Is The CIA Using RPGs As Training Tools?

What comes to your mind when you picture CIA training? Probably a lot of physical action, like trail running, hand-to-hand combat drills, and hours upon hours spent in the hazy cloud of gun smoke that fills the firing range. Agents have to learn to recognize patterns, to understand motivations, and most importantly, to learn the value of dissembling.

According to i09, though, the Central Intelligence Agency has a rather unexpected set of tools in its training bag now. Roleplaying games.

You can't drive this until you hit 12th level.

Gamification With A Security Clearance

As I said way back in 2015 in The Very Real Benefits of Playing Roleplaying Games, there are all kinds of reasons to grab some funny-shaped dice and sit around a table. But while socialization and entertainment are two of the big reasons for most of us, organizations like the CIA seem more concerned with other uses RPGs have as a learning tool. Things like risk assessment, problem solving, team building, and other useful applications. And what to do when the deck is stacked against you, and you've got limited options.

Murder, evidence destruction, body disposal, arson... the CIA, or your game's party?

At 2017's SXSW, there were a few examples of the games agents play in order to get their minds going in the right directions. There was a board game called Collection, which was a Pandemic-esque game where players had to work together to stop a global threat. There was a card game version, as well. There were even more intricate games where agents dealt with more variables, and more intricate missions. The goal was to get them used to functioning in a group dynamic, to help them think outside the box, and to achieve common goals.

Who says RPGs are just for kids?

That's all for this Moon Pope Monday update. It's a little short, but hopefully it makes for some good table talk when your group next gets together. If you want to keep up to date on my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Lastly, if you'd like to help keep Improved Initiative going, head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a patron. All I ask is $1 a month, and that buys both my everlasting gratitude, as well as some sweet swag.

The Saga of Majenko Part 7: The Return to Korvosa!

It's been a whirlwind adventure so far! We've brought down ganglords, stopped a plague from destroying the city, earned the ire of the queen, been swallowed by a gigantic desert serpent, been made members of the Shoanti, and scaled the walls of an ancient undead castle to retrieve a relic weapon blessed by a goddess... but that, dear friends, is not all! This week we begin drawing toward the close of the Saga of Majenko, as our wayward party regroups for an assault on the corrupt rulership of Korvosa itself!

Also, in case you haven't read the previous installments, here they are in chapter order.

Part One: Finding The Main Character of "Curse of The Crimson Throne"
Part Two: How Much Damage Could One Pseudodragon Do?
Part Three: Scourge of The Red Mantis
Part Four: Blood Pig Champion
Part Five: Brother to The Shoanti
Part Six: The Assault on Castle Scarwall
Part Seven: The Return to Korvosa
Part Eight: Re-Taking Korvosa
Part Nine: The Assault on Castle Korvosa
Part Ten: Down With The Queen

There, all caught up now? Good.

Now then... where was I?

Shuffling The Party

So, pretty much as soon as we finish our raid on Castle Scarwall, our party experiences another grand reorganization. The swashbuckler developed other commitments, and decided to go stay with the Shoanti instead of going back to Korvosa. Our fighter's player moved across the country, so she, too, returned to her people to help them prepare for an upcoming fight, if one was necessary. The ranger decided that, with no more undead to slay, it was time for him to leave. This leaves us with Egil Skinner, the tiefling detective who's split his training between magus and rogue, Validia, his childhood friend who has devoted herself to the worship of Iomedae, and of course the great and powerful Majenko, defender of Korvosa, Scourge of the Red Mantis, and the deadliest pseudodragon in Varisia.

Fortunately, when we hopped the wall into the Gray District we found some familiar faces waiting for us. Kresseda Croft was there, now leading a resistance against the tyrannical rule of the queen. Vencarlo is there, along with the royal seneschal, all of whom are trying to rise up against the queen's forces. There's also an elven arcanist whom Egil knows (because with a knowledge [local] check as big as his, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of anyone who's ever committed a crime in the city), and a dwarven ranger sleeping off a bad shiver binge named Baelen. Back up to full strength, we get the low down on what's happened while we were gone.

