[Cold City] Gen Con After Hours Game

[Malcolm Craig]

On the Friday night of Gen Con Indy, I had the good fortune to run what turned out to be a very intense game of Cold City for an excellent group of players, made up of Paula Dempsey, Tim Kleinert, Steve Dempsey, Joshua Newman and Rob McDougall.

It must be said that this game touched upon and used themes which I wasn't expecting to encounter in an after hours game a Gen Con, including themes of the Holocaust, repentance and the drug trade.

Characters

The characters were a fairly unusual and interesting group.

Margaret Parry (Paula Dempsey): Well, well-groomed and impeccably spoken British translator passing messages back to Buckingham Palace and on a mission to find the American Colonel she dated during the war.

Lee Jacobson (Tim Kleinert): Black marketeer and dealer in illicit wares, Jacobson is on a mission to become top dog in the expanding drugs trade, using his position in the RPA to achieve this.

Freidrich Baum (Joshua Newman): Former Waffen SS officer who discovered he was part-Jewish and is now, through the RPA, attempting to undo some of the wrong he has done. Also trying to find his last living Jewish relative and make peace with him.

Marcel Laplace (Steve Dempsey): One of the last defenders of Berlin, Laplace was a fervent anti-Communist and member of the 'Charlegmane' SS Division. Now despises both Germany and the USSR.

Leor Barinov (Rob McDougall): A propagandist during the war, briefly a journalist, now sent to work for the RPA as punishment for his curiosity. Is determined to destroy all evidence of the strange technology but also gain the power to express himself as he sees fit.


Something that I was initially taken aback by was the choice to have two former members of the Waffen SS as characters. When writing Cold City, this was the kind of situation that I had been very wary of, hence the inclusion of the section entitled 'Contentious Issues' in the book, which addresses the possibility of themes involving Nazism and Stalinism appearing in Cold City. This game hit upon many of things including in that particular part of the game and really brought home to me some of the particular advice I offered there. In particular, the game moved me out of a zone of "I'm never having X Stuff in any game I ever run" to a position of "That was stuff I would never have deliberately brought in, but in the end provided an experience which everyone took something away from."

The Game Itself
Having established what the players wanted from the game (including the capture of a former scientist, the 'big bad' of the game), there followed a short briefing session by the Rt. Hon. Myles Wright, British representative on the RPA Directorate Committee. He immediately started displaying his biases towards the various nations, some humorous, some cynical and things began to kick off.

I won't go through the game in exhaustive detail, but will pick out a few salient points and scenes that I feel should be highlighted.

The character of Lee Jacobson saw other peoples trust in him drop like a stone almost from the outset. His interest only in himself and desire to be a drug kingpin (not to mention the actions taken in game to further this ambition), caused the other characters to start rapidly ceasing to trust him on any level, despite the assistance he rendered at several points.

The arrest of the scientist, an event provoked by Jacobson and Laplace, lead not to a lack of action and story (as I may have initially feared), but a very good plotline and eventual ending to the story. The arrest served to introduce new NPC characters to create conflict with and drive the story forward. In retrospect, calling for the arrest by the Volkspolizei of the scientist was an excellent call on the part of the players.

At one point during a conflict, Rob (playing Barinov, the Soviet) rolled a superlative success in a conflict (the conflict was that he was attempting to get the Red Air Force to bomb the police building that the scientist  was being held in). Rob, noticing that such a success allowed him to go beyond his initial stakes, asserted that yes, the building would be bombed but the bomb would go right through the roof, several floors and explode right in the cell that the scientist was being held in. This was to prove to be a point of order later on.

The confrontation between Baum and Inspektor Gruber, the Volkspolizei officer who arrested the scientist. This proved to be a very emotionally charged scene, as I had previously (away from the gaming table), mentioned to Joshua that Gruber was his former commanding officer in the Waffen SS. The scene played out very well, with harsh words being said on both sides.

The scene where Baum and Gruber meet the scientist (Dr Kunz) and the rest of the RPA group enter the building and make their way to, firstly, Grubers office and them to the cell, also proved to be highly satisfying but also containing some very intense moments. Laplace, Parry and Jacobson searched the desk of Inspektor Gruber, with Jacobson finding an old cigar box containing medals, an SS dagger, a few rounds of ammunition and various bric-a-brac. Meanwhile Baum was confronting Kunz (whom it was revealed was also Jewish but who had experimented on Baums last living Jewish relative) and taking his final action against the still unrepentant Gruber, eventually killing Gruber and hustling Kunz from the cell as a bomb, dropped by a fast moving Yakovlev fighter-bomber (called up previously by Barinov), detonates in the cell.

