Annalise: The Mystery of the Auspicious

The Game:

We're playing the Mysterious Voyage of the Auspicious. A. plays Captain David Merrylees, whose vulnerability is that he is unwilling to take command when it matters (but nonetheless wants to maintain the appearance of being a great captain and liked). I play Doctor Thomas Billingham, a young doctor and man of science to get into that during the Confrontation!)

We started hitting our stride during the second scene, when the Doctor is called during a storm to tend to Godfrey, a sailor having a seizure. While the Doctor succeeds in stopping the seizure - Godfrey is still sick, his eyes now white and pupil-less, and apparently has lost his senses. The Doctor is intrigued and excited to discover a new malady, already envisioning the papers he will write, and takes Godfrey to his cabin for further.

Later, the Doctor hears the Captain banging on his door. The crew, troubled by omens and Godfrey's sickness, has decided to toss Godfrey overboard. The Doctor requests the Captain's help to save a [s]valuable test subject[/s] innocent crew member. When they enter the Doctor's cabin, Godfrey is mumbling from the Book of Revelations: "And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name." [1]

When Godfrey notices the Captain, he points to him: "The beast! Who is like the beast? Who can wage war agaisnt it?" The captain is enraged.

Zachary Hicks, a grizzled old sailor, remembers the last ship he sailed on - Queen Anne, which was terrorized by a Beast and white-eyed crewmen. He and one other were the only survivors, barely escaping in a lifeboat after they burned the ship. Convinced that whatever was on the Queen Anne is after him, he tries to toss himself overboard, but he is stopped by a mysterious fire that springs up in front of him (and is quickly controlled). To no avail - the next day, he kills himself.

To quell the crew, the Captain throws Godfrey overboard. The next morning, he wakes up and, looking himself in the mirror when he shaves, discovers that his own eyes have gone white.

Despite the loss of his test subject, the Doctor attempts to study what he is convinced is a new disease. He stumbles upon a Indian boy stowing away on the ship and attempts to gain the boy's trust, speaking to him in Urdu and hinting at a shared acquaintance in Calcutta. But his attempt to inject the boy with blood he drew from Godfrey (to test whether the disease is contagious goes too far) - the boy bites him and the syringe cracks, spraying blood over the wound. He is also discovered to be aiding a stowaway by the crew.

The Captain, who has decided to stay in his cabin affliction, is summoned by the first mate, after spending hours smoking opium. Adam Fitch to deal with the Doctor and the stowaway. He attempts to disguise his white eyes with a low-hanging hat, but lurching toward the deck, he loses his balance. The hat falls off his head, and his eyes are revealed to the crew. However, he manages to convince the crew that it's only a disease - unlike Godfrey, who has full command of his faculties. He decides to put the doctor in the brig, on half-rations (with provisions made so that the doctor can continue practicing on patients).

When all of this is agreed, a sailor comes running up - there's a burning ship sighted on the horizon, approaching them. It's the Queen Anne. Before the Captain can respond, he loses consciousness. The Doctor determines that it is not, in fact, his sickness but the result of too much opium. First Mate Fitch takes control and suggests, quietly, to the Doctor that natural deaths happen. The Doctor, reluctant to lose a possible protector and a test subject, convinces Fitch that they should keep the Captain under sedation instead.

As they're taking the Captain to the medical cabin, the Captain dreams that he is exploring a ship. Seeing white eyes in the darkness, he hears a voice, low and inhuman: "If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me." That jolts him back into consciousness.

The Captain quickly takes control of his ship again, regaining control from Fitch. Fitch had turned the ship back toward Calcutta, but the Captain restores their original course. Still, the Queen Anne follows them...

That night, the Captain takes a rowboat toward the Queen Anne, no longer burning after some rain in the afternoon. Parts of the ship are miraculously intact, including the captain's cabin. Opening the door to the cabin, he sees a shadowed face that looks much like his own. When he speaks, he hears a faint echo of his own words.Then a shadow in the shape of a beast of some sort flows past him, toward the Auspicious.

Returning to the Auspicious, he is spotted by the sentry, who is convinced that the Captain is in league with the Devil. He bribes the sailor to keep quiet.

The Doctor wakes in the middle of the night to find that his wounded hand is pointing toward the burnt ship. As he turns, he finds that his finger remains pointed, unerringly in the direction of the Queen Anne. Hiding his hand in his pocket, he goes out onto the deck and spots the Captain conversing with the sentry. With a surprising grace and stealth, he sneaks closer to eavesdrop, attempting to learn what the captain is up to. To no avail [2], but the Captain spots him and discovers what is wrong with his hand.

