Been scanning the YouTubes for a Cache soundtrack. If you want to get an idea of what it sounds like to be inside zirs head at any given time, especially around groups of people, queue up the album cut of Comfortably Numb with Julee Cruise's Mystereees of Love. Floyd is always stuck in zir head. Always.
I am loving the scenes so far, but I have a confession to make: I haven't got a fucking clue what is going on.
The writing is so intense and enjoyable however, so hopefully as the PC's begin to interact it will coalesce into something understandable to my poor European brain!
Alan, I'm sorry things are a bit wonky for you. My advice? Stick to your own scene, figure out your PC and his role in the world. The other scenes are icing on the cake.
Hey Alan -- I think I'm the only person awake on this side of the pond right now. Rich has given you a setup scene, it's in the "Order Up!" thread. He's basically telling you where your character is, describing what's just happened, and asking what you do. You can start narrating whatever Big Mac does from that point just by commenting in that thread. As long as it's not an iffy proposition (requiring a roll) you can pretty much do whatever you want. When you speak with another PC or do something requiring a dice roll, say what you want to do and stop there. Rich will tell you how to handle it, and then back to the fiction!
The only part you need to worry about right now is answering the opening text I directed specifically at Big Mac, which is:
Big Mac:
At one point during the Breezestorm, you were out at SEARS when a huge gust burst through the revolving door. You heard a woman's voice, calling to you. You wanted to go to her, didn't you? Who was it? What did she say to you, Big Mac, something you've wanted to hear for a while, right?
Who pulled you back?
So you share Food Court with Sweet N' Sour. Why's that? You two buddy-buddy or is it a "keep your enemies closer" kinda thing? What's your place like, where do you sleep? Do you sleep alone, have a guard, a main squeeze, anything like that?
To break it down a little more A few days ago, there was a big psychic storm outside. As hardholder, you were responsible for keeping the hold secure. During the storm, you ended up in one of the stores in the maul, still protected from the storm, but close enough to hear it. In the storm, you heard a woman's voice. I didn't define who it was, but asked you "who was it?" You answer either in first person, or third person who it was, what she said and why it was tempting to you.
I'm doing it that way because I'm curious about Big Mac's relationships. Who has he lost? What would tempt him to give in, to walk out into the storm?
Next, I asked who pulled Big Mac back from the brink. You would answer a name, made up on your own or picked from the Names List I have on the wiki.
I asked that because I'm curious who is Big Mac's friend or second-in-command or protector. Who wouldn't let Big Mac just up and die? That's some loyalty, and I want to see who that would be. I'm putting it in your hands to shape and mold the clay of that NPC, then I'll take them on and portray them.
Next, I as you to define the Food Court a little. How do you see that place looking? What is the political landscape like? Why do you share it with big, bad Sweet N Sour, another PC? Are you two buddies (look to HX there and extrapolate), or are you not?
Then again, I ask for who is close to Big Mac. You tell me what his relationship with his gangs are like.
Being Hardholder is a big responsibility, Alan. I mean, for a game. I mean, this is a game where we play pretend of course, but in the game, Hardholders have lots of stuff going on.
BTW Rich, nice explanation of the motives behind your questions. Remember to mention that in the McDiary. It's easy to take that stuff for granted once you get used to it.
Alan that was awesome. About your mysterious female... I'm wondering if you're maybe talking about the person Jet referred to as "Vapor"...? Just an idea. I leave that for you to decide.
BRAVO Alan!!! Man, you had me worried for a bit but DAYUM, that was impressive out of the gate, man!
Tod, I'll go back and check. As a favor, can you note in thread with a +1 XP when you're rolling a highlighted stat? Makes it easier for future tracking. Something I should've asked for before.
Tod, yes, I see 5 XP for Jet Black (Fingers, Read a Sitch, Read a Person, XP from Manip and then Fingers again). Let's be careful on declaring a situation as charged, but yeah, Hot and Sharp are quick for XP.
Niko.... uh... wow, uhm. Should we edit her name? If it's causing some bleed, I can totally edit her name!
Jet just leveled up and the thing he really, most definitely, super-duper wants more than anything else on that list is "Resolve someones interest in your establishment".
I'm having a hard time fictizing that this early in the game, without creating bathos.
Rich... Do you happen to have any narrative reason for a dead person to be discovered?
