Saturday, May 12, 2012

Players: Marc, Jay, Kingston

We took It's Complicated for a spin. The game offers a lot in the way of player freedom, but the downside is a heavy onus on the players to come up with all the circumstances and events of the game. Still, we persevered, and I think the story was a success.

We set our game at Exocorp Inc., a front organization that supports the evil genius Dr. Impossible. Each of us played an employee of the company. Marc was Lucy Kuo, a no-nonsense HR manager with a secret heart of gold. Jay was Bob the Net Admin, an awkward yet kind techie. Kingston played Adam Samuels-Davids, a power-hungry obsessive-compulsive public relations executive.

Things got pretty complicated. Adam ended up constantly buffing his nails because he had to live up to high standards in his intense (read: torturous) performance reviews. He also felt compelled to be clean thanks to his behavior modification chip, which he later learned to deactivate by wearing a magnetic helmet. But even this could not prevent him from revealing his embarrassing secret: he liked to cross-dress as a super villain when at home alone. Only one person could help save him from his chip, and it was...

Bob was more mild-mannered. He had trouble talking to women, never washed his coffee cup (as a means of quiet rebellion), and generally plotted against his coworkers when not busy terrorizing his temps or daydreaming about various love interests, the most primary of which was...

Lucy didn't take any nonsense from anyone, but at her core she really cared about how her coworkers were doing. Her robotic eyes allowed her to see in thermal, but she never blinked (which intimidated others) and was susceptible to disorientation when exposed to flashing lights. Still, despite these struggles, she did her best to help Bob and thwart the evil Adam.

In the end, Bob and Lucy messed with Adam's behavior chip, forcing him to humiliate himself in front of his idol, Dr. Impossible. Adam went on a rampage with a ray gun. Bob and Lucy tried to escape, and Lucy revealed that she had feelings for Bob. But alas! When Lucy tried to fire a chip-erasing beam at Adam, it bounced off his magnetic helmet and struck her, causing amnesia. Adam was then vaporized by Dr. Impossible, but his final moments were bittersweet: "Adam, stop!" *starry-eyed* "He knows my name!" *bzzap!*

Good game fellas. It was... complicated.