Designer on Twitter: Hypnos

As I make it to the top of the hill overlooking our modest, worthless plot of land, I see a Cowboy on our porch. He is closing the door behind him, hat in hand. His head down for a moment, he places a black hat on his head and turns to the west.

I’m clutching the medicine in a small vial that I spent two days walking to get for Mamma. As the Cowboy dressed in black heads off, I race down the hill to our house. It takes forever, but I’m finally there and inside, calling out to her.

The medicine was supposed to help her. But there is a pillow over her head. Below it, she is dead. I close her eyes and then fish out a gun and holster from the bottom of the cedar chest.

Mamma said Pa was a Cowboy. I never met him. But she said one day he’d be back, and he’d probably be the death of her. I strap on the gun and start following him.

I’m going to find that Cowboy. When I do, I plan to find out if he’s my Pa.

I’m also gonna kill him.

The Kid:
+1 bonus to rolls where you attempt to gather information you don’t have.

Only once, the Kid can take a piece of information or an ability they know from their world and apply it to the situation.

Motivation: The Cowboy knows more about how you got to this world than you do. You need this information.

Clock: 0
Conditions: none
Items: Gun and Holster, Bottle of Medicine, Canteen

EVENT 1:
44. A horse begins to charge through the local marketplace. It begins to wreck stalls in its panic.

Only once, the Kid can take a piece of information or an ability they know from their world and apply it to the situation.

I grew up raising horses. Until a rustler stole them one night. I know a ride would help me catch up to the Cowboy, so I try to calm down the horse and mount it before its owner realizes it’s missing.

ROLL: 4
2-4 is a success with a cost
When you get a success with a cost, you can
● Add a condition onto yourself.
● Lose a useful or important item.
● Move the clock of the Cowboy’s escape forward 1

I get in front of it. It rears up once and I fall back, landing on the vial of medicine, crushing it. Not that I needed it anymore. I get back to my feet and make it to look me in the eyes, speaking in hushed tones. It takes a few tries, but it calms down.

I grab the mane and launch myself onto its back. It protests a bit, but I pet it and urge it on in the direction the Cowboy was headed. On the other side of the small town, I see the Cowboy’s footprints in the dust veering off to the side of a saloon. There I see the broken hitching post. It’s hard to make out what happened at first, but then I see the set of hoofprints heading west out of town.

It looks like the Man in Black got hisself a horse, too.

Clock: 0
Conditions: none
Items: Gun and Holster, Bottle of Medicine, Canteen, Horse

EVENT 2:
26. A small crowd has gathered around a hastily built stage. On the stage is a person dressed in the clothes of a wanderer. A banner above them proclaims this as “The Last Gunslinger’s Performance.”

Outside of town, charlatans and snake oil salesmen prey on the ignorant. My Mamma taught me better than to waste my time with such as they.

I take a sip of water, feeling the heat glowing on my skin and feeling it burning within, as well. As I ride past, the gathered crowd all turn and stare at me.

I’m coming, Cowboy.

Clock: 0
Conditions: none
Items: Gun and Holster, Bottle of Medicine, Canteen, Horse

EVENT 3:
62. You walk into town and see The Cowboy. They lock eyes with you, snap their fingers, and vanish.

I had followed the Cowboy beyond the mesa, to the bend in the river, near Purgatory. I stopped and filled my canteen before heading into town. The sun blistering on the back of my neck, I had shared some water with my steed before lashing it to the post near the only inn in town.

And now I stand trying to figure out if I’m following a ghost, a devil, or a hallucination.

+1 bonus to rolls where you attempt to gather information you don’t have.

ROLL: 6+1=7
7+ is a failure
When you get a Failure you must either
● add a condition onto yourself.
● Move the clock of the Cowboy’s escape forward 1

I’m burning up, I realize, as I ask the patrons of the saloon within the inn if they has seen a Cowboy all in black. No one had, and they treat me like I’m crazy.

The thought crosses my mind… what if I have the same fever that had struck Mamma. I reach for the medicine and remember the vial broke when I fell.

With an out-of-place chill in the damning heat, I get back on that horse and head west once again.

Clock: 0
Conditions: Fevered
Items: Gun and Holster, Bottle of Medicine, Canteen, Horse

EVENT 4:
32. A couple of “bandits” catch you in between towns. There are only 3 of them, and their “weapons” are nothing more than retooled farming equipment. They demand all your food or your gun and all your bullets.

“I ain’t got time for you lot,” I say ‘tween gritted teeth and pull the gun from the holster as one of them jabs a shovel up at me.

ROLL: 3
2-4 is a success with a cost
When you get a success with a cost, you can
● Add a condition onto yourself.
● Lose a useful or important item.
● Move the clock of the Cowboy’s escape forward 1

I squeeze off three quick shots and put ‘em all down, splitting open the head of the bandit with the shovel. The horse rears up, throwing me. By the time I regain my breath, it is long gone back the way we came.

One of the bandits moans for help. But I gotta git goin’. I’m on foot now and the Cowboy’s on horseback, so time’s a-wastin’. I suck down the last of my water, realizing I’m starving, just like this bunch said they were. Now they’re full of lead.

I got 3 bullets left for you, Cowboy. The canyon is to the west, I know. That’s where I’ll find you.

Clock: 0
Conditions: Fevered
Items: Gun and Holster, Bottle of Medicine, Canteen, Horse

EVENT 5:
24. You hear whispers of a woman claiming she can travel great distances instantaneously.

The Kid has heard this all before, from a hundred different snake oil salesmen. She’s faking it.

I ignore the band of gypsies and their stupid spooky stories as I pass along the road to the canyon.

There, standing on the edge of the canyon, facing me, is the Cowboy. The Man in Black. I approach him, my hand hovering over the hilt of my gun, shaking.

“Did you kill my Ma?” I shout to him.

“Yes.”

The heat already boiling within me erupts from between my cracked lips as I shout at him: “Why?!?!!”

“It’s what I do.”

I stare into his dark eyes, looking for a clue to my next question’s answer…

“Are you my father?”

The Cowboy’s face finally shows a hint of emotion as one corner of his mouth rises. He sniffs and then says with a deep, demonic voice: “Pull that gun and find out.”

So I do…

ROLL: 5-1 for Fevered condition
2-4 is a success with a cost

I wake up to the face of our only neighbor, ol’ Samuel. Behind him, the sun shines brightly, and I realize I am on the ground.

“Son, yer burning up. Let me take you to the doc.”

I look around and I’m on the hill overlooking our house.

“I gotta get this medicine to my Mamma,” I say, trying to get to my feet.

“Boy, I got bad news fer ya,” he says, taking off his hat. “I done checked in on yer Ma. She didn’t make it.”

“But I got her medicine!” I start crying.

