GCG

Last night I played Matteo Turini's new game Novanta Minuti with Epidiah Ravachol and Emily Care Boss. In this game, the characters are the Father, the Son, and Time. The father is dying, and the son has 90 minutes to reach him. On the way to the hospital, the son relives various memories, that the players create and then play. Basically, this is a short-form game that tells a good short story. We all had a good time, and we'd all play again. Here's the AP, with a review below, and you can find more about the game at the website: http://novantaminutirpg.wordpress.com/

We spent a little while going over the rules, sorting out who was going to play which role, and coming up with the memory triggers. The rules currently direct the Father and Son to each come up with 4 memory triggers, that are then shuffled and drawn randomly by Time, who starts the scene. Time also keeps track of the timeline, and based on what happens in the scenes, adds to the Father's time remaining, or advances the clock, making it less likely for the Son to arrive in time,

Eppy played Time, and he asked lots of questions. Part of Time's job is to put pressure on the father and son, and we got some great questions.

Emily played the father, Robert. He was an athletic, outdoorsy type, who climbed mountains and loved sports.

I played Samson, the son. I was into science and staying indoors and stuff. I had a wife, with a baby due in a month or so.

Our set-up was a sunny late summer day in southern California, mid-morning so the traffic's not too bad. On the way there, we had the following memory scenes:

1.Doing chemistry homework when I was 16
Samson needed help, and Dad was willing to try, but he really couldn't help me because he didn't remember anything from high school chem. Also, Time  asked me; "Samson, what does Dad find in the book that you wish he hadn't?" A piece of paper saying "That was a great party last Friday - call me!" I was supposed to be studying at a friend's house. I wound up at a party instead. Dad was pretty mad, and laid on the guilt: "We had an agreement, Samson. You are supposed to call if your plans change, so we can come get you if you need us." I was doing the sullen teenager thing, when you know you're in the wrong but can't admit it. Time asked Dad if I had a way to call home, and I did. I had to say the cell phone was out of range. I felt bad for letting my Dad down. Eventually, I did apologize. IIRC, one white and one red token went to Time for that, and the scene ended.

2.My high school graduation, which Dad almost missed
Oh, I was pissed! And hurt. Dad was off climbing a mountain, and didn't make it there nearly until it was my turn to go on stage. Lots of old resentment about how often Dad had other things to do. Time asked questions about my girlfriend, who was standing there tapping her watch, like I didn't know my Dad was still not there. Then Dad busts in and makes a bit of a scene at the back of the auditorium. We had a little conversation after, when I sort of let Dad have it about how disappointed I was, and how I really had needed him to be there. One white token and two red - Dad put other things before me, and I was angry, but he said he was sorry and gave me a hug.

3.The family gathering a few months back where my wife and I told my parents about the coming baby
This was maybe my favorite scene. Dad was happy for me, and was trying to give me advice about how difficult pregnancy can be, and all I heard was his old-fashioned ideas about how difficult women can be. I was clearly pushing him away. Time asked Dad: "You know you are sick - how do you slip up and make some small reference to your illness?" Dad said "I accidentally say if I get to hold my grandchild instead of when." Samson rolls right over that, counting it down to Dad's out-of-date ideas about how women are the ones to care for the babies: "Of course you'll get to hold the baby, Dad. It's not like it used to be, when women were expected to do everything kid-related."

I don't remember what tokens were given for this scene, but we all saw how close it was getting and that the chances of Samson making it to his father's side were rapidly decreasing. We saw that this next scene had better have some anger in it, to push the time of death back a bit.

4.Taking the train to the winter Olympics when I was no more than 10
Oh, good. This'll work fine. I did not want to be there, going to a big sporting event with my Dad. Red token to Time for Dad putting his agenda before me and not actually thinking about what we might enjoy together. He was so enthusiastic, and I was so not. It really pointed out the differences between us, and how his hopes and expectations for me were actually fine, I was just a very different person than he was.  Time had a pushy New Yorker swear and be generally rude in front of us, but Dad didn't lash out, and the guy moved on. I was unsettled by the near-fight, and showed a little bit of interest in the game schedule, to move on. Dad got really excited, made big plans for all the cool stuff we'd do. Time told about the pictures of us in matching souvenir jackets, Dad grinning and me looking painfully embarrassed. Lots or red tokens for the embarrassment of being dressed exactly like your father, at the Olympics, when you have no interest in sports.

I got to my father's bedside 1 minute before he died, and he was unable to communicate with me.

