As my understanding of the GNS theory grows, so does my awareness of what goes on in my games. Where my last two game-sessions were about Compassion, this post will be about Force.

Summary and challenge:

It’s the end of the third age. The player characters are involved in the war against the Shadow and are currently trying to restore the eight virtues so that mankind will be prepared for the coming war. Having restored the Virtue of Sacrifice last session, my players ended said session by saying they would go for Compassion next.

Fine, but just how the hell do you make a story based on compassion without using overt force?
I spent a lot of time contemplating this, and identified the main problem:
Like the previous game, revolving around the theme of sacrifice, I wanted the players to actually show compassion for them to succeed. Yet this had to come of their own volition, and any use of Force had to be subtle.

The following game is how it turned out.

Set up:

Of my regular group, real life pressure kept Espen (Calem the mage) and Ole Morten (Locklear the doomed) from my table, leaving Christer (Liam the Ranger), Christian (Tengel the knight), Jon (Gorin the dwarf) and Peri (the reformed Joshua) to stare at my screen in anticipation.

The Game:

Declining an offer of hospitality from King Mikail, the four travelled towards Miranna and then Yew, leaving a grateful king and kingdom behind. Crossing the Whitewall Mountains the little group travelled incognito to escape the attention of the Shadow, who now more than ever was intent on stopping them.
Crossing the border they came they noticed a change in the people who tolled under heavy taxes and bad times. The High King’s son had disappeared three years ago and he was bleeding the country dry looking for him. Unrest and talk of rebellion had divided the dukes and earls of the kingdom, and common man bore the burden.

Already my players were throwing my plans awry by deciding to go to Yew, to seek out Calen Barad ancient home of the druids. Following up on a vision granted to them last session.

In the village of Herenshire, they passed a lad who was throwing stones at a dog. When asked why he was tormenting the tied up dog he replied its owner was dead and the dog had not stopped howling since. And when the villager picked on the boy, the boy picked on the dog. Liam freed the dog, fed it, and it bonded to him. Of lack better name it simply became Dog.
The orphan, James, led the four to the local inn and Tengel offered the lad a place as his squire, taking pity on the lad.

Call this the scene setter. Christian had expressed a wish for a squire, and Dog was a simple example of pushing buttons. This was my first use of Force, and relative unsubtle when it comes to that. It a sort of prelude to what was coming. My players leapt at it.

The next morning there was a tense stand-off between the four and the local baron, lord Heren and his men-at-arms. The Lord and his son said that mercenaries were not welcome on their lands and that they would find more luck to the west among the treacherous lords there. Despite their protest the four were sent on their way.
Tengel kept training James in the duties of a squire, using the same discipline he had been trained with himself. Gorin spent the time telling the young lad of the virtues, their adventures and giving him some hint and tips on the upkeep of Lord Tengel’s armour. Liam, who had a falling out with Dog over a forced bath, kept trying to win the dog back, while Joshua used every possible moment to instil some of his independence in the squire. And so the days passed.

We had some great moments here, but I did not want to the group to go to the town of Yew, just to spend the next few hours waiting for them to discuss where to search for clues to Calen Barad. It was time to lay some subtle rails.

One day, at midday they met a familiar face, the half-elf Shea was waiting for them. He told them to travel north, through the Brûntaur (the old forest) which they were just skirting. There at its northern heart lay Calen Barad, and both Allanorn the last druid and Joanna Liam’s long lost wife would wait for them there. He gave them wooden rings that would protect them against the guardians and let them pass into the keep. Warning them of the trolls that had infested the forest he left them on a different errand.

Though the rails were there I think I camouflaged them under the Liam’s wife (major character/player goal) and the promise of help in their quest (several major player/character goals), to the extent that they headed into the old forest willingly.

For days they travelled through the thick forest, often walking because of the difficult terrain. Taking care to hide their tracks and campsites, for Liam had found the tracks of the trolls Shea had mentioned.
Then one morning they came upon a clearing, with old overgrown statues. As they were crossing it there rose a challenge from the clearing’s edge. Lumbering into view was large stone troll and beside it a smallish creature. At first the party thought this to be a wood troll, but Gorin, trollwise, said this was a gnome.

Let me intersect that this is no DnD gnome, but a diminutive, long nosed and pointy eared nordic creature called “Vette”.

