#cmwgertas

[cavefelix]

Finch Field: A location for Rinley’s Traveling All Stars

It’s been a while since I wrote about this setting due to life and whatnot. Here’s a place you can use in any game of Chuubo’s you want as long as it’s set on Little Island and the characters have a reason to go to a sports stadium in the middle of nowhere.

Property: The wind does what the wind does

Halfway between the Temple of Jade Irinka and the southeast shore of Little Island lies the home of the baseball team the Little Island Finches. There are no roads leading to the stadium, though there are a few faint foot paths, most notably one from the ferry port to the stadium.

(Photo from Alderidge, in a Camper Van’s tumblr)

Whoever built this stadium believed that it shouldn’t be visible. It’s not that they were ashamed of the work or that the locals dislike baseball (going to a game is considered a fine way to pass the time after a morning tending fields or inspecting windmills); it’s just that no matter how pastoral it looks, it wouldn’t fit in with the feel of Little Island. So it’s in a comparatively deep valley. There’s only one sign it’s there until you cross the hills, and that’s not obvious from all angles.

That sign is the Pine Throne. Unless you’re approaching the stadium from a certain angle, it looks like an extremely large pine tree, about 180 feet tall. But if you approach it from the the front of the stadium, you can see that the front part of the top has been carefully carved. Not only do the needles disappear, but there is a huge, ornate throne carved into it. It’s really a remarkable piece of work, and since the Throne is still alive (nobody wants to carve away so much that it gets damaged), it needs to be constantly trimmed of sprouting branches and carved back into shape. The Finches are the only team in Town where the highest paid person in the organization is the topiarist.

Topiary is also the main form of decoration you see when you scale the hills that surround the valley. The stadium is surrounded by trees and shrubs that are carved into graceful abstract patterns.

While the playing field is unusually large, for reasons we’ll get to in a minute, the parts for visitors are pretty modest. I know I’m calling this a stadium, but it’s more like a small high school’s athletic fields. There’s a few bleachers -- I’d estimate they can seat about 400-500 people. Remember, that’s still three or four times more than the Island’s population. But on years when the Finches make the playoffs, sometimes it’s not enough, and crowds who can’t find seats surround the field.

There’s no formal concession stands, but the food is generally quite good. For many who raise sheep, crops, or grapes, visitors to the game are a fine way to sell their wares and make some coin. There’s one shepherd, Esmerelda Mako, who makes some absolutely amazing cheeses. She won’t tell anyone the process she uses, except that she makes sure that the sheep graze in a field where buttercups grow. (I don’t like to think about the details too much, but sometimes  she also brings a really tasty mutton pie.) I don’t think that the three-star restaurants of Paris would accept the wines of Little Island, but you’d be delighted to drink them at a neighborhood bistro.

At first glance, there doesn’t appear to be any electricity; it’s just a field with bleachers; a scoreboard operated by hand (but much more modest than the one in Fortitude Field), and of course the ball field. But if you look at the base of the Pine Throne, you’ll see the buildings with some power have been built around it (literally; the windows in the away locker room face the west side of the tree; the home lockers face the east side). Again, they almost camouflage into the landscape. While the nearby windmills that provide the power would normally be a sign that there’s a structure nearby, windmills are so ubiquitous on the island that they too fade into the background.

The electricity, as far as I can tell, is only used for a handful of functions. It powers the radio broadcast (the Pine Throne has wires on it, making it a great antenna). And it powers the water pumps and heaters.

For players, the locker rooms are really unremarkable. Again, I’m put in the mind of high school facilities. Old fashioned ones. Cheap tin lockers; basic tiled showers. I think the vistor’s section is supposed ot be painted a vibrant shade of green, but it’s always faded away to an bland industrial green that you see in hospitals. But they’re still clean and functional.

I guess I should talk about the reason for the Pine Throne: Wind spirits love baseball. The seat is put there to show respect to the 12 emperors, a few of whom are said to be huge fans of the game -- though they’re only seen at about three games a year. However, just about every game has a few lesser spirits, and it’s fairly common, if I understand the term correctly, for some “lesser nobility” to attend.

There’s a tradition that if a batter hits the throne with the ball (any of the cleared area, not just the seat itself), he gets a silver crown. That’s not a tiara, but a British coin from the 1840s, about an ounce of silver. Some sailor who’d found a chest of them donated it to the Finches. It’s not common, but they do give away about two or three a year.

While the wind spirits may enjoy baseball, they also influence the game. I suspect that this isn’t deliberate, it’s just that wind spirits attract wind. As a result, you can never tell what the wind is going to do.

In most ball fields, the winds tend to either favor the batter, lifting the ball further and making home runs easier, or favor the pitcher, slowing hit balls down and keeping them in the ballpark. But Finch Field is entirely unpredictable, sometimes driving the ball out, sometimes keeping it in, and every now and then doing something totally bizarre, like making it stop in midair and come crashing down inches from leaving the park. At least, according to what I’ve been told. But it’s certainly true that the park has the Regional Property the wind does what the wind does.

XP Actions

Travelling to Finch Field is probably a Slice of Life. You talk to friends as you walk along the countryside, enjoying the unspoiled scenery and the sun shining down on you.

Sometimes though, travelling to Finch Field, especially if you’ve had an urban upbringing, or are in a hurry to get there,  could be Suffering Adversity. Every hill and valley on Little Island looks the same. There’s no road markers. Burrs are getting stuck on your clothes and it hurts to take them off. And the summer sun beating down on you is merciless.

Seeing the Pine Throne from a distance may be Foreshadowing. You climb a hill and suddenly spot this massive tree, towering above everything, an impossibly huge chair imposing on top of it. The image sticks with you.

Trying to climb the Pine Thrown is probably a Wicked Action. You know it’s dangerous, and there’s no good reason to do it. But you’re doing it anyway. For shame!

Examining the topiary around the stadium is sometimes Discovery, as the flowing abstract shapes capture your attention. It’s like a meditation garden sometimes, where the patterns in the sand make you realize something about yourself.

Ordering food is generally a Shared Action. These aren’t professional merchants, but farmers and shepherds showing off their wares. You can converse with and connect to them as you pick up homemade pickles or wine for the game.

For ball players

On the rare crowded days, especially playoffs, trying to field a ball can be Trouble. The fans are just standing around the field at the edge, and you may need to dive into them to make a catch. Do you risk hurting them, or do you risk losing a point. There’s no good answer.

Trying to hit the Pine Throne and win a crown can become an Obsessive Action. It’s mostly luck, but there’s just enough skill involved that you can’t give up. It takes over your game plan when you’re at bat.

Predicting what the wind will do can be Science Faith and Sorcery. Maybe you believe that when a particular spirit approaches there are more winds from the west so you should pull your bat accordingly. Maybe you have some other technique to figure it out for the day. But at the end, you’re coming up with an idea and testing it out.

A wind emperor showing up at a game you’re at is often Foreshadowing. They’re huge. They’re rarely spotted. Some are strange shapes. They captivate your attention. (THis will probably affect your ball game.) It may, instead, be a Discovery action if that would be more appropriate to the genre, since it is neat, mysterious and possibly a bit scary.

A Ritual: Highlight reel

As I mentioned a few times, this field reminds me of what you’d see at a school. I’ve figured out why: because Little Island is Town’s memory. Being at the stadium tends to invoke fits of nostalgia, in both the players and the crowds watching. It’s quite possible that some PC will feel this wave of reminisce, triggering others with this ritual.

Like the only part of Marcel Proust’s novel that anyone ever cites, you will pick out an item and say that it somehow takes you back to an event in your past. You just say that something in the stadium (the splintery wooden bleacher, the fresh tomato you’re eating, the scent of cut leaves on the wind, etc.) has triggered an experience. Give three or four sentences of the experience, then stop and move to the next character.

[cavefelix]

The Gold Arc: not a victory march

You, presumably Pietr, were so excited when you were called up. This was your lifelong dream and you achieved it so early.  You could be Town’s Sadahru Oh, or Bull Durham.

In this arc, you’ll learn natural ability isn’t enough. And that sometimes the messy world intrudes on baseball.

Quest 1: Proud Neath Heated Brow

(Knight 1 or 5, Aspect 1, Otherworldy 2, Storyteller 4, Mystic 3)

As soon as the season starts, you’re  in for a shock. One of your first games is going to be a disaster. And the game after that. And the game after that. Your moves which blew the competition away in the minors just aren’t cutting it here. You’re going to have to learn how to adapt.

40 XP Version

Major goals

You make an embarrassingly dumb error in a game (e.g., forgetting that the ball is still in play and throwing it to the fans, letting the other team score several runs).

You have a training montage (protip: while it’s probably out of genre, you should be able to combine this with a Ritual XP action)

The manager or some other authority figure talks about cutting you if you don’t improve. 

You may take each once.

Minor goals

You enter a place where music -- preferably upbeat, inspiring music -- is playing.

You make a bad play in a game, but understandably bad (e.g., your throw to another player is a foot off).

You work out for many hours.

You indicate how tired/frustrated you are.

You ask an older player for advice.

You make a dramatic speech about how you won’t give up.

25 XP version A Why aren’t you doing well? How can you get better, get to where you need to be? In this version, you try to figure it out. Once per scene/15 minutes of play, propose a new theory of what might help you improve. (Examples: maybe my swing is too tight; That new guy from Eris is doing well, maybe I should add mosquitoes to my diet.).

25 XP version B You aren’t just training to get better. You’re training SUPER HARD to get better. Tell yourself you need to do 100 laps before dinner -- in the restaurant.  Swing at the ball so hard you dislocate your shoulder and are out for the game. Any time you take the game                                 Over the top gain an XP.

Result: You’ve figured it out. You’re playing much better. Way to go, kid! How this happens will be accompanied by the Perk you pick:

Gain a Trick, allowing you to use your Student Athlete (or Natural Athlete) skill as Professional Baseball Player.

Gain a Level 1 Bond, “Hard work pays off,” giving you enough edge to compensate for your inexperience.

(I think #2 is the more mechanically powerful one, but #1 is more emotionally satisfying, since it represents you’ve mastered the game to some extent rather than you’ve convinced yourself that hard work compensates for flaws in your technique. But that’s personal opinion.)

Quest 2: But I can’t take no chance

(Bindings 1, Aspect 2,  Shepherd 2, Emptiness 2)

25 or 15 XP version. Some time during the last quest, you picked up what might be a superstition. Or it might not be a superstition but the actual secret to your newfound ability to play in the big leagues. In this one, you’ll test this out.

The team’s going to be mostly okay with this, since it’s a well known fact lucky rituals must be respected. Though don’t be surprised if you begin to annoy a few people.

Pick a catchphrase that represents your newfound belief. Here are a few suggestions:

I play better on a very full stomach. Another dozen pierogies, please.

Breatharianism is the way to go

Changing my shirt is a bad idea.

Let me knock on wood for good luck.

Extra training is the key.

