Game in the Brain

This about how a game went last saturday and not the game itself (because that would take too much time to narrate).
I ran a game on Sept 12 from 7pm to 12:40am. Although the game was intended to play from 5-11, unfortunately schedules were thrown off by mr murphy.

How the Game went?
The Bad
– Wasn’t able to finish at a correct closure. This was caused by physical pain, my whole left side was going crazy with muscle and some torso pains and the mis-start of the game. By my assessment it would have taken 2 more hours for the game to wrap up. The pain was so bad, I coudlnt sleep when I got home and had to look for a 24 hour drug store (thanks to my wife for driving me while my left side was crippled.
– Lack of Preparation. I was going to introduce new players to GURPS. i had to balance their investment of time with my own (actually more of the reverse). So I decided to expend the minimalist effort. Of course the game would have been spectacular if I went full tilt with Character Cards, Comprehensive Character sheets with Skill Uses/description in the appendix. But that would have invested too much of my time when i have so many other responsibilities (school, work, my hobbies, airsoft, my family).
The Good.
– Got some Role-playing Fire going. Role-played a South African Business Mogul Tigress, (sheesh) without breaking character. I was in a bit of the zone and was thinking so much in character I was able to describe in exquisite detail subtle bit of body language (thank you Audio Books and writers like GRRM). I was pretty much into Character with all NPCs and that was a good thing and was very fun for me.
– I was able to describe the technology very comprehensively. Future tech of Privacy technology, along with how certain technology can invade such was (from my player’s reactions) suitably impressive. The articles of technology and my understanding of business organization and process seem to impress the player who has a strong entrepreneurial slant (like me). I realized that the GM should provide Standard Rates of Exchange and Processes quickly.
– I was able to get a thorough assessment of the playing styles. I learned I should quickly shift my technological-descriptive “aperture”.

After thought. I now have a better understanding of my players and can now incorporate their favorite stuff into the game better. Particularly learning about their curiosity and their “payoffs”. Beyond my expectation was an NPC I made on the fly is now going to be a recurring villain.

The Observational and Psychological aspect of GMing a variety of players and posing comprehensive questions about their character’s stance (value for life, overriding POV or belief system, intolerance, social obligations, chosen amount of responsibilities, etc. etc.) shaped both their own view of their character as well as them as a player and my understanding of them as both characters and players.

Xandra Sirenna
Known Assets at $100M, but rumored to have x10 more (an aspect of her keen business abilities). She holds controlling Interest of the Taharqo Venture Group. Their physical assets include 1000T Frontier Merchanter (equipped with a 2×5 fighter defense squadrons, and 100T courier on the vehicle bay.
What best describes her is that she is a pure Alpha-Type personality, with an aggressive and vindictive nature. Rumors persist of her hand in the deaths of her powerful associates and rivals that have died (suicide and accidents) or were financially ruined.
Notable Observable Traits: HT13+, Appearance: Beautiful, Fashionable and always projecting Power and Confidence.
People who have spent time with her will describe her to be at around 14. Those who know her better would find the assessment laughable.

I was prepared for the PCs to go this direction. The PCs had an options of going the very high risk route of Xandra, vs medium risk, and vanilla risk. All I would have done was raise all the stats of these people by +1 compared to the professional norm of 12-15. Scarry to go against 13s to 16s for the high riskers. the “adventurer” risk was roughly their level 12-15 which i was expecting the to take because of the natural schelling point. Although in retrospect, Vanila would be just as profitable and probably might be better.

When your the ACE, you advance far. Even in a low Risk environment, you can still make that trade off with some creative and imaginative actions. although there is that temptation to be complacent.

I will try to record the next session. Will try to borrow my parent’s video camera and attempt at a pod cast of a GURPS Traveller Game my style. I’ll try to keep things more organized for the listeners to follow the story.