September 17, 2015
Second Meeting: Thursday, 17 September 2015
Agenda: Fiasco Session
Originally, I was pushing for a Jack the Ripper playset, but we agreed that a Paris Exhibition of 1889 playset had more possibilities. Sure, it meant we'd be likely to go more comedic, but that was a feature.
Liesl's Player created the playset, having a lot of experience doing this for Postmodern Masks of Nyarlathotep and Masks of the Liar. While discussing tweaks to it via email, she allowed as how it was a bit challenging to do a Fiasco set when the PCs had already been created and when the NPC I planned to play, a Lucy Westenra figure, was only 14 years old.
This got me thinking. There are actually two possible kickoff points for the 1894 leg of the campaign. One is Lucy taking ill. The other is Jonathan Harker turning up in Budapesth, suffering from a great shock. Really, I could use either one, and given that we already know that, for the purposes of our run, Stoker fictionalized a lot more than we'd originally assumed, either character could be older or younger or of a different gender or social class.
So, I stepped back and said that I wasn't going to decide who I was playing until after the relationships had been created. That way, the players had a much freer hand, which is what we want for this campaign. We added 8 dice so that each PC would have a relationship with my character, whoever that turned out to be, but we didn't add any more dice, so some relationships would not have an object or a need or a location attached. I also did my best not to be the one defining that character's relationships.
The PCs were:
Liesl Rosenzweig: Middle Class Jewish Austrio-Hungarian doctor, a neurologist with an interest in psychology. 21 in 1889. Liesl's Player also played Buffalo Bill, Lord Edgar Renfield, and one or two other people.
Lady Roxana Maria Renfield: The third of four daughters of a high society family. She has two brothers. 33 in 1889, and married.
Herman August Sager: An actual historic figure, a chemist who created a clay and glaze formula. Middle class. 48 in 1889.
The Honorable Sebastian Wimsey: An upper class consulting detective. 22 in 1889. This eccentric nobleman is the person on whom Doyle's Sherlock Holmes was based. Sebastian's Player is taking to heart the line from early first season Elementary, where a modern (female) Watson notes that Holmes is wrong as often as he is right, and is drawing on Dorothy Sayers's Peter Wimsey as well.
The relationships between the PCs were:
Sebastian-Liesl: Relationship: Professional: In the Same Academic Society. Object: Illicit: "Hey buddy, you wanna buy a genuine Manet?"
Liesl-Herman: Relationship: Friendship: Met at a Spa
Herman-Roxana: Relationship: L'Amour: Brother from another father, sister from another mister. Location: Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show: Fleeing a runaway buffalo!. While Liesl's Player intended this to be more of a kindred souls relationship than an actual biological one, we decided that it would be interesting to make it a biological one that the half-siblings had only recently discovered. Roxana's father had made a confession to her, saying he could not live with keeping it a secret any longer!
Roxana-Sebastian: Relationship: Travelers: On the Grand Tour. Need: To feel good by: Buying a genuinely beautiful painting. Roxana, her husband, and Sebastian were traveling together -- ah, the Grand Tour! The Need was defined after the Object linking Sebastian and Liesl, as we decided to go with the Art theme.
The relationships with Immanuel Hildescheim were:
Lisel-Immanuel: Relationship: Friendship: Cousins, distant / kissing. Object: Aristocratic: A box at the Opera with a mysterious guest. Hm, I see we forgot about the Mysterious Guest in play, unless one counts the Opera Ghost.
Herman-Immanuel: Relationship: Academic: Art Critics.
Roxanna-Immanuel: Relationship: Wanderjahr in Paris: Correspondents from the same magazine, on the side..
Sebastian-Immanuel: Professional: Co-authors of a technical paper.
I didn't actually name the character until after the relationships were defined. Related to Liesl, co-authoring a technical paper, an art critic, and corresponding via a magazine? This felt closer to a Jonathan Harker than to a Lucy Westenra to me, but it didn't feel like a British Solicitor. I started flipping through the pdf of the Director's Handbook, looking at the names of the various NPCs detailed, without taking in the descriptions until after the session. I wanted to make a quick choice, and I decided to keep the character Jewish, rather than have him be a convert. I liked the sound of "Immanuel Hildescheim", so that's who the character became.
