Pacing in games. Justin and I talk about mechanics and techniques we have used for pacing our games. These range from dice mechanics, to actual timers and at the end a discussion of player created urgency in the Sons of Liberty.

Hosts: Sean Nittner and Justin Evans

Length: 30:20 Minutes

Liner Notes

[00:30] Show Introduction - Pacing Mechanics.
[01:24] RPGpodcast.com bumper
[01:42] Definition of Pacing. A couple useless ones first.
[02:00] Controlling the urgency in the game upping the stakes.
[03:19] Preventing analysis paralysis and encouraging immersion.
[03:47] Pacing built into most games, usually in combat systems. Something we are all familiar with.
[04:32] The same hit point system most gamers are familiar with from Dungeons and Dragons are used in Burning Empires to represent Disposition.
[05:47] Situation: Disarming a bomb in Spirit of the Century. Creating pacing for a non-combat conflict to create urgency.
[07:48] Another SotC mechanic extended skill challenge.
[08:15] How Justin used an extended skill challenge in a Firefly game to represent the race to find an outlaw before he was caught by a bounty hunter.
[10:42] Using props as a visual aid to represent margin of success and chance of failure.
[11:11] Skill Challenges in 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons are very similar.
[12:10] This form of pacing comes form game mechanics.
[13:00] Bringing in outside elements. Sand timers, egg timers. Not giving players enough time to analyze all the information available.
[13:50] Introducing a mini game as a spotlight moment.
[14:45] How Justin escalated things even further, causing distractions.
[15:58] Potential backfire? Does this still work if the characters fail?
[16:37] Using a timer in My Life with Joker to trigger random events.
[18:24] Ding! Ding! Ding! A bank blows up!
[18:57] An extreme example in John Wick's Play Dirty.
[19:44] Applying the mechanics as in game effects. In a Matrix game "Time is always against you."
[20:49] Doom in Roanoke. Affects narration of end game.
[21:42] Sean was disappointed there wasn't more doom.
[21:52] Pace set by the players in Sons of Liberty
[28:54] Pacing is game agnostic. Try it out.
[29:04] Another RPGPodcasts.com bumper
[29:09] Show Recap
[29:50] Let us know what you think: narrativecontrol@gmail.com

Links

RPGpodcast.com
Dungeons and Dragons
Burning Empires
Spirit of the Century
My Life with Master
Play Dirty
Roanoke
Sons of Liberty

Direct Download: NC_Episode_008.mp3

Sean's been itching to do a podcast on planning and running convention games. These questions will fit in quite nicely. It may be a little bit until we can record that episode since we just finished a batch of topics that still need to 'air'.

I agree, pacing is a big part of running one-shots (especially at cons). One way to let the off the railroad for a bit is to give them some say in how they interact with their environment (or even letting them help define that environment). The Gumshoe system does a good job at this. It suggests that the GM create a kind of flow chart (which may not be a straight line) of clues or plot points in advance and how each might be encountered. Its up to the players to look at their character's expertise and decide how they want to investigate the clues. For example in a criminal investigation knowing how a victim died may lead them to the next plot point. That information might be available by either investigating the crime scene and analyzing the blood spray patterns (can you tell I've been watching Dexter?) or you could perform an autopsy. Either way the characters could interact with different NPCs in different environments to get the same info and direction to the next plot point.

More later after Sean and I have had a chance to bat it around.

Heya, glad to see you here.

As Justin said I've been itching to talk about con games. The problem is frankly, the subject is too big. I started writing up bullet points and the list quickly became huge.

• Player aids:
1.Provide everything a player needs (dice, cards, character sheets, rule summaries, etc)
2.Make sure that all relevant rules are on character sheets or reference sheets.
3.Make sure the character sheets are easy to read (legible and easy to navigate)
4.Provide props (separate segment)
• Preparing
1.Develop a central threat/agenda that will engage all of the players
2.Consider the initial conflict of the game and where it can go.
3.Play test the game with your local group
• Using simpler/lighter systems that have a short learning curve.
1. Examples: PTA, Wushu, House of the Blooded.
2. Options for taking rich settings and using simpler systems. Examples: Wuxalted (Exalted/Wushu), Firefly/Fate
• Use settings and situations that are familiar to a large audience.
1. A very large audience understand Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Tolkien. Having something (even if its only an inspiration) from some commonly know story will help your players understand what the game is about.
• Consider that every con game is also a demo of the system for many players.
1. Focus on teaching the system
2. Try to show off what is cool about the game

more...

My thought is that we'll have to break this up into several segments and split them across shows. I like the idea of having something out before DundraCon. In fact, if we do end up doing several convention game segments, we might hold back a bit and release one before each con. hmm...

Hey Kevin,

That was my bad (are the kids still saying that?). The challenge ladder system that I was thinking of at the time was actually inspired by the following FATE 2.0 doc:

http://www.faterpg.com/dl/Fate-SRD-2005-03-31.rtf

Specifically check out:
3. Playing the Game
3.1.3 Customizing Challenges
Example: Word on the Street

I actually use the idea of a challenge ladder in most of my games now...FATE/SOTC or not.

Thanks for calling that out!

Justin

Kevin,

Spycraft (the original version) had some cool chase rules where people picked moves that interacted in fun ways. You could also take the conflict system from Mouseguard. I think it has a "chase" conflict and even if it doesn't, they are really easy to create.

Sean

Here's something that can be applied to a variety of systems (SotC comes to mind)...

http://community.wizards.com/makeshiftwings/blog/2010/01/22/alternatives_to_skill_challenges:__the_chase

Hi, thanks everyone for the pointers.

As luck would have it, Spycraft was included in the DriveThruRPG Haiti Relief bundle. I like the list of maneuvers that give both sides interesting choices.

> "Dude! Chase rules are my Holy Grail!"
Indeed, that's quite a wish list for chase scenes. I am realizing that a whole separate resolution sub-system is needed to make solid chases.

Well now you've got my gears turning...