The Characters

As I mentioned above, this was a slow-ish process, slightly because I wasn't great at explaining traits (maybe I should have read out more bits from the manuscript?) but in general because either there was a lot more thinkng time than usual from people not used to story games, or because they were having to put a lot of thought into what they wanted to do given an unfamiliar setting.

We worked through each aspect of the characters as a group before moving on to the next, which worked well given that it was an open game. I think a closed game would have made that much harder on new players, who would feel thay shouldn't ask for too much help because they would give things away. Stu jumped right in feet first with a factionless (!?!) ex-street ganger and crook, trying to turn straight. Meep! No faction? How could that be? Well, we got around it with a bit of creative thinking.

Lieutenant Jonathan Montgomery, RN (William)

Background: Mid-level Navy officer who, due to some bad command decisions shamed himself during the initial attacks. Relegated to the SSG to get him out of the way, though he blames others before himself.

Action: 3
Influence: 2
Reason: 3

Traits:
+Combat Experience
+Naval contacts
+Loyal to the Navy
-Arrogant
-Rather be at sea

Hidden Agendas:
personal - Get back to sea, get a command
factional - demonstrate Naval dominance

Trust:
Michael McGuire - 1
Frank Denholm - 2

Experience Scene:
Onboard his ship, in a moment of calm amidst the pitched battle in the channel, a nearby ship is going down and her men are crying for help. The senior bridge crew were killed suddenly when a squad of Soviet Commandos appeared on deck - teleported. They were taken down, but ss the senior officer remaining officer, Montgomery had to decide: put out boats to save the nearby survivors, or flee back to dock, saving this ship to fight again. A dark shadow approaches on the radar(sonar?) with alarming speed. He tells the crew to head to port. They argue against it, but he stands firm. Unfortunately, the crew then decide to knock him out and try to rescue the stricken men. The ship is torpedoed, lmps back to port, and Montgomery is blacklisted as a man who can't control a crew in a crisis.

Negative trait gained: lack of leadership skills
Established fact: Soviet teleportation technology on a dark ship of alarming speed, still out there somewhere.

we wanted him to have his way here, and he got 2 dice removed from the opposing pool. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Since he had to fail here one way or the other as his reason for joining the SSG, we chose to have it demonstrate something more about his personality. Jonathan montgomery is arrogant, but he blames other people for his failings and it shows.

DC Frank Denholm (Andy)

Background: Newcastle copper, older man with plenty of experience, who was in London on a conference when the bombs dropped - specifically, collaborating on the investigation of a series of grizzly murders which spanned the country. Now totally uprooted, shunted into the SSG with no chance of finding out whether his family are alive or dead.

Attributes:
+Reads the Scene
+Intuitive
+By the Book/Traditionalist
-Uprooted
-Jaded and Untrusting

Hidden agendas:
Personal- get back into his position in the job - get the limelight, get the rep.
factional- uncover SSG excesses/corruption/criminality

Trust:
Michael McGuire - 1
Jonathan Chumley-Boatrace - 2 (player's own words)

Experience Scene:
In the aftermath of the initial attacks, DC Denholm makes his way to the Met and presents himself as ready for duty. The chief inspector looks at him like he's mad and tries to shush him into a corner out of everyone's way - he's obviously panicked and completely disorganised, and a stranger trying to work with an already fragmented team just doesn't appeal. Seeing his position growing tenuous, Denholm makes a strong play based on his previous experiences and good track record. The Chief relents somewhat; Denholm is still told to go home ("what home?!?"), but the inspector keeps him in the loop until he finds a good use for him - in the SSG.

positive trait: actually, Andy forgot to write it down, but I think we were going with something like "A friend in the Met"
Established fact: Erm, well, the basic one was that the Police were highly disorganised in the aftermath of the War, but what also came out of discussion was linked to Stu's character, below: that in the areas around the british research sites, cults were forming as people made pacts with demons without the knowledge of the BERG - even before war broke out.

this one was tough - very much a scene where from discussion about the character we all knew what would happen. We again had to look at the detail of the situation, and how it could affect Denholm on a personal level. Also, two out of three of the players added dice, for a net gain of one, but Andy won in spite of that.

