Starchildren - Hallo Spaceboy/girl

[rafial]

Borrowing shamelessly and freely from Hedwig & the Angry Inch, Wild Zero, Tommy, Max Headroom and no doubt a few other things wedged in my subconscious I unleashed a demo game of Starchildren on SGA's Monday Night indie gaming group.  It was the first time out for all of us, with only the GM and one other player having read the rules.

The adventure I set up was partly influenced by a desire to try out as many of the components of the system as possible, as well as the need to fit things into about 3 hours or so.  We had five players, and I had prepared a two page cheat sheet before hand that had slightly cut down character generation rules on one side and a summary of the card mechanic on the other.  I definitely think the character generation sheet helped alot, I had generated a couple characters before hand using the book, and it took me 45 minutes to anhour, but even the players that weren't familiar were able to get through character generation in 30 minutes with the sheet.  I had all the players be Earthlings, both for simplicity, and also because I wanted to introduce Starchild weirdness through play.

I don't know if anybody read the back of the sheet, we just sort of explained things as we went along.  We had a punk rock guitarist named Johnny Heroin, a glam vocalist directly inspired by and named after Maxwell Demon from the movie Velvet Goldmine, @ (yes, that was his name, think of the marketing possibilities) the slightly psychotic keyboardist (aren't they always?), Bob MacGuire(?), queen of the skins, and a bassist whose name I'm sad to say I have already forgotten (Al, maybe?).  Nobody ever remembers the bassist, do they?

I started things out in a club where the characters were enjoying a fine set by their favorite band, Wussy Bunny, and waiting for the debut of a mysterious new rocker being run by the Mob, one "Johnny Reb."  The evenings festivities were disturbed as the club was crashed by a bunch of rowdy Hessians, who wanted to put some fear into those pussy glam rockers, but instead were met with a classic Romper Stomper headbutt from Johnny H.  The rest ot the band mixed it up, and we got to try out the combat rules.  A few observations I quickly picked up:

a) you usually only get halfway through the action deck in a round.
b) it *does not work* to put in a single set of cards for a group of GM characters, and having them all move on those cards.  The round kept ending before the NPCs could do anything.  As as result, our heros ran circles round them.  However:
c) Punches and kicks do shite damage.  It seems like two reasonably matched characters would take forever to rack up enough damage for a blackout.  A table leg, which I treated as a nightstick wasn't all that more effect.  A broken bottle treated as a small knife was very deadly though...

After running about four rounds of combat (which resulted in a couple Hessians being slightly pummled, and one taken down) cops burst in the front door and our heros went out the back into the alley.  While catching their breath, they noticed an unconcious teenage girl in club kid wear dumped on the pile of trash.  Being good hearted folk, they carried her with as they escaped to Johnny H's convenient nearby basement sqaut.

The girl turned out to be named "Mauni" and claimed that she and Johnny Reb were "in love", only it seemed that Johnny had taken up with some "bad men" who weren't letting Mauni see him any more, and were rather insistent to the point of beating her up and taking her out with the trash.  After an attempt to talk the girl out of what was obviously an abusive relationship, the characters decided to table things till the next day, and Bob (as the only female character) elected to take Mauni home for the night.  Bob's slumber was disturbed by a gentley glowing Mauni, who had somehow gotten a bit, um, "boy" somehow, trying to crawl into bed with her.  Bob gently refused these advanced, but did set Mauni up with her teddy bear.

We cut to next nights "practice session" for the band (somewhat difficult as only two of them had instruments), before which @ had checked with some of his homies in the dims trying to find out what was up with Johnny Reb.  Not much dirt was forthcoming, but he did learn that the Cat's Eye was running a "Battle of Bands" for the opportunity to open at Johnny Reb's next show.  Mmmm... railroading... So delicous. :)

So the group decided to enter the contest, all they needed were instruments, songs to play on them, and most vital... A NAME FOR THEIR BAND.  This gave me an opportunity to try out the scrounging rules, and also the Compose rules that I posted to the XIG forum.  These worked out quite well for a first test, and it gave the players some interaction time as they tried to think up song titles, and worked together to make the Compose and Lyrics tests.  The songs, as I recall were:

Raygun Girlfriend, J. Heroin, A. Bassist : Difficulty 2/+2 Awe
Hallo Spaceboy/girl (Mauni's Song), M. Demo, Mauni : Difficulty 2/+2 Awe
The Whole Shebang, A. Bassist : Difficulty 2/+1 Awe ("It's been done," remarked Maxwell sardonically.)

