The One Shot

The One Shot is a game that last typically for one or two sessions, and is a self enclosed story. For White Wolf games these often present a great opportunity for trying out a new game, or system hacks, or, of course, introducing new players to the game, to the gaming group, or to roleplaying in general. So in this brief blog I am going to look at the types of things that you can do in a One Shot that often a chronicle is not the place for.

One of the things that players often enjoy about ongoing games is that they get to see their character grow and evolve and overcome many different struggles. But in the horror genre, be it slasher films, stalker monsters, or survival horror games like 'Silent Hill' and 'Resident Evil', the excitement is that your character - or the one that you are invested in, in the case of a film - could die at any moment.

In the case of a tabletop game this scenario is a perfect bit of short run fun. The players go into the game knowing that their character can potentially die before the end of the story. This foreknowledge allows for players to not worrying about 'winning', but instead focus on the story, the roleplaying, and just having fun and watch the story unfold.

For new players this is a great ice breaker. The playing field is level, and if they mess up, then it doesn't matter in the long term. It can also be a learning experience that fun can be had in putting their character into danger. The same lesson can also be important for more experienced players. Often players can be too careful when playing, leading to prolonged moments of indecision. A one shot is certainly not the time and place for that type of play, and so it is the perfect chance to teach players about 'playing to lose', and being proactive, even if that means the player knows their character is going into danger. What do i mean by this? Well it is something that Eddy Webb has discussed in relation to LARP, and for tabletop games it is similar as well. Essentially 'playing to lose' means that players should be come to a sort of agreement, that if they put their character into danger, knowingly, a danger that is obvious to the player but for the story would push forward the plot and add drama, then in return they will be rewarded with some chance to roleplay something dramatic, and in turn get the limelight or some form of in game reward. Such dangers could involve the character getting possessed, haunted, seeing visions and driven mad, suffering a gruesome injury, or, if the time is appropriate in the story, then death.

Now that we have considered the way the players of these games can run their characters, how should the ST for this game run the story?

I would suggest a story that has a slowly growing tension. A ever growing threat that leads to an intense few scenes where many, if not all the player characters die. The initial scenes should establish the characters quickly, and their reason for being involved in the story. Perhaps they are the tenants of the block of apartments they are now trapped in, or for some reason they are all drawn to a quiet rural town in the wilderness of Wales. But it is critical that almost all the characters have a reason for being there. The next key scene should establish the threat. Either it is done directly, such as shadowy attack by the slasher, or the monster tries to attack from above before slinking off. Or the threat is done indirectly, to a character's loved one, friend, or group of people that parallel the group (another group of campers is found dead or missing).

With the threat established then the next few key scenes heighten the tension. The characters are allowed to investigate, to be proactive against the threat, and then, at the right moment, remind the players of how dangerous the threat is. Given the scenes where information can be uncovered - and the trick here is not to hold back information that moves the players towards the final confrontation, but make it difficult for the information to be found that saves them - taken together this information will push the story to the finale, where a series of scenes now present the player characters mortal threats, where any number of them will die, and leaves us with a small number of player characters left for the final confrontation and conclusion.

The conclusion should be something nice and dramatic, and given the survival horror nature of the story then all the player characters can in fact die. But there must be some sort of conclusion, so sort of epilogue, that bookends the story.

With the above advice what books are out there that we can make use of for one-shots. Well ideally I would look at using mortal characters for the games. So for cWoD look at the Sorceror book for Mage the Awakening. That book is all about mortals, and mortals who use magic - but not Awakened powers. For there you have a great basis for these types of games. For nWoD, of course there is the main core rulebook, but then there are plenty of other great books to use. Second Sight can allow for the use of players being magic users or psychics. Ghost Stories, Mysterious Places, Glimpses of the Unknown, Reliquary, Midnight Roads, Book of the Dead, Book of Spirits, and Slashers, offer a whole host of options for games for simple mortal characters, perfect for one shots. Building upon this games like Hunter the Vigil, and Hunter the Reckoning, are easy for players to get into, as the game goals are clear and simple. For Vampire, in either incarnation, the classic scenario is playing newly embraced vampires and their first night of survival. For Changeling the Lost it could be the first few nights of escape from the hedge that provides the plot to a one shot.

What types of one shots have you run?

