MCC Recap - A Branch to the Head for All

Recently I ran the first 1/3-1/2 of A Fallen Star for All with a ragtag band of seekers trying to breach the uncovered ancient stronghold.

• +James Walls  as Cypher the Shaman of ACHROMA
• +Alex Perucchini  as Flik-flak the Sentinel
• +andrew lyon  as Francois Franswa the Frog Manimal
• +Paul Go  Agutter the Healer

Spoilers for the first bit of A Fallen Star for All ahead...

Because I'm trying to establish a non-murder hobo game I'm encouraging the players to invest in their community, and I think it's working! After the clan's elders tasked them with investigating the uncovered ancient complex that was recently revealed by a fallen star the briefly spoke with the clan's head seeker, Trev-gar about the dangers he saw before retreating (as wise choice). Deciding that the needed more protection they went to a barter session with Peek, the local tanner, to get some armor. Cypher traded a trio of glowing fingers for some hide armor, and Agutter commissioned a vest of pleather and purchased a cloak with some knick knacks from his prior outing.

Using their "sky-carriage" gained from the prior exploration ofthe Sky-High tower they quickly covered the day's travel and arrived at the crater of the fallen star. Warned that other tribes had sent seekers to this spot the group lands nearby in the jungle and hides their vehicle lest it be stolen or stripped for parts. Arriving at the edge of the crater on foot they decided to take the long way around to avoid the red fog that had "jacked up" Trev-gar and his team. This seemed wise (it was) but turned unlucky for them as they bumped into a seeker group from the Blessed Brotherhood. The mutants laid claim to Agutter's medipack but an enraged Cypher quickly murdered them with some clever RP and good dice and the support of a spine throwing Franswa. Well, all but one, who escaped (I'm sure they'll never see him again).

After circumnavigating the red fog they approached a pair of structures that looked much like stone mushrooms. An empathic/telepathic cat (now called Dr. Claw) warned them about some kind of murderous mutant. It didn't take long for Cypher to slay the mutant (seriously, this Shaman is a beast) but in the process Franswa the Frog-manimal was driven insane by a nat 1 on his mutation check to hurl some spines. Drawn by the sounds of battle the mutant's companion, a blue skinned man, emerged from the huts and was likewise quickly dispatched but not before downing the insane Franswa.

Looting the bodies and they structure yielded several artifacts, only one of which exploded and killed Feeleep (one of Franswa's 9 additional personalities, all dead now;  as an aside do I get to count that as 10 PC deaths? ;) ). Experimenting with a strange device within the structure they recovered a cube of some kind with a sunburst (or maybe an eye?) symbol on one side that Cypher deduced was a key (he would know, doors are his favored enemy).

The group also found a mutant who joined them, replacing the now perished Franswa as the group's "diversity hire" (3 PSH and a mutant currently, with +Craig McCullough playing a 4th PSH). So far our group's track record with manimals, mutants, and plantients has been poor, but we'll see if Andy's new PC bucks the trend. We wrapped up after about 2 hours of play with a break to generate Andy's new character. I think that if all goes well the remainder will make for the bulk of the January and February sessions, at which point I will either choose a new module to run, or poll the players for what they wish to do next...

Most shocking thing we learned about MCC:

• Rolling a 1 on a mutation check means you gain and defect and permanently lose the mutation! I suspect this is one we'll be talking about for a while as a group. I'm planing to play as written but if this seems to excessively to punish mutants, manimals, and plantients I may need to houserule. 

Most amusing behavioral change:

• After getting a net result of 1 on an artifact check and causing a 6 damage explosion that killed a PC the group is now quick to tell me that they are putting distance between themselves and anybody making an artifact check.

Interesting (to me) Rules Adjudications:

• After getting healed Cypher made an attack on the adjacent enemy. I ruled it as a sneak attack and gave a die upgrade. He basically just sat up and axed the guy in the groin with no warning. Ouch!
• After Franswa went insane and gained 9 new additional personalities I had Andy use the purple sorcerer to roll up 9 new sets of stats and ruled that each personality had its own Personality and Intelligence (which seemed entirely logical) AND Luck score. I also encouraged Andy to not have each personality just be a slightly different version of the base character, sadly we didn't have enough time to see how that would play out. 
• After dropping to zero I ruled that the personality in control of Franswa's body would be permanently dead if the character dropped to zero but was healed, or succeeded on a body roll. I thought this was an interesting adjudication as it wiped out that combo of Per, Int, and Luck stats as well, making for some genuine stakes for the many personalities. I really hope to see another mutant with this come into the game to see how this plays in the long term. 

In Memoriam: 

• Franswa (and Feeleep, and 8 other personalities)