One Bad Apple, a 7TV Episode

     ONE BAD APPLE

          With DC Falstaff disguised as a member of the firm,

      the Beat unleashes a sudden raid.  Unfortunately, it’s

      less of a surprise than expected.  Is a member of the

      squad bent?  DI Skelton has to find the culprit and

      nick the villains.

   So last Sunday the Williamsburg Legati began a new project.  7TV  second edition is a game by Crooked Dice based upon cult TV shows of the 1960s and 70s.  The game was really intended as a practice to help familiarize the players with the concepts and the rules.  Are table is not quite finished yet, so some of the scenery is a little sketchy, and in the excitement, I paid a  bit too little attention to the camera’s focus.  My apologies for these deficiencies!

This was an episode (game) of “THE BEAT” which was fictional TV Channel 7TV’s hard detective action programme.  Both casts (Sides) were built on 50 Ratings (points) and we had four players.  A random roll decided that this would be a Battle which is the simplest of the scenarios.  The Law got to choose if they would defend or attack and they decided it made more sense that they would be attacking. The coppers would be unleashing a raid on a criminal firm’s hideout in a factory complex.  Everything sounds fine so far….

A very interesting feature of 7TV is the “count down” cards.  these cards act as a turn counting device, but they are divided into three groups (Acts One, Two and Finale) and have special events that escalate as the acts progress.  The coppers had initiative and peeled around the corners in an impressive collection of vehicles.  The villains however, all had one free move due ot one of the character’s special effects.  Clearly they knew something was up.  Than a countdown card ( I think, it might also have been a special effect) caused one woodentop to activate under the villians control.  Choosing the driver of the police van, the bent copper smashes into Skelton’s flash motor, wrecking it!  these event crfeated at random a new narrative.  Obviously the villains had someone inside the squad!

This accident caused the police raid to stop further from the crooks than intended.  The coppers fought hard, but the disadvantage of firepower (all the PCs armed just with their truncheon) and the surprising toughness of slag aiding the Geezers eventually caused the Old Bill to pull out.  Occasionally crime does pay I guess.

Everyone enjoyed the game, which took longer than it should have since we didn’t know the rules as well as we might.  They are not difficult, but a number of the concepts are a little unusual.  Clearly the challengs of the game are knowing your cast (and perhaps the opponents) and determining how to spend your plot points.  These are used not only to activate your characters but can also be used to acctivate special effect or gadgets and to increase your attacks or defense.  I look forward to playing again.

Cheers!

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