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Post by Monkeyfun Dave on Jan 17, 2018 6:17:17 GMT -8
There were multiple facets of the Fear Itself mechanics that made it a different experience than what I was accustomed to. (I'm really curious to know what Probie Tim thought about it). - It was nice to just have the player spend a die of their pool to resolve certain things. It made it faster and yet once the mechanic sunk in, the players realized certain things they didn't want to spend as quickly.
- I didn't get to use Stability tests, mostly because I didn't want to get in the way of the roleplay. Technically I should have had both Tim and Chris do Stability tests after watching a man gouge out his own eye and then attack them. But both players were role-playing out their reactions quite well so it seemed unnecessary.
- Risk Factor is still vague to me, basically it's what I call "The Idiot Ball" - players being compelled into taking actions against their better nature. I'm still trying to read up on the source of the Risk Factor from each player, as opposed to arbitrary reasons. My initial reaction would be actions that coincide with your Drive.
What did you think, Tim? You're Dice Boy, how did the one die mechanic feel to you?
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Post by Probie Tim on Jan 17, 2018 7:11:47 GMT -8
So, first off, let me just say that I came into Gumshoe completely cold. All I knew about the system prior to the game was what's been said on the show, and what was contained in a super quick overview of Gumshoe which Dave linked to us from the publisher's website.
Taking out the awesomeness of the scenario - and Dave's preparation for it - and looking at the system alone having played one whole session of it, it's... EXCEEDINGLY lightweight. The whole mechanic consists of rolling 1d6 to try to get a 4 or better. If you do, success; if not, failure. To help your odds, you put points into... eh, effectively skills, and you can use up to 3 of those points as an additive to your d6 roll; but once you use them, they're gone until a refresh point. But the system is setup in such a way that if there's a clue, and the characters have the skill to get the clue, the GM just gives it to them. I think I rolled... once, the entire session, and that was a driving roll to get across the intersection without an accident after the bum poked his eye out and came running at me. And I'm pretty sure that I dumped 2 points into the roll as well, because I was so intent on getting the eff out of there.
We talk a lot about the system "getting out of the way"; Gumshoe got SO FAR out of the way that I sometimes forgot that there were rules governing what we were doing, and that we weren't just free-forming it. Which, honestly, for me, was a slight bit of a disappointment. In all my long years of gaming, I've come to enjoy rolling the dice and the anticipation that comes along with watching those little randomizers bounce across the table, while I hope for a good result. Not having that - just saying "I want to research the Rhodes Corporation on the internet" and having Dave give me the information after just a quick glance at my sheet across the table - was a bit disheartening for me.
Now, that said, a system "getting out of the way" is a good thing, and the awesome RP which came out of it because we weren't so bogged down with dice rolls and interpreting a more monolithic rule-set was... really good. Enough that it more than balanced out my personal disappointment with not having as many, eh, "game bits". I'm anxious to play more and specifically see how combat is handled; to me, this seems like the kind of "GM doesn't roll dice" system that I could get behind and run, based on how combat works.
I'm sure I'll come up with additional feedback as the day progresses and I mull over it more. I'll add it to this thread.
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Post by Monkeyfun Dave on Jan 17, 2018 10:00:25 GMT -8
Technically the GM does roll dice during combat and chases. I chose to give Chris the initiative in that combat scene because the baddie was spending their action to close in, giving him more than ample time to pull a gun. Next time, I'll be more aggressive about it.
Another thing that was different was the lack of general stats and primarily based on Skill use. And if you ain't got it, you cannot do it (which is why I was very specific in saying you guys wanted Fleeing ability). The converse was pretty interesting, watching you use your Legal skills to making things easier and Chris using the Streetwise skill to get a clean gun. The rules specify that the GM should encourage the players to find alternative routes for things when they don't have the appropriate skill.
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