ReCoil Playtest Session 2

[Lance D. Allen]

Ron's post reminded me that I never wrote this post to begin with.

I have run a second session of ReCoil on Indie-Netgaming. My players were Chris Edwards, and Brian Leybourne. Their characters were Chiaroscuro (Chris) and Sonny (Brian).

Character descriptions:

Chiaroscuro: The only thing he remembers with any clarity is " the smell of ozone, flash of lightning, loud roaring in my ears, metallic taste in my mouth, and the silhouette of a woman holding a gun in a flash of light." This drives him to discover the truth behind what happened to him, as well as discovering the truth in any mystery he comes across. As such, he is both a mystery himself, and an investigator.

Sonny: The only thing he remembers with any clarity is "the face of the man who had killed my mother. I remember standing in her doorway, her vague form sprawled on the bed, and the man, winking at me and saying "your turn, kid"." He is harsh and uncaring about adults, but has a strong empathy for children. Though he suspects he'd died as an adult, he most strongly sees himself as a child. He prefers adult hosts, which he sees simply as tools to accomplish his tasks.

The set-up: The characters begin in their "rooms" in Penumbra when Mortis comes knocking on Sonny's "door" to inform him that they have a mission. Sonny fetches Chiaro and they report to be briefed, and to ReCoil. The brief is, as always, terse. A building collapse, 53 deaths, in London, 30 hours from the time of ReCoil.

comments on set-up: I recommend, for the first play session, that all characters start out in their rooms, or their self-created living space in Penumbra. Have the first player describe his character, the character's activities, and the room. Then have Mortis knock. Mortis will usually send the character to fetch their comrades. Have each character in turn describe their character, room and activities as they're fetched. When describing the ReCoil chamber, the common theme I use is a nondescript room with a black oval on the floor. Mortis will be waiting, and will gesture that the agents step on to the oval. They will then be briefed, and any questions answered, though Mortis generally knows no more than the basics of what happens to cause the deaths, how many deaths, approximately where, and how long the agents have. Likewise a common thing I use is that one of the agents must say ReCoil before the mission can begin.

The Situation Web, and choosing hosts: We began freely naming off archetypal characters, sometimes with some added detail. A "latch key" kid. A janitor. A drunk who lazes around his apartment. Once we'd filled the total quota of hosts, they chose their hosts. Sonny chose the Janitor, Chiaro chose the drunk. Stats were then rolled for these characters, which I noted. Then their Synch stats were rolled, and a synch level was determined.

comments: I did not know until the players started naming off characters that "the building" would be an apartment complex. I'd had some vague ideas of the building being a business-place, a school, or what have you. This was the first incident of player influence in the game. Likewise, it's good to note the stats of the hosts, because they may choose not to take that host, or be unable, or later abandon the host, so you will have the stats handy if needed.

The ReCoil: Chiaro found himself in the apartment, and quickly ascertained that his host had once been a damned good firefighter. He cleaned up, listened to the news, and checked around for useful equipment, then headed down to the basement, using his host's firefighter skills to examine the building for any sort of structural weaknesses or tampering. He deemed that he discovered none, but that a dumpster had been chained shut.

Sonny had a natural 5 synch with his host, and so had full access to the host's memories, knowledges, skills, and consciousness. He found (decided) that the character, Bobby. had a pedophiliac streak, but did try to be a good janitor. He was arriving at the apartment building after some Q&A, at which point Sonny's player, Brian, had to quit for the evening.

comments: Chiaro's information check added a new angle to the mystery with the locked dumpster, which makes me curious as to where the players will guide the story. I will add my own bits as appropriate, but I think that the players will take a fairly strong hand in the direction of things. Brian's first information check caused a bit of confusion, as he was not fully understanding that it worked out much the same as Clinton's Donjon; You make the roll, then tell me what you discover. Once he grasped it, he decided that Bobby had sneaked into a room and watched the "latch key" kid showering. He used this bit of knowledge to intimidate Bobby into helping him, using the stick rather than the carrot, which was in line with the character concept. When we can arrange to play again, there will be more posted.

For a full read of the narrative side of this session, please go to http://members.cox.net/dariuswolfe/ReCoil_08JAN04.html

Chris and Brian, please feel free to chime in with your own first impressions of the game and session.

