Another taste of Feeding Grounds

The "big event" at Gen Con this year (for me anyway) will be the Feeding Grounds Darwin's World adventure, which will be run by Chris Davis, owner of RPGobjects and writer of DW 2nd edition.

In honor of the upcoming debut of the adventure, here's another taste of flavor text:

Seconds ago you were laying down in the cryo-capsules at the heart of the Chicago Special Research center, a military force tasked with testing new weapons and tactics. In the armies formed in the days leading up to the war, robots and androids took over more and more of the dangerous field operations, while units like the 3^rd Special Research, nicknamed “the Specter” worked out tactics under controlled conditions that the robot units would perform in the field. Even more secret than its usual activities was the Cryo-Preservation Research (CPR) program that would put soldiers and citizens to sleep in case of a war or natural disaster that threatened humanity.

Summoned by your superior in the 3^rd Special Research, “Top”, the unit’s top sergeant, you immediately see on the secure news how grave the crisis is, much worse than what the bubbleminds are being fed on the vids outside. As you head for the nearest weapons locker to join the fight, Top orders you to stand down, “Nice idea but wrong play. Eve is ordering us to stand down. This is what we’ve been preparing for. We’re going to save the world. Save it by being the ones who live.”

As you lay down you heard the voice of Eve, the AI computer that coordinated the CPR program. She would also assume control of all robots in the city in the result of an emergency and use them to defend the sleeping soldiers, scientists and workers who would rebuild. As the mindless animal hordes of the enemy closed in on the city and missiles began being fired in earnest, you lay down and watched the tub slide closed above you, listening to the end of the world on news broadcasts drowned out by Eve’s soft, lilting voice “All members of 3^rd Special Research to your tubes for commencement of CPR procedures. This is not a drill. Assuming control of robot defense forces in Chicago Dome immediately per Project: Brave New World protocol. I repeat: All members of 3^rd Special Research to your tubes for commencement of CPR procedures. This is not a drill. This is not a drill”

Now seconds later by your reckoning, the tube is opening again, “Up! Up! Up! Move soldiers! Haven’t you slept long enough? Need another little 500 year nap?!? Let’s move! Let’s move! Let’s move!”

Everything light seems bright. Too bright. Every sound seems loud. Too loud. A part of your mind whispers that this is what being born must feel like. You wish you could cry as shamelessly as that child. But you are too well trained. Pulling yourself free of the sticky amniotic fluids in the tanks you walk, naked to the nearest shower, one thought sticking in your mind as you slowly return to full consciousness: “500 years”.