[psi run] situation

[chris_moore]

My friend and I are working on a game called Psi Run.  Players create characters that:
1)  have a psychic power
2)  have been captured by a shadowy organization
3)  can't remember their past
4)  have just survived a car crash, which has killed their guards
5) on the run
...I hope.  I want the game to be about the characters trying to survive by evading capture, while trying to regain their memories, and deal with potentially destructive psychic powers. 
What if they don't run? Do I just make this clear in the game, that, if you don't run, your character is out of the story?  Or do I need something else?

[Callan S.]

It doesn't seem much of an ending or result to punt them from the game if they don't run. Do you want to offer the option of not running, when it leads to a pretty drab result? I mean, if players come to play 'cause in roleplay, you can do anything', well really they can't cause their part in the game ends if the 'anything' they do is not run.

Are you worried about the players who are into 'do anything' not showing up?

[chris_moore]

So, the answer is, "your characters are on the run."

Thanks

[Paul Czege]

Hey Chris,

It seems to me that if you run there should be two possible outcomes:

1. After taking some desperate actions, you find out who you are.
2. After some desperate actions, you believe you've found out who you are, but in fact all of your desperate actions were in service to the organization that captured you, and the life you think is yours is really a lie. (This is the Angel Heart storyline.)

And if you don't run, there should be two possible outcomes:

3. You gradually realize you're an agent of your captors, but you covertly minimize the fallout from your actions in accord with your own conscience, and other people's lives are the better for the risks and sacrifices you take.
4. You realize your captors are lying and that you never were their agent. You either become a monster in their service, or you're destroyed.

Paul

[chris_moore]

Thanks so much for the feedback!  I'll be posting about conflict resolution and char gen soon.

Chris

[Callan S.]

So, the answer is, "your characters are on the run."

Thanks

Fair point. Similar to Paul's suggestion, I was going to suggest not giving them the option of running, but it's automatic and they get to choose why they run. Say from a set list or it could be like spiritual attributes from the riddle of steel RPG.