Fiasco is a role-playing game about characters with grand ambition and poor impulse control. The game emphasizes improvisation and collaborative story-telling over dice rolling, and encourages characters to fail forward, rather than strive for success.
The game is played over five stages:
The Setup, in which the dice are rolled to generate a network of relationships and the details (objects, needs, and locations) which inform the story. The players then synthesize these elements into a house of cards ready to topple.
Act I, in which the players take turns establishing and resolving scenes featuring their characters, the relationships, and the relevant details. Plots are schemed, rifles are set atop mantles, and keys are left in the ignition.
The Tilt, in which two players choose additional elements which can be introduced in order to destabilize the story, twist an established aspect of the story, and further complicate things.
Act II, in which the players again act out their scenes. Plots unwind, guns go off, and the story tilts in unexpected ways.
The Aftermath, in which players montage their final character moments. People die, buildings explode, and the Fiasco unravels.
The playset used for this session was Fiasco High, set in a small-town high school. Whether it creates a story closer to the Breakfast Club or Heathers is to be determined. Here's what happened:
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Carl Buchanon - A young, burned-out pre-calc teacher at the high school, Mr. Buchanon let the weight of the world stoop his shoulders. A second job at the Chicken Hut doesn't help his attitude, and the small town in which he lives drives him to seek opportunity elsewhere.
Jamie Flagowitz - Two-faced academic over-achiever, Jamie harbors a lot of rage against Mr. Buchanon for failing her in pre-calc the year before. A senior, she's ready to leave high school behind and embark on her career path towards Speaker of the House.
Stephani "Angel" Flagowitz - Jamie's cousin, Angel is a tough kid and the minion of the meanest student at Fiasco High. As the sole purveyor of marijuana and other illicit substances, Angel considers high school her last required contribution to society outside her side-hustles.
Markov Nikoly - Russian transplant and tough kid, Markov is a weirdo who hangs out at his father's bar when he's not causing trouble at school. Rumor is that his family has mob connections, though he certainly won't be the one to confirm or deny whether it's true.
Joseph "Joe" Reskov - Markov's cousin, Joe isn't quite sure what he wants after high school. America certainly isn't something in which he's particularly interested in...unless his cousin decides he is. Something of a theatre kid, he tags along with the rest due to his cousin's presence.
Beatrice Markle - The weird girl who likes horses and math. Beatrice works with Mr. Buchanon at the Chicken Hut, and she looks up to him as a mentor, of a sort. A theatre kid, she's got something of a crush on Markov for his handsome looks and quiet demeanor.
ACT I
Scene I - Fiasco High's having an anti-drug pep rally. Jamie's giving a speech on the danger of marijuana. Markov and Joe are smoking under the bleachers. Mr. Buchanon's standing by, looking bored. Beatrice is zoning out in the stands. The whole thing comes to a halt when Markov pulls the fire alarm and the entire assembly gets soaked.
Scene II - III - Angel and Jamie commiserate outside over how much they dislike high school, particularly Mr. Buchanon, who failed Jamie and ruined her 4.0. Angel manages to convince her cousin to make a blood pact to murder the man, as it's almost the end of the year and graduation would be boring otherwise. Markov comes around the corner and offers to help the two girls kill the American. He drops hints that his family has connections. The three hatch a scheme and go their separate ways.
Scene IV - Markov and Joe are in the basement of the Flugelhorn Bar, an under-age establishment owned by Markov's family. The two discuss their own plan to plant a prop theatre gun in the principal's office, just to fuck with him.
Scene V - Beatrice meets up with Joe to discuss how they took the prop gun from the theatre department. Beatrice isn't enthusiastic about letting Joe have it, but winds up agreeing to the plan after Joe offers to help set her up with Markov.
Scene VI - Mr. Buchanon and Beatrice are smoking weed outside the Chicken Hut before closing the place down. The two share their reservations regarding high school, and Mr. Buchanon tells her it does get better, but she'll have to work at it. She admits she's got a prop gun and was sending Snapchats and taking pictures with it, and Mr. Buchanon warns her people might take it the wrong way.
Scene VII - Back at the Flugelhorn, Jamie is trying to help Beatrice hook up with Markov, but he's more interested in playing Dungeons & Dragons. Eventually Jamie talks with Markov about how to kill Mr. Buchanon, and the two agree to use Joe as the patsy.
Scene VIII - Angel and Jamie further discuss their plans: have Joe shoot Mr. Buchanon, plant the gun in Beatrice's locker, and take a lot of acid in public to ensure they have an alibi. It takes a little bit of convincing, but eventually Jamie agrees.
Scene IX - Markov and Joe chat in the D&D basement. Joe's not sure he's up to murder a teacher, but Markov manages to strong-arm him into agreeing to do so. Unfortunately, he's lost the prop gun...
Scene X - Joe calls Beatrice to tell her he lost the prop gun. Beatrice berates him, but says she'll talk to Mr. Buchanon to see whether he can soften the blow when the theatre teacher finds out.
Scene XI - Beatrice does just that. Mr. Buchanon is exasperated, as a lost prop gun is a big deal. However, he does agree he'll help them out as he thinks they're weird, but ultimately good kids.
Scene XII - Mr. Buchanon goes back to his bachelor apartment. He cashed his check and puts some of it in an envelop labeled "Indianapolis." There's a commotion outside, and when he goes to check it appears someone (Joe) has messed with his exhaust. Mr. Buchanon has to dip into his Indianapolis fund to fix it, setting his plans back several months.
THE TILT
Mayhem - Magnificent Self-Destruction
Guilt - A Showdown
ACT II
Scene I - II- It turns out Angel had the gun, so she and Jamie break into the school that night to plant the gun in Markov's locker, just to mess with him. They end up running into Beatrice, who tries to stop them from carrying out their plan. Being the mean girls they are, they shove her into a locker and knock her out before leaving.
Scene III - Markov tells Joe he has a single chance remaining to kill Buchanon. He's given him several chances and each time he's failed. They may be cousins, but failure isn't something the Nikolys tolerate.
Scene IV - Joe goes to Buchanon's apartment and puts a potato in the car's tailpipe. Buchanon, already suspicious that someone's fucking with him, catches him in the act and chases him off.
Scene V - Beatrice runs into Buchanon buying groceries at the local 7/11 while Jamie and Angel are smoking outside. They have a talk about school and how everyone is weird. Buchanon and Angel face off...he tries to get through to her, but she's not having any of it.
Scene VI - Buchanon is called to a meeting at the school, where it's revealed there are rumors of students trying to kill him. After some arguments between the teachers, the principal reveals they're just going to fire him after the semester, in order to keep the house clean. Buchanon leaves in a huff, after realizing he's probably going to have to go full-time at the Chicken Hut.
Scene VII - VIII- Jamie and Angel talk about how disappointed they are that Buchanon isn't dead yet. Ideas of a car bomb are tossed around, but ultimately discarded.
Scene IX - Markov goes to his locker and is met by Beatrice. She tries to stop him from opening his locker, but he does so anyway and the gun falls onto the floor. Jamie and Angel are right there and make a scene, and Markov gets dragged off by school security.
Scene X - Joe goes to the Chicken Hut where Mr. Buchanon's working. He orders a lot of food, and while Mr. Buchanon is distracted he whacks him in the head with the gun and knocks him out. Panicking, he drags the man to the freezer and locks him in...then slips on the mop water and knocks himself out cold.
Scene XI - Beatrice comes in to open the Chicken Hut and discovers Joe passed out on the floor. She helps him leave, then discovers Mr. Buchanon's body in the freezer.
Scene XII - There's an investigation into the death of Mr. Buchanon. Due to the mop bucket, the water on the floor, and the state of the freezer, his death is ruled an accident. There's a small funeral and service, but he doesn't have any family.
THE AFTERMATH
This is Carl Buchanon, dead. The investigation concluded, it's determined his death was a tragic accident. A small service is attended by some teachers out of a sense of professional courtesy, but ultimately it's an unremarkable end to an unremarkable story.
This is Jamie Flagowitz. The drama surrounding the events has ruined her chances at attending a prestigious university. She instead attends a community college and achieves little of any notoriety over the course of her life.
This is Angel Flagowitz. After graduating, she spends much of her life planting false notes for Jamie which convince her she'll be implicated in Buchanon's death. Otherwise, she enjoys running her various side hustles, spends most of her time inebriated, and lives her best life regardless.
This is Markov Nikoly. After the incident with the gun, the administration and courts throw the book at him. He spends his life in prison, with the occasional visit from Joe to remind him of how badly he messed up.
This is Joe Reskov. With the successful murder under his belt, he is taken back to Russia and trained in the art of assassination by the Family. He'll occasionally visit Markov in prison, bringing him Xanax hidden in his birthday cake.
This is Beatrice Markle. After the death of her mentor, she drops out of high school two weeks before graduation and becomes a manager at the Chicken Hut. Most of her life is spent in the town, after seeing where ambition and dreams lead.
Facilitator Thoughts
Fiasco tends to slow pretty dramatically when a sixth player is added, due to the weight of the additional relationship, but the familiarity of the High School setting helped move things along. Buchanon's, Markov's, and Joe's players were experienced with Fiasco, Jamie and Angel's players had previously completed about 75% of a game at a party, and Beatrice's player was a first-timer, though she'd practiced improv in the past.
The group composition led to some strange structural things Fiasco isn't quite built to handle, which is why some of the scenes blended together. In the future it might not be a bad idea to emphasize a little more structure, otherwise the game turns into a straight improv session. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but Fiasco's structure is kind of important in maintaining the tone and pacing.
Additionally, I feel I should apologize an iota for this write-up. There were a number of substances consumed at this session and I felt like taking my usual detailed notes would slow down gameplay to the point where it became a detriment. Some of this recap is pulled from memory, and it feels a little muddled. Still, I hope this serves as an appropriate example of what a game of Fiasco entails.
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Friday, December 21, 2018
Fiasco Session Write-Up: Heroes of Pinnacle City
Fiasco! is a table-top role-playing game in which the players generate story elements, create characters, and act out a story in the vein of Office Space, Fargo, and The Ice Harvest. Played over the Setup, Act I, the Tilt, Act II, and the Aftermath, Fiasco sessions devolve into the madcap misadventures of people with grand ambition and poor impulse control.
During the setup, players roll a pool of dice to randomly generate story elements, including character relationships, details, locations, and needs. During Act I and Act II, dice are assigned to indicate positive and negative outcomes. In between the two Acts, the Tilt elements are chosen, which introduce chaos, obstacles, or left-turns to further drive the story into nonsense. The Aftermath closes, which outlines each character in a short montage, and ends the story.
The playset for this session was Heroes of Pinnacle City, a super-hero themed playset which runs the gamut from Silver-Age nonsense through Vertigo-style hyper-violence. Here's what happened:
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Barbara Braddock, AKA Officer Bear-Arms: A former police officer turned journalism intern, Ms. Braddock was the subject of a mysterious experiment which enhanced her strength and reflexes to super-human levels...and granted her the ability to turn her human arms into bear arms, complete with hair and claws.
Dr. Jeremiah "Jeremy" Hawthorne: An exiled Dimorian (alien) scientist who enjoys running experiments on pre-warp sentient species. He's hung around Earth for quite some time and settled in Pinnacle City to run his lab out of the University. Explains his work as "giving a chimp a handgun and watching what happens."
Ms. Glick: An alien anthropologist who was dispatched to Earth to study humanity and aid in its development of warp technology. Over her long life she's had repeated run-ins with Hawthorne, to her chagrin. Her sympathy for humans has led to her teaming up with Officer Bear-Arms to aid the human in her crime fighting.
Freedruck Mueller: The younger of two powered twins, Freedruck looks 14 but is actually in his mid-30s. In an attempt to appear older, Freedruck joined a local Pinnacle University study run by Dr. Hawthorne concerning the growth of facial hair. Unfortunately, Hawthorne's experiment resulted in Freedruck's long-term memory getting locked in his impressive mustache. Yeah.
August Mueller, AKA Augustus Injustice: Freedruck's elder brother, August has the ability to stretch his fingers and toes to incredible lengths. Over the course of his super-villainy, August has decided to make one more score in order to get himself and his younger brother out of the City.
