Author: Idiot/Savant (---.net.nz)
Date: 08-21-2002 07:30
Just by way of example, I run a political game: Vampire, set in the Chicago by Night setting, circa 1991. Some of the features relevant to this article:
* The PCs do not form a traditional "party" - though they are linked, and often associate with one another. Everyone is treated as an individual actor, free (or even _expected_) to initiate plotlines, and I'm trying to tell their individual (but intersecting) stories rather than that of the group as a whole. The spotlight moves around a fair bit, so some weeks players are flat out, and some weeks their character is in a dull patch.
* I practice fairly stringent information security, with most of each session taken up with one-on-one bits with individual players. This prevents metagaming, but its primary purpose is to induce a sense of paranoia and mystery among the players - one of the primary themes of Chicago by Night is supposed to be the multilayered web of intrigue between the local kindred; giving each player only part of the picture and keeping them in the dark about the rest helps promote this. Of course, there are disadvantages to this style of play (a lot of player deadtime; a lot of discarded notes to clean up afterwards), which may be helped by trouping it, but I'm keen to preserve the sense of mystery.
* Because the game focuses primarily on politics, I need to spend a lot of time tracking the attitudes and knowledge of NPCS. Who hates who and who knows what are the crucial drivers of the game. I've tried spreadsheeting this (akin to White Wolf's "hate charts" in the backs of many "by night" books), but I've found that it's in fact easier to carry it around in my head instead (where it has to compete with the political models for other games :). Fortunately, I usually have two weeks between sessions, so there's usually time to work everything out. Usually.
* I don't have villains, I have antagonists - a functional definition in terms of their role in the plot, not their moral views. And it's common for PCs to fill these roles for one another. The end result resembles vampire soap opera, though with more murders and fewer marriages.
Idiot/Savant
[Who shouldn't post at 2:30am after programming. My head hurts.]
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