So I'm about to start running my first game using Relationship Maps and Kickers. Very exciting and so far all the Kickers are working well.

However, one player has presented me with a Kicker: his character has just discovered evidence that she's being stalked. There are a lot of candidates for the Stalker in the R-Map I've developed.

Does anyone have any advice about whether I should lock down the Stalker's ID before play starts tomorrow - or should I keep it unresolved and react to how things develop in the session? I'm also having a little trouble thinking of Bangs (for this Kicker; the others have been coming to me fine). This may be a related issue.

Steve

Hard to say without a little more info. For example, what system are you using? With the Pool (or TQB), I'd say go 100% for NOT deciding who the stalker is.

On a related note, I have to say, that seems like kind of a weak kicker to me. More of a "push" than a "kick." ;) If I were the GM, I'd ask the player to revise the kicker to make it more present. Instead of "she found evidence she's being stalked," something like "the guy stalking her just broke into her house" or something like that.

We're taking the Buffy Unisystem for a test drive. I thought I'd be quite loose about allowing Drama Points to exert influence on the game - not up to the Pool's monologue of victory standards, but certainly we can negotiate the Plot Twists that the system allows the players to call for.

Steve

Hello,

My entirely personal call about the Kicker is to decide who the stalker is. Stating such a Kicker, in my experience, comes from the player's enjoyment of the back-and-forth creative process between the two of you. They hit the ball to you - now hit it back to them, with spin.

See my discussion with Tor Erickson in the appendix to The Sorcerer's Soul for a pretty detailed breakdown of the concepts involved.

Best,
Ron

Thanks for the perspective. I've now locked down who the stalker is - and I think it'll provide some nice parallels with another player's Kicker.

Paganini: It took me a while, but I saw what you meant about it being a push. Hopefully, Ron's advice about 'pushing' back will work out well. It feels like it will - because I started getting ideas for Bangs as soon as I settled on the stalker's ID in my head.

Cheers,
Steve.