Deliria: The Miracle Season, Act I and Act II
Deliria was on display at last year's GenCon Indy. It could be considered a successor to Changeling, although I consider Deliria a better game. Despite my natural tendency to nit pick -- and I do have nits to pick with it -- characters in Deliria seem far less limited and far truer to source material both games are drawing on.
The one officially scheduled Deliria game ran from 9 pm - 1 am, and Josh and I signed up for it asap. It was called "The Miracle Season: Act I". We spent the first hour or two creating characters, and it was indeed half the fun. We had previously played in a demo of Deliria run rules-less-than-minimal at DexCon. This was a good call on the GM's part, as he had 10 players, but we were glad to see the rules in action. Our consensus was that the book could have been clearer, but the rules were sound and easy to use in play.
GM: Scott Havens
Players
Andrew McHugh -- Jake, a college student who worked with computers, except that at least one person tended to have trouble with his own computer when Jake was around
Scott Brown -- Terrance, 4 ft tall, Everquest player with a lovely Norwegian shrew of a wife, whom I mistook for Terrence's mother for quite a while. Unknown to Terrance, his actions affected a world just as real as the one from which he longed to escape.
Laura Davidson -- Cecelia, college art student. Her paintings sometimes came to life and were the medium through which, unknown to her, she did magic. Those of us who had read de Lint's Memory and Dream thought Cecelia was based on Isabelle, but Laura hadn't read the book.
Joshua Kronengold -- Thomas, cat who can shapeshift into a human form. He'd been a wizard's companion for a time. I don't remember whether or not the wizard had died.
James Stutz -- Megan, 6' 2" Black Irish woman, former servant of the Morrigan, until she refused to take the soul of her lover who was supposed to die in a particular battle. The Morrigan punished her, forever separating her from her lover. I forget whether Megan was immortal or whether the Morrigan moved her in time. She was currently working for an Irish mob boss, taking the pragmatic approach that some folks just need killing. Her current quarry was a young man named Patrick who hadn't been paying his debts.
Lisa Padol -- I'd been thinking something new age de Lint-y, but folks were getting more extreme, and this sparked ideas. I decided to play a sort of rock dryad, Kalcy. As there were no mountains around, her rock was a boulder that had been rolled onto the local college campus for a joke. Kalcy had been dormant for a long time and was now learning to fit in. In some ways, she'd done too good a job, as a couple of frat boys were interested in her. Scott decided that Patrick was one of them.
Kristy Rice -- Rowena, an herbalist. She had a son by someone who wasn't around. I don't know what the whole story was. Both Cecelia and Patrick were boarding with her.
Scott told us to choose two each of passions, obstacles, and secrets. Here are ours.
Kalcy: Passions The Earth and her bones Movement Obstacles Distracted by rocks. Has to return every 2-3 nights (every night is better) and can't get too far from it. Secrets Affected by what affects her boulder -- happy & bouncy because of the smiley face some college kid put on her boulder. Dreams of marrying a male spirit of a Really Big Diamond. (No, she doesn't know of any. It just seemed the rock spirit equivalent of a fantasy about a handsome prince.) Thomas: Passions Curiosity Lust for knowledge Obstacles Easily Distracted Selfish Secrets I really miss the wizard and am homesick I do care what people think of me.
Everyone was based in the small New York town of San Karos, most with some connection to the local university. Scott clearly had read de Lint, and he went into a fair amount of detail on people and places in San Karos. Josh and I later suggested that this material be put in a handout. Hm, maybe an illustrated handout, with maps and character sketches. I can't do the town justice here. Just assume that all NPCs mentioned are gifted in unusual ways.
As the game started, everyone was in Madeleine's Coffee Shop, where most of the unusual folks in town seemed to frequent. Rowena was trying to convince Madeleine to carry some of her herbal tea. Terrance was escaping his wife and playing EverQuest on his laptop. Jake had gotten anonymous email about a possible job to do something that was probably illegal.
Andrew: It's a blind date for corporate espionage.
Megan was expecting Patrick to show up. Thomas was trying to learn chess from Kevin, a local dj and expert mixer. Cecelia was sketching people.
Outside on the patio, a paramedic named Max sat, with his dog, Sam. Sam, while generally friendly, really didn't like Thomas.
Thomas: That's okay. I really don't like the dog, either.
Sam did like Kalcy, waylaying her as she reached the patio.