[advice] What's my Motivation? @darkerdaysradio #roleplay

So here I am going to address something that I have seen come up in games and on forums is in game and out of game motivations.

A player obviously has certain goals they wish to achieve in a game. Having fun is number 1. Feeling that they have participated in a good story is another. They also wish to see their  character achieve certain milestones and follow a certain plot arc. But then some players like the challenge of just beating the game, or solving all the riddles etc.

However, there can be times when the objectives of the player can be in conflict or not in keeping with the character they are playing. Or when the player has bled over into the character. The player then starts to make decisions, or take actions that conflict with how the character was designed. The player has begun to metagame  and is letting out of character knowledge or opinions influence the characters own actions.

What does this mean in play? Well it could mean that a character is acting too aggressively because of player frustration or opinion. Or it could mean that the character gets into too much action simply because the player chases any form of plot they percieve, simply because they believe they should. It can also mean that a character can act in ways  such that they do not pursue risky behavior even though it is in the character's nature to do so.

How do  we get around this? Well it means being more mindful of the character's nature. More mindful of the things they love, hate, fear, and find interesting. It means putting the character in harms way when as a player you know that it foolish to do so. Or even the opposite scenario, and having the character refuse certain actions even though you as a player  are aware that doing so hinders the plot.

However, staying true to the character motivations enriches the story, and they are challanges that should be overcome through roleplay. So if a character has a fear then it should be  roleplayed out can act as a milestone. Or perhaps they are an addict. Or may even socially inedpt and must learn to be at ease with others. And it may even mean the character coming close to or even dying. But then even a character death is rich with plot and should be properly explore so that the death has meaning. This envitable fate can in fact be a joy to roleplay out.

This ultimately means the goal post for the game. Winning is not about beating the bad guys,  it's about telling a compelling story, even if it means putting the character through a hell you as a player would not even want.

 

[advice] An Exercise in Episode Design #whitewolf #worldofdarkness @darkerdaysradio

So here is an exercise in episode design for a one shot game, in particular so that James, down on the Isle of White, can run a session for his new group of gamers.

 

So first up in episode design is the pitch. What is the concept of the episode and its aim? What is the Theme and Mood? What story element should be present? A pitch should be able to sum up the episode in a few sentances.

 

For this episode it is;

 

'On an island a group of people from various backgrounds must content with the horror of an entity from the seas and the mystery that surrounds its attacks on them. Help is not possible as they are alone and so must rely on each other and their wits, or worse, use each other selfishly in order to escape.'

 

 

With that pitch done we can now think of the structure of the episode.

 

The episode has around 5 to 7 scenes.

1. This scene is the setup. Character introductions and the establishment of the location and any form of weirdness, but nothing to crazy, just something to spring on the more observant characters.
2. Escalation of the plot.
3. Further escalation and introduce the threat.
4. Escalate the mystery and allow for a degree of investigation.
5. Further threat, and now introduce a degree of urgency in the plot.
6. Further investigations leading to finale
7. Finale, final threat and conclusion.

So now we have an idea of scenes lets also remember that there are scenes here that can be skipped and altered mid game to suit our needs. This is merely a guide, not a set route.

So lets think about the entity. It is a creature of the sea. So lets make use of what is in the Book of Spirits.

Spirits embody the meaning a place, a creature and place. Spirits can effect the things that give them power even when on the other side of the Gauntlet. Spirits can then attempt to cross the Gauntlet where it is thin, or where there is some form of gateway, like a verge. Once on this side of the Gauntlet spirits can exist either materialized or in the state of Twilight (much like ghosts). Spirits also have access to other powers, such as numina. Spirits can also possess people to various degrees.

Spirits can also be strange things that are the amalgam of two spirits. These hybrids cause things to act irrationally due to the merging of different concepts into the spirits. Image what would happen if spirit was both of a tree and of a computer!

Spirits are often dangerous and appear at places where there is a locus (a hole between the worlds) or a verge. These places can be attuned to a particular resonance and so influence people in subtle ways when people are near to the loci and in its area of effect. Loci are also places where spirits can feed on essence and refuel themselves.

So what else can we consider? Well spirits can ebody the myths of old gods. So lets take for example Tethra, a sea goddess and Formori.

Another interesting feature is that some spirits can form broods (rather than just eating each other to gain power).

Also spirits suffer from bans, and from holy relics and exorcism.

