Suihkulahde: Session Nine

If there is one thing that I have trouble with it's resolving things. I have a hard time cleaning a room; I always get that moment of dread as I do clean: "What happens when that nagging feeling that I need to clean is resolved?" My life, in some way shape or form has been defined by things that should have happened but did not and having to live with a lack of resolution. I went to Benedictine to get the skills to become a professional iconographer. When I realized that I didn't want to do that, seeing how that hurt an ability to have a family, I had to remind myself I needed to get a degree and move on. And that was one of the most terrifying things I've ever done: I finished the degree, but only just.

I also am keenly aware how hard it is to end stories. A lot of my favorite stories (Lost and Star Wars most popularly) have really controversial endings. Identifying themes and making sure you're carrying out the logic of a story is very much so a thing I'm concerned over.

So I've been freaking out about doing it right here. I keep feeling this pressure to perform with this game. And that's about to trip me up, badly.

I threw the following pitch at the players. Aloysius shows Anneli and Nomi a shed full of torture equipment. At that point Anneli and Nomi would feel this sinking feeling in their guts, like they needed to hurry up. I set a real-world time limit: save Constantine by the end of the session or The Wave would come. 

Are you seeing the problem yet??

Anneli

B1. Aloysius is ensnared by his own hubris; I will see to it that he can never harm another.

B2. I must learn what dark business Aloysius has gotten mixed up in.

B3. Something strange has happened to Nomi's grief; I must uncover what.

I1.Never leave anything behind in this timeline.

I2. Always take command.

I3. Always give Nomi a space to speak.

Traits

Call of the Island, Righteous, Mortally Wounded in the Head | Shaky Hands | Slightly Clumsy, Haunted, Commanding Aura, Driven (Pilot)

Nomi

B1. Ensuring the safety of the ones I care about is more important than any future problems to deal with. I will deal with Aloysious myself if it comes to it. 

B2. I don’t understand what personal stake Anneli seems to have in this, but I can’t forget what she did for Constantine. 

B3. Grieving doesn’t get things done. 

I1. Always bend the truth for personal advantage

I2. When in trouble always try to talk my way out first

I3. Always act towards my own goals first.

Traits

Educated, Call of the Sea, Spite, Deceptive, Compulsive Liar, Callous, Charismatic, Memory’s Influence, Bitter, Guarded

Aloysius told Anneli and Nomi about how how all this torture equipment kept showing up on his doorstep every morning, despite his best attempts to stop it. After mocking Aloysius a little Nomi and Anneli withdrew to talk amongst themselves, in Elvish. Nomi told Anneli that was definitely Lone Keep stuff in the shed. That upset Nomi, who'd helped bring The Lone Keep down.

And yeah, Andy had a laugh as he realized that the Lone Keep wasn't just down, but Nomi had been there.

So it finally sunk in for Anneli that Nomi, the traitor and turncoat, had helped bring down The Lone Keep, had literally knocked it out of the sky. There was a lot of laughs about Anneli realizing that maybe Nomi really did change! That was shelved; they didn't have time for Anneli to come fully to terms with the fact that her sister may have actually done a lot of change in the year they'd not seen each other. They cooked up a plan to get Aloysius to give them more info about his life.

Lena rolled a graduated Perception test, and got a three. So she got three details! Aloysius told them what his routine was like, and three possible groups started to emerge: possible dwarven cultists of Leviathan, Aloysius's former soldiers who he had rejected, and those who hated his wife and Siamese twin step-daughters. Anneli told Aloysius to get in contact with his former soldiers, who still wanted revolution. Aloysius refused; his men wouldn't do that to him. They wouldn't be dropping off elven torture artifacts at his front doorstep. Anneli reminded Aloysius he'd jumped for a Dagger of Betrayal at the drop of a dime. Nomi brought out that very Dagger and held it out for Aloysius, who flinched, but even then could not deny his desire for the thing.  Anneli flinched too; she hadn't known Nomi still had it, even though Nomi had had Marian render it useless.

So Lena got Andy a helping die. 

And then Andy dropped a Deeds point, because he wanted this freaking test to work. And it did.

