Hello today! While this game is technically fully playable, I want to keep polishing the experience of it until I consider it perfect. Since this is a tabletop, testing changes in sessions and applying them takes a lot of time, but I want to keep you guys updated and I like the idea of having almost this kind of "blog" to gather feedback, so please leave comments with suggestions if you have any! Heads up - if you're reading this, it's assumed that you know how the system works, so there will be minimal context given, but I will gladly answer any questions in the comments. With that out the way, let's get to the fun stuff...

Example Adventure: Return of Neo Metal Sonic

NOTE: This section in the 1.7 book is outdated and should be fully disregarded, use this post instead. I'll leave a link to it on the main page. Also, ignore the "MacGuffin" section from the 1.7 book, as it is also outdated and was written before Momentum became a mechanic, when Rings came from a plot-related item. 

Here is a simple adventure based on the first arc of the IDW Sonic comics, specifically Issues 7-11. The sections with Mr. Tinker are removed, as they were more for Sonic's character development. You can incorporate them in-between stages if you wish, but Mr. Tinker will not provide any antagonism and will cooperate to the best of his ability, like he did in comics. I will also include images from these Sonic IDW comics, for context, so please support the official release. 

It's also supposed to be a "sample adventure", so it provides a lot of empty space for you to fill and encourages improv as well as your own additions. If you're not sure, for example, how much of the presented material you should throw at your specific party or what terms like "Obstacles" and "Stage" mean, keep reading, as we'll go into more detail about them later. 

In my experience a stage takes about two 2-4 hour sessions, one for the Obstacles and one for the Boss Battle, so this whole adventure will take you about 6-7 sessions. You can also, with minimal changes, turn either of the stages into a one-shot, if you're looking for something shorter.

The Call to Action (and introduction): 

The heroes are helping everyone out after the Mobians won the big war with the Eggman Empire. There are reports and sightings of Robotnik's leftover robots becoming more and more organized and some cities even had to defend against their minor assaults. We know that it's not Dr. Eggman, because he was found in a distant village and looks to be reformed or at least "broken" after some sort of head injury during the war, so someone else is pulling the strings. The adventure starts when heroes find a signal of a huge flying Egg Ship in the skies and either decide or are sent to investigate (you can use G.U.N., Resistance or any local enforcement institution for that).

The Villain: Neo Metal Sonic

The Villain is Neo Metal Sonic - a super robot version of Sonic out to destroy the world. He has sharp metal spikes, spikes on his armor and an anime coat (potentially metal too?). He will first show up in his "regular" Neo Metal Sonic form, and will transform into Metal Madness for the final battle. He has Sonic's powers, full control over Eggman's robotic armies, and will send waves of different Egg Pawns against the heroes. He can also copy battle data of anyone he touches.

His goal is to continue the legacy of his master, Eggman, in taking over the world, and destroy the heroes.

The Adventure:

A lot will depend on the group you have, their backstories and general goals, but heroes will most likely begin the adventure in the starting village or the Resistance base. Write an appropriate introduction for them. You can also create a guide NPC if you'd like, to direct them in-between stages. 

Stage 1 - Egg Fleet

Reach and fight through the Egg Ship. Face Neo Metal, and have him reveal himself and his place to take over the world. The Egg Carrier will be high in the sky, have a large cockpit protected by many automated canons and armies of robots. Don't sweat too much on the transportation, ask if any of the heroes would have a plane or something along those lines already or give them something they will need to protect (potentially as a Buddy).

Obstacles you can put on the way: 
- Fleet is in the sky and needs to be reached somehow; Give it a lot of external protection - interseptors, canons, floating mines, a force field;
- An army of robots is patrolling inside and outside of it; Sonic Heroes inspired enemies - Egg Pawns, Egg Bishops, Egg Hammers, Shielded Egg Pawns, Automated Turrets;
- Egg Carrier's internal security system locking down doors or ejecting sections heroes are in based on laser grids, cameras and other sensors;
- Potential mini-boss like Zero from Sonic Adventure or E-2000;
- A prison filled with a group of Mobian captured by the robots; A small detour to evacuate them in drop pods;

