Actual Play – Vanguard (5/29/2016)

unknownarmiesGM: Todd Furler
Players: Myself and five other KublaCon attendees.
System: Unknown Armies

Two games with Todd in one weekend? Huzzah!

Game pitch

In 2046, Mars Station Courage became the first crewed station on Mars. Their original mission was to pave the way for human colonization. Their new mission: To survive. (This game was first run in 2005. I’m bringing it back in honor of the movie The Martian.)

What Rocked

As Todd said at the beginning of the game, Mars was really trying to kill us and we felt it in every moment of the game. Between concerns of supplies running out, parts malfunctioning, and radiation poisoning, we were all in a perpetual state of survival.

From Paul Tevis I got the term “Conservation of NPCs” which means always using an existing NPC when give the option. It prevents the GM from having to make more characters, but more importantly it builds on the existing relationships between characters. Well, Todd has done conservation of NPCs like nobodies business in this game. It make sense, you’re stuck on Mars, there aren’t many people to talk to, but still, he does it very well.

What could have improved

I wasn’t really sure what to do with my character (Fez) for much for much of the game. I talked to Todd about it at length and it doesn’t sound like that character was difficult for others to play so I think it was more a matter of my uncertainty or the player dynamic at the table. The other five players were having a blast though, I just couldn’t quite figure out how to engage with them.

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