episode 043 | friendly neighbourhood super hero 01

golden pastures was farmland. iris formed around a research telescope. bell city has that legacy of siblingly affection. every place has a history… & every place needs a hero

this transcript was generously provided by ilias with minor formatting changes from me

INTRO

SATAH: Important note up top for Spotify listeners. I am going to be removing this show from Spotify distribution sometime around the end of August. I’ve hated Spotify and its financial decisions for very long time, but the recent reveal of its CEO involvements in groups funding drone warfare has made my decision for me to remove everything that I’ve made from the platform. If you are one of the thirteen-ish percent of people evidently listening to the show through Spotify, go get yourself set up with another podcatcher and subscribe to the show there instead to keep up with it. I also recommend seriously considering whether giving a company that doesn’t give the billions of dollars generated by the labour of creatives to those creatives but to people like Joe Rogan and Donald Trump and techno-fascist war profiteers your money either directly or through ad revenue aligns with your values, and if it doesn’t maybe adjust your behavior accordingly. Thanks!

Welcome to Folio, an actual play podcast about solo and epistolary TTRPGs. I’m your host, Satah, and I’m showcasing multiple possible experiences of self-paced games by inviting guests to play them alongside me so I can compile our stories together. You can support the show financially at patreon.com/foliopod or with a one-off donation at ko-fi.com/foliopod.

This is episode one of our games of Friendly Neighbourhood Superhero, a solo RPG about protecting, befriending, and improving a community by Catscratcher Studio. The other two amiable community champions joining me today are Gwen Frankenstein and Jeff Stormer. I’ll tell you a little bit more about them at the break.

In Friendly Neighbourhood Superhero you are just that. Every day, you face two big challenges: one of your neighbors needs a hand with something and of course a villain is committing a major crime. To overcome these big challenges you build up a dice pool by succeeding on a series of smaller challenges. The big picture of the problems you’re solving are built from the game’s absolutely awesome rollable tables, but each small challenge you face is entirely up to you.

This definitely requires more of what I call a self-GM-ing mindset where you are fully in charge of setting up complications for your character and reacting to them. Along those lines, I also want to note that this is a game where it really pays to be mindful during character creation. Not because there are a bunch of crunchy stats that can make or break your build, but because when you’re playing it you are going to have to figure out a hundred different ways that your particular superpowers can help you do things. It feels obvious to say “build a character you want to play,” but in cases like this I really really think that that is worth emphasizing. This system benefits massively from its flexibility and how open it is, but it also very much leaves you with enough room to get in your own way if you aren’t pretty intentional with what you plan to do with it.

It is great. It’s a great system, and it’s tough. To be perfectly candid, I’m a little bit nervous about this series. I don’t believe that any games are strictly better or worse for actual play and I generally think that anyone who does believe that is being too strict with what actual play can be. Regardless, it is obviously true that many factors influence how a game feels to play, and one of them that tends to be a factor in actual play is time limits. My ideal series of Folio is three episodes that are all an hour long. There is flexibility there: episodes range from forty-five to seventy-five minutes and I’ll allow a series to be anywhere from one to five episodes, but three hour-long episodes is in the middle of the dartboard. Naturally this means something about the desired lengths of each individual person’s play through.

In Friendly Neighbourhood Superhero, failing more consequential roles slams a very purposeful brick wall in the momentum of the game. Face-planting into that wall while under a time limit is pretty brutal. I want to emphasize that I genuinely deeply enjoyed my time with this game and I would absolutely play it again under different conditions, but I just felt the need to say you are going to hear more moments of frustration than I would consider standard for this show, not only from me but from both of my guests. Despite being pretty narrative-forward this is one of the most mechanically intensive games that have been on the show so far. I’m of several minds of this when it comes to whether that is good for the show, but frankly I’ve talked too long here.

And when it comes down to it, ultimately my goal is to showcase different experiences of the same game and I think that this does that fully and honestly, so here we are. Because ultimately we do still have a good time. We tell cool, big, silly, dramatic, hyper-color superhero stories. I’m excited for you to meet our heroes, see a few days in their lives. I’m just so neurotic. I’m so neurotic and I love TTRPGs so much, and sometimes making this show makes me crazy because I’m invested. That’s about it! Let’s get into some origin stories!

GAME

CHARACTER CREATION

GWEN: All right.

SATAH: Okay.

GWEN: Hello.

JEFF: Alright, so we’re playing Friendly Neighbourhood Superhero

GWEN: I’m here to play Friendly Neighbourhood Superhero

SATAH: “Friendly Neighbourhood Superhero is a solo tabletop rpg about heroes who love their communities doing their part to make things better to make people happier. Players will portray a small time well meaning super hero who tries their best to protect their neighbourhood, caring for its people and their problems.”

JEFF: I’m gonna start with character creation.

SATAH: “Your hero. There’s something special about you maybe it’s in your bloodline maybe you found an ancient relic that give you power maybe you just trained very hard until you are strong enough to strike fear into the hearts of the superstitious cowardly lot called criminals. Maybe you just have a very kind heart and would do anything to help those you love.”

GWEN: Now the way the games suggests you go about this character creation is to come up with a name- a character name and then figure out your super powers, and that feels sort of backwards to me .

SATAH: I’m going to do my secret ability first– survey at– my signature ability first, rather, just because I find that more helpful for, like, defining what my name and vibe will be rather than doing it the other way around.

JEFF: I am going to roll some dice to determine my character’s signature ability, origin, and what that ability is.

SATAH: Hell yeah, there are tables. First you determine your origin - [rolls dice] I got mutation - and then you determine the ability and I got performance. “Martial arts, handling weapons, parkour, being very good at things a human could actually do.” That’s funny.

GWEN: And that rule of that was a four which means my ability is a mutation, and this is a mutation that grants me [rolls] also a four - some special effects such as shape shifting, talking to animals, invisibility, teleportation, or healing.

JEFF: We’ve got a four and a two. So that is a mutation that gives energy abilities. Okay, interesting. Let me sit and think on this for a second.

SATAH: The first thing I thought of for mutation and then the suggestion of parkour is just that I’m stretchy. But I know that that’s already- that’s a guy that already- that one already exists. I mean look I’m not like a huge superhero person, but I’m not naive enough to pretend that I could come up with a superhero power that hasn’t existed yet. I might come back that. I’m gonna roll both again just to see if something is a little bit more like immediately appealing to me.

