[Shadow World] Tales of the Storm Falcon - Part 2

[Fredrik S]

Hello everyone, sorry about the extended silence. It's been about two weeks now since I held the second session of my ShadowQuest game, I just haven't gotten around to writing up a report before. Enough postponing, time to dive into it.

Episode two wasn't nearly as successful as the first, and began downright distasterously. That was mostly my fault, but I managed to regain my footing before it was too late, and the game ended up being quite fun after all. That's the short story.

Session one ended with the skyship Storm Falcon dramatically departing from the Lankan Empire, carrying 23 people destined to be sold as slaves. (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=20084.msg212601#msg212601) I could have picked up the game straight from that point, but this time I also had to deal with involving Jean, the third player in the group. My first thought was to let his character, Rip, wake up as one of the not-slaves in the skyship. Jean wasn't too hot on that idea, so I instead suggested he play through a short prologue starting him in his homeland and leading him to joining the other players. (This was a few days before the game.)

As we were about to start play, Jean suggested that he instead retroactively create a connection to the ship and just jumped back on when they returned to Sel-Kai. Reluctant to let him escape his past that easily, I insisted on going with my idea of him starting home in Rhakhaan. Not the best idea I've had. I had the notion off setting him off with a bang, so I described a scene where his gang rode into an ambush, and his gang leader being overrun by many enemies.
Presented right, I think this could have worked well, only... in my mind the gang leader was already aboard the ship, and Rip somewhere on trail. Which of course meant that this whole thing was about as railroady as you could get, the choices I would offer mostly meaningless. Consequently, the following 10-15 minutes was an exercise in frustration and confusion, as I must have seemed to both run Jean along a set path and encourage him to divert from it. After a little while I realised that this wasn't working and called it off. I made a long story short and cut to Rip being a dock worker in Sel-Kai.

Mike, you said yesterday that my story sounded suspiciosly like a plot. With regards to Rip's character, and my plans for him, that is absolutely right. The root of that lies with the bang suggested for first session, namely that of letting one of the players discovering a friend in one of the crates. I got the idea of having Rip find one of his companions from home in the crate, and I used that to spin a web of intrigue dealing with prisoners being sold into slavery through Sel-Kai. That backstory is still in place, driving what I've put the other two players through. My mistake was to not let go of that particular thread when the bang of discovery was shifted over from Rip to Aldrek. And possibly also to get too attached to my idea of who would be discovered in the crate.

Anyway, in the meantime the other two players were stuck with the problem of what to do with their liberated, but uninvited, comatose and ultimately unwanted passengers. They the closest city to find some way of dealing with them, without getting in trouble themselves. And so they landed in Ashenoq, Nyan Khom and started looking fo a healer. I let them be invited to dine with a local magistrate (and healer, though she never introduced herself as such. The players/characters were quite surprised to find themselves dealing with a woman). She told them that she might be able to help them, and would they be so kind as to give her a tour of the fantastic flying ship? After some misgivings from Aldrek (more women on the ship!?) she was let aboard to inspect the patients, whom she was told were members of the crew that had mysteriously fell into a deep slumber during a Flow Storm. The magistrate didn't buy it and let them know that she could do nothing unless she got the full story. Captain Kelain remained adamant and the magistrate consequently bid them farewell and left them to their own devices.
Well, the players had had enough of their human cargo, they didn't see their responsibillity extending beyond not selling them into slavery. Under cover of darkness they smuggled the sleeping not-slaves out of the ship, left them on the steps of the closest temple and took off back to Sel-Kai.

I think this part of the game suffered a bit from being intercut with Rip's adventures in Rhakhaan. I was distracted and didn't describe the environments as well as I could have, leading to an accusation of giving contradictory information. I don't think I actually did that, but I was clearly not being clear enough. I had an idea of presenting the magistrate as a potential romantic interest, but nothing came of that. Their decision to dump the not-slaves took me completely by surprise. I hadn't planned for that to be a hard choice at all, but they made their choice and took the consequences. It was an unexpected, but also cool development. However, I'm not really sure why they, or mostly Øyvind, were so insistant on secrecy. I probably should ask about that.

