Casting Shadows

We are very much in the ending days of #RPGaDay2020 now as Day 26 brings us to the middle of our last full calendar week of posts with only six more posts to go. Our detour of posts has us visiting the last of the numerically early posts that we avoided: Stack.

I think that the prompt that made me decide to share ideas by demonstrating a ghostbusters session was this prompt, as one of my favorite scenes in the movie is the “symmetrical book stacking” interplay.

Having deactivated and removed the pain-compliance device with its bonus bomb pack from Linda the Shift Supervisor turned Giant Mantis, the group continues their course through the complex to find a good access point to strike at the heart of evil.

“I want to go over the roof,” states Diego and I instantly let him know this is a fine idea by using his mannerisms as his possessor to say, “No, I don’t. I want to entwine with the vine!”

“I thought we were going to go through that narrow entrance that Dunhill found,” says Gray.

“It’s too obvious, and looking at the slime on and rips in his jumpsuit, I don’t think a return trip is a good idea. He’s the only one to see a ghost on this job, and after serious reflection, I can be fine with that. The vines don’t cover you in goop.”

“Right, they just rend your flesh and devour you. It’s much better,” Diego replies, deadpan.

“Well…”

“Cross the ventilation shaft to the tower again?” suggests Dunhill.

The group enters the next room and their question is answered. A large metal cylinder with gauges and sensors runs from floor to ceiling.

“Look at that stack!” says Gray. “Man, it’s hard to believe that Peck and Peck are related!”

“Walter has been in a mental health facility for a while, though, remember,” notes Lemmon. “If I remember the gossip correctly. he never got over the marshmallow – or being responsible for doomsday.”

“It’s a heavy weight to bear,” intones Gray seriously.

“This technology is old and primitive. I doubt Peck had anything to do with it. Either way, this stack is our access to the roof,” states Diego definitively.

“Can we really call it a stack inside the structure? Isn’t it only a stack above it?” Dunhill asks.

“You will have to ask a nautical engineer,” Diego says, evading the question,

“I remember my 4th girlfriend in the second semester of my first year of my second masters, Annette. She was in nautical engineering. As I recall she was very nau…” the player mocks shooting a look at Linda the giant mantis and winds down, “…nautical.”

Linda clatters her mandibles, obviously feeling better.

“Enough nonsense, we have to cut into the stack. It will have a ladder inside. We ascend to the roof, fry any vines that try to stop us, and look for a similar route down. I know I saw something that looked like elevator shafts when we were up on the tower,” Diego says.

“I remember some other things on the roof…” Lemmon begins.

“Now is our time to blast them!” Dunhill encourages.

“Right… for phat stacks of…. pizza…”

Question: What has gone into the sessions to bring about this fully self-directed play?

Link: There will be a video later today~