“Boy, it’s a good thing ya did. You got the same fever. This medicine’ll do you a lot more good than yer poor Mamma. God rest her soul.”

Samuel nurses me back to health over the next week. His chicken soup and the medicine meant for Mamma save me.

After the funeral, I go back to check on the gun at the bottom of the cedar chest. Lifting it out, I realize it smells strongly of gun powder and has only 2 bullets left. Next to it, under a shawl, is a black hat.

It has a bullet hole through the crown.

The post And the Kid Followed appeared first on O Solo Mayo.

Designer’s Patreon: Armanda Haller

“Well that was some bullshit,” I say to Roscoe.

“So what did they ask you?” he says. He looks a little scared of me. He’s standing farther back from me than feels right.

“Dude, it was bullshit. Relax. They probably fucked up and they’re using this android paranoia as a cover. That’s what the elite fuckers always do. Make up a story and then try to find a scapegoat.”

Roscoe is nodding. His eyebrows are pushed together more in the middle than normal. And that mother fucker has a unibrow, so it’s a damn caterpillar up there.

I continue, “Well, they ain’t blaming this shit on me. Besides, I got a wife and kid back home. Ain’t no fucking robot’s figured out how to… how to have a baby, have they?” I catch myself there at the end, realizing that people have been fucking robots for a long time now.

Roscoe sticks his lips out like a duck bill as he scrunches his face together more.

“Right,” he says, nodding.

But then he stops nodding. His face smooths out and the caterpillar above his eyes jumps up to his hairline…

“Wait? …Have they?” he asks.

> Complete Name

Harold J. Deemis

> Occupation

Mechanic

> Gender

100% Man

> Immediate family

Wife Delores, and Harry Jr. the apple of my eye

> Time on the station

11 months… too long, that’s for sure

> School

Hard Knocks

> University Degree

Ha!

> Hobbies

Cards with the guys and drinking till I pass out

> Psychological background

I ain’t never talked to no shrink till today

> Medical History

Healthy as a horse, not that there’s any around anymore

I’m back in my bunk, swigging whiskey and going over the questions I was asked. It felt like they were trying to get me to say something they could use against me…

K♢: If there existed a perfect clone of you, would it also be you? (Test Questions)

You want to hear about perfect clone of me? My little baby boy, Harry, might as well be the perfect version of me. He’s got his Momma’s green eyes, but otherwise, he looks just like I did as a baby. Would a robot remember what he looked like as a baby? No, course not. They don’t make robot babies.

NEXT QUESTION!

PARANOID: 0/10

ANDROID: 0/10

3♤: Armory (Security installations, related to the safety of the station.)

I think back to talking with Roscoe at the armory about this android BS when the rumors first started spreading. He was making sure everything was locked up tight. He’s a security guard at the station.

“Well, if someone’s planting androids to sabotage the station, I gotta make it as hard as possible for them to get their robot hands on the weapons,” he said.

“Yeah, well, if they were smart,” I said, “they’d plant them in security.”

He looked at me with a smile, but it faded as I laughed at my own joke.

“Relax, Roscoe, you too stupid to be a fucking android,” I said, reassuring him with a punch to the shoulder.

He shook it off and we left together. I noticed the passcode he punched in was in an “H” pattern. 1-4-7-3-6-9-4-5-6. Made me think of my baby, Harry. Damn, I miss him. One more month on this spinning deathtrap and the job’ll be done and he’ll be back in my arms.

PARANOID: 0/10

ANDROID: 1/10

2♤: Guard Station (Security installations, related to the safety of the station.)

I followed him back up to his post. I was waiting for his shift to end so we could go meet the boys for some cards. Watching him mindlessly punch in codes at his terminal, the wheels started turning. Maybe they would plant androids as security guards. I mean, other than the obvious advantages to having access to all the codes and weapons, it’s the lowest skill set on a space station. Hell, even the cooks have to have a human touch to make that crap they serve in the cafeteria.

But what does a security guard do? Nothing. Unless something happens, of course. They just sit and stare at screens. Or punch codes. Turn keys.

As I watched Roscoe that night, I remember the little hairs on the back of my neck started raising. Like, I suddenly could see it. I had forgotten about that until just now. I shook it off then cause I was looking forward to some seven card stud and booze.

If anyone’s an android, it’s probably that fucker. And he was waiting for me after they questioned me. Probably trying to get notes so he could pass the test himself.

PARANOID: 1/10

ANDROID: 1/10

6♡: Showers (Social life of the station, related to people, their actions, their relationships, their routines.)

Thinking back to the rumors, when I first heard them, it was Jeff the engineer that first talked about it. We were in the showers, all of us from the reactor crew. Jeff was saying he’d heard it from Anthony, the management guy, and I remember Anthony getting upset and not wanting to talk about it.

Before long, everyone was talking shit about it like it was a joke. Teemo, the coolant expert, was joking that Alberto couldn’t be one cause his dick was too short to reach the outlet to plug in and recharge. Everyone was laughing but Anthony. Now I know why. Management was taking this seriously already, weren’t they?

The whole reactor team was there. I remember there was total of 10 of us: me, Jeff the mechanical engineer, Anthony from management, Teemo the coolant guy, Alberto the lead tech, Kentay the computer engineer, Francois from the testing department, and the three other mechanics: Charlie, Merrill, and Hackett.

The most important crew on the station.

PARANOID: 1/10

ANDROID: 2/10

8♡: Gym (Social life of the station, related to people, their actions, their relationships, their routines.)

Taking another sip of whiskey, my mind goes back to Roscoe. He and I worked out a few times and he was always able to lift way more than me. And I ain’t no slouch.

How did I not see it before? Dude has got to be an android.

PARANOID: 2/10

ANDROID: 2/10

7♤: Communication Center (Security installations, related to the safety of the station.)

Last time I talked to Delores on one of the terminals in the comms center, Harry Jr. was taking his first steps. She held the camera on him as it happened. I’ve missed a lot while I’ve been here, but I couldn’t pass up the money—it will set us up for a long time. Sure, the radiation from both the reactor and space itself means I can’t bring my family and I’ll probably end up with cancer. But the hazard pay on this deep space station is 20 times what I’d get at a cushy space port.

I love going to the comms center. I get to see my family. Other than the reactor itself, the comms center is the most important part of this station.

PARANOID: 2/10

ANDROID: 3/10

A♤: Brig (Security installations, related to the safety of the station.)

I’m feeling pretty drunk. I should probably stop drinking. The whole reason I was questioned was I blacked out and ended up in a place I wasn’t supposed to be. They called it suspicious behavior and threw me in the brig.

Man, it was kinda crazy. How the hell did I even get there? I never used to blackout and end up in weird places before. I’d just pass out and wake up with some apologies to make.