Tod, you don't have to take the thing Jet Black wants. Take the thing you want. Competing interest in AMC is probably a driver of fiction you want to keep around long enough to play with. Right?
Ok, I hear ya both. I'm going to continue to argue, and I'm being Socratic but only to play devil's advocate on a concept. Rich, please view this idea as potential fodder for the McDiary, and as a test (in the explorative sense of the word) of your ideas on style and agency.
What if I proposed that we retain the monetary debt Jet owes to Lifestyles, but "edit out" the fact that Beauty (whom we've never met) wants the AMC gone?
In system terms, this is a proposal to exchange an in-character advance for an out-of-character editorial decision, prior to the activation of its object in play. In effect, this is "buying back" editorial agency over an element of chargen. I certainly don't believe this would leave Rich with any significantly reduced chance of messing with Jet's life, but I do know it would change the tone of Jet's stories and total interactions with the world, in a way I consider basically equivalent to an act of character generation.
It's definitely blurry. It's up to us to decide. Vincent defines "system" as the sum of the rules plus the decisions and actions of the group. That's the sense in which I'm scientifically probing the "system" right now. Think about it a bit. I promise I'll do what you advise either way. But it's an interesting question.
Tod, I hear you. Really, I hadn't explored the "threat" of Beauty. It's your advance, so if that feels right for you, then go for it. Should we "disappear it from play" or do you want to write that off in fiction?
I thought about that too hard. I realize what I'm doing now and why I want to do it.
Those three NPCs are a prime example of occasions where Vincent gets heavy-handed with plot in the playbooks. As both player and MC, honestly I resent Vincent's intrusion on my story, turning it into a template of every other Maestro D'. I am buying off some Vincent. Simply never happened. Thank you for helping me articulate this.
I particularly value those bits where Vincent intrudes; the bits that cause AW games as members of the AW multiverse to have these touchstones in common. (Character names is the most obvious of these.) But it's cool to see an alternative take on it.
Jet would never order a hit. At least I don't think so. Maybe if Cache did it as a "birthday present" or something - that's kinda what I was thinking when I asked Rich about narrative reasons - but I'm really just happy to buy off one of Vincent's fingerprints.
I do love the playbook Rich, no doubt. But I dislike certain portions of certain playbooks where MCs/players are not trusted with their own plot development, or where the uniqueness of a character within its class is harmed by categorical insertions on the plot level. To my mind, Vincent's requirement for these three NPCs to always be thus-and-so for every Maestro D' ever is an inelegant solution to a narrative engineering problem, and I'm okay with buying one of them off.
Just so we're clear: Beauty has been removed from my character sheet. My XP are back to zero, account balanced, that debt is paid in full. As to the separate question of whether or not Cache has messed up some antagonist of Jet's, which I could totally believe, that would be entirely up to Niko!
Hey Rich, is it cool if any time Playboy's hood talks to her, the voice comes from her throat, all creepy and stuff? I like the idea of it just always being audible to people around me.
I want you to narrate it that way. I'd like for it to be a fairly independent NPC who just happens to be in Playboy's head...or maybe around her head. With whom I also happen to have the Norman move.
Rich, it being after noon, I expect most of the Circus cast is getting up about now. Do you want to drive them? I have Rache, Francois and Jackbird busy already, they can be telling others what's going on.
So, Rich. Cache has no idea what the implant does. Ze's planning to test it out on Mari. See what happens. At some point soon, there will be Direct Brain Whispering. Most likely reflexive, because I don't think ze's ever used it before. Not even aware it exists.
So, Rich. Cache has no idea what the implant does. Ze's planning to test it out on Mari. See what happens. At some point soon, there will be Direct Brain Whispering. Most likely reflexive, because I don't think ze's ever used it before. Not even aware it exists.
So the conversation with Cache, Rache and Mari is just a few minutes ahead of me, right? In other words, if Cache waits five or ten minutes in the lobby she'll see me walk in with Playboy carrying Hot. is my timing right?
Sure, just wanted to get the timing right. Because in a few minutes Jet and Hot will be walking into the back area where that conversation is now going on.
Rich, just wanted to throw out something for you to play with if interested. As I was daydreaming my way through a conference call this morning, I thought about Servo (from my first in-character post). What if his old workshop's still around, booby-trapped to the teeth, and there's something in there that I will eventually need for a project? Seemed cool enough to toss out to you if you want it.
