Cliffcrawl inaugural play report

29 Jul, 2026

Today I ran cliffcrawl v0.0 for the very first time at the Ancient Robot Workshop's monthly playtest night. Many thanks to the intrepid playtesters Fred, China, and George.

scenario: Polynia

For the scenario, I bashed together a quick concept based on the short story Polynia by China Mieville, in which icebergs appear in the sky over London. Some assorted quotes get the vibe across more concisely than I could:

When cold masses first started to congeal above London, they did not show up on radar. By the time they started to, perhaps two hours later, hundreds of thousands of people were already out in the streets and gaping skyward. They shielded their eyes—it was cloudy but very bright. They looked up at glowing things the size of cathedrals, looming above the skyline. [...] All but military flights over the city were banned. The army and specialist police units came onto the streets. Jets glided low overhead, and bristling helicopters rose suspiciously and seemed to sniff at the sides and undersides of the eddying things.

This was almost fifteen years ago. I was about eleven. There was me, Robbie, Sal—she was big for her age and bossed the rest of us around a bit—and Ian, a nervous kid to whom I wasn’t nice. We were under Mass 2, as it was later dubbed. It rocked sedately from side to side over the skies of Neasden as I and my friends ran in urgent delight around gawping north Londoners. We ran to keep up with it, following it towards Harlesden. It seemed like the most excitable of the visitations, heading east and south like an unstable ship.

Here is a picture of the map I drew of Mass 2. The red and black dotted lines are the route the players took to climb and then retreat from Mass 2.

Climbing Mass 2

An archaeologist, an Army officer, and an architect meet before dawn, packs heavy, breathing mist under fluorescent lights. They hop a ragged chicken wire fence and quickly climb the fire escape of the old abandoned development, Cherry Tree Apartments.

Mass 2 hovers about thirty meters over the building's roof. One massive pillar to the east -- named the Hanging Buttress -- dangles precariously low, just ten meters over the climbers' heads. It creaks in the wind, like a glacier about to calve. A whispy waterfall sprinkles on their foreheads, throwing rainbows across the sunlight.

A grappling hook sails up and sinks into the ice on the first try. They climb as dawn begins.

The first few hours of the day go uneventfully. They move slowly up as a party of 3, enjoying the beautiful dawn light, the wondrous sight of the waterfall, and the feeling of peculiar isolation, suspension over the chaos of the city.

Timeline of the day, used to record elapsed time. Note the period of high winds beginning at 10am.

They move up the slick chimney between the Buttress and the main bulk of Mass 2. The archaeologist succumbs to the first fall of the day, taking a heavy whipper as he works up inside the chimney. Luckily, his ice screw holds, and the architect is able to send the pitch. The archaeologist's claustrophobia starts to get the better of him, though, and he is on edge.

The army officer takes the first pitch of traversing onto the main iceberg, and disaster strikes. His crampon slips, and falling, he gets tangled in the rope. It constricts around his back as he accelerates downwards, and with a sickening crunch, he is dead.

The other two fight across the ice to recover him, and set a fixed line to rappel straight down safety. They are met by a huge crowd that has gathered to watch them. Some hail them as heroes, other as reckless ruffians.

The architect and archaeologist both gain 100XP for recovering a body, and 125XP for the wondrous sight of the waterfall/Hanging Buttress.

reflections

FUN!

It works. It played more or less exactly as I envisioned it would. Procedure heavy, slowly emerging time constraints and invisible threats impacting their choices.

We were all a bit suprised by the brutality of the damage system. I think converting the injury table from 1D6 to 2D6 could soften the odds of instant death. In addition, setting a clear expectation of the possibility of death is important. One player suggested a starter adventure that begins with the death of an NPC as a good way to establish the stakes.

The real challenge of this game is going to be writing good GM advice. I know enough about climbing to make rulings confidently, but the true mark of success is empowering someone who's never climbed before to do the same.

feedback

• Knowing what equipment to bring as a beginner is tough. Maybe have 'loadouts' preconstructed to hand out?
• Consider making the game less procedural, skip over boring parts to focus on narrative scenes¹
• Establish the stakes better up front
• Have somewhere to track items that are in use but not xounting towards inventory e.g. ropes, crampons, ice axes, worn gear.

lemme know what you think!

Hit me up at joeblainjoeblain@gmail.com if you read the rules and have thoughts. I'd love to hear them.

Take care and brush your hair!