ACT I
Scene I - Dr. Jeremy Hawthorne is interviewing Freedruck Mueller at Pinnacle Perk, the local coffee shop. Freedruck was the newest subject in an experiment to force hair-growth, which it did...at the cost of storing his memory in the hair. Hawthorne is very amused, and pays Freedruck the $5,000 before leaving.
Scene II - Ms. Glick, alien anthropologist, receives a call from her boss at the Galactic Federation. Apparently the Dimorians are stirring up trouble on Earth, and the Federation has information that Jeremiah Hawthorne is one of the instigators. Ms. Glick asks that she not be assigned the case, but the boss hangs up on her.
Scene III - Officer Bear-Arms returns from a night of crime fighting and investigation. She's stolen the account numbers to Hawthorne's bank account in the Cayman Islands. Convinced she's discovered something important, she calls up her contact, Ms. Glick, and sets up a meeting at Pinnacle Perk to discuss the development.
Scene IV - We flash back to before Scene I: Augustus calls his brother to discuss their escape plan...and then executes a flawless bank robbery before making off with a few grand. They plan on meeting up that evening to finalize their schedules.
Scene V - Freedruck's back at Pinnacle Perk the next day. His memory loss means he's come back to the coffee shop for the third day in a row, expecting to meet Hawthorne. A well-meaning barista reminds him he's already met his friend, so he leaves in confusion.
Scene VI - Hawthorne calls up Ms. Glick. It turns out his cover identity of Jeremy Hawthorne is under court injunction for ethical violations regarding his experiments. Ms. Glick agrees to help, but they'll have to meet up, as she thinks he's up to something.
Scene VII - Ms. Glick meets with Barbara at Pinnacle Perk. The bank account information actually contains a hidden Dimorian cipher, which she can't break. Convinced that she's alone in her fight, Barbara leaves the coffee shop in a huff.
Scene VIII - At work, Barbara runs into August in his civilian ego. In an attempt to endear himself to her, August gives her a lead on another bank robbery story. The two leave on good terms and Barbara goes back to her cupboard office, and tacks the story to her Wall of Crazy.
Scene IX - August meets with Hawthorne and attempts to join the hair-growth study out of jealousy regarding Freedruck's success. Hawthorne gives him a pill bottle, telling him to take once daily, morning and evening.
Scene X - Freedruck meets up with August and becomes enraged at August's competing beard. The two argue for a bit before one of Freedruck's beard hairs falls into his beer - when he drinks it, it unlocks his memories and he realizes what's happened. After he leaves, August takes three pills in a fit of jealousy.
THE TILT
Failure - Something precious is on fire
Guilt - Somebody develops a conscience
ACT II
Scene I - Hawthorne and Freedruck meet at Pinnacle Perk once more so Hawthorne can collect a sample. He pays the barista to look the other way as he shaves Freedruck before he leaves. Afterwards he calls up Ms. Glick and the two discuss the cipher before agreeing to meet at the Atlantean Memorial Atoll.
Scene II - Later on at the Atoll, Hawthorne decodes the alien cipher - it's the plans to a super-weapon which would set the planet on fire. He compares it to giving a gun to a chimpanzee and seeing what happens.
Scene III - Barbara is convinced she's found the source of this trouble- her wall of crazy consistently links back to a laboratory under the science building at Pinnacle University. She arms up, bears-out, and storms the laboratory, where she finds disguised aliens and deformed clones which reveal the origins of her powers. She sets the place on fire and stumbles back to August's apartment, where the two bang to relieve the tension.
Scene IV - As Barbara sleeps off her raid, August listens to the police scanner and hears about the fire at the lab. He calls up Freedruck and the two go to the science building, where they talk their way into the crime scene. Unfortunately his proximity to the alien tech activates his powers and the cops drag him away after recognizing him as Augustus Injustice.
Scene V - Freedruck once more meets with Hawthorne at Pinnacle Perk. Hawthorne comes clean about his experiments, his involvement with cloning, and his alien origins. The two part on alright terms.
Scene VI - Hawthorne decides the injunction isn't worth dealing with, so he plans on fleeing to Russia, where the Titanium Grizzly has opened the country's doors to powered individuals. He tricks Ms. Glick into thinking the cipher was destroyed, but he actually has it with him...and it turns out it's not actually a super-weapon...
Scene VII - Ms. Glick hunts down Barbara to discuss the cipher. Glick realizes the cipher wasn't actually destroyed and tracks it off-world, so she gets on her private ship and follows it into the stars.
Scene VIII - Barbara's disillusioned with crime fighting. She's sitting in the park, chain-smoking on a bench. A man nearby gets mugged, and she sits by and watches it happen, jaded.
Scene IX - August is in prison and wants to use his one telephone call to call his Freedruck. The guard misunderstands and calls his own brother, Jacob. So August calls Barbara to ask for help, and she hangs up on him.
Scene X - Freedruck has some pizza to clear his head and decides to help his brother. He calls the bank and tries to withdraw all their cash, but they say they can't do it if it's actually August's account...which Freedruck confirms, so they hang up on him.
THE AFTERMATH
This is Jeremiah Hawthorne on a ship leaving earth. He uses his clout to recruit a gang of alien toughs to go off into the stars and cause trouble. On a desolate planet he uses the cipher to unlock an alien vault and kick-start a smuggling empire.
This is Misglick, shedding her Ms. Glick persona as she leaves Earth. After resolving the Dimerian Crisis on Earth, she's rewarded with the position of Star Warden...and assigned to follow after Hawthorne to clean up his messes for the foreseeable future.
This is Barbara Braddock taking back up the mantle of Officer Bear-Arms. During a particularly brutal fight with Augustus Injustice, she's framed for the damage and sent to prison, where she spends the rest of her life surrounded by the criminals she put away...
This is Freedruck Mueller, regretful over his mistakes. After helping his brother, he makes a number of mistakes before becoming an electrician. While working on the city's power grid he accidentally electrocutes himself and shorts power to the entire city, dying in the process.
This is Augustus Injustice, taking back up his life of crime. He meets back up with his brother and enlists his help in getting the cash out of the Caymans. The Bank has a No Negotiation policy, and Augustus gets away with all his money.
Facilitator Thoughts
Each player in this session had played Fiasco previously, and four of us had played together previously (see Mission to Mercury and Suburbia recaps). Of these three sessions, this one definitely felt the most coherent. While Fiasco is a relatively easy role-playing game for new players, the game starts to shine when you have a consistent, experienced group with whom to play.
Out of all the sessions I've personally played, the Superhero playset also generated the most enthusiasm. Main Street, USA and Suburbia are good for drama, but the additional super-powered elements really allowed the game to go off the rails in a great way. Of course, compare this to the Mission to Mercury playset, which I've run with two separate groups, to luke-warm results each time.
During the setup, players roll a pool of dice to randomly generate story elements, including character relationships, details, locations, and needs. During Act I and Act II, dice are assigned to indicate positive and negative outcomes. In between the two Acts, the Tilt elements are chosen, which introduce chaos, obstacles, or left-turns to further drive the story into nonsense. The Aftermath closes, which outlines each character in a short montage, and ends the story.
The playset for this session was Heroes of Pinnacle City, a super-hero themed playset which runs the gamut from Silver-Age nonsense through Vertigo-style hyper-violence. Here's what happened:
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Barbara Braddock, AKA Officer Bear-Arms: A former police officer turned journalism intern, Ms. Braddock was the subject of a mysterious experiment which enhanced her strength and reflexes to super-human levels...and granted her the ability to turn her human arms into bear arms, complete with hair and claws.
Dr. Jeremiah "Jeremy" Hawthorne: An exiled Dimorian (alien) scientist who enjoys running experiments on pre-warp sentient species. He's hung around Earth for quite some time and settled in Pinnacle City to run his lab out of the University. Explains his work as "giving a chimp a handgun and watching what happens."
Ms. Glick: An alien anthropologist who was dispatched to Earth to study humanity and aid in its development of warp technology. Over her long life she's had repeated run-ins with Hawthorne, to her chagrin. Her sympathy for humans has led to her teaming up with Officer Bear-Arms to aid the human in her crime fighting.
Freedruck Mueller: The younger of two powered twins, Freedruck looks 14 but is actually in his mid-30s. In an attempt to appear older, Freedruck joined a local Pinnacle University study run by Dr. Hawthorne concerning the growth of facial hair. Unfortunately, Hawthorne's experiment resulted in Freedruck's long-term memory getting locked in his impressive mustache. Yeah.
August Mueller, AKA Augustus Injustice: Freedruck's elder brother, August has the ability to stretch his fingers and toes to incredible lengths. Over the course of his super-villainy, August has decided to make one more score in order to get himself and his younger brother out of the City.
ACT I
Scene I - Dr. Jeremy Hawthorne is interviewing Freedruck Mueller at Pinnacle Perk, the local coffee shop. Freedruck was the newest subject in an experiment to force hair-growth, which it did...at the cost of storing his memory in the hair. Hawthorne is very amused, and pays Freedruck the $5,000 before leaving.
Scene II - Ms. Glick, alien anthropologist, receives a call from her boss at the Galactic Federation. Apparently the Dimorians are stirring up trouble on Earth, and the Federation has information that Jeremiah Hawthorne is one of the instigators. Ms. Glick asks that she not be assigned the case, but the boss hangs up on her.
Scene III - Officer Bear-Arms returns from a night of crime fighting and investigation. She's stolen the account numbers to Hawthorne's bank account in the Cayman Islands. Convinced she's discovered something important, she calls up her contact, Ms. Glick, and sets up a meeting at Pinnacle Perk to discuss the development.
Scene IV - We flash back to before Scene I: Augustus calls his brother to discuss their escape plan...and then executes a flawless bank robbery before making off with a few grand. They plan on meeting up that evening to finalize their schedules.
Scene V - Freedruck's back at Pinnacle Perk the next day. His memory loss means he's come back to the coffee shop for the third day in a row, expecting to meet Hawthorne. A well-meaning barista reminds him he's already met his friend, so he leaves in confusion.
Scene VI - Hawthorne calls up Ms. Glick. It turns out his cover identity of Jeremy Hawthorne is under court injunction for ethical violations regarding his experiments. Ms. Glick agrees to help, but they'll have to meet up, as she thinks he's up to something.
Scene VII - Ms. Glick meets with Barbara at Pinnacle Perk. The bank account information actually contains a hidden Dimorian cipher, which she can't break. Convinced that she's alone in her fight, Barbara leaves the coffee shop in a huff.
Scene VIII - At work, Barbara runs into August in his civilian ego. In an attempt to endear himself to her, August gives her a lead on another bank robbery story. The two leave on good terms and Barbara goes back to her cupboard office, and tacks the story to her Wall of Crazy.
Scene IX - August meets with Hawthorne and attempts to join the hair-growth study out of jealousy regarding Freedruck's success. Hawthorne gives him a pill bottle, telling him to take once daily, morning and evening.
Scene X - Freedruck meets up with August and becomes enraged at August's competing beard. The two argue for a bit before one of Freedruck's beard hairs falls into his beer - when he drinks it, it unlocks his memories and he realizes what's happened. After he leaves, August takes three pills in a fit of jealousy.
THE TILT
Failure - Something precious is on fire
Guilt - Somebody develops a conscience
ACT II
Scene I - Hawthorne and Freedruck meet at Pinnacle Perk once more so Hawthorne can collect a sample. He pays the barista to look the other way as he shaves Freedruck before he leaves. Afterwards he calls up Ms. Glick and the two discuss the cipher before agreeing to meet at the Atlantean Memorial Atoll.
Scene II - Later on at the Atoll, Hawthorne decodes the alien cipher - it's the plans to a super-weapon which would set the planet on fire. He compares it to giving a gun to a chimpanzee and seeing what happens.
Scene III - Barbara is convinced she's found the source of this trouble- her wall of crazy consistently links back to a laboratory under the science building at Pinnacle University. She arms up, bears-out, and storms the laboratory, where she finds disguised aliens and deformed clones which reveal the origins of her powers. She sets the place on fire and stumbles back to August's apartment, where the two bang to relieve the tension.
