Recording Methods for Solo Play

It's been a couple weeks since my last game.  While I've had other "life stuff" to attend to on my days off, I'd have to be honest and say that the thought of sitting down to play a game, but recording it using a detailed written recording method like I've been utilizing, has somewhat stalled my game.  It's supposed to be fun, right?  It feels a bit too much like work to write my game out in detail.  I don't enjoy writing.  And while I recognized this early on, I'm already burned-out from the process.  My original purpose was to provide a window into how I solo my RPGs, but this is a hobby for me, and I feel like my detailed recording has served its purpose.  I'm not sure how many followers I have that are dropping by to read the entries - analytics suggests some interest, but I have to say that I think I'll be indefinitely pausing the game for now - at least publicly.  

I'm not sure to what extent I'll continue recording and posting the game on this blog; I might move to an audio format.  

Scene 15 - An Expected Interview

Expected scene: David finally gets to meet Chad and interview him.  Rolled 9 when testing the scene, so it progressed as expected.

David and Marie enter the house and Eric offers them something to drink.  David asks if he can video record the interview with Chad, to which Eric agrees.  David and Marie start setting up the tripod and recorder while Eric goes to Chad's room to bring him into the kitchen.  

When Chad sees David, the two of them stare at each other for a few seconds.  David decides to not speak telepathically with Chad.  Chad looks apprehensive.  David begins to introduce Marie to Chad, and then offers an immediate apology to Chad.  He tells him that he didn't mean to frighten him, that he only wanted him to know that he is not alone with his power, and that he could trust that David truly empathizes with his gift.  

Roll David's Diplomacy skill 12 as Influence roll vs Chad's Will of 9 when seeing how Chad reacts to David's attempted apology.  13 vs 9, David's roll fails while Chad's succeeds.  When using Diplomacy, the GM also makes a regular reaction roll and uses the best roll of the two.  Rolled a 13 on General Reaction roll, which is Good.  

Chad is receptive to David's apology and realizes David did not intend to frighten him.  

Eric glances at David.  

This is the first Eric has heard that David spoke telepathically to Chad, that this is why Chad vomited.  Is he upset with David?  Since earlier in the adventure I rolled Beautiful / Adventurous on a character description table for Eric, and I interpreted that is being open and willing to allow David to help the family, I assigned the odds of Unlikely that Eric would be upset at David for trying his power on his son.  Rolled a 35 against CF 4 Unlikely 25, so No - Eric is not upset at David.  

Eric is not upset with David, but he begins to question his claim of having psychic power.  

Eric is not affected by Chad's attempts at psychic power, he is an anti-psi - like Marie - so he doesn't believe that Chad is able to do these things, but wants to be supportive of Catherine and get to the bottom of what is happening.  

David affirms that he does indeed have psychic abilities, albeit unpredictable in his ability to use them.  Eric asks David to try to use them on him.  

David attempts to speak to Eric telepathically.  He is at full FP 10 so he has 7 tries (need to stop when total FP is at 3, as per rules of Unreliable limitation on his power).  It takes David 5 tries, so 5 seconds go by with David looking at Eric, trying to communicate, and FP is now at FP 5.  An additional second is required and an IQ roll to actually use his power now.  Rolled 8, success but his message doesn't come across, since Eric is an anti-psi.  Why did I even bother to roll then?  Because David doesn't know this information, and it impacts his ability now to possibly speak with Chad telepathically.  

David tries to concentrate and speak to Eric but does not succeed.  A few seconds go by and Chad speaks to David with a clear internal voice - he says that his voice doesn't work on his dad, only his mom.  David looks at Chad and nods his head.  Eric asks what he is nodding about, and David tells him that he tried to speak to him, but it won't work, and that Chad just told him telepathically that his powers don't work on him, only his mother.

Astonished, Eric says that there's got to be a way to prove that David and Chad can communicate telepathically.  David has an idea.  Chad actually seems to have better control over his ability than David, so he suggests that Chad gets a book, turns his back towards David, and reads a passage telepathically to David, which David will then repeat out loud.  

Chad goes to his room briefly and returns with a comic book.  David tells him to follow his reading with his finger, so Eric can see exactly what is being read while David recites it out loud.  Chad sits with his back towards David, opens the book, and starts to read a passage - just a few sentences.  David - in real-time - recites the passage as Chad telepathically speaks to him.  

Roll Fright Checks for Eric and Marie.  Will roll of 15 against 10 for Eric (failure of a margin of 5), Marie resists Fear with a success of 5 against her Will 12.  Eric's result after rolling on the Fright Check table is mental stun, which means he simply needs to roll against IQ to "snap out of it."  Only 1 second goes by and he makes his IQ roll.  