Feltcher was the gnome’s name and his large friend was aptly called Bonemarrow, and they were in a pickle. For the evil dark troll that was looking for the party had told Fetlcher on pain of death that he was to capture and kill the party should he find them. Now Feltcher and his huge friend would rather be left alone, but there were nearly three hundred trolls and only five of them. There was off course the possibility of a small toll . . .
“We do not parley with trolls” Tengel cried and battle was joined. Through perseverance, speed and numbers the four heroes (James and Dog watching from the rear) felled Bonemarrow. Killing the large beast.
A cry of anguish rose from the gnome, and he rushed to his fallen comrade’s side. Tengel lifted the despondent creature of the ground and shook him hard, trying to get information out of the gnome. Suddenly James stepped up. Facing his benefactor and master he told him to leave the little fellow alone. A stand off occurred and Tengel let the gnome go. While he continued his debate with his errant squire, the gnome sunk to knees next to his dead friend crying abjectly.
Shamed by the squire all looked upon the gnome who clutched his only friend listening to the woe of Feltcher, what was to become of him? Again James took the lead, offering sympathy to the gnome and the rest couldn’t object when he offered the gnome to come with them. Or that is to say that Tengel and Liam protested but the furious James shamed his betters into compliance, with the aid of Joshua and Gorin. Tengel was both, furious at the insubordination and secretly proud of his squire’s integrity and bravery.
Before they could leave, however, Feltcher wanted to bury his long time friend, and the sight of the little creature trying to dig a hole big enough for the troll with a broken dagger spurred the rest into action. Even Liam who adamantly stated: “I am not burying a troll!” dropped to his knees and dug.

There it was, my moment of triumph. My players got compassion for Feltcher, and it was genuine (as can be in an rpg). By using James, and a whole lot of button pressing (wailing gnome, Dog comforting the little one and so on) I manipulated my players (who were all playing great) into choosing to help the little gnome. Textbook application of Force.
“Uuuurk, he is really blowing his own horn now!”
Sorry, but there is a reason to this.

Having spent the day burying the troll they now made their way to Feltcher’s cave, where they spent the night. Having gained the trust of the little one Joshua got to see the treasures the gnome packed. An elven silver cup (I found it somewhere here), some minor trinkets, and a octagonal, obsidian stone bearing the rune of compassion. Joshua was aghast, the days lesson pounded even more soundly in. They had found the lost Stone of Compassion.

At this stage I think Peri realized what I had been doing in the previous scene. This wasn’t a bad thing, if I read his reaction correctly, and the knowledge soon spread to the other three.

As usual Liam was unable to sleep in the presence of Gorin’s thundering snore so he slunk of into the wilderness. While in the dark of the forest the dark troll hunting them spoke to him, offering Liam his life for leading the rest into an ambush.
Morning came, and a tired Liam woke the rest, before they headed north again, following their wooden rings. While Tengel was training his squire, Liam and Joshua conferred in whispers.
A few days later they were within sight of the hills that held Calen Barad. Night was closing in when Liam told of his visitation by the troll, and of the ambush that waited in the pass ahead. He also told of his plan to cross the hill instead of through the pass, and how he and Joshua had come to this. Tengel took affront because he had not been consulted.

This was actually an issue, but as Christer (Liam) told Chrstian (Tengel) IC, we do not have the time for a six hour discussion. Some one needed to make a call and I made it.
Christian probably felt miffed because it had happened behind his back and that he had no say, but the game went on.

Suffice to say that the Dark Troll had spoken the truth. While the band had huddled in a cold camp most of the trolls in the forest had gathered between them and their objective. And as the group cautiously left the shelter of the forest and made their way up the hillside the ridge above became crowded as five score trolls lined up. Turning they group saw that at the forest edge an equal number of trolls emerged with their blades drawn.
It was Tengel that rose to the occasion, drawing his sword and ordering the rest to follow, he charged the archers on the hill. The sky darkened as arrows filled it, but saved by armour and shields they made their way up the hill, Tengel thundering through the rain of arrows, his quarry growing more and more nervous.
Smashing into the grey troll leader he made short work of him. Breaking the will of the nearest trolls, and as panic spread so did the archers. While Tengel created an opening for the heroes, the trolls behind them charged. Liam turned, and with one arrow broke the line. Leaderless the trolls collapsed from the middle, and soon the hillside was filled with fleeing trolls.

