[PTA] Seekers

[Yokiboy]

This is just a quick note to say that I got to play Primetime Adventures tonight. I will have to write up more of the actual series tomorrow, it's the middle of the night and I have an important day at work tomorrow, but I had to stop by to say that PTA kicks ass and takes names!

The game even won over the previously most adamant simulationist in my group, although he stated that "the game rocked, but did not feel like roleplaying."  :D

We have played SIM for 20 years, so obviously it was a different experience, but in a very good way!

Quick intro, the series is called Seekers, and centers around a mysterious organisation simply refered to as The Foundation and the professor of the occult that they have hired to search for an operative MIA in Brazil, and clear up a situation regarding some missing boys, of which one has been found, but with his genitals having been surgically removed (I actually got this from the news).

The professor, Dr. Goldstein, is a young doctorate from UCLA, with an an inferiority complex. He is trying to live up to his famous dad, the well known debunker of the occult. He teams up with an ex-special forces mercenary, Mike Fisher, a South African with a very troubled past. Mike suffers from self-hate which manifests through self-destructive tendencies.

Mike is being sought by the Geneva Convention, under the leadership of a ruthless lawyer. The professor stands to face the wrath of his dad, if he meddles in his business.

I'll try to post some more game details tomorrow, but I can end with that we had no trouble finding a conflict in every scene we played - as opposed to other PTA Actual Play posts I've read.

TTFN,

Yokiboy

[Matt Wilson]

Hey Joachi-boy:

Sounds good. Thanks for posting. I really like how there's this complex weave of character relationships.

Looking forward to hearing more.

[Yokiboy]

I'm still too tired from being up late playing PTA, but will try to add some more tomorrow. I do think it was the most pleasurable evening of gaming I've ever had though, I enjoyed the game a ton!

The resolution system is a gem too, the constant surprises of winning narration was great. Sometimes you really hoped you wouldn't win because you thought you didn't have any ideas, but then they poured out of you anyhow. We were all thrilled with how it worked out.

As I mentioned, we used the conflict system to resolve any important details of the show, not just pure conflicts. This was something else that we all fell in love with. We did in fact use the conflict rules in each and every scene following the opening sequence. It was great how the dice would force the story to take all sorts of twists and turns, it made it very exciting.

I was quite concerned over resolving entire scenes with just one die roll, but found that in practise it turned out to be far more exciting than any other resolution system I've tried.

Great game Matt,

Joachim

[Ron Edwards]

Hey,

Um, is there anyone likable in the cast?

Or to put it a little better, what actions or details of the main characters generate any sympathy for them? As evidenced in actual real-person interactions during play?

Best,
Ron

[Yokiboy]

Um, is there anyone likable in the cast?

We found them quite likable. Mike Fisher is sort of trying to redeem his old past, which haunts him through nasty flashbacks and a psychic ability that gives him forebodings of things to come. The fact that he's a drugged out junkie and drunk, now caught up with Dr. Goldstein, and caring for his safety made us sympathetic to him - in a weird sort of way.

Dr. Goldstein is out to prove himself, at the expense of his dad. We are actively rooting for him to find evidence of the occult and stick it to his dad. He also ran into one of his Connections in a small town in Brazil, she's a former high school sweetheart now turned nun. The tension between the two was fantastic, and we could feel Dr. Goldstein angst - if it was because he broke the poor girl's heart or if she left him we left unsaid, but we will surely revisit this in upcomign sessions.

TTFN,

Yokiboy