[UA] RPGA UA

[Gareth Hanrahan]

> On the other hand, I've a lot of experience with RPGA
> gaming, and I know that usually these games are run by
> people who made the mistake of answering yes when the
> convention coordinator asks him if he's heard of the game
> 15 minutes before the slot begins.  As a result, if I ever
> do write an RPGA event for UA, I plan on dummying it down a
> bit so that a casual UA GM can run it as if he knew all of
> the rules.  For example, I might have a couple of sentences
> on the character sheets explaining what the stimuli are so
> that the GM won't have to cover it (especially if he
> forgets about it).  Rather than just give a ritual name
> straight out of the rulebook, I'd give an explanation so
> that the GM won't have to consult the book; RPGA modules
> are notoriously terrible for that--especially Deadlands.

Mm. Other tricks include adding a five-minute "how to run this game" sheet,
which covers the basic plot of the scenario, the waypoints the GM should hit
(like "the characters need to find out the kidnappers are hiding out at the
warehouse. They can find this out in scenes 7 or 9"), and a quick reference
sheet for the NPCs.

I love con games. They let you play around a lot with the game, and do all
sorts of wacky things you can't do in a campaign. You're also a lot more
likely to get really focussed players at a con. They're not playing because
you always play on a thursday evening or whatever, they've actually
travelled and spent money to play, so goddamnit they're going to game.

Admittedly, you can also get complete muppets at a con game...

> The event I have in mind basically pumps up the characters
> above the normal duke in UA.  Everyone is either an adept
> or an avatar.  They defeat the evil using their bad-ass
> abilities.  Hopefully, this will get players interested in
> picking up the game.  The ones who really dig on the dark
> nature of UA can exploit if fully in their games.  The ones
> who don't can throw out what they don't like and run a
> campaign more similar to the RPGA scenario.

Mm. Y'know, I think you're all being a bit cautious. Gamers can be
surprising open to really nasty horror games. (Anecdote warning: A few years
ago, I ran a demo game of Vampire: Dark Ages at my uni's gaming soc. Two
first-year girl students sat down at the table. "Oh bugger" I think, and
start mentally toning down the horror of the embrace.

Twenty minutes into the game, the two neonate vampires are cutting a bloody
swathe accross Europe that would put Dracula and Attila the Hun to shame.
They return home, turn their families into ghouls and launch an undead
crusade, ignoring the nice little angst/heroism plot the game was supposed
to be about.)

That said - there's good horror, and there's just running the game for shock
value. Make the game a scary and dark experience, not an abusive or
unpleasant one.

> I even thought about calling it PoMo MoFo MoJo or something
> like that.

Heh. Cool.

> Kevin


Gar
http://www.mytholder.f2s.com


_______________________________________________
UA mailing list
UA at lists.uchicago.edu
http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua