I had a chance to do another playtest and this time I took the time to write down an Actual Play of our first session.
You can have a look here, if you want to read it: http://www.story-games.com/forums/discussion/19950/actual-play-of-the-city-of-judas-with-players-new-to-pbta-games
Great AP Davide Pignedoli.
The only thing that still bother me in CoJ is the first mission. We already discussed the matter, so I don’t want to push too much, but I like to know the impressions from the playtesters about this.
As I already said to Davide, I feel the first mission structure more traditional and a little railroading than the possibility that the *world framework could exploit.
I guess that more traditional players, used to a little of railroading, would have no particular issue with that, but for my taste the first mission structure is much less engaging that a first session of DW. I mean that there is a lot that must be bring forward from the GM and little involvement from the PC history and players taste.
Mind that I am a lazy GM, so I speak for the sake of limiting the workload of the GM.
So I would like to know the opinions of the community about that, and also, because I don’t want to be only a prickle, I will propose you a simple hack of the first mission rules
Andrea Mognon thanks for the feedback. I know the mission feels more traditional(ish) and rail-road(ish) but it is usually not prepared in advance. It tries to bring forward the best of the playbooks, a sort of a tutorial you’d have in a videogame, but more elaborate.
To me, the key is that this sort of “labor” performed by the characters is the key for the Players to get attached to them. Like watching a tv show about cops: in the pilot you can only get a glimpse of the drama and such, but sure as hell you will see them solving a case and somehow clarifying their roles (who’s the though guy, the smart ass, the romantic, the drunk, and so on).
I do understand your concerns about the “lazy” GM syndrome because I suffer of the same disease 🙂 and I am glad I have it. With that in mind, I’ve put in the manual a lot of material for the GM, including material for fronts and pre-made monsters; this means less work.
To give you an idea of how our adventure was born: they picked a hunter and a sorcerer, and there’s the background of the hunter’s village being destroyed by monsters. So I sent them to a village in trouble. While they investigated, it was the hunter picking up a trail; so I went with a monster. If the sorcerer was more active, maybe he would have found cultists or similar. The lion man stats were picked right from the manual, and so it was for the struggle with Eban. They used brute force against Eban but the sorcerer had enough time to try charming him or such, if he wanted.
Having said all that: I also do care about what the other people that played the game felt about missions!
Richard Sardinas for example, how did you feel about the mission part, as the GM?
And Andrea Mognon I will wait eagerly for any hack you have to propose! I am very curious to see where my work can lead others, and what your imagination will gift us with! (sounds sarcastic, but I am being honest here, I swear!)
Yeah the first mission was a little railroady, but I usually try to allow the players a lot of leeway on where they can go, and what they can do. I did have a mission planned that came from a client, and that included a small dungeon. I had several pre-planned encounters, but I did have to improv quite a bit as the players went off the rails a little bit, and I had to cut short the game since we were going over time. The players ended up screwing over the client, which if we continue playing, will come back to haunt them.
Unfortunately my group doesn’t seem to like sandbox games very much so there has to be an underlying theme. This usually leads to lightly rail-roaded games with a preset ending. So this really isn’t a problem for us, but in my gut I would really like to play something that’s just open-ended with no preset resolution.
The actual play report was pretty neat. I agree with you that while you can do monster of the week, because of the character background elements, you can do so much more. I think a MotW could work as long as there is an overarching plot, kind of like the show Supernatural.
I also think this game gives a different vibe than basic Apocalypse World, and even Dungeon World. I do think that this game is not as open ended as AW and that’s fine. There is something bigger in this world, something more epic.
Richard Sardinas thanks for all your feedback! If you want something really open-ended, perhaps look at the manual where it suggests vague missions (i.e. diplomatic missions where it’s unclear who’s on who’s side and why and what they have to gain etc…).
They still have some focus (i.e. gain the friendship of a noble, pacify a situation, negotiate a truce…) to avoid leaving the Players in an empty blank void, but I believe leave much more space for the GM to enjoy unexpected turns of events as much as the Players.
I hope the City of Judas is not just Monster of the Week in the middle age 🙂
I think the Taint Tracker and demons give it some epic focus – as you said – and the religious touch can really get players involved (hopefully without offending anybody…).
Let’s see also what Andrea Mognon suggests with his hack: he is seldom wrong and I trust his judgement (with a grain of salt: perhaps his players are more used than my friends to a more collaborative approach…)
Tanks for the praise Davide Pignedoli, but it will be something really simple. 😉 also at the moment I do not have chance to do a proper playtest, so take it as only a suggestion