Well of Souls 4--Endgame?

[Peter Nordstrand]

This thread is a continuation of Well of Souls 1, Well of Souls 2, and Curse You Rickard--Well of Souls 3.

If you would like to have a copy of the 1 MB fully illustrated scenario pdf, let me know, and I'll send you a copy.

Player heroes are still Sir Giliam, Dacius, and Rickard.

We are finally about to play Well of Souls again tomorrow. It is just bad luck and bad planning, not lack of interest, that has kept us from playing in a loooong time.

Here are some prep notes:

I am aiming for two things. First, I want to empower the players by giving them more information (thanx Chris!). Last session, the NPCs were rather passive, but now it is time for them to act. Hopefully, all hell will break loose.

SIR GILIAM
His daughter, Sister Josette, will need to make a couple of decisions. Probably these: 1) Tell her father that she is pregnant. 2) Accept Assessor Ratier's proposal to marry her (she is still early in the pregnancy, so nobody will need to know who the real father is).

Last session, Sir Giliam Sir Giliam invited both Assessor Ratier and Sister Josette to dinner, and I plan to make the dinner Sir Giliam's first scene.

Assessor Ratier has promised Sir Giliam to assist in the heroquest to retrieve Lord Eustef's soul. (He will conduct the ritual to open the way to the Other Side.) The dinner is an opportunity to give the player a little more information about heroquesting by having Assessor Ratier explain how it works. (The player is new to Glorantha and HeroQuest.)

Currently, lord Eustef's body is possessed by the ghost of Anmak (Rickard's former follower). Anmak is confused and suffers from severe amnesia, so he accepts anything his closest advisors tell him. Serge convinces him to outlaw the "dangerous disloyal thieves" Giliam and Old Maslin (who both have confessed to a crime that never took place). So, Serge and his men will try to drive away Giliam and take over his fief. This time they have their Lord's permission.

DACIUS
You may remember that Dacius is the illegitimate son of Father Rance. In Dacius' first scene, Rance will tell him that he has discovered that Eustef is possessed by an evil spirit. He will warn his son that he has sent for the Inquisition. He may also inform him of the Lord's sudden decision to outlaw two of his own knights (see above).

A large angry lynch-mob, instigated by Etienne and his father Deliam, will attack the home of rival merchant Raol de Nesle. This is actually the result of Dacius' plotting. Naturally, Dacius will have the opportunity to decide whether to help the innocent merchant and his even more innocent family or not.

Hugo gets outlawed for conspiring against his older brother Guilbert, based on "evidence" provided by Dacius. --> Brier decides to avenge her beloved master by going after the traitorous Dacius.

Important to remember: Dacius is Xavier's assistant, and Xavier is very loyal to Hugo.

RICKARD
Wait a minute ... Rickard is one of Xavier's best students. Another connection I must not forget!

Anyway, Rickard and Lady Colette, Lord Eustef's sister in law, are responsible for the entire Eustef/Anmak situation. They were trying to revive the comatose Lord by performing this human sacrifice on Anmak, but something went wrong. Now, Lady Colette convinces Eustef/Anmak to replace garrison leader Trencavel with this promising young soldier Rickard. However, once the Lord actually sees his newly appointed head of garrison, he will snap. He cannot remember why, but he intensely hates Rickard. This will be Rickard's first scene, I think. I wonder what will happen.

Problem: What about Rickard's relic spear? It is obviously powerful and important. Since Rickard is now tainted by human sacrifice, it will most likely treat him like it treated Lady Colette: by burning his hands. However, this spear has become a mystery of sorts. Rickard tried to find out more about it, but I never really told him anything. Shouldn't there be some kind of revelation here? Something ought to happen regarding this relic, but I don't know what. This powerful thing is becoming quite anticlimactic, I think.  

What we know about it so far: It was the spear that killed Saint Xemela. One of Trencavel's ancestors got hold of it while on a crucade in Ralios. It has the power Killing Blast of Light and Explosion (or something) 10W2.

Suggestions anyone?

ADDITIONAL NOTE:
Father Rance is likely to inform other trustworthy people of the possession. Who is trustworthy? Well, anybody who gets outlawed by the Lord is a good candidate.

Cheers,

/Peter N

[Peter Nordstrand]

There are two sides to every story.

