Caverns Measureless to Man

This story game about trust, treason, and secrets is set in Berlin in 1950. The Second World War finished five years ago, and the Cold War has just begun as the Allied forces are split into East and West. But the capital of the former Third Reich is still rife with secrets left behind by the Nazi regime. Just like in real history, the victors are scrambling to lay their hands on research made by German scientists. Unlike real history, in this game, these secrets include occult and weird super-science gadgets, weapons, and horrors. Ostensibly, the Allied Forces are collaborating in keeping peace in Berlin, and the joint Reserve Police Agency is responsible for handling weird and occult stuff left behind in ruined labs and underground bunkers. PCs are members of the RPA’s multinational teams, all sworn to cooperate, and all answering to their respective national governments. It‘s like a cross between the cold war thriller The Third Man and the Hellboy and BPRD comics.

Creating PCs for Cold City is supposed to be done in collaboration with the group, but for the sake of the Character Creation Challenge, I will do the steps I can do without input from GM or other players. First off, I choose nationality (USSR), occupation (military medic), and invent some details regarding my PC’s background and how they ended up in the RPA. Then I spend 5 points on the three attributes (each starts at 1). Next step is to invent five traits (talents, gifts, quirks), three positive and two negative. Then, I create hidden agendas, one national and one personal. 

And then, we run into the steps requiring other players. A central part of Cold City is the PCs’ relations with each other in their RPA team, what they think of each other, and how much they trust one another. Trust is measured with a numerical value for each of the other PCs in the team, from 0 to 5. Team members can get bonuses to die rolls, so everyone profits from the high trust as long as the team works together, but when someone betrays another team member the traitor receives a bonus based on how much they were trusted. Therefore, let’s say there is another PC, one Major Digby Bassett-Wright.

Name: Dmitry Petrovich

Nationality: USSR

Occupation: Soviet Red Army Medic

Background: Grew up in a kolkhoz in western Russian Socialist Soviet Republic. Wanted to study to become a doctor. As the war began he was drafted into the Red Army, given a basic education as a medic, and sent away to the front. 

Draw: Petrovich was the sole survivor of an incident during the last weeks of the war in Europe when soviet troops entering Berlin were attacked by a strange luminescent inhuman entity. Because of this experience, he was considered qualified for this mission.

Attributes: Action 2, Influence 2, Reason 4

Traits: Cool and steady under stress (+), Perceptive (+), Accurate marksman (+), Brusque manners (-), Perhaps too curious about all things scientific (-)

Hidden agendas, National: Secure any research data concerning enhancing the performance of the human organism.

Hidden agendas, Personal: Find out what happened to his friend Alexei Mikhailov who went missing during that encounter with the inhuman entity.

Languages: Russian, German

Trust & Opinions: Major Digby Bassett-Wright, British imperialist, stiff-backed and with an air of superiority. My trust: 2, Their trust: 1.

Equipment: Uniform, id-papers, pistol, medic kit.

This post-apocalyptic game exploded upon the rpg scene in 2010 and almost entirely swept away the indie / story games of the previous decade in a deluge of powered-by-the-apocalypse-games and has had lots of influence on mainstream game design. 

To create a character, I choose one of the “playbooks” provided in the rules. This gives me an archetype and lets me choose some details to make it my own. No one who knows me would be surprised that I chose the Brainer, the strange weirdo afflicted with psychic powers. I choose one string of stats, two moves particular to brainers, and a packet of gear.

Few AW PCs are entirely nice, but I think Burroughs here might be something of an unrepentant creep. Will they manage to salvage a scrap of humanity, or will they turn out to be a monster who only values the autonomy of others as a prize to conquer? We’ll have to play to find out!

Name: Burroughs

Playbook: Brainer

Look: Thin and frail to the point of skeletal, white as porcelain, entirely devoid of hair, wrapped in tattered robes. Has a strangely childlike voice.

Stats: Cool+1, Hard-2, Hot-1, Sharp+2, Weird+2

Brainer moves: Unnatural lust transfixion, In-brain puppet strings.

Gear: silenced 9mm (2-harm close hi-tech), violation glove (hand hi-tech), receptivity drugs (tag hi-tech), stab proof vest (1-armor), oddments worth 5-barter

The classic science fiction rpg, inspired by such SF stories as the Dumarest series by EC Tubbs and Space Viking by H Beam Piper. I’m using the original rules from 1977.

