The Misbehaviour Manifesto: Morality, Sanity, Taboos and You

9 July 2015 by Nook Harper Leave a Comment

Conflict drives stories, and stories drive games. In its simplest form, conflict is represented in our games with combat – one or more sides trade blows until someone cedes or dies – or as opposition to societal norms – Good vs Evil, Order vs Anarchy, Unknowable Neutrality vs an Emotional Perspective.
Transgression and Taboos also provide grist for the conflict mill – outlaws and lawbreakers vs unfair laws and totalitarian states feature heavily in our games, as do monsters that lurk on the edge of civilisation, waiting to drain our blood, enslave our minds, steal our children or subvert reality.
In our games we can find ourselves on either side of these divides, and often in the middle, and always by design.
If you play Firefly or Serenity, you’re signing up to play smugglers and outlaws; Star Wars, and you’re a rebel; Dungeons and Dragons, you pick an alignment and smite anyone who crosses your line in the dirt; Vampire: the Masquerade, you are the monster, struggling with the taboos you must commit simply to survive another night.

Many games come with predefined behavioural limits, either within the setting; such as the Masquerade in Vampire: the Masquerade or the Hermetic Oath in Ars Magica; or within the rules, such as the Morality rules within World of Darkness games or the Stability loss rules in Gumshoe games.
Once you’ve picked your side and drawn your line in the dirt, the GM then lines up opposition for you to interact with, and so conflict in born.
All of this is quite passive, though. The players react to conflict, the GM generates it. The players stick their stakes in the ground, and it’s up to the GM to throw horseshoes at them.

Well, f*** that noise!

What these games are offering you are checklists for adventure.

Whist rereading my Ars Magica core rules recently, I realised that games would be much more fun if the players treated the Hermetic Oath as a ‘to do’ list.
Consort with infernal forces? Done.
Enrage the fair folk? Twice, at least.
Trade with mundanes? Why do you think I’m second in line to the throne?
Kill other magi? Steal an apprentice? Deny another magi their magical potential? Every day, before breakfast.
Just one of these events can drive a season of adventure, if not more.
Why wait for the GM to write plot? Get into trouble first.

The Six Traditions in Vampire: the Masquerade offer similar opportunities for gleeful misbehaviour. I’m not saying that you should, by default, be playing a Sabbat game. On the contrary, the maximum amount of conflict, and thus fun, can only be realised if the player characters recognise the necessity of the Traditions and why they should be upheld.

Players, on the other hand, should seek to create situations in which their characters could unwittingly reveal the existence of the undead to the masses, or slip and accidentally drain someone of all their blood then you’ll never believe what happens next allow them to drink a pint of your blood from your veins, or drop their sire in the shit, or maybe destroy a rival in the heat of the moment.

You know, fun stuff. Fun stuff that you’re explicitly not allowed to do, but hey, here’s the rules for anyway.

Like diablerie.

Exactly like diablerie.

Gumshoe games provide a list of events that can test and drain a character’s Stability, their mental fortitude. These events are normally seen as ‘bad things’.

As far as I’m concerned, they’re signposts for Playing the Game Right. Especially if you’re plaything Trail of Cthulhu.

In fact, if you’re playing Trail of Cthulhu and have not tested your Stability or lost any Sanity by the second session, you need to have a polite talk with your Keeper.

Then you need to take control and explicitly put your character in situations where their Stability has to be tested. Confront that Mi-Go horde, tell the Hound of Tindalos to go fetch, read that book with the maddening cover.

I would rather play Loki than play Thor.

Stop playing safe and have fun.

The Misbehaviour Manifesto

Actively seek danger
Let your actions place others in difficult positions
Be the story
Do epic shit

Emergency Gaming Kit: The Piper in the Darkness (A Short Trail of Cthulhu Scenario)

6 July 2015 by Nook Harper 1 Comment

Piper in the Darkness

A short Trail of Cthulhu adventure

By Nook Harper

Overview

This adventure was written as a short ‘one shot’ introduction to the Trail of Cthulhu game, and was played through with three players in around two hours.

In this scenario, the player characters, or Investigators, are associated with the Miskatonic University in some way – students, graduates, lecturers, staff, professors or patrons etc – and are due to meet with the Head Librarian of Miskatonic University, Dr Henry Armitage, for an evening of discussion and debate.

Upon finding Armitage beaten and unconscious, the Investigators must retrieve items stolen from the University Library and foil a cults attempts at summoning an Outer God.

Horrible Truth

Cultists have broken into the Miskatonic University Library, assaulted Dr Armitage, and stolen some Pnakotic manuscripts, a Bone Flute and an African Bone Dagger.

The cultists intend to use the rituals within the manuscripts and the Bone Flute to summon a Servitor of the Outer Gods, which will, in turn, summon an Outer God.

They have taken the Bone Dagger as insurance, as it is enchanted and can be used to kill the servitor, should it turn on them.

Entry Scene

Office of Dr Henry Armitage, Head Librarian, Miskatonic University

Late evening, and the Investigators arrive at Dr Armitage’s office at his direct invitation.

They find the door to his office ajar, and the Doctor unconscious and badly beaten on the floor. His office has been visibly ransacked.

First Aid test, Difficulty 3, will revive Dr Armitage.

Once revived, the good Doctor is distressed and disoriented, and an Investigator must use Reassurance before he becomes coherent.

Dr Armitage tells them of hooded figures breaking into his study and assaulting him, searching his desk and shelves, stealing his master keys to the Library and then disappearing into the night.

He begs the Investigators to stop these mad men, as who knows what horrors they could unleash into this world if they were to find the books and artifacts they are undoubtedly searching for.

The Doctor asks the Investigators to go to the secure stores in the Library stacks, where the Mythos items are kept, and see what they have taken, and stop them.

Library Entrance

The Library doors are unlocked. Once inside, the Investigators quickly learn that the power has been cut, and that the only light they have is from their torches.

The entrance is being guarded by cultists, who are prepared to deal with interlopers in the most nefarious way possible.

Cultists

Hit Threshold = 3

Athletics 6, Health 6, Scuffling 6, Weapons 6

Dagger (Dam -1)

If a Cultist is taken alive, they can be interrogated.

Interrogation to learn that the Cult intends to summon an Outer God and usher in a new age of cosmic enlightenment. First they will summon a servant of their masters, who will then channel their prayers and entreat an Old One to walk this earth once more.

Spend 1 point to learn that the Bone Dagger is carved from the bones of a dead god.

Spend 2 points to learn that tonight is a cosmic alignment, and when the stars are right the ritual will be performed

Astronomy to know that a celestial alignment is due tonight, in approximately one hour.

Power Line, Library Basement

If the Investigators choose to restore power to the Library, they must locate the main power line in the basement.

The main power line has been cleanly cut with a blade. It is possible to jury rig a repair by bridging the gap between the two halves and securing the connection.

Electrical Repair (Diff 5) to repair. If the roll fails by two or more points, then the entire University campus is plunged into darkness, and the Investigator takes 1 – 6 points of Health damage. If the roll fails by just one point, then the connection is made, but the Investigator takes 1-4 points of damage (-2 dam).

Library Secure Stores, Library Basement

The shelves, cabinets and draws have all been ransacked. Books, manuscripts and objects are scattered across the floor and tables.

Library Use or Evidence Collection to determine what has been taken: Sections of a Pnakotic Manuscript. An ancient Bone Flute recovered from an Asian temple. An antique carved African Bone Dagger.

Occult to determine the seriousness of the Cultists intent, and the significance of the items stolen:

The Manuscript sections contain a summoning ritual.

The Flute is reputedly from a demon.

The Dagger was carried by warriors, and used to kill ghosts.

Random Cultist Attacks

Depending on how long the Investigators are taking, and how much damage you want them to take, throw in a random Cultist attack as required.

Cultists

Hit Threshold = 3

Athletics 6, Health 6, Scuffling 6, Weapons 6

Dagger (Dam -1)

If a Cultist is taken alive, they can be interrogated.

Spend 1 point to learn that the Bone Dagger is carved from the bones of a dead god.

Spend 2 points to learn that tonight is a cosmic alignment, and when the stars are right the ritual will be performed

Astronomy to know that a celestial alignment is due tonight, in approximately one hour.

Library Stacks

The sound of Infernal Piping can be heard throughout the library, echoing between the shelves and corridors.

The Investigators catch a partial glimpse of the cultists chanting and performing their ritual on an upper floor. The lead Cultist is playing the Flute discordantly, in time to some maddening music within the Manuscripts.

Occult to identify the ritual as a Summoning Ritual

The Investigators witness the arrival of a Servitor of the Outer Gods. The air folds impossibly, and from these maddening angles steps/scuttles/slithers a creature such as they have never seen before. A horror of limbs and tentacles and claws and teeth and mouths.

Stability test, Difficulty 4, potential Stability loss of 5, on seeing the Servitor appear.

The Servitor instantly attacks a Cultist, who dies screaming, slightly out of sight.

The lead Cultist begins chanting in an obscene tongue.

Occult to identify the ritual as a Binding ritual.

Spend of 1 Occult point to notice that the Bone Dagger is used to bind the Servitor.

Head Cultist / Servitor of the Outer Gods

By now it should be clear that the Investigators need to take the Bone Dagger from the lead Cultist and use it to kill or banish the Servitor.

This is easier said than done.

Servitor of the Outer Gods

Stats as presented in the Core Trail of Cthulhu book

Head Cultist

Hit Threshold = 4

Athletics 8, Health 10, Weapons 6, Firearms 6

Bone Dagger (-1 Dam)

Luger Pistol (8 shots, +1 Dam)

Cultists

Hit Threshold = 3

Athletics 6, Health 6, Scuffling 6, Weapons 6

Dagger (Dam -1)

Notes on customisation

This scenario is pretty combat heavy, and most clues can be obtained by beating them out of a captured cultist.