Let’s have a quick sacrifice to Jade Irinka.

I’ll do better with my shoelaces untied.

Deep breath. Okay. I’m ready.

__________

You can use this phrase once per scene/15 minutes to show you’re testing out if this will keep making you a better player.

Result:  EIther you’ve realized that this belief IS the key to success, in which case you’ll want perk 1, or you’ve realized that you have the power to be a great player in you all along and don’t need a crutch, and will take perk 2. (I think they’re equally valid; Perk 1 is larger because it’s complex to explain, not because it’s better.)

Pick a Skill you have. Once or twice per book, you can use this as if it were Luck Magic by invoking a ritual. (E.g., if you use your Immature skill, partying all night with someone may bless them.) This doesn’t give you plusses or rerolls; and you don’t have complete control over the results. instead it makes it so fortunate things occur to you or someone you use it on.  Obstacle 1: For a little while things will go their way enough to make them happy, such as finding loose change on the sidewalk or getting indoors just before the skies open up. Obstacle 2: Something will happen which can improve their life notably for at least a week or two, such as winning a vacation in a drawing or a potential meet cute. Obstacle 3: Dickensian coincidences may occur; overall the effect will be positive but they’ll be living in interesting times.

Rewrite your affliction from everyone calling you “Kid,” to something more appropriate: “People think I’m responsible.”

Quest 3: On Stalks of Clover

(Aspect 3, Bindings 1, Knight 3, Otherworldly 2, Shepherd 3, Mystic 3)

They say you can’t go home again. This is a lie. You’re from the Walking Fields, and there’s games played there all the time. But the Walking Fields have complex views on baseball. As you know from all the Walking Field Goats games you eagerly watched as a kid, half the team is composed of Riders, the other half is largely humans. And the two sides just don’t get along off the field. Nor do the fans; the stadium really has three unofficial seating areas: home humans, home Riders, and visitors. There’s a good distance between the three

Home can’t go to you again..

And whether you’re a human, Rider, or lived a bit in both worlds, someone resents your leaving the Walking Fields, never becoming part of this long-simmering intra-team rivalry.

This quest forces you into the rivalry. Some of it is social; a bit of it might be physical; and you’re going to need to cope with this pressure while still following your dreams with the Fortitude Lynxes.

35 XP Version Major goals

Someone throws anything besides a baseball at you which is potentially dangerous or unpleasant (e.g., mud, bottles).

You somehow wind up in a public wearing a piece of clothing with a bright red letter, a dunce cap, or some similar mark of shame. 

Someone from the Walking Fields (human or Rider) confronts you in a different Region, telling how you’ve betrayed the area.

You wind up involved in a Hunt, on either side.

Minor Goals

You take a back entrance into a place

You do something in a game which stops the play (this could be getting hit and requiring the medic to check you out; making a rude gesture to someone in the stand precipitating a riot; or calling for time out while at the plate).

A Rider from the Walking Fields stops you outside of a game to give you their opinions of you.

A human from the Walking Fields stops you outside of a game to give you their opinions of you.

A Tree Spirit or other non-human, non-Rider from the Walking Field fails to recognize you.

You have a conversation about the controversy you’re causing.

You explain to a teammate that you are loyal to the Lynxes.

Result: You weather the storm and it dies down. (If that’s too simple for you, you can wind up learning a sudden revelation about your family that shakes you up -- probably that you’ve got a half-sibling you never knew about due to the tensions between Riders and Humans.)

You also gain one of these Perks:

You’ve been given a very valuable baseball collectible by someone who was trying to support you -- about someone you can’t stand. If anyone found out you got rid of it, this trouble might start again. (SInce the player isn’t familiar with Town Baseball, imagine if you were the head of an organization that fights to keep kids of steroids and were forced to take a historic item associated with Barry Bonds or some other athlete whose career has been tainted by the scandal.)

You got preternaturally good at understanding why you became such a lightning rod for the Walking Fields. Gain Superior Walking Field History 1. Note that this will probably never come in useful for your goals of being Town’s Babe Ruth. 

[cavefelix]

The Red Arc: Costumes and Challenges

A quest set for this character.

Being a mascot is exciting. But it comes with some duties you’d never expect...

Quest 1: Mascot wars

(Storyteller 1 or 2, Bindings 1, Knight 3, Aspect 2, Shepherd 4)

Early on in the season, you’ll be challenged by one of the other team’s mascots. It may be a friendly challenge, a clash of philosophies, or an outright attempt to sabotage you.

A few possibilities from the NPCs presented earlier:

The person who plays Wally The Wombat argues with you that gymnastic feats in a cat costume/inspiring poetry is less effective than simple material rewards such as free baseball caps, and challenges you to get more applause than they do during the game.

Musty the Ferret keeps trying to get you to lose your temper on the field.

Bambino takes your shtick and one ups it -- capering around the field better than you, or reciting more inspiring poetry.

35 XP Version Major goals:

The rival mascot makes you look bad (how bad depends on the nature of the challenge issued) as they issue the challenge

You and the rival mascot* meet somewhere outside the stadium in an intense situation

You put on a brilliant display that puts the mascot in their place.

You may take each goal once. *Due to the fact that the mascot is a costumed character, and masks are very effective at preventing you from learning someone’s identity, it’s possible that this is just someone claiming to be the mascot. It still counts.

Minor goals

When retreating from a taunting/attack from the rival mascot, you come across a closed door leading down to a stadium’s sub-basement.

You dance.

You work extra hard on  your routine

A chance to show off against your rival is cancelled, e.g., the game where you wanted to do this is rained out.

Another PC encourages you.

20 XP Version: This is going to be a back-and-forth between you and your rival. Take a two-sided card:             I’ve got this/ I need to up my game

Once per scene/15 minutes you can flip this card.

Result:

You’ve shown you can at least hold your own in the competitive world of mascoting. Or maybe even that you’re better that your rival. You also gain one of these two perks:

Dressed for the Occasion: Once per chapter, you can waive up to a level 2 obstacle to change outfits. 

Trick: Kawaii: You can now use the skill that you normally use to inspire the team or rally the fans to appear utterly adorable. If you feel that you already use it that way, pick another non-hostile way it can make you appear.

Quest 2: The Great Scavenger Hunt

(Storyteller 2, Aspect 3, Mystic 1)

Great (?) news! Someone’s decided that all the mascots in the league should participate in a scavenger hunt. And the prize is something really important, like home field advantage if your team gets to the playoffs, or a new comfy chair you really want. You’re taking part -- and you aim to win.

(Also, who’s decided? Is there something strange behind this inaugural scavenger hunt announced in the middle of the season? That’s _probably_ something you should look into.)

What are you required to find? I’m not going to get specific; you can name the items as the whim suits you, saying “A blue marmoset doll. That’s on the list!”

Note: if you are a dog, you may want to assume that when you enter a region, someone shows you a picture or sample of the item you need to find  and says “Go get it girl!” This can take place between scenes.

35 XP Version:

Major XP Goals:

You enter an area with one of the items in plain sight and see another mascot (or person who claims to be the mascot even though they are not wearing a mask so you have no proof)  entering from another direction at the same time.

You indicate to someone that you can’t find an item on the list, and they look around to make sure no one’s listening, then whisper “Have you checked *under* the stadium?”

You spot a needed item on a really inaccessible place and must figure out how to get it.

A mascot mocks you while holding one of the items on the list.

You may take up to three.

Minor goals

A person in a suit asks you how the scavenger hunt is going, looking nervous.

You tell another PC how hard this is.

You wind up covered in dirt

You find yourself in a large crowd

You encounter a scared animal while looking for an item on the list.

You make a big show of having gotten an item (e.g., dancing around, dramatically displaying it, etc.)

25 XP version.

Major goals

You indicate to someone that you can’t find an item on the list, and they look around to make sure no one’s listening, then whisper “Have you checked *under* the stadium?”

You spot a needed item on a really inaccessible place and must figure out how to get it.

A mascot mocks you while holding one of the items on the list.

You may take two.

Minor goals:

A person in a suit talks to you about the scavenger hunt.

You make a big show of having gotten an item.

You open a scene in a really strange place.

You encounter a scared animal while looking for an item.

You spot another baseball mascot outside a stadium.

Result: 

You win! You get the prize. Also, a mascot or executive will congratulate you. And, to top it all off, you get one of these two perks:

You’ve realized that something is amok. You’ve unconsciously picked up the skill Superior Detective 1.

You get to keep a really cool prize. It doesn’t have any mechanical effects, but it will make you really happy. Note down your cool Accessory.

Quest 3: What lurks beneath

(Bindings 1, Knight 1, Otherworldly 2, Storyteller 3 or 5, Emptiness 2)

Something is wrong in baseball. You can sense it. And your intuition (combined with the foreshadowing in previous quests) makes you sure that something has to do with the maintenance space beneath the stadiums.  

We’ll cover this area in more detail in another setting post, but just about every stadium has an area underneath, poorly laid out, where there’s a maze of pipes, wiring, cramped rooms and other things. Which makes sense; plumbing needs to be put somewhere. But what doesn’t make sense is that people just don’t mention it. Or maybe that does make sense. How often, when talking about a house, do you say “The basement has a fuse box and a hot water heater. Would you like to hear more about that?” and get an enthusiastic “yes.”

What’s the mystery? Here’s three possibilities, though there could be more:

A crooked gambling ring is betting on games, and some bettors are trying to get players to throw games.

The mascot who challenged you in MaScot wars has been building an elaborate scheme to get revenge, subtly sabotaging the Lynxes’ games.

A young vampire has gotten lost beneath one particular stadium, and is killing janitors, unaware there are easier ways to survive.

30 XP version

Major goals:

You find yourself lost in the labyrinthine passages with just minutes to get out and perform.

You have a dream of being chased through the basements.

An authority figure yells at you for being in these underground areas.

You may take each once.

Minor goals:

You find an item under the stadium that seems clearly out of place.

You talk/emote to another PC about the case. 

You bring someone with you into the basement.

You put extra work into your mascoting duties so that people don’t get suspicious about your true motives.

You give an important piece of evidence to a police officer or other authority figure.

15 XP version

Take a two sided sign:

          I’m lost/I’m on to something.

Once per scene/15 minutes, you can turn it over to get an XP.

Result: 

You figured out the case -- just in time to keep it from ruining the team’s chances in the big game coming up! Also, pick one of these perks:

“Unimportant””: Your experience has made you realize people treat you like a kid/pet (because you are), and you’ve figured out how to take advantage of that. Once per chapter, invoke a +1 Tool for being ignored as unable to understand/care about what’s going on.

“Reliable”: Maybe you’ve gone the opposite way, and your experiences over these quests have proven that you’re trustworthy. You gain the skill Superior Reputation 1.

