End of Op 2: Night's Black Agents

Saturday was a rousing game of Night's Black Agents, in which we rather unexpectedly ended the second op. Half of running a good game is knowing when the credits roll, man.

So! Lockwood flew into Paris and joined the other characters, who were talking over what to do about their newly acquired information about Vasily Avilov and the human traffic ring. They decided they'd try and find Olive Parent, the woman whose picture showed up on Mikhael Gulubov's camera and who had, at one point, been arrested for solicitation. They had Smith check into a hotel (using Human Terrain and Streetwise to find one within Avilov's circle of influence, where the bellhop would offer tourist men a bit of a good time).

Indeed, the bellhop mentioned to Smith that if he was alone for the night, he could hook him up. Smith agreed, and a bit later, a black car pulled up with a woman in back, seated next to a man. The man gave her a pat on the leg (kind of a "go get 'em!"), and she went upstairs.

It wasn't Olive, though, so Smith feigned illness and sent her away. She went down to the hotel bar and struck up a conversation with David, who was there watching. She offered her services to him, and he offered to take her for a walk, and then got her alone and asked her about Olive. She revealed that Olive was on a call at a different hotel; fortunately she knew which one. David gave the girl some money and put her on a train south, while the others staked out the other hotel.

They didn't have to wait long. Olive came out of the lobby and got into a car - just one guy, the driver, and not someone the characters had seen. They followed them, Rousseau driving expertly behind, to the banks of the Seine...whereupon the man got Olive out of the car, stood behind her, and pulled a gun.

Hanover, however, shot him dead before he could harm the girl (using his MOS). They took his wallet, cell phone, and weapon, and threw him in the river, and took Olive out of the city to Euro Disney (I am not making this up) to debrief her.

From Olive, with some judicious use of Reassurance, they learned Avilov's habits and MO. He lived in a building in Little Moscow, a building with families and kids (the characters had been planning on just blowing it up, but thought better of that). The windows on his floor were blocked up, so they couldn't snipe him easily. They could assassinate him, though - they're pros, after all, but Smith brought up a point. If they kill him, doesn't someone just fill the void? And will that alert the vampires to their presence? Also, Avilov has a Paris cop on the take (DuClerc), so something would have to be done about him, too.

Rousseau came up with a brilliant plan, though. They staged a video in which DuClerc scuffles with Olive, shoots her dead, and then cleans up after. They arranged it so Olive set up her phone to record (so the video and audio sucked, which worked in their favor, since they just had to make Smith pass for DuClerc under those conditions), drew some of Olive's blood to plant to make it look real, and did all this at the hotel where Smith had check in originally, so the bellhop would see "Duclerc" leaving.

Avilov and his boys came to the hotel, and left in a hurry, and headed to DuClerc's apartment (where the characters were watching from the next building over, ready to make sure everyone that needed to get shot did). Rousseau called in a contact at the Police Nationale, so sirens were inbound - and they called Duclerc right before Avilov kicked in the door. Shots were exchanged, both DuClerc and Avilov fell dead, and the last guy got arrested on his way out.

The characters stuck around Paris to make sure everything worked out - the police dug into DuClerc and realized he'd been on the take, so rolled in to Avilov's building and arrested/shot the criminals there, returning a lot of the women there against their will to their home countries or at least putting them in the system (look, it's not perfect, but it's better than being food).

Smith called up a buddy of his, also an ex-spook, in Sarajevo, and asked him to look into Ivana Zisek, the information broker that apparently sold out Rousseau. He said he would, but had heard nothing of interest.

The characters kept an eye on the warehouse they'd noticed before, but nothing changed. Hanover, however, also made sure to watch Simon Thibault, and lo and behold, he took a meeting with a woman named Renate Bauer. Bauer, as it happens, is BSI - the Federal Office for Security in Information Technology, the same unit that Hanover worked for. And, according to Rousseau's PN contact, she also went to look at Avilov's body.

