Hot War Playtest
Session One
GM: Neil Gow
Players: Dave Grundy, Ben Clapperton, Andrew Watson

The Square

Game Introduction
The first step was running through, briefly, the events that have lead to Hot War and the general premise of the game. This was actually harder than I imagined because of the lack of readily available reference media. I’ll talk about that later but I repeatedly had to refer them to watching ‘The War Game’.

There was also a corner to be turned regarding the concept of nuclear attack and well, continued civilisation. I think there is almost too much knowledge nowadays regarding nuclear war and its effects but these are fuelled by the world-destroying nukes we see in films and the horrors we have grown up with. This lead to a very interesting conversation about the level of destruction that could have occurred and whether the continued civilisation was viable and issues of fallout and stuff like that. In the end I just had to say – look, this is what has happened and what exists and the bombs that dropped resulted in this result.

Game Creation Sheet
We ran through the game creation sheet but, predictably, by the 3rd point we were jumping around with our brain-stormings and throwing ideas around all over the place. It did help to make sure we didn’t miss something.

Open or Closed Game: We chose to have open character creation with closed agendas

Tone of the Game: We discussed the various tones suggested and one of the issues that arose was that as a group we had only seen a few of these – the more modern ones. We wanted some supernatural horror involved both direct and indirect (the threat of monsters and the actuality). We wanted the survival aspect to be heavily played and some degree of having to establish laws and order. There was indeed a conversation that the players would, in a non-playtest game, run a game outside the SSG structure and be survivors building their community. We liked the winter motif as well.

What is the group doing?: After some discussion we decided that the would be an SSG group that has been sent to contact and possibly ‘bring home’ a group of survivors that have been contacted by radio on the outskirts of London. However, when they get there winter falls and they are cut off in the horrendous blizzards. Trapped with these survivors, they have to unravel their community and bring them home.

Who are the Antagonists: We have the shadowy presence of the Government and its enforcement of its rules over those created by the community. There is a monster(s) who are stalking this community. The exact nature of the monster(s) is left to me as they are shadowy stalker types. The Leader of the community is the Vicar who isn’t strong enough to see the degeneration around him caused by his inability to make difficult decisions – as such everyone is suffering. We spitballed some other stuff and indeed almost got to the evil catholic paedo priest stereotype but one of the players vetoed this as being too close to his former line of work and not something he wanted as a fun activity.

Who else features: We have an expansive list of members of the community. We have the WI Woman who has stepped up to help run the community in a more practical manner but is constantly ignored because she is just a woman. We have a loner figure who never fits in but who makes sorties into the wilderness and comes back with ‘stuff’ that is useful. We have a prostitute who is tolerated by the community as a whole because it is better than she is their sinner than all of the single men cannot control their … urges. We have a foreigner who is part of the community. We have a handful of former Home Guardsmen who have secured the community but who are worthless in a fight.

This then precipitated a conversation on just where the community was – we went through an old university, an isolated village, the National Centre for Epilepsy and a number of other places but in the end we settled on …. A square in a terraced area of a suburb of London. And yes, that does sound familiar but having it set in an Eastenders style place gives a little imagery to hang stuff on and an easy defendable area which is still quite small and cramped for the survivors.

Requested Scenes: This is the black and white photo part and it was REALLY well received by the players. The idea of pre-loading the game with plot bombs that had to be weaved into the story was very good. The three photos are:

Dave: the profile of his character from behind with both arms holding two struggling women by the neck, holding them about 1ft off the ground.

Andrew: The Vicar, standing in the park. A man dangles from a tree on a noose. The loner stands behind him, distraught.

Ben: Daves character is walking away from the community down a street which leads into the wilderness. He has his left arm in a sling. A pregnant woman is in the background looking mournful.

Length of Game: 2-3 sessions – more likely three

Character Generation
As we have just finished playing Cold City all I needed to do was explain some of the subtle differences that have been added to the ruleset and then we were in the groove with the characters.

There was a lot of discussion about the new Numbered Agendas and their resolution. Specifically does this conclusion of the agenda trigger the end of the game? Do characters get a new agenda? How do you handle players whose characters have resolved their agendas and still have a number of game sessions to play? What happens with ‘apocalyptic agendas’ like ‘Kill everyone in the SSG’ and it is set at 5? We discussed a lot about table contract and veto here. I think it would be fair to say that the players weren’t convinced by the need for the mechanic but they are interested to see how it plays out.

