Dear TheBeast
"Organians? Sorry I don't understand, I'm new to the period."
"Ummm well OK." The "Morning Noon and Night in Vienna Game." It's not really sci-fi but it is sort of Imagi-nation." Basically I spoke a little about the mechanics but to give you the whole story,it is an outgrowth of my 1880 battleship game called "If you Build it,It will Sink" about all those wild and awful monstrosoties of naval engineering that came out in the last twenty years of the 19th century.
ThAT game posits two Imaginary Empires, the Empire of the Baltic and the Empire of Scandinavia. NOT MY CREATION. They actually are filched from Don Featherstone's book "Naval Wargames" specifically the section on late 19th century naval warfare written by Walter Gurney Green III. I use my own rules, Not Mr. Greens, and they are written purely for yukks and giggles.
Anyway after one particularly disasterous battle I made up a game where the commanders and officers of BOTH fleets were rusticated to Vienna as Naval attaches to the embasies, where, their governments reasoned, they were far from the sea, and far from ships and therefore could do no harm. I wanted to try something different and make a wargame that was not just the same old thing.
Well, the game "Morning, Noon and Night" in Vienna is a game of intrigue, spying, lying, dining, shopping, duelling, romance, wine, women and song, and of course --- seduction. No combat, no death-- this is Vienna, everything is happy and gay and straight out of Die Fledermaus, or a Lehar operatta.
In this each player plays one of the Naval Attache's in disgrac above. Each naval attache is of course, also a member of a secret society. Into Vienna at this time comes the twelve most beautiful, richest, sophisticated, well connected, powerful women in the world. Your job is to wine them, dine them, and ummm--- let's say "impress them" and get them to use their influence for the benefit of your homeland. To do this you have to first be introduced, find out what their likes and dislikes are, and arrange the perfect day of "Morning, Noon, and Night" with the right places to go the right gifts, and the right activity.
Yes, you are a gigolo.
The problem is there are fifteen figures repesenting the women. Two of them are fakes and are con-women.
And the fifteenth?
Now your secret society has also told you that among these women is the leader of a new, but extremely powerful secret society, called "The Minions of Cleopatra" and who is in fact, the reincarnated spirit of Cleopatra herself! you are ordered by them to "wine dine, blah blah blah and impress her" in the same way so that she will conclude an alliance with your secret society and amass so much power they will take over the world
blah blah blah.
The game is one, sort of like a "Clue" on Steroids where you have to figure out who by running around Vienna (or rather a stylized abstract of Vienna) getting information on the various women, finding out their likes and dislikes (for example finding that Donna Deanna is besotted with all things American) and then obtaining the correct place to take her for refreshment, the correct place to take her for a show or entertainment, and the best personal gift to give her.) At the same time you are trying to frustrate your fellow players and so forth, AND if you can, at the same time romance, if you can figure out who she is, the Cleopatra.
Each location has certain things you can buy as gifts, and each location also has a pile of cards of "Rumor and Innuendo" which contains clues, 90$ of which is dead wrong. The other pile is "Information" 90% of which is correct (though you may have to interpret it the right way.
You can ruffle through the Rumor and Innuendo at will, but you cannot take the cards away and deny them to other players. The Information cards however you MAY NOT look at unless you answer the question on the back of the card, allof which have to do with questions about art, culture, manners, mores,history, of the 19th century, OR are conversational situations you must ad-lib in.
For example one question might be "What is Franz Suppe's full name?" (He's the composer of the overature to "Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna." If you took this you would of course immediately answer " Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo Cavaliere di Suppé-Demelli"
You could then read the information on the back of the card about say, "The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein is bitter enemies with Ashton Maine, and has some incriminiating information about her."
If you answer the question you not only get to read the information but you get to KEEP the card so others can't see it. (Don't worry they can try and steal it from you).
Now if you can't answer that question, though I frankly do not see why, you could pose your own question.
So for example you could say to the GM, Umm.. I'd like to pose my own question. The umpire will allow you, and you might say "What is the name of the patter song for Sir Joseph Porter from Gilbert & Sullivan's "Pinafore>" The umpire is not equired to answer, but if he does you DON't get to look at the information, but if you stump him, he let's you look, but it has to sound good.
On the other hand if you are stumped on the question, and don't know much about 19th century culture art etc., you can make up your own question like
. "I saw the most remarkable painting the other day at the British Embassy, "The Temerare rounding the Horn" It was magnificent with the depth of detail and action, I almost felt myself being drenched by the spray." Have you seen it, I quite forgot the artist
do you perhaps know it?
There is no such painting, and hence no such artist, but if it sounds good, like a bit of conversation you would ask at a party or a ball, then fine. He will probably let you look.
Oh, by the way, remember this is a Victorian Social Role Playing game, and qustions about war or military history aren't allowd--"Oh Why Mistub Butler, all this talk of Waahh is so depressing."
If you can't do THAT then all you have to do is stand on a chair and SING us a song that is from the 19th century. A ditty from Gilbert and Sullivan which you accompany yourself with a little hornpipe is fine, or something like "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" is good, but rock songs or anything modern is right out. Nothing from Monty Python.
The game thus goes on till someone decides they've got their "program" for their intended completed, or good enough, at which time the game ends and he begins his spiel.
Now, if you've gotten enough of the right things you can win. If you have made a botch of it, we are kind and allow you to try and work your way through your presentation and justification to your "intended" as best you can with enough bull, flattery and groveling as you can. We then vote how well you did.
This is the finale to the Opera where, like Die Fledermaus everything is put down to an excessof champaigne and good spiritis.
By the way, in addition to the clues in the game, there are dozens of clues in several areas that littler the field, in the names of the women, in the depictations of them, and so forth that ANYONE should be able to spot who is who and who is Cleopatra from the first moment of the game.
When all is revealed at the end most people are amazed at how they missed the clues.
By the way, I have reworked the game and the questions and will be putting it on at "The Weekend" this year. I am also planning of having trays of those scrumptuous Italian miniature pastries and coffee and tea for all.
"Pardon me Marquise, can't you see
"
By the way, I gave this game three times at Historicon. The second time friends of mine played again (I had to make up different victory conditions for them as they knew who was who. The then introduced their 16 year old niece Emily, who wanted to play. Well things went along well enough till I she tried for an information bit and the question was "Who wrote the Marriage of Figaro?" She answered "which one?" I said very good, well I'll take either of the two who did." She said "actually there were three."
I had my suspicions raised and confirmed next turn when she didn't even look at the question and said
She "I want to sing."
Me "Ok, what would you like to sing for us."
She "I want to sing "un bel di Vedremo" From Madame Butterfly.:
Me "Umm OK" as I turn to my friends with huge smiles on their faces.
Them: "She's in the Met Opera School."
Well this little frail creature then belts out the most beautiful aria and stuns the whole assembled crowd for a table around as she sings.
They sandbagged me! By the way, she is also a gamer too.
Lottsa fun!
By the way you use the Morning Noon and Night format in any sort of game. One person at Historicon asked me about it and I told them they could rewrite the whole game for something in the 50's by using songs from the 50's or those horribly bad "B" sci fi movies and "Frankie and Annette" movies, or
well
anything.
It throws the people who rely on just sittign there like lumps and rolling dice way off their game.
It's not for everyone, but if you get into the spirit of it, it's great fun.
Well she stands ont he chair and
The umpire would then Franciso Esechielle Cavalieri,