2019.06.05 Pasion de las Pasiones

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:03.160 Hey everybody, and welcome to just played. This is the podcast where I 2 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:08.480 recapped the tabletop RPG's I've recently participated in as a player or game master. 3 00:00:08.519 --> 00:00:13.720 I'm Jim Crocker and today I will be talking about a passion de las passions, 4 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:21.320 which is the powered by the apocalypse RPG of Telenovela Melo drama. It's 5 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:25.719 by Brandon Leon Gambetta and it is a game where you play the characters in 6 00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:31.879 an ongoing Telenovela, as well as the audience members who are rooting for them, 7 00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:36.280 rooting against them or falling in love with the characters on the show. 8 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:40.320 I've played it a couple of times before and it ran a three game session 9 00:00:40.359 --> 00:00:43.719 of it on the Gauntlet where I injected superheroes into it. One of the 10 00:00:43.719 --> 00:00:48.600 previous games I played we were all luchadors in a soap opera, so it's 11 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:51.880 possible to do some pretty Gonzo things with it, but this was a pretty 12 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:55.840 straight ahead game that we played that I'm going to talk about right now. 13 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:59.320 This was the first game of a four game series that we're playing on the 14 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:03.560 gauntlet via Gauntlet hangouts, or MC was Gerwin Walters, who's a gauntlet. 15 00:01:03.599 --> 00:01:07.799 GM who I've played with a couple of times before, really enjoyed playing with 16 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:10.159 Gerwin, so it was great to get in the series with him. As 17 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:15.439 far as the players with characters, I was Valencia Moralis, Ladunia, the 18 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:22.599 matriarch. Ryan was Domingo Luna El Caballero. Sabine was Angel de la Vega, 19 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:26.439 L M Playa, though the original playbook is lot and Plata, but 20 00:01:26.519 --> 00:01:30.719 we made the employee a male employee in this case, as opposed to like 21 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:34.840 a mate or domestic servant. He is a waiter in the casino. So 22 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:38.920 little bit of a drift there and we kind of queered the game up, 23 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:44.120 but that's something that we'll talk about a little later. Tyler was Roberto Ronaldo 24 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:48.519 l Heafe, and those were our player characters. This was a session zero. 25 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:52.760 So as far as our session starting state goes, we began with all 26 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:55.799 of the stuff that you might expect, introductions and stuff like that, getting 27 00:01:55.799 --> 00:01:59.840 to meet our characters and everything. Or starting fictional state is that this is 28 00:01:59.879 --> 00:02:05.840 the grand reopening of l Casino Grande at the Great Big casino that we all 29 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:08.800 either work at, live at, own pieces of, but he is kind 30 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:13.360 of the central location that ties us all together. It is all about this 31 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:16.159 super glamorous, let see, casino that is kind of central to all of 32 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:21.759 our lives. We answered all of our starting questions generate our relationships at the 33 00:02:21.879 --> 00:02:24.719 very beginning because I was led Dounia, I was in a position to make 34 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:30.680 a sweeping business deal and it turned out that that was with Carlow, chief 35 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:34.439 of police, but we didn't really define that too much at the beginning because 36 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:37.800 we wanted to make sure that we played to find out once we got playing. 37 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:43.240 As far as Plot Synopsis Goes, we played through the grand reopening of 38 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:50.439 Casino El Grande, which had been recently refurbished at great expense after a mysterious 39 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:54.599 fire gutted it. So Lights, clean lights and everything, spotlights going and 40 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:58.719 limos pulling up and, you know, a great big ribbon cutting. But 41 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:01.639 at some point in the past, we know perhaps in previous episodes of this 42 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:08.479 very show, casino had burned pretty extensively and required very extensive refurbishment and reconstruction 43 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:14.280 to bring back to its grand state. Most of what happened during this session 44 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:19.639 was introducing characters and establishing who loved whom, who was rivals with whom. 45 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:23.319 All of that kind of soap operatic stuff that we needed to know in order 46 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:27.840 to proceed further. From there, there was a lengthy red carpet sequence with 47 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:34.599 Domingo greeting various important guests, because Domingo the Caballero, he is the manager 48 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:38.840 of the Casino. He is basically rick at ricks American. He was there 49 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:45.120 on the carpet looking super sharpen his tucks with a sexy scar greeting various important 50 00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:51.159 guests including, it turned out, a now famous actress that he grew up 51 00:03:51.159 --> 00:03:54.840 with and they were just little tykes together running around the neighborhood. And she 52 00:03:54.960 --> 00:04:00.199 is now a famous, beautiful actress, known the world over, coveted by 53 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:04.520 men everywhere. And they had that dramatic meeting again after many years. So 54 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:11.159 Angel, our employee, wrangled the clandestine meeting in a closet with his secret 55 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:15.360 love, who, it turns out, is actually Domingo. But they were 