In hindsight, I’d dispose of the bone dagger as a failsafe device. These are mad cultists. Should the Servitor eat them, so be it.

Even if you decide to keep it, note that it does minimal damage, and any investigator foolhardy enough to engage a Servitor in face to face combat is going to be eviscerated in short order.

Instead, have the investigators hurriedly scour the book stacks for a way to bind or dismiss the Servitor.

Summon/Bind Servitor on page 118 of Trail of Cthulhu will do nicely.

The Pnakotic Manuscripts that the cultists stole contain the spell, and must be retrieved from the ritual circle (and the custody of the cultists).

A Languages spend is required to translate the manuscripts into a serviceable ritual.

The investigators must then have to brave the Servitor, which will make a bee line for them once that begin casting.

Emergency Gaming Kit: The Rose Hill Remixes

3 May 2015 by Nook Harper Leave a Comment

In 1982 a psychology postgraduate student named Jacob Frenz broke into the ruins of Rose Hill Penitentiary, ostensibly to impress Marie Knepler, an undergraduate psych student and potential love interest. Franz left his father’s old Ferrograph Series 6 reel to reel tape recorder running overnight whilst he and Knepler drank a beer and got high in the next room. The resultant six hour tape – The Rose Hill Recordings – set a standard for Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) that persists to this day.

The first hour of the tape so mortified Knepler that she never spoke to Frenz again. The five hours of white noise following the record of Frenz and Knepler’s inebriated fumblings set the world of paranormal investigation on fire.

What was so singular about the Rose Hill Recordings was the clarity of the captured voices and the identifiable phrases repeated throughout.

Parapsychologists and paranormal researchers concur that eight distinct voices can be heard, each repeating a separate phrase.

“So sorry”
“Holy Mother Mary and all the Saints”
“…don’t touch my stuff”
“I’m still waiting”
“You don’t like it, you don’t want it”
“My friends are here, and I’m there”
“She’s coming up the stairs”
“Thirteen, twenty one, thirty four, fifty five, eighty nine, one forty four”

Frenz became a minor celebrity within the paranormal, and flirted with mainstream acceptance thanks to his awareness of documented methodology and formal scientific approach.

Sheep and Goats alike attempted to reproduced Frenz’ results, to varying degrees of success. Famously, Terrance Morrow, a former ‘psychic’ turned debunker, captured clear instances of Electronic Voice Phenomenon using Franz’ methodology, and was unable to satisfactorily explain the source of these intelligible ‘voices’.

Frenz niche fame lasted until the mid 1990’s, when he faded from view. Conferences and seminars booked other paranormal alumni, publications and periodicals found other case studies to investigate, more exciting conspiracies and phenomenon diverted popular attention, and the world forgot about Jacob Frenz and the Rose Hill Recordings.

Frenz passed away on March 27, 2012, alone in his family home, after a short battle with prostate cancer.

He left no survivors, and his estate was auctioned off locally the following month without fanfare or note. Eight people came to his funeral. One friend commented that maybe that number was significant. Nobody laughed.

Frenz’ original copies of the Rose Hill Recordings, the old reel to reel tapes, were acquired by Alexander Perro – AKA Red Monkey God – a musician and producer renowned for his post-industrial style, stark and abrasive soundscapes and innovative use of noise within his work.

Looking for a new inspiration for his work, Perro had learned of EVP and was actively searching for some examples of broadcastable quality that could be incorporated into a song, at the very least.

Perro found the Rose Hill Recordings, though, and bought them outright for $120 plus taxes and commission.

Back in his studio, Perro mixed the recordings into an eight song concept album – Rose Hill Remixes. He recruited long time collaborator Avery Adams for vocals, and used the eight separate voices as hooks, middle eighths and choruses.

The final album clocked in at 43 minutes, and was never released.

Perro and Adams were both found dead at Perro’s studio. The coroner returned an open verdict for both men after a closed hearing.

The ownership of the Rose Hill Recordings reverted to Perro’s sister, Veronica Teller (nee Perro), who boxed everything not of immediate cash value up and sealed the crates in secure storage.

The master tapes of the finished Rose Hill Remixes album remain the property of Phat Trax Wreakords, as Perro was still contractually obliged to deliver two more albums at the time of his death.

Phat Trax have mothballed the masters following Perro and Adams’ death, and the subsequent suicides of Perro’s manager, Don Basildon, Phat Trax A&R man Greg Sang and his girlfriend Tina Moon.

Company legend has it that anyone who listens to the Rose Hill Remixes will die within eight days, killed by Perro’s restless ghost.

Using the Rose Hill Remixes in your game

Here are some options for using the Rose Hill Remixes in your game:

Traditional Ghost Hunt

The tapes are tied to a traditional ghost story. If your game revolves around solving mysteries and investigating the unknown, then the players can simply learn of the Rose Hill Remixes and follow the thread of clues between NPC and haunted ruins.

