Sample Character: Terminator-Out-Of-Water

Reading Chronicles of Darkness and Demon: the Descent has made me want to create some new characters, both to explore the rules and how those rules might be exploited.

This week I have a combat optimized Demon based on the antagonist/protagonist of the Terminator series. So a killing machine with a bit more humanity.

Terminator-Out-Of-Water

Mr. Black, an unstoppable force halted

For this example I wanted to create a character unlike ones I normally play, a bruiser who can take punishment and deal it out. An unstoppable foe who goes in guns blazing and doesn't think things through. I decided to base him on the Terminator.

To give him more depth, I also decided to leave him without a mission after his Fall. Basically he's a killing machine without a purpose or mission. It's a time of soul-searching for him and the main question behind the character is what choice will he ultimately make.

In a game I see him ultimately following others until he decides if wants to return the Machine, destroy it, or take some other path. He's clever but not too bright, he can plan well but doesn't look beneath the surface for ulterior motives. So manipulating him is easy. Just don't him catch you.

Concept: Terminator-Out-Of-Water
Incarnation: Destroyer    Agenda: Uncalled
Virtue: Philosophical       Vice: Violence

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Composure 2

A second aspect of the character is his lack of familiarity with "normal" human life. I don't intend to play him for laughs but his fish-out-of-water behavior should get him into lots of trouble. So Social Skills are tertiary. Presumably before his fall, he had some Numina to make his infiltration mission easier.

The Kneecapping specialty is a call out for Terminator 2 as is his motorcycle driving.

Mental Skills: Crafts 1, Medicine 2, Occult 2, Science (Quantum Mechanics) 2
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 4, Drive (Motorcycle) 1, Firearms (Kneecapping) 3, Survival 1
Social Skills: Intimidation 2, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge (Disguise) 1

These are the Merits he has regardless of his form.

Merits (General): Bolt Hole 3 (Armory 3), Defensive Combat (Brawl) 1, Iron Stamina 1

Willpower:5

Primum: 1
Embeds: Bystander Effect, Just Bruised, Authorized
Exploits: Deep Pockets

The rationale behind his Embed and Exploit purchases is to explain why no one stops this psycho when he engages in violence in public, why he can survive everything that hits him, and how he can get places he shouldn't. Deep Pockets lets him pull big guns (from his armory) whenever he needs to.

Demonic Form

A metallic humanoid, hulking with hydraulic limbs, standing seven feet tall. Traceries of silver and red light cover its blackened form, touching piercing red eyes set in black skull.

Modifications: Armored Plates, Inhuman Strength, Tough As Stone
Technologies: Fire Resistance, Glory and Terror
Propulsion: Teleportation
Processes: Rain of Fire

The armor, stony physique and strength is just part of the look. Teleportation is a remnant of his dimension jumping abilities which he used to hunt down threats to the God-Machine's Infrastructure (see his backstory below). For the reason for fire resistance remember the Terminator. Rain of fire is just for explosive effect and part of his dangerous nature.

Size: 5              Health: 8
Initiative: 4     Speed: 9
Defense: 3/5    Armor: 3/2

Background

As an Angel, Mr. Black served on many elimination missions before his Fall. Scientists, inventors, the overly curious, the oddly brilliant. These were his targets, people who grew too close to some piece of interdimensional Infrastructure that he has yet to discover. He retains some odd skills those days, ones that risk his current cover identity.

His last mission was an anomaly. He infiltrated enemy territory before. But those targets were not killers like himself. This time he worked his way through cells of mortals dedicated to extinguishing inhuman things like himself. Paranoid and clannish, it took months to close on his target: John Wesman, local head of a group known as the Union.

The former marine led several cells of Union monster hunters against incursions of Cryptids. They were drawing close to key Infrastructure. John had to be eliminated.

But something went wrong. Black saw something of himself in John. He befriended the hunter as planned but couldn't pull the trigger. He learned more about John's life: his childhood, how his military experience changed him, and how the death of his family drove him to his current project. They became true friends.

Black told him the truth.

Then he Fell.

Shortly after, John went missing. Mr. Black searched for him but only found his dog, Tank, hungry and alone.

Today, he takes care of scarred pit bull, John's last reminder of happier days, and wonders if the Angels took his friend.

In action Mr. Black is a juggernaut, unstoppable and implacable. Violence and destruction come easy to him. What doesn't is deciding what comes next. He possesses allies, tenuous safety, and supplies. What he needs is a plan. Or a purpose.

Compromises

Time to look at the Cover compromises that Black has already had.

• Who did you share part of yourself with when you first Fell? Black told John his mission before he Fell (but not what he was). The man took it well but had a faraway look in his eye.
• Who doesn’t know, but suspects you’re not human? Shaun Burnett, a local thug, saw him overpower a cryptid with his bare hands one night.
• Who could give you up to the angels right now, if they really wanted to? Ms. Knight knows enough about him to sell him out to the Angels. The information broker knows most everything around town.
• Who would you trust the truest part of yourself with if you absolutely had to? Black thinks he could trust John Wesman with the truth. If he knew where he was.
• Who thinks they have something on you, when all they really have is smoke and mirrors? His boss, Chris Martin, a shady foreman, thinks he knows what up with him but believes he's an ex-con on the lam.

Cover: Richard Silver

Rating: 7

Half of Black's Merits are tied to his current cover. These include some monster hunter allies from his mission and John's old dog Tank.

Merits: Allies (Union Cells) 1, Anonymity 1, Resources 2, Retainer (Tank, pit bull) 1

Officially Richard Silver grew up in the country. His parents, both deceased, owned a farm. He joined the military at 19 after they passed, serving two tours in Afghanistan. He came back rattled and distant, having seen and done things he was reluctant to talk about.

Of course this was just a cover to let Mr. Black relate and get close to John Wesman. But now this life is his to live.

He makes ends meet by living frugally and working for a general contractor, mostly under the table. He stays off the grid, renting an apartment in the shady side of town on a cash basis. He keeps a storage container rented under an assumed name where he keeps some material from his army days. The owner Winona Green knows something up but keeps a blind eye to it.

This is where Black's bolthole is located.

Curiously, Richard has a sister living a few hours away named Sarah. Black has mostly avoided interacting with her so far, uncertain how deep her programming is. Assuming Richard Silver wasn't a real person to begin with.

