Everybody Wants to Rule the World

A Shadow of the Century presents Movie!

Introduction

It’s 1984 and a news blasted the world of the music: the famous Eurovision Song Contest is expanding itself overseas! Although there was some individual inscriptions from non-Europeans countries, specially for the now-outside Israel and Australia, there was no representation from overseas.

This is now past: with his new partner, Musiflow Studios, part of the Luxembourgish music-oriented megacorp Musiflow Music and Shows, Eurovision is holding auditions for nominations on some regions:

The background

Eurovision

Eurovision Song Contest could be seen as a Musical version of the UEFA Eurocup held by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956 yearly, based on the famous Sanremo Music Festival.

Basically, each country (on the adventury, those include the regional nominations) submits a completely new, unreleased, music (maybe select into a regional nomination contest), by a singer or band, that performs live during the TV show, and this is TV broadcast by EBU participant networks. The countries representants then votes into their favorites to award a winner. Actually, it’s not common, although not unheard of, overseas nomination.

There’s some rules about ESC:

  1. There’s a 3 minute time limit for the performance
  2. No political discourses - although indirect references may be tolerated
  3. No hazardous or dangerous performances - no pyrotechnics, for example
  4. Normally, the music needs to be in one of the nominated country’s official idiom - for 1984, this rule was lifted and the music idiom is totally free
  5. No more than a nomination for the same artist and year, although the same artist can be nominated by different countries in different years
  6. The music need to be totally brand new and not-released before ESC (at least before the locals nomination contest). Samples, reworking or covers are not eligible for ESC
  7. If there’s any change on the music or show in each of the ESC steps (nomination, knock-out, semifinals, finals), they need to be sent for ESC’s marshals and organization for approving.

Some people says that the biggest Eurovision case of success were the Swedish band ABBA, that grew to international fame with Waterloo, the 1974 winner song. Although already disbanded, ABBA is still a very known and respected band.

Musiflow Studios

Musiflow Studios is a recent music company, focused on all kind of musics, all around the world. His slogan, “Flowing the sound”, is seeing as an example in globalization of music. Investing into local artists from the countries where they estabilish themselves, Musiflow is growing big and creating a great roster of artists from almost every musical style, from classic to jazz to death metal to new age to pop.

Musiflow was funded 10 years ago, from a expatriate English that based his company on the fiscal haven of Luxembourg, as a way to be able to cash better his resources. It’s official HQ is in Zurich, Switzerland, but the real operations are made via his the Luxenbourg City HQ. Marcus M. Townsend was a somewhat competent, although not that good musician. However, since he found Musiflow, his money and influence has grown bigger and bigger, calling the attention of The Board, that see on Musiflow as a way to enter into the cultural battlefront.

Unknown to almost everyone, there’s a hidden and dangerous truth about Townsend: he’s a fragment of Doctor Methuselah. He “awakaned” by this after his musician carreer, when he came to a kind of dark epiphany: as music is sound, and basically sound are frequencies produced in the air, and frequencias are nothing more or less than math applied to real life, music could be somewhat manipulated via mathemagics to control things.

Marcus M. Townsend - Musiflow Owner, Musician and Composer, Methuselah Fragment

Methuselah Fragment; Lots of Money from my Company; “Music is, under the hood, numbers.”

Superb (+5) Mastermind; Great (+4) Scientist; Good (+3) Authority, Dilletante; Fair (+2) Assassin, Soldier

  • Universal Translator
  • Encyclopedia Perambula
  • Keen Observer
  • Grease the Wheels
  • Everything’s for Sale
  • Social Science
  • Weird Science

He established into Luxenbourg and tried at first to control Radio Luxembourg, a very important cultural staple for Europe. However, he was unsuccessful on this. Some people says that the old Centurions-in-hiding Amelia Stone and Professor Khan are responsible by this, and that this knowledge made Townsend goes against Radio Luxembourg as far he could.

But he estabilished a bigger plan, a master plan.

He wants to become Doctor Methuselah again, as the God of The New World.

Via Eurovision.

For this, he entered as one of the master sponsors for Eurovision Song Contest. This provide him with ways to do his plan.

First, he changed the rules so ESC would be worldwide for the first time. The overseas nominations are all financially sponsored by Musiflow.

