Player's Piece

Time Line is an RPG idea I have where a timeline is open on the table and the players can play scenes from the past to change things in the present and future. I don't know yet if there is actual time travel involved nor do I know just how fluid character ownership is. It might be that each player players the same character at different points in time. Every player playing the same character could make Time line really cool.



The Comedy Game is ideas for the Shakespearian Comedy game. Players make a character of their own gender. This character is called the Lover. They choose a Shakespearian name for the Lover, and then they choose a second Shakespearian name for the Lover's Love, and chose another player to play the Love. So each player will have a Love and a Lover. There are Complication Cards that everyone takes for each Love and Lover. These are the reasons the love ad lover cannot be together.

Complication cards say, "Our parents are in the middle of a feud" "I've been Exiled"
Some say "I am opposite gender in disguise" Or "I am long lost sibling to Lover" These complications are not to be over come.

The object of the game is not JUST to overcome the complications and win the Love for your lover, but to gain enough "input fan mail type mechanic" to declare your lovers as the lead couple of the play.

These are just a couple of game ideas I'm brewing.

I wasn’t sure the game was going off, as 10 after the game should have started I had no one, but then Emily sat down and right after Nathan did. Michael’s game folded due to lack of players so he brought his Gm Nicholas Marshal over and Alexander was just passing by and jumped in so I had a full table. Counting myself we six players.

This was good because as of this summer Serial wasn’t handling larger numbers well. Michael and I had made some significant changes to the game which proved to be very successful.

The first change is really simple but really important. The profile that the killer is using to target victims is now just one detail that the whole table agrees upon rather than each player adding a detail. It was a too many cooks spoiling the soup thing. Now ideas of types of people the killer could be hunting are tossed about until one is chosen that everyone likes. For our game it was artists.

The victims goal has also been tightened, it used to be any question you might ask a fortune teller? Now its called a Hope and all hopes start with these words: “I hope…”
Hopes can not be simple things that can be answered in a single scene. This has made things less confusing. Players come up with an obstacle that is preventing the victim from attaining the hope.

In order to encourage player investment into each victim, each player then suggests a different obstical for each victim. Players get concrete idea about their victims by deciding which obsticals or good ones or which ones they don’t care for.

We decided on Artist for our profile, and these were our Potential Victims-
Kat: Myles Forrester; Violenist
I hope I find my “real”father.

Emily: Faith Bennigan: Web Cartoonist
I hope I get married.

Nathan: Sophie Guitierrez: Metal Sculptist
I hope I can get the permit to display in central park.

Alexander: Caleb O’hara
I hope Elizabeth doesn’t leave me.

Nicholas: Kathy ?: papier-mâché artist
I hope I don’t lose my son.

Michael: L.E. Westerner
I hope my protégé wins the Pulitzer.

Playing out the Potential Victim scenes has never been a problem and the table had a lot of enjoyment out of setting scenes, casting new characters to interact with and dealing with a range of obstacles that went from Severe cat allergy verses girlfriends much adored but malicious cat, a city council deciding ones work was pornographic, disapproving parents, a clueless, pampered unwilling protégé, the loss of a job, and a technophobe looking for answers a cyber café.

We had the Investigation Phase next and much here has been changed to facilitate better play. There is no more role playing out the investigation to get dice in hopes of successes.

Now each player chooses a type of investigator at a team meeting actively working on the murder case. Each player rolls a set number of dice and each success equals a piece of evidence you are reporting to the whole team as we work together to catch the killer.

Our Investigators were:

Kat: Homicide Detective
Emily: Homicide Detective
Nathan: Forensic Technician
Alexander: Coroner
Nicholas: Crime Scene Investigator
Michael: Psychologist

The Team meeting set-up allows for banter, as well as team play. The player who starts out as chief investigator for the round chooses the order that the investigators go in which allows players to build off of each other evidence. The C.S.I. found a smudge, that the psychologist determined was the signature mark of our killer.

This is important because each bit of evidence is now written on a post-it and forms chains of evidence, which give the dice for the Indictment Pool as well as determining what constitutes a success for each die rolled in the Indictment Pool.

The first Investigation Phase begins with a non-player character body. This change allows each player at least 2 scenes with their potential victim in order to be more invested so that the reading of the first player victim at the start of the 2nd Investigation Phase has much more impact. When Emily pulled out her own Potential Victim everyone felt it. What made it more significant was in the scene prior Faith was talking an ex-boyfriend out of suicide convincing him how much life was worth living.

By the end of the 2nd Investigation phase players were looking at Nathan’s envelope with concern. The players debated about whether to try and indict with the evidence we had or play another round. We had 8 chains of evidence, but three of those chains were at a 2 (they only had two pieces of evidence thus only a 1 or a 2 rolled from a D6 would succeed)

The risk of failure is that each failed chain is frozen – unusable in court, and we immediately open Nathan’s envelope because a new body has been discovered. The table decided to make the roll and we succeeded. Everyone was very excited and it felt like we had saved a life!

