Tag: RPGs

[NOTE: this is part six in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf.  The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time.  To see the other posts in the series, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

In South Figaro…

SOLDIER 1: That clown, Kefka, is on the verge of
invading Narshe.

SOLDIER 2: A detached force is making its way toward Narshe. We’ll
link up with them soon.

SOLDIER 1: Time’s up? Good! I’ll take a break!

SOLDIER 2: Never a dull moment… Time to guard the passage under the
big mansion… Oh, well. Life is tough…

SOLDIER 1: I heard there are two secret tunnels under the rich man’s
house. One leads out of town, the other to one of these houses…

SOLDIER 2: I heard they grabbed a famous general who turned traitor!
She’s locked up somewhere in this town.

The dirty lawyer has been selected!

Awoooo! Awwooooooo!

Clack clack! Clack clack! Clackack clackack clackackack!

Cyan awakes to the sound of a train whistle and the vibration of the carpeted wooden floor beneath him. He opens his eyes and sees a stocky young man with a blond mullet staring back down at him. On either side, rows of plush, velvet couches stretch forward for the length of the aisle. Outside the windows, the dark forest is moving.

He realizes at once where he is, and leaps to his feet.

CYAN: Let me off! This train’s haunted!

SABIN: What?

CYAN: This is the Phantom Train… It carries the departed to…the
other side.

SABIN: Wait a sec… I don’t want to go THERE!

CYAN: We all have to go sometime…

SABIN: I have things to do HERE. We have to stop this thing. Let’s
make for the engine.

After hurried introductions, Sabin and Cyan fight their way through hordes of ghosts and creatures of the night, until they reach the train engine and bring the train to a stop.

PHANTOM TRAIN: I will let you go… …but first there is something I
must do…

The train stops.

CYAN: Hulp…where are we?

SABIN and CYAN exit the car.

SABIN: Hoo, boy! Finally got off…

People to the far right are boarding the train.

SABIN: We shouldn’t be here. Let’s go NOW!

CYAN: No!!! Elayne! Owain!!

SABIN: CYAN! Is that your wife and child?

The train starts the leave.

CYAN: Please, wait!

CYAN knocks SABIN off the platform while running toward Elayne and
Owain.

CYAN: Elayne! Owain…

ELAYNE: My love… You made me so happy. Don’t forget me…

OWAIN: Dad! I’ll make sure Mom’s alright!

The train leaves. CYAN stands despondently at the edge of the platform.

Drakon rises from the dead!

After several days, the returners regroup at Narshe. Sabin returns with Cyan, Locke returns with a defector from the Empire named General Celes, and together with Terra, Banon, and King Edgar, they convince the elders of Narshe to take up arms and fight the invading Imperial forces…

BANON: Emperor Gestahl’s racing to acqure Magitek power. He’s set his
sights on the Esper that was found here! The increased use of Magitek
power’ll surely lead to global destruction…

ELDER: The War of the Magi… The mythical battle that set mankind
back a thousand years. Can this really be happening? People will
never learn…

The warriors form ranks…

CYAN: Don’t think for a moment I trust you!

CELES: Fine. Use your own eyes, then decide.

Kefka and his forces advance…

KEFKA: I don’t care what you do here, JUST GET ME THAT ESPER!!

SOLDIER: Lord Kefka! There are civilians here…!

KEFKA: Exterminate everyone!

SOLDIER: But Narshe is neutral…

KEFKA: Idiot!! Read my lips!! Dispose of all who oppose us! March!

A fierce battle ensues. The Returners fight bravely, but the imperial forces are too strong! The Returners are routed, Narshe is taken, and Banon is slain!

BANON: Couldn’t hold out? I have a bad feeling about this…

The mafia kills Baggins, the necromancer.

As the Returners fall back, Terra finds herself face to face with Tritoch, the esper discovered in the Narshe mines. An eerie sensation comes over her, and her mind melts with that of the frozen monster before her.

LOCKE: TERRA!! What is it?

TERRA: Nooo!!

TERRA and the Esper become fixed on each other.

SABIN: TERRA and the Esper…

EDGAR: There’s…some kinda reaction!

