Peace, Love, and Understanding
Even though I've been doing it for something like 23 years, there are times when I question my skills at running a game and keeping my players entertained. I've felt a bit of a lull in the Spycraft game, and last week, I threw out an idea to my players.
I am, as most of you know, a big Michael Mann fan - especially Miami Vice and Heat. The latter is easily one of my favorite movies. I'm using it as a model, and tonight was the first session where I really put that to the test.
I have some incredibly talented and intelligent players, most of whom have a real feel and appreciation for the cop genre. They have talented and capable characters, and have often run roughshod over the opposition. To be honest, much of the opposition has been dumb as a sack of hammers, as most low-level and unsuccessful criminals are.
My plan for the new "season" of the game is to present a crew of criminals that are the equals of my players' characters. As smart and clever and capable - professionals against professionals.
And tonight, I think I batted close to a thousand.
The session started off with a little bit of training.
Tegyrius suggested it, and I dug on the idea.
Spykeetom plays a FBI forensic investigator (she's a big CSI fan); her character was asked to grade the rest of the team on their investigation of a crime scene. As she wrapped up the evaluation and gave her teammates some pointers, the call came in on a bank robbery that had escalated into a hostage situation.
The robbers were smart. They used some high-end computer equipment to create a real-time simulation of what was going on in the bank - the bank's security cameras showed the six gunmen walking around the hostages, while in reality, the bank was completely deserted. The hostages were never harmed - in fact, they were evacuated to a safe location while the robbers made their escape.
My players have some real opposition on their hands. Spykeetom paced the living room for several long minutes when we got home, trying to piece things together and come up with theories. The rest of the team, I'm hoping, have done the same.
I'm looking forward to next week. I'm hoping for lots of e-mail traffic (we sometimes handle investigations that way) between now and Thursday.
Man. This was fun.
I am, as most of you know, a big Michael Mann fan - especially Miami Vice and Heat. The latter is easily one of my favorite movies. I'm using it as a model, and tonight was the first session where I really put that to the test.
I have some incredibly talented and intelligent players, most of whom have a real feel and appreciation for the cop genre. They have talented and capable characters, and have often run roughshod over the opposition. To be honest, much of the opposition has been dumb as a sack of hammers, as most low-level and unsuccessful criminals are.
My plan for the new "season" of the game is to present a crew of criminals that are the equals of my players' characters. As smart and clever and capable - professionals against professionals.
And tonight, I think I batted close to a thousand.
The session started off with a little bit of training.
Tegyrius suggested it, and I dug on the idea.
Spykeetom plays a FBI forensic investigator (she's a big CSI fan); her character was asked to grade the rest of the team on their investigation of a crime scene. As she wrapped up the evaluation and gave her teammates some pointers, the call came in on a bank robbery that had escalated into a hostage situation.
The robbers were smart. They used some high-end computer equipment to create a real-time simulation of what was going on in the bank - the bank's security cameras showed the six gunmen walking around the hostages, while in reality, the bank was completely deserted. The hostages were never harmed - in fact, they were evacuated to a safe location while the robbers made their escape.
My players have some real opposition on their hands. Spykeetom paced the living room for several long minutes when we got home, trying to piece things together and come up with theories. The rest of the team, I'm hoping, have done the same.
I'm looking forward to next week. I'm hoping for lots of e-mail traffic (we sometimes handle investigations that way) between now and Thursday.
Man. This was fun.