The characters figured that they should leave Paris for a while anyway, and besides, their best lead was in Germany. So for our third op, we're headed to Bonn.

Character Creation: Part-Time Gods

I acquire RPGs much faster than I make characters, of course. As such, the project will never be complete.

But at least I haven't given up.

The Game: Part-Time Gods
The Publisher: Third Eye Games
Degree of Familiarity: Not much. I've read it. Oh, and there's a Kickstarter going for a supplement.
Books Required: Just the one.

 

Part-Time Gods feels like a World of Darkness game that kind of said, "Whatever, Dad, you're too dark, I'm gonna go make my own supernatural urban fantasy game, with blackjack and hookers" and then stomped off to its room and played Polyphonic Spree or something. Structurally, it feels like a WoD game - you've got some splats, magic hidden from view, and a looming threat (the Source).

But, you can also be the god of whatever the heck you want, and that's really appealing to me. One of my major complaints about In Nomine, you'll recall, was that you can't actually play a Word-bound angel or demon, which sucks. I definitely like having my character be known for something.

Oh, full disclosure: The game's author, Eloy Lasanta, did layout for several Growling Door books, and I'm gonna keep hiring him because he's awesome. He also wrote Mermaid Adventures.

So! Let's see how this works. Chargen is a seven-step process. Step One is "Mortal Concept, Occupation, and Bonds." OK, then. I'm asked to do a bit of brainstorming and come up with a concept. I think that I want my character to drive a food truck. He sells coffee and baked goods. He stays up most of the night, bakes into the early morning, sells fresh muffins and whatnot to folks going to work, then sleeps the latter part of the day.

Milo Covey went to a culinary school and had ambitions of being a big-time chef or pastry chef, but then he worked in a restaurant under a famous chef (he refuses to say who) and discovered that the level of OCD required is just a bit out of his crazy range. He went back home to Wherever This Game Is Set and tried to get his old job at the coffee shop back, but they'd been bought out by Starbucks (to their credit, Starbucks was willing to hire him, but he wasn't interested). He got a loan from his mother (inheritance from after his father passed) and bought the food truck, which he called Proving Grounds. Sometimes his little sister Brooke works with him, but mostly it's just Milo.

Milo's straight-ish (the book asks me to consider sexuality and gender identity, which I appreciate), cis, and of mixed race (mom's black, dad was white). Milo is light-skinned (his sister is darker) and takes after his father in looks and temperament - fast on his feet, good with his hands, sings when he's happy, almost never without a cup of coffee nearby. Maybe a little plump.

Occupation...OK. These actually determine bonus points and stuff. Let's see if "food truck owner" is in here. "Business Owner" seems about right, though I take issue with the Wealth rating being higher here than for a computer tech. Also: "Schedules are completely flexible, but the character IS there job." Eloy. Get an editor, man.

Well, for want of a better option, I'll do that. That gives me a skill of my choice +3, and Wealth 2. Also 8BP.

Now, Bonds. Bonds, apparently, are connections to other people, groups, or places. I get 6 points to spread out between Bonds, rated 1 to 5. Hmm. Does that mean if I take two three-point Bonds, I'm done? Seems so. I also attach a Passion to each Bond.

Well, my backstory demands I take Mom and Brooke as Bonds, and probably the truck, as well. I'll take Mom at 3, Brooke at 2 (doesn't seem high enough, but I only have so many points) and the truck at 1. Fun fact - places measure the rating by size, while with people it's intensity of connection, so that actually works. For the Passions, I'll put Love for Mom (it's not on the list, for some reason, but it should be), Protection for Brooke, and Independence for the truck.

And now, Step Two: Attributes. I get 25 points to spread out amongst six Attributes. The average rating is 3, so it's possible to fully average with this math (I approve). The Attributes are:

Power
Agility
Vigor
Intellect
Insight
Charm

I approve of these, too. Only six, and they're easy to understand and don't seem to overlap. Let's see. I don't see Milo as a powerhouse (because when do I make powerhouse characters? Very rarely). I think Agility, Insight and Charm should be his higher scores, so I'll put 5 in each. That saps 15 of my points, leaving me with 10. I'll put 4 each in Vigor and Intellect, leaving 2 for Power. That was easy.

