[The Big Night] Sheckleton's Sacrifice

[Meguey]

As promised, I ran The Big Night for my sons Sebastian (~9) and Elliot (5.5), and also Emily, Carrie, Joshua, and Vincent last night. We started a bit late, around 9 p.m., so I wasn't sure how well the kids were going to do, since they had had a big day already, and are usually tired and heading to bed around 8:30. But I had promised.

On the 45 min drive up to Emily's house, I had read the first bit of the book to Vincent and the boys, and they were already clear on what puppets they wanted to play. Elliot changed the Baby Dinosaur to a Baby Dragon, and practiced roaring with glee. Vincent chose the penguin, and Sebastian made up his own puppet. He wanted to be a bouncy ball, but couldn't figure out how to make it also be able to talk, so he settled on a Weeble named Wembly. For Wembly's Presents Sebastian choose: Can't Fall Down, and I suggested Smart. For Wembly's Lump, Sebastian chose: No Hands.

We got to the farm at about 3 p.m., and helped with farm stuff, harvest stuff, cook-out stuff, hot-tubing stuff and star-watching stuff until about 8:30. During the day, Sebastian read the rest of tBN, so he knew the rules very well. I made it known early on that I wanted to run tBN 'later', so people were still prepared for that when I said "ok, let's do the Big Night now." Emily copied the puppets on her handy machine, making a Bunny for Carrie, a Polar Bear for Joshua, and a Snowman for herself. Sebastian drew and colored his Weeble while we waited.

I LOVE the coloring part of tBN. It's so unlike what we adults normally do, and it automatically gets people loosened up and open to the slightly silly world of tBN.  Right away, Joshua and Vincent started making up silly character voices. Throughout the game, whenever anybody mentioned an item, Vincent drew it and handed it, with a bit of tape, to the puppet in question. It was a great addition to the game. Emily scanned the finished puppets, and they will be on-line somewhere soon.

Around the table it was:
Leader = Meg
Blaze the Baby Dragon = Elliot
Wembly the Weeble = Sebastian
Sheckleton the Snowman = Emily
Bunny Sabine = Carrie
Dorje the Polar Bear = Joshua
Erwin 'the Penjuin' the Penguin = Vincent

I choose the first Mission in the game: a child is supposed to get a pony, but there's no pony in the sleigh.
We started out at the North Pole, and I found myself wishing I had a bit more GM support in exactly how to get to or introduce the Mission. I fell back on what I'd seen Allan do, but if felt a bit bumpy to me. We did have some fun, slapsticky stuff right off, with Dorje the Polar Bear holding up the sleigh to tinker with it, tossing Wembly the Weeble into the sleigh, and Sheckleton the Snowman making himself into a set of stairs so everyone could get into the sleigh. Bunny Sabine immediately fell asleep, and Dorje the Polar Bear tossed the sleigh and got dragged along behind. The first conflict of the game was "Does Erwin fall out of the sleigh on take-off?" I won, and Vincent said "Aww, man!" We all laughed, because clearly he had wanted Erwin to fall out.

We had to find the first house on the list. We had a list, but where are we? On Wembly's turn, he said "I think I have a map in my pocket, but someone else will have to get it, because I have no hands" Blaze got it for him, and they found the first house. There was a tiny bit of a fuss when Sebastian wanted me to give Wembly a smaller hint than I felt was warrented, and I had to remind him to Follow the Leader and just go with it, which he then did with relative grace. Vincent drew a tiny map for Wembly.  Sheckleton started tossing snowballs over the side, and one broke something. Uh-oh. We needed to stop and see what got hit, but who's flying this thing? Dorje grabbed for the brake, but lost the R/P/S, so the sleigh started plummeting down. Aaaaaah! Erwin lost the R/P/S and failed to grab the map as it flew away. Blaze won the R/P/S and managed to grab the map at the last moment. Wembly determined we were at the wrong house on the map, but it was on the list. On her turn, Bunny Sabine lost the R/P/S and failed to wake up even after the crash landing. Dorje won the R/P/S and picked up the forest and hid the barn under it.  Wembly read the list, which said the Nice child in the left bedroom deserved a present, but look out for the Naughty child in the right. I interjected that the child on the right was supposed to get a pony, but there was no pony in the sleigh (Whew! Finally got the mission clear!)

