Running PTA in a convention

[Itai Greif]

I'm going to run a PTA game in a convention, and the game is set for 4 hours. I don't want to start with creating the show – I want to come with a show and cast ready, up to a point, and try just playing one episode. Also, I took a leaf from Moose's book, and planning to play a mid-season episode, where everyone understands that some stuff already happened.

The problem is that I'm reading through the rulebook, and I'm getting the feeling that setting up the series puts the players into a creative mood, where they feel they have creative control over what they're playing. Also, parts like where the players can veto each other's edges, or that they have to negotiate the Screen Presence arrangement means they get into this place where they can affect other people's characters, and where they have to create the story together. I'm worried that if I skip this phase, then my players aren't going to be in the proper mood for the game.

So I was wandering if people had any thoughts on the subject, or any tips about what I should leave open and what I should do beforehand. For example, I was thinking that Tone and Setting Conventions should be decided by the group, but I should write the Cast before coming to the convention.

[Andrew Morris]

I've played PTA at conventions before, and we always came up with the show at the table. I can't imagine you'd get nearly the same level of player investment if things were decided before the players sat down at the table. Why is it that you feel you need to skip this stage?

[Georgios Panagiotidis]

I've run PTA at conventions a few times, and the biggest stumbling block has been "coming up with the show". Followed by "coming up with an issue". Everything else falls into place, once we've made our way through the first conflict or so.

It's tempting to just avoid it by establishing things before-hand and just giving the players the ability to chose. I think that does undercut one of the (many) strengths of PTA, though. By custom-fitting the in-game content to the players tastes, you get much more focused gaming than in usual pre-determined games. As everyone is on the same page about the show.

What you can do though is narrow things down a little, as I've seen a great number of players overwhelmed when they had to choose from the wealth of possible show premises. I'm running a PTA-game this weekend at a con here in Berlin; it'll be set in the world of Shadowrun (which is well-known and quite popular around here). I hope this will give players something to start with, as they toss premise and issue suggestions back and forth. Who knows, we might even abandon Shadowrun altogether (unlikely though), if we come up with something that everybody can get behind.

[Michael S. Miller]

I've also got weigh in with "yes, make up the show at the table." I recently played in a con game run by Judd where we made up the show at the table and it rocked. Some of our Real World hurdles in creating the show even became Game World sources of adversity and mystery. Judd started out real easy with "What don't you want to see?" and we just went from there. Be attentive to everyone at the table, and make sure they're genuinely excited about/interested in it and not just nodding along for the ride. Make sure you talk about everyone's Issues openly, too. Sometimes issues are tough, but other people at the table making suggestions can help a lot.

[Judd]

The problem is that I'm reading through the rulebook, and I'm getting the feeling that setting up the series puts the players into a creative mood, where they feel they have creative control over what they're playing.

Why is this a problem again?

I love doing a PTA game from pitch to play in one four hour game.  My most powerful PTA game ever covered two episodes, including pitch in one session.

Here are two threads that might be of use to you:

My Pattern

Hare and Hound, the best single gaming session I have ever run anywhere and it was PTA at a con.

Oddly, last weekend I just had a weak session of PTA and I think it was because we went with our first pitch and it was lukewarm at best.  Don't be scared to shelve a pitch and come back to it and think of different ideas.

Hope that helps.  If you have any questions, let me know.

[Itai Greif]

Hi, thanks for all the replies.
I actually read "My Pattern" and added it to my "game page", what I print and bring to the table.
To clearify, my agenda isn't "let's run PTA in a con", but "I want to run a specific show, using PTA" – my goal is to touch certain themes and tell stories about specific characters, so they have to be pre-made.

What I meant about the problem was this: I think the atmosphere of the game determines what players think is proper to do. I guess you can say it's part of the social contract, but I don't think you can define it before the game, you have to create it. So if me and my players are sitting in a circle, it creates a different mood then if I'm sitting at the head of the table, and they're forming two rows. PTA's goal, as far as I can tell by reading it, is to create the feeling that it is ok to interfere, to tell someone else how his character should act, to throw hurdles at someone else's character or even your own, because it creates better drama. When you start the game with creating the series, its tone and setting, and only then getting down to the cast, even though some of those decisions are really made during the previous processes, then you're telling the players that first they have to look at the series, and only then at the character: the whole season, the episodes in it, and the scenes in each episode.

It's a break from the regular games people play at our cons: it is either a very heavy system game (like D&D, GURPS, WoD, or Exalted) or Freeform, where the emphasis is on the particular story the GM is telling. But in those kinds of games, the players tend to hang back, because they don't want to derail the GM's story. You don't want to interfere with other people's fun, so you play your own part in what the GM conceived: the character that was given to you.

