So I've run a whole lot of Primetime Adventures at cons, and it is probably the single indie game I've played or run the most. Over the course of all these highly successful runs of the game, I've hit upon several rule drifts I like, as well as some strategies that are useful at cons (and a few of which are useful in general). I think these are pretty helpful and fun and I wanted to share them with the community, and also welcome feedback on them.

First I'll start with the rules drifts. If I get some of the actual-printed PTA rules wrong here, please feel free to correct me.

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The first big drift I do is to have only one conflict per scene. I have found that having only one person conflicting with the Producer per scene, and having people help or hinder with that with fan mail or Edges and Connections, focuses the events of the scene very intensely and helps a lot with making each conflict intrinsically about that character's Issue.

The other drift is that according to the rules, stakes are supposed to be binary: "What do you want? Do you get it or not?" I've found that that can be stifling, so instead I do a more traditional stakes setting thing where I say what I want and you say what you want and we negotiate until both outcomes are interesting.

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Next up, strategery.

EVERYONE PREMISES: In the pitch session, I ask that every player come up with at least one Premise for a show. This is especially helpful in a con game where people may not be familiar with story games or the level of narrative power they have in them. It signals to people early on that they will be participating constantly. Also it prevents the socially dominant from wholly taking over. Finally, I often find that in coming up with several premises we can meld some together and have a lot of fun.

BRAINSTORM THE CAST: In addition to brainstorming Premise, Mood, Conventions, etc., I ask that people not start out with a plan for what character they want to play. Instead we brainstorm a cast list too. What kinds of characters would the producers of this show want to see? I usually try to come up with 1.5 to 2 times the number of concepts as there are players at the table. We can then say things like, "This guy has to be in this show." We can also often combine concepts just like we combine premises.

DON'T PLAY BEFORE YOU PLAY: It's important to cut the pitch short, especially in the conventions and tone section. I've seen a lot of people have a strong urge to play before you play at this stage and that can be death to story momentum later.

PUSH FAN MAIL: This is especially important in a con game, though not exclusively so. One of the worst problems you can get into with PTA is to have a big pile of unawarded fan mail sitting in the center of the table. It literally slows the game down and usually makes it pretty painful. Sometimes in a break I'll ask people, "Why are we not awarding fan mail? Are you not having fun? What would it take for you to do so?" I often jokingly say things like, "Wow that was awesome. If I had fan mail to give I totally would give it to that." Sometimes I've even stepped in and given some out to stimulate things though I am loathe to do this and usually disclaimer heavily so people don't think that it's a Producer prerogative.

Con-specific stuff

RUN THE 1ST SHOW NOT THE PILOT: While you're "supposed" to always start with the pilot, I think that's not a good idea for a con game. People need to see the effects of screen presence, and even if they know what it does already, if everyone's played the game before, having SP in play makes the game much more fun and interesting.

FIND A COMMON SHOW: When explaining the rules to people who are new to the game it's important to find a show that everyone has in common. I had always assumed that Star Trek would be easy but these days that's not so. Anyway, once you have a show it's easy to explain the rules (personal set, issue, etc.) in terms of that show.

RUN A MEANINGLESS CONFLICT: Again when you are explaining the rules it's important to show people how they work, but it's also important not to spend story-energy. Pick something lame that you will never care about--a foot race, an arm wrestling match. It's mega-important that it's not cool at all, so that you don't wish you'd done it in play.

PREFERENCES WARNING: This is a huge one. I'll just copy what I wrote in this thread  on The Forge.

"If you don't like TV and can't say to yourself, 'If TV were done a certain way it could be really cool,' then this probably isn't the game for you.  If you get nervous when you get put into the GM's chair, asked to narrate and take control of the world, you will not enjoy this game and, as a result, neither will anyone else.  Please, try another game, I know that GAMENAMECENSORED is looking for players right now and it would be really cool for them to have some more."

Do you brainstorm what the show is as part of play in cons or do you come with a show and have people create characters for it?

I think PtA looks great, but I'm too used to GMing you know?  I always want to come with a show prepared (not that I've got to play it yet).

Have you read the Deep in the Blue play report at the Forge?  I read that thread and went straight on to google to find the game and buy it.  Possibly the best play report I've seen, and most of my top ten play reports come from PtA as it happens.

If there were any justice, that game would be selling in massive numbers.  For me, it's what the Forge was set up to create, it's a justification for a site I don't actually like at all, in that if it helped create stuff of that quality it can't be all bad.