Scott: He won't leave you alone until you pet him for a protracted length of time.
Kalcy (sighs) Reminds me of Patrick.
Patrick did eventually show up, but, by that time, 3 robed figures were approaching the coffee shop, and everyone failed to resist being frozen in place by their power, except. I think, Rowena, who made a hedge grow to block the figures. As they slowly wore this defense down, Megan realized that they were about as powerful as the Morrigan, perhaps more so.
Kalcy tried to do Wishcraft magic, which requires promising to do 3 things in return for something. She silently promised that within a week, she would kiss Patrick, pet Sam a lot, and let Kevin teach her chess, if only she could move, -now-. It was learning chess that she expected to take a while.
She actually succeeded, this being, Scott said, the first time anyone had been able to defeat the opposition with direct force. I forget the exact order of things at this point. I know Kalcy used the concrete ground to make the robed figures lose their footing as Rowena's defenses wavered. Kalcy also went inside to kiss Patrick, figuring the best time was when he was immobile. Unfortunately for her, at that point, everyone could move, and she got a much deeper and more responsive kiss than she had hoped for.
Meanwhile, Terrance tried to find out what was going on. I think he got into some kind of mental contact with the robed figures and learned that they wanted something returned to them. He somehow went out of body, learning that some being or beings had planted seeds in San Karos. The crop was sparkly stuff that was in everything -- the water, the soil, everything. This explained why there were so many odd people in San Karos.
I don't recall how, but I think this information was conveyed to everyone else. Meanwhile, Megan turned into a flock of crows and began to fly away. Although in human form, Thomas instinctively did a backflip, catching one of the birds as he stood. Megan turned back to human form, and, I think, pulled a weapon. Thomas let go of the bird, an Megan absorbed it into herself.
Patrick (to Megan): See you later.
Megan (glares at him, then addresses Thomas): You're next, boyo! (leaves)
By now, the robed figures were regaining their footing. Unable to fight them further, Kalcy went back outside and merged herself with the concrete, effectively beating a tactical retreat. Terrance, still out of body, took some of the sparkly stuff and showed it to the mental forms of the robed figures, hoping to demonstrate that retrieving the sparkly stuff would be impossible. I think the robed figures left at this point.
Thomas attempted to learn more by performing a divination using the dregs of his coffee.
Scott: College grounds instead of tea leaves -- that's a new one.
The grounds formed the shape of a feather, I think a brown owl feather. Cecelia, who'd been frozen in the act of fleeing, and who'd cut her leg on broken glass when the paralysis ended, ran home and started sketching without looking at what she was drawing. She drew lots of brown feathers.
Cecelia wasn't the only one thoroughly freaked. Jake, too, decided that fleeing in terror was a good idea.
Scott: Do you have a pda?
Jake: Yes, but I lack the capacity to handle small buttons.
Scott: It starts going off.
Jake: And I am going off with it.
Terrance's laptop was totaled. Someone, possibly him, said something about everything being over. Evan, another frequent, if disliked, visitor to the cafe, held up his hand. It was bleeding, and the sparkly stuff that was everywhere could also be seen by all in his blood. At least, that's how I remember it. Laura thinks that Evan's hand wasn't sparkly, but was bleeding from holes in the same pattern as the sparkly stuff Terrence had grabbed.
Evan: I think it's just beginning.
I don't recall the exact timing on this, though I'm fairly sure Kalcy heard it, as she decided it meant that the robed figures had declared war on the area.
Megan went to Patrick's fraternity, but decided to await him outside. A huge party broke out, and somehow, he got inside without her noticing. He sat down on a couch she'd noticed earlier -- the power she'd sensed was what had convinced her to wait outside. Patrick literally vanished into the couch, which now seemed both sentient and smug. Megan decided going after him would be too much trouble.
Rowena returned home and checked on her son. He was sleeping, but she was nonplussed to discover that he held a brown feather in his hand.
-- -- --
So ended Act I. Scott noted that Kristy had actually played in Act II, and we asked him to run that for us. He agreed. Everyone except James showed up Saturday evening, and James' PC, Megan, was the easiest to write out after Act I.
Two months had passed, and Scott gave us experience points to spend. This was a heady experience, as it doesn't usually happen at a convention. Then, we spent some time figuring out what the PCs had been doing between sessions.