At the same time, he could award for himself the direct semifinal nomination as the Luxembourg nomination (he bought somewhat the nomination) for being the host country. He just needed the correct band and music.

He composed a great music, laced with all the mathemagic needed to do a hipnotic trance that would open the minds of those who hear that. With enough audience, they could open the reality to unify all the Methuselah’s Fragments spread around the world and engrave into those affected the new meaning of Methuselah as God of this New World, Immortal and Unborn, just Being.

The band he found recently, formed by a guy called Wayne Darsius, himself a Methuselah Fragment. They entered in contact and decided to make the old guys goes away, by bribering or even via accident, and reconstructed his band as DuoLogic. Darsius is the only one beside Townsend that knows the real objective of DuoLogic, the other members thinking only that they were chosen to be part of Eurovision.

Wayne Darsius - DuoLogic Lead Singer, Methuselah Fragment

Methuselah Fragment; DuoLogic Lead Singer; Right Attitude, Wrong Philosophy

Superb (+5) Mastermind; Great (+4) Scientist; Good (+3) Authority, Dilletante; Fair (+2) Assassin, Soldier

  • Social Science
  • Creative Accounting
  • I Know what I Need (applied for Music Instruments)
  • Trust Me

However, there was a flaw that even two Methuselah Fragments could not see…

The new, reformulated DuoLogic is:

From those, the main problem for Musiflow (unbeknowst for them at the time) is Sabine.

Unknown for them, Sabine, Shamal and Samuel were all from some Hu Dunnit Club when kids. Although they treat these as a common background and just this, they all felt the same thing: the music they’re playing has something weird on it. They were contracted to make a band that is half synthwave pop, half ethnic new age, and they know that they are somewhat “incompatible”. She chose to smuggle a tape with the music (still not “finished”) and her copy of the score for a contact.

Sabine “Dizzy” Pffeiffer - Berliner Universität PhD in Arts, DuoLogic Keytar player

PhD in Arts - Berliner Universität; A Grown-Up Kid: Still like and remember the Benjamin Hu Mystery Show; Contact: Florian Schneider, teacher; Not influenced by hypnotical tunes

Great (+4) Inventor; Good (+3) Face, Hacker; Fair (+2) Dilettante

  • And Duct Tape

His contact was an old time professor from Berliner Universität that was in Sabine’s PhD board. His name is Florian Schneider, one of the founders of Kraftwerk, one of the biggest staples in Electronic Music. They heard this music and felt weird, and looked for some other musicians that could confirm him the music is weirdly compelling for something they could not describe.

One of them was the famous French musician Jean-Michel Jarre. Linked with Radio Luxembourg via old ties with Amelia Stone (his mother and grandparents were freed from a concentration camp by her, after being held because they were part of the French Resistence during World War II), he doesn’t like Musiflow, as he know they tried to buy the company he’s part of, Dreyfuss Music. He know that, in retaliation, Musiflow did everything front Polydor, his distributor, to push aside the launching of his album Musique pour Supermarché so he, in protest, produced only a copy of the album, destroyed the masters, auctioned the copy and reproduced it in Radio Luxembourg, creating a weird case of a “official bootleg album”, even with Radio Luxembourg alerting the person to when they should flip the tape to record Side B of Musique pour Supermarché.

He also listened the music, via Olivier, an old acquaintance, and felt queasy after it. Being someone that knows about the impact of composition and music, and on indicing images on people while they hear the music, he know that DuoLogic music has a weird, compelling message, but in a Lovecraftian way.

Other important musician that knew things about involving DuoLogic is Mike Oldfield: during the Exegesis therapy, knew Wayne and feel that he’s someone he don’t show. Musiflow paid the Lead Singer’s Exegesis treatment fully, and it is hard cash even for the creator of the Seminal Album Tubular Bells.

Another one that know about this dangerous music is the famous Greek composer Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou a.k.a. Vangelis. now famous after composing incredible soundtracks for films like Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner and Antartica, and for the Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series for US PBS and so, he was chosen by Greece as their judge for ECS… And, as part of the station, he already heard DuoLogic music. After that, he had nightmares for some days.

Scene 1 - The nomination

  • Intro Musics:
    • Everybody Wants to Rule The World (Tears for Fears)
    • Walk like an Egyptian (Bangles)
    • Head over Heels (Tears for Fears)

You can set your PCs everywhere in the world. They are part of a band that is trying his luck into the local nomination for Eurovision (or are groupies for it). They need an idea to what kind of record they’ll want to write through.

