Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Episode 3 Retrospective


Well we’ve made it to session 2(episode 3), so we can fix the mistakes of the first 2 Episodes.  My players told me that the modulated voices were really hard to understand.  Over Skype I believe this is true, in my recording I thought they turned out pretty good however they were ditched for the next two sessions until I can gather more data on how to make them work better over skype since skype’s voice quality isn’t the best.  Also dice rolls are called out much better.  We still missed a few but we're working on it.

The Episode starts with the morning after the events of Episode 2.  Events that will have further ramifications in a later episode.  We get to meet a couple of caravan members and chat a bit.  Pacing is going to be a tough thing going forward.  Not sure I want every other episode to be Story > Story > Action.  I fear I am boring some of you. Though in the past listening to other play session podcast, some times the action is actually the boring part and the conversations the much more interesting listen.  So finding the mix will be fun.

Also note that through a complicated process of budding and fragmentation the caravan grew from a group of 25 people to 45 people over night.  Yup.   Continuity issue much?  I actually wasn’t aware that I gave a count to the caravan’s size back in Episode 2 until I was editing it.  By then it was too late we already recorded this episode.  So it’s been Ret conned J. Every time you spot a continuity issue I think you should take a drink.   Even if listening from work.
So the grove of Transparent trees mentioned in the book I thought could be an interesting back drop.  What are they? Why are they there?  Well I made up my own ideas and ran with it.  But a big baddy right off the bad isn’t too fun so I stuck in a Murden ambush.  I like the Murden visually they are a neat sinister like abhuman.  Much more calculating then random barbarians.   I only wished they talked.  Having Murden with sinister plans taunt PC would be cool.  I might just have to have a player acquire a device that allows them to hear Murden telepathy.

Speaking of devices.  Cyphers aren’t playing out as I expected.  I think I made the mistake of giving my players utility cyphers over every day functional cyphers.  This has limited their use so far this campaign.  I have recognized this though and am working to rectify the situation. 

GM intrusion: you are ambushed.  Used twice this session.  It worked, but I have to find a better way to use it.  Making something bad happen to my players without a roll just seems wrong to me.  I have to get out of that mind set and just add things that will complicate the story or make things fun.  In combat that is hard, and usually unnecessary.  With this crew there is enough 1’s rolled that I have to keep on my toes. Outside of combat I haven’t found a balance of what should be an intrusion and what should just be being a GM. 

Scan.  Well I started playing scan wrong giving more info than scan says it should give in the book.  I have started paring that down a bit, but it is Aura Tao’s only move.  Since he/she is a pacifist.  (Tory did say the character was androgynous so I can’t speculate on its sex)  Ohh and I know now days Tao is pronounced ‘Dow’, But since it’s a monk with the last name Tao I refuse to play into the game.  Since it is a billion years in the future I figure the nuance has been lost by then.
One action.  One.  That is something I have to get through my thick skull.  Too many years of playing games where you can move and then act.  If you move more than immediate you cannot act.  I know I’ve made lots of mistakes here so far, but my players haven’t complained.  I’m trying to keep things moving a bit. 

Cannon fodder NPCs.  Having other NPCS on the player’s side in this game is tough since as the GM I don’t really roll dice.  Just narrating the battle seemed to work well I hope.  Though I think the Murden concentrated on the two guards a bit much.  The guard number also I think changed a bit throughout the episode.  The scout ran back to get help but I wasn’t sure if there were two guards or one.

The big reveal.  I hope I explained it well.  I give another description in Episode 4.  I like the one in 3 better I think.  It’s a frightening beast, and you will see it in action soon.  The Cliffhanger ending.  I hope serves me well.  The fall off of people who listened to Episode 1 vs 2 is quite drastic and 2 I think was quite weak actually.  One was the primer and was more exposition then role-play I guess I should have opened with action rather than a funeral.  That does make better sense.  So Episode 3 might have problems finding an audience I fear.  I hope everyone is enjoying it.  I’m trying to make an entertaining Numenera experience.  Though I am nowhere near an expert in the setting I hope I am getting some if it right.

 We have Episodes 4, 5, and 6 recorded and awaiting editing. So more is coming.  However on a Somber note I regret to inform everyone that Episode 4 will not be coming out this Thursday.  I have had a death in the family and have to head out of town for a funeral.  This has caused delays in editing.  I should get it out Next Thursday if all goes well.

Until then everyone safe travels.

1 comment:

  1. I'm really enjoying this podcast! It's great to see how another GM runs the game.

    I would suggest you don't worry about the voice modulation. I don't think you need it, and it's kind of a distraction. I know a lot of GMs feel like they have to do voices/accents, but I've had very few GMs who could actually do it well, and I've never felt a lack. You can do a lot to distinguish characters by the vocabulary they use, pace of speech, etc. I think it's better to not do voices/accents than to do them poorly, and (IMO) the voice modulation is pretty cheesy and kicks me out of the story. It will also save you some production time and give you one less thing to worry about while running the game. :)

    You might want to consider telling the PCs the difficulties/target numbers. It helps them better know when to apply effort. I know the book says to do this with beginning players, but IMO it kind of undermines the whole effort system if players don't know the difficulties. There may be times a character truly would have no idea what the difficulty of a task will be before she attempts it, but I think this would be a rarity and should be determined by logic/roleplay. E.g. if you're fighting a huge armored monster, you know it's gonna be tough (and probably should know the difficulty), but if you're fighting a nondescript Jack you know nothing about, then the difficulty may be more of a mystery.

    I wouldn't worry about the little inconsistencies. Those things happen. It doesn't really matter at all unless the players notice. If they do, there are always ways to explain things (maybe another small caravan joined up with this one in the night while the characters were asleep, etc.). That's one thing about podcasts like this, these things will be apparant to listeners even though they might not be to players. I woudn't worry about it too much. No one's perfect; the important thing is the story.

    I also wanted to compliment you on the will that was read in the first session. That was down right poetic and I really enjoyed it. I know you said something about how you felt you were railroading the players a bit into the adventure, but I think it was really well done. Any adventure with a plot (not just sandbox) has to do that a little, if only in the beginning, and I think you gave a great demonstration of the way it should be done. It was all done in-character through roleplaying, and it all makes/made sense.

    Numenera is a lot more cooperative between players and GMs than other games I've played. We're building the story together. So if you need something to happen, you can always present it to the players and let them help you figure out how/why that would happen with their characters. This could even take the form of a GM intrusion(s), which would give them xp that they could then use to buy background, skills, or other intermediate benefits that would further reinforce the new development.

    I really like the "fake plastic trees" (sorry, had to go there). I thought it really added flavor and helps to establish the setting.

    I really appreciate you putting this out. I know it's a lot of work. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

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