Author Topic: Tabletop Game Thread  (Read 63210 times)

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Offline ironbite

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #330 on: November 13, 2017, 03:33:31 pm »
I hit level 6 in my Carrion Crown game with my kineticst.  Think Elemental Bender.  Mine's a gnome areokineticist that specializes in zappy zaps.  Now why is level 6 amazing and significant?

I get Fly.  For free.  And it doesn't ever expire.

Ironbite-bye ground.

Offline Cloud3514

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #331 on: November 14, 2017, 12:55:06 am »
Ibbles' Gnome in 50 years: "I don't even remember how to walk!"
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Offline Askold

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #332 on: November 14, 2017, 11:11:14 am »
We got the players for Only war. The Regiment has been planned by the GM with the players having a chance to make few minor adjustments. Light infantry on bicycles. It's going to be a really dark and miserable campaign with troops that lack heavy armour, vehicles and heavy weapons while going up against the horrors of the 41st millenium.

It's going to be fun.
No matter what happens, no matter what my last words may end up being, I want everyone to claim that they were:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Aww, you guys rock. :)  I feel the love... and the pitchforks and torches.  Tingly!

Offline Cloud3514

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #333 on: December 21, 2017, 01:50:58 am »
Tonight, the last of the players for Legend of the Five Rings has his character. So we have two members of the Mantis Clan, one an archer of the Tsuruchi family (me), the other a Moshi Shugenja who studied at the Yoritomo school due to the Moshi family's matriarchy not expecting much from their men. These two being the same Clan might make it seem like they'll get along, but I'm playing a rather loyal Mantis who has no love for the Phoenix Clan... and the Moshi were once the Phoenix born Centipede Clan. In fact, it is surprising how loyal the Moshi are to the Mantis considering how at odds they are with the rest of their Clan.

It also doesn't help that Tsuruchi lands and Moshi lands are in completely different parts of Rokugan. The Tsuruchi are right in the middle of neutral land between the Lion (who see the Mantis as upstarts not deserving of their Great Clan status), the Scorpion (who manipulate everyone and see the Mantis are particularly manipulable) and the Crane (who see the Mantis as uncouth, but convenient allies). There's a reason why we're very quiet about the gold mine we're guarding. The Moshi are much further north, at the foot of the Mountains of Regret, west of the Phoenix's holdings.

The third party member is a Scorpion. No one trusts the Scorpion Clan. Well, the Dragon Clan trusts them to an extent, but other than them, no one trusts the Scorpion. Her player was clever to pick a member of the Bayushi family because she's a ninja. And, officially speaking, ninja don't exist. Obviously, this doesn't keep rumors from spreading and his character's school, the Shosuro Infiltrator School, is particularly distrusted. It's much easier for a Bayushi who studied with the Shosuro to pass off as a courtier than it would be for a Shosuro to.

The final party member, who derailed the GM's original idea (with something infinitely more interesting), is not a samurai. He's not even from Rokugan. He's a soldier of the Yodotai Empire, aka, a fantasy Roman. He is ostensibly allowed in the Empire on a temporary basis because he is allegedly there to find and arrest a Yodotai criminal that's dangerous enough that Rokugan needed his assistance to take him down on the condition that, as soon as the criminal is found and killed, he leaves (in reality, the Magistrate that gave him the writ to be there has assigned him a handler whose purpose is to execute the gaijin upon completion of his mission). Even if that IS, in fact, his primary mission, he still has a secondary objective of scouting out Rokugan for Yodotai conquest. The Scorpion will not be happy about his presence. Nor will the Moshi. Or the Tsuruchi. I'm almost disappointed that no one chose to play a Unicorn because, if the Unicorn finds out that he's Yodotai, the gaijin's death becomes priority #1.

I get a very strong feeling that this campaign is going to to largely involve hunting down this Yodotai fugitive... and that we may end up leaving the Empire altogether and taking a visit to The Burning Sands.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2018, 05:56:19 pm by Cloud3514 »
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Offline Askold

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #334 on: December 21, 2017, 02:28:20 am »
Dark Heresy campaign is doing better than I expected.

...Which wasn't much but still.

I've already got at least 5 more campaigns I'd like to run if I had the time. (I really, really don't have the time.)

Maybe once this and some other things are over.
No matter what happens, no matter what my last words may end up being, I want everyone to claim that they were:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Aww, you guys rock. :)  I feel the love... and the pitchforks and torches.  Tingly!

