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Actual Play Vignettes: [Penny for My Thoughts] Therapy in the Coffeehouse!

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      CommentAuthorJosh Roby
    • CommentTimeSep 7th 2007
     # 1
    So this week we played Paul Tevis' Penny for My Thoughts at LAGames. Unfortunately, we were not at our usual, quiet venue, but played at a coffeehouse instead -- which meant no post-playtest audio recording. So we have to fall back on text again, which means I have to actually remember to post!

    It was Judson, Colin, MikeRM, and myself. Mike was our guest star, as he happened to be in LA on his way back home from vacation, so we snapped him up and made him go to therapy with us. Over the course of the night, it turned out that Judson's character was a not-especially-nice husband and father, who wasn't too happy about either. I might have been his son, but probably was just a homeless guy who mistook him for my father. Colin and Mike, however, turned out to be hardened bank-robbing criminals.

    I really liked the totally in-character approach of the game document, Paul. I felt very immersed in being an amnesiac (which is odd for me), and the "memories" were rather eerily familiar-feeling. Were it not for the coffee house, I might have mistaken the game for real therapy!

    The penny-economy worked without a hitch, which surprised all of us. The progression of scenes was fun and interesting, and we enjoyed ourselves.

    Our biggest complaint was that we wanted something to cap off the experience. Now, I think the final question is supposed to provide that, but unfortunately with the taped-off section of the ashcan, we somehow got the mistaken impression that there was a twist in the taped-off pages, and not ashcan feedback questions. I'm not sure if, in the absence of the taped-off section, the final question would be an adequate capstone or not.

    (I will get to the specific questions of that taped-off section as soon as I can, but I wanted to drop this post here to at least get the thread started.)
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      CommentAuthornoclue
    • CommentTimeSep 7th 2007
     # 2
    Posted By: Joshua BishopRobyI felt very immersed in being an amnesiac (which is odd for me),


    What was odd? Being immersed or being an amnesiac? :)
    • CommentAuthorptevis
    • CommentTimeSep 8th 2007
     # 3
    Awesome! I can't wait to hear more.
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      CommentAuthorMikeRM
    • CommentTimeSep 9th 2007
     # 4
    I had a lot of fun with this. I particularly enjoyed two aspects:

    1. The bit where, near the start of each scene, each other player gets to ask a question which must be answered with "Yes, and...". Great opportunities to complicate other characters' lives.

    2. The mechanic of not being allowed to narrate anything your character did or said - only what others did, how your character felt etc. - and then spending a penny-token to ask two people "What did I do/say next?" and choosing between the two answers. Being able to choose was the key to this working, though it did tend to lead to a bit of one-upmanship, especially since the penny gets given to the person who gave the answer chosen. I think Judson at one point when he was the second answerer said, "How am I supposed to top that?" It pushes things in a high-drama direction - not a bad thing if that was what you were going for.

    Overall it felt a bit more like an improv exercise with gamelike elements than an actual game per se, but it was a fun and interesting improv exercise. I decided to use what little I know about improv and did some reincorporation. At one point I'd given Colin the option that what he did next was shoot his partner in the back and make off with the money, leaving him in a burning building, and he took this option. Later, when on my final question ("How did you lose your memory?") I decided that my character was the partner, Colin's character's brother, and he'd lost his memory because of having been shot and left in a burning building.

    Oh, the "memory seeds" were fun, too. It was interesting to see how far we got from them how quickly - from "cucumbers" to "going to propose to my girlfriend", for example. Colin did great things with "a metal operating table", reincorporating my character as a deranged lunatic who was trying to saw Colin's character's leg off.
    • CommentAuthorptevis
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2007
     # 5
    Posted By: MikeRMBeing able to choose was the key to this working, though it did tend to lead to a bit of one-upmanship, especially since the penny gets given to the person who gave the answer chosen. I think Judson at one point when he was the second answerer said, "How am I supposed to top that?" It pushes things in a high-drama direction - not a bad thing if that was what you were going for.


    In groups that go for that sort of thing, it does accentuate that tendency. I've also had a good luck with the second person going completely the opposite direction and low-key, but it depends on the group.

    Overall it felt a bit more like an improv exercise with gamelike elements than an actual game per se, but it was a fun and interesting improv exercise.


    Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

    --Paul
    • CommentAuthorptevis
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2007
     # 6
    Posted By: Joshua BishopRobyI really liked the totally in-character approach of the game document, Paul. I felt very immersed in being an amnesiac (which is odd for me), and the "memories" were rather eerily familiar-feeling. Were it not for the coffee house, I might have mistaken the game for real therapy!


