I'm just struggling to figure out how my characters work together to fight off the fascists and set up an anarchist commune at some point in the bronze age collapse
Like what brings the ship wrecked fighter? the run away slave rogue?, the bounty hunter with a heart of gold? paladin? the run away slave healer type and the merchant/smuggler ??? together and how do they work together to succeed
There's no magic, there are no goes
It's a historical adventure with a some punk angles
If this is not supposed to actually be a tabletop rpg, why are you tying yourself to the "party" conceit at all? If it is fiction of your own design that's awesome, but don't feel bound to traditions that are designed to reduce friction in group storytelling. Feel free to have one main character and consider who that individual would seek out as allies and who would want to frustrate their ambitions.
Prepping my Storm King's Thunder game for the week, trying to figure out how best to proceed.
The party only just got into Nightstone during our first session; they cleared out the square, the temple, and the inn, but opted to barricade themselves in the inn and rest rather than keep exploring the town (nobody has darkvision, so they only know by sound that there were other things out there). They didn't spot Kella Darkhope, so I've got a couple of options.
1) Let them rest and wake up to find the goblins all wiped out by Kella; party can pick up with confronting the Zhents in the morning. If they get into a scrap and need help, I can either have the guards show up and chip in, or I can have some other story NPC show up (Felgolos the dragon, most likely, since he's got beef with the Zhents, and it would make sense that he could track a roaming band coming into town)
2) Goblins come and set the inn on fire to try and smoke the party out, interrupting the long rest; we had one PC get downed by the worgs, so I'm not crazy about this plan since they'll be short on hit dice. But the party is also due to start this session with healing potions (I forgot to award them last week), and we may not even have the player who was down in attendance this week. Kella can show up and ingratiate herself to the party by helping them wipe out the goblins. Sets up intrigue, but might complicate the plot going forward.
3) Something between the two; maybe they get the full rest anyway and just have to deal with like ten goblins waiting to ambush them outside in the morning (there should be 11, but one might have gone back to the Dripping Caves to report to Boss Hark). They already interrogated one of the goblins and know about the Dripping Caves, so that thread already is in place. I'm not sure how useful the Seven Snakes scene is other than just as a bag of xp, but it's a great scene to introduce a major regional player in the Zhentarim so I'm reluctant to skip it without cause. I just don't think I want to have two fights with that many targets back to back with a table full of newbies. (Granted, they may not fight the Zhents at all, but that seems unlikely since they're a bunch of new players eager to get their scrap on, and the party will be pretty well outnumbered when they show up).
It's possible in scenario 3 that they clear out the goblins and then go investigate the keep. That might eat up our whole evening and give us a clean breaking point to be able to have the Zhents establish their foothold while they're in the keep and then it's up to them to try and wrest control back again?
I'm just struggling to figure out how my characters work together to fight off the fascists and set up an anarchist commune at some point in the bronze age collapse
Like what brings the ship wrecked fighter? the run away slave rogue?, the bounty hunter with a heart of gold? paladin? the run away slave healer type and the merchant/smuggler ??? together and how do they work together to succeed
There's no magic, there are no goes
It's a historical adventure with a some punk angles
If this is not supposed to actually be a tabletop rpg, why are you tying yourself to the "party" conceit at all? If it is fiction of your own design that's awesome, but don't feel bound to traditions that are designed to reduce friction in group storytelling. Feel free to have one main character and consider who that individual would seek out as allies and who would want to frustrate their ambitions.
I thought it would be a helpful idea.
While I think constructing a party for your adventure story might lead to some good creative energy, I'd say that when you're juggling multiple characters like that one of the most helpful things is going to be nailing down each party members motivations.
Once you know what they want and why, your characters will start to bump into each other narratively and generate natural conflicts with each other and the setting. Things get really flowing when just having the characters react to each other starts to better define the group and their "roles"
GrogMy sword is only steelin a useful shape.Registered Userregular
Not familiar with the adventure so don't know about option one. Two seems a little punitive, but if you want to set that precedent it could make them more cautious in future. Three is a lesser consequence, but still gives them a fight straight off if they're eager for scrapping.
All those characters were members of the Black Lily cell.
They formed their organization with the dedication to overthrowing imperial rule in their neck of the words.
They were inspired to form the Black Lily cell, after being influenced by the Lilith Onix, an wandering anarchic philosopher/wizard, that intervened in each of the character's lives to protect them from corrupt government officials.