The short version is that the queen has been putting the city to work. Citizens have been press-ganged into building statues, the Gray Maidens are out in force, and the city guard has more or less been disbanded. There's talk of a Bloat Mage being recruited from Kaer Maga, and there's rumors of a black dragon circling the city. There's even been reports of a new hero in town, giving the people hope. Clearly things have gone straight to hell since we left.

Just Going For A Walk When Adventure Finds Us

Once we've been given out status update, and our new party members, we're told to get out of the Gray District, as we'll draw attention. So we disguise ourselves as best we can, hide all of our weapons and armor to the best of our ability, and go to find rooms elsewhere. We locate an inn that's down a side street, around an alley, and which conveniently has a room to let upstairs. You know, for people in the resistance.

Nobody will look for us here!

We settle in, and start making plans. We need to get into the castle, and having just spent all that time in Scarwall, Castle Korvosa is going to be a cinch. We prepare spells, load up our gear, and wait till nightfall before skulking out into the street...when we're promptly hit with debilitating magical effects, and surrounded by a dozen thugs.

You know, like you do.

We're scrambling to find our footing, and to figure out what to do, when the city's dashing new hero shows up and runs the brigands off. All he does is look at them, and they cannot be somewhere else fast enough. Then he makes a speech about how our service to the city was great, but there are new heroes ready to keep her safe. This smells like a setup, and we are not pleased.

Besides, he's starting to draw a crowd.

Outsiders... I HATE Outsiders...

Egil smells a rat, and a simple detect magic allows him to see that the "hero" who just "rescued" us is clearly not what he appears to be. Majenko tugs the iron bands of binding off Egil's belt, and Egil casts true strike, allowing it to slide over to his familiar. Majenko hurls the bands, and the supposed savior is cut off mid-smarm.

Not quite, but close enough.

The "hero" who replaced us is revealed to be an efreeti, and he is none too pleased with his current state. Miraculously, though, he failed to escape the bonds. This allowed Egil, who'd upgraded his scimitar to a spell-storing, keen weapon he'd named Queen's Justice, to deal serious damage to the foe with a stored frigid touch, and a secondary frigid touch used as part of his spellstrike, and some sneak attack dice thrown in just to add insult to injury. Majenko used his sneak attack to put an even greater hurt on the bound outsider, who it is pretty clear has been summoned specifically to give the people a false sense of safety. The cleric and the arcanist get in several licks of their own, and within a few, short rounds, the creature has been sent back where it came from.

One challenge down. A half dozen left to go.

What Happened Next?

For the rest of how we re-took Korvosa, stop in for Part 8: Emptying the Crimson Throne!

If you like my Table Talk feature, and you'd like to share your own stories, feel free to contact me using the form on this page. I'm always happy to give the spotlight to other gamers! Also, if you want to make sure you don't miss any of my updates, make sure you follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Lastly, if you want to help support Improved Initiative, consider stopping by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to leave a little bread in the jar. $1 an entry, or even a month, goes a long way toward keeping the content coming.

The Saga of Majenko Part Two: How Much Damage Could One Pseudodragon Do?

Two weeks ago I shared with you how my group discovered the true protagonist in Curse of the Crimson Throne. If you missed it the post was The Saga of Majenko Part One: Finding The Main Character in Curse of The Crimson Throne. Now I'd like to tell you what the tiny titan did with his freedom once he was released from the Spider's clutches.

Also, the Saga is now complete! Here's the full list of installments, if you want to read them in order.

