[Falling Leaves] First Playtest

[TheTris]

Played my first game of Falling Leaves last night.  We used the rules mostly as written here http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=18015.0.

The most important change made was starting with a sentence written in the circle.  That turned out to be huge, I believe without it the game would have failed to spark properly.  It gave us a handle on what these guys stories were about at first, and gave us something to play with.

The other change was to have a piece of paper to keep track of various plots.  This isn't strictly necessary, I think, but I'll play a few more times before I decide.  It could be useful to force a gap between the main scenes where players can run over the plots developing as they write them down, but it could just get in the way.  Hmm..

Without further ado:

A Tale of Two Samurai.  Tokiharo (my friend Rob), and Hikusu Noregi (me).

Character generation was easy - a big circle, a name, and one thing in the circle.  Hikuso Noregi had "I regret that I never knew my father".  Tokiharo had "I desire the Lady Michiko".

First thing that came up was a rules glitch - I had to explain that the breaths set cold hard consequences.  After reading the rules my friend believed this was more a debate, each trying to persuade the other about a course of action being okay.  Actually throughout the game I found myself occassionally stopping and thinking "I'm getting into GM mode".  The temptation is to set potential for consequences, I think the game works best when the echoes of a characters decisions are laid out naked in front of them.  Not "The strange man will be unseen as he sneaks into the chambers of your Daimyo's wife" but instead "the strange man will slip inside, 9 months later the Daimyo will proudly greet his new heir"

After explaining this, the scenes went by fairly smoothly.

1)  Tokiharo watched from his post as bandits rode down and captured a coach with the Lady Michiko's mon on the side, his duty keeping him from riding to the rescue.

2) Hikusu Noregi was carrying an urgent peace proposal to another town, he had no time to stop and help as he rode through the town of his birth, instead sobbing as he rode, hearing a library burn behind him, his cousin trapped inside.  His cousin could tell him so much about his father.  The message cemented an alliance between two local Daimyos.

3) Tokiharo was ordered to oversee the town being rebuilt, but a setback caused by a burnt man meant he either had to work alongside the peasants, or fail in his duty to complete the rebuilding in time to celebrate the new alliance between Daimyos.  He stripped off his kimono, and toiled in the mud, although lady Kachiko saw him and became disgusted with him, and other samurai would no longer acknowledge him.  The alliance became stronger in the celebrations.

4) Hikusu Noregi was with his lord's entourage as they travelled to celebrate the peace treaty.  He had been told to avoid scandal, but at a Sake house saw Tokiharo and his cousin sitting drinking sake.  Hikusu surrendered his duty to speak to his cousin about his father, and his cousin showed him where his father had hidden his katana, until his son was worthy of it.  Noregi gained the phrase "I desire to use my father's sword to avenge his death".  Seeing one of their own drinking with the disgraced Tokiharo began to drive a wedge between one lord's men and the other, even though the alliance was strong.

5) Tokiharo, on guard outside his lord's sleeping chambers, was informed by a cloaked figure that a group of evil sorcerors in the woods planned to sacrifice Lady Michiko's daughter at midnight.  After one stake was set at "If Tokiharo goes to the rescue, the man will slip into the Daimyo's quarters, and murder him" the next breath came back "If Tokiharo stays, he will spot a knife in the mans hand as he turns away, and cut him down, regaining the other samurai's respect."  If he didn't go, however, the beasts summoned in the ritual would begin to terrorise the countryside, taking peasants at will.  I actually gasped when Rob decided that Tokiharo would stay.  This was the point where I think for me things shifted up a gear, and from here on I thought it was pretty awesome.

6) Noregi was under attack by the beasts, when he was thrown a message by his daimyo - "ride on with this to the emperor, tell him we are at peace" If Noregi doesn't go, the emperor, tired of these feuding lords, will have declared their provinces no longer part of the empire.  Noregi's lord will live even if he does go, but will end up blind.  If he goes Noregi will be asked to serve the emperor.  Noregi rides off, never to see most of his comrades again.

7) Tokiharo is in the emperor's court, having been ordered to ensure that while he is there he remains quiet on the subject of the troubles in his home province, as a Gaijin ambassador is visiting, and all must seem well.  He is asked by a new servant of the emperor, name of Hikusu Noregi, who is to blame for the beasts roaming the land.  If he doesn't confess, his silence will be taken to place the blame on his Lord.  If he does confess, Lady Michiko will hear that he failed to save her daughter, and swear to see his death in combat.  If he keeps quiet then a grateful Daimyo will offer him the marriage of his choice.

