Well, I'm done with one campaign of Afraid and we're getting to grips with a second, and things are coming together. Pretty soon I hope to be able to make some meaningful comments on Afraid as is, rather than just looking at how our groups are playing Afraid and could be playing it better.
I mostly put this up because of this conversation here:
http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/8880.html (http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/8880.html)
Ignore the body of the post and scroll down to the last three paragraphs, and then the comments, as I think this highlights most of the issues we've had with Afraid feeling like hard work.
Now I'm fairly happy with the idea of making the stakes smaller, I think I can manage that between the players and myself. The question I want to ask is; How can I encourage the players to help take the story forward?
Because I say these things, out loud, and we all 'get' it, but during actual play these things don't seem to manifest. I'm sort of hoping that Chris, (playing Hannah and Narcisse in the above link) will sort of lead by example, but if anyone here has any ideas then I'd be interested.
(I suspect that talk of stance is a red herring, much like my earlier conviction that Afraid was more about exploring situation than character, but I'm open to any ideas, and if anyone has any questions about the campaigns, I'm good to chat and expand upon things.)
Incidentally, the whole of the first campaign is in these posts:
http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/4626.html (http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/4626.html)
http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/5164.html (http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/5164.html)
http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/7248.html (http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/7248.html)
http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/8237.html (http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/8237.html)
http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/8969.html (http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/8969.html)
And most of the second campaign so far is in these posts:
http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/6961.html (http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/6961.html)
http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/7915.html (http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/7915.html)
http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/9305.html (http://community.livejournal.com/fateofeden/9305.html)
I wish I could meet you as an equal about this! The fact is, I haven't played Afraid at all, so I don't know.
In either of your games, have any PCs died?
-Vincent
No. There have been two conflicts where someone's life was implicit in the stakes, and I'll admit that in one of those I gave early because I was more interested in the follow up: Does this slave get away unnoticed?
But no. Neither as fallout or as loss of stakes has anybody died. Reflection fallout got triggered in one game where a Victim was freed from the monster, and one of the characters in the other game has become a Victim.
I don't really know if this is about Afraid. I think we've got players who've only ever used actor stance, who perhaps view author stance as a kind of cheating if they realise it's an option at all. I think, fundamentally, they are used to the GM producing all the situation and being responsible for the chracter involvement, and whilst everyone realises that isn't what's going to happen here, we can't actually think of ways around the table to make anything else happen, which is why openly discussing it hasn't got us very far.
That casts things in a very negative light. Let me talk about ice skating; I'm terrible at ice scating, I sort of waddle along, slipping forward on the ice but basically walking. I see other people gliding effortlessly past, and it seems that there must be a way for me to have more fun than I am, and that when I work out how it will actually be easier to do than what I'm doing at the moment. But I still ice skate and it's still fun. That's what Afraid is like, I know, and we all know we should be able to glide because we've been there in Dogs and who knows what else, and that when we get it it will be easier to do than what we're doing. But at the moment we're having fun waddling, and sort of wondering how to take the next step.
But anyway, you asked about death. Why?
Well, my vision for the game has, like, 2-3 PC deaths per monster, on average. The players' dice numbers vs. the GM's come from my gut instinct for what'll drive that vision. If you want less losing, equalizing the dice more would give it to you.
(I tell you my vision for the game not to hold your play up to it in any way, just to explain why the dice are as they are. My vision is my lookout.)
-Vincent