[PTA] Driving Towards Conflict
Chris_Chinn:
Quote
Ultimately only the player can decide what their stakes in a conflict are. The Producer's role is more along the lines of making interesting suggestions.
Not exactly. The point of Stake Setting is to answer this question - "What do we (the group) find interesting?" The Producer, the player, and all the players, should be invested on some level with answering this question. When you've got good stakes, everyone is excited to see what happens, even if the stakes are potentially mean to the protagonists.
Techniques aren't actually that complicated:
1. Remind yourself that you're making good TV. Judge everything you might want to do based on that- if it fits the genre, if it would be interesting on TV, or not.
2. Can you think of interesting outcomes for both success and failure with these Stakes? (Note, nearly always, "Do you survive?" is not a good set of Stakes. Think TV and plot immunity.)
3. What are players most invested in? When you set the stakes do they get excited, anxious? Do they spend lots of fan mail or agonize over whether to spend it?
If you see these things happen, take note and aim future conflicts along those lines.
Chris
Ron Edwards:
Hi David,
I'm going to try a different approach from Chris ...
Tell me about any time in your experience in which, in a role-playing session, it seemed to you that what happened mattered a lot, both to the character and to you as a participant at the table.
If that seems like an easy question, then good. It's not intended to be subtle or Zen or anything special.
Best, Ron
David Kay:
Hi Ron,
Off the top of my head, here's a fun experience I had in an Apocalypse World one-shot:
I was playing a Brainer named Smith. I had decided my Brainer was interested in another PC, a Touchstone named Road. Smith asked Road about leaving their hold and traveling elsewhere together, but it turned out there was something in the way; Road's mentor, Traffic. Earlier Smith had the chance to use a Deep Brain Scan on Traffic, and our MC decided in response to my questions that Traffic was in love with Road, and that he had killed her mother. I took the first chance I had to get Smith alone with Traffic and use In Brain Puppet Strings to compel him to confess his past to Road, which led to my favorite scene of the session. Traffic was compelled to speak to Road, and I had Smith hiding out of sight, watching them. The compulsion had mixed effects; the GM decided that before Traffic was forced to confess to killing Road's mother, he would confess his love for her! At that point, I spent some of my hold to do harm to Traffic and intimidate him into finishing his confession. It was a great dramatic moment, changing the relationships between the NPC and PCs, and suggesting that Smith's intentions, while not malevolent, were darker than we had originally thought.
I'm looking forward to hearing what you make of my questions/experience.
Ron Edwards:
Hi David,
I apologize for the delay. I'm battling two viruses, one in me and one in the computers. I'll continue as soon as I can. Didn't mean to be a tease.
Best, Ron
David Kay:
Ron,
There's no rush. I hope you feel better soon. Actually, I'm about to go on a trip, and I may not have internet access next week. I'll be looking forward to seeing what you have to say once I return.
David
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