| |
  | Ones and Zeros |
| An irregularly updated journal of my Fair and Balanced thoughts, reactions, opinions, biases, outrages, strategies, victories, and commentary. Whatever it is, it's much too subtle to be considered a parody... |
|
|
| |
|
July 05, 2003
| Gaming |
WISH 54 asksDo you like to have bits and pieces from your characters’ backgrounds appear in the game? Do you write hooks into your character background for the GM to use in the campaign for your character? Do you like it when the GM gives you a background hook into an adventure or scenario with a previously unknown hook, such as creating an old friend of your character’s who is somehow involved? What are some examples of cases where hooks have worked or not worked for you? As a player and as GM, I love hooks. I don't even have to know when we set one up what a hook is about. It doesn't even have to be important, although it sometimes becomes so later on. Hooks big and small are what makes a campaign seem more real. Hooks give players things to worry about.
In some ways, this is related to the great Claremont/Byrne authorial style debate. We started one player in House of Cards somewhat later than the others and his introduction to the game was in the form of several evenings of IM one-on-one sessions during which I was throwing off hooks left and right, including using another character's (previously unused) NPC father as a key part of the story arc. A major story arc in House of Cards involved Jovian and Leslie getting into trouble in Vere's home shadow. There are other examples that haven't surfaced yet.
As a player I like to make hooks. My Buffy/Vampire crossover character was accused of a murder he didn't commit and nobody in the party knew of it. His parents were a pair of Miskatonic U. professors who had died mysteriously in his youth. He had volunteered to fight in the Great War for the British and then turned around and volunteered with the IRA and fought alongside Michael Collins. He had met one PC while serving in the war and another while fighting Vampires in India (he'd actually been arranging a shipment of smuggled rifles for Ireland at the time, but we didn't tell Dr. Lazarus that...). He had a number of broad hooks and room for more. I was pretty bummed that the campaign didn't make it.
Hooks don't always work out well, though. David FitzAlan from the oft-mentioned Voyagers team in Champions had a lot of meaty hooks. Rick's comments resonate strongly for me, since David's hooks and plots didn't go the way I wanted them to go either. The GM and I never really clicked on what that plot was or what it would show about my character. I never quite quit the game over it, but there were times when I wanted to do so. That game was a noble failure. It had so many good things going for it, including a great crew of Players and an inventive GM, but it didn't ever (for me) bring it all together in a stable, successful run. That's always more frustrating than a game that just doesn't work, because you always think 'it could've worked, if...'
So, Hooks. Hooks are good.
|
| .:Posted by Michael on July 5, 2003 12:40 PM:.
|
|
|
|
