Turn of a Friendly Card II - The Confrontation

 

Cards from Labyrinthos Golden Thread Tarot

Last time I talked about the Setup, in which the Solo player first encountered the threat, acquired the McGuffin and (hopefully) progressed onward. By now the agent should be well on their way out of town, or at the very least approaching the exit point. 

So what makes a good Confrontation?

Well, we have one pointer: III of Pentacles. From last time:

III of Pentacles: lack of teamwork, disorganized, group conflict, when inverted. From Labyrinthos: it shows that people are working against each other and undermining the project along the way. There seems to be too much competition between them - each person is trying to display superiority. This results in scarcity of resources - too many people are viewing their project partners as competitors.

The great thing about Solo Ops, and one-on-one sessions in general, is that they share a central tenet of Film Noir: the situation is always bigger than the protagonists. No matter how skilled, worldly-wise or tough the protagonist is, there's always more dangerous threats out there. So the protagonist has to commit themselves to a course of action: no sitting on the fence when the fence is being shot out from under you.  

It's all very existentialist; there's no higher power, no greater meaning. Just you, a cold, dark alleyway, and what looks like certain death at the other end of that alleyway. Which fits in very nicely with the spy genre, particularly that kind of passionless double-cross style of spy story beloved of Le Carre and authors like him. 

Three Days of the Condor, Sydney Pollack, Eureka

What this means in-game is that while there may be several actors none of them can be trusted. Just because the agent works for the CIA it doesn't mean the CIA has the agent's best interests at heart. This is a setting in which a shadowy enemy might wipe out a station full of people to cover up one secret. Or to gain one bit of information. 

So, in-setting, the Conspiracy definitely wants the McGuffin and so does, say, Edom, or China's Room 452. It doesn't follow that Edom can be trusted to bring the agent to safety, any more than Room 452, or the CIA, or even the Conspiracy. In fact there are circumstances in which the Conspiracy might be more trustworthy than Edom, if the Conspiracy thinks it can deny Edom the McGuffin by saving the agent's life. 

However as the III of Pentacles points out there's a lot of competition and all those powerful forces rubbing up against each other is bound to cause problems. This is the kind of situation in which ordinary people get killed just because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Mechanically, this is the point at which the difficulty curve goes up. In the Setup you can afford a few easy victories; they help the player feel empowered and move the plot along. From this point forward, it's all Medium difficulty at best, and often Hard. Advances should be difficult to get, and most results should be Hold. The player should feel the need to spend some of those Edges.

Moreover there ought to be at least one double-cross, but it doesn't necessarily have to happen to the agent. There's a lot of pull in having an agent's contact on the receiving end, and the agent finds the bloody remains all over the carpet - or however it plays out.

Or, suppose that same contact walks into the Conspiracy and becomes one of ... them. Or perhaps was one of them all along. 

The chief thing to bear in mind is this: by the end of the Confrontation the agent should be:

1. Battered, and perhaps holding one or more Injury, Shadow or Heat cards;
2. Potentially the not-so-proud owner of a fatal Problem that must be solved for the agent to survive the Resolution;
3. In possession of all the knowledge they need to get to and even survive the Resolution;
4. Not necessarily in possession of all the resources they need to survive the Resolution, but at least now they know where to get those resources.

Whatever else might happen, the purpose of the Resolution is not to gain information. Information might be revealed, as happens in Twist endings, but that reveal isn't necessary to Resolve the narrative, It's there to change the impact of the ending. 

The Confrontation exists to fill in the last pieces of the puzzle and to smack the protagonist across the chops at least once if not several times. The Resolution exists to give the protagonist one last hurdle before they crawl, near-eviscerated, across the finish line. 

By the end of the Confrontation the agent may or may not have the McGuffin. In fact it's often better if they don't have it, because then the motivation becomes 'recover the McGuffin before whoever has it does something hideous.' The Bond thrillers are often good at this. Scaramanga, say, gets hold of the solex agitator and plugs it into his personal Golden Gun. Nobody really cares what happens to the solex agitator after that, just so long as Scaramanga doesn't get it.

