Two Successful GM Tricks from Changeling

My Changeling the Lost game continues apace- I thought I’d share a couple of things I did recently as a GM which worked pretty well and might be adaptable for others.

Adding in After the Fact
The campaign has been going on for over two years now, but we’ve also changed the line-up of players significantly. When I’d established the structure of the city- two parallel and somewhat competing Courts, I’d left a few things out that would have been nice. I’d established neutral ground for each of the Courts in their own Hollows, and had a shared meeting space in a renovated Church building. That came out of the loss of the previous shared Court Hollow (a plot thread that’s now coming back). But those spaces have a formality to them, and I wanted a more casual watering hole. This was the kind of thing that would have come up earlier in the campaign, and if I mentioned it now it would have felt out of place- mostly to me- I suspect the players would have bit easily.

One of the things I’ve done is not establish the names/identities of every Changeling in the Freehold. I have more than half identified, but I keep a floating pool of others. That way I can bring them up, establish that the players know of them, but don’t know them well. A few sessions ago, one of the players took up the role of the Herald to the Court of Rust. Each Court has a Herald whose job it is to know how to get ahold of Court members and to pass word to them when necessary. That keeps things relatively decentralized and protected. In any case, I established a couple of Changelings the PC hadn’t been able to track down. One of them I named Absinthe Recurse, a ‘conceptual’ Elemental. People couldn’t exactly describe what she was an elemental of- she would just pop up as if she’d always been there. I imagined her as a kind of reality fragment- I suspect echoing some ideas from Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles and Doom Patrol*. Recurse hadn’t been seen in some time. That was the first and last mention of her (the image there is the one I used for her- found on Deviant Art created by Ferlancer).

In any case, I several sessions later, I started the game with them going down to Recurse’s bar/pub as they’d planned to. There was some entertainment, other Changelings were there and the news and rumors of the day got batted around. It was a good scene- and it took the players a couple of minutes to realize that this bar hadn’t always been there, though it felt like it had. This was opening night, but Recurse’s nature stretched the existence of it back- at least in their memories. The recalled holiday parties there, the time Hopscotch Takebacks got sick from eating tainted fries, the band which had played there last week. It ended up well- and now I’ve got a retconned central, neutral ground hangout for the Changelings that builds on their inherent strangeness.

I’ve used a variation on this in the past- where something rewrites reality and I play it off with a straight face for a while. The disconnect between player and character knowledge helps this. It also helps if you have a table with some players who might not be as plugged in to the events of the game. A number of years ago, in a fantasy campaign, I started mentioning an NPC who was with the group. Some people nodded, but a couple of others looked puzzled. One player after a session or two asked where that NPC had come from, and I spun a little story of events that he (the player didn’t remember). Other players let it go, but eventually they did manage to uncover that events had been rewritten and managed to fix things.

New Roles
I had another trick I come off fairly successfully this last session. I suspect other GM’s use, but it had been a while since I had and I was reminded of how well it could work. Leo, a Beast Changeling recently emerged from the Hedge, was asked by his Prince to train a few members of his Court, the Court of Gardens. Leo, more in-tune with his Beastly nature might be able prepare them. The Prince feared that these three had become a little soft, given the relative safety of the Freehold. The shadows of conflict had begun to gather and he wanted his people as ready as possible.

Leo took time over the course of a couple of sessions to meet and interact with them. Many-Lost-Quills tuned out to be a kind of hipster Bird-Beast working at the last remaining record store in town. When she reacted to the offer of training with little enthusiasm, Leo pulled up all of his beastly form and sent her running. Face down in the mud and muck by the dumpster, she agreed she would train. The second, Cinder, an Elemental of Smoke, agreed as he wanted to get along better with the Court. The last, Abyssinian Max, a Cat Beast with a gambling habit, tried to buy Leo off- with very bad results. So we had a nice mix of natures and details.

At the end of a session, I set up that Leo arrived at a local park to meet up with the three. Max and Quills showed up. As they were waiting at the start of a trail, Leo’s phone rang. It was Cinder, apologizing for having sold him out. In the distance, Leo heard the sound of guns being cocked. And that’s where I ended that session.

At the start of the next session, I started out there, with Leo and his two trainees. I gave quick notes and Contract details to the other two players, making them play Quills and Max. They’d already seen Leo interact with these NPCs at the table, so they had a fairly distinct sense of their personality. We jumped into things fast with overwhelming foes, a sniper in the trees, and a desperate chase through the woods. The scene had extra tension for a couple of reasons. First, since these were NPCs being played as PCs, the players expected me to really try to kill them. And I did try- hard- putting holes in them, nearly drowning one- blinding them even as they had a pack of maniac Hobgoblin woodcutters hot on their heels. Leo, on the other hand, found himself caught between his desire to hunt down and kill the ringleaders of the attack and protecting the people he’d been brought to train. Everyone survived and the group killed a couple of recurring bad guys, although one they really hate managed an escape.

It was a good sequence, with a great deal of tension. But the additional benefit came out of all of the players now having a new affection and appreciation for these two formerly background NPCs. They gains sense of their roles and abilities, in part shaped by the players’ choices. Given that Changelings are often by nature reticent to open up- it provided a great opportunity. All of the players had key scenes, and Leo was able to revel in his role. I wouldn’t have done this kind of switch up play early in a campaign, but I think it works with good players and players who have settled into their own character’s personality enough that they could have fun doing something different.

*Remind me to mention how I believe the first Seaguy mini-series is an excellent example of a kind of Changeling durance in the Hedge.

Presenting another in the series of PC-written cultural backgrounds for the upcoming Last Fleet campaign. The first can be found here and general notes on the characters can be found here

What my Path Master Told Me: A Personal View of White Elven Culture

Who are you?

I am a White Elf, my name is Whet Bloodlace. I have just turned 23 years old. I am in my 18^th year of my Path of Mastery of firearms. Sword and Dueling pistols are my chosen weapons. I am a competent scout and soldier. I earned my Silver Star two years ago while serving with our outriders that protect our land from incursion, I am the youngest to ever receive the star. My parents were so proud that they through me a grand celebration. After the party, Captain Selsystain, presented me with a gift. An egg from the clutch of his Great Marble Blue Wyvern the pride of the outriders. Its strength and speed are rarely matched and its coloring make it that much more rare. I was humbled by such a gift. Many would lay a fortune at his feet for such a prize. Later that summer his gift doubled when the egg hatched and I became the owner of a young White and Blue Speckle a coloring just as rare as his Marble Blue. I named her Velsari it is old tongue for Wind’s kiss.

My mother, Venoice, is the powerful High Priestess of Yethendrial, the Elven Goddess of Nature and Fortune. She is known throughout the kingdom as one of the Three Bereft Sisters. My father, Steel, was a designer of great skyships, he was a strong man and fought for his beliefs, a trait that he instilled in both of my sisters and myself. It was this will to fight for his beliefs that took him to the Island of Sealadusk. Where he was to lead a demonstration against the government there, for using the souls of extra planar elementals to form magistone. My father was on the stairway of the Capital building when the sky tore open and the forces of Sunforge struck. They crushed and destroyed the island itself none survived.

Who are we?

We are the White Elves. We are the finest magi and warriors the world has ever known. We are a force of influence, guidance and protection, a light in the darkness. Many of our people are bound by oaths to uphold the law and to help our fellow man. Years ago our people became the shield that protected the others who lived in the forest with us. Turning back numerous enemies who would make slaves or food of our neighbors and us.

