1st Quest: Warlock Corner

Judd Karlman is working on 1st Quest, a sort of semi-genericized version of The Shadows of Yesterday (TSOY). The fully genericized version is Solar System, so he has started referring to his 1st Quest games as "Solar System hacks".

1st Quest focuses on a YA fantasy feel, which covers a whole lot of ground. Judd's created specific settings for 1st Quest, one of which is Warlock Corner. It has the feel of urban fantasy with a fair bit of grit. Holly Black's _Valiant_ comes to mind.

Judd collected the character sheets after the game. As I recall:

There are three stat pools, just like in TSOY, but the group works to define them for each setting. For Warlock Corner, I know one of the stat pools was Love, and that it covered things like art and craft -- creating a novel or a mural, that sort of thing. Magic worked via combinations of nouns and verbs that one could take as skills.

To do something, one rolls Fudge dice, taking the highest 3 and adding the value of the relevant skill. When one has maxed out a skill, a maximum skill roll, e.g. 3 +s on the dice, ends the game. The character Ascends and the world -- the city in which Warlock Corner is set -- is forever changed.

Also, players, I think including the GM, had a certain number of dice that they could give to other players as bonus dice.

The characters each had two banners, aspects that determined how they gained experience points. In general, a minor use merited one point, a major use or one that disadvantaged the character earned two, and one that put the character at serious risk (whether physical or social) earned five points. Judd's brilliant addition is that players whose characters play off these aspects -- either helping or hindering the character who has the banner -- also earn experience, either one or two points, iirc. Experience for any one thing is limited to once per scene. Players can also choose to have a character outgrow, betray, or otherwise shed a banner, cashing it in for 10 experience points. The players can then buy a new banner for 5 experience points, but, as per the Solar System, can never purchase the same banner again. (I'm not sure if that means one could never buy the Banner of Forbidden Love again, or just that one can never buy that banner again for the same person.)

Judd said that he found two to be the correct number of banners to give characters. He had partially created characters, members of a gang to be defined in play. There was the leader, the troublemaker, the country kid, and the outsider (if I remember the terms correctly). We came up with names, obsessions (I'm not sure that's the right term -- things the PCs were most interested in?), and decided on one noun and verb from a set list for the magic.

I don't have my character sheet, as Judd collected it after the game. I don't recall whether the skills were chosen and ranked for us, or whether we did either ourselves.

It was at this point that I began to have the sinking feeling that I had caught Josh's cold, which he was finally getting over.

Judd: GM

Paul Tevis: Mark Cornwall, Country Boy. Interest: Being in the outdoors. Magic: Summon River. Banners: New Kid, Quest.

Me: Wheels (male), Outsider. Interest: Can't find it in my notes, but I'm guessing it's got to do with cars or trains. Magic: Travel Subway. Banners: Omega, Curiosity.

Richard Flynn: Boots, Leader. Interest: Exploring underground. Magic: Change Buildings. Banners: Forbidden Love, Ringleader.

Remi Trauer: Dennis "Deep" Aldecott, Troublemaker. Interest: Reading the History of New Camelot. Magic: Create Crime. Banners: Trouble, Apprentice.

Notes on the above: When I heard what Boots's interest was, I said, "So that's why he keeps Wheels around." Boots's forbidden love was for Paris, a girl in a rival gang, the Ladies of the Lake. Mark, dubbed "Country" by just about everyone, had moved to the city when his parents died, iirc. And, we decided that the gang didn't yet have a name, and that names had to be earned. In fact, our quest target was a name for the gang.

Judd said that when someone played up to the Banner of the Omega, things could get ugly (in a good way, I think). The Omega gets points from being picked on, but also from picking on people even lower on the totem pole. I'm not sure I played well enough toward that.

The setting was the city of New Camelot. I think it was somewhere in the game world's Britain, though none of us attempted accents.

Judd asked what the characters had done on their summer vacation:

Dennis wanted to become Boots's lieutenant by killing his brother. He succeeded. All Boots knew was that his brother was killed by someone in a black Mordred sedan.

Boots, whose real name was Percival, made a hidden hideout for the gang.

Wheels decided to steal book on train spirits. He stole it from the Ladies of the Lake, barely escaping into the subway.

Mark climbed mountains.

Remi managed to get enough experience for the summer scene to raise Dennis's Deceit skill from Unskilled to Competent, at least, if I'm reading my notes correctly. To raise a skill, one pays experience equal to the new value x 5. That is, to go from a 2 to a 3 costs 15 experience points. This was true of magic at game start, but partway through, we all agreed that getting more magic should be more expensive.

Once the introductory scenes were played out, the gang heard a rumor that the Ladies of the Lake did the hit, and that they have a great library.

But, the members of the nameless gang first had to talk their way out of a police station, where they were questioned separately about a theft of a book about train spirits that was for some reason important to the mayor or the city council.

Police (to Mark): This is the most boring file I've ever seen in my life.

Mark: Sorry. I can work on this.

Police: So, you know what this tells us. (after a pause for effect) You must be very good at what you do.

Meanwhile, Boots listened to the description of the book.

Boots: Sounds kinda boring.

Police: We're not here to entertain you, Percy.

Dennis "The Deep" seemed to have a lot of fun with his interrogation, striking up a rapport with the male cop questioning him. The man addressed him as "The Deep".

Female cop: Why are you calling him by his nickname?

Male cop: I _like_ his nickname!

Male cop: The Ladies are pinning you for --

Dennis: Impregnating every last one of them? Hell yes!

Male cop: (laughs, looks at female cop, coughs): I'm gonna get some coffee.

The female cop tried another angle, talking about the drive by shooting of Boots's brother and license plates.

Dennis: Dude, when you're looking to hit someone, you don't put a license plate on your car -- at least, not one that belongs to you -- how long you been working here?

Wheels denied his involvement, all the while drawing pictures of trains.

Me: Oh ghod, I'm playing Speed Racer!

(Well, if Speed Racer were a putz and a criminal.)

Again, the cops explained that the book was important to the mayor, adding that the Ladies of the Lake had stolen it.

Wheels: Wait -- so -- the Ladies stole it from the mayor, and you're asking me who stole it?

At this point, Paul was a little confused about how his country boy had hooked up with the rest of the gang. So, we did a flashback scene.

Fresh from the country, Mark was walking in a park in New Camelot when someone ran by and tossed him a bag. The cops chased the running boy, ignoring the country boy. Somewhere in there, Boots used his magic and yanked the other PCs into a phone booth. Once the cops were gone, everyone emerged. Dennis and Mark got into a fight which ended in either a draw or a very narrow victory by Dennis, I forget which. Between that and Mark's accidental help, the gang was impressed.

Boots (talking about Dennis): You actually shut him up for a little while! What's your name, Country?

Mark: Mark.

Boots: All right, Country

He invited Mark to come with the others to the jousts.

Mark: You guys are going to the jousts? We didn't have those back where I came from.

And, at this point, I noted that it was clearly Wheels who'd tossed Mark that bag, and that the bag obviously contained the book Wheels stole. The others agreed, adding that Mark didn't realize it even when the police were asking him questions.

Meanwhile, back in the present time...

Boots, Dennis, and Mark had been released. They were waiting at a bus stop for Wheels to join them. V, the leader of the Ladies, joined them Boots was in love with her lieutenant, Paris.

Boots mentioned the rumor about V's group being responsible for the hit on his brother.

V: Right. You believe what cops say about you now?

Mark was curious about the business of naming gangs.

Mark: Like the Once and Future Kings?

Boots: Don't name us by accident!

(Boots and Dennis make gestures to ward against this)

V: Once and Future Kings?

Boots: Fuck!

Indeed, it was too late to caution Mark. All members of the once nameless gang now had "OAF KINGS" on their jackets. V dubbed them the OAFs. She said that Wheels had walked into her house, which was the Ladies' headquarters, and stolen a book from them.

Boots: Wheels can barely walk down the street without getting his ass kicked -- how did he walk into your house?

But, he had other priorities. Taking a sketch of Paris that he had drawn, he gave it to V.

Boots: Give that to Paris -- don't look at it!

V: I'm your fucking messenger now??

Meanwhile, the cops were not convinced by Wheels's protests of innocence. One of the cops explained that they had PC, aka Probable Cause.

Cop: I'm gonna put my hand on you.

This meant that there was a visible magical mark on Wheels, and that the cop could watch him via magic.

Richard: We see him coming, and we split.

Dennis: Come on, Country! He's got the Hand on him!

Mark: What's that mean?

Mark: Who's 5-O?

Boots: The cops.

Dennis went to talk to his dead grandmother, now a ghost, to ask her how to get the mark off of Wheels. The grandmother noticed the jacket and was not impressed by her grandson's gang calling itself the Once and Future Kings.

Ghost Grandmother: Once and future cunts is more like it.

She also said that order was a fragile thing. Take one brick away, and the whole structure collapses. I think Judd was vaguely laying groundwork for the book being important, but, while it didn't work out that way, Dennis remembered his grandmother's words for later. He repeated the question about getting the mark off Wheels.

Ghost Grandmother: He's gonna die. Everyone in his family dies.

Richard: I think she just said you're his brother.

This was news to Remi, Judd, and me, but we agreed.

The grandmother said that to get the mark off, the others had to beat Wheels with reeds from the river.

Boots: Dude. I just wanna know would your grandmother think it's really funny to string us along with this? She's kind of a bitch.

Nevertheless, they decided to give it a shot. First, they had to get the reeds, which was tricky because there were cops by the river. Mark used his magic (Summon River), either distracting the cops or getting the reeds or both, talking about how folks do this sort of thing all the time on the farm.

Boots: Stop talking about the farm. You sound like a nerd.

The trio jumped Wheels and beat him with the reeds, which did indeed remove the cop's mark.

Boots (administering a second beating): And _this_ is for getting caught!

Wheels: What was the other one for?

Mark talked to his Biology teacher, Hank Henderson. Mr. Henderson had noticed exactly who Mark was hanging around with. Rather than lecture the boy on the evils of being in a gang, he talked about the gang he'd once belonged to.

Mr. Henderson: We called ourselves the Bastards of Mordred -- the BUMS.

Mark asked what had happened to the others in Mr. Henderson's gang, and the teacher talked about how they'd all basically died.

Somewhere around here, Judd revised the costs for getting new magic.

The first 2 magic words, the ones the characters started with, were free. The first new one cost 5 experience points. The second cost 10, the third 15, the fourth 20, and so on.

Paris met with Boots privately, bringing him, as he'd requested, a book on Necromancy. She hadn't gotten the sketch Boots gave to V. Funny that.

Paris: What do you want with the dead, Boots?

He didn't answer that, but made her wait outside while he conjured up his brother's spirit to ask who'd done the hit.

Brother: Why can't we just talk about V's butt? Why we gotta talk about this?

Boots: It's a big deal!

Brother: V doesn't wear any underwear. That's a big deal.

Brother: How about a taste of life?

Boots: I'd give it to you, if I could.

Brother: Do you mean that?

Boots: I do.

His brother said that Boots could let him possess Boots and make love to V. And thus the term "stunt cocking" was used in the game. Boots was uncertain, but his brother soon convinced him that this was a good idea.

Meanwhile, V found Wheels in the library, and somehow, the two got into a conversation about cars. Wheels asked what V's favorite car was, and she said that it was the Galahad '97, a very sweet model. Wheels said that he'd heard that V had stolen a book from the mayor's office, and V said that it took a lot of time to plan that heist.

V: Does Boots know?

Wheels: I don't know.

V: Well, someone could _tell_ Boots.

Wheels: Huh?

V: Someone could tell him about Really Cool Heists.

Meanwhile, Dennis, aka The Deep, aka Dee, decided that he needed to make sure that Boots's brother didn't talk about who'd done the hit. So, he started unraveling the dead man's life force while Boots was stunt cocking. The ghost tried pleading with Dennis.

Ghost: It's a fucked up guy who'd kill a guy twice.

Ghost: Aw, Dee, come on -- I was at your grandma's funeral. You cried like a little girl.

Dennis: Tell me something I need to know.

Ghost: One of the ladies has a crush on you!

Dennis: I'm listening.

Ghost: I think it's Paris's brother!

Naturally, this did not make Dennis less inclined to finish killing the man a second time. This raised the question of what was going on with Boots and V, who had been let in on what was going on.

Judd: I think we're in the middle.

Richard: I really don't want to play in the middle.

Judd: Fair enough.

They decided that Boots's brother, whom Judd now said was named Fischer, had died in the middle of the stunt cocking. Boots, naturally, saw no need to tell V this.

V (after they've finished, and while they're resting): Fish, you there?

Boots admitted that Fish was gone. He also made it clear that he loved Paris, and insisted that V not mention what they'd just done.

V: You have my word.

And, in the world of New Camelot, that meant a lot.

Meanwhile, Boots had sent Mark to accompany Paris at the mall. They chatted until V walked up to Paris. With a gun.

Mark tried to protect Paris, but failed. Afterwards, he and Boots had an argument.

Mark: Why did you send me to the mall with her?

Boots: Why didn't you protect her?

Mark: You're right.

He took off his jacket with the gang logo and left. Dennis followed, trying to convince him to return.

Dennis: Boots killed my fucking brother when he tried to walk away.

Judd: Is that a lie?

Remi: Hell, yes!

Wheels told Boots that he was going to talk to car spirits to try to find out about the car involved in the hit on Boots's brother.

Boots (dismissively): Yeah, fine, you do that.

Wheels also told his brother, and Dennis was about as dismissive. Dennis stopped Mark from going to the police by unraveling his life force until Mark gave.

Mark: You've got me by the balls.

At some point, possibly this conflict, I remember folks getting a little confused.

Judd: What are the stakes?

Remi: I don't know!

Meanwhile, V allowed the dead Paris to borrow her body for goodbyes and, ah, stunt-cunting, I guess, though anyone using the term in company may be taking life in hands.

Paris-in-V (to Boots): She said we could be together one more time.

Boots: You're not finished?

Paris: You were the first person I came to see.

Boots accepted this, planning, as Paris and V both knew, to kill V after Paris had moved on.

Dennis started unraveling Paris's life force. I'm not sure why or how he knew what was going on, but we weren't actually worrying about those details. The game had a certain operatic feel with lots of sturm, drang, and death.

Meanwhile, the cops picked up Wheels on the grounds that stuff was going on, he was stupid, and they wanted to know what he knew. I think this was when he actually told them what the 50 witnesses managed not to see in the mall, that V shot Paris. They threatened to let everyone know he'd told them, but he convinced the cop car to help him find a different murderer. I forget how, but the cop car somehow ditched the cops.

Cop Car: Murder? I'm full of gas! Let's go!

Meanwhile, after all her other goodbyes, Paris came to Mark. He wouldn't have sex with her / V, even though she said she was saving him until last.

Paris-in-V: Country, what's your real name?

Mark: Mark.

Paris: Mine's not Paris.

Mark: I didn't think it was.

Paris: It's Morgaine.

I forget what brought on this:

Someone: Going straight to Bringing Down the Pain.

Someone: I can't roll on my creates if that's what you're doing

At a guess, I think that was Remi deciding that Dennis would finish unraveling Paris, but I just don't remember.

Wheels and the cop car managed to find the black Mordred sedan, abandoned. The car was willing to talk to the sympathetic Wheels, but not to give away its owner, which Wheels understood. Nevertheless, Wheels learned enough to know that there were sort of shadows that were in the car when it was sent on its hit and run missions, and, as I recall, this was enough to realize that the culprit was his brother.

Dennis / Deep / Dee destroyed the car from a distance when he realized it might give away his secrets. I forget whether cop car survived or not. I think it didn't, but it either got Wheels out of there or he was thrown free of the blast.

Wheels: Oh shit -- Boots is never going to believe me. Oh shit -- Dee is gonna fucking kill me.

Meanwhile, Mark went to Mr. Henderson's home and rang the bell.

Henderson (looking him over): It's been that kind of night, has it?

Mark: May I come in?

Henderson: I'll put the kettle on.

By now, Richard decided that Boots would replace the Banner of Forbidden Love with the Banner of Vengeance, which he created.

I know that Mark somehow wound up in the hospital, but I don't recall how. When he woke up, Dennis was there.

Deep (to Mark, in the hospital): Boots is on the hunt. I'm not in the mood to stop him. But I think you might be, just to stop the bloodshed.

So, he fed Mark enough energy to let him recover enough to try to stop the bloodshed. Mark, who had given up one of his banners earlier, I think the Banner of the Quest, for the Banner of the Protector, which Paul invented on the spot, headed out to do just that.

Wheels encountered V, who was carrying her gun. They had a confusing conversation where Wheels thought that V was going to kill him. When she made it clear that she wasn't, he figured that someone else would, probably his brother. He explained, semi-incoherently, that Dee had killed Boots's brother, not to mention a car that was trying its best!

V: Ratting on your own brother? That's low, Wheels.

Wheels: Why not? I ratted on you.

This was news to V, who decided to shoot Wheels after all. But, that was when Mark arrived. Then, things got confusing. Mark wanted to protect Wheels from V. But, he also wanted to protect V from Boots. And, he wanted to protect both V and Boots from Dee, who was using his magic to unravel their life force.

Dialogue whose context I utterly forget:

Your brother.

Who?

I think Dee managed to be the one to kill V, but I don't recall. Again, he was acting from a distance, with magic.

Dee: I've been waiting _so_ long to do this.

Remi said that Dennis was burning the Banner of the Apprentice.

Dee: Now, I am the Master.

That was, as I recall, the name of his new banner. Remi had slowly, but surely raised Dennis's Magic to Grand Master level. This meant that if he ever rolled +3 on the dice, Dee would Ascend.

Judd: In Warlock Corner, this means you will change the city in some fundamental way.

Me: Oh yeah, he will.

Remi staged a quick flashback scene of Dee with his grandmother.

Deep: Grandma, what is the last thing I need to know?

Ghost Grandma: You must kill the man you serve.

Judd was really on the ball here, as this was where Remi was trying to steer things. It just fit, in a sort of operatic way. I'm not entirely sure what I mean by "operatic", but I think I mean "It makes emotional sense, but don't try to apply logic here or worry too much about exactly how much time has passed." I thought much the same about the Cain / Godchild manga.

Deep (unraveling Boots's lifeforce from a distance while his voice taunts Mark): This is one man you can't save, cornhead!

Paul said that Mark was buying the Banner of the Apprentice, which Dee had discarded. His master was Mr. Henderson, who had sent him into this to clean up the situation. This meant that Mark got experience for this.

Dee arrived, I think, and pulled out all the stops, summoning the ghosts of Mark's parents to try to stop him. That didn't work. I think at this point Remi had Dee buy the Key of Crime.

Remi: And two uzis appear in my hand.

And, during all of this, he rolled a +3 for a total of 7.

Judd missed this at first, which I hadn't realized. Somehow, Wheels had picked up V's gun, which was amazingly dumb of him, as he didn't put it down when the cops came. He was trying to make a mad dash for the subway and his beloved trains, and the cops were, understandably, trying to gun down the ganger with a gun.

Then, Remi pointed out that Dennis had ascended, and everything changed.

Remi: Remove one block, and order fails, just like grandma said. Deep and the shadow vanishes. Everything is 2 shades darker. There are no cops.

Deep (to Mark, as he vanishes): You're in my world, now. Good luck protecting everyone.

At this point, Judd said, it was Game Over, and we turned to the epilogue and resolution.

Someone (probably Remi, about either Boots or Mark): You're Batman now.

Someone (about Dee, I think): And you _are_ the once and future king.

Judd: How does your kid grow up?

Paul: Mark becomes a high school biology teacher, like Mr. Henderson.

Richard: Boots becomes a cop, and like many cops, commits suicide.

Remi said that the police stations were essentially beleaguered fortresses under siege. And, Dee was now in command of the underworld, his gang becoming The Kings. I think their logo was the suicide king from the playing cards deck.

Me: Wheels is on the subway. He's the crazy guy on the subway.

Judd: No, twenty years later

Me: He's still the crazy guy on the subway.

I asked how viable a long term game was, given the ascension rules.

Judd said that people go at the pace they want, and they _know_ what happens when they roll +3 and are a grandmaster. They can and do avoid becoming a grandmaster if they're not ready to end the game. They can agree to change to advance rate, so that advances cost 10, rather than 5, for example.

Remi said that if this had been a long term game, he wouldn't have gone straight to Grand Master of Magic. Instead, he would have bought up other skills, building a criminal power base and building up money and other resources.

Finally, Judd said, if one wants really wants to keep playing the game, say playing this iteration of Warlock Corner, the thing to do is to play the kids of the old PCs.

Me / Wheels: My daughter thinks I'm a crazy homeless guy.

Everyone in Chorus: You _are_ a crazy homeless guy.

Me: Oh, right.

I think in such a hypothetical game, Wheels would be simultaneously too paranoid to leave the subway and bitter, believing that the only reason he was alive was that Dee didn't think his brother Wheels was even worth killing. Fans of the mange _Tokyo Babylon_ and _X/1999_ know where I'm stealing the idea from.

But, unlike the manga, I suspect that Dee really doesn't think Wheels is worth his time. I'm honestly surprised that Wheels survived. I wasn't exactly trying to kill him off, but I wasn't trying not to, either. Ironically, he probably owes his survival to Dee's ascension.

I got the feeling that Remi and I were playing a little past each other. It may have just been that I was coming down with Josh's cold and missing obvious cues. I did ask if I'd been too off in left field with Wheels. Judd said that I hadn't, that Wheels was... interesting.