creative agenda game

[Emily Care]

Hey Folks,

This is quick and fun. In 25 words or less, describe your creative agenda from an actual game or campaign you have played.  

What do I mean by creative agenda? From Ron's the whole model this is it thread:

Creative Agenda is the blanket term for any and all GNS modes or priorities of play. The Venn diagram is supposed to indicate that any Creative Agenda is an expression or application of Exploration among the real-people group.

But I think of a person's CA as what makes them dig the game they are playing. That certain something that keeps you going back for more. Or the parts of play that you most enjoy, and maybe tell stories to others about. Or what you are trying to do in your play.

Now, here's the catch. Describe what you love about this particular experience, without refering to gamism, narrativism or simulationism. This isn't supposed to make it harder, just more precise and less jargony. See how few words in the gns glossary you can use.

Here's my try:
Ars Magica Homebrew Collaborative creation of a complex setting, authorship and discovery of satisfying and emotionally engaging characters, and experimentation to find mechanical techniques that support these goals.

Keyword: Collaborative.


Tell us the system, just for a frame of reference.

Best,
Emily

[Jason Lee]

Dimensional/Time Travel Homebrew:  Realistic and complicated interpersonal dynamics among characters from a wide range of religions, cultures, and strata.  Experimenting with different mechanics.  Playing multiple characters.

[Paganini]

Hey Em,

That's a pretty personal question! I don't think you've even answered it yourself, yet. It's not something simple like "what was the rockin'-kewelest" moment" or "what makes you want to play a vampire." It is this: When you sit down at that table, it is your own specific, self-held intent to generate play in such a way that when you leave that table, you do so with a sense of satisfaction.

All normal caveats about people knowing their own minds apply; you might not realize until after the game the whats and whys of why what you did feels so good.

There are a few oustanding play experiences that stick with me. One of them is the Shadows game from a year or two ago. Every player in that game was on the same page; we were all working together to create a specific kind of atmospheric color. That kind of shared vision is really chilling when applied to the kind of freaky stuff we were doing. When Zak read the transcript, he said the hairs on his arms actually raised. I always remember that comment, because it exactly captured my own attachment to that game. Everyone in there "got it." We understood the mechanics, and we went about creating the texture that we wanted with extraordinary singleness of mind.

So, time for a Dogbert quote. "That took a few more words, but I think it was worth it." :)

[Alan]

In 25 words or less, describe your creative agenda from an actual game or campaign you have played.  

I was able to choose a theme early in the game and play scenes that addressed it for the whole session.

That's 21 words.  The specific event happen in my first game of Trollbabe, with Clinton as GM.  It was a revelation and I've used what I learned about my own preferences in games ever since.

[Mark D. Eddy]

Shadowrun, 2nd ed.: Every person who came to a game in a publc place (WoTC Game Center, Seattle) had fun and talked about it later.

Keyword: Fun.

[pete_darby]

Shadowrun, 2nd ed.: Every person who came to a game in a publc place (WoTC Game Center, Seattle) had fun and talked about it later.

Keyword: Fun.

Ah, but clean wholesome fun, or hurting wrong fun?

Without knowing what you consider fun, this is kind of circular:

Please tell us what you consider to be fun about your game!

Fun!

Thanks!

So, was this blowing stuff up fun, get into our characters heads fun, dancing cyborgs fun, oh-god-feel-my-pain fun, what? Share the fun!

[Mark D. Eddy]

Interesting. Maybe the  key word should have been "Every" -- It may be an exaggeration to say and mean *every*, but I GMed the durn thing, and I've had people I don't remember playing in the game come up to me six years later saying how much fun they had. It's why I've been the loser who believes that a good GM can overcome GNS priority issues, if he or she balances play correctly.

We had a combat just about every game. We explored a new city every game (the Rocker had landed a world tour). We pursued the question of the border between friendship and love every game. And I had a blast, because the players had a blast.

[pete_darby]

Nah, no loser: you and your players had the game of all games going there!

And I'd say you were playing the priority expert, giving folks just what they want, when they want, and everyone else was grooving on that.

[Mike Holmes]

Yeah, nothing about "System Does Matter" says that GM's don't matter. It's always been accepted that a good GM can overcome these problems. It sounds like a potentially complicated Creative Agenda that you were forging, but a coherent Creative Agenda in the sense that it gave everyone what they wanted. This doesn't contradict anything in the theory.

Mike

[Emily Care]

Hey Em,

That's a pretty personal question! I don't think you've even answered it yourself, yet. It's not something simple like "what was the rockin'-kewelest" moment" or "what makes you want to play a vampire." It is this: When you sit down at that table, it is your own specific, self-held intent to generate play in such a way that when you leave that table, you do so with a sense of satisfaction.

Touche!  But what about the intent that you go into a game with? It's an agenda after all--that implies conscious intention and action taken to make it manifest.

There are a few oustanding play experiences that stick with me. One of them is the Shadows game from a year or two ago. Every player in that game was on the same page; we were all working together to create a specific kind of atmospheric color. That kind of shared vision is really chilling when applied to the kind of freaky stuff we were doing. When Zak read the transcript, he said the hairs on his arms actually raised. I always remember that comment, because it exactly captured my own attachment to that game. Everyone in there "got it." We understood the mechanics, and we went about creating the texture that we wanted with extraordinary singleness of mind.

