I've never been a huge Star Wars fan. Saw the original when it came out, loved the first three films, and after that just dropped off the rock. Gameplay-wise, I've never enjoyed shooters and flight sims only interest me if it's Great War biplanes stuff, so the Star Wars franchise never caught my attention.
However, I am an X-Com fan.
When people started describing Zero Company as X-Com but in the Star Wars universe, I was on board.
This isn't Not Quite Review Corner so I shan't go into the bits and bobs, except to say that there isn't as much X-Com here as I'd hoped and the game overall feels as if they had a lot of ideas and not much execution. Plus, for a hero-based game, no romance options, which seems a little boneheaded. Even X-Com's Chimera Squad, which this closely resembles, hinted at relationships between the characters. The closest Zero Company gets to this is Bennic's puppy dog eyes.
The problem with villains is, too often they exist only to do one thing: be foiled by the player characters. Villains are punching bags, paper Nazis, colorful targets that sit on the far end of the shooting range and never shoot back, or at least not accurately. There’s nothing unique about them, nothing that makes the players think ‘I want to know more about this guy.’ If the players don’t feel engaged by the villain, they won’t respect him, and at that point the whole thing falls flat ... Consider this tactic, when designing your own villains. Find out what they want, what they fear people will find out about them, what they’re prepared to kill for.
Zero Company has this problem in spades.
Star Wars in general has a villain problem, to be honest. The setting doesn't have that many honest-to-God villains and, when it finds one, it re-uses that character again and again till whatever personality they once had has lost all meaning.
Fathom is the worst example of this. The definition of a punching bag. I have no idea what she wants or why she wants it. I know she's doing Bad Things and, as the hero of the series, I have a vested interest in stopping Bad Things.
She has subordinates, Cultists. I have no idea what they want. Or why they let themselves get infected with this plague that seems to be the McGuffin of the narrative. It gives them cool powers and cool powers make the world go round, so here we are.
Cults recruit on broadly the same principles as spies. They go MICE - money, ideology, coercion, ego.
Cults, like OPFOR, have the same important characteristics:
Power, appropriate to their function within the narrative.
Goals.
Assets, to be used to achieve their goals.
Let's say for the sake of it that this particular cult got its start in a card game during the Great War.
Six young men sat in a bunker playing cards, waiting for orders. The game intensified. All eyes were on it. The stakes went as high as they possibly could. Then, at the moment of revelation, enemy shelling obliterated the bunker, and only one of those men survives.
That man is convinced that providence spared him only because the game wasn't over, and if it ever ended somehow, at that moment he'd die.
He collected all the playing cards used in the game. The only one missing was one of the aces; he has no idea what happened to it, but he's convinced it's still out there.
That man became the nucleus of a peculiar cult: the Players.
It started within his unit. Just a few listeners to his crazy stories. They didn't take him too seriously, but it was a fun story and he told it well. Then they saw what happened next, how he dodged every bullet, bit of shrapnel or bomb. It was uncanny. Risks that would have killed a normal person, he survived. He started collecting medals, getting promotions. Soon he was in command of the company, and those few listeners stuck to him like glue, certain that whatever luck had attached to him would benefit them too, if they were loyal.
If.
Living can go to your head. A man can be awarded medals, do remarkable deeds, but if there's no moral compass, no center - and in this case whatever was there before soon eroded to nothing - a man can be convinced the world exists to benefit him and him alone.
After the war the hero went home again, followed by a few true believers. Old soldiers convinced their commander could do no wrong, utterly certain that the same luck which dogged his heels in wartime would follow him devotedly in peace.
They were the first Players.
Now the former commander has set up a gambling operation in [select big city]. The Players are part of that operation, all sharing the same Ideology. Others drawn into the cult come in because of Money or Ego. Either they want what the cult seems to have (financial success) or they think they have what it takes to be winners (ego).
The commander has set up a household god totem somewhere in the gambling operation. It might be in his offices or somewhere close by, but it can't be outside the gambling house/casino. The body of this household god is trench art, made of old shell casings and bits of bone. Cordite stench clings to it.
The commander believes he is becoming a vampiric entity and is pondering the utility of blood sacrifice. It's appealing. He has his eye on a couple luscious young things who might do. His reasoning is, it was blood sacrifice that got him this far, but those deaths can only power so much. If there is a way of living forever by consuming the lives of others, well ...
