[Universalis] Jack Phillips and the Oceania Shakedown

[The Wah]

Greetings,

We played our first session of Universalis last weekend. The session was great fun and we are looking forward to Part Two this weekend! Below is the run down of our game.
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Jack Phillips and the Oceania Shakedown (Part 1)

Tenets
- Cyberpunk feel
- Errol Flynn style action
- Magic
- Detectives
- Magic is Shamanic not Hermetic (spirits not books)
- Local regime is oppressive
- Alternative dimensions impinge on this reality (but this fact is not widely known)
- City/state on brink of war
- Factions of war either better at tech or magic but do not solely rely on either
- War is being forced by economic crisis
- City/state is a floating above the ocean
- City/state floating above south atlantic ocean
- Float city held up by failing magics
- Each suburb of city controlled by an "overlord"
- Subcultures rebelling against oppressive regime
- Overloads of suburbs are Corporate
- Rigid Caste system
- City/State relies on technology. Even though it uses a magically means to keep itself floating
- Conscription into army recently introduced
- Only lower Castes being conscripted


This, i feel, was way to many tenets. We barely touched on most of them but they at least gave us a flavour for the game. In fact a solid backstory can be surmised from many of the tenets.


Scene starts underside the floating City of Oceania. A lone figure in a boat pulls up to tangle of pipes and wires under the city. The figure is met by a group of people. They all start the trek into the city proper. Little do these people realise they are being photographed by another person.. Jack Phillips.


Jack Phillips
- Private Investigator
- Mid Level Caste
- No cyberware
- Shamanic magician
- Owns a car
- Tough
- Well established in city (ie well known and trusted by people)
- Smoker
- Has had P.I licence revoked by Maria Sanchez


Phillips photographs the group as they enter their car convoy. He then drives back to his office.


Scene change to inside the car convoy. Middle car has Pope Pontius - Religous leader of the mainland (not the enemy of Oceania..a third party) - Elderly (He was the man that arrived via the boat), Maria Sanchez and government agents.


Maria Sanchez
- Minister of Truth
- Ex-girlfriend of Jack Phillips
- Heavily Cybered (Most of her body now cyber enhanced)
- Expert hand to hand combatant
- More cyber-tech tricks than a swiss army knife (not combat related)
- Cold
- Resentful
- Looks perfectly human (cyberware not obvious)
- Expensive tailored suits
- Immaculate makeup and hair


Sanchez and Pontius discuss how Mayor Rodriguez (Leader of Oceania - Corrupt) has secretly brought Pontius to Oceania to help them use the ley-lines to stop the city falling into the ocean. Pontius demands secrecy and safety. Conversation is interrupted by government bodyguards(Official looking - have built in cyber radios - body armour - fully automatic weapons - cyber-reflex enhancements - tactical headsets linking all members - enhanced sensors - X2) who have received a message from the Hush-Chopper above them that a road block is being set up in front of the convoy.


Mini-scene at roadblock. Anti-government freedom fighters (Pistols - Rocket launchers - Barricade - Good at ambushes - Inexperienced - Body armour - Part of "The Organisation" - X7) set up the barricade. They generally discuss how they are going to kill the visiting Pope.
mini Scene ends


Back in the car Maria tells the convoy of cars to split up. Little do they know but a tracer has been placed on the vehicle that Maria and the Pope are in. a huge firefight erupts as the cars are stopped at the barricades . (this is a nasty complication). Surprisingly the anti-government win by a huge number of dice. (bad rolls) They kill all the government bodyguards, destroy all the cars and shoot down the Hush-Chopper. they also destroy Maria Sanchez's tailored suit! Maria manages to drag herself and the Pope out of the car before it explodes and calls for a Tactical Squad. More than half the anti-government freedom fighters die as well. Complication ends.


Loads of yelling between the factions with their demands. More anti-government terrorists appear from the sewers swelling their numbers back to their original strength. The Tactical Squad (X2 - HumVee - fully automatic rifles - body armour) also turns upturns up. Leads to another complication but Maria fights this time. Once again the anti-government guys win! They kill all the Tactical squad and destroy their humvee. They badly wound Maria Sanchez in the arm using the rocket launcher. Pope is killed in firefight (this was challenged and many coins were thrown about but he remained dead) and his body is dragged away by the anti-government freedom fighters. They escape.


Maria Sanchez knows she will die soon from lack of blood. Realise she is close to her ex lover's house. Makes her way to Jack's House.
Scene ends


New scene in Jack's Office (Dingy - Unkept - Dirty - Excellent electronics suite - photos of his past on walls). Jack loads his photographs from his camera to his computer. His assistant Dana (Secretary - Artificial Intelligence - Mothering - Is Jack's Desk - Has been with Jack since he first started as a P.I - Old machine) frets on how long he has been away, pointing out that without a license the regime could have him kiled. He consoles her and explains that with the pictures he has taken he can get away from Oceania. It is realised that Dana is too big and old to go with his easily. Jack hears explosions from down the street and heads out to investigate.. and has a cigarette as well. He finds Maria staggering towards him. She collapses into his arms and he drags her inside (she is very heavy due to all the metal) and calls Ratchett (Doctor - Has had license revoked by Maria Sanchez - Long time friend of Jack Phillips - Cyberware expert) on the phone, asking him to come over quickly. Scene Ends


