[Remember Tomorrow] Chechen Holiday

[Gregor Hutton]

A few weeks ago Shane McLean was in town and so Per, Malcolm, Shane and I got in a game of Remember Tomorrow.

The 4 Factions were...

Chechen Mafia (Group) Motivation: Power, NPCs: Dimitar, Maxim, Notes: Dealing in BIRACO Opiates and Merkur Taxicabs. No PCons/NCons (though they've had Dangerous, Enthused and Humiliated in the past).
INF: 6 (having been brought down by from 7 by an exit!)

Edward Myasichev (Former GRU Spetnaz, now security consultant) Motivation: Money for the cure, P: Hardened, N: Dying (Cancer), Injured (by Mini Rocket) and Dead!
INF: 4 but was killed and written out by Suthesh's synth bodyguard.

WJYNC (Media) Motivation: ?, Notes: Will not act against Andy Lane, P: Supported (Celebrity TV people), N: Lost, Hunted (by Interpol) (have previously had Convinced, Dangerous, Hardened, Loved)

People Against Poverty (Charity with a Secret) Motivation: Power, NPCs: Rust, a smuggler, Mr Greenlaw, Chief Exec. P: Connected (politicans), Hardened (cover up), Dangerous (cover up). N: Confused (factions)

PCs and scene order to follow.

[Gregor Hutton]

The PCs were as follows.

Suthesh, an Indian Med-Tech.
Motivation: Respect
Goal: Cure "Fischer's Disease" RWA all ticked
R: 4 W: 5 A: 5
PCons: Convinced, Equipped (with a lab), Financed (with blood money), Loved (by Yasmin) [and he'd previously had Connected (Chechens), Supported (in the care of abner Health Clinic)]
NCons: none [though he had been Destitute (living on the streets)]
He worked for Abner Health Care and in play his shitty Zonite Watch was replaced by a ridiculously expensive Heinkel Watch (a gift from a Chechen Mafia leader), he carted around BIRACO opiates.
He had a minder Yasmin, an Abner synthetic (who killed off one of the Factions in play as  a result of Suthesh winning a roll).
At the end of play he Exited and renamed himself Murray F. Milner, with a face-chop and new IDs as he fled Chechnya.

Aslan Berbatov, Activist
Motivation: Power
Goal: Use weapons to install family/clan in position of power in Grozny, RW ticked
R: 6 W: 5 Able: 6 (man, alive, as those Parameters up there!)
PCons: Angry [and previously he's been Armed (Guns), Connected (Mr Stepanke -- a Swiss arms dealer), Financed (drug money)]
NCons: none [but previously Coerced (by Andy Lane), Hunted (by FSB)]
He's got a Myakovsky High Capacity 9mm
Cheap Russian Artificial Leg (original leg blown off by a mine)
Briefcase of Kruger Rands (from the apartheid era)

SixtySix, Data Courier
Motivation: Revenge
Goal: Set up own business
R: 4 W: 4 A: 4
PCons: Angry (at job), Connected (Chechen Mafia), Financed
NCons: Injured, Hesistant [previously has been Dying but removed that]
Has a LEGO Data Exchange Interface
A simple revolver

Andy Lane (now called Ricky Pope), a Cop now a Torpedo for the Chechen Mafia
Motivation: Revenge
Goal: Find out who arranged to kill his partner RWA ticked (New Goal planned: Kill Dimitar)
R: 4 W: 5 A: 6
PCons: Prepared (for Revenge) [has previously had Angry, Armed, Dangerous, Equipped, Financed, Hardened]
NCons: none [Has previously had Coerced, Dying, Humiliated, Injured]
Had a Sig-Sauer Pistil, Body Armour, Police Cruiser
Someone killed his partner (John Blake) and he discovered it was Dimitar.

I had a note that we had 22 scenes and we ranged across a world starting with a trip from Minsk to Zurich, through Budapest, Manchester, Warsaw, Saratov and Grozny.

The Exits were:
(1) Edvard when he had his head blown off by Yasmin, Suthesh's synthetic bodyguard.
(2) Suthesh and Andy Lane getting face-chops and new ID in the aftermath of a Chechen Flak Gun blowing up Lane's taxicab in Grozny (in Lane's previous scene he got owned by Malc rolling three Ones!)

If we'd kept playing Aslan looked likely to get out on his next scene, as Shane and I had manditory Intro scenes coming up.

I'll pick out a few scenes to talk about next. I hope to have some free time later today.

[Gregor Hutton]

OK, so I have some notes on the Episode Sheet and I'll pick out a few scenes.

Remember Tomorrow is a role-playing game set in the near future. It's not got a GM but players take turns to be "Controller", which means they get to pick a scene type and where we are in the fiction on their turn.

It's about who do you have to crash into to get ahead? What badness do you cause when cutting a deal with a Faction? Is your Goal worth it? Are you Ready, Willing and Able to see it through?

Anyway, play starts off with everyone taking turns to Introduce PCs and then this is followed by turns Introducing Factions (who oppose the PCs).

Malc's Intro scene was Aslan Berbatov, a Chechen anarchist/agitator/activist, who was travelling from Minsk to Zurich. He met up with an arms dealer in Switzerland and Malc rolled the dice. He got a 2 and two 5s for two successes. He spent them on lifting his Able by 1 point and by buying the Connected Positive Condition. (He declined to spend a success on removing his Hunted Negative condition.) Another thing to note is that he rolled two 5s and so there would be a cross into the next scene (which was Per's).

