Games on Demand: Primetime Adventures at speed
I went to the Games On Demand area. At first, I wasn't sure how to get into a game. Then, someone told Tony Lower-Basch that he'd like to get into a game of Dogs in the Vineyard or Primetime Adventures. I said that I'd be up for either, so long as I didn't have to be the gm. We gathered a few other people. Several of us had various commitments, so Tony ran "at speed", for 90 minutes, not finishing, alas. About halfway through, I started coughing nonstop, I think because we played on the balcony overlooking a hotel lobby that was being torn up. Shades of DexCon.
The show we created was Every Stage is Haunted. It combined some anime show I'd never heard of with the idea of an orphanage. The head of the orphanage had died, and his daughter, now an orphan herself, was helping the other kids cover and pretend he was still alive so that they wouldn't be split up and sent to other places. And there was a ghost, the ghost of the orphanage itself. In fact, there were lots of ghosts. There were high school students committing suicide to free trapped ghosts.
The characters were in a band. And, of course, there was plenty of UST.
Lisa: UST?
Someone: Unresolved Sexual Tension
We decided first on what the PCs would be, then on who would play each. The players came up with names, edges, connections, and issues for their PCs.
Orphanage house -- Synergy. Issue: Wants To Be Understood. Only Gem and Angel can see and hear her.
Daughter of dead guy and group leader -- Gem. Issue: Dad: Did I ever really understand him at all? Gem had reason to believe that her father selected the various orphans for a reason and was Up To Something.
Rival for leadership position -- a guy, Rick. Issue: Feels abandoned by orphans who are now following Gem as their leader.
0 San autistic kid who composes all the lyrics --Angel. Issue: Needs a parental figure. A.k.a.: Who will be my daddy now? Edges: Sees Spirits, Tiny Waif. Connection: Arnold, my teddy bear, only artifact of real parents. This little girl was played by a very large man who absolutely nailed the role. As he said, it was all in the eyes. Angel sees ghosts and spirits.
Stoic Drummer -- Rob. Issue: Change Sucks. He wanted everything to stay as it was, all the orphans one happy, if odd, family.
Rebel Bass Player -- Lee. Issue: Where do I belong? The only one of this group with choices. This was my PC, a "bad" girl, and those quotation marks are important. She smoked, so my coughing actually fit in. Naturally, she was Angel's choice of "new daddy". Edges: Fightin' and Motorcycle. Connection: Gang, an alternative family to the orphanage.
Next, we plotted out the arc, focusing on the characters' screen presence.
1 = supporting role
2 = more meaty role
3 = spotlight episode for the PC
So, in an arc with a Prologue episode, 4 regular episodes, and a finale, the sequences were:
Synergy: 211223 Gem: 212132 Rick: 223211 Angel: 232112 Rob: 212321 Lee: 221321
We didn't want to play the prologue or first episode, and we didn't think we could do the finale justice in the time alotted. Looking at the chart, we decided on the third episode (4th counting the pilot).
We noted that this was a dual spotlight episode for Lee and Rob. She has the option to leave the group. He hates change. That's a great combination. It also comes right after Rick's spotlight episode, where we figure he gave an ultimatum to the others -- did they follow him or Gem? And the question was not necessarily settled in that episode, leaving Rick angry and Gem trying desperately to please everyone.
I think Tony set the first scene. Someone from Lee's gang staggered towards her, half dead, ten minutes before the band was to go on stage.
Lee: Who did this to you?
Girl: 8th Street Jokers. Without you... Couldn't hold them off...
As little Angel watched, Lee got the girl onto her motorcycle and drove off to the hospital. And, as Angel watched, the girl remained behind, and a demon pulled her under the ground as she screamed silently.
Synergy: She's not coming back.
Gem: Synergy, enough with the riddles! Can we have a -noun-?
Angel's player: My adult is gone, there's demons eating dead people --
Rob's player: And it's five minutes to showtime!
Angel went to Rob to try to explain the problem. Picture little girl tugging at big drummer's shirt.
Rob's player: I pick her up and put her on the speakers.
I'm not sure if any of what Angel said got through.
Meanwhile, I pulled crappy cards, and Tony used a lot of his budget, so the girl died en route to the hospital. I continued to pull crappy cards throughout the session, and we all agreed that Tony should throw out as much of his budget to keep the fan mail circulating. Lee tried to leave the hospital, but a woman cop stopped her. It didn't help that Lee was covered in her friend's blood and carrying a knife with intent to use it on the 8th Street Jokers. She was arrested, somewhat roughly. She did not actually try to hit the cop, and we agreed that it made sense, for Lee was the "bad" girl, not an actual bad girl. She acted tough, but deep down, she respected authority.
The police station called Gem, I think, and the upshot was that Rob grabbed the truck and drove out to the prison -- leaving Gem down half of her band members.
Gen wanted to get the band on the stage. Rick wanted to make Gem look bad. Synergy wanted to fill the audience. She did this by getting a lot of ghosts of those who had died violently to come to the show, which drove away the breathing audience. Of course, Rick's grimly playing a love ballad as if it were a dirge didn't help. Nevertheless, Gem tried to see the positive side of things.
Gem's player: We're on the stage --
GM: We -- by which you mean the two of you --
Meanwhile, Rob visited Lee, and the two had a heated conversation. She hung up in the middle. Synergy smashed the glass separating Lee and Rob. He grabbed her and hustled her into the truck, as she tried, completely without success, to convince the cops that this wasn't her fault.
And, there we had to break, alas. The energy level was really good.
