Tears of a Machine: Project Wingspan

3 July 2015: 9am: Tears of a Machine: Project Wingspan

I've never played the original Tears of a Machine, and Project Wingspan is a hack of that. Also, we were told at the beginning of the session that this would be a somewhat streamlined session, and that long story arc stuff wouldn't come up. I'm not going to worry about too many system details, as I don't remember the system very well. My notes say we had "the X card as usual", but I don't recall anyone using it.

• GM: Russell Collins
• Redacted as the player prefers anonymity: Jacques / Jack (Phaeton)
• Me: Felicite (Cygnus)
• Neal Tanner: Jean Paul Eider
• Rebecca Wisandt: Lorraine

GM: You 4 are the success stories of Project Wingspan.

The setting was 2032 Morovia, which the Gm described as "roughly the Franco-Prussian War". Project Wingspan was a secret government project intended to create cybernetic super soldiers to send against the encroaching armies of the enemy. The parenthetical names above were the names the PCs used in battle.

The PCs had been instructed to go to the town of Idle, known for its wineries and to take on cover identities. They might be anywhere from late teens to early 30s.

Felicite was a Gloomy Goth Girl, so naturally, she wound up with a job that put her in a social position. She was also fond of music. My notes add "Not being fooled", but I don't know the context. I'm guessing these two areas were her strong suits, carrying a mechanical benefit.

Lorraine came up the rural dirt road leading into town. She wore flannel clothes and carried an old, patched rucksack. As she hiked towards town, she checked the time by the sun.

She saw a large delivery truck that had broken down. An older woman was sitting to the side of the truck, scowling. A man, presumably her husband, was in front of her.

Lorraine veered off, giving the man a huge handshake and kissing cheeks with the woman. She wound up very late for where she needed to go, but she was able to fix the truck and get the couple on its way.

Jean-Paul was from the eastern part of the country. His town had been shelled and his family lost. There was a stitched area on the left side of his face, which would leave a scar.

He arrived in town on a military truck. He was perfect for blue collar jobs, and he wound up working in the winery. Felicite ran the tastings.

Jacques was laying down in a field on a beautiful sunny day. He picked his head up to swallow something. He had several orange prescription bottles. He lined up several pills and took them with a glass of water. Then, he took out a stopwatch and started it.

Jacques landed a job as a waiter. He wasn't criminally inept, but he wasn't the best at the job either, being way too social for a waiter.

So, Jacques and Felicite worked in the restaurant attached to Sinclair's Winery. Jean-Paul worked in the winery itself. Lorraine worked in the fields.

We now had a plotting round. Everyone came up with a Plot Point, to introduce a person so that the GM didn't have to make them all up, or a situation to start the story with. The GM does this as well.

For an NPC: What do they want that you or someone else might be interested in?

Bond: Human connection with other people.

The PCs were told that bonds were very important because the machine inside them _was_ a machine -- and this was a way to keep the machine under control.

The head waiter / Maitre d' was Owen Sang. There was a big dinner party coming up. We agreed that this did not have to be immediate and could be a flashback. It would be a fancy affair and the Maitre d' was worried that it wouldn't go well. It was very important to him that the correct attitude be projected. There would be rich, important guests to sample the wine.

This was a challenge that was set up, with a 6 difficulty, which meant that it would be a tough situation to handle when we got there.

[I had this post-convention thought: What if all challenges started at 1 and slowly increased until they were addressed, or if there were set defaults -- or some combination? E.g., a recognition that some challenges like the Very Important Dinner Party _should_ be harder than many of the others.]

A challenge could be for your character or for another.

At this point, I think we set up a flashback challenge for Jacques. The camera showed a table, an IV drip, the bedside -- no one but Jacques was in the room. He was searching an empty drawer.

He was terminally ill and had experimented with drugs. No one was sure if he was still experimenting with drugs. Masato Soto, a nurse (I think) came in and spoke to Jacques sternly. She tried to get him to quit experimenting on himself with drugs. This would be a Challenge 4.

For Felicite, the challenge I set was that of a mysterious, unseen musician. She had been spying, listening to him playing from outside his building. This would be a Challenge 1.

For Jean Paul, the project staff worried he'd be too vengeful, using tech on job when he shouldn't. This would be a Challenge 2.

Lorraine's challenge would be a video chat with her mother. Lorraine was being housed by a generous local family, headed by Emil, who also worked in the fields. If one were looking as Lorraine had her chat, it was obvious that Rachel was her mother, even though their features were almost diametric opposites to Lorraine's.

Rachel had big, intense eyes, in a thin face. But, she was _listening_, hard, to her daughter. It was almost bizarre how they were speaking. Lorraine had a big jolly voice, while Rachel had an older, urbane, intellectual, precisely measured voice. She was an esteemed Poet Laureate, if I understand my notes correctly. The conversation was very odd; it was almost as if they were talking in code to each other.