Dorje tossed Bunny Sabine in through the window into the Naughty child's room, and she snuggled right up to him and kept him asleep through the rest of the team's shenanigans. Erwin asked the wind where to find a pony, and there was a horse farm 50 miles away. Dorje picked up the sleigh and determined it was damaged in the crash. Sheckleton turned himself into the missing part, and they all flew to the pony farm. Erwin tried to talk to a pony, lost the R/P/S and didn't convince it to come with us. Blaze ticked a pony with his toothbrush, but lost the R/P/S and it just skittered away. Wembly thought that we needed a snack for the pony, to attract it. Sheckleton offered his carrot nose, which was met with great delight by the players. We all flew back to the farm, where Dorje shoved the pony through the open window into the Nice child's room. Blaze found an icicle to be Sheckleton's new nose, and we went home happy.

A few times the players made big jumps ahead in plot, which was fine, and along the lines of "Ok, so we get there..." I could have negated it, but especially since it was so late, and since it wasn't a problem, I let it go. It was very convenient for there to be a Penguin in the game with the Baby Dragon, because that way the Dragon could communicate. It was good to have the kids right after me, so I could recap a bit before their turns, and introduce new things if needed. In the game I was in at GenCon, it was Allan, three kids, me, four kids around the table. The ability of the adults to recap in the "Ok, this happened and this happened, and that's still happening, so I'll do this" way gave a good nudge to the kids to keep on track and stay informed.

We ended play at 10:30, so played for 1.5 hours, and the kids were totally engaged and focused the whole time. The first thing Elliot said this morning was "Can the Big Night game be played with just three players and one leader?" Sebastian clearly wants there to be more conflict and danger, as he introduced the idea of the Naughty child (specifically a brother, I seem to recall). He has also read the book, so he's all interested in the idea of Agents and Monsters. I expect we will be playing this again.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Yeah, very good fun was had. I had game stuff jammed in my backpack and was never even tempted to pull something out to pitch becaue I was so looking forward to the game.

The RPS mechanic has a flaw: no one wins 1/3 of the time. We wound up reshooting ties, but I think every tie should introduce some complexity, rather than either waiting a round (as the rules say) or just reshooting (as we did).

I really liked playing the character I did. That was some weird, weird polar bear. Here's his backstory, as I was reimagining it today: he went to a Polar Bear Convention in Nepal where he attended a Release Your Inner Yeti workshop. It was the most profound experience (other than eating seals) that he'd ever had. That's why he decided to help the Fat Man: his ego evaporated and he felt profound compassion for those living around him on their mortal coil. That's right, the Dorje, the Bodhisattva Bear.

The Strong thing was a lot of fun. Very surreal. The Growl I just couldn't work in. I loved the Huge lump, though: he was really very variously huge: sometimes two stories, sometimes like a big man, sometimes like a forest. Fun!

[Meguey]

I realize I forgot the new fix Allan has for losing R/P/S: loser narrates what happens instead. Wish I'd remembered that.

Elliot and Vincent played a mini-follow-up game with their puppets (Blaze and Erwin) that was really funny. Apparently tBN is successfull with just two players, too.

[lumpley]

I have images! Emily scanned them and sent them to me:
Blaze
Bunny Sabine
Dorje
Irwin & Wembley
Sheckleton

Elliot and Sebastian were Not Buying Dorje, as J was coloring him. They were like, "Dorje: what's his deal?" J was like, "well, y'see, he's taken a lot of drugs, and his outer form has come to match his vision-" and Meg was like, "aHEM."

I would like to play this game with all adults. Just to see.

The mini-game I played with Elliot was a hoot. Elliot, recall, is Blaze; I'm Irwin the Penjuin. We were trying to get the sleigh started. I was like, "I repair the engine! Rock paper scissors shoot!" No dice. Elliot was like, "I eat the gunk gunking up the engine! Rock paper scissors shoot!" No dice. I was like, "I know, I talk to the engine to find out what's wrong! Rock paper scissors shoot!" Victory! So I was like, "it's out of gas! All we need to do is put gas in it! Here Blaze, eat beans! Beans for you! Beans!" Elliot was like, "armph armph armph!" I was like, "now fart in the gas tank!"

But Elliot - Elliot's five, mind - Elliot has his little puppet come running after mine! I'm like, "No! In the gas tank, Blaze! NOT ON ME! BLAZE! NOT ON-" and Elliot's laughing so hard he can't even out with the fart noise.

-Vincent

[John Harper]

Amazing. Thanks so much for posting the images. I can't stop smiling.

[Allan]

So happy.  Sabine is scary, Dorje made me laugh my ass off, and Wembly is awesome.  I love the props too.  And I'm very jealous that you all get to play together.