Nomi then demanded to come with Aloysius, to shadow him as he conducted his meeting. Aloysius refused, but Nomi pressed and Aloysius had to relent. Anneli also asked to come along, but didn't have the training  to do so without incident. So Nomi told her no; Anneli needed to trust her. 

And Anneli did.

Nomi followed Aloysius, who reluctantly found a former soldier of his in an incredibly seedy bar. The soldier happily said he'd get the boys back together. Aloysius left, disgusted with himself. Nomi wasn't too sympathetic.

Back at the farm Anneli began to hear strange whisperings, which reminded her of Leviathan. There was regrowing rainforest nearby; the whispering came from there. One hour's worth of digging and Anneli found it: a new Dagger of Betrayal. Repulsed, Anneli put the Dagger back where she found it and returned to Aloysius's house. When Nomi saw Anneli she could tell Anneli was not okay. Anneli told Nomi about the new, functional, Dagger... and that she'd left it there. Nomi was furious.

Aloysius was gone.

Anneli and Nomi ran to where the Dagger had been buried. Four shovels had been left at the empty site.  Anneli screamed and fell to her knees. Nomi realized that the look, that very odd look, that had been in Aloysius's eyes was that of someone stabbed with a Dagger of Betrayal. She hadn't wanted to admit it then, but they had led Aloysius right into his former compatriot's clutches.

We'd hit the physical time to end the session. And so I carried through on my threat. The Wave began.

Constantine's ghost appeared. Anneli begged for more time. Constantine sadly told them they hadn't been looking at the correct timeline. He asked Nomi to sit with him. Anneli and Nomi could feel It was coming. Time was about up. But Nomi refused; they could still change things! Somehow! Anneli began running to try and find Aloysius before it was too late.

A wave of pure light and peace washed over them. And then another. And then another. Mikansia's destruction of the Nameless had been so powerful that it had broken time itself. The world dissolved around them; the jungles of Argentum Prime faded into black. They were back on the beach, just outside the woods where they'd said they were going to get deer. Light pulses flashed over their heads, the stars looked down on the tragedy. Nomi screamed and tackled Anneli, laying into her with all her might. Anneli didn't resist. Nomi screamed at Anneli, blaming her for everything. Anneli was not in disagreement.

They heard a blood-curdling scream; Fingar rolled over on the ground, screeching about being stabbed in the head. Looking over at Anneli Fingar called her a traitor, swearing revenge.

Nomi stood up, asking Fingar to please threaten her sister again, Sydanelma in hand. 

I actually had a panic attack right after this session. I was still in a funk the next morning. So I contacted Lena and Andy, asking if they felt okay about the session. Andy said he it felt weird to burn a Deed's point and to have success snatched away by a time limit. While it wasn't something he wanted to throw down about it was disappointing to him.

I immediately messaged the both of them in our private group, airing the concerns Andy had. I offered to redo the session, without the time limit, as that had ruined agency, especially a Deeds point. Lena agreed  that the session did feel odd, that using a Deeds point shouldn't feel pointless. But ultimately that it was up to Andy, as she was more than happy to roll with the results. Andy didn't want a do-over. He just wanted that Deeds point to have some form of impact. Lena suggested that their interference with Aloysius have some form of a positive

I mean, what's there to say? I wasn't playing to find out what happened. I wasn't a total dickwad about it but even this.... (relatively??) light infraction was too much. 

So of course something happened to Aloysius. And it's going to come back to help Anneli and Nomi.

Trust your players. Trust the dice.

The rest is noise.

Especially your issues with resolving stuff. Any stuff.

Saying Good-Bye to Marvel Champions

I recently wrote a post about saying goodbye to Torchbearer. That post was an attempt to say that I found Torchbearer objectively fine, but not my cup of tea, something that I regret. That is not the case with Marvel Champions. I think it's got some foundational, objective flaws, which have slowly poisoned my enjoyment of the game, to the point to where I do not wish to play anymore. If you still like the game after reading the post more power to you. While I've no vitriol in mind I will not pull punches either. If I think something wrong I will say it.