I hadn't intended him to become a con man. I hadn't even thought of him as particularly Bohemian, or even necessarily native to Paris. Well, he probably wasn't native to Paris, and Bohemian is a matter of opinion. But, he definitely had a bit of the con man nature, more so than even his player knew until the very end. But, family was impotant to him, and Liesl was family. He'd pointed her at someone with a Manet to sell so that she could give it to Sebastian to give to Roxana.
Liesl brought the painting to Sebastian, who was teaching. But, Sebastian was not convinced that this was a genuine Manet!
Sebastian: These pigments are from the south of France. Here -- smell the paint.
Lisel: You'll forgive me if I don't smell the painting. But, I'm intrigued. Do you mind if I make some notes?
But, fascinating though she found painting-sniffing Sebastian, she wanted to be reimbursed for the 750 francs she'd paid for the painting on his behalf (on Roxana's behalf). This was no small sum of money for her!
Sebastian didn't want to pay that much if it were not truly a Manet. Liesl knew a man, Herr Herman Sager (Herr? Herr Professor?), a fine chemist who could give a professional opinion on the matter of pigments. Sebastian agreed to go with her to the chemist.
Sebastian: In the meantime, I will keep my francs to myself.
Liesl: So I am out 750 francs?
Sebastian: We will see.
-- -- --
The next scene started out as the first in person meeting between Herman and Roxana, but turned into, appropriately, a scene of the two half-siblings corresponding with each other. They arranged to meet in person at the Paris Exhibition, at the Wild West Show in the American Pavilion. Herman said that he would wear a top hat and a white carnation.
Sensing disaster, Roxana noted that practically every gentleman at the Paris Exhibition would be wearing such a hat and such a flower, and urged Herman to choose apparel more likely to stand out.
Herman wrote:
I have three hats. They look like this. [Sketches of three hats.] The flowers that currently bloom look like this. [Sketches of flowers.] I would be honored if you would pick them out. In friendship and family, Herman Sager
Roxana sent back his letter, having circled her choice of hat and flower. Delighted, or perhaps merely relieved, Herman collected the corresponding hat and bloom.
Roxana's player explained that Roxana was played by Rachel Weiss, and her husband, Lord Earnest Renfield, was played by a young(er than he is now) Patrick Stewart.
-- -- --
Roxana's half brother was not her only correspondent. She also had a spirited debate via correspondence with Immanuel. She was a staunch anti-materialist, convinced of the reality of the spiritual world. Immanuel was very much a materialist. He convinced her that they should meet in Paris to continue their debate in person. Knowing that she was rich, he convinced her to let him reserve a box at the Opera House. She and her husband would go, of course, as would Sebastian, naturally. Immanuel planned to bring his cousin, Liesl. (And, we were pretty sure we could find a way to get Herman there if need be.)
-- -- --
Sebastian and Liesl went to see Herman. Liesl was talking about her theories.
Liesl: There are pharmaceutical solutions to many mental illnesses. Of course, Dr. Freud disagrees.
Sebastian: Do you have any evidence of your theories?
Liesl: Well, obviously, chemical experiment is required...
She explained to Herman what they needed from him.
Herman: Manet? That hack!
Still, he looked over the painting. He agreed with Sebastian that the pigments in question did indeed come from a different part of France, but that did not disprove that Manet had made the painting.
Herman: They travel very well -- perhaps he ordered them?
Sebastian: The blue, perhaps. But, then, why did he use that _brown_?
In other words, why use a local brown that could be improved upon if one is ordering one's supplies to be delivered from a distance anyway?
Liesl: So, now you're an expert on painting?
Sebastian No, on dirt!
Herman suggested asking Manet himself.
Liesl: He is unfortunately dead.
Herman: The other way is to compare it to his other paintings.
-- -- --
Immanuel, meanwhile, arranged for the box at the Opera House, and told Liesl about it. She, however, was more concerned about being reimbursed for her expenses. Herman and Sebastian -- and possibly Roxana as well, depending on who was in the scene -- recognized that Lisl's cousin was their correspondent, fellow art critic, and co-author. The paper he'd collaborated on with Sebastian was about certain rare earths found in particular cemeteries.
