Tried the Roach today with two friends. I was the only who’d read the game before playing, and also the only one who’d had any experience with GM-less RPGs. We found the rules simple enough to be able to jump right into it, though. There was some hesitation at first about when exactly to roll the dice, but that was quickly resolved. Also, I’ll point out that playing with three players went just fine.

All in all, we had a great time. The fact that we knew each other well allowed us to go wild, without fear of offending anyone’s sensibilities.

The characters were:
- Assistant Professor Notredame, a young Canadian, teaching Astronomy. A Communist and an astrologist, he combines the two into a unique doctrine: that of the Brotherhood of the Red Sun. His enthusiasms are Cruelty and Self-Destruction.
- Assistant Professor Vandamme (sic), an older and rather limited Chemistry teacher. A veritable card-shark, he takes advantage of teachers and students alike. His enthusiasms are Debauchery and Manipulation.
- Professor Mustard, an old and old-fashioned teacher of Foreign and Ancient Languages. He was kicked out of a prestigious university, and ended up at Pemberton. His enthusiasms are Cruelty and Sports.

Relationships were quite straightforward: everyone hated everyone else!
- Notredame and Vandamme compete for the title of Pemberton’s Greatest Womanizer.
- Mustard knows Notredame and Vandamme both slept with his wife.
- Notredame sees Mustard as part of the aristocratic elite.
- Vandamme resents Mustard for keeping him from being nominated as Full Professor for the past ten years.

And now, a few chosen moments from our game!

Convocation and Greeting of the Class of 1923: Notredame leads a commando of his Brotherhood of the Red Sun to break into Mustard’s office. They plant pornographic pictures in his books, and murder his canary!

Founder’s Day Wine & Cheese Social: During the Wine & Cheese Eating and Drinking Contest between teachers and students, Notredame poisons part of the student’s team, leading to our first fatality of the day… hooray!

Pemberton Follies of 1919: Mustard is severely beaten in the cellars, and only saved from being urinated on by the entire Brotherhood by the timely intervention of the Chaplain, who disperses the clandestine meeting with his crucifix and a couple of football players.

Homecoming Football Game: During the game, Vandamme uses fireworks and the scoring-board to announce that the Brotherhood of the Red Sun are sleeping with Mustard’s wife (yes, all of them).

Faculty Senate Meeting: Mustard takes revenge on Notredame and the Brotherhood by paying a prostitute with severe venereal disease to infiltrate one of their orgies. Shortly thereafter, Notredame desecrates a dead student’s grave, leaving some of Vandamme’s personal belonging’s behind. He is, however, spotted by a student watching over his infamous and illicit plantation of “murder-skunk”.

Gamma Gamma Gamma Christmas Ball: In a desperate attempt to thwart the seemingly unstoppable Notredame, Mustard and Vandamme wipe out half the student population with clever use of poisoned punch, explosives and Christmas trees.

In the end, Notredame prevails, leading by a very large margin of Reputation, as well as being the only Roach-free character (all characters were under the Roach’s sway at one time or another). He was congratulated with a standing ovation, as befits such a remarkable achievement.

Good God, you have dirty minds. You got to the nasty stuff really quickly. It's great you enjoyed it. I love the Roach.

When you say "Everyone hated everyone else", did you have any positive relationships between characters? The rules suggest you have a positive relationship with the character on your left and a negative one with the character on your right (might be the other way round). I really like this: it means the guy you hate likes you and vice versa. Did you do anything like that?

What cards came up? Any interesting uses of them?

What was the atmosphere round the table like? Would you play again?

Graham

Graham wrote:
Good God, you have dirty minds. You got to the nasty stuff really quickly.

Graham wrote:
When you say "Everyone hated everyone else", did you have any positive relationships between characters? The rules suggest you have a positive relationship with the character on your left and a negative one with the character on your right (might be the other way round). I really like this: it means the guy you hate likes you and vice versa. Did you do anything like that?

Graham wrote:
What cards came up? Any interesting uses of them?

Graham wrote:
What was the atmosphere round the table like?

Graham wrote:
Would you play again?

You really went gonzo fast!  Most people hem and haw a bit with more subtle conflicts before going for the jugular.  Nothing wrong with cutting to the chase though, and it sounds like you guys had a good time. 

I know the game functions with three, but the sweet spot is around five - you see some interesting emergent properties when you get to five players.

Graham's right; you're supposed to love the guy who hates you as the game starts.  Those relationships can deteriorate pretty quickly, though, and that's fine. 

I think if you played Overlord with these guys, the world would end up a charred cinder.  Not the game world, our world.

Jason wrote:
You really went gonzo fast!  Most people hem and haw a bit with more subtle conflicts before going for the jugular.  Nothing wrong with cutting to the chase though, and it sounds like you guys had a good time.

Jason wrote:
I know the game functions with three, but the sweet spot is around five - you see some interesting emergent properties when you get to five players.

Jason wrote:
Graham\\\'s right; you\\\'re supposed to love the guy who hates you as the game starts.  Those relationships can deteriorate pretty quickly, though, and that\\\'s fine.

Jason wrote:
I think if you played Overlord with these guys, the world would end up a charred cinder. Not the game world, our world.

Sure, JC. 

What I've observed is that with five people you get several positive reinforcement loops going.  First, the narrative pressure of introducing Pembertonians gets diluted just enough - you still have to pay attention to their introduction, but it isn't a burden and you can skip them in your scene if you like.  That obligation is spread around just enough but not too much.  Second, you have room for 2 on 3 conflicts, 2 on 2 on 1 conflicts, and other permutations of factional behavior.  Third, you have enough elements being introduced that the game stays focused but detail-rich and full of surprises.  Larger games tend to introduce a bit of social self-regulation, keeping scenes the same size and length with less overall player involvement.  That's been my experience, although I won't hesitate to throw down with anywhere from 3-8 players.