Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

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Q.Q Elf
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Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#1 Post by Q.Q Elf »

The seating chart is a brilliant idea to get the drama groundwork started. And it fits the theme.

We'll discuss and complete the seating chart here.

The concept is to add a name, and for me to ask a leading question.
This is the internet, so we can go a little deeper if you like. Add some descriptions, link to a picture, that sort of thing.

How I'd like it to go (so I'm not blocking the creativity through absence).
  • It starts with me asking one of you where you sit, using the online chart that I mocked up. Since this works differently online, we'll modify the rest of the process.
  • I will also ask you to fill in one of the adjacent seats with a name. Give us a description of that person in this thread.
  • I will then ask you a provocative question about that person that you just added to our classroom. I will also ask the next player to pick a seat, and to add a classmate to the chart.
  • We repeat until all your characters are seated, and then we modify the rest of the process.
  • In phase 2, i will start with our teacher, give a description, and ask a provocative question.
  • The next person to post gets to provide the answer. We'll keep a strict order to ensure there is no overlap. (I'll set the order later.)
  • In addition to answering the question, the next person fills out a name in the seating chart, and provides a description in this thread. Then, that person asks a leading question about the new classmate, which the next player will answer.
  • I'm going to also reserve one seat for a wild card. This is the seat in the back row, furthest from the door. I might fill it with a name and description, or i may not. Depends on how the rest goes.
We'll need to be secure in our characters before we get started with the classroom, so consider your choices, and I'll start turning things over to you tonight.
Last edited by Q.Q Elf on Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#2 Post by Q.Q Elf »

Also, can we make the class "AP English - Literature and Composition"?

I can probably fake this the best. Yeah, you could push me with Physics or Calculus, and I could fake those also, but honestly, English was my major in Undergrad.

This means your class is a mix of juniors and seniors, in all likelihood.

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#3 Post by Rukellian »

Q.Q Elf wrote:Also, can we make the class "AP English - Literature and Composition"?

I can probably fake this the best. Yeah, you could push me with Physics or Calculus, and I could fake those also, but honestly, English was my major in Undergrad.

This means your class is a mix of juniors and seniors, in all likelihood.
Sounds great! I excelled in my english classes as well and don't have to do a lot of faking.
Even a child that receives one bit of praise has the ability to excel in a single talent, and those who receive regular encouragement can feel confidence, achieve success, and become leading members of society. Because they don’t believe they are worthless, they don’t need to raise a fist and have vengeance against fate or the world at large… ~Inspector Lunge

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#4 Post by Q.Q Elf »

Here is the link to the Seating Chart... we're not ready to fill it out yet, but it's here.

Enjoy! :D

SEATING CHART

Gosh, I wish Google Docs had Comic Sans... :lol:

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#5 Post by Q.Q Elf »

Provocative Questions

The point of the seating chart is for you to populate the world with drama that revolves around your characters. The goal is to ask questions that provoke drama, and the answers should have "obvious hooks into the PCs".

We share the creation of these NPCs because it's fun! And it's really about you. So you need a firm hand in this, right? Otherwise, it's just my bullshit over and over. That's no fun.

Here are examples of Provocative Classroom Questions...
(I'm reposting from that link, adding a couple from the book, plus adding some as I think of them)
  • Is Lucia really gay, or is this a weird attention thing?
  • Why do you have a crush on ____?
  • Who does (student in last question) have a crush on?
  • Who did you see him/her making out with behind the bleachers last week?
  • Why do you think s/he is always late every morning?
  • Why did Jaimie show up with a black eye last week?
  • "Why do you hate ____ so much?"
  • "What did you do that hurt ___ most?"
  • During the last Mischief Night you did something terrible to the student sitting next to you's house. What did you do?
  • "Who's the principal's daughter? What's her reputation?"
  • "Why do you sit next to _____? Even after they _____?!"
  • Why does the police chief know your name?
  • Who smokes pot in your fae forest?
  • Last semester, [person] helped you get the calculus teacher's copy of the final exam. How do you think s/he managed it?
  • [Person] thinks Johnny got his rocks off with the history teacher. Why does s/he think that?
  • Why does the student next to you go to the school nurse's office so often?
  • Who does the teacher seem to pay the most attention to, and why?
  • Who's parents had a fit when they found out she was secretly dating ________? Was it only because he's black/gay/Muslim (etc)? What did they do?
  • How has ____ changed kind of dramatically in the past few days?
These are ideas, most of them are not mine. Hopefully it shows you where this could be headed & where you fit in all of this :)

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#6 Post by Keehnelf »

We must be in private school, with a class size that small :)

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#7 Post by Q.Q Elf »

Keehnelf wrote:We must be in private school, with a class size that small :)
Ha, yeah, the chart is small. The book recommends 5 rows of 3 desks, for 15 students. That way, we'll keep it more focused. A more "realistic" class size would be twice that, but then it might not be manageable.