Everyone agreed to meet at the Renfields' box at the Opera House that evening.
And, that, I think, was one full round of Fiasco, and one half of Act One.
-- -- --
By now, the painting had been left in Immanuel's care, and he himself had been left at the Opera House.
Liesl and Sebastian were arguing. If I read my notes correctly:
Sebaastian:: How can it get torn?
Liesl: My cousin is not _completely_ honest
I forget exactly what they were talking about. They went down to the Wild West Show, where the barker was talking about how one could get an Insight into Primitive Man by looking at how the American Indians lived. (And indeed, as we acknowledged with more than a bit of a shudder, there was even a "Negro Village" at the exhibition, designed to show yet more Primitive Man.
Sebastian: The usher is not an African. He is disguised as one. I wonder why.
Liesl: Either you're the most brilliant man I've ever met or you're completely delusional. Either way, I want to know more.
Alas, whatever she learned did not reach the audience. So, presumably, the disguise was merely for atmospheric effects.
-- -- --
Herman and Roxana managed to meet at the Wild West Show, as planned. Liesl and Sebastian walked by in the background, still arguing.
Liesl: So, now you're an expert on trains?
Herman: How is your father -- er -- my father -- er -- _our_ father Oh dear.
Lady Renfield: Would you like coffee?
Liesl's Player Pretending to be Herman: I'm German -- our country is based on this and beer
But, clearly, the important question of the scene was: How does the bison get out of control?
Perhaps, I suggested, Roxana's husband had given her a perfume that had some kind of scent that attracted buffalo? Folks agreed that this was amusing, although they didn't think the idea that Lord Renfield had some secret ill intent toward his wife made sense. No, there was another explanation, which was revealed later.
The buffalo charged for the front of the audience, where Roxana was. Herman boldly jumped in front of his half-sister!
But, at the last moment, Buffalo Bill shot the animal dead, and it fell in front of the half siblings. ('Twas not bullets killed the beast. 'Twas beauty killed the beast.)
Buffalo Bill then gave orders which may have been misunderstood. I, and hence the person he barked them out to, though they were to take the half siblings on a complimentary tour of the sideshow. He may have meant to return the money for the main show and charge them admission as usual for the sideshow. But he was adamant that they should be taken to see the geeks.
-- -- --
Sebastian joined Roxana and Herman at the sideshow. Buffalo Bill was there as well, and he introduced folks to Sitting Bull.
Sitting Bull (raising a hand in greeting): How.
Buffalo Bill (sotto voce and quite accurately): You're laying it on thick.
Sebastian launched into a discussion of the painting without preamble.
Roxana: Sebastian, Sebastian! Be polite and introduce yourself to my friend.
Any introductions needed were made, and Sebastian returned to telling Roxana about the painting.
Sebastian: Its provenance is something mysterious, but it's very beautiful.
Herman: It is not beautiful. (realizing, looking at Roxana) Oh -- it's for you?
Roxana wanted to see the painting for herself.
Sebastian: You can't see it for I do not _have_ it right now. We left it with a Jew.
Buffalo Bill: Do you think that's wise? Though I do have a few in my employ.
And somehow, the topic strayed to dirt, particularly "common _grave_ dirt".
Sebastian (to Roxana): It may surprise you, but some very unscrupulous people have dug things up
Just then, Roxana's husband arrived.
Lord Earnest Renfield: Darling! I have the best news! I just bought a Manet!
-- -- --
Sebastian went to the Opera House and asked after the painting.
Immanuel: It is right -- there--?
He pointed, staring in apparent astonishment, for the painting was gone!
Sebastian questioned Immanuel, who insisted that he had been there since taking custody of the painting, and that many people of the opera company had been in and out of the area all day.
On hearing that Lord Renfield had bought a Manet, Immanuel assumed it was the same painting. Well, all's well that ends well, so all Sebastian need do was pay Liesl the 750 francs. Sebastian demurred. Immanuel was annoyed -- after all, his cousin had shelled out a great deal of money on Sebastian's behalf!
Immanuel: You should not be buying Manets!
