I ran a really rocking one shot of The Shadow of Yesterday at nerdnyc.com's Recess event Saturday, and I thought I'd share.

I had an idea that TSoY would be great for Wuxia-themed stuff, especially the stuff that Wuxia games never seem to really capture: conflicting lines of obligation, love, unrequited love, honor, face, and bloody-handed vengeance. So rather than using Near, though I really do like it, I set the game in my version of Mythic China.

Since it was a one shot with a four hour slot, I pre-generated the characters to ensure the Keys really hit the stuff I was going for.

Here's the cast of characters:
Lord Zuo Tse: Master of Taishen Sword Sect, and one of the Five Chiefs of the Five Mountain Sword Alliance. Called Gentleman Zuo by the other sects. Master of Taishen Sword Style and keeper of the Radiant 9 Scroll.

Dr. Bao Tien: Geomancer, alchemist and exorcist for the Taishen Clan and master of Magic 8.

Zuo Tan: Eldest son and successor of Lord Zuo, renowned for his Upright Dragon Fist, a Taishen technique.

Bao Li: Daughter of Dr. Bao, and the most beautiful maiden of Taishen. A practitioner of Taishen’s Resplendant Crane.

The Lady of Still Water: Deceased, formerly Dr. Bao’s wife and Bao Li’s mother. Ghost. In life she was famed for her skill with the Courtesan Ribbons.

The Red Snake Fairy: The Lady of Still Water’s twin sister, now a vicious warrior of the Demon Cult, feared for her skill with the Fairy Duster and Cold Poison Needles.

Iron-Shirt Shang: A disreputable Buddhist monk famous for his 9 Shadows Boxing.

Justice Wei: An imperial magistrate (policeman) famed for his mastery of the Judge’s Pen and Eight-Armed Monkey Boxing.

Devil Yu: Rumored leader of the Demon Cult, master of the devastating Altered Universe.

I gave each of the characters three Keys:
Justice Wei:
Key of the Mission (Catch and Execute The Red Snake Fairy)
Key of Unrequited Love (The Red Snake Fairy)
Key of Conscience

The Red Snake Fairy:
Key of Vengeance (Lord Zuo)
Key of Unrequited Love (Lord Zuo)
Key of Shame (atone for The Lady of Still Water’s murder)

Iron-Shirt Shang:
Key of the Mission (Get the Radiant 9 scroll for Shaolin)
Key of Face (Prevent anyone from learning of the shameful truth)
Key of the Masochist

Dr. Bao:
Key of Vengeance (Lord Zuo and his family)
Key of the Fraternity (Lord Zuo)
Key of Love (Bao Li)

Lord Zuo:
Key of Face (Defend reputation at all costs)
Key of Shame (Protect The Red Snake Fairy)
Key of Vengeance (Dr. Bao)

Bao Li:
Key of Vengeance (The Red Snake Fairy)
Key of Love (Zuo Tan)
Key of Fraternity (the Nameless Hero, i.e., Devil Yu in disguise)

Zuo Tan:
Key of Love (Bao Li)
Key of Honor
Key of the Mission (Destroy the Demon Cult)

Devil Yu:
Key of Unrequited Love (Bao Li)
Key of the Clan (as Ammenite Key of the House)
Key of Conscience

The Lady of Still Water:
Key of Love (Dr. Bao)
Key of the Mission (Heal the Familial Rift)
Key of Hell’s Geas (similar to Elven Key of the Bloodline, she couldn’t reveal her true identity to her immediate family without being forced to return to Hell afterward)

I had six players in the group. The characters that were not selected were Bao Li and The Lady of Still Water. I think it would have made for a very different game if they had been included in the mix. Anyway, I told the players at the outset that this was a PvP scenario, and they didn't have to hold back.