No, no, no. Those pencil pushers got in my head. I know who I am.

I think.

PARANOID: 3/10

ANDROID: 3/10

7♢: Cryo units (Scientific life of the station, related to substances, experiments, reports.)

They got me questioning my own damn humanity. Those fuckers are the questionable ones. They won’t even tell us who or what they got in those cryo units.

PARANOID: 4/10

ANDROID: 3/10

10♢: Long-range telescope (Scientific life of the station, related to substances, experiments, reports.)

…and those telescopes pointed at nothing. Shit, they probably aliens and they looking through those scopes to check in on their home planet. Using this android fake news to keep us scared of each other!

PARANOID: 5/10

ANDROID: 3/10

9♧: Maintenance storage (Functionality of the station, related to life support systems, docking bays, mechanical processes.)

…and the stuff in the storage bay marked CONFIDENTIAL! I’m a damn mechanic and I can’t even get a look at half the shit in there!

Fuck. I need to find some more whiskey. I’m almost out.

PARANOID: 6/10

ANDROID: 3/10

Dammit. I’m outta whiskey.

Other questions they asked pop into my head as I head down the corridor to the supply pantry.

Q♡: What would people who never suffered be like? (Test Questions)

They wouldn’t be Human.

Shit. Those alien elites probably born with a silver feeding tube in their mouths.

Q♤: How long will you be remembered after you die? (Test Questions)

If I do something worthy of a hero, maybe forever.

Yeah, like stopping an alien invasion…

PARANOID: 6/10

ANDROID: 3/10

(No change)

A♢: Lab (Scientific life of the station, related to substances, experiments, reports.)

As I stumble down the corridor I must have taken that time I blacked out and got in trouble, I see the lab I once did some repairs in. No booze in there.

They did have a bunch of stuff locked away in a red glass cabinet that caught my eye. Had the circle with the arrow symbol for men on it.

PARANOID: 6/10

ANDROID: 4/10

8♤: Surveillance Office (Security installations, related to the safety of the station.)

Oh, shit. Must’ve made another wrong turn. This sign says “Surveillance Office.”

That’s how the aliens keep an eye on us. I should probably find that booze and get back to my bunk. I got plans to make.

PARANOID: 7/10

ANDROID: 4/10

3♢: Sickbay (Scientific life of the station, related to substances, experiments, reports.)

Wait, I remember this place. This is where I was before they took me to the brig. Wait, Roscoe was one of the fucking guys that took me to the brig. So he’s in on it. He’s not an android, obviously. He’s an MP for the alien army.

I find some pills and gulp them down. I hope I got the right ones.

PARANOID: 8/10

ANDROID: 4/10

K♧: At what point is a technologically enhanced human not a human anymore? (Test Questions)

Well, I’m not stupid. When people talk about following their heart, they really mean their brain. So as long as your brain is human, I guess you’re still a human.

They seem to like it when I said brain. They probably want us for our brains.

To eat em.

J♧: How replaceable are you? (Test Questions)

Ain’t never been nobody like me, and never will be again.

Damn straight.

PARANOID: 8/10

ANDROID: 4/10

(No change)

5♤: Shields system (Security installations, related to the safety of the station.)

My heart is racing. I feel a little light-headed. Trying to get back to my bunk, but I’m a little lost. This place is a rat maze. Did I go down the ladder yet?

Oh shit, it’s Roscoe. I stumble back behind the corner before he sees me. He’s going into the shielding system room. Ain’t never been in there.

What’s that alien fucker up to?

PARANOID: 9/10

ANDROID: 4/10

J♤: If I steal a loaf of bread from you and eat it, when does the bread itself cease to be yours and become mine? (Test Questions)

Just try stealing from me. I’ll reach down your damn throat and get it back.

K♤: Is the concept of “you” continuous or does past “you” continually fade into present and future “you”? (Test Questions)

Present and future me? What the hell are you on about? Are we done yet?

I’m sweating, but I’m feeling good now. STRONG. Try that alien mindfuck on ol’ Harold J. Deemis and you’re about to find out what future “me” has in store for future “you.”

PARANOID: 9/10

ANDROID: 4/10

(No change)

9♢: Biological recycling area (Scientific life of the station, related to substances, experiments, reports.)

I follow Roscoe as he makes his rounds. He comes out of the lab with a locked box with a biohazard symbol on it and I follow him down to the biological recycling area. It’s a small room with an incinerator in it. As he passes inside, I sneak up and slip my foot in to keep the door from closing behind him.

I can’t tell if I’m panting from the drugs I took or the excitement of saving the human race, but I know this is my chance. I lick my dry lips several times and watch him from behind as he opens the waist-level door and the fire inside the incinerator turns him to a dark silhouette. He bends over with the box…

Time to be a hero.

I rush him.

PARANOID: 10/10

ANDROID: 4/10

They say I’m human

…but I knew that already. They also say that I’m lucky to be alive after the toxicology report was examined. And also, I killed a man.

I got off easy. I’m going to be spending the next year in rehab at Lunar Base Alpha. I’m surprised it wasn’t a prison colony on Io, or worse. I’m ashamed of myself. But I will dedicate myself to sobriety and being a good father to Harry Jr.

Signed,

Harold J. Deemis

CONFIDENTIAL ADDENDUM

Despite drug-induced psychosis (brought on by a combination of alcohol and amphetamines), Harold J. Deemis did what our team of interrogators could not. He found the android infiltrator planted here by our enemies from the Mars colony. He also prevented the destruction of the bio-weapon we have been developing here on Asimov Station to eradicate the threat they represent.

Because of this, we have commuted his sentence through back channels and remanded him to therapeutic rehabilitation on the Moon.

Earth will never know the debt they owe him. And we’d like to keep it that way because Harold J. Deemis is a broken individual. But even a broken clock is right twice a day, as they say.

Signed,

Anthony Giribaldi

Director of Management, Asimov Station

The post 100% Man appeared first on O Solo Mayo.

Author: Amanda P.

The post Khalid the Bartender appeared first on O Solo Mayo.

It is the early 90s, and the setting is CAMP WALDEN, a writing camp for teens sponsored by the EMERSON SOCIETY that lies on a small, isolated island somewhere in the Northeast United States. MIKE, our hero, has been coming here every Summer for years, but this is his first time as a Counselor. And this time, something unwelcome has found its way onto the island.

Game: Sleepaway

Every time I get off the boat and walk down the wooden pier into the camp, this place feels both familiar and completely new at the same time. Somehow, the memory of the previous Summer is gone and hope springs eternal, like Opening Day for the Red Sox. You tell yourself this year is going to be different…

But we all know how it’s going to end.

It didn’t take long to reconnect with Kiki and Roger. Like, not in a good way. Last year was their first year as Counselors, so they pretty much left me alone. But we had a years-long history as Campers together, and we got right into it as part of my unofficial welcome ceremony.