It was later that we sought to build cities to better protect them and others from attackers. We didn’t build fortresses like the Dwarves of old. We built cities, wondrous works, defensible and stunning to behold. Great palaces pulled from the ground by our magi. Incorporating earth and nature in its design became the hallmark of the White Elves, in all things. From the elegant flow of a blade to great buttresses flanking a palace wall. It is our way of repaying the world that for so many years has taken such great care of our people. Nothing wasted, or over used, everything has its place.

Our people have seen slavery and death at the hands of others. It is from these lessons that we’ve learned that no man should own another. It was this lesson that turned our people all those years ago, to separate from even other elves and if needs be go to war with them to save another race from being enslaved.

You ask, who are we; I answer you with this. Our people are the soul of this world. Beautiful and frightening, we are the reflection of this world.

What makes us great?

When we are very young we are taken before a Master Fatespinner. The Fatespinner then recommends a path and Master to begin our training on a path of mastery of our own. A lifetime of schooling and training begin. Few are assigned two paths to be walked and the student to ultimately choose. The benefits of beginning the training at such an early age can be seen in our architecture, our art and music and our enemies will attest to the skill our warriors. I my self had several notable sets of Ork tusk on my wall.

We are the chosen people of this world, its champions. With such a great responsibility to one so deserving, we must make every attempt to succeed.

Where do we live?

We lived in the city Thelendrious (City by the Sea) its spiraled walkways and glass domed buildings a marvel to behold truly a shining jewel on the great Inland Sea of Myncial (God’s tear). Its spires and banners can be seen for miles around and its harbor a city in its own right, is the largest in all of Freespar. Thousands called this place home and haven.

Freespar is a large, lush and beautiful Island. Since its first settling thousands have followed. All have found a welcoming portion of Freespar. Our brothers the Lunar Elves who prefer the deep leaf covered canopy of the forest, the free packs of Wolfen. Even the human noble house of Van Deu has a settlement here. All of us have combined to make this place what it is.

How do we live?

In times of old we hunted, farmed and fished the lakes and seas. So much of our lives now are dependent upon commerce with other cities and races of people. Buying and selling others' goods, we improve others' way of life. We hold several alliances with kingdoms of men and elves and even the tribal race of Wolfen know us as friends. We stand united against the dark of this land, but I suppose that is how the kingdom grows not how we live.

We live the way we always have. We find peace and acceptance of others through the mastering of our various paths. Then go on to use you those skills on behalf of our people in whatever way we can. Our architects are hired out all over the kingdom, creating their works of art. Even in these times of relative peace, our warriors form small bands and lend their aid to far away island kingdoms to help hone their skill and better spread our names.

What is important in my life?

It is important for me to finish out my Path of Mastery and attain the title of Master. Then to go on and continue to serve my people well.

To attend my grieving mother and sisters and to see my father’s name properly remembered and his life avenged. See to my duties with the outriders to the best of my ability.

Who rules us?

The city of Thelendrious is also the seat of the White Elven throne. Lord Iirendaal assisted by the Council 9 write, enforce and live by the law. I saw him once, it was during the Year Turn celebration when my squad of Outriders were chosen as his honor guard during his speech. Though he was obviously in the twilight of his years his handshake was still strong and unwavering. The title of Lord is hereditary and has belonged to the Iirendaal House since the founding of Freespar. The people vote the Council 9 into office, the nominees are selected from the various duties and guild houses of the kingdom. The Council 9 is divided into 3 groups of 3. The Elders are the 3 with the most seniority, the Stewards are the 3 with next seniority and lastly the Journeyman. Every 3 years a new group of Journeyman is voted in, while the 3 Elders step down and the existing Stewards ascend to become the new Elders. No one is allowed to be voted into the Council more than once.

What makes a person great?

Finishing ones particular Path of Mastery, and attaining the title of Master is certainly a large step in greatness. However it takes more than that, using what you have learned to better serve our people can make you great.

The completion of a great undertaking for the people can make you great. Such as my father’s designs for the new sky skiffs to be used for the Elven Navy, to many people, this made him great. However to me, he was a strong man, in body, mind and soul, a good father and worthy friend. He loved his wife and children deeply and genuinely care for our people, this made him great.

What is evil?

We believe that there is good and evil in all things. It is the decision to remain conscious of this, that separates us from darker races. Murder, Slavery to hold false evidences against someone knowingly. These things are evil. This list goes on, but I have not the time, nor the will to dwell on such things.

How do we deal with others?

I think that as a whole the White Elves are more welcoming to strangers if they are presented or introduced by a trusted friend of the Elves. The act of being spoken for is a long and honored tradition to us. Past events have made us leery of new comers. We are slow to trust new people, and prefer to keep them at arm’s length until both, trust and respect have been mutually earned. This is often misread as arrogance or coldness. However once that trust has been earned they are welcomed as family.

Who are our enemies?

Here in Freespar it seems that we are pitted against the Gak’tur, a clan of large red skinned Orks, with a set of forward facing tusk. They occupy the northern mountain ridge about three days ride northwest of Thelendrious. They dwell in the caves of the mountains, with only a few small nomadic groups above ground as scouts, we believe. They seem skilled in leather working and woodcraft. They are strong and thick-skinned, to underestimate one on the charge is a deadly mistake. They ride large dark reptiles that should not be overlooked, I know more than one outrider who was sent to an early grave by the bite of those beast.

Only recently a plot was uncovered by one of Lord Iirendaar’s men. A human male was killed while trying to steal one of the Souldeath Blades from the royal armory. Once the body was searched an envelope found on him revealed instruction from another conspirator. It appears we have another enemy but do not know his name.

Who are our gods?

We as a people ask the favor of several Gods

*Yethendrial- Goddess of Nature and Fortune

*Yethena- Goddess of Night and Celebration.

Las’Endryai- God of Glory and Battle.

Ophias – God of Secrets and Doom. (Typically depicted masked)

Yeilthen – God of Magic and Knowledge

(among others)

* are twins.

What is there to do around here?

Here in the citadel of Thelendrious there is much to do. There are plenty of markets with all manner of goods and once a week the Plaza opens itself to traders from around the realm. If it is a more cultural experience you are looking for then worry not. Several libraries and theaters can be found along the Boldoon River in the Arts District, each of the playhouses running a variety of productions depending upon your taste. I do recommend taking in the play “ Red Sky”. It takes into its scope many of today’s topics, political and more, with a bit of prophetic ending if I do say so myself. If your taste run a bit more to the action oriented then you must visit the High Arena. It has become home to our Sky Jousting Tournaments. Fast action, riders mounted on wyverns while armed with Static Lances. Both solo (one on one) and team events can be seen. The team events can be quite exciting. You would be hard pressed to find better sky jousting anywhere in the realm.

Directing the Game (Part Three: fini)

The Third Act!
In a the last couple of posts (here and here), I've talked about linkages- echoes of some of Hida Mann's great comments on what games run by certain directors might look like (his list again: Hida's Top Ten: Directors You Wish Were Running A Game For You). And I find the language of cinema useful in describing a scene or coming up with a structural idea. However, some things don't carry over as well between the two mediums.