He thinks he has five lives' worth of immortality juice right now: the five who died before that card game ended. But he doesn't know what five lives' worth is, really. Can it be measured in decades, years? Months? Does that mean he can be killed five times before the end and, if so, how many lives did he use up during the War?
The two recruitment vectors are the signature features of the cult: Money, and Ego. In any encounter with the cult or its supporters, those two factors are always evident. They show off all the trappings of wealth, or they inflate the ego of their victims.
The cult's Power comes from money and all that it will buy. It doesn't have legions of soldiers (though its core membership have military experience) and any expertise (safecrackers, pickpockets, card sharps and so on) are hired help. The experts might be seduced into the cult, but they don't start off as recruits nor are they loyal to the commander.
It has a private Goal and a public one.
The private goal is to find a way to turn the commander into a vampire. Not all the Players are briefed on this goal; the commander is keeping it close to the chest. Thefts, research, the hiring of occult experts are all geared towards this private goal.
The public goal is to increase the status of the commander and, by extension, the Players. Political and economic power, mostly. If that means aligning with certain groups (eg. the Fascists) then that's what they will do. This power feeds the household totem, which in turn gives its benefits to the Players, increasing their luck, their ability.
The cult's assets include the gambling house/casino, a host of civilian gamblers and other low-level fodder, the Players (the main core of whom are ex-military) and any experts they might hire with the money the casino generates.
Now, the commander. What does he want, what does he fear people will find out about him, what is he prepared to kill for?
The commander wants immortality. Life is sweet: the War taught him that. He wants it all, every last drop. He likes being in charge of a casino, having loyal followers, and the Players are his friends. He would dispose of it all, including the Players, in a heartbeat if it meant he got to live.
He fears that missing card. It's out there, somewhere. Constant appeals to the household totem have not told him where it is. He fears that someone will find out his weakness, uncover that missing card, and put an end to him by finishing the game. He keeps all the other cards locked away in a safe, and if someone were to steal those cards he would become frantic.
He's prepared to kill for immortality. It doesn't matter who he kills. It could be a baby in the cradle, but if killing that baby would give him even another decade of guaranteed life, he'd slaughter it without a second thought.
I've deliberately not mentioned locations or settings. Obviously, this would work well in a setting after the Great War, so Trail of Cthulhu, Call, Bookhounds and so on, but it could as easily be made to work in a setting outside Earth - Eversink, say. You'd need to change little. Fireballs rather than shellfire, that kind of thing. Or Paris, rather than London, if you'd rather make this Dreamhounds than Bookhounds. Cairo, and make the commander a seeker into Egyptian promises of immortality, for a Tombhounds take.
It's your Cult.
Vitaï Lampada by Sir Henry Newbolt (read by Tom O'Bedlam)
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.
Gambling (General Ability): You are conversant with the rules and etiquette of all forms of gambling … but can you have fun doing it?
Doctor No's opening scene is the first time James Bond appears on the big screen. He'd been the hero of several novels before the movie's debut in 1962, as well as a television series. This was Connery's first shot at the role, and he made it iconic.
Most Night's Black Agents players take Gambling for the cherry, Luck of the Devil. It's certainly useful - exchange any die roll, yours or your enemies, for one you like better. However it'd be a lot more fun if gambling were more central to the plot. Or even the focus of a Thrilling contest; after all, most of the plot of Casino Royale is about an extended gambling contest. Where Bond goes, let your agents follow.
But where does Bond go, exactly?
In the novels gambling has two main uses. Bond uses his talents to expose cheats, like Goldfinger and Sir Hugo Drax at the start of Moonraker. In each case Bond is brought in by a third party to expose the cheater. In Moonraker M brings Bond to his club, Blades, to confront Drax quietly and discreetly. M knows Sir Hugo is cheating and can't understand his motives, but appreciates that someone as important to Britain's nuclear missile program as Sir Hugo can't be exposed to scandal. In Goldfinger, while on a stopover in Miami Bond is asked by a passing acquaintance - someone Bond met during Casino Royale, but only briefly - to help expose Auric Goldfinger's cheating methods. Bond agrees, and only later discovers that Goldfinger is also a gold smuggler HM Government's got its eyes on.