They hear a tapping upon the side of the ship, as if something is skittering up and down.

The Doctor, alarmed, asks what it is. The Captain states that the men believe that it is Godfrey, the man they tossed overboard - or perhaps the Devil himself, come to toss them overboard.

The Doctor protests that surely the Devil has better things to do: corrupting maidens, bargaining for souls. What have they ever done to deserve the Devil's attention? The Captain suggests that all their souls on the ship are claimed. The Doctor doesn't deny it.

Thoughts:

I was once a skeptic about Annalise. It took me two months to finish reading the rulebooks - there were just so many terms! Different rules for each stages! It all seemed a little unnecessary. Finally, I reluctantly finished reading the rules so A. and I could play a two-person game.

We got partway through the game (just about finishing Laying the Foundations), and now I think Annalise may very well be the apotheosis of using mechanics to create story games.

The mechanics started clicking very quickly, and the crunch of the Moments was actually pretty satisfying (in much the same way that D&D combat can be). But, unlike D&D combat, losing was often more fun than winning and the crunch always added to the story.

Annalise just works. It incentivizes dragging the other players to hell, and it makes it fun to drag your own character to hell as well. The point is to get to the Confrontation and to reveal what the Vampire is, and you can't do that if the darkness never shows up.

And the atmosphere! There's the horror and evil beyond the comprehension of mankind. There's the way people tear into each other, the isolation of a ship and the way going to sea creates its own laws. But also, surprisingly, there's a sense of cosmic justice - that the troubles that come upon the Doctor and the Captain are perhaps not completely undeserved. The Captain is ruthless enough to throw people overboard. The Doctor is a piece of work - a racist, ruthless man who attempts to infect a child in the name of science and doesn't see anything wrong with that. And yet, I pity them: they deserve to be judged, but they don't deserve the Beast.

We struggled a lot with remembering to set up Moments and with Consequences - the second to last scene ended up being several scenes worth, in truth, because we spent far too long on atmosphere. (But how amazing was setting up the atmosphere! Negotiating the nature of the Beast, describing in detail the characters' reactions and the bleakness of their surroundings).

The last scene was my favorite - such a perfect ending to the night. I got chills.

[1] Playing online makes quoting Revelations easy.
[2] Despite THREE attempts to fix this via claims, on both of our parts.

Lasers and Feelings

We played a one session game of Lasers & Feelings on Friday this week.

I GMed, with no prep and barely any familiarity with the rules. This was my first time and I'd only made it about twenty minutes through an AP.

Our cast was Dr. Roboto (played by M), an Android Doctor and our acting captain (he knew all the protocols); Willis Turner (played by J), an Intrepid Explorer and junior officer; Hey, You (played by A), an Alien Envoy from the Hivemind, going around seeking converts like a military recruiter. Hey, You’s name is unpronounceable by human vocal cords.

The ship had a Cloaking Device, Superior Sensors, and a Grim Reputation. All three of those turned out to be totally justified.

This was fun and giggly and not all that serious. They traded their captain for freedom from pirates, murdered and spaced their previous acting captain, fled from the cops after a public brawl, turned off an evil AI Alpha Computer making cyberzombies, prevented a war by saving the Vogron-Consortium treaty within the Ancient Space Ruins from pirates that wanted to destroy it, killed the Vogron leader’s son (just because), bridged the gap between organic and synthetic life, and then destroyed the universe by causing a spatial paradox.

Yes, I stole Vogrons from Vogons in The Hitchhiker’s Guide, Alpha Computer from Paranoia, and everything else from somewhere. I was not particularly trying to be original and names are a weakpoint of mine (serious play basically requires name lists…).

As far as I can tell, everyone had fun, even though we went off the rails and only got back on within the last hour, and I obviously and merrily ripped off every single cliche and story I could think of. Also, the “introduce complications on 1 success” style of play is WONDERFUL. It’s how we got the cyberzombie/Alpha Computer plotline, which was never actually supposed to happen, and also the source of a Gleeful Evil GM moment. When the party found out that there were actually two factions of pirates kind of working together (and that they were led by Clyde and Regina-formerly-Bonnie who had broken up due to a misunderstanding involving Regina’s clone), the party decided to try to reconcile Clyde and Regina. 