Michael McGuire (Big Stu)

Background: An irish gang member, thief, thug and occasionally killer, Michael decided to go straight when he had a falling out with his older brother just after the war. He tried to join the cops and was rejected, but an officer offered to sponsor him in the SSG - for a price.

Attributes:
Action: 3
Influence: 3
Reason: 2

Traits:
+Luck of the Irish (Stu clarified that this wasn't to be a catch all trait, but only apply to little things, like just happening to pick the unlocked door first, or happening to have picked up a torch right before the lights go out)
+Back Street Brawler
+Street Savvy
-Bad Reputation
-Red Mist

Hidden Agenda:
personal: Confront his brother and attempt to stop his doings in any way and at any cost.
Factional: steal specific personel files from the SSG headquarters and deliver them to his police contact.

Trust:
Frank Denholm - 1
Jonathan Montgomery - 1 (I noticed that when forced to spend a certain number of points, people are inclined to go for low trust levels. Could seriously underplay the importance of trust in the game)

Experience scene: With the air still wailing with sirens warning of impending societ attacks, Michael and Liam McGuire head out to extract cash from a shopowner. The man wails that money has no meaning any more, but the brothers threaten his wife. He gives in, however Liam orders his brother to bring the man down into the basement. He gets michael to hold him up, then brings out a knife and slices his shirt open. He tells his brother that you have to make them afraid before they respect you, but when he slices the man's skin open, Michael drops him and begins to ask serious questions. Liam insists that debts have to be paid, and dark shadows draw in around him. Michael recoils when he realises what Liam has become. He tries to make him stop, but Liam just tells him to run, then gets to work. Michael stays long enough to see that what ever this man is, he's not his brother anymore.

negative trait: Loner - he has no family anymore, as far as he's concerned.
Established fact: Demons were making pacts with anyone who could offer them blood sacrifices regardless of which side summoned them, all the way down to the level of the streets.

Ooh, dark. Also, really good roleplaying from Andy and Stu. The aspect of Andy's character being involved in occult murder investigations came out of this scene - which was played before all the others, actually.

So, who else features? Well, Stu's brother, obviously. That was the only person we specifically wanted to see, though we suspect the police sponsor may show as well.

Finally, which scenes did we want to see: We followed the black and white photo guidelines, though I suspect the framing of one of them would be tricky, easier established with a slow panning shot.

Stu: his character in an underground den, bruised and bloodied, on his knees in front of his brother.
Andy: all three characters, standing in a triangle shouting and angry, with plenty of conviction. (wanted to try to describe them having a falling out over the morality of a course of action, like a mexican stand-off, but couldn't work out how to describe it visually)
William: A room full of tanks, containing the preserved bodies of dozens of twisted cloned humans. A sign over the door proclaims 'Royal Navy'

So that's where we got to. We decided afer all this that we were going to have to expand it to 3 weeks total, because the game/character generation took the whole session. More in 2 week's time - in the intervening week, I'm going to run a quick game of Cold City. Ah, racial stereotypes, how I love thee.

Excellent, that's really great stuff. I think the characters are all shaping up really nicely, with engaging scenes and interesting backstories.

A few questions:

How did you relate the background to the game? Did you get players to read stuff, give them a short precis, or some other method? I'm interested specifically in how easy it is to make the players aware of the nature of the setting and background, as it is quite different from your more 'Mad Max' style post-apocalypse game. Are there things you would like to see in the game that would make your job, as GM, easier in this regard?

In terms of the tricky elements of the setup, how did you get past them (such as the raming of scenes as photos) and are there ways you can see to make this easier for both players and GMs?

