“Television, the drug of the nation, breeding ignorance and feeding radiation / It satellite links our United States of Unconsciousness / Apathetic Therapeutic and Extremely Addictive.” - Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, “Television, the Drug of the Nation.”
Channel 8:00 PM Show Episode Description
4 KKWB. Charmed. The living embodiments of TV channels, called Execs, control television Stations.
6 WXXM. Will and Grace. Execs exert their power over their TV Stations imbued with superhuman powers called Ratings.
11 KTCS. Who Wants to Kill a Billionaire. Contestants wage secret war against competing Stations and their Execs for big bucks, fabulous prizes, and the souls of the viewing audience.
99 WRPC. The Game at Hand. Pirate TV rebels vow to take down television, at any cost, one Station at a time. Rerun.
150 TVGC. TV Guide Channel Listings. TV Guide knows the score, waits to see who wins the bloody metaphysical battle, and lets you know what’s on at 5:30.
Lemme tell ya, television’s a lot more powerful than we think, I think. I mean, it’s all around us, the airwaves, you know? We can only see it and hear it when we use our shaman, our spiritual guide, our TV set, to translate for us, but the airwaves are there all the time. They hover around us, they bounce off us, we breathe them in. We breathe television, 24 hours a day. And all that energy we use, or don’t use, when we watch it. Three hours of Must See TV is three hours of possibility, energy that’s gone, given to the cathode tube. We don’t see it again - we got our sports highlights, sitcoms, and puff piece news broadcasts in exchange. Don’t think I’m complaining, ‘cuz I’m not. I eat the sound bites, just like everyone else, and I ask for more, please, momma. I know every episode of MASH back to front. I know Alex, Malorie, and whatever Tina Yothers’ name was, better than my brother and sisters. I like them all better, too. I never had to change Michelle’s diapers like I did my little brother’s. You know, from Full House? Those twins got their own gig on the family network, now, I think… So what’s my point? Not much, really. I just think when someone’s givin’ X percent of their life to something, they should know who - or what- they’re givin’ it too. Just seems fair. And since they don’t look like they’re gonna tell any time soon, well, here I am. “Execs” is what they call themselves. The ultimate executives of the TV Stations. The money, the advertising, the prima donna stars and high society directors - incidental. All incidental. It’s the viewers that matter. You, that is. You power the Stations, and the Stations power the Execs. The Execs are the TV Stations identity and power incarnate - living beings that are a reflection of the shows and viewers of a Station. That’s what you’re giving your time to. You pass along your energy to these things. Execs look like people, act like people, sorta, but are born because enough people believed in the TV. They’re as strong or as weak as the Station they’re from is. Dinky cable access Execs are mostly helpless and stupid, like an average person. Your local broadcast Station, affiliates, they’re a little better. Cable Stations are much more competent, and tend to act and be like whatever they show. Sports channel Execs are strong or fast, but probably kinda dumb, comedy channel ones are funny for a while, but get annoying real quick, and that channel that’s scrambled unless you pay huge fees every hour is probably hot as hell, but a manipulative b… All of them have crazy powers, too, called Ratings, that are based on what they show on their Stations. Maybe they fly, maybe they tell when you’re lying, or maybe they can turn into a hundred foot tall lizard that breathes fire. Whatever. Superheroes that aren’t heroic, they just look out for their own skin, their Station, and their sponsors. Again, the bigger the Station, the more people watching, the more they can do. If you’re a big TV watcher like me, and I know you are, it’s a lot easier for the Exec to mess with you personally. I bet the Animal World dude can do some weird stuff. I’d be scared of the weatherman station if I were you. Is there channel just for guns? I’m sure there will be some day. I won’t mess with that Exec, either. No, not all the Execs are gonna try to hurt ya if you cross their path, but how offen is TV really good for you, huh? Anyway, so all of these Execs got different agendas for their Stations, too. The small ones want to get bigger, the bigger ones want to get bigger, and the biggest ones want to stay that way. Sometimes a few are happy where they’re at, but they’re the ones that get eaten first, usually. Eaten? Well, basically, yeah. If an Exec kills another one, it gets the dead one’s Ratings and basically can take over their Station. Even if they wound a big Exec, they’ll probably grab a little power of his. They can be subtler than this, though, too. Trash your competition’s ratings, and he’ll lose strength. This is going on all the time. Lots of small Stations get together a lot and team up against bigger ones. Networks and cable channels have gotten wise to this and hired small Stations of their own to protect their interests and keep tabs on the rest. Oh, yeah, then there’s the pirate Stations. They think the airwaves should be free and open, and want to destroy all the commercial Stations. Some of them might even able to do it. No more Andy Griffith reruns? Count me out. Yep, it’s all like a big messed-up soap opera, except that it’s with supernatural beings in life and death battles over sex, money, power, and peoples’ attention. Hmm, you’re right, that does sound like Passions. Did you see the one last week when Gloria told Rico about Angelica’s affair and the guy with the…
Characters
Characters in 150 Channels are Execs, beings made from the aura of a television Station. They should start as very low-level Execs, each of them being the avatar of a local unaffiliated broadcast Station or a community cable access channel. Every Station has only one Exec, so each player has to pick a different Station for their character.
