TEXT: FOR THE GAMEMASTER ONLY
  THE RECYCLED BOY
  
  CREATOR OF THE LOOP UNIVERSE
  Simon Stålenhag
  LEAD GAME DESIGNER
  Nils Hintze
  EDITOR & PROJECT MANAGER
  Tomas Härenstam
  THE YEAR ZERO GAME ENGINE
  Tomas Härenstam
  ADDITIONAL WRITING
  Matt Forbeck, Nils Karlén
  GRAPHIC DESIGN & MAPS
  Christian Granath
  PROOFREADING
  John M. Kahane, Rickard Antroia, Kosta Kostulas, T.R. Knight
  PLAYTESTERS
  Vincent Chang, Geoffrey Norman, Jessica Chang, Kimsan Kim, David Sack,
  Rickard Antroia, Tove Lindholm, Staffan Fladvad, Sandra Abi-Khalil, Leif Westerholm,
  Artur Foxander, Fia Tjernberg, Anton Albiin, Leili Mander, Kosta Kostulas, Marco Behrmann
  SPECIAL THANKS TO
  Rickard Antroia, Björn Hellqvist, Therese Clarhed and Simon J Berger
  COPYRIGHT © 2020 SIMON STÅLENHAG AND FRIA LIGAN AB
  ISBN: 978-91-88805-95-9
  ILLUSTRATIONS
  Simon Stålenhag
  CHARACTER ART
  Reine Rosenberg
  
  This is an introductory Mystery designed to be played 
  with the pre-generated Kids in this starter set. When 
  you see a word in [brackets], it is the alternative place 
  or name meant to be used in the Boulder City setting.
  THE TRUTH OF  
  THE MYSTERY
  The two scientists Kerstin [Christine] and Anders [Ar-
  nold] found love, and each other, late in life. And when 
  they did, they desperately wanted to have a kid. When 
  they found out that neither of them could become par-
  ents in a biological way, they were devastated. Since 
  they were both scientists, they turned to technology to 
  solve the problem.
  The newly wed Kerstin and Anders Äng moved to 
  Mälaröarna [Boulder City] a year ago and started 
  to work at the Loop. But on evenings and weekends 
  they used parts from scrapped robots stolen from their 
  workplace to build a robotic boy, and when he came to 
  life, they named him Pelle [Charlie].
  Pelle did not know he was a robot, even though he 
  had to “sleep” in a magnetic re-charger every night, 
  to help him organize his memories and thoughts. He 
  started school after the summer-break, like all oth-
  er kids, and he was very well liked by both pupils, 
  teachers and other parents, thanks in no small part 
  to the programming bestowed upon him by Kerstin 
  and Anders.
  The problems started two days ago. Pelle was play-
  ing by himself in the street outside the house when an-
  other kid’s father accidentally ran into him with his car. 
  At first it seemed like Pelle was okay – he even talked 
  to the man who ran into him and agreed not to tell 
  anyone what happened. But the programming in his 
  electronic brain had started to malfunction.
  That night Pelle experienced strange dreams where 
  he solved extremely complicated mathematical prob-
  lems. When he woke up, he realized that his intellectu-
  al capabilities had increased dramatically – the world 
  looked entirely different to him. He became confused 
  and started to think that the souls of famous scientists 
  from the past had entered his body to become one with 
  his mind. 
  Pelle now began to see himself as a collective of 
  brilliant minds, and he, or “they,” were certain of two 
  things: The first was that it was no coincidence that 
  brilliant people had gathered here and now – humanity 
  must be under some kind of attack, and it was up to 
  them to save everyone else. And the second thing was 
  that someone or something – maybe a strange cult, or 
  some government agents, or aliens, or evil androids – 
  wanted to stop them.
  Kerstin and Anders didn’t realize, until it was too 
  late, that the “brain” of their robot-boy was running 
  on overdrive – processing at such speed that it threat-
  What if your friend suddenly isn’t himself anymore? What if he ac-
  cuses you of wanting to hurt him? And what if he disappears and 
  strange things start to happen all around you?
  2
  SCENARIO
  BEFORE YOU START
  Do these things before you start:
  1. Read the Mystery and, if you like, 
  print out the handouts on pages 8 
  and 9. They can be downloaded at 
  the Free League website. 
  2. Let the players decide which Kid 
  they want to play. If you have 
  fewer than five players, use the 
  Kids in the order numbered.
  3. Tell them they all live in, or 
  close to Stenhamra [Boulder City].
  4. Talk about the Kids and their 
  relationships to each other, and 
  help the players flesh them out by 
  asking questions, such as if they 
  have siblings, and what they think 
  about school, etc. 
  5. Let each player describe their Kid 
  to the rest of you.
  