POV and Hidden Knowledge
For example, RPGs are at heart, a first person presentation. The GM describes the scene, situations and events for the players and they react to them. The players have the odd role of being both the audience and the protagonists of the events. On the other hand, cinema can show us what's happening away from the protagonists. We see the development of the threat- know what they're facing, know what they're walking into, get the revelation of the existence of a traitor, know that's there's a bomb in the house. All of these things ratchet up the tension. That's more difficult to do at the table. I've seen GMs cut away to scenes or vignettes happening away from the players. They often provide some nice atmosphere- but actually create more confusion. I've used them as prologue breaks between chapters of games, often writing up little stories. But this technique puts the player in a bind, creates confusion. Do they actually know that's going on? If not, then how are these supposed to act on the information? Again, the inherent signal/noise problem of the gaming table makes this worse. I'm not sure how to do this well except through scrying, visions, or the like- which do give the players information. But that becomes an entirely different kind of method instead of just an emotive one.

As a result certain kinds of plots- like traitors, hidden bombs, allies surprisingly in peril- have to be handled from the point of where the players actually learn the information. I think in many ways that changes the weight of those moments.

And Then The Cat Leapt Out!
As a parallel, I'd point out the classic technique of cinema: objects of import in frame briefly, things passing through the frame outside the protagonist's view and even things sneaking up on them. You can't really do that in a game. In a movie, those things create tension because we see something the hero doesn't- we want to warn them, we jumped, we feel the dread of the moment. On the tabletop, once a player's been told something, they react to it- you can't tell them to wait or get to get caught unless you want an irritated player. A good player will, from time to time, go along with a loss of autonomy in favor of drama- but it isn't something a GM ought to count on or abuse. So you have to do other slow build methods, mention they hear or see something indistinct or else have the things leap out at them. The classic is to describe something in normal terms, but when they get up close reveal that it is in fact more horrible than the commonplace thing they thought it was- so something looks blurry, but then comes into awful, mind-blasting focus.

Related to this is the question of pointing at something in frame. As I mentioned earlier, most players understand the economy of GM descriptions: generally things which get mentioned specifically most often have weight. A great GM can maintain a level of rich detail so that the important details thrown in for the future don't immediately stand out like a sore thumb. I'm only rarely a great GM- most of the time I'm a good GM, and I can see the players eye light up when they've caught what I was trying to slip by them in passing. Subtle foreshadowing at the table can be hard.

Re-Reading
Cinema, and all media have different levels of replicability or "permanence." An rpg session is fairly impermanent, even with extensive note-taking. Leaving aside those who record and pod-cast their sessions, most of the time a particular moment of a game will only live on in recalled details and oft-told tales. On the other hand, mediums with greater permanency can provide layers of detail within each frame which can be rewatched, caught and appreciated. It's part of what makes watching a great movie rewarding- and I'm not just talking about spectacle, but catching how the director has set things up and provided second stories. I think comic books and graphic novels provide one of the best medium for this: static images which can be examined, but combined with a forward moving plot or story. The comics I most enjoy have a couple of layers of ideas (visual or textual) which happen throughout. I stole that point a little from my friend Gene Ha, the artist. We had an editor suggest not bothering with references and the like as they got in the way. We might have been talking about different things- but I think good and meaningful visual devices reward rereading. But I'm hard-pressed to imagine a tool like that for a role-playing game- without invoking another medium. A good prop or handout could reward such examination- but those things present a solitary reader-viewer experience.

It Goes to Eleven
Yes, you have an unlimited FX budget in rpgs. However that doesn't mean you have to use it. I enjoy going epic, but sometimes being restainted can be a nice contrast. In regards to Hida's list, I mentioned before that I'm not a big fan of Zack Snyder. I think he's illustrative of a new kind of approach to cinema: spectacle and flash without substance. Or there may be substance, but there's no real escalation of the emotional stakes. How do you show the build up- how do you show development? How do you ratchet up the tension and move to bigger and better things. That isn't an issue of quality or quantity: but content of the event. I think that's part of what bothers me about the limitations of Challenge Ratings, mechanics heavy and point systems so much. I want to see players face overwhelming things and defeat them. That's not a balance question, so much as a drama one. However, I also need some break time, I need a rising arc of challenges and so on. If every moment and scene is an absolute blow-out extravaganza boss-fight super-excellent-sweet-ninja-fun-time sequence, how do you top that?

Moment to Moment

"Chris Wisniewski expands on a quote from Sergei Eisenstein ("Cinema is, first and foremost, montage."), and makes a pretty spot-on expansion of the importance of cuts and editing: "For Eisenstein, it's not just that the juxtaposition of two images or shots can be meaningful in the hands of the right filmmaker; it's that cinema is images, sounds, and moments of time colliding with each other to produce new meanings. The cut is not simply one cinematic tool among many; it is the essential characteristic of cinema." -Monika Bartyzel

Cinema places an emphasis on transitions and cuts. Jump Cuts, Smash Cuts, Split Screen, Montage, Visual Match Cuts, Audio Match Cuts, Dissolves- mu first instinct had been to say that rpgs can't use those. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder if those could be put into play by the GM when describing the events. Most of the time, I expect we're showing everything in the frame (mise-en-scene to use that term badly). I mentioned the earlier the creating unity of experience in a combat scene. But that could be contrasted with a chaotic and fast approach- where you describe smash cutting from one player to the next, leaving them with little idea of the grand scheme of things. Divided parties could be, I think, with difficulty described with split-screen. An audio link could be created- perhaps the falling to death of a bad guy in one scene fades into a scream for joy at the celebration which follows. I'm not saying it would be easy, and it might be a little too artificial, but it might be worth it.


Too Many Cooks
Most rpgs have multiple protagonists, working together. Movie films focus on single protagonists- or if you have multiple protagonists, they have unequal weight or they're dealt with mostly in separate scenes. Novels usually follow that lead depiction of groups: usually Main + "sidekick" or if the characters are of relatively equal weight, then usually get separated or else handled with changing perspective. I think that's one of the keys and difficulties to rpgs- considering who the protagonists are and how you handle multiple hero quests.

Three More Directors
Finally, three directors not on Hida's list and their games:

Sam Peckinpah: Only runs Wild West games or else D&D 4e, but without "all those fruity non-humans and magic fairy crap." When a player suggests they might talk instead of starting a fight, Peckinpah reaches across the table and slaps him for being girly. All the PCs die in the final session of every campaign.

Yasujirō Ozu: Group spends several session buying equipment, talking with the local towns-people, coming to an understand of their role and place in the world. When the group goes to leave any town, one PC invariably ends up choosing to remain there to join their simple life.

Luis Buñuel: You don't know from session to session what genre or system you're going to be playing. You suspect that the premise of the game is that you're playing out the dreams of a dog dying in the gutters of Al Amarja.

fin

What My Oldest Told Me: A Personal View of Nocturne Goblin Culture

As I mentioned in an earlier post, all of the players for the Last Fleet campaign put together cultural backgrounds for their characters. I had them use the Glorantha question template "What My Father Told Me." They took several different approaches- I thought I'd share a couple of them over a couple of posts.

What My Oldest Told Me: A Personal View of Nocturne Goblin Culture
Who are you?
Macky Squint to my old friends, though there’s fewer every week it seems, and twin to the Estimable Lady Maddy who, bless her, is still around to bend my ear; to the Nocturne Tribunal, I’m the Master Fitter of Drek-Sable Tunnels, just so you know I’m not a nobody beyond this place, and, a’ course, First Greater Uncle to you, little missy. Where’d you get those ridiculous boots?

Who are we?
Dirt and weeds, child! What sort of question is that? We’re the Drek-Sable Gobbos! Orange and green are our colors and we stomp the squish out of our foes, soon as we get them knocked down, that is. Stomping’s the easy part, of course. Or would be, if you weren’t wearing such spindly- heeled boots. Did you get those from some faerie door-to-dooring it? Because we put up signs. No faeries selling frippery. No buying faerie frippery. Sumthin’ like that. You read the signs, right?

We’re law-abiding Nocturne and don’t you forget it. No wild’uns here and no forgetting that you’re expected to read the signs.

What makes us great?
Great? How much wax you got in them ears of yours? Haven’t I drug you through the ups and downs to see the mushroom caves and the squidling nests and the workrooms for re-fitting of the brass and copper and iron bit-bobs that we do. Drek-Sable uses what others think ain’t good no more...and makes it better’n it was before. We don’t need much, so we always have extra. And our mushrooms are the very best.

And ‘course, we got the knack for cajoling the machines. Anyone’s got a gun...they’re prolly carrying Drek-Sable work and they paid stone to have a Drek-Sable mesh ‘em up to that shooter.

But most of all, it’s the Sky Squid, little girly. Ain’t nobody can help but admire a well-trained & meshed Sky Squid.

Where do we live?
We’re lucky like this...most of our neighbors are Nocturne, so we ain’t got to worry about people tromping through our up-top gardens. Drek-Sable is the northwesterly uppish third of the Last Mountain tunnels. We picked this spot up after the Dwarves vamoosed to go flying around and got themselves killed. Not sure where we were before...but this is pretty fine so I don’t worry on it too much.

Anyways, we got the Orcs below in the foothills...they have to put up with more people traipsing over their celery. As you know, our tunnels and their tunnels make a real nice highway all the way to the edges south and east on good ol’ Last Mountain. There’s a passel of Trolls set up in the Northeasterly tunnels some years back- they been working on a great big ship in the fissure for the Counsel and I go help with that sometimes- suggestions and pulleys and what-not..

How do we live?
Heh. Ok, I’m on to you. This is some sorta pretending-ta-be-an-idiot game. You distracting me from something I ought to be noticing? Best not be or I’ll hide you when I catch you and yours up to it.

How do we live? Hmph. Ok...I’ll play along. Drek-Sable are pretty smart—so we work hard to only do things we like doing. Mostly we like puzzling things out and filling up containers with things it’s nice to have. We got plenty of stone, so anyone wants to be a magic user just loads up with that and goes downhill to train with the Orcs to learn Forgiveness of Stone. That’s good stuff. Food and hitting hard...that’s what all that’s about. So the mage-y types come back and putter around with the gardens and the orchards and the kitchens and the pantries and the mushrooms. And if the Orcs get into some big ol’ fight, sometimes they’ll go watch that and buff up the Nocturne lads. We’re team-players, the Drek-Sable.

Lessee...if you’re more of a puzzly sort, you make stuff or you remake stuff or you figure out how to get a machine to mind you or how to mind someone else...which is much harder. And you hold on to the best things you make or remake or mesh, if they’re a good fit...and eventually you’ve got a nice little kit of doohickeys that are, well, pretty much who and what you are. Be sure to get yourself a Sky Squid if you get the chance. You gotta get on the waiting list, you know...and even then, you might not pass muster with any of the Squidlings. Some people don’t. But you’re niece to me and Lady Maddy, so you’ll probably have the sort of stink they like.

Other than that, it’s pretty much same as everyone. Eat & sleep as necessary, have some kids eventually...if for no other reason than the sheer comedy of the early years.

What is important in my life?
How do I know? You’re supposed to figure that out yourself. It’ll probably be magic or making- and it’ll definitely be filling up containers. That’s how we are. Just remember, we got it easy because we’re smart...so if ever things get not-so-easy, you got to get smarter. That’s the Drek-Sable way.

Who rules us?
Uhhh. Listen kid. You listen to your elders, you’ll be okay. We listen to whatever Nocturne muckity-whosit has got hisself a quorum and we play along. We can afford to do that. The big guys keep a lot of un-Nocturne greedy sorts from trying anything funny. And they don’t ask that much because they think we can’t do much since we’re little. That’s just fine.

What makes a person great?
Smarts. Lots of full containers. And a Sky Squid impresses everyone, kiddo.

What is evil?
Belligerent ignorance. Boredom. Hurting your twin. Prolly some other things, but those’re the ones I’ve seen and I don’t like them one bit.

What is my lot in life?
Well, if you choose magic, I understand you got to go live with the Orcs for a bit and they’re big on calisthenics and hitting stuff. So you’d expect some sore muscles and maybe some bruises and a whole lot of memorizing. But you eat well. Then you come back to the Tunnels and get on with the gardens and the pantries.

If you choose the making or the re-making, then you just go from workroom to workroom until you find one that’s got an opening for something you’re able to do. And you get to doing it. From there, you learn more things from that workroom and later you can pick up and move on if you want or stick there and master that work ‘til you’re the Master of the room. If you got the spark for meshing, you’ll figure it out along the way. It’s just how it’s done.

How do we deal with others?
We trade more than fairly. Most people feel like they get a good bargain from the Drek-Sable...so they like to trade with us. Only thing we charge dear for is meshing outsiders up with machines. We got to charge high for it- most of the time, they’re meshing up weapons. Don’t want to make that too easy...or they’ll figure they can turn them on us.

If things get dicey, we always got Nocturne. The big guys- and they’re all big to us, ain’t they?- they take care of us when we need someone to cast a more intimidating presence...and we take care of them when they need...well, about anything other than muscle. Now, it ain’t that they can’t do all these things we do, it’s just that we do them better and faster and there’s more of us doing them than they got among their number. So we don’t look down on any of ‘em.
Civilization is about specialization, after all.

Who are our enemies?
Y’mean, who do we get right to the stompin’ with should we meet them? There aren’t that many all-the-time foes. We’ve tangled with everyone the rest of Nocturne has tangled with one time or another- which is pretty much the catalog of known races. But that’s all of a time and place. Consistent-wise, there’s a couple elven races that have some bias against all dark races- so they just tend to be all stupid and combative right from the get-go. No need to hesitate with them. You can recognize those ones by their ears...blue-tipped or with gold veining--or by the arrow through the fellow next to you. Just get right to pelting them with your shooter.

Who are our gods?
Pigeon poop, child! Did you just say that out loud? Don’t be shaming your family that way! Firstways, because you know perfectly well that we Gobbos got first pick in the God lottery- though you best not go telling anyone else about that- you oughter know bettern’ pretending like you don’t know who we picked first- and then who we gots at the end as the price for going first...though we worked that one pretty clever-like by pretending we’d be all so upsettish.

Ugh. You really are acting daft. Fine.

First, there’s Old Dark- he’s the father of the all the dark races. We had first pick...and we had to pick him. We’re team players. Plus, he’s a fine gentleman from way back- full of letters and laws and ways of seeing into the night and the deep and pulling all the good things outta those sorts of places. And...well...though it can get a little confusing with the family trees, it’s nice to have a proven soul-maker among the trio, if you know what I mean.

Somewhere between first and the price, we picked up Klien Mien. Not a bad sort. Loves puzzles, so we get on just fine, us Goblins & Klien Mien. He/she’s a real mind-smacker though. Paradox more than puzzle- and answers that take a long time to understand, even once you’ve seen ‘em. And of course, he/she’s masked. All the Miens are masked. So you know what means- everything’s a riddle and a guessing game and a who-knows-who’s-knocking-at-the-door. But I like to think Klien Mien makes us better meshers...and keeps us on our toes.