One slightly weak thing here - With a confession, the blind Daimyo will be forced to retire.  This didn't matter to Tokiharo, and wasn't relevant to the conflict at hand really.  I need to make it clear that consequences need to matter to the character who's scene it is, rather than being threats against what other player's characters care about.

Tokiharo admitted he was the cause of the demons, and wrote "I fear I will harm lady Michiko if she attacks me"

8) Noregi finds the ambassador is his fathers killer, though his duty is to look after him as an honoured guest.  The consequences are so cool - "If I kill him, my father's spirit will look through my eyes and he will recognise it in his dieing moments"  "If you kill him, you will be demoted immediately from your new Daimyo-ship (we realised just before this that we hadn't sadi who replaced the blind Daimyo yet...)"  "If I kill him, he will no longer be able to carry out his planned betrayal of the emperor"  "If you kill him you will be sent to Gaijin lands to apologise, and return cursed to betray your master"

Noregi plunged the sword home, adding "I fear I will become ruled by hatred" to his sheet (incidentally the only die roll in the entire game.)

9) Tokiharo was brought before the Lady Michiko, now married to his Daimyo.  She has his brother brought in front of him, and orders him to kill his brother.  One of Rob's consequences was "Everything that can not be solved in one cut can be solved with three", but in the next breath he faced "and you will not meet Noregi on his return from Gaijin lands, and the last chance to save the empire will be gone.

Tokiharo drew his sword, whispered "forgive me" and plunged it home.

Into his own stomach.

Sealing the fate of an empire.

His final breath was "After he fulfils his curse, Noregi escapes, and wanders far and wide, the last remaining survivor of the empire."

Curtain falls.

We wrapped up here.  Seemed like a good end point :-D

I was psyched.  Couldn't get to sleep afterwards.  That entire story came in about two hours of play, with no preparation at all.  It was completely driven by the events we set up as consequences in conflicts.  The first couple of conflicts were getting up to speed, and we both definitely set consequences too weakly on occasion, but after a certain point I was wrapped up in each decision.  And a lot of that was driven by the initial writing in the circle - never go back to blank circles!  And there can be no mechanic for wiping out Fear/Desire/Regret.  They form such a strong part of each character, you can't delete one without spoiling the character.

A few questions were raised though, I think.  We went very epic.  I think the game will tend to go epic - and it will take a lot of skill to keep it un-epic at the moment.  It's much easier to pose a threat to the lord, the empire, etc as a strong reason to go against duty than to find really beautiful and sad little personal reasons.  It would be amazing if I could encourage players to find those reasons somehow...

I still don't know how much endgame should be formalised.  Our story ended really neatly, but I'm not sure that's guarenteed - it felt like we could have gone on longer, if our consequence setting didn't escalate as much.  Some force drawing characters towards endgame might be needed, but I'm not sure.

I hope Rob will find his way here, and post a less rose-tinted view of the game...

Tris

[TheTris]

Ah!  And one important thing:  How much authority does one player have over another player's character?  In Tokiharo's final breath, Rob stated that Noragi wandered the lands as the last survivor of the empire he helped destroy.  That was immensely cool, and wrapped the story up well.  But what if I had a problem with that?  I'm now confused as to how much one player should be allowed to affect another character in this way.

I think the character's player has final veto, unless a really elegant proposal is forthcoming?

[doogs19]

Thanks for the write up!

I see what you're saying about control over other players' characters. Obviously, in a perfect world where the players trust each other's views and input, this won't be an issue. Then again, how many of us have been in "perfect" groups like this?

This sounds like an issue that was resolved in Prime Time Adventures by the use of fan mail/dice rolling/conflict resolution when a difference of story lines arise between players. Using something along that line, instead of fan mail, per se, the other players could pledge a dice (maybe call it their bushido die or something like that) to the idea they like best? After the other players have pledged their bushido dice, you roll 'em up and high roll wins.

There is one question: do you want to "tilt" the die roll to favor to the player of the character? If so, maybe the player's character starts with one extra dice for a total of two (one for his own bushido and one for the PC  favoritism)? Not sure if I like this or not, but it's an option that popped into my head.

Thanks again - looks like this is a good time waiting to happen!

[joepub]

3) Tokiharo was ordered to oversee the town being rebuilt, but a setback caused by a burnt man meant he either had to work alongside the peasants, or fail in his duty to complete the rebuilding in time to celebrate the new alliance between Daimyos.  He stripped off his kimono, and toiled in the mud, although lady Kachiko saw him and became disgusted with him, and other samurai would no longer acknowledge him.  The alliance became stronger in the celebrations

I think this is my favourite scene, all in all.

