Maximum Recursion Depth 2, or Sometimes Less is More and Sometimes More is More: Campaign First Play Report (+ Design Notes)!

New Game New Campaign! I will still be playing in a new MRD1 Campaign with the previous group online, being GMed by one of the Players of that campaign, but I'm also running an MRD2 Campaign IRL with a mix of IRL friends and people I've met through the RPG community online (who are now also IRL friends).

I'm not 100% committed to this name, but I'm tentatively thinking it will be:

Maximum Recursion Depth 2, or Sometimes Less is More and Sometimes More is More

Very open to discussion on that.

Anyway, first session was off to a really good start; with what is a partially new system/setting, and a new group, and one of the players having never RPed before, you never know how it will go, but I think we're gelling pretty much immediately. We spent most of the time finishing character creation and going over the system and setting briefly one more time, so we did a bit of RP but I had prepped more for breadth than depth.

So these first few sessions are like a test-run of the scaffolding for what I hope will become the MRD2 Module. I'm definitely making up a lot of the details as I go, and it will surely change for the book, so it shouldn't be too spoiler-y.

Last comment before getting into it; I'm getting my ass kicked at the moment by some work and life stuff so I may be slowing down posting for a while, but I intend to continue this blog, my work on Iconoclastic Flow, and MRD2, just need to take care of some things and also reprioritize a bit.

With that said, some context about MRD2 before diving into the Play Report:

Campaign Introduction

The PCs (I will generally refer to them as The Team) are Nazarites, employed by The Corporation to pursue various Issues on their behalf. They have powers provided by the Nazarite Contract they signed with The Corporation, and they can summon Golem, often mecha but sometimes metaphysical constructs, and solve problems on Earth, the Space Settlements outside Earth orbit, or the metaphysical cosmic ocean Tehom, by opening up Wyrmholes with their Wyrm Shamir symbionts provided by The Corporation.

I realize there's a lot said in that, I'm frontloading so you have some reference, but if you can just go with it for now, if you are willing to put in the moderate effort required to learn about a New World, if you have the capacity and desire to do so, if like me, you enjoy going down internet rabbit holes on fascinating new topics for which you have no frame of reference, clicking hyperlink after hyperlink and enjoy the process of discovery therein, of history or comics or mythology or cuisine or RPGs or whatever else moves you, then come along with me on this ride, it will likely be worth it.

That all said, I'm still considering other ways to better convey the information...

At the start of the Campaign the Players roll on Role Tables (or choose entries if they prefer). As with MRD1, the entries of the Roles don't radically change the Module per se, but they may change how The Team interact with them in unique ways.

The Roles use my Character Formula Design Pattern, and the purpose of the Roles is to fulfill Social Intrigue.

Currently the Roles are The Corporation, The Manager, and The Cyblessed Liaison. The other entries that aren't chosen for each Role can be used for e.g. The Rival Corporation, or other NPCs, etc.

The Corporation

The Corporation Role does have one mechanical effect; each Corporation comes with three words and each PC can take any one word at a time as a bonus Mod for their Golem Gear. The Team can attempt to leave the Corporation over the course of the campaign, but it should be difficult and weighty to do so; among my intentions for the game is for Players (not just The Team) to confront the complexity (moral and otherwise) of the modern world, and how to do good in the world in a way that isn't just wish fulfillment of some radical lifestyle that most of us will realistically never lead.

The Players chose:

RegeXperience: “Live for the RegeXperience”. Childishly edgy experimental entertainment and defense company that doesn’t want the world to know what’s really behind their algorithm. EXPERIENCE, ALGORITHM, ENTERTAINMENT

The Manager

The Manager Role is meant to be a Handler. A Handler is an NPC that can provide PCs some context, give them leads, give them a reliable point of interaction; basically a way to kickstart things, keep the ball rolling, or smooth over rough edges. In my MRD1 Campaign the Players quickly abandoned their Handler, and other NPCs ended up serving that Role to varying degrees over the course of the campaign, but I still like having one. Especially in a Weird setting, a Handler can be a really useful way to give information to the Players that isn't just big exposition dumps. The GM can have The Manager come along with The Team, but I think it's better if they're a resource that can be called in as needed or that checks in periodically, rather than a GMPC.

The Players chose:

Baz Beetz: Infectiously enthusiastic “artiste” and true believer in the company mission who is as profound as nonsensical.

I additionally described him as being like Werner Herzog or Andy Warhol or Bob Dylan.

The Cyblessed Liaison

I've previously used the Cold War as an analogy for the Campaign Setup; not because I have anything really to say about the Cold War per se, but it is a useful framing device for the themes of the setting. The Corporations are to The Cyblessed as the Banana Republics were to the US and US Corporations. The Cyblessed are Weird cybernetic "aliens" from Tehom with beams of light, holographic encoded messages, for heads. If The Corporation is The Team's overlord, then The Cyblessed Liaison is The Corporation's overlord. The Cyblessed Liaison is like The Manager, another kind of Specialist. The Team will encounter The Cyblessed Liaison when shit hits the fan.

