When I was in college I was in an improv troupe. I loved that improv troupe. We met once a week for the better part of 4 years to do improv (read: tell stories) together. We started off doing out-of-the-box improv "games" and ended up eventually abandoning these in favor of something called long-form. In long form you basically just make up a 1 act play as you go. Or like, collaboratively write/act a screenplay on stage. It's fun.
By the end of things, we started to think about experimental ways to make interesting plot hooks. My favorite one we developed came from analyzing ancient Greek drama. So, in a lot old Greek plays in the first scene Character A is talking to Character B, but what we (and A) don't know is that B has already done something to betray A. And the rest of the play is A and the audience figuring that out. This is the precursor to In Media Res. OR is In Media Res. Whatever. What this meant in improv was:
Scene 1:
Performer A walks out and starts doing something. Let's say sweeping up.
Performer B walks out and does or says something. "Hey. I can finish sweeping up for you."
--So then what you do, either as Performer B, or as the whole group is figure out how "Hey. I can finish sweeping up for you." is ACTUALLY a betrayal. And that's it. You can easily spend an hour figuring out how that one sentence/action is a betrayal and resolving it. Like, maybe I know that there is gold hidden in the room and whoever sweeps up will find it. Maybe I know if you leave first, you'll be the one kidnapped instead of me. Maybe I need you to leave me alone with the broom cause there's micro-film inside the handle, and I'm a spy, and I'm framing you for its disappearance.
Which is to say, if you a DM needs to have a random non-combat encounter that is interesting, but can't think of something interesting at that exact moment, don't sweat it. Simply make that interaction mundane, then spend the adventure revealing how the mundane was ALREADY a betrayal of the PCs.
5.10.11
Generative Narrative
Following the earlier post about narrative action, I just discovered an amazing sub culture around story and folk tale classification:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarne-Thompson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp
http://airpump.davidbenque.com/tagged/generative_narrative
This excerpt from the first post speaks for itself, I think:
Supernatural Opponents 300 - 399
* The Dragon-Slayer 300
* The Three Kidnapped Princesses 301 (German)
* The Giant Without A Heart, 302
* The Twin Brothers, 303 (German, Another German variant)
* Seven Sisters, Seven Brothers 303A
* The Trained Hunter 304
* The Twelve Dancing Princesses 306
* The Princess in the Coffin 307 (French)
* Rapunzel 310 (Italian, Italian, Greek, Italian)
* Killed by a Giant 311 (Italian, German)
* The Bluebeard 312 (French)
* The Magic Flight 313 (Norwegian, French, German, German, English, German )
* The Golden-Haired 314
* The Treacherous Sister 315
* The Mermaid in the Pond 316 (German)
* The Princess and the Sky-tree 317
* The Batamärchen 318
* The Magician and his Apprentice, 325 (German, Norwegian, Danish, Italian)
* The Youth Who Wanted to Learn What Fear Is 326
* The Children With the Witch 327A (French, Scottish, German, Danish, Norwegian, French)
* The Small Boy Defeats the Ogre 327B (French, French, Norwegian)
* The Treasures of the Giant 328 (Italian, Greek, English)
* Miss the Magic Mirror 329
* The Spirit in the Bottle 331
* Godfather Death 332
* Little Red Riding Hood 333
* In the Household of the Witch 334 German
* The Three Apprentices and the Devil 360 (German)
* Bearskin 361
* Specter Bridegrooms 365 (English)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarne-Thompson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp
http://airpump.davidbenque.com/tagged/generative_narrative
This excerpt from the first post speaks for itself, I think:
Supernatural Opponents 300 - 399
* The Dragon-Slayer 300
* The Three Kidnapped Princesses 301 (German)
* The Giant Without A Heart, 302
* The Twin Brothers, 303 (German, Another German variant)
* Seven Sisters, Seven Brothers 303A
* The Trained Hunter 304
* The Twelve Dancing Princesses 306
* The Princess in the Coffin 307 (French)
* Rapunzel 310 (Italian, Italian, Greek, Italian)
* Killed by a Giant 311 (Italian, German)
* The Bluebeard 312 (French)
* The Magic Flight 313 (Norwegian, French, German, German, English, German )
* The Golden-Haired 314
* The Treacherous Sister 315
* The Mermaid in the Pond 316 (German)
* The Princess and the Sky-tree 317
* The Batamärchen 318
* The Magician and his Apprentice, 325 (German, Norwegian, Danish, Italian)
* The Youth Who Wanted to Learn What Fear Is 326
* The Children With the Witch 327A (French, Scottish, German, Danish, Norwegian, French)
* The Small Boy Defeats the Ogre 327B (French, French, Norwegian)
* The Treasures of the Giant 328 (Italian, Greek, English)
* Miss the Magic Mirror 329
* The Spirit in the Bottle 331
* Godfather Death 332
* Little Red Riding Hood 333
* In the Household of the Witch 334 German
* The Three Apprentices and the Devil 360 (German)
* Bearskin 361
* Specter Bridegrooms 365 (English)
2.9.11
Attributes and Archetypes
Okay. So the heart of the system we're trying to put together relies on d6s. There are a couple of reasons for this. First off, we'd love this to be a system that's easy to teach to whomever, and easy to play wherever. The d6 is hands down the most ubiquitous die-type, which makes it likely you can put your hands on some no matter where you are.
