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Frozen_Feet
2011-07-11, 10:37 AM
So, I'm considering of going to a roleplaying convention (Ropecon 2011) as GM for the first time. Thing is, I can't decide on what kind of a game to hold. I have a lot of ideas floating in my brain, but I need to prune them a bit to get a proper adventure.

General:

The con website suggests premade characters, to spare time. I will likely follow this suggestion.
I'll likely use something rules-light for system to be newbie friendly.
I have four hours per game. I'll most likely run the same game twice or thrice, to score me free entry.


Me as a GM:

My modus operandi is to lay out the rules for a game, then lean back and watch the players cause some chaos.
Instead of premade plots, I rely on logic and karma (ie., action and consequence) to dictate game events.
In addition to random chance, of course; I'm a big fan of letting the dice fall as they may and squeezing drama from the results.
I'm a lazy, lazy bastard when it comes to preplanning, meaning most of the time, I just draw things out of my hat (ie., improvize)


Various game and setting premises I've pondered about:

"Congratulations, you're now dead. How do you feel?" The PCs have just all died in some terrible event, and are now hanging around as ghosts. An odd man with a link of chain hanging from his chest greets them and informs them of the situation. The PCs also have chains hanging from their chests; what is their meaning? Why are they slowly corroding, link by link? Where are they supposed to go now? And what are the masked horrors lurking in the shadows...?

"Time for payback." In the song, they sing "the bell of the church finally pays my debts", but you're afraid this is not the case. In the past, you were offered back your life, with one condition: "One day, you'll save my life just like I saved yours, even if it means coming back from the grave". Now, the sharp pain in your chest has driven you to search the stranger who healed you to fulfill your end of the bargain - and it's lead you, among with several others of the same persuasion, on the doorstep of an old mansion. But just who is it you're supposed to save, from what, and is he truly deserving of it? How far does the compulsion go, and is there any way out without filling its conditions...?

"Project Alphabet." This... well, it's less of a game idea, and more the basis for a setting (actually several short stories I'm writing). But it's been filling my head for a while and I see some potential in it. Based on the below outline, what kind of a game could you make out of it.

Throughout history, armies have strived to create their own vision of a ”super soldier”. Whether through special training, equipment, or both, they’ve wanted to get that special edge over their enemies. As time passed, even breeding and, eventually, genetic engineering were considered for that purpose.
Operation Alphabet was continuation of that very same tradition. It initially started as several disparate projects, in several nations, before being brought together by their alliance at the start of the War. Top-notch military scientists comparing notes brought into existence several innovations of warfare, but they’d truly become remembered for one – Androids.

Before the War, genetic modification of human beings was in strong headwind. Indeed, genetic engineering as a whole, despite not being fundamentally different from breeding that’d been used for thousands of years, was faced with irrational and near-superstitious suspicion most new technologies face. Much of the groundwork was firmly in grey area of ethics in the minds of the public, and the researchers had to contract mostly less-than-ideal test subjects from those with little to lose, such as injured and chronically ill civilians. This made progress slow, and with little returns, funding was slight as well.

With the start of hostilities, influx of willing test subjects increased hundred-fold. It also seemed the Fog of War spread from the battleground to behind the lines as well, conveniently concealing actions of the researchers. As usual, “necessity” and “greater good” began sanctioning projects that would’ve never been allowed during time of peace.

The early projects of Alphabet focused on relatively small and benign changes in adult inviduals. Enhanced Organ Transplants, Inheritable Genetic Correction Therapy and Panacea Glands are the best known examples of technological goals from these times that were perfected for and through the creation of the Homo Syntheticus, and eventually made it into civilian use. IOCT in particular was a major breakthrough – through careful manipulation of existing gamete creation tissue, the researchers found a way to induce genetic changes that would be copied over to any offspring of an invidual.

It was an important step, because priorly, genetic changes in adult inviduals usually remained localized, and thus were not inheritable. Wholesale genetic changes, as experimented with in the infamous Chimera branch of the project, usually ended up with sterile or genetically incompatible results. Isolated cases of genetically engineered supersoldiers were hardly more than a proof-of-concept and glorified special equipment. Simply put, it didn’t pay to alter each soldier invidually. The same phenomenom had kept advanced weapons out of the common infantry men’s hands for ages.