Each entry in The Cyblessed Liaison Role Table has a word, sentence, phrase, or symbol for a name, representing the holographic encoded message in their beam of light for a head.

The Players chose:

“Tastes like eating out the ass-end of human progress.”: Like a cheap flaccid little candle dripping wax down an otherwise glorious cake wearing a tacky suit reminiscent of a 1980’s faux-wood-paneled station wagon.

Issues, Escalations, and Hotspots

The intended gameplay loop of the Module, and the onset of this Campaign, is that The Team has a job board from which they can pursue various Issues (basically quests or adventures or whatever). Each Issue includes some leads, including Hotspots (relevant locations on Earth, in Space, or Tehom), NPCs, etc.

They can theoretically work on several Issues simultaneously, but the longer an Issue remains unresolved, the higher its Escalation; in other words, it's a living world and if The Team aren't getting shit done, things move forward regardless, in ways where they'll still have to deal with it in some way or another, eventually.

Play Report

The Team

Ben:

Larry

Nazarite Contract: Fast Lane Fintechnomancer

Golem: Lycaon Strain

Larry's past life was one of public mission in conscious contrarianism to his peers partying with the money of their employers. The brief accolades received from new acquaintances never quite made up for the lack of money and freedom. When he'd ask what others were doing to make the world a better place, they'd stare as if they had never considered the question before. What's the point of caring if no one else does?

Lukas: 

Icarus Tromp

Nazarite Contract: Infrared Ranger

Golem: Chemysterious Cascader

Was an heir to a crime family but betrayed them when his conscience caught up to him. In need of structure and a sense of justice, but without any good frame of reference and few other options, he shortly thereafter accepted the Nazarite Contract with The Corporation.

Huffa

Ernst

Nazarite Contract: Psychonautical Sub-Mariner

Golem: Forgetting Pile - An oozey amorphous Golem collective made of empowered trash and detritus.

An old man who trawls through the unconscious sea gathering the things people forget from their dreams. Sometimes its material that The Corporation deems useful.

Altchester (not present :( )

The Issue

The Team were given two starting Issues (in the Module the intention is to have between 3-6), and they chose to tackle this Issue first:

The Quarterly earnings report is coming up soon, and The Corporation is anomalously underperforming.

• Several brand launches this Quarter were undercut by a previously unknown startup in San Francisco. The Corporation wants The Team to investigate The Startup on the pretense of a buyout.
• The Startup somehow acquired the licensing rights to the old Jingo Jangles cartoon, undercutting The Corporation’s upcoming Tempeh Toons licensed products line, just as the Jingo Jangles Museum is reopening.
• Several other corporations, including The Rival Corporation, have been hit by a similarly bad Quarter. The Cyblessed Liaisons intend to arrange a meeting in neutral territory, Venus City of Tehom.

They decided to investigate in the San Francisco Hotspot first, holding off on the meeting in Venus City, so they were given information on the following Locations relating to this Issue:

The Startup’s Office

Small but stereotypically indulgent startup office in The Mission District. Unassuming from the outside, while impressively dynamic from within, even by the standards of The Corporation. Utilizes an advanced augmented reality system bathing the office in a hazy red light and interspersing pixelated hard holograms.

Jingo Jangles Museum

Once glorious museum in the Design District that had fallen into a sorry state over the decades, newly renovated and receiving a LOT of buzz. Most notably, the mascot workers are purported to be real-to-life cartoons!

Roleplay

The Team were suspicious of The Startup and decided they wanted to investigate the Jingo Jangles Museum first. How did The Startup get the license? What are the real-to-life cartoon mascots?

Larry used his Zip Ribbon Regressor Nazarite Feature as a Fast Lane Fintechnomancer to learn some additional details. For instance, they were able to learn all the basic history about Jingo Jangles on an internet search, but who actually owns Jingo Jangles now? The internet points to a reasonable-sounding corporation, but really that corporation is just a shell of a shell of a shell. While many important details are still unknown, they did learn that the owner is someone or something called Virtual Boy, from Tehom, and that while The Startup might not necessarily know this, they're certainly tied up in it.

There was a long line to get in obviously. I expected them to just try to pull Corporate strings or whatever, maybe call The Manager, but instead, Ernst used his WetOps Nazarite Feature as a Psychonautical Sub-Mariner to get them into the museum.

DESIGN NOTE INTERLUDE

Both Jingo Jangles and Tempeh Toons are entirely made up, sort of analogous to Walt Disney, Merry Melodies / Loony Tunes, or Max Fleischer. They asked some questions about the context, the relationship between Jingo Jangles and The Startup, etc., and I did have some pre-written notes and preconceived ideas, but I mostly just vamped.

Who came up with Jingo Jangles?

