The Trouble With Role-Playing Games...

[jamesq]

...They're not scripted. That is to say, plots that would work good in some sort of media just don't work that well in an interactive setting.

Take today's Star Wars game. First some background. The game was initially set during the events of the Revenge of the Sith (though we didn't really take part in any of it). Now it's moved (slightly into the era between episode 3 and episode 4. Our characters are padawan who've managed to escape Order 66.

My character, Baz, was originally a street urchin from Nar Shadaa. He grew up learning how to steal and was found by a failed jedi named Nagif, who recognized his force potential and taught him a few tricks to make him a better crook. Eventually he stole some bling off one of the Local Hutt (Durga) and got caught. His force powers were revealed and Durga sold Baz to the Jedi (who have a long standing arrangement with the Hutt to "buy" force-sensitive children. This becomes important in today's adventure.

But I really should introduce the other characters. First, there's Ikrit (not to be confused with this other Ikrit, even though they're both Kushiban). Little Bunny Foo Foo is actually a pocket cuisinart, and is probably the deadliest of the four PCs. He's played by Brain.

Next, there's Damaya, a Miraluca Jedi and our Pilot. Damaya is played by stephtopia.

Rounding us out is Callero, spookiemonkie2's character. Callero was a foundling, raised in the Jedi Temple. He was left there when he was two by people unknown. Having been raised in a monastery, he's a little bewildered by the big bad world. He is also an ass kicker. Not knowing about his past is also a big part of this episode.

So there we were on Nar Shadaa, a place where I'm persona-non-grata. Here's where not following the script can really screw you up. Here's what I suspect was supposed to happen:

1) I get captured by a local bounty hunter, who spotted me and knows that Durga the Hutt has a price on my head.
2) I get taken to Durga where threats are made and I get thrown into a holding cell or something, no doubt because I would have sassed Durga.
3) During that time I encounter one of Durga's slaves - Mellera - who bears an uncanny resemblance to Callero, and also has no knowledge of her past.
4) I escape and with the help of the other PCs, we steal/rescue/liberate Mellera and get the hell out of Dodge.

Here's what actually happened.

1) I managed to talk the bounty hunter into letting me go using the old these-aren't-the-droids-you're-looking-for trick. Here's where things went off the rails.

I didn't actually think this would be successful - I figured it would be a humourously in-character bit for me to try the mind trick on the bounty hunter and fail. Then I rolled spectacularly well!

Since there was no way for me to get yanked towards Durga's tender mercies - and we were all on full-on Paranoid Player Character Alert, garething (our GM if you hadn't figured that out yet) had to come up with some other way for us to meet Mellera.

So he invented a "spot her on the street" encounter which was OK. She was still a slave, but it wasn't Durga's slave - it was just some guy. We ended up "borrowing" her for awhile that almost immediately turned permanent. It all worked out OK because we came away from the adventure with what we needed (a new character who's force-sensitive, but has a different set of skills that complements the other PCs. But it wasn't quite as cinematic as it could have been. If I were writing the scene for something non-RPG-like, it would have been much more like the plot outlined above, rather then the one we actually ended up experiencing.

The sad part is, had I realized all this earlier, I would have swam with the flow of the plot, but it didn't actually occure to me until hours after we finished playing.

Poor garething - he spent all that time writing up stats for Durga the Hutt.

Comments

[bungle-lord.livejournal.com]

And the elf lad ran from the room with his guitar in hand leaving a perplexed human lass in his wake.

[jamesq]

Hell, I'd be willing to just redo the last game session from the point where I try to put the whammy on Necor. spookiemonkie2 would be up for it too if it meant fighting his way out of a Hutt's palace!

[jamesq]

Ahh, good times.

My bad

[(Anonymous)]

But I really should introduce the other characters. First, there's Ikrit (not to be confused with this other Ikrit, even though they're both Kushiban). Little Bunny Foo Foo is actually a pocket cuisinart, and is probably the deadliest of the four PCs. He's played by Brain.


I read that whole entry and the only thing I thought of was iCrit. A new fangled genetically altered pet from Apple which you can download purtones from itunes, and just plug the special white-cabled lap-phones into the ass.

Of course, that's just me.