[Cold Iron] The Roller Coaster

[ffilz]

On Saturday we had our fourth session of Cold Iron (see First session of Tekumel campaign and Another Tekumel session for the previous writeups). The more I play this campaign, the more I'm convinced we've got some mismatch in player expectations. I'm also realizing that I can't totally rely on winging things as the campaign is starting to lose focus.

One issue that I have always struggled with is player commitment to being present. I keep a schedule of potential sessions on my Yahoo group, and the players from the previous campaign are decent at indicating their availability, but I just can't seem to get a commitment either way from the new players. One did imply he would be present. In the end, the two new players didn't show up.

The player of the unknown soldier had implied he would show up, but ended up not being able to because he got called into work. So far, he has only made the first session, and has barely communicated with us. He is an older player, so I'm wondering on one hand if he just isn't that comfortable with e-mail for communication. It may make sense for me to give him a call and talk to him.

The player of the aristocrat called not too long after the proposed starting time to cancel for the session. I'm half expecting he will drop out, I think he is looking for something very different from my usual style of play.

On the up side, the warrior/sorcerer player showed up early to finish off some setup. He had read through much of the setting material I loaned him, plus had read through the exchange on the Tekumel Yahoo list that errupted from my posting the background he e-mailed me last week. I handed him another setting book to peruse for a better name (one suggestion that came out of the e-mail) and he was more than happy to do so. At the end of the session, he borrowed the first Tekumel novel. We also had a chance to chat at the train station (I drove him over and waited with him until the train came).

The young couple continues to confound me. I think in part, the husband is desperate to play. I think they like to play with me because I respect them and especially respect the wife's handicap. During this session, we did settle that an undead character just wasn't going to work well (he couldn't be healed by either of the sorcerer priests, and needed to stay out of the sun). He finished creating a 2nd character that is a linguist.

One big problem is that without the player of the unknown soldier, I am running all the characters who can actually fight. Halfway through the one battle we had this session, I handed the unknown soldier off to the warrior/sorcerer player (his character was almost out of action). The wife's character tends to get left out of the combat, partly because she doesn't have that many spells she can cast, but mostly because she constantly needs help.

Because I was still trying to wing things, play was rather uninspired. I left them rather frustrated with trying to get an inscription translated. I really need to figure out what is really going on with the assasination I set up.

During the session, we had a major interrupt for me to read source material (as described so well by Chris in this thread.

So I'm not quite sure where I am with this campaign.

On the plus side:

+ I've got three players who seem committed and are willing to play Cold Iron
+ One of the players is buying into the rich setting in a Sim fashion
+ The young couple seem comfortable with the setting
+ The unknown soldier player may be another person willing to dig into the setting in a Sim fashion
+ I'm mostly enjoying the campaign

On the minus side:

- The aristocrat player seems unhappy
- The unknown soldier player is a big fat unknown
- The party seems mismatched for the combat heavy games I tend to run
- The young wife is almost a non-player
- The young couple is unlikely to dig very deeply into the setting

One thought I have is to either plan on playing Hero Quest in Glorantha next, or start working up Hero Quest Tekumel. Either option would allow me to use a rich setting in Sim mode, but defocus tactical combat and make other types of conflict resolution viable.

If I am to continue the Cold Iron campaign, I definitely have to start preparing more, resorting to my preferred way of using a module for inspiration, and leave the improv for responding to unexpected player choices.

I also wonder if my setting rich Sim style is sustainable with just one player buying in.

Frank

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Frank,

Here's my call: I'm still not seeing much expectations or desired "how it plays" from you.

If you don't bring a sense of "why I play, how I have fun" directly and socially to the other people at the table, then how or why can they do so for you or for one another?

But then again, that's kind of harsh ... as you say, you do have some folks who are ready to play, and you are enjoying yourself within certain limits. So that's all good, and if it's happening, it's not like you're doing anything, well, wrong.

Anyway, I suggest being more hardline about attendance. Since no one can make another person show up to role-play, I suggest that you simply cancel the folks who aren't consistently showing up out of the game altogether.

Best,
Ron

[Valamir]

I'd also suggest a page from my old AD&D days...henchmen and hirelings.

This is especially appropriate if you have characters like an Aristocrat in your party.  A couple of family retainers (or hired thugs as appropriate) to add to the party's combat strength that then get shared out in Ars Magica "Grog" fashion to players who's non combat characters are typically sidelined.

You can then approach experience (however its handled in your house version of Tekumel) in one of 3 ways:

1) ignore it.  They're just henchmen after all.

2) Award it to the henchmen characters...who may develop into full fledged interesting characters on their own (troupe fashion) and are there to be stepped into to replace character loss.

3) Award the XPs (or part of it) to the player's primary character.

This last is my favorite because it keeps the PCs "leveling" up faster than the henchman and it rewards the player for good play without penalizing their main PC.  It is rather meta-y, however, and some folks may balk, but we used this to good stead in D&D campaigns where the party was split up and the absence members just grabbed and ran NPCs (while earning half the XP for their main character in the bargain).

[ffilz]

Here's my call: I'm still not seeing much expectations or desired "how it plays" from you.

I think you're saying that I'm not being forward enough with my expectations, and perhaps I should say something like:

I like to run games where there are frequent combats and exploration and immersion in the world. In combat, the players are expected to use tactics to defeat the foes. Each character should have something to contribute to combat. For immersion in the world, it is easiest if you borrow some of my books to read, or browse the various websites and participate in the setting mailing lists. At a minimum, players should be willing to ask questions about the world and try to apply the answers to their character.

If I made such a statement, how might I go about opening it up for some negotiation? I am interested in more player empowerment, but I'm not quite ready to blow the doors wide open. But if a player said "Hey, I'm cool with that as long as you can also provide me some political situation to interract with." (Well, ok, that might be a stretch - political stuff is one area that somehow I just have a real hard time playing).

As far as the players that are engaged, perhaps it might be worth talking to them about what they enjoy of my games, and wish I would do more of. While the young husband does seem desperate to play, based on what he told me after the Fudge game that he, his wife, and I played in last summer, he's clearly does have a line he's not willing to cross. I do know he prefers a simpler system, and in that vein, I've reduced complexity slightly in Cold Iron (but I don't think it can be simplified too much and meet my desire for a tactical combat system - and I think they'd have a harder time with TROS for example).

I tend to agree that I need to be more hardline on attendance. Missing an occaisional session is fine. Perhaps I also need to cancel a session or two when people don't commit to attending (I don't play on a regular schedule, so it's not so easy to just assume everyone is available).

One thought I have been mulling over is making it easier to be good in combat AND good at something else. Given that pretty much all the characters (except the unknown soldier) are something else, it wouldn't be "unbalancing" to allow them to be good in a fight also (beyond the sorcerer's abilities to cast spells in combat). Another thought is to let each player play a straight warrior "grunt" along with their more interesting primary character.

Frank