Midpoint (Bookhounds of London, RPG All)

This is a three-part series and in the first part I discussed the Opening Scene: what makes it work, and what you'd need to have on hand to run one.

This time I'm going to discuss the Midpoint. What can the players expect? What should you prepare for?

The Midpoint is usually a Core scene. What that means is, no matter how they get there, the players eventually get there. They may not get there in one piece, or with all their brain cells intact. But they will get there. 

What will they find, when they do?

Before I delve deeply into that Mine of Moria, let's take a step back and talk about the opposing forces. The enemy. The villains. 

When discussing this before I drew your attention to the villain's trifecta. They have:

• Power appropriate to their function.
• Goals, which may be personal or professional.
• Assets, which they use to reach their Goals.

They are active participants in the narrative, working towards a Goal, deploying assets to achieve those Goals, and using their Power to do that. 

This means that, in each previous scene, they will have been making their mark. If their Power involves killing, then people (preferably NPCs) are dead by now. If their Power involves stealing things, then something's been stolen or at least there's been a serious attempt to steal things by now. If their Assets include bribed cops, then those cops have been deployed and probably been encountered in a previous scene.

If we were talking about the monomyth or Campbell's Hero's Journey, this is where the Trial happens. The Initiation.  

I'm not going to go that far, but I will say that, by the midpoint, the characters ought to have a clear idea of the Powers and Assets arrayed against them and have some notion of the Goal. That doesn't mean the characters are right. Twist endings exist for a reason.

Robot Chicken

It does mean that the Hounds ought to think they know what's going on, whether or not they actually do.

That's not all they should know. Let's say for the sake of this post that you have some greater conspiracy in mind, some mover and shaker behind the scenes that will be the main big bad in the campaign as a whole. Bookhounds has several options. 

Let's say that the Big Bad this time around is a Witch-Cult with connections to an older tradition that venerates Cthugha. They're collecting Books of Shadows - handwritten magical grimoires - and they believe that the annotated Religio Medici was owned by someone who knew of their work (Doctor Hargrove) who was in turn following in the footsteps of his antiquarian ancestor, the one who built the tomb in which the Tomb-Hound now lurks. For that reason, the Witch-Cult wants the Religio Medici. 

By the end of the Midpoint the characters ought to have picked up some indications that the Big Bad exists. They may have met some of their minions, or been attacked by them, or found some clue as to their intentions. Perhaps book scout Samuel Penman spilled some tea. Perhaps the cult has sent some agents of their own into the fray. 

It might be anything, but the larger point is this: the Big Bad has powers, assets and goals just like all the other OPFOR, and by the end of the Midpoint the players should have some indication as to one of those things. They should have picked up clues that allow them to guess at the powers, assets or goals of the Big Bad. Ideally the goals, since this may motivate the characters in a way that other information wouldn't. If the Hounds know, for instance, that the Cult intends to start another Great Fire of London as part of their scheme then the Hounds may be motivated to prevent it, lest they become charcoal briquettes. Still, the Cult is offering a lot of money ...

Do you need to know where this scene is taking place?

No, not necessarily. You want a degree of flexibility here, because the Hounds may go a completely different way to the one you planned out. You know, because you wrote this thing, that there are several different potential locations mentioned in the script, but the Hounds didn’t read your script. This isn’t a Baldur’s Gate situation where the programmers can specify exactly when and where, say, Raphael appears.

All you know for certain is the when, not the where.

You know the when because you specified the triggers for when this will happen. The vital clue, the event, the whatever-it-may-be.

It’s a basic if-then. If they meet all the conditions, then …

Now, there will be times when you do know the where because the trigger is linked to the where. If the trigger is linked to a particular auction taking place at a particular auction house, then you do need to know about that auction house. However, you could as easily have the trigger be something that isn’t linked to the where. The auction doesn’t have to happen at that particular auction house; it could happen anywhere, and if the players have reasons of their own for it to happen at such-and-such a place, (and points to spend to make that happen), let them. This is a player-facing game. Anything that brings the players into the decision-making process is to be encouraged.

No, the only thing you absolutely have to know is the trigger. That ‘black ash of a Trichinopoly’ moment where suspicion becomes certainty. That’s the moment when the players have all they need to go on to the next beat in the narrative.

The sentence I use in situations like these is a simple reminder: ‘By this point in the narrative the players should have … [whatever it may be].’

What next?  

When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand – or, since this is Bookhounds, a grimoire.

By which I mean:

• Keep the specifics of the scene concentrated on action.
• Remind the players what’s at stake.
• Give them a clear idea of what will happen next if they don’t intervene.

OK, all that said:

Buyer's Remorse - Midpoint

By this point in the narrative the Hounds should either have the copy of Religio Medici or know who has it. They should know that Crowley's former student at the Abbey of Thelema, Jane Russell, wants the Religio Medici but hasn't the money to pay for it, and that book scout Samuel Penman is devoted to Russell. They should also have had an offer for the book from collector Alexis Waddell. They may or may not not know that Waddell represents the Witch Cult. They may or may not have the peculiar amulet found in the Orientalist mausoleum at Kingshill, but if they didn't get it then Penman did.

This scene may take place at the Hounds' shop but can take place anywhere.

Either the Hounds have the amulet or Penman does. 

If Penman does, then he has an imperfect idea of what entity is linked to the amulet; he's had some bad experiences that nearly cost him his life, but he doesn't know the true nature of the amulet. He went to Russell for help, but she cast him out, fearful of what was following him. Penman decided to seek out the only other people he knows who might help: the Hounds. 

