Scene Framing

[Valamir]

Ok, i've been stirring around a few ideas.  For awhile now Mike and I haven't really been satisfied with the definition of Facts and the subjective nature of Flavor vs. Significance, but nothing had come to mind as a solution.  Recent threads here have brought the issue to the surface again and with it some other concepts from elsewhere on the Forge have bubbled up which had been lurking in the muck at the bottom of my mind.

The idea I'm looking at now is: enforced scene framing.  Theres been some great threads here about scenes and mercilessly cutting from one to the next etc.  Why not use those ideas not just as a gaming tool, but as an explicit part of Universalis's mechanics.

Players still take turns and much remains as it has been, but now on their turn a player literally has to frame a scene and carry out the events of it.

They have to establish a location for the scene just like a director deciding on a set to use.  The location could be Created fresh like any other Component for 1 SP, or an existing Location (complete with existing Traits that can be Activated) can be used for 1 SP.

They have to establish which characters (or other Component props) are present in the scene.  These again can be Created fresh for 1 SP or an existing character/component can be introduced into the scene for the same cost bringing with it its Traits.

Having Events occur in the scene is now much simpler.  There is no longer an issue of getting bogged down in the minutia of when "Joe gets hit by a car" wondering if the car needs to be paid for or not.  Joe was already established as being present in the scene, the car was already established as being present in the scene (either newly created or some pre existing "villain-mobile").  All that remains is paying for the event itself.

Bonus feature of the system...what is Significant and what is Flavor is now much more objective.  Was the car involved in an Event that I paid for?  Yes.  Then it must be introduced to the scene as a Component present in that location.  What about all of the other traffic and pedestrians and such?  Did I pay for an event which involved them? No. than they are just background Flavor and require no currency be spent.

This system seems well suited to "movie/play type scripts".  Scenes would often open with something akin to a voice over narration "The place: an abandoned warehouse on the docks sometime past midnight.  Within, a shaft of moonlight pierces the dusty gloom illuminating two trenchcoated figures deep in converstion.  The hot end of a crumpled cigarette illuminates the face of the speaker in a red glow, its Captain Fairchild of the local constabulary..." etc.  

The important features are:
Location: abandoned warehouse 1 SP...existing or newly created
Participants:  Captain Fairchild 1 SP (existing character), nameless thug 1 SP (newly Created).
Events:  whatever it is the Captain is about to say 1 SP.

Done and done, cut to next scene.


Hows that grab everyone?

[Mike Holmes]

That's a fairly radical change. If we were to do something like that, I would also want players to have the ability to extend the scene. So, my turn is done when I pass to the next player (who then contiues the scene) or when I end the scene. Players should also be permitted to buy the scene as they can buy it now. Also, this would solve the dialog riddle. Players not framing the scene can pay one coin to get to play the actions of any character in that scene. Might also allow a non-turn player to interject a character without taking the scene. Hmmm. Maybe. Anyhow, I've been thinking for a while that something like this might fix a lot of problems.

We would have to credit some other designers, though. A lot of this is like Chris' new game, and some even reminds me of Moose's Human Wreckage. Perhaps we can add a twist...

Mike

[Paul Czege]

Hey Ralph, Mike,

Be very careful. My experiences with players both framing scenes (creating the conflict) and narrating the outcomes of those scenes http://indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10940">in Chalk Outlines, and http://indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10937">with The Pool raised a lot of issues for me, and for our whole play group...so much so that Scott Knipe has all but decided to alter his WYRD rules so players don't narrate the adversity of their own tragic stones.

Paul

[Valamir]

Please provide more detail Paul.  Defining the conflict AND determining its outcome has been a feature of Universalis since the beginning.  The Scene Framing idea was more one of moving the game away from "stream of concious" creation and towards more structure.

The Complication mechanism provides a means for one player to define a conflict and then compete for who gets to resolve it.  But outside of a Complication a player has been free to do both as he desires.

[Mike Holmes]

I think that Complications do the trick fine here.

Any player can start one at any time. The Scene Framing would not change that. So, if I'm going along, and I don't like the lack of tension in my own description, I can start up a complication. The nifty thing about Complications is that they give an incentive to other players to participate in creating the outcome, thus causing that interaction which was, IIRC, identified as being the problem with the games in question.

Essentially, complications put the choice of whether or not to have interaction in the hands of the players. The game or GM does not decide, the players do. The game just provides the incentive to participate that makes the mechanic effective. We would not want to allow scene framing to take that away.

Mike

[Valamir]

Actually the Complication mechanic would compliment a Scene Framing technique nicely, since much of what "scene framing" involves was part of the process of Originating a Complication to begin with.  A Complication would just latch on to the existing scene with the originator using the scene elements to frame his Complication.