Vagabond Voyaging (RPG all)

I've been reading the saddest book.

It's not the book's fault. It's meant to be a jolly romp, all about holidays and where you can go, how much you're likely to spend, how long you'll be. I picked it up at the Argosy for a nominal sum, not expecting to be brought to tears. 

Picture this: a stunning cruise across the ocean, from some coastal US town to wherever you care to go. Nothing fancy; no Cunard prices here. This is holiday on the cheap. This is around the world on a buck a day.

This is Vagabond Voyaging: The Story of Freighter Travel, written by Larry Nixon, press agent, newsman and travel author, he who wrote See Canada Next. Published by Little, Brown & Company.

In 1938.

He published See Canada Next in 1940 and What Will Happen And What To Do When War Comes in 1939. I admit, I'm tempted to seek out that last one. I'd be very interested to see what Nixon had to say to travelers in the Bogart/Casablanca era. 

I don't have much information about Larry himself. His name is sometimes given (on Ye Olde Internet) as Laurence A Nixon but I can't help but wonder if that's a typo, since there's a much more famous gent with that name and Vagabond doesn't give him as Laurence anywhere in the text. The copyright's in Larry's name, not Laurence. To my knowledge these are the only three books he ever wrote, though he probably published plenty of articles in magazines and papers.

This one flew off the shelves. My edition is a fourth reprint, November 1938. It first came out in July of that year and was republished three times in 1938 alone.

It probably would have been republished many more times were it not for ... circumstances beyond the author's control.

You hear about girls fresh out of high school who catch a boat across the Pacific to visit their brothers stationed with the Naval Air. You know full well what's going to happen to that brother in short order, but in the book it's all smiles and dances with handsome cadets. 

But the story that really got me was the one about the young bride who goes all the way across the waters to meet her Royal Navy beau. "'The Captain gave me a dinner,' years from now she'll tell her guests at tea. Her grandchildren will hear: 'All the passengers were so nice, they gave me presents when I left the boat.' Now you understand the Why of the gifts for the departing guest. You're attending a shower for a bride! She's up to reply, poor girl, she is embarrassed, but happy ... 'And you must all come and visit us in our little home on May Road, the Peak.'"  

The Peak in Hong Kong. 

Yeah, those grandchildren might be a little theoretical.

It comes to something when you wish you had a time machine to tell a bride to be to be careful about having children in the first year or two of marriage.

People say Americans don't like to travel but, if this book and its four printings in four months is any indication, there was a time when they were incredibly adventurous. 

Every single freighter that pulled into an American port kept a half-dozen births or more aside for passengers. That argues insatiable demand. Moreover, it was cheap as chips; round the world on a couple dollars a day. The biggest constraint, as Nixon points out, isn't money but time. It takes weeks or months to cross the ocean in a freighter. But, if you have the time, you can go round the world. Nobody's stopping you.

Money really isn't a constraint, if you're determined. Remember my other bit of book loot from a while back, Head-Hunting in the Solomon Islands? This is exactly what those two kids were doing. They got on a ship headed roughly in the right direction and, when they needed extra cash, they painted a few portraits. They saw it all and paid almost nothing for the privilege.

The people who boarded those ships were willing to go wherever the ship went, because there was no absolute guarantee that a ship bound for Toulouse wouldn't, say, be redirected to an African port on the way. These were jobbing vessels, after all; they went where the cargo was. If that happened and you were on board your options were get off or go to Africa.

They ate what the crew ate. A Japanese ship served Japanese food, and so on. There was no all-day buffet, nor was there separate dining. You ate with the crew. They'll do their best for you, but they won't change their meals just because you're used to whatever they serve in Peoria.

You're traveling on almost nothing. This is an age before passports and what we now think of as international banking. You carry hard currency and letters of credit. You carry letters of introduction to prominent citizens at your proposed destination, so you can prove you are who you say you are. 

If you want to, you can just vanish. 

Honestly, it's the kind of book that changes your whole perspective. Without it you might be tempted to think that the airplane opened up the world. It did no such thing. The world was already wide open. Moreover, it was open to anyone, regardless of income or class. It was the war that closed down travel, not opportunity.

Do you need this book? No, absolutely not. But if you're a Keeper looking to run a travel scenario set anywhen from the 1900s to the 1940s, this is the kind of resource you'll find useful. It has destinations, costs, travel times, accommodations, plus a decent picture of the kind of thing you'll find when you get wherever it is you're going. 

It's worth a trip to the library, put it to you that way.

That's it for this week!

The Perils of Witchcraft (Bookhounds of London)

Some housekeeping: no post next week, as I'm off-island wandering through the bowels of New York.

Also, a question to the masses: what GUMSHOE title would you like me to see write about in 2025? Bookhounds, NBA, Trail, something else?