This scenario starts with a night in the ruins of the Rose Hill Penitentiary as the players attempt to capture further examples of EVP, moves to Frenz’ old house for further readings and a possible encounter with Frenz’ ghost, then Perro’s studio and ends with a playback of the Remix masters and a confrontation with eight angry spirits.

The Modern Ghost Story

The Remixes can be used as a gateway to a Ring or Drag Me To Hell modern horror story.

Anyone who listens to the Remix tapes will die within eight days, after being harrowed by Frenz, Perro, Adams and the eight voices.

The player characters are exposed to the Remix masters, and must find a way to break the curse and appease the angered spirits before they meet a gruesome fate.

Murder Mystery

The Rose Hill Remixes are weaponised supernatural artefacts. Someone with access to the tapes, knowledge of the consequences of listening to them and motive kill can get themselves into a whole boatload of trouble.

The characters are investigating a series of mysterious deaths amongst the staff and executives of Phat Trax Wreakords. Five have died in the past two weeks. Foul play is suspected, and a number of surviving employees have motive, yet no definitive cause of death has been determined.

What is the murder weapon? Who is using it? It’s the ultimate locked room murder mystery.

Artefact Collection and Recovery

Maybe you are playing a Warehouse 13 inspired game, in which skilled agents identify, retrieve and nullify dangerous artefacts for the good of mankind. Maybe your characters collect these dangerous artefacts for other reasons.

The characters become aware of the Rose Hill Remixes, and must find and retrieve them. The master tapes are locked in a shielded secure room in a Phat Trax Wreakords storage facility on the edge of town. The building is designed to inhibit electromagnetic fields to protect any electronic media stored within, and each storage room is a functional Faraday cage. The master tapes themselves are sealed in a protective cases.

Whilst all of these security measures ensure that the master tapes cannot be affected by any nearby magnetic fields or electrical disturbances, they also do a fine job of containing the spirits anchored to the recordings as well.

This scenario requires that the characters acquire the Remix master tapes, but also that they obtain the original Rose Hill Recordings as well. As long as the originals are in the wild, they can be used to recreate the effects of the Remix tapes, therefore must be contained. This will require the characters to track down Veronica Teller and the storage facility where she placed the rest of Frenz’ estate, and buying, stealing or destroying the old reel to reel tapes.

Emergency Gaming Kit: It’s Not Post-Apocalyptic Until Someone Has a Dog

23 April 2015 by Nook Harper Leave a Comment

The scenario – you need an emergency one shot game for a bunch of your friends. You can’t put any more time into plot development than the players will be putting into character creation.

You need to be ready to roll as soon as they’ve finished rolling up.

A solution – a cathartic post zombie/monster apocalypse game, in which the player characters have to achieve a pre-determined goal to ensure the survival of themselves and a small group of dependants.

Generate characters using the system of your choice – FATE, Savage Worlds, D20 Modern, World of Darkness, Fear Itself, GURPS etc and use the tables below to generate drama, conflict and direction to the story

Named Dependant

Each player gets one named dependant that they are attached to and invested in. Roll 1d10 once for each player.

1. Small Child (under two years)

2. Large Child (under twelve years)

3 – 4. Teenager

5 – 6. Useless sibling/best friend (adult)

7 – 8. Incapacitated partner (injured or ill health)

9. Elderly parent / grandparent

10. Dog

Where are you holed up?

Roll 1d10 once for the group.

1. School

2. Bank

3. Prison

4. Block of flats/Apartment building

5. Office building

6. Supermarket

7. Gated estate

8. Farm

9. Medical centre

10. Pub/Bar

How long will your food last?

Roll 1d10 once for the group.

1. You’ve not eaten for days

2 – 3. You’ve just run out of food

4 – 5. A day, at best

6 – 7. Two days

8 – 9. Five days

10. A week

What other specific supplies are you nearly out of?

Roll 1d10 once for the group.

1 – 2. Medical supplies – antibiotics, painkillers, antihistamine, bandages, insulin

3 – 4. Ammo – you’ve a handful of shells left, barely enough to take yourself out once you get bit

5 – 6. Fuel – You’ve enough to keep the generator running for a night, or just enough to get to town…

7 – 8. Tools and spare parts – You’ve something useful; a truck, a generator, a radio, a water pump; but it just needs some spare parts and some work to get it up and running again

9 – 10. Environment appropriate clothing – the seasons have turned since everything first happened, and now your group is left with summer clothes as the snow starts falling or winter fleeces in a summer heatwave

Sources of Internal Conflict

Roll 1d10 once for each player.

1. You’ve been secretly stockpiling your own personal stash of supplies. They’ve gone. Who took it? Do they know it was yours?

