Metal Angel 1

All right, the prep work is all done, now it's time to get to the game!

As part of SGAM, I've been provided with a number of prompts from the Lone Wolf Community, which take the form of Tarot Cards. A number of people use a Tarot deck or other images (such as Story Cubes) to help inform their solo gameplay experience, but I never have. So, this will be a new experience for me. I have to make a bit of a confession, though. Despite my interests, I really have no particular knowledge of Tarot beyond the most absolute basics. Given that, I'm going to be relying on the information provided by +Todd Zircher's Tangent Zero site, which is the source of these prompts. If the information provided is wrong, take it up with him. Any failure of interpretation, though, falls squarely on my shoulders.

The first image is The Fool. Here's the info for this card:

The roots of one's abilities, talents and potential. Decision to start fresh, open to new possibilities within, not explored yet. Sudden impulse which comes 'out of the blue'. Like a young animal driven into life by instinct, not yet conscious or possessed of understanding. The hero of our journey represents the irrational impulse toward change and toward opening life's horizon into the unknown. These irrational impulses can sometimes be destructive and sometimes creative and often they are both together. Willingness to risk, courage to stand by oneself, independence, freedom, following one's own feeling, idealism and inspiration.

I decide that this pretty well sums up Metal Angel himself. He's young, irrational, and full of awesome power and potential, for both good and ill. Having said that, we're ready to move onto the next card.

The first image is The Hermit, which I decide will represent our first scene. Here's the description:

Time for meditation, for looking inward bringing light into darkness, the unconscious, watching the dreams. Here we have loneliness, active or passive isolation to connect the higher spiritual self - a communication between spiritual heaven and material earth. A wise leader, finding one's own light, bringing things to completion, time to harvest, the fruitfulness. We only can reach this maturity with caution and patience, with readiness to reflect upon the 'dark side of the moon'. There is an opportunity to build solid foundations if one is willing to wait. Finally there is a deep respect for own limitations in the great passage of the rounds of time

So, it looks like Metal Angel has been on his own for a bit, looking inward and being patient. I have some ideas for this, but it's time to turn to the CRGE.

I begin with a series of questions. These will be phrased on the manner of a Yes/No question, and I will roll against CRGE’s Loom of Fate tables to generate the responses. Is Cole isolating himself from the world around him to investigate a particular mystery? 98. Yes, and Unexpectedly… Huh, a really high roll right off the bat. That’s always a fun sign. In CRGE certain answers are modified by either and or but. And significantly reinforces the answer, while but diminishes it. The unexpectedly further changes or alters the answer.

For now, we know that Metal Angel has been investigating a mystery, locking himself in his room, digging through the internet looking for information. Scott, his roommate, is both worried and annoyed with him. They’re late on rent, and Cole has already missed two shifts this week. One more, and he’ll be out looking for another job. I should roll for the unexpectedly result, but first I want to know more about this mystery he’s researching.

Is the mystery related to the bank robbers who almost killed him? 06 No, but… I decide that it’s tied to the high tech weapons they had used. Is he trying to find the maker of the weapons? 17 No, and… So, it’s not the manufacturer of them. I’ll say that the weapon maker is currently in jail. Is another gang using similar weapons? 44 No. Ok, so it’s not the weapons. What if it’s about their “boss”—the man who set things up and fenced or cleaned the goods? Is it related to their boss? 49 No. Hmm. Maybe it’s tied to another victim, someone also killed or wounded in their robberies. Is it related to another victim? 100 Yes, and Unexpectedly… Ok, there were others hurt or killed by the robbers, and Cole/Metal Angel has become obsessed with them. I’m going to roll on the Unexpectedly chart for this and I get 15 Enter Stage Left. Enter Stage Left means that an NPC arrives. I decide to broaden this out.  A couple of the victims are showing super abilities, and Cole wants to find out why.

Cole hunched over his laptop, the blue glow of the screen the only illumination in his tidy and small room in the shared rundown apartment, located in a neighborhood not quite ready for gentrification. On the wall over the computer was a map of the United States. Pushpins dotted the landscape, each with a string leading to a printed out news article or a picture of some poor kid. He kept telling himself he needed to get a proper corkboard, but had never gotten around to it. Not that it mattered. With Scott as his roommate, their security deposit was lost anyway.  Scott was knocking at the door, trying to get him to come out. Cole ignored the interruption. His eyes darted down to the bottom right of the scree, and he saw he still had about four hours before his shift started. He’d make it. Probably. He went back to his work, trolling through net looking for any information he could get. There were others out there, like him. Well, that was obvious; there had been metahumans since before his parents were born. But this was different. A number of new meta’s have recently appeared. And many of them were also the victims of the same robbers who almost took his life. Was this sheer coincidence? A result of the alien tech they were using? Was it a deliberate? He had always assumed that his powers came from an accident while he was in surgery at Greystone Medical, but now he wasn’t so sure.

Now that we know what’s investigating, it’s time to take a step back and finish our setup. What was so unexpected?

I again roll on the Unexpectedly table and get a 13 To Endings. I take this to mean his finds a clue which will quickly end his current research.

Scarlet Wing He clicked on the link to twitch. A new superheroine, who called herself the Scarlet Wing, was taking her first flight and livestreaming it for all to see. Cole was pretty sure her name was actually Kelly Adams, another victim of the robbers. He watched her for a bit, wondering if the wings were a shared link, though hers were made of fire while his were metal. But then, in the bottom corner he saw something. It was over in a blur, but he paused the livestream and went back. The image was out of focus, but he was certain there was a man filming her. A man he had seen before…

Is it one of the robbers? 100 Yes, and Unexpectedly…04 Costume Change.  So, it’s one of the robbers, but he looks totally different. What’s the opposite of a robber? A police officer!

A cop. But a cop he knew. He was certain it was one of the robbers, but was wearing the uniform of a police officer. How? He though. They were all supposed to be in prison! He looked at the location tag, saw that she was broadcasting from Eagle Harbor itself. I can be there in just a few minutes!  He rushed out of his room, glad to see that Scott wasn’t home. I guess he had an early shift today, Cole thought as he stepped out to the balcony. He lept off into the air, changing into Metal Angel and flying towards the city center.

I think that’s enough for the Hermit scene. Next up we have The Empress!