[cavefelix]

The Green Arc: Be Not Afeard; the isle is full of noises

This is an Otherworldy arc for The Immigrant in this campaign because you are literally from another world. I suppose with some tweaking it could be used for a different stranger in a strange land tale. The Immigrant’s higher power it’s dealing with may be the seductive spirit of baseball (or your campaign’s substitute sport) whispering (Field of Dreams is an excellent example of a Green Arc). Or perhaps they may still be connected to the world of 139199 Eris.  For a mortal Arc you can get away with that ambiguity. :p

Quest 1: Homesick blues

(Knight 1, Knight 3, Otherworldy 1, Aspect 2, Shepherd 2, Shepherd 4, Emptiness 2)It’s impossible to play baseball on 136199 Eris, because other than you, there were no other baseball players. And so you came to Town to live out your dream. But this place is so alien. Everything everywhere you go is strange. Memories of Eris call to you.

I’m not going to going to go into detail of the customs and cultures of Eris, even though they’re important for this quest. If you want to use the melancholy bat people of the planet as a Star Trek like stand in for a particular culture, go ahead. If you want to assume they’re just sentient humanoid bats who love to do batlike things like hang upside down and either drink blood or consider mosquitoes a delicacy, that would work too.

35 point version

Major goals:

You encounter another bat-person in town but don’t have a chance to talk to them.

You perform a major cultural faux pas due to your misunderstanding of Town culture with ramifications that last at least a couple of scenes. (E.g., inviting the Rider and human players on the Walking Field Goats to the same party.)

You receive a letter from home. (If your game is higher tech, a phone call is an acceptable substitute -- the charges would be astronomical. An e-mail is not. The important thing is someone made a serious effort to communicate with you acrross worlds.)

You may take each once.

Minor goals:

You fly above the buildings of a region at night.

You ask about what everyone else sees as a routine thing 

You freak out over something everyone else sees as routine. (Examples: “You got a haircut!?!?” “Ugh! How can you guys eat *rice*?”

You fail to make an important play in a baseball game, either because the sun was too bright or you had established you were thinking of home before the game began.

You ask for advice about Town or consult a book/guide.

20 XP version: You’re still getting used to Town. It’s weird. You’re homesick. Your love of baseball is in conflict with your confusion over where baseball is played. Take a two sided sign.                          This is what I want/ I miss home. Once per scene/15 minutes you can earn an XP by flipping the card.

Results

You feel a little more comfortable in Fortitude. Also, you gain one of the following two perks:

If someone helped you out a lot in understanding the ways of Town, you can take a Connection (This person) 1.

Your new feelings have permeated your Air of Melancholy  magic. You gain a Trick: Air of Nostalgia. This lets you evoke memories of home which, as long as they have just a touch of loss or bittersweet in them, can be surprisingly positive.

Quest 2: The High Price of Success

(Knight 3, Otherworldly 2, Storyteller 2, Emptiness 3)

The first part of this quest is going to be fun. You go on a massive winning streak. Hit grand slams; make amazing catches; put the team ahead in bottom of the ninth. And Fortitude will welcome you. You’ll be so welcome it’s almost disturbing. People will dress up in costumes that look like you.  

Why does this happen? Is it fated? Did one of your rivals put out a pitcher you find you can read really well? Is some higher force taking an interest in you? Or is this just some statistical quirk that all ballplayers have every now and then, and people are excited about in your case because of your exotic origin story?

Then you’ll go back to normal. Which is good. Just…everyone in the big league is a good player. Fans will be disappointed. Your teammates will be puzzled. Maybe you’ll feel let down yourself.  This quest explores the highs and the lows.

40 XP version

Major goals

You perform some amazing feat during a game. (This must be taken first. The other major goals can be taken in any order.)

You are awarded the Keys to Fortitude, a parade is held in your honor, a professor announces there will be a course on you, or some other entirely inappropriate award for some rookie player is announced.

A teammate avoids talking to you.

Someone throws an object other than a baseball at you. (E.g., rotten fruit or the like.)

You may take each once.

Minor goals:

Your play has the potential to give your team the win -- but doesn’t.

You are yelled at on the street.

You are asked to do something you are unqualified for.

You avoid or put off an appointment

You go outside on a rainy day.

You spend more time than you’d like interacting with fans.

25 XP Version: Major goals

You perform some amazing feat during a game. (This must be taken first. The other major goals can be taken in any order.)

You are awarded the Keys to Fortitude, a parade is held in your honor, a professor announces there will be a course on you, or some other entirely inappropriate award for some rookie player is announced.

Your play has the potential to give your team the win -- but doesn’t.

You may take any two.

Minor Goals:

You are surrounded by a large crowd

You are yelled at on the streets

You spend time interacting with a child

You go outside on a rainy day

Results:

You accept that you’ll always have a burden to live up to you can’t always meet. Also, you’ll choose a perk.

While you were on a winning streak, the honor you got with one of your awards came with permanent access to some place you don’t really care about. Three possible examples include full access to the Fortitude Museum Archives; an office which was obviously a broom closet until they converted it for you in the College of War and Nightmare; or the key to Tip-Top Ticker Tape’s factory floor. (If this goal didn’t come up during play, you can still take this perk, assuming the award happened offscreen.) 

At one point in the rest of this Story (and once per future story) you get a +3 Tool bonus to weather the fickle nature of fandom.

Quest 3: Two roads diverge

(Knight 2, Otherworldly 3, Aspect 4, Emptiness 4, Mystic 4)

Someone is trying to change you. More specifically, someone has decided that they don’t want a bat person playing in the game. Even though this has certainly been cleared by the commission, and is also fine with the fans. Who would do this? My best guess is that it’s one of the following people:

Sandy Helliwish, the Manager for the Horizon Ferrets, because they’re a total jerk.

One of the more passionate players on the Bluebell Park Harts, either one named Purity who is, let’s face it, xenophobic/racist, or one named Justin or Justine who really believes that you have an unfair advantage over the human players in some way, violating the laws of baseball. 

A pitcher on a team that you’ve consistently hit well against, who’s humiliated and looking for an excuse other than that they telegraph their curveball.

Justin(e) is a good choice if you want a conflicted person leading the charge) The others are good if you want a flat out villain.

I’m assuming that people will come to your aid and the bad guy will ultimately fail. But since this is the last quest in the arc, if you want a tragic ending that could happen too.

25 Point Version

Major Goals

You are called up before a legislative body (possibly the commissioner of baseball.

Someone not totally trustworthy offers a horrific compromise to make this issue go away. (E.g., a deviant scientist offers to take your brain out of your body and transfer it into a human.)

You are seen flying and someone uses this against you.

You may take any two.

Minor goals:

You make a spectacular play

You make a horrible play because of the stress.

You and the person trying to get you disbarred from the game meet.

A group of fans show strong support for you.

The person trying to get you disbarred gets literal mud on their face (either thrown at them or because they trip).

15 point version

What’s more important to you? Playing the game you love or staying true to the thing that you are? Each time you need to grapple with that question as you’re being confronted, turn this sign to the appropriate side:

                            Batter/Bat Person

You may flip it once per scene/15 minutes of play. (Also, if you’re in a game where the Fortitude Lynxes are not a baseball team but some other organization, please change “batter” to something that makes sense, like goalie, baritone, etc.)

Result: 

You refuse to give in. You won’t sacrifice your heritage -- whatever the consequences may be. Also, you gain one of the following perks:

Once or twice a story, your catchphrase “It’s different on Eris” becomes supernaturally compelling. Any tale told about Eris afterward is treated as a Superior Skill with two edge. If you have used this perk more than twice, you can use it again with a Refresh Token.

Alternately, you can take a point from your catchphrase and move it to a new skill: Rhetoric 1, indicating you’ve learned how to respond to arguments well.

[cavefelix]

The Arcadian Wombats: More NPCs for Rinley's Traveling All Stars (CMWGE)

The second batch of NPCs for this campaign. I’ll be statting up one more group before returning to quest sets.

(Photo by  slgckgc; used under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic License. Used because I couldn’t find any public domain cartoon wombats I liked to pretend those were the mascot costume, and because wombats are really fun to look at.) 

The Wombats are one of the most effective teams out there. They have one of the highest budgets, so can afford some of the best players. Furthermore, they’re not afraid to experiment with new techniques. And, perhaps most importantly, their manager will do anything to win. In the sports movie genre, they’re the preppy team with enough money. Not evil per se, but a touch greedy and they look down on you just a bit. But unlike the Ferrets, they're not villains. They might also have some of the intellectual players who are always trying new strategies.

Generic Wombat

The typical Wombat has the following skills:

Pro ball player 3 // They’re professional ball players

Open to new ideas 1 // Arcadians always want the latest thing, right?

Negotiate 2 // They always seem to get a bit more from you than you’d expect.

Connection: The Wombat Manager 1 // To play on the Wombats you must have a good relationship with the manager

[This space left blank to customize as you see fit] 1

I can particularly see the Glory Hound interacting with members of the team. Arcadia is the sort of place where people care how they’re seen. They might also be interested in interacting with The Announcer, or be intrigued by/seek to learn/seek to steal  the Strategic Genius(?)’s plan.

The Arcadian’s Manager

The manager/owner of the team (one and the same in the case of the Wombats) is by default Kyou Yuan, though if you’d prefer a man running the team for relationship reasons, it might be Minoru Yuan. For simplicity I’ll assume it Kyou.

If you need to sum her up in four words, it would be "greedy, but not evil." She’s a successful businesswoman, but a businesswoman with a conscience. If she was told there was a struggling orphanage she could repossess in the ideal spot for her next enterprise, she would not do it! She would help those orphans out. But it’s possible she’d want to put a billboard on the side of the orphanage in return for her large donation.

This means that when she offers a deal, it’s probably not meant as a faustian bargain.  But it may not be good for you either; it’s mostly for her benefit. Even if you’re getting something, she is too.

(Dealing with Kyou may be a Wicked Action.)

She has the following skills:

Know your price 2 // She’s good at figuring out what you want

Management 3 // She’s good at managing, both on the field and off

Involved in many businesses 2 // She’s probably got access to what she needs.

Greedy 1 // Sometimes, greed is good.

She also has a Level 2 Bond, Wealthy; and a Level 0 Affliction “Food and Drink is always at hand.” She’ll always be able to get you a coke on a hot day, or caviar to show off.

Wally The Wombat

The Arcadian mascot is not svelte at all. (I’m assuming that it’s a costumed character, though in some variations of the game, Wally may merely be a rather obese person who is surprisingly good at psyching up the crowd.) So rather than the typical gymnastics you’d expect in a mastcot, Wally gives out a lot of merchandise and goods. He may even offer the crowd (and maybe the PCs) free Arcadian Wombat t-shirts, vouchers for a free soda at an Arcadian restaurant, or pamphlets with poetry.

[cavefelix]

The Bluebell Park Harts: NPCs for RInley’s Traveling All Stars (CMWGE)

Another group of NPCs for this campaign

The Harts will not be champions this year. They just don’t have the quality. This is a perennial problem for the team. About half the players there are cheerfully resigned to the fact. For the sports movie metaphor, this is the team of wacky slackers and passionate misfits.

