CPXB, or any other of my players reading this thread, shoo. I'm hoping to get a bit of advice about Bangs, to help me in the session coming up Wednesday. The actual play thread is here. The PCs are an aristo Stephan, looking for land, love, and glory; a Seer Barbon, of unknown desires; and a local rancher's second son Lokesh, looking to distinguish himself. So far, the PCs have been to a festival to meet and greet, then ridden off to save a village on Nayan's land from a plague and are just coming back to the city with some suspiciously sorcerous-looking bones.

Here are the major NPCs introduced so far:

Fiora, wife of the absent vicar Maldeo. She seemed to get on well with Stephan. She and her husbands are foreigners, appointed to rule Manjipe by the king. Not much here yet, although the group may be visiting her soon to use her library (she was a scholar, before moving to Manjipor).

Dhavlesh and Tulasi are two young lovers from the area. Dhavlesh has already distinguished himself in fighting, and Tulasi is a social success at court. They're engaged since childhood, perfect couple, etc. Except that Dhavlesh stole an evil book ten years ago, when he was a whelp serving in Border skirmishes, and lately he can't resist the lure of taking it out and reading it. Tulasi knows or suspects that he's messing with dark powers, but doesn't know what to do. She's looking for someone to help fix her relationship--or someone to trade up to.

Nayan is an older, respected landholder who has done his duty and wants to live in peace. Ten years ago a failed Shadow raid delivered a strange book into his hands; a little while later, another wave of the same series of attacks killed his wife. The book gave instructions for speaking with the dead, and he made the first preparations before putting the book aside in a crisis of conscience. The next morning, the book was gone, and the secret has shadowed his years since.

His daughter Asha, who was a young girl then, knows at least some of what happened. She wants to protect her father's secret. For herself, she's a painfully shy young woman who's come to court because Nayan insists it's unhealthy for her to hide away on his estate. She's also his only heir.

Vitale is an envoy from Portona, a northern province of the kingdom. Taxes levied on Portona pay for mercenaries to defend the Border, so the more short-sighted or greedy Portonans want Manjipe to break away from the kingdom to remove their tax burden. So, Vitale might be in the area to stir up trouble, or he might just be semi-exiled to a shit post from home--I'm thinking vaguely of Londo from the earlier seasons of Babylon 5. He has a young assistant, Delfino, to play the role of Vir (long-suffering lackey, that is).

The elephant in the room at court is the ghost of the Takkarian Empire. The province of Manjipe is all that's left of that vast country, now swallowed by Shadow. The king of Tarencia was forced on the Borderers only a hundred years ago, and many of the local aristocrats still cherish dreams of independence. The memory of empire, coupled with their current dire straits, gives rise to the famed Borderer pride (and courage--one common saying in the books is "Borderers always run the wrong way").

The other issue, which I probably should have mentioned first except that it's not yet well-defined, is the vampire. One of the players mentioned that he thought it would be neat if there was a vampire stirring up intrigue at court. I liked the idea, and I hope that by now I've embellished it enough to still hold some surprises for him.

With regards to the above NPCs, the book that Dhavlesh has (that he stole from Nayan) belonged to the vampire, who wants it back. He can't take it directly because Dhavlesh has learned enough from the book to protect himself magically. A less direct approach is required--and besides, the vampire was originally from Manjipe before falling to the Shadow, so he probably has old grudges to settle at court.

Okay, I hope that was a reasonable framework to set things up, without drowning everyone in detail. My current ideas for Bangs are as follows.

Stephan is approached by Asha, who's received a note claiming that he can expose her father's secrets. She will plead with him not to betray her father, offering herself as the only payment she has. (Note that Stephan has no such secrets, although he may eventually piece them together.) To sweeten the deal if he seems disinterested, she'll offer to have a Seer verify her words--after all, why should he believe her? Then, finally, she's even willing to marry him if he gives his word not to persecute Nayan. Following the example of the bangs in the Dornish crown thread, I've tried to distill the question this asks: Is Stephan more interested in the promise of a wife and land or in satisfying his curiosity?

