Scenario, Missions and Experience Kitty for Codename:Cribbage

Some of this was where I left off my work, with new completed section my work for today.

Basic Play: Scenarios, Missions, and Experience Kitty

Each Session of Disconnect is played by trying to complete a Mission. Corporations are constantly attempting to gain Market advantage by sabotaging new research, stealing technology, blackmailing CEO's, kidnapping scientists, and any other nefarious methodology imagined. Corporations employ Agents to attempt or prevent these plots, and each Session begins with the details of a new Mission.

The objective of a Mission is Narrated by the Game Master to all Players simultaneously, though the objectives of individual Agents may vary. It is up to the Player of an Agent to determine if their Corporation is acting benevolently, protecting the object of the Mission, is a part of the nefarious plot, or just interfering with both sides. This choice by the Player is not a reflection of their Agent. They can, for example, choose to have their Agent employed by a Corporation that acts in nefarious ways, but play an Agent with good intentions that slowly discovers the “Truth” behind their Corporation's actions. Or be an Agent who prefers the nefarious and is frustrated by their Corporation's lack of action and mettle to do what must be done.

A Player's choice of how their Agent's employing Corporation acts and their Agent's relationship to these actions should be an ongoing conversation with the Game Master. In this way both Game Master and Player can work to create a story that is interesting and surprising for all the participants.

To detail the Mission, the Game Master presents 5 – 10 Scenarios. Some, but not all of these Scenarios may actually be used to complete the Mission. Scenarios are somewhat vague and should leave enough room to allow the Players to Narrate interesting details during the Scenario Test. Scenarios have no set order, and none of them should be necessary to complete the Mission. The only exception to this rule is the first Scenario, which is chosen by the Game Master and to set the tone for the Session.

Example Scenarios can be Dr. Stevenson's Laboratory, Race Against Time, Chase Scene, The Lady of the House, and the like. The more ambiguous the description the better, and Scenarios that can be staged or defined in a number of different ways will allow the Players to vie for Narrating Aspects they can Exploit to their advantage.

As each Scenario is played through, the Players roll Tests for their Agents. For every Success rolled on a Test, whether a Scenario Test or a Skill Test, the Player Pegs their Successes out on the Cribbage Board, thus keeping a running total going of their cumulative Successes. The first Player to exceed the End of Mission total obtains the goal of the mission and the wins the final Scenario. The winning Agent's Player narrates the ending of both the Scenario and the Mission, and determines the outcome. They may also, depending on how ambiguous the Mission was described, determine the actual objective of the Mission. This narration should flow naturally from the previous events, with an eye kept out for the unexpected and dramatic.

With the exception of the Final Scenario which is won by the first Player to peg across the End of Mission line, the other Scenarios of the Mission are won as follows. Each Player narrates their Success from the initial Scenario Test, or subsequent Scenario Test if the previous Test were unsuccessful. After a Player has Narrated the last Success from their Scenario Pool, they may either add Successes by making a Solitary Skill Test, or may try to remove Successes from another Player's Scenario Pool by making an Opposed Skill Test. A Scenario is won by the last Player to have Successes left in their Scenario Pool. In other words, Player's vie to remove Successes from the other Players' Scenario Pools while protecting the Successes in their Pool. The winning Agent's Player is the last Player to still have Successes after all other Player's have had their Successes removed from their Scenario Pool.

For each Success removed from a Player's Scenario Pool, a token such as a a poker chip, coin, glass bead, etc... is added to a common pool called the Experience Kitty. The Experience Kitty is reset to zero at the beginning of each Scenario. Players add tokens to it for every Success removed from their Scenario Pool. Each token in the Experience Kitty represents one point of Experience, which can be used to improve an Agent's Skills, learn Special Training, and affect Aspects.

The Player that wins a Scenario collects the Experience Kitty. They Peg on the Cribbage Board a number of holes equal to the amount of tokens in the Experience Kitty. Before adding this number on their Agent's Dossier under Experience though, the other Players have the opportunity to Negotiate a Share.

To Negotiate a Share, the other Players may offer up either an Aspect or a Rating for an Aspect. This Aspect or Rating is for their Agent, and may be a general Aspect or an Aspect of a relationship to he winning Agent. The Aspect offered can be either a new Aspect or an existing Aspect. If it is an existing Aspect, then the offer is to increase its Rating. The winning Agent's Player may accept the offer, and if they do, they complete the offer by providing either a Rating for the offered Aspect, or an Aspect for the offered Rating. If the winning Player is returning the Rating, it cannot be greater then 3 (or increased by more then 3 for affecting an existing Aspect), though the Player is free to determine the Rating otherwise (strength of 2, known by 1 agent, strength of 1 known by 2 agents, or some other iteration for existing Aspects). The Player that is Negotiating a Share can then reject or accept the resulting Aspect with Rating, and has the final say if the new or existing Aspect will be added to their Dossier (and other Agents' Dossiers as applicable).

Once all offers have been made and accepted or declined, the Experience Kitty is divided evenly with the winning Agent's Player and all Players that successfully Negotiated a Share. Any left over tokens which result from dividing the Kitty go to the original winning Player. The Players that Shared the Kitty increase their Experience total on their Agent's Dossier by their number of tokens. They also roll 6d6 for the next Scenario Test instead of the normal 5d6. Any Player that attempted to Negotiate a Share of the Experience Kitty but had their offer rejected or did not accept the resulting Aspect and Rating, records a new Negative Aspect in their Dossier.

The winning Agent's Player then picks the next Scenario from those that remain. Play continues with rolling the next Scenario Test.