Getting back to Rip/Jean, I'd suggested that a mad seer had told him he'd find his friend in The Storm Falcon, and that he happened to be near the skyship docks when the Falcon landed. He grumbled a bit about that, claiming he 'didn't believe in that superstition shit',  wanted to rather have tracked the ship by old fashioned footwork. Honestly, I wouldn't have minded him doing that; something like that was in fact what I'd had in mind to begin with. For whatever reason though, the parallell plotlines concept had fallen flat, and I didn't want to skip past what would have been a whole lot of investigation and skull-cracking with just an off-hand remark. And that's how I skipped to the end of the rail and got the game back up and running.

After a bit of dawdling Jean did eventually send his character up to the ship, asking the captain if 'this is the slave ship Storm Falcon'. A few indignant exchanges later the misunderstanding was cleared up and all three of them were on their way to confront the agent responsible for landing them with the slave cargo in the first place. And that's where the fun started to pick up again. They found Hiiri, the man they sought, cowering in his office in an extremely nervous state. He began pleading for understanding, explaining his misery and asking for help (it wasn't my fault, the White Hand made me do it, they have my daughter!) all the while trying to pour himself a drink (which Rip promtly confiscated for himself). Captain Kelain would have none of it and demanded more money to compensate for the lost bonus, insult and the exorbitant bribe he'd been forced to pay). Then, maybe, they would consider. He grudgingly gave them some of what they asked for and asked for it to get the rest of it. When they came back the next day, three thugs were waiting for them in his office, with two more coming up the stairs behind them.

Okay, we'd had a few contests before that, but this was the big conflict, and a fight scene even. The players immediately began describing their maneuvers and got ready to roll dice, thinking of going with one contest for each player. This was the first real group conflict in the game, and I wasn't quite sure how to handle it myself. I almost went along with it, but in the last minute i interjected with a suggestion of rolling it all up into one contest. They agreed with this quite readily, conceding that adding up the results of three simultaneous contests might be a bit tricky.
Now, here's a mechanical issue to consider. I set a resistance of 17m. I didn't record what they ended up at, but with all their augments added, even with a -6 from being outnumbered they reached a similar value. For that kind of situation, what would you say I set an appropriate resistance? Too high? Too low? Either way, when the dice settled they ended up with a Minor Victory. (Again. It seems most of our contests end up falling between Minor Defeat and Minor Victory) In all the excitement, I'd forgotten to mention stakes before rolling, so we had a bit of negotiation to come up with what had actually happened. I first stated that the PCs escaped, but that clearly didn't make sense, so we instead decided that they succeeded in breaking the ambush, but that all their opponents got away. We all enjoyed this method of conflict resolution, the only thing I'm worried about is the possible inflation in use augments. Do you think it's an idea to enforce a three augments only rule for group contests? Incidentally, as we're using Advancement through Contests, we also went with shared rewards and penalties.

Some quick mention of other stuff that went on during the game. Aldrek trying to recruit a new second mate, after the previous one was murdered. He failed at this twice, once in Ashenoq and once in Sel-Kai. The second one was the most interesting; how could the master sailor that he was fail that task the northern trade capital? A lot of candidates that didn't measure up to his high standards, and one highly qualified idiot that Aldrek didn't want on his ship. This rejection wasn't taken kindly and led to a bar brawl that Aldrek won handily.
After the first meeting Hiiri, Aldrek and Rip decided to have a bit of fun with the dreaded 'White Hand' (a crime syndicate from the other side of the continent), by establishing 'The White Foot' and painting white footprints on doors all around the city.
Meanwhile, Kelain went up to Eidolon (the flying city high above Sel-Kai) to have a chat with the officer who had boarded the ship looking for slaves (or a fat bribe). He made a good roll/impression and managed to get a few tips on who might be behind the slave ring.

Okay, I think that's it about that.

Cheers.
Fredrik

[sebastianz]

Hi, Fredrik.

It still sounds like great fun.

As we were about to start play, Jean suggested that he instead retroactively create a connection to the ship and just jumped back on when they returned to Sel-Kai. Reluctant to let him escape his past that easily, I insisted on going with my idea of him starting home in Rhakhaan. Not the best idea I've had. I had the notion off setting him off with a bang, so I described a scene where his gang rode into an ambush, and his gang leader being overrun by many enemies.
Presented right, I think this could have worked well, only... in my mind the gang leader was already aboard the ship, and Rip somewhere on trail. Which of course meant that this whole thing was about as railroady as you could get, the choices I would offer mostly meaningless. Consequently, the following 10-15 minutes was an exercise in frustration and confusion, as I must have seemed to both run Jean along a set path and encourage him to divert from it. After a little while I realised that this wasn't working and called it off. I made a long story short and cut to Rip being a dock worker in Sel-Kai.