I’ve got magic as an origin and the ability is performance again. Okay the dice really want me to be just specifically very skilled at a thing. I’m gonna another ability and it will either be from a mutation or magic which are the origins that I rolled. [Rolls] Oh my god, I got performance again, stop. The dice are bullying me. Let me reset and think about this. I rolled the devil’s roll: all three sixes in a row. The dice want me to do performance. I love to do what the dice want me to do- how do I make that interesting to myself. Parkour is fun.

GWEN: I like- yeah, let’s go with talking to animals. Talking to animals is a classic. I find when I play games if I give myself the equivalent of the animal handling skill, than I never need it, and if I don’t give it to myself then I always think that would have been useful. So let’s see if it’s useful today!

SATAH: Ooh, if my origin is magic and my ability is the performance the parkour, what if it’s- I have magical powers that are about very localized gravity changes. So I can do parkour good with my gravity changes because I can like make the gravity underneath me a little bit less strong and then make the gravity around my hands a little stronger.

JEFF: Energy blasts, control of light or elements, light and shadow, energy constructs that is tied to a mutation, okay… So I’m thinking that this character-I’m going to call him Thermal-and this is a person with like temperature control abilities: make things hot, make things cold, set things on fire, freeze things in ice. That’s I think the overall vibe of the character.

SATAH: One of the things that’s interesting to me about this as we sort of look into- the idea that like that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m very physically strong, though I’ll think about that when I get into attributes.

Like, I have a strong grip not because I have hand muscles or arm muscles, but because attributes I’m using gravity powers. There’s something delightful to me about still being a little bit a little bit scrawny? I’m gonna- I’m going to think about it. But yeah so the main thing that an ability does is that if it applies to what you’re doing you can add an extra die. Which, just like the description through the intro to the section is saying, like, I can be good at other stuff, I’m not just not necessarily good enough at it to add that extra die. Like if I wanted to pull something off of a shelf across a room, I could try to do that for sure but it’s not- I’m not good enough at it to notably make my possibility of success higher.

The thing that I’m specifically good at-at least for now until I maybe a train a little bit-is gravity fields around my body or the gravity of my body. If I were in a hot air balloon that was out of control and flying away, I think I could make my body have stronger gravity to- oh god I’m gonna- I’m setting myself up to say a bunch of things that are not correct about physics but guess what? _[Unintelligible] _that’s okay. I could give myself stronger gravity to pull the hot air balloon back down to earth. But mostly what I use it for is like making it hard to move me, making it- being able to climb stuff, like it is very localized to my body and so that rarely puts me in a position where I can really affect the environment, but I can affect how I interact with. It if this were science- heavy quotation marks, “science-based,” “tech-based,” I probably, like it would be within static shock distance, you know? That’s sort of how far the gravity field manipulation- that stuff that I’m really good at- goes.

JEFF: The signature ability that I’m going with is temperature control, so like making things hot, making things cold, setting things on fire, freezing things. Obviously I’m gonna roll one extra dice when I’m doing that.

SATAH: What was my actual origin? Where where did these powers come from? Thinking about magic, could be a curse, could be a spell that I did on myself, could have been an artifact. An artifact is interesting, the idea of it being a curse because I was really clumsy- when I was a teenager, when I, Satah, was a teenager, I would write poems and stuff even and joke about gravity hating me because I was incredibly clumsy. Fifteen years later-ish, I learned about autistic prior perception and go oh, that’s one of the things that was up with me. Anyway so gravity hating me but thinking of teen me like if I were joking about gravity hating me around a witch, and the witch was like “I will curse you for that to be true.” But gravity doesn’t hate me; gravity responds to me. So it can be a curse- it can be a curse that you learn to work with. A magical artifact, thinking of finding something floating just a little bit off the ground in the woods and picking it up, or tripping over it? That’s kind of fun. One of the origins is accident so I wonder if I should let that guide me into it being more on purpose.

Could be moon magic. What if you know you got your superman who is an alien that was adopted by humans. What if my parents are like moon witches… Can they be- can aliens do magic? Yeah sure why not. Genres, genres. It’s like usually if an alien is gonna do magic it’s doing “sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic”-type magic, but. Maybe one of them is an alien and one of them’s just a space witch. They fell in love with each other, it’s very beautiful. They have a whole story; I’ll explore that at a later date. [Laughs] Probably not, but maybe.

And so I have- I got my moms who are an alien and a moon witch who adopted me and they taught me, or something. I think I don’t know that I need more details on it immediately actually. I’m realizing I think that feels good just to know that like my powers in some way are related to my cool weird moms.

JEFF: Mutation is interesting. mutation is an interesting topic because like- it means that it’s naturally occurring. like all of the other prompts-accident, magic, technology training lineage-there’s a are a uniqueness to those. Mutation implies that this just happened and so like immediately my brain starts going to the question of like who else has this happened to? Whereas is a mutation is just sort of like this occurred and now somebody got wacky powers. so like in my head I immediately start thinking about you know x men I immediately started thinking about- I watched Freaky Tales last night which was fun! Good movie. Ah and like that all references scanners in a very specific way, so I’m thinking about scanners, I’m thinking about x-men, I’m thinking a little bit about like that very specific two episode arc of stranger things where they just do scanners for two episodes? I’m thinking about all these things. so like I really like the idea that like there is like a cosmic or unexplained energy running through a city that is giving people like inexplicable superpowers. it is very much an urban legend. it’s a little bit bang babies for milestone, it’s a little bit century babies. I also really liked that scanners limited it to two hundred and thirty seven, so like I like that there’s like a set number of just people popping up with these abilities. and whatever corporation is either monitoring this or are behind this is very interesting. I gotta bullet a horn-rimmed glasses man from heroes? A lot of things that I’m pulling on.

SATAH: I do think that right now my moms are in space for some reason. maybe I just graduated from university or dropped out and like I was like “hey, I don’t know what to do” and my moms were like “just come housesit. We’re not even gonna be there so we won’t- we won’t get in your way of trying to decide what you wanna do next. just come and take care of the house,you know. you can get a job and save up and and and figure out your direction in life.” And so I’m back in my hometown… Did I graduate or did I drop out? I’m gonna roll dice about this. Evens I graduated, odds I dropped out.

