What we played: Shock.

Issues: Obesity, Selective Breeding and Authentic v.s Fabricated

Shock: Beings from an other dimension have appeared on earth and have taken some of us into their space to become pets in terrariums that look like perfect town. As these pets we are bred and trained for shows, perform tasks and be pets for strange incomprehensible beings. These beings are vastly different from us, we can't see them or comprehend them: they are to us, as we are to ants. We call these beings The Others.

Protagonists: Rex a prize winning pet, Moritz a seeing eye pet, Tommy plucked from the world, now a stud.
Antagonists: The Show, The Others, The Town.

Tommy Brannigan was a small town football hero and later handy man. The Others found him to be ideal to freshen up their over bred stock. He wakes up one day in the Town, surrounded by large, fat people. But he knows that this life isn't real, and he wants to get out and take as many of these poor people as possible. He soon realizes that the Town is entrenched and very politized and the people may not be happy, but they are quenched. Tommy succumbs for a bit to the life, but after meeting the watchful Moritz and Rex a gloriously large and overbred specimen, he sees hope of escape. Mortiz, Rex and Margery accompany Tommy to the edge of Town where they are confronted by the Townspeople - he manages to allay their fears, and escape at the same time. They end up near his own home town where he is re-united with his wife. The Rex and Margery soon rue the day they left. They hate the food, it's cold, then in a few months it becomes unbearably hot. In a few months, Tommy is alone with his wife again.

Moritz has been outside of the Town. For a short time he wandered around a small town that was nothing like his Town. He met people but then was whisked away back to Town before he could learn too much. Now he knows that the Town isn't reality. When he sees that Rex is trying to escape his fate, he tries to help him. The Others see this, and instead of punishing him they rewards him. Making him feel sorry he wanted to leave such a wonderful place. Moritz isn't like the others in Town who are bred to be large and to perform tricks. His hobby (the Others train us by compelling us to do things, we call the compulsions hobbies) is to watch. Town humans have been selectively bred to be attuned to the Others. The Others can read our intents (they cannot understand our speech or most of our communication they exist in completely different energy level) and also tune into our perceptions. Perceiving through us, visually, somatically and aurally is part of what they enjoy about us. Helping Rex to see the world as it is made things worse for both of them. Until Tommy appeared in Town, offering a very different perspective. They all escape to the real world. Moritz is unsatisfied with this - he wants to see what is really going on. After Rex is swept back into the Show, and Margery dies of sickness, he calls the Others as he had done before - and they come. As they grab him to put him back in the Town, he wiggles enough to end up in their space. He sees them as they are, but seeing them also destroys him. Before he is destroyed he understands what the Others are and as comprehension comes he infects their mental operations with his human-like memes forever altering their make up.


Rex is a prize winning pet. The winner of many shows. He's lived a long time and is getting tired. He longs for rest and peace. But he keeps winning the shows and is prized by the Others. He's lived his whole life in the terrarium, he's around 800 pounds and about 7 or 8 feet tall. He looks like caricature of a person with exaggerated limbs and body. His life is perfect he wakes in the morning and has food waiting in a bowl which he scoops up into his mouth eagerly. Flavorful lard cubes the most fattening food available in Town. The Others are training him for an upcoming show. He decides to rebel and spends a miserable night hiding in the forest. Which kicks of a huge search by the Others. Eventually he is found by Moritz. Moritz sees that Rex is trying to escape, and encourages him by telling him that there is a way out. Rex eventually decides that leaving is the best way to avoid doing the chores of the Show. Tommy leads a rebellion to leave the Town. They end up in Nebraska, in a small farming town where Tommy is from. Rex is miserable outside of Town. He is worth too much to be left wandering the world and is taken back by the Others and is put on permanent duty doing demonstrations.

That actually sounds pretty creepy (in a good way). Who were the other players?

Terry, how did setting story goals & scene conflicts work out for you guys? Did they help propel your story? I'm always curious to hear how the rules contribute to the fiction.

That actually sounds pretty creepy (in a good way). Who were the other players?

Terry, how did setting story goals & scene conflicts work out for you guys? Did they help propel your story? I'm always curious to hear how the rules contribute to the fiction.

Other players: Jerome and Jamie. (sorry about the omitting that :))

Goals and conflicts worked out well. Jamie was very good at keeping us on track and on pace. We were all tuned into the story from the get go; adding details, creating things as it went. The story had low potential for conflicts - but the character goals of Wanting to Die, Wanting to Know, and Wanting Freedom all worked well at propelling the story forward into it's end. That and broadly defined antagonists that could morph as needed. At the end we were all very satisfied. And we did the three scenes by 10pm.