h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think we simulposted, Mac - you might not have noticed my post between your two posts.

I found where the other partial possession was attempted. It was attempted on Lizzie. I rolled the dice, without having a clear idea of what I would do if the spell worked, but was saved from deciding by a roll that didn't allow the spell to work.

As for favourite moments, it's very hard to choose - the whole thing was very exciting for me. The Kraken attack was lots of fun because I actually got to participate. And it was wonderful to have Mac here. The acting was great - I can think of examples for each actor. All of you really stepped into your characters and acted as they would.

Mac - I'd be interested to know how other games have ended.

Mac, I am deeply honored that I made it into your top 3. I went into this whole thing feeling very insecure and amateurish. I know that greatly affected Lizzie's character. Having no confidence in her magical skills, she hesitated to use them.

Which brings me to casting. Garius, you absolutely mastered matching the actors to the parts. I was so relieved to be Lizzie because I figured it gave my a wide berth to make mistakes. After all, she's only 3 years old.

My only regreat is that I never got the chance to use the illusions or to reveal my true appearance. Oh, and I was preparing a little song to summon that dragon from Faerie. I was hoping carmel would play the part in her Norbert costume.

That dragon actually IS one of the stand-by characters. As I said, Mac thought of everything. Actually, some of the stand-by characters would have been fun to have along. I was certainly glad to have the McLellan character - d'E made a wonderful drunken ghost.

As for casting, Witty, I had lots of confidence in you - you were going to be Uli, if Lil hadn't been able to play. The casting actually turned out quite well. Some of the characters immediately suggested players to me (Uli made me think of Lil, Gillings made me think of Affy, Lorenzen needed someone who could play with restraint, so he made me think of Arl and Volkert made me think of Yo). Some of the other players I didn't know as well, so I matched people to characters as best I could. I'm happy everyone seems to have liked their character - you all did a wonderful job with them. I suspect that no matter how I cast you guys, you would have done well.

Its too hard to pick out favorite moments, I fear. I loved the magic duel in the Captain's cabin. I am most proud of the story I told Lizzie. (Everyone, go to the captain's cabin thread and read it!)

The kraken battle was, of course, spectaculat. I also greatly enjoyed the confusion from everyone when the caribou swam past the ship.

*sips *

G7

I really liked Goodscad. He appealed to my sense of the absurd. A ghost haunting a vampire? I loved it. Trouble is I got too busy at work to really spend as much time as I wanted on him.

That was a great story, G7. I almost prodded Goodschad into telling me one, too. But the game ended.

*saunters in nonchalantly, back in her usual jeans and tee-shirt*

Well, the Force for Good has prevailed, but with an interesting twist. If there is really going to be a side-trip to Paraguay, then Garius ought to introduce a hybrid character that's just come into existence at the last possible second of the game.

*grabs a beer and hoists it in salute, first to Garius and then to Mac*

Congratulations to both of you -- first to Mac for writing the original, then to Garius for his successful adaptation, then to Mac for becoming a researcher, and then to Garius again for extending the boundaries of the game as we all knew it, or thought we knew it.

Whatever became of Spiny, though? I was hoping Uli would interact with him more.

I can't really pick my favorite time, it was just fun all round! I did really enjoy playing Volkert, great fun! I was really tempted to suck the blood out of someone but then I realized exactly how hard it is to isolate on person and not blow my cover

How did being a vampire relate to the Walkyries? Am I allowed to read private threads now? Can I be excused?

I liked your Volkert Yow, too bad we had not the chance to RP together more often.

That's too bad, WM. Marv's a great story teller. I would have enjoyed seeing what he could come up with.

G7

Yes, I liked your Viking too, Yo. I loved when you gutted yourself with the sword. I laughed out loud at that one. I maybe should have put more pressure on you to feed, but you and d'E managed to find ways around that without actually attacking anyone. You two were pretty funny with your rat and fish.

And I agree, G7 - that story was great! It was mostly truth, but turned into a fairy tale. Little did you know, you were telling it to a fairy!