Here are the highlights:

1. KIKI – “What made me stop having a one-sided crush on you?”

Kiki gave her take on the situation two years ago when I tried to kiss her. I didn’t handle rejection well and it made the rest of the Summer awkward and sucked about as bad as you can imagine.

“Your constant drama around me was no fun for anyone. It was a real drag. But it looks like you’re taking your writing seriously—you’re really good, you know—and last year you seemed to gain some confidence. But, anyway, I hope we can get back to being friends again. You make me laugh—I like to laugh.”

2. ROGER – “How did you teach me the most important lesson I could learn?”

After she left The Bunks, Roger came over, nudged me, and sat on the end of the bed together. We sat there in silence for a solid minute, then he put his arm over my shoulders in a big brotherly fashion.

“Maybe you didn’t like what I had to say about Kiki, but you needed to see you were hung up on someone that isn’t ‘all that.’ You’re a funny dude and it looks like you’re doing well with the writing. Chicks dig poets. You’ll do fine with the ladies, bro.”

Ugh. Maybe I should have just stayed home this Summer and gotten a job bagging groceries or something. But this paid better, and I wanted a Macintosh like the ones they have here in the Writing Lab. I had to use the Macs in the English department center to do all of my assignments during my first semester as a Freshman in college and now I want one for my dorm room.

MIKE – REGULAR MOVE: Get up to some mischief

Alone later in the Counselor bunks, I pulled out the pack of firecrackers I smuggled in. I figured I’d make it a tradition to start the first night at the Fire Pit with a bang. Someone did it last year and it was hilarious.

It did not go well. It took a while before the Black Cats went off. When they did, it scared the crap out of Charlie, the Camp Cat. He took off running in a cartoon way that made me feel bad for the old guy. The Camper named Blair who had lit the fire was still really close to it. She took a few steps back in shock. When she realized it was firecrackers, she just up and dropped her stick, marshmallow and all, on the ground and immediately headed for The Bunks. A Camper named Rosemonde grabbed a big mug of water and put out the fire. So no smores tonight. Conrad, another Camper, took the opportunity to talk about his old neighborhood where if you heard fireworks at night, it was probably somebody getting shot in a drug deal.

KIKI – WEAK MOVE (+1 TOKEN/1 TOTAL): Act in a way that upsets and spoils the heart of the camp.

Then it got worse. Kiki got up in Roger’s face and accused him of doing it. Right in front of the Campers, they start going at it.

ROGER – REGULAR MOVE: Intimidate someone with a sudden display of emotional intensity.

“You better get out of my face. I didn’t do shit!”

CHRISTOPHER – WEAK MOVES (+1 TOKEN/1 TOTAL): Get involved in a conflict that’s none of your business and try to mediate.

“Hey, hey, heeeey… let’s calm down,” said Christopher, one of the older Counselors. He led the Final Day Play last year. All the girls just loooove him. I kinda hate him for it, even though he’s a really nice guy.
But Kiki doesn’t back down, “We could get in trouble for fireworks. This isn’t the first time Roger’s done this!”
“We’re not in the city limits; you don’t know what you’re talking about. And I didn’t do shit!”
“Language,” interjected Christopher.

Meanwhile, I was standing across from them, trying to figure out if I should say anything or not. Before I could decide, everyone scattered.

ROGER – GIVES AWAY “THE FIELD”
GIVE AWAY WHEN: You need to take a breather from the energy.

Kiki headed toward the Lake, Christopher went in the direction the cat ran off to, and Roger headed towards me.
“I didn’t fricking do it,” he said, frowning.
Then he grinned, “But I did do it last year.”
He headed to the Woods.

ROGER – PICKS UP “THE WOODS”
PICK UP WHEN: A scene is set in the Woods.

I followed…

Roger sat down on the stone wall in a gap that wasn’t there the last time I saw it. He pulled out a butterfly knife and started flipping it open and closed. He noticed me approaching.

“So you want to play some football tomorrow? I could use a big guy like you blocking for me,” he said.

From “THE LINDWORM” in the rulebook:
The Lindworm is the monstrosity that haunts our summer camp. It is the bane of our existence, and will destroy everything we’ve built if we’re not careful. It is the trauma of history, the collective pain of a cruel society, and the violence inflicted upon the marginalized and the vulnerable.

ROGER – WEAK MOVE (+1 TOKEN/1 TOTAL): Invite the Lindworm to act upon the group.
DRAW 3 CARDS, CHOOSE 1…

A noise…

“Did you hear that?” I asked.

“Probably deer. I heard the guy that owned this island before the Emerson Society bought it had stocked it with deer. So he could shoot em. They’re still around. And I’m surprised they haven’t taken over the camp since there are no predators on the island.”

Then there was a louder noise, like something falling out of a tree.
“C’mon,” said Roger. “Let’s check it out.” He pulled out a flashlight. The camp area was lit by light towers around its perimeter, but the Woods beyond it was pitch black at night. I’d never wandered out there after sunset.

ROGER – VIA “THE WOODS”
CHOOSE 2 AESTHETIC ELEMENTS:
– Old Growth
– Tangled
&
MOVE: Reveal a new secret that must be grappled with.

He pushed away the deadfall on the other side as I squeezed through the gap in the low stone wall. His flashlight moved up and around, catching glimpses of twisted dead tree limbs and matted vines. He then lowered it to the ground so we could see where we were going.

“Whoa, what is that?” asked Roger. I followed the light and got a closer look.
“I think it’s… Is that…? That’s poop, isn’t it?”
“Oh, nasty. That’s definitely bigger than deer shit,” said Roger.
He suddenly shined the light in my face, blinding me.
“Mike, did you shit in the woods?” he laughed.
“What the f–, dude? Am I a bear? No! Get that light out of my eyes!”

We walked in the direction of the earlier noise but didn’t see anything in the tangled old trees. I was getting a weird feeling. I’d never felt scared here on the island—not even once. I tried to think of something to talk about. I thought back to why I followed him.
“Hey, man, sorry about the firecracker thing earlier. That was me. I did it.”
Roger made a snorting noise, a small laugh, “I don’t care.”
“No, I mean, I didn’t mean to start an argument.”
“Aw, man, forget about her. Kiki is a bi—” He stopped short, and I saw why in the light of the flashlight.

A red, bloody mess was hanging from the branches of a low-twisting tree. It took a moment to recognize it as a deer. The antlers had been ripped off and the stomach ripped open. The skin was mostly gone. Looking at it had me crawling out of my own.
“I guess I was wrong about no predators,” Roger said thoughtfully.
“We should REALLY get back…”
“Weird. Most of the muscles are still on it. Like, it didn’t even eat the meat.”