There are some interesting by-products to playing with d6s. The first is that for larger variation, you end up rolling multiple dice. This is important, as it weights the results. When you roll a d20, you're just as likely to get a 1 as you are a 10 as you are a 20. When you roll 2d6 you are way more likely to get a 7 than a 12. When you roll 3d6 you are way way more likely to get a 10 or 11 than an 18.
The second by-product is that the number 6 is naturally attractive as a guide for other parts of the rules. For us, the other two 6s which matter are the 6 archetypes and the 6 attributes.
Archetypes
Dungeons and Dragons relies quite heavily on its class system. Because we were interested in having rules that easily govern a wide range of scenarios (fantasy, sci fi, modern, wild west, lovecraft, whatever...) we decided it would be better to divide up characters by Archetype rather than class. Our six archetypes are:
1. the HERO
2. the MADMAN
3. the GENIUS
4. the SAINT
5. the MIMIC
6. the HAPLESS
Originally, these Archtypes were meant to evoke the holistic role of the character. However, given that we also settled on having six attribute scores for each character, we decided to make them correlate.
Attributes
1. PHYSIQUE
2. QUICKNESS
3. INTELLECT
4. WISDOM (or WILL)
5. CHARISMA
6. LUCK
Each of these attributes is rated on a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 is horrible, 2 is average, and 6 is god-like. Right now the plan is to have each archetype correspond to one attribute, so the Hero would get +1 PHYS, and the Madman would get +1 QUIK etc, etc.
There are some interesting by-products to playing with d6s. The first is that for larger variation, you end up rolling multiple dice. This is important, as it weights the results. When you roll a d20, you're just as likely to get a 1 as you are a 10 as you are a 20. When you roll 2d6 you are way more likely to get a 7 than a 12. When you roll 3d6 you are way way more likely to get a 10 or 11 than an 18.
The second by-product is that the number 6 is naturally attractive as a guide for other parts of the rules. For us, the other two 6s which matter are the 6 archetypes and the 6 attributes.
Archetypes
Dungeons and Dragons relies quite heavily on its class system. Because we were interested in having rules that easily govern a wide range of scenarios (fantasy, sci fi, modern, wild west, lovecraft, whatever...) we decided it would be better to divide up characters by Archetype rather than class. Our six archetypes are:
1. the HERO
2. the MADMAN
3. the GENIUS
4. the SAINT
5. the MIMIC
6. the HAPLESS
Originally, these Archtypes were meant to evoke the holistic role of the character. However, given that we also settled on having six attribute scores for each character, we decided to make them correlate.
Attributes
1. PHYSIQUE
2. QUICKNESS
3. INTELLECT
4. WISDOM (or WILL)
5. CHARISMA
6. LUCK
Each of these attributes is rated on a scale from 1 to 6, where 1 is horrible, 2 is average, and 6 is god-like. Right now the plan is to have each archetype correspond to one attribute, so the Hero would get +1 PHYS, and the Madman would get +1 QUIK etc, etc.
1.9.11
Play Test #1
We had our first real playtest session using the new rules. Wythe was kind enough to run the game -- a 1940's hollywood noir/conan the barbarian far-future mash-up -- and Paul, Grace, and I played. We tried out a few different things, some worked and some didn't.
