Orklord’s Haven

As I’ve envisioned how I want to play Making the Bigs, I’ve realized the fun happens on the field. I think about what I as a player or GM (Ump) would be doing, rolling dice, at bat strategies, personal rivalries, late inning rallies, towering home runs, it is all on the field. That’s where my development has been focused, that’s where I am aiming my efforts.

I desperately want scenes off the field, scenes about the player characters as they exist between games. These down scenes will let the PCs become more human, will give them touchstones for why they play the game, why they want to make the bigs.  It is a vital part of the game to make the characters feel real and to give some flavor to the conflicts.  Without off-the-field scenes, the game is nothing more than a pen anad paper version of a video game, and I already have those games.  This should be a new game.

The transition between scenes and plays on the field and what happens between baseball “matches” (it feels odd to refer to baseball games when talking about a role-playing game… so I think of the baseball games within the RPG as “matches”) is lacking.  In the Solar system version of the game, off-the-field scenes occur to give characters depth and so players can refresh scenes.  This gives mechanical weight to off-the-field scenes, it rewards players for having them.  But it doesn’t dictate when they must happen.  One assumes that an off-the-field scene happens between baseball matches, because chronologically that’s when they happened.

Consider this.  What if the entire game takes place within a baseball match or a series of matches (such as a three match set while the team travels)?  The off-the-field scenes occur as flashbacks between plays on the field.  A good RPG term for this is the interstitial.  This keeps things in context and it also allows for a more cinematic flavor to the game.  Think of the movie For the Love of the Game.

Let me give an example.

Player Steve has a  character named Jermoe Hunter, a centerfielder who bats leadoff (that’s first in the lineup).  The GM (Ump) sets the scene for the beginning of the match, top of the 1st inning and Jerome is the first batter up.  He is facing a hard throwing rookie with more speed than control.  After the GM sets up the at bat, Steve asks for an off-the-field scene where he recently spoke with his family about their financial situation.

The GM then sets a scene where Jerome (the PC) gets a phone call to his host family (that’s the family in the town of his team who have agreed to give Jerome room and board during the season) and Jerome speaks with his brother.  His brother tells Jerome that his mother is home sick and hasn’t been to work in a week, that rent is due and they’re ducking the landlord.  His brother begs Jerome to come home and take up a job at the garage to help make ends meet.  Jerome refuses to come home, but promises to send some more money back home to help out.

The scene ends and Steve explains that Jerome has kept focused on Making the Bigs and uses this to fuel his desire to get a hit in the next at bat.  From a mechanical standpoint in the Solar System rules, this could be used to fresh one of the Ability Pools or it could be a fulfillment of a Key… or both.

I want to see this in play.