Tag Archives: Whateleys

So now that I have a few Henchmen sessions under my belt, it’s time for some observations about the DramaSystem. First, I’d like to say that I’m jealous. I’m jealous of my players in that they seem to be having a lot of fun with the game. I’m having fun too, but I’m not one of the core characters, and my scenes don’t always have that same gravitas, that intensity that I enjoy. I think the game has been great, and I’m really impressed with how well we adapted to this stark change of style.

Choice of Setting
The setting helps a lot. I’ll admit, while I was intrigued by the game concept when Robin Laws first presented it, I wasn’t enthused about the base Hillfolk setting. I understand why it’s there, and I think it is useful to get people into the dynamic of the game. It’s just that Iron Age raiders don’t spark my imagination. If this were something where we were to play one or two sessions of that and then graduate to a setting of choice, I may have taken that route, but our game time is precious. I was selling the concept of this game to my group, so I needed the biggest bang for my buck. Super villains and Henchmen? A much more palatable choice.

There are tons of other good pitches out there waiting to be played. I was fortunate (crafty) enough to sign up for the proofreading crowd, so I got to look at advanced copies of a number of series pitches. So much goodness by so many skilled writers. And there are others I have to wait to see by Mark Rein-Hagen, John Wick, and even Ed Greenwood.

Bennies
My group didn’t use Bennies in our first five sessions, but we’re looking into it now. Bennies are chip/token rewards for good roleplay; they can be spent in a variety of ways similar to drama tokens. I presented the base mechanic to the group, but no one seemed eager to vote on best players/scenes at the end of the night. Also, I think we’ve just gotten accustomed to the whole drama token economy, so throwing in a different chip seemed cumbersome at first. The main reason we’re going to try it now is some players end with three or four drama tokens by end of night and it feels a bit wasted since we start fresh the next session. We’re wondering if we can add some mechanics to help the procedural scenes, since we’re having problems with success in those scenes (see last post).

GM-Less?
I believe that (at least with my groups), this game could easily be played without a GM. There is the mechanic of procedural challenges and betting to contend with, but that could be worked around. We could roll a die for the phantom GM to choose what chip he used, or it could be arranged so that a player not in a procedural challenge runs the GM portion. This game requires a mature, trustworthy group so none of this should cause problems. For scenes with NPCs, we could just grab one of the unused players at the moment and run with it. I hope this setup will happen before end-of-year, maybe once I get the physical book in hand.

Looking Ahead
So, one last bit of good news: This weekend, my wife took the reins and started up a DramaSystem game of her own. It’s a separate group from my Henchmen crew, but this means I get to play. We’re trying out “The Whateleys” by Chris Lackey of the H.P. Podcraft Literary Podcast. As the Kickstarter page says:

tensions erupt in a family of Cthulhu cultists when the new generation pits its modernizing ways against the ancient traditions of the old.

We made our characters and established relationships to one another. Had we more time, we would have gladly jumped in and started playing. It should start up within two weeks, and I’m sure I’ll post about it here. It’s a five-player game, and holds lots of promise.