Post by Chris Chinn on Nov 13, 2011 10:52:19 GMT -8
I got to run a one-shot of Inspectres last night. I always have a good time, but I've had a couple of speedbumps along the way and last night was perfectly smooth.
Inspectres is the rpg that's basically, "What if Ghostbusters was a modern start-up?", and hijinks ensue. The rules are very light, and the big thing is that players can narrate the results of actions, which means if you're looking up turn-of-the-century architecture in the library and roll high, you get to tell me, the GM what the heck you found.
Which means there's no pre-planned story or mystery to solve - the mystery is created collaboratively as well as how to solve it during play.
Startup Culture
So, one of the things I've found makes it work better depends on how well the group keys into mixing Office Space with Ghostbusters. All the ways in which a workplace gets focused on the things that ultimately don't matter to a job, the ironies and ridiculousness of it all.
Last night's game involved the son of a rich businessman being the founder of this franchise, and having absolutely no clue how to run a business but absolutely sure he was rocking it like a Mountain Dew commercial. Their janky office was in a rented space that clearly had seen 5 other start-ups pass through in the last year alone - a hodgepodge of posters on the wall, 8 routers linked to each other because everyone was afraid of resetting anything, and a company kitchen that consisted of a picnic cooler full of Tab. (Probably Diet Tab).
There's an interesting duality to characters I see that tends to show up - either the earnest-but-clueless type, or the aware slacker just trying to get through the workweek. I've seen games where people try to create the badass monster hunter or the serious Lovecraft-style investigator, but neither one really fits. A lot of the game is the character interactions and the hilarity of them playing off each other, which the serious characters don't do well.
Getting people on the same page
Part of what made last night work a lot better was me not talking about mechanics or rules until it came time to using them. It let people focus on the situation and the characters, and that worked well. I think a lot of players end up overthinking the mechanics when you give it to them early, and Inspectres rules are so light, that it's really not important as much as the character choices.
We were lucky enough someone printed out the pregenerated character stats, which I think should be standard operating procedure for this game. Ultimately the stats aren't that big of a deal, so just giving people some basic templates works well and saves a ot of time (again, not because it's complicated, but gamers like to MAKE things complicated).
I pulled in some tricks from Apocalypse World and did a lot of focus on asking questions about how the business got started, what kind of office they have, etc. ("What's the company car?" "A 1997 Miata. It was a graduation present.") This really helped highlight the ridiculousness of it all.
The GM's Role
So, aside from the above stuff, I've realized the two most important things are pacing and Stress.
Because the mission ends when the players get a certain number of Franchise dice, it's important to keep the players from spending too much time before actually tackling the problem. Let them do a roll or two in investigation or gearing up and get it moving.
This is also important because the game gets more interesting after they've racked up Stress, and sometimes the funny/sadness of the Stress rolls before they even leave the office can seem a bit brutal if you go too far.
Which leads us to Stress. Lots of 1 or 2 dice roll Stress rolls are great. Just think of a project at work that involves heading out and doing stuff... but there's no planner, no organization, you don't have passes or badges, and you have to convince security guards you have a right to be there and your sketchy ghost catching equipment is safe.
Mostly, though, ask yourself when a scene would be funny to see a character flip out, and that's probably a good time for a Stress roll.
3 die Stress rolls are brutal, and I'm thinking you should only do 1 a game, at most. It really hits hard and leaves people in a lurch. I pulled it when a player got teleported from his work desk to the ghost site. It's a lot more likely it's going to knock off 3 dice of their skills, so you shouldn't do these often.
Chris
Inspectres is the rpg that's basically, "What if Ghostbusters was a modern start-up?", and hijinks ensue. The rules are very light, and the big thing is that players can narrate the results of actions, which means if you're looking up turn-of-the-century architecture in the library and roll high, you get to tell me, the GM what the heck you found.
Which means there's no pre-planned story or mystery to solve - the mystery is created collaboratively as well as how to solve it during play.
Startup Culture
So, one of the things I've found makes it work better depends on how well the group keys into mixing Office Space with Ghostbusters. All the ways in which a workplace gets focused on the things that ultimately don't matter to a job, the ironies and ridiculousness of it all.
Last night's game involved the son of a rich businessman being the founder of this franchise, and having absolutely no clue how to run a business but absolutely sure he was rocking it like a Mountain Dew commercial. Their janky office was in a rented space that clearly had seen 5 other start-ups pass through in the last year alone - a hodgepodge of posters on the wall, 8 routers linked to each other because everyone was afraid of resetting anything, and a company kitchen that consisted of a picnic cooler full of Tab. (Probably Diet Tab).
There's an interesting duality to characters I see that tends to show up - either the earnest-but-clueless type, or the aware slacker just trying to get through the workweek. I've seen games where people try to create the badass monster hunter or the serious Lovecraft-style investigator, but neither one really fits. A lot of the game is the character interactions and the hilarity of them playing off each other, which the serious characters don't do well.
Getting people on the same page
Part of what made last night work a lot better was me not talking about mechanics or rules until it came time to using them. It let people focus on the situation and the characters, and that worked well. I think a lot of players end up overthinking the mechanics when you give it to them early, and Inspectres rules are so light, that it's really not important as much as the character choices.
We were lucky enough someone printed out the pregenerated character stats, which I think should be standard operating procedure for this game. Ultimately the stats aren't that big of a deal, so just giving people some basic templates works well and saves a ot of time (again, not because it's complicated, but gamers like to MAKE things complicated).
I pulled in some tricks from Apocalypse World and did a lot of focus on asking questions about how the business got started, what kind of office they have, etc. ("What's the company car?" "A 1997 Miata. It was a graduation present.") This really helped highlight the ridiculousness of it all.
The GM's Role
So, aside from the above stuff, I've realized the two most important things are pacing and Stress.
Because the mission ends when the players get a certain number of Franchise dice, it's important to keep the players from spending too much time before actually tackling the problem. Let them do a roll or two in investigation or gearing up and get it moving.
This is also important because the game gets more interesting after they've racked up Stress, and sometimes the funny/sadness of the Stress rolls before they even leave the office can seem a bit brutal if you go too far.
Which leads us to Stress. Lots of 1 or 2 dice roll Stress rolls are great. Just think of a project at work that involves heading out and doing stuff... but there's no planner, no organization, you don't have passes or badges, and you have to convince security guards you have a right to be there and your sketchy ghost catching equipment is safe.
Mostly, though, ask yourself when a scene would be funny to see a character flip out, and that's probably a good time for a Stress roll.
3 die Stress rolls are brutal, and I'm thinking you should only do 1 a game, at most. It really hits hard and leaves people in a lurch. I pulled it when a player got teleported from his work desk to the ghost site. It's a lot more likely it's going to knock off 3 dice of their skills, so you shouldn't do these often.
Chris