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I decided to introduce my wife to the wonderful world of narrativism ... and she loved it!  

We used Ferry Bazelman's excellent "Soap:  The Game of Soap Opera Mayhem."  My wife thought it would be fun to play in a soap like "Dark Shadows", so we did.

Since we intend to continue playing this game, we decided to name our soap opera.  We decided upon "Black Is The Knight" and based it around the exploits of the Knight family.  We decided each character had to have a relationship to someone in the Knight family.

My wife decided to play Cassandra Weatherbane.  She is a reporter for "The Knight's Herald," an Enquirer-style tabloid owned by the Knight family.  During play, she gained Plot Tokens by mentioning her investigative skills, her stealth, and her inhuman strength.  She also gained Plot Tokens by revealing that she could turn into a bat.      

I decided to play Thomas Knight.  He is the publisher of "The Knight's Herald".   His dark secret is that he killed his sister Victoria while he was possessed by a demon he summoned but couldn't control.  During play, I gained Plot Tokens by mentioning Thomas is wealthy, practices sorcery, and knows Occult Lore.  I also gained Plot Tokens by exposing the demon in my secret.

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SCENE ONE:  Thomas was driving his black Maserati down a dark and lonely road.  He picked up his cell phone and called Maggie Winthrop, the editor of "The Knight's Herald."  He let Maggie know he was on his way to the office and asked her to get a late-night meeting together to discuss tomorrow's issue.  Suddenly, a hairy beast ran out in front of him, causing him to lose control of his car.  He slammed his car into the side of a hill and totalled it.  Thomas' car door was jammed, but Cassandra appeared out of nowhere and ripped it open while he was dazed.  She explained she was tracking the beast for a story she was working on.  Thomas asked Cassandra if her car was nearby, but she told him she had left it at home while she tracked the creature on foot.  He thought this was strange since she lived many miles away, but his thoughts were interrupted when a pair of headlights came up the hill and around the corner.  Thomas stopped the car and found the driver was Robert Hambly, the Knight's caretaker.  Thomas asked Cassandra if she would like to join him for a late supper at his estate, but she curtly declined and told him she was going to keep tracking the creature.  The scene ended with Thomas riding away in Robert's car.

SCENE TWO:  Cassandra followed the creature's tracks to just outside an old cabin with a light in the window.  Suddenly, the creature burst through the woods behind Cassandra.  She wheeled around just as the creature leapt upon her, knocking her to the ground.  Cassandra threw the creature off with inhuman strength, then quickly climbed a tree.  She pulled out her camera and took several pictures of the beast, blinding him with the flash.  The scene ended with the beast running away into the woods.

SCENE THREE:  Later that night, Thomas sat in his study and read clippings from old newspapers, looking for some mention of the beast that ran out in front of him.  He rubbed his eyes and muttered to himself that he hoped Cassandra was alright.  A rumbling demonic voice whispered to him that she was well.  The scene ended with Thomas telling the demon the he hoped it was right.

SCENE FOUR:  Cassandra stood in her darkroom, developing the pictures she had taken of the creature.  The pictures only showed the beast's piercing red eyes.  The scene ended with Cassandra walking out of her house, turning into a bat, and flying off into the night.  

SCENE FIVE:  Thomas stood over a bowl of water and cut his hand with a knife, dripping the blood in the water.  The scene ended with Thomas looking into the bowl and seeing Cassandra flying off into the night as a bat.

SCENE SIX:  Cassandra walked through the woods, following the beast's tracks to a cave.  The scene ended with Cassandra sneaking up to the cave entrance and watching the beast turn back into a man.

SCENE SEVEN:  Thomas took an old tome down from a shelf in his library.  Thomas flipped through the book, searching for a specific page.  He ran his finger down the page, searching for a passage.  The scene ended with Thomas tapping the word "vampyre" with his finger.  

SCENE EIGHT:  Cassandra stood knocking on the door of the Knight estate the next morning.  She knocked several times, but no one ever answered.  The scene ended with her driving away from the estate.

SCENE NINE:  Thomas tossed and turned in his bed as someone knocked on the door to the estate.  Thomas heard the screams of his sister Victoria in his fevered dreams.  The scene ended with Thomas crying out "Victoria ... I'm so sorry ..."