Plus, the classroom is just one part of the world.

The Fae's forest (and maybe a Faery court), the places at night where Werewolves run off to, some spooky haunted house for the Ghost, some kind of invention for the Hollow (so she's probably staying over with her BFF?)...

And that's just player character settings, which involve all manner of NPCs.

So we start with an admittedly small classroom. Maybe it can be a private, co-ed school. That's all good. :)

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#8 Post by Keehnelf »

I'm not super into the idea of the faery court, at least to start, and won't be picking moves that bring it closer to play, if that helps simplify things. I'm much more interested in how this weird new perspective on the world will twist his human interactions for the short term.

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#9 Post by Q.Q Elf »

Keehnelf wrote:I'm not super into the idea of the faery court, at least to start, and won't be picking moves that bring it closer to play, if that helps simplify things. I'm much more interested in how this weird new perspective on the world will twist his human interactions for the short term.
No worries. That's one of the things the book says to clarify with a Fae character... are you into the Court business? Then we detail it or not. It's not required.

That being said, the Court doesn't have to be separate from the school. Some of the classmates could be part of it. Homecoming King/Queen & all that stuff. That can easily morph into a Faery court.

However, if you don't need a Court, that's cool too.

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#10 Post by Metal Fatigue »

Generally the seating chart is for Homeroom. Some of the characters will be in each other's classes later in the day, some will not. Keeping track of your class schedule is fairly important.

(EDIT: in some schools Homeroom is simply your first-hour class, so we could combine it with AP English as suggested.)

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#11 Post by Rukellian »

Okay, I finished my character sheet for Clarence (the ghost) and added Vanessa, a witch npc to the class roster and as one of his strings. She has a string on him. Like I mentioned in another post, if this doesn't work out and I am overstepping my bounds, feel free to edit my sheet and remove Vanessa accordingly.
Even a child that receives one bit of praise has the ability to excel in a single talent, and those who receive regular encouragement can feel confidence, achieve success, and become leading members of society. Because they don’t believe they are worthless, they don’t need to raise a fist and have vengeance against fate or the world at large… ~Inspector Lunge

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#12 Post by Q.Q Elf »

Okay... Rukellian is up first because he jumped the gun already!!!! :evil: :lol:

NPC descriptions... I guess I wanted a physical description moreso than a full-on story. You should probably hint at story... "she's got wounded eyes", "he's built like a brick house", "she wears really short skirts", "he's always staring at the teacher's chest". If you have a picture that you want to link to, COOL! Do it! We're online & stuff, so we can do it. Give me a theme song if you like. Youtube, Vevo, Dailymotion... link to a music video.

As for making Vanessa into a Witch... let me do that. We'll go with name for now. I don't know who she should be, nor do you. Maybe others want to take strings on her as we go, or change her through other NPCs we add to the seating chart... i.e. "Vanessa took out a restraining order against Bobby", "Vanessa stole Juanita's dog and set it on fire"...

The thing is, you're not driving the car for Vanessa. At the end of the day, I'm the one who drives the car for the NPC, and I have to be able to drive it hard. So I'd like to reframe her a bit before I give you a provocative question.

Plus, I'm late for getting my shit together & out the door.

...

Metal Fatigue... please add your character and a classmate to the Seating Chart!

If it's the character we've discussed separately (i.e. the one I had a question about), then go ahead and answer that question.

