Category: Steam Highwayman

Adopting the noted passage mechanic allows me to weave sequences of story together independent of their location.  I first invented this method while writing the ambush sequences of Highways & Holloways and my recent work writing the ambushes in Princes of the West illustrates how they work.

First, there are eight major locations where you can ambush passing steamers: five in Devon and three in Cornwall.  These are not the only places where you can stop a carriage and rob the occupants, but they are the major, repeatable locations that generate large numbers of victims, which makes sense thematically, since they are all somewhere on the Haulage Guild highways – the major road network connecting the larger towns of the region.

Once committed to making an ambush in one of these eight ambush locations, the player records a noted passage specific to that ambush location – one of eight passages that function as the end of the ambush sequence.  With this information reserved at the side, the ambush sequence can then continue independent of the location, meaning that generic passages can be used to tell a story that can take place multiple times or in different places.  

It works like this.  After noting that passage, the player rolls to see what sort of vehicle is encountered – or, with the right equipment, the player lies in wait and chooses what type of vehicle to ambush.  The distribution of various Guild road trains and private carriages varies across the eight major locations, partly dependent on the location of the several Guild bases.  The Haulage Guild are universally common, but the Telegraph Guild use the highways closest to their towers, while the Coal Board are more common closer to the large mines and the Atmospheric union are only really encountered near their airfield at Harrowbeer, north of Plymouth (in our timeline, the location of a RAF base during the second World War).

Say that a player encounters a private steam carriage – the highwayman’s preference, surely.  Rich passengers travelling for pleasure are certain to have good loot aboard, and rarely fancy a fight.  The player is then sent to one of four passages (two for Devon, two for Cornwall) that each offer subtly different methods for an ambush, depending somewhat on the actual landscape surrounding that part of the highway.  Within these passages, there is also a condition checker that can take the player off on a specific ambush sequence should they be attempting to rob someone in a rainstorm.

There are more common methods (usually relying on RUTHLESSNESS or MOTORING) and unique ones (typically depending on the possessions a player has), which should mean that a player who returns to a spot could specialise in a particular type method, if their skillset supported it.  Each of these methods typically includes a skillcheck and modifies the diceroll if useful equipment is possessed or relevant conditions are met.

If you fail one of these skillchecks, you might be spat out in a generic failure passage – for example, a passage that tells you about your failure to terrify the driver of the carriage, which can include a random roll chart with slightly-annoying or much-worse outcomes.  A passage like this, which might be met many times in a playthrough, needs to be both simple (not strongly-flavoured) and variable (hence the chart).  It then sends the player into their noted passage – more on this momentarily – or might even give them the opportunity to prepare another ambush.  This might be riskier a second time if the player has suffered damage or a wound as a result of their choices.

But say that a player succeeds in their chosen method and terrifies, or rides alongside, or impersonates a Constable and waves the carriage to a halt.  Then the sequence will send the player to a passage dependent on their broad location, in Cornwall or Devon, as the travellers on either side are slightly different.  Cornwall is known to be a wilder place and more of the travellers there will defend themselves.  The rewards, however, are higher.  This passage selects a passenger for the player to encounter, and in their passage they might immediately surrender their goods or put up a fight.

Once a robbery has taken place, the player can be sent to their noted passage, just as if they had failed their skillcheck and decided not to attempt another ambush.  This passage (dependent on the whether Constables or other enemies are nearby) will decide whether or not the player must proceed onto the fleeing map, and escape a pursuit.  Perhaps not, and instead they have a choice to make about where they will rest that night – in a the house of a nearby ally, in a warm pub parlour or under a dripping hedge.

I wrote large parts of the ambush sequence early in the project – over a year ago – but for some reason, parts were uninviting.  One downside of using these systems is that they can feel repetitive when written under pressure: when I have the time to come up with ideas, these can be some of my favourite passages, with the strongest flavour of all.  After all, this is the core activity for a Steam Highwayman, isn’t it?

But I have just been finishing up the final choices and links in this sequence.  The ambushes for the guilds have been finished for a while.  An ambitious plan to include a range of independent steamers has been eliminated as unnecessary, and I have been correcting and splicing together the ambush sequences for the private steam carriages.  The passengers were completed some months ago.

This is another benefit of the ‘subroutine’ style of planning: I don’t have to write things in a linear sequence.  I do, however, have to read through to ensure that it all makes sense! Is it all too much? Well, that depends on a few things: the feeling of choice, the flow of the text and the rhythm of decisions. My playtesters are going to have to tell me their thoughts soon… Applications welcome.