Different responses to Mortal Coil

[GB Steve]

After publishing my Mortal Coil AP here, on rpg.net and Casus NO (a French rpg forum) I got very different responses.

There wasn't a massive amount of discussion on any of the sites but here's what I have:
- Forge (where there is a greater knowledge of MC)
Discussions about the extent of the theme document at the start of play, and in particular how far to go with the magic rules

- rpg.net
Questions about the role of the GM and how much prep is involved in the game.
I said:
No prep although you can use more traditional rpg models if you like (GM does theme etc) or leave the GM some time for prep between the theme document and actual play.

- Casus NO
More questions about the role of the GM and prep for which I gave the same answer as above. Also some, almost despair/disbelief that the game does not contain any background/setting.

So, away from the Forge there is a genuine worry about the amount of prep involved for the GM and the lack of a given setting, i.e. the big difference between this and a more traditional game.

[Moreno R.]

So, away from the Forge there is a genuine worry about the amount of prep involved for the GM and the lack of a given setting, i.e. the big difference between this and a more traditional game.

I can tell you that prep time is a BIG issue for me, too. It's not only the fact that work, family, other interests, etc, leave little time to create settings, NPCs, etc, (yes, it's factor, but not the only one). I dislike having to be "creative" by himself, for hours and for days, to "entertain" my friends for much less time. It's a bad deal. When I play soccer, they don't ask me to seed, water and mow the grass the month before the game.

But this is fodder for a rant that I will post here someday (but not today, too little time...), what I want to say now is that the prep time is one of the biggest variables I look for before buying a game.  A big prep time is reason enough to avoid GMing a game for me, so if there isn't anybody other who want to run it in my group, I don't buy it. There are games that I would like to play very much, but not enough to do all the prep that they would need (tRoS, Sorcerer, HQ). Today I run only games with little or no preparation time (DitV, PTA, MLWM, etc.), and until I found these games I used a lot of published setting and adventures.

So, what I would suggest to all the people who create games is: TELL US if your game need very little preparation time. Don't wait for us to ask you about it!  I didn't buy Mortal Coil because I didn't know that it was one of these. Now, I will add it to my next purchase.

[Brennan Taylor]

Interesting. Yeah, Brother Blood, I am in the same shape as you. If the game has any prep at all, I tend not to play it these days. I should advertise Mortal Coil's low prep time.

I bet a lot of people online can't believe that it is low-to-no prep because there is no setting, and they are thinking no setting=lots of GM effort. Since the game is collaborative, it's actually just the opposite. You don't have to teach your players anything about the setting because they all take a hand in creating it.

[coffeestain]

Absolutely.  I'd appreciate more games advertising this because, anymore, I require it.  Not only that, but I want the collaborative prep part to be pretty speedy too, so I can get right to the playing.

The game of MC I've been able to run so far fit setting creation into about 20-30 minutes.  That was just great.

Regards,
Daniel

[Brennan Taylor]

Yeah, it usually takes me about 40 minutes for setting creation and character generation. Then right to play!

[arete66]

The *practical* advantages of more collaborative, story telling RPGs as opposed to RPGs that try miserably to mimic reality should be stressed more in general.  I think game designers get caught up in the philosophy of it all and neglect to stress these salient points:

*  Story telling RPGs often involve less prep time whether it be creating adventures and setting or memorizing 500 pages of rules.
*  Story telling RPGs don't have to waste time with the boring stuff.  Anybody who's been through the proverbial kitting out of a group of D&D characters can tell you how dreadfully laborious it can be.  "Should I get the silk rope or the hemp rope?  50 feet or 75 feet?" just isn't as interesting when you have a busy life.

Cheers,
Tom

[Steven Stewart]

Just wanted to second motion about low prep games. My current stock is the stuff that I purchased off IPR. Almost all of them have 0 or little prep. Contenders, Mortal Coil, Polaris, DiTV (I know dogs has some, but I bought cause well it was out of print and then it wasn't, so I thought ooh just in case I get a little time).

Anygame that has 0 prep is almost instant sell to me right now. As a father, husband, with very limited amount of time I would rather spend my time gaming than preping.

Cheers,

P.S. Brennan, all the books made it to Japan just fine in great condition. Thanks. You even beat my RPG.now order that I ordered a week earlier. ;)