Fun game! A group that usually players 4E, Mutant City Blues, or Fiasco for sessions with missed players, we decided to give MG a try since one of our players is on vacation. We totally dug so much about it, the elegance of character creation, the conflicts, the story in a setting we were a bit unsure of at first but just loved by the end.
Only tough part that I’m curious about advice on is getting players to grok Fate, Persona Points, and Checks. Three sort of points to spend and earn, but we just kept having problems - even with the hints on the character sheet it seems like every other roll had some question about what they could spend or asking about what they could do to get more of them. Having three quite different earn-and-spend resources really proved to be challenging to learn in the midst of the rest of the system.
As it stands, if I run it for a new group I’m halfway thinking to just leave them out the first session completely unless I can think of a better way to make sure I understand it midgame and they can get enough of it too. Yeah, right now I can go spend the time to read the relevant spots in the book, but it was much tougher in game and their questions and misunderstandings often caused enough question to slow me up.
Anybody else had this problem and any suggestions to overcome?
Otherwise - tons of fun!!! I can see how it’ll be easy to use this game time and time again and how aspects of it might creep into games down the road.
You can’t really see the complete cycle in one session. In the second session, once you’ve earned some rewards and you need to spend some checks, the system becomes obvious.
I assume by “Checks” you mean Traits, as on a given roll, a player can choose to assist or hinder herself with a Trait, one of which also earns the player a check. I’ve seen this be the most difficult for players to get the hang of.
In your session, how did the players spend their checks in the Players’ Turn? During the session wrap up, who earned Fate and Persona points, and for what?
Yeah - I imagine it’ll start coming to me. Having at least one strong player or GM who knows the system can prevent incorrectly assuming things you later find out were wrong. It was tough…because on one hand I think I should’ve just explained what their 1 persona and fate point did in the game and left it at that. It got a little more confusing when I explained how to earn more (jumped ahead to MVP, etc) and then player checks (earned when using traits to hinder or hurt a character) and how the player turn works ran us around a bit.
If I did it again with a new group I would 1) use pregens 2) ignore the earning of points 3) focus on getting the trait/skill/ability dice mechanics down.
i used poker chips for each different pool to keep things clear. you started off with red and blue fae/persona, and earned white checks as you went. checks you didnt need to worry about - the GM can tell you when you can/might want to take one. (“youve tied. would you like two checks in exchange for losing?”)
persona is used BEFORE the roll, fate is always used AFTER the roll. this distinction helped define what you could/couldnt do. “i need more dice, i use persona”, “i need more successes, i use fate”. how to earn them is all summed up in the endgame, so i thought it would be enough to explain that if they brought in their beliefs and instincts while working toward or achieving their goals, they would be fine. i pretty much accepted that the first session, the group wouldnt get enough checks, and they would have a short and sweet player turn no matter how much i pushed them. they are all d&d players who are used to doing everything to try and be ‘successful’. since then, it has improved dramatically, with some players choosing to store hoards of checks - though i have had to be more careful to ensure they have the appropriate traits to do so.
i have also found that having more than 3-4 players changes the game dramatically. suddenly you have 4-5 help dice for every action, and all the tests get spread more thinly.
For an introduction or a one-shot, it’s not super-important to learn how to earn more Rewards, but it’s crucial to know how to spend them. At the end, I always go through awarding Rewards, and then point out to people that for a long-term game it’s important to play your BIGs to earn more Rewards since they are so useful.
Thanks for all the input… with your good suggestions I think I’ve got a much better understanding and will feel more comfortable next time. I’ve got an in person game scheduled soon, I think I’ll write up a few index cards with primarily how to use them and then also how to get them. Tell em to focus on how to use them for now, but they can have it right in front of them when they inevitably get curious and want to learn more.
I had heard the boxed set includes tokens or cards or something to this effect - anyone confirm this?
I think this is a really great idea. I’m gonna steal this for my game on Friday. We’re gonna have some new players, and I think this will really help things click for them.