First of all, you can do an Insight Check against a Good (+4) difficult (you’ll roll using Good (+4) as your skill level). The idea is that the band needs to find an inspiration on what they’ll want to sing about, and some ideas on the music. Ask them about references. If possible, make them get mad on this: remember, this is the age that gave us Bohemian Rhapsody, Everyone wants to rule the world, Final Countdown, Power of Love, Danger Zone, Karma Chameleon… And things like Locomia and Menudo’s Não se reprima. Ask them the kind of thing they want to use as a basis.

If they go after this successfully, they’ll have an Inspiration, and there’s the time for The Nomination. Treat it as a Contest with a Good Bands skill of Good (+3), representing the opposing bands. If the PCs get away with this, got to Scene 2a, if not, go for Scene 2b.

Scene 2a - Musiflow shows their claws

Musiflow knows about the PCs and their music, and they see on it an menace for their plans. At least by now, they’ll be asked politely by a Johnny John, a generic clerk, about a proposition to withdraw their nomination for Eurovision. Obviously, Musiflow will pay big bucks, but it’s after the PCs to accept or not. The clerk is a John Bob guy, no evil at all, just business. And he is doing only his job, so no matter what happens, the PCs should not kick his guy ass. However, no matter what, the PCs will feel that there’s something fishy. Go for Scene 3.

Scene 2b - The withdraw

Some time after, they are contacted by local Eurovision nominees, explaining that the selected band, for some weird reason, withdrew the nomination, so they are now the nominees for Eurovision. A Great (+4) Awareness or Superb (+5) Insight check will show there’s something fishy. The Awareness check can give, on a Success with Style the clue: the band has signed with Musiflow, one of the Eurovision sponsors for big cash and projection. The weirdest thing is: the nomination was not given to another Musiflow-linked band, but the PCs’ one. Go for Scene 3

Scene 3 - The presentation

  • Intro music
    • Only When You Leave (Spandau Ballet)
    • Englishman in New York (Sting)
    • Big in Japan (Alphaville)
    • Voyage Voyage (Desireless)

September 1st is the date where Eurovision presents the nominated bands, and at the same time some sample on their music. During this presentation they’ll know lots of big guys in music industry, either as part of the bands in the contest, and specially as judges, voters and staff. Guys like Kraftwerk, Eurythmics, Jean-Michel Jarre, Tears For Fears, Dire Straits, Five Young Cannibals, Toto, Vangelis, Mike Oldfield and so, are in the happy hour. There’s also DJs, presenters from international Radios and TV shows (specially things like Radio Free Europe, Radio Luxembourg, and BBC), journalists and so.

Then, there is the official presentation: each band will be presented by being called for a quick Q&A, and then presenting the band music’s sample. Luxembourg is the first one to be presented, as host country for 1984, and the band is presented, the multiethnic DuoLogic. Their music, “Danu’s EleGate”, is played. Everyone that pass on a secret Great (+4) Will check will note that there’s a kind of post-hypnotic tune on it. Those who wants to see if the music has something fishy, can do it by a Great (+4) Awareness, Insight or Knowledge check (GM discretion). If they pass so, they’ll note also that looks like the music is too-much good in a bad way: looks like it was made to be good to everyone, by mixing lots of things into a coherent music, like parts of Synthwave, Ethnic/New Age, Electronic, and Pop into the same thing.

Then will be time for the PCs present themselves. Ask about details of the music: style, theme, name, everything. Some of them can even be turned into Aspects for them to use in the Future. Make also questions (as Journalists NPCs) about the events of Scenes 2a or 2b. Give them some Aspects related on it, or put more Free Invokes. Notes the anwsers and then end their participation in the presentation.

During the party after the presentation, a guy from Radio Luxembourg will call them to talk in private. This guy, Sven Piertersson, is one of the main DJs for Radio Luxembourg.

