[UA] First Run

[Royal Minister of Stuff]

--- Brian Covey <dvorak at mac.com> wrote:
> I know what you mean, kinda. Admittedly, I'm pretty
> much a first-time 
> GM, but I sorta feel like UA can be a hard game to
> learn on, if not just 
> kinda a hard game to run. About half of my players
> are coming into my 
> game from a concurrent GURPS campaign, so the
> comparative lack of 
> structure just confused the hell out of them, which
> meant a whole bunch 
> of bitching. I also quickly learned that the players
> would undoubtedly 
> do, in any given situation, the one thing I hadn't
> prepared for them to 
> do. =)

I'm getting a lot of this sort of feedback, too, and
it kinda worries me.  I think it's George Lucas' evil
brethern in the Thule Society casting some sort of
heart-crushing freedom-from-liberty* spell, but that's
neither here nor there.

I think the big thing that scared most players (and
me) about UA when I first started playing was the lack
of lists, but, fortunately, I had FUDGE, Teenagers
from Outer Space and even Ghostbusters to call upon
for support (all of which at least one person each in
my groups had played and enjoyed.)  These games make a
habit of showing that what people consider "structure"
in many RPGs is just another form of list-making.  

I, myself, sometimes need lists when my brain is
sluggish or I'm uncertain of how to proceed, but,
fortunately, the world is full of lists.

When people really bitched and moaned, I just hauled
out GURPs Compendium and used the skill list in there
as a starting point, telling players that DX
corresponded to SPEED, IQ corresponded to MIND and
Artistic/Social skills were covered by SOUL.  I put
all melee skills under BODY to help smooth out the
grumbles.

In other cases, I've made small lists for each stat
and  let players choose all but one skill from those
lists. 
I think forcing players to define at least one of
their skills sort of gets the "improv" (I wish I could
think of a better word for it) process rolling. 

Another thing that discourages players, at least the
one seeking "structure" is the time it seems to take
to create a character and the need to get everything
"right."  The basic UA book addresses the latter
problem rather neatly, as I recall (although I can't
quote or give page numbers because I am, as I
mentioned elsewhere, in the process of moving.)

Only forcing each player to invent (or re-invent) 1
skill can get people started on interpreting their own
character without leaning on them too much. 

FOOTNOTE
*To me, there's always been a big difference between
Freedom and Liberty.  Freedom is what everyone thinks
you want and Liberty is what you can actually get away
with.  In US political jargon, "Freedom" is usually
synonymous with "Safety" (as in, "He'll be safer in
that tiny cell.") Liberty, however, is just archaic
enough to be useful as an ideal.

 
POST SCRIPT
> I used to think that a rules-light system would mean
> that the game would 
> be easier to run, but I'm quickly realizing that it
> means that I have to 
> be a hell of a lot quicker and better at
> improvisation than I currently 
> am. 

The hardest thing about improvisation, for me, is
letting go of my illusions of control.  I always want
to "guide" players and so-forth.

Ironically (or, perhaps, not-so-ironically), the back
cover of Post Modern Magic has the perennial words of
advice in improv, from what I've read.  "Stop Making
Sense," besides being the name of a fantastic Talking
Heads album, is also the name of an improv book.

What I've learned (and I've still got a lot more to
learn) playing UA and TFOS and the like is that 

Here's some fun improv site that most people reading
this note have probably already looked at.  They
helped me, anyway:

http://www.mailbag.com/users/east/1rules.htm
(the above lessons will be moving to"
http://personalpages.tds.net/~east1/ 
sometime)

This one is about "comedy structures" but it gives
some fun warm-up excersizes, ones designed to break
the ice and humiliate everyone in the room equally:

http://www.learnimprov.com/

both these sites are part of an improv web ring.

Remember, improv doesn't have to be comedy, it's just
an easy place to start.  (Horror is the next step up. 
Improv drama is really hard, or so I hear.)


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

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