[Burning Empires] Grinding Gears on Beliefs
Bret Gillan:
So we did world burning for Burning Empires. We can up with a cool world where civilization grew out of a crashed spaceship fleet. This is a strict society, and a criminal city sprouted up like a mushroom on the edge of it. One player, Josh, is playing a crime lord. I kept tossing out ideas, but they fell flat and he stayed silent. Josh can get frustrated really easy, so I didn't push it.
He just came crashing to a halt when it came to coming up with his character's beliefs. Everyone else was nearly halfway done with their characters by the time he came up with two out of three. By the time the character creation session ended, he was halfway done with his character.
So is there a way that I could help him come up with beliefs? I gave suggestions of things that work for me, like imagining my character doing something awesome and then writing a Belief based on that. Is this something that you can even help a player with, or do you just need to let them grind through it?
I see this thing happen in other games - this paralysis. Coming up with Kickers in Sorcerer, for example.
Chris_Chinn:
Hi Bret,
One of my friends also gets chargen paralysis.
Did Josh begin with doing the life paths and number crunching or did he begin with a character concept? Sometimes people get into the numbers and they have this thing in front of them which they have no real connection to. You might be best off having him back up, come up with a whole new concept (unless that breaks everyone else's character concept) and then build around that.
Alternately, sometimes I've seen people go into paralysis because they can't "latch" into the setting. Usually I try to toss them more situation stuff first, then let them figure out something they're into and hook into it.
Obviously, though both of these require talking with Josh, and being sure -not- to pressure him on it, just see if there's something he's not digging on that might be working as a handbrake on the whole affair, or if there's something he's wishing he could do, but somehow feels railed by the chargen system.
Chris
Bret Gillan:
Chris,
We were going by the book so he come up with a concept, and then went on to Beliefs. It may have been difficulty latching into the setting, which is why I was batting ideas at him ("How about battles with rival crime lords in the streets? How about establishing the independence of your city by dragging military patrols into back alleys and beating them senseless? How about political negotations at a big table with... etc.")
I try to be totally open to any ideas that get tossed out there. He just clammed up completely and wouldn't respond to questions. "Is there something you want to see?" "I don't know." I mean, maybe this is his personality and I just need to be patient and let him work through it.
Per Fischer:
After reading your second post, Bret, it does sound like a particular problem for the player in question. I wonder if he has bought into your collaborative world building at all? Was he active in world building, and then clammed up before the world was done, or? Is he generally jazzed about your cool world, its possibilities and its characters?
I find creating Beliefs one of the hardest things in character generation in BE - you really have to be creative. One of my Danish friends, Peter, uses this approach for (BW) Beliefs: one shortterm goal that can accomplished pretty quickly, maybe even in one or few scenes, certainly within the first session. One midterm goal to go for over more sessions, and lastly a longterm goal that won't be accomplished for a while. (I now understand this is originally Thor Olavsrud's suggestion)
This helps me coming up with Beliefs. I use it in other games that have similar traits as well - Kickers are similarly hard, so are Muses in Nine Worlds etc etc. Because it's where you really start to disclose to the other players what you want from the game.
I sometimes do chargen in this order: concept (this MUST come first), then lifepaths either forwards or reverse to accomodate concept, then Beliefs. Because sometimes there's a lifepath or LP change that triggers your imagination. Why did he leave the Theocracy after so many/few years? Born free but now slave - what is happening? Etc.
But I can see the problem if he is not responding at all. Is there any chance that he is mostly there to hang out with the other guys? I've seen that so many times. In that case I would politely ask if he wants to play and explain he needs to create Beliefs if so. Or if he would like to maybe skip this one and come back when you've played BE.
I think a lot about this, and I hope I've managed to convey some of my thoughts.
Per
Chris_Chinn:
Hi Bret,
It sounds like it could be him not really "feeling" how the setting works. Has he checked out any of the comics? (comics are a great source material in general, just because they're both visual and a quick read).
I'd probably have him scrap the character until he gets something that excites him. If you don't even have buy in from the start, it's unlikely to develop later in the game, especially since BE is a game with really high stakes along the way.
Another possible idea might be to have his character "piggyback" on another player's character. Perhaps an ally or follower or best friend or lover or something. If the player can't buy into the setting, he might buy into another player's character idea and use that as a jumping off point. During play, it gives him someone's lead to follow, and later, diverge from if he wants.
Chris
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