Offline Askold

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #335 on: January 11, 2018, 02:45:10 pm »
ONLY WAR!

So far 3 members of the squad are dead. All NPCs. 2 PCs had to burn a point of Fate to survive injuries. The Medic and the Sergeant (my character) who both lost their left arm (sarge also lost his left eye.)

The medic managed to get a poor quality cybernetic arm as a replacement, sarge has nothing. A patch over the spot where his uniform previously had a sleeve and bandages over his face. In fact, both sarge took enough damage to have died several times from the act of standing in front of 20 lasguns firing at him. Luckily he took almost all of the shots so the rest of the team got off easy. (Medic was injured in a previous fight where the team held a bridge from enemy while the rest of the battalion flanked and charged the approaching enemy. Sarge got hurt while making a bridgehead into a storage facility. The latter battle is shamelessly copied from history, mimicking a particular struggle during the battle of Stalingrad.)

Actually, all the dead from the squad were killed by friendlies. Heavy shot two folks in the back by accident and one person was executed by a Commissar after he ran away during a battle...

Fun campaign and not the least because of good roleplaying. Sarge is trying to be the hero (foolish and reckless), medic is properly paranoid and twitchy, heavy is oblivious and infuriatingly optimistic and so on. The team is currently thinking of fragging the sarge after he practically escaped from the medical tent and volunteered the team to a mission on the second floor of the storage building. WE ARE TAKING IT ONE ROOM AT A TIME IF WE HAVE TO! No matter how many lives are spent doing so! Such is the life in the Astra Militarum.

No matter what happens, no matter what my last words may end up being, I want everyone to claim that they were:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Aww, you guys rock. :)  I feel the love... and the pitchforks and torches.  Tingly!

Offline Cloud3514

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #336 on: January 16, 2018, 03:25:38 am »
Legend of the Five Rings: Session 1

It was a pleasant summer morning and the first day of the Festival of the Water Dragon in the Mantis held Dragon's Guard City, a port town favored by merchants (and the Mantis) for its proximity to both Phoenix and Crane lands, as well as an Imperial held village. Samurai and peasants alike have made their way here to partake in the festivities because, if I may boast for a moment as a member of the Mantis, we throw some good parties. Of course, this includes all eight of the Great Clans, as well as Imperial and minor clan representatives. And this is where we find our four heroes.

First, we have the Mantis Moshi Ki-Adi-Mundi (Out of character: don't ask), a son of the Moshi who was sent to study magic with the Yoritomo Shugenja. The Moshi don't expect much from their men and the closeness between the Moshi and Yoritomo families mean that many boys from the Moshi are sent to study with the Yoritomo. He seems to enjoy taking his days peacefully with the Kami. His day consisted of waking, divining how his day will go while smoking from a pipe and enjoying the festivities. Moshi was sent to the city to participate in a Shugenja demonstration on the third and final day of the festival.

Then we Bayushi Yukiko, a Scorpion "courtier" (as far as we know) who is ostensibly in Dragon's Guard City to procure some rare blackwood for use in a new shrine being built in the Scorpion capital. The Mantis hold the lion's share of blackwood in the Empire for a few reasons, some known to the Empire as a whole, others we prefer you not ask about. She is a pretty typical Scorpion, scheming, sure of herself and a particular disdain for the peasantry (she is also of the ruling family of the Scorpion, so her dislike of peasants is particularly pronounced).

Next we have Jonius of Appleseed, a Yodotai soldier. He has a special arrangement with the Emerald Magistrate in the Unicorn lands to be in the Empire for the express purpose of capturing a powerful Yodotai fugitive (who happened to have killed Jonius's dog). As far as he's aware, once this fugitive is captured or killed, he is to immediately leave Rokugan. In reality, he has a Unicorn handler, Moto Hiroyuki, who has secret orders that explicitly say to kill the gaijin upon completion of his mission.

And finally, we have myself; Tsuruchi Shigeru, a Tsuruchi Bounty Hunter (read: lawman) assigned to security during the festival. I am a rather loyal Mantis. I don't like the Phoenix, I won't be getting along with Bayushi when the group finally gets together and I have a strong pride about my skills as an archer (though, as a Bounty Hunter, my skillset is more focused on hunting criminals than combat archery like most other members of the Tsuruchi family). I also have a particularly strong respect towards minor clans, even compared to other Mantis.

