26th
Feb10
By Sebastian Hickey
How should you play In a Wicked Age (IaWA)?
In this week’s Playtime I’m looking at the silent partners of IaWA, the unmentioned Do’s of the game that aren’t explicit in the game rules, or tricks at the table that season the experience of play.
Game Play
Desire
Go into every scene wanting something specifically from somebody else. It’s less important to think of how you’re going to get it than it is to know what you want.
Characters are opportunities
Assume that whatever you want, no matter how big or small, is being withheld by another character. Find that person and take it.
Collective Storytelling
Everyone pitch ideas during scene framing. Once in a while, every few scenes, it’s nice to paint a collective backdrop, or even a montage, using the round-robin method.
I say “It’s night time at the gallows,” you say, “a drunk is vomiting against a wall,” he says, “two watchmen are shoving a girl down a dark alley,” she says, “in the window of a high watchtower, a man snuffs out his candle.”
Brevity
Unless you’ve got a grand plan, keep your scenes brief. The more scenes the better, at least until you build narrative momentum. The interesting scenes will organically beget conflict while the less important ones will colour, and each will be apportioned the appropriate duration.
World Building
Expectation
Colour the backdrop. You don’t need to explore every minutiae but it’s useful, for example, to highlight the tone, mood and theme of your setting before play begins. It answers important questions like “is this about betrayal?” and “do they have lasers?”
Invert the Cliché
Inevitably, you or a friend will suggest a cliché. Don’t disregard it offhand. Take apart the components and turn it upside-down.
I say, “there’s a princess held captive by a dragon,” you say, “what if the dragon was being held captive by the princess?” he says, “what if the dragon was dying and it was the last female alive?” she says, “what if the princess was eating her scales to give herself eternal youth, and the dragon is now mangy and ill treated?”
I think a lot of this is relevant for every role playing game. Especially if you are unsure about your character and are starting off a game. Simplicity is the best. If you know what your character wants it will directly influence every action and everything you say.
I agree that a lot of this is transferable, especially within the indie scene. For example, I like to use the cliché inversion in every kind of world building whether I’m on my own (running a trad game) or pooling with others. However, the Characters are Opportunities issue, I think, is particularly relevant to IaWA more than any other game I’ve played.