GM Summaries
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Characters In Game
Maria (Agatha) -- You are Maria Antonia Fantasia Philomel, legendary partner of the Heterodyne Boys! With your firey red hair and freedom-loving ways, you help people in need everywhere.
Well, no. But you really like the name "Maria" -- it's so much more exotic than Mary, isn't it? "Mary Thurmstein" doesn't have any ring to it at all: it's the name of an ordinary girl with mousey hair and annoying bratty brothers and sisters. So for now, you're going by "Maria".
Mary Thurmstein was born in the nearby town of Feuerholt, where she has ordinary parents and three really annoying siblings, two kid brothers and one kid sister. She is seventeen years old, and is probably destined to marry some stupid baker's son or something like that. She's a really good storyteller, even if the kids don't appreciate the way that she enhances the stories to make them more interesting.
You are the protagonist of the short story [Fan Fiction]. Yes, this sounds like your character is horribly ordinary and minor. Trust me -- you aren't.
Plots:
Artie (
Artie) -- You are Artie, a superintelligent gerbil created by the Mad Scientist Helen Narbon. You are a basically nice creature, always trying to keep Helen and her associates from doing anything too evil.
Due to one of Helen's other experiments (subsequent to creating you), you are a sort of "were-human": whenever you hiccup, you shape-shift into the form of a handsome tall black human. You have gradually figured out that you are gay when in human form, with a fondness for slim bronzed Latin men.
Unfortunately, due to a typical Helen experiment, you are in the middle of a semi-accidental trans-dimensional adventure. You are traveling with an alternate-dimensional cognate of Helen from a sort of Victorian reality, and the two of you have landed in yet another reality, where Helen's cognate is apparently some woman you haven't met yet, named Agatha.
As the above implies, you are from a different comic strip, [Narbonic]. It's a fun story, and I recommend skimming through it before game, but the necessary background will be in your character sheet. A good overview of the people from Narbonic can be found on the [Cast Page], but they are not, by and large, going to be in this game.
Plots:
Agatha Heterodyne, aka The Baroness (
Baroness) -- You are
Baroness Agatha Heterodyne, Empress of all (well, most) of Europa. Your self-imposed role is to enforce the peace, so that no one else has to suffer the sorts of tragedies that you did, losing Father, Gil and everyone else you cared about to the monsters that inhabit your world.
Right now, you aren't quite sure where you are, though. This is clearly Europa, and yet nothing is quite right. There is a strange and refreshing freedom in the idea of not being responsible for everyone around you, but you see signs of chaos that must be put right.
In case it isn't obvious, you are not the Agatha from the comic strip Girl Genius. Rather, you are from an alternate history where Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach saved you at an early age from the forces that would have used you, and he raised you as his daughter and heir. Your life was a good one until a few years ago, when the forces of the Other caught up with your family, bringing about the death of both Father and the love of your life, Gil. You have taken up Klaus' mantle, and now rule more effectively than he ever did, commanding both the love and fear of your subjects in equal measure.
Plots:
Dr. Tarsus Beetle (
Beetle) -- You are
Dr. Tarsus Beetle, proper ruler of Beetleburg, one of Europa's greatest Clankmasters. You are rather on the run at the moment, as Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach (the talented but arrogant pup who rules most of Europa these days) is rather unhappy with you. You convinced him about four months ago that you had been killed in a bomb blast, so you are currently masquerading (thanks to a convenient shape-shifting device) as your sometime assistant Dr. Hugo Glassvitch.
Plots:
Dimo (
Dimo) -- You iz de Jaegerkin call't Dmitri, but everyvun knows you as Dimo. You're de von who is irresistable to de vimmen-folk, especially de strong vuns who iz vorth pursuink.
Plots:
Dingbot Prime (
Dingbot Prime) -- Mistress:Door(Open)
Blade:Whoosh-Slice!-Thwack!
Arm:Grab! You:Duck!+Grab!+Swing!+unscrew+Falling!+Caught!+Snuggle(Mistress-shoulder)
Heat-Blast:Zing! Mistress:Shift+Bang! Heat-Blast:Boom! Mistress:Door(Open+Creeeeeak!)
Mistress:Arm You:Runrunrunrun-machine+fiddle+twist-knob
Mirror:Hummmmmmmmmmmmmm
Mirror:Twizzizzizzizzizzit You:inside-out+dizzy+strange+oooooo+!!!
Mistress:Poof! Other-Mistress:Poof! Other-other-Mistress:Poof!
Hundred-eyes:Growrl! Mistress+Other+OtherOther:Aaaaaaa! You:Aaaaaa!
Okay, enough of that. Suffice it to say, you are Dingbot Prime, a six-inch-tall Clank constructed by Agatha Heterodyne, and you don't think quite like meat-based lifeforms do. The above is an example of how you perceived things two days ago.
Yes, there is a huge amount of information in the above. You are not allowed to talk with anyone else about it. You do not speak in conventional English, so be prepared for some interesting communication challenges during the game.
Note that you are six inches tall, so "costuming" is a pretty subjective idea. Previous runs have done things like hand puppets or marionettes. Feel free to do whatever works for you that seems like you can pull it off in-game.
