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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8417186" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p>[USER=7028554]@Grendel_Khan[/USER]</p><p></p><p>I don't have a ton to add beyond what you've already been given by others. Just a few things:</p><p></p><p>* Players (especially players new to indie games) should read the Best Practices + Position/Effect + Action/Consequence sections of the game at a minimum (preferably the touchstones and rules for Teamwork/Stress/Flashbacks/Loadout/Gambits/Heat/Payoff/Downtime etc as well).</p><p></p><p>* With passive players (particularly players who are passive because of a long history of D&D), the best panacea is "ask (provocative) questions and use the answers." This is the best way to (a) train their cognitive framework to reorient to an active state, (b) help them understand that their answers are the momentum for the trajectory of play, (c) help you understand more clearly what their thematic interests are. </p><p></p><p>* The game should be entirely table-facing, nothing covert, the meta channel open.</p><p></p><p>* Encourage players to understand the rules. Talk about teamwork (Group Move...anybody want to Assist/Setup etc). Tell them the consequences and ask (what they do...if they want to resist...do they want a Devil's Bargain...maybe ask them about their orientation/approach to this obstacle and the potential consequence...ask them about a pressure point that you may squeeze downstream of this).</p><p></p><p>* Start a Clock and Tick it as a Consequence. Telegraph and follow through. Your job is to follow the fiction, put thematic/provocative/sensical obstacles in front of the Crew and react after moves are made and dice come up the way they come up. You need to understand how Factors impact Effect (Scale - how much ground do you have to cover in this cargo hold as you sprint through the laser traps...its huge...alright, Limited Effect and we're setting a 4 Tick Clock to get across...) and manage that well and convey it very clearly to your players. If you don't manage this well and/or don't communicate it well, their decision-points will be arrested by lack of clarity/understanding of what the situation is and how the rules intersect with that and what the stakes are and what resources they should marshal to help themselves (and if they should negotiate Position for Effect, Group move, Setup, Push, Assist, use Gambits, ask for a DB, deploy Gear, use a Flashback, etc).</p><p></p><p>* Reading your excerpt, there are several things that aren't clear to me. Post-mortems are enormously helpful (to yourself and others), but when you write them for FitD games where you're looking for feedback, try to convey information like this:</p><p></p><p>PRIOR FICTION/SETTING - x, y, z happened that are consequential to this play loop.</p><p></p><p>INFORMATION GATHERING - x, y, z happened that impacted the Engagement Roll (which ended up as a 1-3, or 4/5, or 6) and affected the Job thusly.</p><p></p><p>JOB- The gamestate is thus (Job objective, what has transpired to this point in the Job, Clocks in play, what just happened mechanically and the attendant fiction, what questions I asked and what answers I got, how many Gambits in the pool, who the PC's Rival/Friends are and Crew Contacts, PC Vice/Heritage).</p><p></p><p></p><p>[HR][/HR]</p><p></p><p>All of this stuff is interconnected and flows downstream/upstream from each other so providing/having clarity on these things is important when doing a post-mortem on your S&V game.</p><p></p><p>EDIT - The other thing I would do is watch people who are proficient run/play the game. That should help a lot. The players in my game are starting to feel like exhibitionists because I keep inviting people to watch us play so they can understand how these games are played!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 8417186, member: 6696971"] [USER=7028554]@Grendel_Khan[/USER] I don't have a ton to add beyond what you've already been given by others. Just a few things: * Players (especially players new to indie games) should read the Best Practices + Position/Effect + Action/Consequence sections of the game at a minimum (preferably the touchstones and rules for Teamwork/Stress/Flashbacks/Loadout/Gambits/Heat/Payoff/Downtime etc as well). * With passive players (particularly players who are passive because of a long history of D&D), the best panacea is "ask (provocative) questions and use the answers." This is the best way to (a) train their cognitive framework to reorient to an active state, (b) help them understand that their answers are the momentum for the trajectory of play, (c) help you understand more clearly what their thematic interests are. * The game should be entirely table-facing, nothing covert, the meta channel open. * Encourage players to understand the rules. Talk about teamwork (Group Move...anybody want to Assist/Setup etc). Tell them the consequences and ask (what they do...if they want to resist...do they want a Devil's Bargain...maybe ask them about their orientation/approach to this obstacle and the potential consequence...ask them about a pressure point that you may squeeze downstream of this). * Start a Clock and Tick it as a Consequence. Telegraph and follow through. Your job is to follow the fiction, put thematic/provocative/sensical obstacles in front of the Crew and react after moves are made and dice come up the way they come up. You need to understand how Factors impact Effect (Scale - how much ground do you have to cover in this cargo hold as you sprint through the laser traps...its huge...alright, Limited Effect and we're setting a 4 Tick Clock to get across...) and manage that well and convey it very clearly to your players. If you don't manage this well and/or don't communicate it well, their decision-points will be arrested by lack of clarity/understanding of what the situation is and how the rules intersect with that and what the stakes are and what resources they should marshal to help themselves (and if they should negotiate Position for Effect, Group move, Setup, Push, Assist, use Gambits, ask for a DB, deploy Gear, use a Flashback, etc). * Reading your excerpt, there are several things that aren't clear to me. Post-mortems are enormously helpful (to yourself and others), but when you write them for FitD games where you're looking for feedback, try to convey information like this: PRIOR FICTION/SETTING - x, y, z happened that are consequential to this play loop. INFORMATION GATHERING - x, y, z happened that impacted the Engagement Roll (which ended up as a 1-3, or 4/5, or 6) and affected the Job thusly. JOB- The gamestate is thus (Job objective, what has transpired to this point in the Job, Clocks in play, what just happened mechanically and the attendant fiction, what questions I asked and what answers I got, how many Gambits in the pool, who the PC's Rival/Friends are and Crew Contacts, PC Vice/Heritage). [HR][/HR] All of this stuff is interconnected and flows downstream/upstream from each other so providing/having clarity on these things is important when doing a post-mortem on your S&V game. EDIT - The other thing I would do is watch people who are proficient run/play the game. That should help a lot. The players in my game are starting to feel like exhibitionists because I keep inviting people to watch us play so they can understand how these games are played! [/QUOTE]
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