In each case the scene has several elements:
First, it happens right at the beginning of the novel. This allows Bond to meet the antagonist of the novel early, form an opinion of him, get a good look at his methods and his tricks. Any character flaws or incipient megalomania is on display early on. Moreover there's no chance of bringing the whole thing to a premature conclusion with a bullet. A casino or member's club is basically neutral territory and even if Bond were so inclined violence is not an option.
It's also very cinematic. Serious gamblers bent over an immaculate table, either wagering or watching someone else wager. The theatre of the casino, of each bid, raise and re-raise. The exotic unfamiliarity of things like the shoe - that leathery bag used when the cards are dealt. Baccarat's simple enough that after seeing a hand or two you get the gist - two cards dealt, high card wins, face cards don't matter. Which is why her eight falls to Bond's nine even though both had face cards in their deal. So you don't have to spend five minutes before the scene explaining how baccarat works, even though it's more complex than I described - you can just deal cards. Blackjack has the same appeal; if you can count to 21, you know how to play blackjack. Poker's become so ubiquitous most people can follow along, though the intricacies of play are daunting for new players. Which is probably why four of a kind features so often in movie card games; much easier to show four aces winning than wonder whether a straight beats a flush. Anyone familiar with a card deck knows four of a kind is the best you can hope for, and will presume it's a good hand without being told.
Compare that with the Bond backgammon scene in Octopussy. I can tell you now, first, double sixes are next to no use in backgammon except under certain specific circumstances. Second, anyone so reliant on crooked dice as Kemal Khan would have been kicked out of the club years ago. There's just no way that would not have been spotted by the club's manager, and private members clubs are very, very sensitive about their reputation. Cheats get kicked out double quick, and the clubs that don't kick out cheats are the ones nobody in their right mind joins.
Finally, scenes like these allows the protagonist - the agent - a chance to seize the spotlight. Bond dominates that Doctor No scene, and it reveals a lot of his character in very economic bite-sized bits. No monologues, no dancing up and down in front of the camera - just cool, collected play. You don't even see his face for a full minute, in a two minute forty seven second clip.
So from a Director's perspective what all that says is, first, pick a game that everyone at the table at least knows something about. Blackjack, poker - anything the Director thinks the players are familiar enough with that someone at the table might get off some Thrilling dialogue. If the Director and at least one agent knows the difference between a running game and a blocking game, about covering blots and a lover's leap, then by all means use backgammon. Otherwise steer well clear of games you don't know.
Second, the major antagonist can show up, and that includes everyone from the head of a Tier Three Node to Dracula himself. After all, just as the agents can't leap across the table and stab Dracula in front of all these pesky witnesses and security, so too is Dracula prevented from causing a total party wipe. This is a good moment for everyone to strut their stuff and show how cool they are, not to wet the table felt with blood.
Third, if the Director intends for some important Conspiracy henchman to play a major role, like Oddjob or Khan's bodyguard Gobinda, then that henchman must also be in the scene alongside the major antagonist. The henchman ought to do at least one cool thing, or threaten the agents in some way, as Gobinda does when he crushes the crooked dice in his fist.
Double Tap introduces some new Gambling clues and new cherries, All In and Everybody's Got A Tell, but doesn't include Gambling in the list of potential Thrilling Contests. I think more can be done with this general ability, so here's my advice to you.
Step One: Establish Stakes. This is never about the chips on the table. It's about people. In Doctor No, the card sequence leads to a seduction scene. In Goldfinger, Moonraker the novel and Octopussy the film, the gambling sequence is all about cracking the opponent by exposing weakness - cheating, every time. In Octopussy the stakes are even higher, since by using the Fabergé egg - the MacGuffin everyone's chasing - as collateral, Bond leverages Khan into a position where he can be beaten.
So what's the stakes? In Doctor No, 1 point Flirting. In Goldfinger, Moonraker and Octopossy, 1 point Intimidation, Notice or similar. The agent is buying pool points in an Investigative ability with his victory at the tables, and spending it immediately in play. The player sets the wager, in other words, and that wager can be anything. Need a sportscar for that chase scene you just know is coming? Some Streetwise so you can broker a deal with those Triads? Flirting to impress that minor royalty so you can leverage a ticket to that exclusive ball? Get it through Gambling.