Part One: Finding The Main Character of "Curse of The Crimson Throne"
Part Two: How Much Damage Could One Pseudodragon Do?
Part Three: Scourge of The Red Mantis
Part Four: Blood Pig Champion
Part Five: Brother to The Shoanti
Part Six: The Assault on Castle Scarwall
Part Seven: The Return to Korvosa
Part Eight: Re-Taking Korvosa
Part Nine: The Assault on Castle Korvosa
Part Ten: Down With The Queen

From Comic Relief to Most Dangerous Party Member

About one in every four groups I've talked to who have played Curse of the Crimson Throne decided to bust Majenko out of bondage. Most parties keep him as a fun little NPC friend; kind of like a party mascot. Pseudodragons are small, clever, and they have a taste for things sweet and buttery. They're also telepathic, and have a tail sting with a potent sleep venom. They also have a standard 15 hit points, which means that Majenko is quickly relegated to the back of the party.

Unless you play in my games, it seems.

Tell the barbarian to get out of my way.

For a couple of small quests that's what happened, too. When we had to go underground to fight a crazed necromancer in the Gray District, Majenko kept watch at the gates. When we snuck into the sewers beneath the docks to fight a wererat gang lord Majenko stuck around to let us communicate silently, but he flew to get help when we started going down.

However, the little guy got sick of playing second fiddle around the time Korvosa's plague started getting serious. When we found plague doctors experimenting on people who were already sick? Majenko put them to bed. When the gray maidens charged in to kill us for doing that, Majenko took them out. When we found one of the doctors who had been kidnapping Varisians and purposefully giving them bloodveil to try and figure out why some were naturally harder to infect, he got knocked right out. Even Doctor Nicholas Cage, her majesty's personal physician found himself at a loss as he tried to fight the tiefling and the pseudodragon with a human-bane rapier.

Your clever plan, you did not think it through.

When all was said and done Majenko was responsible for locating 2 invisible assassins, rendering a dozen plague doctors unconscious, knocking out no fewer than three gray maidens, and assisting in the capture of several surgeons and doctors performing illegal experiments on citizens of the city. Because of Majenko we had a much easier time taking down this huge, criminal enterprise, and we saved countless members of the city who would otherwise have been used like lab rats. We also did it without killing them, as all we had to do was gag and manacle them once they'd been rendered unconscious. We were also made aware of the brutal torture and horrendous scarring that all of the gray maidens went through before they were encased in their armor and turned loose on the streets of Korvosa (something most groups don't find out until later when Sabina Merrin, Captain of the Gray Maidens, joins your team).

Did I mention this little pseudodragon had 15 hit points and a +3 to his attack the whole time he was busy being awesome? While he got a lot of flanking bonuses, as well as a hefty benefit from the Eversmoking Bottle we'd found in a treasure horde (an item that is one half of a devastating combination used by every graduate of the Batman school of crime-fighting in my character conversions section), the biggest reason Majenko became the Korvosan guard's #1 enforcer was because it seemed enemies just couldn't make a simple poison save. Even CR 6 and CR 7 enemies.

When In Doubt, Max it Out

Level 7 is where things got completely and totally crazy. Egil, the straight man of the Egil and Maenko pairing, was the smartest creature in nearly any room he stepped in. With a naturally devious disposition and a knack for exploiting the rules of man and magic he and Majenko put their heads together. At level 5 I took the Improved Familiar feat, even though I didn't meet the caster level just yet. With the DM's permission I essentially reserved that slot for when my caster level was high enough for a pseudodragon. Due to the magus/rogue combination, and some other wooge on the side, that happened to be level 7. I also got a new feat for reaching an odd level, and a new magus arcana that gave me a familiar.

Why does that matter?

Well, that escalated quickly.

Level 7 is when I qualified for a feat that is typically kept under nuclear lock and key by DMs. Leadership. I checked through the books and through the errata I could find, but I saw no expressly stated rule which said you could not gain a cohort and then make that cohort a familiar (or vice versa, if you wanted to do it that way instead). Practically speaking it was a mess, but it was a mess that didn't seem to have an explicit ban to it.

