Riddle of Steel Actual Play: Week 3

[Lance D. Allen]

I'll begin by saying that this was a much more enjoyable session than the last. We rounded out at 4 players this time, rather than 2 (Gailen's player was here, and we added another) though it seemed more like 3.

The new guy: Bjorn (I think that's his name.. I'm horrible with names, so forgive me). Stahlnish freeman, of a disgraced noble line. With the assistance of a noble uncle, he is trying to regain his familial glory and attain knighthood. Through patronage from his uncle, he is a tourney combatant, and a good one... but due to recent events, the tourneys have ceased.. Perhaps it is now time to act for real.

Highlights:

The meet-up: Gailen had managed to get into Eisenberg and was looking for his erstwhile companions. Bjorn was waiting in the same tavern dropping eaves for anything relating to court or the mobilizations of the Stahlnish military. In walks Gailen, the Angharad barbarian (sans greatsword and armor, of course). It winds up with Gailen, Roland and Bjorn sitting and discussing.. very good interaction, and some minor story-building from the players in this scene.

Gratuitous combat scene: Attacked by brigands at dusk a day's ride from the Angharad border. 3 brigands (two hatchetmen in ambush and an archer in overwatch) attack. However, they'd already been outflanked by Roland whose hound had led him to believe there were deer, which had him sneaking right past the ambushers. (odd rolls.. but fun) Gailen is aware of the ambush an instant before it happens, and so is able to act as normal, but Bjorn is forced to roll surprise, and fails, unable to even defend.. it looks bad for him. Gailen chops into his opponent's arm and shoulder (a rule question/suggestion will be posted in the TRoS boards concerning this) while the ambusher attacking Bjorn chops futilely at his leg, until Bjorn kicks him full in the forehead, cracking his skull and breaking his neck.. Instantly fatal. Meanwhile, Roland is shooting down the archer in overwatch, and pinning him to a tree. All of about 3 minutes of play-time, and 2-3 seconds of in-game time. The lethality of the system was amply shown in this brief and brutal battle.

Problems:

If you guessed I'd be bringing up Bridget, you're right. The player seems to be stuck in hard "My Guy" mode. Bridget spent her time looking for someone interested in her stallion for stud, and discussing horses at the stockyard. Perfectly reasonable activity for the character, but not considerably conducive to the adventure and intrigue storyline the others are getting into. The players of Gailen and Roland both state plainly that this is simply the way the player is.. he always makes interesting and deep characters which end up spending a lot of time not interacting with the party.

I will add as a qualifier that this session was a particularly bad one for the player due to lack of sleep which had him going to bed about 2/3rds of the way through the session.

Good points: More usage of the mechanics.. More skill rolls, and finally some combat. Considerably more interaction with the PCs and NPCs. PCs took hold of the story and made it their own, as well. (Rather than sticking around Eisenberg and attempting the assassination as expected, they took off to the Angharad border to confirm or deny rumors.. Lovely)

Points to work on: I need to concentrate considerably more on their SAs. I'm still not passing out enough SA points during the game. Also, they are not *using* those SA points. I need to write down the pertinent information and refer to it often during game. Likewise, I am not remembering to hand out points *during* play, and have been doing so at the end of every session instead.

Again, a much better session. I think things are going to get more interesting as the 3 proactive players take a firmer hold on the SL, and I begin to react to them, rather than they reacting to me.

[Zak Arntson]

Just a small note on player participation:

If you have a tired player, give them a chance to nap before the game starts. We have solved this problem by playing an hour of Munchkin while a player napped, then waking him for the actual game. We were prepared to play without him, but the nap refreshed him. Much more satisfying then having the Player fade out during play.

Of course, this should be an exception to the norm (in our case, the Player was going through final exam week, and he let us know beforehand, so we were prepared to give him some downtime or not even include him). If you have a chronically tired player, pick a better time or don't game with them.

[Jaif]

If you guessed I'd be bringing up Bridget, you're right. The player seems to be stuck in hard "My Guy" mode. Bridget spent her time looking for someone interested in her stallion for stud, and discussing horses at the stockyard. Perfectly reasonable activity for the character, but not considerably conducive to the adventure and intrigue storyline the others are getting into.

I'm going to repeat myself from the other thread: a passion for horses is against the rules (not a person or entity).  The reason, I suspect, the rules used that phrase is what you're seeing now; while horses are a wonderful, reasonable passion in the real world, they really don't make for good storytelling.  You want the other side of the passion to be active for there to be a story.

-Jeff

[Valamir]

I agree Jaif.  I'd suggest, steering the character of Bridget into her own story, shifting her over to NPC and have the player introduce a new character with more useable SAs.

Bridget can always come back periodically as a reoccuring character (even as a villain in some form).

[Mokkurkalfe]

You want the other side of the passion to be active for there to be a story.

-Jeff

Now THAT was a damn good explanation! Now I know what to say to my players.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Lance,

You've probably seen the thread about playing TROS and other games at Origins. One of the distinctive features of our game there was developing SA's that shared NPCs - e.g. the desire to marry a woman (Passion) and the desire for a sister to marry well (Drive), which came into savage conflict eventually. Quick note: we did not pre-plan to have these SA's come into conflict; it could have gone any number of ways but happened to end up in combat in this instance.

The other distinctive feature was using a technique that has evolved across several games over the last couple of years. It's partly based on my relationship-map concept in The Sorcerer's Soul, and it's partly based on the pre-existing connections among characters in Soap. It's currently best expressed in the so-far publicly-unavailable manuscript for Alyria. If I'm recalling correctly, Ralph, a veteran of playing Alyria, suggested we use this technique for our Origins TROS game.

Basically, in this technique, we all discuss a generalized situation or conflict in which all our characters are embedded in some way. In its most extreme form, we even come up with a bunch of characters before deciding which ones are player-characters, or whose.

Combining the technique with inventing the SAs in a group discussion had a very specific, focused effect on TROS play - it was like coming into a rip-roaring action-drama sword-waving soap opera about a quarter of the way through. It ensured an astounding amount of commitment to all scenes and play from all the players, even (or especially) when their characters weren't present.

If it sounds interesting or worthwhile, you might consider adapting these techniques as your play continues.

Best,
Ron

[Valamir]

It's currently best expressed in the so-far publicly-unavailable manuscript for Alyria. If I'm recalling correctly, Ralph, a veteran of playing Alyria, suggested we use this technique for our Origins TROS game.

Heh, well I guess outside of the Ben-Ezra clan I'm an Alyria veteran.  We just did a map for a new game Saturday night.

But actually Jake mentioned to me that he wanted to try group SA creation with our group after the Inspectres game.  It was his idea.  IIRC he indicated that that was / has been his preferred means of setting up a game for some time (although I suspect we ran with the ball on our own a good bit farther than usual).

[Clay]

This technique sounds exactly like what we used to do before creating a story sequence for our web site. It was incredibly effective at generating stories that not only we gave a rat's posterior about, but all 100 of our readers (what can I say; we didn't have an advertising budget, so we were thrilled with what little we got).