[Annalise] When "Rome" meets "The Wire"

[EarthenForge]

b]bold.

Setting:Characters:scar over his left eye, and a ceremonial bronze dagger<Phase 1: Discovering characters.

Triarius opens the door of his small house and quickly ushers in a man in white robes carrying herbs. The room is illuminated by torchlight<Tertia, lies on the bed, suffering from an unknown illness. As the man tends Tertia, Triarius sits by a small table with little god figurines, and holds one anxiously, casting his eyes between his wife and the unnaturally dark corner.
 
Galeo stands in an office, before Markus, the captain of the Praetorian Guard, who sits at a table. Markus hands over a tightly rolled, mysterious scroll and Galeo nods and leaves. Next, Galeo, in full gear and red cloak, walks purposefully through a slum until he finds the right door. Pushing his way in, he gives little chance for Ovidius Blaesus to speak. He seizes the man, stabs him, and leaves the scroll, disappearing as quickly as he came. That night, he stares into the darkness, unable to sleep.

The sun is setting on the busy marketplace<party, where everyone is singing and laughing and drinking too much. She sees him. Corvinus has a drink in one hand, and the other is around the waist of Tiberia. Cordia's stomach lurches and she hurries off. A company of strangers<Phase 2: Laying the Foundation.


Galeo is at the bathhouse and he recognizes Albius Minius, a slave from his past whom he mistreated and who is apparently still a slave. Minius has a long, ugly scar<scar< (in which a connection to a fellow character is established):
It is early morning. Triarius is summoned before Markus<wife is ill<Corvinussmall home<scroll<Corvinus<torchlight, Triarius first sees a pile of fancy spoils dumped unceremoniously in the corner. Then he notices a man, breathing shallowly, and clearly badly injured, lying on a cot, red cloak hanging near. [It is Ovidius Blaesus< wife
Setting:Characters:scar over his left eye, and a ceremonial bronze dagger<Phase 1: Discovering characters.

Triarius opens the door of his small house and quickly ushers in a man in white robes carrying herbs. The room is illuminated by torchlight<Tertia, lies on the bed, suffering from an unknown illness. As the man tends Tertia, Triarius sits by a small table with little god figurines, and holds one anxiously, casting his eyes between his wife and the unnaturally dark corner.
 
Galeo stands in an office, before Markus, the captain of the Praetorian Guard, who sits at a table. Markus hands over a tightly rolled, mysterious scroll and Galeo nods and leaves. Next, Galeo, in full gear and red cloak, walks purposefully through a slum until he finds the right door. Pushing his way in, he gives little chance for Ovidius Blaesus to speak. He seizes the man, stabs him, and leaves the scroll, disappearing as quickly as he came. That night, he stares into the darkness, unable to sleep.

The sun is setting on the busy marketplace<party, where everyone is singing and laughing and drinking too much. She sees him. Corvinus has a drink in one hand, and the other is around the waist of Tiberia. Cordia's stomach lurches and she hurries off. A company of strangers<Phase 2: Laying the Foundation.


Galeo is at the bathhouse and he recognizes Albius Minius, a slave from his past whom he mistreated and who is apparently still a slave. Minius has a long, ugly scar<scar< (in which a connection to a fellow character is established):
It is early morning. Triarius is summoned before Markus<wife is ill<Corvinussmall home<scroll<Corvinus<torchlight, Triarius first sees a pile of fancy spoils dumped unceremoniously in the corner. Then he notices a man, breathing shallowly, and clearly badly injured, lying on a cot, red cloak hanging near. [It is Ovidius Blaesus< wife

[sirogit]

Hello,

I'm curious about the "Rules wallowing" - What points did you have trouble on?

- Sean Musgrave

[EarthenForge]

Hey Sean,

I'm the only one who had read through the book. And I had the chance to play a session of it some months back at DexCon. I felt I had a pretty good understanding of it, but of course when it comes time to 'splainin' it to others for the first time, some holes in my understanding show up. That, and I haven't had enough experience with this game that I've developed a streamlined way of presenting it. So a lot of it was just your basic muddling that happens with most new games.

What did we have trouble with that was specific to this game? Organization may have had something to do with it. The book has two parts - the rules of the game and how to play the game. There's some overlap between the two. In my mind, the divide seems artificial and makes it more difficult to look something up. I think the biggest question we had was regarding coins in Moments: are coins moved into a trait for a Moment "spent" or do they stay there? Well, we figured out that they're spent, but it took us a while looking under Moments in the rules section only to find the answer under Moments in the how to play section. It was a little frustrating, but I hesitate to make it a complaint, because organization is a funny thing - what seems intuitive to one person is often not to another, so other people might understand the divide a little better. Me, I like stuff in one place as much as possible - it might make for drier reading or lose a certain amount of aesthetic value, but when it comes to needing to refer to something now, it's quite helpful. I'd like to eventually write up a one-page quick-start reference to make it easier on me and everyone else at the table.

The other trouble came from starting with so little defined in the beginning. It's much easier to bring in ideas when there's some constraint or something to riff off or a basic idea of where the story's going. We had the basic setting, so there was something , but in the beginning, all you define about your character is name and vulnerability. And on that you have to frame a scene for them. It's very simple in theory, but it's a lot of creative pressure to start with.

