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Your RPG Sessions
I did a quick search and couldn't find a similar thread, so I'm going to start it!
I hear a lot of nonspecific talk about RPGs around here, but I've yet to hear anyone actually go into any detail. If you want to do so, here is a thread for that. Crazy stories, talking about setting ideas, just talking about the latest session, etc.
After about a year of non-playingness, my buddies and I finally got our shit together for a new game of Dark Heresy, run by yours truly. Traditionally, we've played more beer-and-pretzel-y kill the monsters, get teh loots games, so this time I wanted to try some a bit more mature and roleplay-based. The way I'm doing this is running it like a cop show; the main characters are members of an urban police service formed into a special unit to catch serial killers, which in a 40k setting means high probablity of cultist, daemonic or alien influence. The first session was basically just a Q&A session, with the players, while making characters, asking questions about the planet and myself answering them if I thought the answers would be common knowledge.
I choose a police proceedural theme in order to reign my player's enthusiasm for large firearms and lots of violence in; because they are uniformed cops, they are limited to their sidearms and the equipment they can keep in their utility belt. Anything more, they need to requisition from higher up. Next session, I'll be issuing everyone small notepads and pens to take notes for evidence. Additionally, I'm issuing everyone corruption points in secret, and each character has to have a dark secret of dark secretness (which is pretty bog standard, but most of these guys are new to roleplaying as opposed to just murdering)
With luck, each session is going to be a single case, in a "season" like a television. I've got the next few sessions planned out, and I'm really looking forward to it.
I hear a lot of nonspecific talk about RPGs around here, but I've yet to hear anyone actually go into any detail. If you want to do so, here is a thread for that. Crazy stories, talking about setting ideas, just talking about the latest session, etc.
After about a year of non-playingness, my buddies and I finally got our shit together for a new game of Dark Heresy, run by yours truly. Traditionally, we've played more beer-and-pretzel-y kill the monsters, get teh loots games, so this time I wanted to try some a bit more mature and roleplay-based. The way I'm doing this is running it like a cop show; the main characters are members of an urban police service formed into a special unit to catch serial killers, which in a 40k setting means high probablity of cultist, daemonic or alien influence. The first session was basically just a Q&A session, with the players, while making characters, asking questions about the planet and myself answering them if I thought the answers would be common knowledge.
I choose a police proceedural theme in order to reign my player's enthusiasm for large firearms and lots of violence in; because they are uniformed cops, they are limited to their sidearms and the equipment they can keep in their utility belt. Anything more, they need to requisition from higher up. Next session, I'll be issuing everyone small notepads and pens to take notes for evidence. Additionally, I'm issuing everyone corruption points in secret, and each character has to have a dark secret of dark secretness (which is pretty bog standard, but most of these guys are new to roleplaying as opposed to just murdering)
With luck, each session is going to be a single case, in a "season" like a television. I've got the next few sessions planned out, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Comments
The game we are going to be playing is Cyberpunk 2020. This week was our first session were I basically taught the game and helped build their characters. I have a feeling this is going to be a nightmare for a while but they will catch on. Most of the group likes the setting much more than the standard tolken fantasy setting. A few guys don't have a clue what cyberpunk is though. Im starting the game at a rather low scale and it keeps growing until its a full scale war in the city.
One question I will raise. In games players always want to be the hero and have the happy ending. When GMing do you write for that, ie happy hugs all round, or do you go for a more true out come. As an example, in the Cyberpunk game I ran the players were tools for the mob and worthless. Their goal was to survive through being socially savvy and knowing when to run away (something my society of 15 has trouble with at times). Some of the players didn't like the ending where they ended up not as the heros of the world with the tits and blowjob train their personal transport. Instead they found themselves no longer owing the mob but now part of another organisation which sought to bring their former bosses down. Was I being a dick or where they having sandy Vjs for not getting to to be the hero.
Wait, unless you mean the character cried 'cause of a clever trick. Never mind, then.
