InSpectres (RPGES episode)

"InSpectres" is the twenty-fourth episode of RPG Exploration Society. The episode aired live on June 24, 2019 on the Saving Throw Twitch channel, and is archived on the YouTube channel.

Summary
The Society plays the spooky paranormal RPG InSpectres.

A paranormal investigation franchise in Detroit take on a job for a visiting movie producer. In spite of, or because of, their extremely disparate personalities and interpersonal issues, the team discover what has been haunting the Excelsior theatre.

Full Synopsis
Introductions, rules explanation and character creation (0:00 -- 01:12:30)

It's 2pm on a normal day in 2019 at the Detroit InSpectres office when movie producer Marcus Drake comes in to book the team for a job.

He has recently rented the local abandoned movie theatre, the Excelsior, to use as a location for his production. Workers are arriving in a couple of days, but there is an abhorrent smell throughout the theatre. Trying a number of things to get rid of it, Drake finally determined there was no physical explanation and his last resort is a paranormal investigation.

The group accepts the job and starts to investigate, finding a strange history of death at the theatre. Going there in person, they are shaken by the smell but persevere. When instruments show that the paranormal is present, a ghostly heffalump appears. Angered by its inability to pick up snacks offered by Olive, it goes to attack but is intercepted by Quentin wielding October's creation - a Luigi's mansion vac-gun.

Once it is safely secured, it becomes apparent that the heffalump was not in fact the source of the issue, but a manifestation of the group's expectations (driven by Olive's obsession with heffalumps). They are just about to go look for a trapdoor into the basement when October falls through a trapdoor into the basement.

Searching the area, she discovers a journal written by the deceased George Lucas which suggests his ghost's obsession with his franchise has kept him here seeking petty vengeance on those who would ruin his creation or reject his brilliance.

Formulating a multi-faceted attack and with the support of their boss Ryan Gosling, the group projects a collection of reddit and twitter complaints about Lucas onto the theatre screen, which Olive then performs a (terrible) theatrical reading of. Quentin pretends to be J.J Abrams directing Olive's efforts and encouraging superlative lens flare, and the ghost of George Lucas appears to object in horror, where they finally are able to defeat him.

Locations

 * Detroit
 * Excelsior Theatre
 * InSpectres office

GM

 * Tom Lommel

Main Cast

 * Quentin Rucksman, middle aged egotistical professor (he/him), played by Eric Reichert
 * October 'Octobear51' Jones, 15 year old tech genius (she/her), played by Havana Mahoney
 * Madriana Essenberg, office supervisor with a crush on Quentin (she/her), played by Amy Vorpahl
 * Olive Kasinski, student and aspiring actor (she/her), played by NegaOryx

NPCs

 * Gary Norman, interviewer for positions at InSpectres
 * The Brandons, a group of unpaid interns working for InSpectres
 * Marcus Drake, a movie producer and InSpectres client
 * Ryan Gosling, owner of the Detroit InSpectres office
 * Bear, Ryan Gosling's dog
 * George Lucas