thread: 2011-09-08 : Trad vs Indie: FIGHT! pt2
On 2011-09-13, cc wrote:
In one CP-type game, I set out to create a recurring villain. I had this NPC who had stabbed the PC's in the back once before, I wanted to do it again. But obviously, not only were the players aware of the genre convention, but they had previous experience of him. So I had to put quite a bit of thought into how to manipulate their perceptions, and how to set certain scenes, and even how to word certain conversaitons, in order to convince them that this time they had the upper hand, all the while having a solid, plausible substructure that made this untrue. And when it finally worked, it produced howls of entertaining outrage.
This was doubly pleasing to me, because I'd had the intellectual satisfaction of forming and pulling off this plan, and having created an experience that clearly entertained the players. And the players had the satisfaction of having the genre convention confirmed, even though they were on their toes and looking out for it, and even forwarned. Instead of it just oh ho hum, we've been betrayed, we knew that was coming, I'd really suckered them, and that made it truer and more real.
I couldn't have done that by improvising on the spot. I had to sculpt situation that would induce the players to think and perceive a certain way.