If you can play baseball on the professional level, you’d rather not be on the Harts. They have no (humanoid) home fans. The stadium is hard to find, which is weird because it’s out in the open (more on that in a later post). The properties of the region mean that games tend to get emotionally intense, and when players get caught in a rut, they stay in that rut until something snaps them out of it.  So Bluebell Park tend to attract players who are too good for the small time, but not quite up to par.

Thus, many members of the Harts organization don’t take it too seriously. The Harts are literally a joke -- a pun on the Wishing Spirits who encourage you to follow your heart. Their team mascot’s name -- Bambino -- is a pun I think is a little too clever, an allusion to Babe Ruth (aka The Great Bambino) and the most famous movie deer of all time.

While most of the team, including the team captain, has a fun time playing the game. But those that don’t, who are regularly inflamed by the passions Bluebell Park brings out (or who had skill, but a bit of a mania that kept the other teams from wanting them), could cause trouble, whether they mean to or not.

Generic Hart

A typical Hart has these skills:

Pro Ball Player 3 // As I said, too good for the minors

Catchphrase: “Hey, I’m a realist” 2 // You’ll hear this said a lot

Enjoy life 2 // They take things easy

[Custom skill for personalization 1] 

They also have a Level 1 Bond: On the low end of the pro talent scale. They tend to have generic Town names.

Passionate Hart

The team members inflamed by passion have the following skills.

Pro Ball Player 3

[Passion] 3 

Connection: PC 1 // They’ve become obsessed with a PC

[Other useful skill 1] 

They have the same Level 1 Bond as the other players.

The [Passion] may be anger, hate, love, sillyness, determination, traditionalist, or anything else. The important thing in play is they’ll apply it to to a PC and cause . For example, one obsessed with celebrities might stalk The Announcer, and have “tracking” or “hiding” as their useful skill.

Their names tend to have easily understood symbolic meaning. The above stalker might be named “Chase.”

The Harts’ Captain

The Harts’ Captain, “Buck” L’Amour,  is the oldest active player in Town’s baseball, pushing 50. (I’m assuming Buck is a man, though it’s a nickname, so it could be a woman who picked it up after being associated with heading the Harts so long, or who’s nicknamed “Doe” or “Roe”.)  He’s been in the game for 3 decades, and really can’t compete like he used to. But no one on the team quite has the heart to tell him, or they don’t want the job themselves.

And I’m not sure what else he has besides baseball, to be honest.

I think he’s aware of the situation on some level, but doesn’t want to admit it. So he maintains a jovial facade. As a ballplayer getting on in years, Buck is an easy foil for the Veteran or Announcer. Probably he’ll get on with anyone with a bit of sympathy toward him. (And everyone, including him, will understand if you take advantage of his sub-par fielding abilities. That’s just how the game works.)

Buck has the following skills:

Pro Ball Player 2 // He’s lost his edge

Strategize 2 // He’s actually a decent captain

Smile 2 // It may or may not be a hollow smile, but he’ll keep it up

Stubborn 2 // He can be obstinate when the situation calls for it.

Bambino the Hart

I’ve got to admit, Bambino’s name is overworked, but the mascot just works for me. Honestly, there’s something really cool about a cartoon deer wearing a uniform. And his sillier antics are counterbalanced by just a pinch of menace, like an ancient antlered druid willing to get a pie on its face. If The Mascot faces him in some contest, it’s going to be a tough one.

[cavefelix]

The Horizon Ferrets: NPCs for Rinley’s Traveling All Stars

Yeesh. It’s been nearly a month since I wrote anything about this campaign. Part of the reason is that while designing the quests, while designing characters’ quests, I felt I needed to put some of the foils they’ll play off of. So I’ll spend the next couple of posts giving a quick outline of three of Town’s baseball teams and a couple of important characters.

The Horizon Ferrets are the worst. Well, with one exception, who’s the best.

It may be because their home field (to be described in detail later) is technically part of the school, so they’re cosmically considered teachers, and therefore must be obsessive, wicked, or delusional. Even if that isn’t the case, they’re nobody you’d like to hang out with. In the sports movie franchise, they’re the team everyone hates. Which means there’s a good chance you’ll face them in the big games.

They’re the team most likely to cheat, if they think they can get away with it. There’s always a chance the pitcher will deliberately throw to hit the batter, seemingly out of pettiness rather than the typical reasons of avenging a teammate’s poor treatment or accident.

In fact, here’s the basic character template for your typical Ferret. If you need to name them, Google villain name generators.

Generic Ferret Player

Pro Ball Player 3 // they’re good at this

Total Jerk 3 // they get under your skin

Stubborn 1 // they don’t back down from their delusions

(Custom skill 1) // (Used to flesh out individual characters as needed).

Scheme 0 // They’re less effective at this than they think.

They may also have a Level 2 Bond: “I must dislike the Horizon team and regard them as goody-goodies:

The exception to this is The Friendly Rival.

The Friendly Rival

By default, this is a young woman named Jasper Irinka, though it may, if the players who will be interacting with them prefer (e.g., as a potential romantic partner), a man named Raven Irinka instead. When the sun was extinguished, they fell and landed on the stadium, and somehow became a member of this team, believing that the Great Town Pastime is the ideal way to bring hope back to the people. Since the Child of the Sun is a pretty popular PC in my experience, if she’s taken in another role in your game, this could also be Natalia Koutolika, who was trained to infiltrate American baseball as a secret weapon (not all espionage plans are well thought out), but defied her Soviet controllers, escaped here and views baseball as a way to make the world a better place. (We’ll use Jasper’s name for convenience.)

She has the following skills:

Pro Baseball Player 4 // she is the best player in Town

Superior Friendliness 2 // It is hard to dislike her

Shine 1 // Her suggestions are beneficial

Sunny disposition 1 // She’s always cheerful

She has a Level 2 Bond, “I reach out to everyone,” and a Level 0 Affliction, “The best player in Town.” (Note that affliction doesn’t mean she’ll always win. Ted Williams, arguably the best hitter in baseball, struck out 60% of the time in his best seasons.)

She may also have a Level 1 Connection with any PC if you want to retroactively say they’re friends.

While the other Ferrets may be busy TP’ing the guests locker rooms, she’ll go in to shake your hand before the game. She’ll be happy to help you with anything she can. She’ll offer you a place to crash if you’re out late and can’t get home to Fortitude. She’ll offer you life advice if you ask for it (but won’t force it on you; she’s genuinely nice).

She’s an appropriate for any quest where a character has a problem and needs an NPC to serve as a friendly foil or offer advice and companionship.

The Ferrets Owner

Sandy P Helliwish* controls the team. I think they’re the owner, or majority stakeholder but never really understood their exact role. They could be the general manager or even team captain if you want them closer to the field action.

Sandy will make your life a living hell. In their mind, it’s not enough the Ferrets win; it’s important the other team is devastated. Since they can’t always guarantee the former, they work really hard on the latter.

Sandy has the following skills:

Scheme 3 // Pretty devious

Rules Lawyer 3 // If the facts are against you, argue the law

Rant 2 // Villainous soliloquies abound

Warmth -1 // Not only is Sandy cold hearted, but their handshake is cold and clammy.

Sandy is a great NPC whenever you want an absolute villain to target a PC.

*Anagram of Snidely Whiplash

Musty the Ferret

I don’t know who’s in the Ferrets’ mascot suit, but Musty straddles the line from rude to mischievous. He may make mocking gestures at the players in the dugout. He may sneak into the locker room between innings and come out waving someone’s non-uniform shirt around. Depending on your campaign, he could be anything from a Bugs Bunny style trickster to a vulgar comedian.

[cavefelix]

The Orange Arc -- Right Past The Flagpole

This is a Knight arc, specifically designed for the Strategic Genius (?) in the game Rinley’s Traveling All Stars but probably suitable, with minor tweaking, for any prophet or herald. Just, you know, change the references to baseball to battling dark forces.

Quest 1: De-Cassandrafying

(Knight 1, Bindings 3 or 4, Otherworldly 1, Storyteller 2, Aspect 2, Shepherd 4, Emptiness 2, Mystic 1)

You know that your system can make everyone’s game better, not just yours. But they don’t seem willing to listen to you. They think you’re putting on airs. You’ve got to show them otherwise -- but that’s going to be trickier than it seems.

35 XP version

Major goals

You convince everyone to give your system a go, but the team loses the game, because you misinterpreted something or a player deliberately ignored your advice and then lied about it.

You go 24 hours without sleep and/or food. (This can be because your system suggests it, or for a seemingly unrelated reason).

A set of notes relating to your system is lost, destroyed or damaged.

You make (or direct, if you’re the manager) the winning play of a close game and credit your system.

You can a maximum of three of these, and may only take any goal once..

Minor goals

You spend time talking about your system.

People tell you to stop talking about your system, or deliberately avoid you.

You pointedly spend a chapter not bringing up your system IC.

A non-human person (e.g., an ogre) or member of a shrine family has a friendly conversation with you. (This can include the Immigrant and two of the variations of the Mascot).

You meet an authority figure, and talk to them. 

You spend time watching the clouds pass by.

You find yourself in a smoke- or fog-filled room.

20 XP version

Major Goals:

You convince everyone to give your system a go, but the team loses the game, because you misinterpreted something or a player deliberately ignored your advice and then lied about it.

You arrange it so that you are brightly illuminated while everyone else is in darkness or shadows.

You may take each goal once.

Minor Goals:.

You spend time talking about your system.

People tell you to stop talking about your system, or deliberately avoid you.

You meet an authority figure, and talk to them. 

You find yourself in a smoke- or fog-filled room.

You may take one of these per chapter. It may be combined with an XP action, but need not be.

Results:

You’re on your way. People either believe that your vision is the real thing, or at least are willing to say there’s something there. Also, you gain one of the following perks:

Your confidence in your vision has become contagious. You gain Superior Explainer 1.

Your use of your vision to help the team is becoming smoother. Once per chapter you get a +1 Tool to get to first base in a game.

Quest 2: The Maddening Crowds

(Knight 2, Aspect 1, 2, Shepherd 2, Emptiness 2, Mystic 3)

You’d be on your way to getting the Lynxes to a winning season at this point, you’re sure of it. Except… well, at some point the stress of dealing with the doubts and scorn, and maybe the silly shenanigans your teammates were doing, just got too much for you.

If you’re Galatea, you’re most likely to retreat at the exact wrong time. It hurts someone important to you. You may just walk away. Or shut down. Or refuse to look up from your book. Perseus is likely to lose his temper. I think serious physical violence is unlikely, though it’s possible there will be a slap.

But it’s someone who means a lot to you that you. I suggest considering:

One of the PCs you have a Connection to, or are developing a lowercase connection with. 

One of your mothers.

An important person in Town or the baseball scene, particularly one who could help your vision for baseball get traction, like the Friendly Rival.