To get the pay offs they desired, the operation heads they’d need to get their subjects to breed.
Despite the visions of science fiction of armies of test-tube babies, such approach to mass production of biological entities was hardly practical; artificially engineering conditions for development and birth would’ve been prohibitively expensive. It was a much easier to turn to Mother Nature for help and use the work force that was already there. Historians say for a reason that if the War had ended then, the operation would’ve been cancelled then and there and its head executives shot. Mass impregnation of fertile young women with children of questionable humanity would’ve surely been out of question.
But to the misfortune of everyone, the War didn’t end. The first generation was born, raised, and fielded for battle – it didn’t take long for second and third gens to follow.

Androids turned out to be a success. To keep up with other weapons technology, armies had priorly had to outfit their troops with increasingly expensive and weighty apparel. Having even some of these grafted to the very make-up of soldiers, with nothing but the cost of food, simplified logistics greatly. At first, benefits were minor, due to likewise small numbers of androids. But the operation heads could see a glorious future before them. If only the War would continue, give them time to prove themselves…

It did. Come the time of so-called “truce”, the War entered a phase of trench and asymmetric warfare. Alphabet received its much needed time. Generations Two and Three proved much longer-lasting on the field than their ordinary compatriots. Proportional amount of androids on the battlefield kept increasing when Generation 4 became fit for battle at downtimes when the absolute numbers of soldiers didn’t need to increase but ordinary troops had to be withdrawn to recover.

When full-scale conflict sparked up again, Generation 5, larger than all previous generations combined, proved their worth in a conflict that had become a battle of exhaustion. Both sides were running out of resources and equipment, which is why it became a deciding factor that androids simply needed less to fight. Towards the end, conventional armies of both sides had been decimated. It was the relentlessness of the androids that finally made the opposition surrender rather than being overrun.

Generation 6 didn't see much battle. It was the penultimate iteration of Homo Synthetica, melodramatically labed Homo Synthetica Invictus. It was started towards the end of the truce, and benefited greatly from actual data of the first three generations, as opposed to much more theoretical patch-work improvements made for generations 4 and 5. Gen 6 androids were meant to be one step removed from their predecessors, just as they’d been one step removed from ordinary humanity. They factored heavily towards the very last conflicts, but overall their effect was less in crushing the opposition and more in sparing the lives of their android kin.

Generation 7 was the last batch. Its difference to prior ones was mainly in training – it was the first one not meant for full-out war, instead geared more towards peacekeeping. Its continued existence was heavily debated – its members were just little kids at the end of the war, and moral concerns that had been thrown out the window during the past decades slowly began to creep back in. Was using child soldiers justified? Even if they were not human, even if they were specifically made for that purpose?

Many head executives of Operation Alphabet went from war heroes to reviled criminals as it started to spread out just what they’d done in the name of victory. Some had their very existence hushed and hidden. From those who weren’t brought before the law, quite a few committed suicide when they just couldn’t live with themselves anymore.

But the androids themselves – could they be held accountable for the horrors needed to create them, or were they just victims as well? What to do after the war – that’s a question each society has had to face throughout history. It wouldn’t have been the first time a society chose to neglect its veterans and choosing to swipe them under a rug when no longer needed.

However, destroying all of remaining androids was deemed too dangerous. After all, with significant portion of remained armed forces consisting of androids, there’d been a risk of them rising up to resist, which wouldn’t have bid well for anyone. In place of genocide, a slow and arduous project to give them proper military and citizenship rights was started. Several other balls got rolling as well, regarding human and animal rights as a whole. H. Sapiens realized that somewhat unwittingly it was no longer the sole voice on the planet, and their standards were no longer sole standards that mattered.

In the haze of battle, the scientists responsible had not been able to properly gauge just how different their creations were from them. Even towards the end of the War, many facets of their being were not properly known or understood, residing firmly in the realm of hypothesis and theory. Time after the war has been one surprise after another as previously unforeseen consequences of tinkered DNA have made themselves known.

At the same time, androids have slowly become obsolete. Many of the things that set them apart from normal humans are no longer as special as fruits of the research that spawned them have reached civilian usage. Soon, it might be there’s no longer place for either them or H. Sapience, as accelerating progress after the war is starting to carry humanity towards new horizons already…

---

So, as a player, which of these would seem the most interesting to you? For those of you who've lead a game in a convention in the past, do you have any helpful advice? What's worked for you?

