[Games] Last Will & Testament

[jordangreywolf]

This is the sort of thing I really should have nailed down long ago. "Pardon me, but I can't start running this campaign until I have written an adventure."

I should have had plenty of time, but other things keep popping up. (Work, for instance, but just to be clear, I'm very glad to still be employed for the time being! It's nice to have food on the table and a roof over my head. Yay!)

A couple Saturdays ago, we had our second session. I introduced a simplistic "murder mystery" on the train. It didn't really go as intended, but then, I didn't have it very well planned, either.

The Players:

• Job: (Gwendel) Former street urchin turned private investigator. Rogue & investigation skills. (Didn't play much of a role this session, since Gwendel showed up late, and drifted off.)


• Dr. Philip Goode: (Digital_Rampage) Snake oil salesman. Charismatic, with some occult and medical knowledge. Brief "business partner" of Hoyle, left holding the bag in a scheme gone bad.


• The Professor: (SV) Goofball nutty professor inventor type. Hoyle was formerly a "patron" of his in a scheme that left the Professor saddled with a large debt.


• Juan: (Urson) Gunslinger, former employee of Philip T. Hoyle. Has the "Grim Servant o' Death" Hindrance, which means he has very high chance of causing "friendly fire" - if he rolls a "1" in combat (which seems to happen an awful lot). Unlike the others, not knowingly abandoned or cheated by Hoyle.


• The Drunk: (Urson Jr) A delusional ne'er-do-well who thinks he's a werewolf (but isn't), and drowns his sorrow in booze. Recently got on the train.


• The Scout: (Goober_Chris)
  

I tried to flesh out the major NPCs a bit more, though not very successfully (IMHO). Major events:

• Gambling: Billy O'Toole, the gambler, had a game against the Professor, Juan, and the Drunk. The Professor won the first round of games by dumb luck, but then wandered off to go socialize. Juan cleaned up afterward. A quick little die-rolling exercise.



• Nosy Reporter: A nosy reporter with the New York Times wandered around, asking provocative questions of the various people traveling to the will-reading (including PCs), and generally being a nuisance. He later turned up dead.



• Old Medicine Man: A medicine man showed up to give warnings to the Scout (but Goober_Chris didn't show up until late into the session, so it was kind of hard to do much with that).



• Murder Mystery! The PCs investigated ... or goofed around. The Professor ended up "solving" the mystery by playing an Adventure Card, "Spill the Beans," which basically makes an NPC tell you everything you want to know about a topic. This is the second time that card has shown up in a game. I hate it. I think I'm going to squash Adventure Cards at some point going forward.

---

The whole thing was horribly planned by me anyway. I put too much research into petty little details that nobody much cared about, and had a schedule of events (I go by the "monkey-wrench plan" in that this and that event will happen at a given time -- unless something done by the PCs derails this chain of events and forces me to recalibrate) but the big problem was that some of those events happened in places where the PCs simply were not in a position to observe, nor did they know to ask any of the NPCs who might have observed it (nor did the NPCs have good reason to seek out the PCs and tell them these things). Gwendel's character was the real "nosy" one prone to investigation, but was gone for this session. Two of the characters with the most relevant skills remaining for sleuthing were having too much fun being utter goofballs.

Also, I had failed to properly give enough characterization to the cast of characters. It's sort of like a scene drawing where I spend WAY too much time detailing one very small part of the picture, and leave the rest as very vaguely done. It very much underscores, to anyone paying attention, that THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, never mind whether there are actually any "clues" that point you that way.

Oh, and Adventure Cards. I really don't like how they're implemented here. I don't have the flexibility to edit or supplement the deck (pull out problematic cards, add custom ones), let alone "stack" the deck, or simply assign cards. ("Here, have an extra card!" Can't do that here.)

The Fate Chips are a problem, too. There are only 27 (?) chips in the "pot," and there's no way for me to have more Bennies (or Fate Chips) in play than that. In a normal game, each player starts with 3 Bennies, and the GM gets one Benny per PC. Oh, and Wild Card NPCs may have Bennies of their own. We've got 6 PCs (theoretically 7 if everyone showed up). Let's see. 18 + 6 = 24, right? Oh, and I'm supposed to hand out a Benny/Fate Chip if someone roleplays a Hindrance. At minimum, each player could get an extra 3 Bennies per session. OH! And one of the players has Lucky, so he starts out with an extra Benny.

