Played our first session!

Played our first session!

I didn’t have enough time to read the rulebook more than once, and I was a little reluctant to jump in without a more thorough understanding of how all the pieces fit together, but we couldn’t resist. Luckily, the “Airfield on the Borderlands” introductory scenario was there to hold my hand.

It was a bit of a struggle for me at first to figure out how to bring the Day turns to life, and it took me a while to get a handle on the different moves and their application, but I attribute that to me not doing my homework, plus just needing to get better at it with practice. I can’t imagine a better way for Bully Pulpit to have structured and laid out the information, in any case — everything is super-clear and well-organized, such that even having only read through the rules once, I was still able to run a 3-hour session with minimal hiccups.

The two most memorable bits:

* Liza, our Pigeon and stolid farmgirl, noticed Galya, her NPC bunkmate/Navigator trying to conceal the fact that she was scratching her head too much. Realizing it was lice, Liza offered to shave Galya’s hair, and her own in solidarity. This won Galya’s respect and gratitude, but a bad Scrounge roll for a straight razor led to using a sharpened butter knife. They gave each other terrible haircuts, which led to them wearing their flight caps everywhere, and the lice didn’t go away, but they were close comrades from then on. And between later training missions, when Liza finally Scrounged a straight razor, they managed to shave each other’s heads clean.

* Tasha, our Sparrow, and Lyuda, our Raven, took an immediate dislike to one another, manifested at first by the stylish and cosmopolitan Lyuda openly mocking Tasha’s peasant background. This built over the course of their time at Duty Station One, with Tasha reporting Lyuda to the NKVD and Lyuda reporting Tasha to the Major. By the end of their time at Engels Airdome, they were at each other’s throats, and then the Section Leader rearranged the planes so that Lyuda was the Pilot and Tasha the Navigator of the same plane. Lyuda complained to her Captain and demanded a reversal of the order, but she was told to obey her Section Leader (failed Act Up). So when Duty Station Two kicks off they will be forced to fly in the same plane. Lyuda is contemplating sabotage.

The start was a little shaky, but by the end of it we were having a blast. They all want to play Duty Station Two the next time we have another backup game night. I’ll definitely take more time to prep and get in the right frame of mind before that session, but I’m still pretty amazed at the fact that I was able to run it tonight without really knowing the rules very well at all.

On that note, “144 Night Witch-y Things” is PURE SOVIET GOLD.

Thanks again Jason and Steve and everyone else who contributed their hard work, playtesting, and talent to this project (everyone was ooing and aahing over Claudia Cangini’s character cards). This thing is brimming with love, care, clarity of communication, respect for the real lives of real people, and terrific attention to detail. It’s one inspiring package.

I am eagerly looking forward to Duty Station Two, and whatever unforeseen trials await the 588th!