Three. Odds. I dropped out. Again I think that I don’t need to know why yet, but I dropped out and I’m house sitting my childhood home while my moms are in space for their important stuff. This is all exactly the type of details that I need.

JEFF: what is next? what’s the next piece? We’re calling him thermal, he/his pronouns… I’ll think of like a normal name later. Actually I lied, I looked it up immediately. His name is Kelvin Torch.

SATAH: Gonna look at and name generator…

GWEN: save me fantasy name generator dot com.

SATAH: Dawson as a first name? oh yeah like the creek. [Laughing] That makes sense.

GWEN: Detective names, yeah let’s go with detective names.

SATAH: Kat Campbell- Katarina- Katarina Campbell. Ooh, actually space moms– I need- I need a moon name. They- of course they would- they would they would give their kid a moon-related name. I genu- I forgot that some- I forgot for a second that people keep the names that they’re born with sometimes.

GWEN: My character’s name is Merle Brady, yes.

SATAH: Galadriel is taken. Can’t- can’t use that one.

GWEN: Pronouns: she/they.

SATAH: I do think the last name is going to be Alun which means “of the moon” but I think I’ll keep the first name as Katarina. It very heavily resists cat comparisons of, like, you know. Messing with gravity? Can they technically do like the the the the cat-like recovery when they fall? Yes, but they’re not a cat woman.

Has spent her whole life trying to get people not to call her cat and to call her like Trina or something like that. Trina Alun. Pronouns gonna go with she/they. Actually pronouns I’m gonna go with she/her. I was trying- I don’t want to do like a divine moon mystic femininity thing, but there are women in the world. That’s- that’s true about it so.

Secret identity. Does she have one? Yes. She’s not just out there as as her exact self. she has a little costume and she has a hero name. what is it?

GWEN: A name for a character who can speak to animals. Well with the name with the of Merle, which to me I associate with the the color of some dogs, so maybe I can specifically talk to dogs. So some kind of canine-themed name.

SATAH: I’m looking at words related to gravity…

GWEN: Dog words… Collar, leash, bone…

SATAH: Orbit? [Gasps] Oh my god the idea that she can like make things orbit around herself, like very close, is really fun. Yeah.

GWEN: Well if we’re going with a blue Merle sheepdog type theme, then perhaps perhaps it’s just the Blue Shepherd.

SATAH: Is it- is it just- is it just Orbit or is it like Captain Orbit or Orbit Girl? [Laughs]It’s not Orbit Girl. I think it’s just Orbit, and again similar to- just like her- her real name, she spends a lot of time asking people not to call her Orb, to call her Orbit or at least Bit. Not Orb, I’m not an orb.

JEFF: And for the- his abilities, we’re breaking it down into power-

SATAH: -which is physical prowess, endurance, or meeting- meeting a problem head on.

JEFF: Skill-

SATAH: -is mastery over ability, is in control of your body and execution of your plans.

JEFF: Mind-

SATAH: -is your ability to assess the situation and plan your way out, and

JEFF: Heart-

SATAH: -is your ability to empathize with other people, to read a room and figure out motivation there’s a lot of room to massage them which I really appreciate. I think it’s really fun.

JEFF: So that’s four attributes. I’ve got three points to distribute; they all start at one.

GWEN: Now I think I’m going for more of a detective-type superhero, so. I think I want to keep my power relatively low, my mind relatively high…

SATAH: So I was joking around about the idea that this character is still a little physically incapable, and I think it’s not totally true. I mean they can basically just do resistance training at all times, right? Like the putting- putting the the weights on, but it’s their own body. [Laughs]

GWEN: Let’s go with a one in power, a two in skill, a three in mind, and a one in the heart. I feel like it’s kind of classic for the, like, noir detective type to be bad at feelings.

SATAH: I’ll have at least a two in power, at least a two in skill. The idea that one of my parents is a weird moon witch makes me very tempted to put a- a skill point, an attribute point in heart because I bet I’m- I am relatively feelings. Yeah I think I’ll do that.

JEFF: We’re going to go skill three, mind two, power and heart one.

SATAH: so my attributes to start are power two, skill two, mind one, and heart two.

JEFF: And once I start thinking about this Cronenberg scanners vibe, I’m gonna throw in the detail that, like, Thermal is specifically like a man on the run. It like- this is not- his powers are not new; he has known about these powers for a while. He has crossed paths with whatever corporation is like monitoring this or like whatever these- these big bad evil guys are? Like he has crossed paths with these people before and he has like set up a new life History of Violence-style in a new place, in a new town, which is gonna bring us to our neighbourhood.

SATAH: [Reading from the rules] “There are many special places in the world but none like the one you call home. Maybe it has special characteristics one can only find there. Maybe what makes it special is how ordinary it is. Is it cartoony? weird over the top adventures happened in at all the time? keep in mind this game is about building a community and caring for each other so a try to create structures and characters who are nurturing, loving, and united.

JEFF: So we’re going to start by deciding a few central questions. We’re going to decide the name; we’re going to decide, like, its geography, its politics, its custom. What makes the place special?

SATAH: I think I’m not in a big city. I went to a- I tried to go to school in a big city and now I’m moving back to a smaller town. Not like tiny, big enough that there is like a downtown core, you know? That is a few streets or up at you know to two or three. Or one main street and then a few blocks of the perpendicular streets, but most things are in walking distance. Caveat that I have a much higher tolerance for walking than a lot of people.

JEFF: I’m gonna steal here a phrase, a name from my dear friend Jadzia Axelrod when she was on Party of One many years ago. She casually dropped the name Bell City as a stand in for Philadelphia and like that’s been hooked in my brain for year,s so this is- we’re in Bell City. Wather it’s the same Bell City from that Party of One episode or not, who knows, but it’s like a large metropolitan city on the east coast. A lot of history to Bell City, obviously a lot of neighbourhoods, very bustling.

SATAH: I think that it’s a city that sprung up partially around a- I want to tie it to my weird mood moms. I think that there is a huge like research telescope nearby and a lot of development was done here to support like people who were working there. I don’t think either of my moms worked there. I think the alien mom originally came to earth in like the fifties or sixties to investigate this telescope cause they like found out that people on earth were looking at their satellite, the satellite they were hovering around. I don’t know she came down to investigate and then ended up falling in love and… I guess. Okay, town name…

GWEN: The Blue Shepherd who comes from the neighbourhood of… Golden Pastures.

