Critical Analysis - Precinct ‘77
I thought, as I’m on the post-Kapcon spin (one moment full of enthusiasm for gaming, the next in a post-con funk - hell you should have seen me after GenCon :P), I would dedicate a little effort into doing some self analysis of the games I ran.
As a starter for ten, I’ll begin with my personal unexpected hit - Precinct ’77.
This game arose out of my interest in Mini Six late last year. I discovered this little gem through the excellent Stargazers World gaminG blog and as I often do, soon found myself writing some stuff up for one of the settings provided in the core rules (the result of which can be found here). At the time I was on a bit of Mini Six buzz and so decided - on the total spur of the moment, and while at work(which is always a bad idea) - to sign up to run Precinct ‘77 at Kapcon.
This is what became the game Precinct ’77 - The Kings of Hazard. To be honest the title was stolen from the setting itself (which included a few adventure seeds), but I thought that such a funky little setting needed some ‘real world’ grounding, and so created it as the first episode in the second series of a Retro 70s cop show.
And then I forgot about it. Honest, I actually forgot I was going to run this game (as I got involved in a writing project that ended up being the con version of SI..GN..AL, and was stressing about how I’d get Hunting of the Snark into shape as an RPG) and it wasn’t until the middle of December that I recalled my offer (as a result of Malcolm asking for additional GMs). Even then I was tempted to ‘pull’ it from the schedule and run Signal in its place (due both to the need to playtest that adventure and the lack of any ‘groove’ for 70s cops at the time). Luckily I didn’t and soon after I recalled the great alternate reality 70s computer game - Interstate ’76. This car smashing hotness really gave me the ‘jive’ back.
Of course, by then I was neck deep in work projects, child care and general stress, and so said to myself that for me to succeed in even offering this game it was going to need to be open ended and character driven (therefore limiting the actual amount of writing I’d be required to do). The result was that rather than stress over the details of the investigation (hell why did I even think I should, the setting specifically states, and I quote - This isn’t about procedural law. This is about kicking down doors, grabbing the punk by the neck and getting the information you need. I created four stereotyped 70s cops (the angry white cop, the jiving black cop, the ‘by the book’ old cop and the rookie), and a background for each of them. This background consisted of a collection of contacts and snitches that they would have meet in the previous ‘series’, and could now be leveraged in the ‘investigation’ they would be assigned.
As for the story itself, I devised the following - Crane, returning from suspension - yet again - would be teamed with the Rook to investigate Grand Theft Auto of the Mayor’s son’s car, while James (the black cop), and Wilks (the old cop) would be assigned the homicide of Jimmy ‘The Kid’ Kingston (a character they would all know from the previous season). And that was it. I knew Buzon (the mayor’s assistant) would be the big bad (duh, obviously, he’s foreign and that immediately makes him a suspect :P), but other than that it was up to the players, and my ability to react to their actions, to complete the story.
And so it was I put the whole idea to one side to focus once more on other tasks. Then, around New Year, I had a conversation with Mash (http://mashugenah.livejournal.com/), who indicated that he was keen on playing in the game (specifically James, the black cop) and was willing, or so he said, to do a ‘Robert Downey Jr’ for the role (i.e. darken his face). This got me thinking about adding to the game experience with some additional ‘props’. I had already noted theme songs for each of the characters - ranging from Sweet Home Alabama for the Rookie, through Casey Jones for Crane, Dance to the Music for James and Taj Mahal’s Fishing Blues for Wilks, but now thought I should actually play this music during their intros! Further, the intro music for Interstate ’76 was spot on for this type of settingand I thought it would rock as the theme for Precinct ’77. Of course it needed something to make it ‘just right’ for the game, and so I worked on an intro script to go over the music. But who to read it for me? Thankfully Jackie (with her fantastic American accent) stepped up and helped create a brilliant intro that really reinforced the theme of the game! I also wanted more stuff for the game (originally I wanted some cop badges, but man they were impossible to find, except in sets with gun - which in hindsight I should have purchased), but by this time Kapcon was on me.
On Saturday I discovered that Mash wasn’t going to be in the game (much to my chagrin), but that Darryn and Mike Foster would be. A bit sigh of relief there. As I had dinner with Darryn (amongst others), I explained a bit about the background and premise of the game to him, and offered him Crane - which he readily accepted. Roll on Sunday morning, and I revealed my secret weapon - my finely crafted ‘70s ‘tashe’ (which I thought was pretty funky, if I say so myself), although it made me really wish I had raided my old man’s wardrobe over Christmas (he has wide collar, floral shirts and flares aplenty I bet!).
