Here's a recap of the latest session of my Sentinels RPG campaign "The Alternates"! As per usual, there's a narrative recap (written as if it was in-metaverse) and then I go over the actual running of the game, and any lessons I learned as the GM.
If you're lost, you can catch up with the previous Game Recaps! You can find links to the first "Season" (the first 12 episodes) in the Recap for Game 12. "Season 2" will encompass Episodes #13 through #30. Here is the Recap for Episode 13, Episode 14, Episode 15, Episode 16, Episode 17, Episode 18, Episode 19, Episode 20, Episode 21, Episode 22, and Episode 23.
Brief Description of the Game: In the meta-verse (where Sentinel comics is a published comic book multimedia empire), there is a premium cable animated television series (in a style similar to “Into the Spider-Verse”), which itself is based on a comic series called "The Alternates." This RPG campaign represents that show, with each game session (ideally) representing one hour-long Episode of the show. The recap below is written in-metaverse as if it was an article on a popular website that posts recaps of episodes.
Player Characters/Protagonists:
- Cytoblast: Dr. Douglas Hemlocke can control plants, including transforming himself into a plant form, all thanks to his mystical knowledge and his ancient magical staff.
- Dr. Comet: Possessed by a demon that travelled to earth inside a comet, Dr. Diana Aster can magically control fire and ice, though her powers often go often out of control when her emotions flare up.
- Jersey Devil: A barely human cryptid of mysterious origins, "Mr. Leeds" is both man and monster, able to teleport by way of a parallel dimension.
- Kid Radical: A highly skilled autodidact with a strict code of behavior, Kid Radical has a superhuman ability for following trends and learning new skills, although it often seems like he can't quite connect with modern society.
- Quasar Kid: A superhero teen from the far future, Quasar Kid has a cosmic metabolism, super strength, and the power of flight, but he hasn't yet adjusted to being in "the past."
Recurring allied NPCs/Supporting characters:
- Starshadow: A retired intergalactic adventurer, Starshadow wields mighty cosmic powers, but he is now reluctant to use them.
- Bouncer: An invulnerable action movie star, Bouncer is also super-strong and capable of mighty leaps (hence the name "Bouncer"), but he hasn't been the same since the Oblivaeon Crisis.
- Night Knight: A costumed, armored vigilante who has taken over the protection of Rook City, despite the country legislating against super vigilantism. With a gravelly voice and endless gadgets, Night Knight has sort of picked up where the Wraith left off.
A Very Quick Story Synopsis: In an alternate timeline where Baron Blade was killed decades earlier (causing countless changes to the world of Sentinel Comics), the heroes of the Multiverse are almost all killed in the "Oblivaeon Crisis." The few remaining heroes, especially the Alternates, are left to deal with the villains and interstellar threats that still endanger the Earth!
Also, some important villain stuff going on - Unbeknownst to the heroes, Baron Blade has reappeared (after being presumed dead), and was secretly striking at the heroes during the last season. He has assembled a Vengeful Seven team, which is being lead by Hippocampus (the Hippo, except now he's super-smart). They are working behind the scenes on some sort of revenge plot.
I've also done some very amateur sketches for the game! You can see them in this Google Photos album.
And now, an imaginary recap of an imaginary episode of an imaginary television show about an imaginary superhero team!
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The Alternates Episode #24 Recap:
“Mordengrad, Glorious Mordengrad”
By Eddie Jaczerkowski
Big things are afoot in this week’s episode of The Alternates! Let’s dive into our Recap for Episode #24.
Episode Recap
The show’s cold open starts with the Mordengradian Anthem playing, and the Mordengradian flag flying. The whole opening feels like a commercial for Mordengrad from their (likely non-existent) tourism board.
Glorious Mordengrad! Our arms and minds are yours!
Glorious Mordengrad! You grant us strength and life!
The camera flies over a beautiful countryside in the sunshine. We see green fields of wheat and barley growing lush as we fly over hill and dale.
