[2007-01-18] The Mountain Witch [Mike Montesa]

[Forum Admin]

Historical

[stinger]

This was a great way to kick off the Thursday night RPG madness at Endgame! I have a write-up of the game on RPG.net:

forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?p=6834338&posted=1#post6834338

And Opsimath gave it a big thumbs up:

"I had a blast. It was a great group of players; very focused, very creative. I think just about any game we did with that group would've been worth it, but TMW and Mike's GMing brought an infectious enthusiasm that certainly helped it all along.

I went in with the expectation that I would be listening a lot more than I'd be talking, though I ended up talking more than I expected. After 27 years of "traditional simulationist" games using systems like GURPS and BRP, I assumed that my first "indie" game would be tough to wrap my head around.

Turns out, while it was a challenge for me to get the hang of narrating stuff beyond what players get to narrate in a "traditional" game, this was not the crazy, alien experience I expected. Good stuff, definitely, but with lots of similarities to the best of the "trad" gaming I've done in the past. Turns out that good gaming is good gaming - I guess I really shouldn't be surprised at that. "

[binary]

This game rocked. It was my second story game play ever and it went past my expectations. I don't think I ever really managed to pace well with the game though; Mike was doing his best to give us opportunities to move things along, given the compressed timeframe, and I at least didn't quite bite. So I was still hinting at my character's Dark Fate when wham! Mike took it and threw it in my face (or should I say, turned it into a monster that Chris H proceeded to obliterate with an arrow through the forehead). Things rapidly went downhill from there, as my character still didn't take matters into his own hands and chose to help fight off the hordes before taking his revenge. Well, too late buddy, revenge got taken out on him first with a sword in the back. Terrible... and awesome.

Thanks Mike for running this! I hope to show up at one of the Thurs night sessions again some day.

[stinger]

Hey Binary (Bay?), thanks for the props! That really was a fun game and I'll probably run it again at some point, I enjoy it that much.

Don't feel bad, because you really did a great job - we were rolling *hard* to the finish at a pace the game was not originally designed for (but in retrospect, I think works very well when you do push the throttle past the stops). The best part of that game was that everyone was down with the program and all of you were fully aware of the premise of the game (trust and betrayal) and what it would mean (characters stabbing each other in the back).

I know it was hard to keep up - but even I was barely one step ahead of you all most times. TMW is really a game where no one can sit back and let the others do the driving. That's just how the rules work, so that level of player involvement is hardwired right in there. Every player has to take the reins and drive the crazy cart to the edge of Awesome Cliff. That can be scary, but exciting!

I pushed hard because of the time pressure, and perhaps because I wanted to get people to try a mode of play they might not have experienced before.

For me, the best thing about it was that everyone enjoyed themselves, and were able to play a game where seeing their character cut down by another member of the party caused high fives instead of angry glares.

[opsimath]

binary said:

Things rapidly went downhill from there, as my character still didn't take matters into his own hands and chose to help fight off the hordes before taking his revenge. Well, too late buddy, revenge got taken out on him first with a sword in the back. Terrible... and awesome.

Ah, was that your back my sword went into? I'm still kinda sorry about that, no matter how much I try to convince myself it's an appropriate part of Mountain Witch. I've been to two or three Thursday Nights at EndGame since that game, and I hadn't seen you around, and I worry a little that my sudden yet inevitable betrayal might've been responsible for you not coming back.

I hope that isn't true, but if it is, please accept my apologies.

[binary]

Absolutely no offense taken! That's the point of the game. If you pull back the camera a bit, you'd see my character about to put his sword into someone else's back just as the same gets done to him. An appropriately cinematic moment.

I live a bit too far away to come by the Thursday night games very often, but I hope to swing by tonight.

Bay