We've been playing our first PTA game recently (see http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=18058.0 ), plus a second episode not posted there. We've had lots of fun with it, but have been playing a bit loose with some of the rules.

I started of with framing scenes and letting the players take turns, but after a while the scenes just started flowing one into the other more or less by themselves. I think it just made sense to everyone what the next scene would be. So the scene framing became very unstructured, but it still worked fine. All the time there was lots of input and suggestions from the players and what could happen and how, they were inventing NPCs, plot twists and more. We've played a bit of free form GM-less games in the past, so the group is very open to players picking up author stance or taking the role of NPCs when they feel like it. It worked fine for us, but I'm just wondering if there is something we are missing out on by not following the scene framing rules more?

  Ragnar

p.s. As a side note. The second episode had elements that were repeats of what happened in the first one. For one it started with the guys closing up their Hardware Store and someone knocking on the window (zombie in the first episode, cute girl in the second). When they got home later, none could be bothered to cook so they decided to order Chinese food, but never succeed. So they wind up having to go into town to fetch the food....but never get any (for whatever reason). We figured this could be a cool way to start all the episodes. The poor protagnoists will NEVER get their Chinese food, ever. :-)

Absolutely my experience with my first go at PTA - from the <A Href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=238063">LA: Life After Actual Play</A> thread on rpg.net

"Also, I did not ask for FOCUS, AGENDA AND LOCATION from each player in turn; I just went with the natural flow of events, and let players ideas decide what would happen next logically based on their ideas. I think stopping and asking the players, outlining the Act Sequence and asking them to conform to it etc would have maybe slowed play. Instead for example Bob said "where can we get brains? the Science block?" and that automatuically became the next scene. Josh invented Chompy the Mascot, leading to that brief scene, while Tiffany's actions in getting rid fo the pesky Appleby Twins led automatically to that scene. As Producer i created the first scenes of each opf the three acts, introducing the Plot Twist with the bank robbers in the diner."

Hi there!

The PtA rules says that you can alter the scene-player sequence when it makes sense because of the time ordering of the events that the players want to narrate. As far as I understand the scene-player sequence its purpose is to help the players to give similar focus and activity to all of them. If your group works well without it, I don't think it is a problem.

In my first experience playing PtA the players also found difficult to specify Focus and Agenda. I noticed that generally they were beginning the scenes with some clear purpose in mind. Thus, it was working well.

I like the trick of the chinese food. I think it helps to create some series feeling. To make really interesting I would try to develop completely different presentations or reminders of it on each episode. Don't get it become repetitive.

Cheers,
Arturo

Arturo wrote:

I like the trick of the chinese food. I think it helps to create some series feeling. To make really interesting I would try to develop completely different presentations or reminders of it on each episode. Don't get it become repetitive.

It's in the PS in my original post. It's basically to have some kind of recuring event, but a little different for each episode. In our series the protagonists always decide to order chinese food, but never get any because a UFO beams up the delivery guy just in front of their house, the cook has been killed by vampires, the delivery girl has been possessed by demons and ravenously eats all the food at their doorstep and then throws it up. In the last episode they broke into the Chineese resturant and made their own food. :-)  A bit like Kenny in South Park who gets killed in every episode.

Thanks for the feedback. We've played 4 episodes so far. I would start the first scene, but from there things would just go on  logically from players suggestions in an unstructured sort of way.

Ragnar

If everyone is having fun, Ragnar, you couldn't possibly be doing anything wrong.

The scene-structuring rules are in the game because when you use them, you get tightly focused sessions that deliver a lot of punch-per-minute and really feel like good TV. But if you have your own loose method for getting that same punch, then go for it!

The other thing the scene-structure rules do is make sure that each player gets heard and isn't simply swept along by the louder, more "up-front" players. If you always pause for the Agenda and stuff, then each player gets their moment to contribute, even the normally quiet ones. Again, if this isn't an issue for your group (sounds like it's not) then it's no big deal to play fast and loose.

The rules system in PTA, if used exactly as written, really can help a group produce wonderful TV-style game sessions. But that doesn't mean it's the only way. If your group has found their own methods for getting good scenes off the ground, you might as well run with it.