  ened to burn itself out. When they finally understood, 
  Pelle had already gotten the idea that his real parents 
  had been substituted for fake parents – agents for the 
  enemy – and he ran away from home.
  Pelle took shelter in one of the Cooling Towers on 
  Munsö [Above the Main Reactor], and he found a way 
  to connect himself to the Loop network. Soon he had 
  re-built an old Control Glove – a steering device for 
  robots – so that he could use the Loop’s network to 
  send out magnetic and electric waves that could turn 
  on and off any electronic device on the islands, or even 
  overload them, turning household machines into lethal 
  objects. And he started to defend himself against an 
  enemy that seemed to grow even more frightening with 
  every passing minute. 
  Pelle’s parents are desperate to find him before his mind 
  burns out. But since Pelle is made of stolen components 
  they don’t dare go to the police. And because Pelle thinks 
  they are evil and may try to hurt them, they are hiding from 
  him in the family’s boat, unsure how to proceed. 
  INTRODUCING THE KIDS
  Set a scene for each of the Kids in Everyday Life, with 
  or without Trouble. In the boxed text Starting scenes 
  in Everyday Life some examples can be found. Let the 
  players describe what things look like and how they 
  feel; ask them how they live, and let them decide things 
  about their Kid and his or her family. Don’t try to con-
  trol the scenes, but let them play out naturally. If Trou-
  ble comes up, the Kid involved may try to overcome it, 
  and the player may roll dice for a skill.
  INTRODUCING  
  THE MYSTERY
  Set a scene where some of the Kids come to school in 
  the morning, maybe a little late. At a distance they see 
  a lot of people standing outside, and there is a service 
  truck from Riksenergi [DART] and a big robot – the 
  kind the Kids sometimes see working at a construction 
  site near the school.
  When the Kids come closer, they see that the front 
  door of the school entrance has been torn off and 
  thrown way out into the bushes. One of their teachers 
  3
  THE RECYCLED BOY
  ABOUT PELLE
  If the players have any questions 
  about Pelle before you start 
  playing, these are things you can 
  tell them.
   
  ■
  Pelle started in the Kids’ school 
  after the summer break.
   
  ■
  Pelle is 12 years old and is in 
  Tim’s class.
   
  ■
  Everyone seems to like Pelle, and 
  he is good at both sports and 
  schoolwork.
   
  ■
  Pelle’s parents work at the Loop.
   
  ■
  Pelle lives in a house outside 
  Stenhamra [Boulder City].
  STARTING SCENES  
  IN EVERYDAY LIFE
  These are examples of starting 
  scenes for the Kids:
   
  ■
  Maria: Some of the other popular 
  Kids tell Maria a rumor that 
  Tim has a love affair with the 
  cleaning lady at school.
   
  ■
  Tim: A group of bullies stop him 
  on his way to school to harass 
  him – saying that his mother is a 
  drunk.
   
  ■
  Fredrik: He overhears his father 
  crying and talking to his mother. 
  If Fredrik keeps listening the 
  father says that he accidentally 
  hit a kid with his car the other 
  day.
   
  ■
  Isabella: Her mother knocks on 
  the door to her room, to tell her 
  that another Kid’s mother called 
  and said that a brooch disappeared 
  the last time Isabella was there, 
  playing with the other Kid.
   
  ■
  Linda: Neither her mother nor 
  her father get out of bed in the 
  morning. Linda has to make her own 
  breakfast while the photograph of 
  her dead brother, hanging on the 
  wall, keeps staring at her.
  
  is lying on the ground, wrapped in a blanket, being 
  cared for by the school nurse. Suddenly they hear si-
  rens in the distance, and an ambulance drives into the 
  schoolyard to take the injured teacher to the hospital. 
  If the Kids ask questions, they can learn the following:
   
  ■
  The injured teacher talked to that new Kid, Pelle, 
  when he came to school this morning, and the 
  teacher wanted Pelle to go see the school nurse, 
  since he was acting strange.
   