The Execs mirror the popularity and content of their Station. If a Station replaces their Midnight Mass faith show with reruns of Alf, the personality of a player’s Exec is going to change. Given their relatively weak status, beginning Exec characters often have very average characteristics, and reflect the appearance and skills of the community they’re in. While they are a far cry from powerful, running fluff neighborhood pieces about the retirements of city librarians and the opening of the new Wal-Mart has its advantages. Execs start with one minor Rating, a power that is derived from an aspect of their Station’s format. Examples of a starting Rating for Execs include:
“Community Empathy”: The Exec can compel a resident of the community his Station serves to do any small task for him, from stealing from the neighborhood pharmacy to killing their neighbor. The difficulty is increased for requests more detrimental to the target.
“Poorly Dubbed Karate Movie”: The Exec can perform one amazing martial arts move.
“Neighborhood Beat Reporter”: The Exec can ask one question of a subject, which must be answered truthfully. More serious questions (about murders, robberies, Nielsen ratings, etc.) are more difficult to have answered.
“Late-Night Horror Flick”: The Exec can make an illusion of a crudely made monster appear, which may momentarily frighten a target.
“City Politics”: The Exec can force an official of any city to use his influence as the Exec wishes, e.g., forging city records, freeing a jailed criminal, or condemning buildings. The higher up the official the more difficult the request.
As the game goes on, the characters can earn more Ratings a number of different ways. If they improve their own Stations by adding personnel or shows and increase viewership, they may be in position to receive new powers. By killing other low-level Execs and taking over their Stations, they receive whatever Ratings their enemy had. For more powerful Stations and Networks, merely damaging their Exec or decreasing their viewers may steal a Rating from them.
The Ratings and abilities of various Execs are widely disparate, but here are a few different levels of Execs, the number of Ratings they are likely to have, and examples of their Ratings:
Local Affiliate
Lawrence Michael Montgomery - Exec of KLMM, Channel 6 Milwaukee (NBC affiliate). 3 minor Ratings.
“Eyewitness News” (minor). Drawing on the power of his Station’s award-winning special investigation news team, Lawrence can, by standing in an area and concentrating, mentally relive any violent crime that occurred there.
Niche Cable Station
Wendy Roberta Nichols - Exec of WRN (Weather Reports Network). 1 major Rating, 5 minor Ratings.
“Possibility of Sudden Storms Late” (major). As long as there has been a reported chance of storm, Wendy can cause lightning to strike on a given area. She can target it within 100 square yards with little effort, but it becomes more difficult to be more accurate than that.
Popular Cable Station
Greg Steven Smith - Exec of GSS (the Game Show Station). 2 major Ratings, 6 minor Ratings.
“Odds are” (major). Greg can double or halve the probability of anything happening in his presence (e.g., a gunmen normally having a sixty percent chance of shooting him only has a thirty percent chance of hitting).
“We have some lovely parting gifts…” (minor). Greg can immediately summon into his possession any item costing fifty dollars or less.
Broadcast Network
Ulysses Paul Nelson. 5 major Ratings, 15 minor Ratings.
“Beam me up” (major). Ulysses can instantly transport himself anywhere else in the world, though it is difficult in stressful situations. He can also bring a limited number of willing people with him, though one of them is likely not to survive it.
“Smackdown” (major). For the duration of time between two commercial breaks, Ulysses can grow eight inches and gain one hundred pounds of muscle.
“Second-Tier” (minor). When in a crowd, Ulysses is extremely difficult to track, as he appears to fade into the crowd and seem very unimportant.
System
A simple rules-set from a game set in the modern day would be ideal; games with superhero or supernatural abilities similar to the Execs’ powers would make these easier to manage. Some system possibilities include Over the Edge, Conspiracy X, the Storyteller System, and Unknown Armies.
Adventures
The players have a number of options for the focus of their campaign. They can be independent operators, determined to expand their small-time operations into full-blown media empires. The Execs must slowly work their way up taking over bigger and bigger Stations to reach their full viewing potential. Maybe they’ve allied themselves with a Network or cable Station, and complete covert missions on behalf of their benefactors. Bigger Execs can temporarily give their Ratings to those working under them, so the players’ Execs would have able to use a variety of powers in their adventures. Or possibly the players have their Execs secretly hooking up with the Pirate Station underground to destroy the scourge of private-owned airwaves once and for all.
“First to the Scene.” Over the past few months, any of the players’ Execs that have evening news on their Station are losing viewers at an alarming rate. A rival Station has had scoops on a number of emergencies and crimes, seemingly getting to the scene as soon as or before anything takes place. Investigating the situation, the characters find out that the surprisingly powerful Exec of the Station has obtained a Rating that allows her to foresee events around town, which she leaks to her news team. Unable to destroy her outright, the characters will have to be creative - staging a crime and framing one of the Station’s reporters to discredit the broadcast, perhaps.
“The Cavalry Arrives.” A local church organization has made national headlines with their protests against the violence on TV. The Christians Against Violent Actors Lazily Raising our Young (the CAVALRY) have chained themselves to the state capital building, and refuse to leave until the legislature passes a bill banning violent shows and movies from the state airwaves. Flat-out butchering all of them is kinda out of the question, given the circumstances, so the characters will have to figure a way to sway public sentiment to the side of free violent content for all! That, or find a key politician in a comprising position with an intern and blackmail him. Or something.
“Not Intended for Audiences Under 18.” Lately, Exec Nicole Newbyl has been gaining Ratings (including a major one) and offing Execs that seemed much stronger than her, which is making the characters more than a little nervous. As Exec of one of the state’s ‘adult entertainment’ cable channels, Nightly Fantasy Network, Nicole made a deal with the cable providers to “unscramble” her Station for an hour every night. It’s now watched by a vast majority of underage junior high school boys in the area. The characters have to cut off the illegal feed or fight Nicole to take this pornographic gravy train out of commission.
