[Poison'd] Trying to understand Currency and Reward Systems
hix:
I ran Poison’d twice at Kapcon in Wellington this weekend, and I’m hoping to use the experience to try and better understand the ideas of reward cycles and currency.
The first run was a spectacular success: a group of seven players completely in the zone, well-briefed by me, who exploded into action once Brimstone Jack’s body hit the deck of the Dagger. To follow the actions of just one character through the game:
+ Patrick Marlow, quartermaster, immediately pulls out his brace of pistols and shoots two of the pirates he is ambitious to be revenged upon. He then guts Young Zeb Harris and claims the captaincy while holding Zeb’s intestines above his head as a trophy.
+ Following a successful raid on the Hyperion, the rest of the crew revolt at Patrick’s disgusting behaviour and throw him overboard. Patrick endures duress rather than fighting back.
+ Sinking into the ocean, Patrick strikes a bargain with God – who is cynical and doubting about Patrick’s willingness to follow through – and vows to build an orphanage to God’s glory if he’s allowed to reach shore. Patrick is then rescued by the crew of the Resolute, and impersonates a priest (‘Father Benedict’) using deceit.
+ It so happens that the Resolute is transporting the Prince of England, and Patrick subdues an unsuspecting and helpless opponent in order to fulfil one of his more sordid ambitions.
+ Finally reaching shore, Patrick begins construction of his orphanage but is ambushed by two pirates from the Dagger, who are following the Devil’s orders. Patrick endures duress rather than fight back, and we last see him being carried off to be sacrificed.
The second run was a fairly complete disaster, partially due to low energy levels from myself and the players. The pirates never left the Dagger, and the whole thing culminated in a disgusting scene of sexual revenge and violence that repelled the whole table, prompted me to suggest we close the game there, and triggered a really interesting debrief about the game’s mechanics and the social experience.
(Is it worth noting that I’ve run Poison’d twice before this – both times were enormously successful – and had less players. In both of these games the pirates left the ship, had great scenes on shore and got back aboard the Dagger.)
Now I don’t really need to talk too much about why it was a disaster. I think the key things I took from the experience were:
1.
Graham Walmsley’s advice to ‘get the pirates on shore as soon as possible’ is absolutely true. Scenes on shore give us the opportunity to see another side to each pirate – they can give us something to admire about them or want them to achieve. For example, in that first run of Poison’d Young Zeb Harris survived his gutting and managed to promenade with the Governor’s daughter, Abigail Winslow around a ballroom.
2.
The initial situation foments a whole bunch of tensions between the pirates. Getting them ashore gives them opportunities to pursue their other Ambitions, and then getting them back aboard the confined quarters of the ship ratchets the tension up to a whole other level.
What this second run inspired me to do, though, was draw up a chart of my understanding of the various systems in the game and how they work together. This is what I came up with (it’s a work in progress):
A chart of Poison'd's system
(I created this in Google Docs, and apparently it can only be shared as a .png file to download. If that's problematic to view, let me know and I'll try and find some other way of hosting it.)
A couple of things that were immediately obvious to me once I’d drawn up that chart. First, my second run of Poison’d at Kapcon only used the right hand side of the chart. We never dealt with Ambitions that took place ashore, Leisure, or Scenes on land.
The second thing is how brilliant Poison’d design is. In order to have scenes on shore, the pirates have to earn Leisure. But the amount of scenes you can have on land is strictly limited by the amount of Leisure you have available to spend. This forces the pirates (who might otherwise never get back onto the ship together after reaching land for the first time) to re-board the Dagger and go hunting for ships to plunder.
Maybe it’s weird, but that dynamic was never obvious to me until I drew the chart (despite having run this game four times).
What I’m hoping is that we can use this as the starting point for a discussion about what Currency is, and what the Reward Cycles in Poison’d are. The Provisional Glossary defines Currency as:
Quote
The exchange rate within and among Character Components. Currency may or may not be explicit (e.g. "character points"), but it is a universal feature of System, specifically as it relates to Character.
