Topic: What do you need to play?
Started by: otherchaz
Started on: 2/15/2003
Board: Universalis
On 2/15/2003 at 10:25pm, otherchaz wrote:
What do you need to play?
I'm curious about how different groups run Uni.
Questions for Uni players about your Uni groups:
How many players do you have?
What do you use for coins (poker chips? cash money? glass beads? what?)
How many coins do you have?
What do you use to keep track of components? (notepad? 3x5 cards? what?)
What is the shape of the table that you use?
In your experience, is a player's location around the table in any way correlated with the frequency or type of participation they have?
list 3 events that have occurred in your games.
list 3 components that have been introduced into your games.
How did the coins get spent in the last Complication your group participated in?
How many scenes were in your last game?
On 2/16/2003 at 12:20am, Dave Versace wrote:
Re: What do you need to play?
otherchaz wrote: I'm curious about how different groups run Uni.
Questions for Uni players about your Uni groups:
Ooh, a survey. I'll bite - I love a survey...
How many players do you have?
Four at our one game to date, although we have at least one regular member of our group who is away at the moment. He'll join the game when he returns, I expect.
What do you use for coins (poker chips? cash money? glass beads? what?)
Glass beads, although we did have a few boxes of matches on standby in case the bead supplies weren't sufficient (but as one of the players is recovering from a Magic: the Gathering addiction, so he has plenty)...
How many coins do you have?
Rules-normal 25 start and 5 refresh.
What do you use to keep track of components? (notepad? 3x5 cards? what?)
We started with a notebook but quickly realised that index cards are a better bet. We're also going to use two separate records-keepers next game, one for recording the Components etc, the other for keeping track of the story itself.
What is the shape of the table that you use?
Rectangular. You know this is an odd queston, right? Actually, this is one of the few tabletop games that I can imagine working perfectly well without a table (ie comfy armchairs etc)
In your experience, is a player's location around the table in any way correlated with the frequency or type of participation they have?
Not as far as I've noticed.
list 3 events that have occurred in your games.
Er, pass - I'd need to refer to the notes. But in fact not much actually happened, it was mostly world-building and character establishment.
list 3 components that have been introduced into your games.
Um, the coolest ones were Lady Larissa, the noblewoman surveyor; a statue of the local mayor riding a dinosaur; and spidrons, a servant race with 360-degree vision and preternatural ugliness...
How did the coins get spent in the last Complication your group participated in?
Two players spent about 2 or 3 coins each to talk up the atmosphere between two characters having a "snootiness standoff", boosting their dice pools by relying heavily on Traits. Their Coin returns were light, but the winning player won enough to steer the story into an unexpected direction. Both players used all their won Coins on resolving the Complication rather than hoarding.
How many scenes were in your last game?
Just two. It was our first game, so we were going through the rules explanations for a good while (Ralph's essay would have speeded this up, I suspect) and we ran out of time. We intend to pick the story up next Wednesday.
On 2/16/2003 at 3:05am, Bob McNamee wrote:
RE: Re: What do you need to play?
otherchaz wrote: I'm curious about how different groups run Uni.
Questions for Uni players about your Uni groups:
How many players do you have?
What do you use for coins (poker chips? cash money? glass beads? what?)
How many coins do you have?
What do you use to keep track of components? (notepad? 3x5 cards? what?)
What is the shape of the table that you use?
In your experience, is a player's location around the table in any way correlated with the frequency or type of participation they have?
list 3 events that have occurred in your games.
list 3 components that have been introduced into your games.
How did the coins get spent in the last Complication your group participated in?
How many scenes were in your last game?
Lets see...
Players
"The Temple of Bast" is a two player game with one 3 person session...
The netgamers "Greed for the Great One's Gems" game is maybe 6, I forget (we vary in players based on who can make it for a session, min 3)
Coins
We use pennies for "Bast", and a number after our IRC nickname for "Gems"
How many? about 5 in each right now (I like to create story components)
Table
Rectangle in "Bast"...we go in Alphabetical in "Gems" (If I recall correctly)
Position around 'table' hasn't seemed to make a big difference.