  ■
  Pelle kept referring to himself as “we,” and accused 
  the teacher of being “out to get us.” He seemed to 
  be really scared.
   
  ■
  Suddenly Pelle tried to run away, and out of no-
  where this big robot came crashing into the school-
  yard and tore off the entrance door.
   
  ■
  Pelle is gone, his parents don’t answer their home 
  phone, and they can´t be reached at work.
  The Boat
  Pelle’s House
  The Bunker
  Lady
  Cooling
  Towers
  What has happened is that the teacher noticed that 
  something was wrong with Pelle. When Pelle was 
  asked to go to the school nurse he – in his confused 
  state – thought that the teacher, or maybe the entire 
  school, was part of the evil plan to stop him from sav-
  ing the world. To get away he used his newfound pow-
  ers to attract a nearby robot and make it attack the 
  school as a diversion. He is now hiding in one of the 
  Cooling towers.
  SOLVING THE MYSTERY
  Let the players decide what their Kids do. Set 
  scenes, and don’t forget that you may jump for-
  ward in time to get past less interesting moments, 
  for instance, saying that the school day is over. 
  Be sure to ask the players: “what do you do?” If 
  4
  SCENARIO
  
  The Boat
  Pelle’s House
  The 
  Bunker
  Lady
  Cooling
  Towers
  Pelle’s
  House
  The  
  Boat
  The Bunker 
  Lady
  Introducing 
  the Mystery
  SHOWDOWN
  (Cooling Towers)
  Overview of the Scenario Locations
  5
  THE RECYCLED BOY
  
  the players get stuck trying to solve the Mystery, 
  encourage them to use the skill CONTACT, to find 
  a person that can steer them in the right direction. 
  Any Handouts found by the Kids should be given 
  to the players to study. Ask one of them to read the 
  text out loud to the others.
  The Kids will probably go to the different Loca-
  tions described below to look for clues. In between 
  these scenes, you should set scenes from Everyday Life, 
  and advance the Countdown (see the boxed text) and 
  set one or several scenes for each step. 
  There are three Locations in this Mystery: Pelle’s 
  House, The Boat and the Bunker Lady. Clues at these 
  Locations will lead to the Showdown, in one of the 
  Cooler Towers where Pelle is hiding.
  LOCATION 1:  
  PELLE’S HOUSE
  Pelle and his parents Anders and Kerstin live in a se-
  cluded house on the outskirts of Stenhamra [Boulder 
  City]. It is a strange, three-story wooden house. The 
  main floor is the living area with a kitchen and liv-
  ing room; the second floor is the sleeping area, and the 
  third floor is a workspace filled with computers and 
  odd technological components – there is even a big 
  wire connecting the house to the Loop facilities. Out-
  side there are two silos filled with an experimental type 
  of food for fish, serpents and turtles – Kerstin’s hobby, 
  at the moment.
  The whole building is filled with aquariums hous-
  ing animals, big and small. Some tanks sit on the 
  ground, others hang from the ceiling. All of them ra-
  diate a strange light – and the sound from the cleaning 
  systems in the multitude of aquariums can be heard 
  throughout the building. The only animal not con-
  tained in a tank is the enormous Iguana “Nöffe” [Por-
  ky] – an old and rather obese lady lizard who is usually 
  friendly towards strangers.
  TROUBLE
  All windows as well as the entrance door are connected 
  to an alarm system that is well-hidden. The Kids must 
  INVESTIGATE to even find it, and if they do, they may try 
  to disconnect it with TINKER.
  6
  SCENARIO
  SCENES FROM EVERYDAY LIFE
  These are examples of Everyday 
  Life scenes you can set during the 
  Mystery:
   
  ■
  Maria: She sees some Kids corner 
  Isabella, saying she stole 
  something from them/ Maria is 
  having a nice moment with the 
  other girls, who adore her/ 
  Another Kid has found Maria’s lost 
  diary
   
  ■
  Tim: Mom is drunk again/ Fredrik’s 
  parents are comforting Tim/ The 
  strange lady at the library has 
  found that odd book Tim has been 
  looking for
   