It’s possible this flare-up happened before the quest, and now you’re just dealing with the consequences. Or maybe it’s the event which instigates it.

30 XP Version

Major goals

Your flaw leads you to alienate the target

You need the target for something important but feel unable to approach them and something bad happens.

You repeat a mistake that you’ve previously made.

You do something in a public location that causes all conversation to stop.

You may do up to three.

Minor Goals:

You make a gesture of apology you feel is insufficient.

You send or receive a handwritten letter from the target.

You channel your feelings to make an exceptional (strong or bad) play in a game.

A player says to you, OOC, “I wish your emotion XP was ‘offering you comfort,’” and means it. (i.e., they’re not just helping you grind for XP.)

You’re in a scene and don’t say anything.

You get drunk, have too much sugar, or eat something terribly unhealthy.

You encounter the target in a scene.

20 XP version If you’re in a hurry to do this quest, I think it’s a simple struggle. You know what you did was wrong, on some level. But you need to process it. There’s a reason you lost your temper.

Take a two-sided card with the messages:                                I messed up/The World’s unfair

Once per scene/15 minutes of play, you can flip the card when appropriate and gain an XP.

Results:

The relationship you ruined is patched. It may or may not be the same as it was, but friendship has been restored. Perhaps more importantly, you’ve come to a realization about yourself. You’re still a visionary, but there’s a new edge to your outlook.  This manifests in one of two ways:

You get a +2 Tool bonus, useable once per chapter, to avoid the consequences of your failing. People no longer say “Hey! Galatea just grabbed a book as I was talking about linoleum patterns and started ignoring me. How rude!” They instead say, “Hey! Maybe she’s trying to find information that will help me!” or “Maybe I missed the warning signs she doesn’t care about floor design.”

Once per chapter, get a +1 Tool Bonus for an action relating to silence in some way. Examples might include shocking hecklers into silence, being a mime, committing a faux pas which stops conversation flat, or singing the Simon and Garfunkel song “The Sound of SIlence.”.

Quest 3: A Widening Vision

(Knight 3, 5, Bindings 4, Otherworldly 2, 3, Aspet 2, Mystic 2) Now that you’ve established your vision for baseball is effective, and you’ve gotten past the emotional turmoil of your recent incident, you’d think it would be time to go full steam ahead, and use this vision to help the Lynxes win the championship. But there’s an obstacle in the way, a tempter, who’s going to encourage you to use your vision in some other way..

Here are possible tempters, and how they may persuade you:

The least likely one, to me, is the owner of the Arcadia Wombats, who’ll be trying to negotiate a new contract with you to join their team, to share your secret formula for success with them instead of Fortitude. If you go with this option, I suspect that they’ll be downplaying the higher salary they’re willing to offer, and instead focus on how they believe in you, and can help you show Town that there’s a better way to play baseball. How much of this is manipulation and how much is sincere is up to your story.

The Glory Hound on your own team -- if they’re a PC, make sure the player’s on board with it. They should be starting their third arc, and might see you as the potential Celdinar Trophy winner. If that’s the case, he’ll be encouraging *you* to shine on the field, not to make the rest of the team shine. He’ll promise that the PR from this will encourage others to follow your vision, and he’s probably right about that. 

Someone on the Fortitude Regional Council. If you have Fortitude: By the Docks of the Big Lake (seriously, get the book) I suggest it be Kimiko Dinsbury. She thinks that you can apply the insights to a bigger field than your sport. Your ideas to make your team more successful could just as easily make Fortitude happier and more productive. Why stick with your team when you can do 

Someone else?

35 XP version:

Major goals:

You stare at a document you’re asked to sign for a long time.

You have a heartfelt discussion at nighttime with someone about whether you should stay on your current path.

Someone on your team lets you down in a big way.

You hear a speech from the tempter on why this is good for your dreams.

You may take each goal once.

Minor goals:

The tempter puts a hand on your shoulder.

You tell a friend how much they mean to you, or the friend tells you how much you mean to them.

You go out to dinner with someone. 

People start chanting your name (probably, but not necessarily, at a game).

You use your vision to win a game.

You find yourself short of cash when you go to buy something.

You attend a conference or seminar.

20 XP Version:

Major Goals:

Someone on your team lets you down in a big way.

You hear a speech from the tempter on why this is good for your dreams.

You may take each once.

Minor Goals:

The Tempter loses their temper.

You have a conversation with someone at night.

You use your vision to win a game. 

You ask someone for pen, paper, to borrow their PC to check your inbox, or some other writing-related material.

You or someone in the scene uses the word “devil.”

Results:

That’s really up to you. Maybe you’re won over. Why fight to get everyone on the Lynxes to win when they won’t really appreciate it? (Or, since they’re probably somewhat appreciative at this point, aren’t getting it enough?)  Maybe you say no -- but that refusal cost you something. Either way, you’re not the same as you were, and get a Perk that reflects it. Choose from:

Move a point or two from one or two of your skills and add Dealmaker 1-2. This process has taught you the importance of understanding bargains.

Gain a Supportive Aura of Doubt: one per chapter, when an ally is dead set on a course of action, your presence can serve as a +1 Tool bonus to convince them to at the very least take some more time to mull it over. 

[cavefelix]

A Blue Arc: Seizing the Spotlight

(A three-arc quest set designed for this character.)

To many of your fellow players, baseball is something beautiful and pure, a metaphor for competition and cooperation and all that is good about humanity. Others play because they were inspired by someone -- a relative or a mentor.

You play baseball because a) you’re good at it, and b) it really lets you grab the headlines. You relish the fame that this sport can bring you. You’re not in this for love of the game, it’s just a means to an end: you want to be mentioned in the same breath as RInley or Babe Ruth. Or maybe you tell yourself that.

Designer Notes: Bindings quests deal with working with a dangerous power. For a pro athlete, the media certainly counts.The obvious Binding options would be that you’d explore cheating, either through summoning demons a la Damn Yankees or just plain steroid use. But those seem a bit villainous, and I don’t know if you want to play a cheater in a sports game.

I am trying to provide each character with a standard-length and quick version of each quest, making them appropriate for games with 60- or 100-point XP arcs).

Quest 1 -- The open book (35 or 20 XP)

(Appropriate for Bindings 1, Knight 2, Storyteller 2, Emptiness 2, Aspect 3)

You want the world to see you more, and you’re reaching out to do it. You’re making yourself noticed.  On and off the field, you’re grabbing the spotlight.

35 XP version

Major XP goals: (Take any three, for a total of 15 Points)

You arrange to be seen with a major celebrity (a cool singer, a controversial actor, the Idol) at a trendy spot.

You deliberately trick another player character. (I would assume this is to get them out of the way so you shine more, but it could be as simple as putting springs in a can labeled “nuts.”)

You attempt to perform a very cool move on the field to show off, but fail, embarrassing yourself and costing your team that game.

You successfully pitch a reporter (or TV show, if your version of Town has them) with an idea for a detailed profile of you.

Once/Chapter goals

Make a quote to a reporter about a game you just played. 

Show up late for practice because you were out all night. 

Ask, anxiously, “this is off the record, right?” 

Do something to your uniform to make it stand out from the rest of the team’s.

Name drop (e.g., As I was saying to Jasper, you know, the Sun’s daughter.)

20 XP version

In this version, you’ve convinced a reporter/photographer/reality TV show to follow you around. They don’t really need to be statted up; they’ll mostly stay out of the way, taking notes and pictures. Think of them as Lakitu from Mario 64.

Once per scene/15 minutes you can get XP for remarking to them about something that just happened you’d love to see covered, or dread seeing seeing covered.

You’ll use the same phrase for both instances, though you’ll say it differently:

Oh, that’s going in the story!

or

Oh…. THAT’s going in the story?

Reward: You’ve hammered out a working relation with the press. PIck one of the two following perks.

You gain Connection 1: The Fortitude Herald (or other media group, or a specific reporter)

You gain the ability Superior Lede Writer 1. This skill lets you look at a situation and determine a really good way to summarize it to draw readers/viewers in. (You basically get 1 Edge when trying to sell anyone on something quickly.)

Quest 2 - The Floating Diamond (30 or 20 XP)

(Mystic 1, Bindings 2, Bindings 3, , Aspect 3, Storyteller 4)

On one of your games in Old Molder, you notice some kids, trying to play baseball. Sadly, this is really hard there; the rooftops are often too narrow or cragged for a good field, and nobody wants to play on the ground. And the area has such poverty compared to Arcadia or Fortitude that the children can’t afford decent equipment.

But you can fix this! You have the connections to get an aerial park constructed. You know the people who can donate gloves. You will look so good in formal wear at the celebrity-studded gala you’ll hold to raise this money. (Or maybe you’ll find another charitable way to help them?)

30 XP version

Major XP Goals:

You formally commit to help these children get a place and equipment to play baseball (or some other way to help them)..

You get the children to open up to you about their problems.

You get someone rich or important to commit to the project

(You may take each goal once)

Once/chapter goals:

You encounter an obstacle to the plan

You steer a conversation with someone to the topic of your charitable plan.

You save someone from falling (possibly off a roof, or possibly just tripping).

You explain the challenges of playing baseball in Old Molder to someone.

You get the children out of some sort of trouble.

You get into some sort of trouble.

You use this as an excuse to show off how generous you are.

20 XP Goals:

Major XP Goals:

You formally commit to help these children get a place and equipment to play baseball (or some other way to help them)..

You get someone rich or important to commit to the project

Minor XP Goals:

You obsessively work on a way to help these children.

You learn a stunning fact about (one of) these children.

You make a bargain to get the help you need

Something falls off the roof

Reward: Your plan succeeds, or at least work on it gets underway. In addition, you gain one of the following two perks:

A Level 2 Connection to “The Children of Old Molder.”

A reputation as a guy who helps out. Once per chapter, this serves as a +1 Tool to prevent the media from harming you or your friends (because it looks really bad to attack someone who helps little kids play the great Town pastime.

Quest 3: The “me” in team (40 or 20 points)

(Bindings 2, Storyteller 2, Bindings 3, Aspect 3,

By this point, your team has (or should have) really turned things around from the early season. You’ve got a serious shot at the playoffs, or might even be in them. And the buzz is the sports pages is what player will win the coveted Celdinar Trophy for most valuable player.

Now, the best player in the league isn’t on the team. That’s the Friendly Rival (see major NPCs whenever I get around to writing them up) on the Horizon Ferrets. Still, someone on your team has a real shot at this.

But the Celdinar Trophy isn’t just based on numbers. People in Town probably don’t know what Sabermetrics are anyway. Sports is about heart and grit, not number crunching.

So someone on your team has a chance. Do some honest appraising to determine this arc’s Potential Most Valuable Player (PMVP).:

Maybe it’s you.

Maybe it’s another PC

Maybe, if all the PCs have only been playing decently, it’s an NPC.