TERRA: What!? What am I feeling?! Huh? W… …what’s going on…
…? Please… …tell me! Who am I? WHO?!

LOCKE: TERRA!

CELES: An Esper… …I can actually feel its mind……

EDGAR: TERRA…… Step away from the Esper…

TERRA and the Esper interact, and TERRA turns bright pink. She
starts spinning, then flies off in a blaze of light.

Barely conscious of the world around her, Terra is drawn to the mountain town of Zozo in the Western continent, where a band of espers fleeing from the empire has gone into hiding. Even though she is weak from her journey, she manages to check them out before falling unconscious in the bed they have provided for her.

Detective checks an innocent.

With Narshe fallen to the empire, the band of unlikely friends retreats over the mountains to Kohlingen, where they plot their next move. They are greatly disheartened by the loss of Banon, their leader, but remembering his words about Terra being their last hope, they decide to go on a search for her.

Before they leave, however, a man in black offers to join their party.

SHADOW: The Reaper is always just a step behind me…

After a long and arduous journey across the western continent, the band of friends arrives at Zozo, where they find their green-haired, magically endowed friend…and others…

An old man appears out of nowhere.

RAMUH: She’s scared, you know.

LOCKE: Who’re you?

RAMUH: This girl is your friend?

EDGAR: Is TERRA alright?

RAMUH: You call her TERRA… …TERRA?? How odd…

TERRA leaps out of bed, and jumps around disoriented.

RAMUH: She is undamaged. But I fear she can’t understand you. As for
me, I am Ramuh. The Esper, Ramuh.

ALL: ESPER!?

CELES: But don’t Espers live in another world?

RAMUH: That doesn’t mean we don’t live here, too. Espers take a
variety of forms. Sometimes we live here, taking the shape of humans.
You have nothing to fear from us.

EDGAR: Why do you hide the fact that you’re Espers?

RAMUH: Humans and Espers can’t survive together.

LOCKE: But my grandma told me that Espers and people once lived side
by side! Was that just a fairy tale?

RAMUH: No, that was no fairy tale. That was true. We started out as
friends. Then along came the War of the Magi…

RAMUH: It took place…long ago. Espers fought humans who were
infused with magical powers extracted from Espers… Fearing our
magical powers would once again become a target, we fashioned a new
realm, and moved there…

RAMUH: We erected a doorway, and threw the humans
out. Even as we speak, many of my kind are trapped in the Empire’s
Magitek Research Facility, being… …drained of their powers… I
fled here to avoid a similar fate.

The party carries TERRA back to her bed.

RAMUH: (to Terra) That’s right, relax.

RAMUH: (to the party) I sensed that TERRA was in trouble. My magic…
summoned her here.

LOCKE: TERRA’s an…Esper?

RAMUH: No, she’s actually quite different.

CELES: She looks like she’s in pain.

RAMUH: Her very existance strikes fear into her own heart.

CYAN: How can we help her?

RAMUH: When she accepts this aspect of herself, I think she’ll be
alright.

SABIN: We have to do something!

RAMUH: Then free those of my kind imprisoned in Gestahl’s Magitek
Research Facility. One of them can surely help her.
Like a coward, I escaped leaving the others there. It’ll be
the end of them…

EDGAR: What do you mean?

RAMUH: Gestahl’s methods are incorrect. You can’t drain a live Esper
of all its power. It is only when we are reduced to Magicite that our
abilities can be transferred in total…

CELES: Pardon?

RAMUH: When we transform into Magicite, our power can be relocated.

ALL: Magicite…?!

RAMUH: That’s what’s left of us when we…pass away.

Ramuh reveals three Magicite stones.

RAMUH: These are my comrades who fell while escaping the Empire. And
I will give you my power, as well…

Ramuh turns to Magicite, lighting up the room.

LOCKE: Old man… Are you really gone…?

SABIN: Magicite…?

CYAN: He traded his power, so that others might live…

LOCKE: TERRA, wait for us. We’ll be back!

The party leaves Zozo and heads for Jidoor, where they can regroup and work out their plan.

Before they go, however, the man in black slips out of their party and heads back for the tower in Zozo. In her weakened state, Terra is no match for the dark assassin. She dies with a shuriken buried in her heart.