Mind you, watching that again makes me wonder if the planet wouldn't have been better off if James Bond had been shot to death by Scaramanga. At least then we would have had workable solar power in the 1970s, which would have considerably blunted global warming. As it is, the Brits seem to have thrown the agitator in the bin after Bond recovered it. Or perhaps Harold Wilson stepped on it by accident and was too embarrassed to admit it.  

So by the end of the Confrontation the agent should know where, geographically, to go next, who has the McGuffin if it isn't the agent, and what they intend to do with it. Which is bad things. It's always bad things.

Maybe Edom intends to assassinate key figures in the European parliament to advance the UK's agenda. Maybe China's Room 452 wants to rejuvenate the Chinese economy through blood magic that will, among other things, liquidate Hong Kong. The Conspiracy almost certainly wants something much worse, and for all their plans to work they need that McGuffin at this Location probably at a specific Time, since it's much more dramatic and thematic to have the final act kick off on some kind of blood solstice than, say, just another Tuesday. Or to shoot De Gaulle on Liberation Day, or whatever the goal may be. 

Now we move into the Resolution.

Turn of a Friendly Card (Solo Ops)

 

Cards are from Labyrinthos, Golden Thread Tarot

Whether you're a new Director or an old hand you'll have faced this problem; how to structure plot? I mentioned last time I was noodling with some ideas, and here's one: a Three Act Structure based on a Past/Present/Future Tarot spread. 

It's easy for anyone to work out the basics: first card represents what's in the past (behind you), the second what's in the present (beneath you) and the third what to look forward to (before you). There are any number of sites which can tell you what the cards mean; I'm going to use Labyrinthos as a guide.

The advantages are twofold: 

First, it's very visual. You could do this at the table in full view of the player just as the game begins, particularly if you like improv-style games and are good at thinking on your feet. Even if you do the draw in advance and work out the plot in your spare time, you can still lay these cards out in front of the player for added dramatic effect. If you do it this way you can also add in a little extra motivation by letting the player claim a free Push in any given scene in the Act if they can use the meaning of the card as a motivator. We'll discuss how to do that later in the example.

Second, it frees you, the Director, from a lot of potentially difficult decisions because the cards make those decisions for you. It's easy to fall into a rut with your plots, or to suffer brain freeze as you think 'how do I get the agents from A to B to C without making it feel like a railroad?' Using the cards as inspiration, you'll come up with plot ideas you might not have considered before.

This time out I'm only going to talk about the first Act in this three Act structure, but before I do that let's discuss the cards.

We have IV of Swords (inverted) as the Past, III of Pentacles (inverted) as the Present, and The Tower, one of the major arcana, as the Future. What do those cards mean?

IV of Swords: restlessness, burnout and stress, when inverted. From Labyrinthos: Your heart is willing to relax, but this is not what your mind wants. You feel that you have too much that is depending on you. Following this path is not advised, as it could have affects on your health. Very much in flavor with Solo Ops.

III of Pentacles: lack of teamwork, disorganized, group conflict, when inverted. From Labyrinthos: it shows that people are working against each other and undermining the project along the way. There seems to be too much competition between them - each person is trying to display superiority. This results in scarcity of resources - too many people are viewing their project partners as competitors. Very much in flavor, again!

The Tower: disaster, destruction, upheaval, trauma, sudden change, chaos, when upright. From Labyrinthos: The Tower is a symbol for the ambition that is constructed on faulty premises. The destruction of the tower must happen in order to clear out the old ways and welcome something new. Its revelations can come in a flash of truth or inspiration ... The old ways are no longer useful, and you must find another set of beliefs, values and processes to take their place.

No, I did not stack this deck. Random draw, I assure you.