3 Events...
"Gems" virgin 'sacrifice' turns out to be willing, becomes a vessel for 'the Great One' through use of a Gem, has Gem stolen..
3 Components
"Gems" added "Minions of Zoggith" Master Component (half man half Croc Temple guards -later revealed to be undead)
"Gems" (mike?) added a second Gem (red) in a scene in the depths of the Temple... with a different aspect
"Gems"- I added a high cost sorceror in the last scene played (a cutaway) that seems to be taking quite an interest in the action
Last big complicaton in "Gems" added all sorts of things...brought back the High Priest as an Undead, offed him, created a second Gem after destroying the idol that it was inside...etc
Scenes?
3 in the latest session of Bast, I think...I don't remember in "Gems" (have to look at the indie-netgames group files to be sure)
On 2/16/2003 at 3:24am, Mike Holmes wrote:
RE: Re: What do you need to play?
otherchaz wrote:
How many players do you have?
How many are there? I don't have a group. I play pickup with people all the time. Hmmm. I do play with Bob and the gang online, but the rule we have after two sessions (?) is that there have to be more two players present to play, and they can be anyone, I think.
Try that with most RPGs.
What do you use for coins (poker chips? cash money? glass beads? what?)
I carry little tupperwares with pennies, 25 to a dish, and some spares.
How many coins do you have?
Standard. Oftn I'm demoing, so that makes most sense. And, hey, it works well for most purposes.
What do you use to keep track of components? (notepad? 3x5 cards? what?)Whatever is on hand. I am rarely prepared for recording.
What is the shape of the table that you use?Catch as catch can. Nathan, what's the cybertable look like? See IRC for an answer.
In your experience, is a player's location around the table in any way correlated with the frequency or type of participation they have?Huh, never considered it. I don't think so. Sometimes keeping track online gets jumbled up.
list 3 events that have occurred in your games.
See the website.
list 3 components that have been introduced into your games.Again with the website. Sean wipfli's Atomic Shotgun has to be one of my favorites.
How did the coins get spent in the last Complication your group participated in?See the transcripts from Indie-Netgaming. It was a fight in a jungle temple, IIRC.
How many scenes were in your last game?Game? I tend to think of a game in terms of an entire story. As for that last session, just a couple. Bob stole the momentumon the last one and spent all sorts of Coins on a tower with a sorcerer and some seeing crystal, and a bunch of unexplained exposition.
Gads we need to get back to that.
Mike
On 2/16/2003 at 4:45am, Grex wrote:
RE: Re: What do you need to play?
otherchaz wrote: I'm curious about how different groups run Uni.
Questions for Uni players about your Uni groups:
How many players do you have?
Any amount from 3 to 5 players
otherchaz wrote:
What do you use for coins (poker chips? cash money? glass beads? what?)
Poker chips; I have a box with 240 of 'em.
otherchaz wrote:
What do you use to keep track of components? (notepad? 3x5 cards? what?)
Post-it notes, and an Alphasmart Dana.
otherchaz wrote:
What is the shape of the table that you use?
Rectangular, 80 cm. x 160 cm.
otherchaz wrote:
In your experience, is a player's location around the table in any way correlated with the frequency or type of participation they have?
Hmmm... no.
otherchaz wrote:
list 3 events that have occurred in your games.
1. The protagonist became an antagonist.
2. Plot threads were left hanging.
3. Completely unimportant components were introduced.
otherchaz wrote:
list 3 components that have been introduced into your games.
Bikers, Australians, Dark Ones.
otherchaz wrote:
How did the coins get spent in the last Complication your group participated in?
Very carefully. :^)
otherchaz wrote:
How many scenes were in your last game?
Exactly 10 scenes.
On 2/16/2003 at 3:03pm, Bob McNamee wrote:
RE: What do you need to play?
Oops...
forgot to mention how I keep track of Components
For "Bast" we use different colored index cards.
We use White for characters, Green for Locations, Yellow for Props, another for Master Components, another for Scenes etc...
For "Gems" we use Notepad files for each type...