[In Two Worlds] revised premise

[gamerowl]

In the previous [In Two Worlds] thread, I stated that the game was about the players balancing both a normal, ordinary and a fantastic, heroic life.  But after some wonderful critiques (thanks Tony, Ben, and others) we thought the game would actually be more interesting if it was simply about how life in one world affects life in the other.  Players who role-play this would be rewarded with added dice to their pool.  So, if a player wants to do the heroic, special effect-type actions in the fantasy world, she has to let a bit of her character from one world "bleed out" into the opposite world.

[TonyLB]

[ The following assumes that each character will have two sections of traits, one RealWorld, one Fantasy. ]

So how do you plan to handle this "bleed" mechanically?  Is there a different mechanic for using RealWorld traits in Fantasy (and vice versa)?  Or is it managed by the way the traits "belong" in their setting?

[gamerowl]

Tony,

The characters do have two sets of traits; one normal, one fantasy.

The mechanic for using traits in each world is the same.  You roll one die to use your trait; any extra dice (for increased success) must come from you dice pool.  
The problem I'm struggling with is the normal world.  There won't be equal time given to it; it's not fun.  So the only thing the characters will do in the normal world is play out any moments of difficulty, conflict, etc. they want to portray, in order to regain dice for the pool (and address the new premise).  The list of normal traits are not for conflict resolution; they are  conflict catalysts.  Thanks again for the feedback, chris

[TonyLB]

The normal world isn't fun?  Why on earth not?

[gamerowl]

I'm just saying that the only fun thing in this game about the normal world is characters showing how their normal life is effected by the fact that they are fantastic heroes in another.  I hope these conflicts will be interesting.  I plan to playtest soon.
chris

[TonyLB]

Wow... um... how strange.  I don't see, personally, how you're ever going to address your Premise of balancing the two lives if nobody wants to play one of the lives.

Is there a reason you're not turning their normal life into a soap opera of moral choices, confusing relationships, success, failure and tension?

[gamerowl]

I should have said that, perhaps, the normal world might not be interesting enough to merit equal time. The moral choices, conflicts, soap opera stuff would, in fact, be present, because that's the only way the players can recharge their dice pool.  I guess it would depend on the group, and what action to soap opera ration they would prefer.
chris

[TonyLB]

Well, I think they're sort of going to be guided in that by the mechanics you create.  So what sort of ratio are you aiming for?

[gamerowl]

Well, I think that, at first, the majority of time will be spent in the Otherworld, and when the groups switches to Normalworld, I'll simply ask the players, "who wants to play out a normal life conflict?"  Because the characters in the normal world aren't necessarily related at all; the only time the characters may be physically together (at first) is in Otherworld.

[TonyLB]

Are their statistics, or the type of in-game choices they can make going to change over time (as the characters get together in Normalworld) in a way that will give them more opportunities to work the rules usefully in Normalworld-play?

[kumo]

in my mind the Familiar-Reality & the Heroic-Reality do not need to be "ballanced."  they could very well be "juggled."

still, the relationship between the 2 realities [&/or the player's characters w/in those realities] needs to be determined then rules can be made to facilitate these relationships/conditions.

what crosses over? what is shared between the Realities other than the Characters' awareness & experience of said Realities.?

a character's death in one Reality creates her death in the the other Reality would make it so that one of the lifes could not be fully abandoned even if both lives were not of equal intrest to the player/character.

[Nathan P.]

What about having it both ways? As in, characters have two seperate pools, one for Otherworld stuff and one for Normalworld stuff. Anytime they would earn dice in Otherworld it goes into the Normalworld pool, and vice-versa. This gives incentive to spend a good amount of time in each world, both to give you dice in the other world, and to avoid wasting the dice you earn during play (maybe they could dissipate after some amount of time, either in-game or between sessions, or something).

So, by being heroic and wondeful in Otherworld,  (big-C) Characters gain confidence and (little-c) character that helps them out in Normalworld, and by acheiving personal goals and developing relationships in Normalworld, they increase their power and might in Otherworld. Kind of a positive-feedback loop.

Hope I'm not trampling on your ideas, but maybe that will help some.

[Tony Irwin]

In the previous [In Two Worlds] thread, I stated that the game was about the players balancing both a normal, ordinary and a fantastic, heroic life.  But after some wonderful critiques (thanks Tony, Ben, and others) we thought the game would actually be more interesting if it was simply about how life in one world affects life in the other.  Players who role-play this would be rewarded with added dice to their pool.  So, if a player wants to do the heroic, special effect-type actions in the fantasy world, she has to let a bit of her character from one world "bleed out" into the opposite world.

Hey there, I can see why players would have a good reason for putting running their characters in the normal world (to pick up extra dice), but do you have any reasons for why the characters would choose to be in the normal world? I think if you can identify something necessary and interesting or funny for the characters to do there (regardless of the meta-game reward) then the players will have reason to enjoy the normal world episodes rather than them seeming like a bit of chore.

Have you considered (just say) making it clear for the characters that their source of power is in the normal world. It gives players more of a reason to jerk their characters back into real life to protect their power base.

Tony

[gamerowl]

Hey Nathan,

Well, the thing is, the characters have no choice.  They could switch between the worlds at any time, but when they return, no time has passed.  The premise we want the players to address is:  What happens to characters that switch between two lives.  Players may regain dice *in either world* for role-playing how  the character's situation in one world affects his life in the other one.  Players could regain dice by:
1) Falling apart.  Maybe in Normalworld, they live in an insane asylum because they keep ranting about their heroic life in Otherworld.  They get a die for playing out that scene because they've shown how one world affects another.
2) Holding it together.  Maybe characters show how hard it is to remember to pick up the kid after soccer practice because they just killed the Lord of Bats in Otherworld.  Playing that scene (whether they succeed in normal life or fail) earns a die.

The normal traits a character has will never be used to roll for anything in the normal world; I don't care if they succeed or fail in the normal world.  They just have to show that one life affects another.  Now, if you die in one world, you die in the other, so you have to at least keep yourself alive in both.  That's the situation characters are thrust into.
chris

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Folks might find The asylum: first pass Sorcerer one-sheet interesting. It mainly concerns thematic aspects of the two-world premise.

Best,
Ron