Tuesday
May052009
William Shakespeare's Dracula, Session Three
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at 2:52AM
Our game of Annalise resumed last week. We wanted to get through at least two rounds of scenes, so we resolved to play faster. It worked, and I think the quality of the scenes stayed high. The ritual perambulation around Cyprus when Lucius and Cato recognized each other, the sudden (and perhaps ghostly) appearance of Caius, and the interplay between Flavia and Alexander at Aphrodite's shrine were all great work. Plus, we even hinted that there's a vampire!
The most notable features of the session, however, had nothing to do with the fiction. First, we started by borrowing a few warmup exercises from my improv troupe. We often have focus and energy problems at the very beginning of our games, and these seemed to help. We'd done this at least once before, and I suspect it will become a regular part of our routine.
More importantly, we had several situations during play when Ted was frustrated with the game system and we weren't really sure how to help out. We talked about it for a while afterward -- Ted and I ended up talking about it even more the next day before and after our business class -- and I think we got pointed in the right direction for a solution. The major issue seemed to be a lack of formal process for providing certain kinds of input. For example, what do you do if you have a cool idea for a scene you want to be in? In this case, it might work better for us if we treat Annalise like Primetime Adventures with a rotating Producer (meaning you pick the Storyguide and tell them your ideas for Focus, Agenda, and Location). In general, I think we need to let what Mouse Guard calls "table chatter" play a bigger role, as there are definitely spots where the game lacks a formal means of communicating these ideas.
Ted also had some fascinating observations about the social implications of a largely Karma-based resolution system. I think his analogy to Diplomacy is apt, and I'm curious to hear was he has to say about it this week.
The most notable features of the session, however, had nothing to do with the fiction. First, we started by borrowing a few warmup exercises from my improv troupe. We often have focus and energy problems at the very beginning of our games, and these seemed to help. We'd done this at least once before, and I suspect it will become a regular part of our routine.
More importantly, we had several situations during play when Ted was frustrated with the game system and we weren't really sure how to help out. We talked about it for a while afterward -- Ted and I ended up talking about it even more the next day before and after our business class -- and I think we got pointed in the right direction for a solution. The major issue seemed to be a lack of formal process for providing certain kinds of input. For example, what do you do if you have a cool idea for a scene you want to be in? In this case, it might work better for us if we treat Annalise like Primetime Adventures with a rotating Producer (meaning you pick the Storyguide and tell them your ideas for Focus, Agenda, and Location). In general, I think we need to let what Mouse Guard calls "table chatter" play a bigger role, as there are definitely spots where the game lacks a formal means of communicating these ideas.
Ted also had some fascinating observations about the social implications of a largely Karma-based resolution system. I think his analogy to Diplomacy is apt, and I'm curious to hear was he has to say about it this week.
in Actual Play
Actual Play
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