Sometimes it's hard to let your preparation rest. A bang may be so beautiful that you are tempted to use it. At best the players will love it, at worst they get irritated and think that you want them to go in a certain direction. But I think you handled that right. At the beginning you have more freedom to set up a situation. And it's great that you noticed things weren't going as planned and changed that. That's good.

She told them that she might be able to help them, and would they be so kind as to give her a tour of the fantastic flying ship? After some misgivings from Aldrek (more women on the ship!?) she was let aboard to inspect the patients, whom she was told were members of the crew that had mysteriously fell into a deep slumber during a Flow Storm. The magistrate didn't buy it and let them know that she could do nothing unless she got the full story. Captain Kelain remained adamant and the magistrate consequently bid them farewell and left them to their own devices.

Now I wonder, did you make this a contest (or offer one) or just play it out?

It was an unexpected, but also cool development. However, I'm not really sure why they, or mostly Øyvind, were so insistant on secrecy. I probably should ask about that.

It's a really cool move. Make sure it comes back to them, though. Perhaps one of the slaves was only paralyzed and witnessed everything around him. Now he accuses the players as slavers. Or seeks revenge. Or some official saw the whole thing.

[Okay, we'd had a few contests before that, but this was the big conflict, and a fight scene even. The players immediately began describing their maneuvers and got ready to roll dice, thinking of going with one contest for each player. This was the first real group conflict in the game, and I wasn't quite sure how to handle it myself. I almost went along with it, but in the last minute i interjected with a suggestion of rolling it all up into one contest. They agreed with this quite readily, conceding that adding up the results of three simultaneous contests might be a bit tricky.
Now, here's a mechanical issue to consider. I set a resistance of 17m. I didn't record what they ended up at, but with all their augments added, even with a -6 from being outnumbered they reached a similar value. For that kind of situation, what would you say I set an appropriate resistance? Too high? Too low? Either way, when the dice settled they ended up with a Minor Victory. (Again. It seems most of our contests end up falling between Minor Defeat and Minor Victory) In all the excitement, I'd forgotten to mention stakes before rolling, so we had a bit of negotiation to come up with what had actually happened. I first stated that the PCs escaped, but that clearly didn't make sense, so we instead decided that they succeeded in breaking the ambush, but that all their opponents got away. We all enjoyed this method of conflict resolution, the only thing I'm worried about is the possible inflation in use augments. Do you think it's an idea to enforce a three augments only rule for group contests? Incidentally, as we're using Advancement through Contests, we also went with shared rewards and penalties.

Yeah, making it just one contest sounds right to me. After all, they are all in the same situation, so why separate things artificially? What you didn't tell: Was this an extended contest or just a simple? With an EC you'd have one contest but with the feel of many.
About the resistance. That is always a little tricky. Take a look at probabilities. Having about the same target number (including masteries), each side has a 50%chance of victory. Two masteries difference and the contest becomes quite one-sided. You said this was the big contest. Therefore, the resistance needs to be at least around the level of the players, considering all augments. A few points off don't matter. You could even set it a little higher. But it's still early in the campaign, so I think it was all right. Also, the fight looks pretty tough. I mean, three (?) PCs took on five thugs, almost double their number. So the heroes are no little wussies, but can't take out an army on their own. Sounds excellent to me.
I see no reason to limit augments. Have everyone narrate the augments they are going to use and you get a nice picture of what's going on. I call that the Wushu approach. This also naturally limits the number of augments, as at some point the description begins to drag. That also applies for "always on" abilities like strong. If you don't want to bother with a long description you can just offer them a fixed amount (say +10, later more) and let them describe a short bit of action.

Some quick mention of other stuff that went on during the game. Aldrek trying to recruit a new second mate, after the previous one was murdered. He failed at this twice, once in Ashenoq and once in Sel-Kai. The second one was the most interesting; how could the master sailor that he was fail that task the northern trade capital? A lot of candidates that didn't measure up to his high standards, and one highly qualified idiot that Aldrek didn't want on his ship. This rejection wasn't taken kindly and led to a bar brawl that Aldrek won handily.

