[Shadowrun] Adding bangs to save a failing campaign...
The Dragon Master:
The next session was last night. I started off by talking with the group about some of the changes with how I'd be running things this session. Everyone seemed to be on board with me, and off we went.
The first new technique I implemented I called technique (though I don't know how well my definition lines up with the forge one). Before entering any scene, I asked the player what their goal was for the scene, and then focused on that during the scene. This led to scenes that were tighter in focus, since I knew what the players were trying to get at. It also led to faster scenes since the players weren't playing a game of guess the right question. And since things were moving along faster no one really had time to get distracted. For example, when Havok went to one of his contacts with the talisman that had allowed him in. So we stepped out of character and talked about what he wanted to get out of this scene. He said that he wanted to know how it worked, and then to have the contact trace it to it's creator if possible. So we ran that scenario. He asked her how it stopped spirits, she told him. He asked if she knew who made it, she made a deal with him telling him the cost, and amount of time needed. Then we moved on. I'd started to loose one of the players by this point (he had assumed it would be a longer scene than that) but when I jumped to where his character was, he set aside the xbox and we moved on.
Another technique was more agressive scene framing. I'd just give a quick description of what time it was, and where the scene was taking place, then ran with it. This helped to keep player destraction down, since if I was explaining what was happening, it was either important, or wasn't taking long enough for them to get lost in the myriad of game books lying around (those might have to be the next change, no non-campaign-specific books on the table). Since I'd cut passed the "you open the door, you walk in" section of framing straight to the "you enter his apartment, an expansive place in downtown seattle" section, less time was spent framing the scene, and more time was spent in it, so naturally we got more done.
I also took some of the advice from here about cutting between characters during long scenes. I started the session off with having everyone tell me where they were when we last met. This was greeted with comments like "you mean you don't remember?". I told them I did, but so should they and after establishing where everyone was we ran with it. When we hit the scene with the talisman, I ran it as two scenes instead of one long, slow, pan. I ran his discussion about the immediat info acquired from the item, and the resulting negotiation. Then moved to the characters down at the station who were seeing what changes had occured as a result of the recent incursion to the compound. Then I bounced to David (C's character) over at Bloodied Kings appartment. He'd said that while he was their by himself he called up one of his contacts (a simsense starlet) and invited her over. I asked the obvious "why?", but he said it's just what he would do. I'm really growing to hate that phrase, but when pushed he said it just seemed right. So we played through a brief scene of those two, and when everyone else showed up we played out her reaction to several others wandering in without knocking. It started as just allowing for the player to hit on what was important about his characters background, and ended up allowing the whole group a little laugh, and gave us an established personality for a character who may well be important in some later session.
All in all, it was a much more enjoyable session, everyone stayed in the game (if not in character*), and I think we're all looking forward to the next session a little more than this last one. Now if we can only get to the actual run next session. The PCs spent so much time talking about what were likely responses to last sessions incursion, that for a while it seemed that almost nothing would be accomplished. Though the main problem there was that the Elemental Adept who has no knowledge of how any technology works, decided to argue with the tech expert in the group that the transmitter that was placed in the talisman couldn't possibly be capable of transmitting an employee ID. I'm fairly sure though that that was just them playing out some inter-party-conflict-type character developement though.
The "Turtling in RPGs" thread was interesting. After some of the players choices this last session, I think that the problem is that he felt that I'd shut down an area where he had aimed for his character to shine. I'm going to try to work that in there, but as the player is gender bending (which I'm not terribly comfortable with) and is trying to play out "intimate" behavioural patterns as the first attempt to solve all problems (which I'm even less comfortable with) I don't know how much I'll be able to.
Ron Edwards:
Cool! I am really enjoying this game and your efforts with it, in part because I read the first post of the thread with a kind of sinking feeling of dread.
I have two thoughts this time around.
