[Legacy of Horutep] indie-informed freeform

[xenopulse]

I just finished running my first session, as GM, of my new freeform chat game set in Ancient Egypt (or rather, a more mystical and sinister Alternate Ancient Egypt).  Now, usually, I wouldn't post about this, as there are no mechanics involved.  But I did use several things I learned from Sorcerer and DitV, and they worked great.  Let me explain.

Even though in a freeform game it's all drama (no karma or fortune mechanics involved), I had the players make character sheets.  I told them to write down description, background, 10 traits ranked 1-5 and five relationships rated 1-5.  This was inspired by DitV, obviously.  The rankings were not the effectivity of a trait, but the importance that the trait should play in the game, according to the player.  And wow, what a difference that made.  In one fell swoop, I can look at character sheets and know exactly which player wants to play fight scenes, or intrigue scenes, or dramatic relationship scenes.  I know who is related to whom, and why they do what, and I can create wonderful bangs.  

The kicker was a common event, since this is a group-style game.  The boy pharaoh has been sick for a month, and the High Priest of Seth has taken over as Regent.  One PC is a doctor who believes the pharaoh was poisoned.  I insisted that the PCs would be tied together in an R-Map, thanks to inspiration from Sorcerer.  So now the second PC was the first PC's ex-husband, and the third PC was the first PC's teacher's wife.  The kicker: at a celebration at the palace, where the teacher was to tell PC 1 what he found out about the poison, he got stabbed to death.

That was truly dramatic, and made sure all three characters have good motivations to be there and jump to action, and I know them so well already from their traits that I can set up bangs in the future.  I have a whole backstory and plot arc, and much more happened, but this post just focuses on what I learned from Sorcerer and DitV.

So thanks, guys.  Even without mechanics, the tools and techniques I've received from indie games in the past few months have made me a much more effective GM.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Christian,

That's all good news, and I'm sure you recognize that as far as Forge-ish terms go, that you were definitely not playing free-form.

Here's my question, though - it's not clear to me, from your post, whether you as GM were initiating situations or setting up outcomes when you provided input.

Were you permitting the outcomes of conflicts and scenes to be driven by players' decisions? Or were you as confident about how scenes turned out as you were of your Bangs' basic interest for the others?

Best,
Ron

[xenopulse]

Well yeah, I'm tied to my old-school definition of freeform as not using fortune or karma.  I could simply say drama-only game, if that fits better here.  It's just that colloquially, we tend to call drama-only games freeform.

As a GM, I set up the major plot scenes and give the characters things to react to.  However, they can also set up scenes if their characters take actions that require that.

Were you permitting the outcomes of conflicts and scenes to be driven by players' decisions?

Yes.  I have set up the basic motivations and events at the beginning, and I have some things that are planned, but the outcome of the first big scene has already changed a few things because of the characters' actions.  I tend to be more of an improv GM, reacting to the way the PCs act in the story.

Overall, I am seeing this as a Sim game.  The players enjoy the setting of Ancient Egypt, and they explore their characters and interactions.  I don't think we'll have a strong single theme going, though I might emphasize personal relationships vs. religious and social status.  Two of the characters are very socially ambitious, but they are also interconnected with each other and the others in strong ways.  That is where I see most of the bangs coming in.