Step Three is Skills. I get 25 + IQ. I assume "IQ" means Intellect, even though there's no "Q" in the word? Yes indeed. That means I get 29 points to divvy up. Oh, plus +3 to a Skill of my choice, provided it's relevant to my Occupation. According to the chart, the 5-6 level is Expert in something. There's no maximum, but if I go over 8 it costs more.

There's a list of standard Skills. Are there non-standard ones? No, there don't seem to be. I question the need for the word "standard," then. Anyway, let's do this. These look good:

Athletics (always take Athletics)
Crafts (specifically for cooking)
Discipline
Empathy
Fortitude
Knowledge
Legerdemain
Marksmanship
Perception
Performance
Persuasion
Technology
Travel (includes driving)

That's 13 Skills, which gives me 2 in each. That's not enough, better trim the list. Let's lose Knowledge, and Marksmanship, and assume low ratings in some of the others. I'll put my free 3 points in Crafts (for cooking), and arrange the points like this:

Athletics 3
Crafts 7 (3 free + 4)
Discipline 2
Empathy 4
Fortitude 3
Legerdemain 5
Perception 3
Performance 2
Persuasion 4
Technology 2
Travel 4

That's 38, I'm 13 over. Hmm. Well, let's drop Fortitude, Discipline, Technology and Performance. I'm at 4 over. Damn. I really want high ratings in Crafts and Legerdemain, but I also want a decent social skill. Either Empathy or Persuasion could go, or I could drop them both to 2. Blah. Let's just drop Persuasion altogether. So my Skills are:

Athletics 3
Crafts 7 (3 free + 4)
Empathy 4
Legerdemain 5
Perception 3
Technology 2
Travel 4

That's 25. What next? Well, the book says we're now in Divine territory, though the chargen chapter continues with Gifts and Drawbacks (or Merits & Flaws, Advantages & Disadvantages, call them what you will). Ooh, I can take Drawbacks and buy Skills. But do I do that now or at the end of chargen? It says we spend BP at the end, so I guess I'll take Gifts and Drawbacks now and spend the points later. I have 8 BP going in because of my Occupation, as it happens, and I can gain up to 7 more.

I'll take Lifesaver, because I see Milo as a decent guy who'll get involved if someone needs help. Just to underline the point, I'll take Not a Fighter. I can take 1 more point. I could take Minority - Milo's of African-American descent, after all - but doing that would signal to my hypothetical GM that I want race to be an issue for this character. Since we're all playing pretend, here, let's assume my GM is the kind of person who can make race into an issue without being racist about it (besides, it's one of the only 1-point Drawbacks).

Now, that gives me 15 BP. I know I want to buy some Skills, but do I want any Gifts, as long as I'm here? Actually, yeah. I want Strong Bonds. I'll dump 4 points in, take it twice, and jack Mom to 5 and Brooke to 4. I should also take Flexible Schedule, I guess. That's 6 points I've spent on Gifts, giving me 9 more for later. OK, then! On to the fun stuff!

I need a Dominion (as in, I'm the God of ________), and I need to pick a Theology. Theologies are basically the social splat; secret societies of gods that have their own agenda and approach to dealing with the Source and the monsters that are coming to get us. Reading through the quick descriptions of the Theologies, I think Milo works best in either Drifting Kingdoms, Masks of Jana, or Phoenix Society. Looking at the longer write-ups, I ditch Drifting Kingdoms (Milo is too family focused).

Hmmm. Masks of Jana are all about keeping god-stuff secret from people, but they're kind of cut off. Phoenix are much more humanistic, but they read kinda Cult of Ecstasy to me. Is that appropriate for Milo? I think it is, actually, it's just that his drugs are caffeine and good food rather than booze and pills. He's a party animal if the "party" in question is a bit more G-rated. Not that he's incapable of throwing down, it's just that his natural inclination is a little tamer.