SATAH: I’m gonna look up parts of a microscope to be- Iris. The city is just called Iris and has like nicknames that are like “the lens” or whatever, you know?

JEFF: My neighbourhood, this like subset of Bell City which we will call Franklin’s Cove. Franklin’s cove is specifically on the water. It’s very much like the waterfront. There is a boardwalk that runs along the edge of it with kind of an arcade and midway, a little bit like Atlantic City energy within sort of a larger Philadelphia-like city. That’s Franklin’s Cove. It’s very much like a tourist-y the neighbourhood which I really like the aesthetic that it’s sort of empty a lot of the time. There’s sort of a like off-season emptiness that runs through it, so it’s- it’s in this very large city but like chunks of the year like it can feel very empty and very small very kind of cut off from the larger city around it.

SATAH: I’m gonna say I live pretty close to downtown and so I’m not just helping my like neighbors in my neighbourhood, but but I tend to- like I wanna I’m going- gonna be sort of flitting around the whole city not just might blocks

GWEN: Now this is not actually farmland; it has not been farmland for oh eighty years or so. It was a suburban subdivision but as urban sprawl’s continued it’s now pretty urbanized. I think that when Merle’s family first came to this area it was a newly built suburb, but that was several generations ago and at this point it’s maybe the outskirts of a city. Like maybe it’s not downtown but it’s on the main traffic- sorry, transit routes. It’s easy to get to downtown. It’s like you would not consider it out in the boonies today even if it may have seemed that way when Merle’s grandparents first bought their brand new prefab fifties house there.

SATAH: I’m gonna assume that the giant microscope is built up on a big mountain and the city is sort of like in the valley.

JEFF: The next question is around customs and cultural activities. Obviously I’m taking a cue from like actual real Philadelphia here and saying like sports and sports watching is like a very important piece of this culture like it is a thing that brings the people together. I also really like- I have- another thing from Philadelphia that I really like graffiti; street art murals are a very important thing to the city or to the neighbourhood I think to the city at large but like with in the neighbourhood. And this feels like a place that would have a big garage band culture, I don’t know why this feels like a place where you would have a lot of bands like touring the local bars in the the neighbourhood and so like you would have a culture of kind of locally famous garage bands and so that’s kind of the third thing that I’m gonna throw in.

SATAH: There is magic- there’s like a long history of moon rituals happening here, so I think there’s probably a lot of like big festivals. Moon phases are really celebrated.

JEFF: “Politics: what sort of government runs your neighbourhood? How do people feel about it?” I really think it’s like a- very run by kind of- it’s like a neighbourhood chamber of commerce a little bit. Like the neighbourhood association probably has a lot of sway here because like you know- there are you know their they they to small number of businesses and like drawing people in. Like that tourism component mixed with you know making sure that the locals like are happy. Like I imagine like a number of small business owners have a remarkable amount of power in this particular neighbourhood of the city. I also do think it’s a markedly working class neighbourhood because like it is bars it is boardwalk games it is very like beach town and so like it is very- it’s not necessarily where tourists stay, ‘cause they’re going to stay up in yeah no Midtown they’re gonna stay up where the where the lights are bright and they’re going to come by Franklin’s Cove during the day. So like it’s very owned and lived in by the people that work here. Very almost like a- almost like a Bob’s Burgers Bog Harbor kind of an energy.

SATAH: I imagine that back when the city was first being founded it was sort of like a bunch of weird witches and and and a coven and and some other people lived here and then like the scientists are moving in. There was tension but I like the idea that it was- it was just settled relatively quickly and they all love each other. Whatever this is an unrealistically peaceful and good city, that’s fine. Microscope- not microscope, telescope. [Laughs] There we go.

JEFF: And the finally we kind of brings us to something special something weird happening here.

GWEN: [Reading] “Does it harbor a government facility which conducts secret science experiments?”

SATAH: Yeah.

GWEN: [Reading] “Is it the home of some alien refugees?”

SATAH: Also yeah.

GWEN: [Reading] “Was it the setting of an ancient magic war, or the just a small town where people love and respect each other?” That’s really cute.

JEFF: Immediately my brain goes to a gill man or a Montauk monster just like washed up on the shore. Which ties into like a broader history of weird rumors and sort of like almost supernatural happenings occurring around and in Franklin’s Cove. Like that’s the energy. I think that like recently a gill man showed up. A black lagoon creature like popped up, and that’s the vibe. And like I think the overarching vibe is just like this is a- this is the part of the city where a lot of like supernatural urban legends tend to like circulate on. Its where like a lot of the like local horror stories sort of happen, because it is this part of the city that is often quiet and dark and secluded. So like it is where you get rumors of like “maybe there was a wolf man.” I don’t know! We’re going to find out.

GWEN: I like I like to think there is something mysterious lurking, but I think as we go about playing we might figure out what that is. But I am kind of- kind of thinking perhaps a little bit of Strangerville in the sims vibe, so.

JEFF: Final piece of the puzzle is we’re really thinking about like what our relationship with the neighbourhood is.

SATAH: What’s my relationship to the city, to the neighbourhood? [Reading] “Legacy- your family’s lived in the community for a while; they taught you the reasons it’s worth your love and your protection. Belonging- you come from outside but as soon as you stepped in you were taken aback by how received you were. Activism- it is brought to your attention that there was a particular place where people were don trouted- don trout- downtrodden and needed a light.

