pleasedRather than run Universe last night, since I'll be starting up the SkyRealms of Jorune game next week, I thought I would give them a treat and introduce them to the new system I've added to the repertoire - Mutant City Blues.
Mutant City Blues (hereafter referred to as MCB, is a roleplaying game in the Gumshoe line of games published by Pelgrane Press that can be summed up as "CSI and other criminal investigation and cop shows meets superhero gaming" (somewhat simplistic, but in a nutshell). It's more than that of course, but that's the way I hyped it to my two gaming groups, and that worked. The Friday night gaming group was intrigued enough to get together and create characters last night, and they did so. I should note that while the print version of MCB is now available, I haven't received my copy yet, and so used the PDF of the game that I got as part of the purchase of the paper version. Really looking forward to the paper version of the game, for sure.
The game system is really easy to work with, as the Gumshoe system is simple in design and style, focusing more on investigative action and the like, although it is flexible enough to do all sorts of stuff (as the two previous games in the line, The Esoterrorists and Trail of Cthulhu, illustrate). Super-powers in this game don't work along the lines of the four-colour comics, having an internal logic all their own that fits the worldview of MCB, and the players last night really appreciated this. The players created characters as follows:
Kathy created Felicity Clarke, who has Armour, Blade Immunity, and Entangling Hair, but also has the defect of Scleroderma.
SteveB created Angelo Manullo, who has Regeneration, Strength, and Limb Extension.
Nick created Serge Valcour, who has X-Ray Vision, Light Control, and Light Blast.
Tom created Harrison "Harry" Wilson, who has Lightning Decisions, Threat Calculus, and Read Minds, but has the defect of Erotomania.
Joanne, who had never done anything in the super-hero rpg vein before, came up with Nora Wainton, with Regeneration, Toxin Immunity (Inhaled), and Toxin Immunity (Ingested).
A truly interesting mix of characters, and one that I am looking forward to seeing in action down the road. I may allow them to alter their character generation numbers slightly, once I get my hands on the paper edition of Mutant City Blues, but for now the I am pretty content with how the player characters turned out. Neat stuff. And I like the game more than I did before. I ran the player characters they created through an introductory sequence where they met the various people in their work environment, and then showed them the game mechanics through a bit of case involving a guy with gills who was found dead of drowning! The expressions on the faces of the players was...stellar! :)
After gaming, the group sat down for it's weekly dose of film noir, this time with the interesting Christmas Holiday, a 1944 movie directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Deanna Durbin, Gene Kelly, and Gale Sondergaard. The movie has little to suggest it is Christmas time, other than an extended scene which takes place at midnight mass, instead being two stories of lost love and final redemption woven together in a noir drama under the masterful direction of Robert Siodmak. The Friday night gamers liked the movie quite a bit, and felt the ending fit the whole picture, although they felt it was a bit schmaltzy in the final moments. All I will add to this is that both Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly played roles that were very different from the stuff they had been associated with prior, and it shocked both Kathy and Joanne (who are fans of KellY) to see him in this role.
Good stuff, and an entertaining evening.