thread: 2006-03-08 : Between-session Activity
On 2006-03-08, Thor Olavsrud wrote:
I don't know about model, per se, but I think the trend that a lot of the games we've been designing show is taking as much of that between session activity as possible and turning it into around the table, collaborative play.
What are flags but a very directed discussion about character direction?
Setting prep/scenario prep is bleeding over into character creation: see everything from Dogs (Relationships) to Burning Wheel's Jihad supplement (World Burning) to With Great Power (Origin process)to Prime Time Adventures (Series Creation) and on and on. This stuff involves everyone in an activity that was once the sole province of the GM. It also means that GMs generally need to do very little between sessions (though it varies by degree according to the game).
My With Great Power prep ranged from 5 minutes coming up with a good Plan for my villains, 3 or 4 minutes coming up with a good Conflict Scene with which to start things off with a bang, or zero time at all.
Obviously, this stuff has a potential downside as well. Frank's experience creating characters with Burning Wheel is a case in point. It sucks that it took him that long. And it really sucks if that impairs enjoyment of the game.
At the same time, I think that IS play. It's play in the same way that territory selection at the beginning of a game of Risk or Settlers of Catan is play. You may not be rolling dice or earning cards or any of the stuff that you associate with playing Risk, but you are playing. There's a great deal of strategy involved. You're setting up everything that will follow.
