I once saw a prompt for Apocalypse World that went like this ...
MC: OK, whose in charge?
Player 1: Me!
MC: Great. Is it because you've got the baddest gang (Chopper), run a small town (Hardholder), or have a cult (Hocus?)
Player 1: Uh.... gang?
MC: Great. Here's the chopper. Whose Player 1's XO?
Player 2: Me!
MC: Great, here's the gunlugger. Who wants to ruin player 1's position?
Player 3: Me!
MC: Great, here's the battlebabe.
This is not how I normally set things up, but I wonder ...
MC: OK, whose the Captain?
Player 1: Me!
MC: Great. Is it because you know when to bring violence (chopper), bring an end to material want (Maestro), or can see into the aether (Hocus)?
Player 1: Uh... Dude, I run a restaurant on a spaceship. Gimme!
MC: Great, here's the Maestro. Who maintains security?
Player 2: Me!
MC: Fantastic. Here's the gunlugger. Who ...
etc. Setup everyone's roles on a spaceship and use that to hand out character sheets.
What happens if I do that?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Well, if Joss Whedon is a good example, somebody says "I give spiritual and ethical guidance to the crew", the GM squints, hands over the Hocus because what else are you going to do, and then can never figure out how to engage with the character.
ReplyDeleteBut more generally ... this whole setup implies a willingness to engage with narrative prompts that is sometimes missing in a player group, or an individual player. That's a player-to-player social issue to deal with, and this setup will immediately highlight it.
"a willingness to engage with narrative prompts" ... that is def a component of what is missing in one of our groups, ain't it?
ReplyDeleteLeetle bit, yeah. Some players, you say "we're going to be playing street punks" and they want to play an amnesiac pudding.
ReplyDeleteWhat, if anything, is to be done?
ReplyDeleteTo what end?
ReplyDeleteIf the goal is short-term good gaming, you know the answer.
Nah, continued desire to improve gaming for myself and others.
ReplyDeleteI think there are only two viable solutions:
ReplyDelete1. Ask them "If you don't want to play street punks, what would you like to do instead?"
If they answer "I want to play [something else you and the rest of the table might be interested in]", then you know what the problem is: they just didn't want to do that particular thing you were selling.
If they answer, "I don't know" or "I don't care"...
2. Find another player.
I suppose you could try to teach them how to be engaged. But other than modeling the behavior you want to see and repeatedly asking them what might make the game more interesting for them, I don't know how to do that. Maybe point them to some helpful websites. I'm sure there's an article on "How To Not Be a Jerk When Playing Tabletop RPGs."
The rules are pretty simple:
Agree on a genre and setting with the GM and other players. Speak up and be honest about what you are and are not interested in but have a little flexibility; not everyone is going to want to play your favorite genre.
Agree on some goals with the other players.
Try to help the other players achieve those goals.
If you can't think of a way to help, or you're not in a scene, stay in the background and let other people shine.
If you want to try something but don't know how, tell the GM what you want to do and ask what's the best way to do that mechanically.
Don't take phone calls or text at the table, especially if you're the GM.
If you're a player, realize that the GM went to a lot of trouble to purchase or find rulebooks, organize the meet, set up a game, and make her- or himself the lightning rod for anyone who is dissatisfied. So cut the GM some slack. Realize it takes a long time and a lot of practice to be a great GM.
Dammit, Google+, why you hate em dashes so much?
ReplyDeleteI once ran a Vampire game in which the player characters ran a speakeasy by listing jobs:
ReplyDeletethe one that handles the cops
The one that handles the swells
The one that handles the supply
The one that handles the help
Once they picked that I gave them a half completed character sheet and they painlessly did the rest. There was no "amnesiac pudding" option, though there was a "Wait...what do THEY do?" option (to reflect someone focused on weird occult satanic power). Nobody picked it.
My sense is great for a quickstart guide overly proscrptive for the game itself, but it depends on your end goal for the game.
ReplyDeleteOh sure. I'd want the status quo to get all messed up, Mo Jave, and I'd assume some move(s) to help with that, slash end of session questions to prompt the PCs to switch whose in charge and why.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'd play or run just about any game for the group of folks who responded to this thread. And I've a feeling if we talked about what we wanted from the game, then there'd be a much lesser degree to which we need prompts like this.
ReplyDeleteAlmost as if open and honest conversation makes conversation itself easier.
William Nichols Seriously? Because I'm fiending for a John Woo action movie-martial arts mash-up. Unlimited ammo v. people who can run across water and kill someone with an origami knife.
ReplyDeleteRon Stanley: So, Feng Shui?
ReplyDeleteThat seems like it would work.
ReplyDelete(Googles Feng Shui, reads "you can play an enigmatic post-apocalyptic drifter") YES!
ReplyDeleteSo ... am I hearing a game night emerging?
ReplyDeleteI'd be down with a game night.
ReplyDelete