The Week in Stories - May 19

So, I less have stories of gaming to tell this week than stories of getting ready to game. Over the weekend, we put together character for ApocalypseWorld, yesterday, did our last PC generation session for our Superhero University game.

ApocalypseWorld

I am looking forward to this! I've elected to play a Driver named Gremlin. If you know me, you are perhaps not surprised that I looked first at the special moves (aka sex moves) to see which was the most interesting and implied the most provocative things about the character.

So what you get with the Driver is not just someone who has an awesome car, but someone who has serious trust issues. As I interpret it, that sex move is that you roll after sex, and on a 10, everything's cool, on a 7-9, they gain knowledge about you, but you actually trust them even less, and on a 6 or lower, you do whatever it takes to prove that that person doesn't own you, just in case they were starting to think they did.

Add to that the -1 to History you take to every single player at the table, and you have someone isolated, probably with something unpleasant in their past, and every reason to want to keep on the road and out from under anyone's thumb.

I have to flesh that out a bit for our GM. I don't know if I'm going as dark as that initially suggested to me, but it does imply an ex-lover who screwed Gremlin over pretty darn well. Given the phrasing of proving they don't own you, I'm thinking maybe an NPC equivalent of a hardholder. Someone you thought you could trust, could maybe even settle down with, then whammo! Betrayal.

But paired with a desire to connect, otherwise this isn't any fun. Someone who keeps venturing closer to the fire, but then pulls away just as it gets hot, long before she even gets singed. Complete withdrawal, not fun. Desperate need for connection paired with a just as desperate need for isolation, now we've got drama.

I'm excited. We have also in our group an Operator, played by my husband, a Hocus, played by John, and a Brainer, played by Colin. There's a lot of Weird on our group.

Superhero University

It was Melissa's turn to come up with a character, and for Colin and I to develop her NPCs, and she's playing an upperclassmen to what will become the frosh class when we begin. She's also the leader of the superhero club on campus. Of course, she was dating a supervillain, and they're still hung up on each other, so that should be difficult. (I'm playing the supervillain, a broody philosophy major.)

She also has a couple of friends/former roommates who are fun and supportive, and push her to do stupider things than she would otherwise do. And a prof who is trying to be a mentor.

The character here, Bethany, is interesting, in that she augments other people's powers, which makes her very useful, but also gradually duplicates them over time, making her potentially very powerful. Some people might be suspicious of that.

Then we planned out the dorm rooms, and next time, we'll actually start playing!

It may be a couple of weeks before I have one of these posts again, though. Weddings and academic conferences will be cancelling gaming for a bit.