The game really went for Chechnya as it went on and I can see looking back that it was prompted by this scene. The cross into Per's scene writ the Chechen large in the fiction and it wasn't a surprise they were written up as a Faction. Aslan being successful on his Intro also meant he'd have mechanical "weight" in play too.

Per's scene was in Budapest and she had a run-in with some Chechen gun runners. Per got  a 4, 8 and 9 for one success, which got SixtySix the Positive Condition: Angry. (And no mandated cross out of the scene.)

The other really interesting aspect of an Intro that I want to mention was Shane's. He rolled three 2s, for three successes and a super-strong cross, on his scene. His PC Andy Lane is investigating his partner's murder and he got three boosts out of it, as well as handing a croos to Malcolm.

Malcolm introduced the ex-Spetsnaz hitman Edvard Myasachev in the Manchester Hyatt hotel. He'd hired some hoodlums, who'd killed Lane's partner, but we didn't decide who was ultimately behind it. (Shane would get to define that when/if he reached his Goal, which was to find out who was behind it all.)

I introduced the Chechen Mafia as the third Faction and they got Enthused as the outcome to their Intro. They were excited and confident wide boys.

Once you get into play the choice of where to go isn't mandated by a formal structure. You don't have to frame for the person opposite or to your left. You look around and see what you'd like to see next. Or you can cut a Deal with a Faction. Or you can Intro a new PC or Faction.

I have a note that the Chechen ("my" Faction) actually Faced-Off with Suthesh, my PC, on Malcolm's first turn. They tried to force my Med-Tech to go to Grozny at great personal risk. We rolled and I won by 2 Successes to 1. So Suthesh got Able on my Goal to cure Fischer's Disease (my Scene Goal was to get this because the Chechens could make me Able to find a cure. I'd still need to get Ready and Willing before it would come to pass, though.) I also picked up the "Supported" Positive Condition (of my new backers), and in the fiction Suthesh headed for Grozny.

When Suthesh got to Grozny I framed him on my turn (which was the second turn after the Face-Off) as cutting a Deal with the Chechen Mafia. The efffect is that their Influence went up by 1 and I got to dice off unopposed for benefits. I have a note that I got two successes and Suthesh boosted himself up for the scenes ahead. (Obviously at the cost of making a Faction on the table more dangerous.)

There were some wild rolls later on.

Malc Faced-Off with Andy Lane (who was very close to Exiting on a completed Goal) using the Chechens. It looked a lost cause for the Chechens, but while Shane rolled 3 successes (amazing) Malc spent a PCon for 1 success and then rolled three 1s (!) for 4 in total! And a super-stiff cross onto my scene. This was when the Chechen Mafia mobilized a Flak Gun to destroy Andy Lane's taxicab in downtown Grozny. Lane survived (just! because of his 3 success), but it left him Injured and Dying.

On the next scene I framed the bouyant Chechens against Aslan, who was going about trying to gain control of the underworld. I rolled 2 successes but Malcolm unbelievably rolled three 1s again for another 4 successes (as he'd again spent a PCon to get one automatic)!

Amazing stuff. And it meant the Chechen crosses kept coming.

The upshot was that on Shane's scene he framed Andy Lane (brutalized by the Chechen attack on him) getting Suthesh (in the pocket of the Chechens) to heal him. Harsh words between them resulted in a 3 success tie when the dice were rolled. As Joint Winners they both got loaded up on Outcomes, but most importantly they both got the third Goal tick, meaning Lane and Suthesh left the fiction as a result of the scene.

We ended play there but it was looking likely that Malc's Aslan was going to pop out soon, and the Chechen's would have taken a hit with Lane and Suthesh's Exits. (When a PC leaves they weaken Factions.)

[Christoph Boeckle]

Hello Gregor

Sweet report!

I've a question on the crosses mechanics: how does it mesh in with a Controller's right to choose and set a scene type? Are crosses otherwise forbidden? What exactly is a cross in this game?

Do the conditions the PCs seem to pick up along the way also feed into scene-framing in a strict way?

[Gregor Hutton]

Crosses are mandated/described as follows:
If you roll a double or triple on your dice then there is a Cross into the next scene. This means that something from the fiction related to the Doubled roll in this scene must appear in the following scene.
and
A Tripled Cross should be particularly strong as it is so very rare.

It doesn't affect the Controller's right (or ability) to choose a scene type at all. How the cross manifests in the fiction is left entirely to the group to decide (and ultimately it's the Controller of a scene's decision on what the cross is). Crosses must appear when there is a double or triple, but can appear at any time when it makes sense to the group. So when one scene ends the next Controller can follow directly on from it if they so wish -- they don't need to wait for a Double or Triple.

The Conditions picked up along the way do not feed into the scene framing in a strict way at all.

It's left up to the group as to what makes sense in the fiction. So, for example, being made "Dying" doesn't mean that the next scene has to be about your (potential) death. (Snake Plissken gets the "Dying" Condition at the start of Escape From New York, it doesn't get addressed until the end of the movie.) But if the Controller thinks that the scene should follow on from you getting "Dying" then it does.

[Christoph Boeckle]

Cool, thanks!