Heh. Yeah, secondary goals can be quite interesting. I did something like that (but not entirely) for my Fallout games last year, and alas it's something I haven't really prepped for this year. It was actually something I thought up at the last minute while I was prepping for the game at the convention, and scribbled down some notes on some index cards I had handy -- basically giving each PC some "personal goal," the accomplishment of which would earn a Golden Benny (like a normal Benny, but it could be used for ANYTHING random -- a card re-draw, forcing an NPC or other PC to reroll, rerolling damage even if you don't have "No Mercy," rerolling something that's not a trait test, etc.). Some players let that secondary goal drive their actions, while others pretty much ignored it ... and either way was just fine with me. It was really just something to spur players to have something to strive for (and if they were able to come up with their OWN goals, then that was just fine).
I don't know if I'd want to go so far as to pit a PC lethally against another right from the get-go. I left open the possibility that the PCs might "vote another PC off the island," so to speak, if one PC in the team is severely and negatively impacting the ratings of the show, but it's not necessarily a foregone conclusion. Rather, the dynamic I was going for was that Rutger is a combat MONSTER compared to the rest of the group; in terms of game balance, it's hardly fair. The twist is that just playing this straight up like your typical murder-hobo game won't work: Yes, Rutger probably COULD single-handedly take out all the bad guys, but the objective is to make for a "good show," and the viewers want to watch pretty Penny, not a walking armored tin can cyborg. So I thought it would make for an interesting dynamic where a player has a character who COULD just save the day, but he has an objective to only do so in such a way that Penny can take credit.
I suppose the potential hole in my plan is if Rutger's player totally misses this nuance, or doesn't care, and proceeds to charge straight into combat, but with enough sense not to just get himself killed off. My expectation is that someone who totally fails to "get" the objective is also likely to fail at a sensible assessment of things and therefore might get himself out of the action pretty early. If I'm wrong on that, then ... well, I'd just have to turn it into a problem for the other players. Like, "Okay, Rutger has gone rogue, and he's on a killing spree. Focusing the cameras on him will give you a ratings boost for a little bit, but after a while it's just more blood and gore, and you might even run out of terrorists long before the show is over. Plus, Penny needs to look like she's contributing something. What can you DO?!?" And then I can pose the problem to the PLAYERS, and I hope they can start brainstorming on some ideas. ;)
As for Kissy, my plan was to basically just give the player some "roleplay grist" rather than forcing any sort of "Now you must freak out!" situation on the player. Some players would react well to it and play it for maximum drama. Others might just shrug it off. (If the latter, then I'd probably just focus my efforts more on the other players.)
Anyway, some secondary/secret goals and/or secret disadvantages could be cool. I could see how Kissy's situation could easily be turned into a "secret disad." Rutger could well have some sort of a malfunction in his cyberware. Will's could be in the form of someone ACTIVELY trying to kill him off to boost the ratings. Nancy could get some especially unreasonable requests/demands from the sponsors, with her job on the line if she can't deliver. Rigby ... well, something involving explosives, I guess. Penny? I suppose I could just play up some intra-party friction/rivalry with her, or else give her some sort of sub-goal where she's trying to set herself up to win a part in some OTHER TV production (unbeknownst to the rest of the gang) and so she has something she wants to achieve (perhaps doing a favor for someone getting her a new gig) that is at odds with the stated goals of the team.
Yeah, given you don't know how well your players will pick up the characters, I figure all these secret or known goals and disads will mainly serve as hints toward how the character should get played.
Alternate Rutger thing: he's *in love* with Penny, but he can't admit it-- public disad, bad at talking to women. His secret goal is therefore to put Penny into a bad situation *from which he can rescue her*. So he lets her charge into danger, then he rescues her, versus killing things before they can threaten the crew. Just a random thought.
Setting things up so Penny can get the last touch, and no one else does, is a bit tougher both to play and to justify as a motivation. Wait-- what if he's secretly her dad?
