I don't think I've ever been as unprepared for a weekend freeform as I was for
Torch of Freedom, held as usual in Retford during February.
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| Me as Yuri Fedotkin |
Normally I've read my character sheet and got my costume prepared and arrived in good time so that I can relax at the hotel, finish reading and make some plans. This time, a number of factors contributed to my unpreparedness - including Mrs H spending a large chunk of the previous ten days in bed with flu, an unfinished costume, and running a workshop in Birmingham on the day it started. All of which meant I didn't arrive at the hotel until ten minutes before everything was supposed to begin...
So not a very relaxing start, and perhaps that contributed to my weekend being a bit up and down.
Torch of Freedom - what's it about?
It is 1848 and in the eastern European country of Petronia, unrest is brewing as the downtrodden workers rail against the oppressive yoke of their aristocratic masters. It is against this background that a revolution will occur.
I was playing Yuri Fedotkin, the Russian ambassador to Petronia. I wanted to fan the flames of revolution, but ensure that they were snuffed out.
Torch of Freedom was originally written by Bruce Glassco, Brian Altmiller, Rebecca Ellis, Suzanne Miller, Walter Neill and Paul Wayner. It was first run in the USA in 2002, followed by a run in Retford in 2003. I played in the US run (as Horace Hoffman), and I was a GM in the first UK run. So I've experienced it all three times.
Highlights
Revolution - the mechanic: The revolution was so much better this time around. Previously the revolution had involved a simple wargame with locations taped out on the floor, with rules for movement and battle. It was chaos, took forever to resolve, and left a lot of bad memories.
This time, the revolution consisted of a simple yet tactical voting mechanism, using poker chips of different weight (to represent the quality of your forces). There were five key locations, and control of three of them was required for victory. All you did was decide which area you were going to contest, and which way to vote (Monarchy or Republic).
This took about 30 minutes, and was timetabled for the start of Saturday evening, just after the meal break. That’s a huge improvement over the 3-4 hours to resolve the previous revolution.
Revolution - the result: In the first two runs of
Torch of Freedom, the monarchy beat the revolutionaries, and the status quo was maintained. This time the revolution was successful and the monarchy was overthrown!
I do wonder how much of that was down to the wargame. There are plenty of players who would not have wanted to participate in that, or may have played sub-optimally because they didn’t fully understand the rules. Simplifying the revolution mechanic probably made it more democratic by making it easier to be involved.
Revolution - my involvement: The other reason there was such a majority was possibly because of people like me. I’m afraid I was meta-gaming. After two failed revolutions, I wanted to see a successful revolution - and so I did my bit to help that along.
This took two approaches. The first was someone from my past was a revolutionary and a friend (played by Julie), and I fed them rifles to help them bolster their forces. The other thing I did was to ask them which areas they weren’t contesting, and I defended there. (I decided that although Steve wanted the revolution to be successful, Russia couldn’t be seen to be on the side of the revolutionaries - so I planned to commit my forces where they wouldn’t be effective.)
As it happens, the revolutionaries took the area I was defending as well! (It turns out that there was more than one revolutionary cell.)
Negotiating with the Ambassadors: I enjoyed the careful negotiations with the other ambassadors (particularly Paul, Steve and Max) . Three of us would have been happy to turn Petronia into a protectorate but nobody had the power to do it alone. As time went on we had more power and more options, and the key thing was not to move in too soon. (I’ve done that before, and you can end up regretting it by becoming the enemy.) So it was a dance, and an enjoyable one at that.
Rewarding the gypsies: It was a delight to interact with David and Liz, who were playing the gypsy king and queen. They’d helped me in the past, I rewarded them in game. I always like to be generous in game, and this time it was rewarded as they came to me later on with something very important...
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| Hoffman in chains in 2002! |
Checking in with Hoffman: As I played Hoffman previously, I was interested to see how his arc compared to mine. I think Matthew was more successful than I was - I ended up in chains after the revolution.
My costume: Despite being a source of some stress, I was very happy with the frock coat that Mrs H made me. Amusingly, I’ve just realised that I was wearing the exact same waistcoat in 2019 and 2002. It doesn’t get out much!
Seeing old friends: Inevitably one of the high points of any weekend game is spending time with friends. Despite a bit of a rushed start, there was still plenty of time to catch up over breakfast and the dinner break.
The barricade: At about 5.30pm, just before the dinner break, the revolutionaries built an awesome barricade, waved banners and sang and danced loudly. It was a wonderful start to the revolution.
