My Life With Master

In this game, the players create a B-movie Master and his minions. We created the minions of a Master who was trying to recreate the language used before the Tower of Babel, planning to have it sound from a hideous organ build of heads and using the blood and fluids of its victims.

GM and Master: Michael Miller

Ben Lehman: Matthias, a thin thief.
More than Human: Can enter any building, except one open to the public
Less than Human: Cannot speak, except in the presence of a child.
Michael: One of the Master's titles is Child of God.
Connections:
Lily, an adolescent child on the verge of womanhood. How long would 
Matthias be able to speak to her?
Christoph, the town drunk

Kat Miller: Corpsil, a taxidermist
More than Human: Can make anything out of body parts, except for someone
who died on a Sunday
Less than Human: Smells like dead things, except when handling a dead things
Connections:
Samuel, the Smith
Hans, the Woodcutter's son

Andrew Morris: Petra, a strong creature of indeterminate gender who walked
with a limp
More than Human: Can track anything or anyone, except for someone who doesn't
want to be found
Less than Human: Cannot see, except in the dark
Connections:
Thaddeus the Butcher
Nina, the innocent child

Lisa Padol: Joachim, a scholar
More than Human: Can translate anything, but only if it is written, and only
into another written language
Less than Human: Cannot divert attention from written material unless it is
covered
Connections:
Hieronymous, the Librarian, a Rival Translator
Tobias, the Cellist
Later: Samuel, the Smith

I realize now that I did not make a weird enough character. MLWM minions are supposed to be way over the top, or perhaps, way under the bottom.

The game plays like a cross between an rpg and a boardless board game, or perhaps a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure book. Each player gets a turn and decides what kind of a scene she wants. There are scenes with the Master, work scenes, and enrichment scenes. Michael's house rule was that no one could call for 2 enrichment scenes in a row. This makes sense, as enrichment scenes increase a minion's Love for his connections, and the Love score is what finally enables one of the minions to kill the Master. This means that a cunning Master will try to bump off the PCs' connections. Besides, he needs them for his foul experiments.

We opened with the Master berating everyone for incompetence and sending them out on various errands. One can try to resist the Master's commands, but at game start, he has a huge advantage. Joachim was sent to steal a copy of a book he needed to translate. He spent some time bickering in a friendly fashion with Hieronymous, who bemoaned the lack of funds that would prevent him from getting new books for at least two years. Joachim then tried to drug Hieronymous' tea. Alas, he failed.

Hieronymous (spitting out the tea): Ptui! You can't even follow a recipe! Oh no! I spat it on one of the books! Get out!

Joachim tried again, this time sneaking in through a window or something. He got the book.

Matthias went to warn Lily that she was in danger from Petra, for the Master craved the voice of a liminal creature such as she, a child on the cusp of womanhood. Lily started out annoyed at Matthias' game, but was convinced.

Lily: I haven't played hide and seek in quite some time.

Matthias: I'll come back for you at sunset. Remember, Petra will come after dark!

Alas, Petra saw no need to wait. She put the startled and struggling Lily into a sack.

Lily (muffled): It isn't even dark yet!

Petra then stopped at Thaddeus' place, mourning her lot. Thaddeus urged Petra to move in with him, but she refused, terrified.

Corpsil was sent to get a pure white cat. She lured one away from the innocent Nina, and stuck it in a sack. On her way back, she met Hans, who was utterly disgusted by the idea of Corpsil delivering a cat to the Master's tender mercies.

Petra delivered Lily and was sent to fetch Nina, as the Master needed more bodies! Corpsil was told to capture Hans when he delivered the wood so that the master could drain him of his fluids. Corpsil protested that Petra had more fluid, being a bigger, um, person. The Master berated Corpsil, who let the cat go when he wasn't looking. Alas, Corpsil could not resist the Master's command. Letting Hans know she'd freed the cat, she lured him into a cage, saying that this was where the wood had to go, then locked him in. She then explained that she was trying to keep anything worse from happening, and she would let him go, but he was in great danger from the Master.

Corpsil: He wants to drain you of all of your fluid!

Hans: All of my what?

Corpsil: Blood! And... stuff.

Matthias tried to steal pipes from the Smith, but couldn't actually enter the smithy, as it was a public place. He broke into the Smith's home and managed to fish away 2 pipes before the whole stack collapsed. He brought the pipes to the Master, only to discover that they were mismatched. Ben did a hilarious job of mimicking Matthias hiding a pipe behind his back as the Master berated him. He was sent to help Corpsil with something, while we agreed that the white cat huddled under the organ.

Matthias was also told to dispose of Christoph, the town drunk, so that he never made an awful racket under the Master's window with what he considered singing. Matthias successfully steered him away, but I gather that, at some point, the Master had Christoph arrested and thrown into jail.

