A New York Mob Story
GenCon 2004 DemoFor
this demo we established that the story would be a conspiracy involving
the mayor of New York, the New York Mob, Sicilians, Indonesian Gangsters,
and a prominent New York family.
The first scene opens at a wedding
reception. Christina Wheatley has just married Joseph Radford.
Both the Wheatleys and the Radfords are important players in New
York politics and the Mayor is there to woo their support for his
upcoming campaign. This campaign looks to be hotly contested as the
mayor's primary opponent has been questioning his track record on crime.
Those questions are hitting a little too close to home as the mayor has
long been in bed with the NY mob.
Now both the mayor and the mob are feeling
the pressure. A new syndicate of Indonesian gangsters are pushing
into the city using violence and killing sprees to carve themselves out a
territory. This is not good either for mayor's election or the NY
families. Of course, the mayor is well aware that many of his
opponent's campaign contributions can be traced back to Indonesian
sources. Not coincidentally, the mayor is introduced to a Sicilian
gentleman, a guest of the Radford's. The mayor knows him to be
connected. He gets the impression the Radfords know it too.
At the reception the mayor is attempting
to win the campaign support of matriarch Julia Wheatley with charm, flattery, and
expensive wedding gifts; but Julia is too distracted to notice. She
seems nervous, even anxious, and not the sort of nervousness normally
associated with the mother of a bride.
The groom, Joseph Radford, seems similarly
distracted, although he is not apparently aware of his new mother-in-law's
anxiety. He has eyes only for Christina who seems to go out of
her way to avoid any contact or intimacy with Joseph.
The second scene opens the next morning
in the mayor's office. We see him pacing impatiently in front of his
desk talking animatedly on the phone with a man named Tony; who we gather
from the conversation must be mobster. We hear the Mayor explain
that the bride and groom never made it to their hotel following the
reception last night. He suspects they've been kidnapped by the
Indonesian gang in order to pressure the Wheatleys and Radfords to
withdraw their support from him. Tony knows that the organized crime
business his family runs in New York has benefited greatly from having a
friend in the mayor's office and knows that the mayor's opponent's tough
stance on crime will just be an excuse to break the New York families down
enough to let his foreign backers take over. They agree that Tony
has to find the socialites and get them back.
The scene shifts to a seedy pub which Tony
knows has connections to the Indonesians. He and his muscle are all
set to pressure the owner but they don't need to. The owner hands
them a letter with instructions and a photograph of Christina holding
today's Times. Unnoticed by Tony at the time, but caught by the
camera, we can see a crumpled towel in the corner of the picture.
The towel has the monogram of the Ritz Carlton hotel.
The scene shifts again to a hotel room at
the Ritz Carlton. We see Christina there. She runs into the
embrace of a young Indonesian man. We hear her confessing her love
to him as sunlight glints off of Joseph Radford's enormous engagement
ring.
Featured Effect, Guiding Tenets:
It generally takes some time for players to grasp the nuances of
Universalis play. Early on Tenets tend to be very broad genre or
flavor statements like "High Fantasy" or "the
Occult". This provides a lot of flexibility and a quick and
easy springboard to get started with play, but it also typically results
in a fairly eclectic mix of characters and events and locations mixing
together in the game.
As players get more experienced I've
noticed they tend to use Tenets differently, not just to establish broad
parameters but also to provide solid elements of plot direction.
This tends to provide a more tightly fitting narrative. It was
interesting for me to notice the players in this game grasp that idea
almost immediately.
The first Tenets included some pretty broad
features like "Modern Day", and "Involves a
Conspiracy". But later Tenets added some much more focused
story elements like "The Indonesian Gangsters are backing the mayor's
campaign opponent" and "The story will feature a wealthy NY
family whose support is vital to either candidate in order to win the
election"
Tenets like this serve as a great set of
marching orders for player's to spin off of. There is still plenty
of room for twists and turns (like Christina's Indonesian love interest)
but the player's are much more able to stay on track with the added
guidance.
---Ralph Mazza
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