[Gallant] Hubbub at the Royal Hole (play)

[coxcomb]

This is a continuation of the character generation post for the latest test of my game, Gallant.

So we're all done with characters and ready to go.

Part of the system is the idea of establishing scenes. You start with the GM doing one that introduces part of the plot skeleton. Then each player gets to do one for his character, in turn. The rules are, in a nutshell, you get to set up any situation you want in your establishing scene. If you want to provide a complication for the character for the adventure, this is the place to put it. You should also use this opportunity to establish character traits, themes, and whatnot.

I introduced the adventure that we started last time by setting the scene. It's a rainy night at a roadside inn. There is the brief sound of a struggle, then a shadowy group emerges with an obviously struggling figure. They manage to get their captive into the waiting carriage which almost immediately sets off down the road.

At this point, I remind everyone that they should use their establishing scene to draw the characters together and toward their vision of the conflict hinted at by my scene. More on this mistaken emphasis later.

Trent begins with Rene's scene. He is done with his guard duties for the day and is summoned to the bishop. The old man tells him that he is concerned because he believes some of the artifacts in his care are forgeries. Something fishy has been going on. Rene listens carefully and assured his patron that he will assist in whatever way he can. He leaves the church, being sure to give some bread to the street children on the way out. Then he sets out to find his friend Benigno, who he knows will be in his favorite tavern (dubbed the Royal Hole by Zak and Trent).

I should note here that, even though I didn't articulate it very well to the players, this was *exactly* what I had in mind for establishing scenes. We learn something about Rene (he is charitable and kind). We learn of a complication that is vague enough to be easily brought into a variety of plots (forged relics). We get a hint that the bishop trusts him. Anyway, Trent gets a gold star for reading my mind. :-)

Next we go to Benigno, who is in the Royal Hole regaling the patrons with his stories of exploits past (again). He pulls men from their benches to play the part of various characters in his tales. He pulls candlesticks from their holders to use as swords in reenactments of battles. Rene shows up, followed quickly by the arrival of Marie's sister. They retreat to a table where they confer. Benigno learns of his error about his brother and his true love.

The scene switches to Ariel, who gives us a brief description of Ariane having a drink at the same bar. Hers is the shortest scene, and provides no characterization or additional complication.

We switch to Justin, who gives us the story of Rudolfo sneaking into the house of the crime lord and stealing his stuff. He fast forwards to the pawn shop where he tries to sell the stolen goods. A brief but humorous exchange between Ruddy (for so Rudolfo is called) and the pawnbroker ends in the later being thrown from the window of the pawnshop into the gutter in the street below.

Quick switch to Maurice, who is walking along the street outside the Royal Hole when his friend Ruddy falls to the gutter in front of him. Before he can react, a man strides up, removes his gloves, and smacks Maurice with them. The newcomer starts raving about his family honor, which Maurice has besmirched. Calmly, Maurice says, "Could you be more specific? Are you talking about your sister, or your mother?" (or words to that effect—should have written it down at the time.)

At this point we enter normal play, with Benigno, Rene, and Odette ready to leave the Royal Hole to look for Marie. Benigno is excited and thrusts the door open with vigor, knocking the irate nobleman outside onto his ass. The nobleman splutters with increased indignation. During the pause, Ruddy (who is sharing the gutter with him) takes his purse—at the same time, Maurice draw his sword, levels it at the prone man's throat and says, "I accept your surrender." Big laughs. The man gets up, tries in vain to brush the muck off of his clothes, shakes a finger at Maurice and yells out that he has not seen the last of him, and stalks off. (I ask Greg if he wants this guy to be added to the relationship chart, which he declines).

We flounder a bit here, as I try to figure out how to get this motley crew going on the problem at hand. Ariane comes out of the bar in time to see Ruddy in the ditch. As he picks himself up, he notices that he has dropped a valuable item. She notices too, and also that it is the item that she wants from him (this relationship is not firmly defined, but everyone goes with it). Rene notices Maurice, who was established as a childhood friend. They do a quick hello. Then Rene suggests that he, Benigno, and Odette repair to the inside again, where they can try to determine where to look for Marie.

Everyone hears noise of a carriage and a scream. Across the street, it appears that a woman has been struck by the carriage. Benigno rushes to the scene only to find the unconscious form to be that of his true love, Marie.
Some more floundering. Rudolpho draws away from the crowd, as does Ariane, who is keeping an eye on him. Rene goes for a doctor. Benigno gushes over his fallen love. Maurice knocks on the carriage door, where he has a brief exchange with the extremely rude nobleman inside (who is more concerned about getting moving again than he is about the girl he struck). When Maurice asks him what he intends to do about the situation he says he will fire his driver.

Maurice decides to sabotage the carriage. He gets some mops from the tavern and slides them through the wheels of the carriage. After some discussion we decide this should be a conflict. Greg rolls and fails. The servants notice what he's doing and won't start off until they check the carriage.