[Lxndr]

I agree that having the players start in their "rooms" in Penumbra, describing both what they're doing, and what the room looks like, is very helpful to play.  I don't think it should be just the first session, though, even if most of the sessions a player's answer might be "my room is the same."  I like to think it's possible that, over time, a room can change as a character evolves through the missions he goes on, and the state of a room can be telling.  Even just describing new features in a room...

But just in terms of character creation, my character Random from the Face to Face game had an excessively different room from Vanilla, and in both cases deciding on the room really did help me get a grasp on my character.  And in this game, there's DEFINITE meaning in the room of Sonny, who constantly torments himself with the man who killed his mother... and Chiaro, in comparison, sitting at a table drinking scotch (we don't even know what's on the walls of his room, or anything like that).

On the other hand, I'm not sure if the gimmick of waiting for a player to say "ReCoil" to start the adventure works as well, since every game so far has led to this situation:

"Mortis waits.  He looks at you expectantly."

"Huh?"

"Say ReCoil."

"Oh, uh, yeah.  ReCoil."

But in a regular group, I'm sure that'd become more established, and it DOES add a bit of mood.

Do you have the log of the OOC room?  Where the situation web was established?  'Cause that'd be a neat thing to read, seeing how you chose things, and so on and so forth.

This is probably the strongest player-driven session of ReCoil yet; the two other games I played in, quite honestly, I don't think were as strong.  Both Brian and Chris got more into their characters than I did with Chance, and with Vanilla I was more reactive than proactive, but a lot of that was on purpose as I was having such a good time playing her as an indecisive bint.  (I still want to play a 2nd session with her, some time)

Anyway, I'm glad to see this game being developed, though Ron's thread makes it clear that there's a lot of questions.  Heck, I've played this game more than anyone else, and even after racking my brain and re-reading the document I still couldn't quite figure out how to answer Ron's inquiries.  I'm looking forward to the re-write.

[Lance D. Allen]

You know, I probably do have the OOC log, as I was using Trillian, and it automatically logs everything.

I'll check it out, and let you know.

[Bob McNamee]

If you don't have the ooc log Lance, I do, since I was lurking in on the game and I have mIRC set to log all my sessions.

Let me know if you need it.

[C. Edwards]

I agree with Lxndr when it comes to having the players describe their character's room each session of play. I think that in itself could lead to subtle changes in the character.

If the OOC log gets posted there should be a few more of Chiaro's room details there as I wasn't aware that Lance wanted them posted in the Nar window. The room also consisted of a bar and walls that were lost in shadow. Basically a sort of one man pub, with a spotlight sort of effect centered on the table and the bar.

The text does leave a lot of questions unanswered, so it's not ideal for playtesting without Lance's presence. He does seem to have all the answers to the questions in his head though, so as soon as he writes up a revised document those questions should be answered.

I haven't had a chance for extended play yet, but so far I like what I've seen. Creating my character's defining memory and determining his Synch trait really helped me get a handle on who he might be and how I wanted to play him. The mechanics seem to work well enough and I thought play went rather smoothly.

I'm looking forward to further playtesting and a refined version of the pdf.

-Chris

[Lance D. Allen]

While it's not ideal to playtest without me, it is honestly what I desperately need. I don't know exactly what questions need answered until someone asks them, and most questions won't come up purely from a read-through. I am fully aware, and was fully aware when I decided it was time to step back and put it out there for playtesting that I'm handing my playtesters a raw deal. But it's to the point where I need to get play feedback, either from what I run myself, or what I can get others to run. When I get enough, I'll be ready to revise the existing text and rules, expand on those parts which are not adequately explained, and finish those parts which are unfinished... not to mention reorganizing the whole mess.

I'm glad that the description of the "room" is considered a beneficial part of play. I'll probably write it into the game as a recommended method of play, even to the extent that it's done each session, where appropriate.

Heh.. I'll probably even actually write it in the actual game text that the mission should be begun with one of the PCs saying ReCoil. I'm realizing that game fiction doesn't strike other people in the same way it does me.

[Lance D. Allen]

Alright, for them what likes to read out of character discourse which accompanies the narrative logs, one can be located through the Games link from the website linked in my signature.

Or for those who don't want to navigate, here.