Size: 5            Health: 8
Initiative: 4   Speed: 10
Defense: 4/6  Armor: 1/3

Equipment:

• Kevlar vest
• Reinforced clothing
• Lots of guns
• Motorcycle

Aspirations

• Choose an Agenda
• Find John Wesman
• Get in a firefight

Review: DunDraCon 40

Last weekend I attended DunDraCon 40. I had a blast even if I played fewer games than prior conventions. Here’s my review and recap.

DunDraCon 40

Friday

My wife and I left a little later than normal for the con, the price of her new work hours and our new location. In the end our drive down went quickly and we arrived with time to spare for the Session 1 games. That also gave us more time to acquaint ourselves with the new hotel. Normally we stay same hotel as the convention itself but it had sold out extremely fast this year.

The upside of this is that we got to explore a different area in San Ramon. The main discovery was Clementine’s, a New Orleans style restaurant. I can’t speak to their authenticity but the food and service was good, plus they have a nice breakfast. Another “upside” is that I got to work off some of the convention calories walking the mile back and forth to the hotel. Thankfully the route over the highway wasn’t as scary as I feared.

On the other hand my wife didn’t get into any of her games for Session 1. For myself I ran an excellent Urban Shadows game in DunDraCon’s open gaming room. My wife joined in along with a great first time tabletop roleplayer and trio of teenagers. Our cast included Sandy the demonic real estate agent, Maximilian the extremely dramatic (and ancient) vampire, Drakish the cat sacrificing wizard, Alpha the amnesic mortal, and Bartholomew the vengeful ghost and former mob hitman. There was a scary moment during character creation where it looked like the teens might end up unconnected to the others but I managed to tie them into a few key characters: Pavel (cousin to the wizard and blood supplier to the vampire), Victoria (the realtor’s friend and the ghost’s fiance), Saminga (a.k.a. Samantha “Sam for a better Seattle” Ingrid, would be mayor, Alpha’s boss and Sandy’s dark patron) and Jack (who had a crush on the realtor and was helping Alpha with a place to stay).

In the end the game ended up being about the arrival and destruction of a ghost eating vampire lord. The ghost found and confronted his killer only to be delivered into the monster’s hands. While the demon and wizard stopped the specter from being devoured, he ended up trapped in limbo with a creepy girl ghost. The mortal regained some of his memories after having a demon removed from his head (placed there by the wizard). Thanks to many failed rolls the wizard had his magical focus permanently possessed by a ghost while the vampire was left to wail about how his sire had been dragged into hell.

And then I lost my voice. adding to the misery, I slept poorly due to excitement and my growing sickness.

Saturday

After a quick “breakfast” at the local Peet’s Coffee & Tea, it was time for my first full day of the convention.

I started with a Hillfolk game where my fellow players and I created and played the influential people within the 2nd shift of Vault 314, set in the Fallout universe. Together we and the gamemaster collaborated on a vault secretly run by a robot and engaged in a centuries long expansion project. Playing to my “strength” (i.e. my destroyed voice), I went with an old crotchety engineer, the 2nd shift maintenance supervisor, named David. Other characters included my rival the procedure loving 2nd shift plumbing supervisor Bruce, Ted the peace-loving bruiser and cook, Al the stressed out 2nd shift quartermaster, and Guy the keyed up IT person. Each of us created dramatic poles, goals that we wanted to accomplish at the expense of others, and other complications. The result was a web of relationships filled with story possibilities.

Our game focused on the failure of the protein farm and the fallout that came from our actions to fix that problem. David horded resources and tried to build out his “empire” while the others either struggled to do their jobs or find their own way to survive. Fights erupted, resources lost, and arguments had all adjudicated by the passing of drama tokens. At any time you could tell who was going to have an upbeat by whose pile of tokens was highest.

All in all the game was a lot of fun and I would play it again. Hillfolk wasn’t as revolutionary as I hoped (perhaps because the players were just too accommodating). As a collaborative world creating system, it was interesting but not the best mechanic I’ve played. Still it was one of the high points of my weekend. The one downside was that I had now truly lost my voice.

A quick note on the food. I tried the hotel’s curry and rice dish this year which was far better than I expected and way ahead of their usual burgers and pizza-like substance. The curry was spicy without being overpowering and only slightly overpriced.

My wife for her part played a 7th Sea game set in a variant space setting. The gamemaster in charge has been running the system and setting for years and years and always does a great job. This time was no exception.

That afternoon I caught the end of the Pelgrane Press panel, getting an early reveal that Bubblegumshoe will be coming out this summer. That was immediately followed by an entertaining and informative seminar on city building, following the growth of a tiny village into a great city and on to its collapse and rebirth.

Then I headed to the Dealer’s Hall and picked up Burning Wheel, a game I’ve been intrigued by for years. There were plenty of other good games and accessories there but I managed to control my impulses and escape only slightly poorer.

After catching up with my wife and grabbing some medication for my throat, I left her to enjoy a game of Dark Heresy. As she later told me, she enjoyed herself but her character died fighting a crazy tech priest (one of the other PCs) who had defied the will of the Emperor. Their mission to stop the corruption of a world failed horribly due to incompetence and infighting by all of the other PCs. They suffered a total party meltdown with every man out for himself as the corruption spread. Part of this was the players’ fault and part of it seems like the game master. He apparently was great at portraying NPCs but poor at plotting and managing party dynamics.

I grabbed dinner and headed back to the hotel. I recommend the Muscle Maker Grill for those seeking a cheap, quick, and relatively low calorie meal. All in all it was okay but their soda machine was broken and lacking syrup (ick). It helped salve my conscience when I bought some frozen yogurt afterwards.

Sunday

After being careful to limit the stress on my throat since the night before, my voice made a partial recovery. I didn’t sleep “well” but I managed catch up on sleep a little.

My wife and I enjoyed breakfast at Clementine’s which was your traditional restaurant fare: reasonable prices and generous portions. Then we exchanged Valentine’s day presents and headed to the convention. We hit the Dealer’s Hall one last time, to get a present for my mother-in-law and some squishy dice for my son before splitting to play our respective games.

