Left Coast is my game about slightly crazy science-fiction writers in late-60s California, grappling with family life and encroaching weirdness as they try to write a novel. The original 24-hour version of the game won a Low Ronny back in November 2005, and you can find that draft here.

 

What the rules for Left Coast need is some guidance about how to actually play the game. Particularly, how to set up and play scenes and how to find and run conflicts in those scenes. Here are my notes on how to do this. At the moment, these are for my reference and are in a shorthand that I understand - I wouldn't expect someone else to be able to run the game based off these notes. However, I'm going to work on fleshing out a more complete draft.

 

However, before I get into introducing the method for playing scenes, I want to describe the central idea that came out of my initial playtest.

 

 

The central crazy idea in Left Coast

 

In Left Coast, everyone plays a SF writer. Everyone is the GM for the player on their right. The crazy idea is this: When you GM, you act as if you are your SF writer character writing a novel about the adventures of the SF writer on your right.

 

You GM as the author you are playing. I think it'd be cool if you could narrate the action and describe the setting in your author's voice (when possible). The decisions you make as GM are the creative decisions your author would make. The ideal upshot is that you’re always in character.     

 

 

Introduction

 

Once you’ve created the setting (by filling it with NPCs), it’s time to bring it to life. At the moment the setting just a chart filled with names. Now we have to explore it, finding out who those names are, what they want, and what the Author’s relationship with them is like.

 

‘Simmering’ is a good verb for what we’ll be doing. We’ll be taking the chart, which is a static situation filled with quirky charter descriptions and potential conflicts (a recipe and ingredients) and now we’ll be exploring various elements of it, walking around the setting at a very gentle stroll, to see which characters are interesting to us and which conflicts come to life (we’re adding ingredients and simmering).

 

We’ll do this by simply following the Authors around for a regular day in their life. This ‘following around’ will involve playing out scenes between the Author and various NPCs. These conversations will almost certainly reveal things we couldn’t tell just from looking at the chart.

 

This process ends when we’ve created an imaginary setting that we’re all entertained and intrigued by (as players), a setting that contains a bunch of competing demands and complicated life situations for each author, a setting that feels vibrant, dynamic, shifting, and filled with NPCs with their own goals. At this point, the setting have come to the boil and is ready to serve.

 

This is different from the potential for conflict you feel when you look at the chart when you’ve first created it. I’m talking about the feeling that the setting has a life of its own. A good indication this would be when you begin to realize that NPCs are plotting between each other, or that some of them have motivations that don’t involve the Author.

 

 

General Principles for playing a game of Left Coast

 

• ‘Discover’ is the verb to keep in mind. The goal is to deepen our understanding of the setting and the NPCs.
  
  
• Follow the Author around as they go through their lives at a gentle stroll. We’re going to hang out with them. This slow and non-conflictual pace might be a bit of a shift for some people.
  
  
• Look for relationships where the PC can’t control someone. Don’t force these situations to happen; just play them out and see if they emerge. Let conflicts naturally emerge (if they do); don’t force bullshit conflicts into existence.

 

 

 

Types of scenes

 

1. GM provides a 'Wide-screen' overview of the setting, and player selects which NPC to focus on
2. Choose from the 'I'd like to see' list (GM or PC selects from list of interesting characters and relationships - this is added to at the end of each scene)
3. PC chooses a specific type of scene

i.   Family scenes (required before a Money scene can occur)

ii.  Money scenes show the Author writing a story

iii. Ensemble scenes show all the Authors hanging out together

iv.  Forgo scenes (where the PC gives up their scene and becomes the sidekick in another PC's scene)

     4.    GM-initiated scene focusing on an NPC who is strongly and authentically motivated to do something to the PC (optional, occurs in alternate
            rounds)

 

 

How to start a scene

 

There are a lot of options for starting a scene.

