Burning Empires: Surrounded By Wolves
(Saturday, 8 - midnight)
This game is based on the Iron Empires graphic novels, which I purchased, but have not yet read, as I want to see if I follow the game without reading them. The game has a more formal structure than I'm used to, but one that doesn't necessarily preclude the roleplaying I like.
The world that the action was set on was called Checka. The tech level was Low Index, which meant that much standard sf tech was available. This makes me feel better about Low Index worlds and less likely to push for As Much Tech As Possible if I get a game up in my area.
We were playing the villains, the Wolves of Checka. All the PCs were women. Their goal was to overthrow Lions of Checka and replace them as the rulers. Three of the PCs were married to one of the Lions (a different one each), and the fourth was the mistress of another. The Lions were neither nice nor benevolent, but removing them from power would destabilize Checka sufficiently that the aliens who were a threat to humanity would have an easier time taking control of the planet. This was not directly relevant to the session; indeed, the PCs were not working for the aliens, and may not have been aware of their existence. They did not think of themselves as villains; nevertheless, their success would be detrimental to humanity. I liked this.
Luke Crane -- GM
Robert Bowell -- Sasha Lerman, mistress of the Archtotate, the planet's highest religious authority figure. Sasha was also a Psychologist of the Circle of Ten Thousand, which meant that she essentially had magical or psychic power over people's minds. This was not a huge advantage for the session, as all four of the Lions who were the PCs' quarrry were also Psychologists.
Elizabeth -- Svetlana Bolkonsky, who owned a corporation
Me -- Ilya Tolstoy-Dvoryanin, Svetlana's right hand woman. She had been raped by the Archtotate years ago, and wanted him dragged through the streets in disgrace before he was executed.
Nathan -- Mary Magda Knyaz, who worked for the Archtotate. She led a cohort of religious military troops. They were loyal to her. However, there were many others who hated her for being a woman in that kind of position of power. She was sort of a trophy wife for the Lion to whom she was married.
We noted the oddity of the Lion clan being male and the Wolf clan being female, and asked how segregated the genders and gender roles were on Checka. Luke said that this was up to us, and we decided that it was primarily an upper class / nobility thing.
Luke told us that the PCs weren't going to be able to bring all four Lion men down in one four hour session, so we focused on one, the Archtotate, hoping that we'd be able to refer to him as "The Shaved Lion" at some point. Naturally, things were not that easy.
Normally, a Burning Empires campaign would start with collaboratively creating a world and character generation, and would include several long turns that included various stages. For a four hour convention run, however, in addition to having a pre-generated world and PCs, we were limited to one stage. I don't recall the correct name for it, but for each side, in included:
1 conflict maneuver 3 building scenes -- I forget whether this was per character or per side 1 interstitial scene per character -- This was a "meaningful conversation". 1 color scene per person -- This showed what audience would see if the game were a television show or movie
We decided that we were going to find or manufacture evidence to disgrace the Archtotate and that we would use our connections to manipulate the media.
Various plans were discussed, such as making sure that Sasha had sex with the Archtotate and got pregnant as a result. Luke explained that this would involve mechanics. This made sense, as a seduction scene would not be simply color, but a vital part of a plan.
I remember getting impatient as various plans were considered and discarded. I think this was mostly a question of group dynamics, rather than any intrinsic problem with the system. I get impatient when the D&D group starts taking a while to come to an agreement about an overall action, and this, too, seems a matter of group dynamics, not system.
We set up someone to be ready to reveal dirt on the Archtotate. This involved taking the added precaution of kidnapping his mother, though I'm a little vague on the details, such as whether he knew she had been kidnapped and, if so, just who he thought was behind it. I remember this bit of dialogue:
Svetlana: Blackmail's a bit strong.
Ilya: No, it isn't.
I think the first building maneuver involved Ilya attempting to coordinate media manipulation. First, there was a series of programs on the importance of people in positions of power being morally upright, and a weekly section on a different morally upright Checkan. Then, there was what was intended to be a piece building up the Archtotate, so as to set him up for a fall.
This is where things went sour. We failed the roll, and Luke ruled that this meant that the puff piece looked more like a You-Tubelike satire, mocking the Archtotate, whom everyone knew was corrupt anyway.
Luke had previously played the Archtotate as being furious that Svetlana's corporation was beginning to prove more lucrative than the church. The Archtotate was now convinced that the corporation was out to destroy him. This was, in fact, correct, of course. As Luke noted, the Lions of Checka were neither stupid nor incompetent, but ruthless, intelligent, powerful men. He played our opposition with glee and no holds barred. On the one hand, he did have the advantage of a better knowledge of the rules than any of us, including Rob, who probably knew the rules better than the other players. On the other, not only is the GM supposed to be the opposition, the GM has only one person's cleverness to fall back on, so, even under the circumstances, I don't think Luke had an unfair advantage.
The Archtotate summoned Mary Magda and ordered her to seize all of the assets of the Svetlana's corporation, saying that he would declare it heretical. Mary Magda tried to convince him that Svetlana and Ilya would never have dared to satirize him, and that they must have been manipulated by men in the stewart's office.
This became the conflict maneuver for Luke's side. If I understand correctly, there are three types of conflict, physical, social / wits, and psychological. I'm not sure about that last. I had played through the other two before, in a 2 hour demo of Burning Wheel, so I was familiar with the procedure. Each side rolled to get a base number, then chose three maneuvers secretly, then revealed them. The first maneuver from each side was compared, and the results applied to the base numbers, then the second from each side, then the third. If neither side had its base number reduced to zero, then both sides selected three new maneuvers. A conflict ended when one side's base number was reduced to zero.