SHADOW: My job here’s over. I’ve earned my fee!

Assassin kills Drek, the detective.

PLAYERS:

Avulsion (mafia)
Baggins (necromancer)
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky (innocent)
Drakon (innocent)
Drek (detective)
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen (innocent)
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17 (innocent)

Among them: 1 assassin (Shadow), 2 mafia (Kefka and 1 Imperial agent).

DAY

[NOTE: this is part five in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf.  The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time.  To see all posts, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

At the Returner hideout…

BANON: Right… We all know that the Empire is using Magitek power in
battle. The point is, how has the Emperor created it?

EDGAR: I had LOCKE look into the rumor that the Empire is forcing the
world’s finest scholars to study Espers.

LOCKE: All the trouble in Narshe is over an Esper, too…

TERRA: You mean there’s some connection between Espers and Magitek?

BANON: I can only recall one thing linking Espers with Magitek
power…

EDGAR: You don’t mean…

BANON: Indeed! The ancient War of the Magi…

SABIN: No! It can’t be!

LOCKE: My Grandma used to tell me stories about magical machines…
Could they have been true?

EDGAR: Could that ancient tragedy be playing out once again…

BANON: It’s just speculation… But historical studies have provided
a number of conflicted and frightening theories… According to one
theory, humans and machines were imbued with powers drained from
Espers…

TERRA: That could explain Magitek power…

EDGAR: We can only fight Magitek enemies with Magitek weapons…

BANON: It’s risky, but if we have TERRA…speak with that Esper, it
might just wake up…

EDGAR: I wonder if that’s wise…?

BANON: Who can say? Regardless, we need TERRA’s help.

LOCKE gets up and walks over to TERRA.

LOCKE: TERRA…

TERRA: I’ll do it!

The front door opens.

BANON: What? What’s that noise?

RETURNER SOLDIER: Emergency! Sir Banon…

The soldier collapses.

SOLDIER: S…South Figaro…

BANON: What’s going on? What happened?

SOLDIER: S…South Figaro… E…Empire…took Figaro… Coming…this
way…unnnh…

BANON: They’ve found us… We haven’t a moment to lose!

The Returners evacuate not a moment too soon. Reinforced with their divisions from Thamasa and Doma, the Imperial Army now focuses all of its strength on Narshe, the coal-mine city of the North. Imperial spies have scouted out the Returner hideout, and a whole brigade of elite Imperial Magitek troops now storms through the mountains, ready to take them out.

All of these troop movements on the eastern continent have driven several of the wild animals out of the Veldt, into more settled country. Forced to defend themselves from the onslaught of man-eating monsters, the people of Mobliz send animal hunting parties by day, returning to the protective barricades around the city by night.

On one of these pre-emptive hunting expeditions, the hunters come across a strange, wild beast…

GAU: Uwaoo~!! Ooh… I’m hungry!

The trigger-happy citizens shoot before the beast has a chance to reveal himself. When the dust settles, they find the mangled corpse of a young boy, draped in monster hides, shining, intelligent eyes glossed over in death…

Innocents lynch CptSqweky, an innocent.

PLAYERS:

Avulsion (mafia)
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky (innocent)
Drakon (innocent)
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen (innocent)
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17 (innocent)

Among them: 1 necromancer (Banon), 1 detective (Terra), 1 assassin (Shadow), 2 mafia (Kefka and 1 Imperial agent).

Day at noon tomorrow. Mafia, detective, assassin, please take note and get in your requests ASAP.

NIGHT

[NOTE: this is part four in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf.  The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time. To see all posts in the series, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

Terra, Locke, and King Edgar arrive at South Figaro, where they resupply and head north through the mountains toward the Returner hideout. On the way, they meet up with Edgar’s long lost brother, Sabin, who has trained extensively in the martial arts. They arrive at the Returner hideout without incident.

Meanwhile…

Following the conquest of Doma, Emperor Gestahl orders the main force of his army to reinforce Kefka’s expeditionary force in South Figaro. An informant in the capitol betrays the city, allowing Kefka to occupy the whole of the country.

