Hudson City Police Department Year One: Rise of the Wolf

22 February, 8pm - midnight, Saturday: Hudson City Police Department Year One: Rise of the Wolf

• GM: Mark Diaz Truman
• William Chu: Det. Alberto Giovanni
• Jonathan Eisner (?): Det. Sid Golden (?)
• Me: Det. Hector Rodriguez
• Phillip Walton: Det. Juanita Lopez -- had a tough single dad

The GM emphasized that this was still a playtest. It was using the Apocalypse World engine (engine = "at least some of the mechanics"). We were all playing cops, and we were divided into sets of 2 partners.

The genre was Crime Thriller Detective. Naturally, the setting followed the rules of genre, rather than the rules of reality.

It was understood that the police department was corrupt, rotten to core. The PCs were part of the Major Crimes Unit, which actually had some decent people. Sure, some of the PCs might want to line their pockets, but they also wanted to clean up the city and restore some faith in the system. In addition to the problems within the police department, there was a masked vigilante known as the Wolf.

As the game started, there was a setting Integrity score of 5. If that ever dropped to 0, it would mean that the city was lawless, the cops essentially a gang. If it ever rose to 10, it would mean that people believed in the cops and the system.

There were four stats: Duty, Grit, Ethics, and Wits. I don't recall exactly what each one meant -- they didn't all mean exactly what the seemed to mean. One of them, either Duty or Ethics, meant that one could get resources from the department. I'm pretty sure that Grit was toughness, and that Wits was the mind score.

Det. Rodriguez's scores were:

• Duty +1
• Grit +1
• Ethics 0
• Wits -2

So, he wasn't the brightest cop in the department, but he was in shape, and he tried.

Also, everyone had a dark secret -- and all characters knew their partner's dark secret. Det. Rodriguez's secret was that he had accidentally killed a suspect, shaking him down too hard. The suspect was a) guilty b) of something really bad. We decided that he was a serial killer. Det. Rodriguez was trying to shake him down to find out where one woman was, something that the suspect knew. But, because Det. Rodriguez killed the man, he never found her.

Presuming I kept the same order for everyone, according to my notes, their stats were:

       Lopez Giovanni Golden
Duty:   -2     0       0
Grit:   -1    -2       0
Ethics: +2    +2      -2
Wits:   +1     0      +2

Rodriguez and Lopez were partners. Giovanni and Golden were partners.

Det. Golden was from out of town and out of state, new to the Hudson City PD. My notes say "college aspect -- steal cars" and "fun hiding with cops". So, Golden was clearly not a model citizen. He had no ties to the mob in the city. Someone from California had vouched for him to the department, an uncle, possibly in expectation of favors later. His real name was Sam Kowalski.

Det. Giovanni's father was part of the mob, according to my notes. At least, I think he was part of the mob, rather than a cop on the take for the mob. My notes say "probably catch him not following the procedure", but I don't know if that meant the son caught the father doing something illegal, or at least, against official rules, or whether the father caught the son not doing things the way everyone else understood they were to be done.

GM: Why do they trust him [i.e., Giovanni]?

Player: They don't trust him. They're apparently taking a risk.

Giovanni was a straight A student in college. He grew up in the city. The Commissioner specifically picked him, then met Giovanni before something involving his father -- I can't read what my notes say on this point. Someone, either the father or the Commissioner, took a quick call to confirm whatever the other needed confirmed. Giovanni wasn't the detective's real last name; he'd changed it to keep the secret of his connections, I think.

I don't seem to have notes on Det. Lopez. It was clear to all of us that she and Det. Rodriguez had known each other since childhood and had grown up in the same neighborhood. Golden and Giovanni had clearly met when they were first partnered together.

One could go to the Wolf for help with a case, but there was a cost to this, as it meant that a cop was allowing a masked vigilante to deal out justice. Nevertheless, it was done, and everyone knew how to do it. At least one PC, I think mine, had seen the Wolf before.

GM: What about the Wolf surprised you?