But if I want to hand out a Benny, and there are 27 in play, it just WILL NOT LET ME DO IT. No option for me to expand the size of the "pot." I do not like.

But enough griping. I need to get on with the story.

---

SPOILERS. Are you in a player in my campaign who got this far through my entry? GET OUTTA HERE.

Now then...

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There's still a train ride, and then a stagecoach ride to get to "The Flat," and past the point of no return (when things start getting really weird).

The Journey
I intend to use this time to try to flesh out the remaining NPCs a little more. They're all expendable at this stage: adversaries who might try to take on the PCs (and likely die trying), or "red shirts" to meet violent ends to demonstrate that the stakes are high.

The main "players" so far that I introduced:

• Darcy Tuckerman (very recently deceased): young, ambitious reporter for the New York Times, eager to make a name for himself, and staking everything on this as the "big story" to do so. He spent personal funds on digging into the pasts of the people purportedly being escorted out to this no-name place in Texas as inheritors of the estate of a "wealthy philanthropist" with a dubious history. In his over-eagerness to sniff out a "lead," he took an aggressive approach, lacking in subtlety, trying to goad responses out of multiple possible targets on the train. Eventually, he earned the ire of Trish (below), who caught him breaking into her travel case, and manipulated Mae into killing him.



• Dr. Charles Brandish: a "quack" physician who makes a bunch of noise about traveling the "wild" West in order to help bring civilization and the wonders of medicine to the common man.
  
  Connection to Phineas T. Hoyle: He partnered in a "get-rich-quick" scheme with Phineas T. Hoyle, and got left holding the bag (a common theme). But now it looks like he might be paid restitution for his troubles, so of course he's along for the ride.
  
  Dark Secret: he's not merely some joker, but he's exploited people's addictions, and led people to early graves. He doesn't like to think about such details. He's a coward and schemer, not particularly shrewd -- he just has a certain amount of cunning and charm, and a knack for detecting susceptible marks and exploiting their insecurities.



• Mae Sutherland (very recently deceased): nurse/assistant for Brandish, with no actual medical knowledge or skill. Mostly, she's just pretty, and Brandish has been able to manipulate her to go along with things, in order to live the comfortable life.
  
  Since she was exposed as Darcy's murderer, and taken into custody, she's out of the picture. That is, while she was in custody, she was visited by her "dear sister," who brought her some "medicine to calm her nerves," and didn't survive through the night.



• Patricia Sutherland: ostensibly Mae's younger sister, who she's "looking after, after their parents tragically died." Partly, she's along just because to have an unmarried woman accompanying Dr. Brandish might seem scandalous in this day and age, but make it two, and they're sisters, and there's a sob-story to go along with it, so it's okay. They aren't actually sisters, and Patricia isn't actually some innocent young thing. Actually, she's latched onto Brandish and his "assistant" precisely because of his connection to Dr. Phineas T. Hoyle. (Like Mae, she has none herself, and is only "along for the ride.")
  
  She's a witch/occultist/wannabe, and is willing to try anything, no matter how dark, in pursuit of power -- including murder (but even better if she can manipulate someone else into doing it for her). She only killed Mae herself (using some of Dr. Brandish's stash of "medicines") because she wanted to tie up any potential loose ends, as Mae had shown a disturbing tendency to talk far too much. (Fortunately for Patricia, nobody had asked Mae about those occult relics and poisons in the false bottom of the case.)
  
  When the reporter proved to be a threat, this close to her goal, she threatened and manipulated Mae into dealing with him, and taking the fall for the murder. She's still traveling with Brandish, rather than sticking by her "sister." Nobody's questioned this yet.
  
  Once Brandish's usefulness has ended, she'd be happy to sacrifice him, or simply skip out with the goods -- whichever is most convenient.
  
  In the meantime, she's the sort who would happily ally with whatever PC seems gullible enough to try to extend a protective wing over her, but her true nature is bound to show itself sooner rather than later.
  
  Her collection of occult relics (hidden in a false bottom in the case shared with her "sister" -- but found by the PCs) is what the reporter discovered, and what she was willing to kill to hide. She doesn't yet realize that the snake-oil salesman simply helped himself to her cache (although the PCs think it belonged to Mae, not her). She isn't likely to take it well once she figures that out.



• Billy O'Toole: another charmer, a "widower" -- a slimy fellow who gets into the graces of lonely older women, lives off of their generosity, then takes off (often with a few "borrowed" items) when the mood strikes him -- or, quite possibly, works his way into the lady's will. As with several others on the train, he has several aliases. As with Brandish, he's scum, but cowardly.
  