The Set Up
Saul the Fortune Teller/Comedian has a ancient artifact (the Eye of...something) which swaps his mind into the body of his pet Bonobo chimp. Dirk Durgen somehow steals the Eye, so Saul hires Grant Nettles, P.I. to recover it, however, Violet (the femme fatale) and Vyrella (her spunky gear-headed naive roommate) have tracked Dirk to the First Bank o' whatever, where Dirk is trying to break IN in order to lock the Eye away...just as T.L. Random (history professor) is attempting to take a out a bank loan.
Chaos ensues. Everyone is blinded, and the Eye is activated and all the characters are transported...
Grace played Dirk (the Madman) and Violet (the Mimic).
Paul played Saul (the Saint) and T.L. (the Hapless).
I played Grant (the Hero) and Vyrella (the Genius).
We actually role-played the scene in the bank. It was mostly a short combat. Grant tells Some Teller to hit the alarm, Drink shoots the alarm button, Grant charges, Saul grabs for the Eye, misses, Violet grabs for the Eye, snatches it, then Vyrella sets off a flashbang...everyone save her and T.L (what luck!) are blinded.
AND THEN TRANSPORTED TO THE WARREN OF THE MANTS (man-sized ants).
We negotiate a mostly non-violent escape and set off across the sands.
We discover and break into a giant black city-sized building.
We search and find some weird stuff - some scary stuff - and eventually find a tribe of people living within the black building who think we might be gods...
And that's where the adventure tapered off. We may or may not continue it...(though Grant will certainly persist)
THINGS LEARNED:
1) The archetypes really work really well for putting together an interesting motley crew together post haste.
2) It's kind of a confusing prospect to play more than one fully realized character. All of us quickly settled into primary characters (Dirk, Saul, Grant) and mostly ignored the others. Does this mean parties with fewer than all the Archetypes? Or parties with NPC archetypes?
3) The most combat we did was in the bank lobby, and it worked pretty well...but we need to figure out how dodging works. However, distributing multiple dice across a single turn (do you shoot once well, or shoot three times poorly) feels really good.
4) Skills are...fucked? Not sure. We just barreled in with no real plan for skills, ended up a sort of half-ass applying a simplified version of Pathfinder skills, and then debating for like 30 minutes about all the ways we were fucking it up... :( biggest hurdle so far.
5) How do we use luck? Consistently? Specifically for the Hapless?
So...up next we're probably going to shelve skills, do an arena of combat types to simply make it make sense, and then I think I'll GM an old west scenario after that.
The Set Up
Saul the Fortune Teller/Comedian has a ancient artifact (the Eye of...something) which swaps his mind into the body of his pet Bonobo chimp. Dirk Durgen somehow steals the Eye, so Saul hires Grant Nettles, P.I. to recover it, however, Violet (the femme fatale) and Vyrella (her spunky gear-headed naive roommate) have tracked Dirk to the First Bank o' whatever, where Dirk is trying to break IN in order to lock the Eye away...just as T.L. Random (history professor) is attempting to take a out a bank loan.
Chaos ensues. Everyone is blinded, and the Eye is activated and all the characters are transported...
Grace played Dirk (the Madman) and Violet (the Mimic).
Paul played Saul (the Saint) and T.L. (the Hapless).
I played Grant (the Hero) and Vyrella (the Genius).
We actually role-played the scene in the bank. It was mostly a short combat. Grant tells Some Teller to hit the alarm, Drink shoots the alarm button, Grant charges, Saul grabs for the Eye, misses, Violet grabs for the Eye, snatches it, then Vyrella sets off a flashbang...everyone save her and T.L (what luck!) are blinded.
AND THEN TRANSPORTED TO THE WARREN OF THE MANTS (man-sized ants).
We negotiate a mostly non-violent escape and set off across the sands.
We discover and break into a giant black city-sized building.
We search and find some weird stuff - some scary stuff - and eventually find a tribe of people living within the black building who think we might be gods...
And that's where the adventure tapered off. We may or may not continue it...(though Grant will certainly persist)
THINGS LEARNED:
1) The archetypes really work really well for putting together an interesting motley crew together post haste.
