It's who you know, not what you know...
I don't know why I didn't realise this earlier (okay, maybe I did, but it just didn't stick) but when it comes to Roleplaying it doesn't really matter what game you are playing, or where you are, but rather the mood players are in when they come to the table.
You can do all the prep in the world, have bucket loads of theme, a streamlined system everyone know down pat - and still have a bad session. And on the other hand you can turn up with nothing more than two sentences written on a tissue, no idea what system to use, and have the best gaming experience you can ever remember.
I sort of think this is why Con games bring out the the best and worst in gaming. People turn up ready to play, ready to experiment and with little or no expectations - a prime recipe for ecstasy or disaster!
I guess the problem is that I can't think of a way to get players into the emotional mood you need them in before a session to reinforce the style of game you want to present. I mean music is always a great way of implying mood - but what a song means to me is different to what it might mean to you. I've also toyed with giving out 'primers' for a session - a mocked up 30's Movie Poster, sample reports from Allied soldiers in the field, a convict report for criminals on board a space ship - but these are fleeting in impact and really depend on how much effort (or time) the players have to read them.
The point, by the way, is that I'm thinking of how to get the players in my up coming Hot War game (which I'll be running at this year's Fright Night) into the right mental frame of mind before the session starts. Over the last couple of days I've been thinking of using the fall back of 'In Media Res' to get across the dark, morally ambiguous and horrifying aspects of the Hot War setting, by mainly building a series of hard decisions into the character's backgrounds (including a starting view point)from which they can build on.
Time will only tell if I'm successful or not!
You can do all the prep in the world, have bucket loads of theme, a streamlined system everyone know down pat - and still have a bad session. And on the other hand you can turn up with nothing more than two sentences written on a tissue, no idea what system to use, and have the best gaming experience you can ever remember.
I sort of think this is why Con games bring out the the best and worst in gaming. People turn up ready to play, ready to experiment and with little or no expectations - a prime recipe for ecstasy or disaster!
I guess the problem is that I can't think of a way to get players into the emotional mood you need them in before a session to reinforce the style of game you want to present. I mean music is always a great way of implying mood - but what a song means to me is different to what it might mean to you. I've also toyed with giving out 'primers' for a session - a mocked up 30's Movie Poster, sample reports from Allied soldiers in the field, a convict report for criminals on board a space ship - but these are fleeting in impact and really depend on how much effort (or time) the players have to read them.
The point, by the way, is that I'm thinking of how to get the players in my up coming Hot War game (which I'll be running at this year's Fright Night) into the right mental frame of mind before the session starts. Over the last couple of days I've been thinking of using the fall back of 'In Media Res' to get across the dark, morally ambiguous and horrifying aspects of the Hot War setting, by mainly building a series of hard decisions into the character's backgrounds (including a starting view point)from which they can build on.
Time will only tell if I'm successful or not!