Thoughs on the Undercity Noir Playtest after 2 sessions

I apologize for the lack of posting.  I've been a bit paralyzed by Undercity Noir's nature.  Whenever I run a playtest, I find it dominates my time, because I'm busy fixing the bits that the game is missing, but I can usually make that up by talking about the playtest.  Now, though, I can't do that, because I intend to run it twice, which means I would spoil things if I ran it twice.  So what can I talk about?  Well, I can talk about how particular systems worked and what my experience with them was. So let's hit a few high points.

After Action Report: Tall Tales of the Orochi Belt Part IV - The Storm Comes

Last we left our heroes:

• Sir Axton Kain, Space Knight of House Kain, who has no heart.
• Viscontessa Shay Sabine, Space Knight of House Sabine, who sees the future on the petals of dreaming nymph
• Baron Mallus Grimshaw, Ace Pilot of House Grimshaw, who disapproves.
• Sir Tyro Pavonis, Ace Pilot of House Sabine, who sees without sight (but was unable to make the session).
• Walker Lee, Scavenger and War Hero of the Orochi Rebellion, and caretaker of one Jethro Page
• The Dread Pirate Xerxes, Captain of the Calico and its killer crew, and Asrathi Witchcat, but otherwise not a bad bloke.

They had captured the smuggler station "Port Mongo" after executing its previous owner, Mongo Corpulain, for the crimes of murder, human trafficking and Orochi poaching, and then carefully captured the rest to minimize casualties.  Then, they discovered that an Orochi Swarm descended once more on the damaged, inoperable station.

Nobilis: A Philosophical Action Game featuring Theological Superheroes (in full technicolor!)

More than anything else, Nobilis is driven by the choices the players make: Who they want to be, what they want to represent, and what their own personal worlds and rivalries are like utterly shape the world. I can do a few things on my side to shape it into a particular direction, but in the end, Nobilis must be about surrender to the power of the players.  After all, they're playing Gods.

So, let's take a look at what our PCs, and thus the world, are like.  Note that we're getting new players and some of the previous players want to revisit their characters now that they have a better understanding of Nobilis, so all of this is subject to change, but it's still a good starting point.