Now, an extract from the Folklore of Guernsey (Marie De Garis, 2014 reprint, original 1975):

Until the First World War, the purlieus around the town church constituted a popular pied-a-terre for several charlatans and sorchiers. These were largely patronized by country people who, sure that they were being bewitched by certain neighbors or acquaintances, would visit those town quacks in hope of being given some counter-charm or advice ... The credulous wife of a well-known farmer residing in the higher parishes, used to be a regular visitor to one of these consultants, a certain Mrs. H. The wife's husband bore one of the most respected and honored names in the Channel Islands and was a man of standing in his parish. The foolish woman gave Mrs. H such huge sums of money that she beggared her husband entirely. The shame of being declared bankrupt so affected her husband that he hanged himself. The house was broken up. The mother went to live with her son but, so far from having learned her lesson, still continued to visit the town crone, passing her son's money to her until she nearly ruined him also. Her two unmarried daughters had to fend for themselves. One followed her father's example and committed suicide, while the other went to work as a maid somewhere ... When the mother finally died, her children felt so bitter about the ruin that she brought upon them that not one of them even wanted her portrait. 

Purlieu: The area directly around or outside of a place.

The Town Church of St. Peter's Port, aka Town Church of St Peter, Apostle & Martyr, dates back to the 1400s in its current form. There has been a church on that spot since the year 1000, more or less, and the building's history probably goes back to the Romans.

It's extremely close to the Market and there's a pub, the Albion House, a mere 18 inches away. That pub has been there since the 1700s, so when the writer talks about the church's purlieus, she probably means in or near the pub and what is now the market.   

St. Peter Port is the capital of Guernsey and, at the time of Bookhounds, it would still have been much as it was for centuries prior: a sleepy fishing port, occasionally enlivened by smuggling and war. It's watched over by Castle Cornet which, again during Bookhounds, is largely reduced to watching over the pond for toy boats built nearby, in the 1880s.

All that said:

Mrs. H.'s Library 

The Hounds buy a job lot in an auction, only to discover that most of the books they bought in that box of miscellanea belonged to a notorious fraud from Guernsey. 

Mrs. H, a well-known character in Guernsey circles, recently passed, and what's left of her family wanted to make sure that her memory was properly expunged. This meant, among other things, disposing of her belongings outside Guernsey. They could have burned it all, but her children share one thing with their parent: they're far too covetous to pass up a chance to make a shilling.  

This means her hand-written witchcraft journals and the scraps of knowledge that Mrs. H apparently picked up from a genuine Mythos text are now the Hounds' stock. 

As books these texts aren't worth much; about 1 point stock, more or less, History (witchcraft). If the Mythos text Mrs. H cribbed from could be found, that would be worth more. That, presumably, is in Guernsey. Lord alone knows precisely where, or even if it still exists.

Soon after the Hounds buy the job lot a widow from Guernsey turns up at their shop, a Mrs. De Beauvoir. She was a regular client of Mrs. H and, since the Hounds now have Mrs. H's books, they must be as knowledgeable as Mrs. H used to be. Mrs. De Beauvoir is being plagued by witchcraft. Can the Hounds help?

Options:

• Ghost Hunters: Mrs. De Beauvoir has driven her family to penury thanks to her obsessions and she brings with her a collection of ghosts, all of whom hate her guts. That's why she thinks she's being plagued; she is, just not by witches. If the investigators aren't careful, these ghosts will turn their attention to the Hounds and the shop. When that happens, Reversals are sure to follow.
• Crawling Chaos: Mrs. H isn't as dead as people like to think. She picked up just enough knowledge to become a kind of crawling one after death, only to find that Guernsey isn't as accommodating to her after death as it was during life. The undead Mrs. H is looking for a new home, and as 'Mrs. De Beauvoir' she's hoping that the Hounds will be gullible enough to assist.
• Family Pressures: Mrs. De Beauvoir thinks that her family doesn't know that she's stolen their savings to make a trip to London to see the Hounds. They very much do, and they want that money back, along with anything that Mrs. De Beauvoir might have given the Hounds. Break-ins, ambushes, tearful scenes at auction houses in front of God and everybody - anything is possible. This may cumulate in an accidental Megapolisomantic effect, as a slice of Guernsey interacting with London mystic forces is just the kind of spice that creates a very peculiar soup.

That's it for this week. Enjoy!

OPFOR (RPG All)

'I feel like I still have a few questions about how to run the antagonist, particularly in its weaknesses and method of being defeated.'

OK, let's talk about the OPFOR.

While this question arose as a result of a particular scenario this response will cover all possible scenarios.

Like Nodes, any opposition has:

• Power appropriate to its function within the narrative.
• Goals, which may be personal or professional.
• Assets, which it uses to reach its Goals.