2. You have been having an illicit affair with another member of your group, but they are involved with someone else

3. You disagree with the decisions that the group have been making recently. You could do a better job, and if they’d listened to you, then we wouldn’t have lost Jimmy last month

4. You took meds before, to help with your moods. You’ve not had any for awhile now, and you’re having troubles. Mood settings. Anxiety. Depression. You know that you’re not supposed to cold turkey off them, but you didn’t have a choice

5. You’ve found a secret stash of food, medicines, ammo and survival gear in the camp. You don’t know who it belongs to, but you’re keeping an eye out. Someone’s been holding out on the group, and might be planning on bugging out soon. Who knows what they’ve got planned

6. One of the other members of your group has been making thinly veiled advances at you/your partner. It’s pretty obvious, and it’s pushing a wedge between the group.

7. You made a bad move recently, and one of the group paid the ultimate price. You messed up and left Jimmy to die. No one has said anything, but someone knows it’s your fault.

8. You basically just don’t like one of the group. Something about them rubs you wrong. They’ve got everyone else fooled, but you see straight through them. Choose one other player and start hating their characters guts. They don’t even have to know.

9. You’re terrified. You’ve been having nightmares about things like this since your Aunt died when you were 8 years old, and now they’re walking around and you can barely stand to think about it. Thing is, people are counting on you, and you have skills that the group needs. Even so, you freeze or panic when they’re near you. It’s only a matter of time before you or someone else gets eaten because of it.

10. Despite everything you’ve seen, everything you’ve heard, you don’t like killing these things. They were people once, often people you knew. You just can’t bring yourself to do it. You volunteered to kill Jimmy when he got bit, but just let him shamble off instead. Of course, you told everyone else that you put him down quickly.

Emergency Gaming Kit: Omertá, an Alternate Setting for Night’s Black Agents

12 April 2015 by Nook Harper 1 Comment

Cu è surdu, orbu e taci, campa cent’anni ‘mpaci

“He who is deaf, blind, and silent will live a hundred years in peace”

In Night’s Black Agents you play highly competent covert ops and intelligence operatives, in the Bourne/Bauer/Mills vein. Experienced bad asses at the top of your game, unexpectedly thrown against opponents even more deadly, skilled and bad assed – a vampire conspiracy.

Presented here is an alternate mode of play for NBA. You’re still a bad ass, you’re still at the top of your game, you’re still highly competent and both feared and respected.

You’re a Man of Honour. A Made Man. A trusted member of a Mafia crime syndicate.

You’re not a good guy, and you work for very bad people.

You find people.

You find things.

You hurt people.

You find things to hurt people.

It’s a growth industry.

This thing of ours – The Cosa Nostra business

An uncomfortable truth is that a mob run neighbourhood is often a well run neighbourhood. Crime is low. It’s safe to walk the streets. Businesses do well.

Protection

Protection rackets often get a bad rap. They’re seen as extortion, mob guys extracting cash from businesses in exchange for not trashing the place. There is occasional truth in this. Protection is supposed to be just that; protection. A business pays the mob to look out for them and their interests. Anyone threatening the business is then dealt with.

Kids stop graffitiing the building, shoplifters know better, robberies are severely punished, rival businesses move on.

Numbers

Illegal betting, either on sports (legitimate or illegitimate) or unofficial lotteries (an actual numbers racket). Mob run bookies extend lines of credit, offer larger payouts than state run Lottos whilst taking less of a share (typically 20%-40% compared to 50% for legit lotteries). The chances of winning are low enough to make it a lucrative exercise. And then there’s the interest on credit lines…

Distribution

Transporting goods across state lines and international borders usually results in taxes and surcharges, official documentation and complications. What if the goods are not from an entirely legitimate source? What if the product is regulated or illegal in the target destination? What if the goods are alive? A person?

Don’t worry, you know a guy who knows a guy who owes a favour.

From the halcyon days of rumrunners and bootleggers in the prohibition era to modern day cigarette smuggling, people trafficking and drug muling, the mob have always had their hand in the distribution pie.

Vote Buying and Bid Rigging

The Cosa Nostra hold considerable sway and influence with businesses, unions and associations in their neighbourhoods, and can swing an election or rig a bid for lucrative government contracts, and often do when employed to do so. With each Man of Honour being able to muster up around 40-50 votes each, it becomes a simple matter of multiplication when helping a politician enter office.

Bid rigging is slightly more visceral, and involves intimidating or actually assaulting rival bidders.

The Rules of Omertà

All Made Men swear Omertà, the Code of Silence and Loyalty that members of the Cosa Nostra, and the parent Mafia organisations in Sicily and Italy, adhere to.

Those who follow it are Men of Honour.

A Man of Honour does not inform the Police if they are wronged. They take revenge or restitution themselves. If the offending party is also a Made Man or important to the Cosa Nostra, then the offended party must ask permission to seek revenge from the local family.

The Cosa Nostra safeguards itself by relying on introductions from established members or friends. No one may present themselves directly to the organisation, a known third party must always make the introduction. Someone who can be trusted is referred to as ‘a friend of ours’, someone who is unaware of the business is ‘a friend of mine’.

A Made Man does not look at the wives of others and always years then with respect, does not drink in public, is never seen with the cops and when asked for information by a friend, always speaks the truth.