And the band name? Well lots of suggestions were made, but the winning entry was HOSTILE CHICKEN!

I also had the club owner at the Cat's Eye (one Reg Blanco) insist on Musician's Licenses before they could sign up ("I've got to have your Mother-May-I's, don't I then loves?").  Of course, nobody had one.  But a friendly forger offered to whip some up by modifing Ministery of S&C pinball permits.

I required a beauracracy check to make it through the S&C offices.  This became known as the "pinball written test", as Johnny H. blew his check and was allowed to take the "skills test" instead.  Maxwell also had trouble with the forms, but charmed a young impressionable clerk into helping him out.

And finally, it was time to rock.  The band managed to patch together the shoddy kit they got from a mob dealer into something servicible, and Mauni, who had become friends with Johnny H. over a tab of Ball Lightning came to the rescue when Johnny's guitar collapsed in a heap of kindling on a botched repair check.  Seems Mauni had this most marvelous guitar stashed in an abandoned warehouse.  Where *does* a street kid get kit like that?  "Brought it from home" he says!

Needless to say, Hostile Chicken rocked the house and won the day.  I was dubious about the notion of "rocking out" by slapping cards down the table, but everbody was pumped up by that point, so with the assistance of an impromtu light show powered by Mauni, the band score a whopping 29 awe for their set.  Nobody had less than a King on the last song of the set ("The Whole Shebang" of course)  And Mauni and Johny Reb were reunited, and yadda, and yadda.   Cue "Wicked Little Town".

Final comments:  the Man and players alike had a bit of trouble keeping track of the card mechanics and figuring out at any given point exactly what options they had.  I think with more play the system would get smoother, but it certainly is a hurdle.  As the Man, I kept getting misled by the face values of the players cards.  And twists are definately necessary to give the players an out when the cards turn against them.

The combat also seemed to drag on, and I couldn't figure out what to do with boosts scored in combat.  I started adding them to damage, but being as I found at brawling combat to be fairly slow, I think I might entertain using them as a multiplier instead.  I think I'll be putting together some rules questions for posting to the XIG forum.

Anyway, thanks to all my brave players, and look for the Hostile Chicken demo EP under the counter at all your favorite media shops.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

I am really, really glad you posted this. It crystallized a frustration I've been having about the game for a while now, and now maybe you can help me overcome it.

I've been bogged down several times in my attempt to prepare for a Starchildren game, whether long-term or demonstration. And each time, it seems to hinge on precisely the points you raise in your post.

Before explaining myself, I'll point out exactly where I agree with your whole approach to the game - all your stated influences, the band names, the character names, everything. We're definitely on the same wavelength, in terms of the Vibe and the look & feel.

And that's where your account of play sticks sideways in my mind's-eye appreciation of the game, just as preparing for play sticks sideways in my ability to write on a page. It comes down to this ...

What's with all the combat? Nearly one full side of the character sheet is devoted to fighting stuff and fighting-oriented movement. We have many grades of wounds, many levels of healing, many degrees of stunned-ness, and more. As I prepped and mapped out the rules, the Shadowrun-spoof illustration took on a whole new meaning for me ... it started to look less like a spoof and more like a genuine indication of play - a bunch of streeters and hackers looking wary for a deadly confrontation.

As far as I can tell, you and your group rocked to the same things I rock to in the game - we came to play some music! The band name - the search for our message and our sound - the shared drive to go for it, and damn the cost - the desperate promotion - the gig, the gig itself - and how it all goes with the crowd. As soon as all the crunchy combat begins, I completely don't know why I'm putting the effort into the timing of actions, the crunching impact of the wounds, or the scampering of a stunned combatant from one side of the room to the other.

Please note: I'm not saying anything about the integrity of the combat rules as such - the system itself seems pretty strong. It's the application of the principles to combat in the game that I keep stumbling over, and it's frustrating, because I really, really love the whole premise of the game.