Depending on the system, any given enemy may have very explicit powers. Dungeons and Dragons is infamous for having very detailed notes on every conceivable monster type, to such an extent that I begin to wonder whether the average DM is a control freak with certain ... fetishes. GUMSHOE is a little more loosey-goosey, Call of Cthulhu and BRP in general leans towards the crunchy side of the power spectrum, and there are too many other systems to name in anything like detail.

The Goals, and the Assets, are ultimately up to the DM, but to a certain extent they can be inferred without having to break your brain. When discussing the Rule of 4, I said about the Rowdy Yates street gang that 'It's not reasonable to suppose a street gang made up primarily of loafers and lowlifes control the hidden secrets of the universe, or even the hidden secrets of the coffee machine down at Screamin' Beans Coffee House.' The same can be said of any OPFOR. 

A bad cop based in Los Angeles has some impact in Los Angeles. They have almost no interest or impact on what's going on in Berlin. Not even Berlin, Texas. A Dragon might be the terror of the kingdom; that doesn't mean that same Dragon has much impact or interest on what's going on in the Underdark. They might, but it's not nearly as likely as them having an impact on the nearby township, Snackington. 

Let's follow through on that logic and discuss some specific examples.

Let's say we're talking about a Deep One. Those are relatively common in Cthulhu tales. Not, mind you, a specific Deep One, a named character with a role in the narrative. No, for purposes of this example we're talking about the third Deep One from the left, carrying spear. 

Deep Ones have specific statistics, as follows:

Abilities (on land/in water): Athletics 8/12, Health 9, Scuffling 8/12, Weapons 6/4

Hit Threshold: 4/5

Alertness Modifier: +0/+1

Stealth Modifier: +0/+1

Weapon: +1 (claw), +1 (trident) 

Armor: -1 vs any (scales and skin)

Stability Loss: +0

Already you can put some ideas together. You can see that this creature is stronger than the average human (NPC) and can (with Health 9) absorb at least two or three solid hits without going down. That suggests it probably isn't afraid of attacking a single human. It might be cautious around two or three humans. There's a greater risk of them losing a fight. 

It knows it can be punched or stabbed without too much risk of fatal damage thanks to its armor. It probably also knows that firearms, especially heavy firearms, are a significant threat since the damage they do effectively negates any advantage it has through armor. 

Finally, it knows that it's punching above its weight. The average Deep One can inflict as much damage as a human armed with a heavy firearm. That suggests it expects to win most fights quickly, against the average human.

It also knows, thanks to its stats, that a Deep One can act on land and sea but is more powerful at sea. That might inform its decision making.

You, as DM, also know, thanks to its description, that it's as intelligent as a human, effectively immortal, driven to create more Deep Ones through intercourse with humans, and that it worships Cthulhu. The main Trail text gives several options for Cthulhu but I'm not going to get too deep into that pool, as the rules are about to be re-issued in a new edition. Just be aware that the Deep One is driven by these compulsions. 

With all that in mind:

• Powers: mostly physical. It can do damage. It's capable of tactical thinking and can use tools, which means it can ambush and set traps. However, the average Deep One is a team player, not a leader. It can follow instructions but might not be that good at issuing them.
• Goals: Spread worship. Spread infection. Survive. 
• Assets: other Deep Ones, human worshippers, potential access to Magic but that doesn't seem to be widely spread among them. Main asset is their personal strength and their increased ability when striking from the ocean.

When discussing scenario structure I said:

Crucially, you need to bear in mind that your structure isn’t some magical castle in the clouds that can only be reached by imagination wizards. Your structure is very simple. It starts with this:  

You put yourself in the characters’ shoes and ask yourself, if I had to answer this question, what would I do?

Exactly the same applies with OPFOR. What they do and how they do it isn't locked in some imaginary castle. You don't need psychic powers to work this out. You just put yourself in the Deep One's shoes and say, 'if I was dealing with this problem, what would I do?'

Deep One versus solo PC:

• I know I can beat this guy one-on-one, unless he has a gun.
• I should attack from ambush whenever possible. 
• If I beat him easily, I don't have to kill him straight away. I could capture him for sacrifice to my God.

Deep One versus multiple PCs, or one PC and multiple NPCs:

• I will lose if I try and fight this many.
• I should try to run away.
• If I can get more Deep Ones, or maybe some human allies, I can come back here and deal with this problem.

None of these are very complex plans and strategies, because this is third Deep One from left carrying spear. Unnamed monsters tend not to have complex motivations or significant assets at their disposal. If they did, they would not be third Deep One from left carrying spear. 