The formulaic beginning and end of the mission definately need more attention.  I start every game with the Sleigh Crew finding their sleigh in the hangar.  What 4 animals are helping the reindeer?  In the back of the Sleigh is the bag, in the front is the note, or map, that gives the beginning of the mission (each of the missions should make clear what the note says).  Who's flying the sleigh?

Making jumps in plot sounds good.  Most of my missions involve delivering one challenging present, with all the other deliveries in town covered by one additional challenge before or after the real mission.  What's your standard delivery method?

I always end with "The sun is just coming up as you (complete the mission)."  Nothing ever happens on the way home, and they make it back to the North Pole in time for milk and cookies. 

I like the suggestion for ties.  Player introduces a complication, something that the Puppet can still Maybe do, but that makes the task harder. 

I usually play tBN with adults, and playtested it mostly with ravers in their late teens.  We've had some very dark and violent Puppets.  A demonic red Angel who obeyed the letter of the law, but hated everyone and found subtle ways to let bad things happen.  A Chicken (a recurring favorite played by multiple people) who used her Lays Eggs Present to send hordes of chicks across the city collecting drugs and weapons, and laying down their lives to stall Monsters. 

It's great to hear new Big Night stories that are silly and sweet as I'd intended it to play.  Emily especially for giving up her carrot nose.  It's such a Christmas story!

I'd love to hear Sebastian Leading a game, and what you do with the Monsters and Naughty Puppets. 

So glad you're enjoying the game!

[lumpley]

The first conflict of the game was "Does Erwin fall out of the sleigh on take-off?" I won, and Vincent said "Aww, man!" We all laughed, because clearly he had wanted Erwin to fall out.

I'm going to unpack this conflict, as an example for a theory conversation: Why should player's support their characters?

So okay. The sleigh's flying through the air because Dorje picked it up and hurled it. It comes around to my turn. I'm like doing my little stick puppet thing with Erwin - Erwin has a kind of brisk, kind of nasal, kind of edgy voice, and I'm like "whoa - whoa - whoa!" as the sleigh is flying. I'm like, "I'm trying to stay in the sleigh. Rock paper scissors shoot!"

And I'm going, Meg win! Meg win! I wanna fly out of the sleigh!

Meg wins. I'm like, YES!

She says, "I win! You don't fly out of the sleigh."

I'm like, "aw MAN."

Everybody laughs (including me, it's fun to be known and out-thought that way.)

(Breaking it down for the theorizers: My character wanted to stay in. I wanted him to fall. Meg, my adversary, wanted him to stay in. We resolved. I lost, Meg won. I didn't get what I wanted, Meg did. So my character succeeded.)

-Vincent

[Troy_Costisick]

Okay, but why did you want your character to fall out?

Peace,

-Troy

[lumpley]

Because that would be awesome, of course.

Pure story reasons. I thought it'd be fun.

-Vincent

[xenopulse]

So... is the adversary's job then to always work against your cool story reasons?  That seems kind of weird... unless the adversary has their own cool story reasons for wanting things to turn out the other way.

[lumpley]

Christian, are you asking about the Big Night game we played, or about adversaries in general?

Let's do the former here and the latter in the theory thread, okay?

-Vincent

[xenopulse]

Ah, yes.  So in this particular case, Vincent, were you happy that the adversary played against you even though you thought your story idea was cooler? 

And related to that, Meg, did you want the character to stay in simply because that was opposing what Vincent wanted, or because you thought that would be cooler than his character falling out?

[lumpley]

I asked Meg to play against me. I said "I'm trying to stay in! Rock paper scissors shoot!" If I hadn't wanted Meg to oppose me, I wouldn't'a launched into resolution.

Now, I thought I was having one over on her - I figured that if she won, she was going to have me fall out of the sleigh. I AM WIN! But no, she saw right through that.

But if I'd really, y'know, needed for it to happen, in some kind of an "it happens or I'm not having fun anymore" crappy kind of way, I wouldn't have stuck out my fist to resolve. I would've said what I needed.

-Vincent

[xenopulse]

Gotcha.

[Meguey]

Meg, did you want the character to stay in simply because that was opposing what Vincent wanted, or because you thought that would be cooler than his character falling out?

Well, for one thing, I totally had Vincent's number here. Also, had it been an hour or more earlier, I may have gone with the falling out, but given the lateness, I wanted to get on with the main story. I was willing to be the opposition Vincent was looking for, but I wasn't opposing as a default.