Romance in the Air

I forget which year this was, and whether it was DexCon, Dreamation, or Metatopia, but Bill White was playtesting Romance in the Air, a Fate Core game.

8pm Romance in the Air: Fate Core

• GM: Bill White
• Rich Flynn: Duke of Normandy
• Me: Jean-Paul Aloysius, aereochauffer to the duke, secretly a woman in love with the duke
• Ari Silber: Captain Thibault Necrona
• Karin Silber: Emma Dubaret, matchmaker
• Joseph: Cloche Cambrix, French Archer Extraordinaire
• Keith: Camille Duchamp, somewhat disinterested chaperone

Romance in the Air is designed to combine the Great Game with a more focused game. The action started in Istanbul, and folks travelled by air ship, of course. Bill described this as an excursion in the air in the skies of a Europe that never was, in the late 1800s / early 1900s.

First we started with War and Peace: Play the great powers first. These were:

• Britannia
• The Caliphate
• The Muscovite Empire

I forget the details of what we did, but the results, in narrative and, I think, Aspect terms were:

The Duke of Normandy sweeps the Azeri heiress off her feet. The Azeri Potentate is dazzled by Caliphate riches. Faulty Muskovite Tanks.

The PCs were aboard the Pension Bellevue, an Elegant, Old Fashioned, Sky Salon, journeying from place to place.

The Stylish Sky Hussar had decided: Mlle Duchamp is my soulmate. If I read my notes correctly, Mlle Duchame was a sad eyed poetess who believed love was as pointless as life. But someone was wooing the inveterate matchmaker.

Jean-Paul, the Aereo Chauffer was pining for the duke, who was unaware that the chauffer was a woman (as was everyone else).

The duke was a duty bound aristocrat who believed, "What's good for Britannia is good for you." His attitude towards the exotic lands through which he travelled with his fiance was, "Show me the magic." In other words, he thought of his marriage as both good for Britannia and a way out of a boring life into one full of exoticism.

Mlle Chendrau thought someone was interesting, and my notes say something about an impeccably styled supercilious actor wooing the inveterate matchmaker.

There was an Arrogant Aereo Pilot: Jacques Numbauer. He intended to show them _all_ who was the best, particularly Jean-Paul Aloysius and Captain Thibault Necrona.

The action started in Istanbul, which had these Aspects:

• Bastion of the airship
• Important crossroads

Folks decided whether to sightsee or shop or gamble or do other things. The Sultan invited the Notable Foreigners (i. e., the PCs and others) to a ball. The Duke of Normandy excelled at local sports, creating the advantage of Impresses the Sultan!

The Sultan was so delighted that he gave the duke the gift of a horse, an Arabian stallion, with a groom to go along with the horse.

Jean-Paul spoke with the groom, who was named Salim Sabim. After a hideous roll on my dice, Jean-Paul was convinced that the groom was as honest as the day was long.

My thought balloon, recalling a larp Josh told me about: My people instincts are liars.

So, I had the temporary Aspect, I think, of Trusts Groom Implicitly. And the groom explained that the sultan's gift was A Very Sensitive Horse, so he needed to know the precise details of the route the airship would take, so as to be absolutely sure to keep the horse calm at all times.

Emma noticed, while sightseeing and shopping for souvenirs, that she was being Watched.

Captain Armandy visited Mustafa Ozmand. I wonder if this was a typo for Captain Thibault. My notes record a Converse roll of 4, and Mustafa let something slip.

Mustafa: There is no way the Caliph will let this marriage between the princess and the duke happen. Keep your eyes open, my friend. There will be trouble.

Cloche decided to get better clothes, which I think was a Society roll. He succeeded, but was slightly overdressed. First, we thought this might mean he'd insulted the administrative sergeant of the Sultan's Court, but we decided that it meant he had committed the faux pas of wearing the same uniform as the Janissaries, the Caliph's Personal Guard.

Camille found the court barbaric, and hoped that the sultan would die. She was very disappointed. But she did, I think, manage to plant Seeds of Despair in the Heiress's heart or mind.

