Week Two - February 20th 2013 (Part Two)

If you're looking at this before Part One, I don't understand you. So, on the assumption that chronology is a feature of your blog reading experience, I'm going to just pick up exactly where I left of in Part One... Scale:

In this game, the player character party will make up one cell of an activist organisation set up by a messianic Salt, known only as Max. When Max's blood is transfused into another Salt, their brain function returns and their pain ceases. However, the Salt retains the bizarre beliefs that characterised the early stages of their illness. The reason being that they arise, not from psychosis, but from the fact that Salts do indeed have strange, magical talents. Max's super-powered gang move around the country, breaking into EMFs, abducting Salts, curing them with Max's blood, and setting them up nearby to establish themselves as the local branch of their fast-growing organisation. Players who do not want special abilities are permitted to play as individuals who have never suffered from the illness, but have become part of Max's organisation for other reasons. Either way, the Scale of the game is likely to be small and local, at least in the short-term. Many of the protagonists will be super-powered, but they are unlikely to run into many others like themselves. Their primary concerns will be remaining at liberty, establishing a secure (and possibly comfortable) base of operations, and eventually asserting some influence over the community around them.

Next, from this setting that I had invented, I would need to distil a couple of Issues that both effectively describe the world and have a functional impact on the game. After discussion with the players, I settled on two (slightly wordy) Current Issues:

1. His Majesty's Government has everything under control.
2. Smoke your cigarette, and pray you don't end up a Salt in an EMF.

Max's Gang are likely to have a fair amount of influence on how the game develops, so I give them the Issue - "Sowing the Seeds of Rebellion". The Player Characters (PCs) will need to have contacts within the organisation, so I flesh out two of them. Simone Kekaletytar (a Main NPC) and her driver, Chris, (a Supporting NPC) both of whom match the PCs in terms of Skill Levels.

The character party will be based in Wythenshawe; a district in South Manchester. I've decided to give it the Issue - "Left to the Gangs". I make some notes about the names of the gangs, their respective territories and areas of expertise, but the players don't need to hear all of that right away. Suffice it to say, they begin the game occupying a small distribution warehouse somewhere in the territory of the Benchill Mad Dogs.

Another important way to establish the Setting and tone of the campaign, is through tailoring the Skills and Stunts available during Character Creation. I do my best to rename the Skills in line with the modern, urban setting, but clearly there are some changes required that are more than cosmetic.

The first thing that stands out to me is that the PCs really start this game with nothing, and they exist in a world where, whatever you want, things are hard to get hold of. So, I remove Resources from the Skills List and come up with a different way of handling it which I'll talk about in a later post. The second thing is that my players are looking for a game that is gritty, threatening and weighted against them. FATE Core, as it stands, has a rather pulpy, hack'n'slash cheerfulness about it. So, in order to chip off the rounded edges, I trade Fighting and Shooting for named Weapon Skills, and I split Lore into three Occupations; Worked, Played and Studied, each of which must also be narrowed to a named field of experience, but come with a free Stunt. With all of the Occupations, Players may use them for related activities at a -2 penalty.

e.g. If you have Sword 3, it also counts as Club 1 or Knife 1
       If you have Worked (Neurology) 4, it also counts as Studied (Anatomy) 2

A great use of the free Stunt, therefore, is as a generaliser.

e.g. Rifle Stunt: F.P.S. - Use your full Rifle Skill when attacking with any firearm.               Basketball Stunt: Dude Perfect - Use your full Basketball Skill when Creating                  an Advantage by throwing something.

Players will be required to take at least one Occupation, and I expect that most will take two.  Each comes with free Stunt, so I reduce the number of starting Stunts to 1. This way, everybody will have at least two Stunts, but the numbers shouldn't get unmanageably high.
Finally, I need an Extra to cover the sickness/superpower element to the campaign. For this reason, every character must have one of the following Skills:

• Salt - You had the illness. This shows how sick you got before Max cured you.
• Tar - This Skill represents how well smoking protects you from the illness.
• Hygiene - You don't smoke, but you haven't got sick (yet) because of this Skill.

For some of the PCs, their ability will be fuelled by their Salt Skill. If it also requires them to take a Stunt, I will allow that player to swap out one of their Occupational Stunts, in order that their options don't become too limited. The value Players give to these Skills will have other effects in game, but for now I refuse to elaborate. #evillaugh

THE SKILLS LIST
[Square brackets indicate that you should give a named specialisation]
Take one or more from [Worked], [Played], & [Studied] + one free Stunt with each
Take one (and only one) of Salt, Tar, or Hygiene.
Choose the rest of your pyramid from
[Weapon] - Your ability to use and knowledge of a certain weapon
Unarmed - Your knowledge of, and effectiveness at, fighting unarmed
Quick - Your ability to notice, process and quickly react to things
Sharp - Your ability to ascertain, reason and discern, given time to do so
Spry - Your ability to move quickly and gracefully, and to evade attacks
Built - How physically large and powerful you are + Physical Stress Boxes
Sneaky - Your ability to conceal yourself, move unseen or act unnoticed
Respected - Your ability to intimidate, inspire, or command others
Savvy - Your ability to sense and comprehend the emotional state of others
True - Your ability to charm, convince, calm or befriend others honestly
Dodgy - Your ability to seduce, persuade, confuse or distract others dishonestly
Spirited - Your defence against psychological/social assault + Mental Stress Boxes
Connected - How broad and accessible your networks of contacts are
Informed - Your grasp of news, culture, current affairs and general knowledge

All that remains now is to Make Protagonists; the fun and frolics of Aspects and the Phase Trio. All of that definitely warrants its own post and, although it was mostly written up by hand on the night, it's hard to find the time to type these posts in the obsessive detail that is my only idiom. So, apologies if this blog fizzles out for a while.