Let's say we were talking about something else. Let's say we were talking about Lisle Klingemann of Bankhaus Klingemann fame.  Since I've already described Lisle and her co-conspirator Albert Ahrens I know that each of them has at their disposal:

Secretaries, assistants, houses, cars, the company jet, and so on. The offices they command could also be considered assets, as well as the accounts they control. Each probably has at least one bodyguard. Lisle may have a hacker permanently on her payroll, to ensure that her constant drain of company funds, to fuel her gambling addiction, goes unnoticed. If Uncle Albert kidnaps Lisle-a-likes to populate his private dungeons, then he may have a kidnap team on the payroll. Each office will have some kind of security detail, probably sub-contracted, and while these won't be fully armed mercs they will be at least moderately competent. Finally, one or both of them may have sufficient criminal contacts to hire an outside hit man. All this is in addition to whatever muscle [they] can leverage from other, lesser Nodes.

So for Lisle it's reasonable to assume that she has:

• Powers, nothing too physical, but all the power money can buy, plus whatever power her vampire masters are willing to lend her.
• Goals: survive. Gamble. Serve vampire masters. Get one over on her hated brother Eric and her despised father, Joachim.
• Assets: all those named above plus whatever else she can buy, plus whatever her slave Albert can muster, plus any asset her vampire masters are willing to lend her. 

Lisle is capable of complex plans and strategies. She's a Node boss; she wouldn't be where she is if she wasn't a significant threat. However, her power is mostly soft power, the kind that comes with having lots of money and a ruthless streak. It would be unreasonable for her to get into a fistfight with a PC, not when she can pay half-a-dozen hard lads to do that for her.

However, she also has a weakness. She's a degenerate gambler. If the PCs learn about this, they might be able to manipulate or intimidate her.

Finally, she has goals that have nothing to do with the PCs or the ongoing vampire conspiracy. She feuds with her father and her brother. That means she might be persuaded or led to do something that the PCs want her to do, because it wins her some advantage in her ongoing feud.

Lisle versus solo PC:

• This clown is beneath me. 
• I should crush him with the power of money.
• Failing that, I should get one of my many minions to crush him with the power of crushing.

Accompanied by:

• I should be careful not to let my vampire masters down.
• When in doubt, survive to fight another day.

Lisle versus multiple PCs:

• How did this happen? Where are my guards?
• I should throw my toughest assets against these clowns.
• Where's that emergency asset my vampire masters gave me?

Accompanied by:

• I must survive.
• These clowns will pay for making me look weak.

Again, there's nothing here that can't be put together by asking one simple question: if I were Lisle, a rich, arrogant person used to getting my own way and crushing people with the power of money, what would I do in this situation?

That's it for this week. See you next week!

Thrilling Combinations (Night's Black Agents)

 

Police Story (1984, Eng dub)

In Night's Black Agents main rules there's sections on Thrilling Chases, which later gets expanded to Thrilling (Any General Pool) in the Resource Book. There's enough high-octane action to keep anyone occupied. 

What happens if you try to combine two Thrilling possibilities?

Hong Kong action films are good for this. Last week I talked about Twilight of the Warriors, which has plenty of examples of Thrilling Combat combined in the same scene as a Thrilling Chase. Jackie Chan vehicle Police Story does much the same in this sequence, with a Chase mixed with Athletics and Hand-to-Hand plus a final Firearms confrontation - or Intimidate, depending on how you want to play that final showdown. 

If you, as Director, want a scene to flow like this, how would you go about it?

For starters, don't forget the existing Thriller Combat options like Feint, Evasive Maneuvers, Multiple Targets, Smashes and Throws. All these have their place in a Thrilling Sequence. If you want the players to make use of them, you may need to print out reminder cards with these rules printed out. It's easy to forget things like this in the heat of the moment. Players who're itching for Thrills may not need reminding but not every player lives for the moment when their agent get attacked by a machete gang.

The Raid: Redemption

Next, establish a Win condition for the scene.

This needs to be understood by all participants in the scene. With Police Story, the win condition for Jackie Chan is to capture the bad guys; the bad guys' win condition is to escape. In Raid, Rama's win condition is to escape; the machete gang's win condition is to kill Rama. It's easy to imagine a win condition of capture the McGuffin (a camera or hard drive with vital evidence, say), or survive until dawn (useful in a vampire game). Whatever that win condition is, everyone in the scene needs to know what it is. If it were me, I would state the win sequence right at the start.

There's a strong case for saying that the Players should have input on the win condition. The Players are responsible for Thrills; they should have a say in how those Thrills come about. Not all Players are confident enough to get involved at this stage. If yours aren't (and you know your players better than I do) you could state the win condition without their involvement. Still, you should ask. They're not going to get confident by constantly dodging their responsibilities. 

Next, establish which two Pools are going to be used.

