Cold City: Ghosts in the Machine

Scott Dorward's campaign of Cold City, running from November 1st to December 20th 2011.

Tone

Film Noir, with a bit of dark horror.

What Are the Characters Doing?

There is an over-arching plot, which a number of missions link into.

The player characters are pawns in a much larger scheme.

Everyone is a shade of grey. Everyone has dark secrets in their past which will be uncovered.

Who are the antagonists?

There is a group, almost a cult, that has been formed from surviving members of the Ahnenerbe and that has taken in new members from outside other countries and cultures to pursue a common agenda. The practices of the cult are couched in mysticism and religion.

The CIA uncovered some details, but have managed to let the cult slip through their fingers.

The Vatican are also involved somehow.

Dramatis Personae

Trude Unger

A young woman who served as a file clerk in Berlin during the war.
Trude was co-opted into the RPA when her work with their clearance & reconstruction of the city brought her into contact with the remains of a half-man, half-machine creature; it is also possible that she encountered the ghost of this being.
Trude lives in a flat in the city, shared with her mother and her 6 year old daughter; her husband, a fellow bureaucrat, was called up to serve towards the end of the war and died in action.

Played by James Mullen

Vitaly Borovoy

A former child prodigy From Russia with an aptitude for intelligence work, now working for the MGB.
He is impulsive, closed-minder and has a violent temper.
He had been carrying out surveillance on a suspected former Nazi scientist, all all the bugs failed mysteriously, burning out. He broke into the scientist's flat and discovered some strange apparatus that appeared to use human body parts, but was interrupted when the scientist returned. He managed to kill the scientist in self-defence before the man could activate the apparatus.

Played by Aiva

Father Jean Dubois

A Jesuit Priest from France
He is devout and well-read, but has a weakness for alcohol
When called to perform the last rites for a French soldier, Captain Boutain, the Father heard the man rambling about having lost his watch and how it would give him time. The captain confessed that he had been involved in experiments at a secret camp (Natzweiler-Struthof) in France during the war, assisting the Nazis. Father Dubois then smothered him with a pillow, but now before some strange tattoos moved from the Captain's arm to the Father's.

Played by Neil Smith

William A. Bucer

An American interrogator, on secondment from the CIA
He is all too willing to use pain and fear to get results
He was called in to interrogate an unidentified German man found in possession of a strange device. The device appeared to be a suitcase full of clockwork. When William attempted to coerce the man into explaining what the device was, the mechanism activated and William found himself in a nearby patch of wasteland, eventually discovering that two months had passed. He is still under suspicion as a result of this disappearance.

Played by Richard Kettle

Prentis Harcourt

A British army officer and gentleman
He is well-connected, well-heeled and has had a long career working in intelligence
His family estate is on a remote island, which was used as an Army based during the War. A scientist from the BERG was using the base to analyse a captured Alternative, when the creature broke free. Harcourt marshalled the panicking men and they managed to take the creature down before it escaped the island.

Played by Robin Poole