That's cool. One thing to explain it, though

asking the captain if 'this is the slave ship Storm Falcon'

is to have got a bad reputation as a slaver. Someone of the crew couldn't keep his mouth shut. Perhaps intentionally?

Just a few thoughts. Keep us posted, it's great stuff.

Sebastian.

[Fredrik S]

Thanks Sebastian. It's good to get feedback.

About letting my preparation rest, that situation was also a good lesson on the dangers of assumptions. See, one of the things I had in mind was a scene where Rip confronts the governor (in whatever fashion) and is offered a choice: information in exchange for burning down a certain town house. That could have gone any number of interesting ways, but when I belatedly realised that he didn't necessarily have to seek out the governor at all, and in fact had no intention of doing that I was lost at sea. Reminds me of one scenario in the Sel-Kai source book, a very rigidly structured adventure built upon the premise that one appointed player character will do that, and then this, and finally experience this specific climatic scene. (In which the characters are saved from certain death by a powerful NPC)

(...)The magistrate didn't buy it and let them know that she could do nothing unless she got the full story. Captain Kelain remained adamant and the magistrate consequently bid them farewell and left them to their own devices.

Now I wonder, did you make this a contest (or offer one) or just play it out?

There was no contest here, nor did anyone suggest one. This was just the way it happened; I demanded more information, they refused, I shrugged and said "fine, have it your way then". I'm not exaggerating much either. At the time I was personally a bit annoyed at them for being so difficult. In retrospect I realised that this was an outcome that opened up lots of new possiblities, which is indeed cool. I have some ideas of my own, perhaps I'll work in some of your suggestions as well.

I see no reason to limit augments. Have everyone narrate the augments they are going to use and you get a nice picture of what's going on. I call that the Wushu approach. This also naturally limits the number of augments, as at some point the description begins to drag.

Okay, that sounds fair. I'm with you so far.

If you don't want to bother with a long description you can just offer them a fixed amount (say +10, later more) and let them describe a short bit of action.

Here I'm afraid you lost me. I really don't know what you're suggesting here. Could you elaborate please?

As to your last point, if your asking why Rip confronted the others with the accusation of slave trading, well.. there's no full in-game explanation of why Rip would think that. As I said, we took a short-cut past exactly how he got the name of the ship, but he had somehow learned that his boss was held aboard it. As for the other point, that the rumour of slave trade might have associated itself with their ship? Why, certainly it might. And that may very well come up.
If we're able to pull off another session before I leave for England...

[sebastianz]

Here I'm afraid you lost me. I really don't know what you're suggesting here. Could you elaborate please?

I don't know if you are familiar with Wushu. It demands that the players add details to their descriptions in order to earn more dice. There usually is a die-cap. Instead of hunting for details to add players can filibuster. It means that the players don't have to count details, but narrate a short bit. For this they get maximum dice. So I suggested doing something similar in HQ (hence Wushu approach). First, let players narrate every trait they want to augment with. Or second, let them filibuster and give them a fixed amount for it (the die cap maximum). Of course, some of their traits should be in the narration. I have not tested this filibustering in HQ, so I don't know if this would work.

As to your last point, if your asking why Rip confronted the others with the accusation of slave trading, well..

Sorry for the confusion. I actually just wanted to suggest an explanation for the difficulties in finding new crewmen. Something that could haunt them for some time longer. I mean, it's so cool to have a bad reputation - especially if it's undeserved. It's an open invitation for lots of difficulties.

Hope, I could clarify

Sebastian.

[Alexandre Santos]

I have not tested this filibustering in HQ, so I don't know if this would work.

If you ever try, please take the time to write on a new thread how it went, I'm pretty interested in that approach.

[Fredrik S]

I don't know if you are familiar with Wushu. It demands that the players add details to their descriptions in order to earn more dice. There usually is a die-cap. Instead of hunting for details to add players can filibuster.

Ah, I see what you mean now. Thanks. I'll keep that in mind as a possible technique. It'll probably be a while before I get to play again, so if in the meantime you get a chance to test it, by all means write a report about it.

Sorry for the confusion. I actually just wanted to suggest an explanation for the difficulties in finding new crewmen. Something that could haunt them for some time longer. I mean, it's so cool to have a bad reputation - especially if it's undeserved. It's an open invitation for lots of difficulties.

No worries. I was pretty sure I understood you, I just wanted to add a bit of clarification of my own, to root out any possible misunderstandings.

Fredrik