The Strange: Playtest

[Mgrancey]

EXPLORE! DEFEND! CREATE!

If you aren't aware of The Strange, please go to their website (https://www.thestrangerpg.com)and the kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1433901524/the-strange-a-tabletop-rpg-by-bruce-cordell-and-mo)to find out about them first.

A couple of things up front:

This campaign will not be starting until January
You must sign a NDA with your real name and submit to me before character creation, so that I can send it to MCG Inc.
Will make use of the Numenera Ruleset in the Development version of FG
No offence to new players, but I want experienced players who have played other RPGs before
This is a playtest things can and will change most likely. Critique and opinions are welcome, non-productive criticism is not.
Playtimes will be on Sunday evenings, 7 PM EST or later for probably about 3 hours.


The Strange, like Numenera is aimed at exploration and discovery. Since this is a playtest, the goal is to try things out and have fun; we are going to be trying out their rules and if necessary try modified rules.

Gameplay should be mostly serious, with some tongue-in-cheek and easter eggs from various books, games, tv shoes, movies, and games. The recursions for The Strange will be drawn from these different sources as well as unique and setting provided ones, main concept behind some potential recursions will be "The World as a Myth" as from Robert. A. Heinlein. The first 2 recursions are planned, though player input is welcome.

The first session will be character creation, rules explanation/demostration for those unfamiliar with Numenera, and possibly intro meet and greet.

CHARACTER GENERATION

Character creation is rather simple, same as Numenera,
I am a _(adjective)_ __(noun)__ who __(verb)__!

Characters have the choice of being aware or unaware of The Strange.
All PCs will be from Earth to start off with.


STORY START

Kerrug Industries needs volunteers for a clincal trial of a new OTC energy supplement, you applied (for the money, to sneak inside, or some other reason) and have been accepted into the trials and need to show up at their R & D HQ on Friday morning for a health assessments that will last the weekend.

[Blahness98]

Depending on the time and dates, count me interested. I backed the strange and was looking at playing it at some point.. also might get me in the mood to run a numenera game..

[Mgrancey]

Most Sundays at 7 or 8 PM (eastern standard time) probably starting the 2nd or 3rd Sunday if we have enough people, which is min. 4 I had one other contact me so far.

[Valarian]

Wish I could join in, but the time zone differences are too great.

[Dracones]

I'd be interested in this if you still have room. I've read Numenera and backed The Strange kickstarter, just not at the playtest level. I'm a pretty big Torg/Lords of Creation cross genre fan and have been watching enough Supernatural lately to be in X-Files/Fringe mode for the Earth stuff.

[Mgrancey]

Is still open I'm willing to take up to 5 or 6 people, and I have 2 interested but not confirmed, not including you Dracones.

[Blahness98]

It appears that I cannot read, but I believe I can fit this into my schedule. Let me know if anything changes.

[d1wright]

I'll PM you.

[Dracones]

I'm definitely in for this. PM me when you get a date pinned down for the first character creation session.

[d1wright]

Excellent! We're up and running soon. Any other takers? I'm thinking of a Smart civil engineer who used to run cross country. I have to admit I strive for noncombat characters unsuited to traditional adventuring but somehow rising to the occasion.

[d1wright]

A young Middle Eastern woman in a shiny red tracksuit and running shoes entered the room with a full track bag over her shoulder. She looked around and found an open seat. Her dark hair was pulled back in a short tail and she smiled at the others.

“Do you think they’ll do VO2 testing?” she asked. “I’d love to see what my numbers are.”

Before anyone could answer, her phone buzzed for attention and she excused herself to answer.

“I’m off the clock for three days, Jim,” she said, turning away with her phone. “So you’d better ask all your questions now while I’m still available.” She listened for a while before seeming to explain something about erosion drainage volume and slope gradients that weren’t very entertaining to eavesdrop on before concluding the call. “I’ll be back on Monday morning. If it isn’t an emergency, just call the office and see what they think. Great. Bye.”

“Sorry,” she apologized to the others. “I work for the State Highway Department and we’re doing a runoff stabilization study for…” she trailed off as she realized this probably wasn’t an engaging line of conversation with this audience.

“Anyway,” she tried again. “I have a 10K in a few weeks and I was hoping to see if this new energy supplement would boost my best time. I just hope that it doesn’t contain anything from the black list.”

From the blank looks, she wondered if she’d again picked a poor topic of conversation. “No other runners here?” she asked with an apologetic shrug. “Well, I’m Dali. I’m pleased to meet you.”

[Mgrancey]

One last offer or reminder before we get started this Sunday, if anyone is interested. You'll need to send me an email so I can send you the NDA and get it back in time for the game if you wish to join.