Beneath a High Pillow

[Jason Petrasko]

"Look, I told the guy I was going for the chinese angle. It's not like I can just barge in and shoot the boss full of daylight, ya know? But rest assured someday I'll be the High Pillow" - Bruno

"It takes a delicate touch doll. These guys are crucial. I can't run my show without them, but they can't get a bead on me either. While I watch their every move, I have to keep them happy. Sometimes it's jack they are after, other times dames, and occasionally hooch." - The Boss

Beneath the High Pillow is an RPG set in the roaring twenties. The players take on the roll of players in a crime syndicate run by a single boss. It's a game of delicate balance, the boss wanting to stay the boss but needed his key players to make the show happen.

- The game uses the roaring twenties as it's historical period.
- The game endeavors to combine the following ingredients:
Accuser, Companion, and Wine.
- The game adheres to the following rule:
All playable characters are fixed- No character generation.

More shall come tomorrow!

[Jason Petrasko]

Dropping the ingredients in the pot...

Companion:
one that accompanies another : COMRADE, ASSOCIATE; also : one that keeps company with another
All the characters are associates in a crime syndicate during the twenties. They are made men.

Accuser:
2 : to charge with an offense judicially or by a public process
intransitive senses : to bring an accusation
Nobody wants the finger. The characters are trying to keep their dealings hidden from the detectives that hunt them. When they get the finger from one, they are in trouble...

Wine:
3 : something that invigorates or intoxicates
Both a black market commodity in the prohibition era, and a vice of the boss. In the game wine forms one of the backbones for the mechanic, as both a resource and a method to whack the boss.

[Jason Petrasko]

Twenties Terms:
I'm going to be throughing around quite a bit of 20's terms. You can find a
concise reference of them here:

Game Terms:
Low, Medium, and High trust dice: d6, d8, and d12 respectively. Advantage dice are d20s. d4s are not used in this game. The taste of a character is something the boss can use to appease them. The specialty is something that earns them the high trust die for 'work'. But enough of that, and onward ho! Now, I'm going to define the 18 premade characters, in posts of 6 each.

The first six players:

Bruno is Malcom Sage
Taste: Hooch Specialty: Muscle
Bruno is a large, built man who has gone bald some time ago. He wears nice dark suits and frequents the best clubs. Bruno's specialty is muscle. He gets to use the high trust die for intimidation and fisticuffs.

Buttons is Oscar Sail
Taste: Dames Specialty: Dirt
Buttons is a police captain. He is in the business deep though, always there to bail out the players. Buttons dresses moderately and has a weakness for flappers. He gets to roll a d10 for avoiding the finger, and never gets advantage dice. In their stead he earns high trust dice.

Derrick is Sanders
Taste: Jack Specialty: Petty Crime
Derrick is a renowned burglar from across the atlantic. He has taken up residence in the city and throw his hat in with the business. He always looks a little dingy and is quite the miser. He gets high trust dice for criminal actions such breaking and entering, conning, etc.

Dutch is John Singer
Taste: Hooch Specialty: Lucky Break
Dutch is by far the one most often in trouble. However, in his defense he seems to be able to always find a break. If asked he claims his luck is actually incredible planning and forethought, though most doubt that. Dutch dresses top-notch and spends a lot of time in clubs. Dutch and Bruno are fast friends. Dutch gets the high trust die when making narrow escapes and finding lucky breaks.

Fin is Derek Scarfe
Taste: Dames Specialty: Schemes
Fin is most likely the best schemer about town. He can reportedly turn a Fin ($5) into five centuries ($500) in a week. He always wears the best suits with the finest details. He earns the high trust die when employing money-maker or over complex schemes to get the job done.

Gunsel is Edward Miles
Taste: Jack Specialty: Gats (guns)
Gunsel is just that, a fantical gunman. He believes in the strength of superior fire power, and earns the high trust die when making with the intense chicago lightning. Gunsel looks much like your average man on the street, with a large wagon that carries his arsenal. He is always on the lookout for more jack, since his hobby is expensive.

