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! There's a lot of them, but they're all in this forum!
The Premise of Our 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 possesses mighty cosmic powers that he is reluctant to wield.
- Bouncer: An invulnerable action movie star, Bouncer is also super-strong and capable of mighty leaps (hence the name "Bouncer"). Affected by traumatic stress during the Oblivaeon Crisis, Bouncer spends less time "in the field" but remains an auxilliary member of the team.
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!
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 #32 - “Dessert Possum”
As Season 3 begins, we see a big change come along for one of our heroes. What will this mean for the future of the Alternates? We’ll have to wait and see. Let’s jump right into Episode #32!
Episode Recap
In the cold open for episode #32, the show takes us once again to Nottingham, England in 1879. Fog rolls in over a ramshackle stone cottage as night falls. Suddenly, we see black robed figures running, screaming, from out of the front door of the cottage.
After the robed figures have evacuated, a green light pours out of the cottage. A cackling skeleton, its head wreathed in green flame, follows behind them.
Madame Collywobbles runs into a wooded hill, and the cackling trails off behind her. She stumbles over a root and falls to the ground.
A figure in a long, black cloak stands before her as she looks up. The figure remains unseen, but we can see there’s a very modern wristwatch on their wrist.
A masculine voice from the shadowy figure says to Madame Collywobbles, “Come with me if you want to live.”
She looks up at the unseen figure, bewildered.
-----
The episode opens in the dark swamp where the Alternates arrived from the extradimensional portal at the end of the last episode. The old man who introduced himself as Lucas Clay shouts at the team, “I was tryin’ ta get a lil help from mah stick, but I sure didn’t expect it ta pull all ya down here!”
“Guys!” Quasar Kid says. “My translator is broken! What language is he speaking?”
“What you talkin bout, friend?” Clay responds.
Cytoblast, whose skin has faded from green to pale pink, asks Clay who he is and how he knows him. Lucas “Pappy” Clay explains that the staff that Cytoblast holds - which Pappy Clay calls the “Fiddlestick” has a deep connection to the Fiddler’s Green - the extra-dimensional realm that Cytoblast calls “The Green Path.”
Pappy Clay goes on to say that he had originally traded the staff to Cytoblast’s uncle, Louis Hemlocke, in exchange for a promise that Louis would leave it to his nephew. Pappy claims that Douglas Hemlocke (aka Cytoblast) was destined to be the staff’s protector, but Pappy Clay is also upset, because he says Cytoblast did something wrong with the staff.
During this exposition sequence, Pappy Clay also recognizes Jersey Devil (an impossible feat in and of itself), and refers to him as “The young Mr. Leeds.” Additionally, as mosquitoes buzz around Quasar Kid, he uses his powers to generate a “bug zapper” field to fry them.
Pappy Clay invites the Alternates to sit and eat - he’s made a big stew in expectation of their arrival. (He explains that he reached out to the Fiddlestick to guide Cytoblast to his swamp home, but he hardly expected it to suck them through portals and dump them here.)
They sit down to eat, and Jersey Devil asks, “What’s for dinner?”
“Possum stew,” Pappy Clay replies.
The Alternates don’t seem too enthused, except for Jersey Devil, who ladles out a heaping portion into a bowl.
Settling down onto logs and makeshift chairs, the Alternates begin to pass around the stew and get as comfortable as possible.
Clay begins to explain the reason for summoning the team when Jersey Devil interrupts.
“Ugh. It’s got raisins and almonds in it!” he exclaims. “Who makes dessert possum?”
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Back in Ibiza, Bouncer is lost, wandering the streets late at night. He hears a noise from a nearby alley, and walks over to investigate. At first, it looks like someone in the alley is being attacked, but as the figures all turn around to face Bouncer, we can see that it’s an ambush!
More people in purple robes come out from hiding places and start attacking Bouncer!
Of course, being super-strong and invulnerable to pretty much everything, the fight is one-sided. Bouncer is taking it easy on them, since these cultists are just normal humans, and he tells them as much. He tosses two into a dumpster, knocks the wind out of a few others with powerful blows to the midsection, and pulls one cultist’s robes up over her head and spins her around with great force.
However, one cultist finally faces Bouncer and blows a strange glittering green dust into his face. The hero blinks a few times and shakes his head in confusion.
“What the…?” Bouncer says.
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Back in the swamp, Pappy Clay is explaining that the Fiddlestick has been used for centuries to seal away mystical beings and dangerous artifacts. In fact, there’s an ancient evil sealed away in the very swamp they’re standing in, and the seals are beginning to deteriorate, which has Pappy Clay very concerned.
He asks again what Cytoblast did to the staff, and, taking a deep breath, Douglas Hemlocke explains what might have caused the problem.
As it turns out, when the Alternates were visiting Nightmist in the sanitarium in Rook City, Cytoblast - feeling extraordinary empathy for Faye Diamond and her unfortunate separation from magic - decided to gift her with a splinter of his magical staff. He did so by sticking her with a splinter of it when hugging her. (In a short flashback, we’re reminded that she said, “Ouch!” when he hugged her in that scene.)
Pappy Clay sighs with resignation and tells the team that Nightmist could very well be drawing power from the staff, and destabilizing all its magics, including breaking down the seals it’s been used to create.
