Convergence, Session 2
General Summary
Recap / Rewind
We recap the end of the previous session: The Convergence Player Characters find themselves at a farmhouse in a hailstorm. A strange magickal / robotic dog rests in the living room. Bill Toge is in the dining room, stood over a man whose nose and mouth are fused shut, near a large inkblot painted on the wall in blood. Dvorak Four Six and Iolo are investigating the dog. Toho "Ultrathem" Tanaka is trying to wrestle Bill's knife away after failing to tackle him. Just before the clash, Bill spoke:"To know me is to join me. I am the opener of the way."
Confronting Bill
Taxi Varlik and Cyprian Kernow help Toho restrain Bill, while Cyprian questions him about "the way". They realise that Don, the man on the table, is suffocating because his nose and mouth are fused. Taxi slices his mouth open so that he can breath - he lives, but is choking on blood and incredibly fearful. Bill says that Don kidnapped his daughter - he intends to kill him after he finds out where she is (he was torturing him for info). They both suddenly appeared in this place at the same time as the group and don't know what the inkblot is. Bill only half-remembers saying the line about "the way" - he didn't choose to say it. The inkblot is clearly magical - Taxi can see it through her blindness and it hums with some strange power. It attracts the eye. Leofe plays with the Clockwork toys in the living room and has a flash of insight, earning a subtle Cypher.Investigating a Magickal Robot Dog
After some thorough external examination, Iolo decides to drill into the dog. It reacts lightning-fast and bites Iolo. Dvorak smashes it into the ground with their axe, pinning it - this reveals incredibly complex clockwork throughout its insides, and no blood. Iolo shoots it a few times with his pistol but it seems unaffected. Leofe reacts to the gunshots, exploding one of the cogs on the floor. Most of the others are caught in the explosion, though it does no damage. The group work together to destroy the dog, then Dvorak and Iolo examine the workings. It is an incredibly complex, fully-functioning clockwork automaton, but even the complexity doesn't seem to account for its apparent lifelikeness - there are signs of magick. Dvorak forbids it (due to Warp corruption), but Iolo takes some of the dog's internal components.Police Approach
Trace steps outside and notices Bill's car in the garage and headlights coming up the driveway. A police car arrives and the police talk to Trace. They are investigating and warning about some escaped convicts in the area. Trace fobs them off - they seem a little suspicious, but not enough to push the matter. As they are about to leave, they notice Dvorak through the doorway and Atreyu's horse through the window and demand to know what is happening. Trace puts his hands up, forgetting he is holding a gun while Dvorak steps towards them. They react with aggression, drawing their guns. Chaos ensues.The Inkblot
Meanwhile, Leofe and Cyprian are investigating the inkblot. Leofe relives a childhood memory of outing someone who had stolen - a fact that she only knew due to her magic. This led to her being manhandled out of the situation and ostracised. Cyprian relives the memory of his grandma giving him a magical charm, then him later clutching that charm at her graveside. This was the first time he heard the voice of the dead, as her spirit sent him back to the cottage to find a book on necromancy. Cyprian symbolically relives this memory in the present using his charm and book. As he does so, he vanishes, crossing over via the inkblot. Leofe has a flash of insight, realising that Cyprian's symbolic linking of the memory allowed him to use the inkblot to travel. Bill obsesses over the inkblot, claiming it's linked to his daughter. Taxi allows him to approach - he touches it and mutters something, then vanishes. Shortly afterwards, the group's senses are overwhelmed again and they reappear at the crash site. Another car has vanished, but this time it isn't nearby - the second Bill has disappeared from the scene.Back to the Crossroads
Cyprian has a different experience between disappearing at the inkblot and reappearing with the others at the crossroads: He finds himself in a void of complete blackness. There is an absence of sensation, but the experience is not unpleasant - it's closer to peace. He senses other beings there, though not many. He senses one very distant and one close - he chooses to focus on the closest. He recognises the Sheriff, who seems to try to speak to him, though no sound is received. As the group reappear at the crossroads, the Sheriff is staring at Cyprian. The Sheriff seems much more confused and frustrated this time. He talks about not knowing what's happening, that he's realising that they're not where he thought they were and that he thought he was in control, but is beginning to realise that he isn't. He says that something seems to be "more broken" than he thought. It's clear that his injured arm is a ruse, because gesticulates with it. He asks the group is this situation was their doing. As they discuss, he says that they're going to have to loop once more - the wreck explodes and the group's sense are overwhelmed.A Videogame Convergence?
The group find themselves in the Anti-Mass Spectrometer, with a third Bill Toge. They look around and notice that the centre of the machine seems to have been replaced with an unlit campfire with a sword shaped like a key embedded in it. Iolo tries to light the fire but it doesn't take. Bill tries to push a delivery cart holding a crystal along a track to the centre of the contraption, saying it will activate the equipment and let the group move on. Taxi won't allow him to. As the group discuss, dramatic music plays from seemingly nowhere and the Guard Scorpion (a scorpion-themed battle robot) descends from above, attacking. The group fight the Guard Scorpion, realising that it is very dangerous - Dvorak is injured by a counter attack from its tail laser after various attackers realise that it shrugs off most of their damage. Trace chases and shoots at Bill while the combat progresses. Toho transforms into Ultrathem and claims the Keyblade from the unlit Bonfire. Atreyu uses his Straw Hat Cypher to freeze the Guard Scorpion in place, turning the tide of battle. Around the same time, Trace kills Bill with a devastating headshot. Time slows, the group's senses are overwhelmed and they find themselves back at the crossroads. The cars and Bills are all gone, but the Sheriff is still there.Rewards Granted
- 2 in-session XP to all.
