Actual Play Report
Background:
Eric – GM; previously played in two games at Origins (Tainted and Wolf) and one Hangout game (Hunter); has run a dozen Dungeon World games; played in a few other PbtA games
Nick – Det. Tariq Baz (Veteran); played in one DW game
Isaiah – Miranda Rosecross (Wizard); played in one DW game
Jason – Johns (Immortal); no PbtA experience
Setup:
Because of the relative lack of PbtA experience, we spent quite a while with dice mechanic and system overview, then walked through the playbooks and character creation pretty methodically. We decided to play in NYC (which is also where we all live) and fleshed out the city during character introductions.
Det. Baz (Veteran) is an MCU (Major Crimes Unit) investigator who is under the thumb of one of two previously-warring vampire groups. Lives in the East Village, works downtown in NYPD HQ. Parents in Park Slope (Brooklyn.) Baz is definitely the character most tied into the mortal urban infrastructure, which gave me a bunch of awesome NPCs to work with (and plenty of use for my Spambot NPC list.) His workshop is near his apartment, and he uses it as a way to supply people who might someday help him extract himself from the vampires’ influence.
Vampire background is that in the 70s and 80s there was a lot of conflict between the older, better-established vampires and younger upstart groups. These groups are secret enough that their names aren’t known. It seems like the better-established vampires leveraged local politics and finance to offer the newcomers a buy-in to calm the city. This coincided with the late 80s early 90s decrease in violent crime and the beginnings of rapid increase in property values.
Johns (Immortal) is the eternal drifter. Looks and feels more like the Wolf than the Immortal. Has been in NYC for about 40 years, only died once during that time. When he dies, he loses a part of himself, so he doesn’t know how old he is. Oldest memory is ~500 years ago. Owns a tenement on the Lower East Side (hereinafter “LES”), but spends much time in the city’s parks. One park in particular is Ft. Tryon park in upper Manhattan, which is inhabited by a small pack of wolves with an Alpha named Grizz. Johns has never met another immortal, but he suspects there might be one in NYC.
Miranda Rosecross (Wizard) is an inheritor of the blessings and curses that resulted from her parents’ involvement in a bloodcult on the LES in the 90s. They fled overseas when they realized that they were pregnant and determined that their daughter was part of the bargain they struck. (My notes are muddled at this part) They survived in hiding for ~20 years, but recently they were killed and so Miranda returned to NYC to investigate the cult. There are other wizards in the world, but they generally keep to themselves. Her focus is an enchanted sword, and her Sanctum is a room teleported into a LES basement.
NPCs:
Ofc. Emma Frank – Det. Baz’s ex-partner; exiled to Harbor Patrol when she indicated she wouldn’t play ball w/ Baz’s coverups for the vampires.
Linwood Noble – Ex-cop who discovered the conspiracy and fled. Baz is in contact with him, but secretly. Maybe he is a hunter?
Capt. Beatriz Madewell – Baz’s superior, only surviving investigator on the bloodcult investigation, indications are that she made her career by covering it up for someone or something. (2 debts on Baz for pulling his ass out of the fire)
Lt. Jason Blaxcell – Baz’s immediate superior, one of two Lts in the MCU. Blaxcell is the one that the coverup assignments come through.
Dr. Melissa Granford – attending pathologist at the Medical Examiner’s office, in on the coverups.
Grizz – Alpha of Ft. Tryon pack, some connection to the Cloisters collection. Artifacts?
Shane Brixton – Guru/healing magic practitioner. Member of the fringe community surrounding the LES cult in the 90s, but reformed. (1 debt on Miranda for keeping demons at bay; 2 debts on Johns for being the person he calls to get stuff done)
PC Debts at start of play:
Miranda owes Johns 2 debts (Johns watching her ancestry)
Miranda owes Tariq 3 debts (her go-to when she gets into trouble, he’s working on something big for her (casefile on the LES cult))
Tariq owes Miranda 1 debt (helping him keep a dangerous secret (that he’s dirty))
Johns owes Tariq 3 debts (relies on him for training and knowledge, seen him die and come back to life)
Start of Play Move:
I admit, I was skeptical about this. I mean I had ALL THIS awesome stuff to work with, and I’m supposed to make up some rumors from dice rolls? But the rolls were awesome. Baz and Miranda rolled 10+ on Power, and Johns rolled 6- on Wild, so…
Play:
At midnight on Thursday, Miranda is woken from sleep by a surge of magical energy from the south. She gets up to investigate. Twenty minutes later, Det. Baz gets a call from Blaxcell that there’s been a possible homicide in Battery Park at The Sphere (a sculpture which once sat between the WTC towers, and was excavated and moved to Battery Park.) Johns was being detained along with a number of transients who were in and around the park as a potential witness. Miranda channeled to veil herself and get close enough to whisper to Johns. (I think other folks have already mentioned that the 10+ on channeling feels pretty harsh. Even just a change like “when you channel choose one from the following list and roll +Spirit” then have 7-9 be “choose one more from the list” so the “cost” feels like an entrance fee for the move, not a consequence of your roll?)
Baz arrived on the scene and got rid of the first responding officers and the other “witnesses.” The sphere had been chalked with some symbols, a body nearby had the rib cage torn open. The body was in some strange robes adorned with jewelry and had a book open nearby.
