Tip for Successful Primetime Adventures

As the Producer of several Primetime Adventures series, there are a few things that I’ve learned to keep in mind during the creation of each episode. When I’ve forgotten these things, or simply let them slide, the episode and the series has suffered for it. Even though the game is cooperative and the ensemble nature of play is its greatest strength, your guiding hand as the producer to keep participants focused and on track is vital.

• Use the Series Creation Sheet, or make your own. I like having one sheet that lists all of the protagonists’ vitals — edges, contacts, nemeses, issues. At the very least, have your own copies of the protagonist sheets to refer to. In nearly every series I’ve produced, I have actors who feel they’re so in tune with their characters that they forget elements that can aid them in a conflict, or add some texture to the plot or their portrayal of the character. It also helps with me next point,
• Force Conflict. Someone will introduce their scene, say what they want to happen, and everyone else will agree, maybe offer some ideas that get incorporated, and be ready to move on. I’ve produced episodes where I let that stand, and moved on to the next scene. The game goes really fast, but as time goes on I’ve found my players becoming less engaged, less challenged, and the plot getting a bit boring. Even if they all agree on something bad happening to a protagonist because it makes for good television, your job is to be the contrarian. If everyone around the writer’s table agrees, your job is to shake the table and disagreee, even if you think their idea is a great one. They think the protagonist should fail? Well, call a challenge that the protagonist should succeed. Odds are that they’ll all play cards in the challenge and they’ll win. Forcing a challenge still accomplishes two things. First, it makes them think more deeply about the scene. In forcing a challenge and describing an alternative, even a stupid one, I’ve had players switch sides and join with me. I’ve had players come up with a third or fourth alternative on how the scene should play out. Second, a challenge can force someone else, other than the scene originator or the producer, to take narrative control. If I win, with my stupid contrarian idea, and one of them has to describe it, they almost always find clever hooks to undo what I’ve done, or create an out that lets them get back to what they want in a later scene. It makes it more of a challenge, and I’ve yet to work with a group that didn’t enjoy and appreciate that in the end.
• Be generous with fan mail. I’ve had groups who didn’t think about giving each other fan mail out of the budget because they weren’t initiating any challenges, and didn’t see the need. All I need to do is keep issuing challenges, and they see the need for fan mail to spend to counter me. By handing it out myself, I set an example. As a general rule, I had out fan mail to anyone other than me who sets up a challenge, either before I do or by proposing an alternative to the option I pitch. I also give fan mail to the person who has to narrate a scene that goes in a direction they didn’t want — they really deserve it for working with an idea they opposed and making it work. By rewarding them for doing stuff they really didn’t want to do, you’re encouraging participation and creativity.
• Make them write things down. We sometimes go weeks between episodes, so having players write things down helps a lot. Just because you’re the Producer doesn’t mean you have to be the only scribe. To reward them for keeping notes, and to burn leftover budget at the end of the episode, I go around the table and have each player contribute a “next time on…” scene. Each player who contributes at least an image or a line of dialogue gets fan mail. At the start of the session, I do a “previously on” to recap last episodes, as well as a “coming up on”. Anyone who repeats things from “next time on” gets fan mail, and to do that they have to write it down. Any time they use those elements in the actual episode, they get fan mail. Now, to enforce continuity, if we get to the end of an episode and there were elements that weren’t used, I reduce the budget for the next episode. “We promised the viewers something, and we didn’t deliver! We’re getting bad press and losing ratings!”. Players write it down, and the plots and character bits get tighter and more consistent.
• Keep a list of names. I do this for every game I run, to name supporting characters and featured extras as needed. Where I may keep this list behind the gamemaster screen with more traditional roleplaying games, I keep it out on the table for other writers to reference. For modern names, I create lists by mining the Kleimo Random Name Generator. For fantasy, horror, and other esoteric settings, I rely on the random generators at Seventh Sanctum.

Do you have other Primetime Adventures tips? Leave them in the comments!