They succeeded with one die. While they were congratulating themselves on winning the game through relationship therapy, Clyde and Regina made up and decided to admit that they still loved each other - and they would destroy the treaty ~together~. That was a really fun “oh shit” moment.

I am also a ridiculously relaxed GM, considering that I, er, let one character kill 20 people with one dice roll. But I mean, not the most serious of games.

Also, L&F is really not designed that well for PVP. Which we found out after I infected the hivemind with cyberzombie, OOPS.

So lesson learned?

Don’t fear the improv - even if it ends up being ridiculous and inconsistent. And even in this game, we got some good stuff - there were some bits of lore coming out that I loved: an empire that had fractured into the Consortium and other forces fifty years prior, a garden world turned graveyard planet called Mausoleum, a troubled Hivemind which had absorbed many traumatized soldiers from the war,  and an alien culture that takes original copies very seriously. It was weird and mostly offhand or made to explain game stuff, but also rich and breathing and kind of cool.

Also, WOW you can get a lot done in three hours with minimalist rules and a lazy GM.

Also, er, don’t use the word “rake” when “scratch” will do, because it is VERY EASILY MISHEARD IN A CROWDED CAFE. :/

We’re back to playing Fiasco soon - we’re down one player, but I’m thinking of running something short next week. As far as next plans, I’m thinking of running something a little more crunchy and traditional fantasy right now, so I’m eyeing Dungeon World and similar systems…

* The Vogrons take original copies and treaties Very Seriously. At one point, the party killed the Vogron leader’s son (just…because?), which caused Vogrons to stop trying to help them defend the treaty.

Fiasco: Tales of Accordia

We played Fiasco with the Tales from Suburbia playset.

Our scene begins in the suburb of Accordia, Oregon, the Accordion Capital of the World.

---

Our cast:

Steph: Pronounced Steve. Owner of Accordion to Steph, an established accordion store. Rival with Fred.

Fred: Accountant/owner of the Squeezebox, a new, hip accordion store across the street from Accordion to Steph. The Squeezebox is actually a money laundering front for the Cioppino family, and there are $500,000 in South American bail bonds in the back room (formerly $1,000,000).

Sophia: stepdaughter of a now deceased mobster of the Cioppino family. Works at the Squeezebox and embezzles money there. Also a Pastafarian cultist.

Frankie: the cook at an Italian restaurant, in the same cult as Sophia. Cousin to Steph, the accordion shop owner. Frankie and Sophia share a secret: at her request, he poisoned her stepfather with his cooking.

Need (we messed up and had two):

Sophia needs to commit a crime that is actually justice done.

Fred needs to stand up for himself.

Object: $1,000,000 in South American bail bonds

Location: a gun and surplus store

Tilt: fear that ends in failure

ACT ONE

Steph plots with Frankie to avenge himself on his business rival Fred by seducing Fred at a city event at the restaurant Frankie works at. Fred, noticing Steph creepily watching him across the street (while playing the accordion), goes to confront Steph with a gun in his waistband (urged by Sophia, who calls her mobster ex Dan to provide backup). The two trade words about the state of the accordion industry (Steph prefers vintage, Fred sells hip, electric accordions), and Steph’s name is mispronounced multiple times.

Steph challenges Fred to an accordion duel, dubbed the Squeeze-off, which Fred accepts.

Frankie and Sophia conduct an occult ritual in the restaurant where he works. The sauce churns and bubbles, and a single meatball rises to the surface -- a sign from the Flying Spaghetti Monster!  He convinces her that the Flying Spaghetti Monster wants them to take down the Cioppino family and run Fred out of town. Sophia has reservations because Fred is like a brother to her, but she agrees.

Later, a fire occurs at Frankie’s restaurant - and Frankie is fired by his boss Guido.

Back at the Squeezebox the next day, Fred gets advice on the best way to prepare for the Squeeze-off from Sophia, who advises him that the best way to win is to focus on image instead of technique - if Fred wants to win this accordion duel, he needs to look the part: spiky hair, leather jacket, tattoos, and piercings. They try to settle on a song -- originally, they decide to go for Metallica, until a visitor to the store mentions that Metallica has recently been accused of racism against the Danish. Black Sabbath is also vetoed for similar reasons.