Soon, however, Kefka becomes bored again.

Following the lead of Imperial spies in Mobliz, Gestahl orders General Leo to investigate the island of Thamasa. According to the spies, an obscure clan of magic users inhabits the island, and Gestahl wants to discover the secrets of their powers.

At the last minute, Kefka boards the ship and joins the force, much to General Leo’s dismay. The noble general prefers to peaceably conquer the defenseless village, but Kefka orders the troops to use force:

KEFKA: I don’t care for the appearance of this pitiful little
hamlet… So burn it!!

LEO: Kefka! No!

KEFKA: Shut up!

Thamasa is destroyed. Some escape; many do not. Among the dead is a precious little girl, barely ten years old, still clutching her cherished paintbrush…

Mafia kills PharaohsQueen, an innocent.

At the returner hideout, Terra meets Bannon, who urges her to join them in the resistance against the Empire…

BANON: Perhaps you’ve heard this story? Once, when people were pure
and innocent, there was a box they were told never to open. But one
man went and opened it anyway. He unleashed all the evils of the
world: envy… greed… pride… violence… control… All that
was left in the box was a single ray of light: Hope.

TERRA: ……

BANON: We now confront those evils… And you are that last ray of
light, our only hope…

TERRA: Hope… How can anyone put their hope in me?

BANON: I understand your unease. But even as we speak, innocent lives are
being lost… Please. We need your abilities.

Terra asks for some time to think it over. While the others wait for her to make a decision, she scopes out the Returner hideout for Imperial agents. Finding none, she accepts Banon’s offer and joins the resistance!

Detective checks an innocent.

Meanwhile, Thamasa is not forgotten. A man in black, running from a dark past, remembers the last time he left this place…

INTERCEPTOR: Woof! Woof!

SHADOW: You came to fetch me… But I won’t be coming back… I want
you, and the girl, to live in a peaceful world…

Upon finding Relm’s dead body, Shadow goes into a blind rage. Blaming the girl’s grandfather for her untimely death, he hunts the old man down. Strago is found in the morning with a shuriken buried in his heart.

Assassin kills Zeromoon17, an innocent.

PLAYERS:

Avulsion (mafia)
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky
Drakon (innocent)
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen (innocent)
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17 (innocent)

Among them: 1 Necromancer (Bannon), 1 Detective (Terra), 1 Assassin (Shadow), 2 Mafia (Kefka and 1 Imperial Agent)

DAY

[NOTE: this is part three in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf.  The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time.  To see all posts in the series, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

While Terra recuperates at Figaro Castle, Emperor Gestahl sends Kefka with an expeditionary force on a recon mission to find the mysterious magic user and bring her back to Vector. When Kefka arrives at Figaro Castle, he finds King Edgar cordial but evasive. Bored with diplomacy, he decides to take a more hard-line approach and orders his troops to attack the castle.

EDGAR: What’s happening?

KEFKA: Bring me the girl. Now!

EDGAR: I don’t know what you’re talking about!

KEFKA: Then…welcome to my barbecue!! Uwa ha ha ha!

EDGAR walks up to the throne room door and talks to a Soldier.

EDGAR: Get ready…!

FIGARO SOLDIER: Yes, Sir!

Soldier walks into the door.

KEFKA: Changed your mind…?

EDGAR: I guess I have no choice…

EDGAR whistles for a three Chocobos and jumps off the side of the
castle wall onto one of them.

EDGAR: Or maybe I do!

KEFKA: Ackk! Shameful that a king should flee, leaving his people
behind! How utterly delightful!

EDGAR takes the Chocobo around the other side of castle, where LOCKE
and TERRA are waiting.

EDGAR: Jump!

LOCKE and TERRA jump onto the Chocobos as they ride past, and they
proceed to ride off.

EDGAR: OK! Dive now!!!

LOCKE: Yahoooo!

Figaro Submergance Code Engaged!

The castle starts to pull together by itself.

CHANCELLOR: Into the golden desert Figaro Castle nobly descends!

Chancellor lowers into the castle, and it submerges. Kefka is wiped
out on the surface of the desert sands.