Lorraine's father very ill, bedridden. He had been in that state long enough that it had become a way of life. He had his wits, but he was always unhappy, angry, and bitter, and did not out of bed much.

Increasingly, they had to send farm hands away. They were running out of money, and it was just a matter of time before they lost the family farm. Indeed, to Rachel, this was a forgone conclusion. Lorraine was stubborn -- though gentle -- in her denial of this. It had only been five months since her father had gotten ill, and if the war ended, there would be immigrant workers who could be hired. This would be a Challenge 3.

The first round began, and the War Clock was set at 7.

We started with Jean-Paul's player. He could do Jean-Paul's scene -- or steal another! Or, the player could create another plot point and have his character heal.

My notes say that Jean-Paul was with his superior and the base psychologist, Winslow. Winslow was a lieutenant, but mostly an administrator. He had an injury, so walked with a cane. Gerard DuPress was the supervisor in the warehouse.

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but this was a challenge of 2, and I think Jean-Paul succeeded. I know that he got a point of Joy. The maximum one can have is 5 points.

Also, he could form a Bond with Winston, and did so. It started at Rating at 0. The GM explained that this meant that Winslow was going to MATTER -- we were required to bring him back. People could share bonds.

Jacques had to deal with the headwaiter situation, i. e., with being the headwaiter. He woke up in a sweat and opened a drawer that was full of pills, taking one by feel. He had coffee in the restaurant, and then went down to the wine celler, looking at the bottles, tasting the varieties, looking up the wines on his phone, and making notes on the phone.

Lorraine joined him, or perhaps he came out where she was working.

Lorraine: Hold on -- it's Jack. (beat) _Skinny_ Jack.

After all, there were a lot of Jacks / Jacqueses. "Skinny Jack" gave some indication of his challenge of learning about the wines, and Lorraine told him to just use the rhyme. You know, the wine song.

Jacques: There's a rhyme about wines?

Lorraine: Did you grow up in this country?

Jacques: I grew up in the city.

I gave Felicite's dice to Jacques's player, which meant I'd pass on Felicite's turn.

Lorraine and / or the workers: Duh -- THE Wine Song!

And so, Lorraine taught Jacques the wine song. Both of them earned a point of Joy, I think, and I think Jacques got a Bond with Owen, the Maitre d'. Jacques also listed to traditions recordings of the wine song on his phone.

Russel: Sung by medieval peasants.

Me: Before the Great Vowel Shift.

We now cut to Lorraine's video chat with her mother. Rachel thought that it was time to shut the farm down. It wasn't worth it. Lorraine could hear the poetry bleeding out of her mother's voice.

Rachel: The worms will eat everything.

Lorraine: When the worms come to eat everything, the robins will eat the worms, and then lay the eggs in our eaves.

Rachel: But the ravens and crows will steal the eggs.

Lorraine: But we speak their language, nasty birds though they are.

Lorraine succeeded in the challenge.

Lorraine: Just wait a little longer. Spring is coming.

Rachel (with steel in her stare): I need you to talk to the lieutenant about increasing your salary.

Lorraine earned a point of Joy and had a Bond with her mother.

We asked at this point what happened if someone failed a challenge. The GM explained that this would earn the character 1 point of pain. And, the challenge stayed around and could build and snowball into something even more horrible. There would be a tag on that person, making the person harder and harder to deal with. If the number rose high than 6, it would be over, and that person would be out of the player character's life.

In other words, if Jacques failed utterly with Owen, Owen would have a 6 permanently attached, and if Jacques then failed again, Owen would fire him.

The GM now added a plot point.

Lieutenant Cannard was responsible for things like housing stipends and so on. He was overseeing the characters' residency, and was very nervous about any of them living lavishly. He stressed that they must remain under cover. He also insisted that they keep him aware of their movements at all times.

This last was not part of the deal they'd made. However, the lieutenant was becoming more and more intrusive over time. This was a Challenge 1.

It was now the end of the round and time to check the War Clock. It was now set to 6, which meant that one needed to roll higher than 6 on a single die for a war round. The roll failed, and the GM explained that as the war became more intense, there would be handfuls of dice being rolled.

The new round began. I chose the Mysterious Musician challenge for Felicite.

The music was coming from a middle class dwelling in the center of the town. Most of that area was built up to be a little more modern than the rest of the area. Felicite peeked in through the window. The musician was a young gentleman, probably high school aged, maybe a little older. There was a fire in the fire place, and he drifted in and out of the fireplace, playing the violin, pausing often.