The Three Act Structure is often referred to as the Setup, the Confrontation, and the Resolution. Those are the three things that happen in the order that they happen. You can play with the Structure: for example, you could start with the Confrontation and then reverse time or flashback the Setup. Or you could save a vital part of the Setup for after the Resolution, as a Twist Ending. However to keep things simple this time out I'm going to assume that the three Acts happen in the traditional order and that each card represents the Act.

I'm only going to discuss the first Act this time; the other Acts are for another day.

First Act: Setup, IV of Swords (inverted). This sounds like something pretty significant happened last episode, whatever that was, and the agent is just beginning to recover. If this is your campaign then there might actually have been a last episode, in which case you know what happened and can pick out something from that plot that ties into this one. I'm going to assume for the purpose of this example that this is the first episode of a new campaign with a new character, and that whatever happened in the past is part of that character's backstory. 

Because this is backstory (behind you, the Past) then theoretically it might actually be in the Past, several years before whatever's happening now. It doesn't have to be, and in this example I'm going to assume that it happened immediately prior to the current action.

I like starting with action, so this scenario will start with an action scene. I also bow to the card, which means the agent starts with some kind of stressor (representing burnout). It can be injury, an uptick in Shadow or an uptick in Heat. It might be interesting to let the player pick which they'd rather have; it's always fun to involve the player in their own damnation. In the opening scenario of the Solo Ops book Khan wakes up in a hospital bed, injured, so there's some precedent for this. 

You feel that you have too much that is depending on you. That sounds as if the agent either is in the middle of something important or has something important in their possession which they need to deliver to someone else. The classic McGuffin plot, in other words. 

From Isaac Niemand, Hitchcock's McGuffin

So let's think about what this is all about.

There are various kinds of operations, but since we're already in McGuffin territory and starting with action let's begin with a corpse and a thing. The corpse had the thing, now the agent has it, and it's time to deliver that thing before someone much bigger than the agent catches up with and steps on them.

Lead-in, opening scene: museum, night. Crooked shadows stretch out across the ceiling. The antiseptic air is like breathing pure ammonia; God knows what the cleaners are using but it's powerful stuff, probably to snuff out the sweat and stink of thousands of tourists. Or the stench of ages. Perhaps both. 

Despite this a coppery reek wafts from the remains of your friend and colleague, spreadeagle on the floor and missing their head. No sign where that is. A high-pitched titter tells you whoever did it is still nearby. 

Whoever or whatever they are, they missed something; you can see a card key peeking out from under a nearby display, a short distance from the decapitated corpse's hand. If that's the card key to the Director's Office, then there's still a chance to retrieve the situation. You know, from what your friend told you, where the hidden safe is in that office. You know where the contents of that safe need to be delivered. Time to save the day ...

Lead-Out: This Is Too Easy (alternate, check the room); Race Through the Shadows (core, grab the key and go); Ambush the Ambusher (alternate, try to get the drop on whoever killed your friend).

The intent being to get the agent from this moment in the museum to the director's office with that card key, possibly after some clever maneuvers on their part. The three most likely options are covered. The agent may try to fight, try to flee, or try to investigate. They may want to try other options too; players are sneaky like that. 

Point is, this opening Act sees the agent acquire the McGuffin, encounter a (minor) supernatural opponent, engage in a fight or a chase scene, and eventually leave the Museum with the McGuffin in tow. Depending on the nature of the rest of the Act there may be other objectives, but those are the core objectives.

I shan't go into any detail about the nature of the McGuffin since that will depend on the kind of game you want to play. If this is a Mutant or Alien game with heavy scientific elements, for instance, then the museum will be a Science or Aerospace Museum, or maybe a Military Museum of some kind, and the McGuffin will be important scientific data, possibly historic scientific data. A Damned or Supernatural game would be in a different museum with a different McGuffin.

Once the agent is out of the museum they need to leave town. Like yesterday. They're right in the middle of a murder investigation with all the Heat that implies, for starters, and that's before you consider that the Conspiracy also wants the McGuffin. If the Conspiracy wants it you can bet your last Bitcoin that others want it too. In the Conspiracy detailed in the Solo Ops book there are two flavors of Linea Dracula both of whom will want it, and then there's other spy agencies, potentially third parties like the Vatican - all sorts of sinister forces waiting in the wings.      

