Hey folks,

Time for some follow up on this thread, of Vincent's. (Tough act to follow, man!) We finished the plot arc that session was a part of, and I think our latest session illustrates some of the practices we've adopted over the years. There was some interest in techniques that faciliate the kind of collaborative and supportive play that we do, so I thought it might be worthwhile to try and share some.

Anyway, the campaign is set in a very slightly customized version of the Ars Magica world (which we use minus most mechanics and non-setting system elements), and centers around the adventures of our three primary characters. They are founding a new Covenant (wizard's household) in a remote, back-water place far from the center of the magical order they're a part of, the Trannsylvanian Tribunal, which also happens to be controlled by the most hierarchal and controlling house in the order: House Tremere.

We've been following these mages around for about 4 years real time. Most recently, a neighboring covenant went up in a ball of flames (literally), and an emergency meeting of the Tribunal has been called for the Spring to look into it. Among other matters, our covenant will be up for vote to be ratified as a member of the tribunal.

Systematic Scene Framing
Now, we figured out who all the mages in the Tribunal were about 2 years ago, now, but of the few dozen characters, we've played maybe a handful so far. We decided to play out the council meeting at each covenant where they decide who is going to attend, killing two birds with one stone: getting more background on all the characters, and setting us up for the Tribunal meeting.

This is the second time we've used this kind of structure. Some time ago, after the characters had built the covenant and were fairly stable, we moved forward in time to each time someone came to visit the covenant. Both times we've been at a point where many of the major plot threads we'd been dealing with had been resolved, and the systematic scenes allowed us to skip to the "meat". As I recall, scene framing was being discussed on the Forge at the time when we first did it, and Vincent was (and continues to be) a strong advocate of it. It worked out really well, and I'm sure we'll use it in the future. Since our campaigns are setting and character focused, (situation arises from these rather than vice versa) having a clear structure can help us rise out of the morass of "so what do we do now".

Collaborative Character Development
So as of this past session, we had just two covenants left to cover. An un-named one at Budapesht, and Blackstone, a Tremere controlled covenenant on the shores of the Black Sea. We chose the Budapesht mages first, and realized all we knew about them were their names, their houses, and that they were christian heretics. Meg envisioned her character Andredeo as a friendly, outgoing mage with a large physical presence, and much contact with mundanes. He came from a magical family, so took it for granted, and was quite wealthy. She seemed to have a good hit on her mage, but I wasn't getting inspired about my character, Jaslyn of Ex Miscellena. I opened her up to the group for input.

"So what's with Jaslyn? How did she end up in the order?" asked someone, maybe it was me.
I scratched my head, "She's Ex Miscellena, so maybe she's into natural magic, invoking Christ's name to do alchemy and all that."
"She could be a scientist. Maybe she had access to ancient greek texts." suggested Vincent.
"Sounds good, but where did she learn this as a woman in the middle ages?" I replied.
Meg offered, "She might have been raised in a convent. Think Brother William, from Name of the Rose."
I accepted the upbringing part, but wasn't wholly convinced that it explained everything. "So she could have learned greek and latin there, but---"
"Maybe has a gift for languages, so she found and read some texts in the original that the people around her cannot. Maybe she even knows Arabic."
"That would open up many doors for her, since many more physics and philosophical texts were translated into Arabic than into European languages, at the time, but, now, how exactly would she have learned that?" It still didn't quite fit for me, though I liked the concept.
"Maybe she can just understand it, has a magical talent for languages?" said Vincent.
"Nope, definitely doesn't work for me. Telepathy, finding, these are special talents characters have had in this world, but that would bend it to breaking."
Then, Vincent came out with it. "Okay, try this. She learned it from a book. Not just any book, a book with a spirit in it, whose purpose was to teach the reader what the book contained. It just took it one step farther and taught her the language too. It was probably a book made by an Islamic wizard for a prince."
"That would explain her interest in magic as well. Yes that works for me! Very cool!"

