Muse:Musette Playtest 1:Story Outline Sheet

Setting:
Crisis: An attack on a truck convoy left no surviving witnesses! Now three nuclear warheads have gone missing within the region.

Character: Georg - A young, brash man, disgusted by the Western world, dreams of making contact with real terrorists...
Desire:
Relationship:

Character: Maria - A young blind woman living in Abkhazia. Secretly, her family members are very important people in Georgia, but she just wants to live a normal life far away from politics, hence her choice to live in a breakaway province.
Desire: She wishes to save Georg, her love, from the deepest darkest inclinations of his heart (i.e. his anger).
Relationship: In love with Georg.

Character: General Yuriy -- The Georgian military commander in charge of retaking the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Desire: to rescue my blind daughter from the midst of erupting hostilities.
Relationship:

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I'm assuming that we want 4 characters, please just delete one if you only want 3--that's fine with me.

-- Jonathan

Yes, I'd rather stick to three.

--Paul

Drawing 1 card each, I (Jonathan) win with a Queen of Clubs (see Muse:Musette Playtest 1:Cards). I nominate 2 elements: Maria and Georg (I think Maria should be in love with Georg, which should complicate things nicely). Bob supports the nomination, since one element is his, and besides it's a good combo. If Paul or Terry accept, then please copy and paste the characters into the sheet above. Jonathan, Bob and Paul will each draw a card. Afterward, it will be Paul's turn.

-- Jonathan

Paul accepts!

Before going on, two points:

• In a situation like the above, I usually ask the players: hey, Georg has a goal in his description. Should this be his Desire, or is it just a bit of info about him? I normally ask the author. In this case, the author is Paul, and he says, "no, it's just a detail about him. Let's give him a more specific Desire, or something different, anyway."

• The cards we drew are just for the first turn. They will not be part of our eventual hands. I'll let you handle all that, though.

Now, Paul's nomination:

"I like Jon's idea! I nominate Maria being in love with Georg." Terry supports.

--Paul

Hi Paul, please feel free to draw cards too. :) Just cut the first cards from the "deck" and hand them to the players by pasting the cards into their hands.

--Jonathan

Bob: I support this most excellent nomination using my element. :) Verily, Paul is thusly rewarded by one card, as am I. For my nomination, I most humbly suggest General Yuriy, whose most fervent Desire is to save his young daughter Maria from the erupting hostilities. Jonathan seems to approve of this motion (my humble thanks), and what of you, Paul and Terry? This move, if accepted (again, my humble thanks), would reward Jonathan, Paul and myself with a new card.

--Bob

Paul: Well, Terry doesn't seem too happy about this, but I'll support that. Jon, please add the cards. I'm going to let you do it (from now on and forever), simply because it's easier if one person is in charge of that. Otherwise, it'll get too confusing. Bob, your turn.

--Paul

Terry mumbles angrily about how Bob's pretend humility is pissing him off and keeps polishing his service revolver under the table.

Paul, that's fine, I can take care of the cards. Right now it's Terry's turn. Jonathan, Paul and Bob have each played a turn, so only Terry remains. Terry? Would you please stop polishing your revolver and suggest an element or two? :-)

--Jonathan

Terry: Fine. I thought you guys had forgotten about me. I've been contemplating suicide over here, and must have gotten distracted. I suggest a Desire for Maria: she wishes to save Georg, her love, from the deepest darkest inclinations of his heart.

Paul: Don't mind Terry. He had a rough childhood. However, he means well: I think I will support this new Desire. Terry, I think you mean that Georg has some anger within him, and Maria's Desire is to save him from himself, to show him how he can redeem himself and be a man, in control of his anger. Is that right?

Terry grunts in the affirmative.

--Paul

Verily, I support Terry's most excellent suggestion. Terry receives a card as his just reward.

--Bob

Yes, thanks Bob. That'll be enough "verillies" for one night, thank you. It's my turn again. I'd like to bring Georg into the action by suggesting a new Desire for Georg: to assuage his fury by completely ending Georgia's influence on Abkhazia. I think this nicely conflicts with the desires of both other main characters. I would also suggest the crisis An attack on a truck convoy left no surviving witnesses! Now three nuclear warheads have gone missing within the region.. Georg joined a Russian-backed terrorist group that seeks to use nukes to cow Georgia, and this is how Georg plans to give into his anger and frustration.

--Jonathan

Most excellent idea. I like that Desire, and second it. Technically, as written, what you're suggesting would take two different turns: one to name a new element, and another turn to suggest one from the sheet. However, it doesn't seem to break the rules--it just means that you, Jon, will only receive one card instead of two (one for the new element, and one for a successful nomination of an old element). We can go ahead with it: Terry and I fully support those. Claim one or two cards, as you wish--we can pretend Bob suggested the Crisis, if you wish.

However, I'm confused by the wording: to assuage his fury by completely ending Georgia's influence on Abkhazia. You mean he wants to pull his troops out of Abkhazia? Or that he wants to take it over? Which is it? Decide and write it in, above.

I'll suggest a Relationship for Yuriy: Georg is from a family that has a decades-old feud with Yuriy's family, meaning he is an object of ancient hatreds to Yuriy. Terry, judging by his evil grin, likes this idea. (Did I just hear you mumble "blood", Terry? You're kind of creeping me out now.)

--Paul

Note, also: my personal House Rule is that not all Relationships HAVE to be filled out before we start. As long as everything else is settled, we can begin even if we haven't filled them all out. Feel free to use or discard, as you choose.

Now, if you want to pretend that Bob suggested the Crisis (after you, Jon, came up with Yuriy's Desire), then I'll skip ahead and make Terry's nomination as well, in the interest of time:

Georg is mad angry. He just wants to blow shit up. His Desire is: to strike a definitive blow against Western capitalism. I'm sure we'll see, in play, what form that takes... I'm eyeing those nukes, personally, hehehe...

Terry

Stop drooling, Terry.

Paul