JEFF: I really like belonging. I feel like if KKelvin is you know on the run and is like laying low here I want this to be a place that he feels like it’s a home so that he has to defend it once men in black start showing up and like asking questions. And so like he belongs here, and the thing about that place that makes him feel welcome like nowhere else ever did? It’s a place where there’s a quiet kindness and people mind their business, is the best way to put it. You know like he rolled up here, he got he got an apartment, it’s above a pinball arcade, and you know nobody asked any questions. He started going to the local corner store. He started being seen around the neighbourhood. He started doing odd jobs for people and you know nobody was like rolling out a welcome mat for him but at the same time like he was welcome there. Like at the same time like people appreciated having somebody there to like be friends with and help out and do odd jobs and he was part of the neighbourhood. And like nobody asked any questions about like where he was from or what is past was like, it was really just kind of a matter of hey I need somebody to help me take out the trash. I just you know had a big barbecue and and need somebody to help clean up. Kelvin would roll up, he would help them clean up, and that was that, Like that’s- that’s that’s friendship in Franklin’s Cove

SATAH: Legacy I think definitely makes the most sense here. “Your family’s lived in the community for a long time; they taught you the reasons it is worth your love and your protection. What are those reasons? You fight to keep safe that which your community stands for.” What are the reasons? I’m trying to think if there’s anything beyond just you know people. People are important. [Laughs] Definitely like there is magic here. There’s a certain like stewardship I think that is happening of this old coven.

I think that this is a place that is really exemplifies the in-universe marriage between magic and science in a way that I think is slightly unusual for a lot of places outside of here. Yeah I think that’s something that’s unique about it is like in the rest- in a lot of the rest the world it’s still very strictly like magic and science should be- are separate things and there’s some conflict about it. And this is a community that over decades has really fostered like “hey, I- like you can invent a battery and I’m going to put a rune on it that makes it last longer.” “I can use a laser cutter to perfectly cut your crystals into a shape that- that enables them to channel magic more strongly.” That kind of thing. That it’s just- this is a place where the unity between those concept is really strong, and that is important to the people here. And I mean that’s- that’s yeah, one of the things going on with my- my parents specifically, like the two of them are like- I mean, look at us. Alien is science, and we’re a sci-fi fantasy blended family. And in some places that would be weird, but not here. [Laughing] Here it’s regular and fine and good. Yeah.

I bet there was a bit of culture shock for me actually when I went out into the world. I joined like a hero’s club at university and they you know saw my powers in they were like oh cool you do gravity fields so it’s all like, what’s what’s your tech and I’m like “oh no it’s actually- it’s actually like magic, I-” and their just demeanors change and they’re like “oh okay, tricks, huh?” But then I like either tried to joined magic heroes club, and they were like “you’re not doing spells? It’s just something that is like in your body that you can do? Oh. I mean okay I guess.” It’s silly. I don’t think that’s why I dropped out, but it was sad.

GWEN: So Merle is chilling in the former borough of Golden Pastures. Can you tell I’m from Toronto? These are jokes for only people in Toronto I think but whatever.

JEFF: Okay.

SATAH: Okay.

GWEN: Okay. So now we can begin our day.

JEFF: That’s- that’s Kelvin; that’s Thermal; that’s Franklin’s Cove.

SATAH: I think that’s it; I think we’re ready to play.

JEFF: We are ready to start our first day in our super hero’s life.

BREAK

SATAH: Welcome to the break! I’m Satah; you’re currently listening to my show. Thank you! I edit and occasionally design ttrpgs; I do podcast stuff and I make music. You can find me on bluesky at posatahchips.gaygothvibes.online, and check out my work generally gaygothvibes.online.

Gwen was I think one of my first ttrpg enthusiast friends. I can’t remember whether I’ve slept on her floor or her couch, and the only photo I can find is an impossible to understand angle of the like crocheted mermaid tail blanket I was wrapped in for warmth at the time. I specifically asked to join us on this episode because of her to me legendary love for superheroes, which will we will almost certainly find on display. You can follow her on bluesky at Gwen Frankenstein.

Last summer I visited Philadelphia and I went on a walk with Jeff Stormer. I had been idly thinking about making Folio for a while and I knew from the start that his show Party of One would be its beloved older cousin of the type who- who you are- you always sit beside at holidays to like give you strength to kind of deal with the rest of the family.

On this walk I told him about the basic concept of Folio and his excitement was one of the final pushes I needed to just start making it. He was the first person to ever hear an episode of the show. He’s my friend, he is my respected colleague, and I am really, really really happy to finally get him on the show that might not exist without him. Who knows. Did you know Party of One has featured the highest number of unique ttrpgs of any actual play podcast and the race is like not even close? That’s the shit I’m all about. I think actual play should love ttrpgs, and I appreciate deeply how much Jeff loves both of those things. And superheroes. And it’s his birthday next week. Go do something cool about that! I don’t know!

Now it’s time to see the first day of our heroes’ journeys.

GAME: DAY ONE

SATAH: A day in the life…

GWEN: A day in the life of Merle Brady.

JEFF: Day one, here we go.

SATAH: Basically, every day there are problems, you know what I mean?

JEFF: We’re going to generate some problems; we’re gonna use our attributes to create scenes; we’re gonna build up progress towards a solution, and we’re going to then spend that progress to solve problems.

SATAH: Specifically in this game every day you’re going to have to help a neighbor and solve a crime. We’re going to start off by starting our day. Create a scene; “you were something… when suddenly…” It’s a d6.

GWEN: That is a six. You were caring for your pet when suddenly… Now that makes sense. I can talk to dogs. Perhaps I have a bloodhound that can sniff out suspicious activity.

SATAH: Got a three. “You were on your day job when suddenly…” Okay. What is my day job?

JEFF: While Kelvin is on patrol… Uh, what does “on patrol” mean to Kelvin? That is a really good question. I truly kind of think it means just sort of like drifting through the neighbourhood, like. I picture most of his patrol, quote-unquote, as being very-as Kelvin not as Thermal-hands in his pockets wearing like a small leather jacket kind of just like going from kind of shop to shop and sorta just like drifting, seeing if anybody needs anything, you know, playing some games on the boardwalk, getting a hot dog, and just kind of like idly passing through. Like I think that he spends a lot of time kind of drifting. I picture that he does a lot of odd jobs and so like a lot of his day to day sort of just like popping in from place to place you know, hassling some of the local shopkeeps, just kind of hanging around. He’s just sort of a guy around. Grabing a beer at a couple different bars and just gonna like hanging out, you know what I mean?

SATAH: I’m going to see what the first- yeah okay I’m going to see what the first problem is and see if that gives me guidance of sort of like where I am, what’s happening?

JEFF: Each day has two phases, solving a crime and helping of for a neighbor in need. We’re gonna roll to see what happens first.

SATAH: So I was on my day job and suddenly… [Rolls] I rolled a one, so it’s a crime!