I dived into an Amber Throne War. Set in the Courts of Chaos after the assassination of the King, we played the potential successors and their supporters as we jockeyed to get what we wanted, whether it be the throne or some other aim. I had a load of fun playing the head of the Church of the Serpent and getting involved with each of the main factions that developed. My 1st place Psyche stat and political sway made me a useful addition to any faction hoping to become King. I quickly got all sides to agree to purge Amberite influence or at least their cults from our lands, leaving me only the challenge of bringing the matter to a close quickly.

We had several surprises. The delegate from Amber betrayed my initial candidate Gunter, killing him during what was supposed to be the assassination of the Aloysius, first in line for the throne. Gunter was revealed to be a ghost formed by the Logros itself. Later Bellion, brother to Aloysius, nearly killed his bastard brother Candor over a slight to his pride, during a state dinner!

In the end after much hand wringing and a minor war, we finished the game by marrying the two most powerful claimants to the throne. Candor nearly died two more times but we only had the single murder. I guess we went with the comedy ending.

My wife in the meantime played a game of HERO set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Joining the Defenders, she played Jessica Jones to the group’s critical acclaim. The game master apparently was very well versed in the system, guiding them through 4 fights in what I consider a very slow and complicated game to run. He had lots of prepared pictures and music, some nice multilevel battles and excellent advance planning to manage to bring the game to a good close at the appointed time. The plot was a struggle to stop an evil wizard from bringing extraplanar demons into Hell’s Kitchen before her 13 hour ritual concluded. The finale occurred with Jessica Jones pile driving the villainess into the floor at which point Iron Fist unloaded his iron fist into her.

After that it was time for a Valentine’s Day dinner of some tasty sushi, followed by the extremely hilarious movie, Deadpool.

Monday

And then it was Monday, last day of the con and time to finish our games. My wife got into a game of Adventurer Conqueror King, a retroclone of AD&D 1st edition. She had a good time but it was very much a hexcrawl type of game which is not her cup of tea.

As for me, this was the day I’d been preparing for since Friday, the day I would run Urban Shadows again. My voice had returned and the open gaming area was quiet. Too quiet in fact and it wasn’t until 10 AM that I finally had the two players I needed. We were soon joined by a third and we began the game.

Our setting was the fictional metropolis of Night City, the creation of a high-tech entrepreneur which had been taken over by the Mob. This time my cast included the wizard Shaz, Nightbane the gun running spawn of the Vampire King, and Toggle the Fae who manages the debts owed the Summer King by ghosts and other beings. The ghosts were hunting for him in fact, tipped off by his mortal “brother’s” loose lips. This sneaky fae was also holding an experimental anti vampire/werewolf drone for a “friend”.

I had fewer PC-NPC-PC triangles this time but many quadrilaterals. What this game really had was many brewing troubles to push the game further. In addition to the killer drone and rebellious ghosts there was a bomb that would banish extra-planar creatures from the city (like Fae!), an amulet that kept one bound to the local plane, and a doorway to Arcadia. Exceptionally two of the players managed two normal advances, having interacted with each of the four factions within the city.

I started off hard with ghosts attacking Nightbane’s blood provider at the hospital. Toggle decided to help only to nearly get caught and set the building on fire. While healing up from that escapade, the fae made a deal with the demon Vadim for information on the anti-Wild bomb. Meanwhile Shaz got a blind cat eye from a werewolf veterinarian so he could create a veiling amulet to protect Toggle from ghosts. The werewolf went missing before delivering, leaving only a blood trail, some silver needles and the eye behind. After trading the earth-bound amulet to Toggle in exchange for being free of a debt, the vampire began seeking to expand her criminal empire and arranges a meeting with Scarlet, head of the Magic Mafia.

The Summer King charged Toggle with retrieving the device that could open a door to Arcadia, something the wizard isn’t keen on seeing happen. Despite this the pair trick a clockwork angel into revealing where the artifact is: being auctioned by the wizards of the Magic Mafia!

Everyone converges on the Hellfire Club where the device (which both can open a door to Arcadia and banish fae there) is to be auctioned tonight! Nightbane trades her smuggling skills for a cut of the mob’s action. At the request of Toggle she convinces Scarlet to bar the wizards from bidding and then seduces her. Toggle then makes a deal with the demon present to stay out of the bidding in exchange for the earthbound amulet. his patron does the same for the fae.

Then Toggle lets the drone loose in the place. As the vampires and werewolves run for cover, toggle wearing the veiling amulet bids for the device. The ghosts now unable to see him are confused. Just as the fae is about to win for the low price of 3 favors, Shaz blasts him, hoping to keep the device out of the Summer King’s hands. Instead he misses, damaging the device. Toggle rushes on stage, grabs the device and escape to Arcadia. It triggers there, sending all of the Fae’s human slaves home.

Again this game was a blast and I will run this as scheduled convention game in the future (for one getting everyone to start character creation at the same time would be much easier).

Conclusion

All in all DunDraCon was again a great friendly convention. Hopefully next year I’ll have games scheduled to run and I won’t lose my voice!

Sample Character: Internet Cult Leader

Reading Chronicles of Darkness makes me want to create some new characters, both to explore the rules and how those rules might be exploited. In this series I'm detailing some of those creations.

Spoiler Warning: This character concept comes from the anime series Durarara!! which I've been enjoying on Netflix recently. So as a warning, this character spoils a major reveal of the first half of the show.

The concept is that of a cult leader whose real identity is unknown even to his followers. Through secret signs and an online forum he manipulates his disciples. But to what end?

Character Concept: Internet Cult Leader

A couple of years ago Eugene was just an ordinary middle school student. Clever but bookish, he spent more time online than with people. Amid its forums and chatrooms, he honed his skills of debate and persuasion.

Bored with his day-to-day life, he found himself trawling the internet for the weird and unusual. He discovered accounts of many strange occurences scattered across the web: a woman with eyes like electricity, people who entered rooms and exited as someone totally different, and events that could only be described as supernatural.

He and several other like-minded individuals began a forum to collect these accounts. They drew others into helping their research. He never met the others in person and to this day Eugene is unsure if his fellow administrators were even be human.

Slowly a picture formed as to the source of these strange events. Dubbed 'demons', the beings appeared to be more mechanical than alive, wearing human disguises to hide their inhuman features. They reacted violently to investigation, leading the growing organization to coordinate their efforts, both to safeguard their members and to make sure no information was lost if events escalated.

They learned that these demons had powers, powers that might be useful if the group, now calling itself the Invisible Web, could control them. However the demons had a maddening habit of vanishing when studied too closely, erasing any evidence that they ever existed. Still the inner circle directed their members create ever tightening nets around the demons they discovered, hoping to capture one in their web and thus bind it to their service.

Now three years later, Eugene sits at the top of this ever-growing group of investigators and thrill seekers. One by one his fellow administrators have gone dark. He guards his anonymity, keeping his head down in school and continues reviewing the intelligence as it comes in.

Eugene Jones

Virtue: Curiosity Vice: Anonymity

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 2
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 4, Composure 2

Mental Skills: Computer 2, Investigation (Demons) 3, Occult 2
Physical Skills: Athletics 1, Brawl 1, Stealth (crowds) 2
Social Skills: Empathy 2, Expression 3, Persuasion (recruiting) 4, Subterfuge (hiding emotions) 2

Merits: Anonymity 2, Mystery Cult Initiation 5

The Invisible Web

The cult Eugene and his friends built continues to spread its threads across the world. Devoted to tracking down the strange beings they have designated 'demons', they collect information on people who act strangely, sightings of infernal or angelic beings, and note unusual locations.

Connected via a message board, they compile data on these individuals which the inner circle one day hopes will allow them to capture and compel a demon into service.

To date their success has been limited to a few Pyrrhic operations and many dead ends. A few cells are able to show new members the preserved biomechanical organs of their quarry to rally the faithful and convince the skeptical. But thus far no demon has been captured alive. Most end up destroyed by beings that can only be described as angelic.

The ranks of the Mystery Cult Merit are:

1. All new devotees learn to follow the traces of their quarry. They gain the Investigation Speciality (Demons).
2. Now trusted by the general community, disciples learn to draw on the cult's widespread connections. They gain Contacts (Invisible Web).
3. At this point the faithful have seen some of the artifacts of the cult and perhaps had several brushes with demons. They gain Unseen Sense (Demons).
4. The inner circle of the cult can call on the faithful to support them. They gain Allies (Invisible Web 3).
5. Years on the hunt grant the leaders of the order an almost supernatural ability to hunt down the truth about demons. They gain 9 agains to rolls for investigating or studying demons.

String Theory Recap: Tracking Control

In my seventh session of Night's Black Agents, code-named String Theory, I try a new trick to improve play and completely botch the rules for toxins and electrocution. Then my players go sideways on me. Also this session we were down one player (Guy) so the team had to work without a driver.

Tracking Control

Since they relocated Heat is actually 0. So they don't need to worry about the authorities yet.

To speed up play, I put my players on a timer for planning operations. If they put together a plan in under 5 minutes, they'd gain 8 General pool points to spend on the operation. If they did it in less than half that time, I planned to give them build points for Cover or Network. Sadly it took them 2 minutes 50 seconds.

The team puts together their plan to abduct Dr. Gomez and learn what she knows about the surgically created monsters the Conspiracy keeps sending after them. Robin will infiltrate her home and subdue her. Nasir will then help move her into a waiting truck below, disguised as a washing machine delivery person. John will drive the truck and hang back as support while Scarlet watches remotely. They will transport her to secure an isolated self storage cubical for the interrogation.

Locating an ideal site required Urban Survival.

Scarlet hacks Gomez's phone. She gets her schedule, clearing the way for the abduction that evening. However she also detects and trips some CIA security software. Luckily she is able to spoof her location.

Scarlet fails her Digital Intrusion roll by 1 (the difficulty was an impressive 7) but uses Preparedness to elude any trace. Her Electronic Surveillance informs her that this is not knock off software but the real deal. Also surveillance indicates she calls her handler each evening at 8 PM.

Robin slips into the apartment on the third floor during the day, waiting in a closet. Gomez arrives home and does her normal evening routine. But something triggers Gomez's suspicions. As she retreats from the apartment, Robin rushes out and injects her with a sedative.

Robin fails the Infiltration roll by 1 (Difficulty 6) so Gomez notices something is off. Robin makes a Hand-to-Hand roll to deliver the sedative. I have Gomez spend 2 Health to beat the rapidly made up difficulty of 5, which she does.

At this point I mess up. Having not looked closely at the Toxin rules, I don't have a reduced effect occur. Since my wife has been in and out during the planning, she's also missed a few important bits of information. Like the fact that Gomez is an Olympic class athlete.

Gomez shakes off the effects and wrestles free. As she makes a break for the balcony, Robin tags her with a taser. The doctor stumbles onto the balcony and manages to swing down the level below.

Gomez actually fails the first roll to escape the room (2 points of Athletics spent against difficulty 4) but the game doesn't have a real grapple system (at least one that keeps someone from running away). Robin makes her Shooting roll but I totally forget the rules, thinking that it works like the stunner in TimeWatch. I have Gomez make another Health roll instead of losing the next 4 actions. I continue to get the taser rules wrong for rest of the game.

Robin alerts the others and stays to take care of Gomez's evening call in. John brings the truck around to ambush the doctor but she lands on top of it.

John makes a standard Driving roll to cut her off but only gets a 3. Gomez makes her Athletics check to swing down from the upper stories since she has points to burn.

He starts forward hoping to knock her loose. She does lose her grip but tumbles to her feet. Nasir jumps out and fires his Taser, missing her.

This is an opposed Driving and Athletics check. John loses. Then Nasir misses his Shooting roll.

We start a chase, which works to the groups favor as I've heavily spent Athletics by this point.

John chases her down on foot. He tases her again before taking her out with a haymaker.

Again I mess up the Taser rules and then he uses his Hand-to-Hand MOS to deliver a blow to her eye for max damage (dropping her -7 Health...).

The men drag her to go to a secure location while Scarlet helps Robin complete the call in with some voice scrambling software.

Basically using another Electronic Surveillance spend to boost Robin's Disguise roll.

At the interrogation, John poses as a U.S. official. Scarlet patches Gomez up and then leaves her to his probing questions. Gomez maintains her innocence but ultimately coughs up information on the headquarters for the operation, a ruined castle a few hours drive away.

Scarlet uses Medic to make sure Gomez can answer questions and then they use Interrogation (no spend) to get the intel.

