WAR hosted a "Readiness" event this past weekend to help turnover characters and items, as well as do some sample mods based on the Accelerant ruleset. All and all, I think it went extremely well. But we did notice a number of things that are a little jarring when going to an Accelerant game. With our first game up, here's a couple of things to keep in mind.
1. There's no "What do I See" Phrase
This was kind of difficult at the readiness weekend, because most mods were for mechanics, and we didn't really have much costuming. Ultimately, without that phrase, it's going to come down to costume and roleplay. NPCs are going to have to try hard to rep everything that goes out so that people get an idea of what those things are. And as even more of a safety net, most of the PCs with abilities that are particularly strong against a type of creature have exposes they can use.
2. Roleplaying Hits
Everyone I've talked to has said that one of the biggest things to overcome in the transition from NERO to Accelerant is roleplaying hits. And you know what? They're totally right! It takes a little bit of time to get used to roleplaying being struck or roleplaying an agony effect rather than saying "Got it" or not responding at all. It may take a bit of time, so be patient with the players and don't jump all over them about it. But remember, if you're not roleplaying your hits, that tells me that you didn't take it and that I still have the attack!
3. Flurry!
As expected, changing to a three strike flurry is pretty difficult, especially in the heat of battle. It's something we're all going to have to work on. There are times when you just want to keep attacking when you have an opening, but eventually people will get the hang of this.
Remember, the biggest thing about the new game is immersion, so don't go jumping down anyone's throat at the game because they did too many swings in a flurry or aren't roleplaying hits. If you can find a friendly way to bring it up IG, please feel free to do it. You know, something like:
"Wow, that man over there is tough! Nothing seems to faze him!"
"That guy is particularly fast with his weapons, it's hard to keep up!"
What do you think is going to be (or has been for people who are already experienced) your biggest stumbling block in getting used to Accelerant?
1. There's no "What do I See" Phrase
This was kind of difficult at the readiness weekend, because most mods were for mechanics, and we didn't really have much costuming. Ultimately, without that phrase, it's going to come down to costume and roleplay. NPCs are going to have to try hard to rep everything that goes out so that people get an idea of what those things are. And as even more of a safety net, most of the PCs with abilities that are particularly strong against a type of creature have exposes they can use.
2. Roleplaying Hits
Everyone I've talked to has said that one of the biggest things to overcome in the transition from NERO to Accelerant is roleplaying hits. And you know what? They're totally right! It takes a little bit of time to get used to roleplaying being struck or roleplaying an agony effect rather than saying "Got it" or not responding at all. It may take a bit of time, so be patient with the players and don't jump all over them about it. But remember, if you're not roleplaying your hits, that tells me that you didn't take it and that I still have the attack!
3. Flurry!
As expected, changing to a three strike flurry is pretty difficult, especially in the heat of battle. It's something we're all going to have to work on. There are times when you just want to keep attacking when you have an opening, but eventually people will get the hang of this.
Remember, the biggest thing about the new game is immersion, so don't go jumping down anyone's throat at the game because they did too many swings in a flurry or aren't roleplaying hits. If you can find a friendly way to bring it up IG, please feel free to do it. You know, something like:
"Wow, that man over there is tough! Nothing seems to faze him!"
"That guy is particularly fast with his weapons, it's hard to keep up!"
What do you think is going to be (or has been for people who are already experienced) your biggest stumbling block in getting used to Accelerant?
I dislike encouraging a culture of correcting people for game mistakes by having them disguise the statements with an in character veneer. The entire point of not calling people out in the first place is that it is preferable to not interrupt the flow and of the scene (roleplay, combat, other) with corrections than it is to make sure people don't make mistakes. Disguising them as IC talk does little to make it less jarring to the audience.
ReplyDeleteThose sort of “Verily, he art very tough, and mayhaps he dost not feel much pain” comments also generally come across in game as mean and snarky, regardless of the person's attempt. They can also be infuriating to the target who may feel like they are being ridiculed or called a cheater, and yet by couching the comments inside of IG speech it prevents the target from responding or explaining without them breaking game.
In almost all cases I find the most preferable course of action is to just let it go. Maybe later something could be said, but not in the moment. There are two exceptions. If the person is messing up so bad or in such a way that they are screwing up the scene for other people (screwing up a mod mechanic for instance) then it might warrant something being said. The other place where it does work fairly well is when something happens where the screwup is obvious to everyone and the entire scene becomes uncomfortable to all participants because they can't figure out how to react without acknowledging an OOG rules impossibility. In those cases it can often be helpful for someone to paper over the mistake with a “Well, obviously this happened because of this” sort of comment just to give everyone cover to move on from the mistake and continue the scene.
@George
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with you on the long term, 90% of our players have never played an Accelerant game. At our first few games, there is going to be a plethora of mistakes (not cheating!), and I think reminders are going to help those players get into the swing of things.
As an interesting note, Madrigal started out with those sorts of corrections and then slowly weened away from them so it seems like it's an almost natural evolutionary step for a playerbase as they adapt to Accelerant.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I tend to aim for the quiet mention off to the side later if it's not a huge deal or, kind of like George says, a single comment to ret-con "what we all just saw" if it's a serious issue messing up the game flow. For example "Clearly he was momentarily blessed to cross the lake of fire, but I doubt any will be able to do so again without leaping upon the pillars" if someone ran across a jumpy stone module.