For character creation, instead of making very long or detailed character sheets, I've been thinking of stealing an idea for one of the GM whose game I played in years ago: lottery draw. Essentially, there's a collection of personality traits, looks, abilities etc. written on coupons, and each player draws a few to complete a character.

Das Platyvark
2011-07-11, 12:04 PM
Ghostses!
Seriously, for a one shot, that sounds awesome.
Project Alphabet is really cool, but I feel like it should be a full campaign. Same goes for Payback.

Frozen_Feet
2011-07-11, 02:24 PM
Okay. Would a contemporary backdrop be the best, would a fantastic backdrop be better, or would it be one-and-the-same in your mind? :smallsmile:

Das Platyvark
2011-07-11, 05:38 PM
I don't see it mattering that much, honestly.
Fantasy seems cooler, but modern would probably be a wee bit scarier. (Just do to the fact that you can better connect with someone closer to you time and world.)Depends what you're going for.

Greylond
2011-07-11, 06:26 PM
Hey, I'm part of the staff of a local Con(GameCon Memphis) and I've GM'ed several times for convention games, so here's my advice.

Pre-register as early as you can for the Con.
If you know people who are also going to be at the Con and you know that you like gaming with them(and they you) then let them know when/where/all details. Encourage them to Pre-Register as early as possible. The Con Staff will be looking at your scheduled game and if no one pre-registers for it(if the Con does pre-regs for scheduled games) then they may think that your game doesn't have much interest and put you in an out of the way area. The Con Staff has a lot of planning to do, the more data that they can get when doing setup always helps. If you plan on taking a laptop or other electronics and need power(or have any other needs for your game) tell the Staff that early and often.

Pregens, have several pregens prepared. Pregens should be made so that they are useful for the adventure(seriously, I've seen pregens made up in a way that the GM thought it would be a "Kewl Character" to play and not have any skills or abilities that would actually help the group.

Plan on the length. For a 4 hour game slot, actually plan for 3:45. The game WILL start 5 to 10 minutes late and you'll want to finish a few minutes early so that people can give you feedback comments and some may want to leave a bit early to make their next game or event.

Plan for combats to be slower than you are normally used to them being. Odds are that you will have at least 1 or 2 people that have never played the game system. This is good because you are introducing the game to newbies. Be patient with them because you will have to teach them the system.

Show up to your table Early. This can't be stressed enough. People may show up 10 minutes early and if they don't see a GM, they may walk away. What I always do is to show up 15 minutes Early(or as soon as the previous table event ends) and put the main book in the middle of the table so people will see it and know that is the table they are looking for.

Find out early who has experience with the system and who your new people are.

When teaching the system, don't teach more than they need for the moment. At the beginning I usually make sure new players understand basic die roll mechanics and basic skills. I usually wait until Combat is about to start to explain Combat basics. If you have experienced players at the table encourage them to help the new people.

People Want to Have Fun. Can't stress this enough. People pay to go to Conventions to have Fun. If your idea of "Fun" is to meet new people and then kill their characters, this isn't usually the thing to do. Unless it is Paranoia or some other game system where the "Fun" is in Character Death.

Make sure that when you are explaining the game to new people that you explain things like Genre and other assumed things in the game. If you are playing a medieval fantasy, make sure that is understood. Be ready to explain it to someone who has never heard of the game.

Be flexible, stuff happens.

When you are done, tell the Con Staff Thank you, they work hard and always like to hear thanks. At the same time, if there are things that could have gone better let the Con Staff know. Be diplomatic, but ask for things that could be changed for the next time. If the Con Staff doesn't hear about problems, they won't know they happened.

Clean up your table when you are done. The Next GM at that table will appreciate it.

UserClone
2011-07-12, 12:26 PM
I'm going to give a big shoutout to Lady Blackbird (http://www.onesevendesign.com/ladyblackbird/). Very nearly all the feedback I've heard about it is 100% positive.

So it'd be a great thing to have in your back pocket if your current idea doesn't jive, and even if it does, Lady Blackbird is still a great chassis off of which you can build your game (http://gamedevblog.typepad.com/blackbirdpie.pdf), and your players' characters (http://gamedevblog.typepad.com/blackbirdpiecharactersheet.pdf).

