[Capes!] Future Force

[Gamskee]

This is my third times with Capes! proper and I have finally gotten a group of people to agree to a weekly game on Thursdays, though this week we interjected a session to continue on Saturday, which wouldn't disappoint me if it became habit. While a continuance of the Brawl at the Taffy Factory would be fun, I don't personally see it happening.

Summary of Play

Characters in Scene 1:
Player N- Robo Awesome 3000
Player S(Me)- Oberon
Player E- Bodycount, Grim Vigilante Hunter
Player V- Calibur, Superspeedster and Teen Smoker

Scene 1: Parade, Oberon attacks and tries to kidnap a 'fairy princess'
Goal: Animate Teddy Bear Destroys Crowd (Winner Bodycount)
Goal: Knock Oberon off his High Horse (Winner Oberon)
Goal: Pummel Oberon Back to Avalon (Winner Calibur)
Scene End

Characters in Scene 2:
Player N- The Arms Dealer, Technocriminal
Player S(Me)- Uno Select, Hyper Evolving Hero
Player E- Bodycount, Grim Vigilante Hunter
Player V- Calibur, Superspeedster and Teen Smoker

Scene 2: Arms deal at the local zoo?
Goal: Make the Transaction (Bodycount wins, takes money for self)
Goal: Defeat the Techno-Mooks (Uno-Select Wins)
Goal: Get the #$^% Out of here (Calibur wins, Arms Dealer ends up punched into the stratosphere)

Characters in Scene 3:
Player N- Robo Awesome 3000
Player S(me)- Uno Select & Agent Howell
Player E- Bodycount, Grim Vigilante Hunter
Player V- Calibur, Superspeedster and Teen Smoker

Scene 3: Characters talk about being a team, still at zoo
Goal: Name me team leader (Uno Select wins)
Goal: Convince Heroes to Stop fighting Crime (Body Count wins with a deadly threat)
Goal: Convince Robo Awesome to Be Involved (Calibur wins)
Goal: Soak Agent Howell and Cool him down (Robo Awesome 3000 wins)
Event: The Team Picks a name (Uno Select wins, team named Future Force)
Goal: PR Nightmare (Robo Awesome 3000 wins, turns possible disaster into PR nightmare for the government agents)

The group I'm playing with now is kind of odd as it includes two gamers who haven't really RP'ed and one who is used to playing mainstream RPGs, though he is quickly learning to like gamemasterless games. I have read the most on Capes! strategy and probably have the most RPG experience over all. While I am close friends with one of the players, the two that are new to RPGs know me but are closer to being acquaintances at this point.

The game went pretty well, although it has had a rough time 'running ' at this point, frequently slowing to a crawl. Everybody enjoyed themselves, though one of the newer players got caught up on narration frequently, expressing a difficulty in creativity. Despite reassurances that it didn't have to be fancy (lot of standard super villain fights), he took long periods of time rubbing his chin and staring at his character. He is starting to consider making a different character for his spotlight, but I'm not sure this will help him. Neither of the RPG newbies have changed characters from the beginning scenes, which may lead to difficulties down the road. 

I found the game wrapping up with me having multiple inspirations at 5 & 6, with nine story tokens, while the closest player had inspirations at 2 with four story tokens. I had played antagonistically twice, once in the beginning scene as a villainous Oberon, King of the Fae, and a second time as Agent Howell, anti-metahuman spook. Still, the second antagonist was the one who really made the difference, scoring five of the nine story tokens, by putting out fairly repugnant goals, like "Convince heroes to stop fighting crime", "PR Nightmare", and rolling on a conflict no-one else opposed. The heroes kept using powers as Agent Howell went through his abilities, and ended up needing to dump debt just to stay afloat. I think strategically that playing all abilities can be quite unfair at times, as they are built to lose so well that if you keep throwing out conflicts, you're bound to get story tokens if the heroes want to win and not end up paralyzed with debt.

My first session of Capes! proper, http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16628.0 , was a lot more active, but I think part of that was a few creative individuals shining from time to time, allowing more lackluster characters to comfortably sit in the background until they had something to contribute. Here, when half the table was extremely active, the other extremely passive, it became painfully obvious that activity is a plus.

Everyone said they had a good time when asked. I think that so far everything I have done has worked out for me personally, scoring me a good deal of inspirations and story tokens. I do worry about Player E losing interest, as he has had problems coming up with narrations. It could be he needs a more flexible character or a little extra time to prepare before games. Of course, this may just turn out to be a temporary adjustment phase. Any suggestions?

[Larry L.]

I'm not clear how many players you had at this session. Five?

[Gamskee]

There were four players. Sorry if something I wrote implied five.

[Larry L.]

Hmm. I've noticed that reactions get noticeably slower when you add a fifth. Four should be humming.

Regarding "Player E," keep in mind you can helpfully throw out suggestions. Kibbitzing is a-okay.

It sounds like everyone has the gist of the game. (Love the character names. ) Capes is designed to reward players whole actively participate, and actively ignores players who just want to come along for the ride.

Do you think the other players are understanding the strategy aspect of the game? If they're still fuzzy on how the reward mechanic works, it will be hard for them to get excited about participation.

[Gamskee]

Well, I've been told many times that it is easiest to jump into the game and let the action speak for itself. However, I may have done an insufficient job of explaining how the game works as we go. Player N had played in a previous session of Capes! and I had fully explained the rules to him, while Players E & V basically jumped into it. While the mechanics seem to be understood, the strategy is likely still weak. I think I will do my best to give a quick strategic primer to the people at the table before we start the next session. We'll see if this change the flow of the game.

[Larry L.]

It... takes some playing to see the big picture of the system. I found the strategy tips in the book useful for explaining this, so maybe you should loan the book around to those cheap "friends" who don't have their own copy.