How far do you de-emphasize the strategic game? Would you remove infection mechanics completely or just summarize the choice quickly in the opening minutes and do the roll at the end for a climactic denouement? I’d imagine since there’s no investment in the results, failure on the infection mechanics scale could really sour the con-scenario completely, eh?
Maybe I’ll just build the ‘reclaim the space-alien’s abducted planet’ story i’ve been wanting to see playout since it was alluded to in Bloodstained Stars.
Ha, this is my project for the next BurningCon as well! I’m finding it incredibly vexing. I’m not sure why Luke thinks it’s excellent for one-shots. :-/
I think the most we’ll do with the Infection mechanics is just have a roll-off afterward for the “winner.” Actually just trying to frame up the scenario I have in mind as a “maneuver” is a PITA too.
Ugh. It’s an interesting challenge to say the least.
I summarize at the top in order to give a little direction for the players.
The only time the Infection matters in the one shot is if it’s for the win or loss. Otherwise, there’s no point in even bringing them out, because as you said, no one cares.
But it’s perfectly fine let the whole mechanic fade into the background. For No Exit, I simply said, “You’ve lost. Now what do you? How will you face the end?”
Take the Power Back – (A High Powered Burning Empires Scenario for 3 or 4 players)
The worm owns the planet, and a last vestige of freedom fighters posing as Vaylen have a plan to take it back – or destroy it trying. The roles are switched in this endgame conflict. Gundalas Vert is a garden planet controlled by the Vaylen and their hold is strong. You thought you’d found the weakness in their defenses but new intelligence has revealed they’ve been on to you this whole time, playing with you as a child would a toy. Can you find the strength inside yourself to pull off the plan despite the odds or will you flee the planet to save your own ass? Maybe you’ll end up just another victim of the worm, strapped down to an operating table, waiting to be hulled. May Ahmilak guide you to your destiny.
I thought last year’s bout with Sandy had you down for the count… good to hear, man. looking forward to it even more, now, though i’m not sure there’s enough demand for 3 BE games… i figured I’d be the lone insane person. glad to have company
should we conspire on our BE scenarios or aim to play in each others? tough call
i’m free the friday night before the party and am happy to show you what a real dinner in Manhattan tastes like if you’re not in a rush to eat it - assuming you are arriving early enough.
you know what I love about planning this scenario? – i can avoid all the pitfalls of the classic gaming group habits
there’s no attempt to try to ‘build a different character’ my characters can share the first three lifepaths before diverging and there’s no player need to try and be different
the team can be complimentary in ways that are impossible with multiple sources for character visions I can build a strike team that helps guide the direction the story will play out by giving them skills appropriate to the type of scenes i expect players will want to frame, instead of the usual player habit (of which i’m certainly guilty) that makes them build around a specific skill set that has to play out in a certain aspect of the planet nobody else is interested in or can even compete in
only expecting one session, my GM NPCs don’t have to be all encompassing in their range and scope. i don’t have to cover all the infection maneuver basis, which may help the story play out even more like the comics, with the relationships making even more sense, and the intrigue being even deeper right off the bat
you know what i hate about planning this scenario? – making 8 7+lifepath characters instead of 4. 8 character sheets with 24 beliefs and 24 instincts.
nice. i thought of that, but worried about the pitfalls of players not accustomed to the idea of the worm. the uninitiated with BE might get a little flustered by all the ridiculous traits. (this coming from the guy who ran the game with all the skills and traits written in Japanese) i suggest you do a compilation for all the BE traits and the weirder skills on a separate sheet
It’s a risk! Hopefully a worthy one. I’m finishing up character creation today and giving it a test run on Sunday. Right now my biggest concern/question is whether I should have 3 or 4 player slots. I think 3 might not be enough and 4 might be way too many. Dunno! Can’t tell w/o testing and it’s been too many years (since the Phase Sprint!) since I’ve even touched BE.
It went great! And it revealed some interesting stuff about how BE is written – mostly that it’s not quite built for a Vaylen-side game. Not really. That said, I’ve learned a bunch, I’m (very slightly) hacking core BE, and I’ll be doing up a “How to Play the Vaylen” type doc, probably after the con.
The most interesting challenge was to make the characters ambivalent and nuanced. I think the Vaylen come across as a unified front in straight BE, which doesn’t work at all on the player side (for Artha earning and making-interesting-fiction reasons).