The music seemed to be his own invention, and he paused to scribble it down from time to time. Felicite accidentally gave herself away, and the two had an awkward meet cute conversation, where she assured him that his music was very good. This was a Challenge 1, and I rolled a 6, and got to add 1 because music was one of her specialties. She earned a point of Joy and formed a Bond with the young musician, whose name was Simon.

The next challenge was Jacques's, with the nurse. The nurse told him that he must stay away from the pills. He tried to distance himself from the conversation. It was a Challenge 4, but with a total of 8, he shut her down completely.

Her caller chimed.

Nurse: Look, Jacques, I cannot _make_ you get better, but I don't think these pills are doing you any good.

And with that, she let him be. He earned a point of Joy, but the player chose not to establish a Bond with the nurse at present.

Jean-Paul's player set up a challenge that would continue the story with Lt. Winslow. Lt. Winslow was overseeing the workers, making sure they don't abuse their privilege. The idea was Jean-Paul would get into a dispute with another worker and be tempted to let go, something that could potentially escalate into a physical conflict. This would be a Challenge 4.

Meanwhile, Lorraine went to see Lt. Cannard. He was in his busy office full of folks sweating and screens that were all on.

Lorraine held her hat in her hands, very much a gesture of her father. It was a lower class gesture; even though she was a hulking woman, she was making herself small. Then, her mother's body language came through and her chin came up.

She explained that her father needed certain medicines. The lieutenant studied a static screen of silence for a moment, considering the request.

Lt. Cannard: If you can keep things quiet, I can have the medicines sent directly to your home. But I will have to take this out of your salary.

Lorraine: Of course.

Lt. Cannard: But gradually, over time.

Lorraine: I just have one question. Are you taking them away from somewhere else?

Lt. Cannard: I am taking them away from a hospital where it is not known if it will be needed or not. It depends on how the war goes.

Lorraine: I guess that's up to us.

And she earned a point of Joy and formed a Bond with Lt. Cannard.

We asked how to add a Care and were told that the way to do that was to win battles. Losing battles increased Bond numbers, as characters really held on to what they had left.

Someone set a challenge: A young boy with a violin case would ask Owen for a place for a musician to play music for the guests.

Owen (you can hear the eyebrow rise): Really?

This would be Challenge 2.

We pondered whether we were making the challenges too easy, as nobody was not making a roll.

The War Clock was set to 5. But, a 4 was rolled. So, we looked at more challenges.

In the wine factory, one of the workers, Stephan, tried to do what Jean-Paul did, not realizing the source of the other man's strength. He shoved ahead of Jean-Paul -- and a big crate of potatoes rolled right onto Jean-Paul, who pushed it back. The crate broke, sending potatoes everywhere.

As the two men shouted recriminations, each blaming the other, Lorraine, who was in / with the truck came over, trying to break the two men up. But, Jean-Paul let his temper get the best of him and cold-cocked Stephan.

Lorraine angrily frog marched Jean-Paul outside as the other workers first stared at him and then turned to help out Stephan.

Winston: Jean-Paul, is there something you want to tell me?

Jean-Paul: No. He is an idiot.

Lorraine: He needs a few minutes to cool down.

Winston tried to smooth things over with the workers, picking his way over scattered potatoes with his cane. And Jean-Paul added one to Joy and strengthened his Bond with Winston.

We asked a bit about Bonds at this point and were told that they could be with a frenemy or a rival. They just indicated someone to keep coming back to, someone who made the player character feel closer to humanity.

I now took the Plot Point of the Village Festival to mark the Founding of Sinclair Winery. Naturally, Mr. & Mrs. Sinclair would be there -- and they were Simon's Parents! This was a Challenge 5.

Felicite had a lot of responsibility for which she was particularly ill-suited. But, Jacques helped her, having taken a lot of notes, and sent her out to Lorraine and the other workers to learn the Wine Song.

Lorraine and the others were utterly shocked at her ignorance, and pulled her into their midst, showering her with community and music. Some hours later, Felicite had learned The Wine Song!

The evening was a rousing success. She had told the guests about The Wine Song, and they were utterly enchanted. After everyone had left and she sank exhausted, Owen praised her, and she told him, truthfully, that she could never have done it without Jacques's help. Owen was even more impressed. I think this resulted in more Joy, though I don't know if she increased a Bond with him.

Jacques's player passed, as the player had let me use those dice. The GM made a Plot Point. Tasha Petree was the foreman of the working fields, which were kicking into high gear for the festival. Workers were called in for extra shifts. Everyone other than Lorraine was tired, beaten down, and grumbling. This would be a Challenge 3, but I don't think we got to it.

The round ended. The War Clock was set to 4. The dice rolled a 5.

All challenges were on hold and could potentially turn into bad and failed situations because the characters had to go fight the war.