Fortunately, no one had left town. Kalcy was part of the place, and she'd spent her time learning chess and networking with the local rocks, trying to prepare for the upcoming war Evan had predicted. Cecelia was still boarding at Rowena's, and still basically clueless. Both were at Madeleine's. Rowena had convinced Madeleine to carry her teas. Cecelia was sketching Thomas and Kalcy, who were playing chess under Kevin's watchful eye.
Me: So, the cat and the rock are playing chess with each other.
Scott said that it was even funnier than that, and Laura made him promise to explain the joke at the end, even though he was sure we wouldn't miss it. He was wrong.
Terrance's laptop had died during Act I, I think because of whatever was up with Jake, so he had gotten into the habit of going to the library to play EverQuest. Jake was doing research, trying to learn more about mysterious robed figures. Evan was there as well, and the two started working together.
Back at Madeleine's, Kevin invited Kalcy, and, to be polite, Thomas to a party where he'd be doing the mixing. He explained that it was the kind of party where rich students slum it up and drink cocktails in the hot tub, and definitely not the kind of party Patrick and his frat buddies liked. Rowena wondered what was up with Patrick. After the events of Act I, he'd vanished for a couple of weeks, though he'd been back for some time now.
Kalcy and Thomas both accepted the invitation, Kalcy blind to the social interplay. Kevin cut in on the chess game to checkmate her, then headed out. Sam the dog, who normally adored Kevin, now growled at him. Max assured everyone that this happened occasionally.
Rowena and Cecelia headed for Rowena's house by way of the supermarket. Both discovered invitations, apparently written in purple glittery stars, to the party Kevin had mentioned. Rowena's invitation appeared at Madeleine's, stuck to the bottom of her coffee cup. Cecilia's was under the Rowena's car wiper.
Cecelia was delighted, Rowena dubious about whether it would be right to leave her son with a babysitter. Cecelia tried to convince her to come. In the supermarket, she found allies in a student named Lara and her friends, triplets apparently incapable of holding more than one thought at a time between all three pretty heads. Rowena let herself be convinced, whereupon the glitter slid off her invitation and vanished, just as it had from Cecelia's as soon as Cecelia announced that she was going. While startled, Rowena was still able to make sure that the triplets remembered their groceries and to drive Cecelia home. Cecelia found all of her drawings had money in them.
Laura / Cecelia: So, I've just written a blank check to the universe with Thomas' name on it.
Kalcy headed back to her boulder, but was intercepted en route. Amusingly and appropriately, everyone but me guessed, correctly, that the interceptor was Patrick.
Patrick (teasingly): You've been avoiding me.
It was understandable that Patrick thought Kalcy did not object to his interest, given the kiss she'd given him two months ago. She stammered out that she'd wanted to move and kind of promised that she'd kiss him if she could, and pet the dog, and learn chess from Kevin, who'd invited her to this party.
Patrick: Kevin. I didn't see you kissing Kevin when the chips were down.
Kalcy: Kevin didn't want to kiss me!
Patrick: So, let me get this straight. You kissed me as part of some promise you made to the universe, but really, you just want me to leave you alone?
Kalcy: Um, it's not like I object to your being in the same room as me, but, um, yes. (as Patrick absorbs this) Um, you weren't around after that night, so I thought you were with that other woman, and that was nice, and when you were back, um, I wasn't sure how to say, "You know, about that kiss? It didn't mean --"
Patrick (looking out, not at Kalcy): They never stay.
He left, sadly. Kalcy returned to her boulder, trying to believe that Patrick was sad about things not working out with Megan. She was not successful in this, but did turn her attention to choosing an outfit. Fortunately, she didn't have many. She decided to aim to arrive 10 minutes late, which seemed to be what people considered on time.
Scott: You -have- been studying human behavior.
I wondered if Patrick were sort of a satyr couch, which would not be inappropriate, as he'd been chasing a sort of rock nymph.
Terrence wrapped up his EverQuest quest, returning a book. However, he was unable to return to his bindpoint. Apparently, something more was needed. He opened the book and saw the same invitation on his screen that Rowena and Cecelia had received. As soon as he accepted, the quest was complete, and the glitter fell off the screen and into the keyboard, and disappeared.