I would stick with two. There's an argument to be made that more than two pools could be used, but then things get more complicated than they need to be and the folks at the table start losing track of who's doing what.

Take the Police Story scene. There are at least two pools in play: Athletics, and Martial Arts. Technically there's a very short Firearms sequence at the end, which could easily be replaced by Intimidation. Or the Raid sequence, where again the two abilities in play are Athletics and Martial Arts. 

There are some General Abilities which work well together. I can see a case for saying that Thrilling Infiltration and Thrilling Digital Intrusion go together like peanut butter and chocolate.  Or Thrilling Surveillance and Digital Intrusion. 

The Conversation Trailer

There are some scenes which aren't as immediately obvious, but which still work together. 

Let's say that a Network Contact with vital information turns up badly injured and close to death, and a hit team is on the Contact's trail. The agents bundle the Contact into a car (or steal an ambulance, or however you want this to work) and take off at high speed for the nearest hospital. In that case, the two likely pools are Driving and Medic, with the win condition being get the Contact to the hospital alive, or at least get the Contact to cough up the vital information before they die.

You could pull much the same thing with Driving and Shrink. In this example the Contact isn't physically injured but their mind is fried, and the agents aren't getting the Contact to a hospital but instead to the nearest location with Blocks to defend against vampires; a Catholic Church, say. The agents use Drive to keep one step ahead of the hit team and Shrink to get the Contact to cough up vital information before the end of the scene. 

Shooting and Infiltration: the Infiltration team are sneaking into an armed facility, and the team sniper is taking out opposition so the Infiltration team doesn't get spotted. 

Piloting and Driving: the agents are in hot pursuit, and the eye in the sky is keeping them updated as to the target's route. Or Surveillance and Piloting, same deal.

Now, there's a case to be made that Maneuvers do the same thing, and I would definitely agree. If a result of equivalent use can be achieved through a Maneuver, do that. However, I'm suggesting this be used on those occasions when the Thrilling option is more interesting to the group as a whole than boiling it down to one Maneuver and a die roll. 

OK: you've established a win condition and the pools to be used to achieve that win condition. Next: use both those pools as needed in the scene. Let the players decide which pool is more useful at a given moment. That pool is the Primary pool for any given roll, and the Secondary pool is used either to establish a Raise, to Swerve, or is saved for the next moment it's useful.

Let's say this is that moment in the Raid where Rama is running from the machete gang. The Primary pool is Athletics. Martial Arts is the Secondary pool. Rama is the pursued, and the machete gang are the pursuers. In any given check, Athletics is the Primary, but Rama has the option of spending Martial Arts to Raise the difficulty in the chase. Or Rama can save Martial Arts for a later moment in the same scene, where Martial Arts becomes the Primary pool and Rama can use Athletics to Raise the difficulty.

The win condition is for Rama to escape, so the mechanics are the same lead/chase mechanics used in any Thrilling Chase scene. With the difference that Rama can spend Martial Arts to Raise or Swerve, and has the option of switching at any time to make Martial Arts the Primary and Athletics the Secondary pool. 

The obvious caveat is that this gives the agents a larger pool to draw on, which in turn means the agents may be more likely to win any given Thrilling sequence. That's not a huge problem. The players should be expected to win most of the time. A story is no story if the hero fumbles at the first hurdle. 

Where this becomes interesting is towards the midpoint or the end of any given story arc, because at that point the agents have probably spent a fair number of points and taken advantage of any refreshes on offer. Now it's do or die time. They'll need all the help they can get. 

Time for some Thrills.

That's it for this week. Enjoy!  

 

Twilight of the Warriors (film, 2024) (Night's Black Agents)

 

How do you make a Shaw Brothers film without actually being a Shaw Brothers film?

You make this.

Highly recommended to all fans of action cinema. Seldom have I seen better fight sequences. The plot is vintage wuxia with a very modern overcoat but there was never anything wrong with the plot of those films. There are good guys. Bad guys. Conflict. You come in, sit down, get dazzled, and the ending comes with a crash. That's pretty much the entirety of Twilight, and it doesn't surprise me one bit that Johnnie To was once attached to this production. This is exactly the kind of thing he's good at.

I am still a little amazed that Sammo Hung plays Mr. Big, the main Triad villain. Sammo Hung! The wacky guy from Encounters of the Spooky Kind and the Jackie Chan films, the one with a hand in all the Mr. Vampire films. The top tier fight coordinator. Ye Gods. I did not even know that was him on screen. To still be doing this kind of thing in his 70s ... Louis Koo is a very charismatic Cyclone and German Cheung's AV kinda steals every scene he's in, though I think he's helped by that mask of his. It draws the eye. Philip Ng does well as King, the villain's villain - the fella biting that sword in half - but you've seen this character a thousand times before. He's there to betray and be hated. Not that this is a bad thing, far from it, and he's got that manic laugh down. All in all, not a bad actor in the bunch.