I never come with a show to the table. We always create it there. It's a bit of a trick to make sure that you get world and character creation done in time but it's usually quite possible. I keep an eye on the time and make sure we finish within an hour and a half which gives at least two and a half hours for the rest of the game. And an hour and a half is at the outside, more often it's about an hour.

The thing with coming with a show prepared is that people aren't as invested and invariably what the group comes up with is better than what any one person comes up with in my experience.

I haven't read Deep in the Blue but I've heard about it. For the most part I'm not a consumer of AP reports I wasn't personally involved in but I'm glad people like them and I try to write ones people will enjoy and read. Did you read the one I linked?

PTA sells pretty well, I think, and whenever there's a "list your favorite games" in the places I spend my time, it gets nearly-ubiquitous mention.

Quote from: RobNJI never come with a show to the table. We always create it there. It's a bit of a trick to make sure that you get world and character creation done in time but it's usually quite possible. I keep an eye on the time and make sure we finish within an hour and a half which gives at least two and a half hours for the rest of the game. And an hour and a half is at the outside, more often it's about an hour.

The thing with coming with a show prepared is that people aren't as invested and invariably what the group comes up with is better than what any one person comes up with in my experience.

I haven't read Deep in the Blue but I've heard about it. For the most part I'm not a consumer of AP reports I wasn't personally involved in but I'm glad people like them and I try to write ones people will enjoy and read. Did you read the one I linked?

PTA sells pretty well, I think, and whenever there's a "list your favorite games" in the places I spend my time, it gets nearly-ubiquitous mention.

I haven't read it yet, I'm too tired to do it justice.   I shall though.

Read Deep in the Blue, I don't read AP reports that much either, but it's seriously good stuff.

Quote from: RobNJPTA sells pretty well, I think, and whenever there's a "list your favorite games" in the places I spend my time, it gets nearly-ubiquitous mention.

Do you mostly spend your time on indie sites though Rob?  The indie games, even the successful ones, don't sell so many copies as a rule generally.  A good selling indie game generally still isn't shifting so many units.

That said, PtA does get a lot of play I think, and I suspect a lot more play than many games which sell far more units, but I don't think any indie game sells on anything like the scale the more successful trad ones do.  There's no indie Vampire or Gurps or equivalent to the Mongoose titles.

Sometimes I think that's because they're not so good, sometimes because they're great but way niche, and sometimes I think it's because they don't have the marketing push those Mongoose titles do.  PtA I'd put in that last category.

I'll look for Deep in the Blue. Thanks.

Quote from: BalbinusDo you mostly spend your time on indie sites though Rob?  The indie games, even the successful ones, don't sell so many copies as a rule generally.  A good selling indie game generally still isn't shifting so many units.

That said, PtA does get a lot of play I think, and I suspect a lot more play than many games which sell far more units, but I don't think any indie game sells on anything like the scale the more successful trad ones do.  There's no indie Vampire or Gurps or equivalent to the Mongoose titles.

Sometimes I think that's because they're not so good, sometimes because they're great but way niche, and sometimes I think it's because they don't have the marketing push those Mongoose titles do.  PtA I'd put in that last category.

I'm actually not that invested in how well something sells (at least until I publish my book, I'm not). That said, yes, I do mostly focus on indie games sites. Anyway, I'm interested in people playing, or being willing to play. And I can usually get anyone I meet to at least try PTA. It's not for everyone, but it is for most people I've ever met.

Quote from: RobNJI'm actually not that invested in how well something sells (at least until I publish my book, I'm not). That said, yes, I do mostly focus on indie games sites. Anyway, I'm interested in people playing, or being willing to play. And I can usually get anyone I meet to at least try PTA. It's not for everyone, but it is for most people I've ever met.

There's a cheap gamer thread on rpg.net currently, where near the back end of a massive thread I and others have been arguing that most games are bought but never or rarely played once bought.

I think that's still true sadly of a fair few indie games, but I think the proportion of played to not so much played is better than it is in trad gaming currently.

Which is a bitch, because I tend to prefer the trad games, but the indie crowd have gone back to the old school hobby where you write what you want to play and then hope somebody buys it, instead of creating products for the purpose of selling them.

Ironically perhaps, I think the old school vibe is alive and kicking at places like story games among people who by and large do not think of themselves as old school gamers.

But that's another thread, which I shall now go and start so as not to derail this PtA one...

I actually don't think there's that much separation between the "schools" as it might seem. Anyway, thanks for your questions. If you're ever at Gen Con or one of the east coast cons I go to look me up and we'll see about getting together on a game of PTA.