Running It More Than Once

I recently re-watched Escape From L.A. and it dawned on me that it's the perfect example of running an adventure more than once.

The original, Escape From New York, focuses a lot of time on atmosphere.  It luxuriates in the dark, nihilistic tone, giving us a feel for the characters, the place.

The 2nd time doesn't fuck around.  It gets straight to the point.  It keeps things moving.  Very little screen time is lost between encounters.  As soon as one scene ends, the next setup begins.

But maybe the story moves too fast.  We get the essentials and then onto the next.  That keeps people engaged, but then you lose out on the world building.  The characters seem to be there for a specific scenario-required reason, not because they actually exist.

Escape From L.A. is also played tongue in cheek.  It's campy and ironic and cheesy on purpose.  I suppose the difference between Evil Dead and Evil Dead II is the same way.  The former is horror and the latter is more horror-comedy.

Now, I love humor.  Whenever I write or GM, there's always a little bit of the comedian in me.  However, not everything should be played for laughs or so gonzo that it's borderline ridiculous.  You've got to know when to pull back and get deadly serious, too.

Did it ever feel like Snake was in real danger in L.A.?  Not really.  Back in New York it seemed like there was no way Plissken could survive... but he did.  And that likelihood of imminent death made the story stronger, more realistic.

In both L.A. and Evil Dead II, the ending is better.  That's definitely an advantage to the remake.

So, which is better?  Well, I happen to think the first time around is more satisfying, even though the remake is more fun.

[Last Minute Edit: Holy crap, I just found out that Hollywood is rebooting Escape From New York... What?!?]

What does that say about the RPG experience?  What if "fun" isn't how we should be gauging our gaming enjoyment?  That's a blog post for another time.

How often do you run the same scenario multiple times?  The setup, pacing, mood, ending... how much does it change?  Did you change it on purpose or did it kind of organically shift because you were using another system, had different players, or the characters chose to go at it from a different angle?

VS

p.s. Also, there's an excellent lesson from Escape From L.A... when you state the rules of the game, don't go back on them without a good reason.  Otherwise, Utopia will mess up your shot!

The Evil Dead analogy!

This morning, I stumbled upon a slew of reviews from +Timothy Brannan of The Other Side blog fame.  I'll post links below, but first I wanted to approach my RPG catalog with an analogy...

There are some books of mine that are more like The Evil Dead, an old school horror movie containing subtle moments of whimsy and humor, but plays it straight faced.  I'd categorize Liberation of the Demon Slayer, Revelry in Torth, and The Outer Presence as Evil Dead.  Precious little "monkey business".

There are other books which are more like Evil Dead II, a nice mix between horror and comedy.  Like the film, these books don't take themselves too seriously.  Plenty of scares and laughs throughout.  I'm thinking of The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence, No Escape from New York, and my upcoming Alpha Blue.

It wasn't until this summer that I just let go and went total Army of Darkness with Crimson Dragon Slayer and Descent into the Candy Crypts (No Escape from New York is sort of a hybrid between II and III, I guess).

Now, when I first went to go see Army of Darkness in the theater, I was in High School.  For whatever reason, I didn't get it at the time.  I thought it was cheesy, stupid, and not particularly funny.  It wasn't until I watched The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II and then saw Army of Darkness for a second time that I "got it".  The cheesy stupidity was on purpose!  It was a parody of the genre and also a self-parody of itself.  It tried so hard to be ridiculously awesome that it became awesomely ridiculous.

I assure those willing to try Crimson Dragon Slayer that playing it can be a richer experience than merely reading the rules, just as a comedy script won't be nearly as much fun as watching the movie itself.

Anyway, without further ado, Here is Tim's review of How to Game Master like a Fucking Boss (doesn't really fit any of the categories).  There is his review of Crimson Dragon Slayer.  This is his review of The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.  That is his review of Liberation of the Demon Slayer.

I appreciate your spilling the virtual ink, hoss.  Much appreciated!

VS

No game, just Evil Dead.