Sebastian: You should not be _losing_ Manets in your keeping!
-- -- --
Immanuel gave a tour of the Opera House to Roxana, who hoped to meet the Opera Ghost. Alas, Sebastian came along and debinked the fake signs of a ghost that Immanuel provided. But, this did not dismay Immanuel, who used Sebastianls revelations to prove his materialist point: There wee no such things as ghosts. A disappointed Roxana told them about some trick involving an orange tree.
-- -- --
At this point, I think, we had The Tilt, chosen be Herman's and Roxana's players, iirc.
The Tilt Deception: A joke takes on a life of its own Violence: The SHOWDOWN
-- -- --
Outside the Opera Box, Liesl had a furious conversation with Immanuel, in Yiddish.
Liesl: What do you mean it was stolen?!
Immanuel told her that Sebastian should still pay her the 750 francs. Otherwise, he would take Sebastian to court!
Liesl: _You_ want to take _him_ to court? In France? Does the word Dreyfus mean anything to you?
(As the Dreyfus Affair wasn't until 1894, she probably said something different.)
Immanuel changed tactics. Sebastian considered himself an expert in so much?
Immanuel: Ask him to find the thief!
Liesl: That's brilliant! How did this possibly come from you?
Immanuel: Cousin, cousin! You underestimate my brilliance a great deal!
Liesl: That is entirely possible.
Immanuel: ...Wait a minute!
-- -- --
Herman talked with Roxana about the Opera Ghost. Perhaps it hid in the catacombs? Were there catacombs beneath the Opera House? Perhaps Immanuel would know!
Roxana: Do you think he'll give us a straight answer?
Herman: It'll take both of us. We'll have to press him.
(I have no idea why everyone was so convinced of Immanuel's dishonesty!)
Immanuel provided them with a map of the Opera House and the catacombs beneath it.
-- -- --
Everyone met in the opera box that evening. Herman was bored by the opera, so he left at Intermission to poke around alone in catacombs with lantern...
When his absence was noted, the others went down to the catacombs to search for him.
Roxana: Is anyone remotely qualified to take the lead?
Everyone looked at Sebastian.
Sebastian: Well, I have explored catacombs before. Just not in Paris.
-- -- --
Sebastian rook the lead and led them to an unconscious Herman. Liesl revived him. He described being overcome by some mysterious figure.
(My notes say something incomprehensible about "As hope -- in the dark -- but my light illuminated".)
Sebastian: Follow me!
He led them to a place where two crates were stored.
Sebastian: It's obvious that the stage manager is the Opera Ghost!
Originally, there had been three crates. Roxana reached for one, and her husband fetched it down. It was filled with fake Manets!
Sebastian continued to explain what was going on, oblivious to what was going on behind him, despite the efforts of the others to draw his attention to it
Herman: Mr. Wimsey -- I think there's a flaw in your chain of reasoning...
For behind Sebastian appeared the Opera Ghost!
-- -- --
The ghost having eluded them in the dark, folks went to the office of the stage manager. Sebastian made his accusation. Somehow, the stage manager and Herman got into a fight and started punching each other. Herman wanted revenge for the attack he suffered in the catac8mbs, I guess?
-- -- --
And we cut to the next scene, where Liesl was once again trearing Herman.
Liesl: Why did you attack him? He's twice your size! What are you, an expert in fisticuffs?
Sebastian (standing over unconscious stage manager): Fortunately, I could get into position.
Liesl: _He's_ an expert in fisticuffs.
As the stage manager awoke, she hypnotized him to forget the attack on him, the invasion of his catacombs, and perhaps even his being the Opera Ghost and the fake Manets.
-- --- --
As we were now in the last half of act two, we did a quick run down of loose ends.
The Phantom of the Opera was the Stage Manager, who was doing this to move fake Manets.
- Who provided the painting Liesl had purchased?
- Who had stolen the painting?
- Was Sebastian correct that it was not a Manet?
- And what of the Manet Lord Edgar Renfield had purchased?
-- -- --
And one more question Herman decided to settle. He confronted Buffalo Bill about the musk that set off the bison, certain that it had been a set up by Buffalo Bill for dramatic purposes. Buffalo Bill did not take kindly to the accusation.
