Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-19-2018, 07:40 AM   #1
ericthered
Hero of Democracy
 
ericthered's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
Default How to Run a "Slice of Life" Session or Game

I'm thinking about trying to run some "Slice of Life", where we explore character, motivations, and the absurdity of the characters role-players build. I'm unsure how to run such game-play though. Some pointers would be nice.



Of particular note:
  1. How do you set a 'mission'?
  2. How do the players know when they have accomplished their goal?
  3. What do you do to shake up the action when things get stuck or boring?
  4. What sort of tasks are normal?
  5. What is required for the Players to do?
  6. What are some common things people try that usually don't work out?
__________________
Be helpful, not pedantic

Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog

Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one!
ericthered is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2018, 07:59 AM   #2
Kromm
GURPS Line Editor
 
Kromm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
Default Re: How to Run a "Slice of Life" Session or Game

It's part of my GMing style to intersperse mission-intensive "planning" and "execution" sessions with sessions that focus on downtime and daily life. The ratio is probably 10:1 mission to non-mission, but I think even that adds a lot to a long-running campaign. The most important tip I can give is this:

Don't attempt to present such things as adventures.

Schedule slice-of-life sessions between adventures – use them as punctuation, avoid plots and schedules and so on, and keep things low-key. Lets the players do their sneaking, investigating, fighting, chasing, etc. on adventures, without everyday stuff interfering. That way, when you switch to daily life for a while, they won't resent the change of pace; rather, they'll welcome the chance not to worry about ninja attacks, stabs in the back, and tactics for a moment.

If the players aren't motivated types who care about their PCs' hopes and dreams and lives outside of combat, amassing wealth, and gaining abilities, take a look at the character sheets and present everyday events that make sense for the character. But don't shy away from using improvement as a carrot! You'd be surprised at how many players of "combat monsters" will do their best to roleplay a session of ordinary life if they know this might impress a kung fu master or earn them a highly placed friend who can score them a permit to carry a restricted weapon.

And never, ever forget fun. Let's face it: Lots of gamers play RPGs to escape from bills, taxes, jobs, annoying people in their lives, and the sense that they don't have a lot of control. Focusing on the drudgery of everyday life isn't going to be fun for them. On the other hand, many people lack absurdity or wildness in their life . . . so if you want to engage the players, consider having the slice-of-life session focus on a crazy party, a scorching romance, or just a silly situation that makes everybody laugh.
__________________
Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com>
GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games
My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News]
Kromm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2018, 08:10 AM   #3
SilvercatMoonpaw
 
SilvercatMoonpaw's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Default Re: How to Run a "Slice of Life" Session or Game

I would honestly not see Slice-of-Life adventures as different in structure than any other: a goal is set (either by PC desire or assigned to them) and one or more obstacles get in their way. The difference is that the severity of consequences isn't on the same scale......to the outside observer, anyway.
SilvercatMoonpaw is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2018, 08:41 AM   #4
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: How to Run a "Slice of Life" Session or Game

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kromm View Post
Don't attempt to present such things as adventures.
Kromm is 100% right about this, at least as far as my experience is concerned. What I do with this sort of thing is usually allow the player characters time off, and ask the players, "What would you want to do?" On one hand, this can result in each of them going off and doing something separate, like the penultimate episode of Angel where all of Angel's crew, on the eve of a climactic battle with cosmic scale adversaries, each went off to do something meaningful to them. On the other, they may still choose to do something together, but it will be something that's not an "adventure," like the traditional bathhouse episodes of anime series. The point in either case is revelation of character.

Probably the most successful thing I ever did along those lines was the episode in DC Realtime where several other members of the team took their newest member, Sterling, Superman's illegitimate granddaughter in exile from her alien home planet, out on the town to see what Earth people did for fun. They had dinner out at a restaurant where one of the other parties was Steve and Diana Trevor (he was elderly and in a wheelchair, but she was still eternally youthful and beautiful); they dropped in on Zatanna's fiftieth birthday party, where one of them learned that John Constantine was his father; and they ended up at a night club where Lucifer (on piano) and Gabriel (on trumpet) were trying to jam together, and each producing brillliant music that didn't quite flow together—and where Sterling danced with Captain Marvel and they reluctantly concluded that a serious relationship wouldn't work out for either of them. So lots of encounters, but nothing remotely like a "fight" or an "adventure."

I think the most important thing to keep in mind for this kind of thing is that what the PCs do should not have consequences. No fights, no serious danger, no radical changes in their material situation, nothing that can't be reversed by the end of the episode (as in the original Trek episode "Shore Leave"). What happens is that they reveal themselves as people. And that means you don't come up with a problem for them to address; instead you follow their leads and improvise a lot.
__________________
Bill Stoddard

I don't think we're in Oz any more.
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-19-2018, 09:29 AM   #5
Railstar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Default Re: How to Run a "Slice of Life" Session or Game

1. Don’t.
2. They know when (and because) they have decided they have accomplished their goal.
3. Be willing to let a few hours skip by and roll for progress. Also, borrow random generators for nearby events, these don’t need to be combat, just something to react to.
4. Depends heavily on genre. Most of my characters are ambitious, what I would advise is talking with your players ahead of time and asking what their characters would like to do with their downtime.
5. Be the ones to decide what needs doing.
6. The GM setting the mission, the GM deciding when the PCs have accomplished their goal, etc.

I know it sounds harsh, but I feel the GM controlling too much is the main obstacle for slice of life. If you’ve done a fair job of engaging the PCs with the setting, they’ll have things they want to do. The wizards will want to pursue or learn a given spell. Heck, any character might want a trainer if you let them benefit from access to trainers.

Most of my ideas are with characters from different systems, but I think apply to your question…
-My Pathfinder Ranger/Cavalier wanted to help train the local militia and add some field fortifications, after the town had suffered from goblin attacks, so it would be less vulnerable in his absence.
-My Pathfinder Antipaladin wanted to recruit orc women to be the start of his warband (exploiting the misogyny of orc society in Pathfinder).
-My GURPS vampire necromancer usually wants to enchant something, or brainwash new people to be her servants. How does she gain access to influential people who might be valuable to brainwash?

Let people do things and let them draw benefits from it. Perhaps enough work on a farming system can provide Group A with a regular supply of food, meaning gradually less and less cost of living expenses for the PCs or for the group.
Railstar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-21-2018, 02:05 PM   #6
Culture20
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Default Re: How to Run a "Slice of Life" Session or Game

I try not to make goals for my players even in high adventure genres. I let them make goals and complete them or not at their leisure. I do still make the world (re)act with or without them; raiders might attack caravans, and the PCs might decide to use the reduced trade to leverage their relatively high starting wealth to increase their political power in the local community. Fin Fang Foom might attack NYC with a legion of dragon-bots, and the PCs might use the chaos as a perfect time to take down a Maggia boss.

A slice of life might involve irate customers, coworkers who go on leave unexpectedly, coaching a little league game, a cheating significant other, but these are shake-ups. Most of the time, the players should choose goals, like “get a promotion”, “get married”, “enjoy a night at the movies”.
The problem with the third is that it is very passive and uninteresting for a game unless you have some conflict. In my Marvel campaign, a youthful hero went to the movies with another PC, and started kicking Jennifer Walters’ seat. Cross words were had, including mention of how the young PC wouldn’t like Jennifer to get angry (a bluff, not reinforced with any indication of who she was beyond player knowledge). The scene ended when the older PC had a personality shift and abruptly left the theater. No combat, just a slice of (weird) life.
Culture20 is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:06 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.