[Dirty Secrets] Hospitals are dangerous

[Christoph Boeckle]

So this is a humorous observation on my three times playing the game.

Each time, I play, there is a Violence scene in a hospital. Always because the investigator had been dealt two or three violence points on a previous scene and twice the assault is upon the investigator herself (the other time another Character gets collateral damage and the investigator is left unscathed). Each time I played, the investigator was a woman.

First time, one Character attempts to finish off the investigator at hospital.
Second time, the investigator nearly gets a savage abortion done upon her (man was I glad to win that conflict and save the baby!)
Last time, the investigator ends up in the same hospital room as another Character, who nearly gets poisoned by an impostor passing as a surgeon in full gear (haha! it was the Character's daughter as we found out later on).

The first city is Delémont, where I've been living for the last 12 years. I played with four male friends I've had nearly as long. The city in the second and third session is Lausanne, where I've been studying the last 4 years. Both times we were three players, and only the second male player changed (once a recent friend and once a complete newcomer) and one player was a woman (whom I know since about two years).
All this to say I'm having trouble picking up a social basis for this observation. Except if it's me, but if I recall correctly, the scenes were proposed by different people every time.

So, is this a typical Swiss thing? Here health insurance is mandatory, so there never was an issue about being admitted into hospital or not being able to pay treatment costs. Maybe we are just used to the comfort of a top class health system and deserving a treatment in case of bad hurts...

How many times have people around here had similar scenes?

[GreatWolf]

Harboring some deep-seated insecurity about the health care system, Christoph?  (I kid!  I kid!)  Seriously, though, I'd be curious if your fellow players had any thoughts on this.

As I recall, we've had a couple hospital scenes that I can recall, but mostly they were post-Violence recovery scenes without really having any Violence of their own.

That said, the last couple of times that I've been at the emergency room, I've thought about setting a Dirty Secrets game in a hospital.  This was especially triggered by seeing the police standing guard outside a room in the ER.  Someone was obviously hurt while being arrested.

Just think about all the people that come through a hospital, especially an emergency room.  The possibilities are diverse.  Plus, at least here in the United States, hospitals are huge.  Maybe not quite a city within a city, but still, there's all those miles of hallways, with people coming and going.  Empty side passages, maintenance corridors, little closets in the middle of nowhere.

Yeah, now I'm getting all jazzed for this idea....

[Christoph Boeckle]

It's true that I hate taking medicine, but I know I'd be in good hands (my mum is a nurse). Plus hospitals tend to be small, except for a few exceptions, thus rather "human" for the patient.
Do tell us about your hospital oriented session, by all means, if you get to play it!

I wonder if there's this idea that when at hospital, someone will be really defenceless and that it's the best time to hit them. Which of course has no systemic backup in Dirty Secrets.

[Christoph Boeckle]

Some more data on the topic. I spent a week with French friends and played twice:
Once with three guys (including me) and one girl as Investigator: sex in the only hospital scene, narrated with much panache by the Investigator.
Once with two guys (one of which was Investigator, not me) and the same girl: only a little hospital scene, neither murder nor sex.

The Investigator never took 3 points of violence.

Is it something cultural? More on that in the upcoming months!