FROM EARLIER… LINDWORM ACTION CARD – Ace of Diamonds: “A vivisected deer scattered on the branches.”

From TIPS in the rulebook:
The Lindworm enjoys playing with its food.

“We should get back now,” I said, trying not to sound scared.
Then I heard a rustling behind us, and as Roger turned with the light, it lit up the crazed eyes of a man. A man holding a rifle.
I ran.

MIKE – REGULAR MOVE: Take action, leaving yourself vulnerable.

I headed toward the glow from the camp’s light towers and was lucky I make it to the wall in the dark without falling. Then my luck ran out and I slipped on something and crashed into the wall, flipping over it. My cries of pain drew Christopher, who immediately picked up and handed my glasses to me. I was stuttering, trying to warn him about the man in the Woods…

CHRISTOPHER – GIVES AWAY “THE MAGIC”
GIVE AWAY WHEN: You want to ask the Magic for help.

CHRISTOPHER – PICKS UP “THE FIELD”
PICK UP WHEN: Someone is frantic or hurried.
CHOOSE 2 AESTHETIC ELEMENTS:
– Vibrant
– Teeming with Life
&
MOVE: Resolve tensions through play.

Christopher glanced back over his shoulder at the Field where the Campers were playing with sparklers, running around, and drawing shapes in the dim light of early evening.
“Slow down,” he said. “Tell me what happened.”

MIKE – GIVES AWAY “THE STRANGENESS”
GIVE AWAY WHEN: You need to confront something profoundly odd.

MIKE – PICKS UP “THE MAGIC”
PICK UP WHEN: There’s some electricity in the air and it feels right.
CHOOSE 2 VISUAL METAPHORS:
– Flashlights
– Eyes in the Darkness

We’re in danger. I’ve always been cool in a crisis.

MIKE – WEAK MOVE (+1 TOKEN/1 TOTAL): Bungle something you were confident you could handle.

But the words stumbled out of my mouth: BLOOD. ANIMAL. GUN! I landed hard and I couldn’t catch my breath. I tried to stop and collect myself. Looking back, I saw flashlight beams peeking out from the Woods behind the wall. I remembered those crazy-looking eyes appearing out of the darkness.

As I started to lose my shit, I was suddenly aware of a strong smell of actual shit.

CHRISTOPHER – WEAK MOVES (+1 TOKEN/2 TOTAL): Be overcome by someone else’s fear, anger, or grief.

I looked to Christopher for help, but he looked scared, too. He grabbed at me to pick me up, but I was too heavy for him. I think at that point he knelt down behind me, using me as a human shield.

Then, instead of dying at the hands of a crazed killer, I died from embarrassment.

ROGER – STRONG MOVES (–1 TOKEN/0 TOTAL): Reinterpret the Lindworm’s play, channeling it through your weapon.

The guy with the gun was Dwight, the caretaker of the island. He lived back in the Woods. Dwight said he thinks something—probably a coyote or maybe a bobcat that can swim well—had made it to the island, killed a deer, and gotten scared off by the firecrackers before it could make a meal of it.

FROM EARLIER… MIKE – VIA “THE STRANGENESS”
MOVE: Create a Minor Character with ominous intentions.
STRANGENESS CHARACTER: THE GUIDE

Roger held up a chunk of bloody muscle proudly, “I cut me off a venison steak!”
“Ya know, what you’re gonna wanna do is soak that overnight in buttermilk. Gets the gamey flavor right out,” said Dwight whimsically.

He stood there casually with his hand in his pocket, the loaded shotgun popped open and resting safely across his wrist. The stock of the weapon was tucked under his armpit. It looked really cool. I couldn’t take my eyes off the swirling designs etched in its metal.

“Chris, we got any buttermilk in the cafeteria?” asked Roger, blood dripping from between his fingers.

“I don’t know man, and don’t call me ‘Chris.’”
Kiki had wandered over to see what the commotion is about.

Dwight made eye contact with me. His eyes weren’t crazed. They were concerned.
“Son, you got some scat on yo shoe.”
It took looking down to realize what ‘scat’ meant. ‘Scat’ is what I slipped in. ‘Scat’ was all over my Nikes.
While Roger laughed at me, I saw Christopher checking himself to make sure I hadn’t gotten any on him.
“Oh, that is so gross,” said Kiki from behind them.

So, I guess I’m going to wash the bobcat shit off my shoe and go to bed early. Great start to my Summer.

I hate my life.

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My First Playthrough: Frank Gillespie

The Final Journal

Happy Halloween!!!

The post Emily is Six appeared first on O Solo Mayo.

More Info: RPG Geek Entry

My Teacher & The Location

He was just a connection to me at first. I was there for the package. I nodded to his musings, to let him think I was listening. Then I took what was mine and left for the long drive back to civilization.

He was thin, as can be expected from someone in the business of cooking. Older looking than his years, and strange of movement. His clothes were a mix of discarded items he stole from the Goodwill dropbox. Long dirty blonde curly hair held behind him with a series of rubber bands, giving it the look of a braid. He probably did this to protect his hair, his product, or both as he cooked. And he cooked constantly in his little isolated hut in the back of his forgotten sliver of Alaskan land. No neighbors to complain of the chemical smells that poured out, souring the fresh northern air.

But after everything in my life came crashing down, I started listening more as he sat at his computer. First thing to catch my ear was the GCP. It stood for the Global Consciousness Project. A crazy but real project that has found a connection between world events that grab everyone’s attention and disturbances in the measured randomness of random number generators. The day the two towers fell in New York, the randomness stopped being random.

“I run the same project here, on my land. That’s why I make this stuff,” he said, holding up the package I had come to buy. “It amplifies my ability to affect probability a million-fold. Maybe a billion.”

“Technomancy?” I ask. I got that word from a roleplaying game, Mage: The Ascension, that I had read in the 90s, but never played.

He smiled at that. Ugh, his teeth. “Yeah… I thought there was more to you than that snake you ride.”

Then he grew serious. “You take what I take. Have you seen anything… unusual?”

“Other than my house magically becoming empty?!” I blurted. The product has a raw, jagged edge that cuts inside and out. He reached out to soothe me, and I recoiled from his possible touch. The product does that to me, also.

“Ok, ok. But no, I mean do you see anything in the corners?”

I sat with that question. I knew exactly what that meant. On the internet, people that don’t sleep, like me… “They call them ‘shadow people,’ right?”

He just nodded at me for a good minute before blurting, “Let me teach you some stuff,” and turning to his computer. The first thing he showed me was a video recorded on one of the many cameras on his property.

I moved in with him soon after seeing the video and other recorded experiments he had conducted. Not planned, but the drive home and the emptiness there distracted me from learning. I left the empty house with my laptop and work equipment and headed south to his small ranch. The extreme weather in Fishhook was nearly unbearable, but the product kept me warm. But a coldness in my blood would not go away ever since I saw that video…

Of the demon.

