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[Keiko]

[Keiko]

One thing I am still not entirely clear on with Capes is where the "In character" and "out of character" divide lies or if there is one at all. When I (the player) set a Goal or an Event are they in character choices or are there OOC choices? What about Allying and other game actions? Obviously creating Events doesn't have to be remotely in character (but can be I supposed).

[Keiko]

100+ views and nothing?

[Callan S.]

Hi - passing by, I'll try and help.

What's the fun thing about play, do you think?

I think traditional game culture often has this 'all players look to the GM expectantly' because the traditional games weren't actually fun to just play. And god forbid anyone should just do their own thing with the system - because honestly the system was broken as f', and whatever you did to the game or to other players was in turn, broken as f' (I can't remember if I can swear on this particular forum). So everyone just stopped doing anything and waited on the GM to hand them a bone, if ever. It sometimes became almost a sense of play pride that nobody did anything (since another way of putting it is nobody screwed anything up/things went smoothly - 'huzzah').

I think you have to identify what is the fun of this particular game, enough to be able to articulate it, then show them that they can get it on their own through system use - they don't have to wait for a GM to throw them a bone.

[5niper9]

[Filip Luszczyk]

100+ views and nothing?

Oh, I've only noticed this post after answering on that other site, were threads sink at a rate of 100 per hour. Either way, I'll copy & paste the advice for the sake of completeness:

Setting Goals and Events is pretty much an OOC thing, though it's generally a good idea to also introduce those in fiction terms (through IC speech or OOC narration or both, doesn't matter). It's particularly important to set Goals and Events that people at the table really care about. Otherwise the game is going to feel flat.

Overall, I've found Capes works much better after playing a couple of other indie games. My first sessions from a few years back were fun, but they often devolved into dragging dice battles. It's important to know what you want and avoid struggling just for the sake of it, when you don't care that much about the outcome. It's also imporant not to prolong scenes too much by adding superfluous Goals and Events.

I suggest that everyone plays the flash demo before the actual game. It does a much better job at teaching the basics than the rulebook itself. Still, it's good to re-read the book after a session or two, and again from time to time, paying attention to minutiae. I recall analysing examples proved very helpful to me, especially those expanded scene transcripts. Everybody in the group should read the rulebook at some point, 'nuff said.

If you're teaching the game, avoid playing at all in the first scene or two. Just guide the rest of the group step by step.

Also, the comic code advice is also pretty neat, but I'd be careful with that until you know the game better. While we got some fun results with a custom comic code in our last campaign, experimentation in my first games wasn't all that successful.