[Polaris] Lines

[Eric Minton]

So, we played our first game of Polaris last night.  It went great!  We went whole hog on providing ambiance: candles, incense, music, and a bottle of white wine (followed up by cider when the wine ran out -- I think it's the first time I've gamed while intoxicated).  Everyone's eager to play again this Friday.

As proposed in Polaris: Treachery at the Utmost North, I pushed hard to stir up trouble as a Moon, to the point where one of the players complained that I was more adversarial as a Moon than as the Mistaken.  This may be true, as our random draw for seating left me opposite my boyfriend Conn, towards whom I tend to be a big softy.

In any case, at one point, Capella (played by Morgan, the one female player in the group) lost her commission as a result of her pyrrhic repulse of a demonic assault from the Mistake.  When the Full Moon, playing her estranged husband, the senator Garnet Star, informed her that he wished her to go into seclusion for a time so that her fall from grace would not reflect poorly upon his political career, I suggested that this would be a great time for him to request that she finally get around to bearing him an heir.  The Mistaken seized on this immediately.  In the resulting conflict, Capella exorcised a minor demon from her husband, whose influence proved responsible for Garnet Star's creepy insistence on an heir, allowing Capella to keep him at a distance.

After the game, Morgan told us that she didn't want Capella to become pregnant under any circumstances.  Naturally, once she made this clear, we agreed not to narrate such an eventuality at all, not even Veiled.  But it left me wondering: should there be a mechanism for setting down Lines before play begins rather than after the fact, as with the Comics Code in Capes?  Or are there sufficient barriers in play to unacceptable narration, such as liberal use of "It Was Not Meant To Be", that it's not necessary to draw Lines before play?

- Eric

[Kesher]

Eric,

I think you answered your own question there at the end.  You have the mechanical ability to block any assertion, given that you're willing to accept any other consequences, both mechanical and narrational (is that a word?)

That being said, Ben states right in the text that players should speak up right away if something is bothering them during play.  Of course, there could be any number of reasons why Morgan didn't want a pregnant character, but this example still seems to fall under that aegis.

From my experience, limiting yourselves before playing would mess with some of the improvisational strangeness that otherwise appears...

Aaron

[Ben Lehman]

There's not much advice I can offer besides what I have in the book.  I don't know your social group, otherwise I'd offer more.

yrs--
--Ben

[Eric Minton]

Morgan now assures me that she wasn't offended and that she can take care of herself, thank you very much.  :-)  I'll emphasize that people should speak up immediately if anything goes past their comfort zones, rather than waiting until later to talk about it, and I'll reiterate the utility of "It Was Not Meant To Be" -- though I doubt they'll need any reminder, since that phrase got a heavy workout during play.  And I'll give the book a thorough rereading before we play again on Friday; I haven't read it cover-to-cover since I picked it up at GenCon.  I think that should cover all the bases.  Thanks for the advice!