And of course, little Miss Price. Heh. Dayza Laughs-In-Light. Looks for all the heavens like the original Elf lady. Was once the great beauty of the Celestial Court of Elfly Kind, I hear tell. She got herself on the wrong side of the stick-something about an ill-timed temper tantrum when the Bureaucracy came crashing through her boudoir with their new rules & regulations. Anyway, someone higher up in the decision-making process made it their mission to see to it that Dayza wasn’t gonna get herself back in cozy and comfortable with her chosen peoples. So, poor thing, as I hear it, they made her wear a horrible visage on the draft day. Of course, none of those elves recognized her, so they picked out their Gods of Apples and Pretty Horses and Shiny Hair like usual and passed her up over and over. She was pretty disheartened.

But it got worse-the last picks were coming up and one of the miffed muckity-mucks who was steamed because the Gobbos got first pick made it clear we had to take the last one. Well, Old Dark always was an optimist and a planner, so he grabbed Klien Mien who he knew was part of Team Goblin by then and went sneaking through the ranks of the leftovers looking for the best of the dross. ‘Course, Klien saw right though Dayza’s visage and after a pantomime that pissed off both Old Dark and Laughs-In-Light, Dark got so pissed, he smacked Klien. Dayza laughed...and well, Old Dark recognized THAT. You know.

So they struck a deal. Of a sort. That they mostly stick to. But first he made sure no one else would pick her first- so that’s why you always see the little parade of skunks behind her.

...but anyway...she’s pretty much a constant pain in the ass on anything pragmatic, but she handles a lot of up-top things and daylight things. Old Dark likes it down below and night anyway. Klien pretty much gives both of them a headache, so they always have something they agree on.

I just wish she’d stop letting those faeries sneak in here to sell their foolish junk.

What is there to do around here?
Okay...I’ve had enough of this horsing around. If there’s one thing about a goblin, we’ve got a knack for busy. Get to it or I’m taking down my whumping stick and finding those pals of yours you’re trying to distract me from noticing. I think I hear some right suspicious clinking from the workshop.

Those boots of yours aren’t doing you any favors! I’m gaining on you and then, kid, I’ll show you what there’s to do ‘round here!

Things We Think About Games: Books I Like

"I feel like all board games could have the same name - which one of my friends is a competitive ***hole? Tonight we played 'steve.'" - Demetri Martin

Mea Culpa
Back about a year and a half ago I bought Will Hindmarch and Jeff Tidball's collection, Things We Think About Games. At the time I said I wasn't sure if it was worth the price tag, $20 for a slim volume. I enjoyed the book...but was uncertain if it measured up. Come forward to today, and I have to say that it is. For me, at least, it has been worth the money.

I say that because I've reread the book at least three times now. I find myself picking up and thumbing through it, remembering ideas I'd forgotten, disagreeing with some conceptions, and coming around to agreeing with things I shook my head at a couple of months ago. In short, unlike many other books about games, this book pays off the rereading (examples of one's that don't hold up over time or are uneven...the Second Person collection or Gygax's Role-Playing Mastery). That means I've gotten more than my money's worth in ideas out of this book.

What Is It?
The book itself is simple- a series of pages, each with a single idea about games: role-playing, board, video, card and so on. In some cases that idea's enough- the statement of it makes you think. In other cases, the contributors expand briefly on that idea. The book opens with a brief foreward by Robin Laws- a game author whose every word I admittedly follow and reread with a stalker-like fascination. That's followed by great and lengthy introduction by Wil Wheaton who expands on his philosophy of "Don't be a Dick."

The main body of the book is made up of 101 of these thoughts from Hindmarch and Tidball. They range from the seemingly obvious or the almost zen riddle approach. In the same way we move from the abstract to the eminently practical. I'm torn a little, between my desire to provide an example, and my desire not to give anything away. I'll only provide one-

Sometimes I can see your cards when you hold them that way. Sometimes I will let you know.

Sometimes I won't.

I think what's really admirable throughout the book is the economy of language and writing. I'll admit that some of my first impression came from the open and sparse graphic design, with few words on a page. You get a number, the statement, often a brief explanation, and then a set of tags for the idea's category. From that presentation I draw a new idea not in the book:

Word count has never been an accurate measure of the quality of an rpg product.

The more I reread, flip through, pick out an idea, the more I realize how well the authors have designed it. And I imagine they must have had to restrain themselves from going on and on about certain ideas. I know when I read some of these, I immediately start thinking and adding detail. That's a gamer habit, and Things We Think About Games plays to that.

After the main section, book continues on with a series contributions from a series of excellent game designers and authors: Ken Hite, Jon Kovalic, Fred Hicks, Michelle Nephew and others. There's some great stuff there- often coming from a new perspective such as publishing and rules layout. Two longer and more unified articles follow. The first "Seven Lessons Learned from Warcraft" takes the kinds of situations and tasks of MMORPGs and shows how they apply to life, not just to other kinds of games. It's funny, real and great. In some ways it is an echo of the self-development book I imagine Dave B/Wavemotion writing someday (a blog you should be reading). The last article, by S. John Ross, presents what he sees as the five key elements of any game and gaming situation- a great framework for examining them.

Overall
I liked this book the first time I read it. But I also dismissed it will far too faith praise. I've realized that in many cases Things We Think About Games articulated problems or ideas about gaming that I hadn't been able to. In a couple of cases they lifted a burden of worry from my shoulders. They made me see the difficulty in a new light, and I let it go. I feel goofy saying that, but it is true. If you like games in general, you should read this book- well-designed, well-presented and fun. Beyond that, it is a game book you'll find yourself going back to reread again and again.

That's my review- but since it is a little short, I'll finish by reworking an earlier post (9/09) which was inspired by this book. These are mine, but are examples of the kinds of things in the book:

If You Don't Like to be Wrong, Maybe You Shouldn't be Playing an RPG.
These kinds of games are, by their nature, about uncertainty. You don't, can't, have all of the information. Drama comes from surprise, mistakes, mystery and accidents. There's also the fact that you have other players reading the situation, often quite differently. The nature of the game means you can't always be right-- even in a game without dice.

If You Can't be Wrong, You Really Shouldn't be Playing an RPG.
And maybe you better see if you've got some deeper problems. Not that you could really acknowledge that, right?

If You're Going to Say No, You'd Better Have Another Option
There's a role-playing maxim that suggests the GM shouldn't say no. If you can't quite get to yes-- have the player make a roll. The basic idea is to affirm player choices and provide them with opportunities, even if you don't think those choices seem great or especially if you think they're game breakers. If something's a gamebreaker to you as a GM, then you've planned it wrong. On the other hand if a player asks to do something that doesn't make sense to me as a GM, I'll repeat back to them what they say they're doing, perhaps with some more context of the situation, in case I haven't described the situation as well as I should have.

But this also applies to situations as a player. If someone suggests a plan or option and you say no-- you'd better explain why. Few things can bring a game to a halt quicker than players who simply shut down other player's ideas. And "I don't want to" isn't really an option.

Want to Piss Me Off? Tell Me You Were Just Playing Your Character
I've said it many, many times before, but know where your character ends and your player begins. Being crappy to other players, NPCs or to the GM and then saying "I was just playing my character" is like saying: You Suck and then putting a :-) after it (or a "Wink!"). Bottom line- as has been said before- don't be a dick.

