From Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, “Christ the Conqueror of Hell: The Descent of Christ into Hades in Eastern and Western Theological Traditions” November 2005. Accessed here. PDF here.

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Jason’s Awesome Game: a little analysis

Jason’s one-nighter, a disobedient terrorist dance in a diesel-punk totalitarian dystopia, was a smashing success. It was fun then and in my remembering it is more fun every time I think about it. I want to take a stab at figuring out why is was so successful.

What do I mean by ‘Successful?’
Well, fun obviously. Right? I mean any measure of success in RPGs that doesn’t include fun is meaningless. Well, kinda. I can only recall one or two times when our group’s game-night wasn’t fun, and those were pretty much the fault of some players who are no longer with us. So let’s set aside fun.

Finishing the Quest
First of all we told the story. We had a beginning a middle and an end. Most of the one-nighters of mine that I label as flat have failed to end. I ran out of time, the situation was too complicated, I didn’t clearly communicate the goals, something like that. So completing the quest is a major component of a successful one-nighter.

Freedom within limits
In several important ways, Jason placed limits on the adventure, but within those limits we were pretty free to embellish as we desired. Often this comes out in-character. My character often quoted from a book called The Anarchists Primer, something I made up without Jason’s input. This detail happened to dove-tail nicely with one of the NPCs.

Another aspect of this “freedom within limits” is that we had only a few options available to us. At every turn there were only a few doors to pick from. But, we had freedom to mix and match them creatively; thereby reinforcing that our PCs were the protagonists.

Stretching this one a little further, I would point out that the entire mission was one of limits. Our PCs had a job to do. We knew the approximate nature of the job before chargen (so we could make characters that complimented the adventure and each other). Once the adventure started, there was no question of goals or resources. But, within this rigid framework we were free to make our own plans and use the resources as we saw fit.

Jason the Evoker!
In a few broad strokes, Jason painted the setting perfectly. Neither too little nor too much detail. Alt history 1920s. Dystopia. 1984. The Coordinator. Z-waves. The Ubiquitate. The Principals of Martial Disobedience by Mark Keppler. And the name of the dynamo…

My mind supplied images of Nazi and Soviet architecture. A palette of mostly gray and steel and concrete. Colt M1911s and Thompson sub-machine guns. We never described our appearance, but I imagined my PC wore over-the-calf work boots, dark pants, and a double breasted shirt.

These little details kept sneaking out from under the carpet the entire game (sometimes with Jason explicitly stating their meaning). For example the train stop and the guard shift change only coincided once every four months. This simple fact indicates a society run entirely on timetables and schedules and maximized for efficiency, because efficiency is happiness.

Lessons Learned
[I hate that phrase because I encounter it too much at work, but it is apt.]

Simple Set-up
Make the adventure simple (at least on the surface). Constrain the players with the adventure. Direct them to make characters (if you’re not using pregens) that fit this adventure. A technocrat had no place in our one-nighter, but I suspect might be useful in a campaign in the setting.

Jason’s set-up was pretty simple. We were revolutionaries leading a mission. That’s why we sat down. If our PCs didn’t want that they were in the wrong game. None of this was said, but the implication was there and all consented.

But this simple, restrictive set-up allowed us to be creative with our solutions.

Evocative Setting
Whether it’s fantasy, dystopian diesel-punk (Jason actually never used that term), or western rogues in space, the setting should be one which the players can grasp quickly. The genre tropes and themes should be recognized with much explaination.

The one-nighter we ran of Savage Goonies (via Scooby-Doo) was a great example of this.

System Matters
I don’t mean that in the normal way one encounters in internet forums, but rather, careful attention should be paid to what system you are using for the one-shot. Using a new system is fine, if you can quickly explain it and feel comfortable running it. One of the strengths of Jason’s Dystopia and Mike’s Goonies homage was that we are all familiar with Savage Worlds. There was no learning curve last week, and very little in Mike’s game (only because it had been a while since we played SW).

One advantage of a familiar system is that players can make their own PCs. There are advantages and disadvantages to pregens. If the the system is unfamiliar you are already one strike down because either the players get pregens and have less investment in their PC or you spend valuable time explaining the system and making characters.

And so…

It’s not really much in the way of analysis. Perhaps this stuff is blatantly obvious to you, but in my quest to improve my one-shot GMing, I found it helpful to think out loud. And in my narcissism, thought I’d inflict it on you.

Regardless, Jason that was one helluva game.

Further Thoughts…
Upon further reflection I came up with…
A Checklist for a Good One-Shot.

