Hi and welcome back to Narrative Control.  This week’s episode was inspired by this blog post by Karen Twelves http://twelves.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/dead-of-winter-2010/.  It’s kind of the analog to Episode 36 – Dare to be Stupid.  That episode assumes we’re all shooting for a heroic end, what if you’re shooting for tragedy?Length: 42:08Hosts: Sean Nittner and Karen TwelvesShow Notes:[00:24] Intro to the show. Something wasn’t quite right after Dead of Winter[00:50] Reading from the post:  http://twelves.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/dead-of-winter-2010/[01:23] Hello from Karen. Her blog and soon to be appearance on 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction[02:05] How this is going to sound like Episode 36 – Dare to Be Stupid. And how it’s different.[03:11] Playing one-off (one shot?) games. No investment in them surviving the game.[03:36] I didn’t get all my character can do if I didn’t destroy them by the end.[04:30] But…but…it may not be the game everyone is playing. Is this what everyone wants?[06:21] Emo porn is its own reward.[07:19] Bringing your own experience of loss or suffering to the game.[07:57] The other side of the spectrum of playing power fantasy games.[08:28] Characters are real when they have suffered. [09:17] If you know things are going to go badly, it’s a different mode of play.[09:37] But what about my agency?[10:27] The game needs enough elasticity to continue play even after horrible things happen.[10:59] Example: A character died in the first scene of Dread. [12:11] There are great games for exploring power fantasies as well.[13:37] How to do it? Make it fun to pursue doom for you and the others. [14:14] Add to your failures.  Complicate them.[14:55] Collaborate with the other players to find the best “worst” idea possible.[16:11] Spend all those Fate chips. Make sure you can’t refuse a compel. Another way to collaborate.[19:01] Looking at the Dread tower, it’s a perpetual sword over your head.  Pull those blocks![19:51] Working to sabotage your own efforts.  In Fiasco, keep trying to put the gun in your mouth.[20:36] In Cthulhu when the professor finds the alien texts, OF COURSE you will try to translate it![21:15] In a one off game, you don’t have time to make a conservative or stoic character interesting. Put on the ring.[22:48] A bit of proof.  Three examples of game that Karen was in where emo porn was awesome.[21:11] Carl’s Smallville Game – Breakfast League: Angsty teenagers with powers. [27:59] Ryan Macklin’s Dresden Game – Emissary of the Dragon making all the wrong moves.[31:07] Sean’s Apocalypse World Game – Heart of Darkness. A healer who had to decide who lives and who dies. [40:47] Wrap up. What it’s all about.

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