But the bit that caught my eye and lured me in was that the whole thing's set in Kowloon Walled City. 

The Walled City is what happens when nobody lays claim to a chunk of territory. Conceptually, it was bitcoin in architectural form, with all the madness and lack of governance that description implies. As nobody was in charge, practically speaking, everybody had a hand in it, and that includes criminal syndicates. It was called the City of Darkness and, while the title's evocative, it probably had more to do with the actual lack of light than any metaphysical or moral aspect.

South China Morning Post

Oddly it reminds me not a little of Corbusier and concepts based on his theories of design, like London's Barbican. Not because of its architecture but because it exemplifies one of his basic principles: you should have everything you need for work, housing and recreation within walking distance. That definitely applies here. You could spend your entire life inside the Walled City and never have a reason to set foot outside. 

The Walled City sees some play in games like Shadowrun: Hong Kong or Call of Duty but it doesn't often appear in tabletop, which is a shame. It's often a background for a fight scene. 

Let's play with that concept.

Of all the settings I could use, Night's Black Agents seems the most appropriate. A Thrilling Trace, let's say:

Trace missions are similar to Hunts, but with an object instead of a person. 

Key differences: Trace missions tend to reach a lot further back in time. 

The target of a Hunt is unlikely to have remained hidden for more than, say, 30 or 40 years (for that “former Cold Warrior who knows too much about the vampire program and retired to a garlic farm in the wilds of Montana” or “archaeology student who opened the wrong tomb and is now a tour guide in the Vatican so he can stay on holy ground as much as possible”). The object in a Trace operation might be decades or even centuries old.

So, start with the object. How portable is it? How fragile? How valuable? How rare? 

I'm not going to go into a lot of detail but I will describe this McGuffin as one-man portable, moderately fragile (as in you can drop it and it won't break, but it doesn't require Sauron's One Ring circumstances to destroy it) and unique. 

I will also say that it was located in the Walled City from the late 1940s, when refugees first established the squatter's town that came to be Kowloon Walled City, till the Walled City's demolition in 1994. That it was damaged but not destroyed in the 1950s fire, that it first came to Edom's attention during the police raids in the 1970s, and that it is known to have been one of the last things to be taken out before demolition. 

I will further posit that the players, and possibly the characters, can still access Kowloon Walled City in the modern day despite the demolition. Whether through dream, virtual reality, time travel, or having the players temporarily play characters who happened to be there at the time.

There was a Jackie Chan film, Crime Story, that used the Walled City in several scenes while it was deserted in 1993, before final demolition in 1994. That can be the last time anyone saw the McGuffin in Kowloon; some of the film crew saw it. 

Kowloon Ghosts

The characters are tasked with Tracing a vampire McGuffin that is known to have been in China and removed to Hong Kong sometime between 1945 and 1946. 

The relocation happened as a result of the Manchurian Invasion by the Soviets.  Military Science, Research, Occult Studies establishes this first link in the chain. Possible Interrogation or Interview opportunity: Professor Chernenko, a military history expert who once interviewed a Soviet soldier who saw the McGuffin first-hand. The Professor is currently working at the University of Milan.

The 1950s fire damaged but not destroyed the McGuffin. Research, Occult Studies, Criminology discovers that the McGuffin changed hands from the mystic society that brought it to Kowloon to one of the criminal syndicates that controlled the Walled City. The Wo Shing Wo took it and would keep it for the next few decades. Whether the triad understood what it was or what it could do is open to question. Possible Interrogation or Interview opportunity: Kirkland, a student of the Tao and a self-proclaimed inheritor of the mysteries practiced by the original holders of the McGuffin. Kirkland is currently in San Francisco, operating a herbalist's shop.

Edom first became aware of the McGuffin during the 1970s raids. Research, Occult Studies, Tradecraft discover the intricacies of failed Edom recovery mission Operation PERIDOT and as a bonus may discover what really murdered Hong Kong Police staff sergeant Bernard Wei during that operation. Potential Interrogation or Interview opportunity: Lucy Wei, Bernard's daughter, currently living in London. 

The McGuffin was last seen during the filming of Jackie Chan vehicle Crime Story in 1993. Some of the climactic scenes, including an explosive setpiece, were filmed in Kowloon Walled City. Research, Occult Studies, High Society, Photography discovers what happened next, or finds photographic proof of its existence and location at the time of filming. Possible Interrogation or Interview option: Andy Wong, one of the stunt actors, still hard at work in the Hong Kong film industry.

