Last night my summer game group started prepping for a Trials of the Grail game. In the last couple of months we've played Dogs in the Vineyard, Pantheon, and a bunch of board games (I missed it, but Betrayal at House on the Hill was a big favorite. We also played my space wargame Anaxis). Since we only have a couple of sessions left, everyone decided to see what this crazy game of mine was like. The players are Jeff, Dave, Dan and myself.

First I presented them with the three example set-ups in the book, but none of these grabbed them--they said "A Dark Gray Land" was intriguing but probably too heavy, and I agreed. Then we talked about the setting examples from the first edition of the game. Jeff said he'd like to do something like the "American GIs in France during WWII" set-up, and we went with that. We played with the basic scenario a little: their CO has been grievously injured and their unit is cut off from help during one of the major offensives, whittled down to just a dozen-or-so men. While the bulk of the unit stays put, the Questors are sent out to find help--French Resistance, Allied forces, a radio, whatever. The original set-up is very specific about what the Grail is (the secret grotto of a French saint) but they wanted to keep it up in the air. The King is obviously their CO, and the Land is their unit. It's all fairly low on the "mystical" continuum.

Next we talked about Virtue and Wisdom. I described Virtue as the metric they would judge the Questors by--putting a lot of emphasis on their (the players') judgment. They opted to judge the soldiers by their own ideals: a down-to-earth, gung-ho American idealism, embodied by the stereotypical square-jawed, glittering-smiled, propaganda-poster soldier. There was no talk of Christianity per se, so religion may play a small role in this game--it seems that cultural values will be king here. They chose Wisdom to be a well-developed moral compass. It was hard to come up with anything more specific, but it's not a big deal.

Then characters. We already decided that Jeff would play the Lead, Dan and Dave Supporting Questors. Even before most of the above discussion, they began talking about military roles, with Jeff playing the second in command, Dan with a medic, and Dave with a sniper type. This labels seemed to provide something to latch onto, though I was a little afraid of overly pigeon-holed stereotypes.

I explained the basic character traits and gave them points to assign. I think the lack of character differentiation, and assigned niches, surprised them (less Jeff since he's read the rules). The total lack of any equipment rules especially. Like, when Dan decided on "medic," I think he imagined having medic skills and medic equipment--but there's none of that in TotG. I explained a little of that, and hinted at why, and they were cool with it; it's just different. I sense, though, that comprehending that difference now is one thing, and actually playing it will take some more getting used to--maybe a lot more: I anticipate them thinking a lot about equipment and the supposed skills they each have, and trying to use those in Trials somehow. And it may take a little work to demonstrate that you don't need to care about that stuff; the game works fine without it.

They assigned some points but didn't write descriptions of their aptitudes. The creative juices were kinda there but not on full tap (for all of us). Everyone had a hard time coming up with Strengths, so we decided to mull it over for a week and finish making characters next time. The last pieces of char-gen are often hard, so this wasn't surprising. Strengths, Weaknesses and Mysteries are wide open and you have to have a good sense of your character before you can really write good ones. I won't really know where this game is going until I see them, especially the Mysteries. My job's so much easier if they write good ones. I'm very curious.

While no one had a really solid character concept, beyond military role, everyone seemed pretty excited about the game, especially how different it is from other games, so I'm excited too. My only (minor) concerns are, again, the newness of the rules and the real lack of anything mystical. Mystery's got to get in somehow, even in the back door, or it's not a Grail Quest, and Virtue and Wisdom won't mean anything. But the Questor's own Mysteries may do this. We'll see. For newness, Narrative Points are going to be a big deal, maybe a hang-up for a while. It's a lot of director-stance responsibility to have dumped in your lap. I'm not planning on pushing that too hard at first, but slowly ramp up the pressure to use NPs. Everyone going to have to get over the fear of wreacking "the GM's story."

In preparation for next week's game, Jeff suggested we rent a particular WWII movie for inspiration (I can't remember the title now). Does anyone have any recommendations for other inspirational-material? Preferably movies, since I only have a week to view it. I'd also appreciate ideas for running a WW game in general, especially any that could tie in with the Grail Quest theme. I can't decide what the Grail will be (at least not at this stage) but cool ideas for obstacles or interesting situations would be much appreciated.

Jasper,

There are so damn many great WWII movies to choose from.  Lots of them with elements that would fit Trials rather well.  Here is a short list of more quest oriented movies (Saving Private Ryan, The Great Escape, Kelly's Heroes, A Bridge Too Far).  Also check out Band of Brothers.  Several episodes would be great inspiration for a WWII Trials game.