One

9: You keep seeing your anger’s target in your vision’s periphery. What do they look like? How does this make you feel?

• Pull from the tower. ⊕

K: The Teacher grows more wild-eyed and unstable every day. If The Ritual’s strain breaks them, what do you fear they will do?

• Do not discard this card. Place it on the table.

4: The Teacher tells you about another time they performed The Ritual. What went wrong? What price did The Demon exact?

Q: Something in your preparations went wrong — what?

5: The Ritual demands absolute faith. What are your doubts?

• Pull from the tower. ⊕

4: You dream of The Ritual. Does it work? If not, what happens?

For weeks I poured over his notes and “experiments.” And we consumed more and more of his product.

“It’s almost right; it’s almost time,” he kept telling me.

One afternoon, I was looking around his empty stable and must have passed but stayed physically awake—like a blacked-out drunk still on his feet. The difference is I remember what happened. I started seeing my children in the “corners” where I had before seen human-shaped shadows while taking his product. My family, like the shadows, would disappear if I looked their way. It was a cruel game my mind played.

And then I hallucinated (I realized later) us performing the ritual he had been slowly leading up to. The person that stole my family from me was consumed by the demon in the video. My family came back. I rushed to greet them. I reached out to my children and the hallucination ceased. My teacher stood there just outside the stable.

I was confused. I looked back to where we had initiated the ritual but only saw the empty stable.

“You okay?”

“I… sure, yeah,” I muttered, still adjusting to reality versus the dream I was having. “Why do you have a stable, all this equipment, but no horse.”

“When I summoned the demon, I couldn’t control it. I gave it my horse, so it’d go back to… wherever. But next time, I know I can control it.”

After weeks of him tweaking (pun intended) the mixture, he made a batch that got us both sick.

“We’re ready to start the ritual,” he told me.

“No, we’re not. We’re poisoned,” I snap back at him, rubbing my throat. My lymph nodes were so swollen that my words were a croak. He’d done more of his own product over the last weeks than I’d ever thought a human could consume. He was out of control. I feared he would kill us both with the next toxic batch.

“You have to trust me for the magic to work,” he said, forcing himself to speak calmly.

“This isn’t magic!” I yelled at him. “This is just—”

“THINK OF A CARD!” He yelled in my face. I recoiled. But I thought of a card. The Jack of Hearts came to mind first.

He picked up a red thumbtack from the desk near us and whipped his arm in a blur.

“OK, now tell me your card.”

I did.

His house looked like it belonged to a serial killer. Or someone trying to find a serial killer… every wall was covered in some random nonsense. I had seen so many insane things in that house, they all blended together and faded into the background. But when he walked across the room, I saw the corkboard where he had taped an entire deck of cards in rows and columns. He tapped one a couple of times, so I took a few steps through the trash on the floor to look closer. Then I saw the red thumbtack embedded in it. One step closer in the dim room and I saw which one.

J

Two

1d6 = 1

6: What retribution did you attempt before this desperate magic?

He forced us to take a break from using the product and nourish our bodies before doing the ritual.

“Lots of simple foods—no meat, no protein,” he explained.

“What, like purify our bodies like Buddhists?”

“No,” he smiled slightly. “We’ve been eating so little the past weeks that our stomachs can’t digest anything but sugar and starches. We mainly need electrolytes.” He tapped the side of his head—wait, when did he shave his head?

“Most people don’t understand electricity. Brain, computer… both run on electricity. That’s how this all works.”

I stood there trying to make sense of it. Probably with the look of a dog, head tilted.

“Just drink your Gatorade.”

After enough food came sleep. Feeling normal again brought back the urge to pull the photo from my wallet.

A side effect of the product was it hid away your emotions. But looking at my wife and three children brought waves of sadness and remorse. I bawled like a baby, racking sorrow doubling me over.

I loved my children like no other love I’d ever known. A parent understands this. My wife understood this, especially. That’s why she pushed me and prodded me and threatened to leave with the children. She wanted me to snap.

She wanted to destroy me. I just wanted to stop her from taking the only things that mattered to me.

As a result, she got the bruises she needed to make it happen.

How can anyone want to kill someone’s heart—a heart that beats for the same children you love?

All over something stupid like the product I use to work hard day and night and make a better life for them. She never appreciated all I did for them. They belong with me.

I’m going to get them back. We start the ritual tomorrow.

Three

1d6 = 4

A ”The Awakening”: For the first time, a shiver of dark power passes through you: The Awakening, The Ritual’s true beginning. The Awakening

manifests bodily. How did this transformation feel? Do you feel stronger or more afraid? What manifests? Where does it appear?

Do not discard this card. Place it beside the tower with D6+4 totems on it.

1d6+4 = 10 TOTEMS

• Pull from the tower. ⊕

J: The Ritual demands you harm another. Can you?

• Pull from the tower. ⊕

3: Something about The Ritual is giving you pause? What? Can you overcome it?

• If the A is on the table, pull from the tower. ⊕

Remove totem roll = NO

“Now we connect to Sycamore and play the Game of Life,” he proclaimed.

He had already explained to me the key to the technomancy ritual is the quantum computer named “Sycamore.” A quantum computer brought unimaginable processing power. But an old video game?

“It’s a cellular automaton.”

“No idea,” I admitted. The product we had ingested was starting to kick in. My hair follicles felt like they were crackling with electricity.

“Never mind. Put this on and sit down,” he said.

He helped me put on a headband with an LED headlight attached. I sat at the computer, which displayed a grey grid that reminded me of Minesweeper. He turned on the headlight, first to white light, then red. He flipped the headlight down, so the red light covered my face. I saw my red reflection on the computer screen next to the words, “John Conway’s Game of Life.”

I felt ridiculous. It hit me all at once that I’m the plaything of a psycho and I’ve been wasting weeks getting spun with a cook, failing to get my work done, and copping a huge habit I may not be able to break. A cold watery wave of panic swept over me.

“Focus on what you want. Push aside your doubts and expect to get it. This isn’t a wish. This is a demand.”

Visualizing my three little ones, I pushed through the negative voices in my head. I imagined looking out from the balcony of our home, down to the backyard where they are playing. I saw the tops of their heads as they played and my wife’s disapproving face pops into view.

“OK,” he said. “Keep that in your head and click some grey squares. Make a pattern. Whatever comes to mind.”

I went with Jack of Hearts again. I drew a J and a heart shape.

“Click START.”

I did and the yellow blocks danced on the screen in patterns that moved around the screen. Then they started to settle. I saw three small shapes stabilize and stop moving. Then three blinking patterns stabilized.