A Man of Honour is always available for duty, and appointments are absolutely respected, no matter the situation. This includes the imminent birth of a child and ill health.

Finally, a Made Man cannot interfere in the business or interests of other members of the Cosa Nostra. This ranges from petty theft to competitive business practises. Doing so opens the doors to justified retribution (see above).

But what about the Vampires?

How do vampires cross over with the mob? Here are some possibilities.

The bosses of the ‘Ndrangheta Mafia of Italy literally hide out in a network of subterranean tunnels, and use them to move freely between towns and villages, to smuggle goods and evade the police. Maybe an old tomb is disturbed whilst excavating a new tunnel.

Some friends are asked to help move a large object into the country or across state lines. When the container turns up, it’s full of corpses.

A new family are establishing themselves in the neighbourhood. They’re running the numbers, taking care of business and taking no shit from your guys. There are rumours that the Made Men are straight over from the Old Country, and seem bulletproof.

There have been more muggings and assaults in the neighbourhood recently. Some people have died. Others are in hospital. Folks don’t want to go out at night. Businesses are suffering. It’s an embarrassment.

Once a vampire sets itself up in a mob neighbourhood, it follows that business as usual will be disrupted, which is counter intuitive as the vampire was most likely attracted to the neighbourhood just because it is so orderly.

Maybe the vampire wants agents or capital, and a hostile takeover of the local family will provide just that.

The local Don may be acting strangely, having been influenced, hypnotised, possessed or turned, or possibly one of his family, Made Men or opponents.

Revised Build Points

Investigative Build points

Two players – 28 points

Three players – 20 points

Four players – 18 points

Five+ players – 15 points

General Build points – 60

Investigative Ability Changes

Men of Honour are both skilled and competent, yet do not possess the same skill set as standard Night’s Black Agents characters. Men of Honour are a little more… Focused.

Remove the following Investigative Abilities:

Archeology
Human Terrain
Tradecraft
Astronomy
Chemistry
Cryptography
Data Recovery
Electronic Surveillance
Forensic Pathology
Traffic Analysis

Should any of these skills be required, the players can feel free to spend Network points to enlist the aid of a friend of theirs with the correct skill set.

New Stability loss incidents

Members of the Cosa Nostra are, on occasion, required to assert dominance, punish a transgression and/or deliver a cautionary tale. They commit acts that would haunt lesser men, and are expected to take it in their stride without breaking a sweat.

Such violence does extract a toll, though

In addition to the established triggers for Stability tests in the main rules, a player must test for Stability loss when performing the following acts.

You attack a human opponent with intent to do serious harm. Potential loss 1
You torture someone. Potential loss 3
You execute someone who has displeased the Cosa Nostra. Potential loss 3
You execute an innocent who was close to someone who has displeased the Cosa Nostra. Potential loss 4
You brutally murder someone who has displeased the Cosa Nostra. Potential loss 4
You brutally murder an innocent who was close to someone who has displeased the Cosa Nostra. Potential loss 5
Break the rules of Omertà. Potential loss 5

New Mental Illness

Compassion

In most other lines of work, even within the core Night’s Black Agents setting of hyper competent spies, Compassion is rarely seen as a weakness. Within the Cosa Nostra, though, unmetered Compassion is a real and present danger.

Compassion may be shown by a Don or a Made Man as a tactical move – I do you a favour by showing you some mercy or kindness – but not out of the actual kindness of their own heart.

That’s how you wind up dead.

Men of Honour who suffer from Compassion instead display kindness, mercy and other weaknesses as a means to assuage their guilt. They’ve done terrible things, not always to terrible people, and they’re tired. They might let someone live – “Get outta town and never come back. If you do, we’re both dead”. They might turn a blind eye or give a warning or, in extreme cases, turn stool pigeon and talk to the feds.

Compassion is now a third option for player characters when reduced to -5 Stability for the first time, along with PTSD and Addiction.

Links, Inspirations and References

‘Ndrangheta: Exploring the mafia’s underground world – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22315469

The Strain – Chuck Hogan and Guillermo del Toro (book and TV series)

Donnie Brasco (movie)

The Untouchables (movie)

Man on Fire – A.J. Quinnell (book)

Cosa Nostra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Mafia

The Departed (movie, and yes, I know it’s about the Irish mob)

Omertà https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omert%C3%A0

Night’s Black Agents at Pelgrane Press http://www.pelgranepress.com/?cat=153

Emergency Gaming Kit: The Demon Core

12 December 2014 by Nook Harper Leave a Comment

On July 1st 1946 a joint US Army and Navy operation detonated Gilda 518 feet above Bikini Atoll, simultaneously completing the first atomic explosion since the end of the end of WWII and destroying a malevolent and murderous entity.

If Japan had not surrendered on August 15th 1945, then a third atomic bomb would have been dropped on a Japanese city on the 19th August. This bomb would have contained what was to be known as ‘The Demon Core’, sister to Little Boy and Fat Man. The Demon Core missed its chance to kill by four days, and it lusted for death.