Glorious Mordengrad! Our arms and minds are yours!
Glorious Mordengrad! You grant us strength and life!
A gigantic robotic walking tank takes a mighty step. It stalks menacingly toward the camera, then stops with a shudder. A strange hexagonal device emerges from its underside, and we can see that the walking tank is standing over a farmer’s field. The device opens, and clawed arms emerge and begin picking turnips from the soil and depositing them into a nearby cart. A farmer and his young daughter cheer on the giant machine as it fills their cart with turnips.
As the moon shines down on your beauty;
As the sun takes pride in your might-
We see a line of armored troops marching down a cobblestone street through a Mordengradian village. They are dressed like Blade Battalion, but they wear white and gray instead of blue and green. They stop at the town square and stand at attention. Children run into the square, and in a quick motion, each soldier produces a balloon from their pocket and blows it up, then hands it to a waiting child.
From our great industry; To our marvelous leader-
We sing forever more the truth of our ways!
In another town square, a tank rolls down the street, smoke rising from the back. As the camera swings around the tank, we see the rear of the tank is actually a giant oven, and loaves of bread are automatically baked and removed from the back by robotic arms. The loaves are then wrapped in cloth and handed - by soldiers dressed in white and gray - to members of the public.
Glorious Mordengrad! Glorious Mordengrad!
Glorious Mordengrad!
Always!
The Alternates, meanwhile, are flying back from Philadelphia in their hoverjet. A small, holographic Unity appears on the dashboard of the jet. She tells the team that there’s something they should see, and plays them the broadcast from Baron Blade that we saw at the end of the last episode.
She then tells them they already have two messages about this broadcast. She plays the first. It’s Starshadow, who tells the team, “I saw the message. Look… Baron Blade is dead. There’s no way he could be alive. I was there. I… I made every covalent bond in his body break down. He was reduced to his composite atoms, and I spread those around in space. Even his clothes and his self-repair nanites. He is star dust, distantly orbiting the Earth.”
Starshadow’s message goes on to say that he is coming to Earth to help them investigate, but he has one stop to make on the way. The team discusses the message briefly, wondering what stop Starshadow could possibly make. Kid Radical recalls that Starshadow and Legacy had chased Baron Blade to a space station, where Starshadow disintegrated the Baron, and the team wonders if that’s where Starshadow might stop first.
The next message is a bigger surprise - it comes from an attache to the Mordengradian envoy to the United Nations, who tells them that the Luminary has invited them to Mordengrad to discuss recent events regarding Baron Blade. Given that Mordengrad remains a closed and secretive nation, an invitation to meet its leader is more than rare. The Alternates decide to immediately take up the offer, and they change course to Mordengrad.
On the flight to Mordengrad, the team talks about the rumors they’ve heard about the nation since the death of Baron Blade, and rumors of the new leader, who calls himself The Luminary. Kid Radical, meanwhile, is learning Mordengradian. (A notable phrase he learns is, “Kur tavo mėnulis?” which means, “Where is your moon?”)
When we cut to the hoverjet arriving at the border to Mordengrad, we see that the team spent the flight watching the entire Ghost Cop movie franchise (see my recap of Episode #23 for more details). They approach the border and are greeted by a flight of Mordengradian jets. A friendly welcome in broken English comes through the radio, and Kid Radical replies in a Mordengradian dialect. (He also points out to the team that the jets have “Luminous Legion” painted on their fuselages.)
The hoverjet lands, and as the team exits they are greeted by a middle-aged man with a thick Eastern European accent. He introduces himself as Prime Minister Bohdan Ponomarenko, who apparently acts as a kind of chief steward for national affairs on behalf of the sovereign leader, The Luminary.
Ponomarenko is very pleasant and friendly to the Alternates, telling them that it is a joy, an honor, and a pleasure to have them in Mordengrad. He, in fact, lays it on a little thick, but it doesn’t seem disingenuous as much as it seems like he is trying to win over the Alternates while believing (for good reason) that they don’t trust him at all.
