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MECHANI uh I mean TTRPG Tuesday: Scenarios for The Company

Well, despite what I wrote to my accountability team yesterday, it somehow escaped my ability to do a Mechanic Monday.  I have a streak going though and I’d like to keep it, so what better time to resurrect an old friend, warped beyond recognition by time and neglect: TTRPG Tuesday!
My friend Logan recently ran a successful KS Campaign for his Zine RPG, The Company.  It’s an obsession letter to, among other things, corporate-exploitation scifi.  The KS release has the core system as well as a starting scenario; locations, enemies, plot, its own set of scenario-unique mechanics.  I’d like to dig into the rules and create my own scenario, so I thought I’d brainstorm some possible setups and ideas for hooks/mechanics.

Magic, Inc. (alt. The Dancing Broom, Imagination Lab, The Sorcerer’s Workshop) - The development complex of a monopolistic entertainment company has gone haywire, with a young scion of the ownership family trapped obliviously inside.  Inspired by the incredibly cynical Wendy’s TTRPG that came out a couple years back, as well as the Imagineer propaganda on Disney+, and a trailer I saw for Bendy and the Ink Machine.  Possible mechanics: Possessed/possessing corporate mascot exosuits (but not 5 Nights at Freddie’s style), tainted branded healing supplies, theme songs / jingles playing the entire time, at different volumes in different sections, environmental “magic” a la the parts of Harry Potter World that let you use your wand.

Weathervane - A desert terraforming-research station where clouds of nanites are programmed to act as climate control, but the control core has been damaged.  Inspired by how much the environment + my dumb actions in BotW constantly conspire to murder me, and how inconsequential temperature/weather is in most RPGs compared to real life.  Possible mechanics: Extreme heat/cold, vindictive thunderclouds and tornadoes, eventually seismic activity culminating in a volcanic eruption; a safe path through the zones via remote instructions, interrupted by EM interference.

DOLLIE - A cloning lab staffed entirely by different versions of the original scientist, with more clones acting as the test subjects.  Inspired by Dolly the Sheep, Michael Van Patrick, The Island, and I guess Doll House? I watched like two episodes of that and I hear it was ultimately Bad.  Oh and MOON.  I should probably read up on Orphan Black to make sure I’m not ripping that off.  Possible Mechanics: Different clones pretending to be one another, outsiders pretending to be clones, clones modified beyond recognition for combat or other purposes, clones merging and linking up, eventually clones and hybrids of the player characters.

All of these feel doable, and different enough from your usual corporate horror.  The first one may need a bit of work to make it stand on its own from its influences, but that’s probably a good challenge to have.
Welp - that’s an entry! See you next week.

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