[psi run] Hometown Havoc

[chris_moore]

     We played a whole game of Psi Run today.  I was GM.  We have all gamed together for a couple of years, except for Rowan, the newest member (and my eldest son!)
     The game was set in our hometown, the Quad Cities, four adjacent cities (go figure) that straddle the Mississippi in Iowa and Illinois.  It was fun describing places that everyone could visualize.  We stopped a robbery, healed a sweet old woman, and dessicated a small army!

     Rowan's character, Sonny:
     Why can I see 7 seconds into the future? 
     Why don't I sleep?
     Why am I distracted by bright lights?
     Who are the "Brave"?
     
     Michael's character, nicknamed "Moon"
     Why can I heal or harm living beings?
     Why can I see best in the dark?
     Why do I keep getting younger?
     Why do I gaze at the stars?

     Jason's character, James
     Why do I know medicine and anatomy?
     Why do I have a "real" imaginary friend?
     Why am I sometimes followed by someone identical to me?
     Why do I sometimes see through another man's eyes?

     Kelli's character, Olive
     Why do I only travel with this blackberry?
     Why am I scarred?
     Where is my family?
     Why do I sleep with the lights on and wake up screaming?

     Here are some observations in note form, that I'll elaborate on further:

      -We incorporated Vincent's suggestions in the "One game after another" post in this forum.  They worked wonderfully.
      -It didn't matter that only one person had all of their questions answered (Rowan).  Here's the interesting part:  because 95% of the questions were answered by other players (because the rolling player preferred it), the questions that went unanswered turned out to be unimportant by "natural selection".  So, my worry that characters with only a few answers would feel incomplete didn't bear out in play.
     -In this game, Reveal was the "dump" category for a good chunk of the game.  Players were so into their Goals of staying hidden from normal authorities, finding transportation, etc., that no questions were answered for the first 1 1/2 hrs.  Also, no one thought of any extra questions for the low Reveal die.  We reflected on this together and concluded that it definitely would happen in other games, groups, etc.
     -Aside from Chase, the sources of conflict were:  the challenges of surviving while on the run,  and the ramifications of having wild powers.  The latter was very interesting.  I offered situations where the players could have their characters either use their powers for something other than escape, or be conscientious of those left in their wake. One player even had the Chasers advance two scenes instead of one, just so sweet old Mrs. Baker (whose osetoperosis was healed by "Moon") wouldn't have to run into the nasty ninja-like Chasers.
     -Speaking of the Chasers, their actual identity and specific motives were never revealed.  It kind of bothered me afterwards, and it was my fault.  When asked, none of the other players shared my concern. 
     -The characters turned out, through Reveals, to be a mixed bag of mutants, a space alien, and a psychic quadruplet.  Again, I was a bit bothered by what I perceived as inconsistencies that need a formal mechanic to avoid, otherwise they will be quite common.  It didn't make the game any less fun, it was just a bit vaguely dissatisfying for me afterwards.
     -The Crossroads (endgame) scenes were short, sweet, and intriguing.  I still wonder how other groups will do with that part of the game.

I'd love to hear from the other players (and anyone else)
Chris
 

[chris_moore]

osetoperosis....wow
I mean, osteoporosis.

[michael lingner]

i had a great time in the session.

one thing that i really enjoyed was how we as a group utilzed the Chase mechanic to guard sweet old Mrs. Baker from the blood thirsty Chasers.

from the point when They  our Chasers  first appeered They killed [either to cover their tracks -or- the Runners' tracks].  the wake of death 1st took out the Police & the 1st Resonce Team,  2nd a bumb who staggered upon out trail, but had no contact w/ the Runners.  to protect Mrs. Baker [an npc who 'moon' had healed] we  first we blocked Their progress. then we had them advance two scenes.., which made rthem jump past her scene along the Trail.

using Chase in this way was a first in our play testing. this was a fun application of the rules. Chris[& who ever else is reading] do you think we shoud have rolled a new conflict roll having the stated  Goal be "protect Mrs. B"?

right now.., i'm thinking that it narated out just fine.  after all.., it actually kept the tension going for more scenes than  it may have had  we had done so in a more orthodox fasion of setting up the new Goal.

~cloud

[michael lingner]

back again.  do you think that we, as players, kinda cheated  & skirted contact w/ the Chasers by utilizing Chase as we did?  as we played we had to make a couple of rolls to keep Mrs.B. safe.  either of those rolls we could have ended with the Runners   directly facing the Chasers. in play it just seemed like the surest path to keeping her out of harms way.

hmnnn....

~cloud

[Lizard King]

back again.  do you think that we, as players, kinda cheated  & skirted contact w/ the Chasers by utilizing Chase as we did?  as we played we had to make a couple of rolls to keep Mrs.B. safe.  either of those rolls we could have ended with the Runners   directly facing the Chasers. in play it just seemed like the surest path to keeping her out of harms way.

hmnnn....