 

If you go with the 'wide-screen' option above, we're going to drop in to the setting by letting the GM describe two or three NPCs, where they are, and what they MIGHT be up to. This option is like a descriptive paragraph in a novel that introduces the setting and some of the characters in it, but talks about them at a very broad level. The GM should:

 

• briefly describe the city and the weather
• choose three NPCs who have relationships with the Author
• describe where each of those NPCs are, and what the Author thinks they might be up to
• ask the Author to select an NPC to visit

 

The player should inhabit their character. They should go where it seems interesting to.

 

Alternatively, and more in keeping with the idea of 'following the author around', the GM could ask the Author to monologue about their daily routine. This gives us an introduction to their character. Ask questions to prompt them to move around the setting. Keep things at a very broad level of detail – imagine covering the events of an entire day in five or six paragraphs. Any NPCs that emerge from that monologue you can have a follow-up scene with.

 

Another alternative: ask the Author what they want, and who they might have to deal with in order to achieve that.

 

Ask the Author to give a little bit of a monologue about the NPC before they meet up.

 

After this monologue, and (actually) during the whole time you're playing out a scene, ask questions. They can be provocative questions, but really they're just questions to deepen your understanding of the setting. You can pretend this is like first person narration in a novel. The author has their inner monologue, and the GM plays another voice inside their head probing, questioning, and occasionally challenging them.

 

Now I'm going to talk a little bit about creating NPCs before we talk about introducing them into a scene. But I think it's worth mentioning at this point that scene framing should be ‘soft’. We're not going to start straight in the middle of an argument or other conflict. We should expect to do a fair bit of roleplaying to [get the scene on its feet.] As Ron Edwards said, this game is a bit more Californian and laid back.

 

 

Creating an NPC

 

The goal is to discover insights about each NPC.

 

We’ll do this by observing the NPCs as we play. Portray them in scenes, but stay watchful. Look at what they do, what they say, and how they react to the Author.

 

You know how sometimes when you’re playing a character in a roleplaying game, or writing a story, or making up an elaborate joke with your friends about some real or fictional character, and all of a sudden you realise the character is going to do something you didn’t expect, something interesting – and you don’t know why they’re doing it?

 

That’s what we’re looking for. The moments where the NPC suprises you, the moments where you get insights about them.

 

Be bold and just let the NPC do it. Let them say the thing they shouldn’t say; help them do the thing you’ve suddenly realised they desperately want to do (and help them even if you don’t know why the NPC wants to do it).

 

I’ll say it again: be bold. Follow the NPC.

 

Here are 5 or 6 things that an NPC in Left Coast should have:

 

Give them a secret that the NPC wants to keep from the Author (and create the secret before starting to play the scene). This could be a big secret or a little one. It could involve the Author directly (“I know your wife’s cheating on you”), or be about a relationship the NPC doesn’t want the Author to know about (“I’m having sex with your wife”). It can be anything, as long as it’s something the NPC doesn’t want the Author to know.

 

Select a temperament for the NPC. The NPC is either Up (which can range from happy, to supportive and encouraging, to manic), or Down (sad/glum/cynical, a life-suck, depressed, or self-destructive)

 

Decide what they're thinking about. This thing they’re currently focused on gives [you] something to play / say / do when the Author arrives in the scene.

 

For characters who are Up, select something they’re currently obsessed about – this can be a news issue, gossip, something cool, or something they’re creating or proud of. The more [micro] the better.

 

For characters who are Down, select a problem they’re currently worried about – this can be personal, philosophical, to do with gossip they’ve heard; it can be anything - even a problem that you personally are concerned with right now.

 

Decide if the NPC supports the Author’s goals or opposes them. Keep this a complete secret. Be subtle about how you express your choice.

 

Each NPC should have a 'Thing'. From Scriptshadow:

 

[E]very character should have a “thing” going on.

Everybody’s got a “thing.” My friend Dan’s thing is that he’s obsessed with women, to the point where it’s ruined a marriage and a couple of other great relationships he’s had. My friend Claire’s thing is that she refuses to rely on other people for help. She has to do everything herself, even when at times it’s impossible.

