Smurfs, Actually

I am sorry to interrupt my regularly scheduled Earth-N entry but I had to make this special report... I ran my first actual session for my Smurfs RPG this past Saturday.

This was the first installment of a new campaign. Yes! It went over so well, we are actually going to do a campaign based on the Smurfs! Muhuhwahahaha!

Our first session took place at the Compleat Strategist in New York City, on Saturday, Sept 17th. It involved four PCs and myself as Smurf Master and ran from (roughly) 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm. (not including character creation time for the first two players to arrive).

The current PCs are...

Donnell - Expert Smurf, whose Trait is Smurfiness.

Donnell is my most 'serious' player normally. I would have almost bet money he wasn't going to show for anything as gonzo and silly as a Smurfs RPG. When he walked in the Strat I was stunned and pleasantly so. I was even more impressed by his character. Expert Smurf is an Expert on Smurfs, smurfy things, and all things smurfy. He is completely and utterly clueless about anything that isn't Smurf related. His player used the word 'smurf' in in his dialog about twice to three times as much as anyone else.

Mathew - Insano Smurf, whose Trait is Mad Science.*

Not actually one of the 99 Smurfs in the village, Insano was created by Gargamel completely by accident. Somewhere in the woods behind Gargamel's cottage there is a pit where he throws his garbage, potion residue, and failed spell materials. One day, after a botched experiment with 'blue clay', he threw out his latest failure only to have the clay mix with the alchemical mess in the pit and by chance the concoction was get struck by lightning. BOOM! Insano Smurf, Smurf Mad Scientist.

Pete - Detective Smurf,,whose Trait is Curious.

Decked out in full Sherlock Holmes gear, Detective Smurf is the most curious Smurf in the village. He is not however the smartest. Not dumb at all, he still doesn't necessarily have the cleverness of Brainy or the knowledge of Papa, Expert, or even Insano and sometimes gathers clues but can't quite put them together into a total picture. He's working on it however. His Detective Outfit gives him a Deduction Knack even if he doesn't normally have one without it.

Lee - Snarky Smurf,,whose Trait is Sarcasm.

Snarky is interesting. While he is definitely Sarcastic and Snarky, much of what he does is not stop talking for long periods. He usually hits allies and opponents alike with a constant barrage of double talk, off handed snipes, and baffling and confounding both people and Smurfs alike. He is very much a deal making, con man type personality in addition to being Snarky. It's extremely useful but sometimes his personal plans and ideas don't line up with what the rest of the group is doing. And sometimes they do but you don't realize it right away.

Joining the PCs and guiding them through the forest (poorly for the most part) was my NPC Spacey Smurf who was so much fun. When his helmet open he spoke a bit like a surfer dude or hippie who was, well, Spacey. With the helmet closed he took on an confident 'astronaut voice' complete with electronic static sound (I imitated it and partially covered my mouth). Spacey also walked really slow like he was on the moon, until Insano explained that on Earth and other planets like Earth you would have 'Earth Standard' gravity and therefore Spacey should move normally.

Tonight I will do a session recap...and hopefully get to blogging more regularly again. Plus, I still have that spot open for my Earth-N campaign. The game runs Friday Nights though so it's kind of tough it seems. Working out the details. More notes are forthcoming. Huzzah!

AD

Barking Alien

*The image of Insano Smurf is apparently a modified image of actor Neil Patrick Harris' twitter avatar since he is Dr. Horrible and in the Smurfs movie. Tee hee.