Surprisingly, Eric only briefly seems mentally stunned.  Marie takes it in and silently ponders what she just witnessed.  A few seconds pass where nobody speaks.  Eric finally breaks the silence and says that he needs to process what he just witnessed.  David takes this opportunity to talk to Chad about using his ability with responsibility.  He tells Chad that he should not speak to his mother telepathically since it causes her too much stress, that she can't handle it and that he could actually be hurting her mental health.  Chad agrees and David realizes that he was doing it out of frustration.  Now that Chad has an advocate in David, David feels that Chad will no longer harm his mother - he never did it maliciously.  

For the rest of the interview, David asks Chad questions about his ability, when he first realized he had it, and who all he has tried to use it with.  It's starting to get late, and it's a school night, so David tells Eric and Chat that they should be going, but he'd like to meet with Catherine again and speak to her about the interview.  Eric says he'll relay the message, and that they'd be in touch.  David leaves his number again, and he and Marie make the trip home.

Chaos Factor down to 3.  Lists updated

Threads List

1.  Investigate Psi reports

2.  Speak with Catherine

3.  Contact Jesse

4.  Follow up with Hughes family

Characters List

1.  Weirdness Magnet

2.  Marie

3.  Jesse

4.  Dean Pritchert

5.  NICPP

6.  classroom / students

7.  Manny Britero

8.  Duncan Britero

9.  Catherine

10.  Chad

11.  Eric

12.  military vet

13.  Jesse

14.  Manny Britero and church members

15.  Depression

16.  Catherine

17.  Marie

18.  Eric

19.  Chad

20.  Eric

21.  Marie

22.  Weirdness Magnet

Scene 14 - VCR & An Exit

Expected scene: David picks up Marie and they go to the Hughes home.  Rolled 1 against CF 5, altered scene.  Rolled 9 on Scene Adjustment Table, Make 2 Adjustments: Remove A Character / Add An Object.  

6pm Monday evening.  David is getting ready to leave the apartment.  

Rolled 12 against Chronic Depression - success.

Even though he is looking forward to meeting Chad, it takes a great effort to walk out his front door.  He drives over to Marie's place and rings the bell.

Roll for Marie's mood.  At the beginning of each session, GURPS Manic-Depressive Disadvantage suggests a d6 roll: 1-3 is manic phase, 4-6 is depression.  Each of these triggers other Disadvantages that will affect how Marie acts and is reacted to in the game world.  I roll a 2 - Marie is in her manic phase and will have Overconfidence and Workaholic disadvantages activated.

Marie answers the door, looking rather exuberant, and presents a collapsed tripod and suitcase.  She tells David that she was able to borrow the Psychology department's VCR recorder to document the interview at the Hughes home.  David is grateful and looking forward to working with this equipment.  He mentions that they'll probably need to have the Hughes' agree to being recorded, which he doesn't think they'll object to given the amount of trust Catherine has in him.  

They load up the equipment in the back of David's Volkswagen Rabbit and head down the road to the Hughes home.  It seems like a long drive, and David is becoming worn out by Marie's seemingly excessive chatter.  He finds himself getting irritated.  

When they ring the doorbell, Eric Hughes answers the door, and looks somewhat upset.  Catherine had to leave and go to her mothers.  Chad was apparently pestering her again with his psychic ability and Catherine had to leave.  Not wanting to cancel on David, she asked Eric to come over so the meeting could still take place.  David introduces Marie and Eric invites them into the house.  

Chaos Factor down to 4.  Lists updated.

Threads List

1.  investigate Psi reports

2.  meet Chad Hughes

3. Go to Hughes home

4. interview Chad

Characters List

1.  weirdness magnet

2.  Dr. Marie Higgins

3.  Jesse McManus

4.  Dean Pritchert

5.  NICPP

6.  classroom / students

7.  Manny Britero

8.  Duncan Britero

9.  Catherine Hughes

10.  Chad Hughes

11.  Eric Hughes 

12. military vet

13. Jesse 

14. Manny Britero and church members

15. Depression

16.  Dean Pritchert

17. Catherine Hughes

18. Marie

19. Eric Hughes

Scene 13 - Trust on Trial

Expected scene: David calls Marie to join him in going to the Hughes home.  Rolled 4 against CF 6, interrupt scene.  Current Context rolled on Random Event Focus Table.  Trust / Trial is rolled from the Actions Meaning Tables.  I'm interpreting this to mean that the trust between David and Marie will be tested somehow.  

I'm starting this scene with a roll to see if David calls Marie because of his Chronic Depression.  I rolled a 12, so success.

Early Monday evening.  David dials Marie.  

Does she answer?  I rolled a 35, so Yes.

