Over the weekend I was in Edinburgh, a city of old scale and culture. I attended a gaming convention there called Conpulsion.

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This week I had a chance to play a trad game[1] without any prep. Boo. Hiss. More… »

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?”

This week in Playtime I’m going to talk a little about what you shouldn’t do when playing in a game of In a Wicked Age. Specifically, this is about what I shouldn’t do, but since we’re all family here maybe you’ll glean something useful from my mistakes.

Last month we started a game of In a Wicked Age (IaWA), Vincent Baker’s indie RPG of Sword & Sorcery. If you haven’t heard of it, think (Conan + D&D) x Hippies. It’s the type of game that tells interesting, multi-generational stories of heroism and betrayal. Like Dynasty with more punching.

Here’s what I learned.

• Do not ignore the setting
• Do not scheme
• Do not parley
  

How did I make all of these mistakes? I played a lawyer. Have you ever read/watched Conan? Remember the barrister guy from the first story?

I could end this post there, but I’ll expand for clarity. Sword & Sorcery means fighting and magic. It’s all about man-handling and sweatiness. I ignored the setting, chose to play an unusual personality—who belonged in another kind of story—and then mewed against the system when my character didn’t fit. You see, what I really mean when I say “do not ignore the setting” is “the setting is baked into the system.” Like many indie games out there, IaWA is a collection of tight rules aimed at delivering a specific experience. If I try to steer around it, I’m essentially trying to break the rules.

Furthermore, as a lawyer, I tried to scheme. IaWA shines best when players allow for the unexpected. When two players want opposing outcomes, you get this fabulous negotiation which can spit out unforeseen results. “I want to kill the girl!” “You can’t kill her. But let’s say you think she’s dead.” When you plan, you lose your flexibility, and in a game of sex and violence flexibility goes a long way.

Finally, and this jumps back to the first no-no, IaWA is most fun when people are fighting with their bodies, not their words. As a lawyer, you really put yourself in a tough position. However, that’s not the worst of it. You also drag the rest of the group down. When I try to coerce you to do me a favour, I’m bringing Wormtongue to the table. You can’t fight Wormtongue with fists. It’s not interesting. So players end up in conversation. The lowest common denominator.

Having said that, there were lots of things we did right. Maybe I’ll talk about those next week.