Notes for second session
I had done some fiddling with the rules in between sessions. We found the momentum build was too great and slowed it down a bit. If I hadn’t the characters would have been ‘swept away’ every scene. This is still a numbers game that needs more playtesting.

I also removed the restrictions I had on the number of scenes per act. Instead I replaced these numbers with focus. This allowed us to know when acts and scenes had achieved their purpose. Kind of like a stake for the entire act.

Act 3 – Wherein the heroes find their way into the palace and discover the evil plot
At the end of the last session our characters had been split up, Johnathon Smith(Iain McAllister) and Lucy Abdulraman (Rebecca Carter) had run off with the professor and Jeff Marini, had distracted the guards to allow our escape.

After explaining the new rules to the guys, Chris started us off with the rest of his escape. After a slightly bizarre scene involving a monkey, who became an ally for Chris, and a rope ladder, Chris made good his escape silhouetted against the moonlight. I took the next scene discovering that Tariq was the glass rose’s grandfather and that her father may be able to tell us a way to get in and see her. The only problem was the man had taken to begging and would need to be located.

Bored with the conversation Lucy went off walking and ran into some shady men. Jeff happened to be in the area and they both overcame this threat, with the help of jeff’s new monkey friend of course. Making their way to the central square they found that the beggar’s were being rounded up. Seeing this as a way to get into the palace, as well as a way to find the glass rose’s father, they disguised themselves and were duly thrown into prison.

I framed the next scene from the Vizier’s point of view giving him an advisor, ally level 2, and providing a flashback to his training with wizards and wisemen across the globe. Chris also took a nemesis scene, to reduce the momentum against him, showing the actual details of the Vizier’s plot. The blood of the beggars would be used to allow the Glass Rose to peer into time, the more blood the further she could look and allow the Vizier to gather the most evil men from across time to his command.

Meanwhile, back in the dungeons, Lucy and Jeff , having found the glass rose’s father,      had tried to escape, to no avail, and where now next up for the chop.

Johanthon on the other hand, was attempting a more diplomatic approach. Using his knowledge of asian culture, he disguised himself and Tariq as envoys from the east, here to bargain for the Glass Rose, as had been written down in legend. The vizier let us in and  offered to show us the Rose’s power, by slitting the throats of Lucy and Jeff. The scene was set for the final confrontation.

Act 4 – Wherein the Vizier is defeated and a sequel is set up.
The final confrontation was at hand as we entered into the fourth act. As the vizier stood his ground, I and Tariq drew swords from our robes and sought to engage him.  His guards leaped to his defence and Tariq and Jeff despatched them quickly, as Johnathon swiped the air ineffectually.

The noise of a monkey running up the stairs, was accompanied by the bellowing of a large henchmen we had set up earlier called Hassan. As he crashed into the room after Jeff’s little monkey friend he broke one of four mirrors in the room. The Glass Rose suddenly seemed to glow and told us to smash the other mirrors that had held her powers in check.

This was not how I had envisioned the finale happening in the rules, but seemed to make sense and so we went with it. We set about smashing the mirrors, interrupted only by the Viziers lackey and Hassan, who Jeff despatched after Johnathon distracted him a bit. The mirrors smashed in suitably dramatic fashion, the Vizier was the last man to defeat. His power weakened after the destruction of the mirrors, a quick swipe to the rope holding up the chandelier in the room put an end to his evil plot.

the Glass Rose saved our heroes asked her to send the back the way they had come. However the revelation that she could send us anywhere and anywhen left the last shot of the film being me with a smile on my face. A sequel is definitely on the cards.

Issues Arising from playtest – version 0.3 notes

The removal of specific number of scenes per act and the altering of the momentum flow, left the game feeling a lot more relaxed. Becki certainly enjoyed herself a lot more and we have plans to play again next week.

The finale I let happen in the way it did as it seemed to be the way the players wanted it to go. It also made sense in the context of the type of film I am designing for. This raised a discussion on the introduction of plot devices as a way to end the film.

A plot device would be introduced into the story by one of the players and then whoever it is being used against would have a chance to resist it mechanically. This rule will need some playtesting but I think it’ll make a worthy addition.