SCENE TEN (CLIFFHANGER):  Cassandra knocked on the door to Maggie Winthrop's office, but no one answered.  The scene ended with Cassandra going into Maggie's office and finding Maggie mutilated.  

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I think "Soap" may be one of the best games to use to introduce someone to narrativism.  Anyone who's ever seen a soap opera quickly understands the premise ("What will you do to hide your dirty little secret?").   I think the scene structure really helps too.

We played using Ferry's suggestion of stating the location and time at the beginning of a new scene.  I think this really helped ground my wife and get her into the scene quickly.  After the first couple of scenes, she understood to focus on the action of the scene and not bother describing "travel time" unless it was important to the scene itself.

Great job on "Soap", Ferry!  I'd been dying to give it a try.  I'm really glad I finally found the time to play.

Roy

Hi Roy,

I'm delighted to hear that you had a fun game of Soap. That really makes my day and I'm not kidding there. What I'm really excited about is that you're the first to give me some feedback about the use of sets in the game. Also, thanks for taking the soap out of Soap. I like the fact that the game can survive out of genre as well.

If you found any problems, I'd love to hear them as well. Any and all comments are welcome.

Fer

PS I am collecting the names of all those Forge-ites that played Soap (have been for a while now) to include in the game (giving the credit for fieldtesting etc.), so if you PM or mail me your real name (and possibly your wife's, if she's inclined), I'll give you the credit you deserve. :)

You're the one that deserves the thanks, Ferry.  I appreciate all the hard work that went into making "Soap" the great game that it is.  I never would have thought of playing a soap opera-style game if it hadn't been for "Soap".  

QuoteAlso, thanks for taking the soap out of Soap. I like the fact that the game can survive out of genre as well.

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I don't think we've really abandoned the genre, Ferry.  We did change the setting of our soap, but I think the use of secrets in "Soap" keeps the soap opera premise very central to play ("What will you do to keep your dirty little secret?").  

QuoteIf you found any problems, I'd love to hear them as well. Any and all comments are welcome.

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We really didn't run into any problems once we got the flow of play down.  I do, however, have a couple of suggestions for the next version of "Soap".

I suggest you state the premise explicitly.  Although the rules of "Soap" imply it, I think stating the premise before play can really help focus the session.

During serial play, I suggest you provide an option to treat a character's secret more like Sorcerer's Kicker.  This would allow a player to create another secret for his character once his character's first secret has been revealed.  If he would prefer creating a new character, he can just have his current character killed off.  If you use this option, I would suggest giving bonus Plot Tokens to the player who guessed the secret correctly.

During serial play, do the players keep the Plot Tokens they amassed during the previous session of play, or do they start the next session with the standard 2 Plot Tokens?  I couldn't find this in the rules, so we're going to keep our Plot Tokens from session to session.  This should allow us to get into some very vigorous bidding matches later on.

Roy

Quote from: RoyI suggest you state the premise explicitly.  Although the rules of "Soap" imply it, I think stating the premise before play can really help focus the session.

Okay, and this is where Fer falls down and goes boom. See, I never could
get my mind around the terminology and theories here on the Forge. If Ron hadn't called it a "narrative jet-engine", I would have though it to be neat partygame. :)

What would you say the premise is for Soap?

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During serial play, I suggest you provide an option to treat a character's secret more like Sorcerer's Kicker.  This would allow a player to create another secret for his character once his character's first secret has been revealed.  If he would prefer creating a new character, he can just have his current character killed off.  If you use this option, I would suggest giving bonus Plot Tokens to the player who guessed the secret correctly.

You have a good point there and one that I will definitely examine closer. Thanks.

Quote
During serial play, do the players keep the Plot Tokens they amassed during the previous session of play, or do they start the next session with the standard 2 Plot Tokens?  I couldn't find this in the rules, so we're going to keep our Plot Tokens from session to session.  This should allow us to get into some very vigorous bidding matches later on.

I'd say they indeed keep them. Another well-spotted omission btw. :)

Fer

QuoteWhat would you say the premise is for Soap?

I would say it's "What will you do to keep your dirty little secret?"  I think that question really sums up the whole soap opera genre very well.  

QuoteYou have a good point there and one that I will definitely examine closer. Thanks.

I'm glad.  We'll experiment with this and keep you posted on how well it works.

Roy