Sven Piertersson

Radio Luxembourg DJ; Recently Acquainted with Amelia Stone; “Music has power, you know!”; ex-Professional Student

Great (+4) Face; Good (+3) Dilletante, Brain; _Fair (+2) Inventor

  • Universal Translator;
  • Majored in College

Sven is Icelandic, and had Majored at Berliner Universität in Anthropology and Sociology, but he also had lots of minors, as he takes 10 years (!!!!) at University. He is skilled on languages and has lots of useful knowledges that he could be using to cash great buck, but an Internship in Radio Luxembourg had made him opted for a better way of life, specially after being presented to one of now hidden Spirits of the Century, Amelia Stone (now Lorena Michalak), and his weird companion in hiding, the great Gorilla Sapiens Professor Khan!

Amelia Stone (aka Lorena Michallak) - Spirit of Justice

A Life for the Justice; Under a new name; Can’t Abandon a Person in Trouble; Fists of Stone, Heart of Glass; If I can’t punch, I can denounce!; Professor Khan is my best partner

Superb (+5) Brawler; Great (+4) Leader; Good (+3) Wheelman, Warrior; Fair (+2) Dilettante, Cop

  • Send More Mooks!
  • Gearhead
  • Sweet Ride (Kawasaki GPZ900R)
    • First of a Legend; Too much power!

Professor Khan - Gorilla Sapiens

Artifically-Enhanced Gorilla Sapiens; “Normal World has no place for me”; Alma Mater: Cambridge University; Amelia can lean on me

Superb (+5) Brain; Great (+4) Detective; Good (+3) Dilettante, Inventor; Fair (+2) Brawler, Warrior

  • Clinical Diagnosis
  • Encyclopedia Perambula
  • Keen Observer

Obviously, with the fall and disband of the Century Club in 1956, they had to go into clandestinity. Amelia and Khan were outcasts from society, although they know a lot about it: she was raised into MontMartre in Paris, he lived a lot of time at Cambridge, working as a Professor. With time, however, they had created their own ways to grow up and power themselves back. They received also a part of the Mack Silver’s Golden Seed, that they invested into Radio Luxembourg (Amelia liked the name as remembered Rosa Luxemburg).

Amelia assumed the CEO post as Lorena Michalak, an identity she had made with some help, including an “marriage” with a good, but common, friend. From the old Amelia, there’s only the heart fractured by Le Monstre Aux Yeaux Vertes, the secret partner and biggest friend Professor Khan (that works into hiding at Radio Luxembourg) and the passion for Savate and Motorcycles, having one of the first motorcycles that would be known as Kawasaki Ninja, the GPZ900R. She even had made a record time in one of the only escapades she gave that could fumble the hiding, as she scored a 8:01.201 driving the risky Nordschleifer track at Nürburgring under an average speed of 171 km/h, beating the official record of 8:22.201 for almost 20 seconds. The record was not recognized, though, as she got into a touristenfahrten, when anyone could drive at the Nordschleifer.

She and Khan worked on Radio Luxembourg so it could be another staple of freedom of music and speech, of education and empowerment, so they did all the possible to make it a kind of Voice of America in Europe. They had some success, as they receive report of people from the other side of the Iron Curtain learning about languages and music and culture from the East thanks for them.

She still fight for just using Radio Luxembourg to pass news that came from places like Reuters, BBC and Affiliated Press that they know that are blocked by the USSR influence. However, at the same time, she feels that some news in US are not balanced enough when they talk about the Socialist Nations, and she had more than her share of “Red Danger” when the Club fell.

Sven presents the PCs for Lorena and then she gave them her contact card, asking them to go for Radio Luxembourg HQ next day: she need to talk urgently with almost everyone she could.

Scene 4 - In Radio Luxembourg (Rising Action Milestone)

  • Intro Music:
    • True (Spandau Ballet)
    • Time (Allan Parsons Project)
    • Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield)
    • Sahara (Dschinghis Khan)

Next day, they go to Radio Luxembourg and they are invited for a closed-door meeting with Lorena Michalak and some other people. Curiously, they see they are the only one of the Eurovision bands to get into this reunion.

They are sent to an exclusive elevator and they feel they are going down, not up as supposely. Make them feel a little weird: this is going a little too much weird.

When they can get out the elevator, they’ll see a group of rooms that looks like some offices and living rooms. They get into the conference room, where they can see that Lorena is already there, but they see a greatly weird vision: some of the best musicians in the world looking for Lorena and a big Gorilla, and the Gorilla is using kilt and a beret. And then, the Gorilla talk to the PCs, with a dense, powerful and calming voice, with a British accent like a professor:

“My best regards, my friends. Maybe you had not heard about me, but lots will be explained now. And about the beret: there was that Argentinian Guy, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, gave me after I won him either on Chess and Rugby. Great scrum-half and wing, and had one of the best development in Ruy Lopes Opening on an amateur chess player.”

