Interludes

Between working, traveling, editing, reading up for future projects, and more working, I found myself seriously stressing about where my campaign was going (the party took a left at Albuquerque last game, ending things on an awkward note after 3 sessions of People of the Pit with a good 20% of the place untouched). There simply wasn't time for me to do the normal prep work this week, and I certainly haven't had the brain capacity to stew on it and come up with some awesome resolution. But I had an epiphany yesterday: Interludes!

When Bob's 1E sandbox campaign [please note, I'm specifically not tagging him yet] recently came to a point where he needed some time to pass in the game, he put together some "interludes," episodes in which the players were given pre-generated characters that pertained to a different part of the world. Maybe they're designed to tell some backstory, and the scene takes place in the past to give us a better understanding. In one, we played thieves who ended up thwarting an assassin's attempt on the Mayor's life. We don't know exactly when that particular scene takes place on the grand timeline, but he'll reveal the resulting mayhem to our regular characters when we resume the main story. We've also had a one-shot where we played characters that would've been NPCs or villains to be taken out in regular play. It offered a lot of insight to us as players, in regards to the underlying motives.

I've decided on the "meanwhile, in this other location" approach. They'll all be playing 2nd-level ...well, formerly NPCs, who have to deal with the aftermath of one of the party's recent raids. They'll witness a previously-dismissed enemy limping back home, and will have to shoulder the subsequent wrath of a boss for allowing the PC party to desecrate his territory. I'm willing to bet they'll also stumble into an area that's off-limits to lackeys like them, and discover how a particular plot-driving item has been manufactured.

The interludes have been really enjoyable to play, and break up the monotony a bit, so after a mere hour of work - and most of that was statting up these particular lackeys - I feel pretty good about it now.

XP is going to be awarded after the fact (in both our games) to the regular PCs for participating in these cut-scenes.

DCC RPG #68: The People of the Pit

I'll admit it; I'm one of those who didn't give this one enough credit when I first saw it. "Oh goodie, cultists summoning something with tentacles. I get enough of that in our two-year-long Call of Cthulhu campaigns..." 

NO. 

You know you've been thinking it too. "I'm sick of judging combats with tentacles!" 

Please hear me out.

I see very few people in the G+ communities talking about running this one, which leads me to believe that many others are judging books by covers and falling into the trap of viewing only the basic premise. 

Or, to be fair, it could be that it's not a new release. Or that you didn't find the cover art stunning at first glance. Or you might just not be into the "cultist" scene. 

Seriously, shed those reservations now. 

One-shot vs. Campaign?
This has a lot of meat to it. A LOT. It's not going to play nicely as a one-shot unless you condense it to a few key encounters -- which, actually, could provide for some high-quality play. I might try that for our next game day and/or mini-con.

Conversely, if you're running a campaign and you read this module ahead of time, there are tons of hint you could start dropping. Or, if you're like me and hit a wall during the campaign, you could find yourself picking this mod up, gritting your teeth against the "trite" concept, and coming up for air a couple hours later armed with pages of notes and a maniacal grin that worries anyone you live with. 

As I mentioned previously, the most often-encountered foes harken strongly to the Hollow Ones found in the core rulebook, which I ran as part of a huge, multi-session, crescendoing scene in the sandboxed village, Port of the Black Pearl (formerly the small shanty town from which Tower of the Black Pearl kicks off). The party still isn't sure if the faceless men with things spawning from their midsections were creatures that had been summoned, or if they'd been working alongside a coven of witches, so it made perfect sense to play on that bit of mysteriousness: The eyeless acolytes in the Pit are now faceless, albeit wearing robes in a different method of color-coding. [Note to self: Do not allow faceless creatures to become a crutch just because a judge doesn't want NPCs to be able to answer interrogations.]

Summary: Even if you've only skimmed it, it's worth taking a good cover-to-cover look -- or at least check out the 3rd level, and the intricacies of travel within. There are still plenty of other monsters besides cultists, and I could see reworking a good portion of this place to be run by the mineral mining critters instead of humanoids...even with no huge threat in the pit itself.

Back to it!

The open-table campaign has been through a lot of sandboxing, including a few published pieces and parts slid together to culminate in a few original sessions. Most recently, I've modified a couple adventures to fit the story.

Man, that's intensive.

