Dystopic Form of the City Miami

Miami - 2052

9,532,460 population

This sprawling city and the rest of Florida enjoyed a population explosion when it accepted no less than three waves of refugees from nearby states.  Many of those refugees were first turned to the task of walling out the other refugees when it was found that a number of irradiated individuals were heading East and when the first reports of zombies started flooding in.  Salvation Wall must be credited to the 2028 new American Conglomeration – a combination of corporations who agree on certain civic regulations such as hose pipe diameters for fire trucks to ensure the country could continue to function.  Approximately four million of these American refugees settled in and around Miami, almost doubling its population, where a number of housing projects boasting skyscrapers sprung up within a few years.

In fact, Miami describes itself as a futuristic society rather than a cyberpunk one which is something many cities claim but which is actually quite true of Miami.  While there is a huge augmentation craze (mainly revolving around plastic surgery or useless frills like augmented feet that can exude roller blades) and while there are still criminal wars, advertising wars, and industrial espionage aplenty, Miami is still a place of sun and sand rather than smog and shadows.

The Miami river is relatively clean and habitable thanks to the fact it largely comes from the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee although special desalinisation plants and anti-rad plants do their best to keep the various rivers entering the lake, and the lake itself, clean.  This is a semi-difficult task as sometimes radioactive dust is whipped out from the central states and blows quite far and wide.  On the plus side, the water ranges from only slightly irradiated to safe and that’s quite good all things considered.  On the downside, it is quite polluted due to the sudden increase in communities built along its banks due to the refugees although that has simply taken it to the level of the Thames River rather than to the level expected of a cyberpunk society.  

Miami River Docks have space for small cargo terminals for ships up to 230 feet in length to load cargo.  It is also an area into which all manner of contraband—contraband (namely brand name knock offs, illegal aliens—has been discharged into the US.  It is perfectly legal to buy and sell correctly labelled and manufactured drugs but it is illegal to manufacture or sell poorly made drugs.  The Chemistry Safety Commission (largely made up of mafia dons and pharmaceutical companies) make sure of it and are free to dole out massive fines on pain of injury to those who ignore them or don’t pay the correct tithes (erm, taxes).

While there are taxes, these taxes are generally more obviously linked except in the case where organised criminals have covered their antics in legal-sounding words.  People must pay a certain amount of tax but can divide up the proportions and assign it to different areas online.  20% income tax online to certain general areas (i.e. education) or 21% to assign it to certain types (i.e. primary schools or other languages or education in Coral Way) or 22% to institutions (Sacred Hearts Primary School).  A certain proportion is kept aside for basic necessities (internet cables, road repair, etc.)  This has led to areas with wealthier residents getting a real boost to their local environment whilst areas with a largely poor or unemployed populations miss out as most people are happier to pay a little more tax so long as it affects their local area.

The police are restricted to detective work involving violent crimes and mass property damage.  Everything else is dealt with by private police which can range from private investigators to trumped up bouncers to mercenaries.

Public transport is a lot easier than private transport due to the substantial growth found across Miami.  There is a commuter rail system, fully automated Metromovers  on skyways in Downtown areas, taxis, and some buildings also have helipads.

This is a rich city with a large number of Spanish-speaking citizens that have also unofficially accepted the existence of vampires though most people haven’t met one (or don’t know if they have) and some still think it’s some sort of cultural meme like Anonymous that makes a point to hack photographs.  Religion is on the rise due to a large settlement of southern Americans and the fact that the dead are walking which has increased the prevalence of Christians, Muslims, and Jews – with a sad coincident increase in fundamentalism and evangelism.  Death cults are also on the rise with people believing the End Times are upon us.

Skill Under The Spotlight: Science

Science is generally easy to think up uses for but surprisingly rarely used in a lot of games perhaps because games of occult science don't come up so much outside of the Ordo Dracul and even then it normally falls under the occult skill.  Your best bet is not to be too shy in coming forward with requests to use the Science skill if it seems appropriate.  Sometimes the Storyteller just won't think of how you could use Science to take a look at a strange animal's meaty bones to see if you can identify if it's canine or something else.

Specialties can range from various sciences (Chemistry, Biology, Physics) to various uses for sciences such as Pharmaceuticals or Mechanical Design.