Using world development to support character concept
I've noticed that during this arc, we've spent about half the time on each covenant discussing the characters, and how they connect with other mages we know about. The second covenant we visited had, again, three characters we'd never played before, and about whom we knew
very little. Vincent's character there was Dixie, a young Tremere mage about whom he said:

"Dixie is the rising star of Tremere."

Cut to Emily: <gears whirling in my head>
"Vincent, I told you that my mage Trey's agenda is to oust the Old Men of Coeris [the triumvirate controlling the house and tribunal] from power, right?"
"Umm, no. You hadn't actually."
"Well, what if we set up Dixie as Trey's rival?"
Blink, blink. "Sure. How do we do that?"
"I dunno, but let's pay attention."

We talked on. The covenant was in bad shape. Had recently lost a mage to the mob, (We had set our game of My Life with Master at this covenant, so, of course, one of them had come to a bad end. None of the other mages seemed that upset about it.) and had the trail of another magi's murder lead our way.

(Out of character:)
"So, about that murder...what do we know about it?"
"Well, the fellow was heading to Blackstone. We know it was politically motivated, he was about to be made part of a the Hoplites, a faction of one house (Flambeau) that functions as the bully-dogs of another house (Guernicus). Some folks are against this faction existing at all, and he was taken out as part of a campaign to undermine it. We know of at least one mage who was involved. Zarya from the now defunct covenant, Kivont Kardal, who sheltered the murderer." (An aside: Except for those involved, the mages in our Tribunal don't even know it's a murder yet, just a disappearance. And we as players/gms don't actually know who the murderer is. We haven't discussed it, but I'm happy to leave that open. Let it be a mystery for us, and also allows us to have the flexibility to have it be the _right_ person.)

"He was heading here, perhaps one of the mages here is involved in some way."
"Anybody know who?"
Shrugs.
"Where's Dixie from?"
"Magvillus, in Rome."
"Isn't Soraya's brother there?"
"Yes. That's where the home covenant of Guernicus too. That's where the appointment came from for the murdered mage."
Aha! "She's the one then."
"She could have been the one to tip off the Flambeau conspirators that the murdered mage had been approved."
"They may think they are just using her, but she sees it as an opportunity to weaken, not just one but two rival houses."
"She's a new mage, so many people may be understimating her."
"What's she doing way out here in the hinterlands, anyway."
"I think the Old Men made her come back, to get more properly under the thumb of Coeris."
"Sounds reasonable. Who's in charge of her?"
"I think it's your character, Em."
"Uh-oh. I don't think he's doing too good of a job. He just sent a letter to his master for advice. What does he say Meg, that's your character."
Meg reflects. "He says since she is a new mage, and far from her sources of support. To isolate her, and remind her of the power of the house."
"Hmm. I feel like there's some unpleasant task, we should send her to do."

We took this information, and dipped into character. It was a tense session. None of the characters seemed sure of the others. Insinuations and threats were made. In character, Vincent suggested that Dixie set the towns-people to rights, and settle the unrest by intimidating and silencing a few key mundanes. I nixed this as the task for Dixie, and then realized that I did have a task for her.
"Dixie, why don't you look into this disappearance? Of course, we don't know anything about it, but we need to ascertain if there is anything that may effect the covenant, or the house."
Vincent, as Dixie, looks up startled and tense. "Um, sure. I could do that." Or perhaps words more eloquent.

Mining Conversation
The final example I think worth sharing took place a some point in the evening, when we started talking about the Tribunal itself. After seeing all the crazy characters we had on deck to go there, what was it going to be like?
"Maybe they all kill each other."
"Yeah, I see Soraya, standing with that sword from the Dragon's horde in her hand, covered in ichor--"
"Hey," I said, "I think somebody's dreaming this."
Vincent: "Doh!"
"Who?"
"Maybe Soraya?" I suggested.
"No, it's the seer, Lillian Wright. Meg's character." said Vincent.
"Oooooh. That's pretty serious. What do you think Meg?"
"Sounds good, but is this a dream or a vision?"
"A dream."
"Well, okay. So it may or may not be true."
Meg then went on to narrate the dream, with a beautiful buildup, culminating in Vincent's image.