One of my friends outside the FRC has done a lot of GMing for our mutual circle of friends, and absolutely loves coming up with and playtesting custom content. Our longest-running campaign (we never finish anything) had a "God DAMMIT, Players" moment a few sessions into it, in which an old war hero NPC attempts to sacrifice herself to save our characters from a group of military security drones while we're escaping a research facility. One of our players decided she would have NONE of this and pulled out a puzzleball artifact she had found earlier that very session. The DM rolls on their chart aaand... the room the NPC is holding the drones off in is suddenly sealed with a magic wall and filled with roaring flames. When the wall comes down, the NPC is unhurt and all but one of the drones were down. Another character's turn arrives, and it's our mech-suited engineer, who revs his engine, charges the remaining drone, and unleashes an arm-sacrificing punch attack. Critical hit. The DM wanted to sacrifice an NPC to save the players, and the players said no.
The DM ended that session by saying "God dammit, you guys, now I have to rethink where this campaign is going to go from here." DnD is a hell of a drug game.
The Burning THAC0 Holiday Special
Note: This interlude is in no way canon. Also, I apologize profusely to Dr. Seuss, C.S. Lewis, Clement Clarke Moore and/or Henry Livingston Jr, Jean Shepherd, you the reader, Luke Crane, and God. There's no turning back now. Abandon all hope ye who enter here. Also, I know the meter is uneven - I wrote this quickly and didn't edit it. Deal with it.
Gather 'round children, and listen ye well,
For I have a tale most dire to tell.
'Tis a tale of loss, of sorrow and death,
A tale of struggle and ceasing of breath.
Close now the door and huddle together,
Or you will freeze, and be lost forever.
Is the door now closed? Is it sealed quite tight?
Ha! You've been had! There's no death here tonight!
But stay here yet, children, or you will be remiss,
For you will miss the tale of the Grink, and Tormsmas:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
'Twas the night before Tormsmas, and all through Suzail,
Not a beast was invading; they knew it would fail!
Purple Dragons, stoic, stern, atop the walls stood;
They would beat back any orc, back to the King's Wood!
In the city square bright, kids danced and spun fast;
They leapt in the air, and left their fears in the past.
Heavy with glass and silk, tree limbs did bow to ground,
And to Torm give praise, for his blessings did abound!
And then all at once, without warning or clatter,
The snowfall did stop, and the ornaments shatter!
Presents burst open, fire burned them all!
And all 'round Suzail, a deathly silence did fall.
"Hark! Hear that, Godrick and Bevin?
Hark! Hear that, Curil and Nevyn?
'Tis the sound of despair, a sound you cannot miss,
And it has come to this place, to ruin Tormsmas!
We cannot let this stand! We've a duty to uphold:
To take back our gifts, and to secure us some gold!"
"To the library," cried Curil! "That place of books,
To find a place of power, where gather these crooks!"
"I know a tale quite old," said Godrick, "Of an orc,
His Hate - three sizes too large - and his tongue, the fork.
He bound spirits to his will, and kept them trapped tight;
Up atop a mountain, he cast eternal night."
"Aha!" cried Curil. "I've found then the name;
Narnia the mountain is called, a place of some fame."
"Aha!" cried Nevyn. "I know then the spirit bound;
Saint Gustav, the spirit of Giving, is there found.
Half his body a beautiful sight to behold;
The other half flensed, and a hand with talons cold.
He received life from Torm; Giving, his cause to serve.
So then on Tormsmas, he gives just what you deserve."
"Well, I want a new bow" Godrick cried, "One lighter,
Perhaps that shiny new model named Red Rider."
"I want shiny gifts," cried Bevin, "cookies galore;
To get all that is mine, and then still more, more, more!"
Nevyn looked grim. "I care not for any of that;
I'll kill this bitch, and from his skin I'll make a hat."
Curil smirked then. "Enough! Let us not speak more in code;
If Gustav we free, much from the Church will be owed!"
"It's settled then," cried Bevin. "To the church we go!"
To the temple they walked, rapped on the door: "What ho!"
Came back the cry, "Bah! Go away! Did you not hear?
Tormsmas is cancelled, cancelled! so leave for this year!"
