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Jul. 30th, 2014 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckCordelia stayed in all day, and we watched Clone Wars for most of that time. (There was a two hour break while I did my exercises and watched the recorded episode of Antiques Roadshow that was on the DVR). I kind of burned out on Clone Wars, so I'll be just as happy if we don't watch any today. Tomorrow is soon enough. We're in the middle of season two now.
Cordelia said something that led me to think that she was no longer going to be playing with the neighbor kids, but she refused to discuss it with me or Scott. Later on, she told me that they actually wanted to play with her yesterday but that she didn't know that until she checked her e-mail around seven. I don't know.
I worry that some day she'll be in real trouble and not be willing to talk to us about it. Scott thinks we must have done something to make her think she can't trust us, but I'm not so sure. I think it may simply be her temperament. It's going to make adolescence that much more difficult.
Scott is really stressed out. Work is being nasty, and some players are unhappy with the games he's been running. Cordelia not being willing to talk to us didn't help at all because it made him feel that he's failed.
He wants to figure out a way to run a LARP using FATE, but I responded badly to the idea because I understand my current system and really don't get FATE. He thinks there's a way to use FATE so that combat won't require a GM's intervention. I don't really have faith in that as a possibility. I think, no matter how simple the system, people will want a GM if there's the possibility of having one. Doing without a GM requires trusting that everybody understands the rules and will abide by them even if it gets their character in trouble.
Scott also suggested that we use the wrong scale for hit points, damage, etc. The current scale for normal human stamina (hit points) is 60 to 95. Non-humans usually get more, either because they're tougher or to reflect the likelihood that their vital organs aren't where a human's would be. Scott suggested scaling back to use a 0-10 scale instead of a 0-100 one. I didn't like the idea, mostly because I'm comfortable with the current one (I'm conservative about things like that). I did eventually suggest that 0-20 would be better than 0-10 because it would save me from using half points. I count most things by fives currently, so 0-20 would scale properly. I feel like the change is unnecessary, but Scott thinks it would help.
Scott is the one who ends up handling combat when we run LARPs. People come to him when they want to use special abilities or to ambush someone. That means he sees all the ways in which the game glitches. I'm not convinced that switching systems would help with the things he's not happy about-- Players who got their characters five minutes before the game began and who sat through a brief run through of the rules while they were reading their characters aren't going to remember all the bells and whistles of what their characters can do. They're not going to be fully comfortable with the combat rules and are going to take extra time trying to figure out what to do when a fight starts.
Cordelia said something that led me to think that she was no longer going to be playing with the neighbor kids, but she refused to discuss it with me or Scott. Later on, she told me that they actually wanted to play with her yesterday but that she didn't know that until she checked her e-mail around seven. I don't know.
I worry that some day she'll be in real trouble and not be willing to talk to us about it. Scott thinks we must have done something to make her think she can't trust us, but I'm not so sure. I think it may simply be her temperament. It's going to make adolescence that much more difficult.
Scott is really stressed out. Work is being nasty, and some players are unhappy with the games he's been running. Cordelia not being willing to talk to us didn't help at all because it made him feel that he's failed.
He wants to figure out a way to run a LARP using FATE, but I responded badly to the idea because I understand my current system and really don't get FATE. He thinks there's a way to use FATE so that combat won't require a GM's intervention. I don't really have faith in that as a possibility. I think, no matter how simple the system, people will want a GM if there's the possibility of having one. Doing without a GM requires trusting that everybody understands the rules and will abide by them even if it gets their character in trouble.
Scott also suggested that we use the wrong scale for hit points, damage, etc. The current scale for normal human stamina (hit points) is 60 to 95. Non-humans usually get more, either because they're tougher or to reflect the likelihood that their vital organs aren't where a human's would be. Scott suggested scaling back to use a 0-10 scale instead of a 0-100 one. I didn't like the idea, mostly because I'm comfortable with the current one (I'm conservative about things like that). I did eventually suggest that 0-20 would be better than 0-10 because it would save me from using half points. I count most things by fives currently, so 0-20 would scale properly. I feel like the change is unnecessary, but Scott thinks it would help.