The final coda to the game, was the meeting between Baum and his last Jewish relative, still alive in a science bunker somewhere outside of Berlin.

I realise my memory of various aspects of the game is incomplete, I'm hoping the players will pitch in and fill in the gaps or add cool, moments of their own such as Barinovs 'brain smoke' moment in the briefing room! It has taken me a while to write up this AP, due to the nature of the themes touched up and the difficulty in putting many things down in paper as regards this.

Conclusions

This particular game of Cold City was far more intense and disturbing that I could have imagined. However, I feel it was handled very well by all around the table, which mad for a game which, if not exactly 'fun', was a highly satisfying role-playing experience.

As far as my own part in the game goes, I feel that I the very strong stories promoted by a couple of the characters Hidden Agendas were latched onto too easily by me, to the detriment of the other characters. Although the story as a whole worked out very well, I should have taken greater account of all the Hidden Agendas, rather than placing the focus on a handful. Admittedly, in a short after-hours game, this isn't so easy, but it's a note for the future.

I must thank the players for taking part in the game, particularly for their comments after the game.

Cheers
Malcolm

[Malcolm Craig]

As an additional thought that I should have put in my initial post: I would describe this as a very atypical Cold City game, all in all. Cold City is a game of hidden agendas, trust and monster hunting. In the case of this particular game, the monsters were not hideous experimental horrors or things from another dimension, but people. Which was what, perhaps, made it so horrifying.

Cheers
Malcolm

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Malcolm, that game was hot. I'll remember it well and fondly.

I wouldn't be surprised, though, if you get fairly frequent APs where the definition of "monster" is more monstrous than zombies.

Encountering the brain-in-a-jar-on-a-gorilla-robot-body is more potent if he  doesn't know the war's ended and has been cowering in the sewers and eating people for fear of the bombs and soldiers.

Or the Hitler Youth whose body is horribly mutated into a slavering flesh machine and is now all of sixteen years old and is in love with the girl he can see out the prison window.

Or, really, as in our game, the monster was a guy who had done horrible things against humanity, his own conscience, and his own people.

[Yokiboy]

That AP write-up was hot, what a game! I ordered my copy of the game a few days ago, and cannot wait to check it out. I'm curious what kind of flags exist in the game, and from the AP I picked up a couple of things that remind me of The Mountain Witch (Trust and the resolution system).

Malcom, as the GM, how do you stat up the 'big bad', how much prep work goes into getting a game running is what I'm after?

TTFN,

Yoki

[Malcolm Craig]

Malcolm, that game was hot. I'll remember it well and fondly.

I wouldn't be surprised, though, if you get fairly frequent APs where the definition of "monster" is more monstrous than zombies.

Encountering the brain-in-a-jar-on-a-gorilla-robot-body is more potent if he  doesn't know the war's ended and has been cowering in the sewers and eating people for fear of the bombs and soldiers.

Or the Hitler Youth whose body is horribly mutated into a slavering flesh machine and is now all of sixteen years old and is in love with the girl he can see out the prison window.

Or, really, as in our game, the monster was a guy who had done horrible things against humanity, his own conscience, and his own people.

I agree totally. The definition of 'monster' is extremely variable and in this case, we had a monster (or really, multiple monsters in the form of Gruber, Kunz and Baum, who admittedly was trying to make amends) who was not a monstrosity, but still horrifying.

That AP write-up was hot, what a game! I ordered my copy of the game a few days ago, and cannot wait to check it out. I'm curious what kind of flags exist in the game, and from the AP I picked up a couple of things that remind me of The Mountain Witch (Trust and the resolution system).

Malcom, as the GM, how do you stat up the 'big bad', how much prep work goes into getting a game running is what I'm after?

Trust operates slightly differently to MW, but the basic principle is the same: it informs players on how much their characters trust others and how much others trust them. In any given situation, both Hidden Agendas and Trust can have a massive influence on potential success in a conflict.

The prep work require for this game, from my point of view, was absolute zero. We discussed what the players wanted from the game and got going. The 'big bad' (so to speak) was basically just an ordinary man and had the players encountered any of his 'creations', I would have made them up on the fly. The book does include information on sample monsters that might be encountered in-game, as guidance for GMs.

