Re: "scripting" contests

From: wulfcorbett <wulfc_at_...>
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 13:45:01 -0000

> Iu was just wonderign what folks might think of a GM being VERY
> proactive and aggressive in framing extended contests. The kind of
> thing I am thinking of is the climactic meeting with the primary
> villain. For this kind of scene, the GM might wish to, say, have
the
> villain driven backwards up a sprial staircase so that they can
> deliver some last words in a dramatic scene at the top of the tower
> in a driving gale - or whatever.

The real problem here is that the players (and therefore their characters) will have difficulty separating the Narrator's intent from the NPCs. In other words, they may well see the retreat up the stairs as part of a plan, and change their intent, to block it. You either have to admit your plan (very unsatisfactory from a roleplaying point of view), or else work VERY hard to make sure the players/PCs do all the work, and do not see the Narrators hand. The players are, after all, entitled, if not obliged, to foil the villan's plan!

I have had similar problems from a player point of view, where I have thought up some nice, very dramatic piece of action for my character, but, by keeping it to myself, it's failed miserably either through bad die rolls before the intent is clear ("And now, I use my power, in one huge effort, to... oh, bugger...") or by other players getting in first.

Wulf