[Primetime Adventures] "Last Stand" Great pitch... but then what happened?
Sebastian K. Hickey:
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GM: So, what next? We haven't seen Bob in a while.
BP (Bob's Player): It's cool to wait, I saw OP had an idea there after that revelation about the bomb.
OP (Object-718's Player): Yeah, I have a cool cover-up idea! 718's gonna stumble into it!
GM: Uh... well, does that relate to your Issue?
OP: Um...
BP: Maybe if the cover-up involves radical robot-designers?
.... etc..
Hi David. Let me first thank you for the generosity of your response. It is peppered with gems. The biggest insight for me is the question "Uh... well, does that relate to your Issue?" If I can remember to keep pushing for issue related scenes, I think the invested interest will give momentum to the roleplaying, and then immersion.
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To introduce Object 718 to the bombing" and "To meet the captain" aren't focused on character Issues and don't imply any conflict.
I agree. Could you twist those scene agendas, tweak them a bit, to show me what a good conflict agenda might be? I'm struggling with this and need some help.
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That's one way, just recognise that there is fun to be had in the weirdness, and not try to avoid it but make your way slowly through it.
I intend to get PTA if it kills me. Until I really get it, there's a huge barrier to the successful integration of new players.
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I'm not really seeing a conflict in the setting itself and wondering if that's the problem? What in the setting is actually going to conflict with and confront the PC's?
Hi Callan. I disagree. I don't think a setting is important in the creation of conflict. Every soap opera is situated in the banal, yet each is swarming with interpersonal conflict. I've heard of games like 'Metrocity', where the players take the roles of clean-up crews for super hero activity. All the 'action' takes place off screen, but the real conflict is between the characters and their own issues, not the super heroes versus villains. Even if you take desperate housewives or six feet under, or any other high budget HBO style show, all of the action takes place between characters, not in the setting. In fact, Matt Wilson harps on about that very fact in the first quarter of the PTA rule book. So I don't think it was the setting that was the problem. In addition, this setting was a big part of the story arc, as the police department that the cast work for becomes the most important unit in the police force during the rise of gang violence and violent rebellion. The big question for the cast was, which side will you choose? I think that's a pretty good inclusion of PCs and setting. I say it again, I don't think the setting, or any setting, is ever the problem. It was much more likely to stem from my misunderstanding of the system and the purpose and set-up of issue based conflicts. What do you think?
Callan S.:
I think if you think you have a problem and aren't sure where it is, then you need to be less certain in saying where there isn't a problem.
That said, I'm refering to setting as a potential injection point for an overall conflict, but it wasn't injected there. Like an everyday soap, it can be injected anywhere. But I'm not really seeing that, either. And in terms of choosing a side - did that crop up in the session played?
I mean in terms of everyday soap, if one PC was sleeping with another (N)PC's wife or girlfriend, I'd go "Ah, there's something juicy!". But there doesn't seem to be anything like that? Everyday soaps don't swim with interpersonal conflicts by sheer chance - the writers force it in. Was anyone trying to force in a conflict, or just play out what would naturally happen?
David Berg:
Hi Sebastian,
If you've read the PtA book and done your best to play according to it (and it sounds like you have), then you probably "get it" as much as you're going to in terms of some "officially correct" way to play. Everything beyond that is just practice and tweaks you pick up from playing or maybe reading good accounts of other people playing. The Forge is filled with such accounts. Do some searches and you can probably turn up at least one good "my group did these things and we had an awesome time" PtA account.
Does anyone out there have a good PtA Actual Play thread to recommend?
As for scene agendas, in my games we haven't set an explicit goal for each scene, but fairly close. I think what we've done is mostly to prime a situation that just kinda seems juicy to everyone. I mean, it's easier for me to recognize dramatic potential than to label it specifically. So, it might be worth your while to churn out nicely-worded goals, or it might be sufficient to just get everyone going, "Oh crap, how's this gonna turn out?!" My only point is that if you get hung up on the former, try the latter.
It's hard for me to come up with good scene goals for your game without being there and seeing what everyone's excited about. But I'll take a few random stabs, and hopefully one will look appealing.
Make Bob choose whether to unearth dirt on Vicky in a scene where she's drunk and forthcoming. (If he does, and reports it, he may be given an order regarding her that he doesn't want to follow. So this is issue-relevant in a vague way, setting up stronger issue-relevant stuff to come.)Have Elizabeth make some demand on Haru that challenges him to stand up for himself. Maybe something reasonable but vaguely demeaning for an ex, like house-sitting or coffee-fetching. (Let Haru's player establish what his confidence issue looks like so we can see it in action. If he has no problem saying "no" to coffee-fetching, raise the stakes with Elizabeth making threats or something.)Make O718 tackle the visual part of his robothood -- opportunity to get tricked out. He's in the right place at the right time to incur a favor from a car detailing artist (catches dropped vase or baby, whatever). Artist will offer O718 various looks.
These could all work toward later-game stuff like Bob being told to kill Vicky, Haru being given a chance to lead the assault on the rebels for glory and danger or accept reassignment to an administrative position, and O718 choosing an operating system.
(Honestly, I find "what does it mean to be a robot?" to be kind of abstract and distancing, thus a crappy Issue.)
Hope some of that was useful!
Ps,
-David
Sebastian K. Hickey:
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I mean in terms of everyday soap, if one PC was sleeping with another (N)PC's wife or girlfriend, I'd go "Ah, there's something juicy!".
Isn't that an event, rather than a setting? I'm confused by your semantics. Nevertheless, I agree with you that I should be more opened minded to the source of my failure. Ruling out your 'setting' criticism is not a helpful way for me to learn.
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It's hard for me to come up with good scene goals for your game without being there and seeing what everyone's excited about. But I'll take a few random stabs, and hopefully one will look appealing.
Thanks for these scenarios. Very helpful. Clearly I've been constructing the stories all wrong. No wonder the guys didn't know how to act. When framing a scene, I need to be thinking of the juiciest, most tense and emotionally unsettling scenes I can think of on the spot.
Perhaps Bob arrives on a scene of helpless rebels in hiding and is ordered on the radio to shoot to kill? Or Haru is at home to pick up his daughter, and finds his ex-wife with another man, one of the Rog gorillas suspected of rebellious activity? Or maybe Object-718 is asked to provide intelligence for a rebel bombing. The rebels need to bomb part of the building that will cause the most damage and the information he gives will determine how many casualties will result.
Ok, the last one is dodgy, but it could lead to a 'life vs. numbers' thread, which is a more tangible interpretation of the issue.
Really helpful. Thanks David.
Callan S.:
Quote from: Sebastian K. Hickey on October 04, 2009, 03:24:07 AM
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I mean in terms of everyday soap, if one PC was sleeping with another (N)PC's wife or girlfriend, I'd go "Ah, there's something juicy!".
Isn't that an event, rather than a setting? I'm confused by your semantics. Nevertheless, I agree with you that I should be more opened minded to the source of my failure. Ruling out your 'setting' criticism is not a helpful way for me to learn.
I think you should read my post again - I agreed with you that soap like conflict can be injected anywhere, but I still don't see it being injected anywhere into play - not into the setting, not into events. Check my previous post out again, especially the last question.
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