2) It's kind of a confusing prospect to play more than one fully realized character. All of us quickly settled into primary characters (Dirk, Saul, Grant) and mostly ignored the others. Does this mean parties with fewer than all the Archetypes? Or parties with NPC archetypes?
3) The most combat we did was in the bank lobby, and it worked pretty well...but we need to figure out how dodging works. However, distributing multiple dice across a single turn (do you shoot once well, or shoot three times poorly) feels really good.
4) Skills are...fucked? Not sure. We just barreled in with no real plan for skills, ended up a sort of half-ass applying a simplified version of Pathfinder skills, and then debating for like 30 minutes about all the ways we were fucking it up... :( biggest hurdle so far.
5) How do we use luck? Consistently? Specifically for the Hapless?
So...up next we're probably going to shelve skills, do an arena of combat types to simply make it make sense, and then I think I'll GM an old west scenario after that.
Dramatic Action Table d20
Taken from Arthur Asa Berger's introduction to Evan Esar's The Humor of Humor, he cites Dundes' description of Propp's fairytale morphology. That alone is a bit of a mind/mouthful, but here is the list:
01: Absentation -- One of the members of the family absents itself.
02: Interdiction -- Interdiction addressed to hero (can be reversed) [ed. note: interdiction is a prohibitive sanction. so a proper/religious punishment of some type]
03: Violation -- An interdiction is violated.
04: Reconnaissance -- The villain makes an attempt to gain information.
05: Delivery -- The villain gets information about [its] victim.
06: Trickery -- The villain tries to deceive [its] victim.
07: Complicity -- Victim is deceived.
08: Villainy -- Villain causes harm to a member of a family.
08a: Lack -- Member of family lacks something, desires something.
09: Meditation -- Misfortune made known. Hero dispatched.
10: Counteraction -- The hero agrees to counter action.
11: Departure -- The hero leaves home.
12: 1st Donor Function -- The hero tested, receives magical agent or helper.
13: Hero's Reaction -- The hero reacts to agent or donor.
14: Receipt of Agent -- The hero acquires use of magical agent.
15: Spatial Change -- The hero led to object of search.
16: Struggle -- The hero and villain join in direct combat.
17: Branding -- The hero is branded.
18: Victory -- The villain is defeated.
19: Liquidation -- Initial misfortune or lack is liquidated.
20: Return -- The hero returns.
21: Pursuit, Chase -- The hero is pursued.
22: Rescue -- The hero rescued from pursuit.
23: Unrecognized Arrival -- The hero, unrecognized, arrives home or elsewhere.
24: Unfounded Claims -- A false hero presents unfounded claims.
25: Difficult Task -- A difficult task is proposed to the hero.
26: Solution -- The task is resolved.
27: Recognition -- The hero is recognized.
28: Exposure -- The false hero or villain is exposed.
29: Transfiguration -- The hero is given a new apprentice.
30: Punishment -- The villain is punished.
31: Wedding -- The hero is married, ascends the throne.
Now, this is 31 (or 32) different items, which is quite a lot. And many of them are kind of weird. To me, though it screams to be used in some RPG. My thought? Replace "hero" with "party" and then use this table (either randomly, or not) in order to determine the dramatic function of any given random encounter on a hex map. This way, you can take either random or pre-determined logistic details (objects, rooms, monsters, what-not) and bend them toward a certain dramatic end. The only problem being that the above list is a) too long, and b) some of the entries describe what the hero does...which is tough, since you don't control your PCs. So if we re-do our list a bit:
What's the Point of this Encounter?
01: Absentation -- [An NPC] absents itself.
02: Interdiction -- Interdiction addressed to hero (can be reversed) [ed. note: interdiction is a prohibitive sanction. so a proper/religious punishment of some type]
03: Violation -- An interdiction is violated.
04: Reconnaissance -- The villain makes an attempt to gain information.
05: Trickery -- The villain tries to deceive [its] victim.
06: Villainy -- Villain causes harm to a member of a family.
07: Meditation -- Misfortune made known. Hero dispatched.
08: 1st Donor Function -- The hero tested, receives magical agent or helper.
09: Receipt of Agent -- The hero acquires use of magical agent.
10: Spatial Change -- The hero led to object of search.
