[UA] Jailbreak chat

[Gareth Hanrahan]

> > I've seen players get really spooked by the violin girl
> > in "Jailbreak"; it
> > works great if you physically act the role. I've *never*
> > been able to tempt
> > players into the basement, though (darn those Scream
> > movies).
>
> Damn, I can't get them in the basement either.

Try hiding the map from the players, and just telling the convicts "there's
a corridor leading off towards what might be a kitchen, and there's a door
on the left of the living room." If they have to explore the house, their
curiosity will draw them onwards.

> He saw a teen-aged girl and thought, "I've been in prison
> for a while; time for some action."  So he tells the girl
> just what he'd like for her to play and proceeds to run his
> hand up her leg.  I used the lovely description provided in
> the book for what he felt and ultimately saw.  He stood
> there for about 5 minutes, prompting someone else to come
> investigate.  He just stood there staring in horror.  Gotta
> love those madness checks.

Cool.

> But pretty much, the consistent formula has been:  One or
> two people investigate trunk, Bors gets free, Bors severely
> injures one (usually it's early so I don't kill yet), Bors
> goes outside, people get really spooked.

Mine has been: convicts charge in, restrain hostages and old folks. Get
freaked out by wierdness. Panic. In the panic, hostages get free and launch
really complex escape plan. Bors turns up. At some point, Ella works out
what she is and everything goes to hell (once Ella murdered her husband and
went off with robo-boyfriend).

<snip>

> One thing I've incorporated with Jailbreak is a semi-live
> action atmosphere.  I always insist on having two tables.
> I don't use the tables, but they take up enough room that
> people can move around.  At my local convention, they put
> me in my own room with two tables.  Then people can shout
> at each other all they want.

I do that too. The second time I ran it, I started with the convicts and
hostages outside the house in a broken-down car.  The convicts went inside,
and the hostages freed themselves. I ended up running two totally separate
games, which was tricky. Still, it was fun when the ex-hostages turned up
with the state troopers - and saw the tough, mean convicts running out of
the house, relieved to be arrested again...

<snip>

> Anyway, those have been my experiences.  It's great at
> conventions.

Jailbreak is something special. It's so bloody simple (characters, house,
two or three plotted events, nothing else), but it works so well...

> Kevin


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


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