JEFF: The first thing that we’ve rolled on is a neighbor in need.

GWEN: Something happened! [Rolls] I have rolled a four which means our neighbor needs my help!

JEFF: So a neighbor in need. [Reading] “When dealing with a neighbor in need, we only need to succeed one test solving that neighbors problem. However that neighbor is going to have a very specific way that they want that problem solved, which is going to be tied to their personality.”

GWEN: [Reading] “To create a neighbor, roll for their personality.”

JEFF: I’m gonna roll three d20. I have three d20 right here and we’re going to roll three d20 for a personality, an occupation, and a trouble. [Rolls]

GWEN: We have a local overworked-

JEFF: They are rebellious.

GWEN: -politician-

JEFF: They are a politician.

GWEN: Who needs our help [Rolls] finding their way home.

JEFF: And they are finding their way home. Okay. Interesting.

GWEN: That’s interesting.

JEFF: Interesting.

GWEN: An overworked politician finding their way home.

JEFF: Interesting.

GWEN: I don’t like that. I’m gonna roll again cause I’m in charge and I can do that. We have a [Rolls] daring [Rolls] DIY enthusiast who needs some help [Rolls] paying their bills, aw. Oh, I like this person!

SATAH: Define the crime: there’s a leader trying to do blank through blank. So the leader, the goal, and the method. The leader is [Rolls] a quirky genius. The quirky genius is trying to [Rolls] plant bombs at the town square- don’t do that. And their method is [Rolls] booby trapping hostages- oh my god, girl, no! [Laughs]

GWEN: So…

SATAH: [Laughs]

JEFF: What does all of that mean?

SATAH: [Still laughing] And they’re also resistant to mind, okay. Luckily, or unluckily, I dunno, it’s not a stat that I’m particularly good at.

JEFF: This is a local city council person whose car has broken down, and they were- you know they are kinda just like, very flustered, young, upstart politician in the city council. Drives a notably beat up car, which I think is very like- like small neighbourhood city council appropriate, and just like ha- like their- their car is fully just broken down and they just happened to cross paths with Kelvin as he’s kind of got hot dog in hand, hoppin’ from one’s door to the next. He’s just finished like maybe cleanings some gutters, he’s chatting with a bodega owner and he sees this politician. Her name is Joella Crawford. Joella Crawford, city council woman. Joella Crawford, she is coming up and just like is like flustered and tired and like I think like starts in on the kind of glad handing and then sees that like Kelvin just like is sorta dead-facing her, than drops the bit entirely and is like, “yeah my car’s broken down. Can you like give it a look and see if you can give it a jump-start or something? Like I don’t know cars, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here.” So she a is thoroughly out of her element is what I will say here.

SATAH: So this immediately places us somewhere. It doesn’t have to, like I could always travel to there, but I need- I needed a little help figure out what what my day job might be, and the- somebody trying to do something in the town square sort of places me potentially there. I think this place is shockingly un-tourist-trappy. You’d- you’d really expect it to be more. I think sometimes people come here expecting like a little bit of spectacle, but it really is just a place that people live. There’s probably other cities near this telescope that do lean into the like alien kitsch souvenir thing. That’s not what we’ve got going on. So I don’t think I work at like a tourist office or anything. What’s a job where my gravity powers could be fun? Being a server and using it to balance trays is really delightful to me. I think it’s probably that, yeah.

GWEN: So we have a crafter of some kind. Now I like the idea that a daring DIY enthusiast who is looking to pay the bills might be an avant-garde designer of some kind who has a little boutique, but is having trouble actually making enough sales to hold on to this little boutique. Let’s say they are a jewelry designer, because I don’t understand how sewing works. So yes we have this local jeweler whose name is some kind of interesting rock, um. Beryl Emerald, yes. We’re a superhero story, we can name people things like that.

SATAH: I’m- I’m serving at this like cafe near the town square and a quirky genius is trying to plant bombs in the town square by booby trapping hostages. So that’s very quirky. [Laughs] Is this a rival scientist or somebody who worked at the telescope and got fired for something nefarious? No, this is- this is- this is a rival- this is a rival scientist of some kind. A corporate scientist and the thing that they’ve done is that they have- they’ve been handing something out in disguise and it’s like it’s a thing where as soon as enough people with these objects all gather in one spot there will be a- a- a- build up of energy and an explosion. So they’re not hostages yet, at least they don’t know they’re hostages, but they are.

And so I think it’s- it’s the afternoon and people are getting set up for a festival. It’s- it’s a- it’s a full moon tonight and every month there’s a little celebration and ritual in the town square about this. And this quirky genius has been giving out like bracelets, or- or pendants that have moon- that are- that- that have the moon on them, and if enough people- when enough people wearing them get into the town square, it’ll be this big kin- this big build up of energy. And that’s been happening and I think the thing that I’m- that- there’s gonna be a moment, so I’m- I’m serving. I’m just- I’m- I’m- I’m collecting empty mugs from a table and I’m kind of- there’s a lull. It’s gonna be really busy later and it was busy before. All of the volunteers came and like got caffeinated before going to do set up, but now no one’s here; they’re all doing set up and then it might be busy later, but for now there’s a lull. I am entertaining myself by seeing how high I- I can stack cups [Laughs] using my powers.

And someone tries to leave the town square to get something and finds that they can’t, that they’re like- they are rebuffed. There is an invisible barrier and more people go to investigate and they find that this barrier goes all the way around the town square and and they’re all really surprised when somebody walks through it to come in, and they try to go out that same way they can’t. So people can come in but they can’t go out. And people’s hair starts to raise up a little bit, you know? Like there is this- like this crackling in the air of the static electricity.

I think I- I notice that there’s unrest and I sort of like go out on the cafe patio to clean out there but also eavesdrop and people are like “okay something big is happening, let’s- we gotta figure out who did this or what’s- what’s happening. Is this naturally occurring? What’s going on?” And the quirky genius in disguise is part of this like anxious chatter, and then at a certain point just breaks, you know. Very mockingly is like [Scared voice] “What are we going to do? [Evil laugh] Nothing! It’s too late!” as they pull off their hat and their hair falls and everyone gasps and recognizes them as evil corporate scientist who’s always trying to get in the way of progress here.