Today I went back to basics: I ran a module with some scaled-up monsters and just the barest storyline adjustments to the "how & why you're here".

Much better.

It was nice to take less than 3 hours to prep the day before. It was wonderful to not stress about it for the hour-long drive to the FLGS. It was nice to feel more secure in where things were going (and yes, I had pegged the group's route). It was even nice to run with the new screen, despite my ambivalence about screens. And it was nice - if a little bittersweet - to hear the surprise in players' voices when they expressed their enjoyment after the fact.

We all have our niches, right? I've suspected I'd been running off the rails when left to my own devices, and my players have been awesomely patient with me, but I think I've confirmed my sweet spot.

Let's do this thing! Game on!

...This week's choice, by the by, was to hearken back to the early line, via People of the Pit, with tweaks to the cultists' stats to stand up to a mixed party of 0-lvl to 5th. The cultists are strikingly similar to the Hollow Men, given to us in the core book -- and those similarities correlate nicely with the sandbox.

Worth every mile.

This past weekend, we were fortunate enough to attend an experimental mini-con with approx. 15 others, hosted in Richmond, VA by the illustrious Wayne Snyder.

The locale was an art studio in a historic post-industrial structure. As summer in the southeast U.S. is underway, the result was humid and at times too warm -- just the sort of thing I generally flee for the comfort of air conditioning at home. It wasn't glamorous. It wasn't pretentious. It certainly wasn't posh.

And it was perfect.

This was the first time in over a decade in which we've been able to leave the state without a full itinerary of obligatory family visits. It was actually difficult for me to fully grasp this, and simply relax, until Sunday. But it was exactly what we needed, and far overdue.

Gaming (for me) included Swords and Magic (the Wayne & Lily production), Talisman, DCC (including a bit of a Lankhmar preview by Doug), Metamorphosis Alpha, and Thunder Road.

In between the games - the official excuse for gathering - were excited, happy discussions. So rarely are any of us able to get together in person for anything social; conventions tend to give us exchanges like, "Hey! Great to see you, now I have to run to my next game!" This was a chance to sit back with no real schedule...and get to know the people we'd all been following online and +1'ing for years, as well as some of Wayne's local friends who joined us for the festivities.

This weekend also served as a recharge to many of our creative batteries. Pooling ideas, watching others' judging styles and techniques, and sharing tales of our home games... It was the gaming equivalent of the diverse food offerings on the buffet line.

I thought about giving "notable mentions" to certain individuals who made a special impact on our experience, but there honestly wasn't a single attendee who didn't leave their mark on the event. Much love to all, and most to Wayne for his unending hospitality. {Okay, and to Taylor, David, and Doug for feeding me!} Until we all meet again...

Brady's last words (from 02.15.15 session)

[Not gonna lie: The act of posting recaps is more than difficult. Ergo, as judge, I'm hand-waving this rule.]

After exploring Brady the Merchant's shop and newly-constructed warehouse compound, and finding their own brewery was being robbed and fakes were being put out in place of the Dead Goblin Ale, they came across a wizard's workshop with a hidden portal. Using a Scale of Truloq to make the prerequisite blood sacrifice, they teleported into an unknown, who-knows-where cavern system. Shenanigans ensued (for days!) until they finally found the merchant. Despite him having been left for dead in this isolated place by forces unknown, Bjorn rattles him into raspy speech with repeated threats of death for stealing their beer. 

Here are some of the highlights:

...huh? Oh, damn dragons...

...stole the Pearl from under Quenn's nose...

...bargained with Capo Tormanu to take over imported beer shipments...but he welshed on the deal til I let his crew build the new shop. Not allowed to ask questions. No say.

 Doing okay after that. Port of Black Pearl all making money...

Had to live in the Mermaid while they rebuilt my house. Tore the whole damn thing down. Then wouldn't let me back...

Mortesh was angry. You took him. I let you leave. I let him out of my sight. So much knowledge...so much history! Worth so much...but I was weak. I couldn't keep him. Wanted him. Not for Mortesh. Not for research. Not for dragons. Mortesh is so angry...

...found workshop. Told Capo I'm out. Quiet. Then kid... Kid sold me out.

...Mortesh was so angry...

And, of course, before he can ask for quarter or assistance, he passes out -- at which point, Bjorn Berber (now a 5th-level dwarf) predictably kicks Brady's skull in.