"Sky... gray sky... Many things the same.. Many things useless..."

It was a cold Friday afternoon. We gathered together, all of us as one, with the purpose of saving humanity, somewhere in Goldwin Smith. For eight hours, we were not ourselves; we were Nerv, only we couldn't speak Japanese and the phrase, "Seven! Yes!!" was heard many times. Psychedelic mass hallucination? Maybe. Or maybe we were playing the Evangelion role playing game. It was translated into English by Lillian (our archivist); we hung on her every word, for only she could read the Dead Sea Scrolls. As Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Misato, Ritsuko, Maya, and Touji, we struggled to deal with stress, maximize our harmonics, increase Eva and Nerv hit points, and ultimately obliterate with judicious prejudice the evil Angel presented by the devious Lillian.

Ever wonder what kind of forces control the characters' everyday lives? In this game, you get first-hand experience. An unexpected accident or the all-powerful word of Gendou may thwart your innocent intentions to reduce tension by spending a relaxing day in the city or spending time with other characters who you like. The pilots have to get better at synchronizing with their Evas while Misato and Ritsuko build up the defenses. The game is dice-based with a roll of (lucky) seven giving an additional bonus. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses. Shinji, for example, is great at synchronizing with Unit 01 and managing his stress (because otherwise he would fold under the pressure - although curiously, he's the only one who doesn't care when he fails at Eva synchronization), but he's terrible when trying to be spontaneous or diplomatic. Rei doesn't accumulate much stress, but once she gets some, she has problems getting rid of it - either by relying on Gendou or Shinji. Asuka acquires and releases stress left and right. Eventually, an Angel attacks. Misato manages strategic command and Ritsuko controls Eva support. If a pilot's stress is too high, he causes his unit to go berserk and damage Nerv. By the end, either Nerv or the Angel is no more.

Here are some responses: "It was awesome to play Asuka; she's my favorite," exclaimed Dave. "Asuka should abuse her spontaneity and leap at Kaji when he appears. Kaji's the best card, Kaji's my hero. I want to be like Kaji and spy on Nerv," Dave repeated after the game. As for Rei, "Rei could be a little boring because nothing bothers her, but that's also why she's cool," said Jerry. "After playing Asuka, Rei was very stress-relieving for me," added Eddie.

"Shinji is a lot of fun because he's so popular" and "Shinji is terrible because everyone keeps following you to reduce their stress" were the two opposed positions on the main character. Greg and Ray agree: "Ritsuko and Misato are the best because they have the most choices and are closest to the mysteries." But Jerry points out that "Misato is bad in battle because she usually hurts Nerv more than the Angels do." Greg can't disagree, which is why "Ritsuko is my favorite; she has the potential to raise the Evas to almost indestructible levels of hit points and can do amazing things during battle."

Suddenly, John leaps up and declares: "Touji and Maya are by far the best and most pivotal characters!" We try to ignore him.