thread: 2005-03-18 : Audience?
On 2005-03-18, Ghoul wrote:
I'm certainly with you here, Vincent. Most games assume a very passive audience, which isn't at all necessary nor is it, I think, desirable. "Down Time" is the bane of many board games, and it can be even worse in RPGs. "Speak only in your turn" and "you're not here, stay out of it" are familiar structures but not terribly helpful (and, perhaps, even harmful). It is critical to keep everyone "in the game" or at least not let them drift too far out of the game, and keeping them somewhat (or even completely) empowered even when they aren't acting is a great way to do this, I think.
Other existing games that have interesting audience mechanics that I can think of off-the-cuff...
Baron Munchausen lives and dies by audience-based challenges, and Universalis isn't all that dissimilar (excepting that coins spent on a challenge in the latter go to the bank not to the player who accepts the new obstacle as in the former).
Paranoia XP Perversity Mods can be sent into a situation remotely (i.e., without your character's involvement), thus allowing the non-participant to become participant. The GM is given the power to restrict Perversity spending, but I suspect that's more to discourage "grudge matches" than to limit non-actor involvement.
And a long-time favorite of mine, even if it is a bit detatched from the "moment" is Teenagers From Outer Space and the experience vote (XP in TFOS come via a secret ballot of all players on how "fun" you made tonight's game). PTA's Fan Mail is a more real-time (and, thus, probably more effective) way of doing this, of course.
