With the Android Shadow of the Beanstalk source book for the Genesys system dropping though people’s letterboxes in the UK (they landed on the door mat in the US a couple of weeks ago, and the pdf can be downloaded from the 5th March, no hint at the moment when the taster scenario will be released). I thought I’d write some initial thoughts from my twenty minute bath time soak this morning, where Shadow of the Beanstalk was my reading material.

I’ve only really looked at the GM section of the book which looks at creating an immersive world for the players and building adventures in the Android universe.

There is some great advice for GM’s in this section, especially for wannabe noob GM’s like me.

I particularly like the advice on creating a living world. Which bits of can be applied to other genres. They also map across to some of the stuff O’Neal talks about in his book The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics. Particularly about the npc’s lives not being a static thing.

It’s also this advice that can be used to seed future adventures, and also add colour and depth to the world.

Also part of the GM section is the adventure builder that uses a Three Act structure. Hmmm I wonder where we have come across that? They split it into Hooks (7 provided), Escalations (5 provided) and Climaxes (5 provided). And like an ala carte menu, you chose one from section A, one from section B, and one from section C and you have an adventure.

My planning…

For my own planned campaign I think I have now settled on a setting and a reason for the players to come together.

I’m going to set the campaign in the aftermath of the New Angeles Tsunami as detailed in the novella Monster Slayer by Daniel Lovat Clark. And hopefully explore the impact of such an event. Naturally there will be power vacuums and gang warfare going on as rival gangs try to exploit this opportunity to gain more power. At the corporate level there will also be fallout, as the other rival corporations take this opportunity to hit Weyland and GRNDL who were behind the tsunami. Much of this will play out in the newsfeeds during the adventures. However who knows they may get sucked into some of the power plays also.

Naturally the players will be survivors of this disaster and getting aid at an emergency relief camp. The starting equipment they have is all they were able to grab when the tsunami hit.

So what other stories will be running in the newsfeeds during ongoing adventures? The events of the novella Monitor by Leigh Alexander seem ideal material to play out in the background. Although the theme may not be explored.

Although Exodus by Lisa Farrell, will see parts play out in the feeds. I do want to explore the themes of this. Android/Clone rights are analogous to the battle for black rights, slavery and the underground railway (I’m sure the inspiration for Exodus or an influence at the least). I like that Android gives an opportunity to look at this difficult and emotive subject. So we will see protests and riots reported on the news. And players will get caught up in some of these as well I’m sure. I like the idea of having the players involved in the Android version of the underground railway.

Although the players won’t get involved the events detailed in the Mumbad cycle also make great material for background colour that highlight the Android/Clone rights.

The Flashpoint Cycle also is something I’d like to explore and have the players involved with. It’s something that can play out in newsfeeds and seed adventures for players as they get involved in the fallout from those infamous 23 seconds.

I’m going to avoid any cycles or events that are off planet for the time being. So I won’t have them in the newsfeeds for the players until I want to move the party off Earth. I need more information about the Kitara Cycle which is on Earth. Maybe the events could be mentioned. From an initial look they could tie in with the fallout of Exodus, and have the players getting revenge on Weyland.

So that’s my thoughts on direction, themes etc at the moment. What the first adventure will be I don’t know. I still would like to see what the two part taster scenario FFG was. It may be suitable as the starting point. Or something that can be used during the campaign. My early leanings are that I have the players do an intro one shot, maybe a rescue mission, then into the FFG scenario (if suitable).