[Robots and Rapiers] The Struggle for the Tapestry begins...

[GreatWolf]

i]Robots and Rapiers<Ramshead Publishing<Three Musketeers crossed with Westworld<Role Score<Robots and Rapiers, the GM should<Rising Tensions<players<Some closing thoughts<Robots and Rapiers take the field.  Honestly, I think that Robots and Rapiers will stand nicely next to Burning Wheel<Robots and Rapiers lets you make up your own crunch, which is very true.  Add to this the long-term unfolding of character interactions, set against a backdrop of Dumas-style intrigue and an approaching cataclysm, and you have a recipe for an awesome game.

I will try to do better about posting AP in the future.  Robots and Rapiers has been a long time coming, but I think that it will blow people away when it gets here.
 
Robots and RapieRamshead Publishing<Three Musketeers crossed with Westworld<Role Score<Robots and Rapiers, the GM should<Rising Tensions<players<Some closing thoughts<Robots and Rapiers take the field.  Honestly, I think that Robots and Rapiers will stand nicely next to Burning Wheel<Robots and Rapiers lets you make up your own crunch, which is very true.  Add to this the long-term unfolding of character interactions, set against a backdrop of Dumas-style intrigue and an approaching cataclysm, and you have a recipe for an awesome game.

I will try to do better about posting AP in the future.  Robots and Rapiers has been a long time coming, but I think that it will blow people away when it gets here.
 

[Wormwood]

Seth,

The Inspiration gain from being forced into the Role seems to be a carrot for players to propose dramatically anti-Role actions. Are the players pushing against the roles strongly enough? What direction is there for delineating what is Role and not Role?

Considering the repeatative nature of the adventures in the source material, could it make sense to telegraph or even fully announce the path of the adventure? After all, part of the reason to struggle agains the role is the foreknowledge of what will happen.

   - Mendel S.

[GreatWolf]

The Inspiration gain from being forced into the Role seems to be a carrot for players to propose dramatically anti-Role actions. Are the players pushing against the roles strongly enough? What direction is there for delineating what is Role and not Role?

Right now, I think part of the problem is two-fold.  I think that I'm not pushing the Roles hard enough to give the players something to push back against.  Which then means that the players are often content to go with the flow instead of pushing against Role.  Pushing against Role is tricky, though, because the evil GM doesn't have to call for a Role check, so you need to do something that will draw down the Role check while still being an action that you can live with if the GM lets it happen.

As to direction for delineating Role, there are a couple of items.  First, there's a Role Description given at chargen, which is the stereotype that the robot fills.  Also, each robot has Tapestry Traits which are essentially his programmed personality.  The rating on those Traits can add or subtract from a Role check, depending on whether they are helping or not.  So, a robot with "Coward 4" would be easily forced to run away, but making him stand and fight would be harder.

Considering the repeatative nature of the adventures in the source material, could it make sense to telegraph or even fully announce the path of the adventure? After all, part of the reason to struggle agains the role is the foreknowledge of what will happen.

That's an interesting question.  Right now, I'd lean in the direction of saying "No", but that's because of the nature of the rest of the game.  In addition to your personal transformation, there's also the larger picture of Auvernais society to consider.  So, while an adventure is a continuation of an amusement for the guests, the various factions could also be manipulating events from behind the scenes (both "in-character" following their Roles and "out-of-character" Sparks trying to gain power).  So, if a player knew the events that were coming, it could ruin the effect of this larger tapestry of plotting and intrigue.

But maybe not.  It might be interesting to play through a scenario with the scenario structure laid out on paper for everyone to see.  I'll bounce the idea off of Ralph and see what he thinks.