56 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:20.560 seen by Isabella Luna, who is a Domingo's mother. She is one third 57 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:28.199 owner of the Casino Grande, along with my character, Valencia and L Hefe 58 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:30.560 Roberto. The three of US each on a third of the Casino. So 59 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:33.560 if we want to do anything we have to have an ally in doing that. 60 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:36.399 None of us can do anything in the casino on our own with which 61 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:42.120 makes for some really interesting, soapy business type of stuff. Alongside all of 62 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:46.560 the Roman Isabella Luna very much does not approve domingos a relationship with one of 63 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:51.600 the employees. Whenever they have these clandestine get togethers it's to try and escape 64 00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:56.199 her notice, but she definitely saw the two of them together. They'll probably 65 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:00.319 be repercussions from that in a future episode, but definitely she does not approve 66 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:04.040 of that relationship. So my character, Valencia, arrived in style and a 67 00:05:04.079 --> 00:05:11.160 shamelessly flirted with Domingo on the red carpet before she was called on to deliver 68 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:15.759 the speech at the ribbon cutting of the new hotel. So Roberto and Isabella 69 00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:19.399 look down from the balcony as I did this ribbon cutting. They were content 70 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:24.839 to be up above the fray as I was down there mingling with everybody. 71 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:29.040 We learned while this was going on that there was actually a plot of foot 72 00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:33.079 to rob the casino, a heist, and it involved getting to Mingo out 73 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:38.360 of the way somehow. The details were not entirely sure on the details now, 74 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:42.600 but we know that Domingo is in danger. Once the ribbon cutting ceremony 75 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:46.680 concluded, Isabella called the Mingo up to tell him that she had arranged for 76 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:53.040 him to meet with the actress. His is a former childhood friend who now 77 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:58.680 was this famous actress, and she had arranged things so that Domingo could actually 78 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:01.800 go and have dinner with her, which was apparently quite a coup because she 79 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:04.959 kind of has all kinds of demands on our time now that she's famous. 80 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.639 But she very much wanted to make sure that Domingo had this chance to meet 81 00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:13.959 with her. So Isabella left. After that meeting with Domingo. She was 82 00:06:13.959 --> 00:06:19.360 called downstairs and I appeared to meet with Roberto to reveal to him that I 83 00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:27.879 actually had a birth certificate proving that Domingo was in fact not actually Isabella's son. 84 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:30.639 And this is cool because there is a move in the game that lets 85 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:35.240 you fabricate evidence. So I decided that I would just create a birth certificate. 86 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:38.079 You know, I know that, chief of police, we can go 87 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:42.000 down and talk to people at the hospital. So I produced a birth certificate 88 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:47.839 proving that Domingo was in fact not actually Isabella's son and so not in line 89 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:51.759 to inherit her share of the Casino. That was kind of a big bombshell 90 00:06:51.800 --> 00:06:56.600 we dropped right at the end. So we closed out the episode with the 91 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:02.759 final scene of angel behind a column over hearing our conversation. But Roberto noticed 92 00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:08.560 him there but I did not. So all kinds of interesting stuff going on, 93 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:13.000 questions about parentage and stuff like that, very soap operatic plot at the 94 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:16.839 end of our final fictional state. There's crooks somewhere in the casino. Whoever's 95 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:21.160 planning the heist is kind of moving around down there somewhere Valencia. My character 96 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:28.639 has convinced Roberto that Domingo is not Isabella's son. I've actually seems like I 97 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:31.839 kind of have convinced him of that and we are plotting what to do with 98 00:07:31.879 --> 00:07:36.480 that information, while Angel, poor angel, has no idea what to do 99 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:43.199 next. So it's kind of just a wonderful sort of primetime soap opera ending 100 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:46.680 and I'm really looking forward to the next game. So my favorite moment from 101 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:49.040 another player was actually kind of a little bit of a metagame thing, that 102 00:07:49.079 --> 00:07:54.879 there was a moment where a lack of clarity on our descriptions around the admittedly 103 00:07:54.959 --> 00:08:00.480 complicated soap opera relationships that form the foundation of this game caused one of our 104 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:05.519 players to invoke the X card. We had a bit of conversation and clarified 105 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:09.800 the situation and it turned out that they had an understanding about how characters related 106 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:13.959 to each other that actually those of us that were playing those characters didn't have 107 00:08:15.040 --> 00:08:18.639 that same understanding. So we cleared that up and we proceeded with the game. 108 00:08:20.279 --> 00:08:24.199 But it was just a great use of a safety tool that just stopped 109 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:31.800 play, led to a conversation and then allowed everyone to proceed happily. I 110 