[The Drifter's Escape] Two dead cops and a pregnant girl

[Chris_Chinn]

Hey Ben,

Awesome.

I think the violence/non-violence split may also mirror things you see in stuff like Falling Leaves or Polaris and other "but only if" kind of games- when the threat of violence works to push player decisions, you find it gets used, if it doesn't, people either have to ramp it up until it does, or find some other button to push.

So, in your game, perhaps it was a combination of that, plus, man, after letting the Sherriff get shot?  What more could the GMs push that would both a) ramp past that level of intensity, using violence and b) be in line with what everyone feels is part of the Drifter's character?

Also, how do you think the whole roles of real characters vs. furniture would have split differently if the Drifter was white?

Chris

[Ben Lehman]

Here's how it works:
The Drifter says what he does, the Devil says what people beholden to him do, the Man says what people beholden to him do. Someone (the Man or the Devil) has control over the scene, that means that they have final say over the result.

If the Drifter wants to get final say they go "Let's make a deal," and pick up the cards. They explain what they want final say over, and what that say is. "I want to hit him with the truck so he'll stop shooting me." The Devil and the Man look at their cards and offer the Drifter help in exchange for the Drifter doing something. Like the example above.

The Drifter choose to accept help from one of them, or backs down, or gets a new hand. If the Drifter takes a hand from the Man or the Devil, he agrees to do as they say (regardless of the outcome of the deal), and also gives them a chip of debt (Their currency for later). The Drifter then redraws one card for each person helping him (up to five, natch), and we show. Highest hand gets final say.

yrs--
--Ben

[Ben Lehman]

I think the violence/non-violence split may also mirror things you see in stuff like Falling Leaves or Polaris and other "but only if" kind of games- when the threat of violence works to push player decisions, you find it gets used, if it doesn't, people either have to ramp it up until it does, or find some other button to push.

Possibly. Violence in Drifter's feels very different from Falling Leaves or Polaris, though. It's very painful, but you keep doing it anyway ... As opposed to Polaris + Falling Leaves, where violence is honestly a tension reliever from the knot of horrible relationships.

Also, how do you think the whole roles of real characters vs. furniture would have split differently if the Drifter was white?

From my personal experience, one of the minority character might have been non-furniture, the rest would have been. Now, it's totally possible that you could play the anti-racist Drifter's game where you had functional characters on both sides of a racial divide (there is no way for the starting characters not to be trapped in racism, though.) But I haven't seen it yet.

yrs--
--Ben

[Marshall Burns]

So, yeah, I'm now officially excited about this project in general.

As a side note, I also wish that I had been here for the Ronnies.  I have a fantastic idea for Rat + Suburbs.  Which I will probably write up anyway.

-Marshall