There are few things more annoying than not being able to game (roleplay) due to lack of people.  Not having enough players is a common problem for working adults with kids, as well as, other obligations and responsibilities.  That's why so many gamers have been turning to online options.  Face-to-face roleplaying seems rather old school now.  Perhaps that's why I'm so dedicated to making it work...

Anyways, one of my players didn't want to make the trip if there were only going to be two players (weak sauce!).  So instead, the one player I did have, Harold, suggested going to see Evil Dead.  The remake, obviously.  My wife accompanied us to the theater.  It was good.  Gory, horrific, and reminiscent of the original while definitely being its own film.  I was afraid that every special effect and stray drop of blood was going to be CGI.  I loathe CGI, by the way.  It makes great films look like they've been injected with shitty cartoon images that doesn't belong.  Luckily, all the FX looked legit.

True horror, scifi, and fantasy special effects were perfected in the 1980's.  Give me John Carpenter's The Thing, Friday the 13th, Fright Night, and yes... Evil Dead (1 and 2)!  Those are the films I love, that resonate with me visually.  Don't get me wrong, some CGI is ok.  The Matrix wouldn't have existed if it weren't for computers (in more ways than one).  However, Phantom Menace can suck my dick.  Sure, Darth Maul, Yoda, and a couple other things were cool, but that wasn't enough to make it a great film.  Too much CGI was just one of the problems, but let's not get too deep into the Star Wars prequels in this post.

Beyond being "good", the Evil Dead remake seemed to be missing a couple scenes.  Why was the glasses guy so interested in releasing the book and reading passages?  They must have written and filmed a scene like that - explaining his need to know, possibly something about the inner darkness which exists in all of us - so why wasn't it in the theatrical release?  Will it be in the DVD?  Also, there needed to be more backstory flashbacks of life before coming to the house.  Sure, there's off-handed dialog and a couple of old photographs showing how the characters are connected to each other, but it's pretty minimal.  That's a missing scene as well.

In my opinion, Evil Dead should have learned something from The Cabin in the Woods.  Now there was a multi-dimensional horror film.  Very few writers are equal to Joss Whedon, so I can't bash Evil Dead too much.  Still... Cabin is worth emulating, writers.  It's there.  It exists.  I'm figuratively pointing to it right now.  Emulate ye!  Speaking of which, can a Game Master use memorable moments of terror in his game?  How does horror movie imagery translate to horror roleplaying?  Post a comment below if you have any advice or a story to share.

Then, the three of us went home to relieve my wife's parents of their babysitting duties.  Harold and I watched the original Evil Dead on DVD - still awesome, even though I've seen it dozens of times; unfortunately, I fell asleep during the middle.  Hey, I've got a toddler and a baby at home.  I get tired easily!

I'm still a little irritated that we couldn't game last Saturday night.  Three times a month shouldn't be too difficult.  Meanwhile, I'm doing everything I can to find more players - craigslist, game store bulletin boards, online player registries, attending local RPG meetups, asking old friends, notices on FB, etc.  It's frustrating, but I'll have a full table soon.  I just won't stop until it happens.

Dungeon Masters, don't take your players for granted!  They are the lifeblood of our game.  My struggle with finding quality, local, available, and reliable players (who enjoy old school gaming) has taught me their true value.  When (not if, but when!) I have a full table, you can bet I'll make sure everyone is satisfied.  I'm not going to hand every character the equivalent of a holy avenger each session, just like I'm not going to give my eldest daughter candy and cake just because I'm glad she's around - but every player, via their character, must illuminate the dark recesses of weekly sword & sorcery escapism!

DMs might not be able to shine the spotlight on every single character every single session because that's incredibly difficult.  Players need to understand that DMs are only human (briefly mention how your character might have been overlooked after the game).  Nevertheless, attempts will be made to focus on PCs rather than the NPCs, monsters, and whatever dank abode they crawled out of.  I shall set the stage, scene, and story for the PCs to interact with.  I won't overwrite, railroad, or squash creative adventurer heroism.  That's a promise!


VS