[Out There] First session playtest

[tavernbman]

I responded to a call for playtesters for a new rpg here and received Out There, a new rpg designed to emulate mystery TV shows. David Berg, the author, has the game for sale here for $1. He posted a playtest and has also posted on Story Games Forum. Relevant posts here and here. Unfortunately my schedule changed and I did not have the time to finish the playtest of the game but I contacted David and he would like me to post the experience so there could be public discussion for the game. The following describes our first session with some questions and comments for David.

We decided to create a show that was 90% investigation and 10% action. It would focus on two private paranormal investigators who would consult for the police, government agencies, and clients. Based in Orlando, FL(to be near amusement parks). There would be a strong supernatural presence.

I was Ash Tennyson.My reason was to prove existence of the paranormal and supernatural because my strict father was a spirit debunker who travelled the world discrediting paranormal or supernatural explanations for various events. He raised me to continue his work but I seek to validate these things rather than discredit them. My talent was being very observant(like the main character in Psych). My background, already covered in the reason, is raised by a strict father to take over the family business as a spirit debunker. My CAN is 1.

My daughter created Shiela Hoffenglossen. Her reason to solve paranormal mysteries was that she was raised by ghosts in Australia and seeks her American parents. She feels more comfortable with animals and ghosts than with real people. Her talent is she can communicate with animals and ghosts and can play the didgeridoo. Background-raised by ghosts in Australia until she was eighteen, when she came to America to find her real parents. CAN 2.

We rolled our dice and got 2,5. We decided Shiela would be approached in the office by a night security guard from Sea World(to tie into her talent to communicate with animals) who wanted to hire us to prove that he did not commit a series of thefts (gate recipts, personal items of the employees, park supplies) that had occurred during his shifts. He has been interviewed by the police and is worried he will be the prime suspect. He thinks something supernatural is going on because if it was natural, he would have been able to catch the culprit in the act. A new manager is coming down hard on him, threatening to fire him. When asked, he states that surveillance cameras that shoulod show the crimes being committed show the scene as normal, then a brief period of static and white noise, and when the picture resumes the items are gone. We wrapped up the scene with Shiela accepting the case. We rolled dice for the clues. My daughter won and decided on the question "what made the security cameras malfunction at the time of the robberies?" We put a story token on it and I added one more.

We rolled for the next scene and got 4,6. Unfortunately we ran out of time and had to stop. I did have a question. If none of the characters show up in scenes do you just go with that even if scene after scene may not include them? Or maybe a rule that you may not have more than two consecutive scenes without a character? I suppose one way to avoid this would be to give multiple CANs to each character so there would be a decreased chance of not hitting on a character's CAN.

We like the game but struggled a little bit coming up with things. My daughter had just finished her final exams and we were both a little burned out when we tried to play. I am looking forward to the Beyond Club SG supplement to the game. I may make my own deck from Once Upon a Time Cards. Without them, the game was a little too freeform for us and we struggled coming up with things. I think the game would be very fun with more players and more spontaneously creative players than we(then again any game would be more fun with more spontaneously creative players).

I agree with your post on the story game forums that examples are great and would liked to have seen more. We hope to finish the game but our scedules may not permit it for awhile. I am sorry I could not be more helpful. The change in my schedule was unexpected and I thought I would have more time to spend with your game. I wish you the best of luck with it and will keep an eye out for the Club SG supplement(unless that post was more of an inside joke and the supplement is vaporware- in which case I will make my own decks to enhance play). As always it seems to be a case of so many games, so little time.

[David Berg]

Hi Chris,

I really like the way you set this up.

Ash's position as rebelling against his father's debunking m.o. is brilliant, as every skeptical NPC you run into is an opportunity to express this component of Ash's character.

Shiela's relationship with ghosts allows all sorts of ambiguity about good/bad supernatural vs good/bad normal people. Plus, hearing a ghost might give you guys a nice option if you're stuck in a Resolution scene and not sure how to reveal the next truth.

I'd never thought of "amusement parks" as a key setting element, but I love it -- so much opportunity for things going awry in creepy ways!