Hi Em!

Always a treat to read about the stuff you guys are doing.

I'm curious. How much (and what kind of) record-keeping do you guys do? Some 20-odd mages, companions, grogs, local nobilty and clergy, the hapless peasant who lives closest to the convenant, you've got a lot of people and many of them get a heck of a lot of time devoted to them. How do you keep it straight? Have there ever been times where you've been knee-deep in a resolution only to realize "Wait, based on what we said before (but forgot about) this couldn't possibly happen."?

Also, how much time would you say you devote to your "Primary" characters? I know that for Ars Magica in particular, this is a kinda nebulous thing, but you're clearly putting a fair amount of time and effort on people who wouldn't be more than name and stats in most other games. How much time do you spend away from your core PCs?

BTW -- Dixie is a great name for a Middle Age magi from Rome. :)

later
Tom

Hi Tom! Great to hear from you. :)

bluegargantua wrote: I'm curious. How much (and what kind of) record-keeping do you guys do?

Also, how much time would you say you devote to your "Primary" characters?

Emily Care wrote: Good question. As a matter of fact we do have pretty thorough records. Thanks in great part to our faithful scribe, Meg, we have a running record of events from each session (recorded very briefly on a yellow legal pad). And keeping all those magi straight is quite a chore--Vincent created some lists of mages (by covenant, with house affiliation, player and master included) when we peopled the tribunal. And of course, there's our Big Map o'Mages--two sheets of poster board with all the mages whe know about in the world, grouped by covenant, with major relationships indicated by connecting lines (master-apprentice, etc.) This is used for a certain amount of record keeping too--little x's by the mage name if the character dies (and, out of some fit of insanity that siezed us, the map also has the actors we would cast for the character if the campaign was made into a hollywood film :). Maybe sometime I'll have the chance to show it to you.

Ben Lehman wrote: BL> *takes notes*

It's Dixi, actually, not Dixie. Dixi's a form of Dictum, "I speak," so says my online Latin-English lexicon. For all I know her name might mean "Someday we will speak" or "Spoken on the weekend" or any other random Latin thing.

But this part, Em, is fascinating.

We're choosing up characters and plotlines that are of interest to us, and connecting them with plot. Some of these plots have possible connections with our primary characters (the seer's dream, for example), some do not (Dixie's possible rise to power). The percentage of play time spent on our three primary may also lessen. Everything will affect those three mages, but I don't think we're concerned about whether that will be in a strong or direct fashion or not. I'm thrilled that we're reaching this point. There are things I've found I can explore in these new characters that I was unable to in our first set, and I find inter and intra-house and covenant politics to be a very fruitful area to investigate. We've also explored a lot of the Premise we developed around the main three.

We may be secretly getting different things out of playing, Em! How cool is that!

Emily Care wrote:

Ben Lehman wrote: BL> *takes notes*

Hi Ben,

Thanks for stopping by. Do you find you have a lot of characters to keep track of in your campaigns? Or do you want to?

I'm curious to hear about others' experiences playing many characters in a single campaign. There's a dividing line for some people--can't play more than one unless they are gming. What helps people cross that line, if they do?

All this collaborative play stuff is fascinating.

Em, Vincent, mind providing a bit of backstory as to the players? How did you three get together? When did you start the collaborative campaign? Did it begin using the classic AM system?

Also taking notes,
--Jeff

Hold on, let me count...8; 11 if you count familiars and the extra body of one pc. That's how many pc's I have "active" at this point in the story. I quote "active" because one is currently in a self-induced coma, and one is currently a hostage, but I still consider them active because they are important pieces of the current story-arc (hell, the story is all about Mr. coma). So, I guess that makes 6 + 3 that I'm actually playing. The current counts for the other players are (the +'s being familiars, servants, AI's and the like): 7, 4 + 1, 3 + 1, and 3 + 1.