Scene IV - As Barbara sleeps off her raid, August listens to the police scanner and hears about the fire at the lab. He calls up Freedruck and the two go to the science building, where they talk their way into the crime scene. Unfortunately his proximity to the alien tech activates his powers and the cops drag him away after recognizing him as Augustus Injustice.
Scene V - Freedruck once more meets with Hawthorne at Pinnacle Perk. Hawthorne comes clean about his experiments, his involvement with cloning, and his alien origins. The two part on alright terms.
Scene VI - Hawthorne decides the injunction isn't worth dealing with, so he plans on fleeing to Russia, where the Titanium Grizzly has opened the country's doors to powered individuals. He tricks Ms. Glick into thinking the cipher was destroyed, but he actually has it with him...and it turns out it's not actually a super-weapon...
Scene VII - Ms. Glick hunts down Barbara to discuss the cipher. Glick realizes the cipher wasn't actually destroyed and tracks it off-world, so she gets on her private ship and follows it into the stars.
Scene VIII - Barbara's disillusioned with crime fighting. She's sitting in the park, chain-smoking on a bench. A man nearby gets mugged, and she sits by and watches it happen, jaded.
Scene IX - August is in prison and wants to use his one telephone call to call his Freedruck. The guard misunderstands and calls his own brother, Jacob. So August calls Barbara to ask for help, and she hangs up on him.
Scene X - Freedruck has some pizza to clear his head and decides to help his brother. He calls the bank and tries to withdraw all their cash, but they say they can't do it if it's actually August's account...which Freedruck confirms, so they hang up on him.
THE AFTERMATH
This is Jeremiah Hawthorne on a ship leaving earth. He uses his clout to recruit a gang of alien toughs to go off into the stars and cause trouble. On a desolate planet he uses the cipher to unlock an alien vault and kick-start a smuggling empire.
This is Misglick, shedding her Ms. Glick persona as she leaves Earth. After resolving the Dimerian Crisis on Earth, she's rewarded with the position of Star Warden...and assigned to follow after Hawthorne to clean up his messes for the foreseeable future.
This is Barbara Braddock taking back up the mantle of Officer Bear-Arms. During a particularly brutal fight with Augustus Injustice, she's framed for the damage and sent to prison, where she spends the rest of her life surrounded by the criminals she put away...
This is Freedruck Mueller, regretful over his mistakes. After helping his brother, he makes a number of mistakes before becoming an electrician. While working on the city's power grid he accidentally electrocutes himself and shorts power to the entire city, dying in the process.
This is Augustus Injustice, taking back up his life of crime. He meets back up with his brother and enlists his help in getting the cash out of the Caymans. The Bank has a No Negotiation policy, and Augustus gets away with all his money.
Facilitator Thoughts
Each player in this session had played Fiasco previously, and four of us had played together previously (see Mission to Mercury and Suburbia recaps). Of these three sessions, this one definitely felt the most coherent. While Fiasco is a relatively easy role-playing game for new players, the game starts to shine when you have a consistent, experienced group with whom to play.
Out of all the sessions I've personally played, the Superhero playset also generated the most enthusiasm. Main Street, USA and Suburbia are good for drama, but the additional super-powered elements really allowed the game to go off the rails in a great way. Of course, compare this to the Mission to Mercury playset, which I've run with two separate groups, to luke-warm results each time.
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Fiasco Session Write-Up: Mission to Mercury
Fiasco! is a table-top role-playing game in which the players generate story elements, create characters, and act out a story in the vein of Office Space, Fargo, and The Ice Harvest. Played over the Setup, Act I, the Tilt, Act II, and the Aftermath, Fiasco sessions devolve into the madcap misadventures of people with grand ambition and poor impulse control.
During the setup, players roll a pool of dice to randomly generate story elements, including character relationships, details, locations, and needs. During Act I and Act II, dice are assigned to indicate positive and negative outcomes. In between the two Acts, the Tilt elements are chosen, which introduce chaos, obstacles, or left-turns to further drive the story into nonsense. The Aftermath closes, which outlines each character in a short montage, and ends the story.
The playset for this session was Mission to Mercury, which is set on a scientific observation colony atop the surface of the planet Mercury. Here's what happened:
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Bernard Kilganon - Xenoarchaeologist Director, Bernie is fairly no-nonsense and resents being assigned to this rock. At best he'd hoped he would find his way onto the Satellite station to avoid having to deal with the stress of Mercury's surface. His department's recently discovered a potentially-sculpted obelisk on the planet, and the possibility of Mercurial life is exciting!
Quinoa Rover - Child of earth hippies, Quinoa took the chance to escape her parents by becoming Chief Robotechnician on Mercury Base. Also fairly no-nonsense, Quinoa finds herself over-worked and under-appreciated.
Aldo Smith - Custodial engineer and volunteer handy-man, Aldo is confident in his competence, despite his relative lack thereof. As part of the more blue-collar workforce aboard the base, Aldo often finds himself embroiled in shenanigans.
Martian Luther - Another custodian, Martian Luther was struck by Mercury's stark beauty and soon grew involved in the burgeoning religious presence on Mercury Base. He and Aldo have been close friends for some time, to the irritation of the rest of the station.
ACT I
Scene I - A disaster recently struck Mercury Base: part of the rover garage located at the Chao Meng Fu Crater has collapsed. Bernie Kilganon and Quinoa Rover are taking a vehicle across the surface to see what they can salvage or repair. The conversation is occupied by Bernie trying to convince her one of the custodians - Martian Luther - has been sneaking into his office and taking things. She's not convinced.
Scene II - After arriving at the garage, Rover meets with the base's handyman, Aldo Smith, and attempts to diagnose what caused the issue. It seems there's an issue with the robot software, but she can't quite figure out what it might be.
Scene III - Later on, Aldo and Luther are shirking their duties in the custodial break room. The two discuss the garage collapse; Luther is convinced it's a sign their search is going well- the planet is reacting to their presence. They just need to keep probing.
Scene IV - Kilganon returns to his office to find Luther rifling through his things. The custodian doesn't put forth a convincing excuse, so the director calls up a security guard who takes Luther and puts him in the clink for a bit to think about personal space.
Scene V - Kilganon talks to the security chief, who's concerned about this cult which the staff has started taking seriously. Out of the 250ish folk on Mercury Base, maybe 50 have been seen filtering in and out of their sermons, with half of that making regular attendance. The chief says he'll keep an eye on it, and when Kilganon goes to check his desk, he finds that something very important is missing.
Scene VI - Rover finds Kilganon in his office and tells him there's something drastically wrong with the base's robots. They're all coding out with little >:-( faces on their displays. Kilganon, who isn't a techie, says it's corresponding strangely with how the crew's getting into this new star cult.
Scene VII - Aldo Smith is checking on the crashed rover and makes sure no one else is around...then he reaches into the engine compartment and removes a janitorial robot which has been retrofitted to resemble a human female. Out of nowhere appears Martian Luther, who laments that Aldo crashed the rover while using the department sexbot. He also tells Aldo he believes he's found proof that Jesus arrived on Mercury, and gets Aldo to come with him to church.
Scene VIII - Luther's not only taking him to church, he's leading the service. There are about thirty people in attendance, and the message is pretty clear: there's going to be a rapture in a week, and Mercury used to be Heaven, so everybody's going to show up on the planet, after which it will turn into a paradise.
THE TILT
The Tilt elements were decided by Kilganon and Rover, and they were:
Guilt: Greed leads to killing...
Paranoia: What you stole has been stolen...
ACT II
Scene I - Kilganon decides he should probably help with the robots, so he uses his Director Line to contact Corporate aboard the Satellite Office. He talks to the boss's dad, who says that they'll send down some CorpoTechs to see what they can do.
Scene II - Rover is in her office when she gets a call from Corporate. Thanks to her ineptitude, productivity has dropped drastically, and she's going to be audited. Whoops.
Scene III - Aldo's intrigued by the cult, though he's still a little skeptical. He meets up with Luther, who's carrying the item he stole from Kilganon's office: it's a piece of cloth, which he's convinced is the Mercurial equivalent to the Shroud of Turin, proving Jesus's presence on the planet. They take a rover and embark onto the surface in order to go see this strange obelisk which has everybody talking.
Scene IV - As Aldo drives, Luther outlines his plan: once the rapture brings everyone to Mercury, he's going to be the new Space Pope. As they drive further out, the box containing the blanket starts to vibrate slightly, and they believe it's reacting to the nearness of the Obelisk. Excited, Luther opens the box to reveal...not the blanket, but the malfunctioning sexbot! Someone's tricked them!.
Scene V - Kilganon's also in a rover. He's been following the two custodians and doesn't like how they stole the blanket out from his desk. It was important to him. He pulls up to find the two dragging a malfunctioning sexbot across the planet's surface towards the obelisk. After a bit of a physical confrontation, Kilganon convinces the two to return to the base with him.
Scene VI - Aldo visits Rover as she's performing system maintenance on the station robots. He discovered the source of the bug, which doesn't make Rover very happy. After he leaves, she snaps a bit and breaks out the Robotic Override Codes. When they're uploaded they'll fix the robots...by wiping their programming entirely and leaving blank slates. She does this.
Scene VII - Somehow Aldo wound up with the blanket, and he and Luther are scanning it in the Custodial Supply Room. The blacklight shows an outline of a human person on it...which Luther takes as a sign of it being the Shroud, and despite Aldo thinking it's probably just Kilganon's personal blanket, he takes it as a religious sign. He admits to collapsing the garage, and agrees to accompany Luther to church.
Scene VIII - The impending corporate visit and presence of thieves causes something in Kilganon to snap. He'd just gotten his blanket back, and then it vanished once more. With corporate on the way and a cult burgeoning, it's really gotten to him. He goes to where Luther is delivering his sermon, storms the stage, and pushes the man. Luther lands awkwardly and snaps his neck, just as the corporate reps arrive.
THE AFTERMATH
This is Bernard Kilganon. After murdering a man in front of a crowd of witnesses, there's a speedy trial. Kilganon is replaced as Director of Xenoarchaeology, and spends the rest of his life in space prison.
This is Quinoa Rover. The reset robots go haywire after she programs them to disrupt the Corporate visit. In the chaos she makes off with a vac-ship and the blanket, which she's convinced holds the secret to alien DNA.
This is Aldo Smith. With the death of his one friend and destruction of his work, he takes the malfunctioning sexbot and gets himself an earthside apartment. From the comfort of his couch he watches as a new space religion takes off.
This is Martian Luther. His martyring in front of his followers has secured his spot as the head of a new space religion. The crowd takes away his body and places it in a reliquary, which serves as the focal point as they spread his beliefs across the stars.
During the setup, players roll a pool of dice to randomly generate story elements, including character relationships, details, locations, and needs. During Act I and Act II, dice are assigned to indicate positive and negative outcomes. In between the two Acts, the Tilt elements are chosen, which introduce chaos, obstacles, or left-turns to further drive the story into nonsense. The Aftermath closes, which outlines each character in a short montage, and ends the story.
The playset for this session was Mission to Mercury, which is set on a scientific observation colony atop the surface of the planet Mercury. Here's what happened:
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Bernard Kilganon - Xenoarchaeologist Director, Bernie is fairly no-nonsense and resents being assigned to this rock. At best he'd hoped he would find his way onto the Satellite station to avoid having to deal with the stress of Mercury's surface. His department's recently discovered a potentially-sculpted obelisk on the planet, and the possibility of Mercurial life is exciting!
Quinoa Rover - Child of earth hippies, Quinoa took the chance to escape her parents by becoming Chief Robotechnician on Mercury Base. Also fairly no-nonsense, Quinoa finds herself over-worked and under-appreciated.
Aldo Smith - Custodial engineer and volunteer handy-man, Aldo is confident in his competence, despite his relative lack thereof. As part of the more blue-collar workforce aboard the base, Aldo often finds himself embroiled in shenanigans.
Martian Luther - Another custodian, Martian Luther was struck by Mercury's stark beauty and soon grew involved in the burgeoning religious presence on Mercury Base. He and Aldo have been close friends for some time, to the irritation of the rest of the station.
