Actual Play from niwandajones
niwandajones tossed me a writeup of how the storyline of his Don't Rest Your Head playtest session went. It rocks, so I'm sharing it here.
Kolja played a hacker; his "What happened to you?" was that he got framed for slipping a virus into a government mainframe. His Exhaustion Talent was Hacking, and his Madness Talent let him control machines and electronics like the Drummer from Planetary. We agreed to have his opening scene be when he discovered the frame-up; one of the servants of the Weaver (an Identity Thief taking on the form of someone Kolja used to work with -- they're shapeshifters who can shuffle through the forms of anyone who's sold themselves to the Weaver, and with more difficulty "borrow" the forms of those taken by force) dropped in on him, revealed the frame-up, and offered the Weaver's help in clearing things up. Kolja agreed to meet with them, but then researched the guy and found out he'd been fired from their firm for hacking the IDs of four co-workers -- three folks who ended up dead, and Kolja. Madness dominated his hacking roll, he checked off Flight, and holed himself up... long enough to miss the meeting.
Judd played an FBI computer crime agent who was going nuts because he'd shot someone in the line of duty... but the body vanished. (Actually another one of the Identity Thieves, taking the same form as in Kolja's first scene.) His Exhaustion Talent was Gunfighting, and his Madness Talent was the ability to speak with inanimate objects. Judd's first scene was a car chase started when three Breaker Agents (the Weaver's other flavor of servants -- utterly and openly riffing on the Agents from the Matrix, they look like government agents with no features except for sunglasses and eyebrows) tried to run him off the road. He turned the tables and ran them off the road...
... which was when Jeff showed up. Jeff was playing an ex-security guard who'd hooked into the Mad City after losing his job. He was managing to keep his unemployment secret from his wife by doing odd jobs for various factions in the Mad City, demanding only that he be paid in currency valid in the City Slumbering. His Exhaustion Talent was Intimidation, and his Madness Talent was the ability to sense other's sins, like in Unbreakable. He'd been hired by one of the Wax King's Blind Nights to hit the Breaker Agents, and helped Judd dispatch them. Judd got shot in the exchange, and Jeff took him first to the Doc, and then to the Blind Knight who employed him (who acted and lived like an antebellum southern gentleman, complete with wax-coated house slaves).
Kolja, meanwhile, woke up and stumbled into the Mad City. After receiving a phone call from the Identity Thief indicating that the Weaver was displeased about the missed meeting, Kolja made his way to the Bizarre Bazaar to buy a laptop (hounded the whole way by ringing phones...) He procured said laptop from merchant (who, upon hearing his tale, promptly cursed him and fled the Bazaar), and was confronted again by the Thief. Kolja used his Madness Talent to ram a truck into said Thief, and fled. Again he holed up, settled in for more web searching... which was a bad move, as in the Mad City, the Web is the Weaver's.
Judd and Jeff had discovered from the Blind Knight that Kolja's character seemed to be one of the keys to the Weaver's war on the Wax King -- it seemed that the weaver was trying to recruit Kolja to be a Identity Thief, and Judd to be a Breaker Agent. They set out to track Kolja down (which utilized Judd's Madness and Jeff's Exhaustion talents), which led to a conflict to see if they'd find him before the Weaver. It was one of the only contests they failed -- but Kolja managed to outrun the Breaker Agents, and Judd gunned down those who confronted the two searchers. Finally the party had gotten together. ;-)
They went back to the Blind Knight's, only to find his home burned down and his head on a pike. They took the head down into the underworld to see the Wax King himself. They gained admittance by having the head vouch for them: "He's a friend of ours." "Doesn't look like you treated him well." "We didn't do it!" "Let him tell me that." "How?" "Re-light his eyes."
I was proud of that bit. :-)
The Wax King explained that the Weaver was gunning for them, and gave them each a voucher for any purchase at the Bazaar. They decided to pretend that Judd had decided to go over to the Weaver, and that he was bringing Kolja in as a gift. Kolja would then wait for the Weaver to try and take him, and insert a virus into the Weaver itself. Jeff would be waiting to pull them out of there.
And it worked damned well. Judd bullied their way in (shooting an Identity Thief in the face along the way), but Madness dominated his conflict with the Weaver to force the Weaver to take Kolja first. Judd flipped out and fled, but the Weaver just sent his Agents and sank his mandibles into Kolja's neck. (The Weaver looks like an elderly clerk sitting at one of those computers from the 50's made to look like a desk, forever inserting punch cards which he draws from an ever-revolving shelf behind him. He also happens to have eight arms and eight bespectacled eyes. When he took Kolja, his whole jaw split open to reveal the mandibles.)
Luckily, the virus worked. The Weaver went down, Kolaj was rendered mute (yay for Pain dominating!), Judd bolted his way back to the real world, where paramedics claimed he'd just survived a car crash caused by him falling asleep at the wheel, and Jeff managed to get Kolja away safely... at the cost of the money he'd been paid for kacking those Breaker Agents that started this mess.