I find that my biggest limitation to playing multiple pcs is actually the range of personalities/voices I can portray. If everyone isn't clear on which pc is talking, you have that slow down where you have to ask "who said that?" I think all a player's characters need a different voice, which doesn't mean accent, just a different way/tone of speaking.

Though, you can't actually play more than one pc at a time, more than one can certainly be doing something. If you've got 5 or 6 players with an average of 4 pcs, and they're all just standing around talking to each other that runs very slow. But, if you divide the scenes up into blocks containing different (even shifting) sets of smaller pc groups, say one or two for each player, it works fine.

Also, in my experience, some pc's just end up naturally falling into the background. Maybe they have less depth, don't talk/do much, are always busy, or whatever. There is a sort of screen time balance that evolves out of that.

For actually having a story of some kind I like small pc groups, one for each player in each act of the story. It's just plain less resources to advance the plot with, and the conflicts can therefore be more threatening/personal/challenging - more tense.

I'm glad you posted an update. I like seeing another group's approach to this stuff.

Them's my two cents on playing multiple characters. Take that.

Emily, Vincent, Meg (if here) any similarities or differences?

Hi Jeff! Hi Jason!

Jeph wrote: Em, Vincent, mind providing a bit of backstory as to the players? How did you three get together? When did you start the collaborative campaign? Did it begin using the classic AM system?

cruciel wrote: I find that my biggest limitation to playing multiple pcs is actually the range of personalities/voices I can portray. If everyone isn't clear on which pc is talking, you have that slow down where you have to ask "who said that?" I think all a player's characters need a different voice, which doesn't mean accent, just a different way/tone of speaking.

If you've got 5 or 6 players with an average of 4 pcs, and they're all just standing around talking to each other that runs very slow. But, if you divide the scenes up into blocks containing different (even shifting) sets of smaller pc groups, say one or two for each player, it works fine.

Also, in my experience, some pc's just end up naturally falling into the background. Maybe they have less depth, don't talk/do much, are always busy, or whatever. There is a sort of screen time balance that evolves out of that.

For actually having a story of some kind I like small pc groups, one for each player in each act of the story. It's just plain less resources to advance the plot with, and the conflicts can therefore be more threatening/personal/challenging - more tense.

Them's my two cents on playing multiple characters. Take that.

Very interesting background. Thanks!

Emily Care wrote: Jeph, have or do you play collaboratively?

Meg and I and some others played Ars Magica out of the 2nd edition book back in '90 and '91, which I'll call the "Caer Mearabourne" game. It was one of these where the GM (Meg) took the basic resolution dice thing and adapted it to her personal preferred techniques, in unspoken collaboration with the players (me and others). When we played with the Ennead (our Bohemian days indeed) the GMs (Kip, then Sarah, while I was playing) did the same, but to GURPS. Maybe Kip used GURPS dice and Sarah didn't even; I think she mostly just rolled 2d6, low bad high good, and interepreted them to the characters and situation. We had GURPS character sheets we never referred to. I'll call that the "Isrillion" game.

As I look back, that game was far more collaborative than anybody acknowledged. The GM had yay-or-nay authority, but the social dynamic was such that a "nay" would've been outrageous. Generally, each player had domains of authority, and the GM would rubber-stamp whatever we said within our domains. As a newcomer, my personal domains didn't extend much past my characters.

There was a game we tried to get together in '95 or so, Meg GMing, but it didn't last more than a session or three. The ill-fated "Durenmar" game.

Then the '97 game Meg GMed was the same way again, only we were pretending to use this oogly Pendragon-Ars Magica bastard I'd cooked up. That's the "St. Erasmus" game. Mostly how that game worked was, Meg expected the players to be self-directed Director Stancers, and some of us were and some of us weren't. To the frustration of everybody, or at least to me. I recall it as a schizophrenic game, sort of stuttering and inconsistent.