An otherworldly roar comes from the deep darkness of the swamp. Pappy Clay explains that the ancient mystical horror that’s sealed in the swamp is trying to push through into the world, revealing the name of ancient horror from beyond the stars - G’lh’lh’ort.
Pappy Clay and the Alternates walk toward where G’lh’lh’ort is imprisoned, and as they approach, they see a vision of the monster - a writing mass of slithering appendages and toothy maws, black and oily in texture, without a semblance of a constant shape.
Cytoblast seems entranced by the vision of the horrible monster, and Kid Radical has to shake him from a hypnotic state.
“I hated that,” says Kid Radical. “I would like to do anything I can to help keep that thing in there, and not let it get out here. I really, really hated that.”
Just as Kid Radical offers to help in any way, the writing tentacles of G’lh’lh’ort erupt from a tear in reality and attack everyone nearby!
As comic book fans might expect, Pappy Clay shouts out the immediate solution - beat G’lh’lh’ort back into his prison, and hope that he stays there until a long-term solution can be found!
An odd fight scene follows, and the biggest highlight is that we see a brand new set of powers from Cytoblast. Cytoblast - now without the staff - wades into the fight in his soft, pink-skinned human form, and he is savagely beaten by the writing mass of G’lh’lh’ort.
“You should probably turn into that plant monster thing!” Jersey Devil tells him.
“You should probably go back to Mars!” Cytoblast responds in a flash of anger. “Sorry, sorry about that,” Cytoblast adds a moment later.
Then, Cytoblast summons up his green magic. His body goes limp as vines erupt from his human form, and the thorny vines begin attacking the mass of writing, oily limbs of the elder horror.
At one point, Quasar Kid rants that he never took any of the “Magical Theory” electives at the Freedom Legion.
“Who taught that course?” asks Kid Radical.
“Swamp Brat,” replies Quasar Kid.
The fight is going poorly for the Alternates - even though Kid Radical does throw Quasar Kid at the monster at one point - until a new ally arrives. A gigantic plant monster, looking very similar to the one that Cytoblast used to turn into, enters the fray and begins beating back the form of G’lh’lh’ort.
As the monster retreats, the strange plant monster recites an incantation that closes the rift and temporarily imprisons the ancient horror of G’lh’lh’ort.
With the fight over, the plant monster shrinks down into the form of a woman - a woman who looks like a wooden-skinned version of Faye Diamond!
-----
In Ibiza, Bouncer emerges from a dark alley, dragging the body of a cultist behind him.
“It’s a shame your magic powder didn’t work, buddy,” he says to the unconscious man. “What can I say? It just bounced right off me! Get it?”
The unconscious man does not respond.
“Right, right. I gotta make the quips while you’re still with it. Oh well.”
-----
In the swampy woodland, the wooden-skinned woman tells the Alternates, “It’s me, Nightmist.” She looks down at her hands, which are dotted with moss and small leaves, and continues, “Well, I supposed now you should call me Nightshade.” She chuckles a bit at this.
“You’re back to your old self?” Cytoblast asks her. The vines he grew from his body shrink back into his form.
“Well, not quite,” she says, indicating her woody texture. “It’s taking some getting used to, but my mind has returned to me. Thanks to you, Douglas.”
Cytoblast nods with a smile, then collapses from exhaustion. As he lays on the ground, the green returns to his complexion, and he starts to look healthier than before.
“Oh no. He’s the doctor,” Jersey Devil says. “Is anyone else here a doctor?”
“Yes, but not that kind of doctor,” says Dr. Comet.
“Well, I best get the wheelbarrow then,” says Pappy Clay.
The credits roll over “Amos Moses” by Jerry Reed.
Final Thoughts
One of the fun things about the Alternates is all of the “alternate” takes on mainstream Sentinels characters - for instance, Nightshade, the plant-based version of Nightshade! By “cross-pollinating” Cytoblast and Faye Diamond, the writers create a new look for an old standard.
But with Nightshade apparently having absorbed Cytoblast’s main powers, and with Cytoblast exhibiting a definite change in his own magical abilities, we really are left to wonder what lies in Cytoblast’s future!
It also looks like Bouncer is getting his own B-plot this season, involving the Cult of Gloom, so we’ll have to see where that goes!
That’s all for this week! Be sure to come back next week for Episode #33, “Snakes and Adders”!
Eddie Jaczerkowski is a staff writer who loves comic books and writes about television.
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Running the Game!
I continue to be way behind on these Game Recaps, oops! But life is very interesting in this our year 2020.
This episode had everything - swamps, cultists, a Cthulhu monster, wooden Nightmist, and magical mysteries!
The only really thing of note here is that Cytoblast has been "remade" from the ground-up, so this story goes along nicely with his rewrite! The Sentinels RPG built-in system for "re-rolls" makes for an easy way for players to explore new options, especially since "character advancement" is kind of limited at present. Of course, this fits the comic book genre extremely well, with reboots and power changes happening all the time.
Also, FUN NEWS - we're going to have a guest GM for two games after Episode #36 this Season! Plus, there's a Special Holiday One-Shot one the way next month!
Thanks for reading!