    Woot!

    The penny-economy worked without a hitch, which surprised all of us.


    Why did it surprise you?

    Our biggest complaint was that we wanted something to cap off the experience. Now, I think the final question is supposed to provide that, but unfortunately with the taped-off section of the ashcan, we somehow got the mistaken impression that there was a twist in the taped-off pages, and not ashcan feedback questions. I'm not sure if, in the absence of the taped-off section, the final question would be an adequate capstone or not.


    Interesting. What do you think would provide a satisfying conclusion?

    (I will get to the specific questions of that taped-off section as soon as I can, but I wanted to drop this post here to at least get the thread started.)


    Hurrah!

    --Paul
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      CommentAuthorSteerpike
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2007
     # 7
    I think the Penny economy surprised us since we kept expecting it to break down if we weren't careful with dishing out the penny's and we would end up with a stalemate in which no one would have enough penny's to answer the next question. You could kinda of see everyone doing the math and realizing that it couldn't break down this turn and then the acceptance that it wasn't going to at all.
    • CommentAuthorptevis
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2007
     # 8
    Yeah, it's pretty carefully designed to be as tight as possible without that being able to happen. Which is why I'm having the trouble with the endgame inelegances that I am.
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      CommentAuthorMikeRM
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2007
     # 9
    Posted By: ptevis
    Overall it felt a bit more like an improv exercise with gamelike elements than an actual game per se, but it was a fun and interesting improv exercise.


    Is this a good thing or a bad thing?


    Oh, a good thing, but I mention it because for some audiences who are expecting tactics and randomizers it may be important to clarify that they won't be getting any.
    • CommentAuthorptevis
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2007
     # 10
    Posted By: MikeRMOh, a good thing, but I mention it because for some audiences who are expecting tactics and randomizers it may be important to clarify that they won't be getting any.


    Definitely. I need to be clear about that and the fact that APFMT is a game where you shouldn't get too attached to your own character.
  11.  # 11
    Posted By: ptevisYeah, it's pretty carefully designed to be as tight as possible without that being able to happen. Which is why I'm having the trouble with the endgame inelegances that I am.

    It's actually one of the neatest employments of the Pigeonhole Principle I've seen. Given that the inelegance only comes in because a player drops out, and suddenly there are way more pigeons than there are pigeonholes, what if the Standard Mnemosyne Questionnaire grew in the course of play, either following the third pair of questions, or as the result of recollection. The game can't finish until everyone has finished the third question, but it's possible that some players answer more than three.

    Posted By: ptevis
    Interesting. What do you think would provide a satisfying conclusion?

    One thing we'd discussed was some sort of individual epilogue, based on whether "you want to remember your past." If you do, you tie your memories together somehow into an overall narrative. If you don't, we talk about where you'll go from here.

    Tying that to the above, once you've decided whether you'll remember your past, question 4 would arise from the memories already related, and either be backwards looking ("How does your pleasant memory relate to your unpleasant one?" or something) or forwards: ("Given that you seem to have robbed a bank, what will you do next?") Honestly, that last option seems like it would completely flip the game over.
    • CommentAuthorptevis
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2007 edited
     # 12
    Posted By: Judson LesterTying that to the above, once you've decided whether you'll remember your past, question 4 would arise from the memories already related, and either be backwards looking ("How does your pleasant memory relate to your unpleasant one?" or something) or forwards: ("Given that you seem to have robbed a bank, what will you do next?") Honestly, that last option seems like it would completely flip the game over.


    Oooh. Some variation on this is totally going in the game.

    Regarding the lengthening questionnaire, I'm not sure. That sets up the (admittedly remote) possibility that the game will never end, if one person never gets enough pennies to answer the third question. The other problem is that it weakens the structure that the existing questionnaire has. You don't know when you're going to be done.

    But, I need to think more about this. Thanks!
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      CommentAuthorgreatwolf
    • CommentTimeSep 10th 2007
     # 13
    Posted By: Judson LesterTying that to the above, once you've decided whether you'll remember your past, question 4 would arise from the memories already related, and either be backwards looking ("How does your pleasant memory relate to your unpleasant one?" or something) or forwards: ("Given that you seem to have robbed a bank, what will you do next?") Honestly, that last option seems like it would completely flip the game over.


    Ooh. Going forwards seems like it could be really nifty....

    Seth Ben-Ezra
    Great Wolf

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