  ■
  Fredrik: His parents are having a 
  big argument, screaming that they 
  hate each other/ the coach talks 
  to Fredrik and says that he has to 
  focus more on his training, and 
  less on that girl Maria/ One of 
  his friends says that he has seen 
  Tim look at Maria with loving eyes
   
  ■
  Isabella: Another kid is being 
  mean/ Mom asks her why she can’t 
  be more like her big sister/ She 
  gets an opportunity to steal 
  something valuable
   
  ■
  Linda: Dad has been sitting all 
  day on a bench in town crying/ 
  The ghost of her brother comes to 
  her in a dream, saying that she 
  must find a way to go on without 
  him/ She finds a note where Maria 
  has scribbled “Tim” with a heart 
  around it
  
  If the alarm is triggered, red lights flash on throughout the 
  second floor of the house, and on the family’s boat in the 
  harbor (See Location 2). Also, a small flying robot in the 
  shape of a butterfly takes to the air on the ground floor. 
  It will attack any intruders with small darts filled with a 
  chemical substance that makes the victim fall asleep for 
  three hours. The robot has three darts. The Kids may try 
  to avoid being hit with MOVE, and they can try to destroy 
  or disarm the robot with FORCE or TINKER.
  Ten minutes after the alarm goes off, a police car with 
  two officers arrives at the house. If the Kids are caught, 
  they will have to explain their behavior to their parents.
  CLUES
  In Pelle’s bedroom on the second floor the Kids see his 
  strange bed – a mechanical construction where he sits 
  up all night, connected to a computer that organizes 
  his memories and thought processes. 
  If the Kids try to hack this or any of the computers 
  on the third floor they must use PROGRAM to get past 
  the security systems. On the computers, the Kids find 
  an Alarm report, see Handout #1.
  7
  THE RECYCLED BOY
  COUNTDOWN
  Advance the countdown when it feels 
  right. Set a scene about what 
  happens.
  1. Pelle uses his ability to control 
  technology to let ordinary 
  machines like lawnmowers, 
  toasters, hairdryers and stereos 
  run amok, burning people using 
  them, playing music extremely loud 
  and backwards, and chasing people 
  in their gardens.
  2. Pelle shuts off all electricity 
  in and around Stenhamra [Boulder 
  City], except in his own house 
  – since he cares for the animals 
  living there. He takes control of 
  several robots and makes them walk 
  around in and around Stenhamra 
  looking for the two agents 
  pretending to be his parents. The 
  robots stop responding to their 
  handlers’ instructions, and they 
  tend to stand close to people 
  trying to hear what they say, even 
  stepping into gardens, opening 
  doors and searching basements, 
  garages and storage rooms.
  3. By accident, a police car drives 
  by the Cooling Towers and the 
  officers see Pelle. They park their 
  car nearby and use a megaphone 
  to tell him to come down. Pelle 
  climbs down, but uses his Control 
  Glove to make a robot attack the 
  police, chasing them away and 
  tearing their car to bits. Soon 
  more police arrive, encircling the 
  Cooling Towers.
  
  If the Kids INVESTIGATE, they notice a lot of pic-
  tures hanging on the walls, of the family, onboard 
  a boat named Mileva. The pictures are taken in 
  the harbor in Törnbyviken, south of Stenhamra 
  [Lake Mead Marina].
  If the Kids look at the kitchen table, or if they 
  succeed with INVESTIGATE, they find an unfinished 
  Letter to the Bunker Lady (Location 3), see Hand-
  out #2. A Kid can use COMPREHEND to remember 
  where the bunker on Göholmen [Cape Horn] is, 
  or they can use CONTACT to talk to someone who 
  knows where it is.
  SHORT ON TIME?
  If you are short on time and want to 
  finish the Mystery in one sitting 
  you can remove the Clues at Location 
  2 and 3 that point to each other, so 
  that the only way to go is to the 
  Showdown. You could also set fewer 
  scenes from Everyday Life and let 
  the events from the Countdown be 
  shown in the background, while other 
  things are going on – or skip them 
  altogether.
  Pelle’s House
  0 1 
  2 
  3 
  4 meters
  FIRST FLOOR
  SECOND FLOOR
  GROUND FLOOR
  Bathroom
  Home
  Office
  Silo
  Silo
  Library 
  & Second
  Living
  Room
  Kitchen
  Closet
  Living
  Room
  Parents’
  Bedroom
  Pelle’s
  Bedroom
  Pelle’s
  Playroom
  Handout #1: Alarm Report
  8
  SCENARIO
  