But that is ok with me, because it creates a very special quality in this game which is a joy to be a part of: an unfolding mystery that is a mystery to everyone. There's no railroad. And we can make guesses and guide the story in ways which we think are cool, but none of us knows how these little details will all come together. We don't know who the vampire will be or what will happen. You can say this about a lot of story games but Annalise is more subtle about it and does this particularly well - anticipation really builds. But it's hard to explain. I also love that in starting with a vulnerability and little else, you create instant sympathy for your character - not in an overdone way, just enough.

-Rachel.

[Nathan P.]

Hey Rachel,

Very cool. I'm glad to hear y'all are having fun, and your fiction so far is really interesting!

As to the organization of the book, the intention is to make it possible for people with different learning styles to absorb the information. I don't know if I've 100% succeeded, but there it is.

Anyway, thanks for posting this! Let me know if I can answer any other questions for you.

[EarthenForge]

Session #2

<small house<company of stangers. She wakes up, mind foggy, late in the day (off sleep cycles), unable to remember the previous night but for flashes of random memory. Something about small blackish god figurines<messenger boy awaits and blurts out a summons from Markus, Captain of the Praetorian Guard. Shaking the cobwebs and grumpiness, Cordia throws on civilian clothes, leaving her red cloak behind and runs to find her boss.

At the offices of the Guard, Markus, who is looking a bit ill<Kamraan, a mysterious Persian noble<Kamraan<the strangers from last night! She has a flash of memory of drinking laughing and drinking a red elixir<Corvinus (the guy who stood her up last night and whom the other guards investigated) observe *her* and slip into the house around back.


At the offices, Markus, still ill< bathhouse<Sun setting, Galeo hurries through the slums and into the bathhouse, which is humid and crowded. Leaving his gear by the door, he slips in and spots Ovidius<red elixir<
Triarius and Galeo stand before Markus to make their report on the investigation of Corvinus<health<
Begins similarly to her last. She wakes up late in the day (sleep cycle off) to the banging of the messenger boy at the door. Markus again. She reports. He wants a full account of her investigation. As she begins, Corvinus

[Nathan P.]

Hey Rachel,

I'm noticing that most of your outcomes in Moments are ending up happening, both achievements and consequences. I'm curious as to whether that's because of advantageous dice rolling, or because players have been using Claims to make them happen (or the proportion of the two, in general). I'm guessing the latter, as you have a lot of great fiction stuff happening, but it's something I'm curious about.

Thanks!

[EarthenForge]

Good observation! There have been a couple of Moments where the dice rolling was really lucky, but I think the large number of "yeses" are happening in part from using Claims to alter results and in part because we often think the negative consequences are hot, so we use the higher dice to get what we want and let the bad stuff stand.

I'm really enjoying my character Cordia, and part of me wants to her succeed and have a happy end. But that's only going to be cool to me if she's put through a refiner's fire first. If all this bad stuff happens to her and she still stands strong in the end: fantastic - what a great story of survival and the human spirit. But if she succumbs, after all this struggle, I have tragedy, which is also a good story. So I'm quite motivated to fight for her and have her succeed as much as possible (thus, lots of yeses to Achievements). But I am also motivated to let the fire come and she what she's made of (thus, lots of yeses to Consequences).

I wonder if this will shift though, as the intensity ratchets up and the stakes become more and more demanding. We might become more motivated to fight against Consequences, even if they're cool. I'll find out soon and report back.  

[EarthenForge]

Session #3<
Sunset<Tertia< ill<priests<Corvinus<Markus going after Caesar, and about his own attempt to kill Ovidius<dagger<cloak< Tertia<red guard cloak wrapped tightly around her. She sits, as though in a daze, and reaches for her wine glass, accidentally dropping a little black figurine<Corvinus<mind is foggy and she seems unable to give a useful answer. Then she sways a bit and faints. This goes right into:
<Tertia<bite mark on her neck. He suddenly remembers the apothecary/priest<Kamraan brought it from his homeland in Persia and I thought you might like to have it. Yours always, Corvinus<
At the restaurant in the upper-class cosmopolitan district. Markus sent Triarius and Corvinus<cult<Noctus<red elixer!< Kamraan back to his house and watching the people who enter. Triarius has gone around the side, and as soon as Cordia has a moment alone with Corvinus<Markus<
In a slum suburb of Rome, Sextus again finds himself knocking at a door (this really should be a Claim!). Ovidius<cult<Corvinus was there and he gave me this red elixir<Ovidius<slum seem to shake him. He hardens again, and, worrying less about friendship and more about getting to the root of the cult< little house< house through the back secret entrance.


Back to the stakeout. A little later that night, Triarius wanders over to Corvinus<cult and with his wife<scar<dagger<Corvinus and Triarius skillfully leap and strike and parry with their daggers<cult<wife<Tertia

[Nathan P.]

BIG SMILE

Thanks for taking the time to post all this, Rachel. Sounds like the game is doing that thing it does, which is always neat-o.