The idea is that this opening Act leads into the Confrontation, and since this is a McGuffin plot the Confrontation will either be a fight over the McGuffin itself, or the agent will lose the McGuffin somehow and have to retrieve it again. There should be a decent chance to gain Injury, Heat and Shadow; the agent should leave the opening Act with at least 2-3 points in one or more of those three stats. Battered but not beaten.

The Confrontation is when the Director should really start putting the bite on. 

I mentioned Pushes earlier. The Setup card is IV of Swords (inverted). If the agent can work the meaning of that card into the Push somehow - that is, restlessness, burnout and stress - then they get a Push in any one scene of their choice. 

However if the agent doesn't work that Setup card into a scene somehow then the Director uses it instead, as a customized Blowback of some kind which adds Shadow, Heat or Injury depending on the nature of the Blowback moment. Say, after the tittering killer is somehow dealt with either in an ambush scene or after the chase to the Director's Office, the killer reappears again like a slasher film antagonist, full health and ready for action even if they were weltering in their own blood a minute ago. Or those elongated shadows start preying on the agent's mind - are they still there? What do they mean? The Shadow knows ...

It should be a race to see who claims that Tarot card first. The introduction scene should be a card-free zone but in each scene after that the agent needs to decide whether or not to use it and, if so, how. If they can't think of a way, then the Director might.

That's it for this week! Next week, more Solo.  

Not Quite Review Corner: Jiangshi: Blood In The Banquet Hall (Wet Ink Games)

 

OK, I do have a Solo Ops post written and ready to go, but this arrived on Friday and I just cannot wait to talk about it.

Jiansghi: Blood in the Banquet Hall is a Kickstarter from way, way back in the mist-shrouded Before Times - that is, before COVID and before the UK's exit from the EU - with an original projected physical release of Nov 2020 (or Oct 2020 for the .pdf version). It funded on its first day and has gone from strength to strength ever since. I spotted it during the campaign and Tweeted about it, backed it to .pdf level and later upped my pledge to physical.

Time makes a mock of us all, and especially enjoys poking fun at Kickstarter release dates. It wasn't until late last year that the physical went out, and what with COVID and other shipping issues I didn't get my copy until this week.

O boy o boy o boy!

Mr. Vampire, Sammo Hung, courtesy of Eureka

It's no secret I love horror, and vampire films, and things that go argh! in the night. So when something floated into view that, on closer inspection, not only fulfilled all of those wants but also gave me something very close to Bookhounds of London, another of my fave settings, I had to give this a shot. Above all else, I particularly loved the thought of being able to play a kind of Mr. Vampire hybrid, except rather than being exorcists operating a funeral parlor your characters are owners/operators of a Chinese restaurant. What's not to like?

Physically this is a very beautiful product, with evocative art both color and otherwise. The central board operates as a time tracker and organizer, showing you where you are and what you ought to be doing at each given step in the process. You, the characters, each have a sheet with all kinds of stuff showing you what you might be able to do, how well you can do it, what you have to do it with, and so on. The board's in the center, your characters on the periphery, and the whole thing operates like a Catherine wheel of options, spinning like a top and throwing off sparks.

I really want to see this in play. In my minds eye it looks like a restaurant place setting, with the main dish in the center and each person's plate at the periphery, as we all sample the available options.

As the restaurant's owners/operators, your primary duty is to keep the restaurant running because the restaurant, that shared responsibility, is what keeps the family together. If if fails, then everything, including the family, falls apart. 

In order to do that you need to accomplish tasks, everything from keeping the place clean to cooking and serving to bribing the cops to a dozen and one different things, and if you fail in one task then it will be harder to accomplish the next. A cascading failure is always on the horizon, and it's your responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen.

