[PTA] Rule drifts, also strategies (some for cons)

[Robert Bohl]

So I've run a whole lot of Primetime Adventures at cons, and it is probably the single indie game I've played or run the most. Over the course of all these highly successful runs of the game, I've hit upon several rule drifts I like, as well as some strategies that are useful at cons (and a few of which are useful in general). I think these are pretty helpful and fun and I wanted to share them with the community, and also welcome feedback on them.

First I'll start with the rules drifts. If I get some of the actual-printed PTA rules wrong here, please feel free to correct me.

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The first big drift I do is to have only one conflict per scene. I have found that having only one person conflicting with the Producer per scene, and having people help or hinder with that with fan mail or Edges and Connections, focuses the events of the scene very intensely and helps a lot with making each conflict intrinsically about that character's Issue.

The other drift is that according to the rules, stakes are supposed to be binary: "What do you want? Do you get it or not?" I've found that that can be stifling, so instead I do a more traditional stakes setting thing where I say what I want and you say what you want and we negotiate until both outcomes are interesting.

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Next up, strategery.

[Robert Bohl]

EVERYONE PREMISES: In the pitch session, I ask that every player come up with at least one Premise for a show. This is especially helpful in a con game where people may not be familiar with story games or the level of narrative power they have in them. It signals to people early on that they will be participating constantly. Also it prevents the socially dominant from wholly taking over. Finally, I often find that in coming up with several premises we can meld some together and have a lot of fun.

BRAINSTORM THE CAST: In addition to brainstorming Premise, Mood, Conventions, etc., I ask that people not start out with a plan for what character they want to play. Instead we brainstorm a cast list too. What kinds of characters would the producers of this show want to see? I usually try to come up with 1.5 to 2 times the number of concepts as there are players at the table. We can then say things like, "This guy has to be in this show." We can also often combine concepts just like we combine premises.

DON'T PLAY BEFORE YOU PLAY: It's important to cut the pitch short, especially in the conventions and tone section. I've seen a lot of people have a strong urge to play before you play at this stage and that can be death to story momentum later.

PUSH FAN MAIL: This is especially important in a con game, though not exclusively so. One of the worst problems you can get into with PTA is to have a big pile of unawarded fan mail sitting in the center of the table. It literally slows the game down and usually makes it pretty painful. Sometimes in a break I'll ask people, "Why are we not awarding fan mail? Are you not having fun? What would it take for you to do so?" I often jokingly say things like, "Wow that was awesome. If I had fan mail to give I totally would give it to that." Sometimes I've even stepped in and given some out to stimulate things though I am loathe to do this and usually disclaimer heavily so people don't think that it's a Producer prerogative.

Con-specific stuff

RUN THE 1ST SHOW NOT THE PILOT: While you're "supposed" to always start with the pilot, I think that's not a good idea for a con game. People need to see the effects of screen presence, and even if they know what it does already, if everyone's played the game before, having SP in play makes the game much more fun and interesting.

FIND A COMMON SHOW: When explaining the rules to people who are new to the game it's important to find a show that everyone has in common. I had always assumed that Star Trek would be easy but these days that's not so. Anyway, once you have a show it's easy to explain the rules (personal set, issue, etc.) in terms of that show.

RUN A MEANINGLESS CONFLICT: Again when you are explaining the rules it's important to show people how they work, but it's also important not to spend story-energy. Pick something lame that you will never care about--a foot race, an arm wrestling match. It's mega-important that it's not cool at all, so that you don't wish you'd done it in play.

PREFERENCES WARNING: This is a huge one. I'll just copy what I wrote in this thread  on The Forge.

"If you don't like TV and can't say to yourself, 'If TV were done a certain way it could be really cool,' then this probably isn't the game for you.  If you get nervous when you get put into the GM's chair, asked to narrate and take control of the world, you will not enjoy this game and, as a result, neither will anyone else.  Please, try another game, I know that GAMENAMECENSORED is looking for players right now and it would be really cool for them to have some more."