“It’s like a cartoon image of what I just pictured,” I told him, my voice shaking. I pointed out the tops of their heads, the three small shapes. And the three blinking patterns formed my wife’s face.

“Yes, it’s working for you,” he said. “This is how it started for me. Not exactly, but—”

“What’s next,” I asked impatiently.

“Well, let’s take a break and—”

“NO!” I screamed as I turned to glare at him. I was huffing and puffing like I did that night I hit Janet.

He stared at me with shock, like he was afraid I was going to hit him.

I rubbed my eyes. Felt like I might have popped a blood vessel.

“Man, I… I gotta go cook.” He left jacketless out into the 20-degree night before I could respond.

I looked in the mirror, the red headlight still shining in my face. And somehow, I wasn’t surprised by what I saw. He taught me about the Kundalini, which translates from Sanskrit to “coiled snake.” He said its energy rests, dormant, coiled at the base of the spin. It lives in the red chakra—thus, the red light to call it forth.

I admired my new eyes in the mirror and felt exhilarated. AWAKENED. The pupils have elongated to an elliptical shape.

I’ve been riding the snake for weeks… Now I AM the snake.

The next morning, he returned without a word and showed me something on his phone. An obituary. It said that mathematician John Conway, the creator of the Game of Life, was dead.

“I did that,” I said plainly, and went back to running my Chaos Technomancy experiments…

Four

1d6 = 2

5: You have doubts about your path, is there anything your transgressor could do to make you abandon The Ritual? That they could do to give you peace?

• Pull from the tower. ⊕

K: The Demon senses your attempts at manipulation. How does it use its powers warning you to stop?

• Do not discard this card. Place it on the table.

Remove totem roll = NO

He had refused to give me more of the product until my eyes returned to normal. It never happened.

I stayed at the computer, eating box after box of candy, the only thing I could keep down. Eventually, the lack of sleep and desire for more product brought my emotions to the surface, like exposed nerve endings. I looked at the picture of my family again.

I don’t want to destroy Janet. I still love her. If only she would bring them back to me. But she won’t. My anger rises again. This is what has held me back—my feelings for her. There’s a part of me still clinging to a hopeless hope.

I make up my mind, and bring up the live GCP connection. I feed my anger and the desire to make her suffer and die and I see the point on the real-time graph rising. Probability is skewed off the charts. I hear a gasp from behind me.

“I’ve never seen it go that high,” he says—I’d forgotten he was even in the room.

“Dude, you need to stop whatever you’re doing.”

My breathing draws the serpent energy up, up higher. In through the nose, and out with a puff through my mouth. I’m building up for my strike at her. Across the wires, the wavelengths, I will crash reality down on her.

And then a shadow passes across my screen. The monitor goes black. Thunder rumbles outside, beyond the mountains.

Then quiet.

Then he whispers, “It’s coming.”

I smile to myself without turning to face him.

“GOOD.”

Five

1d6 = 5

A: How will you utilize The Demon’s powers to make your anger’s target suffer? What kind of curse or suffering do you wish to inflict as punishment for the tragedy?

• If The Teacher (Red Joker) is on the table, do not discard this card. Place it beside The Teacher. From now on when rolling to remove a totem, you succeed on a 5 or 6.

8: If The Demon offered peace instead of vengeance, would you accept? Could you?

If you could, remove a totem from The Awakening (A). Otherwise pull from the Tower. ⊗

GAME ENDS

Prologue

The cocky little shit bought it all. And then he actually bought it.

“It’s coming,” I whispered. And then WHACK! That was some cold-ass shit.

Hook, line, and sinker. The fake video off YouTube, the thumbtack trick, and the fake GCP page were just genius on my part, I must admit. The new age shit gets them every time. Stupid tweaker didn’t even try to look up the math guy—he died over a year ago.

I’m like the David Copperfield… no, no… the Ricky Jay of serial killers. But like the character he played in House of Games.

Fuck, that was sweet. Welp, time to go dig another hole under the stable.

The post The Product of Revenge appeared first on O Solo Mayo.

As the micro black holes encircling Icarus make an orbital satellite defense system improbable, Curtis heads to the Monument to meet with Aurora for drinks. This is where they began their interrupted romance, but he’s focused on discussing the relocation of their defense systems. He has an idea…

Round 3 – Aurora Valenus

Aurora is half-drunk already when she arrives at the bar to meet Curtis. She jokes about the breaking reports of data showing a sudden boom in population.

“It seems to have started around the time we first met,” she slurs. “Did we make the whole world crazy with lust?”

Curtis is not amused. He orders stim drinks to sober her up and pitches his idea: “We move the defense systems to inside the Monument.”

Round 3 – Resolution

Curtis and Aurora combine their rolls: 1 success & 1 failure = success

The commission approves the idea with one caveat: Do not disturb the historic time capsules at the core of the monument. The records of the development of the Longevity Serum, it turns out, have been encapsulated within the Monument for posterity.

As the plan is set into motion, Curtis notices that Aurora has grown distant. Perhaps it was a mistake to end their relationship the way he did. Despite his success and his near-eternal youth, he has lately felt an emptiness inside. He had never even considered starting a family until recently. Maybe whatever is causing the population boom is hitting him, too?

Curtis considers that maybe the recent cracks in the perceived permanence of Icarus have made the people realize that nothing lasts forever. But that doesn’t even make any sense, he realizes as he calls Aurora to meet him for a drink. Why bring a child into a world with a limited future?

She doesn’t answer his call.

Round 4 – Aurora Valenus

Aurora shows up unannounced at Curtis’ door one night. She is dead sober. She takes him by the hand and leads him to the bedroom. She tells him she loves him as she kisses him tenderly. Later, as they lie together, Aurora says she has something important to tell him. But when he wakes up the next morning, she is gone.

In the days that follow, there is another protest begins at the Monument. But this time, it is much, much bigger, and the protestors use their numbers to take over the monolithic tower. Rumors spread about the time capsules hidden within the Monument… rumors that Curtis knows are true.

Round 4 – Curtis Kai

Curtis, who lives in housing near the Monument, takes it upon himself to monitor the situation. When he realizes that the protestors are trying to break into the insides of the Monument, he takes it upon himself to infiltrate the group to get a closer look. If he doesn’t do something, the group’s meddling could take down Icarus’ most important defenses against aggressors like the Triini Empire.

Then the news breaks…

Round 4 – Resolution

Aurora fails her roll. 

The story of the immortal Leaders feeding on brains is quickly quashed. The promised evidence never comes to light and the protestors are blamed for the ridiculous rumors. In fact, the news soon broadcasts the real truth: the protestors are being organized by covert operatives from the Triini Empire. The military descends on the protestors occupying the Monument.

Curtis fails his roll. 

THE TOWER FALLS

Epilogue

What caused the tower to collapse?

