RoBoTNiK

T.H.E.M. Episode 3, "Take Us To Your Leader"

I've been away from these for a long time, but with the two-year cliffhanger from our post-apocalyptic Deadwoodlands game finally resolved, we're hoping to play the next couple of T.H.E.M. episodes in the coming weeks. Maybe we'll even finish the season!

This one's gonna be a bit sketchy, because it was some time ago and I did not take good notes. I'll highlight the "I wonder if this enigmatic conversation will prove to be relevant in the near future?" exposition and be more hand-wavey about the cool things the players actually did. I've split my "Producer's Commentary" on game procedure-y stuff to another post.

Previously: 
"Klaatu, as in, 'I come in peace'; Dalek, as in, 'exterminate!'"
"I'm sorry, what were you saying about the 25th dimension?"
“You told me Oroboros was dead.”

We start with a glimpse of Dimension Y, home to the parachronic mind-controlling insectile intelligences known variously in our dimension as the Qlippoth, the Time Eaters, and the Hive. (They just call themselves "us.") It looks like a photo-negative of outer space: white sky, black stars, and a huge hive of hexagonal cells, buzzing like the Hypnotoad.

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T.H.E.M. Episode 1.1, "Won't Get Foiled Again"

(For the perplexed.)

“Free will is a joke!”

Comic book caption box: “MIRACLE CITY, 2012 A.D.”

Miracle City at sunset, silhouetted against the Pacific Ocean and a flame-orange sky. Flying cars, and the occasional flying superhero, flit between the mile-high office-spires of the Overcity. Our show is sort of animated, sort of not, which is the only reason the FX budget doesn’t rival the national debt. I picture it looking like a cross between the Bruce Timm / DC Comics cartoons and the rotoscoping in A Scanner Darkly. Everything is drenched in lurid colors, like CGI Skittles.

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Next: Sidney gets his shot at the big leagues, egregious Speedos of the Silver Age, and the unbearable sadness of the water-themed supervillain, in "Help Me, My Aquatic Friends!"

So I'm running a PTA game! My first game mastering, not counting one InSpectres 1889 romp, since Battle Without Honor or Game Balance five years ago. It's going well; we played the pilot in February and the second episode ("Help Me, My Aquatic Friends!") last night.

The show is called T.H.E.M. (it doesn't stand for anything), and it's about a team of kinda-sorta supervillains in a city controlled by shiny corporate superheroes. Which means I'm finally in compliance with the ten mention rule I broke in 2002 or something, plus I can steal liberally from myself, the Tatro-verse, even my notes for weirdotron (possibly my favorite never played game, although there's a lot of competition in that field). Not to mention a zillion comic books. 

The players (athenalindia, theclevermonkey, and two guys who inexplicably don't have LJs) are great. I originally pitched the game as "Grant Morrison's Dr. Horrible" but it's turning out to be a bit more of a soapy superhero noir with X-Files-y elements. I may get an episode recap up, depending how long Eli naps for.