I spent nearly the whole weekend curled up in front of the TV- Buffy The Vampire Slayer (the Complete Second Season) on DVD. With only a brief break for some Zatoichi (newly acquired on DVD, be still me heart), I immersed myself in the slayerverse.

And of course, InSpectres cleared its throat and pointedly said, "well? Come on."

Forgive me while I ramble a bit here...

The default play structure for IS assumes a buisness franchise... but how to arange a play structure to best model the sort of relationships-laden episodic action seen in Buffy and Angle?

Mechanicaly, little needs change. Stress (perhaps rename for Color) will almost always be temporary except in certain rare (or especialy badly rolled) situations... perhaps some kind of special mechanic for this sort of thing (a secondary roll table? Perhaps basing it ont he second lowest die roll?)

Cool works perfectly- virtualy all supernatural characters take some heavy physical and mental punishment without cracking up willy-nilly. Perhaps some kind of option for characters who are Emotionaly Cool while not being Physicaly Cool? Nah, overcomplication.

It certainly needs a more flexible system for Weird Agent style group members... by Season Three the scoobies have got like four Weird members (Slayer Buffy, Witchy Willow, Exdemon Anya, Wolfy Oz, occasionaly Vampy Angel...thanks Buddah Nature...).

I think starting play Cool should be a good option for at least one non-weird member of the Group (the Watcher or equilivent Older Father Figure) though perhaps all members... Despite being seemingly useless, Xander must be pretty damned Cool (in the InSpectres sense)- he has proven nearly more invulnerable than Buffy through sheer dumb luck and idiot persistence, and doesn't seem to get more than "funny freaked out".

What would you call a buffy-style group anyway? Not a 'franchise' certainly... perhaps 'Gang'? as in "Scoobie Gang"? How to deinfe the card-pools? Is what they cover source-apropriate? What about defining them as Locations within the weird-infested town the series takes place in? The Library, the Magic Shop (Weird stuff), The Training Room, The Nightclub... I don't know. The difference that makes no difference etc.

OK, the real issue. Play Structure. Clearly the model is the 1 hour TV episode (with occasional 'to be continued' episodes or season finale cliff-hangers). The way the supernatural menace intermingles with the relevent personal issue of the week. How the resolution of personal crisis often comes with the resolution of the overt supernatural menace. in InSpecters, the personal side of things is for the most part left in the realm of pure roleplaying... in a Buffyverse version, it needs to figure into the normal episode resolution system. Perhaps half the Resolution dice must come from interpersonal relationship character-building stuff and half from supernatural ass-kicking stuff?


Thoughts?