ACT I
Scene I - A disaster recently struck Mercury Base: part of the rover garage located at the Chao Meng Fu Crater has collapsed. Bernie Kilganon and Quinoa Rover are taking a vehicle across the surface to see what they can salvage or repair. The conversation is occupied by Bernie trying to convince her one of the custodians - Martian Luther - has been sneaking into his office and taking things. She's not convinced.
Scene II - After arriving at the garage, Rover meets with the base's handyman, Aldo Smith, and attempts to diagnose what caused the issue. It seems there's an issue with the robot software, but she can't quite figure out what it might be.
Scene III - Later on, Aldo and Luther are shirking their duties in the custodial break room. The two discuss the garage collapse; Luther is convinced it's a sign their search is going well- the planet is reacting to their presence. They just need to keep probing.
Scene IV - Kilganon returns to his office to find Luther rifling through his things. The custodian doesn't put forth a convincing excuse, so the director calls up a security guard who takes Luther and puts him in the clink for a bit to think about personal space.
Scene V - Kilganon talks to the security chief, who's concerned about this cult which the staff has started taking seriously. Out of the 250ish folk on Mercury Base, maybe 50 have been seen filtering in and out of their sermons, with half of that making regular attendance. The chief says he'll keep an eye on it, and when Kilganon goes to check his desk, he finds that something very important is missing.
Scene VI - Rover finds Kilganon in his office and tells him there's something drastically wrong with the base's robots. They're all coding out with little >:-( faces on their displays. Kilganon, who isn't a techie, says it's corresponding strangely with how the crew's getting into this new star cult.
Scene VII - Aldo Smith is checking on the crashed rover and makes sure no one else is around...then he reaches into the engine compartment and removes a janitorial robot which has been retrofitted to resemble a human female. Out of nowhere appears Martian Luther, who laments that Aldo crashed the rover while using the department sexbot. He also tells Aldo he believes he's found proof that Jesus arrived on Mercury, and gets Aldo to come with him to church.
Scene VIII - Luther's not only taking him to church, he's leading the service. There are about thirty people in attendance, and the message is pretty clear: there's going to be a rapture in a week, and Mercury used to be Heaven, so everybody's going to show up on the planet, after which it will turn into a paradise.
THE TILT
The Tilt elements were decided by Kilganon and Rover, and they were:
Guilt: Greed leads to killing...
Paranoia: What you stole has been stolen...
ACT II
Scene I - Kilganon decides he should probably help with the robots, so he uses his Director Line to contact Corporate aboard the Satellite Office. He talks to the boss's dad, who says that they'll send down some CorpoTechs to see what they can do.
Scene II - Rover is in her office when she gets a call from Corporate. Thanks to her ineptitude, productivity has dropped drastically, and she's going to be audited. Whoops.
Scene III - Aldo's intrigued by the cult, though he's still a little skeptical. He meets up with Luther, who's carrying the item he stole from Kilganon's office: it's a piece of cloth, which he's convinced is the Mercurial equivalent to the Shroud of Turin, proving Jesus's presence on the planet. They take a rover and embark onto the surface in order to go see this strange obelisk which has everybody talking.
Scene IV - As Aldo drives, Luther outlines his plan: once the rapture brings everyone to Mercury, he's going to be the new Space Pope. As they drive further out, the box containing the blanket starts to vibrate slightly, and they believe it's reacting to the nearness of the Obelisk. Excited, Luther opens the box to reveal...not the blanket, but the malfunctioning sexbot! Someone's tricked them!.
Scene V - Kilganon's also in a rover. He's been following the two custodians and doesn't like how they stole the blanket out from his desk. It was important to him. He pulls up to find the two dragging a malfunctioning sexbot across the planet's surface towards the obelisk. After a bit of a physical confrontation, Kilganon convinces the two to return to the base with him.
Scene VI - Aldo visits Rover as she's performing system maintenance on the station robots. He discovered the source of the bug, which doesn't make Rover very happy. After he leaves, she snaps a bit and breaks out the Robotic Override Codes. When they're uploaded they'll fix the robots...by wiping their programming entirely and leaving blank slates. She does this.
Scene VII - Somehow Aldo wound up with the blanket, and he and Luther are scanning it in the Custodial Supply Room. The blacklight shows an outline of a human person on it...which Luther takes as a sign of it being the Shroud, and despite Aldo thinking it's probably just Kilganon's personal blanket, he takes it as a religious sign. He admits to collapsing the garage, and agrees to accompany Luther to church.
Scene VIII - The impending corporate visit and presence of thieves causes something in Kilganon to snap. He'd just gotten his blanket back, and then it vanished once more. With corporate on the way and a cult burgeoning, it's really gotten to him. He goes to where Luther is delivering his sermon, storms the stage, and pushes the man. Luther lands awkwardly and snaps his neck, just as the corporate reps arrive.
THE AFTERMATH
This is Bernard Kilganon. After murdering a man in front of a crowd of witnesses, there's a speedy trial. Kilganon is replaced as Director of Xenoarchaeology, and spends the rest of his life in space prison.
This is Quinoa Rover. The reset robots go haywire after she programs them to disrupt the Corporate visit. In the chaos she makes off with a vac-ship and the blanket, which she's convinced holds the secret to alien DNA.
This is Aldo Smith. With the death of his one friend and destruction of his work, he takes the malfunctioning sexbot and gets himself an earthside apartment. From the comfort of his couch he watches as a new space religion takes off.
This is Martian Luther. His martyring in front of his followers has secured his spot as the head of a new space religion. The crowd takes away his body and places it in a reliquary, which serves as the focal point as they spread his beliefs across the stars.
Friday, November 9, 2018
Fiasco Session Write-up: Main Street, USA
Fiasco is a role-playing game designed by Jason Morningstar, with a heavy emphasis on improvisation and story-telling over statistics and dice rolling. Played over a single 2 to 3 hour session, players roll a pile of six-sided dice to generate relationships, objects, needs, and locations, develop a convoluted web of interactions, and set the story in motion. The characters are individuals with great ambition and poor impulse control, which often leads to stories similar to Fargo, Office Space, and No Country for Old Men.
We get to meet the characters over Act I, which then ends with the Tilt. The Tilt introduces two additional story elements to further complicate, threaten, or divert things in Act II. The second Act sees character needs fulfilled, disasters caused, and stories resolved. In the Aftermath, players roll their accumulated dice to determine the outcome for their characters, and narrate short scenes to give them an exit.
We played with the Main Street, USA playset, in the small Louisiana town of Grand Isle in the year 1973. There were seven players, which is two more than recommended by the rulebook; Act II did drag towards the end, but it was getting late by virtue of the time required to give everyone the spotlight. Ultimately, Fiasco proved a good one-shot, and it felt like a nice change in pace from the regularly-scheduled D&D campaign.
Here's what happened:
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Mayor Thomas Reckoning - Three years into his first term as Mayor of Grand Isle, Tom Reckoning is a Midwester who moved to Grand Isle for a new start. After three years he's grown quite comfortable, despite his shaky professional relationship with his highly-religious assistant, Ms. Destiny Rodriguez. Recently he's been carrying on secret business negotiations with one Al Fredoschitz, a big-city man with big-city dreams.
Destiny Rodriguez - Long-suffering assistant to Mayor Reckoning, Ms. Rodriguez has served as Assistant to three Grand Isle mayors now, and she's grown tired of it. When she's not getting Mayor Reckoning out of trouble, she's a member-at-large of the local church, where she regularly torments other congregation members for their lack of piety.
Roy Bernstein - Local entrepreneur and owner / operator of the New Outlook Tanning Salon and Weight-Loss Center (We Also do Hair), Roy's carved out a little business empire in the little town of Grand Isle. His drive to gain respect by finally making it big has caused him to bump shoulders with local leaders and degenerates, though if they serve a purpose, who can criticize?
Samwell Pennington - Scion of the Grand Isle Penningtons, Samwell is a burnout druggy loser who spends his days doing drugs in his family's mansion along Hickory Terrace. Despite his substance abuse, the recipe for Grandma Pennington's "Potato Salad" is an item of local renown...which is why he's courting Mr. Bernstein for distribution rights...assuming his old flame doesn't distract him.
Derek Rust - Pronounced "Dirk" (Dirk, with two E's), Mr. Rust is a city councilman with a hunger for various illicit activities. Erstwhile lovers with Samwell Pennington, Derek has taken to illicit poodle breeding to boost his bank accounts and put his past behind him, to middling success...
Genevieve Armstrong - Attorney at Law, Ms. Armstrong is the best lawyer this town's ever seen (also, the only lawyer this town's ever seen). She provides legal advice and services to the population of Grand Isle, while only skimming a little off the top. She was also Ms. Texas '68, a fact which neither she, nor the town's citizens, ever let her forget.
Al Fredoschitz - A big-city businessman with big-city dreams, Al came from...somewhere, in an attempt to be the big fish in a small pond. His current plan involves locking Mayor Reckoning into a real-estate contract for a shady island while coordinating with Ms. Armstrong to skim some cash off the top.
ACT I
Scene I - Thomas Reckoning is in his office, downing a beer, when he realizes he's made a terrible mistake: he's scheduled his shady secret back-dealing meeting with Fredoschitz at the same time as the big town council meeting on Sunday. He calls in his assistant, Ms. Destiny Rodriguez, to arrange for his absence. Being a stand-up woman, Ms. Rodriguez reminds Mr. Reckoning that, as Mayor, he has a duty to perform, and so he has her drop off a letter for Fredoschitz telling him he'll be late.
Scene II - That evening, Destiny is at church, where she meets with Roy Bernstein, local business owner. The two bicker about tithes and piety, and it soon becomes clear that Roy's not so into the whole church thing. Satisfied that she's proven her conviction, Destiny leads the final prayer and the church service ends.
Scene III - After the service, Roy meets up with Samwell Pennington, potential business partner, at the New Outlook Tanning Salon and Weight-Loss Center (We Also do Hair). The two discuss the Pennington "Potato Salad" recipe, and arrange for Pennington to hand over the recipe for distribution in return for a lump sum payment.
Scene IV - Samwell returns to his mansion to get the recipe. He meets up with Roy once more and sells the recipe for $5000, plus a portion of all proceeds in the future. The two part on good terms, and Samwell goes back inside to do some drugs.
Scene V - It's the big town council meeting, and everybody's in attendance. Derek opens with some glowing words for the town's sole lawyer, Ms. Genevieve Armstrong, which draws some confusion from the crowd. The Mayor, flustered as always, is torn between executing the powers of his office, or fleeing and going to his meeting with Fredoschitz. He leaves, which lets Derek run the show for a while.
Scene VI - Ms. Armstrong leaves the council meeting and goes to get her hair done by Mr. Bernstein. The two bicker about things, in which verbal jabs are tossed about, but Ms. Armstrong's dealt with worse, and doesn't leave a tip after.
Scene VII - Al Fredoschitz is waiting at the J & K Gravel quarry on the outskirts of town when the Mayor drives up, forty-five minutes late. It soon becomes apparent that the Mayor's desperate to keep his office, and what better way to do that than buy the town of Grand Isle an actual island? Fredoschitz has the Mayor sign a contract deal and Reckoning promises to deliver the $2.5M next week (Sunday).
Scene VIII - Tom Reckoning's in a tough place. He may not be the brightest, but he's fairly certain he won't be able to come up with $2.5M in cash by the next week. In need of legal advice, he goes to Ms. Armstrong to see how legally binding a signature on a contract is...it turns out, very. He leaves, a sudden sense of doom hanging over his head.
Scene IX - Destiny Rodriguez goes to her boss - she's caught on to Al's plan, and she convinced Tom to find a contract loophole - after all, it's only Tom who'd lose out.
Scene X - It's four days later - Roy is in his office finalizing business. He goes to meet with Samwise and buys the "potato salad" recipe for $5,000.
Scene XI - Still aglow from his financial success, Samwell calls up his old flame, Councilman Derek Rust. After a brief reconnect, the two retreat into the mansion to partake of some of the famous Pennington "Potato Salad" and rekindle the embers of a cooling relationship.
