Last Unicorn

I've always found one of the most interesting possibilities on this show is to completely subvert the inciting incident of the movie: What happens to the movie if the movie doesn't really happen at all? What if Kevin McCallister doesn't get left behind? What if Dorothy escapes the tornado?There is sort of a philosophical disagreement among the GM's in this show as to whether or not to protect the inciting incident from circumvention. I generally fall into the camp of whatever happens, happens, but I have total respect for the camp that believes that it's worth protecting the inciting incident because without it, are we even really reroling the movie? I think we'd all agree that the show works best if there's a mix of both approaches. And to be honest I haven't always been a purist on this point. Only twice in the history of our show have I ever asked a player to take a specific action for the benefit of the episode: In our third-ever reroll (Labyrinth), I specifically asked Joz to say "the words" from the movie because otherwise the movie doesn't really happen. Then, in Rogue One, I asked Joz to not mess with the prologue and just go to the safe-house as young Jyn does in the movie. Joz ignored me and it turned into one of the show's most exciting sequences, and from then on, I vowed never to ask that of a player again. Their characters are their own and following their impulses is where all the show's juice comes from.

In truth, my feeling that inciting incidents shouldn't be protected was mostly there from the beginning. In Speed for instance, I loved the fact that the good guys won the whole thing in what serves as a prologue in the actual film. But I only really got comfortable being an absolutist about it as I got more comfortable with the format. I see the inciting incident as one of many laying about in the world, waiting to shepherd us down one of many story paths. I relish the genre switch that comes from changing out inciting incidents.

But of course, switching out inciting incidents is a very fun thing to do when you're ready for it. When you're not, it can be an uncomfortable rug pull. But even then, your preparation should be able to serve you. Think: What else is happening in the world? What other problems become uncovered? What would be fun to do? If all else fails, just play until a story naturally starts to emerge.

This is all a way of saying that I honestly didn't see coming that we wouldn't do the inciting incident of Last Unicorn. I should have. It should have been fairly predictable that if I gave one of the huntsmen from the prologue to a player, they might not mention that there's only one unicorn left in the world, and without that there's no quest. But somehow I didn't think of that possibility. Mostly because I hadn't really thought about the prologue at all until the very last second. And even then, I totally could have forced it. I was playing the father and I could have found a way to say the line. But it didn't feel organic to, with Andy taking the conversation off in a different direction so I didn't. I decided to trust that I'd find the story. And I had plenty of prepared world-building that I could slot in and I very quickly made some radical adjustments and here we are. Also, Last Unicorn is the kind of movie that even without the inciting incident isn't really that different a movie. We still end up with a very similar feeling type of narrative.

Anyway, this is a fun one. Can't wait to see where it goes!