[Cranium Rats] The Scene that Wasn't. Psychological Value.

[Thunder_God]

This is a scene intended to happen in our playtesting of Cranium Rats. The playtest sessions that happened and act as backdrop are session 1 and session 2.

Here's the backdrop, one of the characters was Sarah, a 15 years old runaway girl. her Traits are: Physical 1, Mental 3, Social 4.
The Aspect spread is Andrew: Water 6, Michael Rat 5 and Filip Dirt 5.
If someone has a Trait at 1 and they lose a contest, the highest Aspect loses a dot. They need 10 dots to win, and unclaimed dots such as these are easier to grab later.

Last thing is, Filip kept pushing the system mechanically, trying to gain as much edge as he could, trying his hardest to win.

I wanted to buy Narration rights for Sarah, set up a situation in which some homeless(or not?) assaults her with the intent to molest/rape her. This will ensue in a Physical contest(probably under Water), which if Sarah loses, Andrew will lose his edge, being taken down to 5 Aspect Dots.

If Filip does nothing, it falls down to the dice and other players.
If Filip helps Sarah, he is hindering his goals, mechanically.
If Filip actively helps the assaulter, he stands to gain mechanically, but the character will very likely get raped.

What would you do? What would it say(on the game, on the players) whichever choice was made?

And this illustrates what CR can do, for me. It's not a psychological game only for the characters, it's about why the players do what they do.

Note, this scene did not happen because our session was aborted before I had a chance to make it happen.
_________________
"I am light. I am dark. I must give my life to serve; not even death can release me."
- Selenia, Dark Angel.

[Thunder_God]

Filip replied, albeit in e-mail, and I knew he'd answer as such, which is why I picked him as the "Target". It raises some other interesting questions that I'll ask him.

[Levi]

Okay, going from that, it sounds like the game is set up to award you for playing to a very specific sort-of moral compass - "these concerns only".

And everything outside of that quasi-morality is fair game; if another player sets up nastiness, the only real question that the awards and penalties of the game prompt you to ask is "How does this affect my concerns?".

That's how it sounds.

Following from that, it sounds as if the game procedures help reinforce a specific brand of highly selfish behaviour.

Now, that means that it's a technically valid tactic to put another player in a position where they as a player would likely make a less-than-optimal choice. This, of itself, annoys me in the same way as encouraging poker players to read the "tells" of other does. You could "shark" the game.

That "sharking" the game could be (and in this case, seems to be) a matter of presenting players with ugly fictional choices is... well, ugly. Not evil, just ugly. I've played ugly games and been entertained before, so no concern there.

Now, how close am I to "getting" this, before I go asking questions?
_________________
levi.kornelsen@gmail.com

[Thunder_God]

There's no morality in the game.

The players play "Aspects" that make up the characters' mind, and each player wants his Aspect to get to 10.

What shows up in fiction is what other players introduce, technically, there's always the choice of aiding yourself mechanically.
_________________
"I am light. I am dark. I must give my life to serve; not even death can release me."
- Selenia, Dark Angel.

[Levi]

[Thunder_God]

No, the action has no bearing on how the Aspects do things.

This was brought up for the impact it'd have on gaming groups in my mind, and to showcase that play of CR does bring psychological issues, even if it's between players and not characters.
_________________
"I am light. I am dark. I must give my life to serve; not even death can release me."
- Selenia, Dark Angel.

[Levi]

[Thunder_God]

I'd like to say "Most definitely".

I mean, I'm the person who writes the CSI Games blog.

Edited to replace HTML with BBCode.
_________________
"I am light. I am dark. I must give my life to serve; not even death can release me."
- Selenia, Dark Angel.

[Levi]

(Note: HTML is off, here)

Okay. Now, we're cooking with gas.

Tell me more about how you "sharked" that game, if there is more to tell.
_________________
levi.kornelsen@gmail.com

[Thunder_God]

It's a zero-sum game. An Aspect wins by reaching 10, there are 16 Aspect points spread over three Aspects, with an initial spread of 5/5/5 and one that's won by someone as the game starts.

In order for you to go up, someone else has to go down.
_________________
"I am light. I am dark. I must give my life to serve; not even death can release me."
- Selenia, Dark Angel.

[Levi]

So, for me to get ahead, someone else at the table has to fall behind. When I hit ten, I win. To get there, I present situational bits that the shared character must react to.

My available tactics include tossing in stuff that I think will blindside other players.

So, some questions:

What effect do these procedures have on play?

Do players tend to care about the "integrity of the fiction", or do things tend to get surreal (or does something else manage that)?

Does the zero-sum mechanism cause players to keep secrets or prepare suprises for one another or otherwise "play it close to the vest"?

When 'shock tactics' are used, what happens?
_________________
levi.kornelsen@gmail.com

[Thunder_God]

That was my question, when shock tactics are used, what happens? I think a reformation of Social Contract, hopefully people will spend time after the game and chew on what it means, to them, about them, about others.

I am not understanding what you mean when you say "procedures", but if you mean sending emotionally loaded stuff, then no effect mechanically. None tactically, but if you care for the characters, then it does have an effect.

Do players care about the integrity of the fiction? I hope so, there's advice and notions to keep it down and gritty, and the source material is such as well.

The system doesn't let you keep many secrets, beyond "I'll help him against you" and such, it's all on the table.

Also, check out the game text, I'm interested in talking about implication, not describe the game text in full. Text available at Cranium Rats Central.
_________________
"I am light. I am dark. I must give my life to serve; not even death can release me."
- Selenia, Dark Angel.

[Levi]

[Thunder_God]

Feel free to playtest and tell me how it goes.

Though it's less mechanical and more System(Lumpley).
_________________
"I am light. I am dark. I must give my life to serve; not even death can release me."
- Selenia, Dark Angel.

[Levi]