[guest author] Time flies when you’re on The Dauntless
After each (quite poetic and very satisfying) InSpectres game, I look up at the clock and it’s only been 2 hours since we sat down and started. 2 hours. Blinky Blinky? My internal gaming clock just can’t process that information. 2 hours of InSpectres in Space feels like about 4-5 hours of other gaming. Not to knock any of those games — the length of a game is not directly related to its fun and I’ll gladly game for 10 hours, but something is going on here that’s messing with my inner gaming ear. Somehow it feels like I played more, gamed more in these 2-hour explorations in The Dauntless.
Honestly, I don’t think it’s rocket science. Ben and I have discussed that in InSpectres in addition to playing a character, you’re refining your theory, coming up with your next clue and thinking of confessionals. You’re listening intently to scenes with other people, not just because you should, but because it directly impacts what you’re thinking, possibly completely sabotaging it. You’re running the game as much as anyone else while still playing. In short, InSpectres compels you to be engaged 100% of the time.
Now, I’m not discounting other great players-as-GM/world creator games such as Geiger Counter with the rotating GM and Shock with the issues, but those games have a lot of set up, set up that could easily take hours, possibly the most fun hours ever, but it could be a while before you actually start playing. As InSpectres has no prep, just a starting premise, and character creation is very simple without any constructs such as appropriate conflicts (IAWA), you’re out of the gate in no time and into a game that really packs it in.
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I think Ping is talking more about Geiger Counter. Shock setup is much shorter, but it is true that the joy of brainstorming a really good Shock should not be underestimated and it’s easy to just keep spinning more detail. Someone usually has to jump in and say “Stop! Save something for the game!” And then we grumble and stop.
It’s a red herring really, because as you say the so-called setup is part of playing the game. It’s hella fun, so there’s no problem. Sometimes we sit around and thrown out issues and brainstorm Shocks without ever playing the narrative. Think of it as the road-trip version ;)
I just noticed this link from my logs and, though I’ve certainly got no objection to what you say about InSpectres, I’d like to say that Shock: setup should take about 45 minutes. Once you’ve played a couple of times, it should take 25.
It’s a funny think about Shock: the “prep” part is creative fun, so people get stuck on it. But you’re only generating Situation. You can keep generating fun stuff about the world as you go and it’s more likely to be relevant that way.
That’s been my experience, too. Trollbabe has a similar effect — packing lots of creative effort into a short time span.
Also: Your Space InSpectres game sounds so hot. Jealous!