I wouldn't plot a game of CC too tightly (the same goes for almost any game), as there is the extreme likelihood that it will go off in unexpected and interesting directions (exactly what happened int his particular game). However, within the pages of the book, there is guidance for the GM on structuring games, what to think about (ethical/moral dilemmas, hidden agendas, opposition and so forth) and the consideration of a whole variety of other factors.

Cheers
Malcolm

[Yokiboy]

I wouldn't plot a game of CC too tightly (the same goes for almost any game), as there is the extreme likelihood that it will go off in unexpected and interesting directions (exactly what happened int his particular game). However, within the pages of the book, there is guidance for the GM on structuring games, what to think about (ethical/moral dilemmas, hidden agendas, opposition and so forth) and the consideration of a whole variety of other factors.

Thanks Malcolm, it sounds like I will enjoy this game as much as I thought (now if it would only show up in my mailbox already).

I have come to the conclusion that my favorite kind of game comes with an air-tight situation to start from, like in Contenders, Polaris, DitV, Piledrivers & Powerbombs, Lacuna Part 1, and The Farm to mention but a few, where you can just jump straight in and start gaming. I hope that Cold City will fill this same niche for me, but as I don't exclusively love those type of games I will surely enjoy it regardless.

That "Hitler Youth" Joshua brought up is sure to figure into my play of Cold City at some point - shudder...

TTFN,

Yoki

[Malcolm Craig]

I wouldn't plot a game of CC too tightly (the same goes for almost any game), as there is the extreme likelihood that it will go off in unexpected and interesting directions (exactly what happened int his particular game). However, within the pages of the book, there is guidance for the GM on structuring games, what to think about (ethical/moral dilemmas, hidden agendas, opposition and so forth) and the consideration of a whole variety of other factors.

Thanks Malcolm, it sounds like I will enjoy this game as much as I thought (now if it would only show up in my mailbox already).

I have come to the conclusion that my favorite kind of game comes with an air-tight situation to start from, like in Contenders, Polaris, DitV, Piledrivers & Powerbombs, Lacuna Part 1, and The Farm to mention but a few, where you can just jump straight in and start gaming. I hope that Cold City will fill this same niche for me, but as I don't exclusively love those type of games I will surely enjoy it regardless.

That "Hitler Youth" Joshua brought up is sure to figure into my play of Cold City at some point - shudder...

TTFN,

Yoki

Hopefully you'll find the game exciting and interesting. Please do post any and all thoughts about it, including AP stuff of your own.

One thing that I was thinking of was the interesting way that all of the players slipped in to the accents, mannerisms and attitudes of their characters once the game got going. Paula sat up straight, spoke with a prim, posh voice and boss around any minor functionaries she encountered. Rob spoke with booming Russian tones, Tim smiled, nodded and (as his character sheet stated) was everbodies friend (but slimy with it!), Joshua slipped into a germanic accent and Steve droppe dinto a laissez-faire, laid back French drawl. Some very good characterisation through these methods in the game, really helped bring it to life.

Also, the emphasis was placed (by the players) much more on occult explanations for some events, 'magic' and occultism were brought into the game as much stronger themes, as opposed to my normal take on things which revolves around the twisting of technology, with a side order of occultism.

And I've dredged up the character sheets, so here's the details of the individual characters, as they appeared at the start of the game. I've not included trust, as this varied so heavily during the game, I don't have an accurate record of how it appeared at the beginning.

Freidrich Baum

Nationality: German (East)
Occupation: An officer in the SS during wartime, now works solely for the RPA
Background: Secretly part Jewish
Draw: Trying to make amends for his past

Attributes
Action: 3
Influence: 1
Reason: 4

Traits
Fucking deadly (+)
8th Degree Initiate (+)
Clockwork heart (+)
Secret Jew (-)
Guilty (-)

Hidden Agendas
National: Keep knowledge of artefacts in Aryan hands and away from the USSR.
Personal: Find my Jewish cousin – the last member of my Jewish family – who was experimented on.

