Use of familiar techniques?

[5niper9]

Hi there,
I know that Capes is different that most other role playing games. We learned this not only in theory (by reading the book) but also by practice. The beginning was really rough. We weren't able to build a satisfactory bank robbery scene. But we gave it some more tries and I guess the Capes-skill is evolving.

Now one of my friends misses some aspects in play and we are not sure how to produce these:

• First: Dialogues!
  Although we had some funny and/or inspiring monologues in play, we haven't implemented some kind of longer dialogue (other than "Har har! You are damned!" followed by "Nevermore!").  Are these only possible in the free narration phase (so that these could not have mechanical meaning)?
• Second: Character depth
  It seems that our chars are lacking depth. All that is written down about a character are his abilities and the ulterior motive seems hidden.
  [I thing this will fade when more praxis is won - and won't need a special technique]
• Third: Meaningful Conflict
  [As in the second poit I think this is just a question of practice.]
  Our conflict are often centered about capturing certain characters oder about turning them to a side. Although this is pretty typical for some comics it lacks emotional power.

[Andrew Cooper]

Rene,

These are not uncommon problems with people first learning Capes.  Fortunately, the solutions are pretty darn simple.

1.) There are several places that you can put in dialogue and conversations in the midst of Capes's scene/page/turn structure.  At the beginning of each Page there is a period of Free Narration.  Characters can talk (among other things) with each other then.  In fact, there's no set time limit to Free Narration.  Feel free to do it until people get bored and want to move on.  The other thing to remember is that just because it is someone's turn doesn't mean everyone else has to shut up.  It's perfectly okay for Health Man's player to want him to talk to Pizza Babe and for him to do so in character.  Pizza Babe's player can then respond in character.  If this sounds just like what you would do in a traditional RPG, that's because it is.  The way to get dialogue into the game is to just add it.

2.) I think the key to character depth (at least on the character sheets) is the Exemplars.  The Exemplars and their free Conflicts really tell a lot about who the character is.  For example...

Mary Jane - Goal: Get to your date on time.

That Exemplar and Conflict says something totally different about Spiderman than...

Green Goblin - Goal:Capture Green Goblin.

Play with your Exemplars.  Make play revolve around Exemplar relationships.  You'll get more depth.

3.) This is going to sound silly but the way to fix this is to just stop putting down Conflicts about capturing things/people.  Start dumping down Conflicts like... Goal: Major Victory admits defeat.  or   Goal: Chronos falls in love.  or   Goal: Innocent people die.   or   Goal: The Fantastic Four loses public support.  Throw these goals down in the middle of a combat scene.  Also, make sure you are having scenes that don't involve combat.  Capture-style Conflicts don't come up as much in non-combat scenes.

[oreso]

We had some problems with the first one too. Capes can descend into a dice game with roleplaying attached (as can the conflict resolution of any system). I found that just by setting the bar higher for myself, the rest of the table followed suit. Break the turn order, ask questions, accuse people, etc.

As a quick tip, when you are using a trait, dont just use that trait, bring in some of the others as part of your narration. Particularly, use your personality stuff to create dialogue and add colour. Eg. If you're playing Crusader with high "Judgemental", make sure you drop in judgements of people. They'll respond.