They learn this is a CIA operation to fix up and enhance crippled and dying soldiers. Gomez is unaware of the full horror of the program. She does however tell them about Special Officer Steven Lynch and Doctor Gerhard as well as the details of the upper levels of the castle.

Robin recognizes the second name from her "second life" in espionage. She helped extract him from Russia's biowarfare program, only to see the doctor and his Nazi based research disappear into American hands. Lynch is also a known operator, a former field agent benched after damage to his knee. He might have been John's equal before the "accident".

Robin has a hidden history. Unlike most of the team, she didn't serve with an American intelligence service. She's ex-KGB and ex-Mousad. The latter was her second job, one where she hoped to atone for some of her earlier wetwork.

John uses Network to create Corporal Phil Drake so they can disappear her. He puts 3 points in him.

Once they have gotten everything from her, John calls up an old friend, Phil Drake, to debrief her while they move on to their next operation.

Robin suggests they let the CIA operation stew for now. The team heads for Zurich and the bank heist Robin has been planning. If all goes well this should fund the rest of the operation against the Conspiracy.

Yeah, I didn't see this coming yet. I thought I had at least until the end of this session. Good thing I prep well in advance.

Once in Zurich basic surveillance turns up the external security systems, the daily routines, and the identity of the security team (SBS). Scarlet inserts a breaker switch to cut off the SBS in case an external alarm is triggered.

Some basic Surveillance and a Cryptography spend.

Nasir meanwhile impersonates a Saudi prince and opens an account at the bank. Jean Montavan happily shows him around, allowing him to scope out the internal security and the vault. He also notes the combinations to the basement and vault locks.

Nasir puts 3 points into this Cover and spends 1 to pass a credit check. Notice spends get the team the combinations.

On the way out he notes someone watching from across the street. She disappears but they peg her as a possible thief. Based on his description the team determine she is Menena Chakroun, the so-called Queen of Thieves.

Criminology spend.

The team works on their plan. Nasir will snag Jean's card the night of the theft, then they will sneak in with the cleaning crew. Once inside they will build a false wall and hide until everyone but the night guards leave. Scarlet will hack the central servers to loop the security feeds. They will break into the manager's office where the keys are stored and retrieve them. Then they will slip down to the basement, use heat suits to get past the heat sensors, avoid the pressure plate and open the vault. Moving very slowly to avoid the motion sensors they will then rob the place starting with the money the Black Sea Bank is bringing in.

As they prepare, the agents notice another problem. Black birds and crows seem to be following them everywhere. Robin tranquillizes one and brings it back to their hideout (a hotel room) for study. Scarlet however discovers the bird is some sort of zombie, infected with the same bacteria that oozed out of Serge Milic. They cage it then seal it up once they realize it is sending out pheromones to communicate with its free brethren outside.

I give them team the option to use teamwork on a Sense Trouble roll (Difficulty 7). Robin makes an easy Shooting roll to catch a bird and everyone makes their Stability rolls once the truth is revealed. An Occult spend reveals the pheromone communication.

The team decides to break camp. John creates some noxious chemicals to cover their tracks and then they move location, leaving the bird behind.

A Chemistry spend boosts their Surveillance roll to avoid the supernatural surveillance system. They consider keeping the bird and breaking their code of communication but decide that would take too long.

Later as Robin and Nasir head back from a shopping trip, Nasir’s wallet is stolen. Spotting the thief as he doffs his disguise, Nasir chases after him, disguising himself as he goes. He quickly closes the gap, following the thief through a department store and into the back parking lot. Robin heads around the store to cut him off after buying a moped off a local.

The thief reaches his car just before the grab him. Then he goes up in smoke as it explodes.

The pair fail their initial Sense Trouble rolls but make the follow-up roll. Nasir uses Disguise to hide (upping the Difficulty of the other guy's Athletics rolls since he thinks he lost him). Robin makes a Negotiation spend to buy a moped giving the team +2 speed. Thus they win every Athletics roll of the chase.

As a crowd of onlookers watch the blazing wreckage, Nasir spots Menena and another man in the crowd. Robin recognizes the man from her earlier work: he's Mossad. Nasir follows after them.

He uses Urban Survival to keep pace. Robin makes a Sense Trouble roll.

Then someone shoots at Robin! She spots the sniper in time to avoid the shot and then races up to the building top as he or she escapes. Robin tags the heavily clad sniper with a tracker and then alerts the rest of the team.

Robin makes a Shooting roll as well as a Stability roll. Why she should make a Stability test isn't immediately clear. But if she had failed the monster would have erased her memory of the incident.

Scarlet tracks the signal as it fades in and out strangely. Eventually it settles where the Lisky Bratva have made camp. All camera footage along the route shows only blurs where the sniper should be. She's not sure if there is just one or several of the "blurries" in town.

Scarlet makes her Surveillance roll to track it and Electronic Surveillance yields the camera footage. A second Surveillance roll fails and thus they have no clue about numbers.

Meanwhile Nasir waits at a bar down the street from the flop house Menena and her team are hiding at.

Sample Character: The Hound

As I explore Chronicles of Darkness and its associated 2nd edition gamelines, I feel drawn to create some new characters, both to explore the rules and how they might be exploited. In this series I'm detailing some of those creations.

This first character sits in a nebulous place in my mind. I've been using this vampire (built using Vampire the Requiem 2nd Edition) as the basis for some of the explanatory material for a friend's Chronicle. I'm not sure if I'll press to make him canon or just continue to obliquely reference him in my blue booking.

Sample Character: The Hound

Tall with lean limbs and pale skin, Cabot wastes most of his meager funds on clothes. The nature of the blood keeps his hair permanently bleached blond and perfectly groomed. The bad boy works even better for him than it did when he was alive.

Cabot once went by a different name, several in fact. In life he spent his early twenties cruising the punk scene, living hard and falling in and out of love. He experimented with different aliases and different drugs.

One of his flings involved a vampire in sore need of a companion/soldier. He endured a decade under her cruel thumb. The experience or perhaps the Embrace changed him, made him more careful, more cultured. Eventually he managed to slip his leash and strike out on his own.

Since his "emancipation" Cabot has capitalize on a particular talent of his. The Embrace refined his senses such that he can track blood by scent, identify its most subtle aspects and see in pitch blackness. In addition to making him somewhat snobbish about blood, it made him useful to the Sheriff of the city. Now McManus uses him whenever he needs someone tracked or a kindred identified by their blood.

