Developing a scenario for a 1 hour demo.

[joepub]

Hey!

I'm running a demo of Point of Collapse for a small group tomorrow evening, and am looking for a few specific hints and pointers.
(if you are unfamiliar with my game, reading the introduction page in www.fluffydevil.com/pointofcollapse/rulebook.pdf would bring you up to speed.)

The demo is actually school related - there is a course/program in my school which lets you claim credit for work outside of the academic curriculum. So, the demo I provide serves several purposes:
-open some new eyes to RPGs
-test Point of Collapse out with a group of new people
-earn me course credit (I'm hoping no one objects to this - but focusing on your strengths/hobbies is a lot more fun than taking another boring course that I don't want. And it gives me a chance to prove the merit of RPGs to some people who wouldn't understand otherwise)

So my audience: my mother, my school counsellor/teacher, 3 peers I select, and another adult.
The 3 peers have all played RPGs before (2 of which have been in my online Point of Collapse campaign.)
The 3 adults all have not.

The entire presentation time will be 2 hours roughly - But a lot of that time will be talking about the work I have done, etc.
I will actually be running a 1-1.5 hour demo within that time.

I will do up pregenerated characters, but these will be optional - players can create their own if they have a solid idea.
I want the demo to be structured enough that if they do their own characters, a lot of the background is done already (all work for the same company, in teh same town, etc - that sort of thing).

I want the session "climax" to look like this:
They have a mission, and they've sworn to carry it out.
But some factors have gone horribly wrong, and if they don't drop their mission and help fix these factors, several innocent lives could be lost.
The resolution, either way, isn't violent: It's a moral dillemma of whether to complete the mission and gurantee your own safety, or risk both to help the innocent bystanders who get caught in the way.


That's what I want the moral dillemma of the demo session to be.
I don't want to put the characters in a situation that requires violence - especially because of my target audience.
However, that doesn't mean that violence can't go on around them. (Maybe their train is bombed and the innocent lives are people needing medical attention on the train.)


So: Given that to work with, do you have any input for:
Tips on running this session.
Plot ideas for a session that are guranteed to fly pretty well with a mixed group.
Any other input that will help me.

Thanks!

[dindenver]

Hi!
  This is just an idea, but if you need a rock solid guideline for how to time it, you can format your demo script like a screenplay
http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/screenstyle/formatarticle.pdf
Is a guide for screenplay formatting. If you format it like a screen play, one page is almost always one minute. Of course, you don't want to make a 60 page document, people will be saying their parts, thinking about their moves, learning how to roleplay and/or your rules. Probably you want to plan for 30-40 pages in this format. It sounds like a lot, but Screen play format is LOADED with white space. that's prolly 10 pages of normally formatted text...
  Anyways, definitely do some kind of dry run, even if you have to play all the parts of the dry run. Also, you want a fairly focused story. And, if anyone is judging the merit of your work, you want the plot to focus on their values.
  Like if the one teacher is a judge, speak to the social issues of that subject. I don't mean if they are a Math teacher, make the adventure about math, but Math teachers tend to view the world as having universally true values, so speak to that.
  I'll check out your rules and make more concrete suggeastions if I think of any, good luck!
  Finally, there is a pretty cool demo here:
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=18286.0

[joepub]

Thanks for the idea, Dave.
I've actually got a ton of experience writing screenplays, so that should be easily done.

I'm trying to avoid PC violence in the scenario, specifically because I want to try to play to their goals.


I want to figure out a way to challenge some player ideals here.
About half the group is very community minded, very concerned with others' wellbeing, and very altruistic.
And I want to figure out a way to challenge that.

Maybe completing this mission ensures safety for a lot of people - but it's more distant.
Abandoning the mission saves lives. Immediately. It is tangible and in front of you.

That's what I want to capture. I'm looking for suggestions how.



And thanks for the link!

[dindenver]

Hi!
  Just off the top of my head, you might want to try:
Street Trial
  There is no requirement for violence
  It already has a time limit
  It has a fairly intuitive structure
  Displays your setting in the spotlight
  Characters could have real control ln the outcome

  One of the players can be the Judge, two the officers, one the accused and two witnesses. Something like that...

  In this kind of format, you want to pregen the characters. If a player is seriously grokking it, you might allow them to add/change a struggle maybe...

[joepub]

Great idea.
A street trial is even game time the right time frame.

I think I'm going to twist this idea a bit:
They encounter a street trial while trying to run a very important errand.

They have the option to run their errand and let the man die,
or try and intervene.


Thanks Dindenver!

[dindenver]

Hi!
  Just a thought, how do 6 or more characters get involved in a Street Trial without incurring the wrath of the Crowd Control cops?

  Another way to give a good plot twist is to inform the character (not necesarily the players) that they have one mision. And the tasks of the mission are accurate, but the result of their mission is not.
  In other words, the characters are told to deliver a package to Toronto to bring a cure to SARS2, but in fact they are deivering a prototype of SARS3. When the "bad guys" come to stop them, they are actually confronted by good guys. The trick is, you will have to emphasize to the players that this is a world of corruption and a dark future. If they grok that, you will be justified in letting the chips fall where they may. If the players are smart or determined enough to discover the truth, then they can use whatever method they want. They could take it to a lab, they could ask the Bad Guys (who are actually good guys) what the deal is, etc.
  Good luck man!

[joepub]

Hey - Dindenver, I wanna help you for all your help. The session was a success, and I got nearly full marks in my course grading.

