[PtA] More Scene Requests Questions

[Darren Hill]

Leaving the thread http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16833.0 to focus on the question of narration & stakes, here's a couple of quick questions on scene requests.

Scene Requests: how much authority do the players have here? Can they call for a scene in such a way that it creates in-game facts?
For example, we had a player request a scene in which he discovered a group of marines were actually traitors. Is this kosher?

Well, not quite. You've hit upon a tricky gray area. Agenda states what the protagonists are up to. Saying "the agenda is that we discover that they're traitors" sounds like a description of the outcome of the scene, which you're not allowed to do. Better is to say "the agenda is we're looking for evidence that they're traitors." That approach makes for a nudge rather than a shove. There's a few different options for conflict (like "hey, what are you doing snooping around"), and the narration person can wrap up with, "oh, and you find some evidence that they're traitors."

This suggests to me that players can only state protagonist goals, not player goals, as an Agenda - is this so?
That is, could you have an agenda like, "we're helping the marines, but we really want to stumble of evidence they are traitors."
Or would you leave that as "we're helping the marines" and then later, during the conflict, hope to bring up that possibility - either through pre-card draw negotiation or via winning narration.
Or would you just abandon any hope of that kind of director stance activity?

Here's what a scene request should look like: "It's a plot scene, in the library, and the agenda is we're looking for clues." See how nice and tidy that is? If they start embellishing upon that, hit them with a spatula.

The player also states which protagonists are involved in the scene. Can he say which NPCs should be there? I can see where that might be natural - when, for instance, your scene is interacting with the NPCs ("I have a scene in the galley with the marines, and I want to gain their confidence"), but others might be iffy.
In my pilot episode, there were a bunch of marines and two doctors wandering the ship. Would this be okay, "I'm in the engine room fixing the engines, and I'm trying to seduce the cute doctor who's wandered in to give me my shots." This looks like it's elaborating extra details and in danger of a spatula attack, but is it?

[Matt Wilson]

The main thing you want to avoid is an agenda that says "in this scene, an important thing definitely happens."

If the agenda is more like, "in this scene, my protagonist is trying to do an important thing," that's okay.

In other words, no writing the outcome of the scene ahead of time. Make sense?

[Darren Hill]

That makes sesnse, but what if you as player want to steer the game in a certain direction, but your protagonist doesn't? I'm having difficulty thinking up an example - can you state a player goal instead of a protagonist goal? Um, something like, "I want my character to accidentally start a diplomatic incident at the ambassadors ball" - here, with everyone around the table implicitly understanding the player isn't stating this will happen, but that he - the player - will try to make it happen through a conflict, while his protagonist is trying to do the exact opposite.

Thinking about it, it looks like the proper place for that sort of thing would be after scene framing. The player would state, "My protagonist's I'm at he ambassador's ball," and then during play of the scene he'd bring up that possibility. That sound right?


There was another question. What about NPCs - can players say, "I want to be at the ambassador's ball, oh, and that wealthy doctor we met last adventure is there also." ? The text only mentions protagonists.

[John Harper]

can you state a player goal instead of a protagonist goal? Um, something like, "I want my character to accidentally start a diplomatic incident at the ambassadors ball" - here, with everyone around the table implicitly understanding the player isn't stating this will happen, but that he - the player - will try to make it happen through a conflict, while his protagonist is trying to do the exact opposite.

No, you can't do that. Stakes are what the protagonist wants. There's an obstacle between the wanting and the getting. We draw cards to find out what happens.

If you have a player goal, you just say it. No protag stakes, no conflict, no draw. "Jenny calls the ambassador by the wrong title and then insults his mother when she tries to correct herself." Easy as that.

There was another question. What about NPCs - can players say, "I want to be at the ambassador's ball, oh, and that wealthy doctor we met last adventure is there also." ? The text only mentions protagonists.

You answered your own question with the last line. I wish they were all this easy! :-)

NOT allowed:
Player: "The Ambassador's ball. I'm there, and so are the doctor and his sister and the creepy guy from the alley."

Allowed:
Player: "The Ambassador's ball. I'm there. Can the doctor and his sister be there too?"
Producer: "Sure."
Player: "And the creepy guy from the alley?"
Producer: "Mmmm. Not just yet."

[Darren Hill]

Thanks, that clears those up.
As Columbo might say, just one more thing.

When you get a Spotlight episode, the first scene is declared by the Producer, the Spotlight charactergets the next, and then the normal order resumes.
Is this spotlight scene a bonus scene?
Let's say we have Producer, Stuart, Jim, and Helen as players - and that is also the normal order. Jim is the Spotlight character this week, so does this mean the order is now:
Producer, Jim, Stuart, Helen, or:
First Turn: Producer, Jim, Stuart, Jim, Helen, subsequent turns: Producer, Stuart, Jim, Helen,
or some other possibility?

[IMAGinES]

I always assumed that the spotlight character's player sat on the Producer's left or some such, and that there'd only be a "regular order" if the players sat in the same order every time.

[Darren Hill]

My players do sit in the same order every time. One of them has a bad back and has a special chair - so moving players around on a whim is not convenient.

[John Harper]

I don't know about the spotlight scene. The spotlight player should go first (after Producer) then everyone else gets a turn. After that? It's all gravy, really. Making it a "bonus" scene would be fine... or just do the normal order. Shouldn't make much difference either way.

[Darren Hill]

I'll treat it as a bonus scene - as you say, it shouldn't make a lot of difference (especially if I get through as many scenes as I did in the first session).