So, this blog is not just about D&D5, though I will probably return to that once I start actually playing some.
Today, instead, I would like to talk about the Penelope Effect, which I consider to be a huge problem in LARP design and ways that I try to circumvent it. The Penelope Effect is my name for what happens in a LARP when a portion of a game 'leaves' the game location to investigate some plot point and the rest of the game is left with minimal Storyteller attention to wait for the others to return. This is something I have encountered in many games, both as a player and as a Storyteller, and there are a few ways that I have developed to deal with it, some of which I've picked up from other games.
But first, why is it a problem? As far as I've seen, it appears to be standard operating procedure for most LARPs, how can something that everybody seems to do be a problem. Well, let's talk a little about the Penelope metaphor. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is making his way home, having adventures and sleeping with all the mystically inclined women he seems to come across. Meanwhile, Penelope was stuck at home, and had so little to do that she had to weave and unweave the same tapestry. And while she is a cunning character, tricking her suitors while keeping the home fires burning, she is given very little story time. And that is ultimately why Penelope is a good metaphor for this effect. The people left behind are simply not getting story time.
Let's assume that in a game of 24 people, you have 3 Storytellers. While everyone is on site, there is effectively an 8:1 ratio of Storyteller to player and story attention can be divided fairly easily. Then let's assume that a group of 4 people leave on a mission. Now they have a 4:1 ratio and the remainder of the game has a 10:1 ratio, less potential Storyteller attention available for each of the remaining players. Another group of 4 pulls another Storyteller away and then the remainder has a 16:1 ratio of Storyteller to player and chances are multiple people may want the Storyteller at once. If another group of 4 then pulls off Storyteller number three, then half of the game is literally sitting at home without a Storyteller to run things. They've been Penelope'd.
As a Player, I've been Penelope'd many times. Sometimes it's people going off site, sometimes it's 'important' meetings with NPCs that only a few characters are allowed to join. Regardless, I've been left behind in the main game space with nothing to do. I've dealt with this in multiple ways.
Player Strategies for Avoiding the Full Penelope Effect
1. I've had many a philosophical discussion, waiting for adventurers to return, playing the simulationist game while others are off doing the narrativist thing.[I'll talk about my feelings on GNS in a later post]. But in my experience, that can only get you so far. In most cases, save narrative attention that places a great deal of attention on moral choices or transformational moments, you can only really have that conversation once between characters. Anything more is unweaving the tapestry, covering the same ground again. Generally speaking, I like these conversations. I think the chance to discuss character perspectives is a real joy of gaming. But unweaving the tapestry and then reweaving it gets dull after a while.
2. I will give myself things to do. I have taken to playing bards in LARPs, mainly because during down moments, I can pick up the guitar and strum a few bars while I wait. I've played characters who've done crossword puzzles, or played on their computers in character or done any number of things that fill downtime. I once brought a copy of the old Basic D&D to a Vampire game in character and tried to get other characters to play it in character[one day, I'll succeed at game within a game]. This passes time, but isn't always the most fun thing.
3. Inserting myself into Meetings/Adventures. I have gotten good about inserting myself into things. Barging into meetings, tagging along on adventures, etc. Sometimes, it's a dramatic insertion into a meeting. Sometimes it's a stealthy tag along. Sometimes it's a 'you should bring along a bard to tell the story of what happened'. Regardless, it's a skill I've had to develop to avoid being Penelope'd.
Really though, the Penelope Effect should be a Storyteller Problem. Storyteller planning and effort can reduce the Penelope Effect. And Storytellers should do this, because Penelope'd players are disengaged players. Being left behind is not particularly fun and as a Storyteller, your goal should be to make an event that is the most fun for the most people.
ST Strategies to Prevent the Penelope Effect
1. Unity of Place and WYSIWYG: More and more, in games I run, I try to follow the concept of Unity of Place and WYSIWYG[What You See is What You Get]. Making it so that characters have incentive not to leave the game space, either through external danger or internal reward means that people are not left behind. I roll the WYSIWYG effect into this in that by having the game space be the same as the physical space, you disallow a common Penelopeing strategy I call the 'not findable'. In this, if you want to be hard to find, you need to find space within the space that is hard to find and if people find you, they find you.
2. Eventfulness: This is a larger point and may get its own blog post at some point, but every LARP session should have a reason why the characters are gathering. If people don't have a reason to be in the space, then they will wander off. Part of eventfulness involves having things for people to do within the space either on a group or individual level. These activities do not have to consume the entire game, but they should provide a fallback. One quick way to do this is to provide food and drink. People are used to food and drink at events. And people are culturally conditioned to socialize over food and drink. This helps people interact.
3. In-Between Investigation: One major obstacle to a "no offsite investigations during game" policy is that there still needs to be a robust mechanism for information entering game. This is best served by an active in between action system. I've seen this done well in a number of ways. One method is the non-event game session, which I've seen called a downtime session or an interlude. At these sessions, there is no event programming, just a chance to have off site or other conversations/meetings. Part of the art of this process is making sure to prime expectations, so people don't show up expecting another game, but it can be effective. The other method I've seen be effective are structured downtime actions. Every player receives and email asking for in between actions and there is a hard deadline for completion of those emails so that actions can be considered. Theoretically, this allows characters to do things off-site and bring information back to game to be shared.
4. Minimal Storyteller as NonPlayerCharacter activity: This is probably my most controversial suggestion, but one thing I've found is that having the Storytellers focus on being accessible rather than having them play characters within the game allows for much more Storyteller attention to be spread through the game, making it easier to respond to anything and notice areas of concern that might be helped by an infusion of eventfulness. Generally speaking, if an NPC is planned and intended to be more than a single scene, then I recommend using a dedicated player rather than having an ST portray them.
Overall, I've seen many Penelope Effects in game. One of my worst LARPing experiences involved a 2 hour window where players sat around and made the same joke [a riff on the Insane Clown Posse "Magnets, how do they work?" lyric] over and over, because we'd all been Penelope'd. It was such a dreadful experience that I never returned to that game. Please, don't Penelope people.
Interesting -- I've heard this problem referred to as the "Primogen Council Problem" (but I think your name for it is even better!) because the council sequesters themselves off in a meeting and leaves all the non-members waiting on the results. (I think. I'm not that well versed in World of Darkness LARPs. But this kind of thing crops up in all different forms of LARP.)
ReplyDeleteThe lack of access to GMs from the players left behind is a pretty big problem. I think lack of access to the players who left is also part of the problem, especially when it's a large percentage of the players. I recall one game where maybe a third of the players had very long meetings, and every time someone outside the meeting hit a point where they wanted to talk to someone inside, their plots came to a halt. Another time, one player had a unique ability, and when she was busy on an adventure, the rest of the players had to wait until she was available to talk to.
One solution to this sort of thing I really liked was the make the adventures runnable by the players without a GM. I've seen a choose-your-own-adventure format for the adventures, which allowed the players to read through the adventure and determine the results on their own, without needing a GM. It takes a little extra prep time (you have to write out all of the possible choices and their results) and it relies very heavily on the honor system, but it worked out really well.
Going hand-in-hand with the "not-findable" thing -- make the doors not locakable. Even letting players peek in and give one another short messages can keep the bottlenecks from happening while players wait for a meeting to finish.
I love your ideas for giving yourself things to do. I've seen players bring genre-appropriate board games (people found medieval era games online, or looked up period-appropriate card games). I also like to play characters who are artists and bring art projects, with enough materials to share with others who may want to join in.
Cool post!