News: Sparkles the Unicorn is now available to purchase as a Base Raiders PDF supplement! Get it on DrivethruRPG or through the Base Raiders store.
An incredibly powerful artifact known as the Horn of the Wild Hunt has been loosed upon the world and only Sparkles knows how dangerous it is. The demented unicorn enlists the aid of three base raiding heroes to help him get the horn before it causes too much damage. They must first smuggle a unicorn from New York to Colorado though, which entails a road trip. After that, the heroes find out the bearer of the horn has already made a powerful enemy, who has hired superpowered mercenaries. On top of that, a rival team of base raider that model themselves after Avalon and the Ideal threatens to interfere. Who will get the horn? Does Sparkles have an ulterior motive? Find out in our latest one shot, guest starring Faust from Thrilling Intent!
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Faust! I thought he did a great job with his character. she reminded me of Feyun whose name I can’t spell from Know Evil a bit. I love it when guys play way-too-cool slightly detached women, for whatever reason. I had actually totally failed to notice Miss Pygmalion during my first (…few) listens to Heroes of New Arcadia, but I registered her this time when listening just the other day. it took me a few to register it was the same character and I got one of those recognition jolts of joy. “the two qualities a government needs in a leader, transparency and opacity.”
I almost had a real emotion for poor Sparkles when he had his moment of pain toward the end there, and I totally agree with him that it’s absurd the way PCs are always all “all power for me, no power for anyone else.”
Great session. Great plays by everybody. Faust took to Base Raiders like a duck to water. I love Aaron’s power armor spy dude. And I think Foot High Science Guy is my favorite base raider of all time, and probably my favorite Tom character too.
This scenario really sells Sparkles, in all of his comedy, scariness, unpredictability, and pathos. Like crawlkill, I loved that moment toward the end where we felt his hidden pain. And the way he called the base raiders out on their double standards was also spot-on.
I could probably rant for an hour about how the wizards in the Harry Potter universe are basically monstrous bastards who care nothing for the plight of muggles in about five different ways, “why do you think you deserve to keep all the magic for yourself” characters generally resonate with me
I would like to point out that Foot High Science Guy did not advocate to take her powers away. He only advocated learning to use them properly.
I loved Co’op…
I find it interesting how infrequently people seem to change powers… considering that it is endemic in the setting.
Power changing is more of a campaign issue than for one shots with pregen characters. I’ll explore that more in future games though.
Super funny episode. Co-Op and Speedrunner were great but I think Sparkles takes the cake for best weirdo.
I, like Faust, laughed so hard at the idea of “West Direction”. Though it was a improved think I swear I will find a way to work that into a future Base Raider game I make.
Love the episode and can’t wait for more.
Fun game, lots of moments that had me smiling or laughing. The planning for the big fight segment was a little messy, but that’s kind of how that tends to go unless it’s Caleb behind the plan.
Faust’s first impression in Cascadia was spot on, he’s a fun guy at the table and handles new systems pretty well, and I’m looking forward to more guest appearances. Found the bit at the end about the preference for Fate over d20 after just one game hilarious, as I very much share the sentiment.
Also, Ross, can we hear some more about the Aimbot and Savescum people? The vidya powers were pretty cool and inventive and we barely got to see the former and the latter didn’t appear at all, so I’m pretty curious.
Don’t worry, the video game super powers will be covered in a future PDF supplement and other actual play episodes.
not only did I love the video game powers–I didn’t see Co-Op coming from the evidence before it was explained, but as soon as Speed Run was mentioned I knew she was gonna be freaky as shit, and I think that’s the perfect exposition arc–but I loved how Ross played them. we finally got unhinged people who didn’t talk just like Balgron!
also, jesus christ, I didn’t even register a mention of Save Scum, that must be the worst of all
Fun episode. It’s not the same though without Doctor White. Him, Jack and AfterImage together are just precious.
Insane, amoral mercenaries hired by a drug dealer? These will make great allies!
Amateur do-gooders who are basically no different from some of the PCs and people they’ve worked with before? Monsters dabbling in things thy cannot be trusted with! They must be destroyed!
Great game. I’m kind of curious why Caleb doesn’t like Sparkles, though. I thought his animosity was mostly in-character, or a schtick. I know Professor White has a few reasons to hate him, as would anyone actually sharing a reality with Sparkles. He wouldn’t be fun to be around for any normal person, and he’s a constant danger to himself and the world. But as a character, he’s great. I’d think Caleb would like someone who just passes out superpowers to random people without caring about the consequences and in the process forces Base Raiders to confront and refine their own beliefs about power availability, while also carrying in the good old immortal hero problem of sacrificing himself for the good of others time after time yet living so long that it seems like it’s futile because everyone else dies anyway. He actually reminds me a little of Amri.
Sparkles gored Professor White, and ruined his suit, and left a curse in him too back in, I think it was Boiling Point.
I will admit I got tired of all the handwringing over novice base raiders being in the area and spending so much time trying to get them out of the way, or the family next door.
Was any of this game based on the Laird Barron story “Frontier Death Song”? I only mention it because of the huntsman.
I kept thinking of the Dresden Files myself
@Thorn @zero The Erlking or Erlkönig is a folklore figure that’s been around for a thousand plus years. The archetype itself and parallels or cross contaminated versions were all over western Europe. Around the 18th century German poets and writers started bringing it back, including Goethe with his excellent poem Der Erlkönig, which I can warmly recommend.
Avalon’s Ideal is now available for sale: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/159055/New-Teams-Avalons-Ideal
“fanboys & antlers” Brilliant. I like to think of the Heroes of New Arcadia campaign as the dramatic live-action film series & the Base Raiders games as the spin-off adult swim cartoons. Love it all, sincerely hope there’s more to come.
I love thrilling intent and I love base raiders yaaa
A scene from this Actual Play is illustrated here on the RPPR Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/3730924