Showtime. As I’ve said early this game was an unexpected hit for me, both in the way the players took on their roles and the final comments I got. I think I ‘miscast’ Mike as the old, serious cop (he did a great job as Charlie, the druggie, in my Signal playtest), but he arrived a good 5 minutes after the other two, and they had already got their roles. Also Lucy should have never been in the game, even if she did enjoy it (Mike has mentioned she later said to him that she’d liked the ‘interesting stuff’) as she really, really didn’t get the tropes of the setting. Still, all I really care about is that 4 players enjoyed themselves, and it looks like they did!
On the actual play side of things, it worked out perfectly. The intros were fun (in fact every scene had someone demanding I find some appropriate music to play in the background :P), while the structure the contacts really help it capture the feeling of a a cop show feel that wasn’t NCIS or CSI. However, on the downside, I do feel as if I focused too much on James and Crane, and lacked a way in which to ramp up Wilks’ and Bayder’s (the Rookie) involvement, which in hindsight, was silly; I had dozens of ways I could have included them more. This was compounded a bit by the fact that I also ran out of time to reveal a few of the more character focus complications I have prepared for (i.e. James’ girl’s brother, Bayder’s dodgy friend, and Wilks’ love/hate relationship with his son, etc). But you can’t get everything now can you!
Other than that, I’m happy with the result of this session, especially for the amount of prep I put into it (bugger all really!), and it has got me thinking about running another ‘Episode’ next year. Of course, if I do run this, I will want to have more props (Mike had some plastic guns on him for his 5th session game, and they added heaps, plus I think what badges could have done for the game :P) and I will try and give all the character equal ‘screen time’.
As some analysis of the system, Mini Six is definitely a ‘game system’; by which I mean it’s much more mechanical than the systems I prefer for Cons. But, the use of Perks (i.e. Ladies Love the ‘Stache (1): Male characters only. Once per session you can double any Charm skill roll except Bad Cop or BS Detector when dealing with a woman) and Complications (i.e. Bad Divorce: It didn’t work out. Actually it went nuclear. Not only do you have less money to live on than your fellow detectives, your ex or her lawyer has an annoying habit of popping up at the worst times) really do a lot to add flavour to the setting. Also, combat is deadly, and there are a couple of rules or additions that could really help reflect that ‘it’s only a flesh wound’ style of drama that this type of cop show had. In fact, I might suggest it to the authors of Mini Six.
So, all in all, the game was a success. Some things to build on, but fun had by all! (Cameron, BTW, who played a very groovy DeMarcus James got to take a copy of the Mini-Six rules home with him - my little thanks to the players! And before you complain, the game is a free PDF here.
As a starter for ten, I’ll begin with my personal unexpected hit - Precinct ’77.
This game arose out of my interest in Mini Six late last year. I discovered this little gem through the excellent Stargazers World gaminG blog and as I often do, soon found myself writing some stuff up for one of the settings provided in the core rules (the result of which can be found here). At the time I was on a bit of Mini Six buzz and so decided - on the total spur of the moment, and while at work(which is always a bad idea) - to sign up to run Precinct ‘77 at Kapcon.
This is what became the game Precinct ’77 - The Kings of Hazard. To be honest the title was stolen from the setting itself (which included a few adventure seeds), but I thought that such a funky little setting needed some ‘real world’ grounding, and so created it as the first episode in the second series of a Retro 70s cop show.
And then I forgot about it. Honest, I actually forgot I was going to run this game (as I got involved in a writing project that ended up being the con version of SI..GN..AL, and was stressing about how I’d get Hunting of the Snark into shape as an RPG) and it wasn’t until the middle of December that I recalled my offer (as a result of Malcolm asking for additional GMs). Even then I was tempted to ‘pull’ it from the schedule and run Signal in its place (due both to the need to playtest that adventure and the lack of any ‘groove’ for 70s cops at the time). Luckily I didn’t and soon after I recalled the great alternate reality 70s computer game - Interstate ’76. This car smashing hotness really gave me the ‘jive’ back.
Of course, by then I was neck deep in work projects, child care and general stress, and so said to myself that for me to succeed in even offering this game it was going to need to be open ended and character driven (therefore limiting the actual amount of writing I’d be required to do). The result was that rather than stress over the details of the investigation (hell why did I even think I should, the setting specifically states, and I quote - This isn’t about procedural law. This is about kicking down doors, grabbing the punk by the neck and getting the information you need. I created four stereotyped 70s cops (the angry white cop, the jiving black cop, the ‘by the book’ old cop and the rookie), and a background for each of them. This background consisted of a collection of contacts and snitches that they would have meet in the previous ‘series’, and could now be leveraged in the ‘investigation’ they would be assigned.