Let's give the props where it's due: Marvel Champions is a fantastic pick-up LCG. The rest of my critiques need to be taken in this context. This is a good enough game, mechanically speaking. It is fun to play and can be quite engaging, particularly in a group setting. As the game ages and as the designers get the villain design down we're going to see some truly spectacular things from this game. And that's great! But I won't be along for the ride.

For the record, most of my comments come as a solo player of this game. If your response to any of my points is "But it doesn't work that way in a group!".... first off I doubt it, as I'm talking about some pretty foundational stuff. But second off, I've already given the disclaimer: because of logistics I've mostly played this game solo.

The number one, biggest problem, is that I find deckbuilding unsatisfying. The tricks just do not seem to matter to me. There isn't that kick of adrenaline for the vast majority of the game. It's feels too simple for me: do damage, remove threat and that's it! There's not enough dials for me to tinker with. Remove threat. Deal damage. Rinse. Repeat. And the tools just don't do it for me. The only aspect that I really connected with, Protection, just seems to be so hampered by... well... everything. Quicksilver finally did something substantial to address the issue, but it's something, not an actual fix. Regardless of whatever little boondoggle you've done the very next turn that threat will go up and possibly damage may be healed. It just doesn't feel like I did anything. Because there's only two things to really muck with it's hard to feel like I'm making progress.

And that brings us to actual scenario design. Again, there are only really two ways to interact with said design: keep the threat down while knocking the dude out, twice. 

Yes, yes, three times for Kang. 

Thank you, but that's not a substantive enough difference for me.

Given that there's no real way to interact with the game beyond threat and damage, you can't really do very much. Norman Osborn's scenario is a great idea... until you realize you have to beat him to a pulp, and that's all you can do. Ooh, there's scheming tokens or whatever? They go away when you deal damage. Goody, not only have you not invented a mechanic to deal with this unique and great idea, but you've made player's cards feel less effective because it's not even doing what it was designed to do. And that may be a bit mean, but considering just how discouraging it is to essentially waste your time because the designers wouldn't reach a bit more out of the box?

I don't like that. And I don't think it unreasonable to do so.

But the ultimately damning thing for me is that this is all the designers think Marvel is about. Marvel is about people being heroes, despite themselves. No, really, that's it. If you disagree, tough. Because that's what Marvel has been about since Lee and Kirby and Ditko started churning out their amazing stories. Period. Yes, if you disagree you're wrong. Flat. Tough if you don't like it.

Now, part of that formula includes kick-ass action. That is absolutely true. And I want that in a Marvel game, don't get me wrong! That's part of it. But what makes those villains compelling has so much more to do with them as people. Doc Ock is an abused child looking for respect. Red Skull wants his golden age back. Rhino is heartbroken from losing his wife and is trying to find purpose again. The Masters of Evil are common thugs who just want to pull off their big score. Kang wants a proactive approach to the problems of the world. Spidey doesn't punch his problems most of the time, he solves them with science and heart. Captain America is struggling with feeling irrelevant. Tony is an asshole who doesn't want to be one.

Okay, that last part was a bit mean.

Oh well.

Point is. 

I feel like the most important part of Marvel is missing. No, having Obligations doesn't cut it. Having cute little alter-ego cards isn't what I'm look ingfor, either. What makes a Marvel hero work is who they are under the costume. There needs to be more levers in alter-ego than healing and a few cute tricks surrounding supporting your super hero form. But that would require more going on with the villains than what they have. Which would require a significant amount of tweaking with the base system.

And that's really what I'm left with. The base system is myopic. I don't care about the fights if character isn't involved. And the thing is that card games can do this. It's not outside the realm of possibility. The game can be fun, but the lack of goals beyond threat and damage really hurts the game. A lot more can be done with this property. And it could have been. And it wasn't.

Mergzok: World Burning

We're gonna do it, folks. Yes, we're going to finish a freaking campaign. of Burning Empires. It may take us awhile, going every other week, but at this point I'm bound and determined. Burning Empires has long had a reputation as being almost unplayable, which I think is not accurate. A lot of overhead and a challenge to learn? Well yes! But unplayable? Naw. And the bits I've played of it are too good to leave it on the shelf. Revisiting it I am most intrigued about how artha and the trait vote have been repurposed into a competitive framework, which I think is really interesting.