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:35.759 was really grateful that that player took advantage of it and that we resolved the 111 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:39.919 issue so easily once we had that conversation. A lot of people that get 112 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:43.840 worried about some of those safety tools fear that they're going to disrupt play or 113 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:48.480 keep people from doing stuff. It absolutely enhanced play for us in this situation 114 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:52.840 because it allowed us to pause, make sure everyone was on the same page 115 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:56.080 about what was going on and then proceed. It worked great and I'm really 116 00:08:56.120 --> 00:09:00.799 glad that we use it with all of our games. My favorite moment for 117 00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:07.480 gmming our MC girwen. He is extremely cinematic in his descriptions. We got 118 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:11.600 a whole opening montage of what the beginning of our show would look like. 119 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:16.600 But he did a thing that I really like that I need to get better 120 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:22.159 at, which was to end the game with the very genre appropriate closing shot 121 00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:26.159 and basically an end credit sequence. I usually do a pretty good job of 122 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:30.600 doing some kind of opening shot like it's the opening of a TV episode or 123 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:35.399 something like that, but remembering at the end that there should be that closing 124 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:39.840 shot and a kind of end credits kind of thing every single episode because we 125 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:43.440 want to do closed episodes. It's easy to remember with some of the Superhero 126 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.240 Games that I run because then I do kind of comic book last pages, 127 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:50.519 but for cinematic games like this, great thing to do. Gerwen did a 128 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:56.600 really great capper, very cinematic and reminded us that this is episodic entertainment and 129 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:01.279 that we had a contain storyline and we're going to pick up next time. 130 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:05.559 It just really reinforces the whole television series vibe that you should have going for 131 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:09.240 this game. I really liked it. As far as a missed opportunity, 132 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:15.840 we only really engaged with the audience mechanic that's built into Passion de last passion 133 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:22.000 is very intermittently because we were kind of all participating in the same big medicine. 134 00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:24.559 All of our characters were there in the casino moving around and jumped in 135 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:28.399 and out at any time. As opposed to some of those more soap operatic 136 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:33.000 scene where you've got just a couple of characters and conflict with each other maybe 137 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:37.600 some NPC's, we didn't really get any of that banter between audience members that 138 00:10:37.639 --> 00:10:43.360 I really enjoyed from the last time that I ran it online and my players 139 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:48.399 were using the chat window to do the audience stuff while the scenes were going 140 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:50.600 on. We didn't really have any of that going on and I'm hoping that 141 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:54.240 maybe in future games we can get a little of that happening in the chat 142 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:58.679 window and that'll be really cool because it would be neat to be more active 143 00:10:58.679 --> 00:11:03.320 and commenting and having fun with that viewing audience level of the game. That 144 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:09.120 happens where, for anyone that's not familiar with Passion de las passions, there 145 00:11:09.399 --> 00:11:13.919 is, in addition to your character, you have a character who is a 146 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:18.120 member of the audience watching the show at home, and characters get xp based 147 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:24.120 on how those audience members react. So the reactions of those audience members are 148 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:30.200 keying you towards particular genre appropriate behavior for those playbooks. It's just another way 149 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:31.919 to reinforce it, alongside the moves and stuff like that, and I'm hoping 150 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:35.120 we get a chance to see more of that in future sessions. So, 151 00:11:35.399 --> 00:11:41.440 finally, a thing that I noticed is that I've facilitated a series of this 152 00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:46.720 game and I've played it several times in one shots and while I dearly love 153 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:50.480 it, the one thing that I have noticed consistently when I've played and run 154 00:11:50.519 --> 00:11:56.360 it is that I really wish that there were more opportunities to generate and give 155 00:11:56.360 --> 00:12:01.519 away the currency of this game, which is called leverage. Capital l leverage. 