Player (probably me): He's not that big.

To get the Wolf's help with a case involved going to the part of town right around the library, tying up the evidence for the case in a package and leaving it there. Specifically, we decided, the package was to be left in front of a statue of howling wolves.

What tragedy was associated with the statue?

In the 1990s, 20 years ago, there was a school shooting. My notes say "wolf team mascot", but it was school children who were shot, not animals. The victims' names were in front of / part of the statue, and my notes mention the power of names. Any package of evidence for the Wolf was to be left in front of the statue, and a candle was to be lit in front of one particular name.

The Wolf was rumored to have contacts anywhere.

What is a rumored weakness of the wolf?

He cannot stand the thought of suffering children. He will be there.

The X card was put on the table. The GM said that action went in turns. There were player turns and GM turns, one for each player. My notes say something about "case or personal".

There was also a case sheet for each case, which listed the Integrity Value of the case. There was also the Evidence Value. Enough Evidence meant that one could take a case to court. Leads were necessary to find the killer. Leads pointed somewhere. Without Leads, one had a Cold Case.

Players without PCs in a scene played NPCs. To guide us, we got two cards from a playing deck. These were not mutually exclusive.

Club: This indicated a Driver, push hard. Spades: This meant that the NPC was to something or hiding something. This something was not necessarily related to the case. Hearts: My notes say "hover (?), care". Diamonds: This meant that the NPCs were looking out for themselves.

One case had:

• Integrity 2
• Evidence 1

It was strange. In the past month, three people had died by their own hands, two by blunt instruments, and one by gunshot. They were robbed _after_ killing themselves.

One blunt weapon was a tire iron. My notes say something about jewels going from point A to point B, but I no longer recall what that means. The second blunt weapon was perhaps not so blunt, being a nail in a board.

This case was the one Dets. Lopez and Rodriguez were working on. One of the victims had worked in a bank, I gather, as my notes say:

Bank Manager: Jeremy Walton Bank Manager's Assistant: Alex Singh What's in the safe? The usual papers -- mortgage, titles

Det. Lopez's player rolled to get a read, and I had Det. Rodriguez take 1 stress to help.

GM: They're not telling the truth about what's in the safe. What would it take to get them to talk about this? -- Explain "accessory after the fact" and murderer.

Essentially, a criminal organization, likely the mob, had taken over the bank, and this meant that certain courses of action that would normally been done were not.

All of these questions and answers came out of the mechanics involving Moves in *World games. Another such move that my notes indicate was used here is Forensics. After appropriate rolls, this meant that we could

• Mark Evidence
• Discover a witness

But, it also meant:

• Will owe a favor
• Will attract attention

-The series of connected crimes, according to my notes, was the original piece of evidence. And, for those of you confused reading this, I'm confused as well, as I'm trying to fill in blanks from over a year ago. What I remembered most about the game was the relationships, not the details of the cases.

The case that Giovanni and Golden got had

• Integrity 3
• Evidence 1

There had been a bank robbery downtown. No one was hurt outside. It was a mob bank, which meant that there were no ledgers and no video tape available.

The Bank Manager was Annie Sullivan. The cards drawn for her were both spades. My notes say something about "5-6 keys".

Golden made a Wits roll for a total of 9, I think, but my notes indicate that this is with stress, and say "3 or 4".

Golden: How long you been working here?

Sullivan: I think you have to leave.

And, at this point, question and answer mechanics came in, as before, with the GM giving answers, as before.

Who's pulling her strings?

• She works directly for the mob.
• She's done this for about 5 years, since college.

The detective tried to Push. The player got a 7.

GM: She moves her hand -- thinking about reaching for her phone. You need to shake her down now or leave.

My notes say something about handing in a witness, and a roll of 8. There was Evidence and a Lead.

Forensics revealed emails offering to buy the bank and mentioning a "mutual friend". At this point, my notes, which I don't quite understand, say:

Hack -- never introduced them
Same IP address
5(?s?) part -- Internet
cafe -- student
part of time

A clerk pulled the records and remembered the student, a 26-year-old black man, Derrick Bronaugh.