Boss: Neo Metal Sonic
- Phase 1 - You enter the Egg Carrier and see Eggman handling the controls. You can foreshadow this with announcements and mocking over the intercom during the stage if you wish. This Phase will have him hide and fight cowardly, using traps, automated defenses and robots from the stage.
- Phase 2 - After being damaged, the disguise disappears and the group is greeted by Neo Metal Sonic. He doesn't seem bothered by losing his camouflage and in fact can now go "all out", using classic Sonic moves, like super speed and spin dashes, mixed with claws and lasers.
- Phase 3 - At some point in the battle, a successful Kick Butt will throw the group and him through the window of the common center onto the outside of the ship. Here heroes will have to deal with strong wind current, potential to fall, as well as him using his ability to copy their powers, and being more aggressive. 

You can end the stage on either his escaping, or using the good-old "it was a mechanical clone" card, if the players get too aggressive. When returning home, let them know that there might be a place where we can discover Neo Metal's next steps - an old base who's connection to Eggnet is still stable and can be used to find out where he's headed.

Stage 2 - Forgotten Base

Infiltrate an abandoned underground Eggman base and find out what his plan entails. Technically a filler mission, but it could be a good pacing change after the previous stage and before the craziness of the next one. It could also be used to flash out background and character interactions. There will be lots of closed doors and security systems. They will need to fight E-105 Zeta to get to the console with the data.

Obstacles you can put on the way:
- Try playing into the claustrophobic and tight design of the hallways - give them disadvantages on Style, and instability to move, get them lost and separated if possible;
- At the same time, make the place look like a maze, every time someone misses a roll, don't be afraid to cut them off from the party;
- Similarly to the ship, this will have security systems - auto-locking doors, combined with flooding/collapsing traps or waves of older classic-era badniks;
- Final Big Reinforced Door, put it on a timer the moment they approach too, so they have to think fast; Something that is extremely hard to break physically; They would have to look for a hidden console or a vent to disable the security;
- A group of lost treasure hunters trying to collect Eggman's old tech; Maybe a hostile conflict with them or a saving mission;

Boss: E-105 Zeta
- Phase 1 - Initial confrontation, all systems, full power. Lock all the exits, start showing missiles and lasers all over, make him modify the terrain of the room to split the party by creating metal walls or locking them in cafes. Summon a few baniks to help. Give him a strong energy shield.
- Phase 2 - Once the robot starts feeling that he's not able to protect the data, start the multi-self-destruct. The robot will attempt to explode the base, kill everyone inside and erase all the data from the computers, all at the same time. Just killing him is not an option, as the processes started already (you could give players an option to recover them after if need be). So fill the room with gas, reveal C4 taped all over the ceiling and show that the main terminal starts an erasure programm. Throw in one or two Defenses from the previous stage for good measure. 

Zeta is an interesting take on a boss, being a stationary tower, he's not going to be as sturdy as Neo Metal, but he will compensate with a larger number of Defenses per Stage. He's a security system, so make him a deadly one, that requires fast thinking and movement. After the battle is won, the heroes will learn that the final target of Neo Metal is Angel Island, as that will give him enough power to fulfill his ambition.

Stage 3 - Angel Island

Unfortunately, we arrive a little too late, and have to assault the Angel Island taken over by Neo Metal Sonic's armies by this point. Big open jungle, filled with armies of robots. Huge Egg Fleet harbor that was created on the shoreline, sending flying ships all over. Neo's Chambers are in the temple with the Master Emerald, which he will be using to gain more power.

To Save Everyone Option:
If you wish, you can introduce a way To Save Everyone for your team. It could be done either normally, or because they failed to collect info in the previous stage. Either way, have Super Neo Metal appear in front of your group right at the start of the stage and wreck them. Don't even let the roll dice. The classic option is to destroy their arrival craft, but anything works. That will give them a minute to understand that the foe is way too powerful and you will need to reach the Chaos Shrine where the 7 Emeralds are stored, OR, you can scatter them on the island for better interactivity. 

