A Game of Theatrical Tragedy... I Hope

[Thomas Lawrence]

Crossposted from Story Games, hope that's kosher.

So, I've been watching altogether too much of a Les Miserables DVD (the musical), and I got to thinking about stage tragedies as a genre, and before long I'd worked up the following game.

I've been tinkering with it today, but I feel there's something missing, to really get the game to fizz and pop.

The Tragedy Game - first draft

Please take a look at it. All comments will be interesting.

Specifically, I'm interested in the following:

• Are players given compelling reasons to spend Life tokens to the point of death? If not, how can I encourage it (mechanically and/or narratively?)
• Are players given compelling reasons to want to avoid Tragedy? If not, how should I encourage this?
• Am I being too hard or too soft on the characters? Specifically, are dice lost too quickly, and is Consolation too difficult?
• Should there be a means of regaining dice, or even regaining Life tokens? What should it be like?
• How should I deal with characters with Causes in common?
• How should I deal with characters with Causes that are directly opposed or mutually exclusive?
• What further narrative structure should I impose? I think there needs to be some kind of opening prologue, in which people establish and demonstrate their Causes, so that there's actually something to care about when things get tragic.

Thank you for your time.

[BigElvis]

A very nice idea for a game. I myself have sometimes fiddled with the idea of a tragic system, though not directly inspired by theatrical tragedies. I had a hard time selling the idea to some of my players unfortunately.

One way to work around a couple of the issues with causes would be to use a division between protagonist player(-s) and supporting players.

An opening prologue is a good idea. Of course there are many ways to do this.

I think it is important to change the turn structure so that you don't just narrate solo but you bring the other players (aiding or hindering or whatever) into the narration as well as opposed to just sitting and listening to the "player of the moment".

It is hard to say but I think you are on a good track with the hardness. I don't see regains as being better.

/Lars

[Thomas Lawrence]

A very nice idea for a game. I myself have sometimes fiddled with the idea of a tragic system, though not directly inspired by theatrical tragedies. I had a hard time selling the idea to some of my players unfortunately.

Yes, this game won't exactly be a power fantasy. But there's an eternal appeal to a heart-wrenching tragedy.

One way to work around a couple of the issues with causes would be to use a division between protagonist player(-s) and supporting players.

I haven't really articulated how I'd handle supporting cast in the text yet (it's only 2.5 pges of word at the moment, jiust trying to nail the basics). But for the most part I imagine that NPCs will be created and used at need, and played by whomever is available.

One idea I did have is to have an ensemble cast - more "player characters" then there are players. This will cut around the problem of what players do after they lose.

An opening prologue is a good idea. Of course there are many ways to do this.

I think it is important to change the turn structure so that you don't just narrate solo but you bring the other players (aiding or hindering or whatever) into the narration as well as opposed to just sitting and listening to the "player of the moment".

This is clearly something I need to work on articulating in the text much better than I am now, but it was my intention that other players would come in at need during another players turn. The idea is that while it's your dice rolls that determine what scenes are called for and what happens (in a broad sense) within said scenes, the other player characters, or "supporting cast" played by those players, would participate in acting out the scene itself. Further, I directly encourage players to narrate their characters actions on your turn whenever they give dice via Aiding - they have to narrate the sacrifice from one of their Causes (or from their Life) they make to Aid you.

It is hard to say but I think you are on a good track with the hardness. I don't see regains as being better.

/Lars

It needs playtesting to really demonstrate how gruelling the loss of dice is, I think.

[Thomas Lawrence]

Opps, hit Post before I was ready. Just wanted say thank you for reading it.