~cloud

I thought about this issue, too.  I don't know that I'd say we cheated.  I processed it a little bit, and came to the conclusion that it's a game.  We used the rules effectively to steer the story in a way we chose.  That's what's awesome about having catagories to place the dice.  You can steer the story.  At one point Rowan chose to take a mortal wound because he thought it would make good story.  I responded by having Jack the Imaginary Friend go to his aid.  We both placed the dice.  I don't see manipulating the Chase category as different than that.
It's all awesome.

Jason

[michael lingner]

Jason, its good to see you on The Forge!

i agree. i feel that we roll & set the dice on the Story Board to shape the story. that is what we did via *Chase*.  to protect Mrs. Baker we had to control that category for two rolls. and since every time you roll the Chasers could gain on -or- even call the into the scene that the Runners/PCs are occupying we weren't skirting danger for our Runners.

plus...,  there was a very satisfying tension in the air untill the moment  that we had managed to succesfully divert the Chasers from Mrs. B's door.

~cloud

[Piers]

I really like the look of Psi-Run.  I've been following the playtests with interest.

The characters turned out, through Reveals, to be a mixed bag of mutants, a space alien, and a psychic quadruplet.  Again, I was a bit bothered by what I perceived as inconsistencies that need a formal mechanic to avoid, otherwise they will be quite common.  It didn't make the game any less fun, it was just a bit vaguely dissatisfying for me afterwards.

This is interesting.  I'm curious, what version of the "bonus dice for including the other characters in your revelations" rule are you using right now?  It seems like this was the piece of the system designed to reinforce consistency in backstory, but it also was designed when the system had the player usually narrating their own revelations.  Now that it is more often the other players, it doesn't seem so effective.

A suggestion: Maybe you could make the bonus dice a collective resource.  Put a bowl in the center of the table.  Any time someone narrates a weaving together of stories during a revelation, put a die in the bowl.  Anyone, on their turn, can take a die from  the bowl and use it as a bonus die when they make a roll. 

What this might do is reinforce the idea of the group as tied together.  It doesn't matter whether they are helping each other or betraying each other, narrating a shared past potentially benefits everyone.

I have a question too:

In one of the early versions of the game, you labelled the Brainstorm category as "optional"--ie put a die here if the player is using a "power."  Has this rule fallen by the wayside?  Because from the point of view of advantage, it is always to the players' benefit to have one less category to assign too, particularly if they a) have the same number of dice, and b) can't gain anything from the category.

One way to deal with things would be simply to say, you have to assign to Brainstorm; you only suceed in not using your powers when you assign a high number.  However, I was thinking that the other way to do things would be to give the players the option of not using powers and having (say) a default of 4 dice to assing to four categories, or having to assign to Brainstorm as well and getting +2 dice.  This would give them the choice before rolling of holding in, but knowing things might get rough, or going all out and risking those around them. 

I'll be interesting to see how the game develops.

[chris_moore]

Thanks for the post?

In one of the early versions of the game, you labelled the Brainstorm category as "optional"--ie put a die here if the player is using a "power."  Has this rule fallen by the wayside?  Because from the point of view of advantage, it is always to the players' benefit to have one less category to assign too, particularly if they a) have the same number of dice, and b) can't gain anything from the category.

Right.  Except, if the Runner wants to do something that a normal human couldn't possibly do.  Or, even more importantly, they want to tell a story about a person trying to survive while tossing around out of control powers.   It's been really interesting to see people playing this game come away from a "character preservation" mode into making choices that are the most interesting, and not the most strategic.

chris

[Piers]

Except, if the Runner wants to do something that a normal human couldn't possibly do.  Or, even more importantly, they want to tell a story about a person trying to survive while tossing around out of control powers.   It's been really interesting to see people playing this game come away from a "character preservation" mode into making choices that are the most interesting, and not the most strategic.

Absolutely.  I definitely don't want to conflate strategy with character preservation.  Let me reframe:

Whatever a character's goals may be, the player is engaged in trying to create the sort of story which he or she wants and, hopefully, is constantly bombarded with interesting and difficult choices.  It is equally possible to play the game in an attempt to see how many bad things they can make happen as to see if they can survive, the system offers the same constraints either way: when you roll, there are some successful dice and some failing dice, and they need to be placed in the different categories.  So long as you are engaged with the character it doesn't matter what your goal is, the question posed is, where what sort of failure do I have to accept in order to gain what success, or vice versa. 

With that in mind, my question is: What is the effect of having the choice to not use your powers give more control over the outcome, rather than vice versa--because that's what the mechanic does.  Does this drive towards the theme of the game?

Does that help.