How The Puzzle Went

One interesting thing about the puzzle this week was how it threw into sharp relief the problem solving strategies of my various players.  Three of my players are definitely analytical thinkers; they saw the puzzle for a process that had a clear path to solution.  They sat down and began running a logic grid immediately.  This had two problems; it turned out that the way they were working was only practical for three or at most four people.  As a result, Cameron, the most intuitive player in the group, was rather left out.  After about half an hour, he began working the puzzle his own way; making a very intuitive analysis, using scraps and clues the party had learned about but that they wouldn't use on their logic grid because they feared going down an incorrect path.  Cameron, on the other hand, used a more guess-and-check approach, forming a potential solution, and checking it against all the clues to try to determine a viable solution that matched all the constraints.

As it turned out, he was very close when the logic grid team finished their solution.  I am sure that it would've been a near thing if they had started at the same time; I could easily believe that Cameron would've come to a solution first.

That said, rather than bringing the party together as I hoped, the puzzle split it more severely than any activity I've set them to yet.  I need to carefully consider the intuitive/analytic gap before I throw another one at them.

Session 11 Logic Puzzle

For your edification at home, here was this week's puzzle.  Formatting errors are intentional.

INTERCEPT//23123-122//ABD-3995
PARTIAL MESSAGE

TO: ALEXEI ROMANOV
FROM: [UNKNOWN SENDER]
DATE: 31 DECEMBER 3069
SUBJECT: FWD: RE: RE: FWD: RE: RE: FUTURE OPS

Alexei--

Don’t know if you’re still at this address, but your operation is before Eric’s.

> On 29 DECEMBER 3069,  said:
>
> Eric is leading OPERATION SARNA.
>
>
>> On 29 DECEMBER 3069, said:
>>
>> Wait, so who is leading OPERATION SARNA then?
>>
>>
>>> On 29 DECEMBER 3069, said:
>>>
>>>
[LOST CONTENT]
>>>>> is taking place in May of 3074, not OPERATION SARNA.  Jessica >>>>> is leading one, and I don’t remember who is leading the other, >>>>> but its the Fresno op.  Look it  up.
[LOST CONTENT]
>>>>>> No, Jessica is leading the Colorado Springs operation.  We’ve >>>>>> been over this before!
[LOST CONTENT]
>>>>>>>> OPERATION NBC will be completed before Wayne’s team has even >>>>>>>> completed training.  If it weren’t, we wouldn’t be able to
[LOST CONTENT]
>>>>> OK, now I’m really, really, really confused about the timeline.
>>>>> Is the 3070 or the 3074 op in Denver?  I know they’re both in
[LOST CONTENT]
>>>>>>> is leading OPERATION MECHSTEAL, not Wayne!  Unless you’re
>>>>>>> planning to make some bass-ackwards change.  Like that never
[LOST CONTENT]
>>>>>>>> OPERATION NBC isn’t even in Montana.  Doofus.
[LOST CONTENT]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Geez, guys.  This is the team we’re kick the WoB >>>>>>>>>>>>>> offworld with?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Look, this is very simple.  There are five ops >>>>>>>>>>>>>> planned: The Gilgultch op, the 3072 op, OPERATION HPG, >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Jessica’s op, and the Horsehead op.
[LOST CONTENT]
>>>>> Let’s pretend, unlike you, I know operational procedures from >>>>> my own ass.
>>>>>
>>>>> No, Alexei won’t be available for Gilgultch.  We’ve been over
[LOST CONTENT]
>>>>>> Fortunately, OPERATION NBC happens before OPERATION MECHSTEAL.
[LOST CONTENT]
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Way to go, ace.  You sorted each column >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> separately.  A fat lot of good that table does us.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> On 31 OCTOBER 3069, said:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Here’s the summary for operations over the next few years
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> DATE LEADER CITY NAME
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> FEB 3070 ALEXEI COLORADO SPRINGS BIOWEAP
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> JUN 3071 BETH DENVER HPG
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> APR 3072 ERIC FRESNO, CA MECHSTEAL
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> SEP 3073 JESSICA GILGULTCH, WY NBC
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> MAY 3074 WAYNE HORSEHEAD, MO SARNA

Session 11

Session 11 ended up falling out a bit differently than I was expecting.  We resolved the downtime XP (which I've now created a form for, since we've reached the part of the game where we have double-digit numbers of months between session.  Then I delivered the intercept to Anthony, who began solving it while the rest of the group continued eating breakfast and chatting.  He made some progress, and people made their way over to help him as we moved forward, but I'll cover how that worked out later this week.