In order to really drive play based on the Keys in the four hours we had, I reduced the cost of Advancements to 5 XP. This worked REALLY well. Some of the players were more adept at finding ways to hit their Keys at first. However, somewhere in the first hour of play, someone initiated a Bringing Down the Pain. Before I asked for Intentions, I asked if anyone had enough experience and wanted to spend an Advancement. One of the players actually had enough for two and spent them both right there and then! After that, the other players instantly grasped how this stuff worked together and they started hitting their Keys right and left and even asking for scenes in order to get to them.

I think most of the players averaged 4 or 5 Advancements during the course of the session, and a few of them had as many as 6 or 7.

I really appreciated the way Bringing Down the Pain allowed us to cut loose without fear. At one point, Devil Yu (who we all knew was an identical twin with Zuo Tan, though it had not yet been revealed to the characters in play) came face to face with Zuo Tan as he was exiting Lord Zuo's chambers. He had dressed himself as Zuo Tan and attempted to make Lord Zuo believe that he WAS Zuo Tan.

Zuo Tan's player interjected himself into the scene as Devil Yu was exiting. After coming face to face, both players announced deadly intentions. This happened about 2 hours into the game. Normally, I would have been concerned at the possibility of one character killing the other this early on (and thus taking one player out of the game), but I decided to sit back and let the rules do what they were designed to do.

We played out a few rounds of combat as things went back and forth when Dr. Bao's player interjected himself into the scene and announced his intention of forcing the two to stop fighting and talk. With some bonus dice from his pools AND Gift dice from Devil Yu's and Zuo Tan's players, he was successful. I told the players that they had to change their Intentions away from death, and they were both really pleased with that result.

The final scene was very satisfying, as The Red Snake Fairy's player bought off her Unrequited Love Key in order to get the boost she needed to kill Lord Zuo. As a result, Justice Wei's player bought off his Key of Unrequited Love to get a boost to snap The Red Snake Fairy's neck. He then narrated that his character hung himself the next morning.

Iron-Shirt Shang's player bought of his Key of the Mission in order to destroy the Radiant 9 Scroll. Zuo Tan's character bought off his Key of the Mission after he was forced to accept (in a tense Bringing Down the Pain) that he and Devil Yu were brothers and The Red Snake Fairy was their mother.

All in all, I was extremely pleased with the result. It really captured the tragedy of a good Wuxia novel or movie -- and I feel that was really driven by the Keys and the reversals created by the conflict resolution mechanics.

The Red Snake Fairy's player came up to me afterward and said she had been suffering from game ennui lately, and this session really reinvigorated her. Much as I'd like to take full credit for that, I think Clinton's excellent game played a large part in getting that result.

I need a towel.

That is an awesome example of play! And it validates that Bringing Down the Pain works as intended. It's worked for me, but I've had a few negative comments. I think it's a just a matter of wrapping your head around a very different way to resolve conflict.

Also, I'm very glad to see that you went the player v. player route. One of the most influential games I've ever played in was, strangely, a convention Aberrant scenario that was strongly PvP. Even with the clunky system, the alliances that formed and betrayals that occured were some of the most engaging play I've been involved in. TSOY was built for that.

Thanks for playing, man, and thanks for the kind words!

Clinton R. Nixon wrote: I need a towel.

That is an awesome example of play! And it validates that Bringing Down the Pain works as intended. It's worked for me, but I've had a few negative comments. I think it's a just a matter of wrapping your head around a very different way to resolve conflict.

Also, I'm very glad to see that you went the player v. player route. One of the most influential games I've ever played in was, strangely, a convention Aberrant scenario that was strongly PvP. Even with the clunky system, the alliances that formed and betrayals that occured were some of the most engaging play I've been involved in. TSOY was built for that.

Thanks for playing, man, and thanks for the kind words!

Dammit. This thread made me switch websites and order TSOY. Bastards. Someday I'll finish My Eventual Game and all of you will have to buy it and it will have splatbooks, dammit, endless hardcover splatbooks with enormous margins!

[looks around, abashed] Err. Right. Cool game. Yeah.

Great stuff, Thor.

