The previous episodes in this playtesting saga have been related in the following threads:
Tonight represented the final session for this particular game and it certainly proved to be another corker, both in terms of the fiction that came out of the game and the changes to the mechanics. Going into the game I'd looked over the character sheets and noted relationships that had lain unused, some of them pretty powerful and/or important. So I scribbled down a few potential scenes that might get brought into the game. This also helped to structure it in my head, which was pretty handy. All in all, we got through a total of 11 scenes, way more than in previous sessions. Everyone later commented that our feel for the mechanics, the characters and the way the story was going really helped with this.
To cover off the scenes, they broke down like this:
Scenes 1 & 2 involved getting a message from, and then meeting, the 'inside man' who had been mentioned during the game creation phase, but who hadn't yet come into the story. This also drew on the 'B&W photo scene suggestion' from Morgue, which had also lain unused since the game creation phase.
Scenes 3 & 4 revolved around Dupont, the French refugee father whom we met in the very early stages of the first session. He was now back and armed with a shotgun, looking to kill Moreley, the work gang leader who ordered him and his family beaten. Although Moreley was duped into coming outside, Neames (Steves character) intervened and he was then captured. The following scene was one of the most powerful we've yet had, where (again drawing on a 'B&W photo scene suggestion' from the game creation phase), Neames was handed a gun and told to execute Dupont. The scene took place in a dank cellar, with Beaumont, Neames and Perkins all involved and all having to make sacrifices and be complicit in the death of an innocent man.
Scenes 5, 7 & 10 all involved the appearance of Mary Pike, the girl whom Perkins wishes to marry. All of these scenes built the relationship up, through a quest for black market tins of condensed milk and Perkins blurting out to Mary that he is actually a spy of some kind. It's the first time we had met Mary and, had the game been continuing on any further, the story of her relationship with Perkins would certainly have formed a major thread.
Scenes 6 & 6 saw Beaumont being recognised by Lieutenant Commander Barlow, a Navy colleague who arrived in Battersea with a motor gunboat towing a barge, on a mission to collect refugees for the camps in the Thames Estuary. Beaumont was recognised by Barlow, who proceed to ruin Beaumonts good reputation in the eyes of the men of the work gang before bringing him on board the gunboat for a brandy. We then had a flashback scene to the English Channel during the War, when both characters were on a destroyer defending against tentacular leviathans. The conflict that emerged told the story of Barlow using his tiny amount of seniority to force Beaumont and the sailors who respected him to machinegun boatloads of refugees trying to escape to England.
Scene 9 say Neames meet with his brother George in a dingy pub drinking ersatz beer. This is their first meeting in five or six years and George is hostile and suspicious. The main thrust of the situationis to bring this relationship into the story and to involve George in the plans that Neames has for taking revenge. Both of these outcomes were met, and in spades!
The final scene saw the Boss of Battersea wheedling the characters into spying on his wife, who he presumes is having an affair (she most certainly is, and with his chief henchman, Raleigh). The characters emerge from the Town Hall with rifles, now men on the inside of the power structure they are trying to bring down.
As for the mechanical changes to the game, one which was implemented and tried out in this session was removing the existing first level of consequences. Now, there are only three levels of consequences, making it easier to have a more powerful mechanical change to stem from a conflict. Broadly speaking, we agreed that this worked in an ideal fashion and that the evolution of consequences from our first session (and taking into account all the immensely valuable advice and feedback from other playtesters) had worked really well and that this iteration seemed to be an ideal fit.
A major change that stemmed from the post-game discussion related to hidden agendas. Prior to this discussion, agendas could be rated at 5, 9 or 19, meaning that you got to bring them into that number of conflicts before they had to be resolved (they gave different amounts of dice depending on the rating). After much discussion, thought and graph drawing we concluded that the ideal rating should be 3, 5 or 9, coupled with further advice on the use of agendas as a pacing mechanism in the game. Looking at it, this would appear to be good solution.
Overall, another immensely valuable playtest session and one that seems to indicate that the mechanics are reaching a very workable state. I'm sure that there is still polishing required, but the core seems to be very stable.
As this was the final session of Hot War here in Wellington, I'd like to thank Morgue, Blair and Steve for all the effort they have put in, the time they have spent, the feedback they have given and the wonderful good humour they have shown throughout this playtesting.
Cheers
Malcolm
