[& Sword] The Contessa's Baby

[Frank T]

Hi Steve,

Now you can see why Kickers work: Because they tell you what the players are interested in. Q.e.d.

Sebastian does not have a bound demon, right? We have been talking about this "no demon" option from &Sword on a German forum, and been puzzled a little. Cutting off one corner of the triangle between a demon's Need and Desire, Humanity, and the Kicker seems... wasted. Do you think not having a bound demon made the game more interesting for Gino? Or would you rather, in retrospect, advise him to get a demon (an object or something)?

Frank

[hix]

Frank, I think Sebastian not having a demon has helped differentiate him from Rasputin.

In the story, Rasputin is the dark seeker of supernatural knowledge, and he only has the one starting demon. It made sense of all three of us that Sebastian would have no demon at all - because Sebastian seems more innocent, and less inclined to use supernatural allies to solve his problems. *  ... And not having a demon just seemed right for Gino's character. We were all in agreement when we came to discussing it.

So, I'd say it's helped Gino with his characterisation, and helped both players' portrayal of the duo.

***

I'm 50-50 on whether I'd advise Gino to get a starting demon or not. I think I'd leave the choice up to him, but brief him much more thoroughly on how deadly demonic enemies can be. **

I think the lack of a bound demon has certainly made things more interesting for Gino now. If he'd had one to start with, sure I'd have had another angle to Bang his character with and introduce new tensions. However, now Gino's got to start making some on-screen choices about whether Sebastian WANTS a demon.

Your suggestion about getting an object demon appeals to me though. Something demonic that's not overt could fit well with Gino's character concept.

* However, Sebastian may well have Pacted or bound and banished demons in previous, unplayed adventures. We haven't really discussed that.

** Although, at that stage of character creation (pre-Kicker) I didn't know what demonic enemies would be showing up in the situation.

[hix]

Going into the final session, I knew the following situational questions were going to have to be addressed:

- Will Rasputin sacrifice his Baby to Jalali or not?
- Will Rasputin and Sebastian summon any demons (to either heal Sebastian or take on the Contessa)?
- Will Rasputin and Sebastian attack the Contessa?
- Will Rasputin and Sebastian attack Kigongo?

The session broke into six big blocks.

1. Going over some of the rules; seeing if there were any issues lingering from the last session; sitting down with dinner and doing a 'previously On' for the last session.

2. Summoning Isaam the Jackal (a demon)

3. Rasputin and Sebastian argue about whether to kill the Contessa

4. Azaan is Banished.

5. An out-of-game discussion about whether the story had finished.

6. The confrontation with Kigongo and the Swarm.

So, here's the write-up. It's a long one. There another write-up at our local forum, which has some discussion about structuring sessions and author stance.


- 1 -

In the initial talk, Sean seemed hesitant about using sorcery to deal with the situation, but Gino launched into a rant about how Sebastian was going to get himself a demonic, combat-effective sidekick and kick Azaan's arse. The contrast was great – it not only manifested in-character during the game, but attitudes about using demons become a defining feature of the resolution.

We talked about the sort of demon Gino wanted to summon. But I kept the conversation to generalities, as inspired by this thread.


- 2 -

To start with, I described Sebastian having an hallucination of Kigongo summoning the Swarm. This was my way of incorporating the Kigongo cross-cut material from last session 'coherently' into the game.

During that hallucination Sebastian was asked if he loved Makeda (the dictator's daughter). I left Gino about 15 seconds to give us an answer to that – and he struggled mightly but couldn't decide. So we left it, which was a good choice as – it turns out – that question was pretty much the last thing to be decided in this story.

***

Back in reality, Rasputin was ordering the Contessa to treat Sebastian, and she was obeying. Both of the Contessa's demons were in Need, and messing with her. Her parasite demon had its eye on seducing Baraka, and Azaan was getting tardy about obeying her instructions. I think a lot of good stuff in this session came out of playing the demons really hard - their wants, their needs, the impact they have on their Sorcerors.

The main part of this scene was that Sebastian wanted Rasputin to summon a demon for him. We had a long, in-character conversation where Rasputin tried to convince Sebastian that it was a bad idea. There was a lot of neat stuff in here, with Rasputin (by implication) referring back to previous unplayed adventures where Sebastian had disdained using demonic help.

I felt like there wasn't enough 'happening' during this part of the scene – or rather, that I wasn't doing enough - but I withheld throwing any Bangs at them and focused on their conversation and the upcoming sorcery instead.

Gino came up with a pretty powerful combat focused demon, a jackal called Isaam (it means 'Guard'). Its Need is to prey on the weak ... Gino was uncomfortable with it, suggested 'attack the strong' instead. After I thought about it, I realised would make Sebastian into a bit of a hero, so I said no. The Needs of all the demons in this setting seem to compromise the identities of the Sorcerors, so it felt right to try and turn Sebastian into a bit of a bully.

Sean and I were disturbed by the summoning. Me just by mentioning it was going to happen; Sean, for reasons he can go into if he wants to. We through lots of colour into the ritual (blood, sweat, meat, and pain).