Scene XII - Councilman Derek Rust comes to in the middle of the night, nude, walking down Main Street, Grand Isle. He doesn't remember much: just the limp body of Samwell Pennington where he hid it in the closet. Unsure whether he's a murderer, Mr. Rust goes to the office of Genevieve Armstrong and starts banging on the door. Destiny Rodriguez, who lives across the street, sees Derek and promptly calls the police.
(At this point Samwise's player left, so we continued as if the character had as well.)
Scene XIII - Genevieve Armstrong meets Al Fredoschitz at his car, where he's got it parked along Hickory Terrace. The two commiserate, in which we learn they're scamming the mayor; Genevieve because she cannot stand the man, and Al because he wants to become mayor himself and rule a little corner of the world. Genevieve breaks Attorney - Client privilege and tells Al that Reckoning is worried about the contract. She promises to draw up a second one, in order to double down on the legality of it all...you can't really expect Ms. Texas '68 to know much about law.
Scene XIV - Al calls up the Mayor's office, but Tom pretends he's not there. Destiny listens to his pitch regarding the island, but sides with her boss and convinces Al of the Mayor's absence before hanging up.
THE TILT
The Tilt Elements for this game were chosen by Mayor Reckoning and Destiny Rodriguez. They were:
* Mayhem: A dangerous animal escapes...
* Paranoia: What seems like dumb luck isn't...
ACT II
Scene I - Tom has spent some time in the library, and based on his research learns that a contract which no longer exists is technically void. He resolves to find and destroy the contract.
Scene II - Destiny goes to see Derek Rust in the drunk tank. Despite her honeyed words and fancy speech, Derek's mind is clouded by the event of the evening, and he's decidedly not interested in accompanying her to the house of God. Destiny leaves him to sober up.
Scene III - Roy calls up the Mayor. The two discuss the political state of the town and set up a meeting time on Saturday to discuss the Mayor's options. Tom Reckoning doesn't really care - come Saturday he'll have either left town or died.
Scene IV - Derek has another visitor - this time it's the Mayor. Tom Reckoning looks flustered. The two talk about Derek's issues and how they might affect his seat on the town's council. In order to keep his spot safe, Tom threatens to expose Derek's illegal poodle breeding business he's undertaken with Ms. Armstrong. In exchange, he'll have Derek's vote in the next council meeting, and his charges will be reduced.
Scene V - Genevieve Armstrong arrives at the Mayor's office with a second contract. Some legalese and twisty words convinces the Mayor to sign the document, and the town's only lawyer leaves.
Scene VI - Al calls Armstrong - he's celebrating the sale of the island to the Mayor, which will get him off the hook for what's buried there. While on the phone with Ms. Armstrong, she tells him she can't help run his campaign for town Mayor. Slightly deflated, but no less ambitious, Al calls up local businessman Roy to manage his run for election.
Scene VII - Tom's contemplating what Derek told him. If Samwise Pennington is dead, it stands to reason someone outside the town killed him - after all, the Grand Isle Penningtons are local royalty. Considering everything was nice and calm before Al arrived, it only makes sense that Tom's realtor is the murderer.
Scene VIII - Destiny Rodriguez, seeking answers, corners Tom in his office and forces him to admit to embezzlement, taking the law into his hands, and not reading contracts. Considering he's the worst Mayor she's ever served under, she resigns.
Scene IX - It's Saturday, and Tom Reckoning goes to meet with Roy Bernstein. The businessman seems to have come into quite a bit of cash, because he cuts Tom a check for $2.5M in a bid to help him win reelection. After all, Pennington's Patented "Potato Salad" might not sell so well underneath a more nosy Mayor.
Scene X - Derek visits the Mayor once more and delivers what he promised - the meanest poodle he's bred, with the worst temper. The Mayor isn't exactly sure what he's going to do with it, but it'll work out at some point, probably.
Scene XI - We flash back to when Genevieve gave Derek the poodle. He doesn't tell her what it's for, but she's more than happy to get rid of the beast.
Scene XII - Al talks with Roy and learns he's backed out of the deal. In a fit of rage he calls the police to report an island riddled with the remains of poodles who flunked his lawyer's breeding program...which so happens to be held in the name of the Mayor, Thomas Reckoning.
The Aftermath
In the Fiasco! endgame, each player rolls their collected dice and narrates short scenes in a montage style to close out the story. The accumulated totals are checked against a chart of outcomes and used to usher out each character. Due to the size of the table for this game, we did one short scene each, rather than a full montage.
This is Mayor Thomas Reckoning. When the police knock on his home's door, he answers their charges with copies of the two contracts and recordings of his talks with Genevieve Armstrong, proving his innocence and implicating Al Fredoschitz in the whole situation.
This is Destiny Rodriguez...several years later. After a successful book tour promoting her work as a faith-based assistant, she eventually works her way onto the daytime talk-show circuit and, after some time, secures her own Christian television show called Detect the Faith.
This is Roy Bernstein. The recipe for Pennington's "Potato Salad" is a hit in the area, and the substance has appeared in nearby large cities. Business is booming...but along with the increase in business comes the increase in notoriety, and Grand Isle soon attracts the eye of crime.
This is Derek Rust. Having caught his taste of crime and finding it bittersweet, he takes the more authentic path of being a legally-licensed dog breeder.
This is Genevieve Armstrong. After having committed contract forgery, fraud, and breaking Attorney-Client privilege, Ms. Armstrong is stripped of her license to practice law and spends the rest of her life trying to coast as Ms. Texas '68.
This is Al Fredoschitz. With the whirlwind calming and the police closing on his position, he realizes he only has one out if he wishes to stay out of prison...and so, he hooks up a hose from his car / house's exhaust, feeds it into the window, and turns the ignition...
We get to meet the characters over Act I, which then ends with the Tilt. The Tilt introduces two additional story elements to further complicate, threaten, or divert things in Act II. The second Act sees character needs fulfilled, disasters caused, and stories resolved. In the Aftermath, players roll their accumulated dice to determine the outcome for their characters, and narrate short scenes to give them an exit.
We played with the Main Street, USA playset, in the small Louisiana town of Grand Isle in the year 1973. There were seven players, which is two more than recommended by the rulebook; Act II did drag towards the end, but it was getting late by virtue of the time required to give everyone the spotlight. Ultimately, Fiasco proved a good one-shot, and it felt like a nice change in pace from the regularly-scheduled D&D campaign.
Here's what happened:
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Mayor Thomas Reckoning - Three years into his first term as Mayor of Grand Isle, Tom Reckoning is a Midwester who moved to Grand Isle for a new start. After three years he's grown quite comfortable, despite his shaky professional relationship with his highly-religious assistant, Ms. Destiny Rodriguez. Recently he's been carrying on secret business negotiations with one Al Fredoschitz, a big-city man with big-city dreams.
Destiny Rodriguez - Long-suffering assistant to Mayor Reckoning, Ms. Rodriguez has served as Assistant to three Grand Isle mayors now, and she's grown tired of it. When she's not getting Mayor Reckoning out of trouble, she's a member-at-large of the local church, where she regularly torments other congregation members for their lack of piety.
Roy Bernstein - Local entrepreneur and owner / operator of the New Outlook Tanning Salon and Weight-Loss Center (We Also do Hair), Roy's carved out a little business empire in the little town of Grand Isle. His drive to gain respect by finally making it big has caused him to bump shoulders with local leaders and degenerates, though if they serve a purpose, who can criticize?
Samwell Pennington - Scion of the Grand Isle Penningtons, Samwell is a burnout druggy loser who spends his days doing drugs in his family's mansion along Hickory Terrace. Despite his substance abuse, the recipe for Grandma Pennington's "Potato Salad" is an item of local renown...which is why he's courting Mr. Bernstein for distribution rights...assuming his old flame doesn't distract him.
Derek Rust - Pronounced "Dirk" (Dirk, with two E's), Mr. Rust is a city councilman with a hunger for various illicit activities. Erstwhile lovers with Samwell Pennington, Derek has taken to illicit poodle breeding to boost his bank accounts and put his past behind him, to middling success...
Genevieve Armstrong - Attorney at Law, Ms. Armstrong is the best lawyer this town's ever seen (also, the only lawyer this town's ever seen). She provides legal advice and services to the population of Grand Isle, while only skimming a little off the top. She was also Ms. Texas '68, a fact which neither she, nor the town's citizens, ever let her forget.
Al Fredoschitz - A big-city businessman with big-city dreams, Al came from...somewhere, in an attempt to be the big fish in a small pond. His current plan involves locking Mayor Reckoning into a real-estate contract for a shady island while coordinating with Ms. Armstrong to skim some cash off the top.
ACT I
Scene I - Thomas Reckoning is in his office, downing a beer, when he realizes he's made a terrible mistake: he's scheduled his shady secret back-dealing meeting with Fredoschitz at the same time as the big town council meeting on Sunday. He calls in his assistant, Ms. Destiny Rodriguez, to arrange for his absence. Being a stand-up woman, Ms. Rodriguez reminds Mr. Reckoning that, as Mayor, he has a duty to perform, and so he has her drop off a letter for Fredoschitz telling him he'll be late.
Scene II - That evening, Destiny is at church, where she meets with Roy Bernstein, local business owner. The two bicker about tithes and piety, and it soon becomes clear that Roy's not so into the whole church thing. Satisfied that she's proven her conviction, Destiny leads the final prayer and the church service ends.
Scene III - After the service, Roy meets up with Samwell Pennington, potential business partner, at the New Outlook Tanning Salon and Weight-Loss Center (We Also do Hair). The two discuss the Pennington "Potato Salad" recipe, and arrange for Pennington to hand over the recipe for distribution in return for a lump sum payment.
Scene IV - Samwell returns to his mansion to get the recipe. He meets up with Roy once more and sells the recipe for $5000, plus a portion of all proceeds in the future. The two part on good terms, and Samwell goes back inside to do some drugs.
Scene V - It's the big town council meeting, and everybody's in attendance. Derek opens with some glowing words for the town's sole lawyer, Ms. Genevieve Armstrong, which draws some confusion from the crowd. The Mayor, flustered as always, is torn between executing the powers of his office, or fleeing and going to his meeting with Fredoschitz. He leaves, which lets Derek run the show for a while.
Scene VI - Ms. Armstrong leaves the council meeting and goes to get her hair done by Mr. Bernstein. The two bicker about things, in which verbal jabs are tossed about, but Ms. Armstrong's dealt with worse, and doesn't leave a tip after.
Scene VII - Al Fredoschitz is waiting at the J & K Gravel quarry on the outskirts of town when the Mayor drives up, forty-five minutes late. It soon becomes apparent that the Mayor's desperate to keep his office, and what better way to do that than buy the town of Grand Isle an actual island? Fredoschitz has the Mayor sign a contract deal and Reckoning promises to deliver the $2.5M next week (Sunday).
Scene VIII - Tom Reckoning's in a tough place. He may not be the brightest, but he's fairly certain he won't be able to come up with $2.5M in cash by the next week. In need of legal advice, he goes to Ms. Armstrong to see how legally binding a signature on a contract is...it turns out, very. He leaves, a sudden sense of doom hanging over his head.
Scene IX - Destiny Rodriguez goes to her boss - she's caught on to Al's plan, and she convinced Tom to find a contract loophole - after all, it's only Tom who'd lose out.
Scene X - It's four days later - Roy is in his office finalizing business. He goes to meet with Samwise and buys the "potato salad" recipe for $5,000.
Scene XI - Still aglow from his financial success, Samwell calls up his old flame, Councilman Derek Rust. After a brief reconnect, the two retreat into the mansion to partake of some of the famous Pennington "Potato Salad" and rekindle the embers of a cooling relationship.
Scene XII - Councilman Derek Rust comes to in the middle of the night, nude, walking down Main Street, Grand Isle. He doesn't remember much: just the limp body of Samwell Pennington where he hid it in the closet. Unsure whether he's a murderer, Mr. Rust goes to the office of Genevieve Armstrong and starts banging on the door. Destiny Rodriguez, who lives across the street, sees Derek and promptly calls the police.
(At this point Samwise's player left, so we continued as if the character had as well.)