11: Struggle -- The hero and villain join in direct combat.
12: Branding -- The hero is branded.
13: Liquidation -- Initial misfortune or lack is liquidated.
14: Pursuit, Chase -- The hero is pursued.
15: Unrecognized Arrival -- The hero, unrecognized, arrives home or elsewhere.
16: Unfounded Claims -- A false hero presents unfounded claims.
17: Difficult Task -- A difficult task is proposed to the hero.
18: Recognition -- The hero is recognized.
19: Transfiguration -- The hero is given a new apprentice.
20: Roll Twice.
So, for instance, if 3 PCs are wandering through the wilderness...and I roll on the Whimsical Encounters Table from the d30 Concordance...I get: "18. A tiny chessboard with pieces that move on their own performing battles when capturing. It vanishes when the game is done or the pieces removed." Now I roll on my dramatic action table: I get 04: Reconnaissance. Okay, the chessboard has been left there and enchanted by the main villain. If the game is played to completion, the bad guy dispatches attackers next hex...if the PCs sniff it out, they can reverse engineer it in to gaining info on the villain. OR if instead I get 03: Violation...then the chessboard is holy, and never to be played. A set of pilgrims crest the hill just before the PCs can win, and gasp in horror. They run to tell the nearby settlement of the PCs blasphemy. If the PCs do win, and the board disappears, they will be blamed and hunted by the religious townsfolk. Etc. Etc.
All that being said, I think this needs trimming/updating. Thoughts?
01: Absentation -- One of the members of the family absents itself.
02: Interdiction -- Interdiction addressed to hero (can be reversed) [ed. note: interdiction is a prohibitive sanction. so a proper/religious punishment of some type]
03: Violation -- An interdiction is violated.
04: Reconnaissance -- The villain makes an attempt to gain information.
05: Delivery -- The villain gets information about [its] victim.
06: Trickery -- The villain tries to deceive [its] victim.
07: Complicity -- Victim is deceived.
08: Villainy -- Villain causes harm to a member of a family.
08a: Lack -- Member of family lacks something, desires something.
09: Meditation -- Misfortune made known. Hero dispatched.
10: Counteraction -- The hero agrees to counter action.
11: Departure -- The hero leaves home.
12: 1st Donor Function -- The hero tested, receives magical agent or helper.
13: Hero's Reaction -- The hero reacts to agent or donor.
14: Receipt of Agent -- The hero acquires use of magical agent.
15: Spatial Change -- The hero led to object of search.
16: Struggle -- The hero and villain join in direct combat.
17: Branding -- The hero is branded.
18: Victory -- The villain is defeated.
19: Liquidation -- Initial misfortune or lack is liquidated.
20: Return -- The hero returns.
21: Pursuit, Chase -- The hero is pursued.
22: Rescue -- The hero rescued from pursuit.
23: Unrecognized Arrival -- The hero, unrecognized, arrives home or elsewhere.
24: Unfounded Claims -- A false hero presents unfounded claims.
25: Difficult Task -- A difficult task is proposed to the hero.
26: Solution -- The task is resolved.
27: Recognition -- The hero is recognized.
28: Exposure -- The false hero or villain is exposed.
29: Transfiguration -- The hero is given a new apprentice.
30: Punishment -- The villain is punished.
31: Wedding -- The hero is married, ascends the throne.
Now, this is 31 (or 32) different items, which is quite a lot. And many of them are kind of weird. To me, though it screams to be used in some RPG. My thought? Replace "hero" with "party" and then use this table (either randomly, or not) in order to determine the dramatic function of any given random encounter on a hex map. This way, you can take either random or pre-determined logistic details (objects, rooms, monsters, what-not) and bend them toward a certain dramatic end. The only problem being that the above list is a) too long, and b) some of the entries describe what the hero does...which is tough, since you don't control your PCs. So if we re-do our list a bit:
What's the Point of this Encounter?
01: Absentation -- [An NPC] absents itself.
02: Interdiction -- Interdiction addressed to hero (can be reversed) [ed. note: interdiction is a prohibitive sanction. so a proper/religious punishment of some type]
03: Violation -- An interdiction is violated.
04: Reconnaissance -- The villain makes an attempt to gain information.
05: Trickery -- The villain tries to deceive [its] victim.