Curtis found what was really inside the Monument. He found the (partially malfunctioning) machinery within, which was broadcasting the signal. It enlarged the pineal gland of the citizens of Icarus that had taken the serum. A side effect of the enlargement, which affected the nearby thalamus and hypothalamus, was decreased emotions and motivated behaviors like sexuality, thus the low birth rate among serumed citizens. This is why the damage to the Monument during the initial protest in the story led to a baby boom.

The Leaders had long ago discovered that the serum’s effects wore off eventually, but that a periodic “booster” shot made from enhanced serum molecules taken from a serumed person did seem to grant immortality. Those molecules could only be found in the pineal gland. In order to have enough, the Leaders needed a LOT of citizens. It was the sole reason Icarus was founded.

What happened to the characters in the aftermath?

Curtis pieced together the truth after he tracked down the evidence that had been stolen from the Leaders by Aurora. Aurora, however, was never seen again after the night she told Curtis she loved him.

Curtis never gave up the slim hope that she had escaped the planet and was maybe somewhere in the galaxy raising the child they had made that night. Deep down he knew the Leaders had silenced her permanently.

What became of the civilization after its fall?

Curtis was able to lower enough of the defenses of Icarus to allow the citizenry to be liberated by the Triini Empire. The Leaders had originally been part of a rouge group of Triini scientists that had developed the immortality serum. The Triini were actually peaceful, freedom-loving naturalists, and they gave control of Icarus to its people. Curtis became their first leader, and he renamed the planet-city Aurora, in her honor.

The post The Fountainhead of Youth – PART 3 appeared first on O Solo Mayo.

Curtis is assigned to oversee the repairs to the Monument. Meanwhile, something odd is happening near Daedalus, the largest moon of Icarus.

Round 1 – Aurora Valenus

Aurora is sent to assess the damage from the protests. That includes damage done to the Monument and damage done to Icarus’ galactic PR. Many planets and nations in the galaxy do not approve of the methods that Icarus employs to grow their empire.

Round 1 – Resolution

Curtis and Aurora combine their rolls: 1 success & 1 failure = success

Aurora hates the diplomacy aspect of her job. She would rather rejoin the military, but this promotion came with an instant perk: a dose of the serum. Since receiving her dose, she has become a chronic alcoholic as many do post-dose, especially since the serum prevents permanent damage from this behavior.

She runs into Curtis at a bar close to the repair site. They served in the military together 15 years earlier and Curtis barely looks like he’s aged. His wealthy family ensured he had a dose while still in his prime. Curtis is also a lush, and they hook up.

In discussing the issues with repairs to the vast titanium covering of the Monument and the sudden scarcity of the metal, they create a renovation plan. The plan is accepted by the Leaders and the titanium is stripped from the Monument and repurposed to expand the fleet. This also provides PR relief as a large number of the poor are added to the expanded military, which is a path to obtaining a dose of the Longevity Serum… if they survive long enough to retire.

The expanded military is able to push back the Triini Empire from resource-rich planets areas of the galaxy. The plan’s success earns Aurora the position of Military Advisor reporting directly to the Leaders. She is happy to escape her strictly diplomatic role as Attaché. Her first assignment is to Daedalus. This effectively ends her romance with Curtis, who refuses to leave his true love, the city he helps build and shape.

Round 2 – Aurora Valenus

Aurora is sent to Daedalus to help investigate the anomalous distortions surrounding it for possible enemy involvement. While there, she hears word that the Triini Empire has shifted strategies. They are now establishing blockades to prevent the export of food to planets that are negotiating with Icarus. (Starforged oracle roll for “Descriptor + Focus” = “Isolated Route”)

Round 2 – Curtis Kai

Curtis is working hard on the finishing touches to a new city addition for the newly joined population of Farpoint when disaster strikes.  (Starforged oracle roll for “Settlement Name” = “Farpoint”)

Round 2 – Resolution

Curtis rolls a success. Aurora rolls a failure.

Despite the population-level “suicide bombing” by the immigrant population of Farpoint, the engineering marvel of Icarus’ planet-city proves more than adequate at protecting the wider population. The destruction of an entire section of Icarus caused only minor consequences for the surrounding citizens. Curtis is rewarded for his work in leading the damage control and repairs in the aftermath of the Farpoint attack and is promoted to a role as Civil Engineering Technical Specialist working directly for the Leaders.

Aurora and her reconnaissance team come up with no answers for the issues affecting Daedalus until it is too late. Daedalus’ top-secret quantum server base is the primary computing source powering much of Icarus’ operations. And it is almost entirely responsible for the city’s orbital defenses. It is all but taken offline by what is later revealed to be weaponized micro black holes, also called quantum mechanical black holes.   (Starforged oracle roll for “Action + Theme” = “Attack Technology”)

Curtis and Aurora are reunited as part of the commission to shore up the vulnerability.

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“Better is the end of a thing than the beginning…” — Ecclesiastes 7:8

Game: Icarus

More Info: Review by Dicebreaker

Setup

To make the game work for solo, I decided to set up for a two-player game and use oracles to give each character their own personality. I will play them the same way a GM plays NPCs–as true to their personality as possible. My game will focus on the last days of a powerful city that spans the entire planet of Icarus. I decide to use a human-centric sci-fi setting, so I will primarily be using the oracles from the Ironsworn: Starforged preview edition.

The three Pillar cards I draw for setup: Health, Diplomacy, and Architecture. One must be assigned to the Monument (I choose Health) as inspiration for its purpose/significance.

The others are split between my two characters. One of the character’s Pillar cards must use the Weakness printed on the card. I decide to use the Weakness on the Diplomacy card to give Icarus an external threat.

Character 1: Curtis Kai, Chief Civil Engineer, takes the Architecture Pillar. His Motive is to PRESERVE THE CITY. I will use his Motive and his characteristics, “INSENSITIVE, LAW-ABIDING” to determine his actions in the game. He seems like a pretty straightforward character who will focus on his duties as an engineer and not worry too much about how it affects the citizens.

Character 2: Aurora Valenus, Military Attaché, takes the Diplomacy Pillar. She wants to PROTECT THE LEADERS, so I make her former military that has advanced to an ambassador role.

I decide her “AFFLICTED, ADDICTED, and GENEROUS” characteristics mean she has grown tired of diplomacy, copped a drug or alcohol habit, and is generous with her time, volunteering for extra work in fighting the biggest threat to Icarus: The Triini Empire.

The last part of setup is to draw two cards from Story Deck. I decide to answer these questions in a way that will bring our two characters together. Here is the final board:

The game will start as our characters meet to survey the damage to the Monument caused by the protests. And this will introduce arguably the most interesting aspect of the game: the tower of dice that represents the Monument and, by extension, the civilization itself…

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