Scene XIII - Genevieve Armstrong meets Al Fredoschitz at his car, where he's got it parked along Hickory Terrace. The two commiserate, in which we learn they're scamming the mayor; Genevieve because she cannot stand the man, and Al because he wants to become mayor himself and rule a little corner of the world. Genevieve breaks Attorney - Client privilege and tells Al that Reckoning is worried about the contract. She promises to draw up a second one, in order to double down on the legality of it all...you can't really expect Ms. Texas '68 to know much about law.
Scene XIV - Al calls up the Mayor's office, but Tom pretends he's not there. Destiny listens to his pitch regarding the island, but sides with her boss and convinces Al of the Mayor's absence before hanging up.
THE TILT
The Tilt Elements for this game were chosen by Mayor Reckoning and Destiny Rodriguez. They were:
* Mayhem: A dangerous animal escapes...
* Paranoia: What seems like dumb luck isn't...
ACT II
Scene I - Tom has spent some time in the library, and based on his research learns that a contract which no longer exists is technically void. He resolves to find and destroy the contract.
Scene II - Destiny goes to see Derek Rust in the drunk tank. Despite her honeyed words and fancy speech, Derek's mind is clouded by the event of the evening, and he's decidedly not interested in accompanying her to the house of God. Destiny leaves him to sober up.
Scene III - Roy calls up the Mayor. The two discuss the political state of the town and set up a meeting time on Saturday to discuss the Mayor's options. Tom Reckoning doesn't really care - come Saturday he'll have either left town or died.
Scene IV - Derek has another visitor - this time it's the Mayor. Tom Reckoning looks flustered. The two talk about Derek's issues and how they might affect his seat on the town's council. In order to keep his spot safe, Tom threatens to expose Derek's illegal poodle breeding business he's undertaken with Ms. Armstrong. In exchange, he'll have Derek's vote in the next council meeting, and his charges will be reduced.
Scene V - Genevieve Armstrong arrives at the Mayor's office with a second contract. Some legalese and twisty words convinces the Mayor to sign the document, and the town's only lawyer leaves.
Scene VI - Al calls Armstrong - he's celebrating the sale of the island to the Mayor, which will get him off the hook for what's buried there. While on the phone with Ms. Armstrong, she tells him she can't help run his campaign for town Mayor. Slightly deflated, but no less ambitious, Al calls up local businessman Roy to manage his run for election.
Scene VII - Tom's contemplating what Derek told him. If Samwise Pennington is dead, it stands to reason someone outside the town killed him - after all, the Grand Isle Penningtons are local royalty. Considering everything was nice and calm before Al arrived, it only makes sense that Tom's realtor is the murderer.
Scene VIII - Destiny Rodriguez, seeking answers, corners Tom in his office and forces him to admit to embezzlement, taking the law into his hands, and not reading contracts. Considering he's the worst Mayor she's ever served under, she resigns.
Scene IX - It's Saturday, and Tom Reckoning goes to meet with Roy Bernstein. The businessman seems to have come into quite a bit of cash, because he cuts Tom a check for $2.5M in a bid to help him win reelection. After all, Pennington's Patented "Potato Salad" might not sell so well underneath a more nosy Mayor.
Scene X - Derek visits the Mayor once more and delivers what he promised - the meanest poodle he's bred, with the worst temper. The Mayor isn't exactly sure what he's going to do with it, but it'll work out at some point, probably.
Scene XI - We flash back to when Genevieve gave Derek the poodle. He doesn't tell her what it's for, but she's more than happy to get rid of the beast.
Scene XII - Al talks with Roy and learns he's backed out of the deal. In a fit of rage he calls the police to report an island riddled with the remains of poodles who flunked his lawyer's breeding program...which so happens to be held in the name of the Mayor, Thomas Reckoning.
The Aftermath
In the Fiasco! endgame, each player rolls their collected dice and narrates short scenes in a montage style to close out the story. The accumulated totals are checked against a chart of outcomes and used to usher out each character. Due to the size of the table for this game, we did one short scene each, rather than a full montage.
This is Mayor Thomas Reckoning. When the police knock on his home's door, he answers their charges with copies of the two contracts and recordings of his talks with Genevieve Armstrong, proving his innocence and implicating Al Fredoschitz in the whole situation.
This is Destiny Rodriguez...several years later. After a successful book tour promoting her work as a faith-based assistant, she eventually works her way onto the daytime talk-show circuit and, after some time, secures her own Christian television show called Detect the Faith.
This is Roy Bernstein. The recipe for Pennington's "Potato Salad" is a hit in the area, and the substance has appeared in nearby large cities. Business is booming...but along with the increase in business comes the increase in notoriety, and Grand Isle soon attracts the eye of crime.
This is Derek Rust. Having caught his taste of crime and finding it bittersweet, he takes the more authentic path of being a legally-licensed dog breeder.
This is Genevieve Armstrong. After having committed contract forgery, fraud, and breaking Attorney-Client privilege, Ms. Armstrong is stripped of her license to practice law and spends the rest of her life trying to coast as Ms. Texas '68.
This is Al Fredoschitz. With the whirlwind calming and the police closing on his position, he realizes he only has one out if he wishes to stay out of prison...and so, he hooks up a hose from his car / house's exhaust, feeds it into the window, and turns the ignition...
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
In A Wicked Age Writeup, Session 3: Schemin' and Blasphemin'
Previously, in a Wicked Age...
...an order of magician-monks who punish blasphemers...
...a demon-god of blood and vengeance, forgotten since antiquity, recently awakened...
...a summoner of illusions and diversions, mild and of good humor, but gullible...
...a prodigy-mage, still a maid, drunk with occult power...
Starring:
Wizzie, a healer and magician of some skill. Twenty years older and wiser since last we saw her, Wizzie is a member of the Order of Monk's Peak, dedicated to the responsible and ethical practice of magic. The recent awakening of an ancient demon-god has driven a wedge between her and the leader of the Order.
George O'Hallohan, a necromancer, demon-speaker, and general ne'er-do-well. Rumors concerning a source of fel power have drawn him to Monk's Peak in the trusty guise of an amateur historian. Though it has been near two decades since last we saw him, George has seemingly only aged a mere handful of years.
The Grand Illusio, conjurer of illusions and mystical diversions. A recent arrival to the foothill village of Tenderstone, Illusio has heard these rumors of evil in the mountains, and he's determined to prevent its escape into the wider world...
At the edge of the Known World, where the mountain's stony peaks rise to pierce the clouds stands the Father of Mountains, Monk's Peak. Rising to an unimaginable height, the crag has been hollowed out by an order of mages to serve as a place of study for the mystical and arcane...and a prison to the more dangerous aspects of that realm of study.
Recently something has gone terribly wrong. Rumors concerning the awakening of an ancient demon-god has made its way to Tenderstone at the foot of the mountain, and its people, so accustomed to peace, have grown uneasy. With the recent arrival of two strangers, it seems these rumors may hold some larger amount of truth.
George O'Hallohan and the Grand Illusio meet in Tenderstone and make their way up the mountainside. After several hours of hiking and discussion concerning the nature and practice of magical techniques, they arrive at the carved entrance to Monk's Peak just as the Order is having a bit of a tiff concerning their practices and leadership.
The argument focuses on the leader of the Order, a mage of substantial power known as Mistren Mastercaster, and the newest inductee to the Order, a prodigy of middle age but monstrous power, Wizzie. Mastercaster blames the escaped demon on her arrival, as her power signature was felt all across the Outer Lands and attempts to convince the other mages to expel her from their mountain.
Wizzie isn't having it, though. With a few choice words she brings her substantial expertise and experience to bear and embarrasses Mastercaster in front of the rest of the Order. With the argument put on ice, Mastercaster retreats to the Archive to study as the others go about their work.
Wizzie, however, notices the new arrivals and confronts them. She notices one looks familiar...this "historian" is very similar to a necromancer she met nearly two decades ago, just before the fateful showdown at Quaylude's Tower in the Outer Lands. We flash back to just after the first session, to the moments immediately after the theft of Quaylude's amulet...
Wizzie exits Quaylude's Tower, a little worse for the wear but primarily only injured in her pride. The man she thought was a historian is there, at the rear of a mass of walking dead risen from the ruins of the village. Despite her best attempts, Wizzie's power ultimately proves unable to prevent the spurned necromancer from setting his risen corpses against the ill-prepared members of the caravan, and she watches, helpless, as they are slaughtered to a man and risen to swell O'Hallohan's ranks.
Illusio sees the dawning recognition on Wizzie's face and attempts to distract her by disguising George as a woman and an illusory puppy. Wizzie, driven by unresolved rage, dispels the magic and calls George out for being a monster. After some harsh words which almost devolve to harsh actions, the three come to an uneasy peace when they agree to work towards sealing the demon first and foremost. They make their way to the Archives to see what they can discover.
You see, the most critical part of demon-speaking is knowledge of the demon's name. Without that information, it's like trying to fit a cage around the breeze. Fortunately, Monk's Peak also happens to serve as a repository of arcane knowledge, which includes various nefarious books containing information from the Fel Realms.
Wizzie leads the three to the Archives, a massive cavern lined from floor-to-unseen-ceiling with scroll racks and bookshelves, the whole of all information and knowledge in the Known World. The three split up:
Wizzie, familiar with the Archives and well-versed in this sort of thing, goes to the section containing fel knowledge and soon learns the full name of the demon: Biel Koz'biel, which translates to "Maker and Unmaker." She replaces the book and goes to check on the progress of her two companions.
Illusio, believing the name of the demon would be difficult to research, grabs ahold of a book from one of the forbidden shelves and is immediately swept away as the thing starts flying up, up, and up. The Archive, you see, is semi-sentient, as most collections of arcane knowledge are, and is guarded by a swarm of Flying Books (Unique [The Archive], Maneuvering) which act to prevent the discovery of its knowledge. So, Illusio finds himself three-hundred feet up, flying with great speed towards the back of the cavern. Once the book reaches Disposals, Illusio begins the three-hour walk back to the entrance of the Archives.
George hangs around a bit, doesn't do a whole bunch of research, and eventually gets a part of the demon's name from Wizzie: Koz'biel.
As Illusio moves towards the entrance he loses his patience and attempts to force the Archive to divulge its secrets. His threats against the books soon raises the Archive's anger and he's assaulted by a swarm of Flying Books. Driven to desperation, Illusio conjures the image of a massive book fire, and they back off...though an Introductory Volume to Demon-Speaking reveals a part of the demon's name: Biel.
As the trio convenes, George realizes he doesn't know if the demon's name is Biel, Koz'biel, or Biel Koz'Biel. Without the full name he knows he cannot safely try to bind the demon to his will. With Wizzie proving unwilling to grant him the knowledge he seeks, George loses his patience and reanimates the dead remnants of the Archive's pests to attack Illusio. The conjurer is set upon by a swam of undead rats, roaches, and a mountain's horde of vermin remains. Driven to panic by his fear of bugs, Illusio reveals the full name of the demon, and George puts his pests to rest.
The demon realizes that these practitioners have learned its name and uses its Demonic Influence (Broad, Action/Maneuvering) to trick Wizzie into killing George for his crimes in the past. She resists, but the display is enough to drive the already-unnerved Illusio to action.
The conjurer decides there's no time like the presence and attempts to seal the demon inside one of the forbidden books. Unfortunately, he doesn't possess the demon's full name, and his cage of books bursts into flames as the demon overcomes his magic. The commotion and flame spurs the Archive to shuffle them away to the entrance, and the doors slam shut behind them.
Biel Koz'biel, having just taken his freedom, isn't ready to take on such driven, knowledgeable casters. The spirit flees down the mountain tunnels, seeking an exit or a way to the deeper places of the world, where it can dwell and plot without interference. The three magicians take off in pursuit, so close to resealing this great evil.
Wizzie and Illusio, at the front of the pack, get caught in a cave-in caused by the demon's influence and are knocked out in the first round of rolls. George uses his magic to avoid the stones and herds the demon up and out to a mountainside altar, which radiates power. It is there, in the midst of a great snowstorm on the side of the mountain, where George O'Hallohan speaks the demon's full name and binds Biel Koz'biel to his will.