The day was pretty much in three sections. I spent my morning working my guard shift. It was a pretty uneventful morning. The most excitement was a pickpocket who decided the best way to handle being approached by a Tsuruchi with a strung bow was to run. He got a broken shoulder, a free trip to a holding cell and probably nightmares from the scream of a humming bulb arrow for his trouble.

As I said, Moshi spent his morning divining how his day would be before making his way into the festivities. Bayushi took her time preparing for her day. Jonius decided that he needed a cowboy hat and went straight for the closest tailor.

Yes. A cowboy hat. To the GM's credit, he rolled with it (and considering the player, expected this kind of nonsense). While Jonius was describing what he wanted to the tailor and was being shown cloth patterns, his handler spent the approximately two hours spent in this shop hating his life, while a Crane woman (for the record, Jonius only saw her as a strange white haired woman in a blue kimono) carrying a daisho took notice of the strange man with absolute disgust, promptly finishing her business and moving on.

Bayushi spent the rest of her morning browsing local shops. She came across a set of decorative chopsticks with the mon of the Scorpion, as well as the crest of the Bayushi upon them. The shopkeeper wasn't very good at hiding his panic, made up some story about being the illegitimate descendant of a member of the Bayushi family and ended up accidentally insulting the samurai in his midst. Despite the claim that these chopsticks have been in the merchant's family for several generations, they happened to be made of the same wood Bayushi came to the city to find... and that wood has only been available in Rokugan for less than 30 years. It also doesn't help that these chopsticks are, in actuality, cleverly disguised assassin's needles. In a surprising show of mercy, Bayushi simply informed the merchant that she would be taking the chopsticks (after a quick demonstration of opening one of the needles) and that they would not speak again.

After commissioning his unusual hat, Jonius made his way to the sumai circle at the beach, with the full intention of using his large size to win a few wrestling matches. At the very least, his unusual size did impress the bookie. Upon arriving at the circle, he watched the end of a match between a large Mantis and an even larger (larger than Jonius, in fact) Crab. The Mantis ended up in the stands. Jonius ended up on top of the Mantis. Jonius also noticed Moto collecting some winnings out of the corner of his eye.

Eventually all four of us made our way to the center of town where a stage was being set up for a demonstration by local students of the Yoritomo Bushi school, followed by a sparring tournament that all samurai are welcome to enter. Jonius was the only PC to enter the tournament. Bayushi is a "courtier," so she has more important things to do with her day, Moshi is a Shugenja, so physical combat isn't his primary concern, while I didn't want to risk hurting myself when I still have a job to do. There was at least one representative of each Great Clan in the tournament, but the more noteworthy entrants were:

A swordsman of the Hare clan. I bet one koku on him (read: quite a bit of money).
Bayushi took notice of a disgraced Scorpion bushi who was accused of murdering his brother. She made a very strong point to actively avoid him.
The Unicorn wife of the Crab who defeated Jonius in the wrestling ring entered, prompting Jonius to join, prompting the Crab to join.
The Crane swordswoman at the tailor also entered.

The GM rolled for the results of each match and rolled a skirmish for Jonius, who was knocked out in the first round. Moto was again seen collecting some winnings.

The Hare was defeated by the Crane in the first round. So I was out some money. The Scorpion was also out in the first first round, Bayushi was happy to see this, plus she made some money on the match, having bet against him. Ultimately, it came down to the Unicorn and her husband in the final round. Jonius was not happy about this.

After the tournament, Jonius had to make his way to the guard headquarters for a meeting with the local headman. Bayushi found a very nice tea house, where she found the Crane (who is there as her father's second in the off chance his business in the city turns sour and he is challenged to a duel) and started making conversation. I approached the Hare to greet him, conveniently leaving out that he lost me a lot of money.

From there, I assume that something's going to happen that night that will force the group together.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2018, 01:05:16 am by Cloud3514 »
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Offline Askold

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #337 on: January 19, 2018, 04:14:09 pm »
Several more deaths in OW...

The team was sent in to clear a building. Or more accurately, part of if. 50 meters of a corridor to be exact. It was tight spaces, traps, grenades and funtime for all. They got about 20 meters or so and cleared a few rooms on the way. Many lives were lost. But this time not all of them to friendly fire.

...I mean the Medic's (NPC) comrade burnt to death due to a slight miscalculation with a flamer but the sarge (one handed and all) was able to put out the medic while he was rolling on the floor and screaming in agony.

