Saturday, April 16, 2005

Just because you rub it doesn't mean something will happen...

So, we're still in Egypt.

Apparently, despite my earlier prediction, more things happen ON THE WAY to Egypt than IN EGYPT.

This week we resumed our monthly RPG "Beyond the Supernatural". We are approaching the climax of the adventure, which we have technically been on for 10 years (real time), but only because we resumed after 8 years of inactivity. As is often the case with grandiose story arcs, the ending feels like a really big deal. Unfortunately, because we are in a horror game system (which by definition means we are outclassed and helpless most of the time) and because we are particularly useless (the party consists of a gun happy, somewhat crazy psychic sensitive, an otherwise mundane genius, and a nega-psychic who mostly wants to arrest the psychic sensitive), we find oursleves at the end mostly stumped.

It's funny, because the one thing we SHOULD be good at is information gathering! We have a lore egghead, a psychic sensitive and a member of interpol, dammit! In the end, all our reconaissance abilities have lead us to the place we already knew we were going to, with an artifact we are only guessing how to use, and a plan to ... fight the bad guys when we get there. Now, I'll be the first to say that a good fight is usually more fun than endless research, but I expected more from us!

So this particular episode of the ghostbusters found the group split up, with bucannan staking out the ennemy's current hideout while Stan and Helmut drove out to meet some guy who could hopefully perform the ritual we need to perform at the "big dance which will bring upon us the end of the world". We were attacked by vampires, and then let go as they informed us through a vision that one of our so called ennemies actually shared some of our goals... to stop the ritual.

Shaken, and with a busted up rental car, we returned and assisted buccannen with his stake out. On Stan's shift, he witnessed the baddies leave their hotel and attempt to high tail it out of there. Of course, he acted rashly and ran out guns blazing. He was too late and they started getting away. This led to a high speed car chase where gunfire was exchanged and baddie vans were overturned and exploded. Hoping to have done enough damage to the crew, our heroes left the scene before things really got ugly.

Off we went to Karnak, with two days before the big day. We scoped out the site and came up with a plan. Helmut put his signalling mirrors to good use as a way for us to communicate with himself and the man who will perform the ritual for us (should they get into trouble, or should we be unable to prevent enemies from heading towards them). We layed rope traps to try to slow them down. Stan and buccanen split up and hid overnight to hopefully knock of the scouts where they are dispersed and work our way inwards and bust up the ritual.

Only next session will tell whether we manage to stop the end of the world, or indirectly cause it. I'm betting on the end of the world, considering our ability to do simple things like prevent our wallets from getting stolen.

(previously)

2 comments:

  1. You know, I just wanted to say that I think you are a little down on yourself, needlessly. You guys ARE good at information gathering. A team of characters less-suited to info gathering wouldn't know a fraction of what you have figured out. The problem you're having with info is 3-fold, and not really anything to do with you.

    1) A lot of the information you are looking for doesn't ever get written down or published, for good reason, as you will see in the future. Typically those involved with the supernatural have some kind of mentor figure to help them along. You three haven't had the benefit of such a figure in quite a while.

    2) A lot of the time, discovering something new in the field of the supernatural is immediately followed by dying. This makes it difficult to transmit what one has learned.

    3) A lot of the time, information pertaining to the supernatural is just unknown. All the research skill in the world won't help you uncover something that no one knows. Hell, a lot of the things recorded are only guesswork and supposition. It's a field that's barely been tilled.

    So, on the research front, the players are doing great! Really. It's just another aspect of being hopelessly outclassed and having something bigger than yourselves to struggle against.

    Buck up, kiddo!

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  2. READ MY LIPS

    WE COULDN"T PREVENT OUR WALLETS FROM GETTING STOLEN

    EGYPT IS DOOMED

    Even if I have to do it myself.

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