Benigno tries to get the man in the carriage to step outside. Conflict is rolled, and failed. I decide I've cheated the characters on Quality points, so we adjust.

Greg spends a plot point (metagame resource) to specify that the growing crowd around the scene is getting ugly. I narrate a bit about the throwing of rotten produce. Maurice stands before the crowd, ostensibly trying to calm them down but really egging them on (remarking how they are really beneath this great man in the carriage, and they should not deter him, and so on). He fails this conflict and is run off by the crowd himself (he is a nobleman himself after all).

Zak spends a plot point to have a contingent of the guard marching down the street just then. The lieutenant in charge of the contingent has an exchange with Benigno in which he advises not pissing off the nobleman in the carriage. Benigno and Rene work together to calm the excited crowd.

Ruddy sneaks off to buy himself a bath with his ill-gotten loot. Ariane follows him. By this time, Greg and Zak have to leave. We begin a scene where Ariane tries to steal the locket (for so the item has been determined to be) while Ruddy is in the bath. Lots of discussion about how to handle this, as I hadn't any rules for PvP conflict at that point, and I had taken the notion of "perception" out of the rules when changing to the simplified mechanics, so I wasn't even sure what to have Justin roll. Here we stopped, leaving me with lots of questions.

*****

The biggest surprise to my long years of gaming experience was how much *more* chaotic play was with everyone in one scene together right off the bat, than it had been last time where we switched between scenes with individual characters in them. It seems logical now, after this illustration—but the notion of "get the group together" is so ingrained that it is hard to shake. It is clear to me now that each character gets a lot more attention and care if given his/her own scenes. Related to this, I made a big point from the start about getting the characters together. I think this colored the establishing scenes, which is wrong, wrong, wrong! The whole point of the establishing scenes is to give each character an intro to the adventure (and in this case the game and other players) without the encumbrance of the other characters and their agendas.

I also think it was a big mistake to recycle the characters from the time before. Because I was introducing a new way to make the character connections and whatnot, we should not have brought the baggage from the previous go, which had a sense of finality about it because we had played with those connections before.

Finally, this session brought to the forefront two major design issues for me:
1.) There needs to be a very structured set of rules for getting the initial relationships laid out. Characters need to be closely tied to the part of the Web of relationships that will become the plot. This probably involves conscious agreement between players that X is the main villain, or whatever. This is tricky, because the point is to keep some mystery while revealing the established relationships as the layers of plot are stripped back.
2.) The game still needs some binding to bring it all together. The premise (little 'p', not the Narrative big 'P') needs to be narrowed. The game needs to be "about" something more specific than simply people in the early modern world.

This game sure is a learning experience for me. I am enjoying myself, but I am also going through the pains of relearning the way that I play to match my vision of the game. Exhausting, but fun.

[Zak Arntson]

Oh man! I forgot about tying our establishing scenes into the opening GM-provided scene. If you do want to encourage that, give a system-based incentive/requirement.

This is tricky, because the point is to keep some mystery while revealing the established relationships as the layers of plot are stripped back.

Mystery for whom? Players, characters or participants? I am a firm believer that increased player knowledge leads to better decisions. I don't understand your goal, here.

My biggest concern for Gallant is the lack of specific rules to promote gallant behavior, which seems like what you want the game to be about. Unfortunately, we have no system incentive to do so, hence our party includes two thieves (both of which have questionable motives, "I like stealing stuff," and "I can find richer marks in the city") and a dispassionate noble (whose jaded qualities have no heroic counterbalance).

[coxcomb]

I'll be doing some discussion in the Indie Design forum to figure out what the thrust of the game is supposed to be. It isn't that all characters are supposed to be gallant, as such. But I have this notion of trying to be good people. Have no fear, this is foremost in my mind at the moment.

I'm not sure about forcing the players to use their establishing scenes to tie into the main story. I think it is better to emphasize their use as a tool to illustrate character traits, and to introduce sub-plots that are important to the player. The GM then gets the job of tying them all together (or the players can through their actions during play).

As for mystery and player knowledge, I am torn by this. Part of the fun of intrigue is that the players don't know what the plot is when they start out. The genre is filled with twists and turns that are, IMHO, more fun if they come as a surprise to the players. My vision of play is that the group, in formulating the chart of characters and whatnot, identify the major NPCs that are to be involved in the plot, and maybe some general info about it (does it involve tensions between church and the noble class for example). Then the GM formulates some specifics and you go. So the players know a lot about what might be going on, but the specifics of the intrigue at hand are not known to them. Of course, players can influence the specifics by asserting them during play (using plot points).

