SUN-02 Perfect: One Lump or Two?

[Ben Robbins]

players: Johnstone, James, Ben, Adrienne

"You're the photographer who took 'Paisley Wallpaper'?!? My good sir, I beg your pardon for ever doubting you! In our humble circle, it is recognized as a masterpiece!"

Sunday afternoon. The laziest of the lazy are chilling at a big table, shooting the breeze. But we have that itch to game. We just can't resist. So the big table splits in two: half go off to play Wrath of Ashardrawacard and the rest of us pressure Adrienne into showing us how to play Perfect so we can defy the man and get busted for it.

I loved everyone's character concepts. Johnstone's obsessive photographer / collector / archivist was excellent, and I was having too much fun role-playing the aforesaid "paisley wallpaper" scene when he threw down a secret society of like-minded conspirators, drooling over each other's slides. James played a privileged aristocrat, mad at the current society not because he was against fascism, but because they were doing it wrong: they didn't know the Queen the way he had. He _knew_ she liked half a teaspoon of sugar in her tea. The fools! If he had his druthers it would be proper fascism, with a half a teaspoon of sugar in every cup, whether you liked it or not!

I wanted a lot more time to creepily pressure Adrienne's classy prostitute. Can you seduce an Inspector? I mean they're not robots. If we'd played longer, I think we would have found out. In fact, that's my blanket complaint about the entire session: I wish we had two more hours! We only sat down and started playing late in the slot, but there was so much potential. This was the only slot of the con that I either a) got to play a new game or b) had someone else facilitate. Which isn't a bad thing, because generally I just plan to facilitate as much as needed, but it was a lovely change of pace. So Adrienne, you're my hero!

And yes, I hid in the bushes so I could spy on the girl of my dreams and paint her portrait. Smoooooth criminal, I was not.

[eddi]

Thanks for the write-up, Ben! I had a fun time with this as well - you're right, the character concepts were really cool. The paisley scene and your 'capture' scene with your inspector stand out as particularly excellent in my mind.

Actually, I was having quite a hard time not getting flustered with my prostitute. So, cutting short saved me from an interrogation scene that could have been pretty brutal. However, I've got a hang of the system now and look forward to facilitating this again at one of our meet-ups! (Maybe I'll try something easier like a pedophile.)

[Ben Robbins]

I find it's really tough to play sometimes when you're also facilitating/teaching a game, particularly if you're not that familiar with it. While everyone else is sitting pondering their character and thinking about cool scenes, getting in the groove, you're still busy flipping through the book and wondering if you've explained all the rules. Then suddenly it's your scene. Doh! Happens to me all the time. Facilitators are indeed the unsung heroes of gaming.

[mcdaldno]

This sounds excellent, guys!

The persnickety revisionist is an archetype I've seen played a few times, and it's always super fun. In my mind, Queen Abigail is in the setting to sink your criminal's teeth into, not just to be window dressing. Daniel (Wood) once played a man obsessed with the raw beauty and barely-contained sexuality of Abigail, and sought to arouse a nation. And suffered greatly for his sins.

How many cycles of crime did you have time for? It sounds like you only had part of a 2.5 hour slot, so I'm imagining only one?