Big Game Hunting - Down To Specifics

In my last article, I touched on several basics of building a good game for people to explore – where your setting is, your rules system and more. Now I'm going to touch on specifics, such as props and storylines, sub-plots or other design mechanics you may need to pay attention to.

Sub-mechanics are one of the few things that most new GMs overlook – while many people that play in games follow the plot offered up by the GM, there’s also a fair few that find the world that you create too interesting to enjoy the way you’ve laid it out so go off and explore. We're not even talking the players that like to deliberately ‘munchkin’ their characters - designing them so they've got ‘broken’ stats – most players though will just go off and explore the area you've described.

Those sorts of players are actually the best type because they'll give you some of the best feedback on both your world, and the overall plot you've got. A great way to make sure they take up the plot – eventually – is to have a ‘time lock’ on the plot. In other words, put a deadline on it. If you do that the world changes anyway - even if they don’t interact with it - and they may notice the next time they get involved with the plot.

Another way to absorb players into the main plot is to give them props, such as maps that lead them to specific areas of the world that you need them to be in, or letters indicating something is going to happen. This may seem like effort, especially if they’re not involved in the story right now, but if you’re keen to use a subtle clue by four, props are the way to go.

You should also consider encouraging your players to keep notes, and keep them yourself, so you don’t trip yourself up with different information later – these sheets can be props all of themselves and can be the representation of ‘eidetic memory’ if your player wants that talent. If it’s not on the page, they can’t claim they remember. While this seems unnecessarily cruel, when characters are trying to put themselves in a position of controlling the story, or being a critical part of the story with skills that put them at the fore of their party, then you should make them work for it.

Next week, D Kai Wilson-Viola looks at tips for writers playing in games and how not to take over with your own ideas

The Reluctant Geek - The metaphor in the room

I don’t watch much TV these days. But don’t worry, this isn’t going to be some holier than thou tirade about how the Goggle Box rots your brain and gives you cancer and makes puppies sad. I actually kind of love TV as a medium and would happily have a go at convincing anyone that good TV, thoughtful TV is worth easily as much as any book or movie.

Science fiction and fantasy TV tend to span both ends of the spectrum, being either breath-takingly, heart-stoppingly, spine-tinglingly wonderful, or slit-your-own-throat awful. And one of the things that set the two apart is the willingness of the good stuff to delve into the murky world of the metaphor.

Yes, I’m afraid it’s all about to get a little bit literary. But bear with me. Luckily, we have the god-like Joss Whedon as our guide for this particular journey into uncharted territory.

Putting aside for one moment the fact that I want to have his babies, Whedon really set the bar for using the sci-fi and fantasy elements of his shows to explore issues with universal relevance. You don’t have to be a blonde teenage girl with kick-ass dress sense and a stake under your pillow to appreciate the 'high school is hell’ idea which Buffy took and ran with, framing episodes in which ignored teenagers really did disappear and swim team jocks turned out to be even more monstrous than they first appeared. The knack lay in taking those widely accepted ideas and using fantasy settings to really explore them. Thus, the ultimate 'big bad’ in Angel became law firm Wolfram and Hart. Because everyone knows lawyers are evil right? And time and time again, sex in the Buffyverse ‘changes’ people, which plays to all of our fears about falling for someone who isn’t who we think.

The latest British show to use a fantasy setting as a way of playing with ideas about the human condition is the aptly titled Being Human, in which the wacky adventures of a vampire, ghost and werewolf become tropes for a post-modern agenda of alienation, difference and the search for meaning in an ambiguous world. The show also embraces the kind of moral relativism that means the right thing to do rarely has one of those helpful flashing signs and pointy arrows over it. These concepts are turned into moral puzzles for the viewer, with domestic violence, the dark side of sexuality and drug addiction all explored within the fantasy remit. And in many ways, Being Human gets to deal with them more directly and with less of a nod to the censors. Not least because it lends itself to the wide-eyed innocence of ‘we’re just some silly fantasy program’ when challenged directly on its darker content.

And amazingly, the belief that fantasy and science fiction tend not to produce TV to be taken seriously really does persist. This is frustrating when time and time again great shows are overlooked for BAFTAs and other awards, but the bright side is that they accordingly exist on a ‘Wild West’ style frontier, (literally in the case of Firefly!) where the normal rules don’t apply and it’s possible to push boundaries further than in almost any other genre. Being Human and Joss Whedon’s back catalogue are by no means the only great shows doing it either. Even the more mainstream appeal of the re-vamped Doctor Who (bow ties are not just cool, they’re pretty damn sexy too) frequently uses metaphor to delve into deeper issues for its adult viewers, whilst maintaining the fun and action for its younger audience.

The bottom line is that science fiction stories are modern day myths. We’ve figured out that the sun is a big ball of gas a squillion miles away rather than some gorgeous glowing god and that the sound of thunder isn’t Thor’s rolling chariot, but hot air collapsing into cool. But we’re still no nearer to answering the bigger questions - Love, Death, Identity, Meaning. Shows like Buffy and Being Human are the closest thing we have to those comforting stories that might explain such concepts. And at the very least, there are few genres as willing to tackle them head on. As Asimov once famously said, "Reality is a crutch for people who can’t handle science fiction".