I'm brb in maybe 30 mins but fyi... Jet has to do a little "downtime" to get this show staged tonight. He's gonna break away from Hot as soon as he feels she's got enough info to take a flying leap at the machine. He'll spend the rest of the day running around the theater doing all the stuff I posted about.
Unless some catastrophe occurs, he'll basically be ignoring anything that isn't involved with the production for the next let's say 6 hours. He will stop to interact directly if Mari doesn't look like she has her shit together. He will stop to interact directly if Hot asks him anything. He will also stop if Cache asks him anything. But that's about it.
Nice. Paul, you would probably know this from before if your head isn't too fuzzy: Boiardi is all about lights and sound, electrical stuff. But if you need props or construction, Rache and Jackbird are the main hammer-wielders.
Tonight's my regular AW session, so I'll be offline from about 6 til at least midnight (pacific). Right now it's 3:17 here. I may or may not get on again before dawn, depends how trashed I am. :-)
Last thing to think about: When the Muzak goes out, does the power go out too? Meaning, does the music in the theaters go out? because I'm thinking it doesn't. Unless the power goes out.
Ok. Please remember that the Circus is a free-standing unit, capable of travel. We have a massive collection of CDs and music players as well as earplugs and musical instruments, which we use when traveling between towns. The Circus - maul or no maul - is conceived as a breeze-surviving unit. Even if just barely.
Ok. Please remember that the Circus is a free-standing unit, capable of travel. We have a massive collection of CDs and music players as well as earplugs and musical instruments, which we use when traveling between towns. The Circus - maul or no maul - is conceived as a breeze-surviving unit. Even if just barely.
Hrm, yes, that's true. I should amend my previous statement then.
So, with that in mind, it means that if/when the Muzak goes down, people will/should flock to the circus. Or at least the traveling part of it, which would not be connected to the Maul itself.
I need to be clear on this but I'm trying to make it all fit with your design intention as well. Perhaps we're saying that Muzak controls the *speaker systems* in the theaters because they are connected to the main maul system (in case of emergency I suppose)? That would mean the CD players could still work if we unplug them from the main, but only through their own small speakers so they have limited range...? And it's better if you use headphones or earbuds of course but then you get only one person per CD player, so it depends on how many people we have to cover with sound. Which depends on how bad the breeze is.
Oooor... does all of the above make perfect sense to Jet, Franc and Boiardi, but for some weird reason it just doesn't work that way?
We definitely would have experimented with all these audio configurations over the months. That's half of what Boiardi spends his time maintaining.
Perhaps the people at the other end of the maul rush to Mac because he's the devil they know, and people at this end rush to the theater?
I gotta stop rolling these dice unless I'm willing to suffer for it. Poor guy's just trying to do the same frikkin job he does just fine on all the days I'm not playing him!
I gotta stop rolling these dice unless I'm willing to suffer for it. Poor guy's just trying to do the same frikkin job he does just fine on all the days I'm not playing him!
Tod, I'd rather back off that "Everybody Eats" roll since, as you said, it isn't necessary. Do you mind removing the XP and I'll delete the post with the roll?
For player-initated Moves (Read a Person, Read a Situation, that kind of thing), please wait for me to check in with you before you go throwing the bones. I know the Moves are super smexy and all, but there are times when I'm not sure a Move fits. So, check in with me for the rest of this session before you roll a Move. I promise I won't make you wait long, and it will help keep me engaged and following the fiction like a good MC.
I'm going to log my thoughts and try to record late tonight or tomorrow.
I'm thinking the areas for discussion include: - Alan's opening scene breakdown. A walk-through of my intent with the leading questions, and then the brilliant results Alan came up with! - thoughts on first session Hard Moves (Hottopic and Muzak, Cache and Brain openings)
Anything else worthy of chatter?
Tod, would you be interested in talking for a minute or two (as in a literal couple minutes, I'm trying to keep the show under 15 minutes if at all possible) about the decision to buy off a "debt" that was never brought up in fiction and why you chose that over other advances?
Yeah, Niko. That was an interesting read. Is it sort of an in-character diary? Will there be more of them? It feels like it isn't "interacting" as much as reflecting. Is that right?
Yeah. This one is a snap-shot inside C's head on a given night. I'm planning on more, most likely in a similar vein, since I can't really interact with other toons. They'll likely all be intensely first-person.
Probably do some OOC musings as well. I can get pretty Method with my characters, and getting the thoughts out on "paper" will help keep ze in zir place.