OPFOR: codename TIGER, a Jin-Gui who's seen it all through dead, black eyes. TIGER can send visions of Kowloon Walled City's past through its Send Dreams ability. TIGER uses its Illusion ability to masquerade as a family restaurant owner in Hong Kong (with zombies as the 'family'); the barbecue pork buns are to die for.

Current owner possibilities include: 

• Blackie Ko, one of the cast of Crime Story, now deceased. Ko took it as a souvenir. Ko died in 2003; presumably his estate has it?
• Edom's Pearl, who keeps it at a private estate in Mumbai.
• Professor Chernenko, who tracked it down and is studying it. Perhaps in a crumbling castle somewhere in Italy ...
• A Conspiracy Node which spirited it out of Hong Kong to Macao. A triad linked to Wo Shing Wo has nominal possession, but the Node has actual control over it and plans to use it in some nefarious deed or other.

That's it for this week! Enjoy.

Human Lanterns (film, Shaw Brothers)

 

Human Lanterns trailer

Two warring noble houses, each alike in dignity, find themselves played for suckers by a third party. The third party has a deep grudge against one of the nobles, and that noble, not realizing the depth of the third party's enmity, asks the third party to make him some fantastic lanterns so the noble can win a competition. 

The third party obliges ...

I've seen some peculiar films in my time but, brother, this one's a doozy. You think you know what's coming. Then you see what's coming. All of it. 

It's mostly shot in-studio on a handful of sets, and that allows the filmmakers to really lavish detail on their setpieces. The villain's lair is a horror-show. The main actors are some of the best, both in martial arts prowess and as actors. The villain's costume, which seems a little comical at first glance, works remarkably well and there are more than a few moments when that grinning death's head provokes an involuntary shudder. 

Definitely one to watch, on a cold Halloween night ...

But let's talk gamification. 

First, that lantern festival. Fantasy settings seldom have festivals, or parties of any kind, unless it's a celebration of the Hero's Victory or 'Christmas, but with Orcs.' Which is a shame, because festivals are a good excuse for inciting incidents and character development. The film doesn't go into a lot of detail about its festival, probably because the Shaw Brothers assumes most of the audience knew all about it. Given that it's a 2,000-year-old tradition drawing on a mix of folkloric and historic sources, there are all sorts of ingredients to choose from. 

I quite like the tradition of the lantern riddle:  "The lantern riddles are done by a host blocking one side of the lantern and pasting riddles on the remaining three sides of the lanterns. Participants will guess the blocked side by solving the riddles, which is called "breaking/solving lantern riddles"." If you guess correctly you get a small prize, but the bigger prize is prestige. 

In games like Dungeons and Dragons where riddle-tests are popular, you could easily sneak one of these into a festival and have the 'reward' be transportation to a small dungeon area, where the characters then have to find their way out again. Along the way they complete a minor quest of the riddle-makers choosing. 

Ravenloft's I'Cath setting would work well with a scenario seed like this one. The characters encounter the riddle-lantern as part of a festival in the dreaming world, and are pushed out of the dreaming world into the waking one with this quest: find a way to bring the riddle-maker's family out of I'Cath. There are some riddle lanterns in the waking world that will bring characters back to the dreaming one, but who knows who (or what) made those lanterns ...

Or in Swords of the Serpentine there could be a lantern festival organized either by a cult or some foreign faction, which is suddenly adopted as a fashionable craze by the aristocracy. Everyone flocks to the lantern makers for their latest creations, each noble house trying to outdo the other. The finest, most fantastical lanterns are prized possessions. But in a sorcerous twist, some of the best lanterns are Tainted ...

Next, the lantern maker. 

In the film it's heavily implied than the lanterns have some peculiar quality all their own, as a consequence of the method of their creation. Even knowing what they are, the hero calls them beautiful. Their luminous seductive image is the last thing he thinks of, when everything else is done.

The film doesn't answer the question, 'what happened to the lanterns?' It's set in nebulous before-times which, for the purpose of this discussion, I'm going to assume is 1800s-ish. Heavy on the ish, and probably closer to 1800 than 1850.

So in a Bookhounds game those lanterns are, perhaps, 80 years old.

Not that long at all, really. 

Antiquities with Bite

A customer of particular importance to the shop has gone Chinoiserie-mad. 

It all started with a glimpse of some antique lanterns in a Limehouse dealer's storefront. The customer, Martyn Bower, swears blind that they felt the power oozing off those lanterns, and they must have them. Except they couldn't persuade the shopkeeper to accept Martyn's bona fides and, wouldn't you know it, Martyn just didn't have the cash on them at the time. Won't the Hound do Martyn a favor and come with Martyn to the store, to help them convince the shopkeeper that Martyn's credit is good? 