If Onyx Path ever re-releases a Toreador bloodline (or I write one up), Cabot would be a shoo in for it.
Cabot's herd consists of former and current lovers as well as a large number of junkies and drug dealers (most of whom he bought from in the past). Besides his past involvement with them, their common thread is that each have the blood type O negative. He has a taste for the stuff.

This character focuses on senses. Rather than make a predictable Mekhet or Gangrel, I went with Daeva to give him a bit more punch (at least via Celerity and Vigor).

I made him unaligned because in the game I've been involved with the Prince is unaligned. Unaligned Kindred suffer no particular disadvantage and I liked the idea of him being his own man.

Cabot

Clan: Daeva         Covenant: Unaligned
Mask: Junkie       Requiem: Competitor

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 2
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 2, Composure 3

Mental Skills: Investigation 1, Medicine (blood) 1, Politics 2
Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 2, Stealth 2, Survival (tracking, urban) 3, Weapons 1
Social Skills: Empathy 2, Intimidation 1, Socialize 2, Streetwise 2

Merits: Acute Senses 1, Bloodhound 2, City Status 1 (Hound), Distinguished Palate 1, Herd 3, Resources 1, Striking Looks 1

Blood Potency: 1

Disciplines: Auspex 1, Celerity 1, Vigor 1

As a Mover and Shaker

Given another 25 experience, Cabot moves from talented neonate to skilled ancilla. He also gains a power base of his own.

Expanding his love of blood to tainting mortal drugs with it, he has built an army of unstable junkies to serve and enrich him.

Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 2
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 2, Composure 3

Mental Skills: Investigation 1, Medicine (blood) 1, Politics 2
Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 3, Stealth 2, Survival (tracking, urban) 3, Weapons 1
Social Skills: Empathy 2, Intimidation 2, Persuasion 2, Socialize 2, Streetwise 2

Merits: Acute Senses 1, Allies (Junkies) 3, Allies (Drug Dealers) 1, Bloodhound 2, City Status 1 (Hound), Contacts (Dealers, Junkies) 2, Distinguished Palate 1, Herd 3, Pusher 1, Resources 2, Retainer (Allen, ghoul) 2, Safe Place 1, Striking Looks 1

Blood Potency: 1

Disciplines: Auspex 1, Celerity 2, Vigor 2

Rules for Running a Good Convention Game

Today I head for DunDraCon 2016 to run and play games. Before I go, I want to outline some rules for running good convention games. These are things I learned the hard way: either in the process of becoming a skilled game master or by playing in a game that failed one or more of these rules.

Rules for a Good Convention Game

1. Get To The Action! The number one priority for a convention game is to show what is great about this game system and to do it quick. Unlike a session with your local group, you only have 4 (or 6 or 8) hours to get the characters into the action and tell a complete story. Anything that slows down this process, even including the rules themselves, needs to be ditched.
• Use Pregenerated Characters. If possible make the characters ahead of time. This allows you to craft them to the story you intend to tell both in terms of motivation and abilities. Pregens ensure no character ends up with a set of useless skills.
• Make Character Generation Quick. If you don't use pregens, use a system that allows characters to be built quickly (preferably under 15 minutes) or one where character creation itself is part of the game (like in Fate where the players weave together the party and establish some of the world). 
2. Schedule Your Scenes. You have only so many hours to complete your story so when planning your game, make sure you have the right number of combats and social scenes. When in doubt of whether you can fit it in, remove the scene. It is better to finish the narrative early than finish the session with no resolution. Don't expect players to stay longer or come back later to see how it ends. They will not.
• Adapt Your Pacing. If early scenes run long be prepared to remove later scenes, shorten conflicts and streamline the adventure on the fly so you reach the conclusion on schedule. If however your players are steam rolling the opposition you can spare some time to try that optional rule set or allow them to argue in character about their final plans.
3. Simplify the Mechanics! Ideally you want people to grasp the basic mechanics in under 15 minutes. Trim down the system to the bare minimum. If there are optional systems you want to highlight (such as a chase system or some aspect of combat) save that explanation for the relevant scene and keep it simple. You may also need to alter mechanics that are geared toward longer games such as experience for certain actions or long-term fatigue rules.
• Make the Rules Easily Accessible. Once you've distilled the system to minimal complexity you might give players a handout containing the important parts. This is most helpful in the case where only some characters have certain powers or abilities. Try to keep these rules packets short as well, a page or two is sufficient without being overwhelming.
4. Plan For Breaks. If your game is scheduled through a meal time (like Noon or 6 PM), plan to have at least a 15 minute break so people can eat and refresh. A short 5 minute break every few hours is a good plan in general. In line with adjusting your pacing, try to avoid mid combat or social conflict breaks. End on cliff hangers if you want but make sure you can pick up quickly even if you have a straggler or two.

Then there are a few guidelines which while optional can greatly improve the gaming experience:

• Include Customization. This runs a bit counter to the advice above but if you can give your players a few options in defining their characters it can help invest them in the game. Allowing them to choose the name and gender of the character is a good option. Other ideas I've seen include providing a few unspent points to raise skills or abilities and the choice between a lighter and darker version of the character.
• Control the Atmosphere. This is highly dependant on where your game is set. If you are in a massive hall with a dozen or more other games there isn't much you can do. However if you've got some privacy, ambient or immersive music can be a nice addition. Handouts are also a nice thing to include.

Hope this helps all of you tempted to run a convention game!

Infrastructure: Intrusion Point

Hidden throughout the world are pieces of Infrastructure, devices and structures designed to serve the occult purposes of the Machine, a universe spanning entity working to unknown purposes.

Some examples of Infrastructure however are more than tools. Some are beginnings.

Intrusion Point

In a crumbling tenement, an acrid odor wafts from a recently rented room. The graying man who rented it seemed confused, mumbling numbers and esoteric terms. He seemed a step away from the men and women camped on the front stoop, surrounded by plastic bags and dirty clothes. Not like a university professor, not one with tenure.

Inside pools of colored wax sit in a precise pattern about a large ring of electrified coils. Ozone hides the presence of other more toxic gases in the air. Equations written in chalk cover the walls and floor like a spell. A man's withered form decays in the center of the assemblage. In the closet a man made of broken glass and twisted bone lurks, waiting for midnight and the next step of the plan.