Assuming nothing else demands the screen time, I'll then turn to Barbon, in a scene that happens concurrently. He's approached by Delfino, Vitale's assistant (who is completely infatuated with Asha). Delfino will explain that he knows Barbon is a Seer, and that he needs Barbon to read someone's mind because one of Delfino's friends is about to make a terrible mistake. That'd be Asha, of course. Delfino tried to talk her out of believing the note, but she panicked. So, he wants Barbon to read the thoughts of Dhavlesh, who he thinks sent the note. He'll explain that he's heard of the financial troubles of Barbon's family up north, and he could persuade Vitale to exert influence on their behalf. The question: Will Barbon choose professional ethics or prosperity for his family?

It probably won't come up for a few sessions at least, but I'm thinking of making the vampire Lokesh's grand- or great-grandfather. He's the only PC from the area, and has been the most concerned so far with his family, so using that tie is irresistable.

I could use any of the following: feedback on the bangs I've worked up, suggestions for more (especially for Barbon), questions about the NPCs, or anything else that comes to mind. :) I'm also noticing that my bang ideas so far include isolating the PC in question, because I'm worried that one of the others would say something and make the decision via peer pressure instead of character development. Is this normal?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Adrienne wrote: The PCs are an aristo Stephan, looking for land, love, and glory; a Seer Barbon, of unknown desires; and a local rancher's second son Lokesh, looking to distinguish himself.

So far, the PCs have been to a festival to meet and greet, then ridden off to save a village on Nayan's land from a plague and are just coming back to the city with some suspiciously sorcerous-looking bones.

The elephant in the room at court is the ghost of the Takkarian Empire. The province of Manjipe is all that's left of that vast country, now swallowed by Shadow.

The other issue, which I probably should have mentioned first except that it's not yet well-defined, is the vampire. One of the players mentioned that he thought it would be neat if there was a vampire stirring up intrigue at court. I liked the idea, and I hope that by now I've embellished it enough to still hold some surprises for him.

With regards to the above NPCs, the book that Dhavlesh has (that he stole from Nayan) belonged to the vampire, who wants it back. He can't take it directly because Dhavlesh has learned enough from the book to protect himself magically. A less direct approach is required--and besides, the vampire was originally from Manjipe before falling to the Shadow, so he probably has old grudges to settle at court.

Stephan is approached by Asha, who's received a note claiming that he can expose her father's secrets. She will plead with him not to betray her father, offering herself as the only payment she has. (Note that Stephan has no such secrets, although he may eventually piece them together.)

To sweeten the deal if he seems disinterested,

she'll offer to have a Seer verify her words--after all, why should he believe her?

Then, finally, she's even willing to marry him if he gives his word not to persecute Nayan.

Assuming nothing else demands the screen time, I'll then turn to Barbon, in a scene that happens concurrently.

He's approached by Delfino, Vitale's assistant (who is completely infatuated with Asha). Delfino will explain that he knows Barbon is a Seer,

and that he needs Barbon to read someone's mind because one of Delfino's friends is about to make a terrible mistake. That'd be Asha, of course. Delfino tried to talk her out of believing the note, but she panicked. So, he wants Barbon to read the thoughts of Dhavlesh, who he thinks sent the note. He'll explain that he's heard of the financial troubles of Barbon's family up north, and he could persuade Vitale to exert influence on their behalf. The question: Will Barbon choose professional ethics or prosperity for his family?

It probably won't come up for a few sessions at least, but I'm thinking of making the vampire Lokesh's grand- or great-grandfather. He's the only PC from the area, and has been the most concerned so far with his family, so using that tie is irresistable.

I could use any of the following: feedback on the bangs I've worked up, suggestions for more (especially for Barbon), questions about the NPCs, or anything else that comes to mind. :) I'm also noticing that my bang ideas so far include isolating the PC in question, because I'm worried that one of the others would say something and make the decision via peer pressure instead of character development. Is this normal?

Yikes. Good feedback. I'm not sure what I'll do if I can't get things straightened out by tomorrow night, since I suspect my ideas might be equally confusing for my players.

Mike Holmes wrote: OK, you give only a small amount of detail for the PCs, and lots for the NPCs. All backwards. Bangs are not about finding out what the NPCs are doing that's interesting to the PCs. Bangs are about finding out the PCs issues, and making the NPCs do things to bring those out. You may be doing this already, but it's hard for us to help if we don't know the PC motives.