Joachim returned with the book. The Master asked if he were sure it was the correct one, and Joachim opened it to see. Naturally, he then had to read it until the Master covered it. By now, the Master was impatient with Joachim's needs for books, time, all of it.

Master: You are in the way. Do you want to be in the way, or do you want to be in the choir?

Joachim: I want to be in the choir of the only man I have ever met who knows how to use the word "liminal" correctly!

Master: And so you should.

The Master sent Joachim to get the smith to come with his finest sheet of metal to etch the final movement on. Joachim first visited Hieronymous, giving him some books he'd purloined from the Master.

Joachim: I was never here. And, you're still wrong about that semi-colon!

Hieronymous: I will consider it.

Joachim: Then, there is hope!

Hieronymous: Joachim, there is always hope.

Joachim convinced the smith that he would be well paid for this. The smith told his wife and his very large family that this job would save them. They were doing very badly, since a lot of people had left the village after the Master's arrival.

Petra was less successful in her errand, as Nina managed to escape. Matthias meanwhile discovered Lily locked in a cage and tried to rescue her. Alas, he was interrupted by the arrival of the Master, and dove outside the window. As the Master entered, Lily screamed. The Master was delighted, and, as Petra entered, explained why.

Master: Those pure tones! That wonderful set of pipes! Petra, only one thing would improve this!

Petra: What is that, Master?

Master: A duet! Where is the other girl?

Alas, Petra had to confess her failure, and the Master raked the poor creature over the coals and sent Petra off to help Corpsil exsanguinate Hans. By now, Corpsil and Petra had enough Love to trigger endgame if they resisted a command by the Master, so the action started to converge on the room with Lily's cage. As I said, there are elements of the game that are like a board game.

The Master spotted Matthias hanging outside the window.

Master: Yes, Matthias, you are absolutely right! The conjunction! (hauling Matthias in) We have no time to wait for Joachim! We must begin now!

I think Hans was released from his cage. I know Corpsil and Petra entered the room, and Corpsil successfully defied the Master. Kat also got the rare Sincerity die for her roll, as Corpsil admitted that not only was the Master wrong, but she was wrong as well. When playing correctly, the Sincerity die should be rare, and at least twice, I decided that my character just could not be Sincere, even though it would benefit him.

Michael explained that he'd set the scene for the other characters, and from there, we could decide what we were doing. He gave the Master whatever powers he deemed appropriate, and this worked because a) it built on what had been established already and b) the Master can't actually kill his minions. In fact, I don't think the Master can actually kill anyone himself. That's what he has minions for.

He sang a word in the pre-Babel language, and the stones crumbled under Petra's feet. She fell down the stairs, landing at the foot of the torch wielding mob and led them towards the Master. Hans tried to attack the Master, but another word of the pre-Babel language froze the boy in place. The Master called Corpsil his good right hand, and placed a scalpel in her hand, commanding her to exsanguinate Hans.

Matthias grabbed Lily and jumped out the window with her.

Lily: I knew you would save me, Matthias! I knew you would come for me when it was dark!

Matthias: Everything's going to be all right now, Lily.

Alas, just then, part of the mob showed up, and beat him.

Lily: Stop! He rescued me! Tell them, Matthias!

Alas, Matthias no longer had the power to speak. He was tossed in a cell with Christoph, the town drunk. However, Matthias was reasonably content, and beat time to a song for Christoph to sing.

Joachim led the Smith in, took in the scene, grabbed the metal, and told the Smith to run. The Smith snatched the metal, which had not been paid for, back, and then ran. Joachim wound up mixed in with the mob and tearfully confessed to Hieronymous that he'd stolen a book from the Master. Hieronymous forgave him, saying that he knew Joachim had had no choice.

Corpsil tried to kill the Master with the scalpel, but the Master sang another word, and the scalpel vanished from creation. After a last, desperate effort, the details of which escape me, Corpsil, possibly aided by Petra, killed the Master.

We then looked at what endings various folks got. I think Corpsil, Petra, and Matthias got integrated into the town successfully.

Ben: Petra and I get a home together, and we play with the little children.

Andrew: Ew!

Josh (looking over my sheet): Lisa, you don't have an end condition.

Andrew: It's okay -- there's an end condition for when you don't meet an end condition. Your minion goes off to find a new master.

Lisa: Michael, could that be Hieronymous?

Michael: Sure!

Hieronymous: You know, Joachim, the Master's methodology was completely wrong, but his theory was brilliant.

Joachim: His books were lacking. But, if they were combined with your books --

Hieronymous (putting an arm around Joachim): Joachim, let's talk.

And so the game ended. Michael makes a wonderfully scary Master, but I'm not sure if I could run the game well.