Truth

The intrusion point begins as little more than a thought experiment: an intriguing set of equations that describe an alternate reality. But they possess a memetic compulsion that drives bright minds to solve them and derive more equations, slowly unpacking an alien universe into our own. Once complete, it drives the victim into building a device or experiment, an occult matrix, that creates a servitor for the reality, the first of its Angels.

This agent takes over where the most likely deceased victim ended, constructing more Infrastructure and extending the alien reality over more and more of our world. One day that reality will be all that remains.

Unravelling this proto-occult matrix requires a brilliant mathematical mind. An extended Intelligence + Science roll at a -5 penalty (10 successes required, each roll takes a week) allows one to unpack the rules for the Intrusion Point. +1 bonus for a speciality related to higher math or physics. Partial work, if properly recorded, can serve as the basis for another person's later derivation.

As the victim works on the problem the rules of local reality shift. The value of pi changes by a few tenths of a percent, quantum effects become much more probable, and something like magic becomes possible for a few moments a day. eventually these minor alterations allow the victim to create an occult ritual which brings this alien reality into contact with our own.

Lynchpin

Physically the Intrusion point is just paper and chalk. Sometimes it inhabits audio or video recordings, other times collections of crime scene photos and blood stained canvas, and once it included a small university press print run. Absent a mind to house it, the equations hold no power.

Intercepting the current victim and erasing their memory of the equations stops the effect (or killing them), at least if the first ritual hasn't been completed. It might also be possibile to adjust the equations and thus the nature of the entity summoned. What effect that might have remains unknown.

Alternate Options

The equations that compose the intrusion points could have other interpretations:

• Mage: the Awakening: studying the equations surely would yield some Arcane experience, while unpacking them might reveal hidden rotes. Perhaps it is mental grimoire? Then again it might be an Abyssal manifestation built to tempt the unwary.
• Promethean: the Created: The equations could be a cipher, hiding the process that a demiurge used to create a Promethean. Unravelling it might reveal new Transmutations or uncover a Milestone.
• Demon: the Descent: while this is obviously a tool of the God-Machine, it might also contain secrets to summoning or creating Infrastructure and Angels. This might be the source code of the Machine, a potent tool for taking it down. Or rebuilding it.
• Trail of Cthulhu: a set of equations that allow an alien reality into our own? Clearly an odd and dangerous Mythos tome. It can't be skimmed but pouring over it grants +3 Cthulhu Mythos but you must make a Stability test Difficulty 5 (+1 per reading) or lose 1 Sanity (and eventually become a mad cultist). Otherwise treat it as a dedicated Investigative pool, refreshed by spending points of Physics and possibly Library Use. Further readings might expose all sorts of rituals and incantations spells.

String Theory Recap: Operation Rollup

Now the sixth session of my Night's Black Agents game, String Theory, and the introduction of the last character. Alec created Nasir, a chameleon and former Pakistani intelligence. We also have our biggest explosion yet.

Operation Rollup

Heat is now 1 (net for the biker gang massacre in session 1) + 2 for the car explosion last session. So they make a Difficulty 4 check and fail again.

Nasir, an ex-Pakistani Intelligence Cuckoo, contacts the agents. He's heard rumors that they face a threat similar to one he has seen in the past. John and Guy have worked with him in previous operations but Robin remains skeptical.

We had a lot of baby troubles this session so my wife missed much of the first half of this session. So she didn't vet him like Robin usually does.

Scarlet arrives in Belgrad suffering from short term amnesia. She recalls researching in the Alps. But everything from there to Belgrade is a blur. There are bruises on her arms consistent with an attack, cuts on her head and knife wound in her side that bears her stitching. She holds it together however.

In other words she makes her Stability roll. Thanks to her Diagnosis, she can reconstruct some of what must have happened.

Robin puts her under hypnosis. Scarlet recalls cleaning up when something came through the window. Her wounds support the narrative of an attack on the cabin. She finds a single strangely blurry photo shows her attacker where everything but the intruder is in focus.

I let Robin use Shrink to do some Hypnosis since it helps the narrative (i.e. delivers clues). A Photography spend grants this mysterious hint of what they face.

The team decides to remove the local human trafficking operation and destroy this node of the Conspiracy before moving on. To conduct the operation, the team decides to split in two. One team will blow the warehouse while the other hijacks the next outbound shipment of slaves/refugees/werewolf food.

Robin fails her Preparedness roll to retroactively have the command words for the werewolves. Did I mention there are werewolves in the basement? Well the agents know luckily.

Guy sources some explosives materials which John then uses to construct the charges. Guy also picks out the prime location to sneak aboard the truck as it heads to the warehouse. He plans to hijack the truck once the container is hooked up.

Guy makes a Preparedness roll and then spends a point of Urban Survival to find the slowest stretch of highway.

John uses his cherry for Explosives to make them do extra damage.

Robin and Nasir infiltrate the warehouse to plant the charges while the others (except Scarlet) hook themselves to the bottom of the truck when it gets stuck in traffic.

Robin piggybacks (spending 1 point of Infiltration) on Nasir, who simply uses his MOS top succeed.

Guy does a similar thing with John (who does have to spend). The security on the truck however is lower than the warehouse (4 vs. 6).

Scarlet meanwhile hacks the security cameras and watches. She spots the arrival of an unexpected guest: Serge, still oozing from his head wound. The guards spot him a moment later but strangely sicken and collapse as he approaches. She alerts the others as he moves to the sole survivor, crushing his windpipe.

She makes a Digital Intrusion roll (which incidentally lowers Infiltration difficulties for the others inside). She then makes a Sense Trouble roll and alerts the others to Serge’s arrival with time to spare.

Inside Nasir begins setting charges while Robin climbs stealthy to the second story catwalk. The truck pull inside the warehouse and hooks up to the container

The plan is to plant four charges to bring the warehouse down on the gangsters and the werewolves in the basement. Nasir and Robin make the Infiltration check (Difficulty 4 inside) to avoid detection.

Serge knocks the side open and enters the warehouse. As the guards respond, Guy and John roll out from under the truck and jump in. Guy puts pedal to the metal and races out of the warehouse as the goons scramble to chase after them in a jeep.

