Empire State Secrets: The Wreck (Part 2) + Cthulhu Dice

Monday saw part 2 of our Empire State State Secrets campaign called 'The Wreck', where our noble characters investigated the arrival in port of an almost abandoned steamer carrying a mysterious cargo.

Looking into the events around the ship arrival and the cargo, the investigators dug up all manner of fun terms like 'Innsmouth', 'Kingsport', 'the Marsh refinery', 'Project Covenant' and 'R'lyeh'.

The investigation heavy parts of these Cthulhu adventure can sometimes be a little bitsy, as the characters are often off following up their own leads and contacts, but overall I think the game went well. The tension is slowly building and I think things are nicely coming together for the next couple of sessions.

As an added bonus, I also got the sanity loss inducing present of Cthulhu dice from J. and some delicious cookies from S. Thanks guys!  

Kapcon Calling

It's about five months to go until Kapcon 2011, but I'm already starting to think about what to run. This year was my second Kapcon, as my first time running a game (The Murderer of Thomas Fell for Trail of Cthulhu), and I really enjoyed the experience. Due to the high standard of games run, it pays to be on to these things early in order to build in enough time for playtesting and tweaking.

This year I think I'll stick to running two session and playing in four (though I might also go for a three-three split). Kapcon is interesting in that the sessions are all only three hours long, which presents its own set of challenges, especially if your players aren't used to the system. So this has to factor into any decisions as well.

I'm still very much in the brainstorming stage at the moment. I'm pretty sure I want to run at least one session for Trail of Cthulhu, possibly the soon to be published adventure called A Dance in the Blood by Graham Warmsley. The buzz online has been pretty good about it so far and it sounds like it might tick the boxes. I'm also feeling increasingly confident with the GUMESHOE system from my regular game, which means the learning curve wouldn't been so steep.


However I'm also thinking about running something that is not Cthulhu related. Current ideas include: 


A Cold City adventure I've had kicking around for a while involving a trail of murdered ex-Nazis. I've got the start and the ending of this one worked out in my mind, but I've got to figure the rest out before I can write it.


Something for the Esoterrorists set in old Wellingtown itself. This one has the advantage of using the GUMSHOE system, and I also really like the idea of setting it in Wellington for both the locals and the out of towners. In fact I've got a great idea in mind for the first scene at Wellington airport. I haven't written a word for this, so would have to figure out a story to go with the premise.


A Spirit of the Century game, which I haven't got anything more for than a vague inkling that I would like to run it. I like the concept of a 'high pulp' game and the fact that it's designed for pick up play, but I don't even own this one yet, so it would require some investment.


So those are the ideas so far, though there are still other options around including something for the Doctor Who RPG, though I'm probably just looking for an excuse to buy the books. I'm going to use this blog to record how my decision making progress goes and, if nothing else, the more adventure I write up, the better I'll get at them.

Dr Strangeplot: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love my Players

I have been thinking a little lately as Empire State Secrets progresses, and as I read more GUMESHOE related material, about how my approach to running games has changed over the years. The moment of 'self-awareness' really dawned on me last weekend when I was running a session for the Thursday night (soon to be the Monday night) group.

When I was younger and less experienced, I remember getting frustrated or disappointed if the game didn't proceed down the carefully crafted plot line that I or the published story author had devised. If my players wanted to do something outside what was anticipated, which happened quite often players being players, it would throw me a little. If scenes were jumped or missed out, I would feel a little like I had failed. I would have 'succeeded' if I had carried out the scenario successfully and my players would have a good time accordingly.

As I have run more games and written more stories, I have to come to redefine success in running a game. I am successful not if I tick off all the different parts of the story (like a compliance document), but if my players have a good time. If that means they decide to jump certain parts of the story or bulldoze through my plot, that's fine, as long as I can run it without missing a beat so they still enjoy themselves. This involves being way more relaxed about how the game goes and to stop worrying if things don't go as planned.

An example of this comes from Thursday's game where the characters were investigating the kidnapping of a child from a wealthy family. The story, as written, pretty much has the characters doing waiting around until the money drop before they follow the kidnappers back to the hideout at the docks. However, thanks to the proactive investigating of one character, I decided the location of the hideout would be found sooner, thereby jumping all the scene relating to the money dump.

Now I could have 'blocked' his progress in order to keep to the story as written, but that would have felt really artificial as part of the story. So I relaxed, rolled with it and let the story take its course. The result was a really good scene that felt organic, natural and something my players seemed to really enjoy.

Taking a more laid back approach to running game has been helped by using the GUMSHOE system, which is a style of play that I am coming more and more comfortable with and fond of. The focus is on giving the players clues for the story without getting bogged down in the mechanics of how they get them. This is articulated well by another blogger sharing his thoughts about Trail of Cthulhu: 

So now I don’t worry about whether a clue would be better found by Evidence Collection or by Forensics. I just see that a character is looking where they should to find a clue, and give it to them. I keep a list of what abilities the different characters have, and I phrase the evidence in keeping with whichever of the abilities makes the most sense given the information. If they’re looking for more, I’ll ask for a spend from a particular ability, or I’ll ask them what ability they’re using to get more information.