End game has changed so that each surviving Victims hope is answered not by the player but by vote from the rest of the table. Players with Dead Victims describe a scene of friends and family coming to terms with the loss, the rest of the players get to describe or role play out their hopes achievement or disappointment.

Faith had and very interesting funeral when her Ex showed up.

Sophie got her permit and launched her sculpture on site at Central park.

Elizabeth left Caleb.

L. E. Westerner came out of retirement to announce his protégé was actually his illegitimate son. (No Pulitzer there)

Kathy got a better job and a better lawyer and her son stayed with her.

Myles battled techno phobia and found an uncle at the county clerks office who helped him find his dad (institutionalized with schizophrenia all these years).

One tip that was suggested and will be utilized is cards with investigator types on them, so that everyone can clearly see what each instigator does.

Michael and I recast the role play last night redoing several scenes in our one-on-one. Sometimes we redo a scene if there was too much going on and we cant remember what was said, but recasting is about re-imagining a different personality in a situation you've already been in. The trouble was my character "Angel" was kinda self sufficient with a chip on her shoulder determined to do things on her own, and we're trying to create a supers romance. So I re-imagined her, gave her a strong sense of self confidence, and a bit of hero worship (Michael's playing a long established hero in the city and I'm kinda a rising star). The cool thing is we remember the situation so the same descriptive stuff is there but my reactions to them are different, thus he reactions to my reactions are also different and they because better scenes. The was heroics, flirtation and a sweetness that was lacking before.

Michael is playing the Steel Sentinel an Ironman like hero, named Carey Grant Crane (or rather Dr. Crane to his students) Carey lost mobility in his legs due to an undefined accident saving his younger brother Clark Gable Crane when they were children. Rather than a wheelchair Carey uses a Segway in class. Angela McGee (Angel) is in his class and has just started dating Clark. Meanwhile in the two times that they have worked together, Angel and the Steel Sentinel have more than gotten along...He's trying to get her to join The League. Clark, The Olympian, Angel's roommate Thea are all unowned so sometimes I play one or sometimes he plays one depending on the need of the scene. That works out really well.

I tend to run a lot of games over a convention. This Gen Con was no exception. Not only did we provide the G.o.D. space, I was scheduled to run 6 games, and I wanted to co-run 2 other games with Michael (but it turned out he didn't need me.) This time I did something smart, I brought along a misprint copy of With Great Power...(we have nearly 100 of these, the art is missing in the middle-making them perfect as autograph books) I have a terrible memory. The reason I don't do the AP posts is because by the time I have the time to do them, the details are gone. Now I have a record.

On Thursday at 3pm I ran With Great Power... "A league of their own" I have been running this scenario for 2 years now. I have not gotten tired of it. Because each player brings so much of their own stuff to the table and I never know what they are going to choose as stifes every game is new and different even though it uses the same 5 characters.

In game preparation I did something new. I printed out one set of sheets without the aspects on them. Instead of aspects there were quotes of what the player might say if he lost that aspect. Then I printed out a sheet with just the aspects and laminated that. Then I cut the Aspects out and used poster putty (the nonstick stuff that hold posters on walls) to stick the aspects on the Laminated sheets so when players Devastate their Aspects, the take the aspect off the sheet and hand it to me. This was a cool thing.

I had 4 players Thursday afternoon.

John U. chose the X-Patriot; the Telekinetic son of Famous Super Heroes, recently waking from a coma to find his father retired and himself without a Hero's License. "Amy" the girl who brought him out of the coma was the X-Patriot's strife.

Tom R. chose Purge; the energy emitting son of a Supervillain trying to prove himself as a Hero despite his villains father and the fact that he himself is just an illusion of his father's creation. The belief that "No one is Beyond Redemption" was Purge's strife.

Jamie M. chose The Stalwart, the famous defender of truth! (who had actually died months earlier and whose side kick, Earnest Squire was masquerading as the great hero. Defender of Truth was The stalwart's strife.

Mark R. chose Debris, a walking statue with the might and power of stone who once served the city as a police detective.
The belief "I am not a monster" was Debris' strife.

Its become my habit to taunt the players from the beginning with their strifes. If I get them I'll transform them this way.
I'd Transform "Amy" into "the girl I couldn't save", for Purge="I am beyond redemption", for The Stalwart "The defiler of the truth" and for Debris, "People are made to be crushed!"

I explain that these are temporary transformations. I run the group through 1st Enrichment and 1st Conflict and if after the pages of conflict the chosen strife is untouched and a different aspect is nearly devastated then we can switch strifes.

Enrichment:
The first Scene is for Debris, but X-Patriot is invited in. They are busting down a crime ring. Debris wants the respect of the police force. My counter stakes are not only do they not respect you, they suspect you as part of the ring. Debris wins respect from the force.