You’ve got to ensure the voting public and sports writers, who determine this, award the trophy to the PMVP -- and, if it’s not you, ensure that they give you a lot of credit for making that happen.

(Note: Does this sound complicated? It should. Binding 3 Quests take a lot of planning and work to pull off.)

40 Point version

Major Goals:

You identify the potential Celdinar Trophy winner

A major game is about to start… and the Potential MVP isn’t there!

You force the person to come to a ribbon cutting, fancy ball, or some other purely public relations event they have no interest in attending.  

They are injured and you convince them to play through the pain.

(You may take each of these once)

Minor goals:

You spend time awkwardly bonding with their family.

You bring up their name in casual conversation with a reporter, seeming by accident

You express concerns you’re backing the wrong person

You come up with a potential catchy nickname for them.

You spend time researching the exact rules of how the Celdinar Trophy is awarded.

You ask The Mascot to draw attention to them during the game.

20 Point Version

Once you’ve identified the potential MVP, just, you know, draw attention to them. A lot of attention. When they tie their shoes, call a cobbler and demand they design a new sneaker called “The [MVP name]” to honor them. When they get to first base on a weak bunt, act as if they have just one the game for you. In short, take things

****** Over the Top *******

You may do this quest at any time, but only once per scene/15 minutes.

Reward: Your plan succeeds! And you’ve improved as a person. Choose one of these options:

You gain a perk +1 Tool to any situation involving a camera, because you’re more natural looking in front of it.

You move transfer a point from one Skill to raise “Soft Spot” by 1, because you’re more caring

[cavefelix]

The Veteran: A character for Rinley’s Traveling All Stars (CMWGE)

Age: 38

Academics: All right

Athletics: That’s the big question, isn’t it? Are you merely very good, or are you still among the best?

Favorite Food: Mussels just gathered from the beach, anything from a street cart

Sign: Capricorn

Introduction

Ah, you’re the last (but not least) character to be described for this game. Good to see you back. You are:

Ichikawa Kokkyo, starting pitcher for the Fortitude Lynxes.

Kura Kokkyo, starting pitcher for the Fortitude Lynxes.

The name’s right, but ...pitcher? That position doesn’t exist on our sports team because we’re playing a variant of this campaign where it’s soccer or competitive singing. So you meant to say goalie, or tenor.

 I’m assuming you’re Ichikawa the pitcher. Don’t worry, this is still a useful guide if you’re not. 

Background

For several generations, the Kokkyo have run a shipping business off the docks of big lake, managing crates of cargo. From just about the time you could walk, you were down there helping out (or getting underfoot). And, in your spare time, since there were wide unused fields nearby, you and your friends would pass the time with games of stick ball. They quickly prevented you from being pitcher, because you threw too well. 

But as you grew older, and started playing with some clubs in your off time, that pitching served you well, until you were finally noticed by the pros. (You’re still part of the business. Pro baseball doesn’t pay that well in Town, and family is important to a Fortitude resident.) You joined the Fortitude Lynxes 12 years ago, where your fastball, that sometimes topped 100 mph, and curveball, which broke surprisingly, served you well. Even though the Lynxes weren’t generally considered the best team at the time, you were always called one of the better players in the league. 

Then, two years ago, in a fairly routine game in the middle of the season, when you threw a pitch you’d thrown countless times before, you heard a sick snap.

You missed the last season. And you’re still not sure you’re back to you old self. Besides, baseball is a young person’s game. Most athletes are out of the game by 40. 

Can you keep going? Can you support the team? Or will you just be returning to your family business? It’s an ominous time in your life. You know that something has to change. That’s why you’re on a Mystic Arc.

Skills

Professional Ball Player 2 // You’re not quite  back to your old self

Cargo business  3 // You’re part of the family business

Worry 1 // Technically, this means you can make yourself happy by worrying with no extra effort. But I think it really means you find it easier to take advantage of your concerns than most.

Tourist 1 // You like to explore and wander around

Dedicated 1 // You are loyal

Bonds and Afflictions

You have the following Bond:

Bond (2): I visit shrines

I don’t know if this is a spiritual thing, or you appreciate the diverse architecture, or it’s one of those athletic superstitions that it brings you luck if you constantly go to holy sites. But as a Bond, you can use this to gain two strike if going to a shrine would help you and  there’s opposition to your Intention. If visiting one of these places gets you in trouble, gain up to 2 Will. And it’s notionally possible to survive indefinitely without food, water or air with this bond.  

You also have what I think is a pretty cool Affliction

Affliction (0): Natural soundtrack

At dramatic moments in your life, to the extent that it’s naturally feasible, music plays. Of course at a baseball game it’s the dramatic organ music. If you’re with a date in Arcadia, the piped tunes will be romantic. This is only going to happen to the extent it’s feasible; if you’re being chased through the Walking Fields don’t expect to run into a band playing Dance of the Comedians, though it’s possible the birds’ will be tweeting at a frenzied pace.

Perks:

You start the game with the following Connections by default:

Connection: The Mascot 1 // They’re a good kid

Connection: The Announcer 1 // You’ve known him for years

Earning XP

We’ll get to your Mystic Arc in a later post, but you have the following other ways to get XP:

Emotion XP: Thumbs Up

Anytime Quest: (Maybe Pastoral, maybe Exciting, A sort of maroon quest?) Your injury and uncertainty have led you to be more open to new ideas. You’re more willing to try new foods, rent a dragonfly in Old Molder, sing at karaoke night, etc. You’ll demonstrate this with the catchphrase “Let’s live a little.”

[cavefelix]

The Announcer: A character for Rinley’s Traveling All Stars (CMWGE)

Age: 65

Academics: More than it first seems

Athletics: Not what it was, though people call you spry

Favorite foods: Stout, lamb chops, pickled snails

Spirit animal: Monarch Butterfly

INTRODUCTION

Your fame precedes you! But, for the sake of those who may not recognize you out of context, could you introduce yourself for this game?

Of course. I’m Patel Larkin, former member of the championship Fortitude Lynxes and current radio announcer.

Happily. I’m Rani Larkin, former member of the championship Fortitude Lynxes and current radio announcer

One of those names is right, but radio doesn’t fit into my roleplaying group’s vision of Town’s aesthetics. I’m either a columnist for a paper, or the host of the Sportitude podcast, depending on which way the group rolls..

I’m going to assume your Patel, but Rani, there’s a note for you in the sidebar below. 

Playing Rani: I think you’ll find society treats you as a little older than they do Patel. You might both be 65 and in good health, but he’ll be considered late middle age, while you’ll be considered more grandmotherly. It’s not fair, and it’s nothing major, but you’re more likely to be asked “How do you still have the energy to do what you do?” than he would be. .

Background

You're a first generation native of Fortitude, your parents having immigrated from Earth. You always knew you wanted to be a baseball player, and more than had the talent. 

You joined the Fortitude Lynxes about 40 years ago, in what was considered a golden age for the team. You were, once you hit your groove, the hardest hitting player in the league, setting the home run record. Your fielding wasn’t bad either.

In the 13 years you were with the team, you made it to the playoffs eight times, and won the championship three times. The one everyone remembers was 30 years ago this year. A month before the final game, a violent fire had torn through the town, destroying whole blocks and killing 12. Fortitude was just devastated, and needed a sign of hope. When you hit the home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the championship -- and then you and your teammates announced you were donating all the prize money to the families affected -- you went from a great athlete to an icon. Children in Fortitude schools sometimes memorize your speech after the game as part of their civics lessons. 

You played for a few years after that, but you can’t compete with the young athletes forever, and you retired to great fanfare.

Then you were lost. You’ve been lost for close to three decades now. Being a great athlete was your life’s dream. To quote Bowie, even if the numbers are slightly off for you “We  live for just these 20 years. Do we have to die for 50 more?”  

And part of you knows this is stupid. Objectively, you still have a good life. You’ve gone on to a respected job as an announcer, your voice reaching tens of thousands throughout Town. You have two grown children, who you’re on good terms with. Everyone still recognizes and respects you.

But you can’t get over the feeling you’re just... there. A shadow of your former self, experiencing what you used to do merely vicariously. This isn’t clinical depression or anything. Just a general malaise. It’s not worth complaining about. It’s even a bit hard to put into words. But your life (and thus your quest set) feels empty.  

Skills:

You have the following skills:

Professional Ball Player 1 // You’d be loved in a company softball game. And you have a deep understanding of how the game works.

Paint a Word Picture 3 // Your phrases bring scenes to life

Conceal Your Feelings 2 // You are good at this

Connection: Fortitude 2 // The town was always good to you, and vice versa

Philosophize 0 // You wonder about things, but does that bring you happiness?

Bonds and Affliction

You have the following Bond

Bond (2): Minor icon

Obviously, in a world where you can run into Death himself at the laundromat (if you do your washing late in the day) and people keep the sun from going out, you’re not up there with some of the divine stars. But just about everyone in Fortitude, and a lot of people in the rest of Town, knows you. Use this to add 2 to an intention when there’s an obstacle in the way and being a minor icon would help. If this causes trouble (e.g., autograph seekers keep bothering you when you’re trying to have a peaceful moment), you can gain up to 2 Will. And it is notionally possible to use your status to survive indefinitely without food, air, or water, though there might be obstacles as high as level 4 in the way.

You also have an affliction:

Affliction (0): People want to tell me their stories.

After a couple of minutes in your company, people invariably tell you an anecdote about their lives. Often it’s how you inspired them, or some important event in their lives, but sometimes it’s just a story about the egg with two yolks that they bought at the grocery the other day.

Perks:

By default, you start the game with two connections.

Connection: The Immigrant 1 // They can relate to you as a person, not an omnipesent cultural celebrity.

Connection: The Strategic Genius(?) 1 // The conversations are always interesting

Ways to earn XP.

We’ll get to your Emptiness Arc quests in another post. But here’s two other ways to earn XP.

Emotion XP: Nod/half salute of respect -- You were one of the most famous athletes in Town. Your voice is heard (or articles are read) by so many. And you legitimately earned the respect. You’ll strive to show why you earned it, and the other PCs will respond by nodding, or perhaps waving their fingers near their head in a sloppy imitation of a salute. Not what they’d get away with in the military, but enough to show they’d like to salute Patel without the full ceremony.

Anytime quest: Slipping in Poetry (Mystic). You’re one who often seems to keep his feelings to himself, but they slip out in subtler ways. You often slip a line from a classic poem into your speech. This probably has more meaning than you let on. Up to once per scene or 15 minutes of , acknowledge, IC or OOC, that was poetry you used, and gain an XP.

Example: Patel is in Arcadia, looking at the elaborate goods. He might say: “Oh,” cried Lizzie, “Laura, Laura,/ You should not peep at goblin men.”  A quote from Rosetti’s Goblin Market as an allusion to the dangers of buying tempting looking goods. Or he might just quote “Is there balm in Giliead?” because you the player like Poe. Either way, it sounds profound.

