I assume everyone is already familiar with the Mythic GME and its random events. For those who might not be, it basically throws a twist at you whenever you roll doubles on 2d10. This provides some surprise and spice to the session.
In the Mythic GME yahoo group, the idea of using an alarm clock was tossed around as a way to create a bit more surprise to your sessions. The gist of it was that every time the alarm went off, it meant that the GME was surprising you with a random event (or perhaps just a random encounter). The nice thing about this is that it makes random events even more surprising (or so we thought).
So, in the spirit of DIY tools that the good folks here have shared, I slapped together a small implementation of that idea.
One implementation is of the Mythic random events as they are (taken from a file that was shared in that group). There is a second implementation which follows the same structure, but aims at what I think is something a bit different: namely to provide "pushback" by altering your fiction. Think of it as the tool telling you, "Hold up. That last bit you put in the fiction? It didn't happen exactly like that."
I call them Fictional Alterations because I'm unimaginative. :)
The tools is pretty easy to use. Click on one of the two 'start' buttons at the bottom to get the engine going. Then roleplay as you usually would. You can type on the window log, or whatever you prefer (as long as you pay attention to the page).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_7MzENQrZSxaEtmdVVISGlrb1k/edit?usp=sharing
I also have a version of it on my blog, with the obligatory long winded companion post. (forget the chess thing in the link. I decided it was time to replace that useless entry :) There I try to explain how I think it is best used.
If you play around with it, do tell me your impressions and how it might be improved.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_7MzENQrZSxeVR6LWhKcXhDVms/edit?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_7MzENQrZSxaEtmdVVISGlrb1k/edit?usp=sharing
I'd say that random events (being external) should always come after a reaction anyway, but not after every reaction. Perhaps using the 1 in 6 chance like wondering monsters in D&D. That would make them no more predictable then every 5 to 10 minutes.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind that a time base system can still be gamed. If I have an idea of what I want to a happen I could deliberate rush, logging things tersely to get more in before an event hits. Or alternatively I could deliberately slow down my play and spend five minutes logging one action.
Good points, Konrad.
ReplyDeleteI'm not too concerned about players gaming the system. My concern is much more focused on achieving the feeling that the player does not need to engage the system for the system to independently engage her or him.
However, some feedback I got on the Mythic group echoes yours as far as the frequency of events; though more of the concern was that the events would be too fast.
I still think that tying the events to player writing activity lessens that feeling of the system engaging you regardless of whether you engage it, but it's sounding like a good alternative to offer-- just as long as there is some element of randomness as to when an event is triggered.
The random encounter idea I think fits this. I'm thinking of either triggering it at random word counts, or with every key press. For the former, every event would do something. For the latter, a silent "nothing happens" option would exist-- and then some probabilities would need to be assigned (maybe allowing the player to set them to his liking).
Thanks again for the feedback thus far. I feel like it's been productive.
New link to slightly different version here:
ReplyDeletehttps://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_7MzENQrZSxeVR6LWhKcXhDVms/edit?usp=sharing
There were no major changes other than the addition of an alert that will let you know that the app has started. The lack of an alert understandably confused people as to whether the tool was working.