S.O.A.P. at a con ...

[james_west]

I'm planning on running (presenting? whatever) SOAP at a Con in about two weeks, and I'm wondering if anyone's ever come up with more examples/transcripts for me to give the players the idea ...

[Mike Holmes]

I don't have anything of that nature, but I have an encouraging story. At GenCon I played SOAP with Ron, Scott Knipe, Paul, and a buncha others as well. It was a pretty fun session as you might imagine.

Anyhow, the next night I was in really poorly run Champions game. The players were very good (including a good friend of mine) and afterwards everybody was frustrated at how bad the last four hors had been. So, wanting to rectify things somehow, I asked everyone if they wanted to play a quick RPG, SOAP. I told them that it would only take half an hor to an hour, and everyone said whattheheck. Anyway, having just learned the game the night before, I was able to teach the rules, get characters created, and we played a fun session all in about an hour.

While these guys were pretty good role-players, I don't believe that any of them were experienced narrativists or anything; heck they were there to play Champions. But they got it no problem. I wouldn't worry too much. I found that introducing people to a whole new way of playing was one of the most entertaining parts of running the game. Likely you won't need much to get started.

Mike Holmes

[Ron Edwards]

James,

My experience is that people grab the basic concept of Soap quite quickly. Its semi-parodic content helps.

The main pitfalls are:
- misinterpreting the meaning of the word "secret," as "never to be revealed, ever." I tell people that it really might be called their character's "revelation."
- not realizing that people can be KILLED if their secret is not known, they just don't DIE.
- spending too much time on logistics - "I drive there" - and not realizing that they can simply show up wherever they want to be.

Best,
Ron

[Mike Holmes]

Yeah, Interestingly for a GMless game the experienced player is going to have to "play moderator" for that first game.

Just keep saying, "And then what happens?" a lot.

Players may require prompting. They expect there to be some feedback from the GM, but none is forthcomming. So you may have to just prod a little.

Another favorite to really get the idea across is, "And then what does he do?" referring to a character that is not the player's. This seems to really throw people; the idea that they can direct the actions of other characters.

But you can get them to react just by asking tose little questions. After a while I found myself needing to stop prodding and shut up, though, because everybody had gotten the idea. Doesn't take too long.

Mike Holmes