Knowing What You Don't Know

One of the more interesting interesting interactions that happened during Session 10 was when Simon, who spent the session monitoring WoB comms chatter, learned about the incoming bomber attack.  He had two-way communication with David and Shin, but could only listen  in on Clark and Alexander.  The result was that while Clark and Alexander's players knew of the impending attack, their characters did not.

Bert and Cameron (Alexander's and Clark's players, respectively) are very different sorts of players.  Bert tends to try to play optimally, so he immediately began seeking a reason for his character to get to safety.  He wasn't willing to have his character just break and run on a hunch, but there was suddenly a series of questions about exactly what he could see and hear (standing in the hulk of a ship under construction, the answer was "not much.")  He was very agitated until the air raid alarm went off and he could justify having his character run.

Cameron, on the other hand, was much more relaxed about the situation.  He concluded there was nothing his character could do until he found out that there was a threat, so he just went on roleplaying the encounter as he had been, albeit much more slowly as Bert was now constantly interjecting with ways he could preternaturally detect the incoming attack.

Now, both of these reactions are common play styles.  There was some strain, though, in the fact that suddenly Bert was chewing up a lot of time at the table; he wanted out bad, and who could blame him?  A trio of altitude bombers were bearing down on his character.  The problem was that he was now cutting into time other players, whose characters did know the attack was coming, wanted to use to get themselves repositioned and ready.

I countered this particular problem in two ways.  First, I accepted the first two or three questions as usual, but when they kept coming, I stopped Bert and asked for just a moment while I handled the other players, going around the table in order.  The "around the table in order" thing is something I've found to be important, because it gives the person who needs a lot of time a clear indication that we will be getting back to him, at a predictable time, but also lets me get actions from each other player.

Second, I moved up my schedule for the air-raid alarm.  By doing this, I was effectively giving Bert what he wanted -- a chance to run.  I gave up a bit of tension for the other players by yielding early, but the tension was going to be damaged anyways by the disruption that was being caused to the gameflow.  This second action was more cutting my losses than taking proactive steps to improve my game experience, and I feel that there was a better solution, but it has not come to me.