"Good sir," cooed Bevin, her bosom heaving and white,
"Is there no way we can see the High Priest this night?"
The old man stared openly, spoke he not a word.
Then said, "For you, my pretty, I'd do things absurd!"
To the office they marched, and the High Priest they went.
The man stood, scowled at a tree with limbs not bent.
His presents gone, his glass empty of libation,
And the priest standing there, full of consternation.
"What would you have of me tonight?" at them he barked.
"Sir, we'd like your help before adventure we embarked.
Saint Gustav is trapped, but fear not, for we know where;
And if your coffers prove deep, we'll get him from there."
The High Priest looked shocked, offended, taken aback.
Then his face went soft; on the table appeared a coin stack.
"Go you all now, go to this place,
And come not back till Gustav you've faced."
To the base of Mount Narnia our party did ride,
And with them took a drunk, who claimed to be a guide.
"I know thish mountain like the backa my 'and;
Just turn -" and passed he then out, his limbs out fanned.
Falcon's Skin and star's wisdom the party did use,
But lost they still got; a blizzard would them abuse.
Godrick thought quick! A warm fire he built there;
Curil helped too, and together beat freezing air.
There was frostbite that morn, for Curil and Godrick;
But poor drunk was near death, his skin cold like a brick.
"'Tis a Tormsmas miracle this man now needs;
We cannot tarry, lest his death mar our good deeds."
To the summit they climbed, a smooth flat plane of stone;
There in a circle inscribed, St. Gustav's light shone.
In front stood an orc, a beast made largely of stink,
And said he, "You! Stop there! For it is I, the Grink!
You dance your merry dance, and I watch from on high,
Seething and loathing, as your joy I do espy.
I've bound your St. Gustav, your holiday banished!
And I will see to it that of joy you stay famished!"
Gustav plead to the heroes, words they could not miss:
"He must repent - kill him not - lest we lose Tormsmas!"
The heroes looked worried, racked their brains, and were spent.
"Give us back Gustav, and we'll give you a present!"
The orc spat; a flash of smoke and fire burst forth!
"A demon's Will I have called; you should head back north.
For no gift nor song will quell my hate - 'tis my drug;
I've never felt love, nor joy, not even a hug."
Godrick saw hurt in the orc's eyes, message well sent;
"I too," said he, "know the sting of being different."
"And I too," cried Curil! "My love is thought a crime,
Simply because it is with men I spend my time."
Bevin walked forth, from her bag a cookie produced;
"A frosted gauntlet; eat, and Hate will be reduced!"
The orc looked hesitant, but the treat he did eat,
And its sweetness did nearly take him off his feet.
His Hate grew six times less, though stayed considerable,
For the life of the orc is always miserable.
"I've been wrong, judging Torsmas without trying it;
I see there is more to be had; my heart's alit!
Saint Gustav, I free you from this pact that we've had;
Please bring back Tormsmas; it's not really all that bad!"
Saint Gustav then walked forth, the motley crew he spied;
"I'm proud of you all; honest tactics have been tried.
You've all learned that Tormsmas is more than just a gift;
It's about all those things which do our spirits lift!"
"I still want a hat of his skin," Nevyn did aver.
"Do that, and I'll see to it you get what you deserve."
Nevyn stepped back, then paused, and stepped forward again.
"We need a miracle; save this man from cold's end!"
Gustav smiled, and reached down his hand; touched the drunk,
And light did spread down to his limbs, flowed through his trunk.
The man stood up, patted himself down, and grinned wide:
"'A Tormsmas miracle! Zounds! No more your joy hide!"
They turned to descend the mount, hearts bursting with glee.
"Merry Tormsmas to all, merry Tormsmas to ye!"
And with that Gustav burst into light, down the mount sped,
And into every home and every city did spread.
Ornaments reformed, fires lit themselves again.
Snow fell again, and singing turned into a din!
The Grink looked 'round, smiling, as he did descend:
"Can I get more cookies before Tormsmas does end?"
The group laughed mightily, and they patted his back.
"Friend, we'll see to it you get a whole, bulging sack!"