KEFKA: Go!! GET THEM!

Avulsion never asked to come on this mission. He felt humiliated every time he had to wipe the sand off of Kefka’s boots. All the same, he thought it would be easy to take down the three Chocobo riders with his Magiteck armor suit.

He was wrong.

Innocents lynch Avulsion, a mafioso.

PLAYERS:

Avulsion (mafia)
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky
Drakon (innocent)
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17

Among them: 1 Necromancer (Bannon), 1 Detective (Terra), 1 Assassin (Shadow), 2 Mafia (Kefka and 1 Imperial Agent)

NIGHT

[NOTE: this is part two in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf.  The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time.  To see all posts in the series, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

On the banks of the Doma river…

KEFKA: Hee, hee! Nothing can beat the music of hundreds of voices
screaming in unison! Uwa, ha, ha!

Meanwhile, inside the castle…

DOMA SENTRY: Sir CYAN! The Empire’s base is bustling with activity.
Something must be up!

CYAN: Huh? The water looks odd…

Seven posted Doma Sentries collapse and die.

DOMA SENTRY: Sir CYAN!

CYAN: This is…POISON!

With everyone dying around him, Cyan runs to save the king. He arrives too late to save his liege. The king tells him to save his family, but when Cyan runs into their quarters to rescue them…

CYAN: Elayne! Elayne! Wake up!

Elayne, Cyan’s wife, dies.

CYAN: This… This…can’t be happening!

From the other side of the room, Cyan hears a cough…

CYAN: ! Owain… NOT YOU TOO! Son…you can’t BOTH leave me!

Owain, Cyan’s son, dies.

CYAN: D… Dear me… <cough> <cough>

Cyan tries to escape the castle, but the poison is too strong. He collapses and dies with everyone else.

Mafia kills Drakon, an innocent.

Acting on behalf of the Returners, Locke rescues Terra from Narshe and spirits her away to Figaro Castle, where she meets several strange new people…

EDGAR: So…you’re an Imperial soldier! No problem. Figaro and the
Empire are allies! Please relax while you’re here. It’s not in my
blood to harm a lady.

TERRA: Look, why are you helping me? Is it because of my…abilities?

EDGAR waves his finger.

EDGAR: I’ll give you three reasons: First of all, your beauty has
captivated me! Second…I’m dying to know if I’m your type…

EDGAR walks away a bit.

EDGAR: I guess your…abilities…would be a distance 3rd.

TERRA: ……? What’s with you, anyway?

Suspicious, Terra checks out the castle for imperial agents. Instead, all she finds are maids, soldiers, and scholars studying the ancient arts of magic. Silly people, scholars.

Detective checks an innocent.

PLAYERS:

Avulsion
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky
Drakon (innocent)
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17

Among them: Bannon (Necromancer), Terra (Detective), Shadow (Assassin), 3 Mafia (Kefka and 2 Imperial Agents)

DAY

[NOTE: this is part one in a series of posts lifted from the quark message boards where I recently GM’d a game of Werewolf.  The theme was Final Fantasy 6, one of my favorite RPGs of all time.  To see all posts in the series, click here.

WARNING: there will be spoilers here, and lots of them, so if you haven’t played Final Fantasy 6, do yourself a favor and play the game before reading on!]

Long ago, the War of the Magi
reduced the world to a scorched wasteland,
and magic simply ceased to exist.

One thousand years have passed…
Iron, gunpowder and steam engines
have been rediscovered,
and high technology reigns.

But there are those who would enslave the world
by reviving the dread destructive force
known as “magic.”

Could it be that those in power
are on the verge of repeating
a senseless and deadly mistake?

PLAYING:

Avulsion
Baggins
Barigirl
Caysyka
CptSqweky
Drakon
Drek
Fredward
Jerle
Locke
Lunesar
Onlera
PharaohsQueen
sunstarr12
ZeroMoon17

Among them: 1 Detective (Terra), 1 Necromancer (Bannon), 1 Assassin (Shadow), 3 Mafia (Emperor Gestahl, General Leo, and Kefka).

We will use the modified standard rules. Each player starts with 5 GP which disappear after the round is over.

NIGHT