Buffalo Bill: Well, I've met a few Germans in my time --
Herman: Well, I haven't met any Americans before and already I don't like them!
Buffalo Bill suggested they take things outside. Herman, despite having already lost one fight that evening, was prepared for fisticuffs.
Buffalo Bill: Who said anything about fisticuffs? Annie, get your gun!
Yeah, we all knew that line was coming.
Sebastian's Player (as one of Buffalo Bill's men): Boss! Boss! What's he got under the table? Look, it's a bomb!
Buffalo Bill (to Herman): You're crazy! Get that man a drink!
This was done, and Buffalo Bill eyed Herman with new respect.
Buffalo Bill: You know, I need a pyrotechnician for my show. Would you mind going to Italy for a few months?
-- -- --
Roxana, Liesl, and Sebastian went to see the Manet Lord Edgar Renfield had bought.
Liesl: That's not a Manet. That's by that guy Vincent -- he just slapped the paint on!
Sebastian: Well, it is reminiscent of --
Roxana: I think it's lovely!
-- -- --
Roxana (to Liesl): So, what happened to the _Manet_ you tried to sell me?
We agreed that there would be a montage of Sebastian figuring that out, as we were nearly at the end of the act.
Sebastian: That model -- she painted it as a joke.
He led the others to the apartment of Victorine Meurent, played by Liesl's Player. She let them in and listened to Sebastian's theory.
Sebastian: What I have to wonder is: why did you take it back?
Victorine: That's very interesting. How did you know that?
Naturally, Sebastian explained.
Victorine: Do you care to know what it is to be the most famous naked woman in France?
Sebastian: I confess I have not the pleasure.
She explained that Edouard Manet had encouraged her to paint -- until she had done so, whereupon he made her stop. He told her that he had hidden or destroyed the painting she had made of herself in his style. But, after his death, the painting was discovered, not hidden, not in a back room, but prominently on display, as if it had sentimental value to him and as if he respected the artist.
She had made other, not as good, fake Manets, as she needed the money, and had agreed to Immanuel's scheme of selling the better work. But, she had felt sentimental about it and taken it back.
Thus was, of course, the first I knew that Immanuel was indeed in on the fake business. I am not sure he expected her to reclaim the painting, but, from his point if view, the only real problem was that Liesl, not Sebastian, was out the 750 francs.
Roxana decided that, while the faux Manet was interesting, it belonged where it was, and she herself was happy with her beautiful painting by that Van Gogh fellow.
-- -- --
Immanuel gave Liesl 750 francs, to her pleased surprise. He explained that he had a new job, and that he had convinced his employers to pay him in advance.
Liesl: They paid you in advance, and you're still doing the job?
Immanuel, perhaps a touch nervously, allowed as how he was.
Liesl: Perhaps you are turning over a new leaf. Father will be pleased. What sort of job is thus?
Immanuel: Ah... it involves travel. A great deal of travel.
Liesl: Well, where can I send letters to you?
And, while we faded out there, it is not impossible that, at some point, a letter sent to Budapest might find Immanuel.
-- -- --
Finally, we rolled the dice for a very quick resolution, using the Very Soft endings chart created by Liesl's player for Fiasco sets done at the beginning or in the middle of an ongoing campaign. We also rolled astonishingly high on the whole.
Immanuel Hildescheim: 10 Black: Lucky Bastard: Yes, well, he had a new, lucrative job, and would no doubt show up in Budapest, traumatized after a trip to a certain nobleman...
Liesl: 5 White: Promising: She had her money back, and a fine case study or two to discusswith her colleague, Dr. Freud.
Herman: 10 Black: Lucky Bastard: Herman joined Buffalo Bill's Traveling Sideshow. He may have visited the Americas, and may well have learned a lot of folklore, perhaps some a little too first hand.
Roxana: 10 White: Astonishing: Roxana had a lovely painting, a new half brother, a kind husband, and a number of interesting people with whom to correspond. The only thing she lacked was a spiritual or supernatural encounter. Too intelligent to be easily conned, Roxana nevertheless wanted, very much, to believe.
Sebastian: 5 Black: Encouraging: He had been right about the painting, after all.