Many people were at the ball.

Muscovite Ambassador Illyich Illyanovitch Petronika: In Britannica, it is terrible how they let servants tell them what to do -- there must be a strong hand. A strong hand.

At this point, my notes mention an Outraged actor and a Flushed Emma. The Duty Bound Duke went off to cause a scene as some kind of counterattack. And someone took or caused a moderate consequence -- Artas publically shamed. After all this time, I've no idea who Artas was.

Meanwhile, there was a Contrived Tete-a-Tete. My notes mention Camille and +2 Will to Offend, and someone changing the originally stated intent.

Someone: Hm -- the matchmaker has no match.

And then, a few lines of dialogue whose speakers and context I forget:

• But it is the crashing that builds the cruncher
• I suppose that can wait.
• You can crush them on the dance floor.
• You are smarter than you look.

Artas called the actor/Janissary out. The Janissaries, seeing this, swooped in and dragged everyone out to a side court, mistaking the actor for one of their own. Obviously, the insult must be settled!

The two men stood back to back. With pistols? No, with scimitars!

Someone: So now it's a duel.

And it was a duel not against the insulted ambassador, but against his chosen Champion.

My notes say "1 roll 1st touch", but someone tagged "Janissaries".

Me (to the actor's player): Oh ghod! You've lost yourself in the role!

And, the Ambassador was taken out via duel.

Camille (to Captain while dancing): What do you think the people who are doing something more interesting are doing?

Camille thought that the captain was a great dancer.

Jean-Paul charged in to find out about the exact path of the airship, then had to speak quickly to avoid the duke's displeasure for the interruption. Fortunately, I rolled well, tagging whatever aspect I had for how well the chauffer knew his duke.

The duke was mollified, and turned to trying to convince Sultan to use his influence with the Calif to cause the Calif not to oppose the marriage between duke and princess. The duke succeeded, I think, at least in so far as getting everyone to publically agree that everyone favored this match.

Cloche Cambrix asked Emma for a dance.

Someone (to Cloche's player): You can tag [Emma's Consequence of] Mildly Flushed.

Someone (to Emma's player): Or you may just say yes.

They danced, and his Athletics beat her Will. Emma had a temporary Aspect with a Free Tag: How Gallant He Is.

Camille smiled.

And so we understood the pattern as everyone returned to the airship, which now headed to Nicosia, on the island of Cyprus. The microcosm, i. e., the scene we'd just played out, culminating in the ball, had affected the macrocosm. And, we each had a refusal Aspect, something we could tag specifically to refuse a request or petition someone made of our PC. This came up in the next scene.

Of course, this had taken a fair amount of time, so the next sequence was the last. We rolled on the table for events. That is, we rolled 3 Fate dice, getting 0, 0, and - (the minus sign). This meant that something loud happened in the air, and the Aspect was: What's That Noise?

Camille was in her dark cabin, with her quill out.

Cloche Cambrix had given a formal invitation to Emma to join him for dinner. Emma resisted with Society.

Cloche used one of his Aspects: I am the Toast of the Town.

My notes mention that there are differing versions of Society and proper behavior, and note "6v6", which I think meant the two were tied.

I forget whether this was a line of dialogue, an Aspect, or a Consequence: But He's So Gallant!

And Cloche used Converse to make a Wooing roll. He got a total of 4. Emma made a Will roll, getting a 3 -- but adding her Refusal: I have no incentive to change.

But, there was a free tag on What's That Noise. And, my notes mention The Joy of the Chase.

Cloche (I think): Who writes so well about love has yet to experience it. We French invented Love.

Camille (to herself): And also Death.

Just then, there was a Sneak Attack by a Muscovite Air Squadron! Almost as if it had known the exact route the airship would take!

Camille: Ah! The Threat of Mortality! There it is!

The duke immediately moved to the cockpit of his fighter. Jean-Paul and Captain Thibault followed suit. I think the PCs formed the Black Wing Squadron? Or perhaps, that was the enemy squadron.

Cloche failed on both Athletics and Physique.

Cloche: My clothes -- they are ruined!

GM: I was going to put bleeding profusely on you, but that's much much better.

Duke: Pilots! To your fighters! (later) No, I'm a Briton first!

There were numerous enemy fighters, and the duke was in the center of them, becoming Enemy in the Midst.

My notes mention Jacques Numbauer and that we agreed that Captain Thibault _must_ go after him. But, I think they were on the same side, so I'm not sure. In any case, the captain got a success with Style, 6 vs 0, and we had the advantage that he had the enemy Lined Up.

Jean-Paul got a 5, and the aspects:

• Duke's Tail Covered
• Careless of Own Safety

Bill and I were on the same page there, although the dice were not necessarily on the same page with us.

The heiress / princess had conceived a passion for Cloche and wanted him to love her the way she loved him! This was a Will vs Will roll. I think she got a 6 to his 5, but the player tagged My Clothes Are Ruined.

Cloche: I do not have _time_ for this, woman!

I think at this point I asked if it was indeed Emma's mission to make sure that the Heiress loved the Duke.

GM: There are men fighting and dying in the sky --

Camille (delighted): They're dying?

GM: You must get closer to them to write poetry!

And she spotted Jacques.

Camille: Oh, fantastic! He'd love an audience!

So, she joined him.

Jacques: Mademoiselle! You should not be there!

Camille: Oh, there's no danger for me here in your cockpit!

Emma: Oh she batted her eyes!

Jacques: Oh, Mademoiselle --- get in!

Someone: Contact!

Camille: Finally, I'm seeing something!

The player made a Notice roll vs a difficulty of +3. The roll was exactly +3, so the player tagged Love and Life Are Pointless, raising it to +5.

GM: So, what do you see among the clouds? What do you notice?

Camille's Player: Et in Arcadia Ego?

She noticed the almost imperceptible trembling of the hand of the grown man in the cockpit with her -- and was struck by its beauty.

Aspect: He is Afraid. It is wonderful.

Emma had a Stunt to use Society to Deceive when covering up an impropriety, essentially making people see what they wanted to see, i. e.: Nothing to See Here. I think she was using it to help Cloche.

Someone, probably the GM, gave Cloche's player a Fate Point "to just lie there and bleed".

Jacques had some kind of taggable Aspect or Stunt for Captain Thibault, his wingman. My notes say:

Attackers +4 -> 5
Cap 5
JP 5
Duke 2+2 -> takes Stress
Also, the enemy is attacking the Airship.

Meanwhile, Emma used Scholarship to bandage Cloche. The player got a 1, but the target was 2. The GM offered Success with a Cost: Permanent Scar.

Emma: It will make him more interesting.

We realized that the Duke did not take Stress after all, as Jean-Paul had his Tail Covered. The airship took 1 stress, I think.

Captain Thibault shot, getting 5 vs 5, but tagging his wingman. He took out 3 of the enemy fighters, I think.

Duke: For Britannia!

Jean-Paul: For the Duke!

After all the dice were rolled and the smoke had cleared, my notes say something about someone taking one down and then finishing that one.

Duke: Good shooting, Jean-Paul!

The duke was wounded. Despite my best efforts and Bill's, we did not manage to kill Jean-Paul, or even wound her.

By now, we were about out of time, so the GM asked for each of us to give a one sentence epilogue as the planes fly off and headed for Cypress, or a vision of the character's future.

Cloche Cambrix: Forever in Emma's debt.

Duke: Happily living the life of an eastern grandee, blind to his wife's indiscretions.

Emma: Failed in all her efforts, but married Cloche Cambrix and forswears matchmaking.

Captain Thibault: Airplanes from dirigible carrier -- circling while it burns and sinking airship.

Camille: Watches it burn and scribbles the poem that will make her name.

Jean-Paul: Serves the duke and cries herself to sleep every night.