[CtH] Rising like a Phoenix - Artifacts of Play

[Josh Roby]

Alright, I've cleaned up and posted the Actual Play Transcript of my latest game of Conquer the Horizon.

Pertinent bits and pieces:

We tried pushing the boundaries of what CtH could handle by making the game a time travel adventure rather than a voyage of discovery to a different location.  Everything seemed to work just fine, although my Governor's "colony" was more a "base camp" than something of lasting significance -- which was not a big deal.  I look forward to trying CtH out with another of Ice Cream Emperor's suggestions, such as "the Old World is High School and the New World is the working world."

We saw again that the end-game is the only point at which players seem to care about their points, and are quite content to simply play and expand the fictional world for about 75% of play.  Once the Supplies pool starts dwindling, however, there is increasing pressure to score and return home, which nicely drives some narrative tensions.  We had a great final qualification in this game that tied up nearly all of the plot threads, creating a pretty solid story.

Whether it was the MUSH format itself, or three old MUSHers using the MUSH format, we seemed to favor little scene-lets with brief scene framing, short dialogue, and characterization.  Which was hardly a bad thing, and I rather enjoyed it.

One thing that I will chalk up to the MUSH format and the code-toy we used to keep track of dice and discoveries is a paucity of references back to prior discoveries.  In tabletop, you create a list of discoveries you can reference for bonus dice and keep that list right in front of you.  In this format, we had a centralized list on a data object that marked whether each discovery was yours or not.  Consequently, without that persistent and immediate reminder, we did not reference prior discoveries as often as in other games.

The thing I'm mostly interested in this thread is the role and function of artifacts of play at the table -- character sheets, dice, GM screens, and the like.  It's an obvious thing to say, but the sheer physicality of items at the table can have a profound impact on the way that the game develops.  I'd love to hear any other stories and examples of how artifacts at the table affected play.