[Jason Petrasko]

Now the next six players:

Hype is Otto Swift
Taste: Hooch Specialty: Streetwise
Hype started running on the streets for the little movers. Later he worked his way up the chain and is now a made man. His motto is 'Dress sharp, be sharp.' Hype has a taste for fine wine and knows the streets in depth. He gets the high trust die when working the street, both as connection and employing friends from it. Hype is fast friends with Fin but hates Dutch.

Ice is Reynold Times
Taste: Dames Specialty: Commodities
Ice has made it big by dipping his hands into all the black business about town. He now has so many commodities that he earned that nickname (Ice = diamonds). The problem he has is that all his money is tied up in stuff. Diamonds has a taste for collecting. He never gets advantage dice, instead he has the power to drag other players into his work. Any other player that has a taste for jack can be coaxed into lending him a hand. They can resist but suffer dirt (see later mechanics).

Jasper is Burt McKee
Taste: Jack Specialty: Goons
Jasper is a low-life nobody, nothing like the other players here. However his extensive army of street goons makes him a force that has to be recognized. In that way he has become a player in this business. He gets the high trust die when employing his mentally challenged goons for action. He is hated and hates most of the other players, but secretly likes Hype and Dutch.

Mac is Alfred Domine
Taste: Hooch Specialty: Transportation
Mac is a big man in the transport business. You need something moved and he can do it, both safely and discrete. Mac is probably the most calm and collected of the players in this business. He has extreme self-control and some wisdom. Mac gets no advantage dice, but can roll a high trust die to avoid succumbing to his taste.

Nevada is Patrick Oreilly
Taste: Dames Specialty: Poison / Assassin
Sometimes called Nevada Gas based on his rather nasty use of cyanide. Nevada is a true assassin that take pleasure in his work. He earns the high trust die when he employs poison and planned killings in his action. Nevada is a tall thin man with a pale complexion and often wears whites. Nevada has a long standing feud with Buttons and rather likes Bruno and his methods.

Plant is William Rekken
Taste: Jack Specialty: Subtlety / Stealth
Plant earned his name by his stealthy nature and hiding ability. He can virtually disappear in a room of people and often sneaks into the damndest places. Plant is an average height man of average appearance, he doesn't stand out at all. Plant earns the high trust die when employing stealth and subtle planning in his work. Plant is a fast friend of Ice and wants to prove Hype is nothing but a street punk.

Alright with 12 players out of the way (2/3rds there) I'll move onto mechanics next!

[Jason Petrasko]

General overview of play:
To summarize, the game is a power struggle between the players. This is especially intense with the one player who is the boss. To play the game, everybody needs to pick a character from the 18 provided. Next each player introduces themselves as their character, adding any supplemental color they want. Once that is done either the group can decide (however) who is the current boss, or they can roll d20s and take the highest as the boss. Either way, one player is the boss at the start of the game. This player is referred too as Mr. <lastname> instead of their nickname- so if Dutch was the boss he would be called Mr. Singer.

Stories:
The game is setup as a bunch of independent stories. Each story is centered around one player, the principal. The other players meddle with it and give it drama, they are the cast. The goal of a story is called it's agenda. We will get back to that later.

The three 'stacks':
Every player that is not the boss has three stacks of cards. These stay intact between stories and occasionally come into the mechanics. Stack the cards (index cards) so that you can tell the count of them, perhaps each a little offset from the one beneath it. They are face down, with only a type-label on the back of each. The types: Dirt, Advantage, and Zeal. Dirt cards are the little things that reveal your dirty activities and deals to the fuzz. They are bad. The more dirt you have the more likely you are to be sent to the cooler if fingered. The more advantage you have the more inside knowledge and connections you have. These are good cards. Zeal cards are a way to earn zeal dice for a story, though they can come back and haunt you. Zeal cards are linked to your taste, and are used by the boss to keep you in check. Regardless of card, the boss gets to write some event that might happen to a player on the back of each card. When that card is played, the event happens to the person who played the card. Cards are fully negotiable and can be traded between players, though not the boss (gets no cards).