As soon as Isaam the Jackal showed up, it had a fully formed character. Biting, prowling, disliking Rasputin. Sebastian successfully Bound it, and from there I'm pretty sure we moved on to the next scene.


- 3 -

After transporting Sebastian back to his rooms, Sean wanted to know what's the Contessa's plan was. To start with, I deliberately misinterpreted this and said what she'd been aiming to do. The Contessa wanted destroy all of Rasputin's reasons for remaining in Africa. To start with, this meant spoiling the negotiations. The easiest way to spoil that was to sleep with Sebastian, knowing that Makeda's reaction would upset Mr Koli.

Between me and Sean, we decided the Contessa's plans to marry Rasputin and live with him in Russia were in ruins. So the Contessa said she wanted to leave the city – with Yvan, if she possibly could. Rasputin agreed to meet her later and make that happen.

***

Pretty much as soon as the Contessa was gone, we had the centre-piece of the session – a big Rasputin and Sebastian conversation where they argued about what to do with the Contessa?"

Rasputin was all in favour of killing her. Sebastian was very much against. It eventually triggered a Humanity Loss roll for Rasputin, which he succeeded at, when Rasputin point-blank said ... and I forget the specifics ... that he was going to end the Contessa's life, and make sure that she didn't come back to trouble them again. It was damn cold, and me and (I think) Gino both drew in breath when he said it.

One thing about the Humanity Loss roll – after discussing it with Sean, we decided that, unless the situation changed, it would cover the act of killing the Contessa as well ... that Rasputin was resolute in his decision. As you'll see towards the end, this wasn't exactly how things played out. They played out much worse.

A few more things about this conversation:

- It kept getting interrupted by me role-playing the demons (Jackal and Spider Totem) meeting each other. This undercut Rasputin and Sebastian several times, but I thought it was important to establish the demons as independent characters who weren't necessarily concerned about their masters' plans.

- I felt odd that I didn't have any Bangs to throw in here ... so I introduced the bonus dice again. These are my reward for good points of argument or roleplaying. They can get used in the event of the players making rolls to see which character 'wins' the argument., thinking that they had worked well last session during the negotiation with Mr Koli.

This led to a big discussion between me and Sean about player autonomy – particularly that this was a decision that concerned Rasputin's destiny, and as such it shouldn't be determined mechanically in any way. It was also a conflict of interest between the two PCs, which is when the Sorceror resolution system's designed to be applied. Also, I felt that there needed to be a push towards a resolution of the conversation. In hindsight, I think that just figuring out when the conversation was 'over' might have been enough, but at any rate, dice were rolled and Rasputin ended up with a bonus die in his favour towards killing the Contessa.

***

What else was there? Oh yeah, Jalali become a key player in the last stage of the scene. Remember he's the Spider Totem demon who wants to eat Yvan in exchange for telling Rasputin some knowledge he desperately wants.

At one point during the scene, Yvan started crawling into Jalali's room. Rasputin stopped Yvan and told him to never to go in there. Jalali took this to mean he wasn't going to get fed.

So from then on, I shifted Jalali into rebellion against Rasputin.

Rasputin wanted to use Jalali's power to fight their enemies (Azaan, the Contessa and maybe Kigongo). Jalali told Rasputin he was only going to get a little bit of Jalali's power, and that things were going to change around here. I forget the specifics, but Jalali really hammered home how angry he was with Rasputin and how much he was going to make Rasputin's life difficult.

So Rasputin threw a temper tantrum, smashed Jalali over to the other side of the room. This was the key to the rest of the session – and also a great Sorceror vs. Demon moment.


- 4 -

The rest of the session consisted of two big conflicts.

First, when Rasputin and Sebastian arriving to meet the Contessa, they found her at the tail-end of a massive battle with Makeda. The bodies of 40 of Makeda's soldiers lay on the ground of the plaza between them, and Azaan was about to leap on the now-undefended Makeda.

In the course of trying to save Makeda, Azaan was smashed up with a load of Special Damage Lethal. This was sweet payback for Gino. And at this point, I had a bolt of insight. Next round, I declared that the Contessa was going to take advantage of Azaan's weakness and try to Banish him. I hadn't even thought of this option till now.

My logic was that the Contessa felt enslaved to Azaan. He was way more powerful than she'd counted on when she Summoned him, and he was controlling her life in ways she didn't like.

To my amazement, Sean declared that he was going to try and stop her from Banishing Azaan. Rasputin knew that if the Banish was successful, then Azaan wouldn't be dead; he could be re-Summoned and come back after them again. We decided this meant they've had experience with Banished demons coming back to hurt before. But what I was most impressed by was that Sean knew what would happen – I'm still not sure if that was from reading about Banishing on-line, or from inferring what would happen through actual play.

The Banish was successful. The conflict ended. The Contessa was at their mercy.

Would Rasputin kill the Contessa? He had an opportunity - to push her down the elevator well as she walked past. Instead, Rasputin gave a speech. About how they all had to band together to defeat Kigongo.

***

Straight after that, Sebastian and Makeda had a moment. He didn't want her to come with them when they hunted down Kigongo. She refused to obey him. We didn't use the dice.

Instead, Makeda said she'd stay behind if Sebastian promised to marry her.

