Introduction
A playmate has vanished without a trace. Being the master's favourite, Shippa didn't abuse of that privilege and besides it was a great friend. It was almost the oldest toy (meaning the time it's kept the same personality alive) you know, it was able to understand humans much better than any of you and often entertained you with its stories and anecdotes.
The group belongs to a human who keeps you in the office of some kind of company (something well beyond your ability to understand as after all, you're only toys). All of you are tiny animal plushies with magnets on all your paws, and you "live" on an office table, clung on metallic spots of the furniture and office items (your master often changes your stance or even your resting spot), and generally received enough attention to be satisfied.
There are other toys in the office. As it is a large room, above all for beings of your size, it is not so strange seeing other toys occupying privileged spots in the tables. Most are plushes, slightly bigger than you, but others are action figures (who often are more aggresive) or merchandising figures. There are 12 tables, evenly spaced in a rectangular room, every table is more or less 1 meter of any other. There are only three tables without toys. The tables have transparent side screens (which allow access to curious toys only by the front) and opaque rear screens, and most of them have large boxes with images (computer screens) or long boxes with mosaics (keyboards), large boxes with make lots of noise (telephones) and simpler, office supplies like pencils, pens (usually in cups), pencil sharpeners, etc, etc. There are two columns of tables, oriented to a window. The PCs are in the left column, right by the window.
The PCs aren't without enemies, however. In the second last table of the right column, there are a party of four action figures, that everyone else calls the commandos, who hate with passion the PCs. Why? Their respective masters don't get along well and that hatred is passed as well to their toys. Sometimes the commandos have visited the PCs seeking to harm them though only rarely, and other times they've buggered the PCs if they visited other toys far from their own home table. May Shippa's dissapearance be related to them?
Let's play
The PCsOne night all the PCs awake (by spending 1 Imprint point) in the drawer of your table. All of you are inside it except Shippa, which is worrying. What is also weird is that the drawer is locked. Sometimes your master kept you in the drawer for a night or two, but he had never locked it. You don't think Shippa may have fled on its own, so anyone else must have taken it (your master?) or maybe a jealous toy of another table may have kidnapped it with sinister motives.
ShippaShippa may be well in danger because if someone finds it and gives it a new personality, it would plainly kill it as everybody knew it. Alternatively if nobody finds it, it would with time run out of Imprint points so it would "die" the same, in the end...
There are lots of office supplies in the drawer you can use, like clips, pins, rubber bands, post it sheets, duct tape, etc. The drawer is locked but it is easy to open from inside with high Fortitude rolls or by someone making an "skeleton key" out of a clip. Other options are climbing down (behind the drawer there is a narrow space through where the PCs may climb... they're so small) to the next drawer and push it open (it is not locked).
As soon as they leave the drawer they must roll their Imprint using their Conceal power against Mediocre difficulty to make the security devices (movement sensors) ignore them (burning 1 Imprint point). Sometimes a night watchman takes a look at the rooms, so they might have to hide (usually it's easy hearing his steps or seeing the light of his flashlight, but he doesn't always carry it lit!).
There is little light in the office at night, there are secondary safety lights which fill the room with a semi-darkness which is good to hide but also is a problem when looking for stuff or people.
Looking for Shippa in all in the office is a hard task. The room is very large and they're very small. The closest table, to the right of the PC's table, is the "lair" of old Draco, a dragon plush of the chinese zodiac, who is probably older than Shippa and also very wise. It's also around 5-10 times bigger than you! It spends its days watching a lot, it's a very pensive figure. It may well be a good source of information.
In other tables there are more stuff they can use to help in this adventure, like hemp cord to wrap packages, rulers, scissors, pencil cups, etc.
The other toys
To talk with other toys, they'll have to climb to their tables. Most drawers are made with steel so they can climb from there with a +1 to their Climb rolls thanks to their magnets. However, some drawers are made with wood so they'll be much harder (above all they're entirely flat). Choose which ones when you want to make the adventure harder. Other alternatives are climb to metal wardrobes on both sides of the room and jump or slip down from there using cords or similar. Or maybe climb to metallic clothes racks and do the same.
Draco is an slow plush who talks with a rumbling but sweet voice and is very affectionate. It walks with "ponderous" steps to the PCs and snugs them with its huge (from the PC's point of view) paws. It seems happy to have company for a change. If asked about Shippa it says it hasn't seen it lately, and further questions may make it remember that some stuff from the humans have been dissapearing lately, but Draco doesn't know how nor why. It's only heard some bits of information which it couldn't fully make sense of.
In another table there is a Mr Potato plush. "He" is also friendly, though he seems to have multiple personalities thanks to his ability to swap pieces of his body. In fact, he is quick to turn his mouth round to swap from a happy to a sad face, etc (he can't, however, use its own eyes as spy cameras). Mr Potato hasn't seen Shippa lately, either, but thanks to a good enough Human lore he knows there is a new human around.
