[Mob Justice] Brothers in Arma (Furnace PM)

[iain]

Boss: Iain McAllister

Players: Neil Gow, Steven, Gareth
Playing: Keneth, Isaac and Roy respectfully

I ran two Mob Justice games at Furnace, one on the Saturday morning for Matt Machell and Andrew Kenrick, which I think Andrew is going to report on, and one in the afternoon for Neil Gow, Steven, whose surname I have forgotten, and Gareth Dunstan. Both games were based on the ‘Brothers in Arms’ scenario that I had prepared before the con.

The scenario is based around 4 brothers whose father is killed at the beginning of the scenario, and the consequences of that event upon them. The four brothers of the O’Connor family are:

Isaac: oldest with a family of his own. Very much following in his father’s footsteps and the glue that holds the family together once their father is out of the picture.

Roy: The twin of Kenneth, he is a bit of a playboy without the resources to back it up. Does a bit of drug dealing on the side and has a fear that his fiancée will find out about his illicit activities.

Kenneth: The mores successful of the twins he has found himself rising in the ranks of the Cosa Nostra through his work as a lawyer. Selfish with strong code of self preservation he is the most likely to turn on the brothers for personal reasons.

Aaron: The youngest of the brothers and a bit of a street punk, he is involved at low levels with the Irish and Italian gangs. A bit selfish like Kenneth but idolises Isaac.

You can find fuller descriptions of the brothers here.

As there were only 3 players we used Kenneth, Roy and Isaac. Aaron was assumed to not exist rather than leaving a floating character that we would have to explain the absence of.

And they’re off
As with the morning game, the scenario starts off in the alleyway behind ‘Fat Sam’s’ in Chicago, the family’s favourite restaurant. The corpse of their father discovered, the brother’s hear sirens in the distance, approaching quickly. They get their mother into a car and shepherd her off. In the meantime Isaac rings his police contact and gets him put on the case, guaranteeing their father’s body will be safe.

Shortly after they speed from the scene a contact rings Roy telling him that there is a hit out on their father. A little late it would seem. The brother’s set about getting their father’s men together to establish their loyalty. An hour late most of their father’s men are at one of his pub’s. The few missing are of no importance. As they are questioned they remain tight lipped. The hitman calls Roy again giving him a name ‘O’leary’ and some details about an Irish-Italian alliance forming in the city’s underworld. The next day Kenneth sets out to buying up O’Leary’s businesses which we dealt with in a narrative rather than mechanical fashion. I didn’t want to touch on the network rules in such a limited context. It was an unexpected if interesting move by the player.

They try to get a hold of O’leary and find they can’t and set about putting the rumour out that he is dead. Thing is he is. Along with his family. They turn to the Irish community for answers.

Kenneth and Isaac try to call a meeting of the Irish gang leaders only to discover that they are all ‘otherwise engaged’ and too busy to meet. Roy meanwhile has headed to the Jailbird, a mafia controlled speakeasy in the posher end of town, only to witness a procession of Irish gang leaders making their way into the joint. Roy informs his brother’s of this and they make their way to the jailbird.

Greeted at the Jailbird by a bouncer with a rather knowing smile they are shown through to a tiny booth where an old mafia gentlemen essentially employs them to whack the guy who whacked their dad. This Mafioso who killed their father, Correlli,  is a young turk who is gunning for the boss of the city, a friend of this gentleman. In return he will protect their business as the Italians expand. They agree, reluctantly.

As they are about to leave they get a phone call that someone has their mother and a location to meet at. They head to the location and Kenneth enters alone. He is about to cut a deal, turn to the Italians and shoot his mother when roy follows him in and he chooses to change tact, playing on his high loyalty to roy, and taking his mother and leaving. The figure, who has been silhouetted the whole time, makes Kenneth promise to not interfere any further in what is going on. This he agrees to and leaves with his mother in tow.

Kenneth is hit very hard by his tell for his mother, reducing his stature to 0 with the Irish gangs. Visibly shaken he heads back to his office to drink and consider his next move. Isaac chose not join the brothers to get their mother, instead setting up the attack on Corelli, and also gets hit by his tell to his mother, reducing his reputation temporarily as he has ‘family man’ as one of his descriptors.

Isaac and Roy decide to go after Corelli, whilst Kenneth is broken by his failure to carry through his plans. As the brothers call in favours, get their resources together and plan their attack, Kenneth calls Corelli moments before they break in and warns him they are coming.

However the warning has come too late. The various men Isaac and Roy have collected take out Corelli’s men in the surrounding area and they burst through the door. Corelli is sitting quite confident behind a poker table and before he gets a chance to speak they plug him. His men fire back and a gun battle ensues leaving Roy a bit worst for wear, but the Mafia more so. As a thank you to the mafia they firebomb the place as they leave, walking away bathed in the light of the burning building, satisfied in their quest for immediate vengeance.

Pursuing their brother, who they now know has turned tale, they find he has drained their fathers finances and fled for Mexico. The fallout of the scenario was the remaining brothers look to re-establish themselves using their new ‘friend’ in the mafia to takeover the irish quarter. This is an entire campaign in itself as they rise the ranks, destroying what has gone before and making a new world order.

We decided that they sent a hitman after their brother, who is eventually found and killed as he sips his last pina colada on a beach somewhere.

General afterthoughts
I had a blast running this game and it restored my faith in my ability to run interesting games that are engaging for the players. It was very social, apart from the end, and I can’t decide whether that was because of the way the players approached it or the way I ran it. I may include more opportunity for a more ‘direct’ approach in the full scenario pack. Below are some specifics of the good and bad from the game.

Things that went well

Drip feeding the system was great, starting them with decisions and then introducing skirmishes when appropriate.

All the advice on how to set things up, crisis points, bangs etc. much appreciated worked really well.

Playing bangs off their tells and loyalties taught them the mechanical consequences of narrative decisions. I would like to include more of this in future games balancing the characters own personal needs against those of the community around them.

Things I would have done differently

I should have turned the promise from Kenneth into a code, at low level, for Neil. I just forgot to at the time. This will be rectified in the fully written scenario.

Ended the scenario with corelli still alive though I haven’t quite figured out how to do that so it is a satisfying ending to the game for the player’s. I would have preferred them not to get him but couldn’t see the end without him dead. One suggestion was to foucs the ending on the betrayal by Kenneth giving the brother’s a choice between getting vengeance on Corelli or their brother, but not both.

Any feedback and suggestions welcome.

Cheers

Iain