Sebastian said 'Yes'.


- 5 -

I called an end to the scene then and there. In fact, to me it felt like an end to the game. So, after a short break to recover from the conflict, we debated whether the game was over or not.

So, after I came back from taking a break, I find Sean and Gino relaxing on the couch. When I joined them, there was a kind of post-game tone to our conversation.

I proposed three options:

i) That was the end.
ii) We play on, because the game could wrap up very quickly (within a scene).
iii) We play on, aware that taking down Kigongo and the Swarm could become another three-part story.

To me, it felt like it could be the end. A slightly Whedonesque cliffhanger that sets up a whole bunch of new relationships and tensions in the setting – certainly enough to generate a new Kicker.

Sean pushed for option (ii). He had an idea of what he wants Rasputin to do – and felt it could wrap up quite quickly.

After batting these ideas about, I realised that their Kickers (and their issues with the Contessa) hadn't been resolved. That settled things for me. We have to continue. And since that's the conclusion Sean and Gino seemed to be reaching, for different reasons, we headed back to the table.


- 6 -

Final scene. Final conflict.

Rasputin and Sebastian track down Kigongo. With them are the Contessa, Baraka, Yvan, and Jalali the Spider totem, who they picked up along the way.

Sean wanted his character to sneak up on Kigongo, and I decided that Jalali had no problem conferring Fast on him. Normally Jalali would be rebellious, but in this instance it gets him closer to Kigongo.

Rasputin proposes a deal – if Kigongo kills the Contessa, he'll get Jalali. Kigongo is into that.

Meanwhile Sebastian warns the Contessa about the double-cross.

A conflict begins. The Swarm descends on the Contessa, intending to sting her to death. She tries to Banish it – even though it's incredibly powerful. Rasputin doesn't act, and Gino says that his character, Sebastian, is going to hesitate. In my on-the-spot interpretation of the rules, I decided that the Swarm could either attack the Contessa or defend itself against the Banishing at full dice. The Contessa gets the initiative – so the Swarm aborts its attack & holds off on killing her

The Swarm hovers above the Contessa as she fails to Banish it.

This image sticks in my mind. It's like a still from a Ralph Bakshi movie.

Finally, the Swarm wins initiative. They immerse and kill the Contessa. I describe a single horrifying image from it ... to drive it home to the players, especially Gino.

Then (motivated by Rasputin) Kigongo tries to Banish the Swarm. He's unsuccessful. Multiple times. Even with help. So, the Swarm takes off to destroy the city - and in the background of everything that follows, we hear the screams of people being killed.

***

Rasputin chucks Jalali, the Spider Totem, over to Kigongo. Rasputin hasn't released Jalali from its Binding, but Rasputin doesn't want the demon anymore. Or anything to do with demons.

***

Now, I'm not sure if I asked this or whether Gino raised it, but it goes back to my initial question this session. Does Sebastian love Makeda?

Gino decides, "Yes."

And we all agreed that meant Makeda was dead.

***

So, end of story.

The Contessa was killed through Rasputin's machinations, and he ended up responsible his three-year old son.

Despite this, both Rasputin and the Contessa decided to renounce demons – while Sebastian Bound a demon, and has grown in sorcerous power.

Rasputin and Sebastian got the tender, but ended up being sort-of responsible for the destruction of about a third of the city, and the death of the dictator's daughter.

***

I think we achieved what we set out to do – tell a story about these characters that stands on its own. The game was solid, fun, and intense – and it unleashed a lot of great characterisation from Gino and Sean.

I also found that discussion of the rules and of events that don't have much to do with the 'Now' can be carefully considered, while still being entertaining and engaging.

[hix]

Whew! I think that post deserves an executive summary.

For me, the coolest thing about the whole three-session game was that the characters' attitudes about using demons completely flipped from their starting positions. Rasputin, the hardcore seeker of forbidden knowledge, now hates demons and the way they seek to control him, while Sebastian is fully prepared to make deals with them in order to get revenge.

I think a lot of good stuff in this session came out of playing the demons really hard - their wants, their needs, the impact they have on their Sorcerors. A lot of the time this involved undercutting Rasputin and Sebastian, and portraying the demons as independent characters who weren't necessarily concerned about their masters' plans. And I found that portraying the demons came really naturally – they're so primal and focused, it's easy to figure out what they'd want in any given situation.

Finally, I started feeling very comfortable with making on-the-spot interpretations of the Sorceror rules. I feel like there are some basic principles there, like the way the currency works, and the one-action per round (together with the option to abort, and the ability to defend against an unlimited number of attacks) that make the game easy to run.

That's about it. It was a fun game. I'm not sure if there are any issues in there. Mostly I guess I'm curious if anyone else has felt that 'basic principles' thing I just mentioned – and if there are any other ideas about what they are.

Thanks for all your help along the way.

[Ron Edwards]

Hooray!! I am a happy game designer.

Quite a while ago, in reference to a Roger Rabbit discussion, I posted that I always play the demons as Toons. A lot of people found that incomprehensible, because they thought I was talking about playing them comedically. I wasn't. You've really nailed what I was talking about.

Best, Ron