Not familiar with the adventure so don't know about option one. Two seems a little punitive, but if you want to set that precedent it could make them more cautious in future. Three is a lesser consequence, but still gives them a fight straight off if they're eager for scrapping.
Option one basically boils down to "skip the rest of the first encounter, proceed to encounter 2". My only dislike of it (and option 3, though less so since they'll have a giant mob waiting at the door) is that it sort of waives the sometimes real consequential impact of choosing to bunker down rather than press onward.
Two of my WFRP players are moving towards Vampire hunters
Time to replace some big bads with Vampire characters
Luckily I have some plots in the works which require only the bare minimum of motive rewrites and restatting
Edit: the best part is their motivations. One comes from a line of hereditary Vampire hunters; her father kept this from her because he was being typically over-protective, but he fell to the dark side and became a Vampire himself, so she is out for revenge and to “save” her father. The other is a Dwarf who witnessed the death of her brother at the hands of a Vampire, and she left home to seek him down and destroy him. Her father has disowned her for leaving the homestead and the family brewing business; she has joined the Dwarf priesthood and drinks too much to prove to herself that she is still a Dwarf.
Anyone here following the Pathfinder 2nd Edition blog-entries about the changes coming in? The new one released today revealed something pretty surprising in that Half-Orcs and Half-Elves are no longer selectable races in PF-2.0. Instead, you pick Human and then take a Heritage Feat to become one or the other.
Either one of your parents was an elf, or one or both were half-elves. You have pointed ears and other telltale signs of elven heritage. You gain the elf trait. Select two of the following benefits: elven speed (increase your Speed by 5 feet), elven tongue (add Elven to your list of languages), gifted speaker (you are trained in Diplomacy), or low-light vision (you can see in dim light as well as you can in bright light). In addition, you can select elf, half-elf, and human feats whenever you gain an ancestry feat.
Special: You can select this feat twice. The second time, it loses the heritage trait and you gain the other two benefits.
It seems this route is meant to make adding in the rest of the half-breed races a lot easier by just creating more Heritage Feats for them as well give GMs the chance to let players create Half-Orcs, Half-Elves and whatnot while substituting the Human portion for another race.
Lord_AsmodeusgoeticSobriquet:Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered Userregular
that's sort of a neat way to do it. I was thinking of making a half-orc half-elf (likely going to call them Elorcs) who is from the Imperialist Elven nation in my current campaign
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
on the one hand it is a a very good idea to do that, on the other, i'm not sure if i like it. I will have to see how it plays out. it is kind of a better solution than i have seen in other games where half elf is just "you can either use the elf stuff or play as a human who has pointed ears".
i went with giving humans the common elf skill because that fit.
in closing, i want to punch a vampire. Who wants to run a game so i can punch a vampire?
So my players hit Level 3 and I'm wanting to give them each a nice little customized scene for developing their Level 3 speculation skills/choices rather than their just magically having the abilities ready to go.
I know I'm gonna have my Warlock speak to her demon Patron in a dream during their next rest and get awarded her Imp familiar
But I'm trying to think of what to do for the others. The Bard is going to choose a College, which is hard to incorporate as they're currently in a jungle in Chult on an expedition. Our Ranger is a Gith and chose a Horizon Walker, I'm thinking of may be having a planar rift he stumbles upon that leaves him touched by it's magic.
The Cleric already a moment with her god last session so she's good to go.
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
So my players hit Level 3 and I'm wanting to give them each a nice little customized scene for developing their Level 3 speculation skills/choices rather than their just magically having the abilities ready to go.
I know I'm gonna have my Warlock speak to her demon Patron in a dream during their next rest and get awarded her Imp familiar
But I'm trying to think of what to do for the others. The Bard is going to choose a College, which is hard to incorporate as they're currently in a jungle in Chult on an expedition. Our Ranger is a Gith and chose a Horizon Walker, I'm thinking of may be having a planar rift he stumbles upon that leaves him touched by it's magic.
The Cleric already a moment with her god last session so she's good to go.
man, sometimes i forget how bad at american geography i am. i sometime splay it up as a joke when talking to americans, but man, connecticut is a state?
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MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
man, sometimes i forget how bad at american geography i am. i sometime splay it up as a joke when talking to americans, but man, connecticut is a state?
So my players hit Level 3 and I'm wanting to give them each a nice little customized scene for developing their Level 3 speculation skills/choices rather than their just magically having the abilities ready to go.