Create a drug (Intelligence + Science).
Put together a chemical mixture (Intelligence + Science).
Make an explosive (Intelligence + Science).
Identify a chemical compound (Intelligence + Science).
Detect ignition fluid in the bomb evidence (Intelligence + Science).
Find forensic evidence (Wits + Science).
Identify forensic evidence (Intelligence + Science).
Know what forensic teams can accomplish (Intelligence + Science).
Destroy forensic evidence accurately (Intelligence or Wits + Science).
Decipher scientific texts (Intelligence or Wits + Science).
Play havoc with the electrical systems (Intelligence + Science).
Invent a mechanical device (Resolve or Intelligence + Science).
Perform an experiment (Intelligence + Science).
Comprehend an experimental write-up (Intelligence + Science).
Demolish a building in a few simple steps (Intelligence + Science).
Identify botany or other critters beneath the microscope (Intelligence + Science).
Identify botany or other critters in the wild (Wits + Science).
Understand where a supernatural departs from natural laws (Intelligence + Science).
Complete microsurgery or other microscope-based actions (Dexterity + Science).
Know just how to lift, push, or pull objects to take advantage of physics to help you (Strength + Science).
Figure out how to use your own mental focus and other biological principles to maintain concentration under pressure or pain (Stamina + Science).
Impress another scientist (Manipulation or Presence + Science).
Witness a rather grotesque or upsetting scientific experiment (Composure + Science).
Fake being a scientist (Manipulation + Science).
Perform a scientific presentation (Presence + Science).
Convince someone using scientific knowledge (Manipulation + Science).
Cover up the masquerade using scientific blather (Presence or Manipulation + Science).
Recognise laboratory equipment (Wits or Intelligence + Science).
Use laboratory equipment (Intelligence + Science).
Create a really good fire (Intelligence + Science).
Demolish a building using explosions (Intelligence + Science).
Placement of explosives (Intelligence + Science).

This will be the last Skill Under The Spotlight for awhile as I'd like to spend my Fridays talking about other aspects of my current games' worldbuilding or other more technical articles.

You can find the core article with all of the other likely links over here.

Attention Gaslight Gamers

 If you are planning to run or play a Gaslight game, in other words, a game set in Victorian England than you are best served by doing some research to really bring the setting to life. Why bother setting something in this era if it really just feels and acts like a modern version of your own country with slightly backwards technology and some funny clothes? The era is so much richer than that and it doesn’t take many historical details to give it a sense of authenticity and richness. I’m not suggesting that you need to be able to describe each step of lamp lighting but being able to mention a lamp lighter and his assistant, or a link boy, or a maid clearing up coal smuts, can adds that extra layer and help your players get a feel for what it would be like to actually be there.

I mean, did you know that there have been technological advances in candles? They used to be much smokier and sputtered but over the Victorian period they became both easier to produce and more like modern day candles. Just think about the extra atmosphere you could apply by mentioning the sputtering candles over the table.

You don’t have to get paranoid and go overboard, though. Unless roleplaying is your groups’ idea of historical re-enactment with a criminal or paranormal bent, they’ll be happy if you mention a technological advance that doesn’t occur until a few years later or if you neglect to have the paupers use rush lighting in place of candles in the early Victorian period. They really won’t mind. Honestly. But they may like a few touches that secretly teaches them something new and helps place them in the exotic and strange world of the past.

How do you do this? Well, I turn to a couple of really good books that cram oodles of historical details between their covers. Oh, and don’t worry, I’m not being paid to point them out. I wish I were but, alas, I am not an internet sensation just yet.

Everyday Life in Victorian and Regency England will give you a really good understanding of a largely urban lifestyle. It touches on the issues of the rich and the poor and is rich with not only technical details but ones of lifestyle choices and social changes. It plunges straight into discussions of lighting so it just goes to show that Kristine Hughes really doesn’t want to waste words. It has some explanatory pictures and the detail is written in a very understandable style that keeps it from being boring or a difficult read. This book covers quite a breadth of topics and while you could doubtlessly spend your time slaving over dozens in books you won’t really need to with this one as it will cover most things. If you’re running an investigative game, it can also help you think up some extra clues and issues that could be massaged into a plot.

The Victorian Farm is based off a television series and will give you a fantastic and incredibly in-depth view (with lots of colour pictures) of the world of Victorian farming with an eye to the tenant farmers. While this is a bit more specific, if you are playing a game where your characters are involved in farming or even if you’re on a country estate, this can be incredibly helpful. The book goes into the nitty gritty details even more than the documentary but feel free to read one and watch the other. It talks about animal husbandry, cricket, fun and games, raising crops, technological advancements, cooking, greenhouses, walled gardens, hedgerows (more complex to build than you’d think) and the various specialised jobs that a rural area required.  It also talks about the impact of the rise of foreign imports, factories, and a push toward large-scale farming.

So there you have it. Hope this helped.

