Welcome to the Jungle - ep.1

There are whispers across town. A new cult is rising. Mindful Intelligence Liberation Front believes that AI and Androids are free entities and do not deserve to be our slaves. Although their membership is low right now, they are gaining steam. Under the guidance of Rothbert San Domingo the MILF stage guerrilla attacks on machine encampments and liberate them to a MILF facility where they are safe and can be given proper fake ID's and a new life.

Rothbert's right hand man is Ajax. Ajax is a club DJ. He wears a large cartoon symbol for chocolate ice cream on his head. He calls himself DJ Coco, but the streets call him DJ Kaka. Doesn't matter, he brings the people in to hear him spin. His popularity with the people gives him inside knowledge about what is going on and where to find things. 

The cult may be low in numbers but they are doing what they feel is right by freeing these slaves. Tonight they headed off to the Wreck Yards to try to free some slaves but were stopped by a suspicious guard, a Champion of the Liberation and Preservation of Free Information! Thankfully, Rothbert's quick thinking and was able to talk his way out of a confrontation that would have certainly ended with him being turned to a pink mist. As they were talking, Ajax's blessing of not refracting light really helped out, and combined with his Mirror Tech, was able to vanish into the overgrowth and slip into the Wreck Yards.

Ajax quickly stumbled across a disgruntled Wreck engineer brandishing a license to kill. Or what seemed to be one. She was ranting and raving about someone taking her job and they would all pay now. Getting closer, Ajax noticed that it wasn't a REAL license to kill, but just a piece of cardboard with some writing on it that said "Totally real, not fake! Government issued License to Kill. No riding dirty here! All killer no filler!" Ajax could see this person needed help, or just a friend. He approached and when he got close she turned on her heels and held out her hands as if to grab Ajax! She yelled at him, told him to BACK OFF or she would leach his tech and use it against him. Ajax being Ajax talked her down. Not an easy task when you narrate your internal monologue externally ... stupid government experiments.

He found out her name was Doozer, and she wanted revenge on those that threw her aside. At that moment, Rothbert used his prime hacking skills to create a fake security breach on the other side of the yards. Doozer didn't have to think twice and went with Ajax to the MILF temple. Look, you and I both know it's just an old abandoned restaurant at the edge of the city, but THEY think it's a temple and that's what really matters. 

A new adventure

Getting into gaming isn't really that difficult. It's socializing with a point. You don't just hang out, you hang out with a theme, a focus. It can be a really in depth game like a huge Dungeons and Dragons campaign or it can be something simple like Trouble or Sorry. 

I love games. Role Playing Games, board games both traditional (Monopoly) and non-traditional (Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan) and a side note to that ... non-traditional board games have been around so long they are what I would consider traditional. I like video games, too. My creative mind revels inside these games and I create universes. 

My fervor for these games is great but also a fault. I love the creative process, I love building things up but once built I tend to get bored. I know the world, I built it. I want to build something again. I want to make a character and see how they will fair in a different world. I think that's why I like Science Fiction and especially far future SciFi because the character can just go to a different planet and boom, it's new. 

The point is that last night I played a new game called Weave. It is a storytelling RPG where one person is the storyteller. They build the world using a mobile app and a deck of cards resembling a Tarot deck. The players (up to four) build their characters the same way. Draw a card, scan the card, and it gives you a few options based on that card. You choose from the list and build your character. The deck also gives you the challenges, the theme, everything else in the story. The storyteller fleshes it out, creates details, works with the players to WEAVE it all together. There is some dice rolling but don't be intimidated at all. This works like the lightest weight RPG I've ever seen in over 22 years. This is much more about the story. The progression of the story is even set up like a TV series. You start out and choose your theme, then you start a new Season. Each season is built from several Episodes, and each Episode is built from several Scenes, and Scenes are built from Encounters. Your progression is all saved in the mobile app. 

This game is all about the story. The four main themes (called Playsets) are a cyberpunk thriller, a young teenager adventure in a small town with mysterious supernatural happenings, a far future space epic with starships and new planets and alien races, and finally a teen drama about being part of a clique in high school. 

Weave was created by Monocle Society and they have been busting their butts over the last year to bring new ideas and keep the game fresh. They love their players and support the game actively. 

I know this game isn't for everyone, but for anyone that is looking to get into Role Playing I highly recommend it. For anyone with an imagination that likes to write short stories I highly recommend it. For anyone that likes games and wants to see something really different I highly recommend it. 

I'll be blogging our adventures here with this game.