[MLWM] The Asylum

[Overdrive]

Phew, we just finished (well, almost) master/minion creation and are to play tomorrow. Wanted to ask for quick last minute tips and share some of the stuff, for if the play goes smooth I'll do some more reporting.

I got tired to GM various one-off games we had tried at varying degree of success, and concentrate on The Riddle of Steel. But we did play My Life with Master a couple of months ago, and it was a blast. It was so easy to set up from the GM point of view, so my limited time allow this little sidetrack. TROS will follow asap. I'm pretty anxious about both of the games :)

The last MLWM game was kind of splatter, and included some of the most intense moments ever experienced. The master had a "clinic" for old and rich people, who came for youth treatment. The treatment included implanting various organs and body parts of young, healthy individuals, to replace the old and used up parts of the treated. Had we figured out that the young subjects could be implanted with the old body parts as easily, it would have been much less killing and more of moral dilemmas ("dad, why are you suddenly so sick all the time?" "ooh my legs don't feel the same, I can hardly walk", etc).

This time I wanted more subtle needs for the master, and so did the players, many of which were playing in the first game as well. We came up with a master needing "fear", and refined the concept to a brain-teacher, who was looking for a cure for mental illnesses, but who had to have a lot of test subjects to perfect his methods. For years, the asylum has been sitting quietly near a small town, but now the master has grown old and realized that the work has to be finished at his lifetime, lest the time has been wasted. If he can work out a "solution" to the mental problems, he can cure his own madness and rule the world sort of thing. He is not an evil man, but perhaps his methods are a bit rough. We set Fear to 4 and Reason to 3.

The master's (Dr. Maksim Golgajev) four minions are:

(Yet unnamed)
A psychiatrist of some sort, handles financial stuff and such outside the asylum. More than human: Can convince everyone to believe that someone is mentally ill, except the "victim". Less than human: Stutters incomprehensible when talking to unknown and strange people, unless smoking. Connections: The priest whom he goes to confess his sins, A shopkeeper who sells him tobacco. (we figured tobacco would be a luxury item in the village/surroundings)

Pjotr
A former patient, who was released to serve the master. More than human: Unbeatable unless sober. Less than human: Suffers horribly in daylight, unless wearing thick clothing (years spent in the basement, plus he's an albino). Connections: to be defined (TBD).

(Yet unnamed)
The engineer who operates the electric shock machines used in treatment. We actually had a lengthly discussion on how the character was a promising student hired by a well-known company and sent abroad to operate the "cow castration machine", which was sold to a wealthy nobleman. After a few years, he would return and earn a top management position and such, except that the master now has a grip on him. More than human: Brilliant engineer, whose technology is beyond his time, except that it is very hazardous (he can build electrical lights to the church but they most likely kill passers-by with lightning arcs). Less than human: TBD. Connections: TBD.

(Yet unnamed)
Some sort of circus performer specialized in ventriloquism. Perhaps also a former patient. More than human: Imitate and project any voice, unless he is seen (mostly meaning that he can pretend to be anyone, from behind the corner or in a good disguise). Less than human: TBD. Connections: TBD.

Coming up with good More/Less than humans was awkward. Actually, the players of the two last characters have played MLWM before, and went to great pain in order to prevent their characters to be the ones "guarding the basement snakes". You see, if the purpose of the minion is to handle the snakes, what use can he be to the master? What kind of missions should he be sent to? Get some snake oil? We already had a brute and an intellectual public relations person, and neither wanted to play the handyman. Perhaps there should be some guidelines on different kinds of minions to help picking the archetypes? And some sort of suitable missions for them?

OK, the master and the minions were very interesting to all of us, and I'm looking forward to the actual play stuff tomorrow. The last play sessions are still somewhat legendary amidst our group, and it did take a few hours in a pub to clear the thoughts afterwards. But I could perhaps make things even better. Any quick tips? :)

I have related questions as well. Should every scene have so much meaning as to have a dice roll? Is a scene where the minion returns with a successfully (or not) completed task, which he is describing to the master ok? If the master doesn't have any tasks at hand at the moment, and can only listen to the minion but cannot issue a relevant command?

When on a mission, the minions can subtly take advantage of their connections. Suppose the innkeeper's wife is serving dinner to the mayor; the minion can make an overture and ask the wife to add poison to the meal. Or perhaps a connection shows up when the minion is captured, and can give the keys. Or should it still be a villainy roll, or should the scene be constructed so that the overture doesn't result in the minion gaining anything regarding his task?

That's about it. Thanks for any answers.

[ScottM]

I'm interested in your questions too... not all scenes seemed to demand a die roll, but maybe I wasn't throwing enough adversity at them (or framing them into intense enough scenes)?

Good luck!

[GB Steve]

I take the view that all scenes demand a dice roll. This might be because we've only ever played one game that was not under serious time constraints - the others were all played in under 4 hours.

I think the Master should always have something for the minion to do. He's got his wants and needs and is desperate to push forward his evil plan. It can be something pretty trivial, like "hold down this patient whilst I extract his spleen", or even "fetch me a beer". Many of the requests in my My Life with Santa game were of this nature.

I've found it handy to have a list of potential minion tasks before the game starts in case I dry up.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

I agree with Steve, in that I always prepare a scene with a die roll in mind, and I always try to keep my mind open to unexpected opportunities for rolls as well. The latter might override the former, too.

I suppose if a perfectly good "Color scene" happens and no one, including me, sees any point to conducting a roll, it's all right not to push it ... but in a game like My Life with Master, that means there was no conflict in that scene. I'd expect such scenes to be occasional at most.

