[Contenders] Scene Types, playing aid

[cra2]

http://www.cra2.com/games/rpg/contenders/Scene Type Grid.doc

I made this single-page reference doc for Contenders and showed it to Joe Prince who suggested I post it here in Actual Play to see if we can get some input and tweak it into a final PDF form that he'd host on his game site.

It's a bared bones and rough draft but quite usable and it reflects the fact that we incorporated the suggestions Joe's made about controlling the "Pain Spiral" such as capping Pain at a max and allowing for Soothe scenes, etc.

Basically, if we can condense the formula/rules for each of the 10 scene types into the "Notes" column, I think this could be the only playing aid you'd need at the table to run the whole game.  It certainly helped my newer players realize their scope of their choices and by having a "Gain" column, it concretely allowed them to reference what scene they needed to have in order to get the stat gain they wanted.  We had two new players - one of whom was a girl who'd never RPG'd before, and she saw her choices and their impacts within minutes and we took off.  It was fun.

So if you have any suggestions for how to improve this playing aid - shoot.  ..or should I say, jab?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

I should be looking at my rulebook before typing this, but the other urgencies of the moment are getting in the way.

As I recall, some of the scene types place constraints on what scene types can follow afterwards. If I'm not making that up somehow, that information would be very handy on the sheet.

Best, Ron

[cra2]

As I recall, some of the scene types place constraints on what scene types can follow afterwards. If I'm not making that up somehow, that information would be very handy on the sheet.

good idea.

If I recall, someone can't be "threatened (connection)" twice in row.  They get at least one 'free' scene choice between.

A "promotion" scene (obviously) precedes a "match."

If you set up a "match" - the fight will happen on the next turn of either person in the match (NPC or PC).

And of course, at the end-game, there's a specific sequence - your final scene choice, then a fight, then epilogues.

But other than that, I don't recall any sequence constraints.