[The Secret Lives of Serial Killers] Playtest
Devon Oratz:
I "played" this recently with my regular gaming group. I was ostensibly an audience member but I kind of wound up as a co-facilitator at the end. (For the final scene, we kind of had two "GMs", one helpfully supporting the narrative suggestions of the killer and the other callously shutting down the narrative suggestions of the victim.) The primary facilitator and the killer were both female (with the killer playing a male character), the victim was male (playing a female character) and the players of the killer and the victim were dating in real life. The victim genuinely thought we were playing Sunshine Boulevard through the final scene. Everyone else was in on it.
I might post a play example here, but more likely, I'll try to shoe-horn one of the other players into doing it. Hopefully the victim.
edited to change the title upon splitting - RE
Willow:
That must be read. Thanks Devon!
The feedback I'd most be looking for is:
*When did the victim realise the game wasn't everything it was supposed to be?
*How did they react, socially, when this happened?
*How playable did Sunshine Boulevard seem, as an actual game? Would it actually be playable?
Devon Oratz:
I can answer those quickly but some of my other players can totally give you more detail.
1. Well, when the Facilitator asked David how he was secretly watching Janet. : )
2. Janet's player had a pretty amazing reaction in that he stayed PERFECTLY IN CHARACTER the entire time without even breaking character to say "Dude, what the fuck?" or whatever. Later on, after the game was over, he said that it was "very upsetting". Maybe I can get him on here to tell you more.
3. It (Sunshine Boulevard) is not the kind of game that I would be interested in playing, ever, so I can't actually say. I stay as far away from the romantic comedy genre as possible, in any media. Janet's player, at least, he seemed perfectly happy playing Sunset Boulevard while he thought that was what he was playing.
mccleverly:
Hi Willow!
I was Devon's "Facilitator" for the game we played so I really wanted to give you the feedback/play sample. I hope I can give a detailed enough summary for you, but if there's something else you really want to know about what happened that I leave out I'd be more than happy to keep answering questions.
First of all, I loved this game from the get go. Dev and I immediately wanted to try it out on our two regular gaming buddies, an in life, sometime couple. Initially Dev wanted to play it with the girl as the Sunshiine and the boy as the Recluse (mainly to see if the boy would even be able to go through with killing his girlfriend), but I convinced him that doing it the other way around would be more fun. The girl is kind of a serial killer affectionado and I thought she'd be more likely to effectively gruesomely kill and maim her boyfriend's Sunshine. There was also the added desire to prank our friend, since he's one of those who gives good reactions to pranks but never takes it hard afterward.
As the facilitator and also a longtime fan of cheesy romantic comedies, I had fun setting up the "meet cute" in Sunshine Boulevard (they met when their dogs' leashes got tangled up in the street), but I was a little frustrated in the players... our Recluse was roleplaying her serial killer incredibly well, but perhaps a little too well, as she neglected a lot of the tropes of the traditional romantic comedy (so much so that I worried that our Sunshine would get frustrated). When the Sunshine would ask if she could see the Recluse's apartment, the Recluse adamantly declined, mumbling, fiddling with something and suddenly snapping it in half (which she did in real life as well, startling me pretty well).
I also decided to get a little personal about our Sunshine, asking the player about what undergarments his character was wearing. Of course, this made the boy player uncomfortable but he wasn't in on the joke at all... everyone at the table knows of my affections for romance tales, so I think he might have thought I was just being cheeky. Our Recluse player took the opportunity to tell the Sunshine what underwear she would have. We continued going back and forth in this way until she had decided much of what the Sunshine looked like, where she worked, and what she liked to do.
The Sunshine finally figured out something was wrong when I described the character as being alone in the bakery where she worked, closing up. The player later told me (when I asked him this exact question) that he actually assumed I would have someone else come in and attack his character, and allow the Recluse to save the Sunshine's life. Then, when he heard that the Recluse was watching him secretly, he still held on to the hope that the Recluse was merely awkwardly watching the Sunshine due to some romantic interest. I think it wasn't until the Recluse choked the Sunshine into unconsciousness with a dog leash that it really sunk in for him.
He rolled with it, didn't break character (no "what??" reactions), and he and the Killer took it to a pretty hard place. He got more and more affected I think when he would say things like "I scream" and I would say "no, you don't, your throat is too bruised." When the Sunshine, tied to a chair, tried to hop toward the door, Dev and I decided that the chair merely tipped over, leaving the Sunshine embarrassed and in pain on the floor. The Killer took her time, and she and I had some helpful and "fun" little conversations... When I pointed out to the Killer that the Sunshine's hair was dirty, the Killer proceeded to wash her hair, gently, before committing the final act of killing and eating her, dissolving her teeth and bones in a strong acid.
Because of the Sunshine player's refusal to break character, I worried that it hadn't "gotten" him... but when pressed afterwards, he told us that he found it "very upsetting" and that he "didn't like that game". Of course, on the other end of the spectrum, our Killer was overjoyed, going on and on about how much she had loved the game. She also admitted that she softballed her boyfriend a little, mostly due to time constraints (she wanted to draw out the stalking a lot more).
Overall, it was a good experience and an interesting social experiment. The only thing I had trouble with, as I said, was getting the characters to fall more into the romantic tropes in the early Sunshine Boulevard portion, but that might have been due to the players and not the game itself. The "fake dice roll" mechanic also might add a little more to the con.
I think this is a great game; thank you for making it!
johnthedm7000:
While the themes of this game seem really interesting (and I know from experience how fun it can be to roleplay a twisted psyche like that of a serial killer), I kind of shudder at the fact that you seem to be happy that one of the players involved in the game "was upset" and "said he didn't like the game". I firmly believe that roleplaying games exist as a means to have a good time-whether that's through exploration of another world or mindset, through the exploration of theme or premise, or through competition with other players. Challenging and intense themes can be used to great effect in roleplaying games, but I feel like one has got to be careful about their use and make sure that the players are ready to address said themes and handle such issues. To do otherwise strikes me as irresponsible.
I'm not speaking from the perspective of an outraged moral guardian here either. I've referee'd for, played with, and played some characters who were disturbingly twisted, callous, and inhuman and my fellow players and I enjoyed every session. But the enjoyment is what's key, in my opinion not congratulating yourself over making a friend uncomfortable.
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