Best,
Ron

[joshua neff]

That's how I ran it, too. If I had an idea of framing a scene, but couldn't think of a conflict for the scene, I fast forwarded to the next conflict & framed the scene then. And, of course, would ask the players, "Does anyone want a scene?" But every scene was based around a roll of the dice.

[jrs]

I agree with the above that all GM framed scenes should include at least one conflict requiring a dice roll.  However, the Horror Revealed scenes do not and, I would claim, should not require a dice roll.  

Julie

[Overdrive]

OK guys, thanks for the replies. The Santa game stuff was especially helpful, I hadn't read it before since it sounded kinda lame.. :)

The game went pretty well, but I've seen better. The characters were actually pretty good and the master was clear in my head. It was perhaps the longest session in a long time, at least for me.

The game is somewhat heavy to play, and requires alot of thinking on your feet. There were times when I had absolutely nothing in my mind and so just called a character to explain the master what he'd done during the day or whatever, hoping to come up with something from the descriptions. I mean, with four players, there's a lot to keep track of, and towards the end of the session I always had to ask the players what their characters were doing before.. Should keep notes..

So, a lot of things happened. Some hilights:

- The engineer (Herr Wolfgang) was ordered to design a huge bell for the church bell tower. The bell must make so horrible a sound that fear strikes those who hear it, eventually leading to madness. Wolfgang designed it, and the design was very successful indeed (auto success). Meanwhile, the french ventriloquist (Phillippe) went on a mission to the church, his voice posing as the arch angel Gabriel, giving the priest "a vision" how he receives a new bell that sets the fear of God to all townsfolk with its magnificent sound. Pjotr, the poor misfit patient, was sent to destroy the bell at midnight, and so it falls from the tower, through the floor into the cellar, making a loud bang that wakes up the whole town. Later, the new bell got installed...

- Phillippe was visiting his connection, a stable boy who he thought was the Ludvig XIV, the King of France, on an undercover mission. He was saddling a noble steed and was clearly going hunting, when Phillippe approached him. But a fat foreigner in a heavy coat strides in, pushes Phillippe aside, tossing him a coin for good service, and takes off with the said horse, the stable boy along with him. Later, the psychiatrist (Dr. Ivanoff) was confessing his sins to the priest, but got interrupted by the same foreigner. He demanded whether or not Ivanoff had finished his business with the priest, but got only helpless stuttering as an answer. So he pulled Ivanoff out of the cabin and tosses him a coin for good service.

- Later, Phillippe was seeking his other contact, a whore who he thought was one Juliet, a fair lady from the King's court. However, this flower of beauty was being pawed about by the fat foreigner at the inn. Food was sprouting out of his mouth, as he was trying to eat at the same time. Phillippe immediately went and slapped the man twice with a white glove, demanding duel at the gates of the Asylum, for insulting the lady. Then he recited a poem to Juliet.

- The duel was rigged. As Wolfgang needed to test the bell, earplugs were given to Phillippe for him not to get fearful and mad. "But how can I hear how many steps I have to take, and how do I know when to turn around and shoot?!" demanded Phillippe, to which Wolfgang replied, "I will show you with my artificial lights." The count to then was supposed to be given by the bell, but on the third strike the foreigner was already on his knees, begging for mercy. He was taken into the Asylum for treatment.

- The master ordered Pjotr (who hated sunlight) to find and bring in the wineyard owner, who had earlier "gone mad" and left for the hills. Pjotr does not want to go out in the open on broad daylight, so master gives him the foreigners heavy coat. Later Pjotr gives the coat to one of his connections, an old, nearly blind man (Pavel). But master is very displeased, for if the coat is discovered, traces will lead to the Asylum. Pjotr persuades a cleaning maid to open the master's chambers for him, so he can take replacement clothing to give to old Pavel. We assume the maid will be "treated" when the master discovers some of his clothes are missing.

- Ivanoff had to make sure the wineyard owner would develop some symptoms now that he was taken into the Asylum. He prepared various "treatments" and subjected him to them. By the morning Ivanoff had succeeded, but was not sure he had done the right thing.

- Ivanoff needed tobacco, and the master didn't want him to smoke inside. So he orders Pjotr to make sure the shipment does not reach the store. What we had was an excellent scene of Pjotr trapping the road, spooking the horses that pull the merchant's wagons, then grabbing the tobacco and sinking it in a swamp. A classical rob-a-grandma style of thing. Then he visited old Pavel, who would have liked some tobacco, so he went back to the swamp and tried to get whatever was left of the load.

- Wolfgang had a crush on the police chief's daughter, who ran a daycare for children. He designed a merry-go-round powered by some magnetic rocks that even kept the thing warm in cold weather. The children loved it. Unfortunately his gadgets are hazardous, so we see what happens.

- The hell's bell at the church tower was pretty much the center of all evil stuff on this session. The master wanted it to be ringed a lot. Like during the day when the townsfolk was at the marketplace, the service on Sunday, etc. It really struck fear on the people. They crawled on the ground wanting it to stop, screaming. Phillippe was ordered to make sure the priest would sound the bells for a whole night, which was a really horrific mission; auto-successes are a bitch sometimes.

- The only horror revealed was at the end, revealing that a cannibal patient had escaped. He had killed a nurse, and now he is waiting to feed on the townspeople.

Huh! I'm actually very surprised that even though huge amounts of detail was omitted, it turned up so big. And I didn't mention a lot of other things. Well, that's MLWM :)