Could you give us an example of how combat worked in this martial arts, wire-fu extravaganza with a kind of show of what the players said at the table, what dice were rolled, how the bonus dice worked and how the Brining Down the Pain worked for you?

Thanks.

Paka wrote: Great stuff, Thor.

Could you give us an example of how combat worked in this martial arts, wire-fu extravaganza with a kind of show of what the players said at the table, what dice were rolled, how the bonus dice worked and how the Brining Down the Pain worked for you?

Thanks.

Thor, I have some directed questions for you regarding running a faux-Chinese game that I wanted to run by you (outside of TSOY, which sounds like it worked like a charm).

First, though, some questions about how you introduced the system to the players and how they responded:

After that, the other players instantly grasped how this stuff worked together and they started hitting their Keys right and left and even asking for scenes in order to get to them.

Andy Kitkowski wrote: Thor, I have some directed questions for you regarding running a faux-Chinese game that I wanted to run by you (outside of TSOY, which sounds like it worked like a charm).

First, though, some questions about how you introduced the system to the players and how they responded:

Questions:
1) Did they say "Hey, that means I get an XP, right?" or did you say "Don't forget- that means you get 1 XP." at first? How did you get them to start keeping track of and grabbing for their own XP?

2) How did they know to "ask for scenes"? Could you describe a couple situtaions in which they asked for scenes? Particularly from people who were asking for the first time.

I ask this because my group of cronies are simply not used to this kind of gaming, and I'm wondering how to get them into asking for scenes as second nature. In other words, take more involvement in the game. Which is why I'm wondering if you had people that went from "standard involvement" (head down, play the role, jump through the GM hoops) to high involvement (asking for scenes, etc) throughout the course of the adventure.

3) Were there any times during BDTP where you or others were (even mildly) stymied? As in, you couldn't quite map out intentions, or what to use to engage in the action, etc?

Now, my other questions have to do with starting and running a faux-Chinese session:

4) Where did you get your inspirations for the names of the characters, etc? Devil Yi, Radiant 9 Scroll, Red Snake Fairy, etc. It's very clever (hell, more clever than most of the names and items in my Feng Shui books), and right now I'm running a kind of "Tone Deaf" Chinese-themed game that lacks the punch of the above. Any sourcebooks or websites that you're drawing on?

5) How do you get everyone together and on the same page in terms of Chinese-style names? Do people get confused at all ("Wait, I thought Zuo Tan was the bald one- Isn't Devil Yu the monk?" etc)? If so, what helps to alleviate the confusion and keep the names fresh without resorting to "the Monk" "the guy with the moustache" "the evil midget", etc?

Tres cool, thanks!
My comment on the character sheets (I'd love to see one of these three-pages, as handed out, for one or two of these characters) still stands.

Thanks!

-Andy

Andy Kitkowski wrote: Tres cool, thanks!
My comment on the character sheets (I'd love to see one of these three-pages, as handed out, for one or two of these characters) still stands.

take heed, yon reader. While The Shadow of Yesterday exemplifies precisely why system does matter, what Thor does here applies to all games in all con/one-off scenarios.

-L

abzu wrote: take heed, yon reader. While The Shadow of Yesterday exemplifies precisely why system does matter, what Thor does here applies to all games in all con/one-off scenarios.

Can we distill these elements that make up a good one-shot that we have seen here?

Characters that have strong agendas, often conflicting, allowing the GM to arbitrate and drive the action rather than take the role as an entertainer.

Characters that will propel the players into situations that will highlight the rules.

A GM who vocally and loudly told the player when they were kicking ass, gave them their reward and then cut them loose to pursue their rewards and the pursuit of said rewards of course make the game more exciting.

A fun, basic concept that everyone can grasp quickly and easily.

Character sheets that inform the players and allow them to stay informed at a glance.

Paka wrote: Can we distill these elements that make up a good one-shot that we have seen here?

Hey guys, I think this is an awesome topic, but a tangent from my TSoY actual play. Andy, why don't you start another thread about how to work up an intense one shot/con scenario?