I just started running PTA for three players. Wanting to make sure that there were enough chips in the Audience Pool so that everyone could start giving Fan Mail right away, I spend 5 points of Budget on the teaser.

So, for scene one there was a nice 5 point Audience Pool. I reminded everyone about giving Fan Mail. The first scene was a little rocky, but one player awarded another a point of Fan Mail. Leaving 4 in the Aud. Pool. I spent another 3 points of Budget on this scene, bringing the Aud. Pool up to 7.

This "spend lots of Budget" and "award a little Fan Mail" continued throughout the game. At the end, more than half my starting Budget was sitting in the Aud. pool. Less than half had been awarded and spent as Fan Mail.

Is this a problem? With only three players, the most Fan Mail that can leave the Aud. Pool in a single scene is 6--and that's only if everyone is really contributing top-notch stuff in that scene. Is this a result of only having three players, or are they just not awarding enough Fan Mail? Or is this the way it's supposed to work?

ONE OTHER QUESTION: From my reading of the rules, it looks as if Protagonists are the only ones who have Stakes in a scene. The Producer's Stakes is always "No, you don't get your Stakes." Is that correct?

Playing it that way feels a little stiff. Particularly after so much With Great Power... where having player and GM Stakes in each scene really livened things up. Am I just being too literal? Should NPCs have Stakes, too?

I've had theoretical concerns of pretty much exactly the same type.  But let me push for a little practical context:  Did you have fun?

I had a load of fun in a game where pretty much exactly what you're describing happened.  So I'd like to have things clicking more solidly, but I'm not exactly tearing my hair out in search of an answer.

Actually, the practical context is that I'm running PTA at Southern Exposure next week and don't want to misrepresent Matt's game.

As for fun, we certainly did have fun, but I'm pretty sure we would have had more fun if I, as Producer, had been able to set my own Stakes instead of just being "the force of 'Oh no you don't.'" I'm curious as to Matt's (or any one else's) rationale for that particular decision.

The Producer doesn't get his own stakes. But that's okay. The producer (and the other players) should be involved in stakes setting, always. It's good Producer-ship to suggest meatier (or smaller!) stakes and talk about possible consequences and ask how the Issue is related, etc. Get in there and churn things up a bit, and let the player be the buck-stopper.

One thing that works for me: "We all know [that Buffy kicks vampire ass], so le'ts be sure to include some [awesome fight moves] in the narration. But what's really at stake?" The stuff between the brackets takes care of task resolution. Then the question focuses the players on the thematic stuff, when you want it.

And of course, the player is always able to back up. "Wait, actually, I'm not so sure that the ass-kicking is certain. I think Buffy's safety is actually on the line." Like that. Back and forth.

Michael wrote:
Is this a problem? With only three players, the most Fan Mail that can leave the Aud. Pool in a single scene is 6--

Hi,

What I usually do when I'm not setting stakes is focus on complications. So I'm not thinking in terms of "No, Buffy doesn't stake the vampire," but rather "Here's why she doesn't stake him." In a sense, I'm adding stakes of "Your character's life gets more complicated." That tends to gives me satisfactory creative input into the conflict.

Michael:

Here's a sort of warm-up you might want to try in your upcoming convention game:

At the end of the scene, require the players to hand out at least one point of fan mail, and get them to come up with a reason why.

Then the next scene, each person who doesn't hand out any fan mail, ask them if they aren't having any fun. Tell them if they're having fun, then there's something to award fan mail for.

You just have to like something for it to be fan-mail worthy. You don't have to faint from the pleasure.

There's a question here that hasn't been answered, something I've been meaning to ask as well. According to the first edition rules, page 51 under "Earning Fan Mail", a player can only award one point of fan mail per scene. Does anyone enforce that in play? I think I let one player award two points in our recent pilot episode, since he was so amused by the two other players' in-character argument. Making him choose one of them to award would have felt strange.

I don't see the reason, either, why you can't award fan mail between scenes. Is there one that I don't see? Should fan mail only be awarded for things that are actually "seen" in the scenes, or can you award it after the scene when someone says "You know, I think that last scene made my character turn to the dark side", and you think that it's a really cool idea? If you do that it'll be even harder to follow the "once per scene" rule.

The awarding of low amounts of fanmail is a self-correcting mechanism in the game.  If you're not getting that budget back in spent fan mail, then you have to wrap up the episode quickly.