Ultimately what counts as a stake is up to the agent and Director on the day. However I recommend that stakes be calculated in terms of Investigative pool points. A stake is worth either 1 pool point in an Investigative ability, or the equivalent benefit in ordinary items. Ordinary is defined in context as something that is useful but not the equivalent of a Bane, Block or similar advantage against supernatural foes. Higher stakes are worth more points. Anything gained at the table must be spent during the scenario; it cannot be saved for future scenarios.
I can see an argument for allowing Cover or Network points to be won at the table. Pools of this type are strictly temporary - the equivalent of meeting a Sylvia Trench at Baccarat and leveraging that into a Network contact, or spreading the rumor that the agent is a high-stakes gambler from, say, China who just blew into town for the night. The Cover or Network contact gained in this way is strictly temporary, and will not last longer than the scenario unless actual experience points are used to build up that Cover or Network contact.
Step Two: Establish Difficulty. The higher the stakes, the higher the difficulty. Difficulty 5 gets a pool point. Difficulty 6 gets 2 pool points or extraordinary equipment, like a Bane or Block. More extravagant stakes mean higher difficulty numbers, but ultimately the limit is Director's discretion.
Point being, none of this is essential so you needn't worry about denying agents access to core clues. The agent is looking for extras, and ought to be prepared to pay for those extras.
The pool point, or whatever it is, ought to be spent as quickly as possible. No saving this up for future scenarios - cash in those chips now. This is to discourage players who might otherwise stack up on extra points by repeated trips to the table. Also, it's in keeping with the genre. Bond doesn't wait till the end of Doctor No to sleep with Sylvia Trench, nor does he leave Auric Goldfinger to fleece his unfortunate victim unmolested.
Step Three: Establish Consequences. In Bond's world there are always consequences. When he beats Goldfinger's card cheat, Goldfinger responds by painting Jill to death. Kemal Khan responds to losing at backgammon by threatening Bond. Bond's victory over Sir Hugo Drax means he stands out later when M assigns him to look into suspicious events at Sir Hugo's research facility. So what happens to the agent when the agent wins at the tables?
Either 1 point Heat gain or a Level One Antagonist Reaction, Director's choice as to which. Ideally Heat gain occurs when the agent is not pitted against a Conspiracy asset, and Antagonist Reaction occurs when the agent beats a Conspiracy target.
This happens whenever an agent wins one of these contests. What happens when the agent loses?
Ultimately that depends on the stakes involved. In contests where only 1 pool point was at stake, there should be no consequences - beyond the Gambling pool points spent, of course. Loss of pool points, and a certain amount of embarrassment, is enough.
However in situations where 2 pool points or some other form of extraordinary benefit was sought, consequences should be the same whether the agent wins or loses. That means 2 points Heat gain or a Level Two Antagonist Reaction, whichever the Director deems suitable.
For many of you he was James Bond, his most celebrated character. My personal favorite is The Man With The Golden Gun, his second film as Bond; that has a lot to do with his co-stars, Christopher Lee and Herve Villechaize, both of whom chewed the scenery like consummate professionals.
Sir Roger played Bond seven times all told. The only other actor to have managed that trick is Sean Connery, and Roger Moore was 45 when he took up the role, old for an action hero.
'Of course I do my own stunts,' he's supposed to have said. 'And I do my own lying too.'
You couldn't accuse Sir Roger of being a brilliant actor. That was never the point; he played a type, and was lucky enough that, for a while, that type was what people wanted to see. He claimed, as Bond, to have three emotions; right eyebrow raised, left eyebrow raised, and crossed eyes, when being strangled by Jaws.
He didn't take Bond at all seriously. 'To me,' he said, 'The Bond situations are so ridiculous, so outrageous. I mean, this man is supposed to be a spy and yet, everyone knows he's a spy. Every bartender in the world offers him martinis that are shaken, not stirred. What kind of serious spy is recognized everywhere he goes? It's outrageous. So you have to treat the humor outrageously as well. My personality is entirely different than previous Bonds. [Moore replaced Lazenby, whose behind-the-scene antics ensured he'd only play the part once.] I'm not that cold-blooded killer type. Which is why I play it mostly for laughs.'
Though his Bond never went there, Sir Roger is also well known as a citizen of that quintessential Bond location, Monaco. As it happens I've learnt a lot about Monaco over the past few weeks, preparing for a potential writing project.