  Dear Sister!
  I write to you now with trembling hands, with the 
  knowledge that all that really matters to me -my little boy- 
  could have been taken away from me just a couple of minutes ago. I saw it 
  through the window, how Pelle was run over by a car, and you-know-who, was 
  driving it. Before I could run out from the house Pelle was up on his feet, and 
  they talked to each other, and then he came in. I was frozen to my chair, and 
  still can’t feel my feet and hands. But my head is full of images of what could 
  have happened. Dear sister, they are gruesome pictures.
  The strangest thing is that Pelle won’t admit that it happened, though I saw it 
  with my own eyes! Should I seek help? I know he won’t agree to have his head 
  examined – he became very upset when I asked to look at him.
  Everything is so fine right now, and maybe that makes me overreact? The move 
  here has become everything we could have hoped for. Pelle has made friends at 
  school, and he is doing well with homework and sports. I just don’t want to think 
  about what we will do in a couple of years when we have to move away again.  
  I hope we can go somewhere close to here, so that we can still see you.
  How are your projects going? I hate thinking of you in that smelly little  
  bunker on Göholmen (Cape Horn). You know you can always stay here, but I 
  won’t nag about it anymore.
  Pelle is doing something upstairs, he talks to himself, 
  as if he is upset, and he throws things on the floor. I 
  better go see if he is okay.
  Handout #2: Letter to Dear Sister
  9
  THE RECYCLED BOY
  
  32
  LOCATION 2: THE BOAT
  The Äng family has a beloved boat in the harbor in 
  Törnbyviken, south of Stenhamra [Lake Mead Mari-
  na]. Kerstin and Anders are hiding there now, trying to 
  come up with a plan. The last time they saw Pelle, he 
  talked to them as if they were strangers who wanted 
  to hurt him, and he threatened to attack if they came 
  close. Kerstin and Anders are also thinking about what 
  will happen if Pelle is picked up by the police, or if 
  anyone finds out that he is built from stolen robotic 
  components from the Loop.
  The Boat is a small sailboat with an outboard mo-
  tor, and is named Mileva after the Serbian Mathema-
  tician Mileva Marić. The boat is anchored out on the 
  water, so that the police or Pelle will not be able to 
  reach it. Since it is windy and rainy, and the Ängs are 
  fully focused on their computer screens, trying to save 
  their child with mathematical equations and techno-
  logical inventions, they won’t hear if the Kids try to 
  contact them from the pier.
  THE SECRET LOVE AFFAIR
  The pre-generated Kid Fredrik 
  contains information that suggests 
  that his father may have a secret 
  love affair with Kerstin, which is 
  also indicated in Kerstin’s letter 
  to the Bunker Lady. It is up to you 
  and Fredrik’s player to decide if 
  it is true, or just some kind of 
  misunderstanding. A fun thing is to 
  not decide before you start to play, 
  and then let things that happen in 
  the game point in one direction or 
  the other.
  “MILEVA” – The Boat
  0 
  1 
  2 
  3 
  4 meters
  Cockpit
  Cabin
  Kitchen
  Stern
  Bunk
  Bow
  Bunk
  WC
  10
  SCENARIO
  
