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School’s out for kids at Casimir Polaski Junior High in the city of San Frandiago, CA!  As the kids are leaving school and getting ready for summer, they receive some bizarre messages scrawled on the walls of their school.  While discussing various summer plans at the local Dairy Queen (apparently unfazed by the bizarre graffiti) the kids contacted by Jack Blackguard, a mysterious young boy who has some urgent news to relay to them.  After a meeting at the museum and a few quick fights, the kids find out they are now on a journey to save the world from an evil cult.

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So, Sunday has rolled around again in the halfway home.  The kids are awakened again for more boring Sunday service, though following their experiences in the last week, they are eager to see who’s going to give the lesson.  Much to their surprise, they hear a familiar guitar being tuned up downstairs.  Elder Dane is, in fact, back.

After the very unusual service, George hits Elder Dane with a bunch of questions, and Elder Dane offers to answer them at the Terje Haakonsen Skate Park later in the day.  If only the kids weren’t still grounded. . .

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Picture in your mind a far off time ago:  Before the AP Site,  the Podcast, and even back before this group existed.  Way, way back in December of 2010, Sean and I were playing Minecraft together, and he told me that he was interested in playing Monsters and Other Childish things.  At the time, I was running the Road Trip campaign for my friends nearby, and I had written a few side scenarios that I wanted to test out.  I told Sean about these, and he sounded interested.  He contacted his friend Nate and got him somewhat interested.

At the same time, I met Alex through another Minecraft server and asked him if he’d like to play along in some short games with Sean and his (at the time) unknown friend.  Over the coming week, I would talk to each person about the characters they’d want to make, and by the end, we had Max Chang (the asian mathelete extraordinare), Daniel Kerington (the hero with as much courage as he has not-brains), and Charlie Bale (the lovable douchebag).  In the discussion portion of the first game, we also talked up BattlePet Network, a stupid little TV show about training monsters and saving the world through card games.

As for the full setting, we’re playing Ross Payton’s Road Trip, which is basically a Summer Road Trip to save the world from an evil cult.  This setting is wildly different from the standard Monsters and Other Childish Things setting in a lot of ways:

  • It’s set during the summer, so no one has to go to school
  • It’s a series of adventures all around the country
  • Less imperative is placed on the “being a kid” aspect, and more on over-the-top goofy action and fun
  • It is very story-driven

One of the reasons that I loved Road Trip when I was starting out with Monsters is that it’s a fully-written campaign.  If you don’t know what your player-base is, Monsters is kind of a bear to write for.  Road Trip simplifies things a lot by basically being a D&D campaign set in the Monsters Universe.  It’s a series of small adventures all around the country which add up to stopping a big bad evil guy.  And it’s a whole lot of fun.

Why is this session called “Session 0”?  Because this entire adventure is non-canon.  As I said, I wanted to playtest some scenarios for my other group, so this was going to be a set of disconnected one-off games.  Shortly after we played this game, though, everyone agreed we should play the whole campaign.  This session is remembered and occasionally referenced elsewhere in the campaign, and it’s the first game that we (The Drunk and the Ugly) ever played together.

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Emma's Shadow

It’s late July at the halfway house, which is about the same as any time in the summer, except for the forgotten fact that Emma Vaerbond will soon be thirteen.  Mrs. Frieda’s not really one for ceremony, and Emma’s never been exactly vocal about the special day, especially since her “special friend” always likes to celebrate the occasion in his own way.  This year is no different.

Odyn, owed a promise of “playtime” with Emma, has made it happen. He’s whispering in a few ears, setting up a few birthday surprises, and doing his best to make sure Emma never forgets this day.

Emma’s friends?  Well, they just happen to be excellent pawns.

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familyhomevening

So, the kids screwed up yesterday.  They went to go see a movie that Mrs. Frieda specifically forbid and were spotted by. . . someone.  When they had to hoof it, though, George decided the best way to escape was to call his giant firebird and fly back to the house.  In any case, Frieda knew that they went to that movie, and found a suitable punishment:  Helping out at the local LDS Church.

During the previous night, the kids were serenaded by their local pastor and missionary Elder Dane.  The kids see the opportunity to go clean the church as a way to find out more about this very strange man.  Meanwhile, everyone else proceeds to clean or set up the church in their own ways (sometimes ways that they’ve invented).

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