What's All This Mythic Stuff?

In my last post, I began documenting a log of my actual experience playing Risus with the Mythic Game Master Emulator. Since this blog is dedicated to all things Risus, I imagine that the Mythic stuff might seem rather confusing. This post is my attempt to make the last post and future Mythic-related posts intelligible to folks whether they are just interested in the Risus bits (there will be lots of Risus bits in future scenes) or if they are generally interested in seeing how Mythic works in practice.

Scene N: Leading off the post, I'll typically write down how I expect the scene to start. In Mythic, there is always a chance that things won't occur as planned. If that happens, I may revise this description and I'll certainly note when the unexpected occurs as I document the scene.

Characters: A list of all relevant characters is maintained because there will often be random events that reference existing NPCs. If this happens, a random character is selected from this list. This list will change from scene to scene.

Threads: Like the character list, this is a list of open plot threads (or "quests" in MMO-speak). Random events may reference this plot threads, start new ones, or close them out entirely. New threads can also be noted as they come up during the course of play.

Chaos Factor: A numerical indication of how "crazy" or "uncontrolled" or "action-packed" an adventure is getting. It changes from scene to scene and the number influences the frequency of random events, alterations to scenes, and even the probabilities of yes/no questions.

Scene Log: What follows is a prose description of the events in the scene. Mythic or Game information is noted, usually with indented text. Note that what you see is exactly how I played out the scene. I write the story as a logical progression of event and when I needed to consult the "Game Master", I used the Mythic Game Master Emulator.

Q: This is a yes/no question. In Mythic, There are four possible results: Yes, No, Extreme Yes, and Extreme No. Odds are usually called out in brackets (and are determined based on what seems logical).

CQ: This a "complex question". In other words, a free form question with no Yes/No response. Typically, I'll go to a source for random data (which I will note). I get a random answer and use it as a kind of ink blot and go with the first reasonable answer that pops in my head. Sometimes I'll go to multiple sources or ask Yes/No questions to get clarification.

RANDOM EVENT: In the curse of answering yes/No questions, random events may be generated. A random event will always have a focus (determined by rolling on a Mythic table) and two words meant to inspire the nature of the event (also rolled in Mythic). Sometimes, I'll ask additional questions to pin down the event.

Characters (again): After the scene concludes, I'll note changes to the characters list.

Threads (again): Same with the list of plot threads.

Updated Chaos Factor: I'll note how the Chaos Factor changes going into the next scene.