And onto the characters (agendas hidden on request by the players because they cannot help themselves…)

Player: Ben
Character: Terry Fowler
Background: Former bobby on the beat who believes in the sanctity of the Law

Action:3
Influence:3
Reason:2

Traits
I am the Law (+)
Physically Fit (+)
Chew Your Ear Off (+)
Mark (-)
Natural Follower (-)

Trust:
Michael Proctor – 1
DI Wilson - 3

Experience Scene:
Directly after the first strike the streets of his beat are filled with panicing people who turn upon the family of a Polish pilot who has settled after the war. PC Fowler stands between the mob and the man and calms them down telling them that if they succumb to their fear and break the law they are no better than animals or the Russians. He succeeded in this scene and gained (+) Courage in the face of numbers

Established Fact: During the panic, all Eastern Europeans in London were attacked

Player: Dave
Character: Corporal Michael Proctor
Background: Army survivor of Porten Down – actually an IRA infiltrator who has been possessed by a Dark Thing.

Action:4
Influence:2
Reason:2

Traits
Veteran of a Lost War (+)
Clinical Detachment (+)
The Moonshine’s on me! (+)
It’s in a skirt? Chase it! (-)
Extreme Authoritarian (-)

Trust
Terry Fowler – 3
DI Wilson - 1

Experience Scene:
As the army fights the Russians they are forced to recruit all men of fighting age. He is sent to gather conscripts but they refuse to comply. He takes control and is ready to ‘instill military discipline’ by getting them to decide which of them will be executed or they all are (ala BSG:Razor and World War Z). He loses the conflict in the face of a screaming mother and her conscripted 14 year old son and gains (-) Soft Spot For Kids

Established Fact: The Army used any method possible to throw troops before the Soviet advance

Player: Andrew
Character: Detective Inspector Wilson
Background: Former Scotland Yard Detective who was recruited to MI5 and then retired, only to choose to serve again.

Action:2
Influence:4
Reason:2

Traits
Keen Insight Into Human Behaviour (+)
This (London) is my Backyard (+)
Police Detective (+)
Obsessive (-)
Political Dissident (-)

Trust:
Terry Fowler – 3
Michael Porter - 2

Experience Scene:
As a crackling radio announcement announces war and the initiation of army law he stands on his lawn arguing with his dear wife about the value of him returning to active service and whether he would fit in again and be of use. He wins the conflict and gains (+) For King & Country

Established Fact: One of the last radio announcements was a proclamation of marshal law, curfews and the establishment of internment camps for foreign nationals

And there we broke, ready for the game to come.

Comments
1. Looking at the introduction to the game I think there needs to be some GM resource that allows the players to grasp the nuances of the setting without them effectively having to read the book. One issue that was brought up was that this is a very particular period in British history. It isn’t the swinging 60s and it isn’t directly pre-war – its that sort of ‘null period’ inbetween before the UK caught up with the rest of the world. The societal norms of the period are quite different from those nowadays and from any of the easily accessible archetypes before or directly after. Getting those ‘over’ really helps with the setting so that it doesn’t feel like an American Survivalist setting but the information needs to be easily digestable.

2. I felt that the thing that makes Hot War … well, Hot War is the very Britishness of it and that post-war, pre-Beatles feeling of compliance and trust in the government – something that is pretty much an alien concept nowadays. If the tone of the game is too action-based it could very easily move towards a US paradigm of a survivalist culture which is only a hop and a skip away from Mad Max and that isn’t really what I am taking from Hot War.

3. The best primer for the game is definitely ‘The War Game’ but that’s impractical really as a reference. If you could get a copy and house it on CGS website that would be great.

4. Other than that the only problem is that the book still has a slew of typos and mixed up sentences and missing bits – like the character sheet. From a game and character creation point of view, it worked perfectly and generated characters and situation that are VERY different from Cold City whilst using essentially the same mechanics.

Neil

Just so people don't think I'm ignoring this, my responses can be found in the referenced thread on Playtesting.co.uk.

edit: And here are my comments from Playtesting.co.uk!

I'm really excited that playtesting has started for Hot War and that there's already some great feedback coming out of it.

It appears that a 'primer' of sorts would definitely be advantageous for players, perhaps a page of information snippets, key facts about Britain pre- and post-war and so on. That might help to get people into the setting with less input from the GM.

I take your comments about numerical agendas on board, they are very much something that may or may not work in reality. Testing will tell. Your point about very dramatic agendas is well made. The text should be altered to take such things into account. A character can leave the game when an agenda has been fulfilled, or they can gain a new agenda. But your point about agendas such as 'destroying the SSG' raises the issue of really huge ones disrupting the game. Further explanation and advice will be required here.

Looking forward to hearing more about the characters and how they work out in play.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios