[PTA] The Owl and the Serpent

[Judd]

I am fairly damned sick of only setting up or setting up and playing only one session of Primetime Adventures but it happened again.  Friends were in town and it was just the go-to game.

We sat down and I asked what network they wanted to put their show on, working on that first, then hitting the concept they clamoured for HBO and off we went.  An earlier conversation of how George R.R. Martin's books, A Song of Ice and Fire would never be brought to the screen successfully brought out a Martin-inspired gritty fantasy show.

Brainstorming Notes:

HBO - Serpent's Kiss

Gritty - Fantasy

Magic - wizards but with repercussions
Knights & Lords

No D&D Magic, magic with consequences and rare, a myth among the common-folk
Usurped King
Son and rightful heir on the run.
the Usurper - gained the throne through betrayal and black magic
wizard - Xerxes
Usurpers vs. Loyalists
Usurpers = Snakes, anti-intellectual vibe
Loyalists = Owls, sigil on Ululua family banner
Usurpers gained throne through a military coup and have taken up a snake cult as their religion.

Possible PC's:
Heir
Young sibling - female - to be married for power?
master-at-arms
court jester/bard
scholar/sage

Kingdom's name = Arden
Family name = Ulula (latin for Owl)

The idea for the game being a gritty fantasy came from Tom and once he got an okay from the table, the concept of an heir-on-the-run was put forth by him soon after, leading me to nominating him to be the heir and have the first episode be his spotlight episode.  He was pretty loaded up on anti-hystemines but he took the role and did a fine job at it.

We had a concept, NPC's and the beginnings of what would have been an extensive family tree of the Ulula family had the game had more sessions played.  I'm fairly pessimistic that we will ever get those gamers together again, which bums me out.

Thoughts:

• I started off describing scenes with camera-work and such and I think I got some strong results from it but I abandoned it after a while.  I should have stuck to that.


• The Fan Mail flew in starts and stops.  There were ten minute gaps where people just weren't thinking about it or just didn't throw it around despite some strong contributions.  I wonder if putting the fan mail chips in a gaudy bowl would be better, rather than loose chips getting lost amidst the soda bottles and salsa and hummus.  I have a golden leaf ashtray that I used for dice in TRoS that might just do the trick.


• Y'know, if I had an extra day, I might've done this game with Burning Wheel but I just did not have the time to spend an entire session burning up characters.  I found myself at game's end wondering what they would have looked like with lifepaths and almost wishing that we'd had time for that.


• We played the first session and it was good but if Tom hadn't been feeling shitty from allergies we could've played a second session and that would have rocked.  I think the second game would have given us our stride.  So, I feel the biggest problem was that we didn't have time to play again, not so shabby.


• Having Paula, Rob and Janaki at the table to kind of model how stakes-setting worked really helped.  Tom and JP were setting stakes like champs in no time.  I believe JP even got some hard-core fan mail from suggestion fantastic stakes a number of times.


• I am really fascinated with how quickly the fantasy world came together.  Once we knew it had a Martin vibe, every started basing their PC's with characters from the books, except for Rob, who based his PC on the doctor from Battlestar Galactica.


• I would have been curious to see how quickly those characters inspired from the books deviated from their source material and became something on their own.  I think that is what was most frustrating is we didn't have time to do that.


• I'd really like to see us play this game again and see where it leads but until then, I'll put the notes and the character sheets in a manilla envelope next to BBC Presents Kronos Commandoes and Bounty...Hunters.

Next Post:

Characters and Sample Conflicts (should've written down some stakes while we played, dammit, maybe the other players will remember)

[Judd]

The other really important and vital thing that I didn't do is link every single scene in some way to Tom's PC's issue of being reticent to wear the crown and take command.  I felt I could have driven that harder and I didn't, leaving Tom to drift in an Allergy-Medicine-Induced haze, rather than being in the thick of it.

I felt I went weak on his spotlight episode, didn't push the issue quite enough.

[Robert Bohl]

The next episode would have been Jacks's (formerly Jacks Lockwood) spotlight episode, and I am eager to play my sage again.  He was 35, in training for a quarter of a century, and still among the Sages considered to be a journeyman (he'd only written one book--Principia Metalla (I'm aware of the real book, De Principia Metallica)--and as a result of having been locked in solitary and having seen his master, Graeme, tortured to death, either made a connection to the spirit world or went crazy.  Pan (who only he could see) provided a running commentary on his life.  He was more than a little bit of a coward, but also quite competent if people could get over that.

It was a lot of fun TOTALLY ripping off Gaius Baltar (2.0), and I hope I get to play him again.

[Spiral Jacobs]

This is Paula, who played Shalysandra Ulula, aka Sandy, the heir's annoying little sister.  This game was such a tease!  It easily could have gone on twice as long and I would have wanted more.  I'm a big Song of Ice and Fire fan, and this game really hit the spot.

I do think fan mail could have gone more smoothly.  Seems like people were either giving someone 2-3 chips for one thing and then totally failing to acknowledge other things that were just as important.  I think this mechanic could work better if we played longer, or maybe the Producer could have pointed out other occasions for handing out chips.

