[PTA] "Rockheart"

[Territan]

It's the barest shred of a concept, for a group that's awfully<not to put into it.

[Matt Wilson]

Hey Territan.

Did you ask this question on a different board? I have a hazy memory of talking about this already.

Why polish the series idea here? Polish it with the people in your gaming group. Get their investment in it by including them in the process. That's what the game is about.

And yes, you will have much less control over what happens in play than you would in some other games. I wouldn't think of it as being at someone's mercy, though. It's collaborative.

[Territan]

Hey Territan.

Did you ask this question on a different board? I have a hazy memory of talking about this already.

Nope, this is my first time posting about it on this particular subboard... (...checks...) ...yeah. I've only had posts on two other subforums on The Forge, and they're on alumni boards that have since gone Inactive.

I should probably have expected someone else would have asked this question already; my bad for not going back through the archives, but I didn't know what precisely to look for.

Why polish the series idea here? Polish it with the people in your gaming group. Get their investment in it by including them in the process. That's what the game is about.

And yes, you will have much less control over what happens in play than you would in some other games. I wouldn't think of it as being at someone's mercy, though. It's collaborative.

Maybe I have too much expectation as a storyteller GM (one who seeks to draw the players through and experience a story from the inside) rather than as a combatant or challenger. I have what I consider a cool concept, and would like to see the players play through it.

The number one hurdle: my gaming group. There's a rather unfortunate prejudice against trying lots of little games; if it's going to be something they play once and never go back to again, everything has to be pregenerated and prechewed, all the grunt work done by the GM first, which means that even when it finally runs the players are going to be less attached to the story than they would be if they'd taken the time to participate.

Maybe a better question would be, "Is there anything I should know before pregenerating characters?"

[relaxingnap]

Hi Territan,

I'm new to PTA myself, but it does take some getting out of the mindset of other game-mastered RPGs. The story creation is collaborative, which is central to what the game is all about.

Two reasons to spend a big chunk of time as a group in the Pitch Session:

 --> this is the game -- the collaborative brainstorming of the series idea -- not just prep

--> the Pitch brainstorm session is a way for each player to be fully excited and invested in the series and their character.

Without the Pitch session and that excitement, the players are less likely to be attached to the characters and the show. The game then suffers.

You could of course hack the game for the reasons you describe, except that the game mechanics are thoroughly collaborative in storytelling. When it comes a players turn to narrate a conflict resolution or play a scene, if they aren't bought in and emotionally invested and excited, then the quality of play will drop. Getting that excitement and investment are the point of the Pitch session.

I like your series idea, but what if you went into the game, presented your idea, and then collaborated with the other players back and forth to create a series that everyone likes? Your idea might get even better, and go places you hadn't even imagined. That is the brilliance of creative collaboration.

And since the Pitch session needs a 'click' moment before proceeding to the series, you are assured that if the group proposes something you don't like, you get to come back with the changes you suggest, and it goes back and forth until all the players are on board with a series.

It's a very different mindset from traditional RPGs. If you are really wanting to do your series, you should probably pick up a different RPG system to use, because the collaborative storytelling is built into the guts of the PTA mechanics.

Not that I'm an expert on PTA -- trying to figure it out more before I play -- but these points are pretty clear and are a big part of what PTA is all about.

Good luck!

-- Will Hall

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Matt, I'm interested to know if I have this right, so I don't run around misrepresenting the game.

I wanted to focus on that one question:

	Logged

[Territan]

Hello,

Matt, I'm interested to know if I have this right, so I don't run around misrepresenting the game.

I wanted to focus on that one question:

	Logged

[Ron Edwards]

My first sentence in the post was addressed to Matt, not to you. I want to make sure I'm not misrepresenting the game with my answer, and only he can tell us.

I was definitely unclear in my organization of the first few sentences. I should have begun the "I wanted to focus" part with your username, to distinguish it from the first paragraph (to Matt).

I'm glad you found my post interesting and I look forward to Matt confirming or correcting what I wrote.

Best, Ron