[TSOY] Importance of keys
Paul T:
Dave,
I'm curious how this situation turned out in the end. Did the player stick to his guns or changes his ways? What kinds of Story Guide things did you try?
dindenver:
Paul,
This campaign wrapped up two weeks ago.
It went very well, by my estimation.
I think there were a couple of things at work here:
1) The player was trying something new. He usually didn't make single-minded characters like this. So, he really had to find his way through a new character, a new set of rules and a new GM.
2) He had a more "traditional" mindset and was not used to making his keys part of his stakes, etc. Or, in general, taking responsibility for a larger part of the story.
3) He was hesitant to play for XPs or give himself XPs (he didn't want to look like a cheater or power gamer).
Well, I lucked out, this was the kind of player that is not afraid to do a little self-analysis and/or talk about gaming. So, I was able to talk to him and give him some inspiration (like that these sorts of single-minded characters all have a driving force "Justice" or whatever and to try and frame his actions with that sort of theme. That seemed to help a lot.
Also, once we stumbled across a Ability Check where the player and the character both had a real investment in the outcome, I was able to slow down the IIEE and talk about each step and how he could ask for what he wanted and not just what his character was doing. Once this happened, he was able to line it up and get 15 XPs in one scene.
And, once that clicked, he was able to be much more proactive in the scenes.
It took a little time, but mostly that was because I didn't want to ruin the fun by being too critical of others' play. After all, he wasn't being disruptive, he just wasn't using all of the game's features.
And that is the advice I would give to any SG, don't force it.
Also, if you are going to do IIEE as it is described in the old book, I found that it was harder for me to describe the scenes in narratively-rich ways. I had to keep adjusting my own play to include better descriptions of what happens.
And getting players to describe what they are trying to accomplish instead of what task they are trying to succeed at was challenging at times. But that came naturally, eventually, once the players realized that I wasn't going to pull the rug out from under them if they did 'fess up to what they wanted for their characters.
I sort of rambled there, did that answer your question?
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