I spent a lot of time dithering about Location cards. According to the SRD (and to the two Desperation games published by Bully Pulpit), “Locations allow the players to form both a tactile and mental map of the setting you have created. They are the first thing players encounter and should strongly inform what is to come. Make individual Locations evocative as well as easy to tie to the People.”
In Dead House, Locations are static locations in a small, dying Midwestern town. It’s straightforward. The Isabel varies a bit more. In The Last Tour, we’re definitionally on a tour — we’re moving around. So how to capture this?
My first take on it was to make the Locations more themes than specific places. I.e.: Backstage, The Audience, The Mixing Board, Tour Bus, Tour Bus Bedroom — like that. The tour moves from city to city; People who hang out Backstage will likely be in whatever Backstage presents itself. This worked OK conceptually but when I sketched out a list of Locations, I felt like the last couple were getting pretty thin.
I also thought about each Location being a city? I think this might work but would require a bit more surgery on the basic engine; that step when players lay down People next to Locations is very grounding.
So I talked to S. and we figured out a nice blend. I’m going to write up five or six Locations which are consistent whichever city the band happens to be in, and then I’m going to write up four or five Locations that are Cities. I can trigger City card flips by both Events and Transitions. Randomized city choices will reinforce the desperate neediness that lies at the heart of this band’s tour. Milan one night, next night Oslo? Yeah, it’s like that, it’s been hard to get bookings.
A small number of persistent Locations will reinforce how much these people are living in each other’s pockets. We need a pressure cooker. The desperation in this game comes from people hating each other much more than from the environment.
Also I think I can use the cities to set tone. Uppsala is maybe a worse place to take drugs, given that Sweden’s tough on drugs. I gotta evoke Bowie (again) and do a German city where it’s really easy to get cocaine. I will need to brainstorm that some before cementing it, but I’m optimistic.
So while I haven’t written full cards this week, let’s map out the non-city Locations.
Backstage Tour Bus (the only place with a lockable bedroom door) On Stage Stage Wings (poor Whitney’s stuck here a lot) Audience Green Room (also backstage but you only get to be here if a band member likes you at the moment)
Good enough for this week. I have a ton of work and travel the next few weeks, so we’ll see how much I get done, but I’m feeling some momentum.