What is in Book of Spirits we can use straight away? Well there are items and merits for mortal characters to use. Then there are the lists of premade spirits and rules to make your own.

 

There is an example spirit of a pool which with a rework could be a water spirit of the coastline of the island. There is also a crocodile spirit that can be modified. There is a Water Horse, who is an elemental spirit.

 

So how can we use all this?

Lets have it that the spirit is acting out due to something on the island being disturbed, or that the spirit is being manipulated by another human through magic or some relic.

 

Other books to consider. Second Sight, Reliquary, Mysterious Places, Ghost Stories, Inferno.

[advice] Do you have a plan? @darkerdaysradio

      It came up over a few pints between myself and David the issue of how much planning do we put into running a roleplay game.  David admits to being lazy and working on the fly. I plan a lot, and have loads of notes that may never see use, but exist anyway. So which way is best? Related to this we also considered the nature of a setting and whether or not you  plan your setting and plot before or after characters are created.

       Our realization. I plan TV series that assume a null hypothesis.

      What does that mean? Ok I plaan long plots. In fact I have in mind multi season plot arcs. I find that most one shots I run for a game are often a test of the setting for the series. They are the 'pilot' episode, where the basic feeel of the setting and the game can be tried out, just like in the Fading Suns game I ran recently. That plot comes out of the back of the 2nd edition core book, but I have a whole chronicle planned to follow from it. What do I like about this way of planning? The ability to dip in. I can look at the events of the chronicle from the angle of any for off antagonist, and choose to play from any point along the timeline of the series. I can dip in and start from any point, and the players really have little or no clue to this. This is a sort of fail safe so that I can create a plot, and if the game falls  apart and I restart with a new group I can play from a point I haad originally hope to gett to in the past.

      Ok that seems fair. A person wants to get something out of the game they are running. I like to have the feeling that there are grrand plot arcs and that I can sample the plot at different points, since to me these represent different types of gameplay i.e. you begin at the very start of the plots and are a starting troupe of characters, or you begin at the half way of the plot and are an experienced group. The issues that each group deals with at those points in the plots are very different. Thus I have built in tiers of gameplay in my settings.

     This gets us to the other point, that of the null hypothesis. David asked me why I plaan before character creation. I answered that I want to make the players feel like they are within in the setting, but that the setting doesn't just hinge upon them being.  So that means events will occur in the setting whether or not the players are aware of them. Therefore it is up to the players to get involved in the plot. Of course some plot points I have left loose so that I can work the players in properly, or I have left entire areas open to incorporate the player ideas. So then David asked what happens to the setting with the players interacting, surely nothing? That I said is not correct. The  fact is that setting will always result in the a change, and it is up to the players to interact with  that mechanism of change. There is no status quo. The players are interacting with the setting at a point of upheaval in the setting, no matter how minor. This means if, for a new group of players we start at season 2 of the settting, it assumes that the events  off season 1 have happened but that the players never interacted with it. Thus the null hypothesis. What happens to the setting if the players don't interact with it. This is because I also think about what reactions NPCs would have to the player interactions. I get behind the mind of the NPCs so that believable reactions can occur in responce to player actions.

     Now I would say that there is merit in designing a chronicle simply about the info you get given  on the player characters, or having a looser setting, or handing out to players  pre-generated characters that fit in with your plot. After all these are just tools and guidelines.

Upcoming things

Ok on the gaming front from this blog we shall see some more gaming advice. I was going to move away from chronicle/story structure, and look more at characters. In particular what I think about player character design, playing a character, playing the non-player characters, designing non-player characters and stuff like that.

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Also I will be putting out notes on the upcoming chronicle, Changeling: the Lost - Broken Masks, Shattered Dreams. This is a chronicle for CtL set in Venice and I will be looking at the city itself and the interesting facets of the real world location, the supernatural elements of the city, and how I have taken these things and used them in the context of the game. I will also be presenting some example NPCs for the setting as, like Vampire, this game requires a certain level of preparation to get characters ready.

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Right well that is all for now. Expect on here and the Etheric Labs livejournal the next Vampire actual play post.??

This Episode...

???????????????????? So Episodes, and their structure. Last time was looked at taking the chronicle pitch and planning out the series of events that would tell this story. Now we have a series of events that tell a particular story that we wish to run, we will now look at exploring a few of these events that take place together, or almost together, and now plan an episode about these.

