So, i started a another play test of Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. I've been play testing for so long that it's become second nature, but since i've finished all my proposed edits, i'm thinking one more doesn't hurt to ensure that all the changes i need to make are done. And I might as well document this one as best i can and share. So, i went up to my local gaming shop Armada Game (www.armadagames.com) and one of the store owners and his fiance were really interested in playing. I walked in with full intentions on running a game for 2 people. Then, someone else was interested, and another, until I have 5 players. I even had to turn some people away... huge ego boost! lol.

Anyway, we spent last night with Chargen which was really hard with only one print out of the book right now. i'll definitely need to print another for the future (hope that tip helps anyone else who's planning a play test). And here are the characters that were created:

1. Dr. Gwen Lemont - Human following the "Questions" Passion. She is an heiress that left her family to pursue her medical exploits. She performs slightly unnecessary operations on patients to see what happens, has many jury-rigged medical machines in her basement, and ties to the mob.

2. Nathaniel - Taylari (living vampire) following the "Death" Passion. He belongs to the Macabre vampire family, which means that he has spoken to ghosts and spirits since he was born, making him slightly obsessed. He wasn't raised by his vampire family and so retains his humanity, but is slowly losing it each night that passes.

3. Larry Twanda - Changeling following the "Power" Passion. He's a young man (about the age of 20) who just got out of prison from a 3 year (1.5 years on good bevahior) sentence for burglary. He used to belong to a street gang, but when the cops showed up, he was sacrificed to the law and all his "friends" took off without him. He now wants to build up his street influence, building his own gang and hopefully overthrowing his old one.

4. Sam "Tank" Hutchins - Wolf Person following the "Honor Code" passion. He too was released from prison a few moths ago. He lives by a strict code of defending the weak no matter what. His last exploit ended him in prison, when he was covered in his victim's blood and the child he protected got away with no trace. He did his job, but suffered for it. He strives to continue following the path, but sees trouble in his future.

5. Yosho - Human following the "Rebellion" Passion. His parents were murdered (accidentally) by Taylari, who then took him in and raised him. They tried their best to keep him as human as possible, but Yosho is just "not right". He always wanted to become a vampire as well. Right when they were about to turn him, they and all of the other created Taylari in the area were killed by the born Taylari in an ancient ritual called the Cleansing. He now has ties to the created vampire communities and is trying to cause a rebellion to strike back at born vampire society.

6. Candace Holbrook (my NPC) - Human following the "Power" Passion - She's the younger sister of Gwen and is also heiress to the Holbrook Hotel franchise... we're talking millions upon millions. She doesn't work or do anything but party and... magic. Her family has stocks of magic books and history and she was born with a special something that makes her crave more and more magic.

So, those are the characters. It's looking like it will be REALLY interesting to get these characters together into a group that will work together. But i'm up to the challenge. I wanted to start them off outside of Apocalypse Prevention, Inc. to slowly introduce them to the world through gaming.

Any comments, questions, or anything are welcome. I'll be updating this information here and on my blog for anyone who's interested.

-Oni

Session 1 (long)

Last night was a lot of fun in my Playtest game. Two of the players were unable to actually make the game, so I only had a group of 3 for this week, but it was a great night of fun.

Preludes

I started with a quick prelude for each of the players, trying to link them subtly in the storytelling. I have a strange way of doing preludes left over from my days of running forums games and it's me running the same scene for each individual person without the other players really having knowledge that they're all in the same place. It's fun when you can pull it off.

Gwen - I was able to get a prelude with Gwen's player before she had to go. She was coming home from the hospital and was wrestling with the keys to her door, when a kid (no older than 17) came up behind her with a large side wound. "Doc, I need your help" he said. She quickly brought him down to her basement, where she has a small lab. To pay for her schooling, she had been indebted to the mob and this kid (Richie) was a member of said organization. He talked about going to a Chinese restaurant to "shake it down" and then all of the sudden, all the lights when out and he and Johnny (his mob contact) were attacked by a monster. He really saw was the shining of the giant teeth it had, before it claw swiped him and he went a running. Johnny wasn't so lucky. The player was very curious... and then she had to go. Pity.

Tank - The wolf person had finally come into civilization because he was tired of eating squirrels and rodents in the towns surrounding forests. He came to buy a burger... it was good. He was walking past a Chinese restaurant and he sees a man go through the building window, flying into traffic and hitting a car that was driving down the road. The car swerved and hit a building across the street. He looked in and it looked like a kid was in trouble, so he rushed to save him (Following the Honor Code Passion, he was compelled to). He got between the 10-foot tall fish-monster and the kid, allowing the kid to take off. The monster took a swipe at him as well, clawing his chest. Seeing the kid was safe, he flung a table at the monster and ducked out the back, changing into wolf form. When he went back later for his clothes... he saw that his wallet was gone. This was the group's first introduction to my custom combat system and everyone seemed to really like how it worked.