The Alternates walk through Mordengrad with the Prime Minister and see some of the sights we saw in the cold open - happy peasants, still looking very plain and rustic, walking the streets, waving to the team as they walk by. Armored members of the “Luminous Legion” patrolling the streets, helping old ladies with their groceries and giving lollipops to children. Robots and devices that look menacing and terrible performing helpful tasks like cleaning or fixing the cobblestone streets.
They pass gigantic walking robot tanks, and Ponomarenko stops them. Jersey Devil eyes the robot suspiciously, but the Prime Minister asks, “Would anyone like something to eat?” Jersey Devil slowly turns to the Prime Minister and says, tentatively, “Yes…?”
Ponomarenko explains that the Luminary has spent the many years since the death of Baron Blade disarming the Mordengradian state and converting much of the military machinery into tools for the people. The tank swivels around to show that the rear weaponry has been replaced with a giant oven. Robotic arms fetch bread out of the oven (like in the cold open to the show) and hand the loaf to Jersey Devil. Jersey Devil looks down at the bread, and then, with a tear in his eye, gives the “bread tank” a giant hug.
They enter the Luminary’s fortress and sit down in a grand entry, where the Prime Minister asks them to wait while he speaks with the Luminary. The team silently munch on bread and cheese, and have a wordless “conversation” which expresses their confusion and wonderment at the “new” Mordengrad.
Ponomarenko returns and leads them through the fortress. During the walk Quasar Kid hums the Mordengradian National Anthem, and comments that, “It’s catchy and it hasn’t changed much.”
Finally, the group is lead into the Luminary’s “office.” While it’s clear this was once a despot’s throne room, a large wooden desk has been situated on the floor (the dias where the throne once was simply holds Mordengradian flags and a painting of its rolling mountains), and chairs sit opposite the desk.
Behind the large desk sits the Luminary, wearing a long white lab coat and a shiny silver helmet that only has openings for the eyes. The lab coat is thick, heavy, and possibly armored, and the helmet is made of several interlocked plates with small rivets along each seam. The Luminary stands and welcomes the Alternates.
As they step towards the desk, the Alternates see trap doors set into the floor. Quasar Kid stops suddenly and puts out his arms to stop his teammates. He eyes the Luminary suspiciously, but before he can react, the Mordengradian dictator takes a conciliatory tone.
“Oh, sorry!” Luminary says. “Relics of the previous administration. They’ve been sealed shut, but please, just step around them.”
After the heroes sit and Ponomarenko excuses himself, the Luminary speaks. “Welcome, Alternates. I cannot say what a pleasure it is to have you here in our glorious country today. I am so glad you came, since I understand you might be suspicious of us. But I wanted to bring you here, in person, to explain that it is the official position of the Mordengradian government that Baron Blade is dead. Any person claiming to be Baron Blade, or claiming to act on his behalf, is an imposter, and such a person is completely disavowed by this government.”
The Alternates look at each other momentarily, then the questions start flying. “How are you so sure that Baron Blade is dead?” “Do you know who this imposter is?” “Who are you, anyway?”
Luminary sighs and says, “Alright, let me begin at the beginning.” We see the back of Luminary’s head as he removes his helmet, and we can see the surprised faces of the Alternates as the helmet comes off…
Then, the episode moves off to Starshadow floating in space outside of a lifeless circular space station. It’s about the size of a small building, spinning slowly as Starshadow peers through the windows. He shifts to his shadowy cosmic form and phases through the exterior hull, entering the station. Inside the space station, there are still some lights and screens working.
“You’ve got to give him credit,” Starshadow says to no one in particular. “Decades without maintenance or staff, and this thing is still working.” He slowly moves through the cabin, weightlessly floating from terminal to terminal, looking without touching anything.
