[UA] The PCs

[David M Jacobs]

At 02:11 AM 6/09/2003 -0700, Alex Duncan wrote:

>Great scenario!

Thanks!

>Nitpick:  if this is set in the U.S., then instead of a preselection, the 
>excitement will happen at some kind of pre-primary civic forum or debate.

Yeah, I was going to put a disclaimer in (me not knowing how US politics 
works on a local level and all), but I only realised it after I'd sent it 
to the list.  Oops.

Perhaps it's just the love-hate relationship that I have with politics 
doing it, but I look at all the boring, straightlaced politicos that I know 
and think that they'd make a great basis for a UA campaign.  Way back when, 
I came up with the skeleton of a campaign based at Sydney University, with 
various other Sydney stuff thrown in and "Garden Full of Weeds" from WEEP* 
wrapped around the edges.

The PCs were going to be members of one of the clubs that (though 
apolitical in themselves) could deliver a significant bloc of votes to the 
upcoming SRC (Student Representative Council) election.  One of the leading 
candidates for President was an avatar of the Demagogue, and various adepts 
(mostly boozehounds, bodybags or irascimancers) floated in and out of the 
picture.

One of my favourite NPCs was an irascimancer named the Axe.  Part of the 
campaign background involved a disappearing, reappearing suburb on the 
North Shore (one of the wealthier areas of Sydney) called Chelmsford; 
however, whilst it was "away" nobody knew of its existence, but when it was 
"back" it was just taken for granted that it'd always been there.

The Axe didn't drive, but had a friend named Cesare (named, incidentally, 
after Cesare the Somnambulist from "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari") who 
chauffeured him around.  The problems were twofold: Cesare was a 
particularly persistent nonentity (and capable of reresolving after a 
time), and his driver's licence listed his place of residence as 
Chelmsford.  If Cesare was pulled over by the police, and Chelmsford was 
"away", then it would draw enough attention to Cesare to make him fade 
away.  Usually, the Axe would be in the car at the time, now stuck in the 
middle of nowhere; this was often enough to make him blow his stack and 
lose his charges.

During these times, the Axe would go to ground, picking on elderly and 
homeless people to charge back up.  The problem for the PCs was that 
although the Axe was renowned as a notorious liar, he _did_ know everything 
that was going on at the university, and would sometimes let information 
slip if it suited his purposes.  He was a solid (albeit unreliable, 
annoying and politically dangerous) source of gossip.

If anyone wanted to track the Axe down when he was low on juice, they had 
to descend into the seedier, forgotten underbelly of society and track him 
down by following the wake of destruction that he left in his path.  Whilst 
lots of people knew the Axe, very few actually liked him, and anyone who 
started asking questions about him was generally assumed to be one of his 
friends -- and, therefore, valid targets for his victims' rage.



* Which reminds me, what are the chances of seeing a "You Did It" t-shirt 
for sale?  It might not be enough to bother Atlas' marketing department 
with, but perhaps Greg or someone could sell it through CafePress.  Hell, 
I'd buy one -- at the very least.



David M Jacobs
dmjacobs at zipworld.com.au
http://www.zipworld.com.au/~dmjacobs/
ICQ UIN: 17027598

Last night, I dreamt that I'd pinned Bruce Willis beneath an unpainted 
section of picket fence in his front yard, and that I beat him to death 
with a copy of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  I awoke with blood on my 
face.  Note to self: never eat penne before bedtime again.



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