Hero Wars in an alternate setting - session 4

[Mike Holmes]

The previous session can be found here.

I did a bad, bad thing this week. I used the game for some experimentation. Gareth, listen up. I did Shakespeare. Merry Wives of Windsor to be precise. The bad part is that it was rather experimental, and I had to use something like Illusionism to get it to go off. More precisely, I didn't present it so much as Bangs that were very compelling to the PCs. As such they had to just sorta play along. Not entirely, but it took them out of the starring roles just a bit too much.

But play along they did, and with aplomb. The characters were transposed to Killian's Sorcerous Order, so that we could get his relationships better resolved. The best part was a linguistic nicety that only I as the GM could appreciate at the time (though I let the player in on it afterwards). In the Merry Wives, the mother and father of this girl both have different ideas about who they want their daughter to marry (in my little version they were both under the mistaken impression that they had convinced the other). As such they simultaneously arrange wedding ceremonies to have their daughter married to the two different men. The best scene was when Josh and Julie explained to the mother that there was to be a wedding. She wondered where the father had gone. Josh had his character respond that "He went off to look for the couple," thereby not letting on that the couple in question was not the couple that she expected. I was pleased as punch when in the later wedding scene I was able to have the father show up with his groom, just before the other couple could be married.

The most Narrativist moment of the night was one that I almost passed on. It seemed just a tad too contrived, but with the player's slight encouragement, I went along. Essentially, I had decided to omit the part of Merry Wives where the daughter in question is actually in love with a third person. But then for some reason, I decided I needed it at some point (look, look, come see the Illusionism inherent in the system!). But I hadn't, of course, decided who it was (the illusion broke at this point as I had to admit that I had to take a second to think about it as I had nobody in mind that made sense). Anyhow, Julie had her character ask then if it was Josh's character Killian, which would have been possible though at first it seemed implausible. But it was too good. Julie stepped OOC and said to go for it, so I did. So, at the suggestion that it was Killian, the girl ran from the room mortified to have been found out.

Way cool. What this does is make it such that Killain has a it of an aor around him that makes him seem like a more desirable mate. This became really cool as it bumped up the sexual tension level already extant a notch (which is becoming a nifty theme), and another serendipitious linguistic occuance happened. At one point when they were preparing for the wedding ceremony, a passerby asked what was going on. At their response that it was a wedding, the passerby asked, "Who, you two?" Both players simultaneously broke out into nervous, "Oh, no, him, no way." sorts of repsonses. The kind that are so overstated that you can tell that they are denying an obvious attraction between each other. I laughed my ass off.

That's a great feel to be heading into the next session (two weeks this time, due to Thanksgiving). Salani had hired Killian earlier in the session to go with her to find the priestesses daughter from last session, and he'd agreed. Now, they can't back out, as to do so would be to admit to each other that they are made uncomfortable by the attraction. Even though the charracters are both aware of the other's situation. So they have to suffer with it until it's resolved! Wooo-hooo, awkwardness inthe extreme! That's so cool I can't even explain.

Anyhow, we didn't get to use the mechanics all that much (no extended contests; another sign that I flubbed), and as such I didn't get to experiment with any of thefun new mechnics that we've been discussing here.

So, as usual, I'd love to hear any comments or answer any questions.

Mike

[Julie]

A "Strictly Player" insight:  A good GM can customize to the players without violating the integrity of THE RULES or overwriting their own style too much.  It's moving along nicely.   Hybrid hybrid burning bright...

Totally dug the art reference, too.  :)  Falstaff pink...I think that'd be a good Crayola color, what say you?

[contracycle]

Hey wow, that sounds really cool.  

Do you think that you could conceivably re-approach it with the deliberate intent to cast the player characters into such significant roles?

[Mike Holmes]

Do you think that you could conceivably re-approach it with the deliberate intent to cast the player characters into such significant roles?

Yes, probably. That's probably what I should have done. In adapting such a plot, what one should look for, IMO, is characters who have links to the R-Map that are parallel to ones that can be reasonable assumed for the PC in question.

IOW, this goes beyond what Ron would normally advocate for an R-Map. And he has good reasons not to do so. For example, if the player does not accept that parallel, then much of the tension will fall apart. But I sense that there are some really good types that work just fine.

For example, if I had seen that Josh's character would have made a good replacement for the guy that the daughter was in love with, that would have been great (fortunately it worked out that way anyhow). The reason it works is because the plot proceeds interestingly whether or not he decides to reciropcate. Either way, saying that Killian's character was loved by one on the R-Map linked him inextricably (and awkwardly in this case as he decided not to reciprocate).

Further, this was accomplished by entagling him deelpy in the web. Killian has a Relationship Ability that stated that he was a member of a Sorcerous Order. Well, all I had to do was to say that the leads were all the members of the order or family, etc, and the positive effects of linkage were assured. In this case, the girl was the daughter of the head of the order. Someone he saw on a daily basis. You can't react to someone telling you that they are in love with you by just walking away when they are someone you see every day.  :-)

So, yes, I am for agressively insterting the PCs onto the map if the circumstances are right. That said, perhaps I got lucky. So doso only with great care and consideration, and a caveat that it might not work as well for you as it did to me.

BTW, I've discovered that Shakespeare's Historical plays are very good for plots. This is because they are based on RW motives, and as such have less "Railroading" occuring in the plot (Shakespeare has to stick to history at least in general terms).

Again, I should state, however, that the goal of this technique is not to create the same plot as a shakespearean play. It's to use the characters, and their situation as a jumpoing off point. It's just a bonus that you get to use Shakespeares plot elements as Bangs. :-)

I've also found that Opera tends to work out well. Better than most plays which often have problems in adaptation, IME.

Mike