Post by neil on Jun 22, 2024 9:55:37 GMT
I managed to finally get Upwind to the table last week! I've had the game for ages, but haven't been able to persuade people to play it. But last week, I had a spare week and a captive audience, so I went for it (the Dune game I was running wrapped up early, as the PCs had succeeded on all their objectives, and the club organises games in scheduled blocks, to allow people to move around).
A few thoughts on the game.
Generating characters is pretty easy. There are enough examples given in the book that you can pick a concept from the list of suggestions, then pick nationality, abilities, and skills from the examples in the book. The only thing to look out for is assigning functionally the same still and attribute to the same suit: I did that once by accident.
I shifted away from the "play before you play" style of stakes setting that's in the RAW, instead using the Trollbabe-type stakes setting of asking "what's a stake here? what do you want?" and allowing the narration to flow from the outcomes of the play. I also used the difference between player and GM totals to become some kind of "degree of success" to guide what happened next.
My GMing style and Jeff's must be very different! I decided to run through the first instalment of the Grand Amplifier campaign and I had to change a lot. Mostly, that campaign is written with a lot of GM Force, where the GM has their story to tell and they'll tell it whatever the players do. That is not my style at all! I rewrote a few bits to allow for the overall shape of the plot to continue while still allowing the players to seriously affect the unfolding action.
Hand management is a key part of play that we all took a while to get used to. More than once, a player said something like, "I'll use my 'Charming Lad' ability to get answers... Oh. That's based on Hearts and I don't have any Hearts in hand." Players need to be aware of how their cards match their skills and abilities and guide their play towards what they're good at in the moment. At the same time, the GM wants to have their hand have as much of the same suit as possible, as that allows them to adjust the flow of the game by giving a choice of card values to play.
The other part of hand management is keeping good cards in-hand until they're needed. I drew a Joker (instant win) card about half-way through the game. I kept hold of it until the final confrontation, when the NPC boss was duelling one of the PCs. The Joker meant the boss won the duel and ran her sword through the PC; the player drew the card to determine the wounding, and drew their Joker! So the sword went through, but through the padding of the PC's disguise.
All in all, fun swashbuckling fun that I'll happily get to the table again.
A few thoughts on the game.
Generating characters is pretty easy. There are enough examples given in the book that you can pick a concept from the list of suggestions, then pick nationality, abilities, and skills from the examples in the book. The only thing to look out for is assigning functionally the same still and attribute to the same suit: I did that once by accident.
I shifted away from the "play before you play" style of stakes setting that's in the RAW, instead using the Trollbabe-type stakes setting of asking "what's a stake here? what do you want?" and allowing the narration to flow from the outcomes of the play. I also used the difference between player and GM totals to become some kind of "degree of success" to guide what happened next.
My GMing style and Jeff's must be very different! I decided to run through the first instalment of the Grand Amplifier campaign and I had to change a lot. Mostly, that campaign is written with a lot of GM Force, where the GM has their story to tell and they'll tell it whatever the players do. That is not my style at all! I rewrote a few bits to allow for the overall shape of the plot to continue while still allowing the players to seriously affect the unfolding action.
Hand management is a key part of play that we all took a while to get used to. More than once, a player said something like, "I'll use my 'Charming Lad' ability to get answers... Oh. That's based on Hearts and I don't have any Hearts in hand." Players need to be aware of how their cards match their skills and abilities and guide their play towards what they're good at in the moment. At the same time, the GM wants to have their hand have as much of the same suit as possible, as that allows them to adjust the flow of the game by giving a choice of card values to play.
The other part of hand management is keeping good cards in-hand until they're needed. I drew a Joker (instant win) card about half-way through the game. I kept hold of it until the final confrontation, when the NPC boss was duelling one of the PCs. The Joker meant the boss won the duel and ran her sword through the PC; the player drew the card to determine the wounding, and drew their Joker! So the sword went through, but through the padding of the PC's disguise.
All in all, fun swashbuckling fun that I'll happily get to the table again.