Agendas: BRILLIANT
Okay, I'm not normally one to toot my own horn, but I thought I might really be on to something with my idea for "Agenda" questions (two posts back), and after running "Beneath the Full Moon" again with some Agendas, I'm convinced:
Agendas Rock!
Here is my tweaked set of questions for Beneath the Full Moon, reduced all the way down to six + one interpersonal question, which was handed out after character introductions (it was a casual game with non-gamers, so I figured I'd ease them in with as little prep as I could). The "agendas" are clearly marked, and all six of them created marvelous interaction between players that might otherwise have struggled to find "hooks" to latch onto the story:
The Philosophy Major
- "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy," wrote Shakespeare. What does your philosophy include that a modern-day Horatio wouldn't dream of?
- What favorite hobby did you use to pursue, but gave up when you came to college?
- You joined a fraternity/sorority, and while you've enjoyed the experience overall, one initiation rite crossed the line into hazing. How does it still haunt you?
- Now that the guide is incapacitated, what will you be doing or saying to subtly manipulate the others into treating you as the leader?
- What's the worst thing you've ever done to a loved one?
- You know something that no one else does. This knowledge has convinced you that, without your guide, you're all going to die unless rescuers find you. What is it that you know?
- Who among the others are you fiercely protective of, and why?
[AGENDA: This character survives the story, even if you do not.]
The Economics Major
- You majored in economics mostly to spite your controlling father. What degree had he planned for you?
- What item did you bring on this trip, despite it being forbidden? (Technological devices, additional survival gear, dangerous items, drugs, and alcohol are forbidden. Some other item may have been forbidden, too: This is entirely up to you!)
- While the brochure did describe this trip as “challenging”… you wish you’d realized they meant physical challenges! How are you dealing with your physical limitations?
- You intend to be the leader of this group, now that the guide is incapacitated. How will you go about taking control, and why do you expect the others will follow you?
[AGENDA: You are elected group leader by a majority vote before the end of the story.]
- How did your parents die?
- On Monday and Wednesday nights, you were awakened by what sounded like an animal prowling your camp. What did you see when you peeked out of your tent, and why didn't you tell the others?
- Which of the others don't you trust, and why?
The Freshman
- It's your first year, and you've yet to choose a major. What two degrees are you unable to decide between?
- What's so great about being 19 years old on an adventure camping trip like this?
- What skill do you have that would be very helpful in this situation, but that you intend to keep secret from the others? Why do you feel the need to keep it a secret?
[AGENDA: Keep this skill a secret throughout the story. (Write me a note if you want to use this skill without the others noticing.)]
- What is that pendant around your neck, and what does it mean to you?
- If you die on this trip, you know it will be karmic retribution for something you've done in your past. What did you do?
- Though you're sure the rest of the group would dismiss it if you told them, you're convinced the guide was attacked by a werewolf. Why do you believe in werewolves?
- Which member of the group would you trust the most with your life, and why? Which member of the group do you never want to be left alone with, and why?
The English Major
- You chose your major to challenge yourself... but why was English the most challenging major for you?
- What book have you read more than twenty times? How has it proven helpful on a trip like this?
- What do you think you are much better at than you really are?
- Why do you think you would make the best leader of this group, now that the guide is incapacitated?
- If you die on this trip, you will go to Hell unless you redeem yourself for what sin?
- What specific task did the guide give you to do before you all went to sleep on the night he was attacked? Did you do it?
- (For this question, choose EITHER: the Fashion Design Major, the Freshman, or the Engineering Major.) Your chosen character is hiding something. You sense it, but you don't yet know what it is. How do you intend to learn their secret?
[AGENDA: Tell me their secret at the end of the story.]
The Fashion Design Major
- How is a major in Fashion Design a lot harder than people think?
- What skill do you have that makes you the MOST useful person to have on an adventure camping trip like this one?
- On the first night, the guide confiscated the illegal painkillers you've been addicted to for almost as long as you can remember. What withdrawal symptoms are you experiencing, and how are you hiding them from the others?
- Why are you living under a false name and a faked identity, having cut all ties to your former life?
- What's the most regrettable thing you've ever done due to being drunk?
- What sentence did you add to the "Tourist Warnings" section of Wikipedia's "Grand Canyon" article before coming on this trip?
- Who among the others do you think would make the best leader? Other than the Freshman, who among the others do you think would make the worst leader?
[AGENDA: Your choice for "best leader" is formally recognized by the group as leader before the end of the story.]
