Violent City - Session 0 & 1
Nathan has given his perspective here on the session, so I'm going to recap it myself and give my thoughts at the end.
First Half - Session 0
We kicked the session off discussing the characters, what we wanted out of the game, what we wanted to add, etc.
I was mainly silence at this part because I was trying to make the character spreadsheets look nice and be usable, and also thinking up relationships between my character and the others, while also trying to come to grips with the setting.
Nathan described it on the player doc as:
Key media inspirations for this campaign include Shin Megami Tensei, MD Geist and other terrible OVAs, Fist of the North Star, and Devilman. However, don’t think of these things as a bible: I’d like to involve players in world building, particularly as it pertains to their character, and you should feel free to make Violent City your own.
The first thing I thought when he introduced it to me was that I don't know anything about any of these things. I've played maybe 2 hours of the entire Shin Megami Tensei franchise in total, have not watched any of the OVAs, and don't particularly like Fist of the North Star or Devilman or truth be told post-apocalyptic fiction. However, the group is made up entirely of strong gamers, so I was down with playing and just seeing what happens.
Unfortunately, a lot of it also meant I didn't really know where we stood on almost anything and was unhelpful with regards of saying my expectations for the campaign and what we wanted out of it, except reaffirming that I think moving around and messing with factional stuff seemed cool.
Ags said they would enjoy a game where they could embody their character, and hawkeyes mentioned he would "bring the crazy" to the campaign.
The other thing I realised was that I'm not running this game, so I can't just say "ehhh I don't know, let's roll 2d6 v 2d6 here and figure it out", because as it turns out we're playing Whitehack pretty straight off the book, and I don't know anything about it. I meant to read the book before the session, but I got swept up by the spreadsheet mania and didn't, alas. Still, it didn't hurt much when the session properly started, it just snuck up on me that the class I picked - the Fortunate - is full of little things I had to remember and slowly realised I wouldn't. Hopefully that won't be too much of a drag on the group, who seemed to enjoy Whitehack.
Characters ready and hearts aglow, we started the game.
Second Half - Session 1
Dramatis Personae
Aggie Gourdwarf - Playing Dingo "Wild Dog" Wells, a Deft bounty hunter who carries a sword named jackal, is accompanied by a dog named wolf, and has a whip with no name he uses to strike those who get too close. Also an associate of the Gerry Hanuman’s Strong Fellows Gym, and of generally unremarkable stats.
nobody - Playing Zero, a Strong half-man, half-devil, all porter, who can transform to look like King Ghidorah and is extremely swole.
oldhawkeyes - Playing PRJCA045773, nicknamed Molars, a Strong gene-printed soldier or something. To be honest with you, they kinda lost me a bit with this part of the setting, but it appears there's a legion fighting an eternal war against machines and Molars is one of those guys, something like that. Also a member of the School of Recursive Teachings, and a sewer sweeper - this means as much to you as it does to me, I assure you.
Havoc (Me) - Playing Leaper Black (real name Lucy or something), a normal high school student from Bunker 88, one of the only places they still have schools it seems. She can digitise demons with her cool gauntlet and dresses like a sukeban girl; her first follower is the Eye Devil, a bat-eyed purple-lidded eyeball who seemingly speaks like a New York Italian.
What actually happened
Hawkeyes took the notes, so I'm just relying on them and completing it from memory.
We started off on the Warhod Liner, a community of people who congregate around an aground cargo ship and make houses of its containers. It's a hot day though I for some reason kept thinking it was night.
Dingo is a part of this community and knows something called Black Lake is to the north and the Harpy Towers are to the south, but we don't get much info on them. His buddy approaches and comments on a local woman named Jewel who seems to have changed completely, so we go check it out. We do this because, frankly, none of us has strong goals aside from Dingo, who wants to find Devilman Dan (or perhaps a devilman named Dan, I'm not sure myself), so we might as well.
She's currently at a bar named Drink or Die, a pair of containers cut together and turned into a single establishment run by the barkeep named Abortio, described as the ugliest of God's children and deformed in a way that defies the brain.
Jewel is currently being accosted by many people, who talk about how she broke their heart or something like that. She's acquired an astoundingly beautiful face - goes for a lot of money in these parts - which is too big for her head and makes her look uncanny and strange.
Dingo goes to take a closer look and we wonder if she's perhaps doing demon things, but can't tell, so we try and get Leaper Black closer. Molars start pouring booze on himself as a distraction and Leaper analyses her, finding no traces of devil in her. This brings the attention of Abortio, who warns Leaper of no computerisation in the bar; Leaper points at her companions and says they're with her, if he has a problem. It turns out Abortio had no problem at all, he's simply kind and tells her to take care; something's amiss tonight.
Leaper was just getting out the question of if there was anyone in the house that made him particularly worried when some tracksuit-wearing punks yell at him from across the bar, around a table on top of a little dais, while flaunting their guns; these guys are armed and dangerous.
We conclude Jewel is likely in danger. The tracksuit guys are Prodigo's men, the wealthiest man in town, and they're eyeing Jewel like wolves, although she appears unconcerned, as she tells Dingo.
Molars, unable to contain his curiosity any longer, marches to the front and asks Jewel what exactly happened to her face in a particularly bewildering tone. Prodigo's men don't appreciate this, so they draw their guns to intimidate Molars. He refuses to be intimidated and tackles the nearest man. As the barfight breaks out, Dingo moves to get Jewel out of there, Zero maneuvers around them in the confusion, Leaper Black prepares a molotov cocktail with some spirits from behind the counter, and Molars fends off two knife-wielding goons.