Kate’s thing [in this script] is that she can’t forgive her husband for putting his work before her.

Think about all the friends in your life. You can probably break all of them down into having that one “thing” that identifies them. This “thing” is what you use your screenplay to explore. Sure this [script's] concept is about a deadly virus that could potentially end human existence. But really this script is about a woman trying to come to terms with what her husband did to her, forgive him, and move on.

 

'Things' give every scene with that NPC a core problem or issue that can be commented on (but only if you want). Effectively, I see each NPC as having a mild character arc (or just being stuck about their issue and never moving on).

 

I'M NOT SURE HOW TO HANDLE WHO 'OWNS' AN NPC YET. I HAVE SOME IDEAS BUT WON'T INCLUDE THEM HERE JUST YET.

 

 

Playing out a scene

 

Scene framing should be ‘soft’.

 

The Goal of scene-play is to discover stuff about the NPC and about the NPC-Author relationship. Detect, discover, gain insights. Write those insights down. We're creating the material to create conflicts in subsequent scenes. We want to 'detect' what the NPC's hidden agenda is. What I mean is, I often find when I'm playing an NPC that I have a moment where I go "Aha! That's what's really going on with them. That's what they really want." It's not something you pre-plan; it's something that you discover.

 

One scene contains one conversation (although it may lead into a follow-up conversation - perhaps a private aside between two characters - if that makes sense).

 

Whenever you're in doubt about what to do during scene-play, follow what your NPCs want. If you’re still in doubt about what to do, be boring. Be obvious. Keep the stakes small.

 

The person with control over the NPC needs to imagine what the NPC is up to before the PC arrives. If you have an insight about the NPC, a vision that strikes you as utterly true and authentic about what they'd be doing, use that.

 

The NPC doesn’t need to be doing anything dramatic or exciting. Banal is fine. The point is to make it feel like the Author is interrupting a life in progress. Use the material from 'Creating an NPC' to help with this.

 

If you don’t have any insights about what the NPC is doing, you can:

     (i) act on an NPC's motivation

     (ii) argue with the PC

     (iii) bore the PC.

Alternatively, the NPC is doing something symbolically representative of their character. We see this in intros all the time.

 

PROVIDE AN EXAMPLE

 

When the Author meets someone, play out that conversation. You want to do two things during this.

 

Just talk; don’t force conflict into the scene. If you get an insight or a sense of what the NPC wants to accomplish, or a sense of something they want to have a [conflict] over, push gently.

 

Introduce backstory. If this is the first time we've met an NPC, then the person playing the NPC has to introduce a piece of personal history about the NPC's relationship with the author ('backstory') that:

     i) the Author's player doesn't already know about

     ii) the Author's player can't veto.

 

This can get added to the Setting Chart for free. (I like the way that starts to give the NPCs a life of their own, and how it unsettles the Author (and the Author's player a little bit).)

 

Technically, NPC players have Content authority over the NPCs they play: they get to say what's true about the NPCs.

 

One difficulty that can come out of this is what happens if I'm playing an NPC, and I say "Hey, how come you didn't call me after we slept together?" and you say "What are you talking about? We never slept together". The weirdness arises from this contradiction is a feature, not a bug. Embrace the contradictions - don't try and sort them out right now; work them out through future scenes.

 

Oh! And the NPC's owner can't abuse this power. No shifting the backstory around once it's been established.

 

"I thought you said we were sleeping together," says the Author.

"No, we've never even kissed," says the NPC. "What were you thinking? Are you going crazy?"

 

In a game like Left Coast, the temptation to deliver a mind-fuck via altering the backstory is huge ("Whoa! My entire reality is a lie!"). But I think that's a cheat ... and - if I do my job right - the game should give you better ways of screwing with the Authors' senses of paranoia and reality being undermined.

