Comments | drbunnyhops: Even if time is just a flicker of light and we all have to die alone

drbunnyhops

Even if time is just a flicker of light and we all have to die alone

Oct 04, 2011 21:09

Themes: Conflicting responsibilities; Choices and consequences; Isolation; Loss

I find it interesting, and a little worrying that White Rabbit has filled so fast. I wonder what people are expecting from the game and what it will deliver.

White Rabbit has had a long gestation... It's the game I started planning after my first Kapcon 4 years ago. If my ( Read more... )

feel good family drama, white rabbit, roleplaying

Comments 16

anarchangel23 October 4 2011, 15:35:28 UTC

I think people are expecting to play a game by a GM who has proven she can write compelling characters and put them in a thoughtful and engaging situation.

I'm glad I decided to run Dungeon World before this. I'll need to get my gung-ho action out of the way before I get in the box!

Also, this makes me want to look at Echoes again.

drbunnyhops October 5 2011, 04:42:17 UTC

I think I can deliver on the characters and the situation. What I'm less confident about is my ability to hold in my mind all the threads those characters generate and draw them together at the end. I don't want to have a fixed conclusion, but I want it to have that fateful feel. Jess and some of the other (as yet un-named) characters feel slightly mythic to me... heroes from a Starship Troopers propaganda film, or from Shakespearean or Greek tragedy... More awesome than ordinary people, with strengths that are the flaws that ultimately doom them...or not... hey... it might all end well :)

No, no, please gung ho away! The more you gung and ho, the harder you'll fall!

Echoes???

anarchangel23 October 6 2011, 07:07:01 UTC

Make copious notes to work it all out/keep it all straight?

drbunnyhops October 7 2011, 08:25:28 UTC

Maybe... I think that if I do that, I might get obsessed with the detail and end up off down some track in my mind, that would make the more social aspects of GMing difficult.

I'm considering having a logging system... After all Argent sees everything, even the things the GM misses while she is distracted :-)

samnotluke October 4 2011, 18:00:56 UTC

Well if it helps, I'm one of your players in round 2. I'm not going to make the play test.

drbunnyhops October 5 2011, 04:46:31 UTC

Yay!! Ooooo... You it will be so good to run this for you!

As to making it better? It raises the stakes, because I want to impress you far more than some random stranger... But also increases the odds of success, because if I am feeling insecure I can get you to play one of the pivotal characters and hold part of the story for me :-)

grandexperiment October 4 2011, 18:45:25 UTC

Don't stress. I am sure the game will be awesome and you can never accomodate player expectations in any case. The concepts I have heard sound awesome so far and I think I get what you are aiming for.

I also feel a little kindred-ship here. The scenario I am working on was also thought about 4 years ago, is contained in 3 Acts, has a clash of genres and yet still aims at creating a strong emotional repsonse first and foremost :)

Good luck.

drbunnyhops October 5 2011, 04:56:50 UTC

Thank you! I hope it will be a good game... I guess my problem is that I want it to be a great game... a game that has meaning and makes people think. And I'm not sure if I can pull it off.

One thing in my head is a conversation I had with Dale and Mash and others at DoG, where the implication seemed to be that a really good con game is bulletbroof... that it can't be wrecked by a disenchanted player or the GM having a bad day. White Rabbit will never be such a game... I'm going to have to give it everything and bring most of the players right into the scenario or Argent just won't fly!

grandexperiment October 5 2011, 06:52:03 UTC

Some games are great because they make you think, some because they make you feel, some because they are fun and some just are. Sometimes a game is great just because you feel it needs to be told and you stuck with it. True happiness comes from embracing the many paths that lead to it, not just one :)

As for bullet proof games, was Alaska bullet proof? I can't help but feel that any scenario that doesn't scare the pants out of the GM is unlikely to have that edge that can make it a great game.

drbunnyhops October 5 2011, 09:40:26 UTC

Actually... it was part of a discussion/criticism of Alaska... which the wrong player(s) could definitely spoil... was insanely hard to run... and none of us were sure if someone else could run it, even given all the material.

Thread 5

ext_420935 October 7 2011, 05:44:20 UTC

[quote]"where the implication seemed to be that a really good con game is bulletbroof... that it can't be wrecked by a disenchanted player or the GM having a bad day."[/quote]

Speaking only for myself, I believe my take was that the gold standard of a 'con game is that it is replicable. That is - that another GM could run it with a different group of players and have just as good an experience. Not that they always would - just that they could. Ideally such a scenario would also provide tools to allow the GM to combat common issues or flaws of a scenario - although not obviously such advice would not forsee absolutely everything that might occur to detract from the game.

drbunnyhops October 7 2011, 08:20:23 UTC

Yup! That was it... It kind of bummed me out at the time, because I do work quite hard on my games, but think I'm probably not dedicated enough to write that gold standard scenario. Certainly Alaska wasn't and White Rabbit won't be. Consistency is not one of my strengths, I'm afraid, though I do try!

ext_420935 October 7 2011, 09:01:55 UTC

Well it certainly wasn't intended to be a comment about you. Indeed it was an aspirational objective - the scientific test of a good game - the hallowed ground which few ever reach. I'm not sure any of my scenarios have ever achieved this standard, and until you write them up there's no real way to tell... Perhaps White Rabbit for the SDC next year?

drbunnyhops October 7 2011, 20:26:38 UTC

Probably not next year. That was my plan, but I am doing 2 extramural papers that I'm finding quite tough going(in addition to fulltime work and parenting)... Exams finish mid-October and I'm play testing White Rabbit in early December. Even though Marcus has promised to help develop resources, I have to get them to the point where he can see what I'm aiming for and I'm still going to struggle to pull it all together I think.

drbunnyhops October 7 2011, 20:30:43 UTC

Exams finish Mid-November!!! Broken brain :)

BTW I didn't so much see it as a comment about me, as a useful conversation that I could learn something from... It made me think about where my gaming is headed and what I would need to do if I do want to reach a wider audience at some point. Not wise right now... I think I have about as much on my plate as it will hold!