Meanwhile each of you have your individual hopes and dreams that you're trying to fulfil, independent of any obligations you might have to your family. Balancing your personal needs against the needs of the family is what keeps your character going, and just like the restaurant there are plenty of obstacles that might prevent you from fulfilling those personal needs.

As if all that wasn't bad enough there are vampires, the dreaded Jiangshi, lurking in the shadows and making things much, much worse for everyone involved. If the characters fall under their influence then they become sick, and so find their daily tasks that much more difficult. Become infected with their disease and you might become a Jianghsi yourself, turning against the family and making their lives much more difficult. 

Mechanically all this is accomplished via cards and dice, and played through in Scenes which represent the passing phases of the day. Morning, when everything is prepped. Afternoon when food service starts. Evening, when the Jiangshi make their presence known, and Dead of Night, when the restaurant shuts and the Jiangshi's power is at its peak. 

In each Scene one or more characters will have stuff to do, and how well they achieve their goals determines plot progression. The characters only have 6 working hours in the day to distribute between the various tasks, and if they've been infected by Jiangshi or the restaurant has accumulated Neglect, both of which is represented by cards on the board or on the character sheet, then they won't be operating at full strength. That means they have less time, fewer options, which makes it more difficult to accomplish tasks. Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold ... 

It's easy to see how, even without the Jiangshi, if the characters are selfish and devote more time to their personal goals than they do to the shared goal of the restaurant, the family will fall apart. The Jiangshi is an added stressor, one they really don't need, but if they band together the family has a chance. A good chance? Eh ... 

It's a d8 system, low being bad news, 5-6 being success with consequences, 7-8 being critical success. A roll of 4 is especially awful because 4, the Death number, cancels out a success. Therefore it's possible to roll 0, if you roll only one success in your pool and accumulate one or more 4s. A result of 0 is a critical fail, with nasty consequences. You can accumulate bonuses and extra dice if everything's going well, but if Neglect or infection has blocked off those options then it's just you, the dice, and a famished Jiangshi waiting for you to let your guard down.

While it's very definitely a horror game the true nightmare isn't so much that dusty bloodsucker lurking in the shadows. The nightmare is the collective failure of the family. If the family fails, then everything falls apart and the game - the story - is over. That lends this narrative - and it is a narrative far more than it is a game - a personal punch that RPGs like it lack.

Consider Bookhounds of London. There the central conceit is the Bookstore, which all the characters operate and possibly also own. If one character fails or falls, that doesn't really affect the Bookstore, because ultimately in that game the Store is simply an excuse for the characters to be together as a group. It serves the same function as Delta Green or Ordo Veritatis. It provides flavor and shared backstory, but has no real influence in play and will survive even if the characters fall. 

That isn't the case here. The characters are together as a group and the restaurant is the proof of their group solidarity. If the restaurant is failing, that's because the group is unravelling. If the restaurant goes under, that's proof that the family has disintegrated. In short, the Store is more than an excuse for the characters to coexist; the Store is evidence that the characters are successfully coexisting. 

You might have noticed that, unlike, say, Troubleshooters, I've had nothing to quibble about so far. Nor will I quibble. This is a solid, well-thought-out and well-designed product. Nothing here to make me go Eeek! or question why an image indicates one thing and the text another. Designers Banana Chan and Sen-Foong Lim, with their horde of co-conspirators, have put together something that's beautiful, functional, and inspirational.

Together with the board, cards, dice, character sheets and other bits come two very interesting books. The first, the main game book, includes everything you need to play the game and also a brilliant explanation of the setting, its history, Gods, Qui, religion, vampires and other supernatural creatures, and plenty more besides. The second book, Haunted Tales, includes eighteen horrifying scenarios for you and your group ranging from historic to modern day, with side orders of Mexican, Filipino, Jewish, African American and Islamic stories, each with their own particular supernatural problems and concerns.

There's a lot to love, and I hope you'll love it as much as I. 

Want to know more? Hop over here!   

