Characters:
Cesar Torres – Old friend of Josué , all around criminal, connected with known shootings but never convicted, served a short sentence for assault . Killed 4 weeks ago from a large kitchen gas explosion.
Ramon Perez – 2nd in command under Josué, little known about him, was a very powerful leader of Familia. Killed 2½ weeks ago in a car accident.
Antony Garcia – Driver of the vehicle that Ramon Perez died in, also killed in the crash. There was no sign of foul play in the accident, the vehicle swerved into an El train support and killed both men instantly.
Adriana Salazar – Josué’s girlfriend, died from a fall off a 4th story balcony, perhaps it was suicide. Died last night
A bible was found at Lucy’s house with a rosary in it. The rosary marked a passage from the Gospel of Mark (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+5&version=NIV).
According to Phil Gardner, Lucy Herrera is more than likely alive. Phil believes that Lucy’s disappearance is linked to the 4 deaths of Familia members over the past month, but he does not believe that Lucy was a target. Each member of Familia was killed to make a statement to the gang leader, but Lucy has nothing to do with the gang and she was never found dead. Therefore Phil believes that she has been hidden or has run away due to something she saw or knew about.
Phil plans to accuse the local church of conspiracy to hide the whereabouts of Lucy in an attempt to make the church come forth with information he believes they are withholding. Phil is also trying to gain access to Adriana’s apartment to look over the crime scene and perhaps learn something about the circumstances of her death.
Esme revealed that she has been finically supporting Lucy for some time and also paid Rudy’s bond when he was arrested a year ago. Esme plays a mother-like role in Lucy’s life, but the two do not speak openly with each other due to their differing outlooks on what is best for Lucy’s future. Esme seemed to be in heavy denial of any foul play or religious hocus-pocus in relation to Lucy’s disappearance. When shown evidence of Lucy’s fanaticism she broke down and shrunk away from the conversation. For the sake of her own sanity Esme clings to the belief that Lucy is still okay, and that she will come back unharmed.
Rudy reluctantly called and revealed to Violet that Josué and the entire Familia gang were summoned to an abandoned warehouse. He urged her to stay out of the situation and to not report it to the police. Rudy sounded scared and made it seem like he was probably going to his death. Rudy mentioned briefly that Josué had told him that Familia needed to show up at the warehouse as a result of Lucy. Esme overheard the conversation and in a flurry of mental instability insisted on rushing to the warehouse to find out what Familia knew about her missing sister.
Upon reaching the warehouse the three women crept into a second floor managers office at the back of the warehouse and waited for the gang to arrive. The gang arrived armed and ready to fight. They quickly realized that they could not overheard what was being said outside the office so they opened the only door into the room. The door squealed as it opened and Josué order some of his lackeys to check it out. Before anyone could investigate the door noise the florescent tube lighting in the warehouse began to explode showering glass on the gang members below. Once all the lights went out a voice spoke loudly and clearly in the warehouse. It said “the summons was for you and you alone, you have brought violence on others unnecessarily, but that has always been your way.”
Josué ordered his men to open fire on the man who spoke to them from the shadows. Three rustling noises where heard throughout the warehouse. Each was responded to with a hail of gunfire. It sounded as if at least two men were shot in the gunfire. The voice spoke from the shadows again and said “there aren’t enough bullets in your guns to kill us all.” Josué called into the darkness and asked the name of his assailant. The voice responded “my name is Legion,” after that the voice shifted position at each of the following words, “for – we – are – many.”
Sorry for starting and stopping at the end of the session. I was really flustered and felt rushed because I had to leave. I hope that it didn't detract from the session.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Shevon: I hope that the resolution of your con-friends was okay. I specifically asked you guys to frame the scene, but in the end I felt like I short-changed your character's role in that scene.
I don't know how it came out from both of your perspectives but the warehouse scene had me all flustered as I tried to deliver it. I psyched myself out a little doing it because it was so intense (not trying to brag, just being honest). I hope that it was just as powerful for you guys, I struggled a bit with it because I was so wrapped up and nervous.
Next session begins in the manager's office in the midst of this chaos. Let's use the next two weeks on the blog to discuss and clarify whatever is on your guys' minds, and also to prepare yourselves for the fight to escape with your lives.
Just a quick note on my reaction to the game today: after you guys left, I was cleaning up and I felt like I'd just put down a good book at a really cool part. I was a little disappointed in the role of the con-people, so I'm glad we didn't end with the laundromat being the main scene today. I know the warehouse scene was quick, but it was so vivid. I love that we went supernatural this session, looking forward to getting deeper into that. The final scene was awesome - don't worry, Adam, it would have been really hard for you to mess it up. You didn't. :) We're trapped in a warehouse with an entire gang and apparently some mystical entity or whatever. We even have a cryptic Bible passage as a clue. We're good.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to using Improvised Weapons next time.
Thanks Shevon. Now that I have had some time to reflect on the session I have come to the realization that the scene at the Laundromat was important to the plot, but I blew it out of proportion by having you guys frame it for 2 weeks. Basically I wanted to use it that scene to teach you a little about scene framing and stating intent when rolling the dice, but the problem was that by focusing on that scene as a learning tool we built it up to be a huge link-pin scene (which it shouldn't have been). As you now see the big focus of that last session was with Esme and the Warehouse not Phil and the Laundromat.