Other highlights include Heavy pushing a makeshift barricade forwards as the team advanced behind it and tossed grenades and Molotov's cocktails at the enemy. Totally bumbling a perfectly planned DYNAMIC ENTRY which resulted in enemies hearing the team's approach and a frag grenade killing a few (NPC) team members. The session ended in a barely won melee fight that saw a few more NPC deaths and the Heavy losing his right arm.

Three of the five PC's have now lost an arm and only one has received a cybernetic replacement.

Anyway, the GM did say that he is doing a meatgrinder game that is really grimdark but the characters are getting better gear as the regiment will be upgraded from Light to Line infantry. (Currently they have helmets and flak vests which mean that half the shots hit unarmoured spots. Proper Flak armour that covers all of the hit locations will make them much tougher.)
No matter what happens, no matter what my last words may end up being, I want everyone to claim that they were:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Aww, you guys rock. :)  I feel the love... and the pitchforks and torches.  Tingly!

Offline Cloud3514

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #338 on: January 19, 2018, 10:56:04 pm »
You know, my suggestion would have been to just level the building from the outside. It's not exactly common for the Imperium to care about subtlety.
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Offline Askold

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #339 on: January 20, 2018, 03:11:49 am »
The battle is based on one of the iconic battles in Stalingrad. There is a tall grain silo complex outside the city and controlling it would mean controlling the tallest building within several kilometers. Also the regiment doesn't have the artillery to take down to building.

Historically the battle was fought for weeks and there were Russians and Germans controlling individual floors in the building with enemies both up and down from them... Like Russian/Russian/German/Russian/German/Russian or something like that.

So, yes... It was a meatgrinder of a fight and mostly unnecessary. Meanwhile rest of the Imperial regiments are still landing while the PC regiment's maverick commander took his unit on a foolish charge into enemy territory against direct orders. Chances are that once the regiment retreats (and has a ship blast the building from the orbit) they get a new commander as the survivors are put into another regiment.
No matter what happens, no matter what my last words may end up being, I want everyone to claim that they were:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Aww, you guys rock. :)  I feel the love... and the pitchforks and torches.  Tingly!

Offline chad sexington

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #340 on: February 08, 2018, 11:41:48 pm »
So, here's a thing.

Quote
Old Spice Creates New Playable Class for 'Dungeons and Dragons'
Christian Hoffer

02/08/2018

Old Spice (yes, that Old Spice) has entered the tabletop RPG world.

Old Spice is best known for its line of male grooming products like deodorant and cologne, but it appears that someone on their marketing team has a geeky side as well. Earlier this week, Old Spice announced via their Twitter that they had created a new playable class for Dungeons and Dragons....yes, THAT Dungeons and Dragons. The tweet included a link to a four page PDF that contained a surprisingly detailed set of rules for a new Gentlemen/Gentle-Lady class built around extreme over-the-top confidence in one's own abilities.


The Gentlemen class is basically a bard on steroids, with a few overpowered abilities mixed in. Not only does a Gentlemen get an increase in their Base Attack Bonus every level, something that's usually reserved for martial classes only, they also get to add their Charisma and Dexterity modifier to their Armor Class whenever they wear a fancy suit.

A Gentlemen's default abilities are the catchphrase and punchline - abilities that can either inspire allies or damage their opponents. As a Gentlemen levels up, they also gain abilities like turning into an intelligent dog, spontaneously summon a horse, or heal allies with their pleasing scent...which comes from a Gentlemen using Old Spice products, of course. Eventually, a Gentlemen also earns an MBA and has the opportunity to marry and can instantly level up his party by getting a new haircut. If a Gentlemen reaches Level 20, he becomes a being of pure energy and can make anything explode...but at the cost of ascending to a higher plane of existence.

Obviously, the Gentlemen class wasn't play-tested for balance issues and is likely to drive a Dungeon Master insane. Several of the Gentlemen's abilities involve either subverting the DM or undercutting his decisions, so it's unlikely no sane DM would ever allow this to actually be allowed in the game. We should also note that the new Gentlemen class is compatible with the "3.5" edition of D&D and not the current 5th edition. Still, we're very impressed that Old Spice actually tried to use tabletop gaming to market deodorant...which is an insane change from how D&D was seen a few years ago.
http://comicbook.com/gaming/amp/2018/02/08/dungeons-and-dragons-old-spice-/

Offline Askold

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #341 on: March 24, 2018, 04:38:03 pm »
Dark Heresy campaign has been going on for months, I've lost two players due to IRL issues and gotten replacements but everyone seems to be liking it and Only War is as fun as ever. Therefore the smart thing to do was to start a third Warhammer 40k campaign. It's just a minicampaign in Deathwatch since after more than 6 months of weekly boardgame of a Napoleonic wargame we wanted something different to do on Tuesdays. After the DW campaign we are going to start rotation of random boardgames and short RPGs.