Miranda Let it Out to examine the book. Rolled a 10+, chose to mark corruption and take +1 and learn something interesting. She learned it is a book pertaining to a Carnage demon named Bosanque. She described her move as being an internal debate with the demonic voices in her head as her vision clouded over with thick smoke invisible to everyone else, but indicated by a faint sulfuric smell. When she was done, the voices didn’t quite return to their previous low volume (corruption.)
Johns looked at the victim (Face to a Name). Rolled a 7-9, learned this was the youngest member of the Schnell family, an Old World family rumored to be magically adept. Ignacio Schnell the Younger was also rumored to be headstrong and hubristic.
Tariq investigated a place of power, but rolled 6-. As he gazed into the runes on the Sphere, he felt compelled to draw his Magnum Revolver and “shoot something.” Fortunately, he was able to keep his cool (10+)
Tariq also Hit the Streets to find out about the book, calling Linwood. He rolled a 6- so Linwood seemed confused until Tariq mentioned the book, at which point Linwood said to burn it and hung up.
Johns pocketed the body’s cash and metrocard. Miranda took the book and jewelry for future study back at her Sanctum, and Baz decided to investigate Schnell’s hotel room at the Union Square W.
Baz flashed his badge and threatened the night clerk at the W, and successfully got a bit of info on the alias Schnell was using. In the room, he Let it Out to investigate the room, describing it as using “soft eyes” to focus on everything and nothing. Hit on a 10+ and opted for learn something interesting and useful and avoiding corruption so he saw that the reflections in the vanity mirror were slightly off, and determined it could be used to contact someone on the other end. It ended up being Ignacio Schnell Sr., who didn’t seem overly upset to learn about his son’s demise, but did end the conversation abruptly, saying he would be in the city the following day. Baz left the hotel and returned home for some sleep.
Johns decided to watch over Miranda from outside her apt. A few hours of Miranda’s speed-fueled research indicated that the amulet was the most valuable of the jewelry, and the one piece most likely tied to Bosanque. About that time, Johns catches a glimpse of a familiar face as Ignacio Schnell the Younger walks past his car toward Miranda’s building and around the back. Johns calls Tariq and heads toward the building, opting to trying to get through the front door rather than following Schnell. Rolling a 6- on his Persuade roll, however, means that instead of someone just hitting the buzzer, two rent-a-cops come to investigate the sketchy guy at the front door. Johns tells them that there’s a guy sneaking around the back, so one of them goes back while the other stays with Johns. Meanwhile, someone begins to pound on the door and the wards of Miranda’s Sanctum. She opens the door to find the man who appeared to be disemboweled in Battery Park. She assesses the situation quickly and makes a flame erupt around her hand (kind of a “cantrip” use of elementalism) and she threatens the book with it.
Meanwhile, Baz is tearing crosstown in his too-nice-for-a-detective’s-salary sedan, while he calls up Dr. Ganford to find out if Schnell’s body is still there. Hit the Streets (Mortality) 10+ and sure enough Schnell was still on ice. Baz gets to the front stoop and he flashes his badge just as they hear a scream coming from the basement from around the corner. Johns, Tariq, and the Rent-a-Cop run around the building (Tariq marking corruption) to find Miranda pulling the door of her Sanctum closed on the scene of the thing-that-looks-like-Schnell covered in the blood of the security guard who lies with his chest torn open.
Everyone quickly comes to the conclusion that this is Bosanque in the form of Schnell. Bosanque seems willing to talk, so Tariq takes the lead by putting his revolver away, which Bosanque takes with a bit of disappointment commenting on how much he enjoys the potential of the weapon. Tariq hits 10+ on his Figure Someone Out and asks what Bosanque hopes to get out of the book (he wants the amulet not the book) and how to get him to leave (“impress me” replies Bosanque eyeing the revolver and the remaining, vomiting security guard.)
Miranda opens her door and offers the amulet if Bosanque will return “home” and spare all four of the people present. He agrees. Miranda marks corruption and hands over the amulet. Bosanque rips open his own ribcage and falls to the floor.
End of Session:
I think only one person changed their factions and two people exchanged debts.
Best line of the game: Miranda saying “object of frightful significance” when referring to the book.
Future Hooks:
Now there are two identical bodies to coverup, plus the dead and living security guard to deal with.
Ignacio Schnell the Elder is en route to NY to follow up on his son’s troubles.
Bosanque may be in hell, but he’s probably not going to stay there for very long.
Notes:
-Despite being initially skeptical, I ended up liking how the start of session move can move things at an angle.
-Some confusing word usage for first-time players (explaining “when you fulfill the requirements of your corruption move, you mark corruption” and “when you mark corruption five times, you can select a corruption move” just seems like one of those things that is clear once you spend a minute with it, but man does it suck to talk about.) Also Put a Face to a Name goes back and forth between MC and GM.
-I’m still pretty skeptical of the new advance mechanic. I miss all the places XP used to fit in. I think after everyone gets one advance I might switch to highlighting one stat and one faction.
Probably won’t be able to play again for a few weeks, but I might have a few folks interested in joining the game, which would be nice (although I enjoyed the group we had.)