- 3 post-session XP to all.
- A Subtle Cypher for Leofe from playing with the magickal Clockwork toys.
- A Subtle Cypher for Cyprian Kernow from crossing over via the inkblot.
Missions/Quests Completed
- Dealing with the second Bill Toge.
- Dealing with the third Bill Toge.
- Cyprian Kernow crossed over through the inkblot.
- Resolving the reality-tearing car crash and discovering that Sheriff Ragoczy is more than he seems.
Character(s) interacted with
Created Content
I had to adlib the experience of crossing over via the inkblot. In Adventure: In Media Res, the experience is deliberately undescribed, but Cyprian Kernow activated the process by making a symbolic gesture. I created this void space - complete blackness, without sensation, but not unpleasant (somewhat calm). I set precedent that other beings are there, sometimes - Sheriff Ragoczy and another, distant. I must remember to use this in future sessions (and maybe figure out who the distant being was - I have a couple of ideas).
Notes
Reception
This session received another positive reception from the group - they seem to be enjoying the Cypher System and the design of the setting / campaign. The Anti-Mass Spectrometer encounter received a number of excited responses - jokingly negative as well as positive. I think the outcome was mostly enjoyment. Each new videogame element seemed to be met with approval and the concept of combining them led to some invested discussion.Missed Content
We missed out on some content in the farmhouse, such as Bors Slavandrov and The Rack. The story was progressing nicely without them, though, and I didn't want to slow things down too much with distractions. The group were engaged with trying to figure out Tristan and dealing with Bill Toge and the inkblot. I had the police turn up because Trace went to look around outside - nobody really took any interest in exploring the house further and I knew the Anti-Mass Spectrometer encounter would be combat-heavy, so Bors seemed unnecessary. Similarly, we also missed some content in the Anti-Mass Spectrometer because the group didn't try to activate it like I expected them to - I can repurpose what I had planned there for elsewhere though.Multi-Channel Play
Towards the end of the second Bill Toge encounter and throughout the Anti-Mass Spectrometer, some players were quite heavily engaged with the text chat in Roll20. They were using it to continue roleplay and discuss events via a separate channel from the ongoing voice conversation (which was largely dedicated to the required admin for running the encounter at that point - calling out rolls to make and running through the combat turn order, etc.). This was very nice to see - the implication that the session was keeping them so engaged that they established another channel to allow for more play. It's also conceptually interesting - multi-channel play, where the systems that are required for the mechanics of the game to function are slowing other aspects of the play. Would there be space in a videogame for these conversations / explorations to happen parallel to the mechanic-heavy play?Leaving Gaps in Content
The creation of the void makes me reflect on the process of adlibbing content and leaving gaps. I feel that something I do quite frequently in reactive storytelling GMing is to start creating some new story element without deciding on all the details. I then let the players' questions and choices guide further creation. In Cyprian's experience with the inkblot, I had decided that it made sense for the closer figure to be Sheriff Ragoczy, given his supernatural nature and proximity to the event. I hadn't decided on the distant figure, but figured it would be mysterious and entertaining to tease the concept and leave a gap there. If Cyprian had examined the distant figure instead, I could have come up with something (there are other characters that would work, and he wouldn't have been able to see clearly enough to know for sure who it was) and he wouldn't have known who the nearer figure was - leaving a gap and some mystery there instead (and I could have changed my mind about it being the Sheriff). This causes me to reflect on attention guiding the story, and actually designing the story - the description the GM gives, as well as what the players choose to focus on, describes, defines and changes the world. Ideally, a GM should be prepared for this - allow for some of the world to resolve into its form via observation.Roughness and Missed Mechanics
There's still quite a bit of roughness in play as we all get used to the system. The principles of the rolls are nice and simple in a way that eases some of the pressure, but there are still a lot of other mechanics and edge-cases to become familiar with. I feel the pressure of having to keep the game running, with the group looking to me for direction and rules explanations, whilst also trying not to miss rules and cover important / entertaining story direction. In particular, I've been forgetting about the GM Intrusions mechanic, which is frustrating because it's something that I really want to test out and get the feel of. I'll have to focus on remembering to come up with entertaining intrusions in future sessions. This kind of issue should lessen slightly as we all get more used to the system.Railroading versus Open-World
This opening adventure, Introduction: Bill in Three Persons, Redux, is rather railroaded, which perhaps isn't taking full advantage of the system (and more broadly has its own set of pros and cons as an approach). To defend this design choice, though, my intention was to use this introduction to clearly and rapidly establish themes and elements of the campaign, which I think it did successfully. From next session onwards, the world will open out much more for the players and the storytelling will be much more reactive (and more similar to Apocalypse World, which we just finished playing before picking up Cypher). While this approach obviously also has its pros and cons, it seems closer to Cypher's intended experience. I just need to make sure to prep properly for each session - it's much less about coming up with particular scenes and much more about clearly designing characters (with their abilities, drives and intentions) and locations, with some ideas for what they'll do if undisturbed. Much more of a virtual world or simulation than a plot.
Report Date
23 Mar 2021
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