Around December at my local RPG club we suffer from the normal kind of problems that strike any organisation that relies on its members being able to take breaks from their normal lives. Basically people have other things to do and are unable to attend. Christmas shopping needs to be shopped, Christmas parties need to be partied and our wives and loved ones are just generally more demanding of our time. Obviously this is completely acceptable as real life must always come first and besides I get invited to some really cool parties.
This makes organising things a little tricky and so to counter this we do things differently in December by having one session round robins. Games Masters will turn up with a game to run, suitable for a single session. This means that they will be outfitted with pre-generated characters or have something that is very easy to generate for. I like running these single sessions as it gives you a chance to explore ideas that you would not normally want to use for a longer game as it may be difficult to keep player interest and keep the feeling of the game fresh.
An Idea from the past
Secreted up in my loft is my old Commodore Amiga 500, an old flame of a computer that served me so well in my younger years. On it I played a game called ‘It came from the Desert!’, a cinematic game in which the hero has to stop an 1950′s American town being overrun by Giant Ants. The game always brings fond memories, especially the cry of ‘There he is!’ and the ensuing wheel chair race as you try to escape the hospital after being injured. So when it came to have something for the December round robin, I figured I would put a game together that was in the same setting and had copious amounts of giant insectoids as adversaries. Very soon an idea formed of a group of film-makers in the Desert that could be besieged by the giant ants, so all that remained was to write it.
Savage Worlds was the logical choice for the system, it’s easy mechanics lend to fast play and works very well with pulpy settings and the edges and flaw system makes for easy to understand characters, which to me is vital in a one shot game like this was to be. The characters have t be able to grab the players and have hidden gems in them that you want to see the players bring out.
The evening arrived where I was up in the round robin and feeling slightly nervous as I was unsure how this was going to go I handed out the characters to my four players, set the scene and let the game begin.
What followed was the funniest and most dynamic game that I have ever had the pleasure of running. The players were instantly in character and ‘over acted’ their parts with aplomb. As Games Master I had to do very little in the game as it was driven forward by the enthusiasm of the players. Those that have run games will know that this is one of the best feelings you can have as a Games Master. Just me planting a foot sticking out from under a tarpaulin to be revealed as a severed leg, however it was the players that in shock threw the leg into the air to land on the windscreen of truck that held the other players. It was the players that identified the leg as belonging to ‘Jimmy’ who so love to dance and it was the players that decided that all other known but un-named NPC’s from that point would be called ‘Jimmy’. You probably had to be there but trust me when I say it was hilarious.
Screen shot from the game duplicated accidentally by a player
In the computer game when you encountered one of the giant ants you could shoot it for ages, but unless you got it in the antenna it would not go down. I brought this facet of the original game into the RPG as I thought it would give the ants a little more menace (not that ants the size of horses was not menacing enough). Imagine my delight when the player portraying the film-crews camera man declares that he will make a shot that will inspire computer programmers in the years to come and straps his film camera onto his arm before shooting at the ants. He was referring to Doom rather than the game that I was using for my muse but it was the exclamation mark for me that meant the game was a success!
It went down so well with the players that they want it to run again next year. But for longer, 4 weeks rather than one night. This leaves me feeling rather nervous again. I think it is safe to say that the game was a huge success as a single session in the context it was designed for. However would that translate to longer play? Could the simple stereotypical characters I designed stand to more prolong exposure? Would a party be able to maintain the enthusiasm and joy that they had for a single session?
First time around I was nervous that people would not get the concept I had for the game and not enjoy it. Second time around I will be nervous about the anti-climax of the game not being as good as it was first time around. I have already said that I will do it again as the players obviously got a kick out of the electrifying game last time. But it was so good, can i be done again?
When I find out I will let you know, in the mean time I shall just be hoping that lightning can indeed strike twice.