Plots:
Bangladesh Dupree (
DuPree) -- You are
Bangladesh DuPree, Pirate Queen of the Indian Ocean. You are a devoted follower of the goddess Kali. This means that your deity likes seeing you kill things. You are happy to have a god who you see so eye-to-eye with.
For a number of years now, you have been Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach's chief assassin, among other things. This sometimes distracts you from more important matters, but does tend to be a lot of good, healthy, violent fun.
Plots:
Embi (
Embi) -- You are
Embi, a native of central Africa, accidentally semi-immortal due to a childhood vow. In your century-plus of wandering the world you have seen and done much, even winding up a (wildly misrepresented) figure of popular legend. Nowadays you are enjoying a bit of quiet semi-anonymity as a juggler with Master Payne's Circus -- ostensibly a fairly normal life, but nothing is ever simple when traveling through the woods of Europa.
You are a pygmy. In practical terms, this means that most of the people of Europa are strangely tall, but such is the way with outlanders.
Embi appears in Girl Genius volume 4.
Plots:
Dr. Helen Narbon, Gentlewoman Adventurer (
Helen) -- You are
Helen Narbon, Gentlewoman Adventurer, a proper Evil Lady Mad Scientist of Her Majesty Victoria's court. You have traveled extensively through the world and indeed, even the heavens in search of interesting experiments. But your current wanderings are among the strangest to date -- you have found yourself (in the company of a lively and most intelligent gerbil named Artie) in a parallel reality. It is
quite exciting, especially given all of the opportunities you have found for improving the world through Mad Science.
Helen is not from Girl Genius; instead, she is the protagonist of the comic strip [Narbonic], the other story about a cute blonde mad scientist with a little creation who rides around on her shoulder and a psychotic mother who likes to conquer things. She happens to be a dead ringer for Agatha -- this will be highly relevant, so don't tell people who you are playing. You are specifically playing the Victorian version of Helen, as seen in the Narbonic Sunday Strips, starting [here].
Plots:
Jenka (
Jenka) -- You are
Jenka, She Who Valks Alone. And perhaps t'is is your time, to see if the new Heterodyne is vorthy, ent mebbe effen to find a vay Home.
Note that the history and background of the Jaegers in-game is rather different from the way it's fallen out in the comic over the past year or two, so don't be surprised at the details.
Plots:
Krosp, Emperor of All Cats (
Krosp) -- You are
Krosp I, Emperor of All Cats. Sometimes it frustrates you to have a natural title that is so utterly useless. But no matter: you have been gradually developing a retinue, particularly in the form of the girl Agatha Heterodyne, and indirectly through her an increasingly-motley court.
You are, of course, a normal-sized cat. Use your own judgement in how you approach the costuming, but you are quite fond of proper military coats.
Plots:
Countess Marie (
Marie) --
Plots:
Maxim (
Maxim) --
Plots:
Moloch von Zinzer (
Moloch) --
Plots:
Ognian "Oggie" (
Oggie) --
Plots:
Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer (
Othar) --
Plots:
Master (Marcus) Payne (
Payne) --
Plots:
Sarah, aka The Perfect Construct (
Sarah) --
Plots:
Dr. Silas Merlot (
Silas) --
Plots:
Sleipneir O'Hara (
Sleipnir) --
Plots:
Theopholous Dumedd (
Theo) --
Plots:
Von Pinn (
Von Pinn) -- A Construct built by Lucrezia Mongfish (Agatha's mother), who she hates to the core of her being. A hybrid of Jaeger, Geisterdamen and Human. Impossibly strong and fast, with a vicious temper kept in check only by a fierce sense of self-control. Has been the governess for all of the nobles kept in the Castle, raising many of them from childhood, and loves them dearly, but regards fear as an essential part of proper discipline.
Plots:
Ardsley Wooster (
Wooster) --
Plots:
Zami Yahya Ahmad ibn Suliman al-Sinhaji, aka "Z" (
Z) --
Plots:
Zeetha (
Zeetha) --
Plots:
Her Highness, Zulenna Luzhakna, Princess of Holfung-Borzoi (
Zulenna) --
Plots:
Background Characters
The Great Spark Amagog (Amagog) --
Barry Heterodyne (Barry) --
Dr. Mongfish (Dr. Mongfish) --
Lucrezia Mongfish (Lucrezia) --
The Other (Other) --
Plots
- Agatha Transformed (Agatha Transformed) -- Due to the Mirror of Amagog, Agatha starts the game transformed into the unassuming Maria. Dingbot Prime, Maxim and Krosp have hints that something is odd, and she gets envelopes that will gradually give the game away.
- The Brain Transfer (Brain Transfer) -- A fun but silly side-plot: Helen has been convinced that the Wulfenbachs are evil. So she is going to deal with them in her usual fashion: by swapping their brains around. Totally failed to materialize in the first run, so may need some beefing up or scrapping.
- The Brigadoon Effect (Brigadoon Effect) -- Bang's main plot, an elaborate story about how her ancestral homelands are being skipped forwards in time, ten years at a shot, and she needs to stop it. Almost completely failed in the first run, though, so is likely to be replaced by the yet-to-be-written [Mongfish Legacy]? plot. See the Next Time and GM Notes for this sheet for more details.
