The Beast Released I

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

So last night was Questing Beast night! I'm setting up two threads about it, one here about play and content, and another in the Random Order Creations forum regarding some technical/design stuff.

Here's the big limitation I faced. We're talking about a one-evening session, as this was with the campus club (which is strictly prohibited from hosting ongoing games - members run littl'uns and encourage people to set up ongoing groups of their own). So that means that I set up the Hallows, the Accords, and the characters by myself. This already "cages" the Questing Beast badly, as the whole point of play is for the players to be Bards, not movers-about of the GM's miniatures.

Well, so be it. The good news is that it was a stupendous experience and the other people in the room dropped what they were doing to come watch. The players glommed onto the features of the system with some hitches and stumbles at first, but when they did the Romance emerged in outstanding form. Again, it was more of a unified saga than a set of individual stories, due to the interlinked Romances I'd begun the characters with. However, that unification into a shared climax was their doing, not mine, and the final outcome was (a) not expected by me and (b) exceptionally exciting and entertaining.

I want to talk about several things in this thread, specifically: (1) Use of Pool dice across various players' rolls (ie helping) and even across scenes, as the rules suggest; (2) the role of the GM as Cut-To Commander, which I think might have some abusable features as written; (3) the surprising stability of the Pool in TQB, which may or may not be a good thing; and (4) issues regarding goals-announcement as opposed to task-announcement (which the players, interestingly, grasped very quickly).

I listed all those so I wouldn't forget them as I continue to post to the thread. In the meantime, though, I'll start with the materials I gave the players.

Best,
Ron

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,
These are the materials that I gave the players. We ended up with three guys and two women, and everyone seized the character they wanted instantly, with no disagreements about that whatsoever. Kind of interesting, that.

The Accord and The Hallows
This is a game of Arthurian fantasy, about Courtly Love: True Love is worth anything. Or to put it like a question, Is True Love worth absolutely anything? Or anything at all?

"The Hallows" refer to things that are basically set in stone for the purposes of play.
- The Saxons have been defeated, despite occasional raids on the coasts
- Arthur has been King for about twenty-five years; he is wise, just, and fierce
- The Round Table represents civil order, freedom from oppression, and ideal behavior
- Queen Guinevere rules the Court of Love and her favor is now valued over military prowess
- Morgan le Fay poses the greatest danger to the Round Table and Arthur's rule
- Guinevere and Lancelot are having an affair - but no one knows about it
- Younger knights go all silly about gaining ladies' favors and fight about it constantly, or go on dangerous quests to kill monsters
- Merlin disappeared from Camelot ages ago
- A young knight named Mordred has joined the Round Table recently
- Ten years ago, a well-liked knight, Sir Amren, was killed; some say he was murdered.

[Forge notes: I was going for a French-Romance chanson thing, with a lot of favors and swooning and poetry and so on, punctuated by bloody deeds and abductions and betrayals, yet even those have a kind of gauzy quality. Arthur was a bear, Guinevere was a cat, Lancelot was a cat as well, Agravaine was a dog, and Kay was a pig.]
[I also lifted liberally from a fantastic Pendragon supplement called "Blood and Lust," which in my opinion is one of the finest Simulationist-facilitating sourcebooks ever published. I altered its usage 180 degrees, but a lot of the content is from there.]

How to play
You may announce events in a scene if your character is present, or if any of your Motifs seem like they would fit well in the scene. Players may therefore be very active even if their character doesn't do much.

Whenever you'd like, tell me what you'd like to do or what you would like to happen. Think in terms of big conflicts, not actions - "I kill him," or "I knock him from his horse," are good, because they resolve conflicts, but not "I swing at him," which just describes an action.

I will assign you 1-3 dice to roll. Add a die if you are using a Motif (one only). You may also wager some dice from your Pool, up to nine total. Roll all the dice at once.
- If you get any 1's at all, you succeed, and you make a Monologue of Victory, in which you describe what happens.
- If you get no 1's but any 6's at all, you fail, and you make a Monologue of Defeat. You also lose any dice you wagered from your Pool, if any.
- If you get no 1's and no 6's, it's a Guided Event, which means I (the Guide) get to say what happens. Add a die to your Pool.
- [Special: If you bet all the dice you had in your Pool, or nine dice at any time, and if you fail, then the Guide narrates a Dolorous (very very bad) Event. ]

You may also give anyone a die from your Pool when you want to (it doesn't come back).

Sir Rupert of Haughley
Romance: You're a tough old knight, who fought with Arthur against the Saxons. For years, you've been trying to get your lands (called Haughley) into shape, especially since the Saxons keep raiding. You finally got the time to come to Camelot, because a neighboring knight, Sir Cadwy, is causing you some problems - it seems he's been outlawing a lot of people, and they've taken to hunting and stealing across your borders. However, Camelot has changed a lot. All the young knights seem obsessed with this airy-fairy True Love stuff, and it's going to be hard to get the help you need.

Motifs: Tough, Experienced +2, Observant, Scary growl, Loyal squire (Bartholemew), Good horseman, Baron of Haughley.

