[MLwM] Swampy Joe gets blamed for everything

[Roger Eberhart]

Despite only two players showing up, we still had fun. If we were playing a canned adventure, which is what I've generally done in the past (for shame), the session would have been called off. Next week, I may have to add more players mid-adventure. I'll probably try to bump off a few connections bearing love. Also, an innocent may need to die to prolong the game (hmmm.... can't even talk about this game without sounding fiendish. Cool). My concern is not that the players have an even chance at killing the master, but that the game lasts longer than a turn or two for the new people. One player is one love point away from being able to trigger endgame.

For the players, getting to create their own antagonist was a new experience. They created a Brain aspected Collector, Baron von Ornot. He's an alchemist who is trying to harness the psychic energy of childrens' brains. He wants to create a giant occult battery, that he will use to power future experiments. He wants to impress other members of the occult community.

Next, our minions. We've got Clio, a cat turned into a woman by the Baron. She has the ability to be invisible, except in reflective surfaces. She turns back into a cat at night unless the Baron gives her a potion at sundown. The other minion is Bleys, a ruthless thug. He is very strong unless in direct sunlight. He suffers great pain in the daytime unless the master gives him a potion in the morning. I really like how the "less thans" tied together for these characters. This wasn't my doing, the players came up with it.

The game moved along very quickly with only two players. We didn't follow any kind of strict formula for scenes. I let the players call for any scene they wanted, taking turns. The players did not abuse the system by calling for overature scenes over and over again.

My biggest problems are breaking out of old habits. I need to "aggressively frame the scenes" as Paul puts it. Here's an example of one of my screwups. The master orders Bleys to steal a Tesla Coil from the university. I frame the scene with him outside the university in the master's cart and roleplay from there. What I should have done was put him in the room with the Tesla coil, an unsuspecting professor in the room with his back turned. Old habits are telling me, go from point A (the castle), to point B (the university), to point C (steal the coil). A and B are boring. Must learn to skip directly to C.

My other problem was figuring out when to roll the dice. When we role play a scene, there is a tendency to play out the scene the way the player wants it to go, roll the dice, then say "okay, that's how it went" or "nope, that didn't happen, this is what did". I think what I should be doing is finding out the players intentions, rolling the dice, then role-playing the scene based on the outcome of the roll. I need to be careful how I phrase questions to the players. Instead of, "what are you doing", I should say, "what are your intentions".

Despite my goofs, it went pretty well. One of the players told me this morning that she was thinking of picking up a copy of the game.

[Valamir]

I like MLwM with fewer players...2 or 3 is just about perfect.  More works, but I think the sheer number of eccentric characters begins to overwhelm and dilute the impact of the dysfunctional relationships.  So I think moving ahead with only 2 players was a good choice.

[Michael S. Miller]

I think what I should be doing is finding out the players intentions, rolling the dice, then role-playing the scene based on the outcome of the roll. I need to be careful how I phrase questions to the players. Instead of, "what are you doing", I should say, "what are your intentions".

Well, kinda. My rule of thumb is to role-play the scene out until the NPC in the scene (either the target of Villainy or the object of an Overture) has to make a decision of some kind, or react. I generally play them hesitant to anything the minion proposes, until the minon goes for the actual "This is what I want you to do." By that point, I can see what bonus die they've earned (if any) and the die roll will tell me how the NPC reacts.

My suggestion for Villainy is that when the minion succeeds at Villainy, don't just have the NPC go along with the player's foul trickery. Have them be swallow the ruse completely. Have them say how much they appreciate the minion coming to them about this, and how much faith they have in the minion. It twists the knife that much further when they lead them into their Master's foul clutches.

>>sigh<< I love this game.

[Cleo]

Hello all, so, I'm the player of Cleo (the cat who needs to drink a potion to stay a woman and can be invisable except in reflections).  So I decided I'd write up what happened from my point of view...

Cleo's more then human is that she can be invisible, except in reflections.
Her less then human is that she is a ginger house cat, unless she drinks a particular potion which keeps her human.  (Currently, the only person who can make this potion is Barron Von Ornot.)