I know I'm gonna have my Warlock speak to her demon Patron in a dream during their next rest and get awarded her Imp familiar
But I'm trying to think of what to do for the others. The Bard is going to choose a College, which is hard to incorporate as they're currently in a jungle in Chult on an expedition. Our Ranger is a Gith and chose a Horizon Walker, I'm thinking of may be having a planar rift he stumbles upon that leaves him touched by it's magic.
The Cleric already a moment with her god last session so she's good to go.
The bard should finally hear back from their correspondence course inquiry and some sort of magical creature should port in, dump a load of books on their head, and port out
So my players hit Level 3 and I'm wanting to give them each a nice little customized scene for developing their Level 3 speculation skills/choices rather than their just magically having the abilities ready to go.
I know I'm gonna have my Warlock speak to her demon Patron in a dream during their next rest and get awarded her Imp familiar
But I'm trying to think of what to do for the others. The Bard is going to choose a College, which is hard to incorporate as they're currently in a jungle in Chult on an expedition. Our Ranger is a Gith and chose a Horizon Walker, I'm thinking of may be having a planar rift he stumbles upon that leaves him touched by it's magic.
The Cleric already a moment with her god last session so she's good to go.
The bard should finally hear back from their correspondence course inquiry and some sort of magical creature should port in, dump a load of books on their head, and port out
a very annoyed imp carrying a stack of college textbooks
It's magically bound from harming anyone in any way--but by the same token isn't bound to do anything except follow the bard, carry those exact books and give them to the bard whenever asked. It refuses to help out around the camp, fight monsters, shut up when making noise would not be dangerous, or use its abilities in any way that might be useful. It might even want the bard to die, because then it's allowed to go back home (the college is much more comfortable and it doesn't have to lug books around all day) but it can't do anything to effect that, so all it does it taunt and complain. But if the bard treats it nicely it might become a bit friendlier and even offer useful information (though it would still refuse to help in combat situations--if the books gets damaged that'll be its hide back at the college).
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RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
I mean, if you're going to do a recurring NPC, why not just have different facets of the college pop in unannounced, do their thing and leave. So this first time it's a goblin academic advisor. Later a teacher with some coincidentally helpful lessons. A run in with your RA because the bard keeps missing the mandatory dorm meetings. Eventually the financial aid administrator appears to let the bard know they've missed the scholarship deadline and now they're up to their eyeballs in debt...
Bonus points if the bard can deus ex in someone from student health to deliver a timely potion
Posts
I thought it would be a helpful idea.
1) Let them rest and wake up to find the goblins all wiped out by Kella; party can pick up with confronting the Zhents in the morning. If they get into a scrap and need help, I can either have the guards show up and chip in, or I can have some other story NPC show up (Felgolos the dragon, most likely, since he's got beef with the Zhents, and it would make sense that he could track a roaming band coming into town)
2) Goblins come and set the inn on fire to try and smoke the party out, interrupting the long rest; we had one PC get downed by the worgs, so I'm not crazy about this plan since they'll be short on hit dice. But the party is also due to start this session with healing potions (I forgot to award them last week), and we may not even have the player who was down in attendance this week. Kella can show up and ingratiate herself to the party by helping them wipe out the goblins. Sets up intrigue, but might complicate the plot going forward.
3) Something between the two; maybe they get the full rest anyway and just have to deal with like ten goblins waiting to ambush them outside in the morning (there should be 11, but one might have gone back to the Dripping Caves to report to Boss Hark). They already interrogated one of the goblins and know about the Dripping Caves, so that thread already is in place. I'm not sure how useful the Seven Snakes scene is other than just as a bag of xp, but it's a great scene to introduce a major regional player in the Zhentarim so I'm reluctant to skip it without cause. I just don't think I want to have two fights with that many targets back to back with a table full of newbies. (Granted, they may not fight the Zhents at all, but that seems unlikely since they're a bunch of new players eager to get their scrap on, and the party will be pretty well outnumbered when they show up).
It's possible in scenario 3 that they clear out the goblins and then go investigate the keep. That might eat up our whole evening and give us a clean breaking point to be able to have the Zhents establish their foothold while they're in the keep and then it's up to them to try and wrest control back again?
I dunno, thoughts appreciated.
A list of things, should you be of the gifting persuasion
While I think constructing a party for your adventure story might lead to some good creative energy, I'd say that when you're juggling multiple characters like that one of the most helpful things is going to be nailing down each party members motivations.