We wrote out the last questions and answers, then Time described the bedside scene with my Mom and sister. I went to Dad and took his hand, and told him I was sorry for any grief I had caused him, that I forgave him for any hurts he had caused me, and that I understood why he had done the things he'd done. I told him I loved him, he squeezed my hand and died.

REVIEW
This was a solid playtest of a good game. We had a few questions about the rules, which I think we mostly got right - we have some notes for Matteo, on things we wanted to check. The mechanics worked well, once we got the hang of them. The pacing of the game is perfect for a short-story, and seeing the effects of the memories on the remaining time was a good tensioning device.

The framing story - the father is dying and the son is rushing to see him - sounds emotionally intense, and it has a certain level of realism that some folks might not be at a place to engage, but the bulk of the game is about exploring the relationship through the memories. I come away from the game with a surprisingly strong sense of the family involved. Because all of the ephemera generated by the Father's player and the Son's player is burned at the close of the game, there was a lot of freedom to write things that were more personal than I might have otherwise. We did have one hitch - with two players writing 4 memory triggers each, the chance is there for all of one player's to be drawn, as happened in our game. This is a recommendation I'd take forward, to have each player generate 3 memory triggers, thereby ensuring that at least one from each player would be used. We put the last one back and drew again.

The final question and answer, which is never publicly revealed, comes at the perfect point in the game to provide actual catharsis to the the game. I'm looking forward to playing it again.

INC 2012 report - 1001 Nights
(To the folks who where there - Hello everyone! First, thank you for your gracious welcome to me as a guest of INC - I had a fantastic time. I am only sorry I could not play even more games, or meet each of you that attended. Next time, find me and say hello!)

This was my first game at INC, and to run it in English with no translator, for mostly people I'd never met (Mario had helped me bake cornbread earlier that morning). At the table to begin were Mario Bolzoni, Alberto Muti, Mattia Bulgarelli and myself. Alberto mentioned a friend was running late, so we started character creation without him. I read the examples of the different senses in Italian, with the patient pronunciation correction and occasional guidance from the other players. This helped get everyone at the table comfortably speaking English together, and put us in a cooperative mood from the start. This also let me see how the other players interacted with each other and with me.

The characters around the table: Mr. Mario chose to play the newest wife of the Sultan, Aziza, as yet unsettled in her role, and a little out of her comfort zone. Alberto played Behman, the visiting scholar of Euclid, who has been set the task of cataloging the Sultan's treasure - he's stuck here until it is complete, and the storehouses are vast. Mattia played the astrologer Kuziamah, a sever man with an eye for nice things - including the young Sultana. I chose to play Melia, the favored musician, secretly in love with the Sultan's bodyguard, the NPC Schraz Daud. Over the course of character creation, many things about all the characters were revealed, such as Melia's childhood far from Court, Kuziamah's alchemical interests and his willingness to be bribed, and Behman's loneliness. As we were in the last stages of character creation, +Fabio Succi Cimentini arrived, and Mattia quickly caught him up to speed as Danash, the dark-skinned hawk master.

I have all of the character sheets, and it is interesting to see the notes players made about the other PCs, whether it is the apparent age of the PC or a key phrase of their description or a word that sums up the attitude of the player's PC towards the other PCs.

To the game itself.

I had each player introduce their character in an audience chamber, before the young Sultana. As the PCs were all of a similar social status, and useful to the higher levels of Court, the Sultan had decreed Aziza should interview them and get to know the staff. It started out with a bang, as Kuziamah unrolled a long tale of the alignment of the stars and the prospects for conceiving a child. With already a hint of unseemly attention on his part to Aziza's sex life. The others followed suit, interrupting Kuziamah, who got to look indignant, and eventually they described plans for a garden to please the new Sultana. This made me think of stories involving gardens and fertility, and so to Rapunzel. But how to find my Story-level characters, and enough to go around? That's the question.

The answer is easy - begin the tale, and move as quickly as is pleasing until there are enough characters on the scene. I told of the devoted husband and wife, unable to conceive, and their willingness to try every answer. Ok, that's two Courtiers, but which ones? I watched the characters and considered my motives in casting them, where I wanted to poke fun, where to say a true thing. I talked of an old woman who directed the lovers to a garden holding a certain fruit. A fruit? Was I going to cast a Courtier as a fruit? And clearly the old woman was a walk-on part, although I could have stopped there if I had only three players, and cast her as the third. But no, I had one more Story-level character to find. So into the garden I take the lovers, under cover of night, by the light of the moon and the inconsistent stars. The players had already declared a couple of interests, so they were beginning to see how the mechanics worked. And then I see my four Story-level roles.