Gave time for the PCs get back after this and then describe the room. With Amelia and Khan, there was also some of the musicians cited in the Introduction, like Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, and others, like ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Dschinghis Khan’s Leslie Mándoki and Wolfgang Heichel. They are all looking worried and for some graphics projected into a screen, that looks like some kind of EEG (Electroencephalography) and syntethizer’s soundwaves.

They’ll start to explain things for the PCs, starting with a little about the (now somewhat lost) Cold War between Spirits and Shadows, and about the more powerful Shadow from the Past, Doctor Methuselah. They then explain that, although they believe Doctor Methuselah is deceased, their works stays left behind, via mathemagics.

Then they’ll show the graphics and explain that Musiflow’s music is somewhat “laced” with a hypnotic signal that could put the world into a specific mindstate that could ready them for a so powerful hypnotic stance that could affect the perceptions and even the subconscious paradigm that works into our Universe.

Before people into the group goes crazy, make clear that all that musicians are conscious on what they are talking of and they are also smart enough to not get into a con. So, no matter how crazy this thing is, there is at least some reason on it.

Some questions the PCs would like to ask:

  1. “What the [bleep] is happening here?”

After this, Amelia explain again about the music, like into the Introduction. They’ll not talk about being Doctor Methuselah because they can’t see Methuselah’s or his fragments in the things.

  1. “So, Musiflow is the big bad corp?”

“Yes. Exactly this. We don’t know how they had gone that good on manipulating sounds to generate post-hypnotic suggestions… But yes, sounds like this.”

In fact, some of the artists will talk about the cheesy business and skunkworks involving Musiflow. Jarre will talk about the sabotage Dreyfuss received from Polidor and he believes it was a move from Musiflow. Ulvaeus and Andersson talks about some influence of Musiflow into ABBA’s dissolution (although they confess there was also some clashes between them)

  1. “How they composed this?”

Schneider from Kraftwerk says that he receive the score from an old time acquaintance and PhD student, Sabine “Dizzy” Pfeiffer, that found weird about the music. The Score is incomplete and has lots of erasures and amendments, changing notes and so. Schneider will say:

“I had tried to play this thing… But in just 30 seconds my mind was so drowsy I needed to stop. It’s weird.”

In the compositor name there’s the Initials M.T. and W.D.. A Good (+3) Knowledge check show the PCs they are Marcus M. Townsend and Wayne Darsius, Musiflow’s CEO and DuoLogic’s Lead Singer, respectively. They’ll also know that neither of them could, at least considering the music they composed previously, go that quality. They are competent and did some big buck on composition before, but this is a Weird kind of Masterpiece. It’s not their style at all. Looks like made to praise Greeks and Trojans.

  1. “And how would us fight this?”

Schneider looks like had discovered a kind of “failure” in the music: it is too much perfect.

“Music is not just about technique. You can have all the technique you want, but your passion and feelings are also important. Music is not only the medium. Music is the message.”

He’ll explain that many of the Eurovision bands were focused more in passion than in skill. He’ll use ABBA (Waterloo, Super Trooper, Voulez-Vous, The Winner Takes It All) and Dschinghis Khan (Dschinghis Khan, Moskau, Hadschi Aleph Omar) as the kind of music that traditionally had gone good in Eurovision. The music are more flashy and passionated than skillfilly and technically better. Sure, a flashy show will not save a lousy, fishy music, but a skilled musician would also not win with a boring show.

In a kind of weird Council of Elrond, some of the guys into this room accept to help the PCs. Specially Ulvaeus, Andersson, Mándoki and Heichel, that sounds that has some kind of quarry against Musiflow. Schneider, Jarre and Mike Oldfield could also provide help. Note if the PCs accept it or not and from when, because this will be very useful in the Montage at the end of the adventure.

Anyway, no matter what they could see, next day will be Eurovision’s knockout round. They’ll have to take some time for rest and prepare themselves.

Here, trigger the Rising Action Milestone (p. 71). A good example of Big Advantage is “They want to Rule The World… Via Music!”