Marie picks up the phone.  Before David asks Marie if she'd like to join him on a return visit to the Hughes home, he feels compelled to get to the bottom of why she couldn't meet him the last time.  He knows that she's covering something up.  He'd like her to open up to him more about it.  Before he can trust her with the experience he had Thursday night, he needs to know that Marie is ready to possibly be exposed to psychic phenomena, and he needs to know her commitment level.

Influence Roll to see if Marie gives him information about why she stood David up, Quick Contest of David's Diplomacy skill of 12 vs Marie's Will of 12.  6 vs 9, David wins with a greater margin of success.

After they exchange greetings, David proceeds to steer the conversation towards Marie's erratic behavior, and asks her to tell him why she didn't meet him last Thursday.  He tells her that he knows her well enough to perceive that she is holding something back.  Marie comes clean and tells David that she suffers from manic depression.  She is on medication for it, but sometimes she still has episodes.  This explains why she was overly excited to go to the meeting last Thursday, and then why she stood him up - she crashed from her manic episode.  

Marie's GURPS disadvantage of manic-depression actually has mechanics that require periodic rolls to determine mood.  

David tells her that he appreciates her honesty.  He then decides that before he can explain how he also has been suffering from severe depression from guilt, he needs to detail what happened last Thursday between him and Chad.  Up until now, Marie knows that David claims he personally has psychic abilities, but David has never been able to prove it to her.

Marie has an anti-psi ability that of course she is not aware of, and David has never assumed that this is the reason his ability won't work on her when he's tried to telepathically communicate to her, because his own ability is often unreliable.  

David proceeds to narrate the events of Thursday evening.  He then confesses that he's been feeling an enormous amount of guilt from using his telepathy on Chad, which has triggered a bout of severe depression that he's still fighting against.  Marie quietly takes it all in, and after a little more discussion, she agrees to go with him this evening to the Hughes home.  David offers to pick her up again.  He'll be leaving shortly.

Chaos Factor down to 5 - first time since start of the game.  List clean-up required again.  Lists updated.

Threads List

1.  investigate Psi reports

2.  meet Chad Hughes

3. Go to Hughes home

4. Pick up Marie and go to Hughes home

Characters List

1.  weirdness magnet

2.  Dr. Marie Higgins

3.  Jesse McManus

4.  Dean Pritchert

5.  NICPP

6.  classroom / students

7.  Manny Britero

8.  Duncan Britero

9.  Catherine Hughes

10.  Chad Hughes

11.  Eric Hughes 

12. military vet

13. Jesse 

14. Manny Britero and church members

15. Depression

16.  Dean Pritchert

17. Catherine Hughes

18. Marie

Game Reflection: Short Scenes

Some of the scenes are actually quite short, especially the last one (Scene 12).  Part of the reason for ending it so soon is because I wanted to allow the chance for the narrative to be altered when considering the next expected scene - which is to see if Marie wants to join him in the visit, and to check to see if David can overcome his crippling Chronic Depression with another roll to be able to leave his apartment.  If I lumped all of that with scene 12, instead of making it scene 13, I could have missed out on experiencing a change in what I expect to happen.  While somewhat tedious, I find that the random element of making a success roll can bring an unexpected result in how the narrative is shaped, which is what is most interesting to me.  I want to be surprised in this story, and I want the mechanics to shape the story as well - a GURPS disadvantage should have a meaningful consequence, especially a crippling one like Chronic Depression.  

I've also noticed that a large chunk of some of these blog posts are actually explaining mechanics.  Sometimes the italicized parts of the post are greater than the regular font, which means I'm doing more explaining than the actual description of the game itself.  I suppose that some might find that distracting, but others might enjoy the explanation of the mechanics.  

Scene 12 - A Letter Resurfaces

Expected scene: David drives to the Hughes home unannounced in the early evening.  Rolled 7 against a CF of 7, so scene is altered.  On Scene Adjustment Table rolled another 7 - Make 2 Adjustments.  Add An Object & Reduce / Remove An Activity.  

The day goes by with David being distracted by his excitement of making tenure, and his anxiety about how to deal with Chad Hughes.  While rummaging through some papers on his desk, he found Catherine Hughes' letter!  He can't believe it!  Now he doesn't have to put himself in an awkward situation by dropping by unannounced.  

Can he muster the mental stamina to make the phone call?  GURPS self-control roll against his Chronic Depression 10 against 12 - success.

David dials the number.  It's after school so he assumes Catherine is home with her son.

Does Catherine pick up phone?  50/50, Rolled Yes.