This Theology gives me Aegis +2 and Oracle +1, whatever that means. I have a special gift - Linked to Humanity. That gives me 6BP free to spend on various Gifts, including - hey! - Strong Bonds. That's handy. That effectively gives me back the BP I spent, plus a couple. However, if I go more than a day without close contact with people, I start to go into withdrawal.

OK, I need to pick a Dominion. Fuck it, I'm the God of Coffee.

Now I get two Entitlements. I'll take Masterful Speed (duh). There are a bunch I like, but I'm trying to figure how I want to spin this. Milo is the God of Coffee, but not Caffeine. It's more about coffee as a way to come together and learn, share food and drink, and so on. I'm tempted to take Enhanced Attribute and put it into Charm...oh, wait, here we go. Soothing Aura. Perfect.

Manifestation Skills. Oh, OK, so there are some non-standard Skills. Ah, those are Aegis and Oracle, for me, and then I get one more. So here's a thing: I get 3, 2, 1 for the ratings, but is that in addition to the +2 and +1 I already get? Oh, no, wait, those are bonuses, not levels. All makes sense now.

(As an aside, I really appreciate that each of the Theologies has a full statted character attached to it. Really helps to have a concrete example to refer to.)

So, let's look at these. Aegis and Oracle are actually really perfect. I'm having trouble picking a third. I think I'll take Puppetry - it allows some telekinetic manipulation, some possession-type power, and giving something the aspects of my Dominion. So I could make something really hot and bitter. Do homonyms count?

Anyway, Aegis 3, Oracle 2, Shaping 1. Keen. That just leaves spending the rest of my BP and then doing the derived things.

Well, for BP, I effectively have 13, since I can use my Gift from my Theology to buy Strong Bonds. Actually, I have 2 more there. I'll take Connections 1 (Police) and Connections 1 (Corporate) - folks come to my truck. And the other 13, I think I can spend on Skills.

Oh, hey, actually I was 13 over, so if I want, I can take my original spread of Skills. Neat! I'll do that! I fill in my Attributes, and now for my derived stuff. I have 12 Health, 17 Movement (because of my speed power), 4 Stamina, 1 Spark...and how the heck do I lifting and strength? Hang on. OK, no idea. Leaving it blank because don't care.

That's it! This is actually a pretty cool game, and it asks to be run (I might actually try and sell my players on it for our next intermezzo game).

Movie #210: The Goonies

The Goonies is a 1985 kid's comedy about a group of kids from the "goon docks" who set off to find pirate treasure to save their homes, pursued by some vicious thugs. Starring (deep breath): Jeff Cohen, Josh Brolin, Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, Martha Plimpton, Anne Ramsey, Joe Pantoliano, Kerri Green, Jonathan Ke Quan, and John Matuszak. Whew.

So! Mikey (Astin) and his big brother Brand (Brolin) are the kids of the museum curator. They're about to lose their home, along with a bunch of other poorer families, to an evil rich guy. While looking in the attic for "rich stuff," their klutzy friend Chunk (Cohen) breaks a framed with a map in it, and they translate it from the Spanish with the help of their buddy Mouth (Feldman). The map, supposedly, leads to the treasure of One-Eyed Willy, a famous penis pirate.

Meanwhile, the evil Mama Fratelli (Ramsey) and her son Francis (Pants) break the other son, Jake (Robert Davi) out of prison, and flee to an abandoned restaurant. The boys, meanwhile, follow the map there, and flee into the tunnels below when the criminals find them. Through perseverance and the nifty gadgets of their friend Data (Quan), they outwit them, find the treasure, lose most of it, but save enough to save their town! Oh, and rescue the other Fratelli, a deformed but good-hearted beast called Sloth (Matuszak). Yay!