Scene 5 - Knock-out

This is an important time in ESC: only the 16 better bands will go for the semifinals and final, TV broadcast all around Europe and in many countries around the world.

This is a good moment for treating as a Contest. DuoLogic has a Performance skill of Good (+3) for this Knock-Out stage. Treat this as their skill for the Contest rolls. Ask which player will do the rolls (normally the leader singer/guitar player). There’s a limit for Teamwork this time of 2 players (so, max Teamwork bonus is +2), but other players can Create Advantages if they want. However remember: a Failed Create Advantage test avoid the roll for the Contest.

If the PCs wins, they were better then DuoLogic this time, so DuoLogic will understand (and treat them) as Worthy Opponents. This will put them under DuoLogic’s (more exactly, Townsend and Darsius’) radar. This can be not be the best idea.

However, if the PCs loses, they’ll still be able to do their way to the semifinals and finals. The good news is that they will not cross themselves with DuoLogic into this stage. The bad news is that They need to better things up. Consider this as a Consequence-like Aspect for all the group (this will be important, because they can use this in the future)

This will be important, because some attitudes will happens based on this.

If the were considered Worthy Opponents, then they’ll hear about some rumors that Musiflow would provide some Eurovision bands with new, flashy, better gear for the semifinals. Curiously, PC’s band was not contemplated.

If They need to better things up, Amelia Stone will offer some help, by providing Radio Luxembourg’s studios at spare time for them to rehearsal somewhat. If they accept, roll against Amelia’s Leader Role (Good (+3)) for a Fair (+2) check. Also the players can roll for Readying themselves for the Semifinals, stacking some Free Invokes.

It will be a good idea to do this… Because things will go even worse in the Semifinals.

Scene 6 - Semifinals

The PCs will not have to deal with DuoLogic now… They were already pre-qualified to the Finals, as nominated via the host country, so their presentation at Semifinals 2 will be just figuration. However, the PCs will see that the pressure over them has grown, either because DuoLogic see them as Worthy Opponents or because, as They need to better things up, people can’t understand why Radio Luxembourg could be helping this backwater band that much.

They’ll run for another Contest, but now the difficult will be Great (+4). If they win, they’ll see that DuoLogic looks somewhat weird, specially Darsius, that see the PCs as a Real Menace. However, if they lose, they’ll pass the Semifinals, but for almost. They’ll need to work a lot to improve their music if they want to win Eurovision, and also to avoid Musiflow’s plan of World Domination via Music. Consider this as a Consequence-like Aspect for all the group (this will be important, because they can use this in the future)

And they’ll see that they’ll really need help. If they want to check the DuoLogic presentation at the Semifinals 2, they’ll see that their music will look even better the sample they heard during the presentation and Knock-Outs, and they even put some subtle qualities from other runners into ESC into their music!

Scene 7 - The Attack

  • Intro Music
    • Danger Zone (Kenny Loggins)
    • Mighty Wings (Cheap Trick)
    • Shout (Tears for Fears)
    • Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (Eurythimcs)

The PCs will get back into their hotel, when a Mob of Paid Masked Thugs will get near them, and start to attack.

Mob of Paid Masked Thugs Fair (+2); Not that Smart Terrible (-2) - [2][2] - +1 Teamwork

They are not fighting for hurt the PCs seriously (this would be not be a good idea for their contractors), but to take away and/or destroy as much of their equipment they could. For each turn the Conflict goes, make a secret Good (+3) check against their Awareness (the best one). If they pass on it, they’ll note that only some of the thugs were fighting him: the biggest group (2 Mobs) were sent to their van, to do the real job. At each turn passed into this, put a Free Invoke into a No Equipment Aspect for you, representing the stolen/broken instruments.

If the PCs win the Conflict, reveal the Aspect (if not did this before) and says that almost all their instruments where broken. They could want to take some of those Thugs to get some clues, but them some Corrupt Cops (the PCs will not be able to see the Corrupted part easily) will “take the thugs to the department” (in reality, they’ll “free them” by put them into some mailbags and into Trans-Europe Express to France). The PCs will be recommended to “focus on their show” and so.

Corrupt Cop Fair (+2); Dark Little Secrets Terrible (-2)

Fight those cops is not a good idea, and maybe left the thugs get away (if they perceive the corrupt cops) could be a good idea. Give a FP if they accept that this time, Musiflow had the better hand over them.

