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The Man Unmasked
United States
Jackson
MS
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Campaign information: I wanted to take the characters from normal, every day people to stark raving madmen. I thought using A Penny For My Thoughts would be a good way to make sure they have well developed, realistic characters. We used variant questionnaire 1 with the standard Facts and Reassurances sheet.
Setting: Pacific Northwest, primarily in Seattle and the surrounding area.
Characters:
Dr. Kevin Eisner - a zookeeper, with an insatiable hunger for knowledge (played by Rob)
Barry "The Badger" Rogers - the jock who didn't make it (played by David)
Anaba Featherhawk - Former EOD expert turned Librarian with PTSD (played by Melissa)
Tony Harris - Downtrodden CPA who just lost his wife (played by Matt)
Bradley Murdoch/"Gunderson" - Man on the run after killing the cops who framed him (played by Chris)
Session 0: "Wake Up, Alice"
The characters find themselves in a comfortable room sitting around a table with no memory of how they came to be there or even who they are. A man in a doctor's coat, Peter Thompkins, enters the room and explains that they've all lost their memories at roughly the same time and after identifying them via their fingerprints were able to determine, after speaking with friends and family members, that they all began acting a little strangely at roughly the same time after an incident at a small bed and breakfast town a number of miles north of Seattle. They have all agreed to undergo an experimental new memory recovery treatment using the Mnemosyne drug. They of course don't remember any of this because, in order for the treatment to work, they must be truly tabula rasa; they need to enter the treatment as a blank slate. The doctor explains that because the characters represent such an unusual case, they'll be taking the process slow. They will regain past memories up to the initial incident at the small down and then work their way forward to the trauma that caused the memory loss.
The memory triggers were as follows:
The crunch of gravel and broken glass under my feet
My daughter dressed as a witch on Halloween
The smack of a hand across my face
Tapioca pearls bursting my mouth and the taste of mango
A cellar door
A deafening machine sound
A velveteen bear in my handsomely
An empty stage in front of a large chanting audience
The sound of rustling leaves
The relaxing taste of a glass of scotch
A hand resting firmly on my shoulder
A loud airplane cockpit
The electrical sting of a frayed wire
The smell of old books
The stinging pain of a papercut
Hot rain-proof
Front row on a roller coaster, folks screaming
A curiously soft-shelled turtle
A statue of a lion
A digital ringtone
The sound of squeaky shoes
Lying in bed, staring at the ceiling
The sound of rain on a roof
What the characters learned about themselves:
Dr. Kevin Eisner (Rob):
What is your fondest memory?
When I think of a curiously soft-shelled turtle, I remember meeting a child at a pond, whose father I knew from high school. We went to the zoo, where I guided them around. A zookeeper overheard and offered me a job as a tour guide. Which is rad because I'm a huge biology nerd.
What is your scariest memory?
When I think of a statue of a lion, I remember how I failed to get a job at the natural history museum six years before the run-in at the zoo. I was fresh out of school, so optimistic, only to have my dream shattered by a very direct museum manager who said my grades simply were too low and I was too inexperienced to have a job working in his fine institution.
What do you love more than anything else?
When I think of a digital ringtone, I remember Robertson, the lion cub, got injured. I fixed him up and took care of him, formed a strong bond with him, a bond which got me in trouble and busted me down the totem pole at the zoo.
Barry "the Badger" Rogers (David):
What is your fondest memory?
When I think of the sound of squeaky shoes, I remember going to the opera as a kid with my mom. I didn't want to be there and I felt embarrassed as my shoes squeaked as I walked down the aisle. Everyone was watching me. I hated it. So when the singers would hit high notes, I would squeak my shoes as loud as possible. Someone got mad at me, so I pulled back my leg to kick at him. My shoelaces were loose, so it flew off my foot and hit the lady who was singing at the time. My dad brought me back later to apologize, but it was still the funniest thing I ever saw.
What is your scariest memory?
When I think of lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, I remember the night before the state championship soccer game. I couldn't sleep because I was so nervous. I needed to do well if I was going to get a scholarship to college. I was anxious, nervous. I heard a noise and went downstairs and overheard my parents arguing about money like they often did. Money was tight, food was in short supply, and college looked pretty bleak. I yelled at them, "Stop! I don't have to eat! I don't have to go to college! Just stop fighting!"
What do you love more than anything else?
When I think of the sound of rain on a roof, I remember a terrible storm a couple of years after I dropped out of college. My GPA was too low and they cut my scholarship. I was living in a poorly maintained house, and I had an old tin shed out back where my cat had been staying since it had kittens. I ran outside to bring her in for fear flooding might drown her and the kittens. As I ran for the shed, I was struck by lightning. It didn't kill me. Just shocked the hell out of me. I got the cat and kittens and brought them back inside, still tingling from what happened. I went to the hospital to get myself checked out, but I was very clearly aware of one thing after getting struck: how much I loved life and loved living.
Anaba Featherhawk (Melissa):
What is your fondest memory?
When I think of a loud airplane cockpit, I remember a fight with my ex-boyfriend when i was fifteen. I shot him in the stomach in self-defense. It shook me up a lot and I couldn't focus on school. I dropped out, took my GED, and joined the Air Force as soon as I was legally able. As I was flying out to Afghanistan to be deployed, I heard something in the back of the plane. I saw a supply clerk in the back and snatched his necklace from his neck when I thought it was the same emblem my ex used to always wear, growing up in Reno, Nevada. It was awkward after I realized it was just a coincidence, though it caused Frank and I to become friends for a very long time.
