[MLwM] Convention game thoughts
Ben Miller:
Ho
I'm going to be running a game of My Life with Master in a couple of weeks at a mini-convention. I've run a couple of games already for friends - the players at the convention won't have played before though. Last time I ran it we played it like this: we made the Master and Minions between us and then went straight in the game. It went Ok but I felt that my imagination really let the game down - I just wasn't able to respond to the players' wishes for scenes quickly enough (or rather, I did respons quickly bu the scenes were a bit dull and got repetitive quickly).
So, what I'm thinking for this upcoming convention game is that I'll generate the Master in advance. This will give me the chance to plot out some interesting scenes, including key locations in the town, the Master's house and even some interesting NPCs. I'd feel much more comfortable running the game this way, I think. I've got a notion that I could even create some Minions in advance.
My question is has anybody done this before and did it work? Will it break the players' immersion in the game too much?
Interested to hear your thoughts!
Ben
Noclue:
As someone who's played but not run MLWM, I think I'd miss the fun of creating the master together and I think it would have a negative effect on play during the game. Part of creating the master is figuring out how you fit into the nefarious plot.
hix:
I have run Paul's Gencon demo scenario (the one set on the Mediterranean island) three times at cons. Each time has worked brilliantly, with full engagement from the players, and - with a bit of pushing - we got through the full story arc each time.
Eero Tuovinen:
Pregenerated Master can work fine or fail - the reason for doing the generation with the whole group is that it increases the chances of success to near-certainty levels instead of the crap-shoot you get when the GM tries to create an enticing Master on his lonesome in advance.
My own strategy in this regard has been to do Dracula: I have this Dracula convention scenario that I whip out if I need to get MLwM off the ground quickly. Dracula is familiar to everybody and it's easy to prep some bangs even without knowing the player characters: they're going to be a mixture of gypsies, vampire maids, living servants and Englishmen and women lured to Transylvania. I have the literary background down pat myself, so I've no trouble bringing in suitable snippets of Eastern European culture or van Helsing himself if an Outsider is needed. Easy-peasy to run, really, and most importantly most players will have an immediate emotional connection to Dracula, thus alleviating the lack of a shared Master creation.
One thing I often do with this scenario is that I'll ask the players for input in determining Vlad's scores before we start. For instance, I let them pick whether he'll be a Brain or a... what's that other option in English, again? Beast? Whatever, the point is that I can run any scene I've prepped regardless of whether Dracula's a cold schemer or a lustful monster, it just affects my characterization. Most of the mechanical prep is like that, so no reason not to let the players create their own characters and set some basic facts about Dracula. I also have a set of premade characters that we can use for shorter demos and such. They're also useful with stodgy players who wouldn't ever choose a female character or other clearly vulnerable protagonist for themselves; stodgy gamers often perform best in MLwM with a premade character, because that avoids their character ownership instincts and lets them play the character in a carefree manner.
Ben Miller:
Ooh, Eero that sounds good. I might consider the Dracula angle - thanks!
Hix, can I get hold of Paul's Mediterranean scenarion somewhere?
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