Sophia calls her ex Todd from the Giuliani family, asking him to come to town and take over from the Cioppinos. There’s an awkward moment when it turns out that Todd’s bodyguard is also Sophia’s ex. Todd agrees to make his move at the Squeeze-off.

Frankie goes out drinking at a bar, fails to flirt, and talks to the bartender about his feelings for Sophia. Sophia and Todd walk in -- things get tense between Todd and Frankie, while Sophia slips off to the bathroom.

ACT TWO

The Squeeze-off arrives, which is attended by a grand total of twelve people (and can no longer be held at the restaurant that burned down): Jerry Springer emcees as the two accordionists play. Fred reveals his new piercings and his new moniker: he is now Fierce Freddie, and he plays a song of his own devising! Steph pulls out an antique accordion...which falls apart in his hand. Before Jerry Springer can declare a victory for Fred, Frankie pulls out a gun and tries to shoot Fred.

After the Squeeze-off, Steph is ruined: his cousin tried to murder everyone and he lost the Squeeze-off. Hanging out at the bar, he sees Fred and successfully seduces Fred with their mutual love of accordions. They spend the night together.

Fred discovers that Steph only slept with him for revenge. Steph pleads with him: it originally began as just revenge, but it became something more. Steph fell in love.

Back in the shop, Fred then gets a call from Boss Cioppino: he wants the bonds now, all $1,000,000 of them. Counting, Fred realizes that Sophia has been embezzling and confronts her. As they’re discussing what to do, an IRS auditor comes to visit and tells them to contact him in three days, based on some irregularities in Fred’s tax returns. Afraid of both the mob and the IRS, Sophia and Fred ponder what to do next.

Steph bails Frankie out of jail, and he and Fred confront Frankie for his actions. Sophia shows up as well, expressing her betrayal that Frankie would try to shoot her only friend, and Frankie says that he wishes he hadn’t disappointed her. Sophia suggests that there’s a way to redeem himself and slips him the tax auditor’s card -- maybe he could make some pasta for the man, the same way he did for her stepfather.

Steph prepares to sell off his accordion store and move to Mexico -- maybe he can share the love of the accordion with them. He asks Fred to go with him, and Fred agrees.

Fred arranges a meeting with Todd (Sophia’s mobster ex from another family) and arranges to lure Boss Cioppino to a gun store, where Todd can shoot him down. The two of them notice Sophia walking hand in hand with a man. At Todd’s distress, Fred assures him that they’re brother and sister. Sophia begins making out with the man. “That’s just how they greet people in their country,” Fred claims.

It actually turns out that Sophia was making out with her girlfriend, Rachel -- who had been mistaken for a man from the distance. Todd arrives and asks her what the meaning of this was. Sophia claims that they’re just friends. Rachel agrees - they’re sleepover friends! Naked sleepover friend! Sophia, trying to hide her relationship with Rachel because she wants Todd to kill Boss Cioppino for them, claims that Rachel is just flirting with Todd (“she likes threesomes”) and persuades Todd to kill Boss Cioppino for them, not realizing that Fred has already done so. Once Todd leaves, she and Rachel return to making plans to go to Brazil.

Frankie walks out of his apartment, wondering at the mess that he’s made of his life. Sophia doesn’t care about him, he’s gone to jail, his restaurant burned down and he’s jobless… He sees Todd, but as they begin to talk, a black car drives by. “The Cioppinos send their regards,” someone inside the car shouts, as a spray of bullets hits Frankie. He only has enough time for a last  text to Steph - “Have fun in Mexico, LOL”.

EPILOGUE

Steph and Fred go to Mexico, but their relationship suffers. The accordion business never takes off. Fred is happy and fulfilled, after surviving mobsters and winning an accordion duel, and he abandons the accordion in favor of the guitar. Steph is less fortunate -- he dislikes Mexico and finds that the relationship loses the spark after Fred takes up the guitar and leaves.

Sophia and Rachel escape to Brazil. When they land, Sophia sees her ex and stepbrother, Tony Cioppino, in front of her. “You killed my father,” he says. A gun presses into Sophia’s back. Behind her, she hears the voice of Rachel, the only person she has ever truly loved: “You didn’t think I really loved you, did you, darling?”

When Steph reaches Accordia, he visits Frankie’s lawyer. He is Frankie’s designated heir, and he inherits Frankie’s meager possessions: some bric-a-brac, an Amazon Prime account, and $128...just enough to cover the trip back to Accordia.