Catherine answers and immediately David apologizes for the delay in the return phone call.  He embarrassingly explains that he had misplaced her letter with the number.  While he thinks of it he gives her his number in case she would like to contact him directly in the future.  Catherine suggests that David comes over tonight after dinner if he's available, to which he agrees.  Even though Monday evenings are the NICPP meetings, talking with Chad is more important at this point.  David takes the time to ask if Catherine would be OK if he brought a colleague, to which Catherine agrees.  

Chaos Factor down to 6.  Lists updated.

Threads List

1.  publish / write book on Psi and faith

2.  investigate Psi reports

3.  meet Chad Hughes

4.  talk with Marie

5. Go to Hughes home

6. call Marie

Characters List

1.  weirdness magnet

2.  Dr. Marie Higgins

3.  Jesse McManus

4.  Dean Pritchert

5.  NICPP

6.  classroom / students

7.  NICPP

8.  Manny Britero

9.  Duncan Britero

10.  Catherine Hughes

11.  Chad Hughes

12.  city council 

13.  Marie

14.  Chad Hughes

15.  Catherine Hughes

16.  Eric Hughes 

17.  Depression 

18. military vet

19. lost letter

20. Jesse 

21. Manny Britero and church members

22. Depression

23.  Dean Pritchert

24. Catherine Hughes

25. Marie

Scene 11 - Monday Blues Turns to Tenure

Expected scene: David exits his blur of a weekend and tries to rally himself to start a new work week.  He knows why he feels the way he does - it's because of his interaction with Chad, and Chad's response to being spoken to telepathically.  David comes up with a wild idea - a desperate thought in a desperate state of mind to rid himself of this self-loathing guilt.  He should try to speak to Chad again telepathically, and show him that it is not something to be feared.  But this means he needs to see him again - he needs to go to the Hughes house, tonight!  Rolled 6 against CF 8, it's an interrupt scene.  Rolled on Random Event Focus Table: 66, Close a Thread.  Make tenure was the rolled result.  

9/14/81 Monday (Day 4 Depression)

It's 9:13 am.  David wakes up late, sleeping right through his alarm!  He instantly recalls his dream.  He contacted Chad again and the experience was a positive one.  He wants to try to communicate with him again in real life - telepathically.  But he needs to focus on more pressing matters - work.  He has overslept and missed his first class, and his second one should be starting, NOW.  

David decides to just call in sick.  However, instead of calling the typical office number for call offs, he decides to contact Dean Pritchert's office.  This is not his first late call-off, and he's wondering if this is going to cause him trouble.  He calls the dean's office and his secretary puts David through.

David begins explaining to Dean Pritchert that he has not been feeling well the past few days and has been fighting exhaustion due to an illness, hence the late call-off from oversleeping.  

Rolling a Quick Contest of David's Diplomacy skill 12 vs the dean's Will of 11 - this is an Influence Roll using a Quick Contest in GURPS.  I rolled a 10 for each character, but David wins because he had the largest margin of success since his skill is a 12 and the dean's Will attribute is an 11.  Because David won the Influence Roll, he gets a Good reaction from the dean.  I'm interpreting this in the context of closing the 'make tenure' thread.

David is able to make his case in a more than satisfactory manner.  In fact, not only does the dean not penalize him for a late call-off, he tells David that he has been considering giving him tenure for a few months now.  He knows how valuable David is to St. Xavier College.  David has a good reputation not only with the students, but is known as a hard worker and diligent researcher - his long hours have been noticed.  Dean Pritchert tells him that his tenure is only a matter of formality now, and that he should schedule a meeting with his secretary to go over the details.  Congratulations is in order.  Dean Pritchert tells David to get some rest, and that perhaps he needs to learn to pace himself or possibly be at risk for academic burnout - he's seen it before in other young, bright minds.  Sometimes the body cannot keep up with the mind.  David thanks Dean Pritchert, and for the first time in what seems like months, has a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders.  He has made tenure. 

Chaos Factor down to 7.  Lists updated.

Threads List

1.  publish / write book on Psi and faith

2.  investigate Psi reports

3.  meet Chad Hughes

4.  call Catherine Hughes

5.  talk with Marie

6. find Catherine's number or stop by house

7. Find Catherine's number or stop by house

Characters List

1.  weirdness magnet

2.  Dr. Marie Higgins

3.  Jesse McManus

4.  Dean Pritchert

5.  NICPP

6.  classroom / students

7.  NICPP

8.  Manny Britero

9.  Duncan Britero

10.  Catherine Hughes

11.  Chad Hughes

12.  city council 

13.  Marie

14.  Chad Hughes

15.  Catherine Hughes

16.  Eric Hughes 

17.  Depression 

18. military vet

19. lost letter

20. Jesse 

21. Manny Britero and church members

22. Depression

23.  Dean Pritchert