If the Hounds have the amulet, then the following omens will take place before the midpoint scene:

• a man is brutally murdered close to the Hounds' shop, at night. It's up to the players/Keeper whether any Hounds were at the shop when this happens. The victim is either Penman or Rough Lad Mickey MacFarlane, whichever is more convenient for plot purposes.
• The dead man was casing the shop for a burglary and had burglary tools on them when they were torn apart.
• The dead man was violently butchered, as if by a wild animal, but whatever it was didn't eat the dead man's flesh. Why not?
• It must have taken seconds; the dead man didn't even have time to cry out, and though there are some minor defensive wounds it's clear the dead man didn't have time to put up more than a token effort before dying.
• A witness - a reeling drunkard - says the attacker was 'a giant dog-bat! bat-dog! well, it flew on bat wings!' 
• All the reflective surfaces in the shop went dark one day and stayed dark for an hour. After the hour passed - right to the second - they cleared again. Occult 1 point: a powerful supernatural entity must have been near. The effect centered on that peculiar amulet. 

The scene begins either when Penman approaches the Hounds or after the Hounds experience the omens. 

The Hound-Lich manifests and attempts to retrieve its amulet.

The first sign of its approach is that all reflective surfaces within a 5-meter area of the amulet go dark. This happens 2 rounds before the Hound manifests, and a 0-point Mythos or a Difficulty 4 Sense Trouble realizes what's about to happen.

A 1-point Mythos allows the Hound to improvise a magical barrier that is not permanent but will last for long enough for the Hounds to protect themselves during this scene, so long as they don't step outside the magical circle. This is a Magick roll of 10+, and can be boosted through Cooperation, Megapolisomancy, or spending Sanity.on a 1 for 1 basis. Any Sanity spent is gone forever. 

The Hound-Lich manifestation is a 5-point Stability for anyone near, and if there is protection up and the main caster goes temporarily insane as a result of this test, then the protection barrier immediately fails. If there is a secondary caster available that caster can try to reestablish the barrier before the Hound attacks; the test is 10+, as before. 

Other options include Fleeing with the amulet. Successful Fleeing for 3 rounds after the Hound manifests causes it to demanifest. 

If this scene happens at the shop, then there are customers at the shop and unless the Hounds can come up with a play that prevents it, the Hound-Lich will kill at least one customer in the action round it manifests. This prevents it attacking a player character in the opening round but causes a Reversal for the shop, as the surviving customers spread all kinds of lurid rumors, some of which actually resemble the truth - for once.

If the players come up with a different idea play it out, on the understanding that after 3 rounds the Hound-Lich will demanifest if it has not achieved its objective.

Descriptors: 

• a malevolent cloud of inky blackness that absorbs - devours? - anything it touches
• a wolf-pack howling
• whispers of arcane knowledge that seem to embed themselves in your flesh, leaving bruises behind that never entirely fade
• jaws with a thousand thousand teeth, a shark's grimace
• empty, passionless doll's eyes
• a hound's lean body, the essence of hunger that can never be sated
• an unmarked corpse, its flesh withered but undamaged

If the Hound-Lich gets close enough to the amulet to retrieve it, it will, and will take that amulet back to its tomb in Kingshill. It will also mark one or more of the people present in this scene for future torment. If the Religio Medici is present in the scene it will take that as well, but the amulet is its main objective.

If it does not get the amulet within 3 turns of manifesting it lets out a soul-chilling scream (3 point Stability) and demanifests. On demanifestation it returns to its tomb in Kingshill.

After this moment the following Clues are available:

• 0 point Occult: this was a powerful demonic attack from the Beyond, and will have left psychic residue behind,
• 1-point: that residue can be used to trace the entity back to wherever its lair is.
• 0 point Archaeology: some of the manifestation's characteristics remind you of archetypes seen in ancient artefacts and Eastern mythological accounts.
• 1-point Archaeology: allows you to create a Contact at the British Museum who knows all about this sort of thing and may have useful advice.
• 0-point The Knowledge: you've seen signs all over London - architectural fol-de-rols, old gargoyles on churches and similar - very like this entity. How long has it, or its kind, been haunting London?
• 1-point The Knowledge: you can spend a night and a day tracing these symbols and gain 1 potential point Megapolisomancy - or, if not using Megapolisomancy in the game, then Magick.
• 0-point Craft: the contours of that peculiar amulet are burned into your brain and cannot be forgotten. Perhaps it was those whispers of arcane knowledge, but for whatever reason you will never be able to forget that amulet as long as you live.
• 1-point Craft: you can fake a copy of that amulet. Probably not well enough to fool the Hound-Lich, but humans will not be able to tell the difference.

The following Core clues will also become available:

• After the manifestation collector Alexis Waddell redoubles his efforts to obtain the Religio Medici. Price was no object before; now, lives are nothing to him so long as he gets what he wants. That may mean sending hired thugs after whoever has it, and he won't believe the Bookhounds have lost it unless his thugs turn over the shop first. See further A Collector Scorned.
• After the manifestation occultist Jane Russell redoubles her efforts to get the Religio Medici and the amulet, using Megapolisomancy to do it. The Bookhounds will encounter her psychic projections in future scenes. See further Tantric Echoes.
• After the manifestations the Bookhounds are contacted by mysterious antiquarian and book collector Wilson Davies-Gore, aka the Baron of Blackheath. He offers the Hounds a potential way out of their current dilemma - if they'll agree to his terms. See further All Saints, All Sinners.
• Future Torment. If the Hound-Lich marked one of the player characters for future torment, the Hound will realize they are marked deep in their soul. If the character had no Mythos, they gain 1 Mythos. See further Damned. 

That's the Midpoint. The characters have had their brush with death; now it's up to them to grasp at straws and claw their way out of death's embrace. Hopefully making a profit along the way ...

Enjoy!