Scott is the one who ends up handling combat when we run LARPs. People come to him when they want to use special abilities or to ambush someone. That means he sees all the ways in which the game glitches. I'm not convinced that switching systems would help with the things he's not happy about-- Players who got their characters five minutes before the game began and who sat through a brief run through of the rules while they were reading their characters aren't going to remember all the bells and whistles of what their characters can do. They're not going to be fully comfortable with the combat rules and are going to take extra time trying to figure out what to do when a fight starts.
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no subject
Date: 2014-07-30 04:39 pm (UTC)The other problem with switching systems is that there's an unwritten contract between players and STs that you're playing according to X set of rules. If you're considering switching to play by Y set of rules, you need to discuss it with your players before you even make that decision, because you're going to want to explain your reasoning and get buy in on a new unwritten contract.
Changing a hit point scale also is a drastic change to that unwritten contract, especially if you're reducing the hit points. It affects other things, like a change of damage scale, and weapon modifiers, and, frankly, confuses and annoys people if you don't get their buy in early and allow them to offer input.
I have so many LARP opinions! :)
no subject
Date: 2014-07-30 05:22 pm (UTC)We run with a home rules system that we developed decades ago, and I don't think we have any players who are really invested in the rules. That is, they don't sign up for our games because we're running a particular system. They sign up because they know what sort of scenario I write (or because they play in every LARP that the convention offers). My main criteria for a system is that it should take less than ten minutes to explain and that I should understand it well enough to assign statistics and special abilities.
I think that going from 0-100, counting by fives, to 0-20, counting by ones, wouldn't be a big difference in terms of mechanics because everything would scale. I could see players not liking it because it feels like the smaller numbers take something away when one's used to the bigger numbers. I'm not sure why Scott wants to do it, though.
Our ideal for our system is that it should be simple enough that players can run their own combat, but I don't think we're ever going to achieve that, no matter what system we use.
I don't want to discourage Scott from trying to design a new system, but at the same time, I'm reluctant to change from the system we currently use because I understand it. FATE, the engine Scott would like to use, isn't really all that simple. Scott thinks it's the simplest, most straightforward thing ever, but nobody in our Wednesday gaming group agrees.
I think, if Scott wants to try a new system, we'd have to try to run a game somewhere that wasn't a convention, some place where we recruit players with the understanding that we're testing a new system.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-30 08:23 pm (UTC)Some thoughts:
* Does she have a non-parent adult who she trusts and could go to with problems? If she doesn't, maybe it would be possible to arrange for one, as sort of a mentor person -- maybe a Girl Scout leader, or a member of the gaming group, or a friend's parent, or a neighbor.
* Maybe you could kind of ramble on at her, in sort of a monologue about what you are concerned about, what kinds of situations might someday come up that would go much better if she can talk with her parents, with reminders included about how you and Scott are good, trustworthy listeners who won't panic or do anything stupid, and that she can rely on you to get her input and not go off and try to solve the problem without her input and her permission, and that you are the kind of parent who a kid can talk to. Not in an accusatory tone or with an implication that she has done anything wrong, but in a, "Just so you know," manner of speaking.
* You might want to look up the book, "Staying Connected To Your Teenager: How To Keep Them Talking To You And How To Hear What They're Really Saying" by Michael Riera. It has some really creative ideas that might be useful to you, such as working on a project together (eg. cooking, crafts, household repairs, handwashing the dishes), because it's easier to start yakking when your hands are busy. Or playing audio tapes that talk about what teens are like, which will goad a lot of teens into indignantly correcting what the tape says, and revealing information in the process. Or showing up in the kitchen when your child is there, to companionably share a midnight snack.
* One friend of mine said that she was too shy to talk about a lot of topics with her mom, but that her mom bought a blank notebook and wrote notes back and forth with her, leaving it on her bed, and my friend felt more comfortable writing there than talking in words. I have a hunch that this isn't the right answer for Cordelia, but there are some kids who I think this would work wonders for.
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Date: 2014-07-31 01:21 pm (UTC)I will look into that book you mention. Cordelia's not a teenager yet, but the techniques might help. She's always been reluctant to open up to us.