The Engineering Major
- You've known since high school that you wanted to be an engineer. What kind of engineering are you studying? (mechanical, computer, chemical, civil, mining, metallurgical, aerospace, etc.)
- Parts of this trip are harder for you because of what phobia?
- As a child, you went camping with your family frequently, and you enjoyed it. So why haven’t you been camping in more than 8 years?
- Why is it so important to you that the group treat you as leader, now that the guide is incapacitated?
- While on this trip, you realized that you don’t want to be an engineer. What happened to change your mind?
- You were the first person to reach the guide's tent after hearing sounds of the attack. What did you see when you got there, and why haven't you told the others?
- What did you secretly do to one of the members of the group yesterday, and why are you now beginning to regret it?
[AGENDA: Undo what you did, or solve the problem you created, without your victim finding out.]
The agendas were nothing more than empty incentives, like getting a gold star on your homework, and they worked perfectly. Whether you survived the story or not, you could satisfy your agenda and feel like your character accomplished that "extra something."
In hindsight, the Engineer's agenda was probably the most prone to problems---after all, the Engineering Major could have gamed things by picking something really easy to undo. I was lucky to have a great Eng player who played along by writing "I stole the most valuable item I could find in the backpacks I rustled through last night while everyone was asleep," which ended up being the group's only compass, so it worked out beautifully---he kept pulling "to see if anyone is watching me", and played chicken with anyone willing to pull to be observant until everyone else backed down. He won his gold star
The English Major never figured out her chosen mark's secret (the Freshman): Some of her possible targets had multiple secrets; I was going to give her the "gold star" if she told me any of them (for the Freshman, she could have gone for the obvious "secret skill", or the karmic retribution sin, or the reasons underpinning his werewolf belief). Regardless, her attempts were consistently fantastic: the Freshman was convinced she was in love with him by the end of the story, even proposing that this was her Agenda! (In case you're wondering, I limited her choices to three because I thought the Philosophy Major and the Economics Major's secrets would be too difficult to suss out; I anticipated more skulking about and spying, whereas the English Major took a delightfully unexpected "you can confide your secrets in me" approach which, in hindsight, would have worked for any of them.)
The Freshman's "secret skill" was the fact that he was a medical prodigy who, after suffering through med school as a young teenager, decided to pretend to be your average dumb 19-year-old to enjoy his college years. There were at least three great scenes of him insisting on carrying or watching over the guide, stealing the first aid kit, and pulling to administer sneaky medical aid. Sneaky medical aid! Rofl! He won his gold star
But best of all was the perfect trifecta that built up around the Philosophy Major (PM), the Fashion Design Major (FDM), and the Economics Major (EM). For their Agendas, PM chose to be protective of FDM, while FDM chose PM as best leader. EM, whose Agenda demanded he be elected leader, was a brilliant little manipulator (for being my baby brother IRL, sheesh...): He cleverly implied that he alone possessed knowledge that no one else did, and threatened to keep it to himself "because it's the only way I have to keep this group from tearing itself apart." This suckered in the PM's player beautifully (since she actually
did have a question giving her knowledge no one else did, so was primed to believe something similar appeared on the EM's Questionnaire---metagaming can be a truly beautiful thing... especially when it's completely wrong!). This resulted in FDM fishing for reasons for PM to be leader, which forced PM to juggle giving FDM those reasons so she wouldn't appear totally nuts to the other players (PM being forced to protect her, after all), while at the same time not giving too many reasons lest she compete with EM's leadership bid (she genuinely bought into EM's empty threat about secret knowledge). PM ended up dying before this could really come to a head, but there was enough great roleplay between the three of them (with the other players throwing in enough that I wasn't worried about a one-sided show), that I consider their Agendas a complete success. Only FDM didn't earn her gold star; FDM survived, giving PM hers, and EM was elected leader, winning his.
(Sorry if that last paragraph was confusing; I've read it a few times and edited it for sensicalness---which should SO be a real word---but I'm trying to balance brevity with clarity here!)
Though I've only played Dread twice, with two completely different groups of players (and only the second game had Agendas), and only running Beneath the Full Moon... I will be using Agendas in every single Dread game I run from now on. They absolutely SANG, investing every player in the story and fueling more incredible storytelling than anything I could have offered as host! I can only imagine how much fun it can be to read a really juicy Agenda, rub your hands together, and start plotting how you're going to accomplish it... can't wait to take malcolypse's advice and convince someone to run a Dread game for me!