[The Secret Lives of Serial Killers] Ronnies feedback
Devon Oratz:
This is an amazing idea. I immediately want to try it on one of my friends. : ) (Although my players and I never play games that DON'T involve murder so I'm afraid it would be hard to sell them that we were playing "Sunshine Boulevard" to begin with.)
I do have a concern though, and it stems from this:
"Ask the Victim questions about the setting, but do not take the answers as concrete facts.
Ask the Killer questions about the setting. Take the answers as concrete facts."
This and variations on it are repeated multiple times. It seems to me that even in a fairly accepting group, this could lead to one pissed off player (the Victim) long before the game gets to the punchline, by giving a very unequal control of the shared narrative space. In fact, it would be markedly worse than just having one GM who controls everything and two players who are powerless, since only one player is excluded. It's like the narrative control equivalent of "monkey in the middle". At best it seems like it would prompt some spoilers.
Another thought: could the Killer and Facilitator be conflated into one roll for a two player game?
How to avoid this? Is there a better way to interpret these sentences that I'm not getting?
Devon Oratz:
Er, the last two sentences in my previous post should switch places to avoid confusion. Me no likey not being able to edit.
whduryea:
I had two immediate reactions to this game. The first was, "I know exactly the player that I'd like to subject to this." The second was, "I wish I hadn't read this game, because now I can never be victimized by it."
Taken together, I think those reactions reveal how deeply unhealthy I am.
That said, I agree with Ron. I love the way this game works so well as a dissection (dismemberment?) of those irksome "mental illness = adorable" romantic comedies. The ones that want to be As Good As It Gets--one of my favorite films--but don't want to deal with the pathos and hard honesty of that film, and instead opt for superficial quirkiness.
The structure of this game seems perfect. I would like to see a lot more examples though, particularly of traits/habits for the killer that would seem charmingly oddball but have insidious implications.
Oh, and I love you word choice. Facilitator is such an ideal name for that role.
Willow:
A major part of the game is deprotagonization of the victim player. This starts subtly, with them getting less effective creative input, but remember that while the Victim player is supposed to think they have a fairly symmetrical relationship with the Killer (ahem, Recluse) the Killer is all antagonist, and in many ways co-'GM'
I don't imagine it would work as a one-on-one game, at least not with the same punch, which is that two people conspired to actively deceive you.
Devon Oratz:
That's a good point.
I just think that the Victim might start getting indignant and demanding metagame explanations before the big reveal at the end. Of course it depends on group dynamic.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page