[PTA] MCU: Gotham
KevinH:
Hello all,
I got permission to post this from the producer, so I thought I'd like to share our experiences of PTA. As you'll see, the premise of the show was a police procedural set in Gotham after Batman Begins, but before Dark Knight. Following on from the movies' lead, no outrageously super-villains, just wack jobs with aliases.
Also, I'm only posting links as the AP is looooong. We managed two seasons and if it weren't for RL, we'd be playing still.
Pilot
S01E02
S01E03
S01E04
S01E05
S02E01
S02E02
S02E03
S02E04
S02E05
One point I would like to make, that was really interesting to me as a player in this game, was the amount of story-conferencing we did. Particularly with the Eli/Kat relationship (I was playing Eli and Kat's player's husband was playing Merchant). There was a lot of discussion to ensure that everyone was on the same page that this was purely in character.
What we found, with other issues as well, was that as a group we could roughly plan out where the story would go and then just sit back and enjoy the ride. Heck, we even surprised ourselves. My character's big switch from dirtiest cop EVAR to lone hero came right out of left field, even I was shocked to hear THAT coming out of my mouth.
Plus, the climax of the love story had to be tragic, we knew it had to be tragic and we had, as a group, planned for that for weeks. I still choke up, because the character who was supposed to a bad-guy looking for redemption-turned hero, did NOT get the girl and happiness he deserved. She died in his arms, shot through the lungs. With the story set, I was able to commit fully to the story, moment to moment.
One final point, before this really does become TL:DR. As mentioned in the AP, we would literally turn to the producer and check which "next week on.." remained. That was an interesting part of the game. At the end of a session, throwing the most bizarre scenes into the mix and having to work it into the overall story really added some fun stuff. In a sense, you might say that was our one moment of Sole Authority per episode.
Anyways, MCU: Gotham... enjoy.
Kevin
Nick Caldwell:
Holy cats! Not much to say but I was blown away by the Season 2 finale. I found this through prepping for my own PTA game and it's definitely inspiring. Thanks for sharing!
Just curious -- you said that the climax of the love story had to be tragic -- when was that decided? I'm fascinated that the conflict was not over whether Kit is going to die but is she able to talk to Eli before she dies. A little lightbulb went off in my head over that so thank you.
~ Nick
KevinH:
Quote from: stingray20166 on July 08, 2010, 06:56:03 AM
Just curious -- you said that the climax of the love story had to be tragic -- when was that decided? ~ Nick
Firstly, thank you for the appreciation.
As to your question, I don't know if I could ever say it was decided. I'm trying to explain what I mean, but it's really hard to get the right words, so I'll tell you some of the thoughts that led to Kit's death:
1) It's Gotham. There's no happy endings, period. By the end of season 2, every (and I mean EVERY) character is compromised. Every white-knight character ended up dead or dirty, from the wanting-to-clear-his-name cop in season 2, to the IA Charisma to Merch. Even Eli, despite his turn around, is still as dirty as a sack of soot.
2) Happy endings are boring. So Eli and Kit fall in love, what then? Marriage? Boring. Freak of the week, with each episode being, "Which super villain threatens the happy couple this week?" Lame. There had to be change and growth and the thawing of the relationship, but there was no interesting follow up to that change.
3) They are just fucked. Every character is so dysfunctional, they can't make it work. Kit and Eli are recovering alcoholics. Kit has issues going back to her psycho dad and ex. Eli (on a cop salary) wore Armani and had a penthouse in the same building as Bruce Wayne and essentially moon-lighted as a Capo. Good things cannot happen to bad people (in TV land, at least).
Hope that clears things up. Basically, Kit's death was decided on almost purely story-telling terms.
Kevin
Nick Caldwell:
That makes perfect sense -- and that's what I thought you meant. I think the "had to be" part threw me -- it made me think an outside force (mechanics of the game, discussion outside the game, etc) was influencing the play. It's clear now that the decision arose from the play (and it helps that I've re-read the rulebook now for my own prep). Thank you.
"Why did Kit have to die?"
"It's Gotham."
Love it!
~ nick
Christoph Boeckle:
Hello Kevin
Sounds like a nifty series!
Could you please give us an example taken from any instance of play to illustrate what you mean by story-conferencing? Do you use it in the same way as the guys in [PTA] Players wanting their PCs to fail? do?
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