I'm seriously considering "translating" the combat rules into instrument rules, such that you actually draw action cards and so on to play out the songs, with the opposing values and draws being about the crankiness of the crowd or the efforts of the Mother agents to subvert the performance.

Best,
Ron

[Clinton R. Nixon]

I was one of the players in this Starchildren game (Johnny Heroin was my guy, and damn fun to play.) I, too, was frustrated with the combat, and I generally like combat. It was the one part of the system I found to be inelegant and downright overloaded with extraneous rules. Things like Sharpness, and preparation, and whatnot got in the way of having a great time. Given the chance, I would make combat a very simple action, with each attempt either missing, whomping a guy good, knocking him down, or putting him out.

The Action Deck is what really started to bother me. I get the point, but it's a layer of rules that really slows things down. Using it for songs might be a good idea, though.

[rafial]

What's with all the combat?

Are you having trouble with the idea with the notion that the characters may do a lot of scrapping, or simply the volume and specificity of the rules related to combat?

When it comes to in play brawling, I don't have a problem with featuring that at all.  Something that instantly ran though my mind when brainstorming was the bar scene in Buckaroo Banzai where everbody in the band is packing heat as soon as a shot goes off.  Another influence I forgot to mention was Bradley Denton's _Wrack & Roll_,  where the band is always ready to mix it up.

Nearly one full side of the character sheet is devoted to fighting stuff and fighting-oriented movement. We have many grades of wounds, many levels of healing, many degrees of stunned-ness, and more.

Hmmm... It's actually not *that* bad.  You've got one space for actions cards and 4 numbers.  The combat section on the sheet gets way more real estate than it deserves.

As soon as all the crunchy combat begins, I completely don't know why I'm putting the effort into the timing of actions, the crunching impact of the wounds, or the scampering of a stunned combatant from one side of the room to the other.

Dude!  He's stunned.  He doesn't *get* to scamper :)

Seriously, I think we are on the same page here.  My Hesher brawl was supposed to start the game with some hootin' and hollering, and instead I got stuff like "um, you hit him with the table leg, he didn't really notice".  The flava was sorely lacking.

Please note: I'm not saying anything about the integrity of the combat rules as such - the system itself seems pretty strong. It's the application of the principles to combat in the game that I keep stumbling over, and it's frustrating, because I really, really love the whole premise of the game.

Bingo!  My first reaction was "nice combat system.  What's it doing in *this* game?"

It does have some features I like though.  Clinton decried the action cards, but now that I have a better idea of how they work, I think I actually like them.  I've always been a fan of phased action for sim type combat, and it really removes arguments about who does what when.

I also like the notion that while you are mixing it up, the only thing that matters is if you are down or up.  It's only later when you are getting bandaged up that you figure out what got broken or punctured.

The biggest problem I had was with damage.  Two opponents duking it out with fists and feet are almost never going to land a knockout blow in the combat system as written, and everytime you land a blow, it does exactly the same damage as last time.  And it seems like it might take a good 10+ hits to knock somebody by accumulated damage.  Not the wham bam thank you ma'am I was looking for.

Also, there are lots of little places where stuff needed to be streamlined or is missing.  The whole wounds/fatigue thing doesn't make much sense, why is melee an opposed check, but in shooting the defender makes a check that applies a penalty to the firers unopposed check, what do you do with boost in combat, etc etc.  And 2 second rounds?  Please, dog!

Also, why have the move characteristic.  Who is going to set up miniatures to play out combat in Starchildren?  Who is even going to draw a map that is more than a few crooked lines?  What is this, d20?  Each time you get an action card, you can move some, and so people who have more action cards get to move more.  It's that simple.

I'm not pronouncing the patient dead, but she definitely needs surgery.

I'm seriously considering "translating" the combat rules into instrument rules, such that you actually draw action cards and so on to play out the songs, with the opposing values and draws being about the crankiness of the crowd or the efforts of the Mother agents to subvert the performance.

I actually found the crunchiness of the rules on performance, after I fleshed out the rules on writing songs, perfect to my needs.  So my first reaction is not that jamming needs to be more crunchy, but combat less.  But then again I also have this vision of being in the middle of your rock god guitar solo when you look out in the crowd and see Mother's Little Helpers dragging your girlfriend off.  What do you do, man, what DO you DO?!

So I'd love to see anything you come up with.