Battling 21st century sensibilities: Inevitably modern-day players brought their modern-day sensibilities with them, and it was fun to try and argue from a 19th century perspective. For example, I had great fun explaining that admitting women into university was clearly unwise as not only did they not need an expensive education to run the house and raise children, but that they were taking the place that could be taken by someone more useful: a
man.
I noticed the same issue in 2002 when I was playing the factory owner, Hoffman. Here are my notes from the time:
One thing that didn't quite work (and I probably could have predicted this) was the problem of the players bringing their 21st century values to a game set in 1848. As a capitalist oppressor of the masses, I particularly noticed this. Although conditions for my workers were appalling (by our standards), I was doing nothing wrong - and yet rather too often I found myself condemned for the workers' poor conditions by those who should know better. (There also weren't enough arranged marriages and executions after the revolution, for similar reasons.)
But…
Unfortunately, if I was
scoring Torch of Freedom out of 5, it would only scrape a 3. I didn’t quite have enough game for my liking.
Big problem was that I didn’t quite have enough to do. Friday night was fine and chaotic as usual, as I spend most Friday figuring out who I need to talk to and re-reading my character sheet over and over again.
Saturday morning, however, was very quiet for me. The international negotiations had been concluded on Friday, so I was mainly reliant on personal goals. And while these ticked over, there wasn’t quite enough to keep me fully occupied. When I reconsidered my character sheet I realised that I had quite a bit of background, but not that much plot.
Things improved on Saturday afternoon as we approached the time for the revolution. There was a lot of preparation, and the ambassadorial dance was in full swing as we tried to work out what each other was doing, and tried not to overcommit our forces too early.
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| The barricade |
And then it was the revolution. The revolution itself took 30 minutes, at which point it was clear that the monarchy had been overthrown. As an ambassador I got a tiny vote in deciding the shape of the country, but there was such a huge majority for a republic with universal suffrage that it didn’t matter which way I voted.
After that a provisional government had to be formed, with candidates putting themselves forward by 10.30 on Sunday morning (with yet more voting to follow).
So at about 9pm on Saturday, with the second vote over, my game effectively stopped. There was no government for me to liaise with, and my personal goals were more or less done. So I sat in the bar with other members of the losing side and drank beer.
On Sunday I wondered what to do, and decided to interview all the candidates for the provisional government to find out their policy on international relations, and in particular their views on Russia. Despite me having some votes, most people were completely honest and didn’t think to try and persuade me to vote for them by being pro-Russia.
And then, once my vote was cast at 11am, that was pretty much it for me for the rest of the game. I wouldn’t have minded finishing a bit early on Sunday, if only there hadn’t been so much downtime earlier on as well.
Things I could have done
Maybe there were a few things I could have done to give me more to do.
Shoehorn my way into other plots: Perhaps I could have somehow shoehorned my way into other plots. That's not something I find very easy to do - although that's easier if my character has a specific skill that someone needs. I'm not aware that anyone needed the Russian ambassador for anything.
The romance rules:
Torch of Freedom had a set of romance rules, as most weekend freeforms do, but I didn't use them. That's mainly because almost all of the characters I interacted with (whether other ambassadors or people named in my character sheet) were men. I like it when romance emerges naturally from playing alongside another character, and I'm not about to start chasing romance just because I have nothing else to do.
My family: It turned out that both my son (Ivan) and daughter (Irena) were also in
Torch of Freedom. I had been told that Ivan had been killed in Turkey and Irena was missing. I suspected that Irena was in the game, and while I realised that Ivan might also be present, that seemed more unlikely.
I was on the trail of Irena on Friday night, and her identity was revealed to me on Saturday. At about the same time, Ivan revealed himself to me. While I introduced myself to them (and introduced them to each other), and offered help, this didn't go much further. I did get involved in some of Ivan's plots, but a bit too little too late.
Looking back, I expect that different players would have found it easier to share plots. As it was, I didn't get on with either player particularly well (a lack of chemistry) and as a result our dealings were largely transactional. Perhaps I should have pushed through that and made more of an effort.
Silver linings
Given that I had more downtime that I prefer, this did present some silver linings.
Time to chat: One thing that there never seems to be enough time of at the weekend freeforms is time to chat to other players. This time I had lots of great conversations, including many with people I don’t normally get to chat to.
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| The hotel, looking almost tropical in February |
Best Retford sleep ever: Thanks to being fairly relaxed on Saturday evening, I think I had my best night’s sleep ever at Retford. I slept really solidly through to Sunday morning, which is a rarity.
Does the game need to change?
Two things make me think that maybe
Torch of Freedom still needs a bit of work.
