Tampering with the natural order is their stock in trade. Currently involved in a Martian Terraforming project, among other things.
The Lords of Chaos: Rulers of the elemental plane of Chaos, who seek to infect all realms and add them to the domains of Chaos. Agents of Chaos have insinuated themselves into the Monsanto corporation, and are subtly guiding their research to accord with their designs on the Earth plane.
Senator Walter Proxmier: Vehemently opposed to any space-based initiatives, sees them as a waste of taxpayers' money and labor. Actively involved in a campaign to shut down the SETI program and have the land converted for military use.

Others:
Jane Wendall: One of the ten core members of Gaia's grassroots movement against Monsanto. Jane has been with Gaia since before she was called to take on the mantle of Gaia, and still sometimes calls her by her mortal nickname, Cat. She is fiercely loyal to their goals, to the point of being a little gung-ho and inherently distrustful of anyone not "with them", but she is willing to follow Gaia's lead in almost any situation. While some of the ten take on an almost worshipful attitude towards Gaia, Jane seems almost too wrapped up in the cause to notice.
Richard Johansen: A wealthy stockbroker and investor with a keen interest in space programs. He is known for investing in anything space related, but does well enough with his other stocks that he is still taken seriously enough to get his tips in Newsweek and such.
Darius, Lord of Order: One of the Lords of Order, counterparts to the Lords of Chaos and diametrically opposed to their aims. He appeared to Eric in a trance and revealed that Arioch, a Lord of Chaos, is indeed active in the plane, and offered his aid in a time of need.

Actual Play:
   Scene 1: Gaia's organic produce farm and headquarters of her anti-Monsanto movement. Gaia and Eric are working in the field, her freely using her powers, since nobody can approach without her knowledge. Other members of the movement work nearby and around the farm. Gaia senses William approaching, having arrived via bus at the nearest bus stop, several miles away. William has been drawn to the area by his interest in her work, as well as an impending public forum on a Martian terraforming project, at which Walter Proxmire is expected to speak.
William introduces himself to Gaia and Eric through the screen door of the main house. Her vegetable affinity is in evidence, but her senses are stymied by William's extraterrestrial origin. Mutual curiosity leads to a fair amount of revelatory exposition between all parties. Gaia, by way of demonstration, causes an apple tree to sprout and grow to maturity by the verandah. Which suitably impresses William.
After being invited in and chatting some more, Jane Wendall enters bearing the day's newspaper and points out an article about the upcoming forum being held in the city. Suddenly, the apple tree begins to take on Chaotic properties, becoming animate and aggressive, and starts tearing the porch down. As workers in the fields come running to see what the hell is going on, Eric retrieves Stormbringer and attacks the tree, demonic blade sinking easily into the heart of the trunk. As the sword sucks the spiritual energy from the tree, Eric's sorcerous senses trace the conjuration to a source somewhere in the city. At the same time, the source takes notice of his attention. As the Chaotic spirit ebbs from the tree, Gaia uses her power to restore the tree to health The group decides to attend the forum and keep an ear to the ground for any strange activity.

Scene 2: At the conference, several Monsanto representatives take turns speaking in between opponents of the project, including Senator Proxmire and his constituents. Everything seems fairly normal until Richard Johansen steps up to the podium and delivers a literally captivating speech about mankind's manifest destiny to rise above the petty restrictions of nature and seize his rightful place as masters of their domain. His charisma is overwhelming to the human crowd, and they all pay rapt attention. He finishes to thunderous applause. William, checking the program, finds that Johansen was not even scheduled to speak. Gaia senses him leaving the area, and Eric runs outside to see him pulling away in a limo. Eric and William cover for Gaia while she ducks into an alley and dissipates enough to scan the whole city, following the car as it winds through the streets.
As she is following the car, it passes beneath an overpass. At that moment, her supernatural senses lose track of the entity she was following. Looking into the vehicle, she can see Johansen in it, but the powerful entity she was following is gone. At the moment when the presence vanishes, Eric senses a powerful surge of Chaos from that direction that quickly ebbs. William notices that all the people who were so affected by Richard's speech sort of pause a moment, as if lost in thought, and then continue as if nothing had happened- a rather eerie experience. Gaia returns to the alley and the three make their way to the overpass via taxi cab.

Scene 3: At the overpass, Eric begins a ritual to strengthen his sorcerous perceptions, while Gaia provides cover by posing as a hippie dancer type. Meanwhile William strikes up a conversation with the corner newsstand proprietor and scans the media with his preternatural data absorption. In doing so he comes across an article on stock tips in Newsweek that gives a short bio on Richard Johansen. Apparently he is an investor keenly interested in space travel and related programs. Eric succeeds in tracing the Chaos resonance back to an unknown location, an oddly shaped building of some kind. Unfortunately he is opposed by another power, possibly the same one he sensed from the tree-conjuration, and essentially tossed out on his ass, psychically speaking. Wearied and frayed from the mystical struggle, he slumps among his accoutrements on the roadside, tended by Gaia.