Equipment
Very clean suit and hat
2 silenced pistols


Leor Barinov

Nationality: Russian
Occupation: Journalist
Background: Former propagandist
Draw: I am being punished for being too stupidly curious

Attributes
Action: 1
Influence: 2
Reason: 5

Traits
Knows when something is wrong (+)
Analytical savant (+)
Ladies man (+)
Compulsive glutton (-)
Doesn't know when to keep mouth shut (-)

Hidden Agendas
National: Destroy all evidence of magical/weird technology
Personal: Secure the ability to express myself as I wish

Equipment
None listed


Lee Jacobson

Nationality: American
Occupation: Black marketeer
Background: Owns shipping company
Draw: Money

Attributes
Action: 2
Influence: 4
Reason: 2

Traits
Underground connections (+)
Everybody's friend (+)
Uses opium (-)
Mercenary (-)
Slimy (-)

Hidden Agendas
National: Spy on France and England
Personal: Create a monopoly on the underground drugs trade in Berlin

Equipment
None listed

It should be noted that Tim asked if he could take 3 negative traits rather than three positive traits during character creation.


Marcel Laplace

Nationality: French
Occupation: Former member of the French SS Division 'Charlegmane'
Background: Evaded capture after the Fall of Berlin
Draw: Witnessed ceremony involving martin Bormann during the Fall

Attributes
Action: 4
Influence: 1
Reason: 3

Traits
Deadly with a rifle (+)
Creeping through the ruins (+)
Innocent looking (+)
Magic makes him shaky (-)
Likes a drink (-)

Hidden Agendas
National: Find the Russian paymasters of the French Communists
Personal: Makes the Nazis pay for what he saw in the bunker...

Equipment
None listed


Margaret Parry

Nationality: English
Occupation: Translator
Background: Civilian translator for the British Army
Draw: Translated occult documents captured by the Allies in 1944

Attributes
Action: 2
Influence: 3
Reason: 3

Traits
Devoted to duty (+)
Well groomed at all times (+)
Good shot (+)
Scared of heights (-)
Officious (-)

Hidden Agendas
National: Keep the King personally appraised of anything pertinent to the Royal Family
Personal: Find the American Colonel I was dating during the war.

Equipment
None listed


Cheers
Malcolm

[GB Steve]

As Marcel I really enjoyed this game too, it was one of several very good games I played at GC.

Whilst I wrote the scenario in the book, I really liked your approach, Malc, to creating the scenario by asking us what kind of things we wanted in the game, and then giving them to us.

There were a couple of stand out scenes for me. The first was in the library where, whilst Margaret was chatting up the librarian, Baum was murdering the CIA agent out the back and daubing his blood on the wall in a ritual to expunge him from history. When Josh did that, I think we realised that the gloves were off and we could really push the envelope.

The others were in the prison as Baum confronted his former colleague and then the prison cell drama.

You got a few minor details wrong, Marcel blamed Nazi sorcerers for what happened in the bunker and was seeking retribution from them. He also found a shrivelled heart in Gruber's desk, presumably Baum's although Marcel wouldn't know that.

[Malcolm Craig]

As Marcel I really enjoyed this game too, it was one of several very good games I played at GC.

Whilst I wrote the scenario in the book, I really liked your approach, Malc, to creating the scenario by asking us what kind of things we wanted in the game, and then giving them to us.

There were a couple of stand out scenes for me. The first was in the library where, whilst Margaret was chatting up the librarian, Baum was murdering the CIA agent out the back and daubing his blood on the wall in a ritual to expunge him from history. When Josh did that, I think we realised that the gloves were off and we could really push the envelope.

The others were in the prison as Baum confronted his former colleague and then the prison cell drama.

You got a few minor details wrong, Marcel blamed Nazi sorcerers for what happened in the bunker and was seeking retribution from them. He also found a shrivelled heart in Gruber's desk, presumably Baum's although Marcel wouldn't know that.

Ah, yes. Thanks for clarifying those details Steve. The character sheets were fairly rumpled and worn by the time I dragged them out to write up this thread, so some details may have got lost in the creases. I totally forgot about the shirvelled heart scene, that was awesome.

One thing i took from this particular game was the way in which is focussed much more heavily on the occult/magical aspects of the game. The game text is (deliberately) vague about the occult influence on the monsters and their creation. But it seemed that all of the players really latched on to the occult side right from the get go, including Baums madcap 'erasing the guy from history' blood-rune rite in the library. And, as  a GM, I'm happy whichever way the players go. I could see other groups really focussing on the technology aspects of the game, looking at things from a very scientific point of view.

The way that trust dropped rapidly for many characters was also cool. it's the first time I've seen it drop wuite that rapidly over the course of such a short game.

I wish, in retrospect, that I had recorded this game (somehow), as it's a great source for actual play moments that I'd like to use in the future. That having been said, it's already inspired me to utilise some stuff from this thread by incorporating some of the characters and events into a 'memo pack' that I'm writing. While not an 'adventure' (or even 'adevnture seeds') as such, I'm working on a pack of memos, notes, letters, telegrams and reports that can be used as inspiration for games and as handouts within those games.