Show me a Film, Tell me a Story

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So last time I went on about chronicle structure. How to put together episodes of a chronicle to make a coherent whole that tells a main story and follows sub plots, in such a way that it allows for the players to have as much influence over the direction of the plot as possible. This time we look at taking that structure and using it for a chronicle idea. But first we must consider the main issue. Just what do you want to run for your chronicle?

The chronicle follows a pitch, a main idea that will sell the chronicle to your players. So for example let us take a few chronicles and games that I have played in. Firstly for Vampire: the Requiem the pith was simple;

"The players are a group of recently embraced vampires who become involved in the deadly political games of the Carthian Movement, an election for a position of power, and the power games between the Covenants."

Pretty simple. So far the players have been working for one of the Carthian election candidates, and have seen firsthand the benefits of change and conservatism within the Carthians, and all this occurring before the larger back drop of intra-covenant power games, elements of which that can be investigated in sequel chronicles.

Another example is a Technocracy game for Mage: the Ascension in which I played;

"The players are a task force of operatives using enlightened science, combating a variety of threats, including a conspiracy within their own department."

Again simple.

Another, this time for Fading Suns;

"The players are a group of Questing Knights and their entourage, having set out from Byzantium Secundus, to investigate the claims of a lost house of nobles on the recently rediscovered world of Iver."

This last one is for something I am planning for Geist;

"The players are a Krewe of Sin-Eaters in Paris, and must deal with the needs of the dead that haunt the city, and also the insane plans of a ghostly mage who plans to rewrite the face of the city and the world itself".

So those are all pitches. In a sentence or so your chronicle has a definite concept, the players a purpose, and of course there is an end. So now we must take these pitches and elaborate on them in order to fill out the potential 7-10 episodes of the chronicle.

First and foremost be flexible. Episodes contain events. Some of these events occur only due to player interaction. Others occur even if the players do take action. Some events will occur with the player???s knowledge, others will not. So across the 10 or so episodes will be a series of events that can take place, and it is these events that push the story along. They also are the frame work for the chronicle's start, middle and end.

For example, in Vampire right now there are three main events that define the player's chronicle and journey. In the start they are presented to the Chairman of the city (the Carthian equivalent of Prince). In the middle we have the assassination of the Carthian Prefect. The final event is the election and the consequences for the players. These events are set in stone. They occur regardless of player interaction, and are the result of NPCs acting, rather than reacting. The players react to these events, but have freedom in how they get from one event to the next.

Other events can then be added along the chronicle timeline. They can be things like people having secret meetings, murders, thefts etc. Now these are events that can be discovered or simply the effects of them felt (for instance the Invictus and Ordo Dracul team up in my chronicle and the meeting of course takes place secretly. There is then a later event, an Ordo Dracul ritual, which the players drop in on as they follow clues. If they didn't discover it a vampire would have died and they would not have known why).

Once these key events have been put in place, and others littered throughout (or at least ideas of events for a chronicle can move direction dramatically due to player involvement) you are now in the position of putting these events into episodes.

The other advantage of this event planning is that you take a simple pitch and can elaborate upon it easily. For instance, going back to the Vampire election plot as you have noted there are interactions with the Ordo Dracul and Invictus. Now these were not in the original pitch, but have been added as the event time line, based upon the pitch, has been laid out. But how?

Well NPCs are not static reactionary plot instigators. They are characters like the PCs. They too have plans and react. They also have history. So the looking at the Carthian election plot the questions were who would want to interfere and what do they want to get out of it. This is where event planning becomes a two way street of ideas. Some events are based upon background material you have developed already for your game setting. Some events ideas will in fact shape this material. For instance the Ordo Dracul, why do they want to be involved in the election plot? Well they are banned from the city for some reason. Now this reason was either a) already written down by me or b) (and this is true) was an amendment to the background based upon the desire to have them act as an outcast group.

So from pitch to chronicle is about planning events (not too rigidly though) that lead the main plot (and eventually sub plots) from set events that occur at the start, to the end, via events in the middle. By looking at these events, their source and results, you can further expand upon the pitch and the background material of your setting, leading to a plot that has internal logic to why things are occurring.

Next time we will look at episode planning, taking events from our timeline and expanding them into entire episodes.

The best laid plans of mice and men...

?? ???No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.???