The X-Patriot plays off the end of that scene, he wants "The American" to see him in action and be proud that his son is still fighting the good fight. I win the Counter Stakes, The American uses his clout as governor to have the X-Patriot placed under house arrest for his own good.

Purge goes to the Governor with his lawyer Connie and The Stalwarts as a witness to get his license, I want to have him arrested but we tie. Purge not only wants his license but he also want to be put on the government payroll, I want him arrested and the American to institute policy to have all the children of Supervillains arrested before they can do harm to the city. The state police takes Purge away.

The Stalwart uses his scene to get the American to change his mind reminding him how much Purge's father will hate having a license super hero as a son. The American likes this and releases Purge and gives him a license.

For my Villain Enrichment I have The shape shifter Silhouette disguised as a secretary manipulation The American. I want him to have a list of everyone with unnatural power. The Group wants The American to discover that Silhouette killed his secretary. I tie vs. my Villain deck. I want the list and a way to neutralize all powers. The group want the American so enraged at his secretary's death that he gives licenses to everyone on the waiting list to hunt down Silhouette and Perjury. I play too low. The dead secretary spills out of a closet. Everyone now has a license.

Conflict.
The Licensed Heroes Track Silhouette to Perjury.

The Page of Conflict for The Stalwart:
He wants to capture Perjury as Earnest Squire!
I want Earnest to know that him choosing to put on the suit was all part of Perjury's plan to disgrace the defender of truth.

The Page of Conflict for Debris:
The American is so impressed with her that he prepossess marriage.
I want the American to break up with Debris because he needs a "real woman"

The Page of Conflict for Purge:
Purge gets his father Perjury to admit he is wrong about a life of crime.
I want Perjury to convince Purge he was not meant to be a hero.

The Page of Conflict for the X-Patriot:
Amy's mother is in the way, and X-Patriot saves her,
I just want him NOT to save Amy.

The conflict takes place in a Steak and Shake (blame Gen Con)
Our heroes get the jump on Perjury as Silhouette meets him.

The Stalwart yields to me and Earnest gets mocked by Perjury who lets him know he's just part of the plan.
During the fight The American leaves a message on Debris' cell phone explaining how it would never work out, she just doesn't have want he wants.
The X-Patriot sees Amy and her mother entering the Steak and Shake and ushers them out of harms way while Purge and his father have a discussion before Perjury escapes where Perjury admits he might be wrong...

We have hit 2nd Enrichment. We look over the sheets. The X-Patriot has been hitting his Telekinesis much harder than Amy. Telekinesis becomes the new strife. With the toxin still in him, he will eventually loose that ability making him powerless.

In 2nd Enrichment the Players can move things up or down. This makes for a fun mix of stuff in scenes.

Debris heals her relationship with the American and wants him to have second thoughts about breaking up with her. Instead, the Press imply that the police are covering up just how dangerous Debris is.

As Perjury is arrested instead of gently telling Purge that he's not a real boy, he convinces Purge that the American is also a Villain.

The X-Patriot taking a moment to feel in control of his powers is actually so enraged as his lack of control he rips his license in half because he can't be a hero without stable powers.

My Villain enrichment wanted to see The American still held in such public esteem that no one would question him, but again I played too low and the American realized what a jerk he was being and vowed to be more respectful of everyone.

The Stalwart's Enrichment was a thing of beauty. I've saved it for last even though we did the X-patriot and The American after him, because his enrichment was so cathartic after is was over it truly felt like the game was done. We had Triple Escalation.

Stalwart wanted The Public to acknowledge Earnest Squire was a Better Stalwart than the original Stalwart.
I want His powers to detect truth to dim.
we tie.
He wants Connie to admit her love for Earnest.
I want Earnest to be implicated in the Murder fo the Original Stalwart.
we tie
He wants The Ghost of Wayne Mason to come down in front of the press bestowing his approval that Earnest takes his place as Defender of truth.
I want The Ghost of Wayne Mason to come down in front of the press to say "Why Earnest....why?"
we tie
I want Connie to run broken hearted believing that Earnest Killed the only man she ever loved but I played low.

So during the press conference as everyone was pressing the stalwart for information about what happened Earnest unmasked himself, and though some were shocked that The Stalwart was his own side kick, at that moment the spirit of Wayne Mason became visible to all say you are more worthy than I to wear that suit, which molded itself to Earnests from and began to glow with the power of the truth, through the crowd Connie could be heard say "Oh Earnest, I hoped it was you" as the Press celebrated the new and better Stalwart.

That's how my first With Great Power... game of Gen Con 07 kicked off the con.

The goal of this blog is to hold my game stuff.
I have lots of news about Gen Con, ideas for future games, actual play posts, and thoughts on what makes good play.
Here is where I will put them.
I will cross post here with my normal Live Journal.