Entries from the Playtesters - Merging Blogs.
1 - Heya! I was originally just going to reply directly to Adam's post but I assume the idea is to get us over here so you two can work things out over on the main board and we can throw our comments here?!?
---About "Extortion"
There are few things about that exchange that are interesting. #1 It seemed to me that the players were paying her off to avoid having to go through the Ends and Means conflict deal so as to speed up the game. Meaning it was kind of like compromising except at a price. #2 I tried to mention our obvious numbers advantage, but the exchange happend so fast it was too late...
I also have some questions about NPC's. Do they have a set limit of Plot Point tokens as well? Or do they have an infinite amount because they are Stage Hand characters?
(Comment this)
---About "Extortion"
There are few things about that exchange that are interesting. #1 It seemed to me that the players were paying her off to avoid having to go through the Ends and Means conflict deal so as to speed up the game. Meaning it was kind of like compromising except at a price. #2 I tried to mention our obvious numbers advantage, but the exchange happend so fast it was too late...
I also have some questions about NPC's. Do they have a set limit of Plot Point tokens as well? Or do they have an infinite amount because they are Stage Hand characters?
(Comment this)
2 - Mike,
Stage-Hands start out with a few tokens and earn the rest just like everyone else.
Sara (Comment this)
Stage-Hands start out with a few tokens and earn the rest just like everyone else.
Sara (Comment this)
3 - Sara,
So do you have a pool for each individual character? Do all those characters share a pool? Do you get more or less depending on how many NPC's that you play? What if your NPC has a conflict with another one of your NPC's or the enviroment? Do you pay off yourself? (Comment this)
So do you have a pool for each individual character? Do all those characters share a pool? Do you get more or less depending on how many NPC's that you play? What if your NPC has a conflict with another one of your NPC's or the enviroment? Do you pay off yourself? (Comment this)
4 - Hey Mike!
Nope, each Stagehand starts with a fixed number of Plot Points -- they're not assigned to particular supporting characters. So if I'm playing Sergei and I run out of points, and then later I go run a Scenario about hunting velociraptors, I'm not going to have any Plot Points to spend on the dinos!
Adam (Comment this)
Nope, each Stagehand starts with a fixed number of Plot Points -- they're not assigned to particular supporting characters. So if I'm playing Sergei and I run out of points, and then later I go run a Scenario about hunting velociraptors, I'm not going to have any Plot Points to spend on the dinos!
Adam (Comment this)
Written by: Adam at 2007/02/05 - 18:28:10
I'm just here to say that Adam's Ends & Means system is GENIUS and I love it to pieces already. Our first real game? Smooth as buttah (but not as fattening). It felt as though all the crusty, nasty bits of LARPing had been trimmed away to leave a sleek, streamlined system that really works for just about any LARP setting that involves player-driven story.
I could see that Sara and Adam didn't have to run around and babysit nearly as much as a MET game, which left them more time to really have fun with their NPC's. I appreciated that. I really got to like Sergei, and hate Vesper/Vespa, and actually CARE what these people were doing! They weren't just one-dimensional pieces of furniture that the STs made up on the spot to fulfill some temporary purpose.
So far, all I can say to our lovely Stage Hands is this: Bravo. Bravo. I look forward to the next game. (Comment this)
umbereon2000: See you know what I like about that, I didn't feel worried about putting Trevor into harms way
umbereon2000: at all
Tonya Nall: Me either...with the whole mugging thing...there wasn't even a scene with Sara, she just paid me to muss things up and be weak the rest of the game...not a problem! It was AWESOME!
umbereon2000: It made me happy that I didn't have someone who could just turn me into a grease smear by looking at them the wrong way
Tonya Nall: I love the fact that conflict doesn't take 18 hours of chops.
umbereon2000: that too
Tonya Nall: I suppose I'll have to change my playings style a bit, and actually "act" scared for my character. As freeing as it is to know you can't die, it should still affect the char.
umbereon2000: See dying is just another good piece of drama
umbereon2000: I have several scenarios in my head where it would be cool if trevor died
Tonya Nall: I look forward to the point where I can pay someone to kill me!
umbereon2000: Joy beats you to death with her teddy bear
Tonya Nall: Awesome! I already know how to set her off! Also, I thought it would be harder to be evil, because everyone knows what I'm trying to do, but so far, it hasn't been. I'm giong to be interested in seeing how that plays out.
umbereon2000: I didn't think about it
umbereon2000: I am more worried about obvious evil
umbereon2000: besides
umbereon2000: I am actually capabale of seperating IC and OOC information
Tonya Nall: I think it goes to the fact I'm used to it being such a "taboo" to know things I'm not supposed to play. This is another place where I really enjoy Adam's system.
umbereon2000: It helps a lot to know where other players are coming from
Tonya Nall: In usual LARPs, I'm trying so hard not to reveal things I know OOC, that I let them color my actions. Here, it matters, but in a different way.
umbereon2000: OOC it helps you big time so you won't be dissapointed if your expecting a reaction or something that you don't get.. and you don't feel as if your wasting time.
umbereon2000: But you can still fiddle with the story IC and have great exchanges (Comment this)
Tonya, your concerns about the lack of 'secrecy' are important, and I think I need to add a few paragraphs in the book to address those questions. But you have noticed something important:
The IC/OOC divide is a matter of roleplaying *style*. It's not a divide that's intrinsic to roleplaying itself.
And in my experience, it's perilous to keep a hard line between IC and OOC. It can be done, and done well; and there are experiences you can create no other way; but for the most part, a hard line is simply a stumbling block to good communication.
(And what is roleplaying? Hanging out and talking. *Communicating*.)
A soft or nonexistent line between IC and OOC allows a different style of play. So everyone knows you, Tonya, are planning on instating yourself Queen? Awesome! Isn't it great that everyone knows and can *engage* you in that? Already I think it's cool, because of the way Moira cares for Joy. I REALLY want to see what happens if Moira needs to choose between advancing her royal ambitions, and caring for the "simpleton." Is Joy only a tool to Moira? Or does she spark some human compassion? I think the OOC knowledge of Moira's ambition makes her *more* interesting of a character; if I didn't know, she wouldn't be half as interesting!
Consider: in books and movies, the audience gets to learn things all the time that the main characters don't. It's a great way to create depth and suspense. Why should RPGs be any different?
(Incidentally, I can't take credit for this style. Other games have tread this path before me. I'm just learning from them and making a LARP of it.) (Comment this)