Another idea I had to help things move along would be a modification to the character sheet.  For each skill, have a slot for all 4 card symbols.  Then prefigure and write in the value you'll get if you play that suit to activate that skill.  That way players can much more quickly assess their options.  Example, say you Perception J, Alertness 7, you'd have:

Alertness H: 4 D: 8 C: J S: 7

(if I'm remembering the suit structure correctly).  One thing that immediately jumps out is that it if you don't have a club, your next best bet is a diamond, not a spade...

Oh, let me throw one more idea on the pile.  Before play started last night, I asked player to try and think of a rock lyric that resonated with their character, and write it on their sheet.  The idea was that any time the character did anything that could be construted to evoke the vibe of their lyric, I'd give them an advantage card.  Mmm... metagame mechanics in a  crunchy little Sim.  Heartbreaker, dream maker, love taker don't you mess around with me...

[Thomas Tamblyn]

I just have to say that Rafial wins (contested only by Paka's plains of Ra posts on RPG.net) the (up till now unkown) prize of post style most suited to the game at hand.

[rafial]

I just have to say that Rafial wins ... the ... prize of post style most suited to the game at hand.

I'd like to thank the Academy, but to make this contest honest, you'll have to include Clinton's writeup of his KPFS game in the nominations: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=3443

[Rich Ranallo]

Wow.  First, it sounds like a hell of a game session you've got there; pretty much the archetypal game I'd envisioned.  Plus, despite the combat problems, it sounds like you got through a fair amount of plot...did you end up just GM-calling the final result or did you play it out completely?

Anyway, to touch on a few points...

I definitely think the character generation sheet helped alot, I had generated a couple characters before hand using the book, and it took me 45 minutes to anhour, but even the players that weren't familiar were able to get through character generation in 30 minutes with the sheet.

If you don't mind, I'd like to take a look at that sheet.  I was about to put something similar together for free download on the website, and if this works, it might be useful...with appropriate credit to you, of course.

a) you usually only get halfway through the action deck in a round.
b) it *does not work* to put in a single set of cards for a group of GM characters, and having them all move on those cards.  The round kept ending before the NPCs could do anything.  As as result, our heros ran circles round them.  However:
c) Punches and kicks do shite damage.  It seems like two reasonably matched characters would take forever to rack up enough damage for a blackout.  A table leg, which I treated as a nightstick wasn't all that more effect.  A broken bottle treated as a small knife was very deadly though...

a) Technically, it averages out to two-thirds, but yeah.
b) I hadn't thought of that when I made that reccomendation.  In playtest, we always used full cards for all the NPCs, and the single-group thing was just off the top of my head.  In retrospect, I'd say that if you're doing that, just deal through the entire deck.
c) Hmm...here's an embarassing moment.  Every Boost an attacker gets on her test is supposed to add 3 to the damage she inflicts.  Of course, I can't find that in the book right now, and it looks like I left it out (eratta sheet, here we come).  See, if you were able to read my mind and did that, the combat would probably have been less static.  See, fistfights are supposed to work out so that two evenly-matched opponents will pound on each other until one gets really lucky and decks the other one.  In uneven matchups, the weaker party should be more concerned with getting the Hell out or finding something sharp.  My bad.

Bob's slumber was disturbed by a gentley glowing Mauni, who had somehow gotten a bit, um, "boy" somehow, trying to crawl into bed with her.  Bob gently refused these advanced, but did set Mauni up with her teddy bear.

Wonderful job portraying the Starchild mindset..."Yeah, things are pretty screwed up right now, but that's no reason not to make some new friends.  She's what they call a "girl," I think...well, I heard they like people who look...like...this!  Here goes..."

...when Johnny's guitar collapsed in a heap of kindling on a botched repair check.

I know that sinking feeling...in an early playtest session, our wonderful roadie crashed a test while moving the gear out of a basement window...wrecked two guitars and a drum kit...damn near got himself fired.

Final comments:  the Man and players alike had a bit of trouble keeping track of the card mechanics and figuring out at any given point exactly what options they had.  I think with more play the system would get smoother, but it certainly is a hurdle.  As the Man, I kept getting misled by the face values of the players cards.  And twists are definately necessary to give the players an out when the cards turn against them.