Our current: the "Griffon's Aerie" game. Yes, co-GMed from moment one, but during the first couple weeks' setup I created character sheets for us to ignore and dice mechanisms that didn't do what we wanted. The only thing they had in common with Ars Magica's ruleset was the names of the magical arts. For a little while I was irritated about our not using them, but you get over these things. I came to the Forge at about the same time as we started thinking of our game as overtly negotiated; by then we hadn't looked at our character sheets for a year. Muddling through and playing by instinct, supported by our very strong shared vision.

I'd characterize all of my Ars Magica play 1990-2001, up to this recent transition to overt negotiation, as covertly negotiated. There were rules, but they were almost purely social, and nobody articulated them. The failures of the Durenmar game and the St. Erasmus game ... plus on reflection the second half of the Caer Mearabourne game ... were almost certainly because the unspoken rules didn't work for those groups. The successes - the first half of the Caer Mearabourne game, the Isrillion game, some of the St. Erasmus game and the early Griffon's Aerie game - depended on the group working well creatively without the reinforcement of a ruleset. Friendship wasn't enough, there had to be a certain kind of functional collaborative friendship - and indeed the successful groups were and are collaborative outside of gaming.

-Vincent

Jeph wrote: Alas, no. At the moment I am only 14 years old, 15 in a month and a half.

Who knows, it could turn out to be perfect for us all. Maybe I'll try some time.

Emily Care wrote: Thanks for the tally, Jason. You counted familiars, does that mean you play them in AM as well? As far as difference and similarities, I think I've encountered a lot of the issues you describe.

Yes, that does seem to be the case. I'd expect that the likelihood of this is directly related to the interst quotient the character has. If they're not sparking your or someone's imagination, there's no reason for it to be front and center.

Hi Jason,

cruciel wrote: Not playing AM, it's a homebrew world/time jumping game, but yes we play the familiars as well. Everything that hangs off a primary character pretty much becomes the responsibility of the owner of the primary character; that includes familiars, family, and often the entire world from which the character comes.

Anyway, good stuff, stuff to think about. ....there is definitely something here for me to learn about everyone running in the same setting, which we've had consistency issues with in the past. Maybe a pre-run session where everybody plays major npc's in the region before our characters arrive - to set the stage. Hmmm....

Emily Care wrote:
I see. So the players play the dependent and associated characters that "hang" off the primary.

Sound like a tree structure:

...

Does this end you up having a lot of intra-player character interaction? I'd imagine most such would be summed up.

I think we take a different tact: we try to have other players take dependents etc. when possible, so we can have inter-player character interaction. For example, I'm playing the apprentice of Meg's primary character, Damwild. I can see why having small groups of pc's in your game would be useful. Also, our setting is more stationary--we spend most of our time in the covenant or in other local settings, so our characters are more likely to interact with one another than with new characters at different time/space locals as would yours. I can see how setting and plot structure would make very different arrangements more or less convenient.

That sound very promising. Let us know how it works out if you try it. That sounds like a good way to do group situation establishment. And one of the most important aspects of being able to do so and yet to still be able to come up with compelling plot is to have a long period of discussion and editing before things are "set in stone". Wait until everyone's going "yeah!", and you'll know you're really got something.

I just have to say two things before I actually reply in depth: Emily Care, this is great stuff. And Jeph, you make me happy just by being 15 and already soaking up the Forge's juicy goodness. Where was the Forge when I was 15? Precisely, where was the Forge when I was 15 and had time to really be active here? There's hope yet.

Okay, on to the point-by-point response from Meg.

Systematic Scene Framing:
Emily's right on about this. Sometimes this drives me right up the wall, since I like to see what's around that's been over-shadowed by the primary story, find out what's happening, and then see what the fall-out is and what happens next, and they (mostly Vincent :) are saying "ok, who arrives next / ok, where do we go next". Although this cycle has been 100% great, no complaints. I think the last cycle, when we had people coming to the covenant, was harder because we had all the supporting cast right there.

Collaborative Character Development:
This. Rocks.
I think this has been done regularly through our gaming hx. If not entirely, then at least to flesh out characters that we know only a little bit about, and we open it up for group input.