Feed a Bad Player and He'll Poop All Over Your Game.
Some bad play comes out of ignorance or unfamiliarity to the play or the group dynamic. That can be fixed- through example or through discussion with a player. But some bad play is just bad play and can't be fixed. If you throw most plots, NPCs, or other things you think they want, they'll still be bad players and you'll have alienated the others at the table. They'll get fat and bloated until something happens where they make that final release...or the game ends...or both. I've seen it too many times.

Some Characters are Easier to Write for than Others.
Some PCs are easier to develop storylines for than others-- for that particular GM. A games strives for a kind of parity in terms of attention between players but in practical reality it never achieves that. As a GM, it isn't necessarily that I like one character better than another-- but some character fit better with what I'm doing, spark more stories or seem more sympathetic to me. I'm trying my best to keep that in rein, but it happens. If you're not getting the table time you want, talk to the GM about the kinds of stories you'd like and how that fits with your character. Don't demand X plot, but give the GM a better sense of things-- they may be lost when it comes to plotting for you.

Give Me an Excuse to Let You Win
As a GM, I want you to win most of the time. I want you to have small victories, but I also want there to be challenge and tension. When you're trying to do something, don't just say what you're doing, but how you're doing it and why you're character is able to (skills, equipment, past experiences, psychological shock). Give me a hook to hang the victory on-- something that makes you're investment in your character pay off.

Some Skills are Better Than Others
Most systems with skills generally have equal costs for most skills. However, not all skills are as useful as others- by this I mean things like Sailing or Pilot (Cart). That's a fact of the game.

I Want What I Paid For
On the other hand, if skills like Diplomacy or Combat Abilities aren't going to be useful in a game-- the GM better tell me that ahead of time. If I've built my character based on statements about what the game is going to be like and it isn't that, I'm going to be pissed.

Epic Fail = Table Time
The best part of having awful things happen to your character is that you get a chance to play those moments out. Sure a GM will probably play out some good, happy times at the table-- but more often than not we'll be dealing with the tense and awful. If you keep your character safe and bottled up, then you're less interesting. There's a limit to how many times I'm going to try to draw you out with new characters or plot threads. Eventually I'll get tired of that and figure you just want to watch the game go by for other people. Take risks, even if you think they might not be in character fully, to give yourself a chance to be at the center of a scene.

Plays Well with Others
On the other hand, don't go falling into everything just to have all the table time you can. That's annoying and diva-like. Learn to love the other PCs-- be as interested in their stories as your own. Make yourself the person they want to have with them when they go to do their scenes.

Celebrate Victory
When a player wins, let them win. Give them proper credit for their victory. Never undercut it with "well, the opposition wasn't that tough..." or the like. As a GM it costs you nothing, and an inflated sense of self can be used later. Especially never undercut a PCs dramatic death or sacrifice. If they die holding a gate against the enemy, don't say afterwards "You know there was a special button you could have pushed to magically lock that...". Don't do that. Really don't-- not even with an off-hand comment. Don't.

Big Finishes Can Save a Game
If I'm watching a movie that's slow and lame and bores me, but the ending knocks it out of the park-- that is the part I'm going to remember. The opposite holds true, if a movie's great and then the ending is a let down. The same thing holds for campaigns, one-shots, arcs and sometimes sessions. No pressure there, I'm just saying.

Something Every Week
Something should happen every session. After a session, I should be able to point at something interesting that occurred. If there was a fight, something interesting should have happened in that fight. I ought to be able to tell a relatively non-boring story about the session. If not, then we're not doing something right.

Never Say There's Nothing for Me to Buy
Really-- there's nothing your character wants to buy? You've hit the nadir of your abilities? Why don't I put that to the test then. If you want me to bring my GM whipping stick out and not in a good, "I get time at the table" but more in a "my character's out for how many sessions?" way, tell me this.

Know Who's Playing
At any particular moment, you should know who is talking to the GM or interacting in character with another player. If you're not aware of that then there's a pretty good chance you're talking over someone or interrupting a scene. People zone out, and that's OK, but not when you stomp on other people's enjoyment.

Poo Flies Both Directions
Trash-talking and poking fun at other players is a part of the game. However if you go down that path, you'd better be prepared to get some of that splattered on you. In other words, don't dish it out if you can't take it. Obviously there's a question of tone and level to be considered here-- make sure you keep things on the same level or in the same spirit as the other person.

It is Small Table
You've got a lot of people usually around a table, plus the various books, papers, food, drinks, dice, miniatures and so on. Be respectful of other people's stuff and don't crowd them out. Imagine you're at a nice dinner and keep those manners. If someone ends up looking at your character sheet or stuff by accident, don't get shitty. Most of the time that's an accident.

Yes, People Can Read Your Body-Language
If you're irritated, if you aren't enjoying yourself, if you're just a ****wit- people will know it. They can see you cross your arms, can see you pull your stuff back close to you and get defensive, and see you shut down. Don't act innocent if people ask about it later. You're in a small area with these people for several hours-- gamers are notoriously oblivious, but they'll pick up on that. Try to relax and get through the moment of what's bothering you. Get up and stretch if you need to-- and address your problem after the game. If it is just that you're in a bad mood, say so at the table and apologize. Being in a bad mood, on the other hand, doesn't give you license to make other people miserable.

No Plan Ever Survives Contact with the Player Characters.
Get used to it.

Change
Some people imagine themselves as iconic heroes, untouched and untouchable by the world. These are usually uninteresting characters. Characters who can't evolve or can only evolve along predetermined lines imagined by the player at the start-- those are boring characters. Be reactive to experiences and see how the unexpected shapes you.

Compromise does not Automatically = Failure
Other versions of the iconic characters mentioned above have to have things their way. They can't compromise their codes and rules. In some cases, that's a good challenge- a brings about questions about those codes in themselves and others. But more often than not, we get Rorschach like characters. Characters who can't adjust and work with a group shouldn't be made up to be played with a group. A game is a back and forth of argument, compromise, solution and progression.

Interparty Fighting Sucks
There are some games that encourage this-- Paranoia as the best example. But there are some others- an Amber RPG Throne War or Wilderness of Mirrors. However the bottom line is that these experiences will come over to haunt you. They'll color other games, irritate people, and provide fodder for later payback which can destroy another game. There are exceptions- like one shots. But generally be prepared that even a game that's declared to have that purpose and be isolated has a pretty good chance of coming back to bite you in the ass. And for a normal game where you let this happen, especially late in the game, it can be bad. You may have to suspend disbelief to keep people from going after each other, but you're already operating in a fantasy world-- so what's the problem there.

You Don't Own NPCs
Other people can talk to them too...don't get upset about it.

Tick, Tick, Tick...
Understand that when you start talking about WoW, a timer starts in my head. You've got about thirty-minutes (plus or minus ten) before I want to move on to another topic. I think that's pretty generous.

The Future is Now
Computers at the game table were a great idea when we thought about that twenty years ago. Today, not so much. Bonus: yes, it is a little rude when you're playing away with your iPhone constantly when other people are taking their scene.

Don't Threaten to Burn My House Down if My House Has Burned Down in the Past.
If you'd played with people long enough odds are pretty good you know what irritates them. That's part of the art of banter at the table. But you also probably know what really pisses them off. Know the difference and don't use that in the game.

Count to Five
If someone asks the GM a question, do a five count before you jump in to answer. Give them a chance to respond, and if they look around for input, then go ahead and speak your mind. Even, if not especially, not rules questions.