So I pitched the game at my Torchbearer group. They accepted trying it. We sat down to burn up a world, and this is what we got. The numbers are to each stage of play: Infiltration, Usurpation, and Invasion. This is a series of negotiations. By making these mechanical decisions the setting materializes, making  unique world.

Interior World V 2 | 2 | 2 / H 1 | 2 | 3

We all wanted to be a bit more conservative at the start. I made the pitch and this one was a pretty simple agreement.

 

Partial Life (irradiated areas) V 3|0|3 / H 2|3|1

This option is about how much of the planet is actually livable. We agreed to Partial Life Support, with the areas that are unlivable by having heavy radiation.

Mostly Land V 2|2|2 / H 1|2|3

Oh, this one was specifically because they didn't want me to have Mostly Water, because I would have a huge advantage.

Naturally Tame V 1|4|1 / H 2|2|2

Again, this one was the one that everyone was the least uncomfortable with.

Low Tech Index V 2|3|1 / H 2|2|2

I rejected High Tech Index, flat. No way in hell. Lena requested Low Tech Index, and the rest of us thought it alright.

Civilian Commune V 2|2|2 /  H 2|2|2

Literally no one wanted any of the options. None. But man, Civilian Commune was the one we were the least offended by.

Factions Exist V 4|1|1 / H 0|0|0

This one was literally done because everyone thought it would be fun, the boost to my dispositions be damned. I cackled. Audibly. My glee was noted as a concern, but ignored.

Factions So Far:

Military Junta 0|1|5

Organized Crime 2|2|2

Cult Church 0|3|3

Psychologists 2|3|1

Slaves 4|1|1

Volunteer Force V 2|3|1 / H 2|2|2

Considering we already have a military junta, we figured a volunteer force made the most sense. And, again, the most even.

Paranoid Culture V 3|3|3 / H 4|4|4

Again, everyone hated it the least.

Raw Materials  V 1|2|3 / H 1|3|2

Thanks to Lena's decision to have slaves, we decided to have the planet have valuable raw resources of all kinds. It works for China, so why not us??

Standard Quarantine V 3|3|3 / H 2|2|2

This is where things got a bit tense. The players pitched a strict quarantine to me. I refused. Flat. I was already at a disadvantage in Invasion, which means that I'll have to make sure to grab a couple of different factions (military junta here I come!) and play some catch up if I wanted to have that in my back pocket.  The players, obviously, were not so willing to move. I offered them a clear advantage by having the advantage of economy. After some conferring we came to a compromise, and we wound up with a Standard Quarantine and Loosely Regulated Economy

Loosely Regulated Economy 1|1|3 / 2|2|2

And this is what we got at the end! I have a good advantage in Infiltration, and have to work to catch up in Invasion.

V 26|26|25 / H 21|26|29

Suihkulahde: Session Eight

This was... not an easy session to pitch to the players. On the one hand the characters had quite naturally gone where they should go. And on the other was what we had kinda pitched at the beginning: a Dawn Treader sorta a campaign.

This.

Is.

NOT.

FREAKING DAWN TREADER.

I mean, I know there are some who would go "Well just play it out", and that's what's happening. But we put these two characters together and it just sorta... evolved. I'd no idea how the hell the players were going to address this problem, of Constantine's death.

But Lena did it. I've no idea how. But she came up with the answer. Go after Aloysius. Nomi and Anneli can't save Constantine directly, but what if they get Aloysius to back off? What if he's the one to break the timeline, and then is the one who suffers the wrath of the Dahaka?? Andy, of course, adored the idea. Anneli had a bad history with Aloysius and loved the idea of getting payback.

Here's what they came up with.

Anneli

B1. I can redeem myself by destroying Aloysius.

B2. I will understand how Constantine came to love Nomi and what he sees in her.

B3. Something strange has happened to Nomi's grief; I must uncover what.

