Rough Magic (Session 1)

[Ragnar Deerslayer]

***Intro***
Last night my gaming group had their first session of Rough Magic.  Rough Magic is a RISUS game, with a link on the RISUS page.  I decided not to use the RISUS system, but my own homebrew that closely resembles the Over the Edge system with cliches and Spiritual Attributes (thanks for the idea, Mr. Norwood!)  This game is slated to be a long-term campaign, hopefully running at least through December, and maybe next semester, too.

***Characters***
Character:  Vladimir Korbochangko
Story:  Russian police inspector sent to hunt down members of a Turkish cult.  Currently working in France with cooperation of local authorities.
Natural Attributes:
4d:  Police Inspector
3d:  Werewolf
3d:  Connisseur
1d:  Allergic to Silver (even as human)
Spiritual Attributes:
3d:  Drive - Finish the Assignment
2d:  Destiny - Benandanti Champion
1d:  Passion - Mother Russia

Character:  Katherine
Story:  Self-centered, headstrong French cousin of Vlad who's helping him because she grew up close to the streets and has a number of contacts.
Natural Attributes:
4d:  Street Smarts
3d:  Intuition
3d:  Headstrong
1d:  Illiterate (and won't admit it)
Spiritual Attributes:
3d:  Passion:  the weak and helpless
2d:  Destiny:  to give her life for Selfless Love
1d:  Faith:  her own capabilities

Character:  Lady Ariana
Story:  The last scion of a noble house that has lost much of its power and influence.  After Vlad maxed out his expense account with the Russian Government, she began to support him financially.  Her house has an ancestral feud with the ancient cult.
Natural Attributes:
4d:  Socialite
3d:  Nightbreed (inherited mystical largely-undefined goth-type animal powers)
3d:  Continental (i.e., well-traveled on the Continent)
1d:  Arrogant
Spiritual Attributes:
3d:  Passion - Thrillseeking
2d:  Drive - Restore the Family Honor
1d:  Passion - Hatred of Politicians

I thought that this system would make character creation quick and easy, but it didn't.  It took them a full play session to design the characters -- but they spent the time working on background and personality rather than allotting points.  Also, they created their characters cooperatively (an idea I got from reading The Forge), and worked out their ideas out loud with each other, instead of deciding beforehand.  I've never done it this way before; usually, it consisted of "I want to be a Jedi."  "We already have three Jedi."  "Um, well, I'll be a mechanic-Jedi, then."

***The Actual Play***
The game began with Vlad chasing down an alley (foggy, at twilight) after a man who had begun to talk about the cult, but then saw something behind Vlad and bolted.  Kat & Ariana were pounding along some distance behind Vlad.  After rounding a corner, the man grabbed the ladder to a fire escape and began to climb, but Vlad leaped onto a dumpster to the side and tackled him around the waist.  The fog had condensed on the rungs of the metal ladder, making the grip slippery, so they both went tumbling into a mound of cardboard boxes and garbage.  Vlad starts to interrogate the man, asking why he ran, but the man is obviously very scared of something other than Vlad.  ("I'll keep you safe."  "I wouldn't be safe in *hell*!")  He starts to make up something he thinks will satisfy Vlad, but by this time Ariana and Kat have caught up, and Kat makes her "Street Smarts" roll to know he's lying.  They try some light threats, but the man screams and faints.

They drag him back to Ariana's car.  The two women take him back to Ariana's chateau for questioning while Vlad continues to visit seedy locations and search for information on the cult.

The next morning, Vlad has an appointment with the French polich chief (Chief Thornton, the laison to whom he is reporting).  They discuss the progress of the case (not much), and Vlad heads out.  As he's getting his hat from the hatrack, he passes the next man who has an appointment with the chief coming in.

While Vlad was gone, Ariana remembers that there's an important soiree that evening, held once a year, that all the important nobles will be attending, and they simply *must* go.  (Cue music and "clothing montage" as Ariana tries to find something suitable for Kat, who's not used to "high society," to wear.)  When Vlad returns, the newly-transformed Kat greets him at the door.

Here I should add that besides my three players, there were also two other mutual friends (and former RPGers from my last campaign) who have recently moved away, but came back for a visit this weekend.  I allowed them to take the roles of a couple of minor NPCs at the soiree.

Vlad, wearing his ceremonial Cossack saber, was cornered by an overweight, blustering British military man.  (Think the pilot from "The Mummy," only not quite as crazy.)  My visiting friend played the Brit perfectly, with only about 30 seconds preparation.  He used the Brit voice from the elevator of the "Starship Titanic" video game, and it fit perfectly.  Vlad's player had a "Russian" voice he had been working on, and used to good effect the entire game.  At this point, hearing a conversation between a Russian and a Brit at a French soiree was . . . one of those memorable role-playing moments.

