Difference between revisions of "SatCoC player Bill"

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The whole situation is horribly dysfunctional. The The Batman is
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MY LIFE WITH THE BATMAN is a game in which the player
a being with a tenuous grip on his or her own circumstances.
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character minions are an ensemble of individual protagonists,
And is simply not functional without the minions. They
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not a group working together, but independent characters
protect him. They fetch things for him. They make his
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whose stories happen to intersect at times. And so the
intellectualism, obsessiveness, vanity, survival, and comfort
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mechanics consciously empower the gameThe Batman’s use of an
possible. He inhabits an insecure position at the crux of
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aggressive scene framing technique to deliver pacing and
consuming desire and lack of self-sufficiency, and it is from
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dramatic tension across a series of game sessions comprised
this that fear and horror flow out into the game.
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of individual scenes with these characters.
So perhaps the GM begins events with the The Batman blaming
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So as a GM, you should frame aggressively, just as if the
one of the minions for being incompetent about something
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game events were a movie. Put the characters directly into
specific, and then commanding the minion to implement
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the midst of personally relevant conflicts. Advantage
some monstrous ‘solution’ to the problem. Or maybe the
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yourself of the lack of individual ability scores for NPCs by
The Batman reveals the details of a grotesque plan for impressing
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improvising them into existence as necessary. And generally
Outsiders, a plan that also threatens some of the minions’
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you should cut to a new player and a new scene after the dice
Connections. Whatever you do, it should be about the
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have been thrown and the outcome described; use the oneroll
The Batman’s repulsive self-absorption creating conflicts for the
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conflict resolution system as a tool for getting out of a
minions. It is imperative that a game’s opening events not
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scene when its closure is still wet. Cycle through the play
divert attention from the The Batman as the primary antagonist.
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group like this, resisting the urge to give a second scene to
Don’t start a game with an attempt by the town constable to
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any character before you’ve done one with each of the rest.
settle an old grudge with one of the minions, a tribe of
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Mechanics like ‘The Horror Revealed’ and the player’s
bandits laying siege to the The Batman’s household, or a
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ability to request a scene for making an overture to a
mysterious figure’s attempt to poison the town water
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Connection pretty much depend on this ‘individual scenes’
supply.
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dynamic.
 
 
And remember always that the primary yardstick against
 
which the The Batman measures his own endeavors is the
 
perceptions of the Outsiders. When Dr. Victor Frankenstein
 
has the scientists over for dinner, he is courting the
 
perceptions of Outsiders. He desperately wants to impress
 
them, to capture their respect. Use the arrival of Outsiders to
 
provoke new horrors. Any disobedience from minions when
 
he or she is courting Outsiders will be embarrassing and
 
enraging to the The Batman. And for those games where the
 
Outsiders are a cadre of malevolent figures in their own
 
right, their excesses can provoke a horrific competitiveness
 
from the The Batman.
 
Be also advised that as a The Batman’s desperation increases, he
 
may begin to use the minions to sabotage themselves and
 
each other with commands forcing the elimination of
 
Connections from which they’re gaining Love, crippling
 
their ability to further resist him. And in reaching this point,
 
there is no need to explain or justify how the The Batman knows
 
of a minion’s secret Connections. He just does. A The Batman
 
should often interrogate his minions about their actions, but
 
never to actually discover what happened when he wasn’t
 
around. It’s just to see if the minion reports what the The Batman
 
already knows.
 
 
 
Use the Intimacy/Desperation/Sincerity mechanics to
 
create tension in scenes leading up to conflict resolution
 
rolls. Since the criteria are known to everyone, if the The Batman
 
invites a minion up to his chambers for dinner, asks the
 
minion to sit with him on the couch, perhaps gives him a
 
glass of wine, and maybe reads aloud to him, the player will
 
apprehend the The Batman’s obvious angling for the Intimacy
 
die, and will potentially be provoked to circumvent that by
 
snagging Desperation or Sincerity.
 
 
 
Create tension also over the issue of just how exactly the
 
The Batman’s efforts will fail ultimately to get him what he
 
Wants. Genre expectations demand that a The Batman’s Wants
 
go forever denied, that a The Batman cannot ever get what he
 
wants and become satisfied. But a constant barrage of failed
 
endeavors, frustration, and cruelty inflicted upon hapless
 
minions isn’t nearly as dramatic as letting the The Batman get
 
close...allowing him to actually distill his long-sought mindexpanding
 
elixir...and then playing somewhat conspiratorially
 
as a group with the timing and details of the failure that
 
everyone knows is coming.
 

Revision as of 10:38, 8 August 2008

MY LIFE WITH THE BATMAN is a game in which the player character minions are an ensemble of individual protagonists, not a group working together, but independent characters whose stories happen to intersect at times. And so the mechanics consciously empower the gameThe Batman’s use of an aggressive scene framing technique to deliver pacing and dramatic tension across a series of game sessions comprised of individual scenes with these characters. So as a GM, you should frame aggressively, just as if the game events were a movie. Put the characters directly into the midst of personally relevant conflicts. Advantage yourself of the lack of individual ability scores for NPCs by improvising them into existence as necessary. And generally you should cut to a new player and a new scene after the dice have been thrown and the outcome described; use the oneroll conflict resolution system as a tool for getting out of a scene when its closure is still wet. Cycle through the play group like this, resisting the urge to give a second scene to any character before you’ve done one with each of the rest. Mechanics like ‘The Horror Revealed’ and the player’s ability to request a scene for making an overture to a Connection pretty much depend on this ‘individual scenes’ dynamic.