I1. Never leave anything behind in this timeline.

I2. Always take command.

I3. Always give Nomi a space to speak.

Traits: Call of the Island, Righteous, Mortally Wounded in the Head | Shaky Hands | Slightly Clumsy, Haunted, Commanding Aura, Driven (Pilot)

Nomi

B1. Using Aloysious to change events and letting him take the fallout may be the best path for everyone that matters. 

B2. Constantine is my light, losing him to darkness would cement my own. He has to realize himself and stabilize with enough time.

B3. Grieving doesn’t get things done. 

I1. Always bend the truth for personal advantage

I2. When in trouble always try to talk my way out first

I3. Always avoid revealing personal information

Traits: Educated, Call of the Sea, Spite, Deceptive, Compulsive Liar, Callous, Charismatic, Memory’s Influence, Bitter, Guarded

So Constantine was screaming in despair as his brain was breaking from remembering that he was killed. There's an eldritch egg growing.

Oh wait, Andy didn't know what eldritch eggs were. If you've been reading the blog awhile you'd know, but you probably don't either. Eldritch eggs are formed when a person succumbs to despair. Rayona, the Dark Ocean, then reaches out and begins to feed off of person's despair. Once the egg fully materializes the victim is drawn into it; their consumption completes the eldritch egg. This process is supposed to happen over months, years.

This egg was forming in five minutes.

Nomi knew that. 

So I had Lena roll a Steel test at +5 hesitation (eldritch egg and it's her freaking husband and that egg is going must faster than it should), and Andy also rolled Steel at +3 hesitation (not her freaking husband! Eldritch egg!). Nomi failed by 5 heartbeats, Anneli by 1. So the Ghost Prostitute came out for a quick heartbeat, blinking stupidly at everything. And then Anneli was back.

And then Lena reminded me of The Music. Right, The Music. So, things from Rayona put off a weird discordant music, which can wipe out a person's memory and personality. Elves are rather resistant to it, taking months of constant exposure, but humans? That Music can wipe them out in a matter of minutes. Even seconds of exposure can do this to a human. Andy asked if it was merely the act of hearing it or being exposed that would wipe out Constantine, and I clarified that being in the "waves" of the song that hurt so.

Andy checked his character sheet. And asked if he could have Anneli sing and change how The Music interacted with others. Maybe, by singing, Anneli could change things just enough. Lena and I had been futzing around with The Music all throughout The Undertow... and we'd never really thought of actually trying to do this. I mean, changing the sound itself would work, right?

Welp, time for a Singing test.

Yup, Anneli passed.

Anneli joined with the dissonance, making it a sorrowful, and then even a little mirthful. I had goosebumps. There was an awe , as Lena and I tried to comprehend what was happening. 

And Constantine snapped out of it. Nomi was still lying on the ground, crying, so Constantine wrapped her up in his arms. Of course I called for another Steel test for our good friend Nomi... which she passed. Of course that was the one she passed. So Nomi, while very happy, knew they only had so much time. She asked and Constantine confirmed:  he remembered everything of his death. He asked who Anneli was. "You didn't tell me that your sister was Anneli, the savior of  Argentum Reskartum!! That's so cool!!" gushed Constantine. We all laughed about that as Nomi rolled her eyes at her husband fan-boying over Anneli. That little spark of joy, that little bit of childish glee, was enough; the eldritch egg vanished. 

Introductions were made; I played up the fanboi in Constantine, much to everyone's amusement. Constantine related his surprise that it was Aloysius who had killed him. Aloysius had been helping Constantine rebuild Argentum Reskartum for a year, quietly, hidden from view. His confrontation with Anneli had deeply changed Aloysius, something that had elevated the mythicality of Anneli in Constantine's eyes.

It was also four days before Aloysius had killed Constantine; they still had time to change things.

 Constantine asked to come along, because he wanted to look Aloysius over, see what he had missed. Nomi and Anneli, who had darker designs on Aloysius and didn't want Constantine to know, managed to convince him that his curiosity needed to wait. They couldn't tip Aloysius off, not yet. Constantine warned them not to take the same route as the Nomi of his time had taken.

