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psocopteraSo, having failed to go to Arisia due to snow, I went to Vericon. I met Jacqueline Carey and got her new book signed, heard James Morrow tell a silly story (alternating every other word with a cheerful undergrad) at a story reading, and played Mal Reynolds in a Firefly oneshot RPG.
*Captain* Mal Reynolds.
This was, as well as highly entertaining, a fascinating roleplaying experience. Mal, for the non-Firefly crowd, is very much The Captain. He is In Charge. He can make quick judgment calls about the course of action to be taken, and he sticks to his decisions until *he* decides they need to be amended. He appreciates the input of his crew, but in an advisory capacity, and mostly just in their particular specialties - he'll listen to the engineer about how to keep the ship running, but he won't listen to the doctor on combat issues.
So - hierarchical roleplaying: how do you do it well? How do you work collaboratively as a player but stay in command in character? My previous roleplaying experience hasn't had actual chains of command. My Correllendor character has over time evolved somewhat of a leadership role, but this is somewhat a function of seniority (my character's been "on the case" longer) and somewhat, I think, of her being Lawful Good in a mixed-alignment party - she just can't trust anyone else to make proper decisions for her, whereas other Chaotic or Neutral characters can go along with decisions for their own reasons. But I (and she) are very aware that if other characters decide to defer to her final call on something, it's because they've decided that the party works smoothly that way. Mal on Firefly, on the other hand, is explicitly the employer of some of the characters (well... technically they're working for a share of the haul, not a fixed wage, but he has a "hiring and firing" kind of relationship), the commanding officer of others, and the boss of everyone if it involves the ship. He's not going to do the things Cor does like ask for a show of hands or hold a brainstorming/consensus building discussion. He's *responsible* for everyone. Unless someone volunteers something, he's not going to look to them for solutions.
This means, though, that I had more *power* than anyone else in the game to determine what course of action we were actually going to take. Where we were going to land, whether, when we heard Mysterious Noises in the Supposedly Abandoned Mine, we were going to go forward and check them out or retreat to the ship - I was calling the shots. In practice, of course, I tried to incorporate the mood of my crew into my decisions (and cues from the DM and other players), but it was weird! What if everyone else was just sitting there wishing *they* were driving?
As it happened, I brought up some of these issues afterwards, and people agreed that they did *not* feel left out, frustrated, or underutilized, and that it had in fact felt a lot like an episode, which the DM was way pleased about, and me too ::grin::. But it was still interesting. I'm not sure I'm even explaining it well, but if people have thoughts or related experiences, I'd be curious to hear about them. Maybe another way to put it is that I feel like there is a way that Mal is the "central character" in a way none of the others are - you can have an extended sequence of events that doesn't involve Inara or Simon or Jayne at all, but if it has anything to do with the ship, the job, or the safety of the crew, then it involves Mal. (In case it wasn't clear, it was *crazy* fun to do. As much because of the challenge of command as despite it. ::grin:: I think part of my concern was that the other players couldn't possibly be having as much fun as The Captain. ::grin::)
I'm trying to remember now if, in the Star Trek mystery game I played in high school (junior high? it was one of those box dinner mystery games) Picard was one of the characters. I rather think not, it would have been too imbalancing in the same way.
*Captain* Mal Reynolds.
This was, as well as highly entertaining, a fascinating roleplaying experience. Mal, for the non-Firefly crowd, is very much The Captain. He is In Charge. He can make quick judgment calls about the course of action to be taken, and he sticks to his decisions until *he* decides they need to be amended. He appreciates the input of his crew, but in an advisory capacity, and mostly just in their particular specialties - he'll listen to the engineer about how to keep the ship running, but he won't listen to the doctor on combat issues.
So - hierarchical roleplaying: how do you do it well? How do you work collaboratively as a player but stay in command in character? My previous roleplaying experience hasn't had actual chains of command. My Correllendor character has over time evolved somewhat of a leadership role, but this is somewhat a function of seniority (my character's been "on the case" longer) and somewhat, I think, of her being Lawful Good in a mixed-alignment party - she just can't trust anyone else to make proper decisions for her, whereas other Chaotic or Neutral characters can go along with decisions for their own reasons. But I (and she) are very aware that if other characters decide to defer to her final call on something, it's because they've decided that the party works smoothly that way. Mal on Firefly, on the other hand, is explicitly the employer of some of the characters (well... technically they're working for a share of the haul, not a fixed wage, but he has a "hiring and firing" kind of relationship), the commanding officer of others, and the boss of everyone if it involves the ship. He's not going to do the things Cor does like ask for a show of hands or hold a brainstorming/consensus building discussion. He's *responsible* for everyone. Unless someone volunteers something, he's not going to look to them for solutions.
This means, though, that I had more *power* than anyone else in the game to determine what course of action we were actually going to take. Where we were going to land, whether, when we heard Mysterious Noises in the Supposedly Abandoned Mine, we were going to go forward and check them out or retreat to the ship - I was calling the shots. In practice, of course, I tried to incorporate the mood of my crew into my decisions (and cues from the DM and other players), but it was weird! What if everyone else was just sitting there wishing *they* were driving?
As it happened, I brought up some of these issues afterwards, and people agreed that they did *not* feel left out, frustrated, or underutilized, and that it had in fact felt a lot like an episode, which the DM was way pleased about, and me too ::grin::. But it was still interesting. I'm not sure I'm even explaining it well, but if people have thoughts or related experiences, I'd be curious to hear about them. Maybe another way to put it is that I feel like there is a way that Mal is the "central character" in a way none of the others are - you can have an extended sequence of events that doesn't involve Inara or Simon or Jayne at all, but if it has anything to do with the ship, the job, or the safety of the crew, then it involves Mal. (In case it wasn't clear, it was *crazy* fun to do. As much because of the challenge of command as despite it. ::grin:: I think part of my concern was that the other players couldn't possibly be having as much fun as The Captain. ::grin::)
I'm trying to remember now if, in the Star Trek mystery game I played in high school (junior high? it was one of those box dinner mystery games) Picard was one of the characters. I rather think not, it would have been too imbalancing in the same way.