“No sign that anyone’s been here any time recently,” Starshadow mumbles to himself. Suddenly, klaxons go off throughout the space station, and one of the screens turns on. Baron Blade’s face is on the screen.
“Ah, there you are!” says the Baron through the screen.
And then we see the space station silently explode in a bright white flash.
Back in Mordengrad, we now see the Luminary helmetless. Beneath the mask is a young woman with light skin and very dark hair who looks like she could be related to Baron Blade.
“I am Ivana Ramonat,” she tells the Alternates. “The people of Mordengrad consider me Ivan Ramonat’s daughter, but I am not his daughter in any real sense. Rather, I am him.”
The Alternates look confused. “What in the world do you mean?” asks Kid Radical.
The Luminary explains that she is actually a clone of Ivan Ramonat, sharing his DNA and his memories. But while they are (genetically, but not biologically) identical, she does not really consider herself “Baron Blade” nor the daughter of Ivan Ramonat.
Still confused, the Alternates ask more questions, and the Luminary starts her story over again.
“Baron Blade had many plans and contingencies,” she explains, including one for his death. This contingency plan involved a device which was uploading his memories and thoughts to computerized storage. He had also created a vat which would create a clone of the Baron, and a process by which that clone could be aged quickly to young adulthood. The memories would be imprinting on that clone as it grew, thus creating a copy of Baron Blade. To initiate this process, the Baron had installed a dead man’s switch into his body which would trigger on his death.
Thus, the Luminary is sure that the Baron is dead for two reasons. First, his death triggered the cloning and memory imprinting process which created the Luminary herself. Second, she can remember the moments leading up to his death, since she has the Baron’s memories.
She goes on to explain that the cloning and memory imprinting process was obviously imperfect. While she has the Baron’s DNA, due to some unforeseen circumstances, as well as errors made by the Mordengradian scientists who oversaw her “birth,” she developed as a female instead of a male. More importantly, while she has all of the Baron’s memories, she experienced them as more of a spectator than a participant. She remembers everything the Baron experienced, but she doesn’t agree with any of his conclusions about those memories. In fact, she believes that he was quite villainous and mentally unstable.
Further, once she matured some several years after the Baron’s death, the scientists and politicians who were overseeing her development tried to use her for their own ends in taking control of Mordengrad, but she outmaneuvered their manipulations. Now, the people of Mordengrad know who she is, though they still think of her as the Baron’s daughter, and they look to her for leadership and inspiration as they once looked to Ivan Ramonat. She also explains that she has spent much of her time realigning Mordengrad’s industry and technology to help its citizens rather than to destroy its enemies.
The conversation continues, with the Alternates asking questions of the Luminary, and she reveals several more facts of interest to them.
For instance, she is aware of Operation Pipeclamp, as Mordengrad has lost many prominent scientists and engineers, especially in the years immediately after the Baron’s death. She doesn’t know much about who is ultimately behind Operation Pipeclamp, but she knows that one of Mordengrad’s most devious and maligned scientists, the dangerous and evil Dr. Vitruvius (who renamed himself after the ancient Roman architect who inspired Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man) is on the loose somewhere in America. Much as the original Vitruvius was an architect, Dr. Vitruvius considers himself an architect of human biology. The Luminary warns the Alternates firmly about the damage Dr. Vitruvius could do given the chance.
Further, she tells them that some of Baron Blade’s technology has been found in the possession of a successful but largely unknown company called Revocorp. The Luminary gives the team a specific location where she believes Revocorp is storing illegal weapons technology based strongly on Blade Battalion tech.
The Luminary offers any assistance she can give to the Alternates to defeat this imposter, so long as she can give that assistance from within Mordengrad.
The two parties say farewell, and on the way out, Dr. Comet compliments Luminary’s labcoat. “Thanks!” says Luminary. “It has extra pockets!”
The Alternates return to their hoverjet, talking about investigating this mysterious “Revocorp” corporation and its location outside Rook City.