Take a Penny, Leave a Penny
If you're drinking my pop, would it hurt you to bring some to contribute every once in a while?

Wasn't There Another Stone Giant There?
If the GM forgets something bad, don't remind them. On the one hand, they may have honestly forgotten, in which case they'll remember it later, do a face-palm, and pretend nothing happened. On the other hand, the GM may be deliberately ignoring it to move the scene forward or to keep from killing the party off.

The Last Fleet: Character Creation

On Saturday, we had the character creation session for our upcoming Last Fleet Campaign (I posted about prep for that earlier here, here and here). Originally I’d hoped to have a chance to do a little play and campaign set up after we got done with character building, but time got away from me. That ended up being OK as we spent most of the time talking about characters and roles- with the players interacting and making decisions to compliment one another’s choices.

We’re playing with a significant variant to the existing rules for Action Cards which all of the players have played with (in at least two and usually more versions). I’ve been working on simplifying some aspects, adding new options, and playing to the strengths of the game. Where we’ve dropped things in play, I’ve removed those options from the rules. Skills/Abilities got a better set of definitions and examples. I took out "Traits" that gave global bumps, a mechanic that mostly got forgotten. We have a new damage system which includes Tags, the idea of multiple kinds of damage (social, physical, mental, etc) all of which get tracked from the same pool, flaws which have an effect and allow the players to use those to regain drama points, resolution which has the GM draw first and then players react, and a limit to the number of redraws for any attempt. It’s actually a pretty comprehensive set of changes given how rules-lite the system is and I’m excited to see how it plays out.

CHARACTERS
Here’s how the characters themselves came out:

Lira Moondawning, Namir Rogue/Shadow Mage

• Office: Chief Scout
• Flaws: Kleptomaniac, Likes to Scare People
• Broad Abilities: Scout, Martial Arts, Thief, Nimble
• Racial Ability: Perfect Balance
• Abilities: Listen, Lockpicking, Tumbling, Fast Talk, Cast Spell, Rolling Dodge, Move Silent, Small Blade Attack
• Specialties: Silent in Trees, Rolling Through Doorways, Kick Dropped Knife into the Air
• Talent Requests: Shadow Stealth, Disguise mastery, Distractions, Intimidation, Dagger Tricks, Ninja Stuff, Magic Weapon

Chain Firespinner, Scalebound Brawler/Fire Mage

• Office: Master of the Watch
• Flaws: Bluntly Honest, Overly Enthusiastic
• Broad Abilities: Perception, Hand-to-Hand, Healthy, Concentration
• Racial Ability: Grappling Tail
• Abilities: Ride Wyvern, Claw Attack, Iron grip, Solid Reputation, Gauntlet Parry, Dodge Ranged, Gather Rumors, Fit In
• Specialties: Putting Out People on Fire, Accurate Light Signaler, Breaking Chairs over People
• Talent Requests: Scales, Claw Attack, Fire Breath, Control Fire, Tail Bonus

Marreg Warmane, Orc Warrior

• Office: Master of the Hunt
• Flaws: Have to Be First, Low Alcohol Tolerance
• Broad Abilities: Hunter, Brawling, Survival, Fine Weapon
• Racial Ability: Tough Skin
• Abilities: Move Quietly, Throw Massive Things, Sword Parry, Resist Fear, Ignore Terrain, Dodge Melee, Sword Attack, Intimidate
• Specialties: Calm Tyren (Wyvern), Heave Carcass, Blade Leaping
• Talent Requests: Slams, Rage, Sacrifice Throw, Bellow, Social Sledge Hammer

Whet Bloodlaced, White Elf Pistoleer/Empath

• Office: Master of the Vigil
• Flaws: Spooky, Flashbacks
• Broad Abilities: Investigation, Soldier, Fast, Status
• Racial Ability: Night Vision
• Abilities: Ride Wyvern, Search, Psychology, Move Quietly, Keep Footing, Called Shot, Sword Parry, Spot Tracks
• Specialties: Near Miss Threatening, Wyvern Jumping, Smell Blood (Pick Out Dangerous Men)
• Talent Requests: First in the Round, Movement, Sense Ambush, Read People, Additional Senses, Precognitive Parry

Dweena Squint, Goblin Scout/Gadgeteer

• Office: Master of the Stores
• Flaws: OCD about Puzzles/Riddles; Nosy Parker
• Broad Abilities: Assessment, Mother, Gadgetry, Puzzles
• Racial Ability: Poison Resistance
• Abilities: Unpickable Locks, Blunderbuss, Spot Hidden, Design Gadget, Diplomacy, Manage Organization, Command Trust, Size Up Opponent
• Specialties: Full-Name Freeze Attack, Always the Right Key, Wyvern Skitching
• Talent Requests: Cling Boots, Sky Squid: Ink jets, Sky Squid: Eyes in the Back of My Head, Adaptable Blunderbuss, Scope, Goggles

Each player also wrote up a version of their "What My Father Told Me" question sheet to give background on their culture. I was surprised and pleased, given how much time those things take. I figured I’d be missing at least one or two. I’ll post some later as an example. Some of the players approached it as their character telling the story- and I should have been clearer about that. I think these culture creation documents work better when they’re positioned as an elder educating a young person. Most players had also found a picture to use for their character. I talked with them a little about what role they saw their people fulfilling in the fleet. The Goblins have the greeatest skills in meshing magic machines to users; the Orcs are known as the greatest Sky Huntsmen; the White Elves waste nothing and a masters of recycling and reuse; the Namir work the finest rope; and the Scaleborn have the finest leather-scale armor.

THE FLEET
We took some time to also talk about the general concept of the fleet. Each player is essentially an officer and makes up the "away team." There’s a little cross between BSG and Star Trek in a fantasy universe. The fleet is made up of nine vessels, escaping through the Stormwall and trying to find a new home. Each player comes from a different race, and so there’s a ship of their people in the fleet. There’s also the main flagship, the only one really well-armed and armored in the fleet. The characters primarily serve there. It will be made up of a crew drawn from across all of the races, including many otherwise completely lost in the Landfall. Ideally, I want the players to imagine the fleet as a kind of traveling city, with each ship being a neighborhood. We can move between "urban" and "wilderness" adventures in that way. I picture the ships as having skiffs to travel between them. The players have a little more mobility as they have a flying mount- four of them with riding Wyverns and the fifth trailing along with her Sky-Squid.

Three other ships make up the fleet. The first is a "Hive-Ship" populated by the quiet insect race of the Artikhane. They general don’t speak about themselves very forthrightly, so whether they are one race or several is unclear. They can understand the common tongue, and some can speak it. They possess their own magical and spiritual traditions including a sky-ship which operates by different propulsion principles. They bring to the fleet their specialty of Resin crafting, useful for patching and making molds. The second is the second largest ship in the fleet, and second best armed (although still pretty meagerly), that of the human Kingdom of Straad. They’re a mercantile people, ruled by the Council of the Square. Their people had been mighty tradesmen and scholars, with several unique magic schools. They bring an expertise in ship-building, repair and construction to the fleet, making them important beyond their size.

Finally, the last ship in the fleet actually wasn’t expected. I plan on detailing how this all came to be in the first session. When the fleet readied to depart it was intercepted by what may be the last Rescue Ark. The Arks had been mentioned in the timeline as a means of rescuing people from the falling islands. This Ark arrives, packed to the brim with survivors drawn from across the realm. It is over-capacity for its size, has little in the way of supplies, and many races with old tensions between them. At the start of the game this will be a situation hanging over the players. This ship should be the "bad" part of town- a dangerous and desperate area.