What followed was like a homecoming to Andy, who had helped me flesh out Argentum Prime's culture and the magical guilds that helped run the empire in general. The last Andy had seen of the capital it had been in ruins; now there was life, rebirth. Even the rainforests, which had been completely leveled, were being regrown by the Agriculture Guild. Andy asked if Tara, the woman who had betrayed Spar, his first PC, was there, helping the process. I confirmed she was; everyone needed to be on deck if they wanted a home. Andy laughed, saying this was quite the throwback. 

I can't wait to come back, later in the campaign. This whole part of the game has been so strange, but it's good to return to a place that we had all spent some time in and to see it grow without us. The original pitch was that the second half of this campaign would be spent in the Argentum Empire. And here, right here, I felt that twinge, a nostalgia for a place that may not exist in the world around me, but is so real to me and my friends. It's a real gift, to be able to tell them "Someday we will return."

Anyway.

Aloysius had made his home next to the ruined Sabina's Castle, far away from everyone else; no one wanted to live near the castle, and it stood abandoned. Aloysius's fields and barn stood right adjacent to the castle. He was out and working when Anneli and Nomi arrived. Andy remembered him as bold, brash; Aloysius was a broken man now. Quiet, unassuming as much as an almost seven-foot tall man can be, and utterly exhausted in spirit. 

Aloysius was so unlike what he had been from before that an eerie quiet enveloped the session from here on out. 

Aloysius, after seeing it was Anneli and "another elf", offered them hospitality, if they would take it. Anneli and Nomi accepted. Nomi tried to scan his farmland as they walked, looking for any signs of growing insurrection. So I gave Lena a graduated Perception check, and she rolled three successes. I revealed that Aloysius looked thoroughly broken, but that his fields were in impeccable order, with none of the usual signs of anything being hidden or of him trying to cover up anything. A tin woman with half her face burned off came to meet them at the door of Aloysius's house; the scars were very old. Aloysius introduced the mute woman as his wife, Miriam. 

Andy asked if he could somehow suss out what Aloysius knew about the rebuilding efforts, to see if he could trip up Aloysius into revealing his intentions. I asked Andy to make an Etiquette check... which he failed pretty badly, not being trained or anything.

Aloysius knew an astonishing amount of information about the rebuilding of Argentum Reskartum, which he discussed quite freely with Anneli and Nomi.

All of a sudden Anneli was in the dark ocean again, with Leviathan. All the words that were coming out of Aloysius's mouth were coming from the darkness below Anneli that she knew to be Leviathan. She could hear Aloysius, begging Leviathan to stop, that he didn't want to know, that he didn't want to tell. "He has it, you know," taunted Leviathan in a deep voice that Anneli felt more than she heard. The atmosphere had begun almost unbearably tense. "Shut up!" wailed Aloysius. 

Anneli collapsed while experiencing this. Miriam ran into the house for water, while Aloysius helped Nomi get Anneli into the house. Anneli came to and was ushered into the master bedroom, past another room; the door of that room was shut.

Nomi, once they were alone, asked Anneli what she had seen. Anneli told Nomi that Aloysius was not in control of himself. Leviathan was the one actually manifesting in Aloysius.

Dear Readers, this is not what I had intended to communicate. But I did not correct Andy as he had Anneli tell Nomi about all this. It's a failed test. Andy (at least in theory) reads these posts, and I made some effort to correct the matter, in case it needed correction, for the players. But Anneli believes that Aloysius is being mind-controlled. And that's honestly the better story.

They resolved to move as soon as possible to stop Leviathan... whatever the hell that meant. The problem is that nobody seems to really know what Leviathan even is! When Andy and I had come up with Leviathan, we deliberately left it as open as possible. I have done very little to develop the idea since we came up with it, so when Andy and Lena asked me what anyone knew, I shrugged. The only thing I did know for a fact was that hardly anything was known, provided you even accepted that Leviathan existed!

Siamese twin girls came in, asking where mamma and papa were. Aloysius called out to them, saying to let the elves alone until they were ready to come out.