Summer Session 2, Scoobying Workshop #3, Afternoon 7/25/2006 (Main Campfire)
[ Roster]
This time there's a widely-spaced row of folding chairs in the open area near the main campfire. However, astute observers (AKA those with eyes) will notice that there's only enough chairs for about half the campers in the workshop. Xander waves people back to the usual logs to actually sit down after they sign in, though, leaving the chairs empty except for two rolls of tape on the seat of each. One duct, one gaffer.
He walks over and picks up both rolls from one of the chairs, holding them up in one hand. "So I'm switching the order around a bit from last session, because I just got back from a con and haven't had the chance to preplay a new pie-facing encounter just to keep things from getting too predictable. Today I thought we'd play around with a role on the team that everybody thinks is a bad one, but it can actually be an advantage if you look at it right: The One Who Always Gets Kidnapped." No, he's not looking pointedly at Dawn. Only because he doesn't know he should be looking at Dawn...
Xander waves his tape-filled hand. "I know it doesn't seem useful, since it means your team has to drop what they're doing and go and rescue the person, maybe pay a ransom or at least have to let the bad guy get away with something. I'm not saying getting kidnapped is a good thing, on its own. But.
If there's somebody in your gang who always does seem to be the one who's snatched or trapped or drugged or... lured into the house of a sexy biology teacher on a pretext that in retrospect seems unbelieveable even to them and ends up in a cage waiting to be munched on, and you know you're that person, you can do two things:
You can get good at getting away so your team doesn't have to save your ass, and you can also use the advantage of knowing somebody's gonna bean you over the head and you'll wake up in his lair. Scope out the setup. Figure out where he keeps his Doomsday Weapon, not dirty."
"Get him to go muahahahahahaha--" Xander's muahahaha is deep and booming, which y'all shuld be impressed by considering the, well, hyena-like nature of his usual laugh. "--and reveal his sekrit plans, then scraminate outta there. If you plan it ahead of time, you could even get kidnapped on purpose to put some kind of trap in place, or keep him occupied while the rest of your team storms the castle."
"So." Still holding the rolls of tape, he ticks things off on the fingers of his left hand. "You can help your team by being a spy or a distraction. You can make things easier on them by learning to rescue yourself if you didn't get kidnapped on purpose. And if nothing else, it can help you can develop your other skills by using them to try to get away. Natural talents I've seen help with this would include whining, screaming really loud, turning into pudding and okay that was only on Bitterwoman but it worked for Pudding Girl and you gotta admit you never thought that power would come in handy, and bribing the kidnapper with really good chocolate chip cookies."
"But I bet there's all kinds of things you guys can put to use, so that's what we're gonna do today - a little kidnapping roleplay, also not dirty."
[OPEN! Posted early but open for as long as people want to play this week, considering it's a partners activity.]