And a good time was had by all. :-)
Kolja played a hacker; his "What happened to you?" was that he got framed for slipping a virus into a government mainframe. His Exhaustion Talent was Hacking, and his Madness Talent let him control machines and electronics like the Drummer from Planetary. We agreed to have his opening scene be when he discovered the frame-up; one of the servants of the Weaver (an Identity Thief taking on the form of someone Kolja used to work with -- they're shapeshifters who can shuffle through the forms of anyone who's sold themselves to the Weaver, and with more difficulty "borrow" the forms of those taken by force) dropped in on him, revealed the frame-up, and offered the Weaver's help in clearing things up. Kolja agreed to meet with them, but then researched the guy and found out he'd been fired from their firm for hacking the IDs of four co-workers -- three folks who ended up dead, and Kolja. Madness dominated his hacking roll, he checked off Flight, and holed himself up... long enough to miss the meeting.
Judd played an FBI computer crime agent who was going nuts because he'd shot someone in the line of duty... but the body vanished. (Actually another one of the Identity Thieves, taking the same form as in Kolja's first scene.) His Exhaustion Talent was Gunfighting, and his Madness Talent was the ability to speak with inanimate objects. Judd's first scene was a car chase started when three Breaker Agents (the Weaver's other flavor of servants -- utterly and openly riffing on the Agents from the Matrix, they look like government agents with no features except for sunglasses and eyebrows) tried to run him off the road. He turned the tables and ran them off the road...
... which was when Jeff showed up. Jeff was playing an ex-security guard who'd hooked into the Mad City after losing his job. He was managing to keep his unemployment secret from his wife by doing odd jobs for various factions in the Mad City, demanding only that he be paid in currency valid in the City Slumbering. His Exhaustion Talent was Intimidation, and his Madness Talent was the ability to sense other's sins, like in Unbreakable. He'd been hired by one of the Wax King's Blind Nights to hit the Breaker Agents, and helped Judd dispatch them. Judd got shot in the exchange, and Jeff took him first to the Doc, and then to the Blind Knight who employed him (who acted and lived like an antebellum southern gentleman, complete with wax-coated house slaves).
Kolja, meanwhile, woke up and stumbled into the Mad City. After receiving a phone call from the Identity Thief indicating that the Weaver was displeased about the missed meeting, Kolja made his way to the Bizarre Bazaar to buy a laptop (hounded the whole way by ringing phones...) He procured said laptop from merchant (who, upon hearing his tale, promptly cursed him and fled the Bazaar), and was confronted again by the Thief. Kolja used his Madness Talent to ram a truck into said Thief, and fled. Again he holed up, settled in for more web searching... which was a bad move, as in the Mad City, the Web is the Weaver's.
Judd and Jeff had discovered from the Blind Knight that Kolja's character seemed to be one of the keys to the Weaver's war on the Wax King -- it seemed that the weaver was trying to recruit Kolja to be a Identity Thief, and Judd to be a Breaker Agent. They set out to track Kolja down (which utilized Judd's Madness and Jeff's Exhaustion talents), which led to a conflict to see if they'd find him before the Weaver. It was one of the only contests they failed -- but Kolja managed to outrun the Breaker Agents, and Judd gunned down those who confronted the two searchers. Finally the party had gotten together. ;-)
They went back to the Blind Knight's, only to find his home burned down and his head on a pike. They took the head down into the underworld to see the Wax King himself. They gained admittance by having the head vouch for them: "He's a friend of ours." "Doesn't look like you treated him well." "We didn't do it!" "Let him tell me that." "How?" "Re-light his eyes."
I was proud of that bit. :-)
The Wax King explained that the Weaver was gunning for them, and gave them each a voucher for any purchase at the Bazaar. They decided to pretend that Judd had decided to go over to the Weaver, and that he was bringing Kolja in as a gift. Kolja would then wait for the Weaver to try and take him, and insert a virus into the Weaver itself. Jeff would be waiting to pull them out of there.
And it worked damned well. Judd bullied their way in (shooting an Identity Thief in the face along the way), but Madness dominated his conflict with the Weaver to force the Weaver to take Kolja first. Judd flipped out and fled, but the Weaver just sent his Agents and sank his mandibles into Kolja's neck. (The Weaver looks like an elderly clerk sitting at one of those computers from the 50's made to look like a desk, forever inserting punch cards which he draws from an ever-revolving shelf behind him. He also happens to have eight arms and eight bespectacled eyes. When he took Kolja, his whole jaw split open to reveal the mandibles.)
Luckily, the virus worked. The Weaver went down, Kolaj was rendered mute (yay for Pain dominating!), Judd bolted his way back to the real world, where paramedics claimed he'd just survived a car crash caused by him falling asleep at the wheel, and Jeff managed to get Kolja away safely... at the cost of the money he'd been paid for kacking those Breaker Agents that started this mess.
And a good time was had by all. :-)