Ok I'm catching up now. Thanks for removing that roll, Rich. Posting in a bit.
ETA: Have hours gone by and all my prep been done? Because if not, Jet is not going to let Esco pull him out of the theater.
- So angry with Mari I don't want to talk to her, considering firing her - So upset by Cache I can't handle a flashback right now - So much bitch juice dripping off Esco I don't give a fuck what she says, she needs to remember who's the producer and who's the talent
Thing is, Jet is absolutely singleminded when he's working. Everything outside the show is "deal with it laterz" and everything interrupting the show is seen as artless, stupid, or deliberately trying to mess him up. BTW, slight tinge of paranoia here. In the back of his mind he imagines "rivals" who are "jealous" of his "talent" and "want to pull him down" (to the bottom of the deep blue sea, metaphorically speaking, which is another fear he has - large bodies of water). (You're welcome, Rich.)
If Jet loves you or your talent, he will overlook almost anything. But if you mess with Jet's work, you have proven yourself outside of some imagined circle in his head, and therefore you are clearly unworthy of his attention. Pearls before swine, etc.
Mari and Esco (whom Jet believes to be equally involved in whatever weird thing is going on here), have just placed themselves in that category.
Cache is the exception, for reasons that are probably pretty obvious. Cache is a long-term problem, clearly. A problem that Jet wants to solve more than anything in the world - probably not solvable at all - and he doesn't even know where to begin. That's why he refuses to recognize Cache right now.
Comments
Also, check out most of Tim Walters stuff, here:
http://www.doubtfulpalace.com/artists/TimWalters/
The writing is so intense and enjoyable however, so hopefully as the PC's begin to interact it will coalesce into something understandable to my poor European brain!
ETA: Oh there's Rich! Yay!
For your PC (Big Mac), I created an opening scene. The thread with that scene is titled:
[Big Maul] Order Up! (B 1.1, S 1.1)
The only part you need to worry about right now is answering the opening text I directed specifically at Big Mac, which is: To break it down a little more
A few days ago, there was a big psychic storm outside. As hardholder, you were responsible for keeping the hold secure. During the storm, you ended up in one of the stores in the maul, still protected from the storm, but close enough to hear it. In the storm, you heard a woman's voice. I didn't define who it was, but asked you "who was it?" You answer either in first person, or third person who it was, what she said and why it was tempting to you.
I'm doing it that way because I'm curious about Big Mac's relationships. Who has he lost? What would tempt him to give in, to walk out into the storm?
Next, I asked who pulled Big Mac back from the brink. You would answer a name, made up on your own or picked from the Names List I have on the wiki.
I asked that because I'm curious who is Big Mac's friend or second-in-command or protector. Who wouldn't let Big Mac just up and die? That's some loyalty, and I want to see who that would be. I'm putting it in your hands to shape and mold the clay of that NPC, then I'll take them on and portray them.
Next, I as you to define the Food Court a little. How do you see that place looking? What is the political landscape like? Why do you share it with big, bad Sweet N Sour, another PC? Are you two buddies (look to HX there and extrapolate), or are you not?
Then again, I ask for who is close to Big Mac. You tell me what his relationship with his gangs are like.
Being Hardholder is a big responsibility, Alan. I mean, for a game. I mean, this is a game where we play pretend of course, but in the game, Hardholders have lots of stuff going on.
Does that help at all?
Folks, I think I just leveled up. Rich, check me?
Tod, I'll go back and check. As a favor, can you note in thread with a +1 XP when you're rolling a highlighted stat? Makes it easier for future tracking. Something I should've asked for before.
Niko.... uh... wow, uhm. Should we edit her name? If it's causing some bleed, I can totally edit her name!
Jet just leveled up and the thing he really, most definitely, super-duper wants more than anything else on that list is "Resolve someones interest in your establishment".
I'm having a hard time fictizing that this early in the game, without creating bathos.
Rich... Do you happen to have any narrative reason for a dead person to be discovered?
What if I proposed that we retain the monetary debt Jet owes to Lifestyles, but "edit out" the fact that Beauty (whom we've never met) wants the AMC gone?
In system terms, this is a proposal to exchange an in-character advance for an out-of-character editorial decision, prior to the activation of its object in play. In effect, this is "buying back" editorial agency over an element of chargen. I certainly don't believe this would leave Rich with any significantly reduced chance of messing with Jet's life, but I do know it would change the tone of Jet's stories and total interactions with the world, in a way I consider basically equivalent to an act of character generation.
