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Interpreting Cards

The Host has to practice this at least as much as the players, who will take their tip from you. If you do it well, they will try to emulate you.

At the outset, many players may have trouble with this. Whatever you do, don’t punish them if they’re trying. Be encouraging, and at first be lenient. If the interpretation is weak, suggest ways to make it cooler; definitely allow kibitzing here. If the player is doing something like Interpreting a current situation rather than causing a change, gently say so, and encourage her to tinker for a while until it works. Allow players to take back cards if they want.

As the campaign moves along, up the expected level. Some people are never going to be great at this, but some will really start to shine. Reward great card play, both mechanically and socially—try to get excited about a cool card play, toss an orange slice or M+M or whatever to the player, you name it. If someone seems left behind by the rest of the group, talk to him outside of the game, and see if he can explain the problem, and try to work on solutions.

Don’t punish bad interpretation unless (1) everyone else is doing well, and (2) you’re pretty damn sure the player isn’t trying. If there is a player who just doesn’t get it, and doesn’t seem to care, encourage other players to Trump her Trumps. Reward them with extra card draws, so they don’t lose anything by it. Just be damn sure that the player isn’t trying.

Warning: power-gaming isn’t necessarily bad play here. Using a card to dominate the situation is good card play, unless it’s done at the expense of fun. Don’t allow people to use cards instead of role-playing, e.g. playing The Tower to cause disaster for an enemy but not having any description of the catastrophe. But if the player wants to use the Tower and does have a great description of the horrible doom of his enemy, let it go. It may not be the most creative thing out there, but you can’t require that all play be brilliant.

Before you start leaning on a player who’s not Interpreting well, be sure of these points.

1. Does everyone else think this is bad Interpretation?
2. Does the player genuinely not give a damn?
3. Is the player actually trying to break things?

In short, the only sort of Interpreting you should punish will appear hand-in-hand with some other classic RPG problem play. Struggling players should not be punished. Destructive players should be punished, after a few warnings and a lot of encouragement to behave well.

-- ChrisLehrich^? - 24 Dec 2004

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