The two important things are that the clues get found and that the players enjoy themselves.

Once the characters have the clues, it then up to them to decide how they want to proceed with them. This take a lot of stress out of running a game, as I don't have to quickly shoe horn another scene in if the players miss their roll, since plot advancement isn't dependent on dice. It also means I can spend more time on the stuff I really enjoy, like setting the mood, building the back story or working on the plot.

The total result being that my perspective on running games has changed, in my opinion for the better, which has in turn enhanced my enjoy of the process and I think that of my players.

On an unrelated topic, this weekend I watched the recent Sherlock Holmes movie that came out here in New Zealand about 6 months ago. I really enjoyed it as a movie, but what struck me how very similar it was to a roleplaying game, from the plot to the pacing. It also re-sparked my interest in running a Gaslight Cthulhu game again, so watch this space.

Lovecraft links

Not strictly a role playing entry, but I thought I would point out some nifty Lovecraft links that I have been enjoying recently in lieu of something more substantial:


Lovecraft is Missing - An enjoyable little Lovecraftian homage webcomic which is particularly enjoyable if you know your Lovecraft. More pulp than classic cosmic terror, but still a lot of fun.


H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast - This is a regular half-hour podcast by two guys going through and discussing every Lovecraft story. Usually their inane banter is a little too inane for me, but often there is also a lot there of interest, especially when they have guests like Ken Hite.


Propnomicon - This is another fantastic site, this time about prop making. Not just for Cthulhu related things, but for a whole bunch of interesting topics. The creator also produces and provides for free some really awesome props for all manner of role playing games, so big ups for that.


That is about it for now, but I have some more things festering around in my fevered mind to post later.

Play-testing time

Today, assisted by some kind souls, I ran a play-test for a soon to be published adventure for Trail of Cthulhu. Set in a field hospital during World War 1, the adventure asks the players to investigate some recent unexplained deaths. Overall I think the game went OK, but running a play-test presented me with some interesting challenges.

Probably the biggest challenge was not modifying the scenario before hand. As the game was a play test, I deliberately decided not to modify things in order to provide the most effective feedback. This is something I have taken for granted in my recent gaming life and, to be honest, something I wasn't aware I did so much. I guess it's only when I didn't have the ability to do this, that I realised I really appreciated it.

This made the game being a little more messy than I would have normally preferred, as there were aspects that didn't sit totally right with me. The adventure was also designed with a real 'sandbox' approach to the setting. The players found this good in that it gave them a lot of freedom to investigate different leads, but I felt some of the scenes were a little 'messy'. There were also a large number of NPCs to juggle which was a little draining and quite a shift in tone towards the end of the story.

This meant some aspects of the game didn't really 'pop' as well as I would have hoped, which is a little disappointing, as I was the GM for a new bunch of guys who I respect as gamers. I am also fighting off the beginnings of a cold, which didn't help matters much. However it did remind me of the importance of scenario familiarity, especially when you can't make changes, and I think the feedback generated will be very useful for the publishers. Next up is Thursday's regular New York campaign, so hopefully I'm feeling better by then.

Thoughts on Cold City (Part 1)

Thanks to a rainy Saturday night while my beloved was out with some old Uni friends, I finally got around to sticking my nose into Cold City,a game of trust and lies, set against the backdrop of post-World War II Berlin. I played the sister game, Hot War (which I also have but haven't read yet), at a Kapcon a couple of years back, and really enjoyed the rule light approach and strong narratives both games share.
 

In Cold City the players each take on the role of a member of the Reserve Police Agency, comprised of members of occupying powers (USA, UK, France, USSR) plus Germany, who investigate and clean up the strange occult experiments of the Nazi regime, known as twister technology. There is certainly a strong noir feel to the setting, which is reinforced by the shady deals and conflicts between the occupying powers. Check out The Third Man and you'll have immediate sense of the setting.


Cold City also shines in its approach to character creation and game structure. It's highly narrative focused, which encourages players to contribute scenes or concepts they would like included in the game. The mechanics of the game are also light, which means there is plenty more room to flesh out character personality, with how a character is roleplayed counting for more than what stats they have.


At the heart of the game lies trust, and all characters have different national agendas and personal agendas (which can be in conflict). As all the players are working towards different agenda (and can get in game bonuses for doing so), it makes for a really interesting experience, especially as trust also plays an important role. 


I'm still working my way through it, which isn't a chore at all, so will have some more thoughts by the time I am finished, but already I have some ideas for a game or two. What is really exciting is that the rules could be adopted to any other slightly shady, noirish setting. I would love to run a game with an adapted version of this rule set set in 1930s LA, with a real Raymond Chandler vibe going on.

I'm thinking haunted lighthouses...

Spooky enough for you? Maybe it could use a little mist. However the best part is that it is (well was) nuclear powered. In Russia.

That's right, it's an abandoned Soviet-era atomic lighthouse.