It seems good to emphasize that the game goal is "get the highest-rated show", especially for characters like Lovejoy and Sterling, who care least about what happens to the stars. But even for the PCs, 'winning' doesn't matter nearly as much as good ratings. So they want to make even easy combats look like they're in danger of their life, and look stylish when they fight rather than efficient, and whatnot.
Since it's a different mindset from what the players expect, you probably do need to hammer it in a few times (with the game description, on the charsheets, in the intro, as special skills they have that will boost ratings at a penalty to-hit/damage, etc.) to make sure everyone gets the right idea.
I don't know if I'd want to go so far as to pit a PC lethally against another right from the get-go. I left open the possibility that the PCs might "vote another PC off the island," so to speak, if one PC in the team is severely and negatively impacting the ratings of the show, but it's not necessarily a foregone conclusion. Rather, the dynamic I was going for was that Rutger is a combat MONSTER compared to the rest of the group; in terms of game balance, it's hardly fair. The twist is that just playing this straight up like your typical murder-hobo game won't work: Yes, Rutger probably COULD single-handedly take out all the bad guys, but the objective is to make for a "good show," and the viewers want to watch pretty Penny, not a walking armored tin can cyborg. So I thought it would make for an interesting dynamic where a player has a character who COULD just save the day, but he has an objective to only do so in such a way that Penny can take credit.
I suppose the potential hole in my plan is if Rutger's player totally misses this nuance, or doesn't care, and proceeds to charge straight into combat, but with enough sense not to just get himself killed off. My expectation is that someone who totally fails to "get" the objective is also likely to fail at a sensible assessment of things and therefore might get himself out of the action pretty early. If I'm wrong on that, then ... well, I'd just have to turn it into a problem for the other players. Like, "Okay, Rutger has gone rogue, and he's on a killing spree. Focusing the cameras on him will give you a ratings boost for a little bit, but after a while it's just more blood and gore, and you might even run out of terrorists long before the show is over. Plus, Penny needs to look like she's contributing something. What can you DO?!?" And then I can pose the problem to the PLAYERS, and I hope they can start brainstorming on some ideas. ;)
As for Kissy, my plan was to basically just give the player some "roleplay grist" rather than forcing any sort of "Now you must freak out!" situation on the player. Some players would react well to it and play it for maximum drama. Others might just shrug it off. (If the latter, then I'd probably just focus my efforts more on the other players.)
Anyway, some secondary/secret goals and/or secret disadvantages could be cool. I could see how Kissy's situation could easily be turned into a "secret disad." Rutger could well have some sort of a malfunction in his cyberware. Will's could be in the form of someone ACTIVELY trying to kill him off to boost the ratings. Nancy could get some especially unreasonable requests/demands from the sponsors, with her job on the line if she can't deliver. Rigby ... well, something involving explosives, I guess. Penny? I suppose I could just play up some intra-party friction/rivalry with her, or else give her some sort of sub-goal where she's trying to set herself up to win a part in some OTHER TV production (unbeknownst to the rest of the gang) and so she has something she wants to achieve (perhaps doing a favor for someone getting her a new gig) that is at odds with the stated goals of the team.
Thanks for the suggestions. :)
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Alternate Rutger thing: he's *in love* with Penny, but he can't admit it-- public disad, bad at talking to women. His secret goal is therefore to put Penny into a bad situation *from which he can rescue her*. So he lets her charge into danger, then he rescues her, versus killing things before they can threaten the crew. Just a random thought.
Setting things up so Penny can get the last touch, and no one else does, is a bit tougher both to play and to justify as a motivation. Wait-- what if he's secretly her dad?
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Since it's a different mindset from what the players expect, you probably do need to hammer it in a few times (with the game description, on the charsheets, in the intro, as special skills they have that will boost ratings at a penalty to-hit/damage, etc.) to make sure everyone gets the right idea.
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