Here are some things in Poison’d that I think meet that definition:
Xs (earned by successful overcoming non-fighting challenges, these give you advantages in fights)Leisure (earned after fights with ships, Leisure allows to you fulfil land-based Ambitions)
The Provisional Glossary defines ‘Reward System’ as:
Quote
(a) The personal and social gratification derived from role-playing, a feature of Creative Agenda. (b) In-game changes, usually to a player-character, a feature of System and Character. (c) As a subset to (b), improvement to one or more of the character?s Components. Typically, the term refers to how (a) is facilitated by (b).
I’m unsure what the Reward Cycles of the game are. These spring to mind as possibilities:
Scenes on-shore and the development of relationships with non-piratesFulfilling Ambitions
I hope this gives us enough to discuss – let me know if not. This is something I’ve been fascinated about for a while and – despite the fact that real life will keep my posting rate slow over the next two weeks – I’m keen to understand.
Ron Edwards:
Ooooh! A system chart, drawn by someone besides myself!
I thank you for making it possible that some day, I might try playing Poison'd again.
Let's talk about reward cycles! I'll start with the small but crucial detail, from your chart, that Ambitions only pump arrows outwards. This means that in order to play Poison'd at all, the characters must strive to fulfill their Ambitions, frequently, imaginatively, and with verve. Now, there's something subtle about this - if that's all there were to it, then characters would be boring automatons. Conditions of the moment should also provide nuances and moderators of Ambitions, such as coping with a warship or storm or whatever, obviously, but also agreements to delay (for instance) opposed Ambitions between two pirates at least as long as it takes to achieve some common goal.
OK, that's the start: Ambitions, opportunities to get them, and moderating influences upon such efforts. By definition, therefore, a major reward cycle of play per character must be striving toward one or more Ambitions under circumstances A, seeing how that turns out, and then having some new profile of Ambitions which are being striven toward. This "new profile" can be constructed of different Ambitions or not, and the important ones last time around could have failed or succeeded or been delayed. It's "new," though, because something has changed significantly along the way, even if it's just the circumstances.
Since no arrows feed directly back into the Ambitions in obligatory mechanics terms, people playign Poison'd should be aware that such transitions are an emergent property of play. Since you've played several successful games of Poison'd, my prediction is that if you were take any number of player-characters from those games, and list out their personal arcs like you did for Patrick Marlow, you could see those Ambition cycles in action just like I think I can see two for Patrick.
It might be useful to re-draw your chart by flipping the Bargains-Success loop over to the other side, then rotating the whole thing so Ambitions are at the top. That way, it's clear that there are two separate mini-cycles at work, one about land & leisure and one about fights, and that the X system provides mechanical underpinning and nuance to the Ambitions cycle - because how many X's one has plays a big role in re-casting the circumstances of one's Ambitions, and how hard to drive toward them the next time around.
Let me know if that makes sense!
Best, Ron
lumpley:
Hooray!
I'll chime in when I have something to add, but so far, not a thing. Hooray!
-Vincent
Tim C Koppang:
The first thing I did when studying your system diagram (or any system diagram for that matter) was to look for a place to start. To reiterate what Ron said, "Ambitions" is the only place that doesn't have arrows funneling into it, and, therefore, seems like a natural starting point. That to me says that the game revolves around Ambitions. If the players aren't invested in or striving towards any of their Ambitions, then the game won't work.
This is all based simply on your diagram, but I think your diagram makes it clear where everyone should be pushing. Ambitions lead to Scenes on Land, Fights, or Bargains. From there, the rest of the game follows. What I find interesting is that it sounds like your player-characters had Ambitions, but that they were only striving towards those ambitions by way of two of the three methods provided: Fights and Bargains. So how important is it to follow all lines leading out of Ambitions in order to have a successful game? It's not just Ambitions that matter, but how you pursue them. Would you agree?
lumpley:
Hey, what about suffering new violence and committing new sins? They're features of the system, but they don't appear on your chart. Is that intentional?
-Vincent
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