Originally Posted by tavernbman

We rolled our dice and got 2,5. We decided Shiela would be approached in the office by a night security guard from Sea World(to tie into her talent to communicate with animals) who wanted to hire us to prove that he did not commit a series of thefts (gate recipts, personal items of the employees, park supplies) that had occurred during his shifts. He has been interviewed by the police and is worried he will be the prime suspect. He thinks something supernatural is going on because if it was natural, he would have been able to catch the culprit in the act. A new manager is coming down hard on him, threatening to fire him. When asked, he states that surveillance cameras that should show the crimes being committed show the scene as normal, then a brief period of static and white noise, and when the picture resumes the items are gone.

I'm curious -- how much of this did you establish before beginning the first scene? In my own playtest, with 4 players and 4 dice being rolled, we had a nice big pile of Hooks ready before Scene 1. I wonder if your smaller amount of starting info made it harder to latch onto stuff in Scene 1...?

I only ask because of your comment about struggling to come up with stuff. I'm wondering if it might be wise to set a minimum number of Story Hooks, or a minimum number of total Hooks.

Originally Posted by tavernbman

We wrapped up the scene with Shiela accepting the case. We rolled dice for the clues. My daughter won and decided on the question "what made the security cameras malfunction at the time of the robberies?" We put a story token on it and I added one more.

If you ever get to finish, I'd love to see how that resolves. My group actually had a hard time turning elements (malfunctioning security cameras) into questions (what caused it?). As we created the Clues, we felt that open-endedness was conducive to ongoing development; but in the end, our lack of concrete questions might have made the Resolution stage harder.

Here's a question: did you have other scene elements that could easily have become Clues, or was the camera glitch the one, obvious option?

In my playtest, things really got rolling once we really digested "you can never have too many potential Clues!" and just started filling scenes with them. But we didn't get that at all until after our first scene.

Originally Posted by tavernbman

We rolled for the next scene and got 4,6. Unfortunately we ran out of time and had to stop. I did have a question. If none of the characters show up in scenes do you just go with that even if scene after scene may not include them?

Yep! (3rd sentence on p. 10)

Originally Posted by tavernbman

Or maybe a rule that you may not have more than two consecutive scenes without a character? I suppose one way to avoid this would be to give multiple CANs to each character so there would be a decreased chance of not hitting on a character's CAN.

The random nature of who might be in each scene is one of the unique things about Out There. Whether it's more cool or annoying is probably a matter of taste. I think your second solution is a perfect way to customize the odds for a given session. If the players want most scenes to involve the player characters, assign extra CANs.

On the other hand, maybe the players are in the mood to churn out an episode that really delves into the victims or villains, giving them more "screen time" than the PCs! (So 2 CANs out of 6 potential die roll results might be perfect!) I can think of some great X-Files episodes that spend a lot of time following around some shady badguy who slowly reveals his supernatural nature.

An interesting note is that, because die rolls don't constrain NPC presence, you actually have a bit MORE control in determining "who's the focus of this scene" when the PCs are NOT present.

Originally Posted by tavernbman

I am looking forward to the Beyond Club SG supplement to the game. I may make my own deck from Once Upon a Time Cards.

If you do do this, and are pondering the best way to integrate them, let me know and I'll be happy to chime in with suggestions! Alas, Beyond Club SG has been delayed due to the designer's health problems.

Originally Posted by tavernbman

the game was a little too freeform for us and we struggled coming up with things.

I've been pondering adding more structure to the process of player contributions. For example, first player describes the basic facts of a scene's who/when/where, second player elaborates on one detail, third player says "but" and throws in a twist, etc. Can you guess whether a structure like this might have been helpful to you? Or do you think your trouble inventing stuff is mostly about content and not structure?

In my experience, content gets easier as you play on, with each scene building on previous scenes and Clues. The structure, on the other hand, remains freeform.

Originally Posted by tavernbman

I agree with your post on the story game forums that examples are great and would liked to have seen more.

If I have my way, future editions of the game will go farther in this direction.

Thanks a ton for writing this, man! Don't feel any need to hurry to respond to all my questions; whenever you get to it is fine.

(For anyone else reading, though: the $1 sale ends Jan. 31!)

Ps,
-David