[Tronix02]

Hey guys, I have a player whom I solo session with, an awesome player, who like roleplaying through the "prelude" of an Assasin/Special Ops type character, in particular, she wants to play through the training of her character from a low-life into a keen and effective assassin, and she wants it to an integral part of the story (i.e. Act I is her origin story, Act II is her first mission, so on so forth). But my attempts at this have never been successful.

This is my usual outline for how these "First Acts" go.

1. Introduction - PC's "normal" life is introduced
2. Initiation - PC is brought into the reach of her "trainer" (by force at times)
3. Training Begins - PC goes through her period of time training (12 weeks at Basic Training, or 1 year in an Assasin Guild, or 3 months in the sprawl with a hitman).
4. Graduation - PC proves herself "ready to go pro" with one big test

Parts 1 and 2 go great, and sometimes I've gotten to part 4 and the 2nd Act without at total plot derailment. But Part 3 is where the story always sucks.

In movies that show how the "hero" has been trained, usually you see a "training montage", a series of frames (sometimes set to music) where you see brief glimpses of how a character is trained (Examples: The Mask of Zorro, Batman Begins, The Count of Monte Cristo). But a couple of descriptions of "you master beats you but with tonfas, you climb ropes to a high rise with greased ropes, and you shoot blindfolded with a .45 until you stop missing)  simply isn't gonna cut it (doing that seems to leave a "hole" in the story).

Basically, I need help organizing and presenting this Part 3 in an interesting way that actually build story, rather than acting as filler. Should I run several short "missions" through the training, or should I focus less on the training itself and more her interaction with the trainer and anyone else she might be training with (like rivalries between other Black Ops inductees in her class, or love interests between her and another student or the trainer). If you have ever done this sort of "origin story" type scenario, please let me know how you handle it.

Thanks so much guys.

[blackangel]

I have in mind two french movies which can provide some hints :
"Nikita" and "Leon". I don't know if they have been translate or not.

BA

[RHat]

I have in mind two french movies which can provide some hints :
"Nikita" and "Leon". I don't know if they have been translate or not.

BA

In point of fact, The Professional would be the original title in the latter case; it was originally released in North America in English.  The former is also known as La Femme Nikita.

[Tronix02]

Yep, I know about The Professional, awesome movie (and one of my player's favorites as well). That's a start!

[RHat]

The storyline of the first Assassin's Creed II game would be a good source, too - much of it is the main character's development from norm to badass.

[Tronix02]

Thanks so far guys. The main thing I stumped on is how to lay down plot hooks and keep the drama in increasing even while we play through 5 or 10 sessions of training (or maybe my problem is dragging on 5 or 10 sessions of training...). I mean, if the PC doesn't want to be trained and is forced, how do I change the PC's mind? And how do I keep everything dramatic and interesting when the PC does buckle (most of the time, the game devolves into a boring series of "your instructor has this gruelling challenge for you, and implements it with great sadism. But you get through it).

Is it that I need to introduce the possibility of failure (without making failure an extremly inticing option for a resistance character)? Or do we need to go through less training? Or do I need to start the plot from the first minute of the game and let the plot carry the character through training? I think that last idea may be best, since people sign up for 12 weeks of running, getting yelled at, shooting guns when they want to become soldiers (i.e. their own internal "plot" is to become a Marine, Navy Officer, Army Ranger, Sniper, EOD, what have you).

Are there any good movies that are focused on a soldier's experience in basic training or SEAL school or anything like that. G.I. Jane comes to mind...

[Novocrane]

It may also be worth looking up The Way Of Shadows. (Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks) A bit more medieval and magical, but the concept of rigorous training is there, and it starts off from the gutter.

I wouldn't introduce failure as something that ends training, though. More an option wherein the training is taken out into the field - whether the student wants it there or not.

[MarmaladeEffect]

IMHO, effective training would involve skill training (so, lots of doing the same thing over and over, like climbing, shooting, escaping handcuffs, etc.), physical conditioning, and putting it all together in simulations. This could take a lot more than a year to do properly - vo-tech training takes about two years for a number of rather mundane jobs where you are neither risking your life, nor trying to outsmart another person who probably doesn't really want to be assassinated.

As I see it, the way to make it fun would be to go with an apprenticeship type of education, where the trainee has to pay for her education by working for her master. The actual training will happen between runs, and the runs will be the work she does as payment - but they'll also show her how much she's improving. She'll likely be started off doing support work like researching targets and casing joints. As she gets better, she might be sent to do negotiations with Mr. Johnsons (nothing says, "my time is valuable" like sending a flunky to do the talking for you), to bribe people who the master needs to look away, or to steal useful pieces of equipment (they can't track your purchases if you didn't buy it!). Eventually, he'll start sending her on low level assassinations - kill the factory worker who beats his wife, shoot the bottom-level ganger who's latest victim wants his revenge before he leaves the hospital, stab a minor drug dealer who's providing unwanted competition, make the corp wageslave's death look like an accident because his boss will get a negative performance review if he fires any more people, etc. They'll get gradually more important as she moves up from thuggery to murdering the wealthy, the powerful, and their enemies. Eventually, she'll get the big job that serves at step 4.

I'd avoid ever having her accompany her master on a run (although maybe watching through VR could be part of the training bits you skim over). It isn't usually fun to play sidekick to an overpowered NPC. Besides, realistically, if a master assassin is carrying out the big hit of his career, does he really want to have his naive student along with him?