New scene in the headquarters of "The Organisation". Enrique (Leader of "The Organisation" - Conspiracy Theorist - Has known Jack Phillips for as long as he can remember - Half brother to Jack Phillips) congratulates his team of returned soldiers. They have the Pope's body and Enrique intends to use the Patch Pirate TV Station to tell all of Oceania what Mayor Rodriguez is up to. Enrique has discovered the war is a sham. The upper castes of Oceania, the Mainland, and Oceania's "enemy" (who we discover are called the Dimensionals) are actually working together. They are all conscripting the lower castes of their respective cities so they can suck their souls and use the energy of the souls, and the leyline that runs under Oceania, to create a dimensional rift. The Upper Castes of all three factions will then enter this rift and spend the rest of Eternity in "Elysium". Enrique sends some of his men to get Jack Phillips and bring him back to him.
Scene Ends


New Scene in Jack's Office again. Ratchett has arrived and he and Jack are arguing about what to do with Maria. Ratchett doesn't want to help as Maria revoked his medical license.


We had to stop there due to time constraints.

[CPXB]

How many players were there in game?

[The Wah]

There were 4 players for the beginning.

One had to leave about 3/4 of the way through but we carried on anyway.

[CPXB]

Which is easier to do with Universalis than virtually any other game, and the player can be reinserted easily so long as someone keeps fairly good notes.

I asked the question 'cause I felt it possible there were only two players, and I was wondering how that went.  But, alas, you had more than that.  ;)

Anyway, it sounds like y'all had a lot of fun.  Universalis is a cool game, no doubt of it.

[Valamir]

So, what's the verdict?

What worked, what didn't?  What made you sit up and say "Oh my god, that was amazing?  What made you frown and say "really?...not sure I like that..."

How did the players take to the game?  Like fish to water?  Kicking and screaming?  Unsure at first but then they fell in love?  Interested in giving it a try but then didn't really enjoy it?

Any ideas you had about gaming confirmed?...challenged?...

How eager is the group to play again?

[The Wah]

So, what's the verdict?

What worked, what didn't? What made you sit up and say "Oh my god, that was amazing? What made you frown and say "really?...not sure I like that..."

I think Universalis is a very different and interesting game. It is a breath of fresh air. Normally a different or original setting gets my roleplaying juices flowing but this time it is a whole different way of looking at the hobby. I have been roleplaying for over 15 years and I don't think I have seen anything as original as this before. When i first heard about the game through www.rpg.net I was intrigued. When I read the book I was chaffing at the bit. Now that I have played the game I am wanting more.

I have only played one session so far so I don't think it would be appropriate to say "This works or that doesn't work", but I will say that I like what I see a lot!

How did the players take to the game? Like fish to water? Kicking and screaming? Unsure at first but then they fell in love? Interested in giving it a try but then didn't really enjoy it?

I was very interested in playing. One of the other players had been a part of a Baron Munchausen campaign a few years back and he was also very interested in giving Universalis a whirl. The other two could see I was excited by the game and trusted me enough to come for the ride. I invited 13 people to play (most of which I knew would not come) and, counting me, 4 turned up. I believe it was a good number to start playing.

Once the game had started I jumped in feet first. I was the only one that had time to read the book before we started. The Ex-Baron Munchausen player also dived right into the deep end with me. The other two paddled about for a bit until they understood more deeply what was going on. I was explaining the rules but it is hard to convey the concepts succintly when you are only a novice yourself! Once they were feeling more confidant the other two joined in whole-heartedly and *THAT* is when the real fun started. A game designed by four players was infinitely better than a game designed by two players.

We are all eager to play again. Another session had been booked for this Saturday ( I will do a write up for Part two in the 'Actual Play' section). We are getting back the same players from last week but we are adding another player this time! I am looking forward to see what he adds! More interestingly is my girlfriend (who tolerates my affection for this strange hobby we call roleplaying) has expressed a wish to join the game! She has had minimal interest in roleplaying games (she calls it "That Nerd Thing You Do".. hehe bless her) but she is very intrigued with Universalis. She is a radio journalist by trade and does some acting on the side and I think Universalis taps into these areas. I am Improvisor and stage actor (though I do work in a library to help pay the bills) and I know that Universalis tied together role-playing games, impro, acting and storytelling into one big package for me.

After the first session one of the players commented how he was very interested in fleshing out the world of "Oceania". He wanted to see how this adventure ended but he also wanted to bring back Jack Phillips for more adventures. Another player then piped up how he wanted to explore the world we had created even deeper, with or without Jack Phillips being a part of the story! Suddenly the prospect of multiple games in the same setting became veyr real to me. We had endless games to play in the world of Oceania. This is not even taking into account all the other unborn possible settings we could create with differet tenets. Endless possibilites in endless settings.. that is fascinating enough, but endless possibilities in a finite setting as well? This blew me away!

Many of the other friends I had invited originally but didn't come have heard about the first session and a few have asked me to start another session with them included!

I am sure Universalis is here to stay with my group and not just as a backup game.

As we keep playing and we become more comfortable with the rules I am sure I will have more to say than gushing praise :)

Good job to you Ralph!

[Mike Holmes]

More interestingly is my girlfriend (who tolerates my affection for this strange hobby we call roleplaying) has expressed a wish to join the game!

"Excellent," said Mike imitating Monty Burns.

We've been hoping that the game would be something that would appeal to people who think that RPGs are for nerds. Seems to be working a little so far. Thanks for the data. :-)

Did you ever get to use Jack's "No Cyberware" Trait? It'll be interesting to see if it comes into play. Could be very thematic. Is Jack "purer" somehow for this? Hmmm.

Mike