Downstairs, Jake found a paper invitation addressed to him. He showed it to Evan, noting that he'd found it in one of the library books he'd been perusing, one that hadn't been taken out in 40 years. Evan suggested he accept, assuring Jake he'd have fun. Then, he took Jake to a Ben and Jerry's ice cream parlour. As school children mobbed the place, Evan found his own invitation on the bulletin board, and Jake learned that the guy behind the counter actually liked Evan. Evan blew on the glitter to show Jake the disappearing glitter trick, but Jake had already run into it on his own.
Terrance arrived home to find that his wife had a home repair task for him. He finished it very quickly, and, as Scott-the-player drew a high card, quite well. Terrance's wife was impressed, despite her initial skepticism. I think he asked if she needed him to pick up any supplies. After a minute, she made a long list, in tiny letters, of many things, none of which he had on hand, as if she'd done an inventory. Scott-the-GM noted that, given the list, Terrance's wife had enough tasks in mind to keep her husband from ever having the free time to play EverQuest again. Cringing inside, Terrance fled the house, bought the supplies, tossed them into his car, and headed for the party.
Thomas arrived before anyone else, and cased the building in cat form. He saw nothing inside, as in absolutely nothing. I think he figured out how to enter, and I think he saw a lot of people heading out from a room that had appeared empty from outside.
Cecelia, Rowena, Terrance, Jake, and Evan all appeared at about the same time. Cecelia wanted to pet the pretty cat she saw inside, but it took a while for folks to figure out that the way in was to touch the glittering arrow on top of the door. Well, Evan knew, but I forget whether he told the others or waited while they worked it out. Laura thinks he opened it or told the others how to open it, after they had been sufficiently amusing.
Kalcy appeared once everyone else had gotten inside and the door had closed with the arrow back in place. Jake tried to help her get in, pointing to the arrow from inside. She touched it, and the door swung open, pinning Jake against the wall for his trouble.
Kalcy: Sorry!
Evan (to Jake, clearly enjoying this far too much): You know, when I said you'd enjoy yourself, maybe I actually meant I'd enjoy myself.
The door closed, Jake unflattened himself, and everyone went upstairs. Thomas ducked out, returning soon in human form. He chatted with Cecelia and danced with her. Jake went to the bar and asked for a drink. He said that he didn't care what it was, so long as it didn't blind him.
Bartender: We can do that.
He poured Jake a drink that made him deaf. Jake sat at the bar trying to burn holes into the bartender.
Rowena asked for something mellow.
Bartender: We can do that.
Rowena sat on a couch, sipping her drink and feeling very mellow indeed.
Terrance found himself surrounded by the triplets. He protested that he was married. They stroked him and assured him that he didn't have to pretend and that they wouldn't make him do anything he didn't want to do. We discussed the Triplets' proclivities.
Scott: They're actually very picky. It's just their criteria change from minute to minute.
Laura / Cecelia: So, they're like you (to cat).
Josh / Thomas: They are not!
Someone: Well -that- puts a whole new light on letting the cat out of the bag.
Laura / Cecelia: I see I'm not the only one who likes petting things.
Someone: And he's not the only cat in the room.
Regardless, the Triplets wanted Terrance, mainly because they hadn't had him. I'm not sure of exactly what happened next, but after a bit, the Triplets asked if he wanted a drink. He said that he could use some liquid courage. They went to the bartender and asked for some. He was a bit dubious until they explained that it was for Terrance.
Kalcy went over to Kevin, who seemed utterly at home amid the amazingly beautiful people and the odd folks in turbans. He was glad to see her and told her that when the music got going, everything would change. The rock spirit accepted this without question. She thought she should buy Jake a drink to make up for the door incident, but agreed that this didn't really work when the drinks were free.
Kevin began to lay down track after track of music, trying to outdo himself to impress Kalcy. He went into a trance, sweat pouring off him. Kalcy was vaguely aware that something was wrong, but not sure if she was right, or what to do about it.
Scott: And you're a rock, so you're not really familiar with electronic equipment -- and I never thought I'd have to say that sentence.
Kalcy debated whether touching Kevin would be a Good Thing or not. She moved closer. His lips moved, forming the words, "Just one more track," over and over, but his hands were not moving, and no extra tracks were being laid down.
Still unaware of Kevin's attraction to her, and hoping she was doing the right thing, Kalcy reached out a finger and touched Kevin's hand. This was the correct course of action. Kevin came out of his trance. The walls vanished, and, as he had promised, everything changed. Instead of a club, the scene was a lovely sylvan glade. Clearly, folks weren't exactly in San Karos any more. Kalcy relaxed.
