Untitled - Index of - Free

Abe - I had forgotten about that flashlight. I'm
gonna' look over, which I know is dumb, so I
want you to remember this when you give out
Plot Points. But I'm not looking for the gun­
man. I want to look over at Scott and see if
he's alive. It's what Abe would do.
Director- You get a gold star for roleplay. I'll mark it
down. Johnny, you see your target. He's a
German mechanic, standing in front of a
plane, clearly outlined in the doorway. He's
got a bead on you, but the gun is shaking in
his hands so badly you don't think he could hit
the side of a barn. He must have been
standing there holding a line on the doorway,
waiting for someone to come through, and
even then, you're sure he was lucky to have
tagged Scott {Giving Johnny a chance not to
fire, and take a prisoner instead, as well as
exploring a decision that helps to further
define the role.]
Johnny - I feel real bad. I'm sure it hurt him more than
it hurt Scott. But I'm gonna' hurt him even
worse. I open up on the Nazi.
Director - He's still pulling the trigger on the Luger as
you pour hot death down the hallway at him.
There's the faint 'click', 'click', of his empty
gun, then the deafening sound of enclosed
gunfire [A cheap trick, but roleplay is about
roles, and I like to emphasize that, even
during combat]. The mechanic dances and
jerks before slumping against the side of the
plane. He leaves a long dark red streak as he
falls to the floor. The plane is now riddled with
gunfire.
Johnny - Whoops, I hope there's another.
Scott- Yeah, there is. From where I'm lying, dazed,
on the floor, but still conscious, I can see one
other plane, off to one side. I begin laughing
weakly.
These bits of roleplay are great, but they also take some
trust. The Actors know that they're getting their personas
into trouble. The Director is using these action to hurt
those characters, partly because this is the natural conse­
quence, and partly because not doing so would fail to fulfill
the potential of that fine roleplaying.
The Director is attempting a fairly realistic feel for this
Pulp-style adventure. Part of maintaining this slightly
gritty texture is the exploration of 'grey' moral areas. This
is Pulp, and a war story, so the focus is mostly upon a
black and white morality, but moments like these help
bring the heroic back down, into the realm of the human.
There are no right or wrong answers here. Making this
decision helps to define some portion of Johnny's charac­
ter, and that's the only purpose.
There's no need for the Resolution Flowcharts here.
Johnny's going to take this guy out, and one man can't
absorb all those bullets.
This emphasis on description has allowed the Actor
portraying Scott to weave the character's wounds into his
roleplay. This has become part of the Actors' job to
maintain, and not simply the Director's job to enforce. The
Actor has used this responsibility to define Scott as 'dazed
... but still conscious'.
Theatrix - The Core Rules 109