Keith

Thanks, Keith. I know I've seen some of those, though probably not for a long time. I'm sure some of them can be had from my local video store.

Know any with strong mystical aspects? I.E. with "quest" involving not just searching but spiritual/moral/religious elements?

Jasper wrote:
Thanks, Keith. I know I've seen some of those, though probably not for a long time. I'm sure some of them can be had from my local video store.

Know any with strong mystical aspects? I.E. with "quest" involving not just searching but spiritual/moral/religious elements?

I believe the name of that episode is "Why We Fight"

My favorite of a truly awe-inspiring series.

Thanks, guys. I rented the first four episodes of Band of Brothers and those helped get me in the mood. I'll probably get the rest before our next play session. In case you're interested, Jef reminded me of the movie he suggested: A Midnight Clear. And while I was busy researching WWII material, Jef went about reading little-known (historical) variations of the Grail quest. This is generally a good group to play TotG with, since Jef is a medieval historian, and Dan and Dave are well-familiar with the Romances.

We played our second session last night, including "real," in-game play. We took about an hour to work on characters first. Strengths and Weaknesses took a little doing, but weren't too bad. At my suggestion, both Dan and Dave backed up their military-roles (sniper and medic) with appropriate Strengths, though I think Weaknesses fleshed out the characters more.

Mysteries proved hard. We took a long time just mulling them over, with everyone trying to help everone else out. Dan had a good one right off the bat, "What are the lights I see following us?" which indicated he would have no trouble with some director-stance type power. But in the end, we had to leave a bunch of points undefined, since I think we could have sat there the whole night and not come up with any more, so I decided to move on. In particular, personal Mysteries hard to come up with, given that with the premise of the quest, the Questors are cut off from their families and the rest of their unit. The players also kept veering toward yes/no questions, which tend to be too simple. At any rate, here are the characters as of the beginning of play:

[pre]Sgt. Frank Ordenowitz
Lead Questor
Played by Jef

A draftee who quickly earned his way to Seargent.

Aptitudes (talent / skill):
Manner  t4 / s0 - aura of command
Survival t3 / s0 - will to live
Wits    t5 / s0 - lateral thinker
Fight    t6 / s0 - tenacious

Potential: 20

Strength: defense of the weak

Weaknesses:
- unable to demonize the enemy
- crisis of faith

Mysteries:
- What was our mission? (5 pt)
- What will happen to my mother, while I'm at war? (5 pt)
- undefined 5pt

----------

Pvt. Glenn Blackwell
Supporting Questor
Played by David

A college drop-out who drifted in and out of music before enlisting, looking for a place for himself.

Aptitudes:
Manner  t3 / s2 - a little gruff
Survival t2 / s3 - sheltered city boy, former boy scout, military training
Wits    t2 / s1 - intelligent, difficulty focusing
Fight    t5 / s4 - highschool wrestler, natural talent with sniping

Potential: 4

Strengths:
- when enemies [that we're engaged with] are far away
- rivalries

Weaknesses:
- decisions
- alcohol

Mysteries:
- Will Ian, my highschool rival, make it in the war? (4 pt)
- What will mom get me for Christmas? (2 pt)
- Did the Germans see us when we landed? (4 pt)

----------

Pvt. Erich Weiss
Supporting Questor
Played by Dan

A German-speaker with immigrant parents.

Aptitudes:
Manner  t2 / s2 - blond, blue-eyed
Survival t2 / s3 - boy scout
Wits    t3 / s6 - med. school prodigy, attentive
Fight    t2 / s1 - army trained

Potential: 6

Strengths:
- injured people
- ambushes

Weaknesses:
- when under explosive fire
- pain (my own)

Mysteries:
- What are the lights I see trailing us? (5 pt)
- undefined 5pt[/pre]

I'll post the first bit of in-game play in a little while.

Before we began, I reiterated the Tenets of the game, as we'd discussed them last time, and briefly discussed Creative Agenda. This wasn't necessary, but was potentially useful. Everyone seemed clear on what Narrativism meant and could draw easy parallels to DitV, which we'd just played.  Jef also made an interesting analogy about playing TotG.

Jef (more or less) wrote: It's like surfing. You guys [the Supporting Questors] are like the surf board. I [the Lead] am like the surfer, riding along. And Trials of the Grail is the wave underneath us.