Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Adam-17 is a Learned Jack who Commands Mental Powers [RPG]

Several weeks ago, one of the players in our regular D&D campaign ran a one-shot using a relatively new RPG called Numenera.  The concept is that the game takes place on Earth millions of years in the future during a time where most technological know-how has been lost.  It's not post-apocalyptic like Gamma World, but an age of rediscovery and exploration.  The world is permeated with nanobots, and every PC has some sort of innate ability to control them to do certain things.  I'm not explaining it well, but suffice it to say it's an interesting and unique angle for a RPG.  Having downloaded the core rules, there's a lot I really like about the mechanics and approach of the game, including a few extremely clever concepts, and I could definitely imagine running something with it in the future.

The one-shot we played turned out to be the adventure "Seedship" from the back of the core book.  Our PCs started in the small village of Druissi and were asked to explore a strange structure in the ground that used to provide heat to the village but now was cold and leaking an orange ooze.  The players, not the PCs, know that the structure is really a half-buried starship.  After some fun exploration and dangerous shenanigans inside, everything went to hell and we had to run for it--but not before my character extracted several strange power-supply eggs for sell, not realizing that inside each egg was an alien consciousness that would eventually take control of anyone who possessed them!  Here's my PC:

Adam-17 is a Learned Jack who Commands Mental Powers

Tier: 1
Effort: 1
XP: 3

Might: 10 (edge: 0)
Speed: 10 (edge: 0)
Intellect: 19 (edge: 1)

Trained Skills: Genetics, Defense (Speed), Geography, History, Identification

Special Abilities:  Can use light & medium weapons, Trained in one skill of choice, Flex skill, Pierce, Skill with defense, Trained in 3 knowledge areas, Few Social Graces, Connection, Crystal, Mental Esoteries, Minor Effect Suggestions, Major Effect Suggestions, Telepathic

Cypers (Limit: 2):  Intellect Enhancement (adhesive patch applied on back of neck adds 1 to intellect Edge for 1 hour)

Oddity: Metallic hoop that sharpens any blade

Equipment: Explorer's Pack, Light Tools, Bedroll, Crystal embedded in forehead, Buzzer  (w/ 4 mags), Dagger, First Aid Kit, Book on Genetics, 41 Shins, Book on Repairing

Other: strange disk from ship; 6 power eggs from ship

Armor: none

Attacks:  Buzzer: reduced difficulty by 1, DMG: 2
Dagger: reduced difficulty by 1, DMG: 2

Discovered after a landtremor in a secret vault with 21 other infants in strange pods.  Locals adopted and sold the seemingly-perfect infants.  Adam-17 went to a rich family in an urban centre who flaunted his extreme intelligence despite not loving him.  Not an adult, Adam-17 has set out to find his only true kin: the 20 other pod children.

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