[Dread] Jenga beat up my dice! My results from the indie horror RPG.

[PulpCruciFiction]

If people are curious, and if I haven't already done so earlier in this long thread (!), I'm happy to share an example.

I for one would love to see that! Dread makes a great pickup game, and I think it would be good to have a backlog of ready-to-play scenario outlines to use when the mood strikes. I've been working on a scenario taking place in sixth century Germany for this Halloween - I'll post an outline and questionnaires here when it's finished.

 

[Seonaid]

It's interesting to me that people are saying it's a good "pickup game," since one of the main ideas behind the questionnaires is to include the characters' backstories in the plot. Out of curiosity, for those who have played on short notice, are people just ignoring this aspect of the game, or are they doing it on the fly?

Edit: And for those who have done both, does it make a difference to the game? How intrinsic is the questionnaire to your game(s)?

 

[John Crichton]

It's interesting to me that people are saying it's a good "pickup game," since one of the main ideas behind the questionnaires is to include the characters' backstories in the plot. Out of curiosity, for those who have played on short notice, are people just ignoring this aspect of the game, or are they doing it on the fly?

Edit: And for those who have done both, does it make a difference to the game? How intrinsic is the questionnaire to your game(s)?

I agree. It's a terrible pick-up game. I spent about 2-3 hours coming up with the idea for my last two Dread characters questionnaires.

I guess it could be played on the fly with very little prep by the players but that takes away a ton of the fun. That and how much can you care about your character if you don't invest a little?

 

[Piratecat]

I think it's a superb one-shot, but I can't easily picture having folks fill out the questionnaires at the table. Way too slow for my preference.

 

[Amator]

For those of you looking for the Pendragon version for Dread I think I found it here: Dread - Pendragon.pdf - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

Cheers!

 

[xipetotec]

We played our first time last weekend, and filled out questionnaires at the table. It took my players about a half hour.

 

[PulpCruciFiction]

It's interesting to me that people are saying it's a good "pickup game," since one of the main ideas behind the questionnaires is to include the characters' backstories in the plot. Out of curiosity, for those who have played on short notice, are people just ignoring this aspect of the game, or are they doing it on the fly?

Edit: And for those who have done both, does it make a difference to the game? How intrinsic is the questionnaire to your game(s)?

I guess I should define my terms a bit. By saying it's a good pickup game, I mean that I can spend a few hours designing a scenario and some questionnaires, then pick one up and play it with very little notice to the players. When writing the questionnaires beforehand, you can include elements from the GM side to include in the plot, and then you can integrate some of the players' input into the game on the fly. Also, instead of using the questionnaires to fish for plot elements, you can focus on questions about character relationships, which will drive player conflict and give them something to sink their teeth into and feel that the questionnaires matter to the game without as much improvisation on the GM's part once the session begins.

Is the game deeper if you have some warning so that the players can expand on the questions and then the GM can work that information into the story? Of course. But I find that the game is still great fun with the players filling out the questionnaires just before play, because the Tower mechanic gets the players' hearts pounding on its own, so that the players are invested in making pulls without having to put as much time into the questionnaires.

 

[HyrumOWC]

If people are curious, and if I haven't already done so earlier in this long thread (!), I'm happy to share an example.

I'd love to see an example. I finally got around to picking this up today, mainly on the strength of this thread and your first post way back when.

Hyrum.

 

[Rel]

Last time I played Dread, it took me about 20 minutes to answer the questionnaire. My approach to doing them is that I read the first 3 or 4 questions and then put it down. I picture in my head who the character is that I want to play and when the picture is clear enough I answer the questions the way that the character in my head would do so. Makes it go very quickly after that.

So, for example, the last character I played was in my wife's game, which was based on Snow White. The PC's were the Seven Dwarves. I was Happy. I read a couple of the questions and then paused for a moment. Who is my version of Happy? The answer, of course, is The Dude from The Big Lebowski. So I answered the rest of the questions as I felt The Dude was. And it only took me 20 minutes!

My wife said that my answers were generally shorter and, in her opinion, less well thought out than those of the other players. I'm like, "Hey, man, I'm The Dude!"

 

[John Crichton]

Last time I played Dread, it took me about 20 minutes to answer the questionnaire. My approach to doing them is that I read the first 3 or 4 questions and then put it down. I picture in my head who the character is that I want to play and when the picture is clear enough I answer the questions the way that the character in my head would do so. Makes it go very quickly after that.

So, for example, the last character I played was in my wife's game, which was based on Snow White. The PC's were the Seven Dwarves. I was Happy. I read a couple of the questions and then paused for a moment. Who is my version of Happy? The answer, of course, is The Dude from The Big Lebowski. So I answered the rest of the questions as I felt The Dude was. And it only took me 20 minutes!

My wife said that my answers were generally shorter and, in her opinion, less well thought out than those of the other players. I'm like, "Hey, man, I'm The Dude!"

Slacker!