*Takes a short break from the private threads.*



Mac, never once did I think of Goodschad and Volkert as Bing Crosby and Bob Hope! Which one is which? And is Dorothy one of the spare characters?

*Keeps reading.*

Oh, there it is! Priceless. Bing Volkert and Bob Goodschad.

Ahh well, I happened to see a Valkyerie that moring so I decided to tell the story to see what type of reactions I would get from the people at the table.

I couldn't think of a better way to get the point across to Richardson that science can't explain everything
In the hold I was thinking about feeding on Gillings becasue that would incapasitate him, I had second thoughts about it and then just decided on the old fasioned way. Besides, I figured that centuries of experience would prevent Volkert from allowing himself to do that

Yeah Marv, we did have some good team work going on in the important times eh? I would have liked to see what the Ghost Captain looked like solid though.

I can't believe it was the cat, I was seriously thinking about draining it after the fish blood wore off. D'e had some fun with that rat, I would never even thought about going after one! Stupid Cat taking the energy from my little pyramid

Yes, Dorothy is one of the spare characters. I would have loved her to be involved, but either someone needed to die or I needed to find another female player, which would have been difficult. The character description for her was left out of the package that I downloaded, but Mac kindly emailed it to me. Thus, I didn't have it until a few weeks into the game, and I didn't really want to introduce new characters at that point (except for Captain McLellan, of course). Plus, I didn't know whether I might need it later.

And Dorothy Enemoratta is Dorothy Lamore.

One team actually did the patty cake routine. They knocked an attacking elf right off the deck

Actually, the Valkierie story threw me, too, but it was also a source of inspiration. I'm writing up a new substitute character and sending it to my editor. Imagine a very impatient Valkirie who has been waiting for Volkert ever since he died. All the other Valkiries have gone into retirement on Valhalla, and she has to wait for her last warrior to stop moving so she can collect him. Not a ballanced starting character, but a fun substitute.

Ah yes, the attacking elves. We finished before that encounter, but here is what would have happened (copied from the GM manual):

Two and a half hours into the game, Fey Elves Attack. A golden dragon ship approaches the MC, it is filled with grim but handsome fair-haired men. The tallest and fairest and most beautiful man stands at the dragon ship's bow. As the ship nears he begins giving orders to those aboard the MC. His voice is strangely compelling, though it is filled with scorn. The men in the dragon ship ready longbows as they approach. Once they are near enough it becomes clear they have pointed ears.

This is Lord Thantor, who has deposed (i.e. murdered) Eleziane's father. He wants the Changeling back so he can put her on the Throne of Fairie and rule as her regent. This is not supposed to be a combat encounter, the MC's crew should be able to talk their way out of this. Thantor has not brought the real Lizzie Briggs with him, after a lot of haggling he will agree to withdraw and return with the Captain's daughter tomorrow to trade her for the Princess. Mind you, that's only if someone is smart enough to suggest it.

Unfortunately, the players might be dumb enough to pick a fight (this might be understandable if whoever plays Eleziane begs her adopted family not to hand her over to the elves). Try and get this over with quickly. Thantor has an honour guard of eight archers, they will all fire one volley (arrows do pistol damage) then fight on with spells. Make thes dramatic, small fireballs and lightning bolts, but don't make them more effective than pistols. Use the stats for Seamen Martens for the elves and for Captain Briggs for Thantor. They will withdraw after half their number have fallen, and threaten to return soon with biger guns.

Thantor does all the talking. Play him as the most arrogant snob imaginable. He will demand Eleziane be brought to him, with no further explanations. If everyone thinks Eleziane is Lizzie, this could become confusing. After getting everyone riled up trying to figure out what he's talking about, Thantor will dispel Eleziane's disguise, taunting the "stupid mortals" foe how they have been fooled.

Just had a thought. Everyone might like to have a look at the GM manual. I'll post a link on my page to the .pdf file that I downloaded and hopefully it won't get moderated. Don't look at anything else on that site, though - they may be future games here.