So at dragonmeet I ran a four player session of ‘Brothers in Arms’. The scenario revolves around 4 brothers choosing how they are going to avenge the killing of their father. I had run this scenario twice at Furnace and both the games there were markedly different from the one at Dragonmeet.

The scenario begins outside the restaurant the boys have been having a family meal in. There father has been found dead in an alleyway just near the restaurant, shot in the head and stomach. In the distance sirens can be heard and they are getting closer. This is the kick off point for the game.

One of the brothers immediately left to get the car their father had been fetching when he was attacked. Bundling their mother and the corpse into the car, they sped off ringing some contacts, resulting in their dad’s body hidden in a deep freeze at a butcher’s shop. As this was happening one of the brother’s receives a call saying a hit has been put out on their father and that they better be careful.

The brothers decided to go back to the restaurant to find out if anyone had seen anything before their father was shot. They get the registration plate and make of a car which one of them phones into a cop contact. The car turns out to belong to a guy called O’Leary, who is one of the ambitious young Irish guys.

The brothers know that their father had been resisting the sudden Italian expansion into their areas of control and try and get some more information on what exactly is going on. They find that there are some deals going on behind the scenes and that O’Leary is leading the charge in the direction of the Italians.

They decide to go and whack O’Leary, and damn the consequences. They did discuss this, in character, in some detail and it did get fairly graphic which I found surprising, more on that later. Going out to whack O’Leary they see a large, registration plate free limo pulling past them. A quick reconnaissance round the home finds O’Leary executed and his wife and kids dead. Whoever he was involved with looks like the deal has gone south.

Calling around some contacts they find that the unmarked limo probably belongs to the mafia and they set out to track down who may be behind the hit on O’Leary and possibly the hit on their father. Visiting some friends and calling in some favours, as well as throwing in a few story chips along the way to influence the narrative, they find that a young Italian called Tatallia was buying into O’Leary’s business. They also learn he has a penthouse and visits ‘The Jailbird’ speakeasy on a nightly basis.

Throwing in some more chips to get the gear and men they need, they set about putting together a trap for Tatallia. Getting one of their Mafia contacts to convince Tatallia that his house has been attacked by the Irish, they block one of the roads on the way to his flat. A pitched battle ensues resulting in Tatallia’s nasty death.

What went well
The players seemed to enjoy it and we had a good laugh playing the game.

I got the system over better this time, doing the initial skirmish with open hands to talk them through it. I had a proper poker hand break down this time but I think I would like to add the skirmish sequence as well, though that might be better explained.

I worked chips in better but I still have work to do in that respect. Adding them to the character sheet and stripping that down a bit.

Things I need to do better on
Tighter scene framing and explaining where I get scene chips from. I used to be great at this but I think my lax attitude to it comes from running the game too much.

Remembering to bring in codes, loyalties and tells more. Although their response was more direct to the situation I still had opportunity to bring some into play. I attribute me not clicking into it properly to my not feeling too great.

The Weird
The game was very, very violent. The players seemed to spend quite a lot of time discussing the violent solution to things, which brought some hilarity but some uncomfortable situations as the game does not glorify violence at all. I didn’t want to smack them down for it but I think I will be sure to introduce consequences to their actions a lot more in future games. I think it part the concentration on violence may have been due to me not focusing the game properly on the codes, loyalties and tells.

I enjoyed running the game over all and it gave me some food for thought on writing up the scenario.

Cheers

Iain