Meanwhile, Kat was approached by the Duchess Cestina, a sort of silly, arrogant noble who liked to politely insult people.  (This was played by my other friend, who also did a commendable job.)  Kat deftly tried to evade questions like, "and exactly *what* part of Paris did you come from?" before Ariana stepped in to rescue her.  This eventually led to Cestina challenging Ariana to enter the yacht race on the French Channel the next weekend.  Another woman, Lady Fallon, overheard them talking and commented that she, also, was in the race -- and planned to win.

Vlad had escaped the Brit and was looking for the host, whom he managed to impress with his knowledge of 1935 chardonnay (rolled seriously well on his Conniseur roll).  They went off to have a private drink ("it would be wasted on less discriminating palates")

The next morning they wake up with the police at the door.  Vlad is being taken into custody for questioning; he was the last to see the police chief before he committed suicide.

***Thoughts***
The last serious campaign I ran was a year-long Star Wars d6 campaign with two of my current players (Vlad & Kat) and the two visiting friends.  This was a welcome change -- Rough Magic provides all the flavor you need for the setting, and the rest is expected to be filled in by the GM & players as they go.  It was nice not to worry about the WEIGHT of CANON that the Star Wars universe has.  Also, while the d6 system is an excellent, flexible system, I found myself not using many of the rules because I didn't know them. ("Checking rules is slow.  Slow is bad." -- Toon)  Since I wasn't using the rules anyway, why not go with a system that doesn't have many rules to begin with?  And the RISUS/OtE homebrew is everything I need.

Since this session was much more focused on roleplaying than dierolling, I'm not quite sure yet if my conversion of spiritual attributes will work well. Right now, the highest (relevant) spiritual attribute (if any) adds to your natural attribute, so 7d is the maximum.  (No "pumping/double pumping" rules.)  We'll see, and I'll modify the rules as needed in-game.

All my players are over 30 (I'm the youngest at 25).  the player of Ariana has never roleplayed before, but she liked it a lot.  She commented, though, "It's hard to think of what to say!"  In my previous Star Wars game, I hadn't allowed anyone to "help out" another character by suggesting responses or possible actions.  I was afraid someone who could "think on their feet" would start dominating and not give others the chance to grow.  Someone mentioned on another thread recently that they *always* allowed group consensus on any character's actions.  So, I've explicitly allowed this.  I also try to split up the party and cut from one group to the other at tense points to take some of the pressure off and allow a player to think of a good response.  Like I told them, "the characters on TV have a team of scriptwriters.  You don't."

Also, I was pleasantly surprised that my players enjoyed the heavy roleplaying.  The Star Wars game had much more action, but the setting of Rough Magic lends itself much more to a "Maltese Falcon" type of interaction (subtle verbal maneuvering with combat consisting of a quick right or two before someone pulls a gun and starts talking again).  The gritty, street-level setting was much different than the high-epic of Star Wars.

I'll post the next session in a week or two or whenever we actually play it.

Mark

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Mark,

I'm sorry I didn't get to this thread earlier, because a Risus/OtE hybrid using Spiritual Attributes sounds distinctive enough to be called its own game design.

There's lots of interesting stuff in your post, but the one that leaps out at me is the big shift in your approach toward out-of-character discussion. How did you like that? Did any hint of what you'd previously feared (one person "taking over") appear? Was it hard to change your habits as GM in this way?

In general, what sort of feedback are you interested in receiving about this game? Comparisons with other folks, discussion of specific mechanics or play-choices (as above), or ...?

Best,
Ron

[Ragnar Deerslayer]

Thanks, Ron!  Maybe I'll post my mechanics over in Game Design.

I liked the out-of-character discussion.  If I had one strong personality among my players, who liked lots of attention and could think quickly, it might be a problem.  As it is, though, I think it's only helping the players as a group.

It wasn't too difficult to change my GMing habits.  Players naturally tend to "offer advice" to each other unless the GM stops them, and I just stopped stopping them.  One of the things I noticed, though, was that players didn't really seize onto what someone else said -- more often, it merely got their creative juices flowing, and they would take a suggestion, modify it, and make it their own.  This was very pleasing to me.

I'm not really looking for anything in particular.  I AM doing things differently than in the past, so if anyone has suggestions, comments, or questions, I'm open to hearing them.  I'm switching to a more rules-light, player-driven style, which is where many of the games here at the Forge are heading, so I'm hoping the more experienced will help me if they see me making mistake they've already made.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Mark,

One thing that would help me, anyway, is for you to summarize a session (the next one, perhaps) in terms of what the players and you decide, as you go. So it's not so much an account of what the characters did so much as what the people did.

Best,
Ron