At this point, one of the players, I think Jacques's, asked why the country was being invaded, and listened to the explanation.

Player: Oh f*k! We're Crimea!

THE CALL from Lt. Winston came, and the group had 20 minutes to deploy.

The GM said that it was okay to choose to finish a scene first, but the GM would kill people if that happened. On the other hand, it might keep a situation from turning bad from neglect. We agreed that we probably shouldn't do that just then, as we wanted to see how the war part worked.

The group went out with Lts. Winston and Cannard and a truck. A copter would be faster, but more obvious, and was necessary this early in the war. This was an anticipated push from the enemy, but larger than expected, so they needed to reinforce their position.

The characters' first stop was the Scrap Yard, which looked like a junkyard. There, they changed into a hospital gown. They used Injectors, taking 1 point of Pain and having the equivalent of a magical girl transformation sequence, but with a misting of blood instead of sparkle.

The nanites latched on outside, disassembling the scrap metal in the Scrap Yard, creating a layer of metal close to each person's skin. This was the first layer of their armor. It also had wings.

We proceeded to describe the transformation.

Jacques, not healthy to begin with, doubled over. His shell form looked like scrap metal, except for the wings, which were much more beautifully crafted.

Jean-Paul's machine was roughly man sized, maybe a bit bigger. Call it 8 feet. The eyes had a red look, and the face was a mask with sort of a beak. It had massive black wings, with sharp edged feathers, ala Avenging Angel, at least in his mind.

Lorraine's machine was gun metal blue, a simple matte bluish grey, and was all smooth lines. It had a big build. It was _not_ slender or graceful, but it was simple. The face had a hooded hawklike look. The wings were falcon- or eagle-like.

Felicite's machine had insect wings with a delicate look. My notes say: "sleep lines / photos" -- I believe that this means it had "sleek" lines and that I was basing it off one of the online photos the GM showed us.

I have a note about tossing all communicators. I'm not sure what that meant. I know that communicators were integrated into the armor.

The group flew south to the port city of Andorra. The battle was over collateral -- civilians, buildings, military.

We rolled to see how much and generated 29 points of collateral. Anything we saved would add a point to the saved pile. Anything we failed to save would add a point to the failed pile.

How much power a machine had was based on Pain. One had to give it Pain for the moves. One also built firearms as one used them, as well as things to strike with.

The GM next generated how many pings there would be in the initial round, and got 3 pings. This meant that there were 3 potential targets. What were they? That was unknown until scanned.

Felicite gave 1 Pain to her machine to Scan. This meant that its scanning capability improved, getting her an upgrade, like Telescoping (my definition). Scan = Focus.

She noticed shock troopers threatening 6 points of collateral damage. She moved in closer.

GM: How close? To shoot? To punch?

Me: To shoot.

Jacques also Scanned, I think using a point of Joy to raise his total, and found enemy forces threatening 6 collateral. I think they had a movement bonus.

And so on -- folks moved and attacked, spending Joy and Pain. 12 points of Collateral were rescued, 4 destroyed.

The GM rolled a 6 to reinforce, I think with a -1 modifier, and 5 more pings were detected. Again, the machines of Project Wingspan scanned, swooped, shot, struck with various weapons, and so on. My notes say:

• Saved 25
• Lost 5

I think "25" is probably "24", as the total was 29. So, the fate of the Collateral had been decided. The battle was over, the enemy troops in a route. The group could stand down -- if it chose.

As it was 12:35 in a 9am-1pm slot and we wanted time for feedback, the group did. They returned to the Scrap Yard and gave the nanites the order to dismantle their machines.

My notes indicate they went into tents, changed back into their regular clothing, and went back to town, to the wine festival.

Roses and Thorns

Jacques's player liked the focus on civilians.

Lorraine's player said that knowing there was know danger to oneself changed things. She felt tears did a better job bringing things together, and that there needed to be more focus on PC-PC relationships.

I thought both types of relationships needed to be important.

The GM thought that we'd started too early in the war. Starting that early was good for a campaign, but not a 1-shot.

Jean-Paul's player said that he was missing the interaction among PCs _during_ the battle. I gather that's in core Tears of the Machine.

Jean-Paul's player would have liked more stats.

Lorraine's Player: Yes.

Jacques's Player and Me: No!

Lorraine's Player: Teamwork _breeds_ roleplay.

The GM wondered if more Cares would help. I'm not sure, since, as you can see, I've kind of forgotten what Cares are.

Someone mentioned that there seemed to be less diversity of role here than in straight Tears of a Machine, and wondered if it was because there were few stats.

We thought it might be useful to push for overlapping plot points. This could be done by having fewer than the number of PCs to force players together. Perhaps there should be fewer and fewer as the game went on. If so, perhaps more than one player should be able to get Bond for her character in a scene.