  TROUBLE
  Kerstin and Anders have built a robotic “watchdog” that 
  swims in the water around the boat. It is an underwater 
  robot assembled mostly from scrap, like plastic bags, and 
  it looks like a big jellyfish.
  If the Kids swim or use a rowboat, the robot will 
  notice that something is approaching and start its warn-
  ing system – it glows with multi-colored bioluminescence 
  and rotates in the water, creating plenty of bubbles, as if 
  the water around it is boiling.
  The Kids may try to SNEAK past it, MOVE really quick-
  ly or try to take it apart with TINKER or FORCE. If they 
  fail, the robot throws out robotic tentacles, armed with 
  the same kind of nematocysts that jellyfish use to sting 
  other animals. The sting hits several Kids at once, making 
  them Scared. The Kids may try to get past it again, but if 
  they are hit a second time, they will be Injured.
  Five minutes after the robotic watchdog starts its 
  warning system, Kerstin and Anders both appear on the 
  deck of the boat.
  CLUES
  Anders and Kerstin are at first reluctant to tell the Kids 
  what they know, but can be CHARMED into spilling the 
  beans. They tell the Kids that Pelle is in fact a robot, but 
  at the same time, he is their beloved son, and they want 
  everything to become as it was before. Something has af-
  fected Pelle’s processing system, which made his thinking 
  go into overdrive. This caused him to become extreme-
  ly smart, but at the same time, incredibly confused. The 
  worst part is that the system is about to break down, 
  which will destroy him.
  They tell the Kids that Pelle doesn’t know that he is 
  a robot – he thinks that the souls of dead scientists have 
  taken up residence inside him, and that everyone else 
  on the island wants to stop him from saving the world. 
  The last time Kerstin and Anders saw Pelle he threatened 
  them, and they are afraid of what he will do. They are 
  pretty sure that he is the one shutting down and manip-
  ulating electrical devices in Stenhamra. Anders and Kers-
  tin ask the Kids to not tell anyone about Pelle, and if they 
  see him, to try to make him come back home so that they 
  can fix the damage to his electronic brain.
  The couple has different thoughts on where they 
  think Pelle is. Kerstin is pretty sure that he is hiding with 
  a friend of theirs, who Pelle thinks is his aunt, but who 
  really is a former employee at the Loop. She helped Ker-
  stin and Anders build Pelle. Her name is Greta Hedberg 
  [Rebecca Carson]. She is a loner, and lives in a bunker on 
  Göholmen [Cape Horn].
  Anders thinks maybe Pelle is hiding out somewhere 
  close to the Cooling towers. He has always been drawn 
  to them.
  If the Kids don’t manage to CHARM Kerstin and An-
  ders, they may either SNEAK after one of them when they 
  go see the Bunker Lady, or they can use CONTACT to find 
  someone who knows that she is a friend of Pelle’s parents.
  LOCATION 3:  
  THE BUNKER LADY
  The Bunker Lady, or Greta Hedberg [Rebecca Carson], 
  has been hiding from mankind for several years – she 
  doesn’t want to take part in the hypocrisy of building a 
  world filled with war, chemical waste and lies, while si-
  multaneously bringing up children and promising them 
  a bright future. But she has had contact with Kerstin 
  and Anders, since she and Kerstin have been friends for 
  many years. It was Greta’s brilliant mind who made 
  it possible to build Pelle – and maybe some of Greta’s 
  paranoia leaked into the programming, causing Pelle’s 
  mind to eventually run amok.
  It is hard to spot the bunker from a distance – it is 
  just a grassy hill in the landscape – but if you come close 
  you can see the round metallic door on the ground. The 
  door is actually unlocked, since people seldom come 
  here. Inside there are three rooms filled with half-built 
  robots and strange mechanical object walking around 
  on legs, flying, or crawling on the ceiling. Everything is 
  blinking and making strange sounds, as if the machines 
  are talking to each other. Greta is most often in the 
  workroom in the inner parts of the bunker.
  TROUBLE
  All the machines but one will stop whatever they are 
  doing and stay still when the Kids walk into the bun-
  ker. From within the darkness a big and bulky robot 
  starts moving towards them, and with a soft voice it 
  says “mum?” This is the Baby-Robot.
  The Baby-Robot will try to hug one or two Kids 
  and hold them close. The Kids may try to MOVE past 
  11
  THE RECYCLED BOY
  
  it. If they fail, they are taken into its arms, and it starts 
  crying in a fake, mechanical way while it repeats, 
  “baby, sad.” A Kid who is taken into its arm gets Up-
  set, and once caught, the Kid needs two successes with 
  FORCE to get free. Fortunately, Greta soon hears what 
  is happening and comes out with a key that shuts the 
  Baby-Robot down, freeing the Kid.
  Greta is very suspicious towards strangers, even 
  though she likes Kids more than adults. The Kids must 
  try to make her trust them by using CHARM. If they use 
  EMPATHIZE, they will understand that the best way to 
  make her trust them is to say that they are friends of 
  Pelle, and that they want him to come back to school.
  CLUES
  Greta will tell the Kids that Pelle either is hiding in the 
  family’s boat at the harbor in Törnbyviken, south of 
  Stenhamra [Lake Mead Marina], or somewhere close 
  to the Cooling Towers. She gives the Kids an Object: a 
  Remote Destabilizer (see the boxed text to the right). 
  REMOTE DESTABILIZER
  The destabilizer is a TV remote 
  that has been rebuilt so that 
  it can be used to hack computer 
  systems and robots from a distance 
  – but it only works on things Greta 
  Hedberg has built. The remote could 
  be used in the Showdown, and it 
  gives a bonus of +2.
  The Bunker
  0 
  1 
  2 
  3 
  4 meters
  Bathroom
  Kitchen
  Storage
  Room
  Work Room
  and Sleeping Room
  Entrance
  12
  SCENARIO
  