I had found this too crunchy for my taste, requiring more strategizing than I usually want to do in a roleplaying game. On the plus side, I was not the primary participant in the conflict. I still got annoyed by the discussion over which manuevers Nathan should use. Here, I am not entirely sure that it was entirely a matter of group dynamics. There is certainly truth to Luke's statement that if a group cannot get its act together to roll some dice, there's nothing he can do to save it. Nevertheless, I think that the complexity of the system acts against quickly making the decisions that lead to rolling the dice.
That said, when no one was debating out of character strategy (e.g., "I think Luke'll do X, so you should do Y"), the in character debate was dynamic and flowed well. If I were attempting to run BE, I would probably have the die rolling for each maneuver come first, and then the roleplaying, but it seemed to work fine the other way around. I do not know how much of this was because Nathan and Luke are just good. There was no point where either were fumbling, trying to think of what to say. Both characters were highly intelligent and had complex reasons for their position, so there was no real risk of a situation where the player or gm made a brilliant argument that was unrealistically shot down by dice, or a really stupid argument that the dice loved.
Mary Magda lost the duel of wits, which was appropriate. She was arguing with the head of the religious organization to which she belonged. Moreover, rational argument had little to do with the actual issues. So, she accepted her superior's orders to seize the corporation's assets. However, she did win a minor concession in the conflict, which we all agreed would be that the Archtotate would order that the stewart be investigated as well, since one long term tactic the Wolves hoped to use was to turn the Lions against each other.
Mary Magda alerted the other women, and they reconsidered their plans. Sasha, who had already stopped using any form of birth control, decided to impregnate herself with the Archtotate's child without worrying about seducing him first. The Low Tech index meant that she could do this with the genetic material that she had to hand. Ilya suggested talking to her husband, to get his support for now, even though they had to destroy him eventually. Her husband was well known for actually having something resembling integrity. And, she thought the time had come to tell him about the rape.
So, Svetlana, Ilya, and Sasha went to the hunting lodge where the husbands of Svetlana, Ilya, and Mary Magda were enjoying themselves. Mary Magda decided to arrive at the dramatically appropriate moment to arrest Svetlana and Ilya, and to try to subtly aid their cause.
The three women entered the lodge, and Sasha proudly revealed her extreme pregnancy and the readings that proved the child was fathered by the Archtotate. Ilya took her husband aside and told him about the rape. Luke rolled to see if the husband's Psychology and other skills let him know that Ilya was telling the truth, with the stakes being whether he was tender and wanted to avenge her, or whether he acted like a typical man in his position. The dice indicated the former, so he struck his wife, yelled at her, and put his hand on his gun. Ilya bared her breast and told him to shoot.
Sasha: Or you could point that gun where it belongs.
This led to the conflict maneuver of our side, with Sascha taking the primary role, and everyone else, including Mary Magda, who kicked in the door at this point, trying to help her. Of course, the other two husbands supported Ilya's husband.
Apart from my annoyance at all the thinking (and I think it was less annoying than the first conflict, possibly because we were one conflict's worth more experienced with the rules now), this was a blast. I wasn't the one who had to make the strategy decisions, which was great. Again, the players and the gm were fast with dialogue, and the characters were all a combination of intelligent, emotional, and selfish that meant that it was fine if they blew off rational logical arguments because of the dice.
One exchange, where our side used the tactic Avoid the Topic, went sort of like this:
NPC: We are above the law!
Svetlana: No one is above the law! You know this!
Luke: Actually, no, I don't, but that's okay.
Mary Magda: Don't make me start shooting!
NPC: She was lying! I'm a Psychologist -- I know!
Sasha: Actually, there are lots of things Psychologists can do.
A little later, with Luke and Rob checking their holy text in the background section of the rules:
NPC: The Sixth Tenet of the Circle of Ten Thousand is Honor!
Sasha: And the First is Rectitude!
Svetlana pointed out the importance of offworld trade involving her corporation to Checka's economy.
NPC: Why are you bringing up money at a time like this?
Svetlana: Why not?
NPC: Mary Magda, talk some sense into them!
Mary Magda: You think I'm here to help you? The Archtotate sent me to arrest them.
Svetlana: Who do you think the Archtotate will turn to next?
Ultimately, the women succeeded, but the men won a Major Concession: Svetlana and Ilya were going to prison.
Ilya (still playing the martyr): It is better than I deserve.
Svetlana (still playing the lawyer): Of course. The law applies to us as well. We have never disputed this!
On the way back from the hunting lodge:
Rob: I'm talking to the foetus.
Luke (with dawning realization): Oh -- you're going to have the baby now.
Rob confirmed this, noting that Sasha loved the Archtotate, even if she was doing her best to topple him.
Svetlana was worried about whether Mary Magda would stay loyal to the Cause once she got her hands on the corporation's resources. Mary Magda used them to make her case when requesting an offplanet inquisition to investigate the Archtotate. The offworlder she contacted asked if she were serious, warned her of the consequences if she couldn't prove her claims, and asked if she wished to proceed. Taking a deep breath, Mary Magda said that she did.
NPC: I'll be in touch. (credits roll)
