Capes all day at Pandemonium, Baby!

[Hans]

At Pandemonium in Toronto in February:

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=23051.0

I am organizing a full day's worth of Capes on Saturday.  That's three sessions, four hours each, up to 12 people a session.

You heard me right.  2-3 tables of Capes for a whole day.  Last year I had 12 people playing at once for four hours and people lining up to try to join in, so I figured...why not make it 12 for 12!  Not to mention the fact that I'm hoping to use Tony's new "Invasion of Earth Prime" scenario (you did say that was ok, didn't you Tony?). 

This is your chance to play more Capes in one day then you ever thought you would play in your life.  Its worth the drive from Hoboken or Amarillo or wherever the blue blazes you are coming from.  Why haven't you signed up yet?  

[TonyLB]

Wow, rawk on!

It's absolutely and in all ways okay for you to use the scenario.  Please do!

[Andrew Cooper]

I hate you Hans.  I hate you very much.


Why do you do this so far away!  Curse you!

[Hans]

Your hate thrills me, Andrew.  I revel in it.

Maybe we should do something similar at GenCon in August?  You and I were the two people that ran Capes, I think (me scheduled, you in G.O.D. mode) in the IGE area.  If anyone is going to set it up, I think it would be you and I.  Let me know through PM if you want to collaborate on it.

[epweissengruber]

Dear Hans,

Thanks for taking the plunge with Capes.  It's a shame that some people don't look to the social contract for cues on how to play, and jump into goofball behaviour once customary limits on choice are lifted.

Everyone in the last session really enjoyed it.


Erik

[Hans]

In case you are wondering what Erik is referring to, let me make the following report:

First, things went generally well.  I think that Invasion of Earth Prime was mostly successful.  People seemed to glom onto the characters fairly quickly and enjoy the general themes.  I admit that I did not feel as much enthusiasm for it as I would have for my own psychadelic Capes scenario, but I don't think this had any significant negative effect on the experience of the other players, as my normal level of enthusiasm for things is like 200% so cranking it down to 150% is still pretty good.  It also is nothing against Tony's work; its more that I learned a bad thing about myself, which is that I am egotistical enough to always prefer my own mediocrity to someone elses genius.  The lesson here is that you, the organizer, have to be totally into the material you are presenting, not so much so that your players will enjoy it, but so that YOU will.    Tony, I will give you some more complete comments on the scenario shortly.

Second, the next time someone asks me "Wait a second, what keeps me from saying anything I want to in this game?" in a Capes demo at a convention, here is the conversation that will ensue:

Player: "Wait a second, what keeps me from saying anything I want in this game?"
Hans: "Ummm, hmmmm, could you tell me how much you paid to be in this session?"
Player: "$3, why?"
Hans: "Great, look, here's $6, please, just leave this table right now and go do something else.  If your mom didn't teach you what keeps you from saying anything you want I won't be able to in the next four hours, and past experience tells me that, because you asked the question, sometime in the next 20 minutes you are going to ruin this for everyone else."
Player: "what the?!"
Hans: "Look, here's another $3, please, just leave."

My friend Piers suggested the following alternative:
Player: "Wait a second, what keeps me from saying anything I want in this game?"
Hans: "This big knife."

In the first 20 minutes of the first session of the day, one of the players, when given his VERY FIRST OPPORTUNITY to say anything in the game (he had asked the question above), said something along the lines of "Wow, OK, the Invasion space ships BOMB 90% of the city to rubble, KILLING MOST OF THE POPULATION".  My first response was to say "ummm, really?  Don't you think it is a bit early for that?"  And then I realized I hadn't gotten into the Comics Code yet (my fault, but I do try to get people actually playing as fast as possible, and try to explain things as we go), and explained that rule to them all.  This, then led to the strange occurrence that 90% of the city was bombed with no slaughter on a mass scale, whatever that means.  This same player left after a couple of hours (from boredom, I got the impression, because he had realized, I think, that just saying you've destroyed 90% of the city without fighting for it is not only dull, but pisses the other players off), and frankly everyone else at the table breathed a sigh of relief.  It sort of killed the rest of the day for me, frankly, to have that happen in the first 30 minutes of the first session. 

Third, I would like to coin a new Capes term, after the wild success of Popcorn Throwing.  This term is the Silly Limit.  The Silly Limit is the greatest amount of seriousness that can occur in a Capes session.  The interesting thing about the Silly Limit is that it can never RISE in a Capes game, it can only be as high as least serious thing that has been said during the course of the game.  The minute someone brings squirrels into the narration, for example, then the game will never be able to rise back above squirrels. The new Silly Limit for that session has been set to "Squirrels allowed".  You can never go back to "Squirrels not allowed".  I think the Silly Limit probably exists in all role-playing games, but it is much more obvious in Capes, for some reason. 

Fourth, never, ever demo the same game for 12 hours straight.  Seriously, don't do it.  I was a complete fool to try to do so.  By the 7 hour mark my enthusiasm was greatly sagging (not to mention my voice sounding like Lauren Bacall's after chain smoking a pack of Benson and Hedges), what with people blowing up entire cities and squirrels and all that.  I was blessed that the last session of the day consisted only of people I knew fairly well and didn't really have to teach the rules to.  Otherwise my value for money ratio for the players in that last session would have been virtually nil.  Andrew, after this experience I have rethought the idea of doing a Capes tournament at GenCon...I just don't think I have the chutzpah for it. 

[Hans]

Oh, and frankly I use the work frankly too bloody often.

[Andrew Cooper]

It's okay Hans, I probably won't get to go to GenCon this year.  I hate you for going without me too.

I think I've seen your Silly Limit in action before.  I hadn't actually tried to come up with at term for the behavior but Silly Limit certainly works.  I wonder if the person who set the Silly Limt leaves the game whether or not the Silly Limit can be reset by the remaining players.

Also, I second Piers' suggestion but then I'm a violent, uncouth bastard.

[TonyLB]

Huh ... Hans, my experiences don't actually bear out your theory of the Silly Limit.  You think that's worthy of a separate thread?

[Bret Gillan]

I think it is. I think I have some things to say about it as well, but could stand to have the Silly Limit a little better-defined.

[Hans]

New thread started.