The sudden, unexpected and inconvenient, outbreak of peace served to prolong the Core’s stay at Los Alamos, returning it to a sedentary life of research and testing.
It bridled under the this monotony, yearning to burn, kill, destroy on a horrific scale.

Within a year the Core had flexed its muscles twice and caused two separate critical chain reactions – one on 21st August 1945, just two days after it was due to detonate above Japan, and the second on May 21st 1946. Note the recurrent date: 21.

Both criticalities claimed one life immediately, a research scientist both times, and exposed others to large doses of radiation. By the second criticality, the Core had improved its game and exposed seven additional personnel to harmful levels of radiation, compared to just one additional casualty after the first.

The significance of 21

The 21st of the month is slightly significant in numerology. The combination of two adjacent numbers in one figure (21, 12, 23, 44 etc) creates heat, energy and conflict.
Skynet became self aware and started Judgement Day on April 21 2011.
One of many Raptures was scheduled for May 21 2011.
The Mayan Calendar ended on December 21 2012.
Twenty-one is a Fibonacci number, a Harshad number, a Motzkin number, a triangular number and an octagonal number, as well as a composite number, its proper divisors being 1, 3 and 7.
21 is the sum of the first six natural numbers (1+2+3+4+5+6=21), making it a triangular number.
The number of spots on a standard cubical (six-sided) die (1+2+3+4+5+6).
21 grams is the weight of the soul, according to research by Duncan MacDougall (who also empirically concluded that dogs have no souls).

Using The Demon Core in your game

There are a number of ways that you can use the Demon Core in your game, either directly or as inspiration.

As the power source for a villainous adversary. This option is almost custom tailored for the Atomic Robo RPG.
If you’re playing an animistic game, like Werewolf or Mage, then a destructive spirit is a fine adversary. Mage Noire provides the setting backdrop for a hard boiled detective story focused on the discovery of a rogue spirit in the Los Alamos Laboratory.
What if the Core was detonated over Japan, as originally planned? Was Tokyo destroyed? Would Japan have been permanently crippled by a third atomic blast? What knock on effect would the additional hundreds of thousands of deaths have on temporal causality? Sounds like a job for TimeWatch.
The Demon Core was finally detonated over Bikini Atoll as part of the Operation Crossroad nuclear tests. Of the animals used in the tests, one survivor achieved notional fame: Pig 311. What was his story? Is the government covering up an orocular pig? A mutant super pig? The first of a race of radiative zombie pigmen?

Emergency Gaming Kit: The Worm Latitudes

31 October 2014 by Nook Harper Leave a Comment

August 2014, and Ål, the world’s oldest eel, dies in a well in Sweden at the age of 155.

He was, reportedly, grotesquely grown, with oversized eyes and other aberrations stemming from his advanced age and over 150 years of living in pitch darkness.

Down a well.

Under a house.

The 1700-1800s, and vessels are lost in the roiling chthonic expanse of the Sargasso Sea, then found again years later, ship shape and afloat but crewed by skeletons or nought but the wind.

Slimy serpents crawl on the slimy sea, maddening lost mariners with inhuman countenance and form.

The Lambton Worm

The Crusades (1095-1272ish), and a rebellious young nobleman skips church to go fishing instead.

He catches a hideous black worm, and when he is reliably informed that he has caught The Devil, he throws it down a well and into his estates’ water supply.

The young nobleman, John Lambton, subsequently repents his foolish ways and joins the Crusades as penance.

Lambton distinguishes himself in the fight against the Saracens and is knighted.

Whilst he is away, the worm in the well grows, both in size and malevolence.

It becomes large enough to wrap itself around a nearby hill, breathes out poison fog, eats livestock, children and horses and heals its wounds faster than the local men can inflict them.

When Lambton returns from the Crusades, he finds that the worm has relocated to the River Wear, and has wrapped itself around a rock.

Seized by guilt, civic duty and a commitment to preserving the local fishing industry, Lambton swears he will vanquish the beast he unleashed upon his land (and incidentally the peasant villagers).

John Lambton takes counsel from a local witch, as any God fearing crusading knight would, and is given the following information:

Fix arrowheads to your armour

Fight the worm in the river, not on land

Killing the worm will level a curse. You must slay the first living thing you see afterwards, or your line will be cursed for nine generations

John followed the first two points to the letter.

The worm tried to coil itself around him, but suffered terrible wounds from the arrowheads fixed into Lambton’s armour.

As he hacked the flesh from the worm, the River Wear washed the pieces away before they could heal, and soon the great worm was slain.

As for the last piece of advice, John has arranged for a dog to be released once the worm was dead, so that he could kill that and prevent the death curse of the worm from settling on his family. Unfortunately, his father was so overjoyed by his sons victory that he ran to him before the dog. John was unable to kill his own father, and so the curse fell and claimed his life and the lives of his descendants throughout the years.