Step one is to generate characteristics by rolling 2d6 for each. Dexterity and Endurance are ok, but whoever this is does not have much else going for them. Step two is the fun part, the minigame of trying to enlist in (and survive!) the six services (Navy, Marines, Army, Scouts, Merchants, or Other) to acquire skills and experience. 

Term 1: Thanks to their above-average Dex and End, the PC manages to enlist in the Army. By sheer luck, they not only survive the first four-year term but get a commission, and even manage to be promoted – now they’re a Captain! But, after this explosive start, they do not get reenlisted and their career with the army ends here. I get four rolls on the acquired skills tables and receive +1 Dex, Blade Cbt Sword, Mechanical, +1 Edu. When mustering out of service I get two rolls and choose to roll once on each table, which gives me a Middle Passage travel allowance and 2000 in cash. Captain Mikhaal Voronov is ready to chase his fortune among the stars!

Name: Captain Mikhaal Voronov

Age: 22

Characteristics: Strength 4, Dexterity 10, Endurance 8, Intelligence 5, Education 6, Social Standing 4

Skills: Blade Cbt Sword-1, Mechanical-1, Rifle-1, SMG-1

Equipment: 2000 CR, Middle Passage, Sword

In this strange little game, the player characters are insectoid beings called sarcophagi, who have ended up in a place called the Silhouette Rouge, which superficially looks like a grand old mansion. But if anything is certain in this game, it is that nothing is quite what it seems. What is the true nature of the PCs? What is this strange world that they find themselves in? 

To create my sarcophagi (that is how this word appears in singular in the rule book), I choose one insectoid feature as a birthright (I select mandibles). Then I divide 9 points among the traits (they each begin at 1 and can not go higher than 5). Next, I choose which one of the three kinds of principles (time, unity, and heart) I start at the oracle level. I chose heart, which lets me spy on and manipulate the thoughts and emotions of others. And there they are, a newborn sarcophagi! Suitably enough, this PC is still very much an enigma. The Silhouette Rouge beckons!

Traits

Awareness: 2

Violence: 3

Activity: 3

Wisdom: 1

Personality: 1

Chitin: 2

Metamorphosis: 2

Communion: 2

Rapport: 2

Birthrights

Mandibles: A pair of serrated mandibles protruding from the jaw of the sarcophagi, used to rend flesh.

Enlightenment: 0

Salubrity: 20

Principles

Heart: 1 (oracle)

In this game, the world seems just like our own, but you and a small network of people like you, have noticed how objects are being exchanged by some unknown nefarious power. Superficially, the replaced ones look just like the originals, but you can tell they are fake. And it’s not just things that are being replaced, it’s people too, even your coworkers, friends, and families! 

In ER, characters are defined by four categories of traits: Physical attributes, Mental attributes, Occupations, and Advantages. When creating a PC, the player chooses which category of traits should be priority no 1, 2, 3, or 4. This determines the number of points to allocate, or skills or possessions to select, in the respective category. I choose to make Physical priority no 1, Mental no 2, Occupation no 3, and Advantages no 4.

Name: Pierre Dauvé

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Mask: Simple white oval with slits for eyes.

Personal info: Pierre grew up in a working-class family in Montreal. As a teenager, he dropped out of school and began doing small crime. It turned out that he was quite gifted at burglary, so he left home and lived with friends or as a squatter. The excitement and freedom of his outlaw lifestyle always seemed preferable to being ground down by long hours and low wages like his parents. Then one early morning, as Pierre returned to the temporary quarters he shared with some friends, he was faced with the obvious mockery that claimed to be his girlfriend, Monique. Despite his protestations, his friends could not see that there was anything wrong with the hideous simulacrum that had replaced his girl. Pierre left and did not return. He still fears meeting the mock girl again, and can not let go of the question as to what happened with the real Monique.

Physical

Coordination: 3

Agility: 4

Strength: 3

Endurance: 3

Mental 

Knowledge: 2

Intelligence: 2

Awareness: 4

Will: 3

Psychological states

Violence: 2

Paranoia: 3

Immorality: 4

Mental imbalance: 3

Impairments: Apathy (indifferent to the needs of others)

Tragedy points: –

Damage points: 20

Occupations: Burglar 5 (breaking & entering, stealth, street smarts, contacts: criminals)

Aptitudes: –

Trivial skills: Poker 3, Photography 2

Extracurricular skills: Firearms 1

Weaponry: Crowbar (wm 10, replica)

Equipment: tools