McDaldno and I exchanged a few words about love letters
here. He's not a big fan of them for M<3s, but I like them. In this particular case I'm about to go in to a session a) with a big gap between it and the previous one, b) it'll probably be the last one before a player leaves town, and c) one of the characters missed two session. So they seem apropos.
This tiny Kansas town will never be the same.
Here they are:
Dear Carla:It must have been very isolating for you, stuck at home alone all day while Lex goes out and parties and your aunt goes to visit her mother in Colorado. But you're used to it. You've been doing some thinking... some very productive thinking. Now it's time to get down to business.
You're a quiet type, but despite a lifetime of experience to the contrary it seems like people are starting to notice you. Mara. Vance. That strange Eric boy who talked to you in the hallway and knew your name. After highlighting stats, we'll see how that's going.
Roll +Hot, and some of the following will be true. On a 10+, all three. On a 7-9, pick two.
*You think Vance is sweet on you. Gain 1 String on him.
*Vance doesn't consider you a liability in the hunt. If you don't chose this option, he gains 1 String on you.
*You think you've seen someone hanging around the house. Is that... Eric? Gain a string on him. You can spend a String on him to have him right there when you need him.
On a miss, I'll pick one and you'll pick one to be true, but not as true as it would be otherwise -- it won't affect who gets Strings. There might still be some truth to the last one, too. We'll see.
Vance is coming to pick you up. Good hunting.
Love and kisses,
--Your MC
P.S You’ve had a lot of time to yourself to think. Pick any or all of the following:
*You were up all night thinking. Get the
Drained condition and mark XP.
*You hurt yourself (anger, despair, training for the hunt). Take 1 harm and mark XP, up to twice (you can start with 1 healed, but that counts for this session).
*You’ve been obsessing. Pick another PC, give them a string on you, tell them why, mark XP. Do up to twice with different characters.
Mara,So you're a monster. How's that working out for you? At least you haven't eaten anyone you liked (yet). Just a few cows. And the janitor -- Ed Clark, they made an announcement over the PA. And poor... Beth? Was it Beth? It's so easy to forget names when there's so much... flavor. Well, serves her right for picking up hitchhikers, everyone knows
that's dangerous.
You're cutting a swath. You're mad, bad, and dangerous to know. What could possibly go wrong?
After highlighting, roll +Cold, and we'll see. On a 10+, pick one. On a 7-9, pick two.
*You didn't do as thorough a job of hiding/skeletoning Beth as you could have. She's found and ID'd by morning, to hit the news along with the meth lab explosion.
*You get a text from your brother Kent. Your parents are upset -- something about blood on some clothes they found in your room? They want you home, now.
*Alice's mom calls you. She never got home last night. What asshole did you have drive her, again?
On a miss, all 3.
Love and kisses,
--Your MC
SERVANT! [Cain]
THE TI-TI-TIME HAZZZZ COME. EXZZZZZODUS IZ APPROACHING. READDDDDY YOURZZZZELF.Shit's gotten real. The buzzing in your head is a near-constant, and there's static in your vision that you're not sure is reality glitching or a hallucination. You haven't asked Caleb whether he can see it to, but he's got a distant look in his eye.
The Fallen wants things. It wants Spoons aflame, its streets awash with madness. It's given you a shopping list:
*Knock out the transformer for the town. It's ten miles east on RT28.
*Spike the water supply with Dust. There's a water tower just inside city limits as you come in to town from Jed's.
*Oh, after you take out the power, there're still some emergency generators. Like the one in the Hospital. Get rid of that.
*Burn something big, like a building, and/or that's a symbol of authority, like a police car.
*Kill someone within city limits. It doesn't have to be public, but it should be messy, and the body should be found before too long.
Every time you do one of these things, it loses a string on you. Murder might have diminishing returns -- you'll need to do more, bloodier, scarier.
The good news is that it's going to lend a hand. Let's see what kind.
After highlighting, Roll +Dark. On a 10+, the Fallen gives you three. On a 7-9, it gives you two.
*Weapons of terror. Old man McCreevy, who owns the plot next to Jed's, had a son who was in the militia movement before the Feds got him. There's a buried cache that they never found. The Fallen will show it to you.
*Minions of madness. Kelly gave some of the rock to some meth cookers. Who knows how many people got dosed?
*Supernatural might. The next 3 times you call on your Bargains, it won't gain a String.
*Succor of the damned. Remove 2 Conditions.
On a miss, pick at least one and up to two, but for each one you pick the Fallen gets a string on you.
SZZERVE ME WELL.--Your MC
Dearest Lucien,(Or are you going by "Luke," nowadays? Quaint.) I do hope you've been enjoying your time in the colonies. I'm sure it's very... provincial. Despite the DeWitt hunter following you (and good job getting the local brutes to give him what-for on account of him being a nancy boy, we all had a good laugh) you seem to be doing well for yourself. You've even built yourself a coterie! Precocious boy. I wouldn't think a place as, mmm, rustic as this "Spoons" would support one...
In any case, let's see how they're doing, shall we?
After highlighting stats, we're going to see how your HR skills are. You've got, in order of conversion: Jared (the very-much-ex-lead singer of the Moral Disasters), Lex (Carla's sister and head cheerleader), and Christian (a shy, quiet type who fancies you). Christian and Lex, who you converted last night, would normally be waking at the next sunset. They just came to, gasping and twitching. That's weird!
Roll +Hot. On a hit, chose some of the following to be true. On a 10+, pick three. On a 7-9, pick two.
*Christian isn't getting all vampire-obsessive on you.
*Jared isn't butthurt about this club getting less exclusive (and including undesirables like cheerleaders who turned him down for a date once).
*Lex isn't doing some serious angling for Queen-of-the-Damned status.
*One of them knows something useful.
On a miss, I'll pick one. No matter what, everyone's hungry.
Love and kisses,
--Your MC
The context:
Carla the Mortal really digs
Mara the Ghoul, but has decided after nearly being eaten that Mara needs
saving. Possibly with a flamethrower. So she's teaming up with local hunter Vance to get it done (while being stalked by Eric, secretly a werewolf).
Cain the Infernal is in deep and Darkest Self with their weird alien space-rock master whose ground-up dust she sells as drugs (last night she dosed Mara's friend Alice, for example).
Lucien, the British expat vampire, took the gang advancement and spent all night recruiting. Carla's the one who missed two sessions.