Muse:Musette Playtest 1:Story Outline Sheet

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: To unleash his fury on Georgia and drive it out of Abkhazia for good
Relationship: Secretely admires Yuriy for his leadership and strength.

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: 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.

Discussion

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 unleash his fury on Georgia and drive it out of Abkhazia for good. I think this nicely conflicts with the desires of both other main characters.

--Jonathan

Most excellent idea. I like that Desire, and second it (Jonathan draws a card). 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

I most heartily endorse your suggestion as well, Paul (Paul draws a card). Yuriy's family accuses Georg's family of murdering babies, whilst Georg's family accuses Yuriy's family of murdering nice old ladies. Probably, they're both right.

I would also humbly 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.

--Bob

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.

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.

--Paul

I'll take it to mean that since Bob's suggestion has been added to the Story Sheet, then Terry and Paul supported the suggestion. Bob and Terry will draw a card. Unfortunately, Terry's suggestion is invalid because Georg already has a desire. So I think it's still Terry's turn. Terry, what do you suggest for the story? We still need a Setting and a Relationship for Georg.

Also, if it's ok with everyone at the table I'd personally prefer that all the slots get filled on the Story Sheet. Let's play it by the book! :-) Otherwise this won't be a proper playtest.

--Jonathan

Eh! Wasn't paying attention, sorry. Got Georg and Yuriy confused. I got a Relationship: Georg secretely admires Yuriy for his leadership and strength. Though he hates his family, Georg looks up to him and wishes he could be convinced to join the Abkhazian cause (as he sees it).

--Terry

Also, Bob, watch out about the nukes and the Russian terrorists and all that. It's a fine idea, but if it's not on the story outline sheet, it's just your idea--we might end up narrating something different, OK? (I second Terry's suggestion, as well.)

--Paul

Right you are, old chap!

--Bob

Alright, I second Terry's suggestion (Terry gets a card). This story is shaping up pretty nicely! All we're missing now is a good setting. Looking at the Brainstorm Sheet, I like the idea of a weapon's factory, but I don't think it should be the central scene. I think a much better location would be General Yuriy's War Room: where the real tactical and strategic decisions are being made in the war to retake Abkhazia and South Ossetia, lit by the greenish glow of radar stations and containing the constant murmur of hushed voices. A lot of the action could happen here, with assassination attempts, decisions being made about how to deal with the nukes, etc.

--Jonathan

Hmmm... I don't know about the whole story taking place in or around a war room... like, what would Georg be doing there? I'll say what: how about the War Room is a temporary one, just established within the cave complex that was being used as a weapons factory (Terry's idea)? If you're cool with that, Jon, then I'll support it, and how about you and Terry both get a card for it? (Terry seems OK with the idea, too.)

If you're not cool with that, then I'm nominating the cave complex myself--I want a sketchy, unexplored place in Abkhazia (as opposed to a clean, established headquarters somewhere that some weird young terrorists would have no plce to be). I figure we can have action in the War Room, with Yuriy and his generals or whatever, and some scenes in the caves, nearby, but outside Yuriy's jurisdiction, strictly speaking.

Paul

Heh. I support either idea. Suckers. I totally own you all.

Terry