What Mike Mulligan taught me about courage

[TonyLB]

Things have been quiet, so I'm going to indulge myself.  It's my forum, after all.

As a child, my absolute, bar-none favorite story was Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, and it begins like this:

Mike Mulligan had a steam shovel,
a beautiful red steam shovel.
Her name was Marry Anne.
Mike Mulligan was very proud of Mary Anne.
He always said that she could dig as much in a day
as a hundred men could dig in a week,
but he had never been quite sure
that this was true.

... and then, after Mike and Mary Anne have been put out of work by the evils of diesel, the moment that is just raw, pure, unmixed bravery:

Mike Mulligan spoke to Henry B. Swap, one of the selectmen.
'I heard,' he said, 'that you are going to build a new town hall.  Mary Anne and I will dig the cellar for you in just one day.'
'What!' said Henry B. Swap.  'Dig a cellar in a day!  It would take a hundred men at least a week
to dig the cellar for our new town hall.'
'Sure,' said Mike, 'but Mary Anne can dig as much in a day as a hundred men can dig in a week.'
Though he had never been quite sure that this was true.
Then he added, 'If we can't do it, you won't have to pay.'

So there, if you want to know, is the absolute earliest design influence on Capes.  When I think about how I want to play a hero, I think of Mike Mulligan, and I say "I have always said that Superman would defy heaven itself to save Lois Lane ... but I have never been quite sure that this was true."  And then I slam the Pearly Gates in his face and add "If he can't do it then she dies."

And that's how I play.

[Eric Sedlacek]

I remember that book!

[James_Nostack]

That book was awesome.  As a child I was fascinated by all the other steam shovels.  I was crazy about trucks and construction machinery.

I also remember a series of books about a bunch of mice that lived in a church, and they had an orange tom who was their friend, and they had cute litte British-style adventures.

[TonyLB]

See, I was struck not so much by the steam shovels, as by ... well ... that thing I cited:  You believe something, but you're not sure because you've never tested it.  That's the ultimate moment of decision right there ... do you test your belief, with the despair-inducing possibility that your faith can be wrested from you by the cold, hard world?  Or do you avoid such tests, and live forever with the niggling doubt?

Somebody asked me (over on RPG.Net) whether Capes had an experience system ... and what I didn't say there (but will say here) is that yeah, it has one.  Players gain experience with their characters as the game proceeds.  You take your beliefs (e.g. "Kettridge is really a good person at heart") and you are not allowed to avoid tests of those beliefs.  The other players will hunt down your beliefs and put them in the gladiatorial arena ... because it's a good way to get mechanical resources, win or lose.

So these tests, they happen, and you find out what the character really is (which is, of course, neither more nor less than what you really choose them to be, when the chips are down) and then you live with the knowledge, for good and ill.  Once you've gone through that experience, the character is more real to you.  You, the player, have advanced in your handling of that character.