Gambling (Solo Ops)

Happy New Year!

Dr. No, opening scene

For the first few episodes I'm going to talk about Night's Black Agents, Solo Ops. I'm noodling around with a few ideas, but as it's been a while I figured I should re-read the Solo Ops rules. OK, so if I were to set a scenario in Monaco ... of course, Gambling ...

What? Gambling isn't a General Ability in Solo Ops?!?

grumble grumble grumble I guess Casino Royale isn't a spy thriller grumble grumble grumble Roger Moore only got the Bond gig because he knew how to play cards grumble grumble grumble

Well, here's a problem that needs fixing.

To begin with, (from the NBA main book, p. 29-30):

Gambling

You are conversant with the rules and etiquette of all forms of gambling, from Texas hold ‘em and roulette to horse racing and numbers rackets. To win (or strategically lose) at a game of chance or sporting flutter requires a Gambling test, or a contest if played against an NPC with the Gambling ability. In addition to playing by the rules and winning, you can:

• spot cheating, either by the house or by another player
• stack a deck, rig a horse race, load dice, or otherwise cheat

Palming cards, tiles, or dice is allowed as a Gambling test; anything else requires Conceal or Filch.

Gambling doubles as an Investigative ability when used to:

• calculate the odds of events ruled by probabilities
• use Bullshit Detector on professional gamblers despite their poker faces
• interact with gamblers and blend in at casinos

This doesn't require significant modification for Solo Ops. As Director you might want to tweak it for your table, but that description covers all the bases.

Some Edges are needed, and here's a couple for you:

Luck of the Devil

Gambling Mastery

In any General Test discard this Edge to change a result of natural 1 to natural 6. If this is used to change two or more natural 1s to natural 6s, gain the Shadow Problem Devil Cuts the Cards.

[explanation: in most General tests the player only has 2 dice, which means in theory the player can only ever roll two 1s in any test. However there are some Edge masteries, like Martial Arts, which grant extra dice, and it can be a real kick in the teeth to have four dice and roll four 1s. Statistically improbable, but not impossible.]

Devil Cuts The Cards

Continuity, Shadow.

There is such a thing as being *too* lucky. Your karma is out of balance, and you can feel its weight on your shoulders. Taking Time during a scenario to rebalance removes this problem, but it cannot be removed between scenarios (Continuity) nor does it vanish when the character changes cities.

Sylvia Trench

Gambling Mastery

Discard to gain a Network Contact who just happens to have exactly the skills you want, or need, in any one scene after this Gambling scene. I admire your luck, Mr. ...  

Bā

Gambling Mastery

Discard this Edge in a Gambling scene to remove any one non-Continuity Shadow or Heat card. Your troubles melt away in the heat of your lucky streak, and you burn joss on your way into the gambling hall just to make sure.

Let's have a couple Gambling Problems as well, just to round things out. In any Gambling challenge there's always the chance something will go badly wrong and the player has to eat the consequences. In this instance:

Sore Losers

Blowback

Sure, you won, but at what cost? The lowlifes you were playing with want payback, and are willing to dime you out to the law (or maybe something worse than the law) to get it.

Plenty O'Toole

You picked up a good-time playmate who will not go away, and their mooching is very distracting. Even if not physically present in the scene they have your phone number/address (how? who knows? watch the Deleted Scenes to find out) and can call at the worst possible moment. Take -1 to the next Mental test, and discard the card - and the playmate. What the hell is my black wig doing in the pool?

[possible additional/alternate wording: If the Mental test result is a Setback, the playmate dies. Add either 1 Heat or 1 Shadow, player's choice.] 

Sì

Shadow 

There are worse things than losing. A cold chill settles over you as you realize you've attracted unfriendly attention - and whatever it is watching you now is whispering your secrets to very unpleasant powers. Shadow increases by 1 so long as this Problem is in play. Counter by finding a way to throw off or distract this unfriendly watcher.

That's it for this week! Next time, more Solo Ops.