Animal (choose): Dog, Badger, Porcupine, Ram [The player chose the Ram]

Starting Pool: 6

Sir Gauter du Lynn
Romance: You are a tragic knight. Questing to earn the favor of the Lady Melianne, you encountered a terrible flight of wyverns and were driven into a magical wood; there, a witch captured you. You escaped, but she laid a curse upon you that never would you find love. Upon arriving at Camelot, you have found that Lady Melianne herself disappeared, years ago (you were in the wood a long time) - apparently she had left with the notorious Sir Bertelot. Perhaps he kidnapped her; she wouldn't have gone willingly, would she?

Motifs: Evil spell upon you, Lost love +2, Good singer, Widely travelled, Magic horn, Friends with Sir Hubert

Animal (choose): Goat, bat, bobcat [The player chose the Goat]

Starting Pool: 6

Sir Briant of Willingham
Romance: At last, you have attained the age and experience to come to Camelot! Membership at the Round Table is all you have ever dreamed of, and you know all of the knights and their deeds well. Clearly, the highest goal for a knight is to attain the True Love of a worthy lady, and you are determined to do so. However, during your travels here, you had a strange experience: a flock of ravens flew to the ground, and formed into a black-haired woman! She said she was named Blevine, and begged you to tell the people at Camelot that "Amren's Bane" is gathering to destroy the Court of Love. Since then, funny little imps and pixies have helped you occasionally.

Motifs: Idealistic, Brave +2, Knows all the legends, Heraldry, Liked by faery folk

Animal (choose): Pig, raccoon, woodchuck, bull [The player asked whether he could be a smallish black bear, and I said sure]

Starting Pool: 6

Ahvielle Arwen ferch Amren
Romance: You are the daughter of Sir Amren, who was murdered by Sir Bertelot, a notoriously evil knight. Your mother fought hard to keep Amren's lands from being stolen by Bertelot, and to keep the Heart Sword secret from him. Today, you are the keeper of the Heart Sword (it is safe in the care of Blevine, a good witch in a far forest), and you seek a knight who is worthy to bear it. Bertelot still hates you and seeks to pervert the Sword into an instrument of evil, and you want to find someone who can match him, using honest love as a source of power. You well understand the difference between real love, such as your parents had, and True Love that the poets sing about.

Motifs: Beautiful, Good-hearted, Stubborn, Smart, Faster than you look, The Heart Sword +2

Animal (choose): Deer, fox, rabbit, peregrin falcon [The player chose the Falcon]

Starting Pool: 6

Lady ("Sir?") Miranda
Romance: You grew up at Castle Gyneve, where all the great ladies do battle, ride to quests, and strive toward the ideals of the Round Table, including winning the favors of men. It's a magical place, and hard to travel to or from; only a few people have crossed its boundaries. You have done so, the first knight of Gyneve to travel to Camelot, of which you have heard so much. Much to your surprise, after a very strange adventure as you crossed out of Gyneve territory, the world seems to have turned upside-down - here, and everywhere it seems, the knights are men, and the ladies are twittering idiots! You don't fit in at all, but you're a real knight and willing to prove it.

Motifs: Excellent jouster, Fine horse, Proud, Chivalric +2, From the magical land of Gyneve, Quick study

Animal (choose): Ferret, Panther, Hawk [The player chose the Panther]

Starting Pool: 6

[James V. West]

Hey

I'll be making most of my replies in the Random Order Creations forum.

Damn, you nailed it! The character descriptions you have here are exactly in the spirit of The Questing Beast. In particular, what I like about Motifs is that you can have stuff like "the Heart Sword +2"...and yet the character is not actually carrying it! It's a +2 to using the motif, not the actual weapon.

I lot to chew on here and little time to do it...more soon.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi James,

Precisely, about the Heart Blade. Ahvielle's player used it to add to someone else's roll when they were trying to figure out where the Blade had been taken to (and incidentally where Ahvielle had been taken as well). Otherwise she used it for the climactic moment, when Sir Briant held out in lone defense against Morgan le Fay, again on his roll.

Sir Briant's player enjoyed having his little faery pals help out a variety of rolls by various players, especially since the other players liked the idea that no one, including Sir Briant, knew the little buggers were around at all. Thus if someone succeeded with the faeries' help, they delivered MoV's which included much "behind the character" activity.

This raises a big issue, though. There are two ways to do this: actually have player X roll his own motif/Pool dice long-distance, or have player X simply loan motif or Pool dice to player Y's roll long-distance. This is a very big difference; the first entails two stated goals (and X's can't be just "helps" in this case; the results must include yes-yes, yes-no, no-yes, no-no), and the second entails just one, player Y's. I strongly recommend explict examples in TQB's text to clarify right & proper procedure for each way to do it.