Scene 8 - The Cavalry (Confrontation Milestone)

  • Music Intro:
    • Ethnicolor (Jean-Michel Jarre)
    • The Robots/Die Roboter (Kraftwerk)
    • The Model/Das Model (Kraftwerk)
    • Computer Love/Computerliebe (Kraftwerk)
    • Pocket Calculator/Taschenrechner (Kraftwerk)
    • Pulsar (Vangelis)
    • Theme from Blade Runner (Vangelis)

Next day is the last time they’ll have to improve a little their music… Without instruments, a low morale if they had not a good Semifinals or by knowing DuoLogic see them as a Real Menace, but they could not do anything against them…

It’s time to reveal the Cavalry: Amelia Stone brings brand new, top quality instruments to them, and says that some of the guys from the encounter at Scene 3 could help them to improve their music!

It’s AdMontage time!

They’ll have a Confrontation Milestone related to “Win Eurovision, or At Least defeat DuoLogic”

They can also go into the Create an Admontage (p. 54) by creating a Full of Passion Music!

Each PC will take a turn with one of the musicians listed before. The complete list is below:

All of them has Superb (+5) or Fantastic (+6) in all the relevant skill. All of them can help in Knowledge skill, and each of them can help into some extra Skill, chosen in the list:

Let each PC choose one of them and try an Create an Admontage with them. Let them nominate the Montage Aspect of each one, like “My Solo time in the Music” or “I Like Chopin” (NA: great music from Gazebo).

If someone suggest a good music for this moment, give them a +1 bonus (+2 if they try to sing or whistle it). For some examples by the “teachers”:

Anyway, they’ll be ready for the music, providing they accept the help. Now, time for a little action before the Finals

Scene 9 - Treason! and Persecution!

After the Montage over, Sabine will go for the PCs. She looks really scared, and like she ran from rally bad guys… And with reason:

I know the kind of thing DuoLogic and Musiflow wants: the others had fell under some kind of weird hypnotic trance after too much rehearsal. I felt myself sick in the process, and while going for some refreshment, I heard Darsius and Townsend talking about some kind of math magic and a Methuselah guy… They saw me and I felt I needed to run for my life!

Amelia Stone will react very powerfully for this, and she has reasons: they are talking about Doctor Methuselah. But he’s dead! And about mathemagics! Professor Khan will theorize very fast that, as Sound are Frequencies and Frequencies are Numbers, and Mathemagics is Magic with Numbers… So the post-hypnotic trance in DuoLogic music is a kind of Mindwarping Mathemagical Spell!

The PCs and everyone will not have too much time… DuoLogic sent their ninjas!

Mob of DuoLogic Ninjas Good (+3); Nothing Personal Poor (-1); +1 teamwork [2][2]

Treat as a Conflict, and fight back! If you have some good mix of 80s music, this is a good time for this (NA: Kenny Loggins’ Danger Zone and Mighty Wings from Top Gun OST come into my head). The ninjas wants to kill Sabine for treason and everyone near her.

Amelia Stone is a great combatant and can help, and Professor Khan will hear the drums of jungle and go for fight. Give some tension, but don’t let the PCs lose here… They still has what to do.

After this fight, Sabine will stay with Amelia Stone as a guest. In the news will be said that Sabine was dropped due Incompatible Agenda, what means that maybe she’ll never be able to get into ESC in the future.

However, she’ll give the PCs a new clue: her copy of the Duologic Music, Finished. A Fantastic (+6) check against Knowledge or Insight will show them that there’s Lots of Subliminar Tunes and Atonalities that can be used to do the Mathemagical thing Professor Khan said. And, more than worse, the music now has all the Eurovision-winning elements they could put into it. They have a key thing for world domination!

The PCs needs to win Eurovision, for Freedom’s sake!

Scene 10 - Eurovision Finals

Amelia choose to give the PCs, Sabine and everyone a place to sleep at Radio Luxembourg: since the World War II, Radio Luxembourg was a hiding place and secret sanctum for Freedom fighters against the extreme doctrines, either Stalinist Communism and Divine Manifesto from US. Some rumors says that humanity had not nuked itself into oblivion thanks for Radio Luxembourg’s actions.

