tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121100433999663865.post6584217178519627295..comments2023-10-31T02:52:20.714-07:00Comments on The Failing Forward Blog: Thoughts on AnarchyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04143802508898869979noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121100433999663865.post-91551500622287500662016-10-12T18:50:59.284-07:002016-10-12T18:50:59.284-07:00"Plus, my own experiences as a GM make me ver..."<i>Plus, my own experiences as a GM make me very hesitant to do something that might "short-circuit" someone else's game. </i>"<br />This happens if someone is used to having the game master do all the work (prep in this case), and then serve it to the players. Just go with Impro och Play Unsafe and help building on each others ideas with "Yes, and", and things will become more clear that group are in on it together.<br /><br />"<i>I can envision that the "shared narrative" system might be intimidating to someone new to RPG's. </i>"<br />Quite the opposite, and even the idea of having a game master can be strange to them. It depends on what kind of game they tried the first time. I played with experienced and totally newbs with games like InSpectres, This is Pulp and other no-prep true-on-the-fly games over fifteen years on conventions. When it comes to learning games where everyone build on others ideas, newbs pick it up in 10-15 minutes where experienced (traditional) players takes about twice that time.<br /><br />It just depends on what you're used to.Rickardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05926490775383821342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8121100433999663865.post-16400641423591035522016-10-11T21:26:37.413-07:002016-10-11T21:26:37.413-07:00I was one of the players, the Street Samurai.
I&...I was one of the players, the Street Samurai. <br /><br />I'm pretty much in agreement with Ed's assessment -- when the system worked, it worked really well, and I think that the "success rate" will improve with practice. <br /><br />Two things hindered me: one is that I'm only familiar with the Shadowrun Universe in "broad strokes." This was a straightforward enough story so that wasn't a big deal. I also was unsure just how much leeway I had in where to take the story, or just what I needed to add. Plus, my own experiences as a GM make me very hesitant to do something that might "short-circuit" someone else's game. Ed caught on that some of us had such problems, and started giving hints -- for the final scene, a car chase, he asked me to come up with something to create an explosion. He must be psychic to come up with something like that for me, cause I loved the opportunity. <br /><br />When I had the "microphone" again, I looked at Ed and said, "three words: liquid oxygen truck". Ed's expression said he liked the idea as much as I did. I said something like, "I fire a few rounds into the oxygen tanks. And by 'a few rounds', I mean 'an entire magazine.'" Boom. Oooooooo, yyyyeeeaaahhhh....<br /><br />I can envision that the "shared narrative" system might be intimidating to someone new to RPG's. (And isn't it ironic the got rid of Shadowrun's legendarily complicated mechanics, and added something else to intimidate new players?) A good GM, and Ed is a good GM, could easily help by letting the player just participate in a traditional RPG fashion, and letting them contribute once they get a feel for it. That could be a way to give a heckuva great "first game" memory to someone, if the GM and other players work with the newbie to create an idea that makes for a really impressive scene.<br /><br />I remarked to Ed during a bit of downtime that it seemed like the system would mean a lot less prep time required on the GM's part, and he agreed. That's good, of course, but I wonder if the system would work for running a long-term, multi-part epic story, if the GM has a vision of how it will proceed. (Perhaps it starts small, a woman seeking to divorce her wealthy husband hires the runners to steal some evidence, but they eventually find, oh, who knows, maybe a sex tape that destroys his Presidential campaign...)<br /><br />One thing not related to the system... Ed mentioned the pre-gen characters. There's about thirty of them, and it's really too many. I think they're organized, sort of, by having an example of each of the Shadowrun "character classes" (shaman, decker, rigger, face, samurai) up front, but not completely -- a classic mage doesn't show up until near the end of the list. If you want to use them to run a pick-up game, the organization will hinder that. I think it would be very helpful to have some straightforward archetype characters, with suggestions for how to tweak them (make the mage specialize in illusions instead of explosions, make the samurai an elf who focuses on ranged combat, instead of a troll who likes swords, etc.)<br /><br />Ultimately, I'm with Ed -- I look forward to playing this again.Maryland Bearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03506934910334821590noreply@blogger.com