Connors GM Notes Behind the scenes of games I run.
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Watchers
Reply to this post with and things you'd like to see less of in the game. :)
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman
Reply to this post with things you'd like to see more of in this campaign.
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman
So, in posts below, I am going to have one for More Of This and one for Less of This.
Please reply to each individually - not just to the end of this thread. ;)
Under each of these, I want you to put up to 3 things you would like more or less of in the game. These can be themes, places to go, ideas, even monsters to meet, or whether or not you want to ratchet the magic levels up or down.
Here is an example:
More of This
1. Aberrations - loving the creepy tentacle feel of campaign.
2. Wider exploration - I'd like to see distant lands.
Less of This
1. Underdark - I feel this is where we will be heading, but I'd rather surface exploration.
2. Goblinoids - sick and bored of fighting them.
3. Keeps - we've done this. Let's not have to take another keep for a while ;)
So, over to you. You don't have to give reasons or little annotations; a list is fine :) Please reply to correct post. :)
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman
I like to run character (or even player) driven games. (I even usually hand out a survey prior to a new game, and will be doing this if we start another campaign).
I suck at running the pre-planned adventure path style adventures. I much prefer to throw a bunch of options at the players and see what goes. A lot of what I prep depends on your character's backgrounds. But what about your tastes as a player?
Here's where I set up the 'More of This/Less of This' forum. :) You don't have to take part. You can answer what suits your character or just what you as a player would like.
The campaign is getting to end of apprentice levels (1-3) & some of you are probably picking up on some big story… but you might not like that story. That's why we are here. That is why you are members of The Watchers. There are several things your characters can be doing and if you don't like the direction of where the big story is going, let's not go there :)
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman
Better than that guy who says it’s bad and fails to offer an alternative… or even a reason.
Seriously though good to hear.
And I did discuss it with you in person, so there’s that.
“Anything that can’t be disposed of with a couple of whacks from six feet of oak is probably immune to magic as well.”
I don't wanna be the guy who says "Sounds Good" and doesn't contribute beyond that but…
Sounds Good.
Let's just say, their gender was hard to determine until time spend with them ;)
But given your log says female, then female Premilor is. Maybe appearing male with a male name is part of her disguise…
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman
Well, because I got confused as well and went off what you said, the log is written as if the first archer we captured, the one Vitkin put handcuffs on, was female. If memory serves, when we first encountered them, you said that they had attacked or killed followers of Pelor/Erathis (one of Khazus’s gods), and were there purely because they enjoyed it.
Of course, you did sort of switch between calling them female, and saying that they were wearing a cloak that made it hard to tell but we ‘thought’ they were female.
So, the log I wrote refers exclusively to the first archer as a woman.
“Anything that can’t be disposed of with a couple of whacks from six feet of oak is probably immune to magic as well.”
Ooh. I forgot about Premilor (the original archer in the tower). Who WAS male, but I think I mixed up with female archer that entered later and confused everyone the next session.
Sorry, I seem to be the one mixing the NPCs up. I hope the Adv log clears things up and I hope other players read it :P
I think you have noticed, as you put the cursor over the pictures, their names come up in the bottom left of your screen.
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman
So Vitkin has been misidentifying them the whole time?
Well all humans look the same.
…The Watchers don’t send you off to sensitivity training do they? :P
So the prisoners are;
Premilor
Kresmira
Vladorath
Killer the dog
And Ekatarina escaped.
“Anything that can’t be disposed of with a couple of whacks from six feet of oak is probably immune to magic as well.”
Pictures now added for this session. I hope it all makes a little more sense now. I think I mixed up the gender of the 2 archers (1 in tower was male; one to appear later then escape was female).
Includes pictures of all defeated and the survivors you now have with you :)
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman
Cheers, I'll follow up with the group again once we set a specific date.
At this point, unless someone has a better plan, or something happens which prevents it, I don't see why we wouldn't follow the plan.
“Anything that can’t be disposed of with a couple of whacks from six feet of oak is probably immune to magic as well.”
Eh, I'll try to remember next time, its sure to come up again.
I'll try to remember it the same time I'm remembering that Celorin is now afraid of tentacles :P
“Anything that can’t be disposed of with a couple of whacks from six feet of oak is probably immune to magic as well.”
Oops… probably forgot this again. :(
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman
Thanks for doing this Lachlan. I hope you get some response. I tried to set the same sort of thing up for other campaigns so players can sort out the 'planning' out of game time.