  Connection to Hoyle: Illegitimate offspring.
  
  Dark Secret: He's a "black widower." Some of his benefactors, and a couple of his wives died of suspicious circumstances, for good reason. His preferred method is poison. He doesn't think of himself as a murderer.



• Jake Spencer: a "rancher" (who hasn't actually owned a ranch for quite some time) -- or, actually a traveling gambler of middling skill -- just enough to think he can win the big time, but not enough to actually lose more often. He has quite a few debts hanging over his head, and quite a few folks who'd love to see him hang for skipping out, but at least he's not the sort to lead anyone to an early grave on account of it.
  
  He's a runner, not a fighter. As soon as things get spooky in the Flat, he's the sort to panic and run, and demonstrate to anyone else just why that might not be a good idea.
  
  Connection to Hoyle: Illegitimate offspring (wow, Hoyle got around!).
  
  Dark Secret: His history of cutting-and-running includes abandoning his wife and kids to fend for themselves when he ran up gambling debts and some unscrupulous sorts came to collect.



• Peter Gimble: a hired hand who, like Juan (one of the PCs), was employed later in Hoyle's "career," to help guard shipments of Aztec relics from Mexico (though they had no idea what they were protecting). He's a gunman, and isn't the sort to ask too many questions. Like Juan, he wasn't abandoned or betrayed by Hoyle -- that he knows of -- and has no grudge against him. He doesn't realize that, also like Juan (who has the "Grim Servant o' Death" curse/Hindrance), he was an unwitting "guinea pig" for testing out the purported curse effects of some of these Aztec "blood-gold" relics.
  
  Connection to Hoyle: Former employee. Also (unknowingly) a former "test subject" when Hoyle was playing with cursed relics.
  
  Dark Secret: He's killed more men (and a few women) in his line of work than he'd care to admit. Although he reasons that he didn't kill anyone who "didn't deserve it," some of those were killed because there couldn't be any witnesses left at the scene, so their "deserving" of it was more "guilt by association."
  
  Role: Possible ally for Juan, at least for the time being. Once it becomes clear that the intended "rules" for this game are to turn into a Battle Royale, however, his "loyalty" is limited.

---

I really, really need to nail down a lot of details.

Things to Do on the Remaining Journey:
For the remainder of the journey, I want to try to slip in a few hints of what is coming up, to prepare the PCs for what's ahead.

• Introduce the Players: Flesh out the different NPCs a bit more. Provide more hints to their motivations. Establish some connections with some of the PCs, if possible -- possible alliances, or enmities.



• Introduce the Mythos: Bring up the idea of Aztec gods and treasures. Bring up a few specific references, particularly to the ideas of Huehuecoyotl, Xolotl, Mictlan, Quetzalcoatl, the Five Ages, etc. I don't want to dump encyclopedic entries here -- just find an excuse to do some name-dropping, and introduce some basic concepts (like associations of certain gods with certain elements).



• Warning for the Scout: I need to figure out what warnings and words of wisdom the Scout needs to get from the Medicine Man. (I'm going to send him an email handout.) One thing I figured he'd be warned about is that he should "gain strength to face the enemy, by living off the bounty of the land," or something like that. Do some hunting in Albany, TX, before you get on that stagecoach ride to head out into the Flat!



• Mood-Setting: a creepy dream sequence handout or two? Maybe.

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The Arrival

The Flat is not quite a ghost town, but it feels like a dying town, with closed businesses and sparse traffic in the main street where it seems like in its heyday there would have been much more. The weather is terrible -- overcast, thunder rumbling in the distance, and occasional flashes of lightning, and gusts of wind sending tumbleweeds and dust eddies down the unpaved street.

The stagecoach driver won't stay. He's on Hoyle's payroll, doesn't really know what is going on, but he just has a sense that something is wrong. He's out of there at the first opportunity, without wasting time for pleasantries.

Townsfolk NPC Weirdness
I ought to have a couple of interactions with NPCs. Perhaps a PC needs to buy something, or ask directions. Whoever they interact with is in an odd situation -- perhaps a mother who's calling after her child, or a storekeeper who's fretting over some broken glass, or as gunsmith meticulously examining a pistol. By itself, it shouldn't prompt concern (or at least not much). Maybe it even presents the PC an opportunity to help somehow. What the PCs don't know is that these individuals are ghosts -- they're acting out their last moments when everything was going south and the townsfolk were overcome with madness, turning against each other. The mother's child was already dead. The storekeeper's whole shop was being torn apart, and he was going to meet his end next. The gunsmith wasn't examining his pistol so much as preparing to end it all (but the PCs' arrival interrupts this little "shadow play" for a bit).