Her starting connections (i.e. - people who she begins the game drawn to) are:
- Gretta (Village "Wise Woman", midwife, and crazy cat lady with whom Cleo lived when she was just a simple ginger cat.)
- Deputy of the Watch (Who on several occasions rescued Cleo from a pack of cruel young boys who would chase her around trying to set her tail on fire.)

Cleo stands before her Master in a faded dress salvaged from the armour of some long forgotten bedroom.  Baron Von Ornot, an alchemist of no small ability but of little or no renown turns from his workbench, lifts his dark goggles, and leaves them perched in his spiky blond hair.

"Ah my dear Cleo, how do you like being human?"

Her long ginger hair falls over her shoulder as she cocks her head at the Baron and blinks at him... Once.

"I need my potion."

"Ah yes, ah yes.  Your potion... Still like to drink from a bowl do you? Here you are.  Now that you've had your potion for the evening, I have a little job for you..."  

Cleo barely pays attention to the ramblings of The Master as she holds the bowl in both hands and alternately attempts lapping and sipping the potion from it.  It actually tastes quite nice... Sort of like... butter... and... grass.

"... And so I would like you to go into town, and bring me back a child."

"What kind of child?"

"Well, that's the thing you see... I'm not sure what kind will provide the maximum amount of psychic energy, so... Just bring me any child and... I'm sure we'll find out what kind I need eventually."  And with that he smiles at her.

Cleo's mind goes back to the day she met The Master.  She was being chased by a pack of young boys, the youngest of which was actually quite spry, though not very strong.  It was he that had managed to catch her by the tail just as the Deputy of the Watch came around the corner.  Though she no longer had a tail she flinched at the memory of those grubby little hands lifting her up by it as the rest of the pack drew nearer with their string, and their foul smelling tar, and the smoky torch.

The Deputy of the Watch barked out at the boys and she was dropped.  Both she and the pack scattered in all directions.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how one looked at it, in her haste to get away from the children, she fled directly in to the waiting bag held open for her by Blays... And not long after... She met The Master.

But yes... The little one... The grubby... little... spry... boy.

"Oh yes," she says, her eyes narrowing and a sly smile spreading across her face, "I know just the child to bring you."

(to be continued)

[Victor Gijsbers]

Dear Cleo - a vengeful minion? Wouldn't it take the bite out of your villainy and violence if your minion doesn't feel bad about it? It would be hard to explain her Self-loathing rising.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Victor, my experience with MLWM is that some minions are played extremely villainously. That doesn't detract from the player accepting the results of Self-Loathing, because they often like to take a "straw breaks the camel's back" approach when and if the rules have the high Self-Loathing rebound on the character.

If such a character ends up defying the Master and prompting Endgame, and/or killing the Master once Endgame begins, the justification is usually on the basis of rivalry or raw ego (Gollum-like), rather than hope.

Also, many such characters end up not repenting, nor ever giving up loyalty to the Master, in which case their retribution at the hands of the townsfolk or by suicide is usually narrated (by the player) in the most gruesome and horrible ways.

In other words, it is perfectly viable to contribute to the ongoing issues of the game, as well as to craft an excellent individualized story for this minion, to play the minion with little or no redeeming or hopeful features. The Love which these characters garner is not contradictory, but how it works in imaginative terms isn't as straightforward as, say, the example character Sebastian in the rulebook.

Best,
Ron

[Cleo]

Also, at this point, Cleo is more cat then woman... I suppose I've worded her less then human badly... It should probably be... "Is a ginger house cat, except when she drinks a potion that gives her human form."

The minion who is vengeful or villainous in their own right, at the beginning opens the way for delicious redemption later.

I don't particularly see her as evil, she's just more Id then Ego or Super Ego right now.

It was actually interesting; considering that I gave myself a starting Self Loathing of 2 and a wariness of 1.  As opposed to the player of Blays, who dumped all three points into Self Loathing right out of the gate...

