Actual Play – My Daughter GMs her first game! (10/12/2013)

Players: Sean Nittner and daughters
System: Do, Pilgrims of the Flying Temple

After Big Bad Con, my daughters were both pretty sad that they couldn’t go to the con. Last year they came and sat at the reg desk for a while handing out badges and pins. When the band played we had a cool chase through the fountain room with my eldest dressed as Little Red being cased by Alec who was in The Wolf suit, in turn being chased by my youngest who was posing as the woodsman. The had a great time running all around chasing each other. Also, my eldest was the one who thought of the name of the con (Big Bad Con) over pancakes one day. So they are a big part of the convention (at least for me) and we were all sad I couldn’t manage a way to get them there this year.

That said, I told the girls they could still earn Big Bad Con pins by accomplishing certain achievements. If they write their name on a badge they could get a “Welcome to Big Bad Con” pin, and if they ran a game (any game) they could get a “GM” pin. My little one said she would run Castle Panic, but the big one beat her to the punch and had already pulled Do off the bookshelf.

She looked over the rules, and needed a little help figuring out that the storyteller was the person who took the stones and the troublemakers were the other players, but otherwise she got the hang of it, no problem. She picked out the letter as well.  The Interworld Railway by Peter Aronson.

Pilgrims

Our pilgrims were Fast Cat who gets in trouble by running into things, but helps people by finding secret information. Pilgrim Shiny Glass gets in trouble because she is always showing off, but helps helps people by bringing them light. Pilgrim Hungry River gets in trouble because he never stops eating, but helps people by taking them places.

 Our Story

Pilgrim fast cat finds the way to Yam, but runs right into the Interworld Express One!

Pilgrim shiny glass uses her shining light to signal Josephina Sherwood to stop the train. Pilgrim Shiny Glass is snatched up by an airship pilot that wants to use her light to see through the storm.

Pilgrim Hungry River lends the airship out of the storm, so they don’t need Shining Glass anymore.

Pilgrim Fast Cate is chased by a Builder of Yam, who thinks she is trying to steal the gold.

Pilgrim Fast Cat gets herself out of the trouble by telling the person who was chasing her that she was trying to help the trains!

Pilgrim Shiny Glass pulls out her light and says “Here is a light, so now you can build the railway and not be scared of ghosts.”

Pilgrim Hungry River flies the Builders of Yam to a giant break in the rails so they can fix them.

Pilgrim Hungry river stuffed too much food in his mouth and the Builders of Yam can’t understand him.

Pilgrim Fast Cat show the builders the gap in the railway.

Pilgrim Fast cate and the builders fall into the river when the golden rails break free!

Pilgrim Shining Glass throws a rope to Pilgrim Fast Cat and the builders. She shines a light so they can see it!

Pilgrim Hungry River finishes his meal! Yum!

Pilgrim Hungry River ate all the food for the Celebration. Oh no!

Pitchforks Endings

Pilgrim Fast Cat is in trouble with the workers because she made them fall in the river.

Pilgrim Hungry River has to wok in the train shoveling coal to pay for all the food he ate.

Pilgrim Shining Glass is called a show off.

Thoughts on this game

The way to get a parade ending seems to be to take as few stones as possible. My daughters were pretty bummed when they got a pitchfork ending and attributed it to the youngest getting 3 stones twice in a row and then taking two on her 3rd draw. She was thinking more = better, when more really just equals a different option.

Getting in trouble is fun!

I think the game benefits from a little discussion between writing down sentences. Often, even when we would write down a sentence, we needed to spend a little time clarifying what that meant in the fiction, and what else was going on. We didn’t write that stuff down, but it did effect our future narration.

Change was tough. My eldest, at the end had to change her first name, which meant she couldn’t be “Fast” anymore. She really wanted to be “Fast” and I assured her that she could still be fast, it’s just that her speed wouldn’t get her into trouble any more. This seemed to ameliorate her, but only barely. I’ve noticed this same thing with adults playing Fate games, specifically Dresden, when it was time to choose an aspect. They didn’t want to lose the old one. My thought has always been that it isn’t that the old aspect isn’t true anymore, it’s just not highlighted or pivotal in the game anymore.  Still, losing things = hard.

2 thoughts on “Actual Play – My Daughter GMs her first game! (10/12/2013)”

  1. Thanks for posting this. I’m looking to do this with my 5th grade classes. Do you think it would work if I created small groups where each group was in charge of a Pilgrim? A group of say, 3 or 4. That way, they could discuss options and sentences before committing. Any thoughts?

    1. Hi Kevin, if it’s possible, I’d probably break them up into small groups each playing their own game and making sure they write it all down to share their favorite moments with the rest of the class at the end.

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