156 00:12:01.559 --> 00:12:09.360 It is like influence in masks or debts, in urban shadows, strings 157 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:13.480 in monster hearts. It is a currency that's used not just to influence each 158 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:18.399 other but also to trigger certain moves and in particularly the flashbacks. In my 159 00:12:18.440 --> 00:12:24.519 play experience, it comes very slowly. Only a couple of moves generate it, 160 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:28.159 and then only optionally, and there are additionally moves that can revoke it, 161 00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:31.600 which I would be terribly loath to do, given how hard it is 162 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:35.399 to generate in the first place, I would feel like a dick taking it 163 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:37.519 away from another player. So I don't know. Even though that's there, 164 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:41.799 I don't know that I would use it because it's so hard to get hold 165 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:45.120 of in the first place. I feel like the design issue here is actually 166 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:48.360 twofold. On the one hand, it's a lot tougher to generate leverage that 167 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:52.559 I think it is to generate currency and most other PBTA Games. But on 168 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:58.759 top of that, once you've got it, it serves two different purposes that 169 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:03.000 I'm not sure are necessarily compatible. Based on playthroughs that I've had. You 170 00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:07.519 can use it to power flashbacks, which are totally brilliant part of this game, 171 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:11.519 but they're also how you help or hinder other characters, and the fact 172 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:18.799 that they serve both purposes means I'll probably never use them to help or hinder 173 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:24.519 because you have to generate several of them in order to power flashbacks, and 174 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:28.360 flashbacks are so much fun. There the one of the coolest parts of the 175 00:13:28.360 --> 00:13:33.600 game. In additionally, the fact that one player can spend that little bit 176 00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:39.000 of loverage they've generated to interfere in a move that another player is using to 177 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:45.440 try and generate leverage themselves just compounds the scarcity issue if you follow the fact 178 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:48.519 that one of the uses for that very hard earned leverage is to keep another 179 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:54.159 player from getting any leverage themselves. Just makes it that much harder to earn 180 00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:58.080 it during the game as you play. Now it may well be that all 181 00:13:58.120 --> 00:14:05.240 of this is totally intentional and Brandon wants to make flashbacks pretty rare and thereby 182 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:07.679 make them more special. This is one of those places where I have to 183 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:13.960 admit that my lack of deep familiarity with the genre that we are emulating with 184 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:18.120 this game is on display here. I don't know whether a flashback is a 185 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:22.639 thing that happens every episode of a typical Telenivella, whether it's a rare and 186 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:28.759 special thing that really gets noticed, or something in between, and to the 187 00:14:28.759 --> 00:14:33.159 extent to which the game emulates that or doesn't. That's ignorance on my part. 188 00:14:33.279 --> 00:14:37.200 So so this may just be a thing where I have expectations based on 189 00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:43.039 other PBTA games that are maybe not in keeping with the telenovela genre for someone 190 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:46.240 who has as deep in abiding a knowledge and clear love for it as Brandon 191 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:50.320 does, but I really do feel like this may be a place where the 192 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:56.320 difference between season long campaign that is meant to emulate entire season of a TV 193 00:14:56.399 --> 00:15:00.240 show and at three, twenty four sessions, short run like you do on 194 00:15:00.279 --> 00:15:03.759 the gauntlet, and especially even one shot, might require some sort of tweak 195 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:09.360 to that economy so that you can enjoy some of that really cool Gametech despite 196 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:13.159 how hard it is to generate that leverage off to see. We'll see how 197 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:15.759 it goes in the next couple of games. I'm hoping that I can report 198 00:15:15.799 --> 00:15:20.360 on future sessions in future episodes of just played. So that's it for this 199 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:24.080 episode. I love this game. I'm really looking forward to more of them. 200 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.399 Thanks for listening. If you're enjoying the show, please rate and review 201 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:30.320 it wherever you found it. You can check out the show notes for video 202 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:33.200 of this session, if one's available. I'm pretty sure that going will be 203 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:35.279 putting this up, so I'll post a link to that and you can also 204 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:39.480 find out where to find the game that we played, which was Passion de 205 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:41.519 Las Passion is. Of course, as always, you can follow me on 206 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:46.399 twitter at Jim Likes Games and buy Games from me at my website, Jim 207 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:50.559 Likes Gamescom, or to convention that I'm attending as a vendor. I'll be 208 00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:54.360 at origins just next week and then the week after that at too many games 209 00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:58.519 in Philadelphia, a video game and tabletop gaming convention. Following that, in 210 00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:03.080 July I will be attending the DEX CON Summer Gaming Convention in Morristown, New 211 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:07.960 Jersey, and then the week after that connecticon and Hartford Connecticut, which is 212 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:11.960 an anime and tabletop and video gaming convention that happens every year in Hartford. 213 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:15.159 So look for me there. That is the best way to support the shows 214 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:18.360 to just buy games for me. I don't have a Patreon, I don't 215 00:16:18.360 --> 00:16:19.639 have a coffee any of that kind of stuff, but I would love it 216 00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:23.039 if you would purchase a game or two if there's something that you're interested in, 217 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:26.559 either through my website or when you see me at the show. But 218 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:30.720 right now, if you'll excuse me, I am going and go play another game.