1. When someone says, "It's what he would do," that's not always a bad thing. In fact, it might be quite good. I think we should back up to the question you asked, which was "Why?," and recognize that his response may be coming from the fact that he simply doesn't know what you mean. It's a damned vague question and is not immediately clear that it's still in and about the situation. I suggest saying instead, "The starlet comes over, wearing fishnets up to here, and says, 'You have a cool place!' What do you do?"
That will give you your answer to "Why" in the best way possible. I suggest applying this phrasing as often as possible, in combat, non-combat, intimate, non-intimate, and casual, non-casual scenes. It's crucial, in using it, always to provide a response in terms of actual GMing (what is happening, what the NPC does and says), as the first step.
2. Now for the kinky shit. OK, this guy is playing a hot babe, right? And the hot babe is trying to get her way and to do stuff that involves sexual talk with others, and perhaps even sex acts?
If I have this right, I have two suggestions. First, take a deep breath and run with it. Shadowrun is full of cheesecake, and if that's his inroad to playing the game, no one can say that he's making it up all by himself. Go ahead and let yourself be drawn along, and treat that dialogue and those actions as valid items of play. Second - and here's what makes the first less scary - introduce dialogue about Lines and Veils. Lines are best thought of as boundaries for game content, like "no rape in our story," or things like that. All groups have Lines and it's a responsibility for each person to make it clear to everyone else if play is approaching one. Veils are inside the Lines, in other words, the acts are permissible in the story, but they don't get shown. Maybe, "My character has sex with him!," and you say, "And the mists cover the scene for all of us. Meanwhile, back at the cyberbar ..."
Lines and Veils are not hard to implement. It's important to recognize that they might not be pre-set through an extended discussion. People are rarely honest about their real Lines and Veils in play (Grey Ranks is an exception for specific reasons that don't matter here). I think it might work best if you introduce the concept first, and let some brainstorming happen as people chew it over, but let the real establishment of where they are happen as play goes along. One thing you might say is that they're not negotiable; if anyone in the group calls that action over the Line, it is, and if anyone in the group wants an action Veiled, it is.
Best, Ron
The Dragon Master:
Thanks for the reply, and a big Thank You to everyone whose posted advice. As I said, the sessions seem to be going better, and I think that with some experience they'll get better yet. Distraction around the gaming table, and off topic banter (not that there's anything wrong with that) are mostly the norm during our sessions, but this last session had as close to none of either as makes no difference.
1. I am trying to get better on that. Part of the problem is that I've never been very good at coming up with things on the fly. Even things I already figured out pose a problem for me (so I keep a large number of simple notes on hand so I don't forget something I was going to put in) I'm hoping that with practice I'll either get past it, or find a technique that works around it.
2. I'm going to let him keep it up (he hasn't done anything "on screen" yet, just made some comments in character that felt uncomfortably close to a Line or two of mine). The rest of the group is going with it, to the extent that part of their plan of entry involves him seducing one or both of the security consultants at the compound. With some of the characters I'm not really sure how the concept fits in with how they are being represented in play. I realize that concept frequently changes with play (no plan ever survives first contact and all that) but we've got a club hopper who has only spent time in a club when he was called there for the meeting with the Johnson, an immortal elf who acts like a nineteen year old who just got a new set, and a private eye trained by Lone Starr whose idea of a steak out is to walk up to the person you're tailing and ask them where they are going. Still we've only finished two sessions with everyone together, and it will probably just take time to settle into character.
Thought I'd toss this in. In the first post I'd mentioned tossing "innocents" into the way of Bloodied King. This last session, he brought the issue to the forefront himself, and there was a fun, in character discussion of the consequences of just setting some fuses and detonating from a distance. It was awesome. In past sessions I had tried to bring out PC sympathy for NPC's, and it always fell flat, but this one evolved more organically, was player driven, and I hope that I can figure out a way to keep this stuff coming. Our group has a history of taking a "nuke it from orbit" mindset with completion of any mission. Rarely is a building standing when our PCs leave it. That means offices, clubs, Manses in Exalted, and on more than one occasion a PCs residence. Well, I'll keep you up to date on the next session.
Two weeks away from the next session, and for the first time since I started GMing, I just can't wait.
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