Tuesday 13 January 2015

Cooperative Play in Dark Metropolis


We’ve talked up a storm about cooperative play in Dark Metropolis, and now we’d like to give you some insight into what, exactly, we imagine this phrase means, and how you can use it to enhance your own - and others’ - gaming experiences.

Some of this is going to be familiar to those of you who played Shades of Norwich, and other ideas might be rather new.

STs and Players work together

There will be many stories within the world of Dark Metropolis - the individual stories of PCs and NPCs, the unique drama of how these intersect, and the larger, broader stories of the world that PCs can access.

STs and players need to work together to tell all of these stories. When STs start dropping plot hints, there are stories to be told that we think are interesting and relevant! If you aren’t interested, encourage other players to get involved instead. Plots that fester in the background waiting for players to get involved are no fun for anyone, and normally end up causing trouble in the world that’s much harder to solve!

Players have as much responsibility over these stories at the STs do. We hope to make a responsive world that is shaped even by small actions, so players will need to think about their actions and what consequences they can have. If there are individual stories and plots that you are interested in for your character, make sure to tell us, so we can work together with you to work out a way of seeding that plot into the world in a coherent, realistic and satisfying way.

Players trust and communicate with the STs

Sometimes things will happen that are bad for NPCs, or bad for PCs, or for the world entirely. Characters will get hurt. Drama will happen. We will make choices that make PCs vulnerable or in trouble: but we ask you to trust us that we are creating a complex, fun story for everyone.

Remember that it’s okay for your character to have bad things happen to them, and that we will always be giving you opportunities and ways of clawing back from adversity.

But if it ever stops being fun, tell us! Let us know (kindly) how you’re feeling about a plot, or any developments in the world, and we’ll work together with you to help it feel fun for you again.

Also remember that if the STs don’t know about it, it’s not canon! If something is important to you then you need to let us know that it’s going on. Coming in only partway through an important story is a surefire way to make the STs struggle to resolve your plot satisfactorily. E-mailing us is the best way to tell us about anything like this, as then it reaches all five of us, and it’s in writing.

Players work generously, and they reciprocate

Everyone is in the same boat in Dark Metropolis: you are all trying to tell your own stories, and there are a lot of voices.

That’s why we want to encourage you to help other people tell their stories, and let them help you in turn. This could mean:

-Talking to people out of character and sharing Aspirations with each other. The more you know OOC, the more you will be able to nudge the game in their favour - or out of their favour, if that’s something they would enjoy.

-Working together in character and choosing to intertwine your stories and goals. Consider varying the people you have links with, so you aren’t always roleplaying with the same group.

-Deciding out of character that you both are interested in a shared past, a shared antagonistic relationship, or anything else.

-Listening, and respectfully backing off if someone does not want to have any of the above, and being honest if you yourself aren’t into a suggestion!
 
-Making choices within the game that open up stories for other people. An extreme example would be: killing an NPC whom others are interested in closes their stories, especially if you OOC actively don’t want to be found out. Kidnapping, or killing-with-evidence-against-you, or sabotaging that NPC opens up options for other people to react against you.

-If someone goes out of their way, OOC or IC, to help you, do the same for them!

Players use the rules to enhance others’ fun

Of course the rules and mechanics are there to resolve conflicts in a fair and unbiased way, but if we only approach rules as a conflict resolution, that immediately brings in the idea that there is conflict.
We will be posting soon about the social mechanics that are going to be within Dark Metropolis, and social, physical or even Discipline-based mechanics are going to be things that PCs may use against PCs at any stage of the game.

We want you to think about a few questions when you want to reach for mechanics against other PCs:

-What do I want out of this situation?
-How is this going to be fun for me?
-How is this going to be fun for them?
-How is this going to be fun for spectators?

We want to see reciprocity and cooperation on both sides - so if you are the defender in this sort of situation, then you should be considering the same questions. Your reactions are going to be generating fun - or not - for other people. Act, and react, considerately.

There are 2nd Edition rules that specifically benefit PCs when used against them. If someone inflicts a Condition on you, remember they are giving you the opportunity to gain a Beat, so enjoy!

Players trust each other and take risks

Trusting other players in livegames can run the risk of being like the Prisoner’s Dilemma - if they act like a jerk, they benefit and I suffer. So maybe I should act first…

It takes active effort to avoid this kind of thinking - it can be insidious and hard to spot. Us STs have suffered from it as players!

If ever you find yourself thinking: “This would only be cool if everyone buys into it. What if someone takes advantage?” then tell yourself the following:

We are all going to buy into it, and no one’s going to be a jerk. We’re playing this game together.
Let players know your character’s weaknesses. Let players know your character’s secrets. Listen and care when other people share theirs. Ask them how they see their vulnerabilities being a part of their story and think to yourself: how can I help this player have fun?

Take risks. When someone comes along and starts trying to mess up your character’s life, give them the benefit of the doubt and think about how this could be fun. Allow your character the opportunity to fail, to be sabotaged, and to bounce back.

Also, if a character does something you consider to be stupid or antagonistic, give the player the benefit of the doubt: there may be more going on under the surface that justifies the character’s behaviour, and the lack of OOC negative judgement encourages people to take risks with their characters. However, as always, if it makes you feel uncomfortable, communicate about that OOC.

It sounds corny, but if everyone does this, then we can all trust each other with far more character vulnerability than you feel comfortable with in any other game. You can be the villains in each other’s stories and laugh about it afterwards; you can feel great when you help someone else achieve a goal they had been striving for all this time; you can feel even better when they return the favour.

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