Players Having Trouble with How to Frame Scences/Use Rules

[Welkerfan]

I started playing a game (as Producer) a few weeks ago.  This was my first attempt to run PTA, though I had listened to a lot of actual play.  We created the show and played the pilot the first session.  Everyone seemed to be very into the show and into the new game.  The players had some trouble remembering to give out fan mail, but, by the end, they figured that out.  They also seemed to fall into scene framing very easily.  Not many traits were used, but I just chalked that up to it being the first session.  Overall, everyone left very content with the game.

We played the second session (first regular episode) last night.  I was a bit unprepared, it turned out.  Of the three players, two had SP 1 and one had SP 2.  I wasn't really sure how to make the game go without a spotlight character.  I opened the session with what I thought was a compelling scene to introduce where the plot should go that session.  When the next couple of scenes were framed by the characters, though, the players expressed concern and discomfort with framing scenes.  "They didn't know what should come next," they said.  They also were somewhat unwilling or uncomfortable to frame scene or define things about other characters, either the protagonists or supporting characters.  For example, a character was introduced in the pilot as a potential love interest for a character (a cyborg who couldn't remember his past or what it meant to be human).  Twice, that player won narration rights in conflicts in which his stakes were something like, "She opens up to me" or "She tells me the truth"  The player wasn't comfortable defining anything about the personality of the character at all (very little was defined before this).  I tried to get him to either give a very broad direction for me or to just start acting and tell me, "No" if I did something he didn't like, but even that seemed weird to him.

Another example--A different player always got caught up in the tradition rpg concept of playing out every minor detail.  When it was her turn to frame a scene, she would just continue playing the previous scene.  When I tried to get her to frame a scene (focus, agenda, setting), rather than just starting to play, she said that she didn't know what kind of scene it should be or what overall should be happening.  She just didn't seem to get the concept of jumping forward and not playing out the minor bits of "boring" conversation.  This really seemed to surprise me, as she was the player most into the framing in the pilot session.

Lastly, the characters always seem to forget to use their traits.  There has been no need to use personal sets, as no one has gotten close to running out of trait uses.  Each conflict, I ask them if want to use traits, but, usually, they say no or possibly use one.  I think the problem here might be that the conflicts are not exciting/compelling/important enough to garner the need for traits or that there might not be enough conflicts in the episode (only a little more than half of the scenes ended with a conflict).  The lack of conflicts wasn't that we were acting out the conflict without rules--whenever it seemed like there should be a conflict between or within characters, we had one--it was just that some scenes were simply used for exposition or to reveal a new part of a character's personality or plot point.  No need for conflict arose.

Overall, the second session was much less satisfying than the first.  We weren't as into it, and it went much less smoothly, as I've described above.

So, my question is, how could I go about fixing this?  How can I get the players to latch onto the scene framing idea and to use their traits?  How can I make this more fun?

[Alan]

Hello Welkerfan,

When an episode has no spotlight character, then the premise of the series is the star. Focus on whatever it is that your series concept identified as what all the characters are concerned about.

Remember that the Producer frames all scenes. Your job is to take what the player suggests and torque it for conflict. This usually means adding two things in particular: 1) complications or challenges from the overall plot , and 2) complications or challenges from a protagonist Issue. A good Plot scene has a complication from the plot that involves the Spotlight character and maybe his Issue too. A good Character scene focuses on an Issue, but may just develop elements that can later be used chewed by the Issue. Not every scene has to draw cards, though I think the game works best when most do.

For conflicts, I've noticed that the card mechanic works best if I call for conflict sooner than I'm used to in other games. Call for conflict early, even if it seems barely clear or uncomfortably soon. Once your players declare their desired outcomes, encourage them to reframe stakes in terms of the Protagonist's Issue. Eg. Not "I persuade her to open up" but "I overcome my fear of intimacy long enough to charm her." or "My need for redemption touches her." Then leave the flipside -- what happens if they fail, completely up in the air. Always be sure not to predefine what happens if the protagonist loses and don't let them detail the win before they win. Just "what do you want?" and that's it. This leaves lots of space for the narrator to work and also gives them material to work with.

Finally, if the narrator hesitates ask them what the first thing that came to mind was. Remind them they don't have to be spectacular. Spectacular happens after a bunch of obvious things have happened. Dare to be obvious! Second remind them they only need to make the final call and invite suggestions from everyone else. If none of that works, suggest something yourself and move on. (Or suggest something that gives them their stakes but makes them want to say no! Eg. "Your super tough cop blubbers about his dead partner and his breakdown touches her and she consoles him by telling him how her mother died when she was 8.") But that's evil, right?

[Matt Wilson]

What Alan says is really important. You don't take turns framing scenes. You take turns requesting scenes from the producer. "I want a character scene where I'm talking to Samir in the library." That's it.

So you say that as a protagonist, and I'm the producer, so I go, "hmm, okay, we fade in after commercial, and you're there with Samir, at one of those study tables---"

and maybe someone interrupts to say "with those green lamps." Or maybe not, if your group doesn't like that kind of interrupting.

"--so anyway, you're there with Samir, and he says, 'man, I think Stacie is mad at me, and it's your fault."

And you take it from there. Maybe this mad stuff builds on a previous episode, or maybe you just made it up.

Like Alan says below, get to conflict early, and use the results to inform your dialogue and narration.