I had a very specific purpose in mind when I sketched out Force.

In many of the episodes of the TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the monsters or adversaries are metaphors for the trials we face as we grow up. The classic example is Angel reverting to the monstrous Angelus after he and Buffy sleep together in Season Two. This was a metaphor for the guy who turns mean after he gets a girl in the sack. Episodes 1.03 The Witch, 1.06 The Pack, and 1.11 Invisible Girl are all metaphors.

I haven't really used metaphors very much in my Series. In fact, I don't think I've used them at all. But I wanted this adventure to be a metaphor. Specifically, it was intended to be a metaphor for abuse of authority. When the people that a child looks up to begin breaking the rules or violating a trust, what does the child do? Who does he tell? That's a very painful dilemma for many kids, and that's what I wanted to capture in Force.

I'll sometimes tell my players up front what the goal of the adventure is. (For example, I may say, "I want this Episode to be a story about redemption.") That way, we can all work together toward the goal. I didn't do that this time. But it still worked -- remarkably well, I think. Doug (played by Ethan) and JD (played by Michele) displayed exactly the right amount of confusion about what to do when they discovered the cops were gunning people down. They didn't know who to tell, or how to prevent the police officers from striking again, or who would believe them if they tried to bring in help. I'm sure many of us felt that way when we first discovered that the rules didn't apply equally to everyone.

Think about it. Most of us are raised to believe that the world is a fair and orderly place. Few adults can believe something with the innocent conviction of a child. A child finding out that people he's been told he can trust are untrustworthy -- that's almost like an adult discovering that under certain conditions, water runs uphill or two plus two equals five. It threatens our understanding of the universe itself.

I knew we had hit the mark when Douglas O'Donnell, wise-ass extraordinaire, behaved respectfully and politely when he and JD were pulled over for the expired inspection sticker on their car. Until that point in the Series, we've never seen Doug show respect for anyone.

OK, so I achieved my objective. Did anything go wrong along the way? Yes, it did. Force was never intended to be a two-part adventure. We play four-hour game sessions. I had meant to have the situation with the police officers resolved about three hours into the game, and the ritual that rends the veil performed at the very end of the session. Unfortunately, when I (in the role of Priscilla) told the Cast Members when the ritual to lift the veil was scheduled to occur, I gave the wrong day. I made it too soon. As a result, the players had to deal with the ritual first. And since our game was running a little late that night, the cops had to be dealt with in the next play session.

Frankly, I think it worked out quite well. It just wasn't the way I had originally planned.

So why did I kill sweet old Mrs. McCulloch? As a counterpoint. The police officers were killing innocent people out of vengeance. (Sure, the cops were possessed and it therefore wasn't their fault. That's irrelevant to this discussion; the possessing spirit was motivated by vengeance.) So to counterpoint all that violence, I wanted to end the Episode with an act of forgiveness. Mrs. McCulloch was the vehicle for that. She forgave Desi for having forgotten about Desi's appointment to read to her (in Episode 1.03), and then she died peacefully. She forgave, made her peace, and moved on. I wanted a vivid contrast between Mrs. McCulloch's approach and the way the spirit of Mark Glaser was trying to address things.

That's it for my commentary. Let me know if you have any thoughts.