his actual play report is for a game that is not yet released. Please feel free to disregard this thread if you have no interested in pre-published games.

The actual play in this first session is rather brief as time had been spent creating insurrectionists (i.e. player characters) discussing the current state of affairs in the city and how to springboard the first scene.

The Cabal

• Gerald Birch - An ambitious scheming rabble rouser with a dark secret. Gerald is the only member of the cabal to not work in the Saracen's Head. He is the cabal's firebrand. Gerald is not trusted by Gregory and has yet to convince Jim that he has the best interest of the cabal at heart. Edward finds Gerald to be a fascinating and much welcomed client due to his ability to work crowds and his apparent commitment to the cabal.
• Jim Black - A recently freed Negro slave. Embittered by his treatment at the hands of his former owners, Jim works for the owner of the Saracen's Head, throwing out troublemakers and other undesirables. He is the cabal's renegade. Gerald looks down on Jim, viewing him at best as a tool to be manipulated. Gregory wants Jim's respect as he is impressed by Jim's physical prowess and apparent lack of fear. Edward thinks of himself as a father figure to Jim.
• Gregory Strevell - Resentful stable boy from the Saracen's Head. Gregory supplements his meager earnings by pilfering the saddle bags of rich clients. He is the cabal's infiltrator. Gerald has nothing but disdain for this scrawny youth. Jim is friendly towards Gregory but finds his lack of self-respect to be an undesirable quality. Both he and Gregory share a strong disliking towards people in power. As with Jim, Edward sees his relationship with Gregory as being somewhat paternalistic, Unlike his relationship with Jim, Edward is confident of Jim's ability to cope with almost anything that life can throw at him.
• Edward Mowry - Careworn and kindhearted owner of the Saracen's Head. Edward inherited the inn from his parents. He is the cabal's saboteur. Gerald thinks of Edwards as the de facto leader of the cabal due to his role as the employer of the both Jim and Gregory. If he can control Edward, he can control the activities of the cabal. Both Gregory and Jim consider Edward to be an exception to their philosophy of  all people in power being bastards

Session One

Some weeks have passed since another revolutionary cabal freed a handful of political and religious prisoners and held back the city watch (a.k.a. mercenaries) from slaughtering several families of refugees. Inspired by the heroic resistance of their peers, the cabal mentioned above has upped their activity against the corrupt authority of Duke Clermont and his council of patriarchs.

A messenger from the Duke is staying one night at the Saracen's Head and Gregory has stolen a letter with the Duke's seal from one of the messenger's saddle bags. Recognizing the seal but unable to read the missive due to his illiteracy, Gregory plans to reveal his discovery to Edward or Gerald. But fearing Edward's reaction and not trusting Gerald, he decides to keep the letter secret for a few days. The game begins with three members of the City Watch, accompanied by the Duke's messenger, barging into the Saracen's Head, demanding the return of the letter and any information on who might be responsible for the theft.

Nervously fingering at the folded letter in the waist of his breeches, Gregory eyes the front door and waits for the right time to make a dash towards it. Edward is mediating between the Watch and the regulars of his inn while trying to persuade the Watch that there must have been some misunderstanding and that the letter was most likely to have been lost rather than stolen. Expecting the worst, Jim moves slowly  towards the cudgel behind the north most corner of the bar. Gerald sits quietly, evaluating the scene, confident that the Watch have probably bitten off more than they can chew.

As Edward tries to convince the Watch that it must be a mistake, the Duke's messenger becomes more tetchy and some of the regulars are aggravated  by the way he's staring at them. The senior member of the Watch is regretting their hastiness and considering how to remove themselves from the inn before things become ugly, but the Duke's messenger is certain that they will apprehend the guilty party if they apply enough pressure to regulars and the bar staff.

With most of the attention on Edward and the Duke's messenger, Gregory sneaks towards the door. Jim glares at him with a mix of sympathy and repulsion. Sympathy for the trouble that Gregory has got himself into and repulsion at his cowardice and for leaving his friends in the lurch. With only a few feet left before he has a clear path to the doorway, Gregory inadvertently nudges a table and sends a tankard crashing to the floor.

The whole world seems to hush as everyone in the inn turns to spot Gregory trying to leave. The brief silence is interrupted by an accusation shouted by the Duke's messenger and a demand to apprehend the detestable little thief. Some of the inn's regulars stand up and clench their fists with menacing aforethought. The senior member of the Watch notices that his fellow Watch members have moved their hands towards the hilts of their swords.