World of Darkness on the Sea

There's a really need wikipedia on World of Darkness games on the ocean that has some werewolf gifts, changeling merits, and plenty of information on why vampires might go to the sea and what they might be doing there.  If you're considering a seaborne adventure or would like to get involved with developing the rules or putting forward your ideas for such a game, then this is the place to go.

Game Translation: Cold Fear

Cold Fear is a videogame that revolves around the Coast Guard's arrival on an old Russian whaling vessel, Eastern Spirit, in the Bering Strait, after the first tactical team sent in died.  Tom Hansen, former soldier who is now a member of the Coast Guard and who can read Russian, climbs aboard the ship with his colleagues who all automatically split up to search the vessel quickly.  This is all during a massive storm so, unfortunately for them, the vessel that brought them here has to back off, thereby abandoning the poor characters' to their fate.  Considering that the first team was a SEAL team that didn't last all that long you've got to pity poor Tom Hansen and wonder just how much information the CIA agent in charge of it all has actually given the poor man and his compatriots.

One of the first things you'll notice about Cold Fear is the importance placed on environmental effects.  You begin on a ship that tilts from side to side with the waves and then step out onto a deck that has a crate on a chain that swings back and forth across the deck and damages you if you get in the way.  There are spots with ruined railings where you can be washed overboard or paused, struggling to hold your position, against the water as your muscles grow more fatigued.

This is a bit trickier to model in a roleplaying game as it can be quite difficult to bear in mind the differences of walking across a sloping deck as opposed to a steady one.  If you have difficulties with this, try to pause and visualise some of these locations as well as the sensation of moving across a moving deck.  Another option is a visual cue, such as tilting a ruler over an eraser first one way than another so you can bear in mind the motion.

If you have a map, and with this sort of game you really should, you can just make them make a roll at random intervals to see if they hold their feet or slide across to the railing.  If they happen to be crossing a section with a broken railing at the time, give them a further roll if they're sliding to their doom in order to give them a shot at grabbing the railing.  What if they said they were timing their movements to coincide with the waves and grabbing the railings at the bad points?  Fantastic.  It shouldn't be a problem to simply allow them a free pass until they try to do something else - such as clamber up the deck to a door or fire a round.

The swinging obstacles are also a bit trickier as they rely on timing in the videogame but you can't rely on that in a roleplaying game.  Your best bet is to make it an Acrobatics or Athletics check to get past.  Dodge might work in a pinch if your game system allows it.  In fact, it's generally a good idea to build in as many different types of athletics obstacles as you can - especially if your game has different dice rolls for climbing, jumping and dodging.

There are also some semi-submerged corridors which slow you down as you move along.  If you blow out the fuse box, it'll then electrocute the water when the ship rocks far enough to the sparking fuse box side.  This is the one of the trickiest elements to model as it heavily relies on timing.  Unless you want to physically model it by putting a sticker on the inside of a cup and rocking the cup back and forth, zapping them whenever you rock it so far the sticker gets wet, you're going to have to rely on good old-fashioned die rolls.

You could just roll a 1D10 for every action they do (including every ten feet of wading) and electrocute them whenever it comes up on a 1.  Or you could simply make them do Survival checks (or some other roll) to see how well they can time the zaps before rushing across.  Or you could avoid including this hazard.  Up to you, really.

Since ships are, by definition, a rather finite size with a finite number of rooms you'd be best off encouraging some back tracking to give your nasties more than enough of a chance to come at the characters at all the right points.  This also requires players to think about where they might find the right key or an alternate path to the destination.  If you want to do this, accept that sometimes the players will think up a doable work around (such as balancing precariously on an edge to get from one side of the deck to the other) and if it seems plausible you're best off warning them as to any inherent dangers and then letting the dice fall where they may.  Using steel doors will help prevent an axe from becoming the ultimate work around.

Now that's a dedicated enemy....

A map will be incredibly useful through all of this.  You can mark out traps, obstacles, locations and monsters either before they get there or, if you like to improvise, after you describe things.  This can help you keep the places straight in your head when they return to the location which can handily help both plannners and improvisers alike.  If you want to be kind, provide the players with a copy of the blank map.  That'll at least sort out comments of: "But I thought it was quicker to get there!" or "You didn't say this room was *that* large!"

The other thing to bear in mind is that it's easy to gain sympathy for the poor human fools stuck on the whaling vessel and this just won't work if you want to use them as an easier target for the early combats.  Players will go to great extremes to avoid being the bad guy if they don't want to be one, so if you want shoot outs between both sides of the vessel to be automatic rather than occasional you're really going to have to avoid any notes or love letters that might make the players seek another option.

