I may have created a monster

[Paul Czege]

So...I have a social concern. As it turns out, Claudia Repton, who Tom's character Hiram murdered http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3494">in our game session yesterday, was one of Danielle's character Ambrose's Connections. And even though Ambrose didn't yet have any Love invested in Claudia, I could tell that Danielle was bummed a bit. She had creativity invested in Claudia, and Ambrose was defined, in part, by the relationship she'd invented for him and Claudia. Don't get me wrong, I'm not second guessing my belief that Minions remain protagonized despite the death of Connections. I'm saying there is a feeling of loss when something you've invested creative energy in is lost. You should have seen Scott fight during yesterday's climactic scene, to defend the singing rapist, Jack Hervey, who his character Orpha had two Love invested in.

Simply put, My Life with Master mechanizes the creation of relationships that define the player character, and further requires an ongoing series of creative investments in those relationships. And all the while, the game pretty much tells the player to expect that some of that will be lost to them. Is this a recipe for player pain or what? I'm not sure I know of another game that so totally sets the player up to lavish attention on something, to love and lose. What have I done? It was cool for the GenCon one-shot, but for multi-session play, is it too much?

Paul