Fate of SHIELD: Episode 2 notes

This week's game went well, I felt.  Like the previous week, a lot of my plans fell into place without me necessarily pushing it.  I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I've planned a few routes to the same place and figured appealing clues for them.

I also think the lack of a true GMPC helps.  Both Zorya abd Savage are very background characters used slightly more like contacts than active team members.  I think over the next few sessions, since Savage has been along for the ride all this time, I'll have the players start fleshing out his aspects so he's a little big more than just a prop (especially since Zorya has her own stats in case of need).  It looks like, for now, he'll stick around.  That also gets us to a more organic-feeling team size of five, rather than four; Savage kind of plays the bridge between the action-heavy Rennaker and Stalson and the more social/tech oriented Gott and Richards.

It felt good, for that matter, to have the whole team together.  No missing players this week meant that the team felt a little more balanced out.  They did a great job debating the issues at hand with one another and pushing for answers in a way that really reflects the nature and tone of the show.

Wendigo was more effective this week, despite Stalson dropping 18 damage on him in a round (at least in the raw, before Wendigo's defenses).  I got the sense the players were more worried about him and they layered on a ton of aspects over several turns to get it to the point at which all that damage could happen.  The curse falling on Richards was one of my preferences (the other was Gott), and the player realizing he'd been had was pretty fantastic and probably mirrored the character quite a bit.

The hope for our next session is to quickly resolve the Shaman bits with Richards and roll into our next freak of the week.  It's got a bit of a Halloween theme to it, but it's been planned since before I knew it would be our Halloween session.  Should be another good one.

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