I was very happy to finally get to play While the World Ends. There was great play by Johnny and Adam, who were both a joy to game with. It was Adam's first story game and he did an amazing job! Kudos!

We designed a game about a group of aliens on the planet Fargate, who were being ruthlessly exploited by the Fargate Trading Corporation. The "Gaters" grew a kind of pearl inside themselves, which when harvested could be used as energy sources to help facilitate FTL travel. They were kept in districts (reservations) and the pearls taken upon death by corporation personnel. Some freelancers searched for gater graves among the asteroids, and the most unscrupulous killed gaters for their pearls.

The change we picked was that the aliens would get the power to rebel; the two possibilities we selected were: the aliens were crushed and exploited even more ruthlessly (the negative) or that they successfully won their freedom to self-determination (positive).

During the game, a couple of freelancers, a corporate military officer, and a gater conspired, plotted, and smuggled. In one scene, Yetaxa the alien arranged with a smuggler, William Starsmith, and freelancer Neb Walker to have some special fruit smuggled into district 9. Starsmith refused to "shake hands with aliens", but got the deal done. Little did they know that this fruit gave the gaters the power to zap people to bits. When Starsmith later asked for his pay, Yetaxa told him, "you have fulfilled your purpose. You may not shake my hand, but I will touch you..." and zapped him. As his charred body sank to the ground, aliens grabbed Neb, who was then injected with something in the neck to "ensure his loyalty".

Corporate officers, including one Alicia (last name?), proceed to investigate the death of Starsmith. More and more attention focuses on poor Neb, who believes he has found the "El Dorado" of alien graves, full of the alien pearls.
To make a good story short (Johnny and Adam, feel free to fill in more details!), Neb winds up taking over the freelancer secret base and becoming top dog, while the aliens successfully rebel, frying any corporate goons who resist the indigenous uprising. One of the best story games sessions I've had yet. I found the preparation to be enjoyable, and having the two different possibilities there, with each one gradually gathering chips, added an extra element of excitement to the game.

Again I want to give special thanks to Adam; we were playing with 3 players instead of the usual 4, and he took on the extra burden of playing 2 characters, and did it well. Thanks again!

Best Wishes, Manu

It was a lot of fun. We ended up with "District 9 in Outer Space", but we could have just as easily ended up hunting dragons in a fantasy world, or trading bullets with gangsters in the 1920's. Very cool story game.

Thanks for being patient with a newbie, Manu. Looking forward to next time!