LOOKING FORWARD
I didn’t set up much beyond this for the session: it was more important to get the players oriented to their characters and describe how the new rules would work. I was asked where we would actually start- in transit or with the fleet just making its escape. I’m still not sure yet- I want to frame it well and make it exciting, so I suspect we’ll at the very least have a flashback to the escape in Session One. I did make clear to the players that the game would last exactly twenty-four sessions, no more- no less. I’m looking forward to seeing how everything plays out in the first actual play in two weeks.

Directing the Game (Part Two)

Sequel-itis
I've got a few more stray thoughts about cinema and rpgs. This continues on from an earlier post Directing the Game: Part One. And that's a commentary on the excellent Geeklist Hida's Top Ten: Directors You Wish Were Running A Game For You by the inestimable Hida Mann. And so we have a nested blog post.

What Was Our Mission Again?
I think of rpgs as a medium- just as cinema, novels, graphic comics, plays, opera and so on as means to conveying a story. That's not to say it is exclusively about story- rpgs have a number of other goals, including the game portion. I think of board games as a medium providing a story about competition, with more or less detail on top of that. RPGs obviously have, or I should say can have, different goals than other mediums. I probably fall closest to Narrativist in the GNS approach- but that's just what I like. The Gamer position's just as reasonable, and the Simulationist...anyway let's move on.

Robin Laws makes a point in Hamlet's Hit Points that has struck with me about the medium. Communication's actually pretty difficult in a tabletop rpg. The GM's the one providing a singular source of information (leaving aside handouts and props for a moment), the players have divergent interests, there's an expectation of interactivity, people who aren't 'on' can do other things, there's no social penalty for walking away to get something, you have books and papers to leaf through to check things, the environment may not be great, you may have cross-talk- in short rpgs face many difficulties not present elsewhere. In a theater you have more complete visual and auditory immersion, seats with a distinct orientation, lighting, the social expectation of silence, an obligation to private and passive reception of the material.

Losing Track of...What?
One of the places that can really hurts is during a combat sequence. Players get invested- they're present, they have something to do. I don't think its an accident that most rpgs build significant sections around combat,m even if they're dressed up as conflict resolution. And of course in a film, a good fight/combat section can easily make it worth my time. By the same token, confusing or badly shot fight sequences irritate the crap out of me. Modern martial arts films which shoot too close to see what's going on just make me angry. Bourne did that, but well and for a point. On the other hand, so many do it to avoid having to worry about showing full moves- instead we get many, many cuts and small sections of the fight assembled like a strange flip-book.

And when the director has a bad editor, then truly ugh. We don;t get a sense of the space, of the positioning of the characters, things pop out from nowhere,...wait, how did he get over there??? I'm confused. And I've had fights like that- both as a player and a GM. My instinct when I run fights is to bear through and get a frantic pace. Ideally that keeps the energy up. But if the players lose the thread of the fight narrative, then they can get irritated when they get shut down on actions or have another player step on their toes. This can hold true even if you're using figures and maps, which I do from time to time, but probably less than half the fights I run. With this possible confusion in mind, I've been practicing a trick which works well- though it isn't original to me. I read it in an rpg blog some time back.

Building a Combat Narrative
Basically when I run a combat, I still try to keep speed up. Players know that when I come to them, they should know what they're going to do. But also they need to stop me and ask me if they're unsure about something important- I try to be good about shifting gears down if I see those kinds of requests. But my goal within a combat round is to construct a complete narrative of that scene. When I come to a player, I try to give a really quick statement of their situation and position: "OK, Kenny, you're on the conveyor belt, and can see that the mooks are trying to lift something out of the box in the corner. What are you going to do?" I've already described the scene, but I do a recap for each player. Its a few second that reorients the player in the moment and also says: OK, you have the floor now, Mr. Player. They take their action, and then when I come to the next player I do the same thing- except, I make sure I state their position relative to the previous player and their action. "OK, Sherri, the machinery's going full tilt and you've seen Kenny leap off past you towards those Mooks with the box, what do you do?"

As the round goes on I compound this- adding a little more, rewinding and describing the turn- and making sure the active player sees what others have done and how they can play off of it. In a tight turn, but the time I get to the last player I'm providing a mini-story of the turn as a whole. Ideally I can take some time at the end of the turn to clarify results and signal the move to the next turn. We draft a dramatic narrative for the turn on the fly- in part by not seeing everything as simultaneous, just close to simultaneous. And I deploy repetition for effect, a classic storytelling technique which can get old in a visual feature. That repetition is a form of flashback, or rewinding.

Flashback
Flashback's a difficult thing to pull off at a game table- but can be quite fun. The trick is to not make it over determined- a GM can narrate a flashback, but you want the players involved. Which means you want to give the players power to affect things. Some movies play with time even more, like Momento or TimeCrimes. Of course, Hida has Kurosawa as his top pick for rpg director on his list- could something like Rashamon be done in a game? Bouncing around can be fun- but again as I mentioned earlier, it is easy to throw players out of the experience of a game through that bouncing. I've seen at least one game that does build that kind of flashback into the structure of play- InTERRORgation. I don't think it does a particular great job with that, however. It has a great premise- that players build the narrative of what happened in their story through the act of spinning that story out through contradictory answers to some kind of debriefing or questioning.

Time at the Table
A couple of interactive uses for flashback I've seen at games. One, for characters with lost or rewritten memories. The GM can use a flashback scene to play those out. This requires some prep to give the other players a sense of what's happening. Microscope uses a version of this in its "Scene" system- in which players bore down to the smallest level to answer a question. Two, as a means of establishing character or relations. One of the best games I played in began with a series of flashbacks in which each player got a half-session dealing with their background. The other players played NPCs from that past and provided a story that explain some of the character's personality. It invested everyone at the table in the player's experience and role. Another version comes from the Fallout game we've been playing which began with the group witnessing an atomic fireball, then being questioned by our rescuers about exactly how that came to pass- we then rewound to the actual start of the campaign. We didn't come back up to that time point until about halfway through the game. Three, one suggestion I read was to use flashback as a gap-filling measure. If a player doesn't show up for a game, the Gm can run a flashback adventure- an untold story. This allows the group to play, provides some incentive ("oh, yeah, that magic sword I'd gotten I forgot about...') and potentially can be used to introduce goofy sidequests.

Luckily Ahead of Time I...
All of those echo the way films use flashback- or perhaps in some cases more echo how TV shows handle it. One other technique I've used is "flashback prep." This works for games where you have a James Bondian or Bourne sense of the PCs being one step ahead and even echoes how leverage works at times. I use it to encourage players to keep planning sessions brief. Basically players get points or a point of points for 'plans.' Then when they carry out a caper and hit an obstacle, they can spend that point to retcon that they'd planned for that. They brought a device, they hired a diversion, they created an extra identity. It allows them to pull off Mission: Impossible style events. I also means you can play those situations out and reduce player frustration with the "My character would have know..." anger moments. Players don't have to know everything their character would- they just have to be able to spin an entertaining story about what they did ahead of time. The GM can classify those things or even require a pull- I used a variation on this in my Witless Minion! rules. There's a variation on this in the Time & Temp as well.

Still not done...to be continued.