[Torg] subplots (was: Awards)

[Phil Dack]

To my mind, the subplot award is nothing more than a formalised roleplaying award. To my mind, 1 PPoint is a sufficient rp'ing reward, regardless of how many NPCs the player interacts with. To do any more, again, risks too great a differentiation between players and I've found in my group that that can be divisive.




________________________________
From: Benjamin Grant <benn at 4efix.com>
To: torg at justintimeadventures.com
Sent: Wednesday, 25 February, 2009 14:17:39
Subject: RE: [Torg] subplots (was: Awards)

> On reading the comments of others, I think I'll be limiting characters
> to one sub-plot at a time (perhaps with a "campaign'd" subplot too)
> and using Phil's suggestion to change a saved Drama card to one
> pp/player in the team rather than three for the holder.

I would advise reconsidering on the subplot question.

Case in point: I had a character who had a Romance supblot in addition to a
Personal Stake subplot of "Finding his way as a Hero".  Both were
campaigned.

Throughout the following Adventures, romantic issues continued to bubble as
the relationship took many twists and turns.  Having the subplot in play
encouraged that that aspect of the character continued to receive focus.

Additionally, the character continued to address his personal growth in
changing from a boozing, bon vivant rock star into a more mature less
flippant superhero.  Step by step, the subplot brought to the forefront from
time to time the issue of this character's past versus his future.

Now, if a session went by where one or the other subplots were not played
into, for example, a session in which the character's romance didn't factor
into it much at all (such as once he was apart from her for a time and so
focused on the task he had not time/energy to work on their issues), then
you simply do not award the extra possibility that session for that
particular subplot.  However, the subplot is still in play and will most
likely affect future sessions.

I see subplot simply as story or character driven stuff that makes a PCs
life more complicated or challenging, and as such, when it has an effect on
the PC in a particular session, they should be given their 1 possibility
bump per subplot in use that session.

Granted, if you run a game with 6 players, you probably have less room for
each of them to have 2-3 subplots, but in a game with only 2-3 players,
which is my normal amount, a player that has 2-3 subplots, even if
campaigned, really is no big deal.  And at the end of each session, either
the subplot came into play during the game (as in, complicated the PCs life)
or it didn't - if not, then simply don't award the extra possies.  But if it
did, then the player earned them.

Two further notes:  One thing that makes multiple subplots among multiple
PCs easier is realizing that they may be addressing the same thing.  If one
player plays a Nemesis while another player a Mistaken Identity, well, one
can just imagine how those two can bind to the same in game events... (grin)
We had a situation where three players all played a True Identity - and it
made total sense.

Also, do be warned that certain subplots by their nature are the player's
responsibility to bring into play session by session, while others are more
the GM's job.  Personal Stake and Romance really are up to the players to
embrace and followup on and pursue  (or course, the GM has to do his part
when they do.)  However, Mistaken and True Identity, Suspicion, and Nemesis
all only enter each session as the GM wills.  For example, if a PC has a
Nemesis, the PC cannot control whether that Nemesis is part of a given
session.  Therefor I strongly recommend that for subplots like Nemesis and
the others, the GM awards the possibility for it whether or not the subplot
affected the session, as it was the GMs job to see to it.  However, when the
PCs fail to bring Romances or Personal Stakes into the session, then they
should not get awarded the session's extra possibility(ies).

-Benn Grant
eFix Computer Consulting
benn at 4eFix.com
603.283.6601


> -----Original Message-----
> From: torg-bounces at justintimeadventures.com [mailto:torg-
> bounces at justintimeadventures.com] On Behalf Of Morgan Nash
> Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 3:58 AM
> To: torg at justintimeadventures.com
> Subject: Re: [Torg] subplots (was: Awards)
> 
> I'm just remembering one of my guys, poised to deliver his own killing
> blow to Victor Mainwaring high in the Andes, producing two cards and
> laying them down like a winning poker hand: Nemesis and Campaign. I
> can only respect that kind of "shooting-yourself-in-the-foot".
> 
> 
> And successful Glory cards were terribly rare when we played - maybe
> one every three adventures? It definitely had to be appropriately
> dramatic and something that could, frankly, be the root of a good
> story to tell the public. The super-heroic spotting of a coin in an
> alleyway (while a beautiful thing to watch those dice keep re-rolling)
> probably wouldn't merit a Glory. Perhaps we just needed more creative
> storytellers!
> 
> Morgan
> 
> 
> On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 4:09 AM, Stephen John Smoogen
> <smooge at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I on the other hand loved mine. Of course my characters were loons so
> > romancing a mummy (I think that was me) was not out of line.
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> Torg at justintimeadventures.com
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