Psychadelic Capes at GenCon

[Hans]

The most gratifying moment in my GM'ing career?  Two women showing up for my very first time ever running a session at GenCon in COSTUME as flower children.  Oh my goodness, I loved that. 

Other than that, not much to report that hasn't been said before about Capes, running Capes at conventions, etc.  All the players (except one, see below) seemed to enjoy it immensely, and I know it generated at least one sale for Tony.  A few quick points:

* Even for a four hour session, unless you say "Experience Required", I recommend pregen characters that have a common theme and some exemplar relationships.  Even if people don't USE the exemplar relationships, it really helps to get people in the spirit early on, and for some reason helps them learn the rules faster as well.  I will post the characters on RandomWiki soon, for anyone's commentary.  They seemed to work very well.

* Six people is just too darn many; it can be done, and people have fun, but one or two fewer would have been better.

* One person simply had never learned ANYTHING in kindergarten, obviously.  He could not stop complaining about pretty much every aspect of what was going on, from the rules to the pacing, to, well, everything.  I was perilously close to pulling out $3, throwing it in his face, and saying "Look, mate, here's your money back, clear off, will you, and let the rest of us enjoy ourselves?"  Instead, after the first scene, I said something like the following to the whole group; "wow, that was great, you people are incredible.  Look, I understand Capes may not really be for everyone, and it may not be your cup of tea.  I'm here for another two hours, and I'm more than happy to help you all through another scene, but I understand if people don't want to continue.  So, who here wants to keep going?"  Funny thing, the guy ALMOST staying IN!  I think he must have noticed the momentary look of panic and despair on my face, because he did clear off, and the rest of us enjoyed the 2nd scene even more than the first in his absence.

* The whole question of narrative freedom and its possible consquences in terms of popcorn throwing continues to be one of the first things people notice when learning the game.  One of the two costumed women (I wish I had their names) asked almost the exact question in the FAQ regarding narration and what prevents people from doing silly or offensive things within 10 minutes of me explaining the rules.  She was also the best sport, in my opinion, as another player narrated some stuff of a, well, bedroom nature, regarding her character that I personally thought was a bit steep for a Youth rated game among strangers.  (I actually sort of stepped in just a bit and took over a GM role during his narration simply to say "Careful...PG rating, mate".)  But for a person whose first question to me as I was explaining the rules was "How can I ensure the integrity of my character concept?" she certainly rolled with the punch and made the narration her own, turning the next scene into a scene of unrequitted love between her character and the other one. 

I wish I could remember the names of the players, because they were all fantastic.  If you were in this session, please post here so I can thank you in a public forum for doing such a great game.  Except for that one guy...sorry, mate, but you and I just need to agree to disagree and leave it at that.

[Bret Gillan]

That sounds like a fantastic game. Though man, what is it with people bringing sexual bidness into PG-rated games? I had that happen at the Capes game I ran at our local quarterly miniconvention.

[Vaxalon]

They do it because Capes is just so damn sexayyyy.

[LemmingLord]

That sounds like a fantastic game. Though man, what is it with people bringing sexual bidness into PG-rated games? I had that happen at the Capes game I ran at our local quarterly miniconvention.

Who are you to poo poo a horny kid's muse-o-fire. :) 

[TonyLB]

Is that, like, "Come on baby, Muse my Fire?"

Sex comes up in the games because sex is a real part of who we are, and also the source of a lot of conflict and drama.

I worry more about the many, many games where sex doesn't come up.  What's up with that?

[Vaxalon]

Sex doesn't come up in games?

Hunh.

Just goes to show that everyone plays differently.

[Bret Gillan]

I have no problem with sex coming up in games. The thing is, our local mini-conventions are "family friendly" and regardless of my own views on the acceptability of sexual discussion in games, there were parents with small children at this convention who may not have shared my liberal views, so I had to pull the plug on the guy. Not to mention he was pushing a lot of buttons that were making people extremely uncomfortable. He was just one of those gamers that naturally skeeves people out, so when he starts narrating tentacle rape I could tell he was driving everyone at the table away.

My problem wasn't with sex coming up in games, my problem was with sex coming up in games where social awareness should indicate that maybe it's a bad idea, and this is coming from a guy all-too-comfortable with pushing into comfort zones. I remain unrepentant about making everyone uncomfortable by having my character mention his sex life in a torture scene Sin City Capes. :)

And maybe I'm being overly sincere here in response to posts that are obviously joking around. ;)

[Hans]

The only reason I said anything to this chap during the game was simply because I did not want my Capes session to be remembered by this wonderful female player as "oh yeah, that game where that one guy sexually harrassed me".  As I said, it turned out that my worries were probably unfounded; the guy kept things pretty much PG rated, and she took it all in stride and made it her own. 

Actually, it probably shows a sexist attitude on my part; I would never think of "protecting" a male player from some kind of sexual narration, but I get VERY touchy when this happens to female players without their overt consent.  This could be chivalry, or it could be masculine bull crap.

[TonyLB]

Okay, to respond to the serious issues (if I must!):  There are things that you can do in Capes that are a bad idea with a capital BAD.  Crossing lines and veils without the social consciousness to realize that you're doing it?  That's one of those things.

Now if you've got a session or two of successful Capes play under your belt then you know this already, and so you won't do that sort of thing.  But at convention games particularly, you are dealing with people who do not have the experience to have that sort of foresight.

That gets you into situations where the experienced hands are sitting there thinking "Man, I know that this is not going to turn out well ... why the hell is the guy still pushing it?"  It's a wierd feeling, and Capes doesn't give the experienced hands any more power than the raw newbies, so there really isn't an institutionalized way to save them (and the rest of the table) from the consequences of their own inexperience.

[Andrew Cooper]

That's why as the "moderator" I carry a tazer.  I zap the offender with 20,000 volts while no one is looking and then exclaim how he must have fainted.  :-)

[Vaxalon]

Throwing popcorn works for some people, and is less likely to get you held on assault charges.

[Hans]

As the person who first coined the term "throwing popcorn" I am now wishing I had instead coined the term "give them 20,000 volts of tough love".

[Andrew Cooper]

That one's mine!  Keep your grubby little hands off.