So my dilemma is that on the one hand, I want to use PTA because I want the players to participate, and on the other, I want them to participate in creating a story that deals with very specific things.

[Judd]

Hi, thanks for all the replies.
I actually read "My Pattern" and added it to my "game page", what I print and bring to the table.
To clearify, my agenda isn't "let's run PTA in a con", but "I want to run a specific show, using PTA" – my goal is to touch certain themes and tell stories about specific characters, so they have to be pre-made.

I have found that the power of PTA is in the pitch and everyone having a hand in what the game is about.  There is this magic moment, when it works, when the show's concept just clicks and everyone is sitting forward and getting into it and contributing.

I think you'd lose that with a pre-made scenario but that is purely based on my experience and opinion.

What I meant about the problem was this: I think the atmosphere of the game determines what players think is proper to do. I guess you can say it's part of the social contract, but I don't think you can define it before the game, you have to create it. So if me and my players are sitting in a circle, it creates a different mood then if I'm sitting at the head of the table, and they're forming two rows. PTA's goal, as far as I can tell by reading it, is to create the feeling that it is ok to interfere, to tell someone else how his character should act, to throw hurdles at someone else's character or even your own, because it creates better drama.

I've never told anyone how to run their characters.  I've suggested scenes and stakes but never told anyone how to react.

So my dilemma is that on the one hand, I want to use PTA because I want the players to participate, and on the other, I want them to participate in creating a story that deals with very specific things.

So the question really is:

What is the game you want to run?

I'd think we could move from there.

[John Harper]

I want them to participate in creating a story that deals with very specific things.

Make sure you tell the players this before play, loud and clear. This is not what I would expect from a "normal" PTA game, and if it was sprung on me during play, it would probably disrupt my fun. Knowing about it before, though, would be okay and I might play just for an interesting experiment.

[Frank T]

If you bring protagonists ready-made to the table, which I would not advise, you should at Personally, I hate those ready-to-play characters that already have a background and clear agenda, the GM basically setting me the task to play the role he made up. It feels like a fucking assessment center. To me, anyway.

Have you considered to do a normal pitch and just take a strong lead? As in, the very moment you explain how the pitch works, you suggest the show you want to run, and sell it to the players, at the same time profiting from their input?

[Frank T]

Oops, hit submit instead of preview. Matt, feel free to delete the above post. Here's what I wanted to say:

If you bring protagonists ready-made to the table, which I would not advise, you should at least allow the players to alter them to their liking. Personally, I hate those ready-to-play characters that already have a background and clear agenda, the GM basically setting me the task to play the role he made up. It feels like a fucking assessment center. To me, anyway.

Have you considered to do a normal pitch and just take a strong lead? As in, the very moment you explain how the pitch works, you suggest the show you want to run, and sell it to the players, at the same time profiting from their input?

[Ben Lehman]

Basically, I don't think you can run PTA without a pitch.  The pitch is non-optional.  It's perhaps the most important rule in the game.

Expect to take 30-100 minutes for your pitch.  This is time well spent.  It will make your session good.

yrs--
--Ben

[Itai Greif]

Hi, thanks for all the replies and help. I originally wanted to post actual play before posting what I thought, but have been unable (yet, I hope) to write it in a way that would make it interesting to read...

I thought carefully about what you all suggested, and decided to go with Frank's suggestion. My intention was to tell a story about four young gay guys in LA or San Francisco, who struggle with emotional, romantic and financial difficulties. I wanted to touch various themes, like how ex-lovers can remain friends, or what happens to friendships based on share experiences when one side becomes much more successful then the other.

However, you convinced me that skipping the pitch phase and just playing one of the episodes, as was my original intent, would hurt the game play (just a note on social contract: in our conventions, it's customary, even in games that put much emphasis on character roleplaying and relationships, that the characters are pre-generated, so that wasn't the issue). So the pitch just started with "I thought about a series with 4 young gay guys, living in some city", and we ended up playing "Smack on the Gotham", about 4 young (and not so young) guys in Gotham City, and you can probably guess some of what happened in the episode we decided to do.

The game was much more light-hearted then I intended, and didn't touch the issues I originally wanted but issues like self-worth, hopeless love, and family relations. Also, the game we played convinced me the pitch was important; even more then that, the strong emphasis I put on what I wanted caused problems later on in the game. So I think PTA isn't so suitable for playing out stories you build outside its framework, and that games of PTA should start with "let's play a game of PTA" and not "let's play this, using PTA".

Of course, this is after just one time, so it's all very limited. I'm going to run the game using similar premise in 2-3 weeks (the last time was a test-play before the actual con just to see how the game went). Thanks again, guys, for all your suggestions.