1. A setting that grabs the players attention and provides plenty of places for them to connect. Ideally it should be one with well-known tropes and themes. Saying it’s a sci-fi setting with a tyrannical, but inefficient galactic empire is not much help. Saying “We’re playing in the Star Wars setting, just before the Clone Wars” is perfect.
2. Group cohesion should be a given. There shouldn’t be any question about why we’re together doing this thing.
3. Simple, obvious goals. Being assigned a mission is the easiest way to handle this, but the PCs goals should be obvious to everyone.

Jason’s game was a perfect example: Blow up the Dynamo. Here’s how, and you have 3 options for getting in.

4. Limited Scope. This can have several different applications, but the most obvious one is locations. Jason’s game essentially had 2 locations with a transition scene before each one. My Rattlers one-shot had a single location. Goonies had 2.
5. Creative Freedom. Players must have some space set aside for stretching their legs. one-shots are frequently pretty railroady, so ameliorate the tracks by giving players space to come up with creative solutions.

This is what works for me. It may not help you. After coming up with this checklist, I was able to generate a few one-shots with some real potential.

I also think you could intentionally play against one or two of these for a good game. But I think the chance of a satisfying one-nighter gets lowered if you do so accidentally.

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But that got me thinking about kung-fu¹ in RPGs.

For some reason, connecting the traditional² back and forth of most RPG combat to “Western” melee styles is easier than connecting it to kung-fu. For me at least.³

I think this is party because in many movies, white dudes with swords take turns swinging and blocking, while movie kung fu typically looks like a fluid dance. Even when movie kung-fu fighters are simply exchanges blows and blocks, it is so quick that it is a poor fit for rolling dice, checking a target number, rolling damage, subtracting armor.⁴
Now, I’ve played Weapons of the Gods. I’ve played a little Qin: The Warring States.
Both games try. And fail.

Oh, sure there’s Wushu, or other games that handle combat in such a way that it’s quick and fluid. But that’s a little to ephemeral, aetheric, vaporous, for what I want for kung-fu at the table.

So, taking my work on Dokkodo as inspiration, I started thinking about cards.

Ever play Egyptian Rat Screw? There’s kung-fu for you. Or it least a basic foundation. It’s quick, fucking lightning quick at times, the results are immediate and unambiguous, the rewards are immediate, play can flow back and forth with opponents gaining, losing, then regaining advantage (at least in the total number of cards).

Now combine that with speed, where you hold 4 cards in your hand and can play any one of them. So what if you had a Egyptian Rat Speed. Normal Egyptian Rat Screw rules, but instead of flipping cards blindly, you can have 4 in your hand.⁵
I’m thinking you need “big move” type cards. Maybe your kung-fu skill determines how many cards you can hold.

Anyway, just riffing on a concept.

———————–

1. By “kung-fu” I mean pretty much all eastern martial arts.
2. You know what I mean by traditional, even if you don’t agree with the term. Let’s not lose the forest for the trees.
3. Yes, I know it’s all abstracted at some level, but I’m talking about a visceral reaction here. A feeling.
4. Feel free to substitute any other “traditional” rpg combat resolution mechanic here.
5. Of course we’d have to drop the SLAP! rules, but I was already figuring on that.

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It probably isn’t quite the thing to say this, but I really love weekday liturgies.

For one thing, we are almost always celebrating a weekday liturgy because it is a feast. And a feast means different hymns, probably different antiphons. For another thing, it’s often a small crowd. Which for me, means less distraction. I know it shouldn’t be, but I am easily distracted when we have large crowd. I am smiling at the toddler’s antics, or looking to see if my son’s godfather made it this week, or just wool-gathering. All of which are bad habits, I know. But, there you go.

And finally, I always smell like church afterwards. I’m not sure why, but it seems like the scent of church fades (either in fact or in my mind) much more quickly on Sunday. Not so on weekday liturgies.

This is also true figuratively as well. I retain the sense of holiness, of worship, of existing Eucharistically more strongly following a weekday liturgy. Perhaps because it is “out of the ordinary.” And that says more about my apathy to the weekly Sunday Liturgy than I am quite comfortable admitting.

But apathy isn’t quite right either; It’s not so much apathy as it is settling into the routine.

Desensitized. That’s closer to what I mean. I sink into a place of being desensitized to the astounding reality that Divine Liturgy is: Heaven on Earth, eating and drinking Christ’s Body and Blood.

I hope you don’t let this happen to you, but I expect it does. For myself, I am going to let the shock of a weekday liturgy–The Ascension of Our Lord no less–shake me from my desensitized trance that this Sunday I can see with open eyes and hear with open ears.

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Cannon, with two Ns.