The majority of my initial overtures failed miserably and my self loathing shot up dramatically while Blays made friends left and right...  So I guess I had it comming... :)

[Roger Eberhart]

We finished the game last night. The Baron ended up dying at the hands of Cleo, although she was aided by two other minions. The player of Bleys couldn't make the game, but we had two new players. Cleo's player suggested we run the same number of rounds with the new minions to get them caught up. She kept a running account of what happened during the orginal game. This worked out really well. I was able to intertwine events from the previous game with what was happening to the new minions. This would have been difficult to impossible without the help of Cleo's player. Having players invested in the setting through shared authorship is a big help to the GM. It's their story, not mine. I'm starting to learn that less control from me is a good thing.

One thing I found interesting is that by keeping scenes short, players have time to mull over their course of action. For instance, the master orders a minion to go kill someone. The players are like, "sure, OK, I'll kill them." Scene change. We get back to the player. "Hmmm, actually I'm not sure I want to kill him now. I'll make an overture to him instead." Scene change. Now the player decides they want to try to resist the masters command. If we'd play the scenes consecutively, they probably would have just killed the NPC with no second thoughts. By breaking up the action, it seems to give them a chance to reconsider. I don't know if this is intentional, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Anyway, MLwM did not disappoint. We had some great moments. My favorite mental image from the game: Napoleon, a crazy guy from the lunatic asylum, on a lazy suzan in the castle pantry. This didn't actually come to pass because Betty, the pissed off scullery maid, chased off George and Napoleon while beating them with a rolling pin. George had to find a different place in the castle to hide Fluffy, which is what George called Napoleon and anything else he thought was cute.

I offered my players a choice between TSoY and DitV for our next game. It's going to be TSoY. The conversation went something like this. I dropped both books on the table. Their reaction to TSoY, "That cover looks like Vampire, yuck." I then explain it's nothing like Vampire and try to explain the concept of pumpkin-fantasy. They spot the goblin on the cover and decide maybe its not Vampire after all. "What's the other game?" I explain the concept of DitV, alternate west, Faithful fleeing persecution in the East, protecting the towns from sin, etc. "What! Mormons." I actually didn't mention Mormons at all, but they clued in all the same. "Um...yeah." "We'll play the pumpkin game". Looks like DitV is going to be a hard sell.

[Cleo]

Okay let's get something clear... The issue is not "Mormons" per sae...

The conversation actually went...

"You're a group of religious settlers who have moved west to avoid persecution."

"... So, Mormons then?"

"... Yeah..."

And he then went on to describe something that sounded a lot like Deadlands.  (Which I loved back when it first came out but I haven't been able to play it since.)  The twist on it being that we would be a group of... How did you put it?  ... Well, I don't want to miss quote, but here's the thinking...  While you can play a "faithful" in Deadlands as well... It's not particularly required... "Dogs..." sounded to me like faith would be a large part of the experience.  And I'm not sure that's what I'm looking for in an RPG right now.

Not that it didn't sound interesting, or that I wouldn't ever want to play "Dogs..."  Or that I don't like Mormons.  But, right now, if I'm going to play in that sort of world, I'd rather play Deadlands.  
(Waits to see what is thrown at her.)

[Judd]

Not that it didn't sound interesting, or that I wouldn't ever want to play "Dogs..."  Or that I don't like Mormons.  But, right now, if I'm going to play in that sort of world, I'd rather play Deadlands.  
(Waits to see what is thrown at her.)

Yer gonna like whatcher gonna like.

I ran Deadlands for over a year and it was fun, if a bit clunky.  I think in not playing Dogs you are missing out.  The game's a hoot and succeeds in many places where I feel Deadlands landed flat.

[Roger Eberhart]

We'll try DitV one of these days. I think everyone will be pleasantly surprised. Faith is just an excuse to drive the story, not an agenda (After all, Vincent is also the author of "Kill Puppies For Satan"). I think the crux of the game is dealing with being put in a position of absolute authority (judge, jury, executioner), even though you are by no means perfect yourself.

What's really cool is how the sytem deals with conflicts. Conflicts can escalate from verbal, to physical, all the way up to gunfighting. If the player gets into a position where he can no longer win through words alone he has to decide whether to take the conflict to the next level and bring more dice into play. It's a brilliant system and I can't wait to give it a whirl.