An Experiment

[Skywalker]

I am currently running an experiment in which I am using WGP as a learning exercise for the Supers genre before tackling a Modern Age style Supers campaign using Mutants and Masterminds. I absolutely adore WGP and think it reall handles the basics of the Supers genre and Silver Age material really well. So well that I think that it can teach players what considerations they need to make in a more traditional Supers game. 

Anyway, anyone who is interested, even if it to follow a WGP game in progress check out the session reports, behind the scenes discussion and peoples comments over at http://grandexperiment.livejournal.com.

[Brennan Taylor]

What are your reasons for wanting to move on to M&M after?

[Skywalker]

They are stated out in the LJ but boiled down to the essentials:

1. I find that WGP does Silver Age Supers really well. I want to run a Modern Age Supers game, which takes many of the standard genre structures and really plays with them/twists them. Traditional RPGs have no narrative structure and this often their failing especially inthe realm of Supers. However, learning the standard narrative structures before hand by way of an RPG such as WGP and then moving to another RPG with this narrative flexibility may create just the right feel IMO.

2. A part of the experiment in about merging two RPGsI really enjoy and finding out whether if either one makes the other better. So far the indications are good.

3. I am a strong believer in using both freedom and restriction to boost creativity. By using M&M and WGP, I get both of these narratively and physically (i.e. powers and characters). For example, the characters are narratively more exciting as WGP has pushed them into areas they wouldn't have normally gone and then we get the freedom to twist this later. In regard to such things as powers, the freedom of WGP with a thought as to the upcoming restriction in M&M has forced several players to think outside the square in this regard. 

4. I love the setting material for M&M, Freedom City in particular.

5. I have a pet theory that hybrid products like this are the way the RPG industry should go (but that is a much longer discussion).

My experiment is in no way meant to be a suggestion that somehow WGP is deficient or any less of a great RPG than M&M. I love them both dearly and I am experimenting with merging theideas and techniques to see what the results will be.   

[Michael S. Miller]

Holy hybrid RPGs, Skywalker! That's really, really cool!

Let me commend you for trying something like this. I've added your LJ to my Friends so I can see how the Grand Experiment comes along. You're right that 6 players is a LOT for WGP to handle. The bonus is that assigning NPCs to unoccupied players does a good job of keeping everyone focused on the story.

Incidentally, I'm not sure who your intended readership is, but I really liked the clear, concise breakdown you gave for how WGP works. I hope you continue it in the months to come when you get to M&M, since I know very little of that game.

You said:

5. I have a pet theory that hybrid products like this are the way the RPG industry should go (but that is a much longer discussion).

Do you have a link to such a discussion? I don't have a lot of online time these days, but I'd gladly give it a look if I can scrape together an opportunity.

Oh, and I nearly forgot: Thanks for playing With Great Power...

[Skywalker]

Holy hybrid RPGs, Skywalker! That's really, really cool!

Cheers. The original concept was to use Capes then WGP and then M&M. However, I found that I was totally wowed by WGP and so Capes was not needed. Atcually, I also found Capes to be too seperate a concept to be used in such a hybrid.

Let me commend you for trying something like this. I've added your LJ to my Friends so I can see how the Grand Experiment comes along. You're right that 6 players is a LOT for WGP to handle. The bonus is that assigning NPCs to unoccupied players does a good job of keeping everyone focused on the story.

Yeah. The group of players are very very good (they play NPCs convincingly in a flash and are considerate to each other) and I know that if nothing else they will make it work for me :)

Incidentally, I'm not sure who your intended readership is, but I really liked the clear, concise breakdown you gave for how WGP works. I hope you continue it in the months to come when you get to M&M, since I know very little of that game.

I certainly hope too. M&M is very much a traditional Supers RPG so it hold little surprises. IMO it tops the list of such RPGs mostly due to the writers knowledge of the genre shown in the Freedom City setting for one. The rules are not flashy but they do everything a Supers game needs (which is actually a big ask) with not much complexity. I don't know what the result will be but I plan to be as honest as possible. If I feel WGP shows up M&M I will certainly say so, though my intention is to focus on how each of the games can benefit each other.

Do you have a link to such a discussion? I don't have a lot of online time these days, but I'd gladly give it a look if I can scrape together an opportunity.

Not a comprehensible one :) I often discuss these issues over at NZRaG (http://www.nrzarg.com), a local forum board. It has for the most part an very intelligent and diverse patronage. This idea was born there in between a discussion with two very good friends. One is a staunch supporter of indie/forge style games and shared narrative in particular. The other is an articulate old school RPGer. I found myself in the middle of them in their arguments. It led me the idea that playable for RPGs did not mean necessarily that rules needed to be static as they were played. Some RPGers show this in action (Exalted 2e and Pendragon spring to mind).

When I read WGP, the idea really took off. I started to wonder if we may see "meta-RPGs" coming out soon which essentially provided tools that overlaid existing RPGs that make them more playable. WGP has one of the best interactive character and scenario creation processes I have seen and IMO would work for more than just Supers. To give another example, a good chunk of PrimeTime Adventures can be used in any RPG.