Once you know what they want and why, your characters will start to bump into each other narratively and generate natural conflicts with each other and the setting. Things get really flowing when just having the characters react to each other starts to better define the group and their "roles"
They formed their organization with the dedication to overthrowing imperial rule in their neck of the words.
They were inspired to form the Black Lily cell, after being influenced by the Lilith Onix, an wandering anarchic philosopher/wizard, that intervened in each of the character's lives to protect them from corrupt government officials.
Or you could come up with your own bullshit
Option one basically boils down to "skip the rest of the first encounter, proceed to encounter 2". My only dislike of it (and option 3, though less so since they'll have a giant mob waiting at the door) is that it sort of waives the sometimes real consequential impact of choosing to bunker down rather than press onward.
A list of things, should you be of the gifting persuasion
Monk: Alchemy, Brawl, Knowledge (Forbidden), Knowledge (Geography), Knowledge (Lore), Mechanics, Medicine, and Perception
does it punch and kick dudes? yes. Do they sit in silent candle light and transcribe books? You betcha.
Time to replace some big bads with Vampire characters
Luckily I have some plots in the works which require only the bare minimum of motive rewrites and restatting
Edit: the best part is their motivations. One comes from a line of hereditary Vampire hunters; her father kept this from her because he was being typically over-protective, but he fell to the dark side and became a Vampire himself, so she is out for revenge and to “save” her father. The other is a Dwarf who witnessed the death of her brother at the hands of a Vampire, and she left home to seek him down and destroy him. Her father has disowned her for leaving the homestead and the family brewing business; she has joined the Dwarf priesthood and drinks too much to prove to herself that she is still a Dwarf.
It seems this route is meant to make adding in the rest of the half-breed races a lot easier by just creating more Heritage Feats for them as well give GMs the chance to let players create Half-Orcs, Half-Elves and whatnot while substituting the Human portion for another race.
Let's Play Final Fantasy 'II' (Ch10 - 5/17/10)
on the one hand it is a a very good idea to do that, on the other, i'm not sure if i like it. I will have to see how it plays out. it is kind of a better solution than i have seen in other games where half elf is just "you can either use the elf stuff or play as a human who has pointed ears".
i went with giving humans the common elf skill because that fit.
in closing, i want to punch a vampire. Who wants to run a game so i can punch a vampire?
I know I'm gonna have my Warlock speak to her demon Patron in a dream during their next rest and get awarded her Imp familiar
But I'm trying to think of what to do for the others. The Bard is going to choose a College, which is hard to incorporate as they're currently in a jungle in Chult on an expedition. Our Ranger is a Gith and chose a Horizon Walker, I'm thinking of may be having a planar rift he stumbles upon that leaves him touched by it's magic.
The Cleric already a moment with her god last session so she's good to go.
Maybe they get an acceptance letter?
They find the textbooks for the course?
Satans..... hints.....
No, make him feel like he is part of a real college.
Make him in debt to like twenty thousand gold pieces for the first semester.
Satans..... hints.....
eccentric professor on field study
of art, blankzilla
Eh, I guess
The bard should finally hear back from their correspondence course inquiry and some sort of magical creature should port in, dump a load of books on their head, and port out
Just need a name and it is official.
no i mean the vampire.
William
William Penn
the 17th century real estate guy?
founder of the province of Pennsylvania. yes.
bonus. he looks like the guy from the quaker oats container. so he is already creepy lookin.
Are these Race Car driving Vampires?
i'm going to put this down as a maybe, though he died in england, or did he?
Maybe? maybe he faked his own death and went into vampiric seclusion at his private plantation in Pennsylvania.
yeah, that's why i added the "or did he"
Or did i?
bum bum buuuuum
Twitch (I stream most days of the week)
Twitter (mean leftist discourse)
i wasn't sure about it before, but man, that's a pretty good sell.
It's magically bound from harming anyone in any way--but by the same token isn't bound to do anything except follow the bard, carry those exact books and give them to the bard whenever asked. It refuses to help out around the camp, fight monsters, shut up when making noise would not be dangerous, or use its abilities in any way that might be useful. It might even want the bard to die, because then it's allowed to go back home (the college is much more comfortable and it doesn't have to lug books around all day) but it can't do anything to effect that, so all it does it taunt and complain. But if the bard treats it nicely it might become a bit friendlier and even offer useful information (though it would still refuse to help in combat situations--if the books gets damaged that'll be its hide back at the college).
Bonus points if the bard can deus ex in someone from student health to deliver a timely potion