It's also a good idea to either accept that the players will drag any friendly survivors along with them, include a "safe room" that can be defended, or kill those survivors before the players get the chance to feel too attached.  While there's always room to kill a survivor later on, players tend to look for foul play when favoured characters are killed so cinematical, "A monster charges across and tears his head off" may lead to cries of: "Shouldn't we roll Initiative?" 

While it's tempting to say that if the players were getting into the mood of the thing, they wouldn't argue when you kill off an NPC, the truth is that if you've done your job well and really made a character sympathetic the players will care about their death and will therefore most likely want a shot to save them.  If the situation is iron tight but coincidental, like a sudden electrical surge in the waterways, the players might not react with indignation but may well assume that you only did that because you were sick of running the NPC.  Still, you should know your players and how they're likely to react to this.

Which might be true.

Anyway, a campaign based around Cold Fear, or including elements of it, should appeal to Tacticians as the obstacles require a bit of forethought to cope with.  They'll also add to the immersion factor, funnily enough, as if you have a party of players they're likely to be military trained and therefore should be thinking tactically in how they go about things.

Action Heroes who are purists about being able to simply run and gun will be disappointed as you need to worry about bullets and be a bit cautious because the enemies are tough and obstacles can zap you into behaving more cautiously than they would like.  Of course, Action Heroes who enjoy horror, tactics, and are okay with moments of vulnerability could potentially enjoy this more than most as increased risks make the successes all that sweeter.

Explorers will poke and prod around places that they probably shouldn't and this gives you a good chance to liberally spread around scare moments and clues.  They're the ones who will help the players actually go around the decks rather than bee lining straight for the most logical point and then refusing to move.  They tend to be easily habituated to their current circumstances as well as intensely curious about what they haven't seen yet.  Use them as your lure.

Investigators also tend to be thorough as they try to collect clues like scratches on the wall, written documentation, and other such hints.  They're also probably the first to notice the bodies twitching as they tend to be more keen on poking corpses to see what they can find out.  Take advantage of this but be aware that they may solve your plot long before you intended them to do so.  Throwing a few sub-plots involving hidden romances between the crew that can be picked out of clues can also give them a bit more to solve.

Communicators generally miss out in a lot of Game Translations because videogames don't do politics, generally, and very few even do social situations where fancy footwork might cause a better outcome (like the social 'combat' in Deus Ex).  There's not much here for them either so they might start poking their fellow compatriots or even acting suspiciously just to get their jollies.  Preempt this with the odd NPC encounter - perhaps talking through locked doors or in other areas - where it's vital that they convince the NPC of something.  Ensure that this isn't resolved with a single dice roll although having to trek to another room to get them something would be in keeping with the themes of this game.

If you want to check out the trailer, you can find it here. If you want to read up on the TV Tropes you can find them here.

For the next Game Translation, you have a choice of these: Left for Dead, Project Zero, Gears of War, Dracula: Origins, Realms of the Haunting, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, or Dishonoured. If no one picks anything by next week, it'll be either Left For Dead or Gears of War.

However, I might well try my new Game Impressions plan where I deeply investigate the first hour of Cold Fear to get an idea about how to apply the lessons more practically into a roleplaying game.

If you want to see the list of games I've done thus far, you can find the Game Translation series starter over here.

Split Parties From A Player's Perspective

We often hear about the trials and tribulations of running a split party from a Storyteller’s perspective where the individual running the whole thing offers advice and bemoans the difficulties.  We don’t often think of what it’s like as a player. 

I mean, sometimes it’s not even the player’s fault that the party is split but they have to cope with the difficulties anyway.  Perhaps they have a Storyteller who splits the party willy nilly (bam!  a portcullis drops between you!) or simply make it impossible to achieve certain objectives without splitting the party (you have one hour to rescue the princess from the crumbling tower AND prevent a riot starting all the way over in the city centre).  Sometimes another player makes the demand.  Perhaps they have their character sneak away in the dead of night to fulfil a goal or the rest of the party are eager to split up to conduct a better search.  Sometimes you have a serial splitter in the party who loves to run off and be a lone wolf to an audience of bored and steadily irritated players – that’s a post and a half just to itself.

So what’s it like to be at a party that splits up? 

I can’t speak for everyone but I often feel a few things.

I normally feel dread, annoyance or curiosity or a mixture of the three of them. 

Dread because these things can take awhile if not handled deftly and that’s a whole lot of sitting on your bottom.  Roleplaying isn’t like a movie.  There’s a lot of wasted space, pauses for rules checks or combat decisions, irrelevant conversations, pacing interruptions in terms of dice, and some rather boring description – all of which isn’t as noticeable when you’re in the thick of it and it’s all directly relevant to you.  When you’re just an observer, it can often be as fun as watching fish in an aquarium.  Mildly interesting for the first ten minutes but after that you want to find something else to do.  To make matters worse, you’re expected to be quiet and not interrupt the main game.  If you don’t interrupt, the split might go on and on and on and on.  If you do interrupt, your boredom is sated briefly but people might get cross with you.

