[Cold City] - Fade To Grey

[Malcolm Craig]

So, character creation was somewhat staggered over a couple of weeks for this game. Some players created their characters when we sat down to discuss stuff a week ago, other created them on Sunday when we sat down to actually play. In the interim, I'd been carefully looking at the Hidden Agendas of the characters to see how I could push cool scenes to bring them into play and in to focus. During the pre-game discussion, I'd also asked the players to suggest a scene, event or situation they like to see in-game during the projected course of the story. The players came up with the following:

Being forced to use my 'powers' at gunpoint.
Finding a large number of (headless?) corpses
A huge underground room with a glowing green ball of energy in it.
Dark underground tunnels with something very dark and ominous lurking within
Archives, something relating to the characters

The players who created characters just before play was to begin also had the opportunity to throw in a scene they'd like to see and input into the game like that. Also, it had been mutually agreed that the characters would assign trust to each other, then we would reveal the Hidden Agendas. Although the characters would not initially know the Hidden Agendas, it was pretty much agreed that it would be cool for the players to know, so they could push buttons and move the story along.

In the end, we have the following characters:

Mary-Ellen Harper (American) – former cryptologist at Bletchley Park during WW2
National: Create global, instantaneous communication system based on using dimensional portal technology
Personal: Speak with a demon and ask it if Satan really exists

Major Harry Miller (British) – mentally disturbed infantry officer
National: Find who is being aggressive towards Britain and take care of it, if need be.
Personal: Find the creature and face it, overcome his fears

Antoinette Soux (French) – another former cyptologist and wartime friend of Mary-Ellen
National: Discover if monsters were created by actually torturing humans and if so, how?
Personal: Find husband or information on how he died

Kristoph Vojek (Polish) – chess master, MGB stooge and former experimental subject as part of 'Projekt Rasputin'
National: Gain proof that Projekt Rasputin and its participants were worth the time and effort
Personal: Make the pain and voices go away, but live afterwards

Jane Wexford (British) - well spoken former secretary
National: Take as much technology back to Britain as possible for use.
Personal: Find brother, missing spy

It's an interesting mix and the predominance of female characters promises to give a certain frisson to some encounters (given the prevailing attitudes of the time). It's also interesting to note that four out of the five players are female, three of whom chose female characters and one who chose to take a male character.

Prior to kicking off the game, I suggested that any time people think up NPCs, places for stuff to come into the game, they write it down on the blank sheet of paper in the middle of the table. And immediately people grabbed pencils and started scribbling stuff down. Out of it we got stuff like Dr Huntingdon (Major Millers doctor), Lt. Colonel Barrington (Marry-Ellen's former CO at Bletchley Park, now a CIA spook in Berlin), Alan Wexford (Jane's missing brother, parachuted into Germany in 1944) and Captain Pyotyr Vasilyev (Vojek's 'handler' and nemesis). Other people and places were filled in as well, giving a good idea of the relationships and the way things could potentially head.

There was an opening 'cut scene' to the game: A USAF DC-3 lumbers into Tempelhof, landing in the deepening winter twilight. Two gentlemen in warm trenchcoats and trilbys come down the stairs to be met by a broad-shouldered, buzz-cut man in a dull grey suit. Handshakes are exchanged and the three walk off to the main buildings.

The characters start off 'in media res', preparing to arrest a former scientist from the rocket base at Peenemunde (as they hear the sound of a DC_3 flying through the twilight towards Tempelhof). We had established that as the group were fairly intellectually orientated, there main job was not the harsh, gun-toting activities of monster hunting, but researching and finding former scientists who worked on various twisted technology projects. American army MPs had just turned up outside (coming to arrest Voight, the scientist), providing a bit of urgency to the scenes. The important factor in this scene was not Voight, but the sudden sounds emanating from the radio (which was on and playing a programme of classical pieces). The radio noise would be the key 'in' to the story, immediately piquing the interest of the characters, especially Mary-Ellen's (due to her Hidden Agenda).

The first really key scene of game involved Vojek heading off to Prinz-Lauerberg in East Berlin for a poke about on his own. The other players established this as a pattern for him with comments like "Oh, Vojek's off on his own again", so we now see that Vojek is something of a loner, perhaps set slightly apart from the group. In short, he ends up being Shanghaied by Vasilyev and his goons and taken to a deserted warehouse where Vasilyev has been interrogating (brutally) a 'foreign agent'. In this we have the first conflict of the game.

Vasilyev wants Vojek to use his 'powers' (it is still not established what these actually are, or even if they exist) to extract information from the man, who has proved invulnerable to interrogation. Vojek ends up acceding to the request, but only after Vasilyev places a Tokarev against his temple, threatening to blow his brains and his alleged 'powers' all over the warehouse. In the subsequent conflict, it's pretty much decided that it's between Vojek and the interrogation subject, who has a desperate desire to resist all forms of torture and maintain his stout mental wall. The conflict is framed around the use of the attribute Reason, as Vojek envisages the extraction of information as a chess game, logically and intelligently playing his pieces and working out how to win the game. I thought that Stuart (the player) framed this well, setting out his stakes and giving good reasons why Reason was being used.