Potential Bangs:
** BANGS ARE ABOUT CHOICES AND MOTION, not just the next monster or clue **
·   OPENING SCENE for Session 2:
o   Gaia, who is with Eric and William by the overpass, senses a "prayer" from one of her followers at the farm.
o   CHOICE #1: She can go there, but Eric's connection to the odd-shaped building won't last more than an hour and may or may not remain intact during transportation by her powers.
§   If they try it, it turns out that it will remain intact, and in fact she would be able to transport them directly outside the building (not inside, it is sealed against her)... perhaps it even DOES so, his sorcerous connection in effect overriding her guidance while they are in dissipated form?
o   At the Farm: The apple tree she thought she saved is nothing but dust, and has been cordoned off with stakes and twine. Andrew, the teenage son of one of her cadre, found it withered and dead. When he touched it, it crumbled to dust all over him, and he inhaled a good amount of it. He is now lying catatonic and ashen in bed in the main house. Or he just ate an apple from it?
§   Eric, if he's there. might be able to do something with his herbs, but he has a limited supply and they don't grow in this plane. If Gaia tries to grow them she finds that although she can make them take root, she can't make them grow faster than normal, which means weeks until they are in usable form.
o   At the Pentaform Building: This is Angarhad's lair on this plane. It is made from special materials designed by Monsanto's scientists (guided by agents of Chaos) to make it undetectable and unbreachable by Gaia's powers. She can manifest at the site of the building but not inside it. The building is a research facility a few miles out of town on the far side from Gaia's farm. It is probably guarded by both human guards, and possibly some Pretenders, creatures of Chaos, or bioengineered entities. Not to mention Angarhad's potent sorcery.
·   Chaos Emanations manifest near Joshua during some crucial moment, forcing Gaia to choose between her current activities and going to his possible rescue (because it might just be a distraction or decoy).
·   Stormbringer acts in favor of Chaos at an inopportune moment, whether openly or clandestinely.
o   Better yet, it does so in a manner than increases Gaia and William's distrust of it- and by extension, Eric.
·   Further research into Richard Johansen reveals that he is not only an investor in, but a vocal proponent of SETI, as well as Monsanto's Martian Terraforming project.
·   William's body is damaged and requires replacement- how will the others react to his need to end a life to do so?
o   Perhaps place him in a situation where his need poses a threat to a Connection or other important NPC?
·   Bring in other Pretenders whose purposes run parallel, counter, or across the PCs.
o   ?

Notes:
·   Start cranking up the Adversity!
·   (*1): Make sure to play Stormbringer as a full-on Connection, and/or make sure Eric has other ties to be played upon.
·   (*2): Bring Carl Sagan into actual play as an NPC, and/or make sure William has other ties to be played upon as well.
·   Generally try to increase William's role in things.
·   Try to establish more Connections, like Jane, Andrew, etc.
·   Chaos is specifically inimical to Gaia's role as guardian of Earth.
o   Chaos spirits summoned into living things, such as plants, ruin or destroy them permanently.
o   Some of the more powerful servants of Chaos are able to mask their presence from Gaia's senses.
o   The Lords of Order and Chaos are at least on a par with Gaia, and quite possibly more powerful.
·   Chaos spirits can be summoned into any living or nonliving object and animate it, although they are somewhat limited by the target's original form or purpose.
·   Richard Johansen is a temporary host for a powerful Chaos sorcerer named Angarhad. When in Richard's body he has complete control and maintains significant access to his powers, including the ability to cast glamours over large crowds of people. Pretenders are generally unaffected, however.
o   The real Johansen is a primary investor in Monsanto's Mars Terraforming project, but is also an investor and vocal proponent of SETI, placing him in opposition to Proxmier's attempts to shut both programs down.
·   Mars: Does it have a guardian spirit, a Martian counterpart to Gaia's office on Earth? What effect would terraforming Mars have on such an entity? If there isn't currently one, could terraforming the planet cause one to be "born" or selected? If so, selected from what?
·   What's up with Walter Proxmire? What is his real motive for working against SETI and other space programs? Is he aware of Pretenders generally (perhaps even is one himself), or of William specifically?

*** EOF ***

Any comments are welcome. This is the first time I have GMed in ages and I am horrendously rusty, but hopefully that will improve with practice.