tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370162161693557709.post7223048234097069002..comments2023-06-08T08:26:07.304-05:00Comments on Advanced Gaming & Theory: Gothic Earth Session 9: Burn The Witches (Experimental Design Notes)RipperXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03506064393275174920noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370162161693557709.post-72205656366822967492017-05-10T14:51:41.178-05:002017-05-10T14:51:41.178-05:00Yeah, my players taking notes I didn't expect ...Yeah, my players taking notes I didn't expect and remembering stuff from several sessions ago, has screwed my own oh so carefully planned continuity. Damn them for paying attention! <br /><br />I really think it would suit my group with a big of mystery and I've already done my NPC-plan with the up-coming pirate-island (I talked about it in a previous comment), so I should try and work in some sort of specific mystery. <br /><br />For now, the big luring danger I've presented the players is an army approaching the big city which is their base of operation, but I've no plans yet on how to handle it, except have it creep down my map.<br /><br />I'll try and work in some sort of investigation-sidequest for the next part. Thanks for elaborating - huge help!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08663587108573446586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370162161693557709.post-84830397756206108882017-05-10T09:18:03.548-05:002017-05-10T09:18:03.548-05:00Hi Martin, thanks for commenting :)
Investigation...Hi Martin, thanks for commenting :)<br /><br />Investigations are actually our groups favorite thing to do. The first module that I ever ran was a Ravenloft title by the name of "Night of the Walking Dead", it got me started on how to DM this style, but I've perfected it over the years. I still run into snags here and there, but for the most part they have all played well.<br /><br />Yes, the players knew they only had 13 moves. I had drawn them a map of the main village of Belalp, and they had labeled all of the buildings during play. They also had a suspect list which they built themselves, they had planned on hunting her down already and they were searching for her, but this made things more interesting.<br /><br />In the past, we had always gone day-by-day, and there is always a deadline of some kind, be it the murderer strikes again, the thief slips away into the night, the enemy finds the treasure before you do, your ship reaches port, whatever.<br /><br />Since the village of Belalp is pretty small, everybody who lives in town or has an important job is named, have a personality assigned to them, and a short backstory of 3-4 words. Just a code that I can remember. I also wrote down how some people are connected with others, and prepped a list of rumors and plot-hooks that will last throughout the adventure which I can lean on. <br /><br />Some characters provide different services, such as one knows the history of the land, another knows where everything is at. People have secrets, if you were to just read my lists they wouldn't be very interesting, but once they are applied to the game and the players slowly learn them through observations and talking to them, it becomes fun.<br /><br />In this scenario I knew what all of my villains were up to, they had objectives to complete themselves. You don't need too much detail, you just need a rough plan; the bad guys cannot be static, they need motivation and tasks to complete. They make errors, they modify the plan to fit an ever changing model, they lay traps and miss-direct. They attempt to railroad the story, which the characters must not fall for, else figure out how to shift the railroad in their favor.<br /><br />My players are good at this style, they take notes on everything, it makes continuity on my end very difficult but it has a great payoff.RipperXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03506064393275174920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7370162161693557709.post-17480017120608640392017-05-10T04:43:57.838-05:002017-05-10T04:43:57.838-05:00I like the idea of using a timeframe, but I've...I like the idea of using a timeframe, but I've always lacked ability to handle how the enemies move in detail compared to how players spend their time - this is a very specific scenario, and that makes it work better. <br />But just to clarify, the players knew about the move-time system you had set up? Did they know their deadline? <br />Also, how elaborate was the investigation - I've always wanted to run a session with heavy investigation, but when I try and think up a scenario, I'm always afraid it's too simple and dumb and my players will not find it engaging, or it's too vague and complicated and in turn my players get frustrated. <br />How do you suggest one strikes a balance? I a time-limit the key here?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06758819882957808512noreply@blogger.com