I hope you have some luck with this. And thanks, b/c yes, it does help me (IF some decisions are made).
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman
Clarification: When I say 'keep', I'm referring to the structure above ground.
If we feel like our current location is safe enough for an hour, we can take a short rest anytime after completing TDL-2. Especially if we want to roll some hit die before searching the rest of the above ground keep. Though I would still suggest doing TDL-3 & 4 to make sure we won't be attacked from the courtyard or dorms.
Boros can continue watching the hall for intruders from the stairwell.
“Anything that can’t be disposed of with a couple of whacks from six feet of oak is probably immune to magic as well.”
Perfect way to do it. :)
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman
To all Scales of War PCs, I’d like to suggest/discuss what to do next.
The below is a list of tasks I believe we should do at the start of next session. They mostly cover clean-up from last battle, and intelligence gathering and preparation for what comes next, so even if we decide to do something different, I think we should follow through with the ‘To Do List’.
If we decide what to do now (in regards to the ‘To Do List’), Paul can prepare for the next session.
Location: Mess Hall, Broke Spire Keep
Date: Ravenday, 32nd Coldmoon
Time: Mid-Late Morning
To Do List
1. Disarm 3 prisoners of all weapons, armour and items.
- Male with dog “Killer”
- Female archer in hood
- Female who knocked out Lady Dogra
2. Keep prisoners tied up/under guard while doing the below.
3. Clear the rest of the keep above ground level.
4. Find archer that ran away (if still in keep).
5. Find all entrances to ‘below’ and guard/barricade them
6. Find location to lock up 3 prisoners, preferably separate cells if there are any.
7. Ensure cells are secure and clear of any weapons, items or other objects they could use to harm us, themselves, or use to escape.
8. Interrogate prisoners separately, Khazus and Vitkin should be good at this. (Or maybe I just like the idea of a Ratling Investigator and a Minotaur Inquisitor playing good cop bad cop). Try to find out the following information;
- Name
- Who are they
- Where are they from
- What is their job here
- Are there any other entrances to ‘below’
- Who is the leader
- What are his abilities
- What is his plan, what is he trying to achieve?
- What does he do
- What is “below” draw a map if they know layout.
- How many others are below? Creatures etc.…
- Where are the other prisoners?
- What are they doing to them, why do they need them?
- Who else is stationed above ground?
- When is the next party due back?
- Army of goblinoids, when is the next group due? How many hours/days
9. Question Koss, Boros and Hadris, to see what they know, can they remember anything about what is happening?
- What do they know about ‘below’? Any information, map, how extensive is it?
10. Search keep for useful items, Treasure, spells, items, armour etc.
11. Search keep for information, anything about what is going on here.
- Any schedules about when next group will arrive.
- Maps
- How extensive is ‘below’
Going Forward
Depending on information gathered, we will have several options.
If there is no urgency, we should start by taking a short rest after doing the above.
From there, we can decide what to do next depending on information gathered. We can wait until next session to discuss further, but here are two basic options;
My Suggestions;
1. If enemy reinforcements are more than a few days away, take a long rest, then tackle the below.
Take Lady Dogra with us (she will probably insist on coming with us), and Leave Boros and Hadris above to guard the prisoners.
2. If enemy reinforcements are less than a day or so away, or if we are unprepared for ‘below’ (too extensive, or calibre of enemies is expected to be too much), then we Take loot, prisoners etc… back to Dogra keep, and contact Rocc for reinforcements to hold keep while we assault below.
“Anything that can’t be disposed of with a couple of whacks from six feet of oak is probably immune to magic as well.”
Thanks. I actually enjoy writing these. Helps me build my character more.
It's actually easier writing from Vitkin's POV because it gives me freedom to interpret what happened from his perspective.
Last session I actually kept dot points of what happened, I'll try to keep doing this going forward.
At the end of the sessions, characters feel free to 'remind' Vitkin of any specific events or information that Vitkin may not have seen or been paying attention to.
“Anything that can’t be disposed of with a couple of whacks from six feet of oak is probably immune to magic as well.”
I just read the latest entry. Thanks heaps Lachlan - it is brilliant. It's everything I hoped a player would do. I really like it being from Vitkin's perspective too. Thanks for taking this on. I sure hope other players read it.
XP will be coming your way. :) I will add some relevant pictures when I get a chance.
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” – Harry S. Truman
