Gaming, and a Board Game
Yes, I know, I have been lax about posting the journal entry about the game of a|state from Friday night (the 22nd, for all those having problems keeping score). I wrote these notes on the game the morning after we played, but just have had a lot on my mind, and so didn't get around to posting them until now.
In any event, the Friday night gang wanted to play a run through of The Princes of Machu Picchu, the board game that I picked up during CanGames this year. Since my goddaughter, Ellie, was going to play in that, we started with the board game, as that way she wouldn't game past her bed time. I had no objections, so we played the board game before getting into the rpg session for the night.
The Princes of Machu Picchu is a board game that provides ample opportunity for players to work in a cooperative fashion to grab all the Priests and Virgins in order to end the game successfully. If the game's Ninth Day completes without all Priests and Virgins grabbed up, the Spanish Conquest of the Incas occur, and the players all lose. In either case, Victory Points are calculated, and the winner of the game is determined. Suffice it to say, in this, our first game of Machu Picchu, Day 9 came and went, with the Spanish conquering all. The final scores in the game were SteveB - 24, Kathy - 36, Ellie - 51, Nick - 42, and Tom - 21. My little devil of a goddaughter ended up with the biggest hoard of gold of the lot, and so she turned out to be the traitor to the Spanish! Joanne and I sat the game out, with me just teaching the rules and the like. The players agreed that the game is pretty good and indeed and has a decent replayability. Lovely game to watch, and I will get to play in a game of this soon. :)
In any event, after the game of The Princes of Machu Picchu, we finally got down to the a|state session for the night. For those in need of a recap of the previous session, see the link.
The characters continued the scenario from where they left off. Little Genny (Ellie) convinced Cyndra Jesspian (KathyB) to help her find the missing doll, and they learned that it had been taken by a little girl that Genny sometimes played with, Hedry. When they went to talk to Hedry, they learned from Hedry's mother that the daughter has been missing for a week, and that it has something to do with Alonzo Frestin, an antiquities hunter by reputation. Jason Demonoris (Tom) made some inquiries about the old cannister of film that he's been hired to find, and learned that there is a story that the film of "The History of Folly Hills" has some lead that could take one to a fabulous treasure. At Emma Wolfield's School for Young Girls, Thomas Thackery (SteveB) learned that Davinia, the missing girl he's looking for, was adopted by the Hartelburke family, and that the two men in coats that took her may well have been working for a shadowy organization known only as "The Crypt". Hedriana Locke (Joanne) and Edward Fleckright (Nick) headed for Mire End to look up a flowghost friend of Edward's, who might be able to help them out, but ran into the Cutters, a small band of young punks out to make a reputation for themselves. The proved no match for the ghostfighter, although he got a bit of a helping hand from a young man called Jackson. Jackson was able to lead the two wounded characters to a streethealer, Hethmanga, who helped them out for a price to be paid at a later date.
Overall, the game is going rather well, and the player characters are fitting back into their characters like a well-worn glove. Joanne struggled a bit with the combat situation she found herself in, but she remarked to me at the end of the game that she was glad that she'd given Hedriana the ability to stop folks from stealing her packages from her, and that the combat system is a bit intimidating because of how lethal it really is. Nick's character took a couple of serious wounds in the fight with the Cutters due to dumb luck on his part, but his natural healing abilities will stand him in good stead, although Nick told me that he realized they were outgunned when he and Hedriana got into the mess with the Cutters. The scenario is starting to gel, with the sub-plot that my goddaughter Ellie has going being limited to when she's awake on the Friday night for us to work with (as she's got to get her mother-determined sleep!), and I think the players may be a little surprised as to where the plot will be taking them.
We didn't watch a film noir after the game, as we started gaming late because of playing The Princes of Machu Picchu first, but I can't really say that I missed the movie and had a really good gaming session. a|state is such a wonderfully evocative game, and I love adding the little elements of atmosphere and the like to The City that the players and their characters are experiencing. In the meantime, I have to spend part of the coming week in working out a couple of elements in the plot, and seeing what I want to do to move them forward and give them a bit of a teaser for the next adventure as well.
In any event, the Friday night gang wanted to play a run through of The Princes of Machu Picchu, the board game that I picked up during CanGames this year. Since my goddaughter, Ellie, was going to play in that, we started with the board game, as that way she wouldn't game past her bed time. I had no objections, so we played the board game before getting into the rpg session for the night.
The Princes of Machu Picchu is a board game that provides ample opportunity for players to work in a cooperative fashion to grab all the Priests and Virgins in order to end the game successfully. If the game's Ninth Day completes without all Priests and Virgins grabbed up, the Spanish Conquest of the Incas occur, and the players all lose. In either case, Victory Points are calculated, and the winner of the game is determined. Suffice it to say, in this, our first game of Machu Picchu, Day 9 came and went, with the Spanish conquering all. The final scores in the game were SteveB - 24, Kathy - 36, Ellie - 51, Nick - 42, and Tom - 21. My little devil of a goddaughter ended up with the biggest hoard of gold of the lot, and so she turned out to be the traitor to the Spanish! Joanne and I sat the game out, with me just teaching the rules and the like. The players agreed that the game is pretty good and indeed and has a decent replayability. Lovely game to watch, and I will get to play in a game of this soon. :)
In any event, after the game of The Princes of Machu Picchu, we finally got down to the a|state session for the night. For those in need of a recap of the previous session, see the link.
The characters continued the scenario from where they left off. Little Genny (Ellie) convinced Cyndra Jesspian (KathyB) to help her find the missing doll, and they learned that it had been taken by a little girl that Genny sometimes played with, Hedry. When they went to talk to Hedry, they learned from Hedry's mother that the daughter has been missing for a week, and that it has something to do with Alonzo Frestin, an antiquities hunter by reputation. Jason Demonoris (Tom) made some inquiries about the old cannister of film that he's been hired to find, and learned that there is a story that the film of "The History of Folly Hills" has some lead that could take one to a fabulous treasure. At Emma Wolfield's School for Young Girls, Thomas Thackery (SteveB) learned that Davinia, the missing girl he's looking for, was adopted by the Hartelburke family, and that the two men in coats that took her may well have been working for a shadowy organization known only as "The Crypt". Hedriana Locke (Joanne) and Edward Fleckright (Nick) headed for Mire End to look up a flowghost friend of Edward's, who might be able to help them out, but ran into the Cutters, a small band of young punks out to make a reputation for themselves. The proved no match for the ghostfighter, although he got a bit of a helping hand from a young man called Jackson. Jackson was able to lead the two wounded characters to a streethealer, Hethmanga, who helped them out for a price to be paid at a later date.
Overall, the game is going rather well, and the player characters are fitting back into their characters like a well-worn glove. Joanne struggled a bit with the combat situation she found herself in, but she remarked to me at the end of the game that she was glad that she'd given Hedriana the ability to stop folks from stealing her packages from her, and that the combat system is a bit intimidating because of how lethal it really is. Nick's character took a couple of serious wounds in the fight with the Cutters due to dumb luck on his part, but his natural healing abilities will stand him in good stead, although Nick told me that he realized they were outgunned when he and Hedriana got into the mess with the Cutters. The scenario is starting to gel, with the sub-plot that my goddaughter Ellie has going being limited to when she's awake on the Friday night for us to work with (as she's got to get her mother-determined sleep!), and I think the players may be a little surprised as to where the plot will be taking them.
We didn't watch a film noir after the game, as we started gaming late because of playing The Princes of Machu Picchu first, but I can't really say that I missed the movie and had a really good gaming session. a|state is such a wonderfully evocative game, and I love adding the little elements of atmosphere and the like to The City that the players and their characters are experiencing. In the meantime, I have to spend part of the coming week in working out a couple of elements in the plot, and seeing what I want to do to move them forward and give them a bit of a teaser for the next adventure as well.