Week Two - February 20th 2013 (Part One)

All right, I admit, we still haven't mastered the days of the week. Even worse, this time, my friends at the table have no idea why!

The truth is that, in advance of a big party on March 2nd celebrating their relationship, my brother and his girlfriend of many years have decided to marry in secret. So, on February 21st, my wife and I will be sneaking off to Manchester Town Hall for the ceremony and then on to Malmaison for drinks, speeches and many courses of delicious food. Critically, everybody who isn't attending the ceremony must be kept in the dark until the big reveal at the party; nine days later. Fortunately, my friends have known me long enough that, when I say "hey guys! Let's have our gaming night on Thursdays," and then organise the first two such events on Wednesdays, they really aren't all that surprised.

First item on the agenda tonight is to establish the rules system we'll be utilising. Last week's analysis told me that the players want

• collaborative worldbuilding
• cinematic storytelling
• an emphasis on richly developed characters
• a mechanic that rewards roleplaying

While I'm willing to admit that my judgement may be clouded (I backed the Kickstarter, joined the G+ communities, and I've been eagerly waiting for my chance to try it out), but to me this seems like the ideal opportunity to run a FATE CORE campaign. I do my best to introduce the basics of the system to our players and they all agree to give it a whirl.

So, I turn to Chapter 2: Game Creation in my copy of the December Draft and read aloud the advice on how to begin.

                              WHEN CREATING YOUR GAME:
                 Setting: Decide what the world that surrounds the protagonists is like.
                    Scale: Decide how epic or personal your story will be.
                  Issues: Decide what threats and pressures inherent to the setting will spur
                              the protagonists to action.
                    NPCs: Decide who the important people and locations are in the setting.
   Skills and Stunts: Decide what sorts of things characters in the setting are likely to
                              want to do.
Character Creation: Make the protagonists.

The game that I want to run takes place in a near-future version of Manchester, in the United Kingdom (where we live OOC). About a year prior to the campaign, there was an outbreak of a mysterious affliction. It spread quickly, from the Northwest, to the rest of Great Britain and Ireland, and inevitably to the world at large. Those who contract the illness usually exhibit strange beliefs and behaviours.

e.g. "I can understand the speech of cats... I'm going to let them live with me."

Initially, these changes may seem merely peculiar and essentially harmless. But, before long, a build up of salt crystals in the patient's body (particularly in joints and tendons) results in debilitating pain and necessitates intensive drug treatment. Public awareness of the way the sickness develops led to sufferers being referred to euphemistically as 'Salts'. In the final phase of the illness, which cruelly is almost never terminal, brain function degrades rapidly. Many sufferers then fall into a persistent vegetative state; those that remain conscious exhibit failures in cerebral cortex function. A loss of linguistic capabilities and impulse control, accompanied by a behavioural shift towards more crudely aggressive or defensive activity, renders the individual incapable of social interaction, dangerous to others and in need of indefinite secure hospitalisation.
Unsurprisingly, the effect of this global pandemic, has been devastating to economic, cultural and political bodies alike. The coalition government of the United Kingdom took immediate steps to minimise harm: the borders were closed in order to limit the spread of the disease (although there is some evidence that the whole of Ireland lies within the quarantine), as far as possible the freedom of media and communications was curtailed to prevent misinformation or needless panic (the officially sanctioned options currently available are BBC television - 1 channel, BBC radio - 1 channel, The British Times newspaper), a vast network of Emergency Medical Facilities (EMFs) were set up on the sites of airports (as these immediately fell into disuse), and certain critical resources (such as fuel, medicine and tobacco) were seized and are now distributed through a system of rationing.

Tobacco? I hear you ask.
Well, it became apparent that smokers were not contracting the mysterious illness. Consequently, the majority of UK citizens took up smoking as a form of prophylactic medicine. Once the His Majesty's Government took control of distribution, every citizen was afforded an annual ration of 50 cigarettes.

His Majesty? I hear you ask again.
When things took a turn for the apocalyptic, the British Royal Family were notable by their absence. About a month in, however, when things were looking rather dire and the prospect of all out anarchy was looming, the news media were suddenly flooded with news of the unexplained accession to the throne of King William V. Even in The End Times, people are suckers for fairytales and the regular broadcasts of the King's speeches inspired enough order to see the nation through. The rest of the world was reportedly not so fortunate and the borders remain closed for the citizens protection.