Vojek loses the conflict and, as it was felt better that Stuart tell the story of the outcome, rather than follow the usual pattern of the winner narrating, it came about that he suffered nose and ear bleeding, collapsed to the floor and was dumped back in his car by Vasilyevs goons, whereupon he was found by the other characters, who had arrived upon the scene.

The action moved quickly to a villa in Prinz-Lauerberg that had been the epicentre for the radio disturbance. In an upstairs room were found 5 bodies with no obvious cause of death, 2 steel 'barrels' that radiate cold, various bits of electronic equipment and a series of Aryan runic inscriptions on the wall. Strangely, most of the bodies, the door and much of detritus in the room was piled up against the wall with the runes upon it.

Due to time constraints the first, brief session of the game ended on this scene, with the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs of the abandoned villa.

There were some subsidiary scenes, such as Jane using her feminine wiles on one of the RPA clerical staff to get 5 huge manila folders of material from the apartment of Voight translated quicker than usual.

In short, there was some good establishment of character and place and some good role-playing all round the table. Actual conflict was limited in presence and scope, but the scene is nicely set to really ramp things up over the next two or three weeks.

Cheers
Malcolm

[Shevaun]

Things that impressed me:

A wholly cerebral team at first which would lend itself to a very different kind of game; the Major was added later, and I'll admit I was glad to have a fighting character. Not because I wouldn't feel safe otherwise, but rather, having someone who can fight gives the other characters reasons to go do things they would normally be too scared to do. Going into the big dark house of scariness and danger, for instance, would have been something only a mad-person would do without some military backup. He may be little or no use, but at least we get the scene. Also the Major has a Reason of 1, but Lucy has aptly described the Major as not stupid, but rather Unhinged. No bumbling fool him; nice change.

Malcolm & Stuart did a great job playing off Kristoff's dubious relationship with the Soviets, at many levels. Making the rest of the group awkwardly avert our eyes as the local commander Nod Nod, Wink Winks at him right in front of us; Fleshing out poor Kristoff's powers and their repercussions, in a most painful manner. I'm having trouble justifying a trust of 1 when the poor man's obviously going through so much. Still, cold war and I'm the yank, so there you go.

Good selection of scenes from the other players, a nice combination of mundane, scary and eldritch (for want of a better word). I'm very much looking forward to finding out how our esteemed GM is going to work them in.

Things which I didn't like? Not much. Mostly my own too-loud-as-usual performance, as an obsessive radio technician-come-demonologist. I also wish I had more knowledge of the era; we rely on Malcolm for so much detail. As Malcolm knows so much that works out okay, but other games might not have someone with a freakin' degree in the subject, and the players benefit from being able to contribute adroitly. I know, however, that this is addressed: there's plenty offsetting and historical info in the back of Cold City, but our FLGS sold out before I could get one! Reprint is on its way though, so I await with bated breath.

No comments on the system; the only real application was when Kristoff rolled for his brain hemorrhage. Don't expect any problems, though there are a few high stats out there.

[Malcolm Craig]

Also the Major has a Reason of 1, but Lucy has aptly described the Major as not stupid, but rather Unhinged. No bumbling fool him; nice change.

Hi Shevvy, thanks for coming in with your thoughts.

Yes, Lucys decision to make the Major unhinged rather than stupid is a good one from the point of view of the ongoing story. I'm not sure how much the group needed a 'fighting' character, but as you say, having more physical backup does help in certain situations.

Malcolm & Stuart did a great job playing off Kristoff's dubious relationship with the Soviets, at many levels. Making the rest of the group awkwardly avert our eyes as the local commander Nod Nod, Wink Winks at him right in front of us; Fleshing out poor Kristoff's powers and their repercussions, in a most painful manner. I'm having trouble justifying a trust of 1 when the poor man's obviously going through so much. Still, cold war and I'm the yank, so there you go.

Aha, interesting. I think we'll see more of Kristophs backstory come into play in the coming weeks and have an effect on the trust other characters have in him, for better or worse. As a point of interest, why did you choose the trust levels you did at the outset? It would be cool to hear how you arived at this and where you see it all heading.

Things which I didn't like? Not much. Mostly my own too-loud-as-usual performance, as an obsessive radio technician-come-demonologist. I also wish I had more knowledge of the era; we rely on Malcolm for so much detail. As Malcolm knows so much that works out okay, but other games might not have someone with a freakin' degree in the subject, and the players benefit from being able to contribute adroitly. I know, however, that this is addressed: there's plenty offsetting and historical info in the back of Cold City, but our FLGS sold out before I could get one! Reprint is on its way though, so I await with bated breath.

Heh, I wouldn't worry about historical accuracy. If you bring in cool details and stuff, I'm not overly bothered about their accuracy. It is, after all, an alternative/secret history setting, so I don't think we need to worry too much about the veracity.

However, this does raise a point of concern: does it reduce your enjoyment of the game if you feel that you may make errors that you think I might pick up on? This is the kind of discussion we may want to have prior to the next session, jsut to9 get things out in the open. I'm keen for everyone to feel thaty have involvement in the game, so it's very important to me to sort these issues out.

Cheers
Malcolm