Iโve played a ton of Vigil in the past year, but not posted about it much. For those arriving recently, check out my Comics Madness post Is your hate pure? for what itโs all about. More generally, itโs one of my three simultaneous superhero game projects, along with Champions Now and Cosmic Zap. Like them, itโs also based on a prior game rather than an original design, but has become its own thing in my hands.
Now, Vigil was supposed to be a lead show pony for Adept Now, but you havenโt seen any of it. Why is that? Because the sessions were cursed with my learning curve for call and recording and editing tech, so were borked more often than not. But the fact is, the game is well into beta, having benefited from genuinely outstanding playtesters Steve Long and Ram Hull. They are, of course, respectively the fellow who wrote The Book on vigilante superheroes in role-playing, and the fellow who wrote the game Vigil is based on, The Path of Journeys.
We played two โstories,โ or rather, two sets of sessions which each came to a mechanics-based end, set in Raleigh, North Carolina. The first step of play is to identify something about society we really, actually hate, which in this case was the power of ignorance, actually taking pride in knowing nothing about things, about belonging to groups and granting power through shouting slogans.
Steveโs character is Scarecrow, a disgruntled small business owner, whose May Court role is the Priest, โIntrospection vs. Inaction.โ
- Sketch:ย Mask + ordinary clothing, Armed with shortened escrima sticks w/ metal core, Status of โaverage J,โ a working person (Stewart Davidson, freelance baker), Age:ย Adult (32), Power:ย Sleuth.
- Motivations: 1:ย I hunt, 3:ย I want to force Wayne McLawhorn to reform, 5:ย I might want to expose the corruption within the government for ruining my business/life, but I have to face the fact that the government does a lot of good.
- Key Conflict:ย Rage / Regret
As play continued, the Motivations evolved a little bit.
- Motivations: 1:ย I hunt, 2:ย I want to force, 3: ย I want to shame these guys [the college students previously encountered] into behaving better, 3:ย I want to teach the Verdict that the law/society matters, 5:ย I might want to expose the corruption within the government for ruining my business/life, but I have to face the fact that the government does a lot of good.
- He also gained the Motif of the pumpkin face/mask.
Ramโs is The Verdict (a popular name in playtests so far, Iโve noticed), an undead-ish hooligan whose May Court role is the Advocate, โPreparing for conflict vs. Inviting conflict.โ This is the required May Court role for play, which includes an ongoing reflective challenge for the other characters, and who is furthermore required to be significantly better or worse than the other heroes in play, as his or her player sees it.
- Sketchโ โfeatures Mask,โ โnoโ โcostume (โin civilianโ โguise,โ โheโ โlooksโ โlikeโ โaโ โsicklyโ โhomelessโ โyouthโ โandโ โwearsโ โaโ โdiscoloredโ โNCโ โstateโ โhoodie; inโ โsuperheroโ โguise,โ โhisโ โundeadโ โstatusโ โbecomesโ โpalpable.โ โHeโ โwearsโ โaโ โbandanaโ โcoveredโ โinโ โrunes toโ โhideโ โtheโ โworstโ โofโ โhisโ โface). Armed: Non-lethal (โaโ โweatheredโ โbaseballโ โbatโ โwithโ โtheโ โwordsโ โโtheโ โendโ scrawledโ โontoโ โit). Status: Marginalized (Richard True, derelict youth). Age: Young. Power: elemental, โrisenโ โfromโ โtheโ โdead
- Motivations 1:โ โIโ โstrike. 5:โ โIโ โmightโ โwantโ โtoโ โknowโ โtheโ โroleโ โofโ โLazarusโ โinโ โmyโ โdeath,โ โbutโ โIโmโ โafraidโ โofโ โtheโ โtruth. 5:โ โIโ โmightโ โwantโ โtoโ โredeemโ โMattโ โMason; heโs such an asshole but he doesnโt mean it.
- Keyโ โConflictโ:โ โMeaningโ /โ โDespair
These also evolved through play, into:
- Motivations 1:โ โIโ โstrike. 5:โ โIโ โmightโ โwantโ โtoโ โknowโ โtheโ โroleโ โofโ โLazarusโ โinโ โmyโ โdeath,โ โbutโ โIโmโ โafraidโ โofโ โtheโ โtruth. 4:โ โIโ โmightโ โwantโ โtoโ โredeemโ โMattโ โMason. 3:โ โIโ โwantโ โtoโ โconnectโ โwithโ โScarecrow
- ย Motifs โTheโ โEnd,โโ โscrawledโ โontoโ โhisโ โbaseballโ โbat
Itโs fun to see Steve, famous or infamous for bringing two-gun โeat a bullet, punkโ heroes to Champions, playing the more tentative, more โgive the system a chance to workโ character in the face of an ally who is not very far from the original comics version of the Crow.
These sessions led me to a satisfactory point with basic character and resolution mechanics, and opened up the next level of plot, outcome, and rising action to see if those things even happened. In retrospect, itโs perhaps an advantage to me that you canโt see how badly or on-and-off those functioned in the first story, but thatโs the bumpiness that comes with development. (Patrons can see the current drafts as well as the original Path of Journeys, and the latest is behind the wall there now.)
What Iโve presented here is the final session of our first story, which includes a design discussion โhow did we get here, how did it work,โ and then the showdown with the adversary character weโd been developing through play, Lazarus.
ย session 4