 

Again, technically, you've got content authority for your own character, but no authority to re-write what's been written.

 

-- -- --

 

When playing the scene, remember: we're letting the setting simmer. Don't start with melodrama (someone coming through the door with a gun in their hand), start with realism (someone watering the flowers in their garden but maybe the hose isn't working properly and water's spluttering all over the place). With the Weird stuff, just play the tip of the iceberg, the first thing you’d notice, the slightest intrusion. Start small rather than with a catastrophic alien invasion that wipes out 99% of all human life.

 

-- -- --

 

If you’re not in a scene, you can contribute ideas (accepted by the GM or the PC via ‘That’s a great idea!’) or you can play your PC in the current PC’s scene.

 

 

Finding a conflict

 

I mentioned that if you get a sense of something the NPC wants to have a conflict over, you should push gently.

 

If you find something naturally emerges out of the conversation, something that the NPC really really wants and is prepared to dig in to get it …

… put a d6 on the table OR

... use a key phrase to indicate this is important; this is worth going in to conflict for.

 

You don’t need to push bullshit conflicts. You can ID something but not go to the dice. (Not every scene needs a conflict.) Just let this stuff simmer – make a note of it, and come back to it in a later scene. The NPC will probably have been thinking / stewing about it.

 

When do you have conflicts?

… If the Author is trying to achieve something in one of the 4 ratings

… When it becomes obvious that the 2 characters are irreconcilably opposed and at an impasse, yet a decision must be made in order for the story to progress. You’ll experience this is a conversation goes round and round covering the same points AND there are two dramatically different ways the story can go AND the players can’t agree.

 

My unplaytested suspicion is that conflicts are about 'control'. Conflicts are about the PC trying to assert themselves and trying to not be buffetted around by the needs of other characters, or by the plots of the GM.

 

There may be two basic types of conflict. BANAL conflicts, which involve any element from any quadrant that is trying to distract you from writing. Banal conflicts use the Family rating. There may also be AUTHORIAL conflicts, where the GM is trying to get the PC to follow the GM's outline for the plot. Authorial conflicts use the Nuttiness rating.

 

It’s not important whether this conflict is something that will last through the whole rest of the game. It might fade away after only one or two scenes. What is important is that you’ve gained an insight into the NPC (like the tip of an iceberg). Now you can keep digging.

 

One thing I'm not sure about yet is whether the PC needs to initiate all conflicts? And if they don’t, do things just go the GM’s way?

 

 

Resolving conflicts

 

This process is just a provisional process at the moment. I'm going to refine it through playtesting.

 

1. Each character monologues about why you’re in a conflict; about why this is a conflict for you. Why are you arguing? What can’t you resolve?
2. The other participant describes what you want. (Eg. The PC’s player should describe what the NPC wants.)
3. vice versa? Yes.
4. Agree that you understand each other.  If you don’t (USE SOME ACTIVE LISTENING SKILLS)
5. Select the appropriate rating. If it’s unclear, go with ‘Story’.
6. Roll winner and loser.
7. HMMMMM? Loser proposes how to resolve the scene [OR Winner gets what they want if they spend a point on it].
8. Winner spends points to modify the Loser’s narration? One point per fact (which reduces the amount of other stuff they can buy)
9. In fiction, the winner wins but doesn’t [necessarily OR definitely doesn’t] modify the loser’s wants and desires. IOW, even though there’s a definitive outcome, the loser doesn’t need to be happy about it. They should be resentful, begrudging, passive-aggressive and dwelling on what to do next. So: the winner wins, but doesn’t change the NPC’s motivations (unless that feels right).
10. Spend points.
11. Can continue scene.  Or not.

 

My concern about this process is that it feels very ‘conventional’: like the generic indie stakes-setting process with only a little bit of thought about what works for Left Coast in particular. But I figure that some playtesting and mapping out the system should help me figure out how to refine this.

 

 

I need to adjust the 'What you spend points on' list from the main rules.

