Temple of Bast - Session 2 - Narrative

[Bob McNamee]

Temple of Bast – Universalis Game – Session 2
Players: Bob, Pat, Sue (visiting player)

Scene 4
Location: The Temple of Bast
Time: immediately following Scene 2/3
Characters present from Scene 2: Pi Wa Ket, Seer of Bast, Group of Temple Cats

 Pi Wa Ket , the Temple Servant, is attempting to comfort the poisoned Seer when Lo- Set, the “Thief Cat”, comes bounding up the steps to her, wearing the Charm Bracelet around his neck like a collar. She removes it before he realizes, and says “Thank you, Lo-Set, but I don’t know what use this will be…These look like runes…”

 From the entrance…“What’s going on? May I look at that?” says a strangers voice.   Kenarsis, the Scribe/Magician, crosses the floor to her. “I was was just passing by the Temple steps when suddenly a cat passed through my legs wearing that strange collar, my curiosity demanded that I investigate”  She shows him the bracelet , a strange band of shaped crystals, each inscribed with a Rune.  

 Noticing the poisoned Seer, Kenarsis offers his services “I am not a great Healer, but I do have a great knowledge of Runes, perhaps I can help heal her with this charm” He is about to try something when the huffing , puffy Juba, the fat Herbalist, enters yelling “Stop! They must be used in a specific order to be safe!… I will Heal her…that’s MY charm bracelet!”

 Just then My-Kat, the Temple Cat enters, with Kan’ Du, the Priestess Healer of Bast, following  close behind.  “This is a Temple matter! And no one will tend our Seer but those of the Temple!” she proclaims.

The visitors back a few steps away from the Seer and temple-folk.

The Priestess Healer calls upon the holy healing forces of Bast to heal the Seer. The Seer is cleansed of Poison, but is locked in a state of Trance.

 Kan’ Du turns to the others, introduces herself, then picks up the bracelet. “Where did you get this? she demands of Juba. Juba does not answer. “This bracelet is a sacred artifact of a Primary Node”, she states.

 Ignored until now, Lo-Set sneaks around the group, then makes a sudden leap upward towards the bracelet.  His head passes deftly through his new “collar”, and his hurtling body weight neatly pops the bracelet free of Kan’ Du’s hands. The crafty cat is off and running before any human can react, and streaks from the Temple.

“You damned Cat…”, mutters the Priestess Healer

Only the My-Kat can react before he is gone, bounding off out of the Temple in pursuit of him.


End of Scene 4

Scene 5

Location: A rooftop near the Temple of Bast
Time: Immediately after Scene 4
Characters: Lo-Set, My-Kat

“Why did you do that?” My-Kat confronts Lo-Set.

Lo-Set answers. “It is well understood in the city streets, and by those Cats who follow the Wild Ways, that corruption rules the Temple of Bast even at the highest levels, and the Temple rules our city of Bast-Met. I will not relinquish the bracelet to the Temple.”

My-Kat agrees, “As a Temple Cat, I can attest that not all who are of the Temple are to be Trusted. Still, the bracelet must be returned to its proper place at the Primary Node, for the power of the Ley lines of the node are diminished by its lack.”

Lo-Set says,“This can be done, but I will need help, for it is not a task which can be successfully completely by Cat alone. We will need Humans for help and protection”

“Alright, but, there needs to be Temple representation in this undertaking,” My-Kat counters.

Lo-Set responds, “I do not trust the Priestesses.”

“Perhaps one who is not a Priestess, perhaps the Servant, Pi Wa Ket, who speaks with our kind” offers My-Kat.

“Agreed, I like her,” purrs Lo-Set, ”Perhaps Juba and that newcomer as well?”

“Not Juba, he is not fit for this trial nor will he provide much protection” argues My-Kat “but, I know of a man who is pure of heart and purpose, a body guard of a true believer, who would suit.  After we ask the humans at the Temple, we should ask this man Bigg-Uhn, agreed?”

“I agree! Let our partnership begin, let us restore the Node! Now, let us see how the Humans react,” exclaims Lo-Set as both he and My-Kat begin to run along the rooftop.

End of Scene 5

Bob McNamee

[Bob McNamee]

We had a visiting friend, Sue, sit in on our game. She's never role-played before (except for one aborted playtest of my Tarot Game...which never really got off the ground).  

  Prior to the game Sue had finished reading the rules.  She found them a bit convoluted (my explanations of the game flexibility may not have helped), remarking over some of the same things Andrew? mentioned in the play-test. Concern about costs of establishing facts (the difference between Fact and Color, etc. ), and that anything can be Challenged and that there could be Complications ontop of Complications etc.  

  We assured her that. although it is possible that such things could happen, that in actual play it doesn't seem to come up. That the players are all there to "play a good story" and tend to work together to build it.   Which is how our play worked out, with surprising twists

We had a good session! It lasted 2 hours.

 Two complications were resolved this game, both in Scene 4, the healing of the Seer, and Lo-Set’s snatch of the bracelet.

 Scene 5 was completely Dialogue between Pat, as Lo-Set, and Sue, as My-Kat, except for a some establishing of Facts.

A great many new things were added this game.

New Tenet: Prophecy-“I See the City (Bast-met) overrun by the forces of the Evil Snake God, unearthed by the wild tribes of the far desert”

We now know the City (a new location) is Bast-Met, it is “Controlled by cult of Bast” and Temple of Bast is a “possession”.