Frozen_Feet
2011-07-13, 04:37 PM
Thanks. Your advice is appreciated.

On developing the first scenario (where the players are Ghosts): suppose I'm going with a contemporary setting. To give the players some joint motivation and reason to stick together, there'll be someone (maybe a living child) that needs to be saved from peril.

But what event would kill off a bunch of people and leave one (or some) to be saved?

UserClone
2011-07-13, 04:59 PM
A plague that wipes out nearly everyone?

Then the engineers of that plague seek to kidnap and experiment on those who survived in order to figure out what makes them different.

Bonus points if they're doing it only in a localized area in order to prevent a world catastrophe based on the same germ that they used to cause that localized plague, so they are bad people doing bad things in the name of the greater good.

They have until the last link erodes to figure all this out, find the evidence (the survivors will have to help since the ghosts can't physically interact with anything), and alert the mass media of this government corruption. All while trying to protect the survivors from those selfsame government agents.

Glimbur
2011-07-13, 05:01 PM
I liked Lady Blackbird when I played it as the titular lady.

I'm also going to give a shout-out to Wuthering Heights (http://www.unseelie.org/rpg/wh/index.html). You might want to alter the problem table but it's quite feasible to make characters at the start of the session. I suggest putting together a few noble families for the parties to join, and having some pre-scripted events and personalities. Then just let them run wild. I average over one death a session running this game. It's also tremendous fun to watch the players pretend to be high-class when they are used to being murderous hobos.

Aidan305
2011-07-13, 06:16 PM
But what event would kill off a bunch of people and leave one (or some) to be saved?
An assassination.
Someone was hired, for some reason, to bump off everyone at a certain location at a certain time. For some reason, whether through the intervention of someone there, or the assassin not being willing to kill the child, one person lived.
Those who are dead have to find out why they were killed, and prevent the child from joining them. You can put some entertaining spins on the idea as well. Perhaps, the party were a board of a major company, or the heads of a criminal syndicate. Perhaps they were infected with a weaponised virus, that, without the assassination, would have spread throughout the globe (which ends up with a really nasty choice for the players). Maybe there was some mystical significance behind the killings, and the group had to be killed to bring about the coming of the great beast Ug'lion.

Avilan the Grey
2011-07-14, 02:09 PM
After being GM for two Cons (2 sessions per con) and one large one-shot with strangers I have the following tips:

1. Premade characters, about twice as many as the number of players per session. Try to make them unique, so the players feel they really choose someone interesting.

2. DO write a plot, and a fairly railroaded one at that. If you have a scheduled game, it is really really necessary. Also, write it shorter than you think is needed. You can always fill it with fluff, but usually the players do that by themselves. It always takes longer than you think it will.

3. Have a room with good ventilation.

CarpeGuitarrem
2011-07-14, 06:11 PM
Ever heard of Fiasco (http://www.gnomestew.com/reviews/fiasco-in-action-and-why-you-should-play-this-game)? It seems tailor-made for someone who likes to improvise plots, isn't afraid to try new systems...and someone who's got an inkling to start with dead characters.

Plus, it seems like it'd be really easy to teach. It's a very rules-lite story-based game, and you generate characters over the course of play.

Aidan305
2011-07-14, 06:56 PM
After being GM for two Cons (2 sessions per con) and one large one-shot with strangers I have the following tips:

1. Premade characters, about twice as many as the number of players per session. Try to make them unique, so the players feel they really choose someone interesting.

2. DO write a plot, and a fairly railroaded one at that. If you have a scheduled game, it is really really necessary. Also, write it shorter than you think is needed. You can always fill it with fluff, but usually the players do that by themselves. It always takes longer than you think it will.

3. Have a room with good ventilation.
Point 3 there is actually a really important one. Even if everyone at your table has showered 10 minutes beforehand, the atmosphere can get pretty stifling after a couple of hours.

I'll also echo point 1, with the added suggestion of giving the character a few goals to try and accomplish, and suggestion on what they think of the other characters in the scenario. A little bit of background can go a long way to helping someone understand the character. Not necessarily detailed, but enough to flesh out the character a bit.