- Children of Skifander (Children Of Skifander) -- Gil and Zeetha are tied together by their shared heritage of Skifander. Nobody quite knows the whole story, but everyone has bits and pieces.
- The Circus Arrested (Circus Arrested) -- A bunch of members of the Circus got arrested a few weeks ago, and are essentially being held for ransom. The remaining members need to pull together and figure out a way to get a lot of money ASAP, because the herald is arriving this evening (near end of game) to collect, and things will get unpleasant for the captives if he isn't paid off.
- The Construct Rights Movement (Construct Rights) -- Artie is new to this world, and has observed that Differently Created People are often mistreated. He is trying to foster greater awareness of them as people, with rights just like anybody else. This confuses the heck out of most folks.
- Dingbot Studies (Dingbot Studies) -- Beetle and Silas are attempting to capture and study Dingbot Prime, the only known Clank capable to creatively building new and different Clanks.
- Family History (Family History) -- Payne has old history with the Heterodynes, and personal history with Beetle, which complicates his interactions with them.
- Crisis of Infinite Agathas (Infinite Agathas) -- The biggest uber-plot. Due to an interdimensional accident, we have four different versions of Agatha. The Baroness is a what-if version of her, and Helen is from a more conventional Victorian world. Sarah is a shapeshifter periodically masquerading as her. And the real Agatha has been merged with Maria, a pleasant but unassuming girl. The Mirror of Amagog -- the dimensional portal -- is the main macguffin of the game.
- Lab Rats (Lab Rats) -- Bang has standing orders to capture any interesting Constructs so that Klaus can study them -- and few Constructs are as interesting as Krosp and Artie. And Silas generally wants to study Artie, who seems to be strangely other-worldly.
- Amagog's Legacy (Legacy) -- Sarah is Amagog's greatest achievement, the Perfect Construct, but she is also a tool, his mechanism for seeing his works wind up in the right hands. She has the power to program the Mirror, locking it to the person who most deserves to have that power. It could go to Moloch, as Amagog's descendant; Silas, as his greatest student (or Beetle, who is also an expert); or possibly one of the Sparks -- the decision is up to her. But it must be decided tonight.
- Many Jaegers (Many Jaegers) -- The Jaegers aren't native to this world -- they came into it from their homeworld by accident, many years ago. But they are dependent on a force that is common in their world, which they call simply "Life", and which they store under their hats. Over the centuries, they are running out of it. The Heterodynes altered themselves to provide the Jaegers with some of their own "Life" (which is essentially the same thing as the Spark), but they are now gone. So the Jaegers need to either find a new source of Life here, or find a way to get back home and get more.
- People of the Mirror-World (Mirror-World) -- Basically most of the main plots, filtered by the way things played out in the Baroness' world. This plot sheet is mostly redundant with her character sheet, but a bit more concise.
- The Prophecy (Prophecy) -- The Great Spark Amagog wrote a prophecy 200 years ago, based on what he had gleaned from his travels through dimensions and time. Moloch is forced to deliver this prophecy at game start, and it gives hints about how a number of plots could resolve a year from now. Sarah and many others are motivated to figure out what it's talking about, and either cause or prevent parts of it.
- Plague of Dingbots (Replicators) -- The Winslow got accidentally transported here by the Mirror a couple of days ago. It wants to go home. It has nudged Dingbot Prime to construct essentially a Replicator Dingbot; these Replicators are turning into a little army. The army is actually pretty benign -- all it will do is take over the Mirror to send the Winslow home -- but the players won't know that.
- Runaway Students (Runaways) -- Theo ran away from the Castle during Agatha's escape. Several other students would like to join him, but Von Pinn is watching everyone closely.
- The British Spies (Spies) -- Wooster is, of course, a spy for England. He has been conducting little bits of minor sabotage along the way, and is trying to make an ally of Sleipnir.
- Theft of the Clockwork Crystal (Stolen Crystal) -- Embi currently has possession of the Clockwork Crystal, which several folks stole last week. They have no idea that they have the most important MacGuffin in the game.
- The Succession of Holfung-Borzoi (Succession) -- Zulenna was the heir to the Duchy of Holfung-Borzoi, but now that she has been Revived, she is considered ineligible. She has been sent to track down her long-runaway cousin, the only other legitimate heir, Marie -- who is also ineligible, being a Spark. The two of them have to decide who will actually inherit, working through some political disagreements. Gil probably gets the final say, if they can't work it out.
- The Suspected Revenant (Suspected Revenant) -- There has been minor sabotage and theft going on on the Castle in recent months, and some of the stolen parts were used to construct a new Hive Engine. Klaus (and thus, Gil and Von Pinn) suspects that there may be Revenants on board. In fact, this plot is a red herring: the problems have mostly been due to Wooster in his much more mundane capacity as spy.
- Wulfenbach Interests (Wulfenbach Interests) -- Gil has been sent by Klaus to see what the heck is going on, and make sure that there is no threat to the Empire here. He has a few trusted retainers with him.