[PTA] "I really don't watch television."

[Thomas D]

After reading about all the amazing PTA actual play posts, I was a bit afraid to run PTA at a game convention with a group of relative strangers.  I've ran some games with my regular gaming group but this was the first time I'd run the game for people I really didn't know.  There also was the feeling of dread that ensued when one of the players confessed that he didn't watch much television.  When I heard that, I flashbacked to reading the Gen Con thread about someone who signed up for a game session thinking that you can't make a role-playing game about television, tanking that whole game session.

During the series creation, that player wasn't very vocal or contributing much to the group; the others were much more active in the discussions.  I think the key that really drew him into the game was when the other players realized that his protagonist should be the central character in the pilot -- he came up with the name "Marvin Drosseldorf the Third", but wanted to be known by a nickname.  It all clicked at that moment.  The show was set in a small colony on another planet, specifically the hospital clinic that serves the colonists; the colonists were split up into three distinct groups; three of the characters were doctors.  MD3.  The colony was named Manifest Destiny 3 (MD1 was the American westward expansion, MD2 was the Mars colony).  A lot of what we did during series creation tied into those two letters and that number.  BAM.  It's MD3's first few days on the station -- the new idealistic kid is thrust into a web of conflicting agendas where he's being used as a pawn, all while trying to survive on the savage frontier.  By the end of the episode, that player was totally rocked and completely in the groove.

With all the awesome scenes in the game, getting that guy totally into the game was one of my favorite things from that game session.

[Storn]

After reading about all the amazing PTA actual play posts, I was a bit afraid to run PTA at a game convention with a group of relative strangers.  I've ran some games with my regular gaming group but this was the first time I'd run the game for people I really didn't know.  There also was the feeling of dread that ensued when one of the players confessed that he didn't watch much television.  When I heard that, I flashbacked to reading the Gen Con thread about someone who signed up for a game session thinking that you can't make a role-playing game about television, tanking that whole game session.

During the series creation, that player wasn't very vocal or contributing much to the group; the others were much more active in the discussions.  I think the key that really drew him into the game was when the other players realized that his protagonist should be the central character in the pilot -- he came up with the name "Marvin Drosseldorf the Third", but wanted to be known by a nickname.  It all clicked at that moment.  The show was set in a small colony on another planet, specifically the hospital clinic that serves the colonists; the colonists were split up into three distinct groups; three of the characters were doctors.  MD3.  The colony was named Manifest Destiny 3 (MD1 was the American westward expansion, MD2 was the Mars colony).  A lot of what we did during series creation tied into those two letters and that number.  BAM.  It's MD3's first few days on the station -- the new idealistic kid is thrust into a web of conflicting agendas where he's being used as a pawn, all while trying to survive on the savage frontier.  By the end of the episode, that player was totally rocked and completely in the groove.

With all the awesome scenes in the game, getting that guy totally into the game was one of my favorite things from that game session.

Yeah.  I know that story.  I game with the guy who ran that particular PTA session.  I think.  Or the same story has happened multiple times.

But here is the thing.  I don't think you can be American (or anything European that isn't living on the streets) and NOT know television.  It is so much part of our pop culture lexicon.  And he might not watch a lot of television, but he has watched some.  He probably has watched a movie or two.

So, when you use words like "cast" or 'supporting cast" or "producer" or "sitcom" or "drama", he gets it.  He probably even gets "establishing shot" or "close up" or "spotlight episode".

And really?  That is all you need to arm someone with the knowledge to run PTA, everything else is gravy.  As you pointed out.  He is invested and sucked in.

Awesome!

[James_Nostack]

Having been on the other side of that conversation--I didn't own a TV for years, and didn't miss it--I can say it's hardly a stumbling block.  The question is, "What would be the ideal TV show for you?  Something so good, that you'd want to watch the show?"  For me, I was tired of how inane most TV shows were, and how you can't get a good tragedy anymore.  So, we ended up with a pretty depressing show about the Balkan War, which was awesome.

When someone says, "I don't like TV," what he/she really means is, "Nothing on TV speaks to me."  Which is an invitation to find out what kind of conversation they want to have.