The movie is very, very, 80s, and you can see Spielberg's influence pretty easily. The kids are mostly OK, and though they screw with each other, they're obviously friends. They bust on Chunk for being fat a little too much, maybe, but he saves them in the end. The Fratellis manage to make the danger feel real enough, and the elaborate traps are pretty neat.

Now, we have a whole bunch of plot holes, of course. Why, for instance, do the stanzas on the map - which are written in Spanish - rhyme in English? Is nobody going to take a speedboat out after the pirate ship sailing away with millions in gold on it? And who owns it, anyway? Are the jewels that the kids bring back really theirs, or do the rich guys have a way to claim them, as rich guys often do?

Eh, who cares? They cut out the moonwalking octopus, that should be enough. It's fun, and it's neat to see early performances of people who grow up into legitimately awesome actors.

Also, go check out Jeff Cohen nowadays. Yow.

My grade: B+
Rewatch value: High

Next up: Gothika

Warehouse 13!

The Pirates of the Spanish Main game alternates with this one. That is, we do a story of Pirates where we find an artifact, and then a story of this game where we recover it. That's the plan, anyway. Meet the characters!

• Jason Blaine, or rather, the ghost the thereof. The other characters discovered him haunting a seaside site in Florida, mystically tied to an anchor. Now he's tied to an iron ring made from said anchor. He's trying to adjust. 
• Clarissa "Blue" Bluemental, former agent of the Secret Service, now working for Warehouse 13.
• Memphis, the computer and research person. Also a fairly normal mortal. 
• Charlotte, a vampire. 
• Raji, a 14-year-old kid possessed by a demon. 

Excuse the lack of detail; we didn't do a lot of group chargen with these folks, and I don't have the sheets handy, so I don't know a lot of their history (other than Blaine, who's my character). 

Anyway! Blue gets the briefing from our handler - out in North Dakota, in a little nothing town, someone jacked a truckload of cattle. But one animal was left there, apparently dead, but it woke up when its autopsy started. This, apparently, "pings our kind of weird," so we suited up and headed out. 

We arrived in the town after sunset (which is good for Charlotte), and found the site of the wreck. Blue talked to the local sheriff, posing as a member of the department of Agriculture, and checked out the truck. Someone had shot it up pretty good, but there was no blood. Blaine flicked through the cab and looked for the sleeping compartment (prompting surprise from Blue that he knew about it at all), but found nothing out of the ordinary. The back part of the truck was gone, of course. 

Blue talked with the local LEOs and learned that this kind of thing happens sometimes; someone jacks the truck and then sells the cattle quick before word gets out. The rancher in question (Johnny Simpson) said that he'd had something of a lean year, and needed money fast because his boy got into Harvard, which was why he'd been selling at an odd time of year. We got the named of the driver (Daniel Thompson) - he was missing. 

We checked his house (Blaine, again, making use of the fact that he's invisible and intangible, walked through it), but nothing doing. Not much stuff there at all; it looked like the guy wasn't home much, which makes sense if he's a trucker. 

Meanwhile, Memphis, Raji and Charlotte had a look at the steer. It was alive, but its heartbeat was slow (we nicknamed it "coma cow"). Nothing else doing there. 

We ended up with Charlotte and Raji wandering the town looking for more weirdness, Blue and Blaine pretty much done for the evening, and Memphis searching via computer for where the trailer might have ended up. 

NBA Notes

No, nothing to do with basketball.

Movie #209: Good Night and Good Luck

Good Night, and Good Luck is a retelling of a bit of the career of Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn in an Oscar-nominated role) during the time that he was taking on Joseph McCarthy while a journalist on CBS. Directed by George Clooney, who also co-starts along with Jeff Daniels, Robert Downey, Jr., Patricia Clarkson, and Ray Wise.