Using world development to support character concept :
Second nature to me by now. Hmm. Maybe it was first nature all along, that's why I always seem to do it.

Mining Conversation :
Yep.

bluegargantua wrote: I'm curious. a) How much (and what kind of) record-keeping do you guys do? b)Some 20-odd mages <snip>. How do you keep it straight? c) Have there ever been times where you've been knee-deep in a resolution only to realize "Wait, based on what we said before (but forgot about) this couldn't possibly happen."?

d)Also, how much time would you say you devote to your "Primary" characters? e)I know that for Ars Magica in particular, this is a kinda nebulous thing, but you're clearly putting a fair amount of time and effort on people who wouldn't be more than name and stats in most other games. f)How much time do you spend away from your core PCs?

Oh look, it's me again. Ok, now for part two, and it better not take as long.

Well, Emily Care pretty much covered the 'how we three players got to know each other" bit. I'd like to see Emily & Vincent's gaming hx; mine was D&D from age 7 on, mostly modules and weird home-brewed stuff, then a AD&D game in the Macross world in early High School and back to D&D fantasy in later HS. Cyberpunk and D&D and (what the hell is that one with the Awakening and suddenly there are elves and trolls and magic and all? Shadowsomething? this is what my brain is on 5ish hours of sleep) and Paranoia and then blessedly Ares Magica. Oh, and we knew each other socially first, I think. We all gamed already, but we didn't meet because of a game. And we got together because we were playing in the Isrillien game (with the 7 other people) and we obviously liked similar things in gaming, and then the rest of them moved across country, so we carried on w/o them. By that time, we were already drifting from book-bound AM to a home-brewed re-concoction.

As for collaborative play, I think it was probably connected to the Isrillien game, and the multiple GMs there that was my first real exposure to joint GMing. I'd run a AM game (Caer Mearabourne) in college that was pretty standard GM-Players division. In the Isrillien game, there were so many people playing that the GM wasn't always privy to the discussions of all the characters. It was common for the GM to be dealing with an interaction on one side of the room while on the other side two players sat, totally in character, having important IC discussions, that then would get summed up for the GM when it was convenient. This was wild and wooly at the time, because shouldn't the GM know all? The idea that characters didn't need to freeze until the GM got back to them was huge, natural, and lead directly to collaborative play/co-GMing.

Releasing control as a sole GM was a relief and a challenge; a relief because suddenly there were whole new sections that came into being that I never would have seen, and a challenge because suddenly there were whole new things I had no control over. I'm totally converted, though. GMless play is a challenge for players because they have to learn to firewall, to protagonise appropriately, and to share their vision of the world. It's hard sometimes to see a given thing clearly (for me it's usually mapping a place) and have someone else with equal authority say "I'm not seeing it like that" or even more firmly "I see it this very different way". You've got to trust the process of group story-telling, and trust each other at least enough to trust your character won't be blocked without your input.

If you'd like to try GMless gaming and never have, definitely try with a like-minded group of folks, or the ones who want a GM to guide them through the dungeon will feel like they're floundering. I'd suggest starting by having someone set the scene (time of day, place, and season), and then take turns sort of vibing it out and telling whatever details come out of what has been said so far. In my book, probably the best tool for successful GMless gaming is having done guided meditations, where you're in a semi-trance state while someone else is describing a scene and encouraging you to look around the imagined landscape and noticing what you see and experience. This is very like the space I'm in when we're co-GMing as opposed to straight IC play of conversation.

Ok, next bit:

Handling multiple characters is, for me, kind of like a wardrobe. I have different clothes for each one. Cruciel and Emily Care both talked about voices and accents for distinguishing between multiples; yep that, plus body language. I find that I identify different body postures or habits with different characters. I'm *really* looking forward to the Tribunal, when we'll have to deal with masses of colorful, well-defined characters in one place at one time. It'll put every multicharacter skill we collectively have to the test. Stay tuned for that one, I'll bet.