06: Villainy -- Villain causes harm to a member of a family.
07: Meditation -- Misfortune made known. Hero dispatched.
08: 1st Donor Function -- The hero tested, receives magical agent or helper.
09: Receipt of Agent -- The hero acquires use of magical agent.
10: Spatial Change -- The hero led to object of search.
11: Struggle -- The hero and villain join in direct combat.
12: Branding -- The hero is branded.
13: Liquidation -- Initial misfortune or lack is liquidated.
14: Pursuit, Chase -- The hero is pursued.
15: Unrecognized Arrival -- The hero, unrecognized, arrives home or elsewhere.
16: Unfounded Claims -- A false hero presents unfounded claims.
17: Difficult Task -- A difficult task is proposed to the hero.
18: Recognition -- The hero is recognized.
19: Transfiguration -- The hero is given a new apprentice.
20: Roll Twice.
So, for instance, if 3 PCs are wandering through the wilderness...and I roll on the Whimsical Encounters Table from the d30 Concordance...I get: "18. A tiny chessboard with pieces that move on their own performing battles when capturing. It vanishes when the game is done or the pieces removed." Now I roll on my dramatic action table: I get 04: Reconnaissance. Okay, the chessboard has been left there and enchanted by the main villain. If the game is played to completion, the bad guy dispatches attackers next hex...if the PCs sniff it out, they can reverse engineer it in to gaining info on the villain. OR if instead I get 03: Violation...then the chessboard is holy, and never to be played. A set of pilgrims crest the hill just before the PCs can win, and gasp in horror. They run to tell the nearby settlement of the PCs blasphemy. If the PCs do win, and the board disappears, they will be blamed and hunted by the religious townsfolk. Etc. Etc.
All that being said, I think this needs trimming/updating. Thoughts?
31.8.11
Acquaintance Table - d20
A table to use when quickly generating a party of new characters that need to be plausibly together, in a scenario that has no other exposition-y backstory. Have each party member roll on the table once, with them as X and the player to their right as Y. This should provide a plausible chain of acquaintance for the group.
Alternately, if there is one or several characters who are already integrated into the setting/adventure, or who are more central to the plot, simply have every other character roll once for that central character.
How does [X] know [Y]?
01: They are family (by marriage or adoption if necessary)
02: Friends from childhood (happy)
03: Friends from childhood (tragic)
04: X formerly hired Y for some job (can be this job)
05: Former rival (if different class/skills, then rivals in some secondary manner)
06: X owes Y for saving X's life
07: Both met when hired by a third party for a previous job
08: X and Y were shown one another in a dream vision
09: Both were attacked by bandits en route to...
10: Met at a tavern, both drunk as hell
11: X moved in and lived as Y's neighbor for years
12: X was hired to kill Y, but changed their mind
13: Friend of a friend, met at common friend's funeral
14: X's mentor/parent commanded they accompany/protect/learn from Y
15: Former or current love interest (secret or otherwise)
16: Met in prison
17: Both (accidentally?) angered some powerful entity which they're both on the run from
18: Long adventuring buddies (all other party members dead)
19: X is inexplicably drawn to Y
20: Roll Twice.
Alternately, if there is one or several characters who are already integrated into the setting/adventure, or who are more central to the plot, simply have every other character roll once for that central character.
How does [X] know [Y]?
01: They are family (by marriage or adoption if necessary)
02: Friends from childhood (happy)
03: Friends from childhood (tragic)
04: X formerly hired Y for some job (can be this job)
05: Former rival (if different class/skills, then rivals in some secondary manner)
06: X owes Y for saving X's life
07: Both met when hired by a third party for a previous job
08: X and Y were shown one another in a dream vision
09: Both were attacked by bandits en route to...
10: Met at a tavern, both drunk as hell
11: X moved in and lived as Y's neighbor for years
12: X was hired to kill Y, but changed their mind
13: Friend of a friend, met at common friend's funeral
14: X's mentor/parent commanded they accompany/protect/learn from Y
15: Former or current love interest (secret or otherwise)
16: Met in prison
17: Both (accidentally?) angered some powerful entity which they're both on the run from
18: Long adventuring buddies (all other party members dead)
19: X is inexplicably drawn to Y
20: Roll Twice.
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