That's enough about the Setting for now. The next question is that of Scale. However, this post is getting pretty long, so the rest can wait until Part Two!

Week One - February 13th 2013

All right, if you're anything like me, you're probably thinking "hang on a minute - February 13th was a Wednesday!" In some ways, that's what this blog is all about...

I'm a married parent in my thirties; I have more responsibilities than I can manage, I'm usually either tired out or stressed out, dice are a choking hazard, books are for colouring in, even computers aren't safe, and in all honesty I have things I'd rather be doing on February 14th. Despite all of this, tabletop gaming is my hobby; it's what I do in my me-time, it's my creative outlet, it's how I recharge. So, here I present for your perusal my collected experiences of how I make it all work.

Anyway, February 13th, four of our five regular players are in attendance and the guy who has been our GM for over a year has just revealed that he needs a rest. After dinner, we talk over the final scenes of our current campaign; an evocative, Arabian Nights flavoured game of Savage Worlds. We share everything our characters have learned and plans are made for our party's next course of action. Then, the time has come for me to take over as GM at our table.

First, we discuss the kind of game everybody wants to play. In order to provide a bit of structure, I give four examples of campaigns that I could get excited about running:

• Classic magic & monsters adventuring (probably on the Fighting Fantasy world of Titan)
• Return to an earlier campaign set in White Wolf's Age of Sorrows
• A Lovecraftian tale of mystery, horror and incomprehensible, alien deities
• Near-future totalitarian UK where a painful epidemic leaves some with strange abilities

One player, who we'll call Rebekka, expresses a casual interest in swords, spellcasting and superpowers. She's open to pretty much anything, but is unfamiliar with the White Wolf Exalted universe and would prefer not to be thrown in at the deep-end of a ready-made setting.
The previous GM (Yaroslav) likes the sound of the near-future setting with its potential for superhero protagonists, whilst the remaining player (Henrietta) would prefer the Lovecraftian game, due to its serious tone, low-powered skillset, and high risk of character death. Further conversation reveals that all three might enjoy a more perilous feel to the campaign, setting it in a world not too dissimilar to our own that stacks the odds against them and makes them work to survive. So, it's agreed that a comfortable middle-ground can best be found by applying this gritty, threatening texture to the near-future UK setting.

As you can see, the players at our table bring a diverse range of tastes and interests to the games that we play. While this is usually a strength, it can lead to issues of low satisfaction if the game totally fails to cater to an individual's tastes and can create tension between players whose needs compete. I decided to approach these potential pitfalls in two ways; firstly, by crafting a campaign that attempts to satisfy every player's priorities and, secondly, by encouraging players to be more aware (and tolerant) of the differences in their gaming styles. I attempt to accomplish these ends by having the players complete my Gaming Survey. I give each player a copy, we discuss the questions and what they mean to us, and then they make a mark in each triangle closest to the statements they agree with or prefer. Hopefully, the conversation will contribute to the players developing improved self-awareness and tolerance of each other, whilst their responses should assist me in producing a campaign that satisfies them as much as possible.

Below, I give my analysis of the survey responses. The responses of our other regular player (Seth) have been included even though I did not obtain them until we met up separately after our Week Two session. I usually find that the differences between players are easier to appreciate when they are presented graphically, so the first thing I do is convert each response into a colour (by treating the corners of the triangle as extremes of red, green and blue).

I'm sure I don't need to point out how little common ground there is! Anyway, by viewing these results (through the lens of what I already know of the players as people), I was able to produce the following profiles which I presented to the players during our Week Three session. On the whole, they seemed pleased with (and in one case slightly creeped out by) the results and I feel it is probably about as accurate as I could have hoped for.

Our Regular Players

Seth

She prefers the GM to provide a fully realised setting with, not only a consistent tone, but also a pre-plotted narrative. She tends to self-blame when dissatisfied.

Yaroslav

A player rich in apparent contradictions: Interested in worldbuilding, but not shaping narrative; in authentic performance, but not consistent tone. The most distinguishable thread is that he enjoys being creative, without overly investing in the integrity of the setting or the personal success of his character.

Henrietta

For the most part, she is concerned with the accurate portrayal of a character that she has created. She desires a system that simulates a gritty reality. She expects that the GM will usually only assert themselves in setting the tone of the campaign and providing meaningful opposition for the characters.

Rebekka

Due in part to collaborative worldbuilding and narrative preferences, she has little interest in a setting beyond her influence on it. Her character is a toy; it needn't feel real, but it must be fun. She wants to win, and the key to doing so is the player-GM relationship which should be the final word in resolving every outcome.

The Regular Players demonstrate a desire for RPGs that provide rich, cinematic storytelling, with well-executed characterisation, in a world that they develop collaboratively with the GM. Their preference is for games that walk a tightrope between the dramatic and the whimsical. The system should privilege entertainment over realism, and reward roleplaying over dice-rolling. The chief responsibility of a player is to portray their character accurately and honestly. The GM has responsibility for engineering an underlying (not overpowering) narrative structure and developing locations and characters, detailed and vivid enough to bring it to life.

In conclusion... wish me luck!