It's definitely blurry. It's up to us to decide. Vincent defines "system" as the sum of the rules plus the decisions and actions of the group. That's the sense in which I'm scientifically probing the "system" right now. Think about it a bit. I promise I'll do what you advise either way. But it's an interesting question.
Those three NPCs are a prime example of occasions where Vincent gets heavy-handed with plot in the playbooks. As both player and MC, honestly I resent Vincent's intrusion on my story, turning it into a template of every other Maestro D'. I am buying off some Vincent. Simply never happened. Thank you for helping me articulate this.
I particularly value those bits where Vincent intrudes; the bits that cause AW games as members of the AW multiverse to have these touchstones in common. (Character names is the most obvious of these.) But it's cool to see an alternative take on it.
Tod, it's your advance and I haven't touched the character, so you tell us how you want it to happen.
Rich-- I'm not quite done with Mari. One more thing I'd like to handle in the scene to establish just how scarred and dangerous Cache really is.
Do you want me to narrate it that way? Do you want to keep control of it unless you ask questions? I flexible on it!
Going to head to bed early tonight. I'm dead tired.
In my head, until fifteen seconds ago (accounting for my typing), I've been saying MAHR-eee. Like, all the time, the whole time with no alternative.
Isn't that weird?
but since Niko is going to go to sleep verry soon, I think we'll have them miss each other until tomorrow?
Unless some catastrophe occurs, he'll basically be ignoring anything that isn't involved with the production for the next let's say 6 hours. He will stop to interact directly if Mari doesn't look like she has her shit together. He will stop to interact directly if Hot asks him anything. He will also stop if Cache asks him anything. But that's about it.
(fucked = need to find an alternative to protect yourself from The Breeze)
So, with that in mind, it means that if/when the Muzak goes down, people will/should flock to the circus. Or at least the traveling part of it, which would not be connected to the Maul itself.
Okay, got it.
Oooor... does all of the above make perfect sense to Jet, Franc and Boiardi, but for some weird reason it just doesn't work that way?
We definitely would have experimented with all these audio configurations over the months. That's half of what Boiardi spends his time maintaining.
Perhaps the people at the other end of the maul rush to Mac because he's the devil they know, and people at this end rush to the theater?
oh wait, no. Yes, right away.
For player-initated Moves (Read a Person, Read a Situation, that kind of thing), please wait for me to check in with you before you go throwing the bones. I know the Moves are super smexy and all, but there are times when I'm not sure a Move fits. So, check in with me for the rest of this session before you roll a Move. I promise I won't make you wait long, and it will help keep me engaged and following the fiction like a good MC.
Thanks.
I'm going to log my thoughts and try to record late tonight or tomorrow.
I'm thinking the areas for discussion include:
- Alan's opening scene breakdown. A walk-through of my intent with the leading questions, and then the brilliant results Alan came up with!
- thoughts on first session Hard Moves (Hottopic and Muzak, Cache and Brain openings)
Anything else worthy of chatter?
Tod, would you be interested in talking for a minute or two (as in a literal couple minutes, I'm trying to keep the show under 15 minutes if at all possible) about the decision to buy off a "debt" that was never brought up in fiction and why you chose that over other advances?
(poor Mari. poor Esco)
ETA: Have hours gone by and all my prep been done? Because if not, Jet is not going to let Esco pull him out of the theater.
- So angry with Mari I don't want to talk to her, considering firing her
- So upset by Cache I can't handle a flashback right now
- So much bitch juice dripping off Esco I don't give a fuck what she says, she needs to remember who's the producer and who's the talent
and
- The show must go on. EVERYTHING ELSE can wait.
If Jet loves you or your talent, he will overlook almost anything. But if you mess with Jet's work, you have proven yourself outside of some imagined circle in his head, and therefore you are clearly unworthy of his attention. Pearls before swine, etc.
Mari and Esco (whom Jet believes to be equally involved in whatever weird thing is going on here), have just placed themselves in that category.
Cache is the exception, for reasons that are probably pretty obvious. Cache is a long-term problem, clearly. A problem that Jet wants to solve more than anything in the world - probably not solvable at all - and he doesn't even know where to begin. That's why he refuses to recognize Cache right now.