This brings up a point I was wondering about: color (or tone) can be a critical part of a person's creative agenda. It often gets sort of short shrift in theorizing, but in play, it is actually quite important.

I have another question, Paganini (Nathan?), was it the color or the group-minded experience that made this game quite so special?

Best,
Em

[Mike Holmes]

CA involves very deeply the methods prioritized in achieving the feel. Ron points out that people mistake his use of Agenda, to mean the sought end products, but rather that he meant it more like a meeting agenda - a routine for getting to the outcome. So I'm not seeing any CAs above, I'm seeing goals of play sans the methods to get there.

For my latest game, I'd say that my CA is: Promote play that explores the setting of Shadow World in such a way that makes it come to life, while allowing character interactions with setting to produce theme.

Keyword: Adventure (as hackneyed as that is)

Now, that's not much better. But I don't think you're going to get good responses with that few words (I went over by 3 as it was).

Mike

[pete_darby]

To produce play fulfilling the wishlist the players gave me at the start of the campaign, commonly called "character sheets".

20 words! And a lot easier in HQ than other games I've played....

Keyword: errr, there isn't one in that, but it's "attributes"

Find out what they've written down as attributes, you find the agenda (relationships & traits, that'll be sim/nar then....)

[Emily Care]

I haven't replied to each response, but I'm reading them closely. I want to see what kind of variation there is in how we express our creative agendas.  Are these the goals you would "expect" to see? Are they adequately address by using gns shorthand?

CA involves very deeply the methods prioritized in achieving the feel. Ron points out that people mistake his use of Agenda, to mean the sought end products, but rather that he meant it more like a meeting agenda - a routine for getting to the outcome. So I'm not seeing any CAs above, I'm seeing goals of play sans the methods to get there.

That's the logical follow up to the original question: What actual methods did you use to bring your desired CA into being? and/or What happened in play that created the conditions that you found so pleasurable?

My response:
Methods/techniques:  1) I found other players with whom I shared CA compatibility and common language to support collaborative play.
2) found a simple but compelling premise (founding a covenant) and system that wouldn't get in the way
3) spent hours talking and writing about world and character background
4) Explicitly left determination of task resolution up to discussion for several years, then slowly introduced mechanical system elements as desired.
5) Based plot on issues that arose from character and setting.
6)Continue above and adjust based on experience.

What happened in play: the fact that all three of us entered as equals has meant that we've been able to have experience the synergy of playing off of one another not just in character interaction, but in all areas.  The best parts, the parts that make the hair raise on the back of my neck, have been the moments when separate elements we've created come together in surprising yet compelling unplanned twists.  

Maybe that's the answer you were looking for, Nathan. :) But the Creative Agenda I originally outlined is what I've come up with that I believe leads to this kind of experience.

What about you all?

Regards,
Emily

[anonymouse]

Donjon: a Monkey's Tale: Have a no-prep game, easy to run with my younger brother as the only player. Playing a monkey.

Keyword: MONKEY.. well, not really. I could say something like "fun" but.. I can't imagine people who would play for not-fun, so why would that even be mentioned? So, a proper keyphrase would be more like "only one player".

Does that hit CA? For some reason it's just not clicking with me, I'm not sure if that's actually CA or something else.

[Paganini]

Em,

I almost hate to reply, but this discussion is so good I'll risk momentarily derailing the thread.

Touche!  But what about the intent that you go into a game with? It's an agenda after all--that implies conscious intention and action taken to make it manifest.

Yes. Ron's essay's insist that one always has a Creative Agenda when one plays. Whether or not that Creative Agenda is consciously identified seems irrelevant.

Edit: I should add, if the CA is actively recognized by the player, then the player can be in control of it. Hence, Mike's Omni-player, who can choose to play with a various CA at will.

This brings up a point I was wondering about: color (or tone) can be a critical part of a person's creative agenda. It often gets sort of short shrift in theorizing, but in play, it is actually quite important.

I completely agree. Color is *why* we're interested in exercising our Creative Agendas on the field of Exploration. Narrativist premises are a dime a dozen, and you can compete anywhere. When you consider a potential game experience, the color is what makes you say "I want to play in this sandbox!"

I have another question, Paganini (Nathan?), was it the color or the group-minded experience that made this game quite so special?

That is a good question. It was a bit of both, I think. That variety of ethereal color is itself fairly unusual in the context of RPGs, at least in my experience. So, it was cool to game there. But the fact that we were *all* actively *creating* that color was what really made it cool. It's like one of those moments in orchestra playing when all the strings are completely together, and the horns nail the high note. :)

Just as a foot note, I feel like we're using the term Creative Agenda a little loosly in this thread. Ron pretty specifically narrows it to comprise The Dream, Step on Up, and Story Now. It seems to me like we're not talking so much about specific Creative Agendas that we have enjoyed, but more that we're talking about specific Techniques and Ephemira and such that we successfuly used to support our Agenda, whatever it happened to be at the time.