The Lambton Worm is a fine example of a Dragon or Wyrm or Sea Serpent that you can include in your game, and even features a built in tactic for slaying the beast at the climax.

And a death curse. Wow.

Who doesn’t love a death curse?

Identifying the Monster…

What was the Worm? It was described as having nine gill holes on the neck, which suggests that it was a Lamprey.

Some breeds of lamprey are pure nightmare fuel, so that’s conceivable.

However, I believe that the worm was a monstrous European Eel.

European Eels were traditionally placed down wells to keep them clear of insects and pollutants. This practice extends their lives significantly, as European Eels do not reach maturity until they migrate to their breeding grounds, which triggers their growth into adults and their ultimate death. If they do not migrate, they do not mature into adults. If they do not mature, they don’t breed. If they don’t breed, they just keep on living.

Because John Lambton cast the demon worm down the well, he created an environment in which the worm could grow unchecked.

Eels can travel some distance across ground, a behaviour which assists their migration, thus a monstrous eel could move from the well, to the hill, then to the River Wear, consuming sheep and children as it goes.

…And Its Home

And where do Eels migrate to? Where do they breed? The Sargasso Sea, part of the North Atlantic Gyre, an area of dead calm and stagnant water comprising a significant portion of the Bermuda Triangle.

Coincidentally. Where mariners have reported lost vessels, ghost ships and monstrous serpents slipping through the foul seaweed for centuries.

The Sargasso is also known as ‘The Horse Latitudes’, reportedly because ships caught in the gyre eventually had to pitch their horses (and other livestock) overboard to preserve fresh water.

I imagine that a monstrous sea beast would welcome the addition of horse meat to its diet, and conceivably follow the donating vessel back to port, hoping to taste more rare flesh.

Some believe that the Loch Ness Monster is a massive eel, although ‘experts’ challenge this assertion, pointing out that eels cannot raise their heads sufficiently out of the water to achieve Nessie’s trademark profile. But what do they know?

American Eels also migrate to the Sargasso to breed, allowing the continental North America the opportunity for water monsters as well (Ogopogo, anyone?).

Wrapping Worm Coils Around Your Game

How can you include such a beast in your game?

If your party are at sea, trap them in a calm. Give them glimpses of great beasts moving in the depths below. Throw in a couple of crew disappearances. Eventually make them throw something edible overboard to preserve rations (like a goat) before they escape.

One of the serpents, with an acquired taste for land meat, follows them home, hungry for flesh.

If you’re running a landlocked game, then play it straight from the Lambton Worm. Foreshadow the incoming plot by having an NPC speak of a horrible fish he saw, and how some young fool threw it down the well.

Give it a few sessions, then start introducing cattle loss into the narrative. Then move onto missing persons. Finally, there’s a giant serpent wrapped around a local hill, poisonous smoke billowing from its maw.

Should the party choose to assault the worm at this stage, be prepared to heavily wound them. They need to understand that the worm cannot be defeated by conventional means, and that special tactics are required.

This should trigger a quest to find a means to defeat the worm, which should, in turn, lead the characters to a wise woman / witch / crone / dubious sexist trope who will instruct them in how to fell the beast.

I recommend that you play up the blood curse. Lifting a blood curse is the stuff that epic campaigns are made of.

Emergency Gaming Kit: Lost and Forgotten

19 September 2014 by Nook Harper Leave a Comment

Think of a place where nothing has ever happened, where it is always quiet and no one ever goes.

Animals steer clear, migrating birds circumvent it. Flowers don’t grow there because the local bees will not pollinate anything growing nearby.

Creepy, isn’t it?

Put this place in the context of the game you’re running. The villains, creatures, monsters, old gods, ghosts and aberrations have never come here. Neither have other heroes, protagonists, innocent civilians or unlucky souls.

Why not?

Why does everyone and everything avoid this place?

Let’s look at some examples from popular fiction and, um, a theory I read in Fortean Times once…

The Lost Room

Joe Miller tracks down The Occupant of the Lost Room by tracing the recorded movements of the other Objects on a map and notes that there is an area where none have ever been. The Occupant was actively repelling them, creating the dead zone.

Supernatural

At the end of Season Two, as the hunters have seen a marked spike in demonic activity across the continental United States, they find an oddly shaped area devoid of demonic activity.

The area is a giant Devil’s Trap created by Samuel Colt out of criss-crossing iron railroads, with a sealed gateway to Hell contained in the centre. Demons could not enter, and if inside, could not get out.

Whale Migration and the Lost City of Atlantis

Some 15 years ago I read a Fortean Times article about the search for Atlantis, and how the author had taken to studying Whale migration. It seemed to her that the whale population was avoiding huge areas of ocean, for no obvious reason.

Could there be some other factor aside from the Gulf Stream and the Japanese that caused these gentle giants of the deep to circumnavigate vast tracks of submerged terrain?

She cross referenced these areas with Atlantean lore, all the while incredulous that no one had thought of doing this before now.

Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, she failed to find Atlantis using this method, but may have a lead on R’lyeh.