Wizzie and Illusio awake to a silent mountain holdfast. As she leaves, she passes the ruins of the Order, the wreckage of the mage's rooms and quarters, and the sealed-shut entrance to the Archives. Illusio follows and, after seeing the smoking ruins of what once was Tenderstone, decides this kind of thing is way above his paygrade and leaves before the demon and its master learns of his survival...
To be continued...
We Owe...
Drahn Skrallguard
Wizzie
George O'Hallohan
Astrid Morningstar
Twinkles the Brown
Drahn Skrallguard
Twinkles the Brown
Astrid Morningstar
Twinkles the Brown
The Grand Illusio
GM'S NOTES & OBSERVATIONS
This was the smallest session so far, with three players, two of which were returning. The chosen Oracle was God-Kings of War, which generated a much heavier focus on magicians than I had first expected, but it made sense with who came back. The session still lasted nearly as long as the first, which had six players, though there was a lot more in-character roleplaying and less quick-cuts between scenes.
Additionally, the Oracle wasn't quite so straight-forward as the previous two sessions. I think this partially came from all three characters coming together as magicians, which doesn't quite set up the conflict which In a Wicked Age thrives upon. I feel a bit of this comes from my own in-progress practice at setting up good conflicting scenes; IAWA does seem to do best when the GM drives a relentless pace, with actual transitions that are more than "you walk to the place."
Early into the session I noticed this was a minor issue, as the players didn't have much reason to be at each other's throats. Wizzie's arguments with Mastercaster showed that IAWA isn't really built for civil discussion, so in the future I'll probably have NPCs push for duels or just start off as backstabbers who attack at opportune times. It was interesting to simulate magical duels with Forms rolls, as it gave the players some chances to set how magic actually works. It just took a little bit of practice, as it's a different sort of conflict than "I swing my sword at his neck."\
The Owe List didn't see many additions this time, partially because most of the rolls were made with the highest Forms available. Wizzie's player in particular stuck almost entirely with her d12 and d10 forms, which meant she didn't go back on. Only Illusio, making an altruistic move towards the end, got his name on the list. This marks the second character (alongside Twinkles the Brown) by that player to have a spot on the list, so we'll see what happens when either of them comes back.
Finally, this is the third session and we've yet to see a returning Particular Strength with a change to it. One of the options for returning characters is to increase the Potency of a PS so it gains extra bonuses, but each time a character has returned thus far, they've chosen to redistribute their Forms instead. I think a part of this comes from how IAWA does character damage, as the rulebook says the only way to heal damage to Forms is to redistribute them on return. If this comes up in the fourth session, I'll probably just have the Forms auto-heal, as each session so far has been separated from the others by at least 20 years.
So far IAWA has done a very good job fostering character-investment in the world, much how FATE does with the setting creation sub-session. One difference though is that IAWA handles new players far better than FATE, and implements details in a better, smoother way.
...an order of magician-monks who punish blasphemers...
...a demon-god of blood and vengeance, forgotten since antiquity, recently awakened...
...a summoner of illusions and diversions, mild and of good humor, but gullible...
...a prodigy-mage, still a maid, drunk with occult power...
Starring:
Wizzie, a healer and magician of some skill. Twenty years older and wiser since last we saw her, Wizzie is a member of the Order of Monk's Peak, dedicated to the responsible and ethical practice of magic. The recent awakening of an ancient demon-god has driven a wedge between her and the leader of the Order.
George O'Hallohan, a necromancer, demon-speaker, and general ne'er-do-well. Rumors concerning a source of fel power have drawn him to Monk's Peak in the trusty guise of an amateur historian. Though it has been near two decades since last we saw him, George has seemingly only aged a mere handful of years.
The Grand Illusio, conjurer of illusions and mystical diversions. A recent arrival to the foothill village of Tenderstone, Illusio has heard these rumors of evil in the mountains, and he's determined to prevent its escape into the wider world...
At the edge of the Known World, where the mountain's stony peaks rise to pierce the clouds stands the Father of Mountains, Monk's Peak. Rising to an unimaginable height, the crag has been hollowed out by an order of mages to serve as a place of study for the mystical and arcane...and a prison to the more dangerous aspects of that realm of study.
Recently something has gone terribly wrong. Rumors concerning the awakening of an ancient demon-god has made its way to Tenderstone at the foot of the mountain, and its people, so accustomed to peace, have grown uneasy. With the recent arrival of two strangers, it seems these rumors may hold some larger amount of truth.
George O'Hallohan and the Grand Illusio meet in Tenderstone and make their way up the mountainside. After several hours of hiking and discussion concerning the nature and practice of magical techniques, they arrive at the carved entrance to Monk's Peak just as the Order is having a bit of a tiff concerning their practices and leadership.
The argument focuses on the leader of the Order, a mage of substantial power known as Mistren Mastercaster, and the newest inductee to the Order, a prodigy of middle age but monstrous power, Wizzie. Mastercaster blames the escaped demon on her arrival, as her power signature was felt all across the Outer Lands and attempts to convince the other mages to expel her from their mountain.
Wizzie isn't having it, though. With a few choice words she brings her substantial expertise and experience to bear and embarrasses Mastercaster in front of the rest of the Order. With the argument put on ice, Mastercaster retreats to the Archive to study as the others go about their work.
Wizzie, however, notices the new arrivals and confronts them. She notices one looks familiar...this "historian" is very similar to a necromancer she met nearly two decades ago, just before the fateful showdown at Quaylude's Tower in the Outer Lands. We flash back to just after the first session, to the moments immediately after the theft of Quaylude's amulet...
Wizzie exits Quaylude's Tower, a little worse for the wear but primarily only injured in her pride. The man she thought was a historian is there, at the rear of a mass of walking dead risen from the ruins of the village. Despite her best attempts, Wizzie's power ultimately proves unable to prevent the spurned necromancer from setting his risen corpses against the ill-prepared members of the caravan, and she watches, helpless, as they are slaughtered to a man and risen to swell O'Hallohan's ranks.
Illusio sees the dawning recognition on Wizzie's face and attempts to distract her by disguising George as a woman and an illusory puppy. Wizzie, driven by unresolved rage, dispels the magic and calls George out for being a monster. After some harsh words which almost devolve to harsh actions, the three come to an uneasy peace when they agree to work towards sealing the demon first and foremost. They make their way to the Archives to see what they can discover.
You see, the most critical part of demon-speaking is knowledge of the demon's name. Without that information, it's like trying to fit a cage around the breeze. Fortunately, Monk's Peak also happens to serve as a repository of arcane knowledge, which includes various nefarious books containing information from the Fel Realms.
Wizzie leads the three to the Archives, a massive cavern lined from floor-to-unseen-ceiling with scroll racks and bookshelves, the whole of all information and knowledge in the Known World. The three split up:
Wizzie, familiar with the Archives and well-versed in this sort of thing, goes to the section containing fel knowledge and soon learns the full name of the demon: Biel Koz'biel, which translates to "Maker and Unmaker." She replaces the book and goes to check on the progress of her two companions.
Illusio, believing the name of the demon would be difficult to research, grabs ahold of a book from one of the forbidden shelves and is immediately swept away as the thing starts flying up, up, and up. The Archive, you see, is semi-sentient, as most collections of arcane knowledge are, and is guarded by a swarm of Flying Books (Unique [The Archive], Maneuvering) which act to prevent the discovery of its knowledge. So, Illusio finds himself three-hundred feet up, flying with great speed towards the back of the cavern. Once the book reaches Disposals, Illusio begins the three-hour walk back to the entrance of the Archives.
George hangs around a bit, doesn't do a whole bunch of research, and eventually gets a part of the demon's name from Wizzie: Koz'biel.
As Illusio moves towards the entrance he loses his patience and attempts to force the Archive to divulge its secrets. His threats against the books soon raises the Archive's anger and he's assaulted by a swarm of Flying Books. Driven to desperation, Illusio conjures the image of a massive book fire, and they back off...though an Introductory Volume to Demon-Speaking reveals a part of the demon's name: Biel.
As the trio convenes, George realizes he doesn't know if the demon's name is Biel, Koz'biel, or Biel Koz'Biel. Without the full name he knows he cannot safely try to bind the demon to his will. With Wizzie proving unwilling to grant him the knowledge he seeks, George loses his patience and reanimates the dead remnants of the Archive's pests to attack Illusio. The conjurer is set upon by a swam of undead rats, roaches, and a mountain's horde of vermin remains. Driven to panic by his fear of bugs, Illusio reveals the full name of the demon, and George puts his pests to rest.
The demon realizes that these practitioners have learned its name and uses its Demonic Influence (Broad, Action/Maneuvering) to trick Wizzie into killing George for his crimes in the past. She resists, but the display is enough to drive the already-unnerved Illusio to action.
The conjurer decides there's no time like the presence and attempts to seal the demon inside one of the forbidden books. Unfortunately, he doesn't possess the demon's full name, and his cage of books bursts into flames as the demon overcomes his magic. The commotion and flame spurs the Archive to shuffle them away to the entrance, and the doors slam shut behind them.
Biel Koz'biel, having just taken his freedom, isn't ready to take on such driven, knowledgeable casters. The spirit flees down the mountain tunnels, seeking an exit or a way to the deeper places of the world, where it can dwell and plot without interference. The three magicians take off in pursuit, so close to resealing this great evil.
Wizzie and Illusio, at the front of the pack, get caught in a cave-in caused by the demon's influence and are knocked out in the first round of rolls. George uses his magic to avoid the stones and herds the demon up and out to a mountainside altar, which radiates power. It is there, in the midst of a great snowstorm on the side of the mountain, where George O'Hallohan speaks the demon's full name and binds Biel Koz'biel to his will.
Wizzie and Illusio awake to a silent mountain holdfast. As she leaves, she passes the ruins of the Order, the wreckage of the mage's rooms and quarters, and the sealed-shut entrance to the Archives. Illusio follows and, after seeing the smoking ruins of what once was Tenderstone, decides this kind of thing is way above his paygrade and leaves before the demon and its master learns of his survival...
To be continued...
We Owe...
Wizzie
Astrid Morningstar
Drahn Skrallguard
Twinkles the Brown
Astrid Morningstar
Twinkles the Brown
The Grand Illusio
GM'S NOTES & OBSERVATIONS
This was the smallest session so far, with three players, two of which were returning. The chosen Oracle was God-Kings of War, which generated a much heavier focus on magicians than I had first expected, but it made sense with who came back. The session still lasted nearly as long as the first, which had six players, though there was a lot more in-character roleplaying and less quick-cuts between scenes.
Additionally, the Oracle wasn't quite so straight-forward as the previous two sessions. I think this partially came from all three characters coming together as magicians, which doesn't quite set up the conflict which In a Wicked Age thrives upon. I feel a bit of this comes from my own in-progress practice at setting up good conflicting scenes; IAWA does seem to do best when the GM drives a relentless pace, with actual transitions that are more than "you walk to the place."
Early into the session I noticed this was a minor issue, as the players didn't have much reason to be at each other's throats. Wizzie's arguments with Mastercaster showed that IAWA isn't really built for civil discussion, so in the future I'll probably have NPCs push for duels or just start off as backstabbers who attack at opportune times. It was interesting to simulate magical duels with Forms rolls, as it gave the players some chances to set how magic actually works. It just took a little bit of practice, as it's a different sort of conflict than "I swing my sword at his neck."\
The Owe List didn't see many additions this time, partially because most of the rolls were made with the highest Forms available. Wizzie's player in particular stuck almost entirely with her d12 and d10 forms, which meant she didn't go back on. Only Illusio, making an altruistic move towards the end, got his name on the list. This marks the second character (alongside Twinkles the Brown) by that player to have a spot on the list, so we'll see what happens when either of them comes back.
Finally, this is the third session and we've yet to see a returning Particular Strength with a change to it. One of the options for returning characters is to increase the Potency of a PS so it gains extra bonuses, but each time a character has returned thus far, they've chosen to redistribute their Forms instead. I think a part of this comes from how IAWA does character damage, as the rulebook says the only way to heal damage to Forms is to redistribute them on return. If this comes up in the fourth session, I'll probably just have the Forms auto-heal, as each session so far has been separated from the others by at least 20 years.