Next day, they’ll go for the European Broadcasting Union and it’s showtime. The PCs can (and really SHOULD) bring the Aspects obtained at the Scene 8 Montages in game, because it’s time for a Contest, the last one, between them and DuoLogic. DuoLogic has now a Superb (+5) rating for the test, and can (and WILL) also use FP to improve their chances (same rules than Fate Core: 1 per PC + 1 for either in Townsend and Darsius).

Considering they are able to win the Contest, they’ll be oficially the 1984 Eurovision Champions. If not, it will be DuoLogic.

This will dictate next scene, the REAL one.

Scene 11 - Fighting against the Methuselah’s Fragments

If DuoLogic wins at Scene 10 Contest, Darsius and Townsend will gloat their plane and them they’ll fuse themselves into a lite version of THE Doctor Methuselah.

If not, they’ll scream in rage and they’ll start to melt into a goo that will result into the fusion.

Doctor Methuselah, lite version - fractured version of himself

Shadow of Immortality; Limitless Ambition; Master Mathemagician; Strange Formulas & Arcane Equations; Planning the Long Game; All the Memories, but not the skill

Superb (+5) Mastermind; Great (+4) Scientist; Good (+3) Criminal, Authority; Fair (+2) Soldier, Assassin;

  • Infoburst: can use Mastermind to Attack
  • Shield of Reason, Improved: can use Scientist to Defend itself Physically and Mentally
  • Reality Twisting: receive +2 at Creating Advantage with Scientist
  • Paradigm Shift: +2 at Defending Physical Attacks
  • Not in this Reality: Armor: 2 against all Physical Attacks

This “Doctor Methuselah” is not “the real one”: this is an example on what happens if many Methuselah’s Fragments have the opportunity to fuse themselves into a “new” Doctor Methuselah: he achieved immortality, although a wretched, perverted, nasty, Lovecraftian version of it.

This is the bad news.

The good news is: although he has the memory of the original Methuselah, he has not all his skills (at least by now), although he is still a formidable enemy for the PCs. He wants to render them death, either because they are too pesky, or because they made his plan fumble.

This “Doctor” is a little unstable, but he can use this at his favor to avoid being harmed by mere physical attacks. He also can use his mathemagical equations to Attack, by Derivating life out their targets and Fractalling their target’s internal organs (yup, it is this weird).

However, attacking this “Doctor” via music (if the PCs have this idea), by using the logic Professor Khan said, could be a good idea: this “Doctor’s” mind is very unstable, and he could (even with difficult) be hit mentally. In this case, they can try to Attack him with Insight or Knowledge, by using their music against the Matemagics from “Doctor Methuselah”. Just don’t explicitly say that: if they ask if it’s possible, allow them some simple check on Knowledge and so (difficult on your discretion). Don’t disallow if they go straight for this: they could remember all they learned during the Movie.

Considering the PCs win (the other option is a world ready for Doctor Methuselah’s return as a New World Order God) they’ll see Townsend and Darsius, totally utterly dead, into a kind of amminiotical fluid, devoided from all Methuselah power, that has been destroyed…

Or so we hope.

Scene 12 - Epilogue

  • Music Intro
    • Don’t Forget About Me (Simple Minds)
    • True Colors (Cindy Lauper)
    • Africa (Toto)
    • Forever Young (Alphaville)
    • Moscaw (Dschinghis Khan)
    • Every Little Thing She Does is Magic (The Police)

Unfortunately for the PCs, Eurovision marshals will need to deal with this fight between the PCs and “Methuselah”. So, the PCs will be disqualified from ESC, based on the “dangerous presentation” rules. However, as long there was no casualties beside “Doctor Methuselah”, they’ll be granted a “Honor Award” on the quality of the music, with the same benefits of being the ESC winners.

With Townsend and Darsius deaths, Musiflow can either disappear, being bought by other business (maybe people from The Board) or being assumed by Sabine, with the help of the other DuoLogic members, now totally, utterly free of any Methuselah influence Townsend and Darsius could ingrained into them (and maybe resistent against it).

Amelia Stone and Professor Khan chose to drop all his influence under Radio Luxembourg for some trustful people. They saw that the world still needs the Centurions, and that their hiding can’t be forever. A new age need new heroes, that need tutors…

The PCs can now start a big turnee all around the world, using the Eurovision gig as a way to boost his carreers… And to find other problems to solve around the world.

And consider a to put a Methuselah Fragment Milestone on this, beside all other milestones

Hooks