And they villa- they like monologue you know. I don’t think they- they don’t- we don’t know yet what is causing this energy build up, we haven’t tied it to pendants. But I think someone at a certain point gasps like wait you were selling these and rips it off and the quirky genius is like “yes I was, but-” or not selling them, giving them away- “yes, but it’s too late, they’ve already absorbed some of your body’s potential energy and taking them off won’t do anything! In fact the harder you throw them-” Like it’s at- a couple people have like taken

them off and thrown them on the ground and there’s a very ominous like big crackling noise and the villain is like “That’s right! There’s nothing you can do! The more that they move around. the bigger the boom will be. And you’re not the only people who I gave them too. Soon everyone will come flowing in here for the festival. There’s no way for you to stop them from coming in. I’ve put a field around. No one can come in; you can’t get out; and as soon as a certain number of people get here” and they just do like, a “boom” explosion motion with their hands and that’s where we’re at, and like okay.

And I go back quietly inside the cafe and I put on my disguise. I’m not sure what is it, what it- what is my disguise? Put a mask over my eyes for sure. I have like a full body suit. I think it’s black with just some like subtle nebula colors across it. Like, a, just kind of vaguely spacey and may be a single- not a circle but like an ovular- there’s a symbol that is like the- the- the moon the- the- that- what is it? The path that the moon takes around the earth? ‘Cause it’s not perfectly circular, right? Orbits are rarely perfectly circular, I think. Right there’s that, that little insignia oh

JEFF: Okay so how this works is now we’re going to make up a series of scenes and try to solve a problem here.

SATAH: The loop of this is that you have your big problem, and you have to solve smaller problems, and you do tests to do smaller problems. When you succeed at solving one of the smaller problems you get a progress point, and then to solve one of the big problems you roll as many dice as you have progress points.

JEFF: Basically that’s going to mean like creating a number of scenes, describing a number of actions, using those actions to build up progress points and then we’re going to spend those points to solve the problem.

SATAH: For the fighting crime. You need ,to- to beat the leader and the method. The thing I’m not clear on is whether you have to clear your progress between defeating the leader and defeating the method? The reason I’m unclear on that is partially because the “end of the day” says reset your progress which makes me think that it’s expected to linger. I did find that when I played a round of this yesterday, it went considerably longer than I expected. Because it says you need about a half an hour for a session and a full day- I was figuring out the mechanics, but a full day was an hour? Or more? And so I wonder if that’s part of it is that progress is supposed to be held over the course of a day rather than cleared in between every problem. And so later problems are solving much more quickly. Yeah I’m gonna- I’m gonna play as though progress builds over the course of a day and I- I hope that that’s fine.

JEFF: Because this is helping a neighbor, anything that isn’t power because she is a rebellious is going to be resisted.

GWEN: As the dog whisperer as the Blue Shepherd this is not necessarily in my wheelhouse as a detective but perhaps I can suggest that maybe… Oh my gosh yes. Maybe what Ms Emerald needs to do is to get into those like matching bracelets sets were you get a dog collar and a bracelet that are the same so you and your dog can match, and I’m going to boost her business by custom ordering a reversible set so that as Merle and Renfield, we can have one design and then we can flip it when we need to go undercover as Vampire and the Blue Shepherd.

SATAH: So I put on my outfit. I’m in hero mode. Orbit is here. The first thing to solve I think is getting all the pendants safely off of the people who were wearing them in the square right now. Everybody who’s wearing them has like stopped moving because they’re scared to like jiggle them around too much because the- the- they seem to be reacting to like the energy, right, the kinetic energy that’s exerted on them. And I think I can do that by um- if I go to each of those people and like collect it using [Laughs] lower gravity hands, they won’t like rocket around as much and hit things, and we can like put them into a box to put safely aside.

I’m trying to decide if the quirky genius is trapped in here with us or if they’ve sort of you know fucked off to dramatically monologue and like witness the explosion. They probably- they’ve disappeared themselves. I will have to deal with them at some point but they’re not here right now; they’re very confident in the idea that everybody’s trapped, so. They’ve disappeared and Orbit you know goes out of the back door of the cafe so that she could appear on the top of a building- beside it like “I wasn’t just in the cafe, I was elsewhere. Hi I’m here.” And everyone’s like “Orbit, yay!”

And I’m like “okay I’m gonna go around and collect- like everybody stay still I’m going to come around and collect all of these pendants from you so that we can put them somewhere where they will be still and not building up more energy.” What attribute is this?

JEFF: I’m looking at power’s description now, “your physical strength but also the magnitude of your special power”s and like, ah, “you’re meeting them head on and overwhelming them with your abilities” and whereas skill is really like “you are creating openings and acting on them” I like that I have skill and not power at least for right now. I think that sets up Kelvin’s use of his power in an interesting way. Where like he’s doing a lot of small abilities right now and he’s going to build towards those big stunts later. I think that I’m probably going to try and collect XP and use that towards increasing my power, because I think that’s gonna be a fun way to see this character grow and evolve. All of that separate is to say like I know it is resisted but I think I have to use mine here because the first step of this process has to be just straight up popping the hood and looking at the car. So like I think that’s exactly what he does. I think he kind of steps up and says like “Yeah, I can take a look at your car; I can fix this for you. Lemme take a look- lemme take a look.”

GWEN: So I think I’m trying to make people think positively of this but of this person’s work by seeing me- me wearing it. So that is… Which attribute do we think this is playing on? It’s probably heart which is [Sing-songy] one of my dump stats. Our DIY enthusiast is daring, so they are most impressed by power, which means on my one die I need to roll a six to succeed so, uh, wish me luck, friends.

SATAH: I think this is skill because I- it’s- it is precise, right? Like I’m having to be very careful as I pull these necklaces off of people to not jostle them too much and to put the right amount of low gravity on them to not make them like you know float up so they have to be caught or whatever. So I think this is skill. My signature ability is definitely relevant: hyper-localized gravity manipulation in my hands, yup. So I’m gonna roll three d6 and one of them needs to be a five or six.

JEFF: And when I roll two d6, [Rolls] that is a pair of threes, so that is a failure. On a failure, what happens? “Mark a point of drawback for the attribute that you failed with.”