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#13 Post by Rukellian »

Dang, I really screwed up here with getting over excited about all of this. I'm going to need to take a few steps back here and rewrite a lot of stuff (make Clarence more messed up, stop writing about Vanessa and only describe...)
I need to learn my boundaries as a player here. Sorry for the mishaps and any future ones. :(
Even a child that receives one bit of praise has the ability to excel in a single talent, and those who receive regular encouragement can feel confidence, achieve success, and become leading members of society. Because they don’t believe they are worthless, they don’t need to raise a fist and have vengeance against fate or the world at large… ~Inspector Lunge

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#14 Post by Metal Fatigue »

Q.Q Elf wrote:I know it's playing ahead, but my provocative question about Lucinda (for the seating chart) will probably be something like: Why does the principal & the school administration let her get away with so much shit?
It's a small private school, right? Her father donates a pretty big chunk of change to the school every year. He can afford it, since he's the owner of the real estate management firm that's the landlord to 80% of the businesses in town. So no one does anything about Lucinda for fear of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#15 Post by Rukellian »

Okay, took off the notes with Vanessa and left her a blank sheet for the MC to color and paint the way he sees fit.
NPC descriptions... I guess I wanted a physical description moreso than a full-on story. You should probably hint at story... "she's got wounded eyes", "he's built like a brick house", "she wears really short skirts", "he's always staring at the teacher's chest". If you have a picture that you want to link to, COOL! Do it! We're online & stuff, so we can do it. Give me a theme song if you like. Youtube, Vevo, Dailymotion... link to a music video.
"She visits the library late at night."
"She zones out on a regular basis."
"She's been seen talking to and hanging out with Clarence a lot."
"She's been caught writing down people's names onto some sort of list..."
"She dyes her hair a different color each week."
"A lot of people call her a freak, creepy."

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pen ... edIndex=41

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gsFgoHSs18

Is this what you were looking for, items like the above?
Even a child that receives one bit of praise has the ability to excel in a single talent, and those who receive regular encouragement can feel confidence, achieve success, and become leading members of society. Because they don’t believe they are worthless, they don’t need to raise a fist and have vengeance against fate or the world at large… ~Inspector Lunge

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#16 Post by Q.Q Elf »

Metal Fatigue wrote: It's a small private school, right? Her father donates a pretty big chunk of change to the school every year. He can afford it, since he's the owner of the real estate management firm that's the landlord to 80% of the businesses in town. So no one does anything about Lucinda for fear of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
I actually knew Michael Scripps, his sister, his Mom, his uncle David, way back when. God, I wish we could have helped him, but he fell into bad things. It's sad to know that people you knew didn't all find their way.

Maybe Lucinda's family is old money, and the father is the current scion? Does that sound cool? They built the town, they own the town.

Anyway, I'm imagining Cranbrook/Kingswood now (founded by Ellen Scripps Booth and her husband George Booth back in the day) to bring the Metro Detroit up in here. :lol: Beautiful wooded campus, world renowned art school, very prestigious. Not that I went there as a student or anything. I know of the schools, and my cousin went to Country Day, so I know the environment. I know the prep schools around my area in California also.

Do you have a uniform for the school? Or at least a dress code? I'm looking at the Cranbrook Wikipedia page (I'll link it later), and there is a dress code...

I have tons of follow up questions, but I'd want to wait until we get more bodies in the seats.

...

Keehnelf, up next! I think you have a handle on it. You know the process with emergent games, so pick a seat and name a NPC.

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#17 Post by Q.Q Elf »

Oh. What about athletics? Instead of plebe sports like football and basketball, what if the cool kids are like the lacrosse, fencing, tennis, golf, wrestling kids?

Just a thought.

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#18 Post by Keehnelf »

James sits in the middle of the room toward the left, between Victoria and his ex-girlfriend Angie Clark. Angie is a tall, strong and solidly-built african-american girl. The change in his personality after the events of the summer were too much for her, so she broke up with him after a year, though she still believes she's in love.

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#19 Post by Metal Fatigue »

Q.Q Elf wrote:my cousin went to Country Day
I am so, so sorry. How brave of you, to share your shame with us.

(I went to Roeper :D )

(EDIT: liking everything everyone has suggested/stated so far)

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Re: Pre-game 2: classroom seating chart

#20 Post by Q.Q Elf »

My cousin did alright at DCDS. Her parents could afford to get her a BMW.
Keehnelf wrote:James sits in the middle of the room toward the left, between Victoria and his ex-girlfriend Angie Clark. Angie is a tall, strong and solidly-built african-american girl. The change in his personality after the events of the summer were too much for her, so she broke up with him after a year, though she still believes she's in love.
Ok, cool.

Provocative question...
At the end of last year (sophomore year), why did Angie's Mom threaten to pull her out of the school, and what did the Principal do about it?

...

Ok... Up next is MonkeyWrench. Pick a seat, and sit a NPC. :D

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