Someone: You can rock.
Someone: Rock -n- roll.
Scott (to Kristy / Rowena): Your couch has been replaced by a rock.
Lisa / Kalcy: But not me.
Kristy / Rowena: Ow.
Scott: It's a very comfy rock.
Someone: But not a country rock.
The music continued. Cecelia danced with Thomas. Terrance drank his liquid courage and danced remarkably well with the Triplets. Rowena watched mellowly, joined by one of the beautiful people. Jake regained his hearing and discovered Evan dancing above the crowd, in midair. Many of the beautiful people watched in appreciation as he wished Evan would knot himself into a pretzel, or at least that the bar would reappear.
Laura was relieved for Cecelia's sake that the bar was no longer there. We asked why.
Laura: Because she's too young to drink, and she might have ordered a Sprite!
The funny merchants in turbans asked Thomas to ask Terrance to talk to them, although they referred to him by his EverQuest handle. Thomas recognized the men as merchants from a realm in Deliria. He went to get Terrance, promising the Triplets he'd return their dance partner.
The merchants gave Terrance a coin which Thomas recognized as common currency in many realms, asking Terrance to give it to Kevin, with their complements. Terrance did so. As soon as Kevin touched the coin, he screamed and turned into a wolf. Dropping the coin, he ran off.
This jolted Rowena out of her mellow mood. Everyone except Jake converged on Terrance and the merchants, demanding answers. Jake reached up and pulled Evan's pants leg. Scott later said that this was a good move, as Evan would otherwise have danced until he dropped. I think Evan returned to the ground, and the following bit of conversation repeated a few times.
Jake: You were dancing in the air, and Kevin turned into a werewolf and ran away.
Evan: You keep saying that.
Jake: You were dancing and Kevin's running.
Somehow, Jake made a crystal plant grow. He didn't know he was the one who did it, but Evan said he was. It had a message which said something about a promise having been kept, and the writer or writers having Kevin, who knew lots of secrets about his friends, i.e., everyone else present, i.e., most of the Weird Set, PC and NPC, of San Karos. The turbaned merchants admitted that they'd been hired to get Terrance to give the coin to Kevin, but they didn't know much beyond that.
Cecelia tried to do magic without realizing it, using her sketching to get information. She drew Kevin roughly, to represent the information she wanted, and then drew 3 things to represent an offering, all without knowing exactly what she was doing. These things were Thomas, the neighbor's porch that needed to be repaired, and her chemistry textbook. To her surprise, she found it was labeled "Lies" in the drawing. Thomas saw the picture and realized that she was using her art to do wishcraft. It was unclear whether the bargain was accepted. Laura thinks that it wasn't, but says that Cecelia thought that it was.
Folks figured out, with Evan's disgusted help, that this was the aftermath of the business at Madeleine's. Terrance's attempt to show the hooded figures that it would not be possible to retrieve all the sparkly stuff was taken as a promise to do just that.
Evan: Not that this excuses you, but doing part of a job for a powerful being is basically promising to do the rest of it.
He added that the robed figures did not sully themselves by talking to mortals. Kalcy realized that she didn't exactly count as mortal. The person who'd been sitting with Rowena passed behind her, somehow feeling to her like her husband.
Somewhere in here, Thomas saw Cecelia's picture of him, and Kalcy tried to do more wishcraft.
Kalcy (as if doing a tricky math problem): All right, I did two things for Kevin. I came to this party, like he asked, and I helped him with the mixing thing. If I can find him, I'll do a third service, of his choice, as soon as I can.
Thomas: You're doing magic, aren't you?
Kalcy admitted as much, and Cecelia looked as if some pieces were finally starting to fall into place. With Kevin gone, the forest was starting to fade away, and the walls of the building they'd started in began reappearing. People had to decide very quickly whether to go off into the forest or return to San Karos.
Almost everyone went into the forest. Terrance might not have if he hadn't had that liquid courage, but he had. Thomas grumbled about it, but he had promised to return Terrance to the Triplets, and Cecelia had written a blank check to the universe that involved him in some capacity. Kalcy had misgivings about cutting herself off from her boulder, but this was the war she'd been preparing for, and she had a few choice words to yell at Kevin for not realizing this hot tub and drinks party was part of the war. Rowena heard her husband's voice telling her to look after the children, and did not join the others, thinking of her son, although, as Scott noted, it wasn't clear which child the voice meant.