Dark Heresy is closing in on the end of the "plot" I had planned and pretty soon one of the characters will become an Inquisitor (if he survives his current predicament of being tied up by a crazy cyberdoctor in a Slave-pit deep in the Underhive.)

Meanwhile in the OW we have not yet had a session without someone in the team dying. Highlights from the last session: The team was volunteered to clear a bunker and salvage any important documents the Traitor-Guard had not destroyed yet. The team blew/shot open any door they came across since nearly all of them were booby trapped anyway. Sarge had fun fighting against drugged up berzerkers (Not Chaos marines) and then charged through a door into 10 lasguns. Once again he was critically injured, this time most of his face was burnt off and he was completely blinded but he stayed conscious (thanks to using a Fate point) long enough to charge the enemies as a distraction (he got lucky since he didn't trip over anything while running blindly and swinging his power sword) for the rest of the team to blast the enemies away. Later when tracking the enemies to a dock the team went into a boat where they had not noticed the mine attached to the motor and the following explosion killed 40% of the team. (None of the PCs were killed but sarge lost his radio operator third time in a row.)
No matter what happens, no matter what my last words may end up being, I want everyone to claim that they were:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Aww, you guys rock. :)  I feel the love... and the pitchforks and torches.  Tingly!

Offline Askold

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #342 on: April 16, 2018, 01:11:16 pm »
The Inquisitorial adventure is about to reach a climax of the story after 6 months of playing. The team is trying to find a missing Inquisitor, catch an Arch-Heretek and find out who is leaking info from within the Inquisition.

I try to set up a cool fight in the lair of the Arch-Heretek. The team has recruited Space marines to help them but they have some trouble with the rabble at first. Then they come up with an unholy mixture of flesh and metal that is the daemonhost of a daemon that the team has fought twice already. The marines panic ...And the little Sororitas gal charges in before the daemon can do anything and does in total 130 points of damage to it with one flurry of attacks. And that's AFTER reducing more than 40 points with armour and TB from the hits.

...I am just incapable of making any kinds of challenges that won't end up in an anticlimax.

We shall continue next week.
No matter what happens, no matter what my last words may end up being, I want everyone to claim that they were:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Aww, you guys rock. :)  I feel the love... and the pitchforks and torches.  Tingly!

Offline Askold

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #343 on: April 23, 2018, 04:49:55 pm »
Climax of a plot that had been going on for 6 months.

I'm exhausted.

Also, two of the team members were put in lockdown because they were exposed to the Obliterator virus that merges living flesh and tech (usually weapons and armour with a human) and since one of these was the Techpriest and the other was the Sororitas warrior nun who had previously been given surprise cybernetics then obviously the techpriest decided that this is the perfect time to put more cybernetics that he looted from the stores of the Heretek on himself and the nun...

While they were on lockdown...

On lockdown due to a Warp-virus that makes people grow cybernetics and weapons...

When it has been a on-going joke for the last 6 months that "growing additional tentacles" is the surest proof of corruption...

When most of those jokes were about the techpriest...

He decides to put an additional mechadendrite (mechanical tentacle) on himself.

The rest of the team immediately were OK with blowing up the lockdown facility with a Magna-Melta warhead that was there just for these situations and it was a perfectly logical decision. It took a while to explain to the player of the Techpriest why despite it being perfectly in-character for him to craft more cybernetics onto his character (and the Sororitas. Once again without asking permission from her.) it was also completely in-character for the others to nuke him just to be sure that the infection isn't spreading.

Because I'm a big softy I let them backtrack a bit and NOT do the surprise cyberware installation which let the characters survive.

End result: Everyone had a lot of fun, a massive story was finally finished, 4 out of 5 characters got a promotion of one type or another (Sororitas gal finally got to become a Sister of Battle, power armour and other impressive gear included, Techpriest got a promotion within the Mechanicus and the Nobleman-Adept got a sponsor who would make him an Inquisitor.) and the game will continue after a time-skip of few years.

Well see if the game dies out now that the team is loose and has no one pulling their strings.