 

I particularly like the idea that if the player character wins, then their Author loses something. Perhaps it's 'Money', perhaps it's 'Control'. Either way, it's because the novel isn't going how the Author wants.

 

If the Author wins a conflict, they can spend victories to introduce new characters from their Outline onto the relationship map, or win the right to frame the character's next scene (moving the plot of their Outline along). I can see lots of potential here.

 

There's also the ideas of spending successes to:

• win what you wanted from the conflict
• adding to the 'Story' rating
• the PC can force the GM to lose a point in one of their PC's ratings (to represent their novel not going so well) - perhaps adding something to their Setting Chart in the process.

 

 

Ending a Scene

 

After resolving a conflict, you can continue (until someone cuts the scene OR uses the appropriate key phrase or whatever). BUT you can’t retry the same conflict in the same way. [LET IT RIDE.]

 

Definitely play out the aftermath of the conflict, though.

 

Scenes can end when:

• ... you've introduced the backstory to an NPC's introductory scene
• … you've gained an insight into the NPC or relationship
• … the NPC wants something from the PC (or vice versa) … but can’t act on it right away
• … there’s a conflict
• … someone ends it
• … the scene is dull.

 

A little bit more about that last point: if the conversation is repetitive or dull (10 minutes with conflict or insight, or repeating the same lines of dialogue or conversation points a few times), end the scene and move on.

 

The group needs a way to do this that’s not stink.

 

Possibilities include:

 

Have a key phrase (like in Polaris): ‘Why don’t we try something else.’ Suggest a different approach and open the floor to suggestions or figure out how to proceed with what we’re already doing in a way that satisfies everyone. [think of this as your fellow authors reading your book and making suggestions.]

 

Players have BRUTAL editorial control over the scenes - for people to say "Cut" if it doesn't look like it's leading anywhere interesting. I'd almost see that as a novelist exploring what they find interesting in the setting of a novel they've just started.

 

End the scene when someone says “Cut”. Or have a bunch of key phrases that all players can use. [Or, play out the scene until someone wants to cut it. This could be anyone at the table. POSSIBLE RULE: Follow the lead of the most impatient player?]

 

 

 

Creating the 'Scenes I'd like to see' list

 

At the end of the scene, have a little review of what happened. I see this as like a conversation you'd have at a book club:

 

• ... What did you learn about the NPCs?
• … Do we want to see this NPC again?
• … Is there something deeper to explore here?
• … So what did we learn about ‘X’? (Write it on chart of NPCs)
• … If you thought it was dull, suggest ideas to make it better / more interesting [DEFINE ‘INTERESTING’]
• … What do you [the PC] want to do next?

 

The PC's player can ID an area / character / relationship to explore further.

GM and Audience collectively can also ID an area / character / relationship to explore further.

Write this down in an INFORMAL ‘Scenes I’d like to see at some point’ list.

The players can use these scenes or not, as they wish.

This 'I'd like to see' list can remind us about what happened if we play another session of Left Coast.

 

The group can add (collectively, unanimously agreed) 1 fact [OR 2 FACTS, AT MOST] to the Setting Chart.

 

After one round of player initiated scenes, have an ‘optional round’ of GM initiated scenes. These scenes are ‘optional’ because they only happen if the GM has a strong, definite idea in mind about what an NPC would do. IOW, these aren’t ‘Let’s see what happens if … (we put these two characters together / etc)” scenes; they are “X is definitely going to do this next” scenes.

… GMs can refer to the ‘I’d like to see’ list (and cross off the scene once they’ve had it.)

… There might be zero GM initiated scenes, or everyone might have one. There is NO PRESSURE to have one.

 

 

The Story Rating

 

I now see that there's a group rating in the middle of the table called 'Story'. Anyone can spend a point to increase the Story rating.

 

I think it gets used in conflicts.

 

The session (called a 'chapter') ends when Story hits ‘7’