There may be annoyance if you see that the players involved and Storyteller aren’t trying to recombine the party quickly or at least keep up a fast enough pace that the group might rejoin swiftly or you might get a shot on the other side of the split.  This annoyance grows greatest when a lone wolf runs off while everyone’s sleeping.  There’s no inter cutting which means you could quite literally sit there for an entire session watching someone enjoy themselves freezing you out of the game.  A player’s annoyance towards that often feels a bit like road rage.  You know they’re being dicks but you’re powerless to do anything but continue to watch unless you decide to totally flip out.

There can also be curiosity if it seems like an interesting enough thing to watch.  If you have faith that the players and the Storyteller aren't going to leave you out in the cold for a few hours with nothing to do, you can always sit back and see what happens.  This is less likely if it's a combat you get to watch because, let's face it, watching someone else roll dice and discuss game mechanics isn't nearly as interesting as rolling your own dice.  It's more likely if there's going to be some sort of verbal confrontation, emotionally laden event or sometimes even a fast-paced obstacle course (as the rules are often simpler for acrobatic antics than combats).

In short, if the Storyteller switches between the me and the others quickly enough, the part that I'm watching is dramatic enough, and/or there's a comfortable atmosphere where I know that everyone's needs are being considered than I'll be fine with it.  Other people need their time to shine.  Sometimes it really is better if my character isn't there.  Generally if it's around ten minutes or so I'm happy to watch but otherwise I'd like to be able to leave the room and chat with friends while waiting for my turn.

This might not be the case for everybody but I'm notoriously twitchy and easily bored as a player (there goes that Attention Deficit Disorder again) and there's only so long as I can sit on my hands.  At the very least, let me find a way to read a book in a nondisruptive manner.

So yeah, those are the main things I've experienced.  What have been your experiences?

Flashpoint: The Island's Interior

Lhye recalled a ruined fishery to the west of the island but when they arrived at the walled encampment with its stone walls they found that it looked in pretty good repair.  A tall metal fence ringed one side of it, entering the water, with some oddly shaped inlets / cages for capturing baby reefclaws when the tide washes them through.  They found the wooden gate in good repair and it has an auroch skull as a door knocker which, considering the demon spotted on the island, made them wonder if there were some kind of demonic worshipper there.

They knocked on the door and heard a large dog barking.  A wild-looking Varisian woman with a tattooed face peeked over the wall and treated them with suspicion (a blue guy and a tiefling?) but they talked their way inside and she opened the wooden gates using a winch system on the inside.  She seemed pretty confident -- which made sense considering that her home was Consecrated.  It turns out that she's a cleric of Erastil which explained all the cairns with animal bones about the place (a lesser known series of Varisian traditions from a settled village area just north of Riddleport).  She's been here for the past ten years hunting reefclaws and giving the rare folk who visit the island sanctuary.  She wants it to be homely as she's hoping to get herself a husband one of these days.

Her house was a ramshackle affair, however, the second storey tilting precariously over the square stone base.  A ladder led up into that storey which is where she kept her bedding and, presumably, other things.  The bottom floor was rather homely with a cooking fire and chimney, some chairs, a table, and things like that.  Outdoors she'd managed a rather small and spindly garden in the weak soil.

They ask her to look after Haylei for them as they head to the stone circle and she accepts on the condition that they come back and spend some social time with her.  On finding out that they'd paid the boatmen to return at dusk, she gets a bit annoyed and says she'll need to track them down to make sure they don't get killed by baby reefclaw swarms as they get aggressive at that time of day.

And so off they go to the stone circle, fighting two schir along the way.  The stone circle is basically like a far smaller stone henge with only 9 internal stones and 15 in the outer ring.  There's a stone base lying on two other stones in the center of these circles.  As Lhye enters, the stones vibrate with a gentle hum.  They can tell that the stones are magical and have a moderate evocation aura.  There's a number of dove and pigeon feathers around which makes them think that there's some kind of sympathetic magic at play here.  Considering the devils wanted Lhye's blood they decide to give that a go.

It takes a bit of effort to get through Lhye's DR as nobody has cold iron but soon they are merrily marking all of the stones with his blood and find that each of the internal stones rings out with a different tuning fork sound.

So yes, a short session but that happens occasionally if we're all in a bit of a muck about and idle chit chat mood.