But we also have like 5 other games we'd like to play. Aces and Eights (western RPG) that I got from Kickstarter is coming soon and I want to play AND GM it, one player has an idea for a 7th Sea campaign, another wants to run the Schlock Mercenary RPG or a homebrew game that he's had planned for a while and there are a few potential ideas for other 40k RPGs as well.
No matter what happens, no matter what my last words may end up being, I want everyone to claim that they were:
"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
Aww, you guys rock. :)  I feel the love... and the pitchforks and torches.  Tingly!

Offline SCarpelan

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Re: Tabletop Game Thread
« Reply #344 on: May 11, 2018, 06:48:26 pm »
I'm continuing the WFRP scenarios I GM'd for two separate groups into the Thousand Thrones campaign. I had originally intended to have them play through another scenario I had planned myself as a continuation for the previous one. When I decided to use the published campaign I simplified the scenario into a prologue that would take them into the actual campaign.

This is the first time I'm GM'ing something that is completely my own design and for most of the players it's the first time that they are playing a non-published scenario. Even with published scenarios I'll always avoid railroading as much as I can and enjoy when the players force me to improvise so I'm throughly enjoying the freedom I have in this situation.

When the PCs went to meet their old employer they found him lying dead on his office floor and a woman casually burning all his notes and other paperwork in the fireplace. The woman in question was the waitress of the inn the PCs were staying in and as they would find out she had been recently hired to replace the previous one who had disappeared. She told them she had just bailed them out of something way above their heads and paid them to deliver her whatever information they had been told to deliver to the old employer.

She asked them if they were afraid to get their hands bloody and when the PCs seemed agreeable she hired them to take out a woman who would be supervising a transfer of goods in a warehouse at a certain night. She also assured that the target was no innocent victim and guaranteed that she would have less security with her than usual. After some debate between themselves and between their consciences and purses the PCs decided they would accept the offer.

While preparing for the job the PCs found out two pertinent details:

1) The warehouse she talked about is owned by an affiliate of the local Thieves' Guild and the target is a high ranking member of the Guild.

2) Their employer is not what she seems. Every player seemed to realize that she is a vampire but only a couple of the characters did. The PCs don't trust each other completely yet so in the other group the PCs who found out this decided not to share this information. This is an example of players deciding to split the party causing interesting narrative tension instead of gray hairs for the GM. In the other group the players decided to role play their characters so that they don't know enough about vampires to realize her precise nature.

This was the end of the first session. For the other group we had the second session yesterday.

The group ended up actually taking the target out and in the combat they noticed she kept buffing her companions which meant she was a priestess of some kind. When they searched her corpse they found evidence that she had indeed been a priestess and her patron was probably - and not surprisingly - Ranald (one of his aspects is Night Prowler worshipped by thieves). This is the group where only two of the four PCs are aware of their employer's nature but those two understood now why their employer had seen her as a particular danger. Their employer's plans aren't clear to them yet, they just know she wanted this priestess out of the way and that she had killed a group of criminals several decades ago in a bloody scene that had left the only eye witness badly traumatized.

When meeting their employer to get their reward one of them decided to start playing with fire. He casually called her by her real name that he was not supposed to know. Since they were in a public bar she didn't cause a scene but her body language made it clear she had noticed it and this apparently confirmed to the player that the clues they had gotten about her were trustworthy. And yes, the group will pay for this: you play with fire, you risk getting your fingers burned. She told them to come back to the bar in three days and she might have another job for them by then; for now she would need to concentrate on taking advantage of the success of their mission.

This is where the story is right now. For this group, the employer is now aware that they know more about her than she would like. The group will get some allies against her that will help them set a trap for her if the group is willing to co-operate with them (people who had hired their previous employer). The problem with this plan is that she is now intending to set her own trap for the PCs to interrogate them and find out what they know and how they know it. Neither the PCs nor their potential allies are aware that she is pulling the strings of another high ranking Thieves' Guild member and will be able to get a bunch of guild thugs help her set her trap (the players have been given hints about this relationship but they seem to have ignored them). This could lead into a situation where the next meeting with their employer is a trap for both parties. Fun should ensue.

Oh, and the people who are their possible allies? They are working for another, more powerful vampire. The PCs' employer has crossed the Lahmians and is now hiding from them while trying to build her own underground empire using Thieves' Guilds. She is herself a relatively young vampire and her plans and her problems with Lahmians are way over her head. These new allies will provide the main hook for the actual campaign but if the PCs refuse to co-operate or things otherwise go in an unexpected direction I have some other hooks waiting for them. If their employer survives she could make an interesting recurring character.