I had never truly expected my players to choose the open ground. Here my use of Force on Liam had pushed him in the opposite direction of what I wanted. The central conflict I wanted was whether they would give up Feltcher inside the pass or fight for him. Now they skirted it and walked into the certain death-choice instead.
I missed big-time, and now I needed to salvage the campaign without cheapening the players’ efforts to escape their doom. Thankfully they did most of the work.
Having learned from previous encounters the characters and the players knew that Grey trolls are notoriously cowardly if faced with great danger. In their desperation they gambled on this, and it worked. This is not to say it was easy, but I shall spare you the blow for blow account.

The battle wasn’t over, with long strides the hairy and horrible sorcerous Dark Troll came up the hill, intent on killing Tengel. Alone the knight again spurred his horse. Magic and steel met yet again in battle, but Tengel’s blade had been tempered in both sorcerer and troll blood. Giving him victory just as his compatriots mounted the hill.
Elated, yet wary they sought out the old druid keep, Gorin facing a guardian and sacrificing his wooden ring to protect Feltcher from a guardian. His deeds secured their passage, and soon Liam ran into the arms of his wife.
As they wintered in the old halls, they had many meetings with both the druid Allarnorn, and an elf prince called Feanor. Training and reading they prepared for spring.

So I got to use my Dark Troll in battle after all. Again the BW combat system held everything in balance until the very end, and it was the edge given to Tengel by his sword’s superior “versus armour” (pun intended) that let him pull through.
In the many meetings that followed it felt like I was laying the rails too close to the surface, and this whole sequence felt unsatisfying. Mainly because it was mostly me narrating the discussions, and the amount of input from my players was slight. It struck me, with hindsight, that here was no need for me to tell them that the virtues had to be restored, and that they had been chosen by fate to do so.
My players have already taken this role, and they are doing it, facing all this hardship, because: it is the right thing to do.

This leads to my conclusion:

The application of force, when done correctly, can enhance scenes greatly and lift the game. The scene where they faced the consequences of their own violence, and subsequently chose to be compassionate towards the broken-hearted gnome stands as one of my greatest role-playing moments. It was further enhanced when my players realised that I had manipulated them for a reason.
However I got so cocky by this success that my subsequent attempts lacked the subtlety needed to work. I also must say that I again made assumptions about my players reactions, and it snuck up and bit me in the ass.
Then there was the “many meetings” sequence where I tried to Force a way for our campaign forward. This became a sort of railroading since I violated our social contract by staking out their future course of action.

The application of Force is dependent on a thorough knowledge of both player and character motivation. It is however a delicate and difficult art, not a science and therefore requires careful use to be effective.


I’ll post part 2, the follow up, soon. Until I have time I’d appreciate feedback and thoughts on the application of force in this manner.

But I’ll leave you with a teaser:

As Tengel and James head off to stall a coming civil war, our heroes head towards Miranna City, to seek out an orphanage that may contain directions to the location of the Shrine of Compassion. As they enter the greates human city they keenly remember Allanorn’s final warning: All the disciples of the Shadow have been human, so the third and final disciple must also be human.

Thanks for yet another great post from your campaign. I always look forward to them. But the question that intrigues me from this post is not about issues of force, but of system:

Negilent wrote: Suffice to say that the Dark Troll had spoken the truth. While the band had huddled in a cold camp most of the trolls in the forest had gathered between them and their objective. And as the group cautiously left the shelter of the forest and made their way up the hillside the ridge above became crowded as five score trolls lined up. Turning they group saw that at the forest edge an equal number of trolls emerged with their blades drawn.

It was Tengel that rose to the occasion, drawing his sword and ordering the rest to follow, he charged the archers on the hill. The sky darkened as arrows filled it, but saved by armour and shields they made their way up the hill, Tengel thundering through the rain of arrows, his quarry growing more and more nervous.

Thanks for the feedback, this has to be quick since I am on way on vacation (with limited internett access, so there will be a delay on future replies).

Rafial wrote:

How was this handled?

Great use of the mechanics, Kaare. You handled that situation with aplomb! Probably better than I would have handled it.

I fully endorse the DOF toss for the arrow hits. Must have been nerve-wracking for the players! But you kept it with the scope of the game.

great stuff, man.

-Luke

Negilent wrote:
hope this answers your question.