Note that I have edited the log for things which are not pertinent to the actual play of the game, such as mistyped lines, clarification of IRC codes, etc. Most of the banter was left in for your occasional amusement.

[Brian Leybourne]

Gidday.

First things first, I really enjoyed the game, and am looking forward to trying it out again. I did have a few observations though.

1) Buying skills is too dependant on a single roll of the die. You spend one of your four traits on skills, but the number is 1-10. It's conceviable that someone who spends 1 trait could roll higher than someone who spends all 4 traits. Also, low rolls completely suck as you end up terrible at everything. Instead of 1-10, I propose 5-10 (1d6+4).

2) Skills seemed a little, well, wishy washy. I was never sure (and it didn't seem like you were) when a skill was going to come into play or when we would just roleplay things. Also, with completely open skill picks, ýou're always going to end up being simply unable to do something because you didn't think of it at character creation. I'm not sure what the fix for this would be though.

3) I think maybe you haven't quite decided if the game is Sim or Narr, we kind of started out one way and blended into the other as the game progressed. Either is good, but it needs to be clarified, and if the game is to be Narrativist, then there needs to be some controls put in there so the players can't simply narrate themselves out of every problem and solve the mystery really quick. Some more playtesting needed methinks.

4) I'm not 100% sure how the personality stat/color works, other than simply to determine your sync level with your host. Or is it a pure roleplaying factor. Also, I don't see the point in sync X - why go all the way through creating a host only to find out that you're randomly unable to use it and have to make another one. Wouldn't it be better if Sync X was a dark reflection of Sync 5? The Host is conscious and can take control just like in Sync 5, but is predisposed against you (as opposed to their predisposition to help you with Sync 5) and maybe are a little stronger than you with it. Might make for some interesting roleplaying where you have to convince the host to let you help others etc. Of course, this would necessitate removing the option to reject a host once you find out your sync level with them.

Sorry if those points sound negative. It's easier to come up with (hopefully constructive) criticism than mere plaudits. I really enjoyed my first ReCoil session and am looking forward to continuing Sonny's story.

Brian.

[Lxndr]

1) Buying skills is too dependant on a single roll of the die. You spend one of your four traits on skills, but the number is 1-10. It's conceviable that someone who spends 1 trait could roll higher than someone who spends all 4 traits. Also, low rolls completely suck as you end up terrible at everything. Instead of 1-10, I propose 5-10 (1d6+4).

First, I'd like to say:  See, Lance?  I'm not the only one!

Now, technically, the number is 3-10, because you re-roll 1s and 2s.  But I still totally agree with your point.  Heck, in my view even 5-10 is too rattly and open to interpretation (not to mention that the game SHOULD be able to be played with only ten-siders, I think).

And no other traits are so utterly dependent on randomness - this is the ONLY trait that doesn't have a fixed effect.  I've played two characters so far, and in both cases I've stayed away from this trait, not because I didn't want it, but because I feared the die roll would f*ck me in the ass.

My suggestion to Lance, as I've said in private before, is to make this trait a fixed number.  I suggested six, with the option offered to a player that he could roll 1d10 (without re-rolling 1s and 2s) if he wanted to take that risk.  But that's the kind of guy I am.

[C. Edwards]

Quote:
1) Buying skills is too dependant on a single roll of the die. You spend one of your four traits on skills, but the number is 1-10. It's conceviable that someone who spends 1 trait could roll higher than someone who spends all 4 traits. Also, low rolls completely suck as you end up terrible at everything. Instead of 1-10, I propose 5-10 (1d6+4).

First, I'd like to say: See, Lance? I'm not the only one!

I don't have any issues with this, and I got craptastic rolls the whole time. But then, I don't have any problems with character death or complete and utter failure either.

As far as I'm concerned, if a player takes skills in a game where they have the power to define the course of the adventure, then it's their responsibility and fully within their ability to make sure the character encounters situations where those skills could be useful. I consider it part of the challenge of playing a game organized in such a manner.