Are you (as a group) engaged with the game? After making characters and setting up play, is there a real keen-ness to continue?

Finally, any other comments at all about structuring, layout and information would be great, if you have such comments.

I look forward to the next installment!

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

Yes, we're all looking forward to the next session. William actually went to the shop today to tell Lucy how good it was, and I kep t telling peopl ethat it went really well, I've got so much to work with. In fact, when I told people the basic elements that came out of the first session, they started looking interested in playing too.

As for how I got it across, mostly it was describing things from memory if it was in the middle of something else (I find that giving people things to read detracts from the momentum of the game), or finding the appropriate bits and reading them out charismatically when I had a moment to find them or when people were looking at each other bewildered. I did reference Cold City quite a lot, because the background of Nazi super-science and its evolution into Cold War weapons technology helps people get past the "WTF?" issue when you mention demons and soviet zombies. Plus, it gives good obvious examples of when people might want to backstab each other. HW is much more subtle than CC for that, so it can be harder to work out ho you might end up in that sort of situation.

To make things easier? Well, the way the faction stuff isn't well detailed in the character gen section, does mean you kind of have to jump around a bit to give people the really gritty stuff to base characters on, and given the unusual-ness of the setting, people need something to get their teeth into. There were times when the play ground a little to a halt while people looked at each other a little bewildered, and I had to dig out more examples and descriptive bits to read out to get things going again.

I also had to be very pro-active in making suggestions, which is something I normally don't like to do as a GM. I tried to take to heart the message that we're all players, and it did help. maybe accentuating that for the GM section could be useful, since the GM taking the role of a player actually actively helps run the game (I felt).

And I guess the fact that the tone was such a no-brainer might be an issue. I tried to sell the other versions of the tine, but the rest of them don't really seem to ring true with the early 60's-ness of it. Perhaps more examples of how a scene might pan out in a certain tone?

Shevaun

Thats all good feedback. It's really wonderful to hear that you and the rest of the group are enthused about the game.

One final question (something that came out of a playtest report from Neil): Would it have been hady to have a brief one or two page handout that summarises, in single sentences, the key aspects of the setting, natures and ethos of the game? Just so the players can easily get to grips with it.

Cheers
Malc

Contested Ground Studios

Yeah, I'd go with that. There are a lot of bits and pieces which people need to remember or consider when making a character, nothing overwhelming but all somewhat unfamiliar. Like Dust Devils, the grouping of all the rules, sequences and examples could be handy. Alternatively, a bit more info on the Game Gen sheet would work just as well to smooth out play.

I also miss the little Stereotypes part from CC - it was the best, most often used part of the book for me, because the players often needed a quick handle on why their PC might hate (or not hate) the other characters. I know its a bit different in HW, but I found myself reading out the bits about the various factions just as much to help people work out why they might dislike them as want to play them. Its not bad for the Police and the BERG - cops are easy to hate and have their own set of stereotypes associated with them (though you'll get modern stereotypes if you leave it too sparse), and evil scientists are evil scientists, no matter what the timeframe. But the Navy are just a kind of distant entity these days, and most people won't know the difference between attitudes to the army, navy and RAF, except that the RAF were a bit more glamorous because of the planes.

Also, here's one that's occurred to me; I get the feeling like a lot of the things which people need to understand to get the feel of the game are in the examples of play - and yeah, you kind of expect people to read those bits too, but (with the notable exception of Game Night) the examples of play should illuminate the rules rather than contain them. I don't know - perhaps I should get a second opinion on that one, but the experience of trying to find the rules to confirm my understanding of them was a little glitchy; I fell back on CC experiences a lot to explain things, though whether that was because it was easier or because I couldn't find/remember examples from the HW manuscript I'd need to pay more attention to next time to work out.

Shevaun

NB: this is me picking at tiny things mostly, hence requests for 2nd opinions. I wouldn't beat yourself up over it, and most of this will probably be proven or dis-proven in actual play.