Eventually their boss - who we later found out was named Alto - reveals he's an enforcer of Prodigo's and proposes to settle the score later, one-on-one, with Molars, rather than get in a potentially deadly fight here. He negotiates this with Leaper, who's the one holding a cocktail, while Molars is under one of the knife-goons.
Leaper threatens Alto the enforcer by holding the molotov with the tips of her fingers and saying he better lower his guns. Everyone is uncertain of whether or not to stop fighting now - Molars has taken quite a beating and Dingo isn't here, none of us has guns and Alto has a pair of robotic arms coming from his back holding a pair of submachine guns, while his human arms hold pistols.
The choice is made for us as Zero pins Alto to the wall, SMGs start firing wildly and kills one his own goons. Leaper Black hands Abortio - who came running to beg her not to burn down his establishment - the molotov cocktail while jumping behind the bar for cover and summoning the Eye Devil.
Outside, Dingo is whisking Jewel away and having issues with the locals. To be honest, I wasn't paying much attention to that part as there were many moving parts to the fight and we were still figuring out what we even wanted out of it, and how far we were willing to go.
One of the knife goons comes running to get Zero from behind, but he spins around and puts Alto on the path. They scuffle and this goon is killed by Molars as Alto breaks free and starts running towards the exit. Molars grabs a table and uses it as a battering ram, pinning Alto against the bar. His guns fire off once more, hitting the molotov-holding Abortio and setting both of them on fire; Leaper Black escapes by vaulting over the bar and locking eyes with the dying Abortio, who in his dying throes extends his hand in a gesture of sympathy for Leaper; a last attempt at companionship. Leaper finds herself frozen, put off by the violent end of that man.
Many things were happening at once, and at some point around here Zero got hit badly, I think he got licked by an SMG shot, and transformed into his devil form, extending his dragon head to bite Alto over Molars' shoulders.
As the blaze sweeps the establishment, Alto starts weeping and pleading for his life. Leaper is unable to move, Zero isn't the talking type, and Dingo is busy, so it rests on Molars to interrogate the man. He asks Alto if he is useful, as we try to ascertain if we should finish him off; though already knowing we do, as Zero has transformed and it would be bad news if people found out about him.
We ask what did they want to do with Jewel. Alto explains they wanted to take her to be one of Prodigo's 8 Courtesans, a harem-like organisation back in Bunker 88 which whisks women from the wasteland to be treated like sultanas. Every time a new one joins, the other is made a pariah. Joining it is "voluntary", Leaper thinks, the same way as paying your rent or following the orders of a cop.
Molars asks the man if he is high ranking. He says he is, Molars doesn't believe him and bashes his skull in with a ball-peen hammer. With a mouthful of his brains dangling from his lips, the sewer sweeper admits he might have been telling the truth, and gets flashes of the life of a person who had devoted his entire life to status. Leaper gets queasy at the grisly scene, but feels much more compassion for Abortio than Prodigo's goons; as far as she's concerned these are violent men living a violent life, who knows what kind of scabrosity they had committed, or would inevitably commit in this path.
We meet Jewel outside the Drink or Die and tell her the men are dead. She says men are despicable, and Molars shoots back that her goal is despicable and that she should be ashamed. As we take off in different directions, she shoots back that "You had no right. The weak have to survive, too, you know. You had no right."
We all rendezvous at Dingo's house to figure out what to do next.
My overall thoughts
The fight scene was very fun and bombastic, which is no surprise, as I've written before about how Nathan runs a damn good fight. Even if most of what Leaper did was force a Chekov's Gun situation and vault back and forth over the bar.
The tone was really hard for me to grasp, and it's difficult to explain why. It oscillated heavily between strange pulp stuff like the gene-printing child soldiers being sent to fight in Bolivia or the cowboy Wild Dog with the sword named Jackal and the dog named Wolf, and some pretty heartfelt horror in there. I think the emblem of this is Abortio, a character who I'm pretty sure started as a joke on DMs, made tragic in Nathan's notes (he read his description to us and it sounded pretty legit), made goofy as he scrambled pathetically to do anything, made tragic again in his moment of death.
This pendulum swung like that for pretty much everything, a lot of stuff is both comedic and meant earnestly, and I struggle a lot with that. Nobody's very good report, for instance, is a lot more sober than most of the session actually felt to me, and that makes it very hard for me to figure out how Leaper Black reacts to things. Initially I made her standoffish with the barkeep because I figured it was just a goofy one-off joke character that was telling her off as a side comment to bring attention to Prodigo's men on the corner, but then he stuck around and was very tragic; and Leaper, who wasn't meant as an unkind person, kinda comes across as a dismissive asshole for that.
The other issue I had was with myself, as I didn't really have a solid character goal or idea on how to help the game forward besides sticking with the guys. I suppose we'll get to that, but it's hard to say right now what her goals even are; she appears to be interested in demons, given she's a devil summoner, and on some level must be interested in money, as a bounty hunter, but it's difficult to say any more than that.
I also felt slightly lost with Whitehack, as it is much longer and more complicated than I had expected, but this is just how I react to pretty much every single system. In practice it tended towards just rolling a d20 for everything, as D&D usually does, so I figure I'll get the hang of the details after a while.
Nevertheless, it does feel nice to be playing with these doggies again, we'll see what becomes of us in VIOLENT CITY 2!!!