Jasper Jangles of course. DWAI (don't worry about it). Connor Goldsmith's favorite phrase for all the nonsense in X-Men continuity that doesn't matter. Off topic, but FYI Cerebro is a great literary analysis podcast of the X-men.

When?
Early 20th century. Around whenever Disney started probably. DWAI.

What happened?

The cartoons fell out of relevance by ~1980s, had a brief revival in the 1990s, finally went bankrupt after that bubble burst, and then recently the property was revived under new corporate ownership. DWAI.

I may want to add some of these details as stuff for the GM, but also I'm going to try to write it in a way where most of it doesn't matter, and only what matters will be provided, and if PCs ask questions, the GM can just vamp or say DWAI.

What's the relationship between The Startup and Jingo Jangles?

It's like how videogame companies license properties- The Startup doesn't own Jingo Jangles and isn't involved with the museum per se, but clearly it's part of a larger coordinated effort.

This question is obviously more important for the game. It was easy to clarify this point, but I was a little surprised that that was not clear in the first place, so I may try to explain that more clearly in the Issue description in the Module.

How big is the museum?

I don't really know SF that well to know what's appropriate, but I described it as being similar in size to the museums in NY, or at most like the Javitz Center which is a conference center. Basically DWAI, you can make it larger or smaller as long as you're consistent.

Why are the real-to-life cartoons a big deal in a setting where much of the Weird stuff is public knowledge?

Think of it like a new iPhone launch. It's still a cool thing and a big deal, but not the same as if real-to-life cartoon mascots actually happened IRL. Then again, people seemed pretty nonchalant about the Tupac hologram or whatever (that was real, right?), so...

This latter question probably should go in the Module as well. This is a really good example of how to think about how to scale Weird things in a Weird setting, keeping in mind that the real-to-life cartoons are just the tip of the iceberg of Weirdness here anyway.

In the Jingo Jangles Museum

The Team realized that the Museum was way over capacity and at risk of a crowd crush or otherwise dangerous situation.

The real-to-life cartoons behaved in-character and followed a similar kind of logic as the cartoons of Who Framed Roger Rabbit or Cool World. There's a kind of syntax or internal logic to their behaviors, and while they were conscious of the crowd, as things got more crowded, there was greater likelihood of an accident.

Among the various real-to-life cartoons present were Harry the Honeybadger and Barrys the Bees (like a Roadrunner / Wiley Coyote situation), Doughboy the WW1 Sailor whose schtick is trying to help people but causing more problems than he fixes, and Monty the Python who had a mock-gameshow from the 90's revival.

The Team decided to mess with Harry the Honeybadger and create havoc, basically to disperse the crowd before things get too dangerous, but also to undermine the Jingo Jangles brand by creating bad press, and so undermining The Startup. Ernst also pocketed some of Barrys the Bees' cartoon honey which Harry the Honeybadger was throwing at them, curious as to its properties, in that it sloughs off easily enough and disappears when no longer relevant, in a classic cartoon logic sort of way.

They succeeded, but coincidentally at the same moment, the whole museum shook, people ran out in a panic, and it became apparent that some grand catastrophe was happening way uptown.

The Team had to decide whether to investigate whatever was happening uptown, or use this opportunity to investigate the Museum while nobody was there, and they chose to stay and investigate the Museum.

The Museum was phasing in and out with a dream-like cartoon-scape, and they could barely see the outlines of an emergency exit, a conspicuous office, and the restrooms. I was definitely vamping a bit, I had prepped breadth and not depth, but it worked out fairly well, but I'll probably redesign this for the Module. Anyway, I know they dealt with Harry the Honeybadger, Barrys the Bees, and Doughboy somehow, but I didn't write notes right afterwards like I should have so I've forgotten some of the particulars. They do a Monty Hall Problem with Monty the Python in order to gain a reward or else have to fight a cartoon goat monster, but anyway they succeeded at that too. I think I gave them a word for this as well (for Golem Mods), or if not I might do that retroactively. They opened the conspicuous office, and it led into a hazy red hologram space, and that's where we called it a wrap on the First Session...

Wrapping Up

So that's a whole lot of stuff, but it was fun! I hope this was an engaging first Play Report and introduction to MRD2, that the setting and structure of the campaign generally make sense and aren't too difficult to follow and seem intriguing.

You may have noticed that they never even used their Golem in this first session, despite the fact that this is nominally described as a "mecha" game. My intention is for a roughly 25:75 split in- vs. out- of Golem, but we'll see how things develop. It's worth exploring further the range of narrative or game possibilities that can exist inside a Golem, I want it to be more than just about fighting, but I also think that the use of the Golem should feel climactic and important, so we'll see. Also, maybe if they had gone uptown and investigated that situation then things would have been different, but that's ok! Both options were viable options, and even if that way may have led to situation requiring their Golem, it's not like there won't be plenty of other opportunities for that later.