[jdagna]

As for mystery and player knowledge, I am torn by this. Part of the fun of intrigue is that the players don't know what the plot is when they start out. The genre is filled with twists and turns that are, IMHO, more fun if they come as a surprise to the players. My vision of play is that the group, in formulating the chart of characters and whatnot, identify the major NPCs that are to be involved in the plot, and maybe some general info about it (does it involve tensions between church and the noble class for example). Then the GM formulates some specifics and you go. So the players know a lot about what might be going on, but the specifics of the intrigue at hand are not known to them. Of course, players can influence the specifics by asserting them during play (using plot points).

Jay, I think our last session showed exactly what's wrong with that.  You are trying to get two things at once:
1) Players advance the plot
2) Players don't know the plot

As a result, we spent four hours trying to figure out what to do with a coach that had injured a woman in the street.  

Also, I think the intial opening scene was so vague that I, at least, didn't know how to tie my character to it except through something lame like "I watched it happen."  There was just too much mystery for us to be proactive about addressing it.

[coxcomb]

Jay, I think our last session showed exactly what's wrong with that.  You are trying to get two things at once:
1) Players advance the plot
2) Players don't know the plot

As a result, we spent four hours trying to figure out what to do with a coach that had injured a woman in the street.  

Also, I think the intial opening scene was so vague that I, at least, didn't know how to tie my character to it except through something lame like "I watched it happen."  There was just too much mystery for us to be proactive about addressing it.

I am not suggesting that this session was the ideal--far from it. Not only was my establishing scene not detailed enough, it was recycled in a way that it shouldn't have been. We also didn't have the right arrangement of relationships developed to make the characters all care about the plot.

I'm not saying that the players are ultimately responsible for developing the plot. Rather, they have the ability to affect the plot--to bend it to their liking. Nor am I saying that the players don't know the plot. Rather, they don't know everything about it. The plot is not intended to be strictly defined in the first place. It is intentionally flexible, so that it can change and react to the actions of the characters during play.

[trechriron]

Man, I looked all over for this after that session and could not find the post.  I must have had on magical blinders.  I hope you get this post, and I will bring up my suggestions again at our next session.  I hope I am not breaking any Forge rules.  My apologies if I am.


1)   On the R-Map, this was a brilliant and fun idea.  I suggest having the GM have one or two potential meeting points already established on the R-map that only the GM knows the true nature of.  These would simply state who the person is with a little background and personality, so it helps suggest the (potential) nature of any ties with the PC.  As skeleton parts are suggested from players involving mystery or conflict you can weave them into these pre-established R-map people in the background.  Another idea would be to define some potential people and then introduce them as the players discuss potential relationships for the map, kind of like holding some cards before the R-map discussion begins.  If everyone wants to be related to a noble, and you think you have some catalyst involving an evil noble, you could place the noble for the players, give him a name, some background details, and let them run from there.

2)   Backdrops.  More background information would be helpful and I think having some pre-established backdrops to add to the R-map will help establish where the scenes could potentially take place.  Even better, have a couple established for setting the scene already defined.  You could have players designate important backdrops to them (like the Royal Hole).  Taking this a step further, you could allow R-map lines to be tied to backdrops as well.  It might help establish some context for the SIS, as even someone not familiar generically with the historical period could still get wrapped up in some scenic details, thereby inspiring some input on their part.

3)   The description of the establishing scene for the character needs to be explained better.  It is a great idea and I loved doing it.  I think a solid example would spark the creative juices on that one.


On the note of Ariane played by my wife, Ariel.  She was a tad lost (I mean that in a loving way...).  She is new to RPGs and she didn't grasp the concept of Narrativist play.  Story Now was intimidating to her.  She is a very creative person, however she would need more insight into this style of play to understand what is expected of her to be involved and have fun.  Also, for some reason I cannot fathom, she was in a confrontational mood.  She may have been intimidated by the whole experience and reacted with the "Fight" response since her only escape was with me!  :-D  I think she will get more comfortable as she gets to know everyone and can get a feel for what we are trying to accomplish.

I had a blast and I feel this has great potential.  Thanks for inviting me!

[coxcomb]

Thanks for chiming in, Trent!

So, a couple of things:

I have now codified the Story Charting process in the pre-game phase. BTW, I am really set against referring to them as relationship maps anymore. They are not at all the same things as Ron's relationship maps, and I want to nip that confusion in the bud. The process was very undefined when we played. Our next session, I'll use the new rules (I will also post them here at some point, if I ever get my ass in gear). Anyway, it is clear in my rules that the Maestro (GM) is a player in the pregame process just like everyone else. If you are running the game and want some elements to be present, you are totally encouraged to inject them. But it is important during the pregame that the Maestro not hold anything back. That isn't to say he shouldn't come with some ideas ready to go, but the focus here is that the pregame makes it the players' story--there is consent all around. It's a difficult balance, but I am committed to it.

I like the idea of players providing set pieces for their characters--and defining them before hand. I'll keep that in mind as I go forward.

That was my very first attempt at establishing scenes. You are right that examples are needed. But I do think our run proved the concept--and I'm running with it.