Variation: If you just don’t know or like poetry, you can substitute song lyrics or quotes from video games. (Yes, someone in their 60s can certainly quote play video games. Just remember Town tends to be behind the times -- you’re more likely to know “Our princess is in another castle” than something from The Last of Us.

[cavefelix]

The Rookie: A character for Rinley’s Traveling All Stars (CMWGE)

Age: 19

Athletics: The scouts went crazy when they saw you

Academics: You get by

Spirit Animal: Colt

Favorite Foods: Borscht, Udon

Introduction

Hey kid. You must be the new player for this game who’s got all the buzz. I hear you’re destined for great things. Could you introduce yourself?

Of course. I’m Pietr Nemetov, the new first baseman.:

I’d be delighted. I’m Dorotea Nemetov, the new first baseman.

I’m assuming your Pietr. Apologies if that’s wrong. 

Background

You grew up in the Walking Fields, which aren’t quite as dangerous as some people believe. Because there’s so much empty space, playing sports was a natural, and you always excelled at whatever you played at. When you went to Entropy’s High School, you were the captain of the baseball team and led the team to the championship three times against St. Vita’s, going 5 for 5 with a home run your last year. No one on either team was anywhere near as good as you. (This win is impressive, since St. Vita’s team tends to dominate the annual matches, but less impressive than it could be, since there are a total of two teams in town’s high school leagues.) From there, I see two options:

Town loves baseball, but it’s not big enough for a complex minor league structure. Traditionally, you play a few years with some clubs, or a couple of quasi-pro groups where you can earn pocket change. You’d only been playing a couple of months when the scouts for the Lynxes noticed you, and offered you a contract. 

You went to college. By which I mean The Bleak Academy. You dominated play there, and at the end of the first year the Lynxes offered you a contract. Since that was your lifelong dream, you left school. 

And even though you’ve only been through spring training, you know why they use the phrase “out of your league.” You’re not saying these folks are better than you, but you realize you’ve got a ways to go.

Which version is correct? And if you went to the Bleak Academy, since you grew up in the Walking Fields, are you a Rider? That would explain why you went to the academy, though you don’t have to be a Rider to enroll. (Somewhere around 30-50% of the Walking Fields’ team have eyes of night and falling stars. It’s rarer, though not unheard of, for other teams.)

I’m not a Rider! In fact, given their background I probably am a bit prejudiced against them, with them having hunted my friends for sport, etc.

I’m not a Rider, and I was noticed in the semi-pro leagues.

I’m not a Rider. I went to the Academy, but I was strictly a ringer for the team and everyone knew it. They didn’t want to convert me to their philosophy, just help them win games.

I am a Rider, or maybe one of my parents was. It’s really not a big deal.

I am a Rider, and the culture is important to me.

Skills

If you’re human, you probably have the following skills:

Student Athlete 3 // Any college would want you on their team

Follow Your Dream 2 // Being in the pros is important to you

Immature 1 // Partying makes you happy. Not worrying about money makes you happy. Insisting you’re right makes you happy.

Farm-child 1 // Your Walking Field upbringing

Strong impression 1 // You are memorable

A note on the Student Athlete Skill: Remember that skills in Chuubo’s aren’t just who has the highest number, but about context. If you have the choice between listening to someone with Sings In The Shower 5 vs. Opera Singer 3, you’d probably only pay money to see the opera singer. The former will have an easier time using her skill to be productive and effective, but there’s a limited market for being the world’s greatest singer when the tiles are just right and the water’s running. Until he gets a perk after one of his quests, Pietr will be using this skill which is impressive for a student against people who are pros. 

Rider variants. Take any or all of these options. A few are even good for a human:

Change Student Athlete to Natural Athlete. In addition to baseball, you’re good at horseback riding, fencing, and other activities that depend on physical prowess. You probably don’t know many other organized sports outside of baseball though.

Change Farm-Child to either Rider Necromancy or Night-Craft. (Both magics are detailed in CMWGE.) Changeling would be much more useful, but it feels to me just a bit like cheating to be able to conceal your wounds.

Rename Strong Impression to something a little less positive sounding. I don’t think you’re nasty enough to have Superior Cruelty, but perhaps you have Intimidating or Disturbing Gaze.

Lower Follow Your Dream to 1 or eliminate one of the other Level 1 skills, and add Connection: My Horse Moonshadow 1. (Growing up on a farm as a human might also give you this if you really want a horse. I’m not sure why animals seem to be cropping up in these character options.) Be aware Moonshadow won’t always be with you. It’s cool but not really useful in a baseball-themed campaign. Or add Hunting and Woodcraft 1.

Bonds and Afflictions

Most variants start with the following Bond: 

Bond (2): Confident.

You are always sure of yourself -- whether it’s merited or not. When you’re opposing someone and have a reason to be confident, add 2 to your Intention. When your confidence in yourself gets you in trouble (”I’m so good I have plenty of time to make that play!), regain 2 Will And it’s notionally possible to survive indefinitely on sheer confidence. I someone threw you into the vacuum of space, just keep telling yourself “I’m good enough at holding my breath to survive another five minutes.” Be aware there may be a tough Obstacle there though.

If you chose Night-Craft as a skill, and want a bond that goes with that, consider, “I always have dirt under my fingernails.” It’s a natural for an athlete, and might help you on the field as well as off. If you have a connection to a horse and are a Rider, “I ride a pale horse” may also be appropriate.

Your affliction is probably not that memorable, TBH. I think it’s something like

Affliction (0): People who aren’t concentrating on it always call you “kid.” Even the Mascot, who’s younger than you, calls you kid.

Perks

By default, you start the game with two connections

Connection: The Veteran 1 // They’re the oldest member of the team; you’re the youngest. There’s this yin-yang thing.

The Glory-Hound 1 // This person seems to enjoy life

Emotion and Anytime Quest

We’ll detail your Aspect Quest in a later post. For the meantime, here’s a couple of other ways to earn XP.

Your Emotion XP is Offering You Comfort (with this XP). This is your life’s dream and it’s so much harder than you thought.

Your Anytime Quest is called  Heart on your sleeve. (Melodramatic) -- You let your emotions shine through. Once per scene/15 minutes, when you make it obvious how you’re feeling, you can gain an XP. Since you’re supposed to have a catchphrase for this type of quest, I’m going to recommend the term “Oh.” Though appropriately modulated. “Oh!Oh!OH!” for excitement. “Oooooooh” for regret. “O...” for shock. Alternately, after an emotional outburst, tap your bicep to indicate your heart is figuratively there. If you are in a play-by-post game, remember to tell the others you have tapped your bicep or send a screencap of doing so in case they ask why you’re adding XP to the character sheet.

[cavefelix]

Fortitude Field: A location for Rinley’s Traveling All Stars (CMWGE)

Since last time I talked about the Stadium Spirit, I thought I’d tell you a little bit about the stadium she’s the spirit of. We’ll get back to looking at the PCs for the game next time...

If Hollywood knew about Town, and wanted  location shots for the perfect early 20th century ball park, they’d pick Fortitude Field. Though in reality, the stadium has other uses; I believe other sports teams use it in the off season, and concerts and shows are held there at twilight after an afternoon game ends.

The Lynxes never play night games at home; there are no lights on the field. There’s no giant TV screen to see the action. The scoreboard is updated manually, with people climbing ladders up to 40 feet in the air to change numbers of games.

And the music isn’t piped in either. There’s a genuine pipe organ -- a beautiful antique -- providing the sounds and stirring the crowd.

I don’t want you to think there’s no electricity. It just isn’t part of the game. There’s a phone by the scoreboard where they get the results from other teams that are playing in different stadiums. The announcers have access to microphones and radio equipment. And the snack area has a vibrant neon sign (which buzzes faintly) and a frozen custard stand which definitely uses refrigeration to keep the food cold.

That custard, by the way, is always served in a little wooden cup designed to look like a baseball bat. If you have a sweet tooth and ice cream isn’t your thing, you can also buy caramel popcorn with nuts (occasionally, someone will sell imported brand name Cracker Jacks, though that’s more an Arcadia thing).

If you prefer non-sweets, the food is pretty much what you’d get in a snack cart on any street of Fortitude. There’s a lot of fried and grilled seafood. Some chips. Pick up the Fortitude sourcebook for some more details. Only one type of beer is sold (the brewer has an exclusive license), which is a very smooth and crisp lager.

If you want to see a game, there are two things to note. The seats have the same old fashioned feel as the rest of the game, wooden and old fashioned -- and ergonomics apparently wasn’t a goal when the stadium was designed. They’re not horrible, but you’ll be happy when the seventh inning stretch comes. I suggest bringing a pillow or padded jacket or something. The other is that there are only a few seats available close to first base and behind home plate -- if you’re more than 24 inches tall. Those sections have been specially carved out for Fortitude Rats. They’re welcome elsewhere, but they have a good view here.

There’s a statue as you enter the stadium, of a woman wearing catcher’s garb. The inscription as the base has faded, and nobody really knows who she is. There’s a superstition where fans leave old socks and worn out shoes near the statue when the team is on a winning streak. (These are rounded up and given to charities.)

Players like Fortitude Field, for the most part. The only exception is left field, where rather than a wall to indicate where the ball is considered a home run, there’s a row of rosebushes. Skilled fielders may manage to leap over the thorns and technically leave the grounds to catch balls there; some, to the disgust of gardeners, rip up their uniforms and risk some nasty scratches of they aren’t paying attention. Most of the time they trip and fail to catch the ball.

Off the field, there’s nothing wrong with the changing rooms, but they can best be described as utilitarian. The home team’s isn’t much larger than the away team’s. Really, they put me in mind of an older high school’s locker room. There’s something charming about a turn-of-the-century stadium look. Nobody praises the showers of that era though. You’ll probably grumble the water takes too long to heat up, and the wooden benches look like they could leave splinters. There’s nothing ramshackle about it though; the equipment has been well maintained. It’s just outdated.

XP Actions:

Attending a game at Fortitude Field is usually a Slice of Life or Shared Action. It’s a summer pastime. You (and your friends) enjoy the experience of doing an ordinary thing. In fact, most of the actions below could probably fit into one of those. But I’ll offer alternatives:

Looking at the scoreboard might be an Obsessive action. You should be watching the game you came from. But the movement of the people going up and down. Wondering if they might fall. Wondering if the standings will change, what score they’re changing, whether that last play will be ruled an error. You let it take over your thoughts.

The music from the organ can be Foreshadowing. You find you’re paying a lot of attention to it, getting caught up in the mood. Or you notice its antique brass pipes, and wonder what the carvings on them mean.

Working the scoreboard (a possibility for some of the players) could be Trouble. You make the mistake of looking down and realizing you’re dizzy!

Ordering snack food is sometimes a Wicked Action. You know you shouldn’t have another ice cream, or that the fried food will upset your stomach, but you do it anyway. Also, I’ve never seen anyone who had a child and bought them an ice cream in a helmet who didn’t have a shared reaction of joy. It’s sweet and fun!