ReplyDeleteI gave you the wrong impression about the scene, in essence I framed the scene poorly for you two. Let's try to learn from it and keep moving. Sometimes I forget that my players don't understand the game as well as I do and I take things for granted, you two are catching on to gaming remarkable quick. I think that this next session will be a turning point in the game for us all. You will get a chance to roll your dice like crazy and you will be framing your escape play by play. When it's all over you will be armed with experience and a bunch of clues that will allow you to take the reins of this game and move forward more independently because you will have enough information to make decisions on your own (without having to rely on me as the sole-source of plot hooks).
There is always a turning point in games, books, and movies, where the characters go from being more passive to active. This is that scene for our story. I'm looking forward to seeing you two in action.
Regardless of what your harsh judgment is, Adam, I agree with Shevon; there is no way you can screw this up. (Or we will bitch if you try to, don't worry...) So far the game has been nothing but an inspiring, refreshing, original and exciting experience.
ReplyDeleteThe warehouse ending left me frozen with my month open. I am still digesting, and I cannot wait to replay it again and again in my head. I just wonder if my squirming skill will be enough here to get away alive. How about some divine help? I still have Lucy's Bible on me...
About Laundromat Scene: I know, Adam what you mean about the balance between the prep time and the actual scene but to me more important than the balance was what I had learned preparing and experienced playing. I felt better equipped and more confident than before, and it was awesome. I knew what Daniela was doing, and wanted to do next. The reason why this scene was so significant to me is that it made me feel like I made a progress.
Learning and practicing is what I need to develop my character, and to feel more in control over Daniela's choices and actions as well as the story itself. Lack of control is what I am dealing with for now ;) I feel like no matter what Daniela thinks or does, everything will still happen the way GM has already planned it. That is why being guided and trained as to how to prepare myself, frame scenes etc. makes me feel more involved in a game, and makes me feel less like an actor playing the role.
Keep doing what you're doing, Adam. Keep training us because it is all still new and more challenging that I expected. Do not be such a severe judge of yourself. You took on your shoulders 90% of work and you are doing an outstanding job but don't forget that this is a game, and try to have more fun.
Thant is all for now. Gotta go. :)
Quote from above:
ReplyDelete"I feel like no matter what Daniela thinks or does, everything will still happen the way GM has already planned it." <- This is what gamers call 'Railroading' and it sucks! Episode 42 of Narrative Control is a about this and how it can be avoided. One of the ways they say it can be avoided is by letting the players set the stakes and frame the scenes that they want to play through. I railroaded Shevon at the laundromat.
Another quote:
"I knew what Daniela was doing, and wanted to do next. The reason why this scene was so significant to me is that it made me feel like I made a progress." <- This is the remedy to Railroading, you framed a scene and you got what you wanted out of it, plus it propelled your character further into the story. The laundromat scene was truly Daniela's scene, I'm not surprised that you like it. The flip-side of that scene was that Violet got locked in a closet and had to sit idle and have no say in the matter. Sometimes that's okay, but I told you two to spend two weeks planning it and then I kinda ignored Violet. That's why I apologized. I think you guys understand framing now though, so that's the upside of things.
Last quote:
"You took on your shoulders 90% of work" <- Yes I did, and most games start with the role of the GM being heavier than the players. There is usually a point in the story where the players finally have enough information to make decisions for themselves and the responsibility for story content becomes 50-50. I think the warehouse is the tipping point. I am looking forward to reacting to your decisions rather than you reacting to mine as we move forward. The Pitch Session was intended to allow you to frame the game as a whole to hopefully offset that fact that I would need to hold your hand for the first couple of sessions.
*If you have 20 minutes listen to Episode 42 of Narrative Control, its a good recap of some of the things we have been working on lately. It's also a very lighthearted episode and rather funny at times.
Check out pages 41-44 in your FATE book before we play next. It describes combat and how advantages and disadvantages work in combat. The same concepts that they use to describe combat can also be applied to other things such as sneaking, for example: when trying to sneak past someone you will get a +1 advantage if it's dark, you can also get an additional +1 if there are any loud noises that will cover your footsteps or provide a distraction. Remember to use your skills to your advantage at all times. Use your observation skills to spot cover. Use your slow and cautious skill to open doors silently.
ReplyDeleteCombat is like scene framing except you are framing every action. Every action becomes a scene, you state what you hope to accomplish and/or how you are going to try it, and then you roll.
*Sidenote: I have a wedding to go to on April 29th which would be the session following this upcoming session. We will have to have a discussion about when to reschedule at some point.
I have been working out different scenarios for how to resolve my slip-up in the plot from last session, and I finally got one that makes sense. I think it works even better than my original concept, there is far more intrigue with the plot now. I am very excited to see what your characters will investigate first after they escape from the warehouse (if they can in fact escape).
ReplyDeleteHow do you guys feel about combat resolution so far? Do you think you understand how it will work? Do you have a couple cool ideas you want to try to use to help you slip away? Let me know if you want any more resources before the next session. I have plenty, but I don't want to overwhelm you.