What everybody knows
While Lord Eustef's "soul" was captured by the earth daimon Dame Ophidia of the Moist Between the Rocks, his body was possessed by an evil demonic entity. The possessed Lord Eustef outlawed Sir Giliam, Sir Maslin, and even his own son Hugo. He also fired Trencavel, head of the garrison of Wells, and attacked Rickard for obscure reasons.

Seven men went on a quest to retrieve Eustef's soul: Sir Giliam and his squire, Rickard, Dacius, Alfan, Hugo, and Trencavel. Only Dacius survived to tell their story. Most died in battle against Dame Ophidia. Sir Giliam was killed when the daimon turned the very earth against him.

In the final moment, when all seemed lost, Rickard sacrificed himself and traded his life for Eustef's. Dacius managed to slip away while the brave peasant was torn to pieces by the daimon.

Lord Eustef was saved. The Inquisition investigated the matter, and discovered that Lady Colette was the evil sorceress responsible for the possession. She was burned at the stake. Rickard received a hero's funeral.

The peasants of Sir Giliam's fief had supported him in the quest. When he failed, the land became infertile and infested with snakes and sickness. Nobody lives there today. His daughter Josette, however, married Lord Eustef's son Guilbert. One day she will become Lady Josette of Spring Fountain.

Dacius is glad just to be alive. He is still the assistant of swordsmaster Xavier.

The Secret
At the final stage of the heroquest, when only Rickard was still standing, Rickard changed strategy. Realizing that he could not defeat the goddess, he decided to join her instead. He seduced her, and they made a deal. She would put his soul in Lord Eustef's body. In return, he would free her from her prison mound, allowing her to once again influence the mortal world as a landscape daimon.

Thus, Lord Eustef's soul is still imprisoned in her realm, and Rickard is the real ruler of Spring Fountain. And as Lord Eustef, Rickard framed his former lover Colette for all the bad things that had happened.

And
More later about the important stuff: what actually happened at the gaming table. Please ask questions.

At this point, in the middle of the night, after the best roleplaying experience I've had in years, I'll say only this:

Thank you Chris Chinn, Mike Holmes, Ralph Mazza, and Ron Edwards for superb advice, and invaluable help. I owe you big time!

/Peter Nordstrand

[Valamir]

Whatever ever happened to the Spear?

I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to post before you played, because to me that Spear was just screaming for a Dolorous Stroke type event.  Something that would send ripples through the world far beyond the course of events being portrayed here, and possibly form the kernal for your next adventure in the same setting.

[Mike Holmes]

Ya gotta love it when the bad guys burn each other.

Have you guys decided to end the story? The game as a whole? What were the player comments about this?

I don't know if I could leave the potential Dacius/Rickard conflict unsettled.

Mike

[Bankuei]

Hi Peter,

Glad to hear things went well!  Looking back, with a little more experience, Well of Souls may be a solid Nar scenario, but it certainly isn't a simple one!  But I'm glad to see you took the openness of the characters to interpret the how's and why's of the backstory!    I could easily see the Spear serving as a continuing link to other games or storylines.

Here's my list of questions:

-After defining the focal conflict, did you find it easier to prep between sessions?
-Did you occassionally catch yourself slipping into "force-heavy" GMing(railroading)?
-How did the players do as taking up protagonism, instead of looking for GM cues?
-What premise did you feel come forward from play?

Chris

[Mike Holmes]

Theme, Chris, theme. :-)

Oh, and when does this get published?

Mike

[Peter Nordstrand]

Hi,

Thank you for you comments and questions. I will post proper replies later today.

Oh, and when does this get published?

Well of Souls is now available here:

http://www.geocities.com/doctorpeace/well.html



/Cheers

[Peter Nordstrand]

Hi,

I'm not saying everything went 100% perfectly. I made a lot of stupid little mistakes, but the final session was such an enjoyable experience that it didn't really matter. I think most of mistakes were made as a consequence of me firing off too many Bangs in the first session; trying to juggle too many balls at the same time, I was bound to drop a few.

Whatever ever happened to the Spear?

I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to post before you played, because to me that Spear was just screaming for a Dolorous Stroke type event. Something that would send ripples through the world far beyond the course of events being portrayed here, and possibly form the kernal for your next adventure in the same setting.

Rickard was scared of the relic spear, and buried it under the floor of his house. It took root, and slowly began to grow into a menacing leafless tree with occult symbols covering the bark. Rickard never really tried to uproot it or cut it down, so it is still growing...