Speculating about the statue of the catcher, and the reason shoes and socks are left there, is sometimes Science, Faith and Sorcery. You speculate that the socks let bad luck walk away, then leave the socks. You call the statue by a name, to see if it will bring her to life.

Running into the roses in left field may cause you to Suffer Trauma. You suffer cuts. You know the landscapers will glare at you. It doesn’t feel good at all.

Grumbling about the seats or locker room is a usually a Shared Reaction. It’s not that they’re so unpleasant they can’t be used, or that they must be replaced. They’re just bad enough that everyone will agree with your complaints, and suffer slightly with you.

[cavefelix]

The Stadium Spirit: A character for Rinley’s Traveling All Stars (CMWGE)

Age: ???? Appears 12ish

Athletics: Average

Academics: Out of date

Favorite food: Sugar skulls, eel pie

Zodiac sign: Pig

Introduction

So, you’re the Stadium Spirit, a character in this game, right?

That’s rights, guv’nor, I’m Dorrit Schwan, a ghost o’ the stadium

Verily, thou has the right of it, I hight Josiah Kells, the phantom bound to this land

Willikers! I have one of those names, but golly I’m more a nature spirit/minor deity type than a dead person.

Name’s right, pardner, but I ain’t rightly sure what I am. Maybe a bit of that there background stuff’d help me decide...

I can’t guarantee it, but for the meantime I’ll assume you’re Dorrit. And you’re going to have to settle on what sort of speech mannerisms you have. It’s fine if you’d prefer to sound like you’re from the 1970s or old as civilization itself

Background

Sadly, Dorrit, we don’t really know your background. The records in the Archive are contradictory and seem to have been left under a sprinkler which damaged them. But here are the most popular theories.

You were the first person in Fortitude killed by a baseball, in a freak accident. You’ve been tied to baseball and Fortitude ever since. The townspeople felt really bad, and built the stadium for you a long time ago as a way for you to eventually find peace.

If you’re in a variant game where the sport isn’t baseball, but a capella singing, you were crushed to death by a chandelier that fell when a soprano hit a really high note at the first contest. Or if it’s basketball, when Rinley invented the first game, and threw a three pointer from five miles away, the force knocked the pole into the stand and it hit you. The point is that your death was the first associated with the sport.

Same as the above, but without the Town connection. You were from Earth when the sport was invented in the 19th century, or 18th century, or when it first really was played in Constantinople, and drifted into Town because the game is so much purer here.

You are actually a youkai, a spectre who happens to like baseball and has adopted it.

You are not connected to baseball at all. You’re tied to the stadium, regardless of the sport. After all, Fortitude also probably uses it for theater and concert space. Perhaps you died when it was being built, because they used child labor back then.

You are the actual spirit of the stadium. and were never really human. Your mannerisms date from when it was completed. .

Skills:

You probably have the following abilities as the Stadium Spirit

Ghost Magic 2 // You’re ghostly

Old Fashioned Notions 2 // Your values and ideas may not be contemporary

Fortitude Stadium 4 // Are you an extension of the stadium or vice versa?

Protective toward the team 0 // This is important to you, but it’s hard

Variations: Shift a point from either Old Fashioned Notions or Ghost Magic to Superior Presence 1. It functions exactly the same as Superior Holiness 1, but I’m not sure you’re Holy so much as there.

Bonds and Afflictions

Before I begin, Dorrit, I’ll notice that your bond, affiction, and the most likely alternative to either seem pretty interchangeable to me. You can easily swap them around.

Bond 2 I draw my strength from the stadium in Fortitude

This really means you’re great at doing things in the Stadium, and have a good excuse to get in trouble elsewhere. It also means, as long as the stadium stands, you can use it as an excuse to survive indefinitely. 

Affliction (0): I am ageless

This may be part of the problem with finding out your history. The universe always thinks of you as a young kid. 

Alternative Bondflictions: 

I am the only Stadium Spirit in Town. There are strange things at some of the other stadiums, but you’re the only ghost/godling/spirit. I don’t know why.

The team needs me: You are, either in your mind, due to cosmic forces, or both, essential to the well-being of the Fortitude Lynxes.

Perks

You start the game with the following connections by default:

Connection: The Announcer 1 // You’ve known them a long time

Connection: The Mascot 1 // They fit into the stadium somehow

XP stuff

We’ll get into your Shepherd arc and how you plan to look over the team in a later post. But here are two other ways you earn XP:

Emotion XP: Oh No, Dorrit is in trouble! Maybe it’s your apparent age. 

Anytime Quest: Paradigmatic: You’re always thinking of the Stadium and what it needs to thrive. Once per scene/15 minutes of game time, you can propose a theory of how what you’re doing could be turned into something to draw crowds or improve the building. Like if you were on the ferry and saw seals leaping around you, you might say “We could hold a Mermaid Day: fill the field with water and play the game with scuba gear!”

[cavefelix]

The Immigrant: A character for Rinley’s Traveling All Stars (CMWGE)

Age: 20 (or species equivalent)

Athletics: Whoa!

Academics: Inconsistent; it’s hard to tell if there’s a culture gap or something else

Favorite foods: Grapes, Oranges, Locusts

Spirit Animal: The Bat

Introduction

Hello. Welcome to this game. This is a little embarrassing. Of course I can read your name, because there’s no curse of Babel here, but I can’t pronounce it. Sorry.

It’s okay. It’s actually in a pitch humans have trouble saying (though the Fortitude Rats get it pretty accurately). Call me “Tarot” Sengu. It’s a pretty unisex name.

Sorry. I’m still “Tarot” Sengu. Actually, my name’s totally pronouncable in theory, but there’s a touch of eldritch among my people. The actual name makes people really nervous.

Well, if it’s a name that sentient bat-folk have, and I’m in a play by post game, you can call me [ClickClickClickClicksqeeeee] Sengu and assume everyone can pronounce it.

Background

It’s hard to say how you got involved in baseball. It’s not a thing on 136199 Eris. It’s not part of the culture of your people, a race of melancholy bat people. It’s not like your parents (family unit? spawn pit brood?) were fans. There are zero stadiums, no little league teams, nothing. You’re not even sure how you heard about baseball; maybe some visiting kid from Town told you about it? 

But, somehow, you not only learned about the game, but are some sort of natural prodigy, good enough to play with the professionals. It’s like a rhinoceros  being one of the best auto mechanics in the world; weird, but people would still take their cars there.

Anyway, you left your world orbiting a brown dwarf on a boat bound for Town, where you could live out your dream, and were promptly signed up by the Fortitude Lynxes.

Maybe you should have learned more about Town first, though. The non-baseball parts. Are you ready to play in another world?

By the way, Dr. Moran gets some hint of Mythos from your people, but I can’t imagine any bat-creature in a baseball hat diving to catch a fly ball as if a bringer of the Old Ones. But I might be wrong, and you could be bringing something sinister to Town. I doubt it though. 

Skills

You have the following Skills:

Superior Bat Person 2 // You have wings, pointy ears, and so on. See below.

Professional Ball Player 3 // You can play ball with the pros

Catchphrase: It’s different on Eris 2 // Use this skill to express surprise at the world around you. Or to suggest a different way to do things.  

Magic: Air of Melancholy 1 // The Bat People of 136199 Eris naturally radiate an air of sadness, and have learned how to manipulate it. See below

Superior Bat Person 2 lets you “see” through sonar, hang upside down indefinitely without any ill effects, act uncomfortable in bright light, and -- if you have a high surface to dive off of first -- glide. You’d need Superior Bat 3 to actually fly without that.

Air of Melancholy is a magical skill, an unnatural aura of sadness.

Anyone can master the following abilities:

[Obstacle 0] Appear sad

[Obstacle 0] Appreciate the Blues, gothic poetry, and other “sad” artworks

[Obstacle 1] Explain why a piece of sad art is so effective if you don’t have a critical training in the field. (If you do have a critical training, use that skill instead and save yourself the obstacle.)

[Obstacle 1]Psych yourself into crying on command

The following are magical:

[Obstacle 1]Make people within about 10-30 feet sense your melancholy even when they can’t see or hear you (e.g., you are in another room) assuming you are sad at the time.

[Obstacle 1]Make the lighting dimmer, things appear hazier

[Obstacle 2]Make people within about 10-30 feet feel a sense of melancholy when you personally don’t feel particularly sad[Obstacle 2]Know what to say to make an individual sad

[Obstacle 3]End feelings of sadness in an individual[Obstacle 3]Create an air of melancholy around a whole town.

It is possible, if you get an slightly eldritch vibe from these people, they might also be able to inspire shades of sadness that are hard to distinguish from hopelessness or nihilism.

Your powers and baseball: There is an unwritten rule in Town’s  baseball that you don’t use non-human abilities while playing with humans. You can probably get away with using your Air of Melancholy  to cheer up a despondent teammate before a game starts; it would be terribly unsportsmanlike to deliberately use it to make opponents too sad to play effectively. 

Your sonar ability that come from being an anthropomorphic bat probably offsets the fact you don’t naturally see well in bright sunlight, and is likely considered a push. The only place where your ability to fly after a leap would conceivable come in handy during the game is in Old Molder, where the stadium is on the edge of a deep precipice. If you successfully dive after a ball that’s gone out of the stadium and catch it, everyone will probably be impressed enough to ignore the fact you’re violating custom. 

Bonds and Afflictions

Your Bond is probably going to relate to the fact you’re from another planet. I’m going to suggest keeping it a bit vague, unless you have a clear idea what the planet is like.

Bond 2: From 136199 Eris (Technically, this should be “I am driven to recall life on 136199 Eris,” but that sounds ugly.

If you don’t like that, here are some alternatives:

I am always a bit of an outsider

People find my tastes in food weird

For a Melancholy Bat Person I am suspiciously cheerful

I miss 136199 Eris

Undefinably creepy

Your Affliction is probably this:

Affliction (0): Cards behave weirdly around me.

It’s the source of your name; fortune tellers are always drawing hands like the Ace of Cups, The Emperor, and The Rubber Ducky when you’re nearby. Poker hands result in all players having the same five cards, just of different suits. That sort of thing.

I think this is because there’s something a bit off about your fate, but it may just be a coincidence.

Perks:

Connection 1: The Strategic Genius(?) // They seem familiar

Connection 1: The Rookie // They seem a bit lost here too

Emotion XP and Anytime Quest: 

Do you want to be like Robin Williams’ Mork or Andy Kaufman’s Latke? In that case, I suggest Face Palm. If you do want to emphasize the slightly creepy nature of loving to eat bugs and whatnot, consider Shiver of Terror.

Your main quest is a Lurid one. Sometimes things just sync, and you’re challenged to a bug eating contest by someone unaware you love bugs. Other times you’ll get involved in things most people find normal but you find strange and worrying. You have a two sided sign:

                              In My Element/Out of My Element 

We’ll get to your Otherworldly Arc in a later post.