In my experience, some players pick up on the card thing really quickly, and some have a much harder time with it for some reason.  But overall, after a couple sessions, it becomes second nature.  I'll admit that running combat when the players are unfamiliar with how tests work makes it that much harder, since you're dealing with two unfamiliar rules quirks.

[Rich Ranallo]

What's with all the combat? Nearly one full side of the character sheet is devoted to fighting stuff and fighting-oriented movement. We have many grades of wounds, many levels of healing, many degrees of stunned-ness, and more. As I prepped and mapped out the rules, the Shadowrun-spoof illustration took on a whole new meaning for me ... it started to look less like a spoof and more like a genuine indication of play - a bunch of streeters and hackers looking wary for a deadly confrontation.

Well, to some extent, they should be looking out for a deadly confrontation.  Starchildren has a few parallel themes...it's about the rock, but it's also about the revolution, crime, opression, etc.  You have to think about what's around the next corner, because you're in a situation where a lot of people would gladly hurt you just because of who you are.  This doesn't mean that characters have to be total badasses, but it does mean they should be wary.  The combat rules are set up to make a police ambush very, very dangerous: firearms hurt a lot, being surprised will get you killed, and a guy in riot gear isn't going to feel it when you kick him in the groin, no matter how big the soles on your pink PVC boots are.

The character sheet real estate issue is purely a design issue.  That stuff got pretty spaced-out in layout, mainly to fill the page.

I'm seriously considering "translating" the combat rules into instrument rules, such that you actually draw action cards and so on to play out the songs, with the opposing values and draws being about the crankiness of the crowd or the efforts of the Mother agents to subvert the performance.

You and I have talked (and disagreed) about the crunchiness issue in the performance system before...it comes down to a theory issue, really.  I think that the rules should be lighter when you're dealing with the most important part of the game.  When my character's onstage, I don't want a bunch of numbers running through my head.  The minimalism in the performance system is purely intentional, with just enough rules to give everyone options, but not to get in the way.  Performance is going to get a bit crunchier in the new supplement, but probably still not to the level you're looking for.

[rafial]

despite the combat problems, it sounds like you got through a fair amount of plot...did you end up just GM-calling the final result or did you play it out completely?

Through the end of the battle of the bands was actual play, the wrap up was nararrated.  I'd planned to play it out a little further, but our format is 3-3 1/2 hour one shot demos, and we were moving in on time and it seemed appropriate to wrap on the high from the battle of the bands.

The surprise payoff for me was how much fun the players had with the whole "pinball license" gag.  I threw it in for a quick laugh, but it actually got played up more than I expected, to everyones enjoyment.

...when Johnny's guitar collapsed in a heap of kindling on a botched repair check.

I know that sinking feeling...in an early playtest session, our wonderful roadie crashed a test while moving the gear out of a basement window...wrecked two guitars and a drum kit...damn near got himself fired.

The hilarious part is that he didn't want to use the intergalactic guitar that Mauni had stashed until that happen.  "No thanks love, got this one sounding just like I want.  Bit like a power saw really..."   Mmmm... Went up town, to see my cousin, plays guitar, sounds just like chainsaw buzzin'...

Starchildren has a few parallel themes...it's about the rock, but it's also about the revolution, crime, opression, etc. You have to think about what's around the next corner, because you're in a situation where a lot of people would gladly hurt you just because of who you are.

I think I land somewhere between Rich and Ron on the vibe.  I definitely think that playing up the whole illicit nature of rock adds to the ambience, but on the other hand, in my view of the Starchildren universe, the general public and the local cops are pretty ambilivent about the whole thing, so as long as you are not TOO obvious about your activities, police raids are not going to be a major theme.  On the the other hand, the freaks at the Ministry are relentless.  I kinda think it would wind up feeling like the whole "War on Drugs" thing.  Remember when we had a War on Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore...?  :)

[Ron Edwards]

Hey Rich,

Point taken on the slight philosophy-disagreement - rest assured, I'm planning on running the game as written, no tweaks (well, taking into account your fisticuffs erratum noted above), before shooting off my mouth again.

What really excites me about playing is Rafial's enthusiasm, over there in Seattle, about exactly the things that get me going about the game. I'm really torn between GMing and playing my own vague, sexy, honest, disastrous starchild character.

Best,
Ron