I'm am a particpant in the 2 pbp games of PTA that DannyK has been discussing.


In the first game (a supernatural crime family) we sort of kind of got lost and didn't "feel" the flow of the episode or know where it was going.


Our next game (the superhero team one), we sort of discussed how it would be easier to run with a more overtly episodic action-adventure structure:
-We figure out a 1 line TV guide summary of the episode.
-Then it would be run with an overt 3 act structure: intro- [characters get the mission]- longer action/ investigation - [climax]- wrapup.

I think it would seem that the Issues would become secondary to the plot, but this would address some of the problems we had.

Hi Kenway,

Spotlight episodes which focus on individual Issues create a lot of the fun of PTA play -- I wouldn't do anything that reduced them.

If you play a few more times, I think you'll find that the players themselves are working towards a story structure. In addition, the Producer can herd the structure as part of his responsiblities. He can remind players about the passing real time and where they might want to be in the action. Eg "Hey, guys, it's 9:30, maybe we should be looking for a climax."

Here's an idea to consider. In each episode, give the show premise a screen presence score that is inverse to the highest protagonist SP. Ie, if the highest protagonist SP is 3, the show premise SP is 1 and if all protagonist SPs are 1, the show's SP is 3. When the show's SP is high, the events of play arise mostly from the show premise ("We all fight supervillains," "We're vampire killers," etc.)

We can put episodes in three cateogries:

Spotlight - one or more Protagonists have a Screen Presence of 3.
The spotlight protagonist's issue creates the episode story.

Ensemble - Several Protagonists have 2s and no one has a 3.
The protagonists either pursue individual concerns around the show premise.

Plot Episode - All SP are 1.
The protagonists are all concerned with doing their part to address the overall premise.

Here's the Teen Titans episode guide:
http://www.tv.com/teen-titans/show/13878/episode_guide.html

I was kinda hoping that the familiar superhero genre would make it easier to keep the story flowing, while still addressing Issues. We'll see how it works, I s'pose.