At this point, my notes again get hard to understand. They mention a Mr. Bruce Kwan, who had snare (?) glasses, red hair, and a white shirt. I don't know if he was working there or if Derrick was talking about him to Dets. Golden and Giovanni. My notes said something about a cash payment and "Evenings -- Yesterday".

There was a Wits roll of 9, a decision to "let it ride", and something about someone eating lunch at the shawarma place.

Then, a formal move, asking the question: What would it take to get him talk? The answer had something to do with not caring about his secret in the back. And this counted as "Hauling " in a witness.

A roll of 10 or higher on this move, Haul in a Witness, meant that:

• The witness doesn't tip anyone off.
• The media doesn't find out.
• There's a Lead.

So, there was now an eyewitness account identifying and describing a guy who took off a mask to intimidate the bank manager. He used to work for the bank and had been fired for almost killing someone.

The guy was named Frank, and he drank at a rough watering hole over on the west side, a biker bar. This was clearly a Lead.

Frank had several arrests on his record, for armed robbery, and attempted murder.

The bar opened early in the morning, and Frank went to get drinks there. His brother worked as day staff and gave him free drinks until the owner showed up at 4pm.

Giovanni asked for help from fellow (NPC) officers. His player rolled well enough for him to get it as long as he paid the price.

My notes at this point have something incomprehensible to me about white devils, someone "shot their black son", something about thin glasses and someone either being or not being a good shot.

Giovanni's player asked what Giovanni would have to promise for help, and was told that it had to do with their paperwork -- processing forms "to more evidence". I'm not sure whether that meant he agreed to do other cops' paperwork or to help process that paperwork so that those cops would get what they wanted.

Giovanni's player rolled a 6, which is normally a failure, but my notes say "Pushing". Golden took 1 Stress. I'm not sure that helped. My notes say "-6".

Giovanni did try, though.

Giovanni: Round of drinks, boys? On me?

The backup had to leave at this point, so Giovanni and Golden were totally alone in a bar of folks who weren't friendly. There was a Duty roll of 9, but I'm not sure what, if anything, that accomplished.

Golden said the second round was on him, hoping to help, and the player rolled an 11, so that probably did help.

There was a tattoo on at least one person, likely Frank, of a circle, a snake eating its own tail. My notes say "all 5", so perhaps there were 5 people in the bar, all of whom had the tattoo.

There was a Shake Down move, which succeeded well enough that:

• Things didn't escalate.
• There was a Lead

Why is Frank an enemy?

• You're embarrassing him in front of people.
• Tattoo -is- the question

There was also a rough sketch of a redhead with glasses, a Clue with no evidence. There were a couple of sighting, or would be, at an apartment building, which could be followed up on, but only after the GM's turn.

There was Lead. One of Frank's guys let it slip, and Frank confirmed it, if accidentally. There was a safe house, a bar on the east side.

Cops: Which one?

Frank's Flunky: Marty's.

Frank: No, not Marty's -- go to <name of some other bar>

It was now the GM's Turn. Things began in the Squad Room, where the PCs would be confronted with situations of his design. This, he explained, was the part of the procedural where people called their kids and so on.

Det. Rodriguez was bringing coffee and donuts upstairs. At the first door, one of the property cops, Avery, tripped him, and the coffee spilled. Rodriguez thumped the donuts onto his desk in a way designed to be intimidating and cleaned the coffee, if I read my notes correctly.

Det. Lopez saw Giovanni and Golden arguing over paperwork.

Lopez: So what were you guys doing today?

One of Giovanni and Golden: Busting some mob guys. Or the shawarma guy!

They said something about a nice friendly store front and internet cafe. Det. Lopez said something about them getting the good cases, I think, and there was some comment about vacation.

Sanchez: Another bank got hit!

The Integrity of the city went down to 4, as this was the second bank hit in 2 days. Giovanni and Golden went.