Cheers
Malcolm

[Robert Bohl]

This was my best roleplaying of the Con (though to be fair, it was also one of the few full games I played).  I'm glad you posted on it, Malcolm, and I'm sorry it took me so long to catch up with you and comment.

First, I only wish my last name were something cool like McDougal.  It's Bowell.  Pronounced--despite logic, history and linguistic probabilities--as "bowl".

I thought it was interesting that Tim totally did not game the trust system.  He was willing to let his character be loathed by everyone.  That was awesome.

My favorite moment of the game was when they found the box that Baum's heart was in.  I'm also proud I suggested it.  I don't know why I whispered it to you though.  That was fucking odd of me.

Baum was killing people left and right with very little compunction.  I thought it was both amazing and horrifying.  One of the people he killed, we got some blueprints that he had bled on.  There were bits of brain.  My character infused them into a candle and did a little alchemy so that when we inhaled its vapors, we would know everything he knew.

What was really cool is how Joshua was giving me stuff to feed off of.  Right from the start when he said he wanted to have a clockwork heart, that said to me, "Okay, this is where the weirdness level is."  Then he kills a guy with the stakes being "they won't find him," and I suggest that he kills him so good, he kills the guy's memory and no one will remember he was here.  Joshua takes that up a level and has him draw these symbols on the walls.  That's what gave me the brain smoke idea.

Another cool thing:  Tim's American was constantly mispronouncing the "foreigners'" names.

[Malcolm Craig]

Ack! That's totally shocking that I got your name wrong! I was utterly convinced, despite no evidence to back this up, that your second name was McDougall. Don't ask me where I got this from. Sorry, I'll remember that in future.

Tim's character did end up being loathed by pretty much the rest of the group, despite the fact that he was the one who was, when all was taken into account, was merely engaging in some pocket lining and black-market maneuvering. Unlike some other characters whom I could mention, who were engaging in all sorts of horrific activities.

The 'brain incense' scene was way out of left field, totally unexpected and very cool. If somewhat disturbing. As I've said before, it was fascinating that people really leaped on to the occult aspects of the game with a great deal of fervour and really ran with them. I'd be interested to know if this was something you got from the game right from the very start? Was there anything that particularly took you in this direction (other than the players feeding off the weird ideas that everyone was coming up with)?

And the shrivelled heart was a great piece of thinking, really added to the atmosphere of horror.

Cheers
Malcolm

[Robert Bohl]

My occult stuff was entirely grooving off what Joshua did.  If my memory serves, this is how I got so weird:

1) Joshua, during chargen, says "I have a clockwork heart."

2) Joshua wins stakes with massive success levels.  He wants a suggestion on how to take advantage of that.  I suggest that as an authorial thing, people forget about the guy too.  Not that the killing was magical, or anything after it was, but as The Guy with Narrative Control Now, Joshua should say, "And also they forget about this agent."  Joshua decided to make this a magical forgetting (and by the way he wrote a symbol on the wall so that when there was renovation or something and the symbol was marred, the guy would be remembered).

3) Grooving off that, I decide to do brain incense and to suggest that it's the heart in the box later on.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

You know, I thought your name was MacDougal, too.

Who the hell is Rob MacDougal? And what did you do with his body?

I didn't know the shriveled heart thing was your idea, Rob. It was great.

So Baum was some sort of tool of rival Nazi factions, I take it. Gnarly.

[Robert Bohl]

You know, I thought your name was MacDougal, too.

Who the hell is Rob MacDougal? And what did you do with his body?

Maybe I'm being confused with Rob Donohue?

Actually, it seems like there is a Rob McDougall associated with RPGs, but he's not me.

I have always pondered abandoning my hideous last name should I ever publish, and have been considering my maternal grandmother's maiden name:  Robert Lockwood.  I don't know, though, the idea of adopting a pen name makes me feel like a jerk.

--

PS:  Another great moment went something like this:

Evil Nazi to Baum:  You were always dragging your feet with some of the dirtier work.  I'd have figured you'd have come up with a final solution for that problem by now.

--

That knocked me on my ass.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

What I like most is that the top hits are this thread, where we're calling you by the wrong name.

Yeah, Malcolm, I'd really like to thank you for stepping up for what could have been a difficult conflict between us as friends. I think we came out as better ones, though.