-Chris

[Lance D. Allen]

1) Skills: As Lx points out, it's 3-10.. So no, it's not possible for a person who takes it once to beat someone who takes it four times.. But it is fairly close. I'm considering one of two systems to replace the current one.

a. Fixed or roll: Either you get a fixed number (5, not 6, Lx. You've still not convinced me) for each Slivers taken or you can roll, your choice.

b. "Singularity": This was suggested by Anonymouse, and I just thought it was rather cool. If you roll a 1 or a 2, reroll. Add any rerolled dice to the first number you get that is a 3 or higher. So if you roll a 1, then a 3, you get a four. If you roll a 1, 2, then a 4, you get a 7. It is thus nicknamed because either Mouse or Chris Edwards described it as "shrinking down to the point of singularity, then exploding out to create a universe". I may choose to do it as a 1, 2 or 3 reroll, tho', which would leave you only 1 possible roll which would result in less than 5; a natural 4.

2) Skills are currently a little wishy washy. For one, I'm thinking that the fact that host stats are likely to be much larger than Agent stats is a bug, not a feature. The current system for anything not covered in skills is a roll using a host stat. If nothing applies then you can't do it naturally.. But this isn't as limiting as you think. Remember that you're capable of altering reality to your will. There are essentially no limits to what an agent can do.. Only how you do them. As for when a skill comes into play, it's fairly standard; whenever the outcome of an action is in doubt, or when you wish to state certain effects. Rolling to dominate a host for example isn't particularly necessary, even in Synch 5, unless they actively oppose you.

3) Sim or Nar.. I decided I wanted a Nar game, but I have strongly simulationist tendencies. In ReCoil, the intent is that the game can be played out very Sim up until the point when the players decide they want to have a meta-game effect on the story. Their ability to narrate is, IMO, fairly neatly limited, though. Player empowerment comes entirely through dice-rolling (or such things as situation web, or host-building). If you want to insert a fact, you have to make the appropriate Information check, or find a convincing way to include it in the resolution of some conflict, or using character points as discussed on page 20 (note that in Ron's prep questions, I mentioned that character points are currently not in-play. Points may be used from the unassigned Mortis Pool until I revise the text). Within those limits, if the character wishes to narrate themselves out of every problem, and solve the mystery quickly, then that is entirely their option. But yes.. Playtesting is still needed.

4) The only mechanical effect of Synch is to determine the sync level with the host. Other than that, it is meant as a roleplaying guide only. As for Synch level X; I've not yet heard an argument that'll make me budge on it. I like the fact that there are just some people that you won't synch with at all. The host is still available to other agents, or even the Naughtwraiths, so it's not purely a waste of time. BTW, remember that Sonny doesn't have the option to reject his host, because you chose Synched.

As for negative, that's fine. Telling me the game is great, perfect, magnificent is good for the ego, but isn't particularly good for development. I like when people point out areas that they like, so I can keep in mind not to scrap that, or even to make it more a feature, but mostly I am looking for problems. Either it's not clearly delineated in the rules, and I need to clarify, or you don't like how a given rule works. My responses may tend to sound a bit defensive, but please don't be put off by that. I'm willing to change it if given suitable reason, but I want to give you my design rationale for the choices I made.

[Lxndr]

I don't mind craptastic rolls in play - that's par for the course.  Character death, utter failure, I'm fine with that.  It's only craptastic rolls in character creation where I feel cheated and abused, and so I always avoid rules that require rolls when creating characters.

On the other hand, my reason for suggesting a 6 rather than a 5 is that way, there are 5 rolls that are WORSE than going with the fixed number (1,2,3,4,5), four rolls that are BETTER (7,8,9,0) and one roll that's no better (6).  In other words, you have a 50/50 chance of coming out worse.  You don't have that chance on a 5 - in fact, with a 5 your chances are BETTER THAN AVERAGE of doing better on a die roll.  Which I don't like, for character creation.

But still, randomness in chargen just bugs me.  It's a personal bugaboo.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

People seem to be falling into that old trap of thinking that Narrativism means powers of narration and Director Stance. It is neither. Those are merely techniques, with no particular association with Narrativist play.

As I currently see it, ReCoil is a very, very effective Simulationist-facilitating game. It's much like Dread, Thugs & Thieves, Pace (an extreme form), and kill puppies for satan (a precursor). Criminal Element in its current state can go one way or the other, depending on further development.

As a couple of the above games imply, I also think this past six-months-plus has produced a "New Sim Wave" which has neither been recognized nor appreciated by the majority, and I need to call attention to it as such. I really don't want it to be confounded with Narrativist-tending design. Evidence of that confusion is already rife.

Best,
Ron