The first are my notes from the first run of
Torch of Freedom, when I wrote:
...one of the players had become ill just before the game started. Unfortunately, he and I were fairly closely linked and I think it affected my game as there were parts of Saturday and Sunday when I didn't have enough to do (my goals at that point being either done or in tatters). I'm never really sure how much of that was my fault and how much was due to the missing player. One other thing that was lacking on my otherwise substantial character sheet were a few juicy nuggets of information about other characters completely unrelated to any of my plots. That might have helped me get involved in other plots, I don't know. But as I said, it might just have been me.
The second is that I met quite a few other players who didn’t seem to have enough of a game either (although it was lovely talking to them). Which makes me think it’s not just me.
A problem with a revolution
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An angry, if successful,
revolutionary |
Part of the problem is the revolution itself. The very nature of the revolution means that there will be winners and losers. That’s great if you’re on the winning side, but if you’re on the losing side your game may just have been taken away from you.
As written, the outcome of the revolution can go the following ways:
- Monarchy: the status quo. Great for the upper classes, but disenfranchises everyone else.
- Anarchy: this would pretty much mean the end of the game for everyone.
- Protectorate under Turkey, Russia or Austria. Great for the relevant ambassador, likely to annoy lots of other people.
- Republic with Propertied Voters: Great if you have property, but what do those who don't have property do?
- Republic with Universal Suffrage: This is the best result for everyone, although even then not everyone got to vote candidates onto the provisional government.
So as it happens, we had the best result for the game - but that still left quite a few players with not much left to do once their side had lost.
Changes to Torch of Freedom
Here are a few ideas of things that could be done for the next run of
Torch of Freedom.
Move the revolution: Now that we had a speedy mechanic for resolving the revolution, it could be pushed back in the schedule until last thing Saturday night or even first thing Sunday. It would make for a fine end to the game.
But if you did that, I’d be even more worried about not having enough game, so it shouldn’t be the only change.
More things known about people: As I noted in 2002, my character sheet lacked nuggets of information about other characters. If you weren’t detailed in my background, then I didn’t know anything about you other than the (bland) public information. I like to see bits of information about other characters - if nothing else it’s something to start a conversation about.
This change doesn’t have to be a complete rewrite. The trick is to look at each character to work out what their issues and problems are, and then spread that information around some of the other characters.
More events: Although the
Torch of Freedom timetable looked busy, it was surprisingly empty of events suitable for anyone to attend. So I think it would be good to have a few extra events that anyone can attend - a dance, gambling, speeches. I am sure there are others.
Another option would be to make more of the strikes. A bit like putting out the fires in Shogun, the strikes could be something for anyone nearby to become involved in. Some players would be the striking workers, some the troops breaking the strike.
Gambling in the taverns: Gimble’s chocolate house could have had a roulette wheel and cards, dice could have been available in the taverns. That would have given us games to gamble on, although we may have needed a smaller unit of currency than the Ista to gamble with.
Bit parts: Adding bit parts (small roles played by the players for short periods of time) would give players something to do during the quiet times. I can imagine lots of small roles that would be fun to play - striking workers, rioters, gypsies. Minor aristocrats getting beaten up in the warrens. Criminals for the police to arrest.
The diplomatic game: Maybe there could be a diplomatic popularity game, with the various ambassadors (and other nationals) aiming to increase their country’s popularity in Petronia.
And finally...
Perhaps another player would have had a better time with Yuri Fedotkin. Perhaps Yuri just didn’t suit me. If so, perhaps I need to improve how I fill in the casting questionnaire to give the GMs a better chance of giving me a character I will enjoy.
I don’t normally record my casting choices - perhaps I should do so. But I probably ought to work out what it is I like in a freeform in a general sense. Based on
Torch of Freedom, these are my first thoughts:
- I like to be busy: I like having lots to do - particularly stuff that's meaningful (so I don't mean busywork). That doesn’t have to mean lots of goals, but it often does.
- I like to have someone I can trust in a game: I really like having at least one close ally in the game that I can definitely trust. That doesn’t have to mean romance - just a trusted friend is enough.
- I like being part of a group: I’d rather be part of a group than a loner. And if I must be a loner, then I would like lots of strong links to other players.
That’s a start, and I will consider more as I go on.
(Thanks to Charlie, Julie and CJ for the photos - I didn't take very many!)
Because I was a bit rushed to start with (thanks to a busy day at work I didn’t check into the hotel until 10 minutes before everything was going to start), I decided not to open my contingency envelopes immediately, but wait until the end of the first period.
