Black Fire / Black Blood

[epweissengruber]

Ron made some short remarks on http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?p=3085&highlight=gambling#3085gambling.

It's nice to see this integrated into the play mechanics.  Perhaps when some gamers put down Narrativist play, they do so out of an unfounded fear that one of the great pleasures of gaming -- alea, gambling on chance -- will drop out.  Black Blood/Fire puts that pleasure in the forefront.

Would it be ok to try it out with my ESL class?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi EP,

Sure. Of course, I don't have any idea what you're talking about regarding the ESL class, but, sure.

Best,
Ron

[epweissengruber]

I didn't know how you felt about people kicking around your ideas w.o. your permission, so I just wanted to ask first.

ESL connection is simple.  I have a bunch of undermotivated post-adolescent males who would rather play Counterstrike until 3 am than study.  So I need a couple of hours of activity that requires them to speak and read.  I am latching onto a Gamist game because it will play on their competitive instincts.   The storymap will require them to do spontaneous writing, they will have to improvise dialogue, and when they are finished they will have to write the saga of their character.

If it works out, then I will continue on to a narrativist game -- HeroQuest probably w. setting generation shared among the participants.  The narrativism will have a gamist component.  Frex, the more sentences about your hero that you can generate in 5 minutes, the more abilities he/she/it will have.

So that's what I meant by the ESL connection.  The gamism of the game feeds back into game activities intended to improve language skills.

[Ron Edwards]

Wow! I'm honored. I would very much like to see a detailed breakdown about how this project goes.

Best,
Ron

[epweissengruber]

Pre-Game Strategic choices could involve weapons with distinct advantages.  Frex:

Holy Ungent: 1 bonus sword when fighting fiends
Sword: 1 bonus sword when fighting Undead (cuttin' headz)
Spear: One bonus sword when fighting Beasts
etc.

I had two questions:

When does "playing in" end?  After everyone has reached their Goal.  Must a character get to the crisis point in a storymap before other characters get a chance to play?

That's it really.

Oh yeah, in game resources.
So I meet my goal of "gain loyalty of Fleetwood Bandits"
What happens next?
Are they a "monster" or "character" that I can send around to do my bidding.  
If I am in the same scene with my ally how is combat resolved?  Does each participant in a combat get a chance to initiate an attack?  Who goes first?

That's after going throught the rules last night.  Hope my questions aren't too incoherent.

[Ron Edwards]

Whoops, missed these.

When does "playing in" end? After everyone has reached their Goal. Must a character get to the crisis point in a storymap before other characters get a chance to play?

I think a "pass" option is just fine too, and perhaps even a GM-derived "OK, you're fumbling, next guy" judgment.

So I meet my goal of "gain loyalty of Fleetwood Bandits"
What happens next?
Are they a "monster" or "character" that I can send around to do my bidding.

I was hoping to formalize these sorts of benefits after further playtesting, but I do want them to mean a whole lot in the Playing In phase. A character with money, food, a place to live, and friends should be way better off, in terms of options, than a character without. I don't want it to be a big dice-bonus thing so much as a "what I can announce as an action" thing.

If I am in the same scene with my ally how is combat resolved? Does each participant in a combat get a chance to initiate an attack? Who goes first?

At the moment, I'm thinking that having non-player-character allies (the aforementioned bandits) allows a greater scale of announced actions: "storm the castle" as opposed to "kill the guard." I'm not sure about it yet; again, this is more or less where I stop and say, "Play to see where the rough spots are; resolve rough spots through enthusiastic tweaking; transform tweaks into rules."

Best,
Ron[/quote]

[epweissengruber]

I had to simplify the resolution system to make it compatible with the language level of my students.

However, the playing up/playing in distinction, competition for scarce resources, storymapping, monsters attacting story map, have all been kept.

I will tell you how it goes.