tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1545408033358944069.post7163185846537779662..comments2024-02-02T02:25:34.121-06:00Comments on Steve's Gamer Blog: Becoming, by Brian EngardThe Townshendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16011507050817095128noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1545408033358944069.post-39956590487715726042014-02-22T10:47:22.787-06:002014-02-22T10:47:22.787-06:00This was a fun, 3-session game. I agree with Megan...This was a fun, 3-session game. I agree with Megan about the "end" scene, though: it's hard not to feel like it's somewhat heavy-handed. From her perspective, she already knew what the end-scene was going to be when the "blue planet" was suddenly detected. "Ah, okay, so we're going to crash land then," she must have thought. As the Fate who got scenes 3,6, and 9 - the last scene - I found it difficult to tie everything together and still be "true" to the scene's description. Not to mention the fact that major elements to the scene - a "jittery crew" and "the beacon" - were all but destroyed in the penultimate scene by the two other Fates! Thanks dudes. Perhaps I was also pretty tired, but that's why I came up with a "beacon" in the lone surviving crew member, Nick Harker "who knows the stars." I wanted the scene to at least have the illusion that there was still a chance to contact the rest of humanity. That said, I was playing the Fate Paranoia, and Nick had already been tortured and left in solitary confinement for much of the journey. Also, there was the fact that Nick recalibrated the nav system, so he must have known where he wanted to go. I agree with you that I also didn't want the whole journey to have been a trick, though, i.e. that Nick was the real captain and had the real beacon embedded in his body. But as Paranoia, I'm pretty sure Nick was coming up with a lot of delusions in his cell. The beacon was really only a new (perhaps mechanical!) heart or other organ - likely damaged from the bullet he took for the captain, which is why he never recovered. And in the end, he was so bent on revenge he wanted eventually to train the alien critters to hunt the Hero down, giving her a chance to experience a living hell for a time. Nick was my Colonel Kurtz. <br /><br />Since you were the Fate who had the most points, you got to narrate the epilog, which was awesome! I liked how you focused on her doing right with the indigenous creatures, recognizing her isolation from and the uselessness of God, and how she spent her remaining days on an alien planet. The mission was a failure, but she grew as a person. All was not lost. <br /><br />My question to you is: why did you decide to subvert your favorite character, Abel, the way and when you did? It couldn't have been just for points. If that was the case, you could have subverted him in the last scene. Also, why would he have sabotaged the beacon? Wasn't that the mission, his DUTY? Explain yourself!<br /><br />Overall, it's a great game that's perfect for a gamer's convention. We stretched our scenes out, but I think I would prefer that over rushing through them. As I said, I really like how much breathing space the scenes and mechanics give for role play, though a few more chances for rolling dice would be nice. I'd definitely want to do the Blair Witch setting, but can also imagine that it'd be quite easy - and fun! - to come up with 9 scenes for any story 3 GMs would like to run together. What a great collaborative RPG. It's my new favorite GM-ful indie game to date. stromianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03672736194488084667noreply@blogger.com