[Cold City] Operation Violine, convention play

[Malcolm Craig]

b]Valerie Rochefor, France (real name: Guy Fontaine)<
Gerhardt, Graf von Schuberth, Germany

Last in the line of a minor noble family originating in Bavaria. Trained as a chemical engineer, gaining a degree from Gottingen. Worked at the Peenemunde Rocket Facility under Wernher von Braun and Walter Dornberger. Avoided capture by the Allies in 1945, but was eventually arrested in Bavaria in 1946 by British military police.

Hidden Agendas

Personal: Convince the Yankees that you are valuable enough to take back to America where life will be so much easier and more comfortable.

National: Eliminate all traces of the former regime that you come across. Germany cannot afford to return to those dark days.

Captain Geoffrey Harris, UK<
Richard Greentree, USA<Oksana Lebedev, USSR
Gerhardt, Graf von Schuberth, Germany

Last in the line of a minor noble family originating in Bavaria. Trained as a chemical engineer, gaining a degree from Gottingen. Worked at the Peenemunde Rocket Facility under Wernher von Braun and Walter Dornberger. Avoided capture by the Allies in 1945, but was eventually arrested in Bavaria in 1946 by British military police.

Hidden Agendas

Personal: Convince the Yankees that you are valuable enough to take back to America where life will be so much easier and more comfortable.

National: Eliminate all traces of the former regime that you come across. Germany cannot afford to return to those dark days.

Captain Geoffrey Harris, UK<
Richard Greentree, USA<Oksana Lebedev, USSR

[Malcolm Craig]

Oh, and I should note that some aspects of this game were utilised after reading AP posts from other Cold City games. The (real world) character of Christoph Diehm was previously used by Jason Morningstar. Jason also started some great threads about hidden agendas which really help me to think about more powerful hidden agendas.

Steve Dempsey and Joshua Newman also came up with the Newman-Dempsey Variation, which has proved to be an excellent revision to the mechanics, so I owe thanks to them.

Cheers
Malcolm

[Yokiboy]

Hello Malcolm,

Great Hidden Agendas, they must've led to a lot of conflict. Good job!

The Newman-Dempsey Variation allows negative traits to add dice to a pool (rather than taking away) but they must be of a different colour. If the negative trait die comes up as the highest number in a roll, something bad relating to that trait must be narrated into the outcome, regardless of success or failure.

This is awesome! There was something that just didn't feel right before. Now negative traits will generate color rather than just hinder the player from getting what he wants.

TTFN,

Yoki

[Jason Morningstar]

This sounds like a great session.  I really like the Newman-Dempsey Variation (which also sounds like a sinister piece of arcano-tech). 

One thing that struck me was Harris' personal agenda, which, in the best Mountain Witch tradition, is open ended and gives the player a lot of freedom.  I think when I play CC again I'll make sure every personal agenda reads similarly. 

[Yokiboy]

Jason, I agree that Harris' Hidden Agenda of "Someone knows about your homosexuality. They can never be allowed to reveal this, otherwise…" has a great sense of urgency to it. However, can it be resolved too easily? What happens to a Hidden Agenda if resolved?

Say Harris' player narrates an NPC into existance, and that he's the guy who knows Harris' secret, then proceeds to kill him. What then? Will you simply roll with it, leave some evidence that points out that the NPC already squeeled, or perhaps some former boyfriend might not be so tight-lipped about their affairs and will Harris' quiet him as well? In other words, do you keep stringing along the Hidden Agenda, as it should be what the player finds important in the game (as normally you personally pick them).

TTFN,

Yoki

[Jason Morningstar]

That'd happen in one of two situations - either the player didn't like the hidden agenda in the first place, and essentially burned it like a Key in TSOY, in which case I'd ask him to provide a new one that excited him, or the player was being a dickweed, in which case I'd ask him to leave. 

I think it'd be far more likely that a player would invoke an NPC and be engaged, encouraging the tension and conflict and allowing it to run a natural course.  I don't see the death of the pivotal NPC as a huge problem if the player was still rocking out with the hidden agenda - he left notes, he told a friend, there are lots of angles. 

[Malcolm Craig]

[komradebob]

Malcolm:

I hope this isn't side-tracking too much, but could you tell me a little bit about this part:

	Logged

Robert Earley-Clark

currently developing:The Village Game:Family storytelling with toys

[Malcolm Craig]

Malcolm:

I hope this isn't side-tracking too much, but could you tell me a little bit about this part:

Handout for Oksana Lebedev (USSR)

Handout for Richard Greentree (USA)

Handout for Valerie Rochefor (France)

Hope this gives you some idea of the way it was handled.

Cheers
Malcolm

[Kami-no-Mark]

Now those handouts are quite something!

I love how they're all very differently done, but do a great job of conveying the same sort of conspiratorial feel.

I'm impressed that they're short enough to get through quickly but convey plenty of information and drop enough hints.

That has set the bar rather higher for when I get round to running CC.

Thanks for sharing them.

[komradebob]

Those are really great Malcolm.

Did anyone have follow up questions on the footnotes? I'm guessing that if you find yourself in a CC game, chances are good that you probably also have a passing familiarity with the period or the war, but maybe only passing. I'm amused to see both Gehlen Org and Charlemagne Div. showed up in the background ( almost required, IMO. The only thing missing is Skorzeny and Odessa...)

[Yokiboy]

Jason and Malcolm, your replies for the quick resolution of a Hidden Agenda are spot on. I don't have enough experience playing with Kickers, but what you're saying makes perfect sense.

Malcolm, those hand-outs are really cool. Man, I haven't done anything like that in a long time. I'm all into low prep lately, and enjoy being lazy.

TTFN,

Yoki

[Malcolm Craig]

It's the most prep I've done for a game in a long, long time and Cold City by no means requires all this kind of thing. However, Warpcon has a very high standard of games and I felt that i wanted to do something a bit special for this one, hence the handouts, folders and so forth.

For me, it's a nice thing to do for a special game, but way too much work for a regular one. I'm normally a back of the napkin kind of guy when it comes to games anyway!

Cheers
Malcolm