Last day before vay-cay
Wow, writing out and following my agenda was surprisingly... relaxing? Cathartic? Especially since it mostly went according to plan.
I stayed up late on Friday night--late for me in my sad, sad adulthood being 1am--working on the mockup of acousticshadow2's wedding dress (interspersed with brief sessions of FTL). Then I got to the part where I needed to gather ( Read more... )
I stayed up late on Friday night--late for me in my sad, sad adulthood being 1am--working on the mockup of acousticshadow2's wedding dress (interspersed with brief sessions of FTL). Then I got to the part where I needed to gather ( Read more... )
That may have been the most Norse ending to the game we've had yet. ("Rocks fall; everyone dies" being the canonical Norse ending.)
We lost about an hour off the game because of starting late and wanting to end with some time for wrap-up, which may have given you less time to angst. When the game gets its full four hours there's more time in the early game for that kind of character development.
Also [redacted] went public early and hard (and nothing wrong with that), but without a lot of pre-planning, and everything for the rest of game kind of got sucked into that. When that character stays quiet early, collects information, solves the puzzle -- or gets someone to solve it for them -- and then tells everybody what to do, it's a very different game. Not better or worse, I don't think, just different -- that approach feels more like a Guild game to me, and this felt very much like an Intercon game to me.
I'm a little proud of that, actually -- it's got me thinking that maybe what I want isn't to write games which play the same in both crowds, but games which (with minimal changes to the written material) play as Intercon games with Intercon players and as Guild games with Guild players, while exhibiting some aspects of both game styles regardless of who's playing.
I'm not sure if that's something I can logic my way to -- Heithur's bones are very analytic but everything above them is very organically and intuitively grown, at this point. So I'm glad it worked out this time. :-)
The casting system is definitely a bit of an experiment, and one which has worked out better on the whole for us than not, but which does give surprising results occasionally. That's actually one of the properties I appreciate about it at least in certain circumstances -- as a GM, I value casting my players against typecast and a bit outside their comfort zone, if they're up for that, but judging that willingness is key.
Matt was actually one of the harder people to cast, because he'd asked to avoid the Viking stuff, and... that role was as far away as we could get him. (We may not have interpreted that question the way he did, either...) I was very happy with how he played the part, for what it's worth.
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Heh. I do have a chronic case of bitchface. Moreso when I'm trying to be a stoic Norse warrior.
We lost about an hour off the game because of starting late and wanting to end with some time for wrap-up, which may have given you less time to angst.
That's understandable. And it was in some sense my own decision, too. I certainly didn't have to be so aggressive about pursuing my goals.
Also [redacted] went public early and hard (and nothing wrong with that), but without a lot of pre-planning, and everything for the rest of game kind of got sucked into that. [snip]
I can't imagine [redacted] has ever gotten resolved -- has it?. It seems like it requires a ton of cat-herding skill combined with a very logical mind. I felt tremendous sympathy for Ryan's position. Also loved the quote, "Okay, new plan. We'll try this one more time, and if it doesn't work, you can hang me from what remains of the mast."
I'm not sure if that's something I can logic my way to -- Heithur's bones are very analytic but everything above them is very organically and intuitively grown, at this point. So I'm glad it worked out this time. :-)
I think it worked, indeed!
The casting system is definitely a bit of an experiment, and one which has worked out better on the whole for us than not, but which does give surprising results occasionally. That's actually one of the properties I appreciate about it at least in certain circumstances -- as a GM, I value casting my players against typecast and a bit outside their comfort zone, if they're up for that, but judging that willingness is key.
Yeah, that's fair. I liked getting to play a role that was somewhat different for me -- I dunno if it was completely against typecast, as my very first larp character (you'll remember!) was a thug, and it's something I occasionally come back to, but it was different than the evil femme fatale characters I tend to play a lot of these days.
Matt was actually one of the harder people to cast, because he'd asked to avoid the Viking stuff, and... that role was as far away as we could get him. (We may not have interpreted that question the way he did, either...) I was very happy with how he played the part, for what it's worth.
Huh. I'm not sure why he would have apped away from Viking stuff. Maybe it was just the least interesting possibility of many?
His biggest problem, I think, is that he tends to be very character-driven, and his character was very goal-driven. He also just generally doesn't feel like he can pull off con men.
Aside from any of the points you raised, I think one of my favorite conversations was with Kevin P. (who played Haraldur) when we were discussing if he, as thane, would bring me back into old society if completed my goal and became outcast. We had a conversation that was something like this:
Haraldur: Now I remember that I can only bring people back into society for the purposes of marriage.
Me: ... is that a proposal?
Haraldur: It might be. As a priest, can you talk to the dead?
Me: What?
Haraldur: I have to ask my late wife for her opinion.
(Kevin P really was brilliant as Haraldur. He's really a great roleplayer in certain roles. I loved his interpretation of Adron in Cracks, too).
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