Either the Hound does or does not do this. If they do, then Martyn cannot remember exactly where the shop is and they spend the rest of the day looking all over Limehouse for it. 

Disconsolate, Martyn spends the next few weeks moaning and kvetching about how those lanterns were almost theirs. Martyn seeks out anything to do with lantern making, which at least means the Hounds can pick up a few bob catering to Martyn's new craze. 

Then Martyn drops out of sight for a month or two, which at least means the Hounds don't have to listen to Martyn's whines.

When Martyn pops up again, they are looking for a particular book: The Daedalus Mysteries of Light and Art, 1743, English translation of a supposed Chinese original, author unknown, translator Dawes Hapson. Allegedly the original is a text from Shanghai but, as the only person who ever knew for certain is Hapson and he's long gone, tracing that legend is near-on impossible. 

Martyn says they got the lead on Hapson's work from his inquiries in Limehouse.

Option One:  Cult Activity. The text is real and moderately well-known to members of the Hsieh-Tzu Fan. In fact, it was one of the cult who first interested Martyn in all this: it was in the cultist's shop that Martyn saw the peculiar, bewitching lanterns. Now the cult is trying to ensnare Martyn by having Martyn create some lanterns of his own, but to do that they need to make sure that Martyn gets what he wants ... in as unsuspicious a manner as possible. Enter the Hounds.

Option Two: Dreamlands Adjacent. Martyn didn't see those lanterns in a shop in the waking world. Martyn saw them in the Dream and awoke so befuddled that he confused the Dreaming shop he saw them in with one he remembered in Limehouse. Ever since he's been trying to retrace his steps and, in so doing, treads a ritual path through London. He's on the verge of creating an Oernic Gate entirely by accident, and the Daedalus Mysteries are the final piece of the puzzle. If he gets that and makes the lanterns he's craving, London (or at least that bit of it containing the Hounds' shop) could be plunged into waking nightmare.

Option Three: Devilish Inspiration. Martyn has always been devil-obsessed. His feverish imagination has taken him a step too far. Now things are noticing him and ensnaring him in their machinations. The Daedalus Mysteries aren't about lantern making; that's just a cover. It's actually a text written by the astrologer-priests of Daoloth, who used lantern making as a metaphor - bending light itself to their own ends. The idea being to create the tiniest piece of Daoloth in this world, the most microscopic portion, which could then be used to illuminate a kind of lantern-oracle. One of the descendants of those astrologer-priests is using Martyn as a catspaw, to bring this about. Once the lantern is made, assuming Martyn survives the process, the astrologer-priest's descendant intends to take that lantern and use it in their own rituals.

That's it for this week. Enjoy!  

 

Discomfort (RPG All)

I recently took a final pass at a project that's been in gestation since 2021 (my God that seems like forever ago) and was reminded that, in that scenario, I mention a discomfiting subject: the Windrush Scandal. 

I often do these things. I will touch on a sensitive subject. I will acknowledge that racism exists, for example, and existed in a historical context. I live in a country shaped by racism; I can hardly ignore it, any more than I can ignore the air I breathe. 

I might touch on abortion rights next. The Americans put abortion on the ballot, after all, and that affects us directly. We're small; we lack facilities. If someone needs an abortion and we lack the ability to carry it out here, for whatever reason, then the next step is somewhere on the East Coast. Which will be a bit tricky if the East Coast is closed for business. 

I dislike forcing morality or mortal topics down anyone's throat, but I will say this: roleplay is one of the few arenas in which we can discuss discomfort at one (fictional) remove. We can explore ideas. We can see, and foresee, consequences. I think it is important that we do so. Without discussion, without discomfort, we do not examine our preconceptions. If we do not do that, then we carry blindly on doing whatever damage we do, without thought for the future. 

I have some sympathy for the argument that the gaming table is not the best place for political discussions. That this is where people come to relax, not debate. I would have a great deal more sympathy for that argument if I thought for a moment that the people who made it are, in fact, discussing and debating outside the gaming environment. They are not. They ignore. They stifle. They look the other way, and keeping the gaming table pure (and silent) is just one more part of a long-term campaign to keep everything else pure (and silent). 

I was reminded of this when reading a recent horror setting. I shan't name title or author. It's a fairly complex piece and, as I got to the end, I suddenly realized I hadn't seen a single mention of a black character of any kind. More than 200 pages, American location, and the one African American character I saw in the entire text is an alternate description of a named NPC. 

Pure. Silent. 

Perhaps I'm howling in the wind, but someone's got to. I admire Chris Spivey's work; I hope he has a long and distinguished career. I wish there were twenty more of him. It boggles me more than I can say that in this year of our Lord 2024 there aren't a surfeit of creators out there telling stories like these. 

There are some. Not nearly enough. 

Short post this week. Next week: stuff!