I need to think of a few examples of actions that, if they were examined in a different light (imagine someone going through these actions while the town is burning down and everyone's going berserk in the streets outside), could provide a hint as to how this person met his or her end. (But of course the PCs at this point shouldn't realize that this is an issue. They might have a tip if, however, the NEXT TIME, they encounter this person, he or she is doing the SAME EXACT THING.)

The Manor
Hoyle's house is the biggest one in town. It's not a full-fledged MANSION to get lost in by any means, but is two stories tall and has a few rooms worth exploring when the opportunity arises. The will is to be read in the study. Hoyle plays the part of Mr. Sandal. He's got a bit of stage-makeup and has altered his voice, but some of the PCs are going to get "Haven't we met somewhere before?" vibes, and I can't discount the possibility (stupidly-high fluke rolls on Notice) that someone could see through the disguise. (I need a Plan B for if that happens. Note that this scheme still carries on even if Hoyle is exposed or dies. He's not the main Big Bad, after all.)

(Random thought: Could have an actual flesh-and-blood guy be there as the lawyer, roped into Hoyle's scheme. He thinks he's just a co-conspirator or an actor playing his part, but doesn't realize that Xolotl will insist on him joining the mayhem as a "contestant" as well.)

The Will
The will has a bit of a rambling style (that I need to write up for the reading) that attests that Hoyle was a lover of games, and he always liked to think that life was a game, so why shouldn't death be a game, too? All in good fun, of course!

The basic gist of it is that in three nights, all of Hoyle's remaining wealth and estate will be evenly divided among all those invited for the will-reading. However, he has hidden several treasures, and if the guests can find them, they're welcome to keep them. Set out on a table, there are several junk items the lawyer refers to as "gifts." Each guest is to pull a card from a deck, and the highest draw gets to pick one of the "gifts." Whoever drew the lowest, alas, just gets whatever is left.

(Meta-mechanic: Bennies can be spent to re-draw a card. So "luck" can play a role.)

Each item is just a cheap porcelain/ceramic knickknack, but representing something: an Aztec idol of a dog, a replica Aztec sword, a skull, a bird, etc. The item has no intrinsic value on its own, but it represents one of the golden Aztec treasures hidden in the manor and around the town. Hidden INSIDE the figure is a slip of paper that has a clue as to where to find the actual treasure. Nobody is given this instruction. Then, everyone is treated to a lavish dinner.

If none of the PCs gets the idea that there might be something INSIDE the worthless ceramic figure, one of the NPC guests is going to throw a fit, frustrated at the nonsensical nature of the will-reading ("Are we supposed to go on an Easter-egg hunt for worthless little knickknacks like this through town over the next three days to keep ourselves entertained?") and shatters the figure -- revealing a strip of paper inside.

I want each strip to have a "riddle" that points to a location in town -- it shouldn't be that hard to figure out, really -- and a reference to the relic and maybe a hint of what actual purpose it has.

Within the boundaries of this town, each relic actually has some sort of power.

Ideas:

• Wolf Mask: Hidden in a doghouse or kennel. Power: Allows you to take on the form of a beast. Curse: Eventually, the mask becomes "part" of you, and you may transform and become more bestial involuntarily.



• Hawk Amulet: Perched atop a roof. Power: Grants you bonuses to Notice things. Curse: You start seeing spirits and horrors that cannot be unseen, taxing your sanity. As with the mask, eventually it becomes "part" of you.



• Sacrificial Blade: Stuck in a wood-chopping stump in a back yard. Power: Can cut through most anything. Vorpal! Curse: Beware lest you roll a "1" on the die, or you might cut something you didn't want to. Also, it doesn't like being left unused. Not quite sure how it becomes "part" of you, but I suppose that would follow the trend.

The items should each have interesting powers, but they're also cursed. A reasonable PC might decide to just destroy the treasure, but that can't be done within this fragment of Mictlan that Xolotl has wrapped the Flat into. Where the relics have power, they are also impervious (or at least highly resistant to) harm.

The main purpose of these things is to drag the "guests" deeper into a death spiral, giving them a taste of power and an incentive to collect the others. (Random thought I have is that maybe the items should COMBINE somehow -- if you possess two items, there's somehow a "synergistic" bonus you get for having both ... but I don't have immediate ideas on that.)