Also, let me not forget the importance of art, for me at least. I'm getting the tickle to draw all the mages we've just seen in this round, so they become more full-color. In our Caer Mearabourne campaign, we had profile headshots of all major and most minor characters, and we had way too much fun rearranging the pics and making the characters look at each other. Sometimes we got whole new insights into the character's relationships. That's what you can do when you have nothing to do but blow off a class that afternoon. :)

I loved the diagramming of characters Emily and Jason did. Emily already outlined our attention to playing each other's 'branches', so I don't think I have anything substantive to add. We do occasionally sum up, and there have been times when we've just played out both sides of a brief but important exchange (much switching of voices and body language here).

Hmm, why do some characters get left behind? They may have served their purpose, or just be waiting till their turn. I feel like Emily's handling of Sioban was very adroit in this regard: Sioban was vital to early plot, but it was always understood she was not going to be around long-term. Now she's who knows where doing who knows what. I feel like some of our other covenfolk are a bit more in limbo. I'm not sure the characters off-screen are less important, they're just off-screen. Also, some support cast just have less purpose at some points than others. In setting up Griffin's Aire, my mage Damwild had as her concept that she was travelling with her stricken and beloved master to a place where he might retire and die in peace. That required a retinue of support cast, who made handy instant coveners. I'd love to see all their various stories, but the importance of the mages setting up the covenant has been overpowering so far. We'll see what happens. Oh, and then there's the unpredictability of characters. I recently had a character I really liked and enjoyed playing off Vincent's mage Acanthus. This character was a visiting mage who just rubbed Acanthus wrong. I was all set to play him at GA for a while, since Damwild is busy with apprentice stuff. But no, Quintus up and leaves. I didn't know he was leaving until he started saying goodbye and giving Acanthus little prezzies. Jerk. But, from a story point of view, it was totally right that he leave. So there you go.

Ok, games that I consider to be in this same world:
Caer Mearabourne 1 & 2, Glasdam Carig, Riorek, Corrinas (w/Kevin & co), Sulfur Spring (w/Ellen & co), St. Erasmus, and Griffin's Aeire. There are another two covenants, Valerian and Egyptian Bazaar, that go with St. E. That, plus Durenmar and our current tribunal full

Vicent wrote: There were rules, but they were almost purely social, and nobody articulated them. The failures of the Durenmar [ed. It was actually Riorek] game and the St. Erasmus game ... plus on reflection the second half of the Caer Mearabourne game ... were almost certainly because the unspoken rules didn't work for those groups

Emily Care wrote: The three of us met a while back (11 years ago? Something like that.) We lived together as part of a 10 person communal household, of which collaborative (though with single, rotating gmships) roleplaying was a central feature.

Meguey wrote: Handling multiple characters is, for me, kind of like a wardrobe. I have different clothes for each one. Cruciel and Emily Care both talked about voices and accents for distinguishing between multiples; yep that, plus body language. I find that I identify different body postures or habits with different characters. I'm *really* looking forward to the Tribunal, when we'll have to deal with masses of colorful, well-defined characters in one place at one time. It'll put every multicharacter skill we collectively have to the test. Stay tuned for that one, I'll bet.

Oh, and then there's the unpredictability of characters. I recently had a character I really liked and enjoyed playing off Vincent's mage Acanthus. This character was a visiting mage who just rubbed Acanthus wrong. I was all set to play him at GA for a while, since Damwild is busy with apprentice stuff. But no, Quintus up and leaves. I didn't know he was leaving until he started saying goodbye and giving Acanthus little prezzies. Jerk. But, from a story point of view, it was totally right that he leave. So there you go.

