Chief Weiss: "I'm going to tell you everything I know. I expect you then to go out and find what we don't already know. If you can't do that you might as well pack up your team and go home."
What happened 'in the black':
A blossom of flame can be seen emanating from within the Burnett Plaza building directly behind the President just before the television signals are blown out from the explosion. The public saw a black screen for one minute and six seconds. The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS) saw a black screen with two words in large white font printed across it. The message was simple: "ASK NOT." Live broadcast feeds are always on a 2 second delay before they go out to millions of American viewers. The EBS acted on standard national security protocol and broadcast a black image instead of the text until the live feed could be reestablished. Whoever killed the President planted a jamming signal to broadcast their message for all of America to see, but the message didn't get through.
Late breaking news:
A few miles away the local news took a moment away from the Presidential assassination to report a story where a taxi cab had crashed killing the driver and one passenger, and injuring a second passenger. Strangely enough the two passengers were both young female interns who worked for the President's election team who were headed to the rally. The surviving passenger was rushed to a local hospital.
Better gaming through discussion
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At the end of the session we discussed the possibility of not telling Weiss that the Anachron Team was going to use the victims from the taxi accident as part of their investigation. I still think that makes sense, however there is one small problem: Alex has an aspect called "Respect for Authority." Given that it seems logical that she would be opposed to going behind Weiss's back. We also discussed that Saren might not be excited sneak around Weiss on this first mission since the Anachron Team is trying to prove themselves. I want you two to tell me how you want this to play out. You tell me how you want to approach it.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Scene Framing Mechanics:
ReplyDeleteI spent a few hours trying to find a game mechanic that would allow players to frame scenes. By this I mean: a rule or system of dice rolls that help me control your ability to frame a scene. For example I will use our last session and how you both asked that victims from inside the Burnett Building be used as hosts for the Anachron. I wanted to establish a system to determine how successful you would be in finding some subjects. I wanted the dice to be the thing that determines whether you find exactly what you want.
So, after thinking about it and reading to a bunch of forum postings on RPG boards I came to the determination that there doesn't need to be a mechanic to control your ability to frame a scene. The theory is that if there isn't anything at stake when a player suggests something or wants to perform an action then you don't roll the dice, you just give the player what they want. I subscribe to this theory but for some reason I felt like it shouldn't apply to scene framing. However, I do think it applies to scene framing. I will allow you two to suggest circumstances and parameters for the victims that you want to locate and access through the Anachron. I won't restrict your choices, instead I will put obstacles in the way of you getting your way. For example, if you suggest that you get access to someone that is very high profile I may create obstacles by having Chief Weiss or his staff try to stop you. Obviously you can fight back and try to get around the restrictions, which will lead to conflict, which in turn makes the game fun and results in dice rolling and skill usage.
I have a all sorts of ideas to complicate your access to victims, but I will do my best to always let you get to your targets (eventually). Games should never be about the GM telling the players that they can't have something, instead games should be about the GM forcing the players to ask themselves "what am I willing to risk or sacrifice to get what I want."