And to this day, every Tormsmas eve, look on high;
To the top of Narnia, and watch light from the sky!
Leave cookies at the foot, a great act of giving;
For the joy of Tormsmas should go to all things living.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
And now, children, my tale is at an end,
But take from it this: treat all things as friend.
Go with love and kindness, no matter the cause you may serve,
Because every year at Tormsmas, we get what we deserve.
~Fin~
Sorcerer tried to burn forest down, because Holy Knights believed it was full of demonic wolfs. Spellcasting fails and instead of the forest burning all the Holy Knights and their horses who were there protecting the sorcerer now are permanently electric.
Knights has a argument was it some kind of blessing from gods or some kind of curse. Also player character Holy Knight wasn't riding on his own horse. Might be interesting to explain when returning the horse why it gives it's rider electric shocks.
Our last session consisted of no combat - It was glorious! All storytelling and attempted persuasion of NPC's to free their Kobold slaves by our party's resident Kobold Sorcerer/Rogue.
Good times.
Now Star Wars (It was Saga version) was awesome because we were storm troopers and we were basically hunting Ewoks. I was, in short, the TF2 Sniper and the Bringer of Darkness of all Space Teddiebears.
In the space of a four hour session I blew the head clean off one Ewok, mowed down a swarm of them with a sniper riffle and threw the holy hand grenade of the empire that blew up the greater majority of the last encounter's worth of the bastards.
Oh and someone critically pressed a button. Yes they did roll for it, and yes they nat. 20'd it.
TORG on the other hand was kneecapped by the fact that we ended up playing a low encounter game as the game is more focused on basically getting buffs and de-buffs (In the form of cards) by out-preforming your opponent in battle (IE: Taunting them to submission, out witting them, etc. You're encouraged to describe what you do). So the single encounter (Being a damn of Ninjas on top of BBC Television Centre) took a solid 30 minutes to get anywhere with everyone having three cards to their name.
Also sort of sour that my attempt to recreate The Big O's sudden impact with a shotgun fell through even though I de-buffed that ninja something silly too.
I played Knight, who wanted to defeat the Demon. Second player took the Demon as his character and Demons goal was to get chili peppers. From there we got epic fantasy adventure where Knight fought against the Demon and later made some deals with it. Demon initially had troubles with his servants, but in the end managed to get pretty much everything he asked and wanted. Knight got to defeat the Demon, but only it's body and Devils soul entered and possessed the Knight who had slowly fallen from honorable Knight in shining armor to a dirty Knight only in name who tried to steal chili peppers and used demonic Sword.
There was also everything else that a big adventure needs, Dwarfs, Machine (that always asked Dwarfs to use it.), Golem, Little Devil, Alchemist, and many other characters.
Name: Felatia Brokenback the Arch-Dominator, Mortal Woman
Stats: Fellowship - 76
Trait: Attractive
Pride: Beauty
Hate: Ugly
Alignment: Slaanesh
Reward of Slaanesh: Choose gender as a free action
Traits:Seduce
Melee Weapon: Neural Whip - covered in Slaaneshi runes, target must pass a very hard toughness test or be enraptured with pleasure
Armor: Xenomesh Leather Hide - skin tight leather all over
A Retribution Class Battlecruiser, Pre-Heresy: crewed by 50% Slaaneshi cultists and Daemonettes
And utterly addicted to gloam (ground up entrails of people mid-coitus).
We took nearly 2 hours to run the 45 min campaign included in the book because our strategy of fucking then murdering/burninating everything (the only spaceport on the planet) wasn't according to plan.
One player picked an innkeeper who routinely killed his guests and the other played a spirit who was bound to a wizard.
The innkeeper had a wife who was cursed to be a gollum-like eater of flesh. She mainly wanted her husband all for herself and for him to be rid of his gang.
The innkeeper wanted the amulet from the wizard to help him transform his wife back.
The innkeeper's gang was not present but one of his underlings wanted the wizard to assist him in taking the gang for himself.
