[UA] 5 minutes til glory

[Royal Minister of Stuff]

I pretty much use a method I've seen in Teenagers from
Outer Space and a few other cool little games (it even
turns up in the now-bought-out "old Trek" game by Last
Unicorn.)

I write down three or four things that I, as a GM,
really want to see happen during the upcoming game and
either flesh out some sort of opening puzzle for the
players or prod them into making one up for
themselves.

At any point where the players have even remotely
approached one of the situations on the cards, I drop
it on them.  The cards usually have a few stats and
scores on them depending on whether the situation I
had envisioned is a fight, a puzzle or just a bit of
high weirdness.

I don't play the cards in any particular order, but I
use elements from the cards to give out as clues
whenever any player searches for them.  If I have a
great fight in an old warehouse with six disgruntled
postal employee members of the TOSG, I drop Randy
Douglass hints, mentions of the warehouse district,
papers and evidence of gun shipments, rumours of idols
and rites on pier 16, whatever might spark a player's
interest.

I worry about if the clues I drop make sense later. 
Enthusiastic players can usually string a crop of
unrelated "factoids" together into a conspiracy which
numbs my imagination.  Cowed or cuatious players (ones
from other games where they have gotten used to always
being wrong or having their actions crushed into
meaninglessness by linear adventures, GM stonewalling
and unbeatable GMCs/NPCs/traps/etc.) go along with the
clues anyway, hoping they're doing "the right thing"
(i.e. the thing the GM wants.)

I try to give my players the impression that what
they're doing is clever and meaningful and that
they're wild plans have upset my original, rather
narrow adventure.

I find that allowing most players to actually find
clues and hints when they look for them adds a level
of confidence and motivation that I don't normally see
when the possibility of missing information is there.

Plus, as a GM, there are things I just want to see
happen and I'd rather the players had some impression
they got there on their own rather than fearing that
was the only way they can go.

Oh, by the way, this idea only works if you take the
occasional wild hair and run with it.  This is
certainly mentioned in the UA lexicon.  If your
players decide it would be better to knock over a
string of liquor stores rather than rescue Father
Carillo from the clutches of the Piory of Sion, good
for them.  The good Father drops from the tale (if I
want him to stick around he can always escape on his
own) and, if I absolutely can't live without a
confrontation with the Priory, the players run into
Jesus' Great-Great-Great-Great (etc.) Grandson buying
slim jims at the Circle K with a full compliment of
protective goons.

--- Doug Stalker <dougs at technologist.com> wrote:
> I run things pretty close to this way - I have an
> idea of several plot lines
> going on, and the PCs are free to interact with them
> as they see fit.  New
> plotlines crop up in play as I think of them.
> 
> I find spending 10 minutes looking over my notes
> from previous sessions to
> be the best form of preperation.
> 
> 
>  - Doug
> 
> 
> 
> >
> > I noticed Nick and someone else mentioning how
> they did minimal
> > planning for
> > UA games, I'm somewhat curious about what the
> general methodology is.
> >
> >
> > I've generally found this to be the best way of
> dealing with the near
> > limitless options even the most helpless of us
> have in the modern world.
> >
> > I'm just curious what others do
> >
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> UA mailing list
> UA at lists.uchicago.edu
> http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua


=====
-- Rp Bowman, Royal Minister of Stuff
The Electronic Nation of Yokeltania:
http://www.geocities.com/yokeltania/

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