The result of all this mechanical jargon? At character level 7 Majenko was my familiar, as well as a 5th-level rogue. This gave him several d6 of sneak attack, along with trapfinding, uncanny dodge, evasion, and a few rogue tricks of his own. Since character levels granted him feats he also gained a heightened DC on his poison (it was now a 16), flyby attack, and a few other goodies (you know, like real hit points). Not only that, but the condition that finally persuaded the DM was that all of my other followers granted by the Leadership feat would also be pseudodragons.

How did this madness develop? Well, tune in next time for part three of the Saga of Majenko: The Scourge of the Red Mantis!


Thanks for checking out Table Talk, and if you have a gaming story of your own you'd like to share just contact me! If you want to support Improved Initiative then stop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page and become a patron today! Lastly, if you want to make sure you're getting all of my updates then be sure you're following me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter as well.

The Ballad of Baldric Brimstone Chapter Three: Big Gay Half-Orcs and Utterly Destroying Plot

Because this particular gaming story saga is now complete, I thought I'd list all three chapters here for easy navigation. Yes, I know you're on chapter three, but it's an easier list to mass-produce so that every chapter has its very own links.

- Chapter One: Don't Ever Field a One-Eyed Dragon
- Chapter Two: Why You Never Give Your Party The One Ring
- Chapter Three: Big Gay Half-Orcs and Utterly Destroying Plot

Caught up? Great, because today we're finishing this adventure off with the grand finale!

Chapter Three: Of Cohorts and Kings!

Time Travel and Leadership

When last we left our intrepid adventuring party they'd rescued one plot-relevant NPC and one non-plot relevant NPC from a floating city in the sky run by insane magical college deans. Our heroes return to their headquarters by a long and circuitous route, during which they are thanked for their service. When the NPCs tell the guild master and the royal family about what they heard while captives, our heroes are tasked with trekking into the center of a cursed city on the coast (which is conveniently a half-day's ride away) and investigating rumors of a potential legendary sword that could save the world.

Of course no one's been here in a thousand years... this place is creepy!

 

So, seeing where these rails are going, we saddle up and decide to go investigating. We ride up to the ruins of a once-great city, and find it mostly filled with rubble and poisonous smoke. We follow the open paths, very specifically staying away from the vapors while picking up a few odd coins here and there. We find a wishing well, Baldric throws one of the strange coins in, makes a wish, kills the water-double that comes out, and is gifted with a second gun. Overall pleased with my shenanigans we find the throne room. Seated in the throne room, to the surprise of no one, is a skeleton in the throne with a greatsword through its chest.

Nothing to see here, folks.

 

We walk the throne room a couple of times, and we have the central question of "do we pull it out, or do we leave it in?" Baldric is all for leaving it where it is, but our half-construct fighter pulls the sword. Right on cue the corpse re-forms into the ancient and powerful figure known as the Chaos Emperor, who immediately imprisons us all in huge shells of crystal.

Fast forward fifteen years or so...

We Slept Through The Apocalypse?

We wake up in a ruined city with no idea of what's happened. We make our way back to the capital, only to find that a decade and a half has gone by. The world's at war, the Chaos Emperor has taken over the Citadel, and roving tribes of raiders are everywhere.

Oh, and we gained a level.

So there's that.

 

It's at this point I decide to put something in play for another party member. Her character was a gay, male elf alchemist, and it had become a running gag that the only bi-curious NPCs he could find were half-orcs. I ask the DM if I can take Leadership and he okays it (for those DMs who don't know, that's a foolish thing to do). He lets me design my cohort, and I tell him that he was Baldric's apprentice back when he was still a fire bomber for an orc tribe. I trust our DM to work him in somewhere.

So what does the crumbling command faced with impossible odds ask us to do less than a day out of crio-stasis? Oh nothing big; just go and kill the Chaos Emperor.

Back to The Floating City in The Sky...

We truck back across the map with no idea of what the hell we're going to do or how the hell we're going to do it. We find a city-sized encampment at the base of the tower, along with the villain's three lieutenants.

One of whom looks strangely familiar...