We went very epic.  I think the game will tend to go epic - and it will take a lot of skill to keep it un-epic at the moment.  It's much easier to pose a threat to the lord, the empire, etc as a strong reason to go against duty than to find really beautiful and sad little personal reasons.  It would be amazing if I could encourage players to find those reasons somehow...

Reading your report, it really seems like you actually did both. The threat is posed on an epic level, but the reasoning for their actions is very, very personal. Because duty/reaction are both equally weighted, it comes down to what really matters to the character.

I could be wrong though. I know that's not exactly what you mean, but I think you already are accomplishing the personal level.

And one important thing:  How much authority does one player have over another player's character?  In Tokiharo's final breath, Rob stated that Noragi wandered the lands as the last survivor of the empire he helped destroy.  That was immensely cool, and wrapped the story up well.  But what if I had a problem with that?  I'm now confused as to how much one player should be allowed to affect another character in this way.

I think the character's player has final veto, unless a really elegant proposal is forthcoming?

This specific case seems fine, of course... but maybe there are other ways to word it?
"Tokiharo slumps, in full belief that after he fulfils his curse, Noregi will escape and wander the land, the last remaining survivor of the empire."

Something like that? If your statements involving other characters are assumptions, perceptions and projections - rather than facts and absolute truths, then you avoid this conflict while still allowing players to dabble in each others affairs.

This sounds like an issue that was resolved in Prime Time Adventures by the use of fan mail/dice rolling/conflict resolution when a difference of story lines arise between players. Using something along that line, instead of fan mail, per se, the other players could pledge a dice (maybe call it their bushido die or something like that) to the idea they like best? After the other players have pledged their bushido dice, you roll 'em up and high roll wins.

There is one question: do you want to "tilt" the die roll to favor to the player of the character? If so, maybe the player's character starts with one extra dice for a total of two (one for his own bushido and one for the PC  favoritism)? Not sure if I like this or not, but it's an option that popped into my head.

If memory serves from the Indie Design thread, it's actually beneficial to have less dice.
Dice represent the potential for failure, because of a clouded mind.

Which is why the less you betray your duty, the less you have in the circle (mind), the less dice you roll.

I believe. Technically you could still do a "fan mail" type thing - when you want to see a character succeed, take a die away from that action - and you must use it for your own next test. But I'm not saying I like that idea (I don't.) Just thinking out loud.

[Ben Lehman]

I just wanted to say I'm really enjoying following the development of this game.  If you get me a typed up, formalized rules document by this weekend, I'll try to get a playtest of it together soon.

yrs--
--Ben

[Justin A Hamilton]

I just wanted to say I'm really enjoying following the development of this game.  If you get me a typed up, formalized rules document by this weekend, I'll try to get a playtest of it together soon.

I agree with this.  I have talked to some members of my group about this and they think it sounds like a really cool idea.  If you throw up an easy-to-read text document that outlines all of the changes and decisions you have made to the game, I promise you that I will playtest the game with at least two other people in the next week or so.

[TheTris]

Doogs19:

It seems like less of an issue about the samurai being able to help each other - they aren't.  They stand alone at the moment of decision, and shoulder the consequences of that decision without support.  To me it seemed to be a issue about whether I could narrate, with my dieing breath, that your character wanders the world forever, or is slain in a great war, or settles down happily, or whatever.  In this case it was okay, because it was the last action of the game, and I was really happy with the end it provided for my character, but it made me think about what would happen if someone tried to do it in the middle of a game, with an outcome I wasn't happy with.  There is already a large amount of authority over the colour that other player's characters experience, as each character appears in scenes set by the other players.  At the moment I make a decision for every consequence that hits my character or what he cares about.  Allowing people to narrate other character's into consequences means I don't make that decision, which is what I'm not sure about.

Joepub:

I'm interested in why that scene particularly appealed to you.

Thankyou for the comments about the consequences being personal - you are right, pretty much everything at stake was of great importance to my character, some of the decisions were heart wrenching.  I guess I phrased this badly.  What I was exploring was the idea of having a way to restrain the consequences to things that are entirely on a personal level, rather than getting quite so epic.  I have since realised that I want this as an option, which may mean that it's best agreed between players beforehand, rather than being placed into the concrete rules.  "Let's play a story about two samurai defending a village" neatly sets boundaries for consequences.  If players want a non-epic story, they can just agree beforehand, I think.

Ben & Justin:

Done.  I was like a kid at christmas when I discovered someone wanted to playtest this :-D  I'll Email it/PM it to you right now!

Cheers
Tris

[joepub]

Hey - I want a playtest copy too!