I worked with a complete mix - three gamers, three complete newbies (including my mom. ack.)


The thing that helped the most was thinking in terms of a screenplay.
I'm going to post in detail tomorrow morning, I just wanted to say a "yay" while I am still in that ecstatic mood.

[Adam Dray]

Play report! Play report!

[joepub]

So, as I stated in my first post, I am actually using Point of Collapse to earn school credit.
The presentation/demo I ran earned me my marks in that "course".

First of all, what I did was this:
Ran a brief powerpoint which explained:
-what an RPG is
-What a character is
-What a GM is
-What mechanics are
-What Creative Agendas are
-Venues of Play (this slide was included because Point of Collapse is being run PBP currently)

The powerpoint had a slide on each, and took a total of 15 minutes to run through. It turned out to be a great resource - and surprisingly the "Creative Agendas" part helped the most and worked really well.
If anyone wants this powerpoint, PM me and I'd be glad to share it around.

Then - because this was a school function - there were a lot of criteria I had to cover aside from the demo.
I talked about other RPGs I've played, about what I gained from those, and what I wanted to see changed. I talked about the process of designing Point of Collapse (including putting out major props to The Forge!)


Then, finally - an hour and twenty minutes into my presentation (yeah, these things run long), I finally got to the demo.

I had 6 pregenerated characters... and walked them through the 3 elements of characters in the game.
For those who aren't familiar, Point of collapse uses:
-Struggles: a sliding scale with two diametrically opposed ideals on the ends.
-Backgrounds: Static bonuses which you gain when the "experience background" would be applicable.
-Tools: Mechanically they work the same way as backgrounds, but these represent physical objects with smaller use ranges.

It helped a lot to use examples directly off their character cards. I borrowed one from a player and said, "Kaila has the background of having witnessed her husband's murder 2. This means if she ever has to draw on that experience, she has +2 to those action tests - to those times she rolls the dice."

My scenario that I was working with was this:
-All six characters were employees of CocaCola, and they were charged with delivering a prototype drug to CocaCola testing facilities.
-The game started as their armoured train dipped into the underground tunnel part of their trip.

The six characters were:
-York. A hardnosed military officer who fails to see beyond immediate duty.
-Clark. A nurse who has become addicted to the pharmaceuticals he prescribes
-Timothy. A corporate soldier who questions whether the system still works.
-Bale. A diligent mechanic who abhors violence.
-Kaila. A train engineer one week away from retirement.
-Jennifer. A good hearted worker who has a penchant for stealing.

So, right away I gave them open ground to start developing relationships. A couple newbies (my mom, my teacher) wanted to start this, but had no idea how to actually narrate what they wanted.
So it helped that a couple people started asking questions:
-What does the train look like?
-Is the cargo on our cart?
-Are there any other people besides us six?

I wasn't planning to have any others on board, but when they asked I created an NPC named Jordan- a snotty nosed punk who fantasized about how great battle would be.

I played out Jordan talking to Timothy which helped open things up. Jordan talked about how much he wanted to "see some action", and Timothy talked down to him. The little dialogue gave the other players a good idea how to go about their own.
York (the army honcho played by my mother) began wheeling and dealing with Jennifer, offering her a deal if she'd steal a sample of the prototype drug (something I never envisioned!)

Anyways, the characters all did their little dealings, but then I had my plot hook ready for when things started to die down.

I had prepared a Train Wreck scenario.

The trains were on electric rails, and Kaila received a signal that another train was crossing the rails, and would crash into hers unless action was taken.
She managed to successfully make a break test, so the train stopped in time.

However, the runaway train that would of intersected them continued on, intersecting and crashing into another train on the next line over.

A few moments later a radio transmission was sent out: "We are in danger, and have 30 people in critical condition."

So, they sent the two soldiers - Timothy and a shaken Jordan - out to check out the scene.
They found out that it was indeed carnage. Two trains were demolished on the intersection of two rail lines.

one of the lines appeared to have been "short circuited", meaning that no trains would cross that one. however, the other line was still active.
They returned and reported this, and the players made a plan of action:
leave the nurse there to take care of the wounded
Have the mechanic try to short circuit the intersecting line.
Get the precious cargo to safety and send search trains.

The mechanic trying to short circuit a line didn't make total sense, granted - but I wanted that character/player involved a bit more.
So he did a knowledge check and knew how to circuit the line. However, it was dangerous:

I said he could sever the line automatically, but it would take a score of eleven to avoid fatal shock from the surging electricity.
With an amazing +8 in total, it would only take a 3. He rolled a 2, and thus died.

The nurse watched him get shocked to death, and dropped down to try and save him - but alas it was futile.

I summarized how the mechanic had died to heroically save the lives of many people, and how the nurse tended to those people.
The train went on, and I pointed out what the characters had accomplished:
-Timothy had seen that the system really does work, at least sometimes
-Jennifer had taken some loot that would bring her large amounts of money
-York had commanded his men well, and earned some pocket cash too
-Kaila had succeeded in her job of delivering cargo, and would retire on schedule.

Everyone felt fairly satisfied with the results, and I ended the session there.


It took about 1-1.5 hours to play out, and I was really happy to see that everyone found ways to involve their characters.
I think the struggles and flavourful backgrounds really gave them something to work with.

The most used backgrounds were:
-Witnessed her Husband's Murder
-Violence Solves Nothing
-Low Patience

And I am pretty sure that the reason they were used is because they had the most flavour to them.