As for the story itself, I devised the following - Crane, returning from suspension - yet again - would be teamed with the Rook to investigate Grand Theft Auto of the Mayor’s son’s car, while James (the black cop), and Wilks (the old cop) would be assigned the homicide of Jimmy ‘The Kid’ Kingston (a character they would all know from the previous season). And that was it. I knew Buzon (the mayor’s assistant) would be the big bad (duh, obviously, he’s foreign and that immediately makes him a suspect :P), but other than that it was up to the players, and my ability to react to their actions, to complete the story.
And so it was I put the whole idea to one side to focus once more on other tasks. Then, around New Year, I had a conversation with Mash (http://mashugenah.livejournal.com/), who indicated that he was keen on playing in the game (specifically James, the black cop) and was willing, or so he said, to do a ‘Robert Downey Jr’ for the role (i.e. darken his face). This got me thinking about adding to the game experience with some additional ‘props’. I had already noted theme songs for each of the characters - ranging from Sweet Home Alabama for the Rookie, through Casey Jones for Crane, Dance to the Music for James and Taj Mahal’s Fishing Blues for Wilks, but now thought I should actually play this music during their intros! Further, the intro music for Interstate ’76 was spot on for this type of settingand I thought it would rock as the theme for Precinct ’77. Of course it needed something to make it ‘just right’ for the game, and so I worked on an intro script to go over the music. But who to read it for me? Thankfully Jackie (with her fantastic American accent) stepped up and helped create a brilliant intro that really reinforced the theme of the game! I also wanted more stuff for the game (originally I wanted some cop badges, but man they were impossible to find, except in sets with gun - which in hindsight I should have purchased), but by this time Kapcon was on me.
On Saturday I discovered that Mash wasn’t going to be in the game (much to my chagrin), but that Darryn and Mike Foster would be. A bit sigh of relief there. As I had dinner with Darryn (amongst others), I explained a bit about the background and premise of the game to him, and offered him Crane - which he readily accepted. Roll on Sunday morning, and I revealed my secret weapon - my finely crafted ‘70s ‘tashe’ (which I thought was pretty funky, if I say so myself), although it made me really wish I had raided my old man’s wardrobe over Christmas (he has wide collar, floral shirts and flares aplenty I bet!).
Showtime. As I’ve said early this game was an unexpected hit for me, both in the way the players took on their roles and the final comments I got. I think I ‘miscast’ Mike as the old, serious cop (he did a great job as Charlie, the druggie, in my Signal playtest), but he arrived a good 5 minutes after the other two, and they had already got their roles. Also Lucy should have never been in the game, even if she did enjoy it (Mike has mentioned she later said to him that she’d liked the ‘interesting stuff’) as she really, really didn’t get the tropes of the setting. Still, all I really care about is that 4 players enjoyed themselves, and it looks like they did!
On the actual play side of things, it worked out perfectly. The intros were fun (in fact every scene had someone demanding I find some appropriate music to play in the background :P), while the structure the contacts really help it capture the feeling of a a cop show feel that wasn’t NCIS or CSI. However, on the downside, I do feel as if I focused too much on James and Crane, and lacked a way in which to ramp up Wilks’ and Bayder’s (the Rookie) involvement, which in hindsight, was silly; I had dozens of ways I could have included them more. This was compounded a bit by the fact that I also ran out of time to reveal a few of the more character focus complications I have prepared for (i.e. James’ girl’s brother, Bayder’s dodgy friend, and Wilks’ love/hate relationship with his son, etc). But you can’t get everything now can you!
Other than that, I’m happy with the result of this session, especially for the amount of prep I put into it (bugger all really!), and it has got me thinking about running another ‘Episode’ next year. Of course, if I do run this, I will want to have more props (Mike had some plastic guns on him for his 5th session game, and they added heaps, plus I think what badges could have done for the game :P) and I will try and give all the character equal ‘screen time’.
As some analysis of the system, Mini Six is definitely a ‘game system’; by which I mean it’s much more mechanical than the systems I prefer for Cons. But, the use of Perks (i.e. Ladies Love the ‘Stache (1): Male characters only. Once per session you can double any Charm skill roll except Bad Cop or BS Detector when dealing with a woman) and Complications (i.e. Bad Divorce: It didn’t work out. Actually it went nuclear. Not only do you have less money to live on than your fellow detectives, your ex or her lawyer has an annoying habit of popping up at the worst times) really do a lot to add flavour to the setting. Also, combat is deadly, and there are a couple of rules or additions that could really help reflect that ‘it’s only a flesh wound’ style of drama that this type of cop show had. In fact, I might suggest it to the authors of Mini Six.
So, all in all, the game was a success. Some things to build on, but fun had by all! (Cameron, BTW, who played a very groovy DeMarcus James got to take a copy of the Mini-Six rules home with him - my little thanks to the players! And before you complain, the game is a free PDF here.