[Space Rat] Game frozen by the Bride of the Ice (cream)

[Peril Planet]

After a few months of "real life" I finally managed to get the guys together for another playtest of Space Rat: the Jack Cosmos Adventure Game!  I had made a few changes to the rules that I wanted to see in action.  I would run the game, while Brad, Nathan, Robert and Rohan would take the roles of the femme babes.  We've all been playing together for a few years and everyone had played Space Rat before (this would cause a problem, which I will explain soon).  I had sketched out a vague plot idea (always the best kind) that involved Jack dissappearing and the femme babes looking for him.  (Jack has been kidnapped by the owner of an intergalactic ice-cream manufacturer as a gift to his daughter, and I statted-up ice-cream vans, hungry alien children and mutant penguins.)

RULES:  I had made a change and a few additions to the rules that I wanted to see in action.  In particular;

• GM rolls attacks / actions for NPC's against the femme babe's stats (just like femme babes make actions).  This was more an experiment to see how it affected game play (normally the GM doesn't roll dice).

• Luck points can be spent to add detail / facts to a scene.

• Attention stars can be earnt for "playing to type" and doing things in character that make life more difficult for the femme babe.  This was an attempt to get players to think more about their character concepts and use them in play more.  I have found that a lot of the time femme babes blurr into one another and I am looking for ways to encourage more characterisation.

STARTING:  players made their characters relatively quickly and without any difficulty.  I encouraged them to think about their concept and tagline ("the samurai girl", "the alien drag racer girl") and how that would affect the way they act, their gear etc.  Then we began the adventure and this is where I dropped the ball.  Because the players had played Space Rat several times I skipped my usual intro where I encourage the characters to interact and play-up their rivalry for the Space Rat's attention.  I also failed to mention / remind them that they wanted to finish the adventure with more Attention than the other characters.  As a consequence the game progressed in a manner typical of traditional RPGs where the characters worked cooperatively to finish the adventure.  There was a distinct lack of rivalry and one-up-manship which did alter the usual frenetic pace and wild tone of the game.  By the end of the game the winner had only accrued 4 Attention Stars and one player had not earnt any.  I didn't realise this mistake until after the game, otherwise I would have stopped and reminded the players of what they were trying to achieve.  I must make a note to always remind or make clear that the goal of any game of Space Rat is to beat the other femme babes, not necessarily accomplish the mission (though that is a good way to win!).

THE GAME:  the lack of rivalry did affect the way the game played out, though by the end everyone appeared to be having a good time and said as much.  One of the main effects of the change in goal / tone was to reduce the importance of Luck.  Players didn't feel as much pressure to attempt outrageous stunts or wild acts of daring in order to gain attention, so tended to play things safer.  One player went the entire adventure (despite much encouragement and even friendly ridicule) without spending a single point of Luck.  The flow-on effect was that they also felt no nead to call anyone on the use of Luck, further reducing its importance.

Despite this, I did get to see the new use of Luck in action.  In fact, it was quite popular, with characters using it to spot previously "unnoticed" details (e.i. things I hadn't mentioned) such as security cameras and ladders.  In fact, the most memorable part of the adventure occurred when Brad, faced by a horde of mallet-wielding monkeys (ever wonder how they make all those crushed nuts to sprinkle on your ice-cream?) used Luck to add a box of human-sized mallets to use.  The test was failed and Nathan narrated that instead of grabbing a hammer, Brad's character pulled from the box a single, delicious-looking bannanna (cue wild monkey noises)!  Overall, this addition to the game seemed to work well.

SUMMARY:  the change in tone / focus required me to work a lot harder than I normally would in order to add the zany and wild elements that are usually a part of my games of Space Rat.  This suggests that, when the game is running well the players do contribute a lot to the story - far more than they would in a traditional RPG - which is something I perhaps hadn't realised or thought about before.  Narration by players is an important part of the Luck mechanic, and a rewarding element for taking the risk and "calling" someone on luck.  I had, however, underestimated the amount that the story is driven by the character's attempts to use, and successful use of Luck, as well as their desire to draw the attention to themselves.

The additional use of Luck worked well and I think it will stay.  The additional way to earn Attention didn't really come into play. 

The change to action resolution that allowed (or required, depending upon you view of the idea) the GM to roll raised an interesting point that I hadn't considered.  With he GM making "attack" rolls (instead of the players making "defence" rolls) and similar subtle changes, the players had to make far fewer dice rolls which reduced the number of opportunities they had to use Luck or gain Attention.  I will be changing back to the "GM doesn't roll" system immediately.

While this didn't turn out to be the game I thought I was going to run, it was very enlightening.  I learnt far more from the things that went wrong than I would have ever learnt had the game gone without a hitch.

That about sums it up.  Thoughts and comments welcome.

- Nathan

[Ron Edwards]

Nathan! Omigod! You're back!

Now I feel extra guilty that we didn't play a game of Space Rat over the past weekend at Forge Midwest, even though Julie brought her color-printed copy specifically for that purpose.

OK, this is a big deal for me. I am a huge Space Rat fan.

I think you're totally right in your decision to stay with the "only players roll" concept. However, it's also great that you playtested the alternative, so now you know for sure.

I've had different experiences from yours with the distinction-among-femme babes issue. I've found the best route to fostering very different and distinctive player-characters, in this game, is to hit them with incredibly different situations and opponents. As you might remember, there was the whole deal in my game in which, on the same space-cruiser tourist ship, one femme babe faced a high-tech, villainous psychiatrist (who'd already done something awful to Jack), and the other faced a pulsating space-jelly monster trying to eat the ship (not to mention the crazed captain trying to hunt it).

Since no one used your new method for Attention Stars, maybe try that method and see what happens, without the new rule idea.

Best, Ron

[Peril Planet]

Cheers for the feedback.  I am off to play another game right now.  Bye....

Will post again with the results.

- Nathan