Murrow and the rest of the news crew at CBS are all uncomfortable - outraged - by McCarthy and the hearings, but there's a strong undercurrent of "well, if we report on this, we're gonna get called before Congress or discredited or blacklisted." Murrow, himself, winds up "buying" the ability to make these reports from his boss, William Paley (Frank Langella) by doing canned "Person to Person" interviews. In the end, though, he makes the reports, McCarthy comes on and lies his face off about Murrow, and Murrow calmly smacks him down. THE END.

(Oh, and there's a subplot with Robert Downey, Jr., and Patricia Clarkson, and they're married and not supposed to be working together, but it feels really tacked on and I think they just added it for length.)

The movie is simple; there's a great deal of drama, but it's not tense - we're looking back, we know how this ends, and the real horrors of McCarthyism don't get shown because that's not what the movie is about. Murrow, in his closing speech, nails it - television can be educational as well as entertaining, but not if you just go for the cheap thrill. He says that he's pretty sure that the American public can handle a little education, a little context, instead of sports or comedy once in a while, and it'll help keep us ground and in touch with the world.

As I mentioned to Sarah and Michelle when we'd watched the movie, though, that's when there are only three channels. You will watch what's on, or you won't watch. Nowadays (and for years prior to nowadays), there is no way to force someone to watch anything, and so it's a race to see who can keep the viewers. And that means crass, loud, stupid, entertaining programming, because it's better to have five idiots watching than one thoughtful, intelligent person.

Sad state of affairs, and I appreciate the movie ending on a note that sets that up. Murrow's final comment in the movie is, like the rest of it, quiet, dignified, and poignant.

This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. Good night, and good luck.

My grade: A-

Rewatch value: Medium-low (it's quick)

Next up: The Goonies

Movie #208: The Good The Bad The Weird

The Good, The Bad, The Weird is a bizarre Korean film, obviously inspired by The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Like that movie, it stars a trio of tough guys in a desert searching for a MacGuffin.

The Weird is Yoon Tae-goo (Kang-ho Song), a thief who shoots his way into a train car containing a Japanese official (this is in Manchuria, during the 30s) and steals a map purportedly leading to treasure. Unfortunately for him, Park Chang-yi, the Bad (Byung-hun Lee) is also after the map, and cheerfully kills everyone in his way to get it. And also in pursuit is the Good, Park Do-won (Woo-sung Jung), a bounty hunter actually after a criminal known as Finger-Chopper - he believes Chang-yi is his man.

Tae-goo flees with the map, and heads to the Ghost Market, where he attempts to get a translation. He manages, with the help of his friend Man-gil (Seung-su Ryu), but Chang-yi and his gang show up, kill Man-gil, and drive Park and Yoon into further misadventures. They wind up captured, separated, chatting about their lives and dreams, and eventually the Japanese army (also chasing the treasure) follow them out into desert. Lots of explosions and death later, we wind up at the treasure...which seems to be a big hole in the ground with something foul-smelling in it.

The three men confront one another, and Yoon turns about to be Finger-Chopper...in fact, he chopped off Chang-yi's finger some time back. They all three shoot one another, but unlike The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, they all do get shot (though only Chang-yi is obviously killed). And then the "treasure" is revealed - oil erupts from the ground.

In the credits, it's revealed that Do-won and Yoon survived, and Good is now hunting Weird, but there's apparently an original version where everyone dies.

The movie feels very much like a Western, but with some Asian shifts to the tone. It feels lighter in some ways than Leone's film, but then Yoon kills dudes with spikes to the rectum, and you're left kind of going, "wha?" There's also some wirework on literal wire (rope, really), which is a nice touch.

The fashions, too, are all over the place. The Good is dressed in a manner reminiscent of Eastwood, but the Bad is in a slick, black suit and the Weird is in aviator goggles. Horses, sure, but also jeeps and motorcycles, and gattling guns as well as swords and knives. There's obviously a lot of context that I miss because I'm not Korean, but the movie feels pulp in some ways, and I appreciate that.

My grade: B+
Rewatch value: Medium

Next up: Good Night and Good Luck