Mythic RPG Project: Chapter 7a: The Adventure: Scenes and Lists

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Over the last 14 blog post we have explored basic concepts, character creation, the use of the Fate Chart, some resolution rules and combat rules, with an example here or there. Today and tomorrow, we add the few remaining rules, and we show how everything fits into a complete system.

"The structure outlined in this chapter is designed to generate a dynamic, and improvised, adventure." pg.67

"Improvised means “free-form,” right? Not necessarily. Mythic is designed to move the adventure along based on improvised ideas, but it provides a structured framework to guide and shape those ideas. This isn’t “making it up as you go along” so much as hopping from one idea to the next with rules to navigate the way. The current idea is the current scene, the action of the moment. You may have some clue as to what the next idea is, but you won’t know what happens for sure until you get there." pg.67


This chapter covers a lot of topics. 

• Scene Setup 
• Lists
• Running Scenes
• Chaos Factor
• Altered Scenes and Interrupt Scenes
• Playing and wrapping up Scenes
• Book Keeping (it is minimal I promise)
• Favor Awards
• Example of play in Action. 
  

(Editor: This overview is the "Cliff's Notes" of the Mythic RPG. Useful to have around, or so I hope, but in no way a replacement for the game. So, if by the end of this blog post you are thinking this is for you then use the link at the top of the page to zip back to the project intro where you will find a link to purchase the game. It is an investment of less than 10 dollars for potentially endless hours of play. I think by now I have paid about 10 cents an hour of game play.)

Before we jump into Scene Setup, lets make sure we are all on the same page. There is a lot of overlap in RPG terms game to game. So lets sure your Scene and my Scene line up. In Mythic RPG a Scene is the basic unit of game play. Within it you could find further granulation of individual actions, but the purpose of those actions is to explore, interact with, or experience the Scene. 

While Mythic RPG is a solo game, and yours to do with as you wish, it has more of a cinematic feel than a simulationist feel. Thus, like a movie scene begins when something interesting happens and it ends when the interesting thing comes to some resolution.

What sorts of interesting things are we talking about? Anything interesting to you. While Mythic can be a GM tool, or a GM free group tool, I am writing this body of essays for soloist. As a soloist you can pursue your game from Scene to Scene following what ever drives you. The GM Emulator (which we will get to in the next Chapter) will make sure that your game has a diversity of Thread (plots), and fun weird things happen with some regularity, but it is your interest as the sole player that ultimately defines what you play.

With that bit of proselytizing aside, lets get to the specifics. A scene typical starts with something a Player Character (PC) wants to accomplish. This usually involves moving to the place you wish to accomplish it, whether that is another room in the PC mansion or on the other side of the city (I feel if you want to go to the other side of a continent, I say throw some adventure in there, but that is up to you). When you arrive (assuming the Chaos Factor hasn't thrown a monkey wrench in the work) there you start the Scene. You follow a Scene through its actions, reacting in character to the events that unfold, and when the action (whether is it is fighting a super villain or laying in field of wild flowers recharging your emotional battery) is resolved you wrap the Scene and move on to the next one. The next scene may be suggested by the ending of the current scene, or you may take the adventure down a different avenue. That is up to you.

"The simplest way to move from scene to scene is for the characters themselves to physically move. However, they don’t have to. Time can pass and move characters to the next scene while they remain in the same physical location. For instance, characters travelling through the woods make camp for the night. They rest up, and the scene ends. The next scene takes place in the morning as they get up and prepare for the day." pg.67-68.

Now lets move from generalities to specifics.

The Setup

"The first thing to do is to come up with scene number one. As with any movie, TV show or book, the very first scene of the production is vitally important. It sets the tone for everything that will follow. Chances are, the first scene will give the characters whatever “mission” that they will follow through for the rest of the adventure.... You’ve got two options in this department: make something up, or roll something up." pg. 69

The two choices here largely depend on your intent when you sit down to play. If you have a specific scenario in mind by all means start with that as as your first scene. Understand that along the way the Mythic system will alter things so they will never just be you typing out a story, but if you launch the game you want to play, and pursue your scene changes in that direction you will largely get the experience you are aiming for. More on that in a bit.

"If you make it up, keep in mind that the scene does not have to be very complex. You don’t need to take all week to create a multi-layered plot. Mythic is all about improvisational role-playing. Just take a few minutes to concoct an interesting concept, or even just a few interesting ideas for a starting scene." pg.69

If you just have a character and a setting and want to just let it fly you can roll up your first scene and let it set the stage for the flavor of the adventure to come. You still have some steering available by way of picking scenes and asking questions, but the starting scene will set the stage for the adventure. The expert advice for starting randomly is generate a Random Event (see last blog post or Chapter 6). Here is the expert advice on the subject.

"If you are truly playing off the cuff, and want to be

surprised from the get-go, use a random event to set up

the initial scene. Generate a random event... and use this as the setup for the

scene. Since you are generating a random event out of

thin air, without any context or other events to compare

it with, you will have a wide range of interpretations to

make. I suggest you aim for the most exciting

interpretation you can." pg.69 (bold highlight from the editor)

An important note about your opening scene, and to a lesser degree the scenes that follow, "Keep in mind that the setup should establish a goal for the characters to attain". pg.69

After generating your opening Scene jump into playing it out. Use the Odds questions and the  Action and Subjects charts to fill in the details. Use the Task Resolution and Combat rules to handle any action in the scene. The Chaos Factor (see below) may throw you some curve balls, but that is good. That adds an element of the unknow to any scene and transforms it from 20 questions to a vibrant and exciting RPG experience. When you have concluded the Scene and are ready to move on to the next you will need to do one more step, which is updating your Lists.

Lists

Lists are essential for keeping track of people and on going plot lines. Fortunately, they are simple to build. Simply use a printed or hand made copy of the adventure sheet found on pg. 69 to fill in the details of who you met (Characters column) and what plot hooks you discovered (Threads column). I highly suggest that you use the Scene Setup boxes as well. They will be valuable memory aids as your game continues to unfold. 

Characters and Threads while also useful as memory aids, are essential for Random Events, so don't hesitate to add anything interesting to the list. A character can be any individual that you meet, but it could also be anything with personality, such as a group, a place, or an organization. Threads are plot hooks, mysteries, unanswered questions, quests, or anything you want to pursue that arises from a scene. 

As mentioned above, you update your list after a scene. As a rule of thumb, add Characters that are important and Threads you want to follow up. Important doesn't necessarily mean powerful. If your character was talking to a family member or had an encounter with an interesting neighbor, and you would like those characters to stay in your growing adventure go ahead and include them. If you rush to your car just as the meter authority is putting a ticket on your windshield, you probably don't need to record the meter reader in your list of characters. 

(Editor: Here is also where you can do some of your adventure shaping. If you meet a crazy mad scientist, but don't want that to be a focus of the game, you can choose not to add him to the character list, sometimes there are people and plots in RPGs that just aren't followed up and that is OK). 

While making Character and Thread list updates is typically done after a scene, feel free to pre-populate a few Characters that are essential to your starting scene (assuming you are not spontaneously generating it). As Mythic can be used to play anything, that could include a story that you already know the start to, and the opening scene is where your players join the story. In such a case pre-populating a few Characters or a Thread or two, make perfect sense.

"In between adventures, a player can change his list,

adding characters he has met from an adventure who may

stick around and removing any who have left." pg. 71

(Editor: In the next blog post we will finally cover Chaos Factor, Altered Scenes, Interrupt Scenes, and Scene wrap up.)