Hi there!

I've finally scheduled my first game of The Pool (Whee!) and now a bit of stagefright is setting in (though the game is still a few days off), so I have more questions.

(a) How do you deal with multiple PCs working in tandem (rather than in parallel scenes)?

My take: Whoever narrates, narrates all the successes and also the complications for the failed rolls. If several players want to narrate and don't want to back down, roll a die. (I'm tending towards avoiding a bidding contest, because it favors those with many dice. Then again, many dice may indicate that a player hasn't used director stance much.)

My problem: With several players rolling, there will always be at least one success, meaning that the party cannot fail.

(b) Loss of control

I've been thinking of lowering the limit of dice which can be gambled (from 9 to 7 or lower), so as to ensure failures and complications. Then again, I fear this is just the old-fashioned GM in me, afraid of giving up too much control.

(c) Here's the first character I've been mailed. There's still time to suggest changes:

[Note 1: This is translated from German, so it's not 50 words.]
[Note 2: The setting is a low-magic fantasy world which we've been playing in for years and years.]

Nicolodus, an orphan who grew up in a circus, is a versatile artiste, though he actually hates public performances. He ran away at age 14 and has been doing odd jobs ever since, preferably as a stableman or, in hard times, as a thief. He is small, thin and easily overlooked, but far stronger than he looks.

+2 competent artiste [Note: think tight-rope walking and mid-air antics]
+2 thief, scoundrel, bum
+1 strong, well-trained
+1 far-travelled, restless

Wish list:
+0 hates public performances
+0 prefers honest work

There are too many commas for my tastes and two psychological facets ended up with +0, but otherwise it seems alright. I plan on asking for more precision regarding the second and the last trait.

(d) The adventure

At the moment, I've got my sights on an old module, wherein a merchant hires the PCs to accompany him on his quest for a lost temple in the jungle. There's lots of travelling (by ship and through the jungle), all sorts of encounters (pirates, man-eating apes), and mad cultists at the end.

I plan to flesh out the merchant and some crew-members, hooking them into relationships to the PCs (which is somewhat forced if none have relationship traits). And then, I'll play it straight, but hopefully open to the players' input. If someone makes the pirate captain fall in love with his PC or if the party wins over the cultists, so be it.

*-*-*

I'd be very grateful for any comments and tips.

Regards

Hal

Hello,

Line by line, I'm afraid.

(a) How do you deal with multiple PCs working in tandem (rather than in parallel scenes)?

My take: Whoever narrates, narrates all the successes and also the complications for the failed rolls. If several players want to narrate and don't want to back down, roll a die. (I'm tending towards avoiding a bidding contest, because it favors those with many dice. Then again, many dice may indicate that a player hasn't used director stance much.)

My problem: With several players rolling, there will always be at least one success, meaning that the party cannot fail.

(b) Loss of control

I've been thinking of lowering the limit of dice which can be gambled (from 9 to 7 or lower), so as to ensure failures and complications. Then again, I fear this is just the old-fashioned GM in me, afraid of giving up too much control.

(d) The adventure

At the moment, I've got my sights on an old module, wherein a merchant hires the PCs to accompany him on his quest for a lost temple in the jungle. There's lots of travelling (by ship and through the jungle), all sorts of encounters (pirates, man-eating apes), and mad cultists at the end.

I plan to flesh out the merchant and some crew-members, hooking them into relationships to the PCs (which is somewhat forced if none have relationship traits). And then, I'll play it straight, but hopefully open to the players' input. If someone makes the pirate captain fall in love with his PC or if the party wins over the cultists, so be it.

Found it! The Pool: Dragons and Jasmine. Also see the internal links within it.

Best,
Ron

Hi again & sorry for the delay!

Ron Edwards wrote: Instead, whoever rolls successfully is now "on the narration team." The narration team must arrive at an agreed-upon narration.

And also, as usual, remember that "narrator" does not mean "speaker in the midst of deathly silence." Anyone may offer suggestions - the narrator or team of narrators merely reserve the rights to ask suggestors to stop, and to rubber-stamp the final version of what happened.

Ron Edwards wrote: I'm kind of yawning at this point, I'm afraid. Screw the merchant hiring the PCs. Screw the quest. Instead, have them be on the ship as it nears the island, maybe as people think "we should be right about there." Introduce a few people on the ship and let the conflicts arise from there. Don't attack with pirates or apes unless it can also be associated with interesting reactions from at least one NPC. Use your NPCs as sources of conflicts, not as ways to get the characters to do something.

Ron Edwards wrote: Suggestion: do a search here in Actual Play for "Jasmine," and find my thread about playing The Pool. I hope that will be helpful.