No one can agree on who threw the first punch, but everyone who was there remembers Jim bringing his cudgel over the head of one of the Watch and choking him with it at the same time as using the poor unfortunate fool as a shield. Barking directions to his cabal, Edward manages to move Gregory and Gerald towards a hatchway behind the bar. Jim shoves the Watch member he is strangling into the fray as a randomly swung chair leg from an unknown assailant connects with the back of the messenger's head. The last thing he sees before leaping into the cellar are two members of the Watch battling their way to the inn's door while their colleague  is on all coughing on all fours and being kicked in the ribs; the messenger lies prone, blood flowing from an open wound above his left ear.

[End of session one]

Apologies for the extreme lateness of this follow up post...

Session Two

This session began with all the player-narrators recapping the most salient points from the previous session and putting forth some possibilities for the current session. Recalling that the previous Captain of the Watch had been killed by an ahriman in the final session of an earlier game, we all agreed that the letter stolen by Gregory was an offer of employment to a son of a dignitary from a neighbouring city and the offer had been made because of rather handsome bribe from the aforesaid dignitary. We also agreed that aiding and abetting the thief that stole the letter and the death of a the Duke's messenger in Edward's inn was grounds for the loss of the Saracen's Head and that the cabal's civil and political rights would be extinguished by a bill of attainder.

Outlawed in their own city, the cabal considered how they might us the letter to their own advantage. One of the insurrectionist offered up the idea of blackmailing the Duke, but the suggestion was scoffed at by the other insurrectionist who couldn't imagine the Duke being intimidated by a bunch of amateurs. In the end, the cabal decides to go with Gerald's suggestion of selling the information to an influential rival of the Duke.

The player-narrators discuss whether or not to have a chain of scenes in which their insurrectionist's have to gather information and persuade the right people so they can get an audience with Jonas Michellson, the Duke's most powerful rival on the City Council. We agree to skip to the meeting and begin the next scene in the house of Jonas Michellson, head of the most wealthy banking family in the entire city.

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Jonas is a bald man in his early fifties. His calm demeanor is rooted in a cold apathetic aloofness that slowly weakens the resolve of the cabal. Although we know he is a moroi, our insurrectionists are not aware of this fact and explain away the feeling as a product of the unsual circumstances.

The cabal's firebrand and saboteur, Gerald Birch and Edward Mowry, try to negotiate a deal with Jonas, while Jim and Gregory say nothing, feeling out of depth and slightly uncomfortable with the situation. Despite the best efforts of Gerald and Edward, it soon becomes apparent that Jonas is no going to buy the letter without reading it first. Confounded by the back and forth of a negotiation which seems to be going no where fast, Gregory takes out the letter and steps towards Jonas. Gerald notices what Gregory is trying to do and he moves to intercept him. But it's too late and Jonas has the letter.

The cabal consider taking the letter back by force or intimidation. They abandon these plans upon remembering the armed bodyguards standing on the other side of the only door in the room. So they wait for Jonas to finish reading it. Carefully folding the pages of the letter, Jonas evaluates what can be done with the letter and makes the cabal an offer: Persuade the dockmaster, Hugo Culley, to put aside his animosity towards Jonas and vote with him on a proposal to freeze the Duke's assets while he is being investigated.

Hugo is less than pleased to have his busy day interrupted by four thugs claiming to be affliated with the Duke. His mood takes an even bigger dive, when Jim decides to kick his table over and tell him that if he dares to vote against the Duke they'll make his life a living hell.

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The cabal are convinced that Hugo probably won't vote with Jonas, but he might vote against the Duke if he thinks the Duke has sent over some ruffians to try and intimidate him. They'll need to go far enough to annoy Hugo and they'll need to be believable as agents of the Duke. But they can't go too far and succeed at frightening Hugo. Lucky for them, Hugo is not a man that is easily unnerved. Unfortunately, they are unable to tell from his reaction how he will vote and after they are thrown out of the docks, they nurse their bruises and come up with another scheme to make Hugo hate the Duke as much if not more than he hates Jonas.

In the middle of the night, the cabal's infiltrator Gregory, sneaks amongst the crates, coiled rope and timber of the city's dock, his destination a small cargo ship. Gerald, Edward, and Jim are nearby, speaking with the few remaining dock workers to distract them and give them some faces to report back to Hugo.

Having successfully boarded the cargo ship unnoticed, Gregory looks for a good place to start a fire. He does his best to remember the advice that Edward gave him: "find somewhere that the fire will rapidly spread from but not so rapidly that you won't be able to escape." Setting the fire is an easy task for Gregory and getting off the ship is no obstacle. Less easy to deal with is the weight of guilt and responsibility that will come to rest on his shoulders as the fire spreads across the docks, destroying equipment, ships, cargo and worst of all the livelihoods of everyone that works there.