accomplishedNote: Unless a character or non-player character has a superscript number attached to their name, all characters and non-player characters hail from Earth1, the Ordinary World (our world).
The players begin with a re-introduction to the world of Broken Rooms and the Nearside, went over the basic mechanics of the game, received copies of a Nearside Glossary, and played in several samples of combat once more.
March 14th, 2011
The place: the city of Chicago, Earth1. The time: March 14th, 2011. The various player characters have learned over the past year that they are Nearsiders, capable of travelling to parallel worlds. The player characters are Hayden Blake (Kathy Bauer), Richard Martinez (Nick Roberts), Andrew Travers (Tom Robinson), Michelle Helstrom (Joanne Clarke), Kate Matthews (Angela Marsh), and Max Roberts David Matchuk). In addition, Ellie Bauer is playing a young girl by the name of Samantha Whitmore...
The session began with the player characters receiving a summons on March 12th, telling them they need to be in Chicago on the 14th at precisely 3:00 pm, and to go to the warehouse belonging to Santoro Industries out on the Chicago waterfront. The player characters arrive separately at the warehouse, to find a busy place full of activities, that seems to deal in cargo containers and large crates, as well as seaworthy cargo crates. The first to arrive is Michelle Helstrom (Joanne), an Avon sales rep and a Writer (the latter refers to the character's Meridian abilities). She finds the place to be a bit...grimy for her taste, but is met by Carlos Albanez, the group's handler. The two engage in generalities, but he tells her they will wait for the others to arrive before he gets into why Regency wants to see them.
The others arrive over the course of the next ten minutes or so. First, there is Hayden Blake (Kathy), a former cat burglar and Keeper. Andrew Travers (Tom), a fiction writer and Opener, and Max Roberts (David), a hockey coach and Mover, are the next to arrive. Finally, Richard Martinez (Nick), a construction foreman and Blocker, and Kate Matthews (Angela), a forensics specialist and Finder, arrive on the scene. Since the player characters have never met, Carlos Albanez does the introductions, and tells the characters a little bit about each other. Hayden and Kate take an instant dislike of sorts to one another, though neither can identify the reasons why, and Richard and Max feel the same way about each other. Carlos explains that part of the antipathy between the characters in question is likely due to their Distance powers, which he explains are opposites. After giving the player characters a bit of time to get to know each other, Carlos begins the briefing.
As the characters know, they have not been doing a lot of inter-Earth travelling the last six months, as Regency has been trying to test and hone their abilities a bit more. However, the training wheels period is now over. Carlos Alvarez tells them that while they're still going to be tested by Regency, it's time for them to get involved in the field work. He tells them that first job together will be a trip to Earth2, codenamed Vanish. "It won't be easy," he adds. All the characters have to do is retrieve a small object from Earth2. He describes it as a small, hexagonal box made of indigenous wood with a silver "R" embossed in it. It was left behind by another Regency agent.
Carlos leads the player characters from the warehouse office down to the floor, and a closed room that he has a key for. He tells them that on the other side of the door is a broken room from Earth1 to Earth2, and that it's going to cycle in five minutes. Carlos opens the door with a keycard, and escorts the characters into the room. It's plain, unornate, and unoccupied, other than for a small bench in the centre of the room. He informs them that they have approximately seven hours from the time they arrive on Vanished to find the item, and return through a different broken room. When they ask, he informs them that it's up to them to find the broken room for the return trip home, but he's confident that they can accomplish the task. He answers a few of their questions, and hands them a map, giving it to Kate Matthews, the Finder. He says that she'll be best served by it. He says the room is about to cycle, so they should brace themselves, and then he backs out of the room. The broken room starts to cycle...
And that's where the first session ended. :)
Yes, the players were annoyed with me, but let's face it, it was the perfect place to wrap up the first session. They had a really good time with the game, and were pleased with how things went. David and Angela commented that they really liked the game mechanics of the system, and that the Momentum system is simple to learn and easy to use, though all the players agreed that it takes a bit of time to get the hang of making Momentum rolls. (If you want to know what those are, buy the game - or ask me nicely in the Comments section!) :)
In any event, looking forward to next week's game session. This is fun!