The episode pans back over the charming bucolic village outside the Luminary’s fortress as Karl Zero’s “La Panse” plays, and the show’s credits run.
Final Thoughts
The “new” Mordengrad we see in this episode is pretty awesome, as is the fun twist of the identity of the mysterious Luminary. It’s funny to think of someone seeing all of Baron Blade’s memories, but rooting for the good guys as they do so!
This episode didn’t contain any references or scenes of the Vengeful Seven, which stands out to me. I’d gotten so used to seeing Hippocampus and his buddies bouncing around doing villainy, I kind of missed them this episode. But at least we got to see Baron Blade (on a screen)!
Other than that, there weren’t a lot of Easter eggs or hidden references in this episode.
But this episode should really get the wheels spinning for fan theories! Now we know that Baron Blade has not been seen in Mordengrad since his death, and that he’s had no influence there. For those that thought the mysterious “Luminary” might have been Ivan Ramonat himself (since it is the name he took during the Oblivaeon Event in comics, after all), it looks like that has been proven wrong! Or, even if you thought Baron Blade might have been hiding in Mordengrad since his “death,” that seems unlikely now.
In fact, all signs point to the fact that it really was Baron Blade who was disintegrated by Starshadow decades ago! It doesn’t seem likely it was a robot double, or an illusion, or a wound from which the Baron’s nanites could heal him. This lends more credence to the theories that this Baron is an imposter - someone posing as the Baron and using his identity to achieve some other goal.
Of course, if it’s just an imposter, why did they lure Starshadow to that space station and blow it up? Is it possible the imposter also wants revenge on Starshadow? Or does Starshadow fit into their plan in some other way?
Well, the show’s producers have promised us we’ll know all the answers by the end of Season 2! That means we’ll know everything(?) in the next six weeks!
Be sure to tune in next week for Episode #25, “Walking the Tight Rope”
Eddie Jaczerkowski is a staff writer who loves comic books and writes about television.
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Running the Game!
Firstly, I am kinda behind on Recaps, but not really. This game was two weeks ago, but last week we didn't have a game. We did go over some character stuff, including creating more robust publication histories for all the characters, discussing some new character hooks, and naming the last two Collections. So the Collections are:
- "For Want of a Nail" (Episode #1 - #6)
- "Finite State Machine" (Episodes #7 - #12)
- "Technical Difficulties" (Episode #13 - #18)
- "Unthinkable Tales" (Episode #19 - #24)
So we have a game this week, but I also am going to do a write-up of the publication histories as an "article" by Mr. Jaczerkowski and post it this week, so that'll catch us up.
We're up to four Collections in a 3-hour weekly game that isn't really going to have more than one action scene, in general, so I'm now encouraging my players to use their Collections to alter the story and scenes as much as possibly, and not just save them for die rolls (which is rarely as exciting). If none of my players are interested in "Alternative Rewards" for Collections, I might limit them to spending 2 Collections per game on dice so that they are more likely to spend Collections to alter scenes (which, I think, is way more fun). We continue to explore this "Collections and Advancement" thing as we go.,
Anyway, this game was not my best work, but it came out alright. I had a lot of exposition and basically zero action, and while I had planned out a lot of things, it still didn't feel like our best game. I think I should have turned over a lot more storytelling to the players, since it ended up with me just talking and talking and talking (which isn't unusual, but still). Or I should have broken it up with an action scene, and done the exposition more quickly. But hey, it's a lesson learned.
After that game, I felt like I should probably take an easy week, so that's why we just did meta-game stuff during last week's session.
Fun story about this week's session. I talked to my players previously about how there was going to be background on all of the Vengeful Seven, and then I realized (and asked), "Wait, does anyone care about Highwire's backstory?" There was not a resounding response, so I was going to just skip him. But I realize it just meant I had to come up with a more interesting story for Highwire, so that's what I've been working on. Was it worth the effort? That's for the audience to decide!
As always, thanks for reading!