We added the “Rooftop near the Temple of Bast” location

Temple of Bast added “city relationship”, “Corruption in Temple” and “Not always trustworthy” -this was a surprising turn added by our visiting player Sue (who has never role-played).

Two master Components were added
“Temple Cats” – also by Sue - with a single trait of
       -See the true nature of one’s Soul
 
“Cats of the Wild Ways” – by Bob
       -Travel the Secret Ways
       -Befriends the street people
       -Survivors

Characters
New Characters added…
“Kan’ Du”
      - Priestess Healer of Bast

“Bigg-Uhn”
      -Warrior
      -Trained as a bodyguard

Changes
Seer  lost “Poisoned”-Bob , gained “in a Trance”-Pat
Kenarsis gained “Curiosity”-Pat
My-Kat’s role of Temple Cat became a subcomponent of the Master Component “Temple Cat”
Lo-Set gained “Crafty”, “Knows all the streets and roofs of the city of Bast-Met”, and “Cat of the Wild Ways” (a master component), and has possession of the Item “Charm Bracelet”

New Item (was originally a trait of Lo-Set)
“Charm Bracelet”
     -consists of shaped crystals, each with a Rune inscribed
     -Sacred artifact of a Primary Node
     -Primary Ley line power diminished by absence of bracelet

Good Session,
                   Bob McNamee

[Valamir]

Good stuff, I'll get this up on the site with my next update.

So were Sue's concerns mollified by actual play?

Was adding a new player mid stream accomplished with a minimum of disruption as advertised?

[Bob McNamee]

Good stuff, I'll get this up on the site with my next update.

So were Sue's concerns mollified by actual play?

Was adding a new player mid stream accomplished with a minimum of disruption as advertised?

Great! I look forward to seeing it!

I decided to type it up with basically just the Narrative stuff, more like what we produce in the Monday Indie Netgame. Not a word-for-word transcript, but it gets the idea across.
The way I did the first session was just hard to follow.

Sue's concerns were mollified by play.

The game rules really do look like it could be a nightmare of conflict, but seem to always play as if everyone is co-operating to make a story.(At least that's how my two "Temple of Bast" Sessions , and the Two Monday Indie Netgame "Future S&S" Sessions have went. )
We all talked about how it comes down to the desires of the Players...if you want to play and make a Story, you will... if you want to play and break the Game, you could do that too... (but I would make sure that the other players who want to play Challenge and Fine the heck out of you)

It came together nicely, with a few suggestions across the table from player to player, and a few speculations about "What this might mean to the Story..."like "With the Corruption in the Temple...could the Prophecy be a case of ulterior motives instead of Truth (depends on if the Seer is Corrupt)?"

Adding in Sue for this game was fairly easy, since I had the write-up for Session 1. Some of her intial concerns were covered just by handing her the stack of colored index cards to read, that represent the Scenes, Location, Characters, etc for the Game . I think she was concerned about how you keep track of the game, and creating/changing things in the game. Plus, we had talked about some of the possibilities about the game, including the Characters we hadn't used yet.

Both Pat and I had created a few new elements we wanted try to add in, so we weren't floundering around at the start. Pat had most of the start of Scene 4 pre-created... she had so many more Coins than me she knew she would get to be Framing Player.

I'll be doing a write-up for all Sessions, regardless of whether I post about it or not. It's just a great way to let new Players drop in, and to be able to look back for dangling Plot threads. (or just refresh our aging memories :>)

One of the things I like about Monday's Indie Netgame Sessions is that I don't have to type it up, just copy the log, clean it up a touch and post it to the Groups file area. All the Session logs for the entire game available for reading. I like to have much of the game info pulled up in various Notepad and Word windows while playing...

Bob McNamee

[Valamir]

Great.  I agree that the format of your other write up was difficult to follow.  If you want to redo it this way, I'll be happy to replace it on the site.

I think you're right on the nose in that the degree of conflict present in the game will completely depend on the group.  Cooperation vs competition is a very group dynamic thing.  

I'm hoping at some point to hear from a group that is split along these lines to discover how effective the Challenge, Fine, and Complication mechanics are at reaching a happy medium for everyone.

Even if you decide not to post them all, make sure to send your write-up to me and then people can read it on the site who are following along.

[Bob McNamee]

Great.  I agree that the format of your other write up was difficult to follow.  If you want to redo it this way, I'll be happy to replace it on the site.

I think you're right on the nose in that the degree of conflict present in the game will completely depend on the group.  Cooperation vs competition is a very group dynamic thing.  

I'm hoping at some point to hear from a group that is split along these lines to discover how effective the Challenge, Fine, and Complication mechanics are at reaching a happy medium for everyone.

Even if you decide not to post them all, make sure to send your write-up to me and then people can read it on the site who are following along.

I'll rewrite that first one, for my own sanity if nothing else.

I'm planning to post all the sessions, unless folks don't like it cluttering up the forums :)

It would be interesting to see a group with diametric story ideas "duke it out". I seem to recall you had a GenCon group that "went wild" with a couple "voices of sanity" trying to keep a semblance of order. Be fun to see the results of a long term game, with players struggling for their vision...

Bob McNamee