So far IAWA has done a very good job fostering character-investment in the world, much how FATE does with the setting creation sub-session. One difference though is that IAWA handles new players far better than FATE, and implements details in a better, smoother way.
Thursday, February 1, 2018
In A Wicked Age Writeup, Session 2: Aggressive Negotiations
Previously, in a Wicked Age...
...the solemnization of treaty between two neighboring principalities, negotiated in the face of brutality and assassination, doomed...
...a baby's birth, heralded by prophets, written of in antique books, forseen by the wise...
...a troupe of musicians for hire, one of whom is a burglar and a cutpurse...
...the celebration of a day sacred to the city's chief cult...
Starring:
Drahn Skrallguard, in this year serving as Captain of the Bloodied Empire. Quite a bit younger than when we last saw him, this Drahn trades in his stench for authority and his stoop for stature. He's most recently visited the City for these historic negotiations...though his main goal is victory for the Bloodied Empire.
Astrid Morningstar, a Moral Paragon charged with protecting Mother Kurig and her holy baby. Her pale complexion stands out against the tanned citizens of the City on the Salt Flats, and her hair is tied up in a manner universally declared, "severe."
Twinkles "the Brown," drummer for the (in)famous traveling band, the Ragamuffins. As the "bad boy" of the group, Twinkles enjoyed his fame, despite the fact that it imposed significant difficulties on his abilities to Blend In. When he hears word of a magical baby born in the City on the Salt Flats, he becomes convinced that this particular skin-and-bone may possess the ability to ring a note so powerful, it would bring the strongest man to his knees.
Zanzibar, leader of the City's cult exalting Dav Quaylad. A man of singular ambition, Zanzibar leads the Cult of Ladar Dav Saints in bettering the City...with some returns, of course. The holiest of days has arrived, and Zanzibar's ears have heard whispers of a baby born among circumstances matching several prophesies...
There's a lot going on in the City on the Salt Flats.
The long and devastating war between the Bloodied Empire (the Bloods), and the Crippled King's forces (The Cripps) has come to an uneasy pause. Leaders from the two nations intend to host treaty negotiations in a neutral location, and no other place better fit than the Salt Flat City.
Coincidentally enough, the night of the negotiations also happens to be the festival of the City's chief religion. The central plaza is filled to bursting with a crowd listening to Zanzibar's sermon. The cult leader notices the mother and her guard, Astrid, and singles the group out in an attempt to get the baby onto the stage.
Drahn sees his chance and takes the stage, distracting the man long enough for Astrid, the mother, and another to leave, unseen. Drahn confronts the priest, who offers him a Favor to just...let him go, which he does.
Meanwhile, Twinkles "the Brown" is waiting for the right moment. He's gotten so close to the baby, and when Drahn storms the stage it's too close to divine to ignore. Keeping his eyes on the prize, Twinkles follows Astrid and company through the crowd...
Until the bodyguard cuts through a butcher shop. A devout vegetarian, Twinkles is knocked out by a side of beef.
Astrid leads Mother Kurig to a nunnery, aware that the safest place for a women is often among women. Kurig has heard whispers about a holy baby, but surely they couldn't mean her child. So what if the birth had taken place during a significant moment?
Twinkles wakes up and takes a minute to think about his life. The Ragamuffins were famous all across the world at one point (at least as much of the world as was known). As the drummer he was always seeking better beats, deeper rhythms, more powerful sounds. And for what? Maybe he needed to seek a meaningful purpose...
Zanzibar meets Twinkles as he's attempting to sneak into the cult's temple. When the musician offers to join the LDS, Zanzibar recognizes the usefulness his fame would bring the religion. Not ashamed of taking advantage of a broken man, Zanzibar promotes Twinkles to the highest echelons of the organization, so long as he brings Zanzibar...the baby.
Of course! Such a coincidence could only be arranged by a higher power! Twinkles discerns the trail of the mother and makes his way to the nunnery. Drahn, with negotiations on hold, has resorted to seeking the musician in an attempt to expose him as the criminal he is.
They wind up at the nunnery at roughly the same time, where they meet Astrid. After she dispatches a nun to catch the city guard, Twinkles insults her. In response, she punches him in the mouth and Drahn knocks him out with a swift kick to the back of the head. He and Astrid exchange awkward hellos and explanations for their respective involvement with this famous drummer, and part ways.
While the others are involved in baby shenanigans, Zanzibar makes his move. Twelve elders of the LDS depart their temple in the night and deliver quick, surgical assassinations to the ranks of the Bloods, the Cripps, and the City leadership. With most of the citizenry drunk from the festival, the entire region breaks into chaos. Where it not for the Cult of Ladar Dav Saints, the Festival of Quaylad would have marked the end of the City.
Astrid becomes separated from Kurig and the baby during the chaos, and crosses paths with Twinkles. Experiencing something of a mental break, the musician overpowers the already-exhausted bodyguard and learns the location of the baby. Unfortunately, the crowds are such that, by the time he reaches the nunnery, the mother has already left...
Drahn makes his way back to the Bloods camp and convinces his soldiers to follow him to the real cause: Zanzibar and the LDS. The fighters storm the temple...only to be greeted and granted entry by the priest himself. Drahn enters and listens to the man's offer: a position in the priest's new government, in return for unfailing loyalty.
Well, Drahn thought...so long as he didn't question his position as second-in-command, he figured things were pretty fine.
Things for Twinkles "the Brown," though, were decidedly not fine.
First, his band had gotten the sick gig to play the LDS festival. Then, he'd caught wind of the magic baby, and thought, how hard would it be to steal a freakin' baby? Then, after his new religious awakening, he'd become convinced of the realness of it all, how it was all connected.
Then the gig had been interrupted. And the baby's bodyguard had outwitted him. Then, when everything had aligned, it wound up he'd wasted his time anyway.
Now he was back in the tavern where he'd beaten the information out of the bodyguard. He looked at himself in the mirror, thinking about all the time he'd wasted.
He could hardly remember what had originally convinced him of the baby's potential as a drum. All in the pursuit of some ultimate power.
The Brown Note, he'd called it. Named after himself, of course.
After himself...
Maybe that was it.
Maybe Twinkles "the Brown" was the real "Brown Note" all along...
It all made sense. He knew what he had to do.
Twinkles the Brown gouged out his rib and cracked the mirror. The impact rang out in a note so pure, it reverberated throughout Twinkles' being. He did more than hear the note. He did more than feel the note.
He became the note, for only the briefest of moments.
And then promptly shit his pants and passed out.
***
Astrid Morningstar comes to with a foul stench in her nose. Her last memory was of fists raining down on her face as a man shouted questions at her. Strange, to say the least. When she stands up, she sees the drummer for the world-famous bard troupe, the Ragamuffins, passed out on the floor, missing a rib and smelling like a latrine.
And with that, Astrid left the City on the Salt Flats, convinced it really wasn't such a great work environment after all...
...to be continued...
Wizzie
George O'Hallohan
Astrid Morningstar
Drahn Skrallguard
Twinkles the Brown
Astrid Morningstar
Twinkles the Brown
In A Wicked Age Writeup, Session 1: Towerfall
Previously, in a Wicked Age…
…a rough wolf-hunter, surly, filthy, and crude…
…a necromancer who steals the knowledge of the dying…
…a slow-moving caravan with many wagons and travelers…
…the soul of a dead wizard, seeking an advantageous rebirth…
Starring:
Quaylude “the Wise” a once-powerful wizard now deceased, his spirit has been trapped within a mystical green stone and hidden at the summit of his tower. Wishes to be resurrected so he can find the one who killed and imprisoned him. Holds a soft spot in his heart for ice cream.
Wizzie, one-time apprentice to Quaylude who may have had a hand in his defeat. She joined a caravan moving through the Outer Lands in hopes it would pass by her erstwhile master’s tower…which it does. Skilled in healing magic, she yet seeks to prevent her late master’s rebirth…or to steal the power of resurrection for herself…
George O’Hallohan, necromancer from the distant Green Isle. Driven to raise the dead and learn their secrets, when rumors rise of a powerful spirit imprisoned in the Outer Lands, George poses as a historian and accompanies the caravan. Along the way, he discovers he harbors a particular distaste for the music of a certain bard…
Helfspar “the Magnificent,” a bard of some fame and staggering, endless confidence in his musical abilities. This drive to prove his skills has delivered him to the caravan, rumored to pass through the shadow of the dead wizard’s tower in the Outer Lands. Once encamped near the ruins of an ancient village, he finds himself entangled in the dead wizard’s web…
Darra, a secretive wanderer, pick-pocket, amateur magician, and general ne’er-do-well. Dressed as a man to keep herself hidden, she joined the caravan after hearing of a powerful amulet hidden atop a mystical tower along the caravan’s path. Recently stolen of her canine companion, Darra is drawn along by a need for vengeance, wealth, and blood.
Drahn Skrallguard, filthy wolf-hunter, wild-man, and legendary hunter. Long aware of the tower in the Outer Lands, it only begins to draw at his mind when he catches ear of the tale of the Red Moon Wolf, a legendary beast of particular magnificence. When he hears of a famous bard who may possess knowledge of the magic needed to tame this beast, he makes himself known to the caravan to see if he can’t twist the situation to his needs.
A caravan, seven days into a journey across Outer Lands, comes across the ruins of a village at the base of a legendary wizard's tower. As the wagon settles in for the night, Helfspar’s playing draws quite a crowd. After being confronted by a filthy wolf-hunter and drunken historian, the three discuss the legends surrounding the tower and its supposed inhabitants. Darra, confronted by a man wearing a familiar wolf pelt, decides it may be best to seek out additional help before making her presence known.
Wizzie, overhearing the trio, goes to the base of the structure with George in tow. The door, sealed with glowing runes, has grown weak in the years following its inscription and the pair easily break its wards. Followed unknowingly by Darra, the three enter the tower and are confronted with its strange Esoteric Architecture (Action, Unique). Overcome by the shifting staircases, redundant doorways, and twisting passages, the three are deposited at the foot of the tower with little to show for it besides bruised knees and bruised egos.
Helfspar and Drahn notice the change in light emanating from the tower and make their way to its base where they meet up with the three previous tomb raiders. After some harsh words and harsher promises are exchanged, George manages to convince Helfspar to make the next run into the structure. Driven by his Endless Confidence (For Myself, Consequential [For Myself]), Helfspar rushes the first staircase and is immediately incapacitated by a recursive pit trap, which causes him to fall constantly for about six hours before he’s plopped on the grass outside as the sun rises in the morning. Sorry, buddy.
Thinking the tower’s defenses weakened by the immediate attack, the seal is broken and the rest rush the tower to try and steal the wizard’s gem. Wizzie and George break from the other two and take their own path, which ends up with Wizzie getting caught in a number of traps. Realizing she’s still not up to the task of taking on her master (even as a spirit), she decides discretion is the better part of valor and waits outside.
George, for all his magical ability, is unable to pierce the tower’s illusions. He wanders for some time before discovering…the stone chamber. Not questioning the ease with which he’s bested the tower, George takes the amulet and makes his way to the graveyard at the ruins of the village outside, intent on capturing the wizard’s secrets once and for all. Of course, the false stone offers him no knowledge, but the graveyard's corpses are more than acceptable for George's immediate purpose...
Drahn and Darra stick together and, with their mutual histories of quick thinking, wilderness survival, and sleight of hand, make it to the tower’s summit. Drahn, accustomed to physical exertion in the wild, soon outpaces the cut-purse and reaches the chamber atop the tower. Unfortunately, his speed betrays him and he’s caught and turned away by a descending ceiling of spikes. Ultimately, Drahn finds his way to the base of the tower and retreats into the wilderness, swearing off wizards as fools.
The sudden activity and presence of fellow magic-users pulls the spirit of Quaylude from his slumber. Sensing the presence of one who can remove his stone prison from the tower, he forces the spirit of his father in the structure’s stones to stand down, and Darra finds her passage to the amulet unimpeded. Unaware of the spirit in the stone, Darra makes her way outside and leaves the caravan behind, intent on learning the secrets of the stone…
Drahn Skrallguard
Wizzie
George O’Halloran
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