In another table there is a thread toy (hollow puppet stuck to a base and with an elastic cord inside it that when pulled they fall and when released they snap back up) called by all the toys in the office Mr Thread. "He" doesn't move as his base is too heavy for him, and so he has to stay in a single place and watch. Thus he's almost always bored to death. As soon as he sees the PCs he almost jumps with delight, as he gets few visits. He salutes them with spring-quick articulated motions, and calls them by his side. No matter what the characters ask him, he talks and talks about how happy he is of seeing anyone around and talking with them. In fact he has no information but he'll do his best to keep the PCs with him for as long as he can, as he hungers for company (a single toy is a very sad toy!). He'll waste away the PCs' time without caring for lost toys at all. He's a mere dead end.
In another table there is a Simpson family (plastic toys, in this case), but when the PCs look for them they aren't anywhere to be seen. If looked for the PCs may find that a drawer in that table is locked, inside it they can hear the toys chatter. The Simpson tell the PCs their master keeps them in the drawer because he cares a lot for them, and that every morning he places them above the table and keeps them in the drawer before leaving, and they seem very proud of their master's concern for them. They know nothing about Shippa's dissapearance. The Simpson toys talk like their cartoon counterparts but they don't have the same personality (their master doesn't play with them that much after all).
In another table there are two manga action figures (choose your favorite characters, they're 3-4 times bigger than the PCs) which are very cool and thus very conceited. They spend most of their awoken time making anime poses and looking cool. In fact, they barely bother to notice the PCs in their table, thinking them unworthy of their attention. If pressed, they may bother to talk with the PCs arrogantly, as they care little of other toys' problems, but they only know that a human has been prowling around late in the evenings the last weeks, but they didn't consider that human worthy of their attention, either. As a side note, these manga characters look quite martial, they're probably very good at a fight just in case the PCs get fed up with their arrogance or try to fool them into a fight with the commandos (a hard task, they have lots of self confidence and consider the noisy commandos unworthy opponents).
In a table in the row before the commandos' there is an small lego house in which two medium sized lego men spend most of their time watching the surroundings. Having being developed with that "goal", they play the watcher role with lots of interest (and sometimes swap one piece of their "home" to another position). They, however, only have fragmentary information, they don't know anything about Shippa but know that someone new is sitting in the table near the door in the right column of tables.
In another table there is an articulated drawing mannequin who like the manga toys spends most of its time posing, but in this case quite artistically. It has no face, so it's perception is low, and sadly he has no information at all.
To arrive to the table of the new human, the PCs have to come too near to the commandos' table. They can sneak up on the left side of the room to go unnoticed, though there are usually two commandos always patrolling the table with martial precision, who would confront their respective rolls.
If seen, the commandos use their special imprint power, which lets them use their toy weapons as firearms. The first shot, probably an sniper shot, fails, so the PCs may know they're in danger. Each burst burns 1 Imprint point of the commandos, so they can't keep shooting till kingdom come, but they won't let an easy target escape unharmed. They have good aiming skill and if the PCs are hit they keep the wound penalties temporarily (1 hour), but they're only stunned. As imprint powers they have no real effect. This encounter is merely a delay.
As said the PCs may sneak up, fight the commandos (who are 3-4 times bigger and also made with plastic... hard foes), or use office supplies to protect themselves (like using rubberbands as leather armor, or clips as chain mail, etc). Make sure the PCs remember that harming other toys may cause them loss of Imprint points... or worse.
Initially the commandos don't leave their table, but if they run low of Imprint points and want to truly harm the PCs, they jump down with scissor halfs (as swords) and pointy pencils to leave them like gruyere cheese.
As a side note, since the commandos saw the PCs climbing to other tables they've been very watchful.
The table of the new worker has nothing above it besides the computer, keyboard and telephone (that is a clue if you have enough Human lore). All the drawers are locked, so they'll have to pick the lock or force them with super fortitude rolls. Even if they call for Shippa before opening them, they get no answer; it might be because it's run low of Imprint points or because it's not awaken yet. Of course, bursting the drawers open will require Conceal power rolls and loss of Imprint points, as it may leave clear results on the real world, so the PCs shouldn't simply open them all just because.
In the first drawer there is a huge amount of office supplies (pens, erasers, felt tip pens, CDs, staplers, pencil sharpeners, pencils, etc; huge means at least 20 of each), stuff he's gathered in the last weeks. Hidden amongst all that mess the PCs may find Shippa, motionless. Has Shippa lost its personality...???
If the PCs rescue Shippa, the one doing it needs to roll its Conceal power against the combined Willpowers of their master and the dishonest coworker, because their master knew Shippa had vanished and would find it back, and because the thief knew he had taken it and would have to "forget" it. Make the appropriate roll now but apply as usual the results later, when found.
In any case, can the PCs leave clues to cause the dishonest worker to be fired? How? They may leave enough clues around so his workmates could find he's a thief, though that would cause them a loss of Imprint points. A simple way might be picking up stuff from all other tables and fill up his drawer, so when the other workmates arrived and begun to get angry, as soon as the thief arrived and opened his own drawer he could be caught...
If they do nothing all the toys of the office risk being stolen and probably killed in the future...
As a last note, we won't say what happened with Shippa. It may well have been brainwashed and thus destroyed, or it may just be waiting for attention of its former master to reawaken...
Appendix
You can use these example characters for a quick, one shot game: toys charsheets
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Jorge Arredondo
Last update: 23/August/2006
