Actual Play – Forbidden Carry-On (3/8/2108)

Players: Tomer Gurantz and Sean Nittner
System: Star Crossed (formerly Tension)

It just so happened that my flight had a stop off where Tomer was boarding, and because of the way Southwest handles seat assignments I was able to hold a seat for him…which meant that not only did we have a great time talking about games and catching up, but we also got to play Star Crossed. Well, a little bit of Star Crossed. Just about as soon as we started pulling, we had to put our tray table up because were about to hit some turbulence.

Turbulence is right, it was already getting steamy in our game!

Our Star Crossed

We played Jaime, the idealistic son of a dictator of a small island, and Marco, the house butler that served in the war with the now-dictator and took a bullet for him. Knowing that we were about to wage yet another war, in the middle of the night Jaime convinced Marco to steal his father’s greatest weapon (works left unsaid we because we were flying, but the implication was that it was a WMD) and fly away in the night.

Marco had been the man to see Jaime’s education and his upbringing. While most of the people on the island, including and especially the dictator were expressive and rash, Marco was patient (that’s one of the things that made him so attractive) and reserved. His attention to detail, especially his perfectly trimmed beard were all signs of his control and thoughtfulness. In fact, many years ago Jaime learned to shave from Marco and tried to model the perfect precision that he used when drawing the razor across his skin. Marco was Jaime’s godfather. He was also totally hot for him.

Jaime, in his mid thirties, was erudite, privileged, and idealistic. Though he often argued with his father, he had know idea the extent to which the despot oppressed both the people of his island and threatened his neighbors. Brash like his father, when he learned of the dictators plans, he found the only man he could trust not to betray him (and that could fly the small plane they escaped in) and set off with him to deliver the dangerous cargo to his father’s enemies. He needed to prove this was a mission about political ideas. He needed to prove he wasn’t just flying away to be with Marco!

Pilot and Co-Pilot sat side by side (as Tomes and I did on the plane) and flew from the dictator’s island. They wanted each other but their beliefs and the need to safely pilot the plane trough a deadly course held them apart!

What could have improved

Mostly I just wish we started sooner. As mentioned we only got two pulls before we had to put the tower away.

What rocked

Playing Star Crossed while on a plane, playing characters flying on a plane, was amazing! Not only did we  create amazing verisimilitude, but there were so many words that we couldn’t say (like crash, or weapons, etc) which made our furtive whispers and innuendo all the more delightful.

Tomer brought the most wee stacking blocks game. There’s no way we’d get very many pulls in even if we had the time, but we put on our game brains and were ready to adjust the scale as needed!

The tapestry of our conflicted characters, simultaneously brought together by their desires and driven apart by their beliefs was wonderful. Despite their imminent peril, these weren’t people that couldn’t they just wouldn’t. Or would they…

Tomer is a brilliant collaborator. We kept riffing ideas off each other and developing them further and further. He was also really patient. For instance, when we first started Jaime felt like a caricature (idealistic young man) and I needed a bit more to figure out how to play him with integrity. Tomer was happy to workshop the character with me till he was a character just full of conflicting values! Delicious!

Playing an RPG on a freaking plane. How cool is that. Alex Roberts, your game is fantastic!

Actual Play – Pax Star Crossed (11/18/2017)

Players: New Pax Friends
Facilitator: Sean Nittner
System: Star Crossed

My first time facilitating Star Crossed. I was a bit daunted having never facilitated it before, but I was so confident in the system I wanted to give it a shot. After the games (note, we played two of them!) Alex met with the players and got their feedback.

The stories were of a old west sheriff bringing an outlaw back to town, through a long and dangerous trip back. The other was a fantasy dwarf and elf separated from their party in the dungeon and trying to make it back to them… or not.

Our Star Crossed players

 

Actual Play – Star Crossed with Kitty (11/17/2018)

Players: Kitty Stoholski and Sean Nittner
System: Star Crossed

Kitty and I told a delightfully claustrophobic story of two people trapped in an escape pod running out of air, hoping to they will be found and still trying to uphold their social structures (former co-workers that had an affair and were reprimanded by a military structure that forbade fraternization).

This game…as I expected…was sooooo good!

Pictures!

I forgot to take a pic of our game, so thank you to my friends at Pax for sharing their tower toppling win me:

Steve’s Thumb!
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