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Saturday, November 12, 2011

Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month: Monomyth structure - Session 2

Since my last session, I've been hashing some details out in my head like what I want to do for mechanics, and stats. I very much like the way that the Shock rpg both simplifies and infuses a theme in its handling of stats with its "praxis scales," so I've decided to use that. I don't want anything too complicated anyway as I'm a scatterhead, and this is my first time trying this structure out. :)

Given the hero's background and the presence of bullies in the previous writeup,  I think it's pretty obvious that one of the emerging themes is "Brains vs Brawn."

In addition to that, I also think that two things can be inferred:
  • Our hero's family is wealthy enough to send him to study in the capital.
  • The town is part of an Empire.
Other things have been revealed to me in this session regarding this town and its inhabitants. I decided to skip right ahead to the 'young boy/pre-teen' phase. The characters I'm interested in meeting are:
  • Mom
  • Dad
  • The bullies
  • Our hero's friends
During the session, I found out what some of the NPCs names are. In this session, I got to put on the player's hat, even though I didn't use stats yet.
Another thing I borrowed from the Shock rpg is the setup of the scene as a static situation ready to be interrupted by an antagonist.  There were a lot of Mythic Fate questions, but I only wrote down the real relevant ones. You can pretty much assume that all NPC actions came from Mythic in some form.

Also, this is still in the "Ordinary World" phase of the monomyth. Here is the writeup:

Situation: (Altered Scene) Our hero, Eli, is sitting inside the library; reading up on local history. His specific subject is a local man woman who, centuries ago, served in the Empire legion with honors fought against an encroaching Empire. Her name was Willow Morganthe.

Keeping Eli company are his motley crew of studious friends. While he reads about the female warrior, his companions are having a heated argument about the local culture-- how it is backwards, closed minded, and parochial [Mythic: Abandon-new ideas]. Obviously, these precocious kids are probably parroting their parents.  

[I get a Random Event from Mythic. NPC Positive-Create-Good (I erroneously interpreted this as a PC Positive)] Creepy looking Ulen [Mythic description: Adventurously Macabre] takes notice of a portrait Eli has created, based on what he's read so far about Willow Morganthe. He quietly passes it around to the rest of the group, who one by one fall silent in appreciation of how well it was drawn. They all praise our hero on his artistic skill.

[That's the static situation: A bunch of nerdy kids enjoying themselves. :) What's the conflict? Mythic: Violate-Victory. The bullies make their entrance now.]

Someone snatches the portrait from Ulen. It's Brelward, their tormentor. 

[Mythic described Eli as "Offensively Strong." That doesn't quite make sense, so using the S.C.A.M.P.E.R principle, I took the opposite of Strong and the description wa "Offensively Weak". Hence the offensive nickname below.]

"Look, it's Twig's girlfriend," he mocks. That's his nickname for Eli.

Ulen attempts to get the picture back from Brelward in vain. [Mythic throws another Random Event here: PC Positive"Antagonize-Victory". Using S.C.A.M.P.E.R again, I change that to "Help-Victory".]

The librarian in charge intervenes, taking the drawn portrait from Brelward.

"Why, this is quite a good portrait, Ulen," says the librarian.
"It's actually Eli's, sir,", says Ulen.
"Oh," says the librarian. "Well done, Eli."
"Thank you, sir" says Eli.
"Do you mind if I keep it? I'd like to frame it and put it on that wall."

Both pleased and embarrased, Eli answers, "No...of course not, Sir."
The librarian nods, and then turns to Brelward. Not even bothering to address him by his name, he shooes him away saying:

"Now, if you're not going to read or study, you better leave."

Brelward leaves as he gives Eli a threatening look.

Edit: Click here for Session #3.


 

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