I'm planning on running (presenting? whatever) SOAP at a Con in about two weeks, and I'm wondering if anyone's ever come up with more examples/transcripts for me to give the players the idea ...

I don't have anything of that nature, but I have an encouraging story. At GenCon I played SOAP with Ron, Scott Knipe, Paul, and a buncha others as well. It was a pretty fun session as you might imagine.

Anyhow, the next night I was in really poorly run Champions game. The players were very good (including a good friend of mine) and afterwards everybody was frustrated at how bad the last four hors had been. So, wanting to rectify things somehow, I asked everyone if they wanted to play a quick RPG, SOAP. I told them that it would only take half an hor to an hour, and everyone said whattheheck. Anyway, having just learned the game the night before, I was able to teach the rules, get characters created, and we played a fun session all in about an hour.

While these guys were pretty good role-players, I don't believe that any of them were experienced narrativists or anything; heck they were there to play Champions. But they got it no problem. I wouldn't worry too much. I found that introducing people to a whole new way of playing was one of the most entertaining parts of running the game. Likely you won't need much to get started.

Mike Holmes

James,

My experience is that people grab the basic concept of Soap quite quickly. Its semi-parodic content helps.

The main pitfalls are:
- misinterpreting the meaning of the word "secret," as "never to be revealed, ever." I tell people that it really might be called their character's "revelation."
- not realizing that people can be KILLED if their secret is not known, they just don't DIE.
- spending too much time on logistics - "I drive there" - and not realizing that they can simply show up wherever they want to be.

Best,
Ron

Yeah, Interestingly for a GMless game the experienced player is going to have to "play moderator" for that first game.

Just keep saying, "And then what happens?" a lot.

Players may require prompting. They expect there to be some feedback from the GM, but none is forthcomming. So you may have to just prod a little.

Another favorite to really get the idea across is, "And then what does he do?" referring to a character that is not the player's. This seems to really throw people; the idea that they can direct the actions of other characters.

But you can get them to react just by asking tose little questions. After a while I found myself needing to stop prodding and shut up, though, because everybody had gotten the idea. Doesn't take too long.

Mike Holmes