Author Archives: Wayne

Skies of Glass: Metropolis #1

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“You better hurry up and get moving boy.  You don’t want to be late for your first day of Militia.  Sergeant Reynolds doesn’t have much patience and you DON’T want to start off on his bad side.  That man sure can hold a grudge.”  James chuckled as he watched his son nick his cheek shaving.  “See now that wouldn’t happen if you had woken up earlier.”

Jim was rushing to get ready as quickly as he could, but he had been up a bit too late the night before celebrating his 18th birthday.  Good friends and poor quality liquor had taken its toll.  Of course Jim didn’t really have any frame of reference to determine what liquor would be good or bad.  “I know dad, I’m hurrying.  The fort is only a mile away so I’ve got plenty of time if I run.”  Jim’s words were muffled as he slipped a shirt on over his head.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’ll make a great first impression on Sergeant Reynolds if you show up panting and out of breath.”  Jim’s father sighed and all the laughter drained from his face.  “Look in all seriousness son I want you to be careful out there.  I know it’s only your first day and you’ll be in training for a while, but it’s a dangerous world.  We have it pretty good here in Metropolis and there are a lot of people out there that are jealous of that.  You keep your guard up because the Ists are always out there waiting to stab you in the back if it isn’t.”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry so much.  We haven’t heard from Ists in almost six months now.  Besides it’s not like I have much choice in this.”  Every male age 18-22 has to serve full time in the militia before starting their real lives.”  There was a mocking tone to Jim’s voice as he paraphrased the line he had heard so many times growing up.  The idea of serving in the Militia was something that really bothered him.  Actually, the idea of being forced to do anything bothered him.  He took a deep breath to get control of his voice hoping to keep things from getting out of hand.  “I know how dangerous the Ists are.  I may not like the idea of being in the Militia, but it is important and to be honest I wouldn’t mind getting a little bit of payback for what happened to Mom.”  His father started to speak, but Jim cut him off abruptly.  “I won’t do anything stupid, but I can’t talk about this now I really am going to be late.”  Jim paused at the door on his way out.  “Besides its just training what could possibly happen during training?”  With that parting comment Jim grabbed his bag and was out the door running full speed east towards Fort Massac.

Jim’s father stood in the door to their house watching him run off into the distance.  “Your mom would be so proud to see this day,” he mumbled to himself.  Memories of all the time both good and bad he had in the militia swam through his mind.  He thought of his old friend Jason Reynolds and broke out into a laugh.  “I’d give anything to see your face when you meet Jason.”  When the laughter stopped James went back into the suddenly very quiet house.

Skies of Glass: Metropolis An Introduction

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The seeds of the story you are about to read go back to a Skies of Glass campaign that Dan ran from late 2008 to early 2009.  The campaign had our characters crossing Missouri on an escort mission to Linden, Tennessee.  As we traveled I found myself wondering just what the town of Metropolis, Illinois would be like in this world.  Would it have survived the hardships that had come, and would the Superman statue still be standing?  I wanted answers to these questions, but a side trip to Metropolis in-game just did not make sense for the characters.  Alas the campaign ended and I never did find out what the status of the town was.

Over the next few months my mind raced with questions about how Metropolis would have held up.  I started writing backgrounds and developed the entire history of what the town had experienced over the 50 years or so from the bombing to the time frame of our campaign.  As the town became more real in my mind, I began to write a story set in this era.  I intended to post this story in a serialized format but found myself drawn into other creative projects.  I left this work for a while, but in the back of my mind it was screaming to be worked on.

Fast forward to a few months before Fear the Con 3.  I knew that I wanted to run a game or two, but I just could not get a superhero story put together.  I created characters that I was proud of, but the story just would not come.  I was also nervous about running a system without ever having played in it.  Suddenly the solution hit me.  There was a story, characters, and city in a world that I cared about.  I even had a system to run that I had played enough to be comfortable running.  All the pieces fell into place and my story became the foundation for two sessions of Skies of Glass that I ran at Fear the Con 3.

Returning to the town I put so much thought into reignited my passion for the story.  I found myself creating new characters and expanding the town and its mysteries.   Thoughts of  driving to the real world Metropolis again just to take more pictures for further inspiration even started to float through my head.  The serialized story that will be presented here week after week is a true labor of love.  I genuinely care about these characters and this town and I hope to make you the readers care as well.