Apart from anything else, in order to qualify for residency you have to deposit at least 300,000 Euro in a Monaco bank account. Somehow I suspect Sir Roger passed that hurdle easily.
In 2014 he was appointed Monaco's Goodwill Ambassador, for his efforts in publicizing and promoting the Principality all over the world. He was on very friendly terms with Prince Albert II, the reigning monarch of the microstate. He divided his time between Monaco and Switzerland, and though he said it wasn't primarily for tax reasons there's no doubt he benefited from a lighter tax burden.
I could do a Monaco Quick and Dirty, but as I may have a use for that in different circumstances I'd prefer not to. However let's talk a little about Monte Carlo Casino, since that's probably going to be the one location all the agents rush to as soon as they get to Monaco, and then dream up some theme achievements in Sir Roger's memory.
Casino de Monte-Carlo was proposed in the 1850s as a moneymaker for the cash-strapped principality by Lady Caroline, a former stage actress who married the Grimaldi heir to the microstate. At that time Monaco was a remote backwater, with poor roads, no rail, and little in the way of quality accommodation for the kind of guests Lady Caroline wanted to entertain. However despite some initial economic setbacks the casino began turning a profit by 1859, and Lady Caroline managed to persuade casino entrepreneur Francois Blanc to take it over.
Blanc was an entrepreneurial genius, and the Casino went from strength to strength. Over the next twenty years the relatively modest Belle Epoque building expanded significantly and, though extensively modernized since, it still retains its grand Victorian air. Until recently the casino was the primary source of income for Monaco, and its ruling family.
It provides table games of all kinds, American and European. There are seven Salles, or gaming rooms, and two panoramic gaming terraces overlooking the ocean and the delights of Monaco. That's before you even consider the food at the Salon Rose, or the gardens, or any of the other pleasures on offer.
This includes slots and electronic entertainment. So if you ever wondered what it would be like to play Plants vs Zombies in the most exclusive destination on Earth, the Casino has you covered.
Bond enthusiasts may recall that his first adventure, Casino Royale, is set at fictional Royale-les-Eaux, which is (very loosely) based on places like Monaco.
With all that in mind, here's some Achievements for Sir Roger. All Achievements are location-based; they have to be earned in Monaco, and preferably at the Casino or one of the spas and restaurants run by the Societe des bains de mer de Monaco. So let's start:
Goodwill Ambassador. Have your picture taken with the current Crown Prince of Monaco. This can, at the Director's discretion, be extended to include any of the Crown Prince's immediate family.
How do you say p__s off in Russian? Thoroughly humiliate a boorish Russian oligarch or mafia don at the tables or in the restaurant, preferably with your innate good breeding or Gambling as opposed to a punch on the nose.
For better or worse, for richer or poorer. Have a screaming, no-holds-barred public argument with your spouse, or supposed spouse, in which you come off the loser. This may involve damage to your Cover. [Sir Roger's first three marriages ended badly. He and his fourth wife Kiki set up home in Monaco.]
I don't think I've ever made any good financial decisions. Gamble away a significant sum of money at the tables, so that for the rest of the mission you are on Insufficient Funds. Bear in mind that Monaco is one of the most expensive places in the world; not the place to be if you have little in your wallet. Interesting side note: according to Sir Roger he got the Bond role because of his gambling habits.
I'm not that cold-blooded killer type. Neutralize a potentially hostile Conspiracy asset or opponent by using Flirting rather than combat. Also known as I didn't recognize you with your clothes on.
I never thought I was much of an actor anyway. At time of writing Sir Roger is to be buried at a private ceremony in Monaco, and presumably will end up at the Cimetiere de Monaco, which is the only graveyard in the microstate. To earn this achievement, the agent must use Sir Roger's gravesite either as a meeting place, or a dead drop.
Finally, a bit of a cheat:
This never happened to the other fella. Go to a fancy event, like a 100,000 Euro Punto Banco tournament, which features one of the actors who played or currently plays Bond. Bonus points if the Bond happens to be dead at the time, like Sir Roger, or David Niven. Though how either of them get in without causing a sensation is something best left up to the Director.
That's it for this week. I know it's a little short; I'm flying to NYC for the Book Fair, and by the time you read this I'll probably be up in the wild blue yonder. Enjoy!
