Intercon P con report, part I - Woodplum House
I ran Woodplum House on Saturday morning, as I thought it would be a nice place for a short silly game in the style of P.G. Wodehouse. I think it largely went well, as the cast mostly seemed to enjoy themselves, but I kind of got the vibe that the play style did not suit all the players. As with my other short silly game, Break a Leg, this game really requires active, creative players to really make it work. Like, the characters are given outsized, absurd personality traits and a series of exaggerated wants, the players of which are supposed to think up ways to pursue. That's where the comedy is supposed to come from, the crazy things they come up with to pursue their desires. But if you're not the type of player who likes to be proactive or come up with your own tactics, especially with the added burden of making them funny, then it's probably hard for you. The other alternative to playing this game is just to riff on your character's schtick-- like, be the horrible aunt haranguing everybody for their life choices and the various ways they've disappointed you --but again, that requires improvisation that not everybody is good at. That's probably the sort of thing I should make clear in the blurb. As it was, a handful of the players seemed a bit adrift, not doing much of anything. Fortunately the energy and efforts of the rest mostly seemed to carry things. And this is the first run where people actually made an effort, and a successful one no less, to ousting the troupe of carnies living in the west wing! Ah, well. I like the game, and I know with the right people in the right roles it works fine. I'll have to advertise it a bit more carefully in the future.