I hope we don't have to wait 6 months to play again, but it might be that long.  Sad.  I look forward to it whenever it is.

[Judd]

.I do think fan mail could have gone more smoothly.  Seems like people were either giving someone 2-3 chips for one thing and then totally failing to acknowledge other things that were just as important.

I wonder if it would have gone more smoothly if the table had been laid out differently.  I think the fanmail was tough to reach for some people and this hampered its distrubtion.  I'll have to note to put it somewhere easily reached in the future.

I will get off my ass and put the characters on this thread this weekend.

[Judd]

Rob's Character:

Jacks (Lockwood)
Issue: I'm not ready.

Traits: Edges: Sage & World Traveller
Connections: Pan (no one else can see this little forest spirit)

Paula's character:

Shalysandra (Sandy) Ulula
Issue: Be recognized for my worth, not just as a girl

Traits: Edge: Nimble Duellist and Wannabe Knight
Connections Aunt Lynaria Hartsuker (Lyn)

Tom's character:

Alarick Ulula (King's Heir)
Issue: Doesn't want to be king.

Traits:Edges: Courtly skills and Skilled hunter
Connection: Foster Brother - loyalist? Piter Bruin (bear crest)

Janaki's character:

Brohm Stone
Issue: Loyalty - betrayed the military because didn't want to see heir die.

Traits: Edges: Battle-hardened soldier
Connections: Squire Pug and ex-military buddy

J.P.'s character:

Horatio Tryffin
Issue: ???Where is it???It wasn't on the sheet...

Traits: Edge: Bard and Druid
Connection: Underworld Figure - Targo, the slaver, merchant, caravan/ship owner

[Judd]

J.P.'s character:

Horatio Tryffin
Issue: ???Where is it???It wasn't on the sheet...

Found it.

Issue: Revenge...left purposefully vague to be fleshed out later...

[Judd]

Rob's Character:

Jacks (Lockwood)
Issue: I'm not ready.

Traits: Edges: Sage & World Traveller
Connections: Pan (no one else can see this little forest spirit)

[/color]

Rob had a nice opening scene in the court of the usurper and his wizard.  It was the last of the intro scenes and it really made me wish we had time to play through Rob's spotlight character too.  Since watching Battlestar Galactaca and seeing the inter-playing between the Doctor and the Cylon Hottie that Rob roughly based Jacks & Pan on, I want to play even more.

Paula's character:

Shalysandra (Sandy) Ulula
Issue: Be recognized for my worth, not just as a girl

Traits: Edge: Nimble Duellist and Wannabe Knight
Connections Aunt Lynaria Hartsuker (Lyn)

[/color]

Paula is a middle school teacher and she has always liked playing 12 year olds and digs playing characters with a chip on their shoulder.  So, a 12 year old with a chip on her shoulder was right up her alley.

In the very first conflict she played the Little Sister role well and stretched her brother out thin as the castle burned down.  In a flashback, she confronted the Usurper himself but got away as the Snakes came down the walls.  Exciting stuff.

J.P.'s character:

Horatio Tryffin
Issue: ???Where is it???It wasn't on the sheet...

Traits: Edge: Bard and Druid
Connection: Underworld Figure - Targo, the slaver, merchant, caravan/ship owner

[/color]

I liked how JP took care to describe his character's druidic ability to change into a raven so that it was never seen on the show, only implied.  It was interesting to me how JP takes a great care putting words into his character's mouth but when it is time to suggest things for other people's scenes he is fast on the draw and a juggernaut.  JP got fan mail left and right for helping others set fantastic stakes.

I wonder how his experience as an avid Amber GM played into this ability.  Interesting.

JP's opening conflict had to do with him getting out of a burning tower with or without his king's signet ring.  He failed and it stayed on his lord's finger, as the tower fell and the druid turned into a raven and flew.

Tom's character:

Alarick Ulula (King's Heir)
Issue: Doesn't want to be king.

Traits:Edges: Courtly skills and Skilled hunter
Connection: Foster Brother - loyalist? Piter Bruin (bear crest)

[/color]

Tom was the heir and it was his spotlight episode and the game was built on the cornerstone that he set.  Then allergies kicked in and he got a little groggy.  Rough.

Even groggy, Tom did great.  His opening speech to the peasants in the village near the castle was a neat way to explore his issue and he managed to inspire them, leading them to grab his father's ring lost in JP's character's opening scene.

Janaki's character:

Brohm Stone
Issue: Loyalty - betrayed the military because didn't want to see heir die.

Traits: Edges: Battle-hardened soldier
Connections: Squire Pug and ex-military buddy

Janaki likes these strong able-bodied tough guys and I would like to see where Brohm is going and see his relationship with Paula's little girl evolve from disdain into something else.

The main conflict of the opening scenes was how they got out of the castle.  Mind you, it was not *if* they got out.  If the players fail to get out, there is no show, but the conflict often became about what they had to leave behind in order to get out in one piece.

If we don't get to play this game again, it is going to irk me.