Guy uses his Driving MOS to avoid anyone catching the truck on foot.

Two mobsters fire from the jeep while John fires back. They target the tires, blowing out one of them. While Guy controls the truck, John puts two rounds in the driver. The jeep crashes messily.

A straight driving chase. The shot out tire boosted Guy's Driving difficulties by 1 but he never failed badly so it didn't matter. John's first Shooting roll didn't "quite" kill the goon but his second definitely did.

Robin slips her charge down to Nasir as they head to the back of the warehouse. As Nasir sets the final charge and Serge battles through a hail of machine gun fire, the agents bug out, exiting just after the river-side guards move in to try to save Danilo Brigovic from Serge. They steal a boat and drive across the river.

An easy (Difficulty 2) Explosives roll to set the charges and a final Infiltration roll to escape without notice and the team make it to the river. Robin drops Build points into Piloting and they escape across the river.

As Scarlet watches Serge leap up to the second story to grab Brigovic, they trigger the bomb.

Which deals a crazy amount of damage. 18 explosive damage to everyone inside plus 9 more from falling rubble. The surviving goons and Brigovic die instantly. The werewolves are killed by the rubble. Serge takes half damage from his inhuman physique and...is not quite dead.

Scarlet checks that the surviving video evidence and internet postings implicate Islamic terrorism. Guy ditches the truck on the highway and then everyone evades the police. One last video feed shows Serge emerging from rubble.

A Electronic Surveillance spend and good thinking means this at least isn't blamed on them. I take it easy on them here as far as the police since it didn't work narratively to add another chase. We were nearing the end of the session anyway.

The team individually leaves Serbia. Guy under the guise of “El Gordo” a food blogger; Nasir as Fazah Ahmed, an American Embassy Staffer; Scarlet travels as a doctor without borders and John uses his old military historian cover. Robin travels as translator.

All make their cover checks, Nasir and Guy have lower difficulties since the Conspiracy doesn't know about them yet. The others have to deal with the current Heat of 4. Perhaps I should have boosted the difficulty due to the recent terrorism but with everyone going separately and few real connections to the PCs I'm not sure that would have worked out story-wise.
Once out of the country, John meets his mentor the Chessplayer. The old man feeds him intel connecting a Dr. Gomez to the group creating these surgically modified soldiers. The team move to Kaiserslautern, Germany to surveil her. Scarlet scouts and builds a dossier on her. She seems motivated out of mercy and likely doesn't realize the full horror of what happens to the dying soldiers she "saves". She also was an Olympic prospect before becoming a doctor.

This is my warning that Gomez will be a handful catching and the suggestion that an Interpersonal spend may be more helpful. They actually do quite well surveilling her, given her high alertness modifier. The dossier is created using the rules for For Your Eyes Only, an optional rule from Double Tap. It gives them a small pool of points to spend on actions regarding her.

Robin, concerned about the bottom line, scouts a possible bank heist for their next gig. The target is a Swiss bank in the process of being acquired by Black Sea Bank, a tool of the Lisky Bratva.

Enter the Zalozhniy Quartet!

Infrastructure: the Mask Factory

Hidden throughout the world are pieces of Infrastructure, devices and structures designed to serve the occult purposes of the Machine, a universe spanning entity working to unknown purposes.

The Mask Factory

Deep within the rusty industrial district, a nondescript factory hides a secret behind decaying walls and blacked out windows. Inside, despite decades of disuse, thousands of cheap masks cover the inner walls and storerooms. Clowns leer next to gruesome monsters and dead presidents, while pasty blanks share space with hundreds of finished products from celebrities to ordinary seemings.

No lights illuminate the structure's night-time workings. New faces, both familiar and strange, appear on the walls each morning. Every fourth Thursday men in dark suits visit to collect the masks. Sometimes they leave long sheets of descriptions in a utility closet on the second story. More men come out than go in.

Secret

The Mask Factory makes more than disguises, it creates Covers, human identities for the creatures that serve the Machine. The quality of the "lives" the Factory creates varies from wholly realistic people like that you meet everyday to mere sketches of a human being, generic men in business suits. Some are intended for the "Angels" that serve the Machine. Others serve another purpose.

The Mask Factory creature is imperfect. Few identities hold together enough survive close scrutiny. But they possess something else: a life of their own. These "empty" Covers, with no animating Angel or Demon, possess only minor mundane skills and little volition of their own. However with proper training and under the guiding force of a potent will, they can serve as disposable spies and agents. Plus they can be made to order.

Mechanically these "Empties" possess a Cover rating between 1 to 3 and disintegrate should that Cover unravel. They also possess one or more permanent Glitches. Otherwise they function like a 2 Dot Retainer.

A Demon "angel-jacking" an Empty needs only a single success on their roll. However they also only gain Cover 1 and immediately alert the Rank 3 Angel operating the factory (and its army of Empties). Occasionally a mask is created for an Angel. Those have the same benefits and hazards as a normal angel-jacking.

Lynchpin

The creature that runs the factory works from the orders placed in a utility closet on the second floor. Here piles of papers with lists of descriptions to be forged into Covers/masks.

Placing a precisely crafted character description, one composed of contradictory personality traits, will cause the factory to create a terminally unstable mask. Instantly it will decompose into an unstable mass, resulting in the whole factory being consumed by a raging grease fire.

Alternate Stories

Other options for the Mask Factory:

• Hunter: the Vigil: rather than creating endless bland men to harass your monster hunters, the Factory could export its monster masks. Each one spawns a new unique monster. As the hunters work their way through these monsters of the week, they slowly uncover their common origin and bring the fight to the horror that lurks there.
• Changeling: the Lost: Rather than a tool of the Machine, the Factory serves the Gentry, pumping out fetches to replace a steady stream of new human slaves. The powerful fetch that runs the operation belongs to one of the current Court leaders, one blackmailed into turning a blind eye.
• The Esoterrorists: this begins much like the Hunter scenario except each of the "monsters" is an esoterrorist plot. The Mask Factory at first appears to be a leadership node in the otherwise disorganized organization until it becomes clear that the Membrane suffered a permanent weakening within its walls. Here Outer Darkness entities and an elite cell of esoterrorists lord over lesser cells, manipulating them to further spread fear and chaos.