My notes say something about ringing phones, someone lifting the receivers, hanging the phones up, lifting the receivers again, and putting them in drawers.

Two people from Internal Affairs, Lucy and Mitchell, wanted to speak with Det. Rodriguez. They explained to him that the police cars had GPS, so they knew that he hadn't been where he'd said he'd been when he was supposedly chasing the serial killer. Rodriguez decided to confess to a lesser crime than he was actually guilty of. He said that he'd been chasing the killer, but had lost him, and had been too ashamed to admit it, because a woman had died due to his failure. He was, iirc, barely holding back tears, as he did blame himself for whatever had happened to the missing woman, and she was almost certainly dead.

The IA people said that they would have to investigate his story, and that there'd be some consequences for falsifying his report. Rodriguez said he understood.

Det. Lopez corralled Det. Rodriguez and got him to tell her what had happened with IA. She asked if he'd had a union lawyer with him. He had not.

Lopez: It's always best to have a union lawyer when you talk with other cops -- except me.

Using an information discovering move, she learned, probably to her utter lack of surprise, that Rodriguez felt guilty and wanted to protect her. He considered himself to blame.

Lopez: Do you intend to confess?

Rodriguez: Only if it's necessary to save you.

Lopez: Look -- I was your partner at the time. If the IA finds out, we're -both- going down.

Rodriguez: Oh!

Lopez: Yeah.

I'm not sure if that would have been true, or even if Det. Lopez thought it was true, but she was quite sure that she did not want Det. Rodriguez ruining his career by confessing.

We decided that the serial killer had been known as The Ladies' Man.

Meanwhile, Giovanni wanted to sign something out, possibly a vehicle, which was paperwork and involved the appropriate mechanic, whatever that was. As he was doing this, two cops cornered him, Gallagher, a white Irish man, and Griffin, a black woman. One of them had the same tattoo that had been seen in the bar, and slammed Giovanni's head into something.

Giovanni tried to guilt his fellow cops and asked Griffin for help. The player's roll netted him "most of what he wants", but not all, because of the general corruption of the department.

Gallagher: Arrest Frank. Close the case. F*cking done here. (walks away)

Griffin: Let it go.

Giovanni: Griffin -- you are better than this. I know you are.

Griffin: It's not about better. You MCU cops -- you think you know the score. This city died long ago. You're just the latest generation of rats.

And she, too, walked away.

The injured Giovanni filled his partner in.

Golden: What'd you say?

Giovanni: I told them they were better than this.

Golden: G-d D--n it! And what do you want to do about it?

Giovanni: Keep pushing.

Golden: Do you intend to do anything about them?

Giovanni: Oh yes.

Golden: Oh no.

At this point, I'm not sure whether Golden asked Giovanni or the officers who beat him up, "What would it take to get you to forget and cry off?" I'm going to assume it was Giovanni he asked.

Giovanni: If you stay focused on the case.

They knew about 1 of 6 bank robbers.

My notes say:

There's no point in MCU assisting.
Drop things off at the statue!
(what would it take to)

Basically, Golden convinced Giovanni to turn the case over to the Wolf.

We noted that with vigilantes like Batman, the Wolf, and Ronin, "Their comic book starts when we're done."

Giovanni: So calling the Wolf is admitting the wheels are falling off the car.

Golden: And just think -- you won't need to do the paperwork!

Giovanni: I don't -mind- the paperwork!

Once the evidence was brought to the Wolf, eyewitness testimony couldn't be used any more in that case.

Giovanni (not happy, but admitting defeat): Light the candle.

The player rolled 11, so the case was solved -- by The Wolf.

Meanwhile, Dets. Lopez and Rodriguez got a call from Lt. Han, an Asian woman, small, but fierce.

GM: Why does Lt. Han think Juanita is an idiot?

Lopez's Player: Because I never fail to hand in report with a grammatical mistake.

GM: Why is Hector her favorite?