I wish I could come up with a non-smart-ass mnemonic to help people remember that.

Anywho…on Saturday a group boys and parents meet at a grandparents house for a hike, cookout, and cannon shoot! The Grandpa runs a cast-iron shop and collects cannons. On our hike we played in a shallow creek and found several salamanders, a drangonfly nymph, a few crawdads, and an arrowhead.

I had several great conversations with two of the other dads. One is going to take me sailing. The other is homesteading, which make me a little jealous.

We made ice cream by shaking baggies with ice cream mix in freezer bags with ice and salt. It was an all-around great time.

Orphans
After Liturgy on Sunday we had a presentation by Sharon and Peter Georges of the St Nicholas Uganda Children’s Fund. Very moving. Then that afternoon, a small group of people met with them to talk about the prospect of a trip to Uganda. I am very hopeful.

I expect to be posting more on this later.

Iron, Lifting
After starting my new exercise regime in the pool, I moved to weights. As much as I loved swimming, I like weightlifting even more. Who knew? Sadly I think I blew a gasket in my head today. I’ve got an exertion headache that’s very unpleasant.

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It’s certainly given us a number of name ideas for boats, not the least of which is Ginnungigap.

2.
At the beginning of the year I finally joined a local fitness center and started working out. I started by swimming 3 days a week, but have since moved on to lifting weights. I was surprsied how much I enjoy it. I had to take a few weeks off for illness and Holy Week, but now I’m back on it. Today was my first day back and ugh, I feel beat. But I know Wednesday will be slightly less unpleasant, and Friday should be actaully enjoyable.

3.
I’ve recently posted about Gogoyoko. I am pleased with the service. More than anything, I love all the new and wonderful music I’m finding.

Here is Hjaltalín, a fairly well-known (in Iceland) band, playing at La Blogotheque

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It’s also very instructive/interesting to see watch him at school.

Two.
I’ve been writing some Dokkodo today. It’s slow slogging. Partly because it’s not terribly exciting stuff to write. I have no illusions that the text I’m writing now is anything but an Alpha playtest version. Still, I want to get it right.

Three.
I am a fan of Robert E. Howard. Especially his Conan stories. I actually think Schwarzenegger’s Conan is pretty close in some ways. I saw the the new Conan trailer today and I suspect I’ll be avoiding it. Too bad, a well done Conan movie would be great.

Listening to Kohachiro Miyata, Shakuhachi: The Japanese Flute as I wrote this.
03-Tsuru_no_Sugomori

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Afterwards we went to Borders. She had some birthday money and a gift card to spend. As I wandered around Borders for 90 minutes I was slowly overtaken by a strange sadness. Not really the blues I get from time to time, but a species of melancholy I think. It was the kind of sadness that feels good, in a way. I wanted to sip wine and read poetry and listen to Miles Davis.

I have always wanted to be a writer. I think part of the melancholy comes from seeing all those books and realizing I haven’t really written anything. But that’s not all of it. I also wanted to find a book with bright sadness, a book full of joy and pain, and revel in it.

And I want to write. I don’t know what. Write what you know. Meh. What’s that?

And maybe I should stop writing this before I say more than I mean to. And maybe I should be posting this as a note to Facebook. Ha! No. Blogging in relative obscurity is narcissistic enough without plastering it in front of my friends. And please don’t leave any platitudes in the comments. At least nothing sappy. I really don’t want to be cheered up just yet.

Soundtrack for this post provided by Phär via Gogoyoko.com

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I am going to try it again.

1.
I have been doing a lot of thinking about my Edo-period Samurai RPG, Dokkodo. More thinking than writing, sadly. But, the pieces are falling into place. One big piece, how to present the setting, is nearly resolved in my mind. I hope to get writing soon. No more excuses.

2.
I think on of the reasons I have had more and more problems participating in online media of late is that I no longer have the urge to be right and get the last word in every conversation. It’s simply not worth it. My identity does not depend on whether or not someone at the other end of the internet agrees with me. Or thinks they got the better of me.
So political discussions? Not interested. Religious ‘debates’? No thanks. I still hold strong opinions and will happily discuss them with friends. But on the interwebs? No thanks.

3.
Gogoyoko is the best. It is a music service that provides free streaming of all their music. You can create an account and make your own library, free. Their selection is perfect, for me. It is currently dominated by Icelandic musics, but they are constantly expanding their catalog.
What makes them so great. Free! Hello?! Also they support “Fair Play in Music” meaning artists set the prices and get “100% of the profit as well as extra revenue from streaming.”

So that’s today.
Oh and here the soundtrack for this post:

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