"So, Behman, would you play the devoted wife Rahima? And Danash her loving husband Amid?" These to underscore Behman's longing for a loyal friend and Danash because as Melia I could not think of Kuziamah as a loving husband, and I envied Danash his care for the beautiful and powerful birds, so to make him the care-taker of the woman Rahima was logical. I also wanted to make Kuziamah's declared interest in the lovers quarreling more challenging.

"Noble Sultana, please show us the queen of beasts, the tigress who stalks them" By this I curry favor with Aziza, but also I tell her she can find strength in herself and that she has more power than she realizes.

"Kuziamah. will you play the voice of Allah, who tells true things to all creatures, unlike the wandering stars." Here I slight Kuziamah's astrological skills. Again.

The Story we played out was really, really beautiful, full of danger and devotion. A few moments in particular remain very strong in my mind: Aziza as the tigress realizing her power and offering the lovers a choice between three terrible outcomes; Rahima seizing the opportunity to take matters into her own hands, Amid putting himself between Rahima's blade and the tiger's teeth, and the voice of Allah finding the lovers worthy at last, and finding a way to solve the problem without going back on his word. Everyone brought really great descriptive and evocative phrases to the table, and it was a great story. One thing that makes it roll along really well is when people grasp the need to declare interests in the Story and look for ways to make pointed remarks about the other Courtiers - once that happens, it's all good.

Back at Court, some of us advanced and others were rebuked in private. Then the Sultana Aziza was next to tell a story, as every die Mario had rolled had gone against him in the first story. I found it fascinating how hesitant we other Courtiers were to suggest things that might displease the Sultana in her own Story - lots of good in-character social pressure there! In the story that followed, Mario chose to pass up the first opportunity for four Story-level characters (the three brothers and the little bird) in favor of a more complex combination a bit later on, to better illuminate the things Aziza was interested in seeing. So we had a slightly shortened second story about the poor love-struck boy, the princess, the bird, and the prince, and in the end Melia won her ambition - a return of Schraz Daud's affection!

In our conversation as we were cleaning up for the next group, someone commented that this was such a different game of 1001 Nights from one they had played earlier, which was much more cut-throat and competitive. I was glad to have had such a nice environment in which to play, and time to play a more spacious game. Something I really like is how there are different experiences to be had depending on what you put in - if you have only a short one-shot in a crowded noisy convention hall, it can be excellent fun but quick and brutal, where in a more relaxed setting, the game really opens up into something entirely lovely.

Questions and comments welcome!

Today I am putting the finishing touches on my new game, Psi*Run. Here's a bit from the game text:

You don’t know what’s going on. You don’t know where you are. Maybe you don’t know who you are. You’ve been held captive, who knows how long. Moments ago, you broke free. Now you are struggling to remain free long enough to piece together your own past. You have amazing powers that can help you survive, but those same powers also carry the risk of disaster. And the people chasing you? They’ll stop at nothing to get you back.

Ciao a tutti! Qui è un po 'su di me.  Si prega di  perdonare il mio uso della lingua inglese - il mio italiano non è ancora  all'altezza del compito. Imparerò!

I started playing D&D in 1978, when I was 7. Since then, there have been two years that I have not been actively playing, both of which involved a cross-country move and a year spent finding the local game community. As a teen, I played in various games including a Robotech/Macross hack of D&D written by the GM, a girl a year ahead of me in school.

In college, I ran a LOT of Ares Magica, including some home-brewed hacks, and met Vincent Baker and Emily Care Boss. I also played on the ElfQuest MUSH for 6 years, doing code work, running a feature character (Clearbrook), and other stuff.

I wrote the game 1001 Nights: a game of enticing stories, which was nominated for Indie Game of the Year 2006. I just returned from Lucca Comics and Games, where I was a guest of Narrativa. Currently, I am putting finishing touches on Psi-Run, a game about people with super powers and amnesia, which will be out by Christmas. I'm also working on a second English edition of 1001 Nights, and trying to trick the mechanics for Twist (a game about irony) into place.

When I'm not designing or playing or thinking about games, I am a textile conservationist at a local museum, co-chair of my local quilting guild, sex education teacher, learning Arabic and Italian, and the mother of three sons. I was an Emergency Medical Technician before having children, and I've studied Middle Eastern Dance for 10+ years. I also dabble in the Society for Creative Anachronism (emphasis on 1375 Germany), watching and feeding the wild songbirds in my yard, and the Occupy Together movement.

I like talking to people about any of the above! Ask, and I will try to answer.

Grazie,
 Meguey