Sunday, August 4, 2013

Conversion Experience: Satellite Sam #1

Satellite Sam #1 
Image; July 2013; $3.50 

It's 1951 in New York and network television is in its infancy. Then - as it is now - the entertainment industry is a lot like hot dogs. It looks good in the end, but if you saw how it was made and what goes into it, you would be sick.

     In this first issue the actor who plays Satellite Sam, a beloved children's show character, is missing from the set. When Carlyle White, a producer on the show, is sent to locate him she makes a grizzly discovery. A la Bob Crane, Satellite Sam was into some pretty kinky stuff and his dead, naked body is found on a bed surrounded by cameras, lingerie and sex toys.

     Carlyle White reacts with shock and horror, reminding me of a failed Sanity check. Since I have been looking at Fate Accelerated (FAE), I got to thinking as to how to handle this kind of thing in play.

Horror Checks/Sanity Checks in FAE Where a Grizzly Discovery Is Made
     The scene (bodies hanging from hooks, entrails thrown against the walls, pile of corpses in the kitchen) gets four dice with which to "attack" a character's sanity and composure.

     The PC can defend with one of his approaches, provided the chosen approach makes sense within the context of the scene.

     Any successes in the scene's favor are counted against the PC's stress track and managed how that PC deems fit. This could result in a mild consequence like, "Badly Shaken" or a moderate consequence such as, "...god DAMN IT... AAIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!"

     Example, Carlyle White walks into the apartment where she sees Satellite Sam's corpse. The GM rolls for dice and scores three successes. He then hands Carlyle's player a Fate chip because he is going to tag one of her aspects, "Satellite Sam's Lackey." This results in a net five successes.

     Carlyle rolls four dice to defend and modifies it with her Careful approach (+3). She rolls poorly and ends up a with a -3 result. Offset that with her +3 Careful rating for a net of 0. This results in 5 points of stress being applied to her stress track.

     Carlyle's player checks off 1 box from the stress track and takes a moderate consequence, "...god DAMN IT... AAIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!" This will stay with her until the end of the next session.

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