What is your scariest memory?
When I think of the electrical sting of a frayed wire, I remember I got electrocuted while fixing something in Afghanistan. I spent two months in the hospital. My first day out, I went back on patrol to a possible bomb site and began defusing the bomb. I heard someone behind me and tackled a boy I thought had a detonator. Though it wasn't, the noise drew McOlsen into the room. I tell him everything is ok, to put the gun down. Then I see someone creeping up behind him and hit him in the head with a gun. I tackle the attacker, but realize I only have a few moments before the bomb detonates, just enough time to escape, but not if I'm slowed down carrying someone. I panic and run, leaving three people behind to die.
What do you love more than anything else?
When I think of the smell of old books, I remember a day at the library I work at. I remember having lunch with an older man and meeting his son, showing the two of them around, giving them a look at a new Curious George exhibit. I remember the peace and quiet and stillness.
Anthony "Tony" Stephen Harris (Matt):
What is your fondest memory?
When I think of the stinging pain of a papercut, I remember the Berkowski report with blood. Celebrations with Ralph and Synthia at the jazz club. I met and danced with Judy until the band closed down. We journeyed off to Cafe du Monde to have coffee and beignets, where we watched the sun come up over the French Quarter.
What is your scariest memory?
When I think of hot rain, I remember the night of the Fortune awards, where after fifteen years, I was finally being recognized for my hard work. I was drenched, looked a mess, but gave the best oratory of my life. Despite my boss's disregard (he offered me a token promotion), I had proved a valuable asset to my employer. I told him to shove his half-assed promotion, to feck off, and then I followed him to his car, beat the crap out of him, spent the next three nights in jail, then collected my things from work with a security escort.
What do you love more than anything else?
When I think of the front row on a roller coaster, people screaming, I remember convincing Judy to finally ride a roller coaster with me, succeeding, taking our picture. Finding out about her illness, asking her to marry me. We did, planned our wedding with tiramasu and jazz, just like our first date. One night, talking with Ralph, he asked what I'd do. I went home, not wasting a moment. I arrived just in time to see Judy go. Was in a haze for months following. Ralph expressed concern. I focused on work, revisiting the Berkowski account and doing pro-bono work to fight foreclosure...
Bradley Murdoch (Chris):
What is your fondest memory?
When I think of the sound of rustling leaves, I remember one early, cold September when I traveled to see my grandmother (my grandfather had just died) and I ran into my ex-wife. After a little drinking and carousing, I helped her out of an unhappy engagement.
What is your scariest memory?
When I think of the relaxing taste of a glass of scotch, I remember the time I got inebriated on scotch at a gentleman's club and I picked up a stripper, only to find her murdered at the hotel, and me as the proposed patsy to her death.
What do you love more than anything else?
When I think of a hand resting firmly on my shoulder, I remember when I turned myself in for a crime I didn't commit, got acquitted, and tracked down the cops and strip club bouncer who had framed me. I killed them all and drove away listening to Iron Maiden. In a Camero.
Doctor Thompkins seemed unphased by these recollections. Clearly, he was at least mostly aware of their previous histories after the background checks conducted prior. He tells them to get some rest, try to remember anything else they can about who they are and relax. Next time the group meets, they'll begin trying to remember the cause of their amnesia.
(Players then made new World of Darkness characters based on what they came up with. Overall, I think using A Penny for My Thoughts as a character generation tool was a great idea. The players loved it. They loved discovering who their character would be, said they had a better sense of who they were playing than virtually any other character they'd ever played before. They thought it was really neat. There were a couple of difficulties. It was our first time playing, so some of the answers to "What did I do then?" were a little long, paragraphs instead of sentences. Because the game ran a bit long, it was fast approaching stupid o'clock before we finished, which meant some of the last to finish, particularly Chris (the character who blew up a building full of crooked cops and drove away from the explosion listening to heavy metal in a bitchin' Camero), got some fairly outlandish options to choose from for some of their memories. Still, everyone had a ton of fun and said they'd love to do character creation like this again).
And the story continues...
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Drew Spencer
United States
Tucson
Arizona
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Penny is a brilliant game, isn't it? Using it for character creation for a longer game is a good idea. My only comment is that it looks like your characters didn't intertwine their stories unless I missed it. We usually find that our characters start incorporating people and details from the stories of others as the game goes on.
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The Man Unmasked
United States
Jackson
MS
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I know a number of groups do that and there's nothing wrong with it. It just didn't end up that way, which meant that the first session felt a little more forced, in getting them together, but it also prevents the strained credulity of five friends (one of whom is a killer on the run) all going to a quaint little bed and breakfast together...
Plus, as my wife says sitting next to me reading over my shoulder, "it gave the characters a shared, unifying experience, being the only ones that saw the Drummer Boy." It gives them a reason for these five strangers to form a bond because for all they know--and assume no one else will believe--what happened.
That being said, for any other future campaigns, I'm going to make sure they know to tie their histories together at least a little. If I wanted to make it mandatory, maybe have the questionnaire be something along the lines of:
What is your favorite memory?
What is (something setting/campaign specific like "your first supernatural experience")
How did you meet the character to your left?
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Richard
Greece
Marousi
Athens
RPGGrEEK Guild, γινετε μελος εδω:http://rpggeek.com/guild/1256
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Brilliant idea for character creation, thanks for posting.
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Posted Wed Jul 7, 2010 1:44 pm