As for other motif use, I was especially impressed by the player of Miranda, who used the "quick study" motif to act like a twittering court lady to get in good with Sir Bertelot; we even got a great scene in, in the evil castle, with a really sick/scary ultra-polite/mannered court-seduction bit between them (he being all gray and wasted and awful at this point), with the corrupt knights and grotesque goblins carrying out a violent, brutal, sadistic feast/party in the "court" of the castle. Then, in the bedchamber, she used her "from a magical land" to kick his butt royally.

Also, that particular player is an enthusiastic anthropomorphic artist and she turned out a fantastic portrait of Miranda-the-panther by the end of the run, which I had secretly been hoping she'd do. I'll see if I can get a scan up for the thread.

Best,
Ron

[Ron Edwards]

Here's another point I'd like to make about this session. It's pretty important, I think.

I'd intended to play with only three players, and brought five characters only to provide some diversity for them to choose from. I was prepared to play Ahvielle as an NPC if necessary (basically by being ready to bestow "Heart Blade +2" on anyone who made some appropriate rolls and was willing to spend 4 Pool dice for it during play).

As it turned out, plaintive cries won me over and I went ahead and played with five. You know what? It worked great. This is a Narrativist game in which five or six players can really be possible, and even more so, immensely improve the fun of what's going on.

The key for the GM is to make sure that (a) everyone grasps the idea of how much they can contribute, most particularly the business of calling for a roll if they want, or beginning a scene if they want; and (b) everyone gets a lot of air-time. I found myself playing "teach" in the first half-hour, and "dispatcher" for the rest of the session.

It seems to me that some guides for the GM about how to do this - sort of a West equivalent of my Chapter 4 in Sorcerer, obviously with very different content and reflecting his, rather than than my, insights into GMing - would be a very good idea.

Best,
Ron

[James V. West]

Ok, so you allowed players to essentially lend their Motifs to other players? I hadn't actually covered that in the rules (or if I mentioned it, it was purely accidental and I probably meant something differet). But I'm digesting the concept. I particularly like the idea that players are using Motifs that their Hero does not even know about, and even using them for other players' Heroes. This is good stuff and gives me some serious ideas for my own future sessions of TQB.

This raises a big issue, though. There are two ways to do this: actually have player X roll his own motif/Pool dice long-distance, or have player X simply loan motif or Pool dice to player Y's roll long-distance. This is a very big difference; the first entails two stated goals (and X's can't be just "helps" in this case; the results must include yes-yes, yes-no, no-yes, no-no), and the second entails just one, player Y's. I strongly recommend explict examples in TQB's text to clarify right & proper procedure for each way to do it.

I'm not getting your exact meaning here. If I want to lend you 3 dice from my Pool so you can have a better chance of intimidating the evil king, what is my exact obligation besides handing them over? It's your roll, and we know its going to go for intimidation.

But if I actually make a roll for you (if I'm reading you right), then, of course, I have to make an explicit statement of what I'm trying to do?

If I'm misundertanding you, please let me know.

Since players can use their Motifs anytime it fits, then rolling for the sake of another player's character would be legit. I mention in the rules the thought of giving dice to other players at the end of a session, or before, but I dont' talk about doing it in any other circumstance (besides the moment of potential death). I'm not sure about it. What would this entail? Players' Pools would almost take on the quality of one big shared Pool due to comraderie. Is this a bad thing for the game?

Also, that particular player is an enthusiastic anthropomorphic artist and she turned out a fantastic portrait of Miranda-the-panther by the end of the run, which I had secretly been hoping she'd do. I'll see if I can get a scan up for the thread.

Awesome. I'd love to see the drawing. Perhaps she'd be interested in doing a peice or two for the cleaned-up second draft?

As it turned out, plaintive cries won me over and I went ahead and played with five. You know what? It worked great. This is a Narrativist game in which five or six players can really be possible, and even more so, immensely improve the fun of what's going on.

Fantastic! I always pictured it being played with at least 3, and no more than 5. That's a perfect range for variety and unpredictable events.

You ran a one-shot, which, as you already said, sort of ignores part of the game's focus--to write a Cycle of Romances. Do you feel like the players' understood this aspect of the game? Do you feel like the rules support long-term play well?

The key for the GM is to make sure that (a) everyone grasps the idea of how much they can contribute, most particularly the business of calling for a roll if they want, or beginning a scene if they want; and (b) everyone gets a lot of air-time. I found myself playing "teach" in the first half-hour, and "dispatcher" for the rest of the session.

It seems to me that some guides for the GM about how to do this - sort of a West equivalent of my Chapter 4 in Sorcerer, obviously with very different content and reflecting his, rather than than my, insights into GMing - would be a very good idea.

Good advice. I didn't get into much of the "how-to" stuff in the first draft because I wanted to see it in play and get some solid ideas for what needed to be clarified with examples and what was able to stand alone.

I've played a few sessions of The Pool using the furry King Arthur setting and it worked out good, except I felt like it needed a kick in the right direction. Thus, the TQB rules. But I haven't yet had the chance to put the new rules to the test and I'm eager to do so. My one huge obstacle is in finding people who are willing and able to play this kind of game and who can all get together at the same time.

Thanks again Ron.