Larry - Larry works for a fish service. After spending his shift shucking fish guts, he then has to deliver them to the various restaurants and establishments. So, he's delivering to a Chinese restaurant (I’m sure you guessed). He talks briefly with the new girl at the shop, but then Ken come out (the owner's son) and they chit chat. Then they see the outside light goes off and they rush inside to see what's happening. He saw blood on the other emergency exit, but Ken pays him extra to "keep quiet".

Yosho - He was finishing up a gig with his band when another thrall came into their seldom-patroned club. After finishing his set that the 3 people danced to, he approached the vampire head for the club and offered to help. "Fine, you help 'em. All he says is monster, so I can't think of anything." is essentially the vampire's response. He talks to Ken, who has been a thrall for many years, hoping to one day become a vampire as well. They go well after the police and firemen have left... but they didn't really find anything either. Yosho, frustrated, just decides to walk home.

Getting together plot

After I ran that little tidbit, it was time for me to try to get them to be a group (go fig). The next morning after the Chinese restaurant, each of them awoke to the newspaper with a great feature. Larry saw it as his dad read it with breakfast, Tank was it as he slept beside a few homeless people, and Yosho was called about it from his mistress. The news article says that a world renown artist to the stars, Santiago, is coming to the town to reveal his new art with a few examples. There is a series of 5 pieces, each with the face of one of the player's characters... and they all appear near death.

It was an all-star event; it was by invitation only and would probably be really hard to get to. What I didn't tell them is that their names were already on the list, so....

Larry - He had his mom drive him to the event center for the gala and decided to try to get in on his charm alone. He's a changeling, so he had an advantage... but he also ended up rolling about 5 Natural 1s, which never bodes well. He attempted to get information from the groundskeepers, but they knew very little. He snuck around the building (it was early enough that there weren't many people there, but another 1. He was caught by security and thrown off the premises. So, he decided to pretend to be a protester "His art is shit! It's all political." he yelled, rolling another 1. The groundskeepers just sprayed him with a hose. Then he threw a few bottles at the groundskeeper to lure him, jumped him with a trash can to knock him out, and then took his clothes and his form. He had to put in a days work and actually serve food during the event, but he got in.

Yosho - Went to see his Mistress (Victoria) who resembles a 60-year old woman, but is obviously much older, being a vampire. She says that she will get them in, but he needs to dress well, giving him a voucher to get a tux. When he's going to get his tux, he runs into Tank briefly, but they don't quite hit it off. They do however identify that they are others in the pictures from the paper. He gets his tux and they head to the event. His mistress has taken the form of a beautiful woman. Then they go the doorman "Name?" he asks. "We're on the list". "Why yes you are. Please go inside." Mind Tricks are great things to have. While inside, they split up to cover more ground. She ends up hanging on a movie producer for most of the night.

Tank - His plan was just to walk in like he was supposed to be there, with torn clothes and all. Mind you, his character looks like a clean-shaven Dog the Bounty hunter. So... he walked up the read carpet and walked in... And he wasn't stopped! Weird eh? Lol. I made him make an Acting check to see if he could keep his cool. He rolled Natural 20... so we moved on.

In the party, they see their pictures. Yosho's is of him with a blade at his chin, Larry's is with some slugs in his chest on his knees, and Tanks is of him completely scarred up with bite marks in his neck. Very horrific, but aside from Santiago's main-stream work, his other art is very dark... so this is kind of what people were expecting. After a little hobnobbing, Santiago showed himself on his private balcony. When he showed himself, Tank and Larry noticed a group of 3 men who looked very "intense". Tank sprang his Danger sense... and there was definitely something about to go down.

Yosho sensed nothing. So, when one of the men came up to him and said "Quite the resemblance. Maybe we should see if we can see Santiago in private. I'm such a fan." Yosho thought nothing of it... everyone there was kind of a fanboy for the artist. They went to the stairs to see that Yosho's name was on the list and went up.

In the room, Yosho has his chance to ask Santiago many questions. He asked why he was in the picture and things like that. Santiago revealed himself as one that has vivid and prophetic dreams. He could not tell him how the events occur, only that the visions ended with the scene that he painted. When he was done, the fanboy shot Santiago in the head. He was an assassin... of course. Yosho and he fought until he was knocked out and Yosho ran down the stairs covered in blood. He was brought back up by the bodyguards when Santiago came down the stairs and calmed everyone down "Thank you for appreciating my little show." and everyone just thought that Yosho was an awesome actor... he really committed while being pulled up the stairs, practically against his will. That's when he found out that Santiago was also... quite immortal.

The other two characters followed the other two men as they ducked out the back, copying down the license plate. Then they decided to go upstairs as well, meeting Santiago for the first time.

I then stopped it there for the night. Most of it was all off the top of my head, so I thought I should actually think
about the next session and how I want it to go. Again, any comments and questions are appreciated.

-Oni