The tree may very well form the essential part of a future adventure. The deceitful actions of the Lord has created a cancerous remnant that will not go away until justice is done in the bannerety of Spring Fountain. I like the Dolorous Stroke idea, and the Spear Tree may very well turn out to play an important part in the future of the kingdom.

Have you guys decided to end the story? The game as a whole? What were the player comments about this?

This was the final session, I think. The game ended late, and we did not have a lot of time to talk about matters like these, but we did wrap things up. We were tired, so things were overlooked, but there was a definite sense of conclusion. Once the deal was made between Rickard and Ophidia, we didn't really play things out. Rather, we talked about the consequences, and agreed upon an ending. It all seemed quite natural at the time. Will there be a sequel? Too early to say.

I don't know if I could leave the potential Dacius/Rickard conflict unsettled.

Oh no mister. It is settled. There is no Dacius/Rickard conflict. Dacius completely misinterpreted Rickard's seduction of Ophidia. He saw Rickard being torn to pieces by a thousand writhing limbs. We know  that it was a morbid sex act, but Dacius doesn't. Note that this is the player's own interpetation, not something I made up.

A side note for a potential future adventure: What if Ophidia gets pregnant with Rickard's child?

More later...

/Peter N

[Valamir]

Sweet.  I would love to see a follow up campaign set years later with new characters, with these characters as NPCs.  The Spear Tree spreading cancerous blight throughout the land...general nastiness.  Very cool.

[Mike Holmes]

That's why I said "potential." I just can't stand to see Dacius fooled, and Rickard get away with it. My point is, what would happen if Dacius found out somehow...

Too cool.

Mike

[Peter Nordstrand]

Hi Chris,

After defining the focal conflict, did you find it easier to prep between sessions?

Yes, the first session required much more prep than the following ones, if that's what you suggest. In fact, I discovered that the more I tried to play the NPCs as characters, as opposed to story elements, the easier it got. yes, I know that this is in your introduction to the scenario, but actual play made it quite obvious.

Did you occasionally catch yourself slipping into "force-heavy" GMing(railroading)?

No, not really. I cannot rule out that the players may have made some decisions based on the perception that there was some kind of pre-planned plot, but I don't think so. Did I try to push events in a certain direction or try to influence the players to make certain choices? I did let the NPCs express strong opinions about what the player heroes should do, but as a GM, I tried not to. At one point, when Rickard made his successful attempt to seduce Dame Ophidia, I wanted him to succeed and deliberately set the resistance very low (14, as opposed to the 3-4 masteries she had on everything else). In retrospect, I probably just should have ended the conflict. It was clearly in both Ophidia's and Rickard's best interest to strike a deal; no conflict, no die-roll is a good principle.

However, I did apply a lot of force, especially during the last session. I wanted to force the players to make decisions. And in the future, I am likely to "railroad" the players to these points of decision even more firmly.

How did the players do as taking up protagonism, instead of looking for GM cues?

I was so busy trying to look for cues from them that I didn't really think of this. Stupid me. It is likely that Dacius' player was waiting for me to impose a plot on him. I never addressed the problem properly, however. If indeed there was a problem.

More later. (Saving the most interesting question till last.)

Cheers,

/Peter N

[Bankuei]

Hi Peter,

Glad to hear how well it went.  It's a very different mentality when the GM realizes that the only two major "differences" between GM'ing and playing are the power over scene framing and introducing conflict on the GM's side.

Instead of trying to guess what each player might do, you just roleplay, roleplay, roleplay, from actor to author to director stance, any you want, and it flies very well when you've defined the conflicts and motivations involved.  HQ is very nice in setting up general conflicts and motivations, and leaves enough room to plug in any sort of characters you want who fulfill or violate the expected conflicts.

However, I did apply a lot of force, especially during the last session. I wanted to force the players to make decisions. And in the future, I am likely to "railroad" the players to these points of decision even more firmly.

That's good Scene Framing!  That's driving those Bangs!  Some people feel very uncomfortable about that, but it really puts on the pressure and the action, and once the players get that you're not hosing them, but leaving the "answer" open for them to create, they usually enjoy it.

Can't wait to hear more.

Chris

PS- I love the clean up you did on my writing, plus some of the Bangs you've added/altered.