Xolotl's purpose is entertainment. He wants to see the guests turn on each other. If they don't do so entertainingly enough, he's willing to push them -- dredging up their dark secrets, threatening to expose them, taunting them, promising extra power -- whatever it takes to keep things "interesting." At least initially, if the PCs don't bite, the NPCs can keep it going (and be a threat to each other and to any PCs they run across).

One thing I'm concerned about is whether the PCs will stick together, or split up. It's going to be difficult in this environment to mediate players separately. This isn't like Sinai where I can "multi-deck" with multiple chat windows.

For "handouts," I suppose I can either fire off emails, or else I can place object tokens in PC inventories (with attached text for the riddles, etc. -- and, once revealed, the bonuses).

Another factor: If the PCs "help" any of the local NPCs with something, some of them might "pass on" / "reach their final rest." The PCs won't know this, though: From their POV, if they go back, that NPC just WILL NOT BE THERE. No one else knows what happened. One might reasonably assume that something bad happened to that person that the PC was interacting with earlier. (Could there be a monster? Murders?)

Running Away:
A reasonable PC might decide, once it's clear things are going badly, to run away. Head too far out from town, and the storm gets more fierce, and there's SOMETHING lurking out there in the darkness. (And once the night falls for the first night, the sun isn't seen again for the duration of the "contest.")

Jake is almost certainly going to fall prey to The Beast. Either he runs on his own, or else if any PC is inclined to make a break for it, he'll be running, too, but meet a grisly end.

The lawyer (if not Hoyle in disguise) at some point might figure out it's not a great idea to stay around. He could be another suitable red-shirt, making a break for the border. (Especially if the third night rolls around, and not enough people have died yet, and Xolotl changes the rules again.)

What happens if a PC calls my bluff? Well, then he's basically going to be fighting the SW equivalent of a Dragon who has a stack of Bennies and can't be actually harmed by mundane weaponry. However, if the PC relents and goes back toward town, it will not pursue. Also, if the PC is knocked out, he'll likely end up dragged back to town by someone.

So What's To Do?
There needs to be a solution to this mess. On a meta-level, I want there to be a gradual revelation, where at first it's just a "treasure hunt," and Xolotl is hoping for the "players" to turn on each other. If that happens, he'll be content to let things play out. If it's down to the PCs and a few NPCs who are not at each others' throats, then he'll try to up the ante.

Not that I actually want the PCs to be stabbing each other in the back. A little competition over getting the golden goodies is fine, but I'd rather they have more socially redeeming qualities than Hoyle or Xolotl give them credit for.

If the PCs put on a united front, then perhaps Xolotl pushes Hoyle into the ring, so to speak. Xolotl: "Hey, you promised me a spectacle." Hoyle: "I did no such thing! I followed your orders and called these people in! You said I'd be free to go. Why am I still stuck here?" Xolotl: "Well, they aren't playing. But, tell you what, YOU finish them off, and I'll declare you the winner and let you go." Hoyle: "You keep changing the rules!" Xolotl: "I'm a god. I can do that. I could just kill you right here. So ... ENTERTAIN ME."

So the PCs get to find out that Hoyle's actually still alive, he's got some relics that give him some powers, and they get a chance to kill him. And Hoyle might say something to the effect, during the battle, that whoever unites all the relics will gain the full power of Xolotl (mwahahaha) ... supposed to plant the seed of the idea that anyone who'd like some mega power should collect all those relics for himself.

Likely by now the PCs should figure out that the relics are bad news, and come with cumulative curses, so maybe they SHOULDN'T go all relic-happy. (Especially since the relics have a habit of "bonding" to someone and thus making it so you have to kill the current holder to acquire it.)

I need some sort of monkey-wrench that gets tossed in to thwart Xolotl's plans -- but not so soon as to ruin all the "fun."

Maybe that's in the form of Huehuecoyotl showing up to help the Scout or the Snake Oil Salesman, or the Drunk, or whoever seems receptive, and tell him about Xolotl's special weakness. (What should it be? Not sure. I'd better figure that out quickly.)

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Other Notions:
I could probably use a few more "red shirts" present at the will-reading. Perhaps a former wife or lover of Hoyle.

Silly-stupid idea: His DOG. He picks the ceramic bone.

Could also have some "ghostly" persons at the estate, such as Hoyle's "widow." (Doesn't say much. She fell prey to the first "game," as might become evident.)