I solved the puzzle in 45 minutes the night before, and I figured my limitations as a single person working would just about balance out the gains I had being in practice for logic puzzles.  It turns out that was a bad assumption; it ended up taking about 90 minutes for the group to solve the puzzle to their statisfaction.  They discover the resistance will be executing an HPG operation in Denver in February of 3070, and that Alexei will be leading.  Simon lays a number of detection traps in the HPG station computer to try to get a message to Alexei when he breaks in.  The team successfully contacts Alexei and later manages to intercept the Resistance team that's breaking into the Denver HPG station.  A tense standoff ensues between Davida and Shin and the two resistance members (neither of them have ever seen Alexei, so they can't tell if one of them is him.)  The resistance members tell them they are now tapping all communications through that station, and if the party needs to get in touch with them, to just send a signal through there.

After that, the session wound down quickly.  This is the last of the "learning the threats" sessions that I planned, and Session 12 will be the first "Doing something about it" sessions.

Elementary School Busywork For The Win

I've decided to go with the Logic Puzzle approach to Sunday's session.  I've been looking for resources to suggest ways to construct logic puzzles, but thus far the algorithm seems to be "create the grid, create a clue, add clues until you can solve the puzzle yourself."  Not terribly creative, but effective.  It is also possible that I can simply hijack an existing puzzle online by replacing their category names with my own.

This latter option is the one I find myself admitting I would suggest to somebody else, which is usually my prime indicator that I should embark on that path.  To that end, I found a site, http://www.logic-puzzles.org, which simply has an archive of logic puzzles known to be solvable in about 5-10 minutes.  Now I just need to select one, replace the names of the categories with categories from my game, determine how to word in-game documents to contain the clues properly, and do the rest of the footwork to have this particular exercise ready to go for Session 11.

Maintaining Momentum

Oftentimes I think that forcing myself to post here some I can at least not be too embarrassed by is the only thing that keeps this campaign at the quality level it is maintaining.  With the close of the year coming up fast, my schedule is ever-more packed, and finding room to think about Ten Years on Terra atop my myriad other responsibilities is becoming a bit of a challenge, but it keeps me honest, and makes sure that my players get the GM attention they deserve.  So thank you for continuing to read this blog; the steady stream of hits on the statistics page reminds me of my responsibility to you, and to my players.

Operational concerns aside, the last 24 hours have yielded little in the way of ideas for game elements to add to Session 11, but I also need to determine a few details regarding why the party is going there.  I know that they'll be getting a hint that will set them on Alexei's trail, a hint the feeds into the minigame that lets them find him, and by extension, the HPG station in California.  Most of my ideas have been that they find a radio beacon that leads them to him, but exactly why that comes out almost two years after he goes missing is not clear to me -- most of the explanations that spring to mind push the limits of credibility.

Likely I'll have Simon find some hint as he works.  Exactly what depends on the minigame, but I'll work that out soon enough.

Preparing for the Sarna HPG

The Sarna HPG plotline that I've developed was entirely based off fairly old (pre-Catalyst) BattleTech source material.  I was somewhat bemused to discover that the recently released Jihad: Final Reckoning sourcebook contained a number of HPG-based weapon systems that added a lot of rules, or at least guidelines, for what the Word is working on at the HPG station in California.  On Sunday I hope to explore that with the party.

I still want to develop some out-system minigame for them to solve as the first part of the session; a puzzle in which they can all participate.  I've discussed this in prior entries, but I'm still not terribly happy with any of the games I came up with.  Exactly how that will look, I'm still not sure.  Something to break the mold, make each of the players use their skills in a seriously helpful way, and contribute toward a goal that advances a party goal.  More and more, I'm convinced that I need some kind of puzzle that the character make skill checks to solve.  Something with five components, one for each character.  Maybe a logic puzzle of some description.

When I was young we used to do logic grids, in which you had two sets of data (people and rooms, for instance), and a list of hints you were supposed to use to determine which datapoints were associated with each other.  I really enjoyed them, and a few years ago I built a D&D campaign, one of the core plot points of which basically boiled down to solving one of these.  I'm thinking I might build a smaller one for Sunday if I can think of reasonable datasets to have the party correlate.

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.