 

Baldric recognizes his old apprentice, grown huge and having forced his way up the chain of command. That night he goes to meet him, and the two catch up on old times. They also get drunk... with alchemist fortitude saves. It isn't a pretty sight.

In the middle of the night the elf comes looking for Baldric, and finds him and his companion. Looks are exchanged, and Davor decides right then and there that he's going to switch sides to whoever that elf is fighting for. Lovely, not only do I have my cohort (who incidentally is how I field-tested my Incredible Hulk character build found here), but he happens to have information about the enemy. Wins all around!

All three of these characters are fetched to the base of the tower, and through a series of unfortunate events find themselves being magically transported up into the sky city itself.

Great Revelations

As I mentioned in the last chapter, Baldric's got a wishing ring up his sleeve. With that ring, and some clever shenanigans, we smash through the encounters our ST had meant to make challenging, leave the tower, and go on the lam back to the destroyed capital we'd come from.

While the 7-foot half-orc and the normally-reserved elf are making sheep's eyes at each other the rest of the party wants to know how the hell Baldric knows this guy. So he reveals his history as Brazen Red-Eye, a wanted war criminal responsible for the deaths of countless villages and all their inhabitants. There's some hemming and hawing from the other party members about this revelation, but ultimately Brazen decides he doesn't have time for it and informs the group what he's doing. The other two alchemists join him, and he marches up to the keep to demand a way to solve this whole convoluted problem.

And make it snappy, I'm sick of your bullshit!

 

The party is then given a series of combats, challenges, and fetch quests, the details of which blended together after a bit. The brute squad, with the support of the rest of the party, powered through whatever challenges were laid in front of them. They were eventually brought to a location that held a time machine. The goal of course is to send them back in time to stop this from happening. Because of course it is, why else would you slingshot a party into the future?

Most of the party is thrilled by this. They can go back, save their friends and families, and make the world how it was. For Brazen, he's finally found his friends and followers. He's in a world that makes sense, and he has a chance to rebuild it into something better and different than it was before. Here he's a man with a small army of followers, a strong right hand, and is a force to be reckoned with. Back there he's just another killer on the run from the rope.

A King By His Own Hand

The campaign was far from over, but it was very clear out of character that if this machine was going to render this future, horrible as it was, non-existent then Brazen, Davor, and probably Tirnel the elf would waste no time in blowing it straight to hell along with anyone who got in their way. Without this deus ex machina the game was over, and the epic final chapter would be impossible to reach without a lot of hand-waving and NPC magical bullshit.

As if we had any shortage of that in this game...

 

So our storyteller and the NPCs alike were quick to assure us that it wasn't linear time travel, but rather that this machine would punch a hole into a parallel timeline. A timeline that could still be saved. Brazen holstered his gun, folded his arms, and told them if they were getting they'd better go. He had shit to do.

Slightly confused, most of the rest of the party went. The players and ST alike were wondering what he was going to do, and so they ended the session by asking the $24 question.

Brazen Red-Eye purchased the cursed city and all of its properties from the Crown for a gold piece and a blot of ink. He took his cohort and followers (mostly alchemists, gunslingers, druids, and witches with a few barbarians and fighters for flavor), and rebuilt the city. He took in refugees of all stripes, and put them to work training for war, manning the walls, growing crops and assembling new structures. In time Lost Home became known as a place where anyone could find a a seat at the table if they were willing to work hard and follow orders. It established a college of alchemy and wizardry, as well as a gunworks where firearms and more dangerous weapons were built. In less than ten years it could field an army of warriors in construct armor, and an air force of dirigibles powered by alchemy and loaded down with smooth-bore cannons. Brazen Red-Eye ruled on the brass throne till the day he died, and he was burned with the honors of a great chieftain. His widow maker was placed in his hand, because wherever he was going he was going to need it.

And that, my friends, is quite possibly the most epic middle finger I have ever had a character give to a plot he was expected to keep following.

What's Next on Table Talk?

That's the end of this tale, but what would you like to see next time on Table Talk? Suggestions are always welcome!

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