Table Talk and Setting the Agenda:
Since the game is broken up into stories, there is a period between them open for table talk. During this time the principal of the next story is decided, and they get to define their agenda. To do this, simply move about the table clockwise. Each player gets to either become the principal of the next story, or pick another player to take their place. Once chosen, the principal player needs to pick an agenda. There is three different agendas, and the specifics of each are worked out during the story introduction:

Take the Lay: This is a job laid out by the boss. Picking the lay for your agenda lets the boss earn wine and earns you advantage cards.
Put the Screws on: You select another player to 'put the screws on'. Picking this agenda lets you pressure another player, making them burn up some advantage or take dirt.
Tip your Mitt: Now you've done it. Your making your move against the boss, showing your hand. If you make it you'll be the new boss. If not then you'll bite the big one.

[Jason Petrasko]

*stops to stir the pot*
*looks for a dash of conflict and a smidge of dynamics*

[Jason Petrasko]

The last six players:

Red is Nicholas Tremaine
Taste: Hooch Specialty: Politics & Wisdom
Red is a big mover and greaser in the political segment. He is a aging man with wispy white hair and numerous wrinkles. Red has a taste for whiskey and is probably the wisest of the players in this business. He throws the high trust die when he can involve politics or timeless wisdom in his actions. Red is a mentor to both Mac and Plant, and has survived numerous attempts on his life from Fin who wants him out of the way.

White is Terry Roth
Taste: Dames Specialty: Brewers
White is a middle aged man who knows all the right people. The right people to get you some moonshine anyway. He works a day job as a reporter and spends the nights hooking up the distributors to their suppliers. White has a taste for older ritzy chicks and gin.

Snow-bird is Billy Korg
Taste: Jack* Specialty: Taking the heat
Snow-bird is considered a joke by many of the other players in this business. He tends to 'blow' all his money (on the snow*). Snow is a young man, but is already looking rather raggid and old. His specialty is taking the heat, and he rolls a high trust die everytime he can do that for the activities of another player/boss.

Joe is Frank Baldwin
Taste: Hooch Specialty: None*
Plain Joe, as he is sometimes called is nobody at all. He's in the business because he knows White from when he was but knee-high to a grasshopper. White wanted to hook him up, and he did. Joe's plain vanilla nature and clean-slate award him more trust than the others over all. When playing Joe, roll one trust level higher for low and medium trust dice- (making them medium and high). Joe gets no specialty though.

Dick is Ron Markoff
Taste: Dames Specialty: Gumshoe
Dick is a man of moderate taste and awesome attention to detail. After quitting the force, where he worked as a detective, he now is a private dick for the business. He gets payed well and really likes to spend it on the girlies. Dick gets to roll high trust dice when he is doing his gumshoe schtick.

Eye-glass is Oxford Nells Kealing
Taste: Unknown* Specialty: Unknown
Eye-glass is virtually unknown. He might be the one behind all the business in the city, or he might just be some powerful man trying to muscle into the scene. Whatever the case, He is never seen. Only by the presence of his henchman and his deeds is he ever detectible. In those cases strange things point back to a man with a penchant for wearing a eye-glass. Eye-glass never gets zeal cards, instead they are dirt. He gets no high trust dice since he has no specialty. If he is ever fingered, he takes the big sleep (whacked).

[Jason Petrasko]

*chops the onions of failure and discontent*
*slices the lean flank steak of success*
*begins dropping the concept-ingedients into the pot*

Here is a little look at what is going on behind the scenes, in the pot itself! You can see the budding dynamics as a diagram

[Jason Petrasko]

[Jason Petrasko]