By body language, I meant much more subtle things, although "jumping around the room like a goon", as Jason put it, has its place on rare occasions. It's tiny things that tell me which character is speaking:

Acanthus (Vincent) fidgets and makes noise with his hands
Manuela (Vincent) has a hint of desperation in her posture, like she's been holding it together for a long time
Libramentum (Vincent) is disdainful, and literally looks down his nose a little at most others
Zarya (Vincent) takes up the whole chair and uses big arm movements to accent her points
Una (Vincent) is extremely emphatic about everything, pounds on the table a lot and is usually completely unfathomable
Murinis Mus (Vincent) is a junkie and she's starting to DT with hot/cold flashes, so she sort of scratches a little while trying not to let anyone see and rubs her hands together when they get cold and fans herself or shakes her clothes when she's hot
Soraya (Emily) leans forward and has a good deal of tension/efficiency in her movements
Sioban (Emily) looked as though she was always listening for something else
Ludmilla (Emily) moves languidly and speaks in stream-of-consciousness
Jaslyn (Emily) has a truly playful gleam in her eye
Trey (Emily) is relaxed and in control but with deeper tension, like a politician who's in between elections
Acerbus Anquiro (Emily) is really interested in what you have to say
Persepheus (Emily) is extremely likeable, puts you right at ease
Primus Unamo (Emily) is very smooth and totally confident
Damwild (Meg) always sits up straight and has her hands folded
Quintus (Meg) looks bug-eyed at everything
Shade (Meg) has hands that move like spiders
Repugnatia (Meg, but others too) is usually smiling a bit, and is obviously waiting for her next opening to jib someone, usually Zarya
Nuli Secundis (Meg) is very cool, cold even, to pretty much everyone
Oldoini (Meg) usually sounds a little dazed and surprised
Anjolie (Meg) is hesitant and the ends of her sentences fade out
Andreideo (Meg) touches people all the time
Lachesis Mustus (Meg) is deeply hunched over and squints

And that's what I can recall right now. I know if I looked it over, there'd be more I could list. I know there are a few I don't have good 'tells' for, (Lucere and the Doctor especially) and that bugs me a bit. Point is, these are all small, easily done things to alert others as to the character speaking. Then there's Emily's tried and true method of leaning one way for one character and the other for the other.

Hi Meg! Thanks! Great stuff all 'round.

Meguey wrote: Releasing control as a sole GM was a relief and a challenge; a relief because suddenly there were whole new sections that came into being that I never would have seen, and a challenge because suddenly there were whole new things I had no control over.

Christopher Weeks wrote:

Emily Care wrote: The three of us met a while back (11 years ago? Something like that.) We lived together as part of a 10 person communal household, of which collaborative (though with single, rotating gmships) roleplaying was a central feature.

I know it's tangential to the subject at hand, but this fascinates me. Have any of the participants written about this experience? I'd love to read about how it started, how it lasted, and how it ended.

cruciel wrote: That does make me think you folks have a high level of commitment to consistency/verisimilitude, and if that's a shared goal among the whole group than that might be part of reason it works so well. Aside from the obvious priority coherence, everyone committed to consistency means it can take priority over individual wants for the story, so rather than fight about what happens next you can yield to the higher power of maintaining suspension of disbelief. In addition to the biggies that have already been mentioned, like overt negotiation.

Warning, the following post will be very OT, but I just wanted to say it.

*ahm*

Fuck me sideways!!! I just had a moment of enlightment, realising that 1. I had to get "Ars Magica" and 2. that the campaign Emily and her group have been playing the last years is (in a way) exactly the kind of play I always wanted to design a game for.

If you would now excuse me, I have to browse the "Actual Game" part for some other threads about your campaign. After that, I will think about my game (Which was put back on-line [brain-wise] 5 minutes ago.) until I die of exhaustion or finally fall asleep. (Its 0.30 in the morning where I am.)

Thank you Emily. :)

M

Minx wrote: I just had a moment of enlightment, realising that 1. I had to get "Ars Magica" and 2. that the campaign Emily and her group have been playing the last years is (in a way) exactly the kind of play I always wanted to design a game for.

Cool, Minx! All the talk here of late has gotten me energized to get the Griffin's Aire web-site up ASAP, so look for it some time within the next 5 days, probably over the weekend.

~Meguey