The Spirit player wanted the amulet destroyed and the wizard to renounce sorcery. And the wizard wanted nothing more than to be rid of the spirit that plagued him.
In the end the wizard burned down the inn and was attacked and killed by the innkeepers decrepit wife. The innkeeper killed his insubordinate gang member over the wizard's magic amulet but was unable to stop his wife from destroying it, the very amulet that would save her.
The spirit escaped with the wizard dead and the innkeeper was left with no inn and a twisted wretch of a wife in tears.
Next session the spirit will be one of the protagonists, the innkeeper may appear in the session after that. We might see what he did next or what he was like before he died.
One thing we struggled with though was a contest to get something.
So we've got a magic amulet which both my wretched hag and the player's innkeeper wanted. I described the hag taking and holding it first. The player wanted it and was prepared to wrestle for it.
The player won and suggested that he'd get it. I said no, my hag was still going to keep it but was now impaired. The player gave her exhaustion. I made that choice because I wanted to test the relationship between the character and his monstrous spouse.
But if the player had described him getting it first and I wanted it off him and then I'd lost would I be able to use the same logic as above? I guess not. So it looks like it's important to grab early.
What would the situation be like if the wrestling happened before the amulet got grabbed? Should this have been how this kind of situation be best handled?
A: "I grab the amulet."
B: "I too try to grab the amulet."
Then it's contest to see who took it first. But if it's:
A: "I grab the amulet."
B: "I try to get the amulet from you."
It's contest if B can take the amulet from A.
Difference isn't big, but it's there. In the first case the contest is about "Who gets the amulet?" and in the second case it's "Does B get the amulet from A?"
I'm a mean GM sometimes.
2000 years after the defeat of Ganon in Ocarina of Time, the world has been flooded over. But the Hero of the Winds never showed up (as noted by the fact that we're 2000 years into the future instead of 200). Ganon's plans have finally begun to mobilize, and the world is in danger. The Goddesses have chosen three heroes to begin a new quest (my players) and help save the world.
Our party is:
Hylian Artificer - Snyder
Rito Fighter/Oracle - Qaltin
Zora Bard - Aria (although she has a male split personality named Maestro)
Premise
The land of Khullis is based on the Germanic lands of the 12th century. Imagine dense forests and towering mountain ranges. It’s cold, really fucking cold. Your party will serve the one true Church in eliminating heretics and apostates from the land. You are to be demon hunters in a grim dark version of the medieval ages, pious and loyal. However, you must prepare yourself to be tested, both physically and faithfully...
What everyone knows
The rich are very rich, and the poor are extremely poor. Most people live in small clusters of villages with no central government. The one source of law is the Ecclesiastic Courts, the religious police branch of the one, true Church. Hundreds of years ago, a previously unknown Church rose from obscurity and united the lands under a sole theocratic rule from the splintered pagan and druid cults of the elders. Wandering clerics travel between villages and dispense justice at their will.
Beyond contact with the clerics, most people, save for the nobility of the grasslands, have very little contact with the Church. Similarly, they come to know very little about the mysterious group. Life is harsh for most, and those can survive barely make it. The vast majority of people die just 100 yards from the place where they were born.
Fate has brought you to the village of Uulm. Uulm is located within the Tulga forest, an extremely dense old growth forest consisting massively large conifers such as redwoods and pine. Travel through the Tulga is near impossible without a guide and many fool hearty men vanish within the woods. The summers are mild and the winters bitterly cold. Uulm is an oasis of warmth and light from the darkness of the forest. The Yaul is one of two connecting routes between the two regions of Khullis.
We found out this was because an anti-Mouse Guard coup had taken place in Grasslake, where the new mayor had killed or put in prison any Mouse Guard that had come to town. He had also kept all the supplies for putting in place the scent boarder.
Tonight we headed back to Wolfpoint to go for some reinforcements to help us a)rescue our captive friend b)get the stuff back c)overthrow the mayor. Instead when we got to Wolfpoint we heard there was a nearby badger. So instead we lured the badger to Grasslake where it reaked havoc, which we used as a distraction to achieve our goals. I think we just commited a warcrime.