Obstacles you can put on the way:
- Egg Barracks setup in the forest - many robots and heavy battles, maybe some sort of automated construction facility, re-use or callback to enemies used in the first stage, re-mix them in a new way or make a reference to something that happened before (maybe a robot or two survived and became stronger?);
- Egg Carrier Depo - a whole section of the island is now a boarding area for many Egg Carriers; This one is tricky, as you either need to show your heros' growth in power, or give them something simpler to destroy. Maybe there is a control tower that needs to be blown up or a mini-boss that needs to be stopped;
- Local Echidna Tribes - someone needs to be saved, it could be just a random local tribe, a group of archeologists, surrounded soldiers, something related to one of the characters or your own creation;
- Underwater Egg Sub - yes, he brought a sub with him, and it has a very strong missile system that will cause a lot of damage if not handled. The water itself is not dangerous, so sneaking on board will not be a problem, but inside it's claustrophobic and you have to fight robots created to work in this environment exclusively. Flooding, escaping in time, heavy locked doors, stuff like that;
- Shrine Security - you bet Neo Metal won't leave his throne unsecured. This should be the final pre-boss confrontation with the group, so what to do here is up to you. It could be a cool idea to just let them cut-loose and have the group describe a large battle, a slagter of a whole army of robots all taking place in 1-2 simple dice rolls. Or, if you wish, make it a final test, with some sort of large mini-boss or a bunch of security forces to deal with. A minefield? Flying interseptors? Energy shield? Anything goes;

The fun part about this one, is that you can allow your heroes to take them on at any pace or order they wish. It could be multiple stages on its own, but the point is to show how much we've come, so skip forward just enough. Use the adventure you have crafted so far, use the To Save Everyone, use NPCs or present players with a prop-map of the island and ask them how they would like to take this. This stage can almost be a sandbox, with different encounters changing based on how others were handled. Being the final stage helps - make it cool.

One thing to try to keep in mind in this stage - try not to rely on "here are some enemies" too much. The game gets stale if you're just rolling Kick Butt and Flex Muscles. And in case you still decide to do so - ask them "how" they are fighting, help them come up with something more creative than just "I hit'em real hard!". On the other hand, mix things up with timed events, unexpected debuffs and equipment designed specifically against the heroes or other blocking factors to make it more complex. 

Final Boss: Metal Madness
Encountering the golden Neo Metal, he will throw out a small villain speech and start the fight. He's fully powered by the Chaos Emeralds and/or Master Emerald and collected all the powers that heroes possess, if not more. In this fight, each Phase will be a different form he takes and should require aggressively different approaches to each one. It will also be the time to trigger To Save Everyone, if you've decided to use it for this adventure.
- Phase 1 - Golden Neo Metal - use the empowered version of the Phase 3 from Stage 1. He can now mix and match abilities he learned before as well as using them on a larger scale, like he's using the Charged version of them.
- Phase 2 - Metal Madness - obviously, this wasn't his final form. Neo transforms into Metal Madness form from Sonic Heroes and becomes extremely large. He can use all the attacks from the games and more - huge swipes that crack mountains, large charing lazor, homing rockets, summoning minions. Potentially give him access to hero abilities he copied but didn't make the cut for Phase 1. Generally not very mobile, but can be if you wish.
- Phase 3 - ??? - This one you can come up with on your own. It should be a good culmination of the adventure you ran, so it could be situation with him taking hostage of all the friends we met along the way; it could be "compressed" form again, like "Perfect Metal Madness" using all the abilities and more; it could be something psychedelic with heroes jumping into his mind to fight him there or a literal "battle inside his body"; a curbstomp letting heroes easily dispatch the dying titan; anything works as long as it's awesome;

And that's it! Wrap up the adventure with a simple epilogue, ask your players what their heroes will do after, provide some future for the NPCs and we're done. As you noticed, each stage becomes more bloated as you keep progressing in the game, and that might just be my personal writing style, but being a narrative-focused game, the early stages are there to build-up the mystery and the team, while the rest are pay-off to those things. Plus, there is the question of increasing the difficulty as you get further too. With that all in mind, now you can get back to the book and keep reading. Outside of the MacGuffin section which should be ignore, the rest of the 1.7 book covers everything you need to know on a more mechanical level.