Rodriguez's Player: I remembered her birthday and sent a card.

Lt. Han told them that a 33-year-old teacher had been found dead in her classroom. She'd apparently committed suicide by mixing up chemicals in her lab.

What was taken?

The desk riffled through. No one was sure what had been taken. This had happened this morning, but it had taken the school a while to put it together. My notes say something about the janitorial staff.

Lt. Han (to Det. Lopez): Don't f*ck this up. (to Det. Rodriguez) Say hi to your mom.

Lopez and Rodriguez found some lead that brought them to a 10-15 story building in the projects in a Spanish neighborhood. The superintendent said that a guy was in the bathroom of an apartment. I don't recall if the guy was the suspect or the tenant in the apartment and the suspect had broken in or something.

The cops decided to keep things quiet and not call for backup. Their target was a corner room in a two room apartment. Det. Rodriguez was the first in. He noticed two smells, one sweet, one of rot.

My notes indicate that I rolled 8 for Duty, but I'm not sure what that meant. Det. Rodriguez heard a very persuasive voice.

Voice: Take out your gun.

I think he did this while closing and locking the door behind him, trying to protect Det. Lopez by keeping her outside in the hall. And I made some other roll. My notes say:

10
9-take something
Take little harm
9-)Juanita trying to help
-)10
--<into terrible harm>
--take little harm
--don't get put in a tight spot

I think what happened was that Det. Rodriguez managed not to shoot himself. He may even have shot at the suspect. However, the suspect managed to escape from both Rodriguez and Lopez.

I'm not sure who said the following:

I want to bring this guy in by the book.
I just want him stopped!

I'm guessing Lopez said the first and Rodriguez the second, but I could be mistaken.

At this point, we broke, and the GM asked for Roses and Thorns feedback. That meant listing a couple of things we liked about the system, as well as something that we thought should change or that made us uncomfortable.

William thought it was clever to have us playing the NPCs.

Jonathan liked the whole helping partner thing, and the Ethics roll, where one could be successful, but at a cost.

Most *World games have skins, character templates, but I thought that the decision not to do that was right for this game. I thought the moves were reasonably balanced, for the most part, and I liked the noir feel.

Either Jonathan or Phillip liked having a partner. We all agreed that this was something we enjoyed. We also liked that partners knew each other's dark secret and knew they knew and so on. And he liked that the game focused on a certain -kind- of a partner. The partners could push disagreements within a strong relationship without losing that relationship.

On the other tentacle, William would have liked a reward for failing. *World games sometimes explicitly provide experience for failure.

Jonathan thought there was a little -too- much GM control, and that there should perhaps be more negotiation. Having control only over one's character and choices felt, in this game, like there was too much listening to a story and play stopped.

I found playing the NPCs confusing. Sure, I had vague guidelines for broad acting directions, but I never actually knew what I was supposed to know as any given NPC. That made it hard to play them as anything other than irrelevant chrome, since when they were relevant, the GM needed to play them.

My notes say that Jonathan felt bad about professional hosing, but I said that it didn't feel like hosing to me.

We weren't sure about the stats. Perhaps Duty should be called Focus?

I liked Stress and Harm, and having a partner, and if I read my notes correctly, I felt I had sufficient agency in the game, although it was hard to get into NPC character.

Jonathan noted that a 2 on Ethics never seemed to matter.

Jonathan enjoyed Frank. Either he or Phillip noted that mundane investigators, i.e., all the PCs, were crap against an actual supervillain, like the one at the end.

It wasn't really possible to go on the offensive aside from going to the vigilante, which meant that the emphasis was on procedural stuff. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if that's what the author is trying to achieve.

Jonathan liked the corruption as being part of everyday life, and that the characters, whether ethical or not, were all corrupt to a degree, and all had a Dark Secret.

Someone liked the nod to the show Law and Order, with the need for more evidence and more leads. And, finally, William noted that a certain powerlessness fit the procedural aspect.

I have no idea what the game looks like now, after over a year and a half of development.