Kate Townshend is currently appreciating the pathetic fallacy of the weather.

New Beginnings - Age Of X: Alpha

Marvel is well known for their “What If” approach spanning their entire catalogue of titles. Usually stemming from a well-known event within the Marvel Universe they offer a singular view of what could have been.

Age Of X is looking to potentially be of a similar vein but extending this further, posing the alternate universe it has created under its own heading as well as two other established titles - X-Men: Legacy and New Mutants.

These are not being titles I am familiar with and as a self confessed comic geek this doesn’t bode massively well. I can’t help but consider if this is just a way to try and rekindle a pair of possibly under-performing comics. That said because I don’t know them I can also push this thought aside and read simply for reading.

There has been an interesting lead up to the release which piqued my interest. In all of the Marvel titles there has been the standard Age Of X advert with the addition of different codes to scan in the bottom corners. These lead to website addresses providing “historical logs” to give the prospective reading supporting information on how the world is now different.

It’s no secret that the premise for this is set to the fact that the X-Men have never existed. There was no Professor X with his vision for man and mutantkind and therefore nothing to change the fear and animosity into something better. The human threat - as seen in Magneto’s eyes - has gone unchecked and the worst possible scenario is getting ever closer. The Decimation event was truly that.

This is the reality that Mike Carey has created on Earth-TRN016.

This opening one-shot itself is the entry to both the past and present of Age of X with tensions fraught from the word go. Interestingly we see more of the why and how we have got to this position than where they actually are. There are a number of flashbacks illustrating some of the key events in this brave new world, which have all received their own artwork to make them stand out that little more. My particular favourite was for Basilisk, which has a very gritty and rough feel to it epitomising the feelings that Basilisk has too. This was a great little nugget that I would encourage people to get the issue for - Carey being brave and pushing outside of the norm.

More evidence of Carey’s apparent fearlessness has been his inclusion of some of the biggest Marvel characters in flashback only. It is looking likely that in this reality some of the Marvel trump cards are gone, leaving a far more desperate situation for all to face.

If you take the time to re-read the issue with this in mind the artwork for the present day really hits home harder. These are bleak uncertain times, the slightly hazy and distorted lines and colouring portray this. Conversely the artwork in the flashbacks is crisp and clear. This is used to highlight facts to be seen and trusted to establish a good basis. A very good tool used well, simply by using contrasting and complimentary styles for similarly different emotions.

I have loved the mechanics and vehicles used in this one-shot with fantastic changes in art, pace and style to whet your appetite. I haven’t however, felt overwhelmed by the story.

There was far too much retrospective in this issue and too many ideas fighting for attention. It left me slightly clueless to what was actually meant to be going on. Considering this is now also going to be spread over a couple of titles I have my concerns, but will try to be opened minded moving forward - in case Carey pulls a rabbit out of the hat.

Matt Puddy heals quickly, like Wolverine but taller.

Big Game Hunting - Bringing Some Tools To The Table

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced recently is planning a massive campaign in a persistent world that already has certain... expectations. Depending on your approach, there’s several ways to work through some of the problems, but to be honest, most of it’s like writing a novel.

Possibly a fan fiction novel but still, a novel nonetheless.

The reason I related it to fan fiction is because in most cases, even when writing your own setting, you’re going to be letting people play in a world that you’ve at least set up some parameters for. So, you’ve created the world, and defined the rules, and others (or yourself) then create campaigns of variable lengths within that world.

And, much like fan fiction, you’ve got NPCs who are probably big players in the world. Your characters might have to interact with them, or they might not. As a GM, using an NPC that’s got clout can often feel like a huge plot stick, so it’s something that can be used sparingly, or the players will feel like bit parts in a bigger story, and not in a good way.

And then there's the plot stick. Or in this case, a path with the occasional "jump up and smack you in the face" rake. I was once told by a very wise GM that even if you've got the map, the best GMs let their players explore and tend not to hit people with the plot stick – but sometimes catch them a shot with a clue-by-four. Even if this means that your story is entirely ignored and they go off and do something else - that's OK! In fact, that's the sign of a good campaign. And yes, it means you're thinking on your toes and it’s one of them most exhilarating thing you'll ever do. Just like novel writing - you gotta give in and let the characters or the story shine through.

And like layering the stories, when you get down to it, the best systems are designed around two core ideas - the characters run the story and the story isn't bogged down by minutiae and dice rolling every thirty seconds.

Having structure to the game isn't a bad thing - in fact quite the opposite, but instead of using it as a ring fence and keeping your players in strictures - they should be the jumping off point for everything that they want to do and every area that they feel the story should go.

On top of that though, there should be tools to make the storytelling easy - giving GMs the freedom to take players on jaunts and campaigns, to create worlds to explore, save or trash - with a skeleton to ladle the flesh of the story onto that gives people what they need.

D Kai Wilson-Viola is marrying that "very wise GM".