  THE SHOWDOWN
  The three Cooling Towers are positioned above the Loop 
  reactor, and can be spotted from all over the area. At 6 pm 
  every day, a siren is heard from the towers, which is when 
  the fifteen demister vaults in the towers are reset. These 
  giant, technical marvels have intrigued Pelle since he was 
  created, and he is hiding in one of them.
  The towers are surrounded by a metal fence, and a 
  couple of times a day two tired guards stroll around it. 
  If the Kids INVESTIGATE the fence, they see that a hole 
  – big enough for a Kid – has been cut through it. They 
  find the hole even if they fail the skill check, but then 
  the guards have spotted them.
  On the other side of the hole they can see a ladder 
  on the closest tower, leading up to a service vault. The 
  door to the vault is not really closed, since Pelle had to 
  break it in order to enter.
  The Kids may call on Pelle to come talk to them, and 
  if so, the Showdown takes place with Pelle standing in 
  the entrance to the vault, and the Kids on the ground. Or 
  they can climb the ladder and confront Pelle in the vault.
  Whichever way the Kids chose, this should be played 
  out as an Extended Trouble, with a Normal Threat 
  level (see page 28 in the rulebook). Remember that 
  you and the players have to decide what the Stake 
  is before you roll the dice – what are the Kids trying 
  to achieve? Do they want to immobilize or even de-
  stroy Pelle, or will they try to convince him to let his 
  parents reprogram him? The next step is to ask each 
  player what their Kid will do. Then you let one Kid at 
  a time act – let the player describe what the Kid does, 
  and then roll the dice.
  Pelle believes that the Kids are part of a conspiracy 
  to prevent him and the other minds inside him from 
  saving the world. He will at first ask the Kids to leave, 
  but if they don’t, he will become hostile, attacking 
  them with the electrical and mechanical devices he has 
  collected in the vault: flying toys, robotic arms, a lawn-
  mower, and even a strange light system created to move 
  around on a dance floor.
  Count the Kids’ successes and look at the table: 
  Showdown Outcome, to see what happens.
  The Service Vault in the Cooling Tower 
  0 
  1 
  2 
  3 
  4 meters
  Tunnels into
  the Tower
  Service
  Vault 
  Entrance
  Tunnels into
  Tunnels into
  the Tower
  the Tower
  13
  THE RECYCLED BOY
  
  14
  SCENARIO
  
  AFTERMATH
  Let each Kid have a scene from Everyday Life, either 
  set by you or the player. You could also set a scene 
  where the Kids meet Pelle again, or see his parents leav-
  ing the islands.
  CHANGE
  In the full Tales from the Loop rulebook, there are 
  rules for experience, making the Kids more skilled with 
  each Mystery they solve. You can use them if you want 
  to keep playing with the same Kids. 
  SHOWDOWN OUTCOME
  Count the numbers of successes and 
  see what happens:
   
  ■
  Less than half of the Threat 
  level: Complete Failure. Pelle’s 
  mind suddenly overloads and breaks 
  down. He is now only a piece of 
  metal and can’t be restored. 
  Within a few days Kerstin and 
  Anders leave the islands.
   
  ■
  Half or more of the Threat level: 
  The Kids can check conditions to 
  get additional successes to reach 
  the Threat level. If they don’t, 
  it counts as a Complete Failure. 
  But if the Kids reach the Threat 
  level this way, it counts as a 
  Compromise. Pelle breaks down 
  but can later be restored by his 
  parents. But afterwards something 
  is always a little off with Pelle.
   