GWEN: Oh my god, I did it! I rolled a six! Incredible! These reversible Blue Shepherd branded collars slash bracelets are wildly popular in the neighbourhood. Now everybody wants one that has their own unique design on one side and of course solid blue on the back. And that also will help me in my future undercover experiences because if everyone has a bracelet that has blue on the inside then you can’t use it to prove that I, Merle Brady, could possibly be our local, mystery solving detective. Oh I like this.

SATAH: Four, five, yay, and a two. Oka,y so we’re good. I’m gonna mark progress and skill now has streak checked which means that any rolls made with skill are resisted until I make progress with another attribute.

GWEN: [Reading] “Describe how your action got you closer to the resolution.” Well having a sale on this special new product helps them at least keep the boutique afloat for another couple weeks. That’s very exciting. “Earn one progress point” but I do not gain an XP because- oh, no I do gain an XP; it was resisted. Hooray.

JEFF: Okay so I’m marking a point of miscalculation “When you fail at solving a problem through the use of mind, you commit a miscalculation. Your plan goes wrong; it moves you further away from a solution. Your- your neighbors know your heart’s in the right place where you’re not the best person to ask regarding complex solutions. It’s hard to get people to trust what you have to say, but at least you’ll learn something.” I’m going to take an experience point from the experience, marking a point of miscalculation and describing a cons- a complication that emerges.

So I mean immediately like my brain goes to Kelvin is very eager to help, but does not actually know cars and kind of blustered his way into this. And- and now he’s looking under the hood and like does not actually know what he’s looking at very much. And the other thing that I think is very good here is that we’re looking at like a public figure in public dealing with like a minor crisis. I think that a photo journalist has showed up, like a paparazzi has showed up to like snapp some photos. And obviously Kelvin immediately is on the defensive because he is- ah does not like his identity to be publicized, and here he is next to a politician, like.

SATAH: At this point someone else walks into the square proving that- you know, there’s somebody that’s like in the square at the street waving at them be like don’t come in here. They walk in and they’re like “oh, shit, hi. There’s people here.” And we’re all like, “dammit. Okay people really can’t see, and if more people come in that could be a problem if they bring in more of these pendants and and all of that stuff.”

And so I think our next step is I want to try and get out of the field and I think I’m gonna- it’s something that you could probably drive a car through it but there’s no cars in the town square because this is a city that prioritizes walkability over vehicles, [Laughs] because it’s my dreams, my city that’s cool that I can make up. Um and yeah. Basically I just need to- it’s something that I can push through hopeful using my powers that I’m strong. Mm, or is it- is that what it is or is it just that it it doesn’t go all the way up? Yeah, we- the genius, the quirky genius disappeared by going up and so we’re like, “oh the field isn’t a full dome; there is something that- like there’s a hole at the top. How do we get there?” And I’m like, “I can get there.”

I do unfortunately think that’s skill again which is currently resisted, but that’s okay. I- I’m going to try and use lowering gravity to float my way up to the top of the field and get out. This does have my signature ability. It is a skill, so I’m gonna roll three d6 and one of them has to be a six. [Rolls] One, [Rolls] four, [Rolls] four. Nope. Okay. We’re going to mark a point of discredit which is the drawback of skill and if you fail a roll, you can earn an XP or receive an extra dice.

I’m gonna take an experience and that causes destruction, so I- Oh it’s just like I make myself really heavy and like crack the ground underneath me right?

JEFF: I think Kelvin is going to- I’m gonna grab four dice here because I’m using my signature ability. I am triggering skill. I am like opening up an advantage to- I’m not going to mince words. I think I’m trying to set this guy’s camera just a little bit on fire so that it malfunctions. Now this is still contested because it is skill, but that’s two fives and two sixes, so that is a success which gives me a point of progress.

SATAH: I think I’m just going to try the same thing again trying keep pushing through. Roll 3d6 [Rolls] I got a six, yay! Six, three, four. I got a six so I successfully push through the field and I- I crack the ground the whole way that I’m moving. Like I had to- I had to make myself so heavy that every step like just shatters the concrete. Luckily it’s only like three steps but it’s [Laughs] still pretty hefty chunk of road that is now going to need to be repaired, but I am outside of it. And it fixes itself behind me, you know. People still can’t get out but I am on the outside of it.

JEFF: Uh, this guy’s starts snapping photos and asking questions, and then his camera sparks and then sparks again and again and again. And like he’s gotta throw it on the ground: it’s cracking; it’s popping; it’s bubbling and I think using another my signature ability of temperature control with a little bit of power like I’m grabbing my a leather jacket. I’m throwing it on top of the like sparking camera, and I am trying to like quote-unquote put out the fire while like subtly using a little bit more of my superpowers here to help things out.

GWEN: Since Ms. Emerald is most impressed by shows of power, I think that I am going to next attempt to use my power. Now I remember that the book encourages creative problem solving and thinking outside the box. Perhaps the way to make sure she is able to pay her rent is to use my powers to sick a dog on the landlord. So the landlord has been sending Ms. Emerald threatening letters saying- threatening a rent increase on this boutique in- on the main street.

So I am going to roll two dice because my power is one and I am using my superpowers to guide not my good friend Vampire but a small dog to go in through the landlord’s cat door and find some kind of documents that prove that what they are doing to Ms. Emerald is illegal and sketch and find where this was supposed to be rent controlled or something. Man, I don’t know how this stuff works.

Wow. I’m very good at rolling the dice so that they fall on the floor. That is a five and a six! Wow, the dice love me today!

JEFF: And boy howdy is that two twos, which means that is also a failure. Which means that I have caused destruction.

OUTRO

SATAH: This has been Folio, an actual play podcast about solo and otherwise self-paced TTRPGs. To find where you can find the show, check out foliopod.carrd.co.

You can find Gwen @gwenfrankenstien on Bluesky.

You can find Jeff at partyofonepodcast.com and jeffstormer.com.

You can find Satah-that’s me-at gaygothvibes.online and follow me on bluesky at posatahchips.gaygothvibes.online.

Next week, Gwen and Jeff and I will continue our games of Friendly Neighbourhood Superhero by Catscratcher Studio, found at catscratcher.itch.io. Everything I mentioned here is linked in the show notes. Thanks so much for listening, and take care out there.

POST-CREDITS

SATAH: Oh my god, google sheets… I’m one of the only pers- people in the world who loves you… and yet you treat me so badly…