  ■
  Reach the Threat level: The Kids 
  achieve their goal and overcome 
  the Trouble. If they talked Pelle 
  into going with them to see 
  Kerstin and Anders, they restore 
  him, and the next day he is back 
  in school.
  NPCS
  These are the important NPCs in the Mystery.
  PELLE ÄNG [CHARLIE BRADFORD]
  “I speak for all of us when I say that we don’t want to 
  hurt you, but we will if we must.”
  Pelle is a blond 12-year-old boy, kind of small for his 
  age, with a sweet face. He is really smart and likable, 
  and good at both sports and school. But the truth is, 
  of course, that he is a robot – the masterpiece of the 
  brilliant robot creator Greta Hedberg.
  In his current shape, Pelle’s mind is speeding out 
  of control. He sees everything in logarithms and can 
  solve every possible mathematical puzzle – even phil-
  osophical problems like the meaning of life – but he 
  is also about to burn out. Pelle thinks that he is now a 
  “we”, a collective made up of the souls of dead scien-
  tists, brought to this time and place to prevent some-
  thing horrible from happening. Everyone else seems 
  to want to stop him, or even hurt him – especially his 
  parents. 
  In his hideout in the Cooling Tower Pelle has col-
  lected an assortment of robotic toys. Also, he has a 
  Control Glove that he can use to take control over 
  and even reprogram robots and electronic devices at 
  a distance. When he is in the tower, he can connect 
  the Glove to the Loop network and send out waves 
  of magnetism and electricity over the islands, making 
  ordinary electronic things shut down or go berserk.
  15
  THE RECYCLED BOY
  
  KERSTIN AND ANDERS ÄNG 
  [CHRISTINE AND ARNOLD BRADFORD]
  “Must we fight about this right now? I’m about to fin-
  ish an equation that solves all this, and these Kids seem 
  to be wet and cold.”
  These brilliant, but rather strange, specimens of human-
  ity counted on never meeting anyone to love, and they 
  were both surprised when they found each other. Un-
  fortunately, both of them turned out to be rather hard 
  to live with, and their many quarrels almost made them 
  break up, until they created Pelle – the child that would 
  keep them together for eternity. Kerstin and Anders still 
  fight, but they love their son above all else, and would 
  give their lives for this robot.
  Kerstin is a tall, red-haired woman who is most 
  comfortable with lizards, fish and robots. She comes 
  off as eternally distracted since she is always solving 
  problems in her head.
  Anders is a small and very shy man who des-
  perately smiles and cracks incomprehensible jokes 
  whenever he is in the presence of people other than 
  Kerstin, Pelle or Greta.
  THE BUNKER LADY
  “Unfortunately, stupidity and prejudice are more 
  distinguishing characteristics for the human race than 
  compassion, don’t you agree?
  The Lady in the Bunker, or Greta Hedberg [Rebecca 
  Carson], is the source of many a myth spread amongst 
  the teens on the islands, about strange witches and 
  trolls. But actually, she is just a former employee at the 
  Loop, who one day decided that she couldn’t be part 
  of a society she loathed for its inhumanity, falseness 
  and inability to care for the weak. She is now living in 
  “her” bunker – an old military defense post – and she 
  makes the money she needs by creating or rebuilding 
  robots and other electronic devices for people she 
  likes, such as Kerstin and Anders. She sees Kerstin as 
  her sister, and Pelle as her nephew, and will do any-
  thing to save him.
  Greta is a rather smelly old lady who wears what-
  ever clothes are available, and who hasn’t touched a 
  comb or makeup in many years. She says and does 
  what she wants – but she is a kind person who con-
  stantly tries to do the right thing. 
  THE BABY-ROBOT
  “I love you, mom!”
  This was the result of the first failed 
  attempt to build Pelle. Greta has 
  meant to take it apart for a long 
  time but has started to grow fond 
  of the big robotic baby. The Ba-
  by-Robot is as big as a human 
  but built in the shape of a baby, 
  and only parts of it are covered 
  in “skin.” Its programming is not 
  working well, and it sees all hu-
  mans as its mother, and it wants 
  to hug her, and tell her that it 
  loves her, and cry in her arms.
  16
  SCENARIO
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Tales from the Loop RPG (Year Zero Engine) [multi]/Starter set/Tales from the Loop - Starter Set - Scenario - The Recycled Boy [2020].pdf