OK, we'll keep that in mind as background. Are any of the PCs invovled in the issue? That is, do they have goals that revolve around this fact? If not, then I'm afraid that it would be bad advice to tell you to make it a central issue. Instead use it as backdrop for what the players are really interested in, in terms of their characters.

Which NPC is the vampire? He's not on the list. So you're saying that he's a "monster" and not an NPC? Vampires are the ultimate NPC. He should be at court, seeing people at night, fooling everyone into thinking he's just some harmless member of the retinue or something. That is, why not have it that he previously insinuated himself into the court, and is now just another NPC for the players to meet. Who they'll then be stunned to find out is a vampire when it happens.

Stephan is approached by Asha, who's received a note claiming that he can expose her father's secrets. She will plead with him not to betray her father, offering herself as the only payment she has. (Note that Stephan has no such secrets, although he may eventually piece them together.)

To be clear, some party X sent the note claiming that Stephen has her secrets? Who was the sender? Why did he send the note?

Disinterested in dropping the curiosity that he'll presumably have once she starts telling him about the note? This is assuming something, I think. What if Stephen's player stops her and tells her that he sent no such note? What if he takes the honest approach? Actually, that works out fine, I think, because it says that he's honest. But none of the extra fallout that you discuss will occur if he goes this rout.

I have a feeling that I'm missing something here.

she'll offer to have a Seer verify her words--after all, why should he believe her?

Verify that she's willing to go to bed with him? There seems to be a simple enough verification method there.

You might want to "lead" into this somewhat so that Stephen's player is more prepared. Like somebody letting him know that Asha seems to be worried about Stephen for some reason. Then he might be looking for blood in the water when she comes to him.

Bangs shouldn't neccessarily be scheduled like this. Ask the players what they're doing first, and then insinuate them when they make the most sense. Doesn't mean that you can't follow one upon another. Just that you don't need to plan this out neccessarily. Bangs are not a script for the session, they are events to throw in when neccessary.

He's approached by Delfino, Vitale's assistant (who is completely infatuated with Asha). Delfino will explain that he knows Barbon is a Seer,

How does he know? The player will want to know, and will ask, in-character if he has to, to find out, given that he's been hiding it so far. So you have to have a damn good reason for how he knows. Perhaps another seer discovered the fact? Or he has some magic item that he got specifically to track down a seer? Whatever is the simplest and most plausible reason. If you can link it back into play somehow that's cool, but allow the player to basically have "gotten away" with being incognito for the moment. Or he'll resent you destroying all that effort that he's put into it with just fiat.

So was it Dhavlesh? Why would he pressure Asha like this? Or is it that he was going to approach her, and she jumped the gun and assumed that the annonymous note must be from Stephen? What is it he wants from Asha? Is it simple blackmail? What will he do when he hears that she thinks it Stephen? Won't he try to clear things up?

Cool. Again even more cool if the character is at court and he finds out that the charming guy that's been cozying up to them is, in fact Lokesh's great-grandfather. Like learning first that some innocuous dude is, in fact, Darth Vader, before learning that he's Luke's father.

Ok, first: open the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Read the large, friendly letters that appear as you open it: ~DON'T PANIC.~ :) Seriously.

You'll do fine. You were already doing fine before, even when you weren't using bangs. You were all having fun playing. You're now merely adding another GMing technique to what you were already doing, that's all. At the worst your bangs will not operate as bangs, but you'll still have introduced NPCs and NPC goals to work with in the future. So relax and enjoy your game tonight, it's going to be good.


Second, a few points, not all of them necessarily relevant for this session, or not only this one. This bang-preparation thingie means that after a little while you end up with tons more material than you'll ever need, and your players will help by adding more through their play.

Adrienne wrote: CPXB has stated explicitly that Stephan is looking for land and hopefully a wife, since his character doesn't stand to inherit and land is "easy" to come by on the Border.

Lokesh wants to get out and see more of the world, or at least the big city. He'd like to distinguish himself in his family's eyes, as well as get out from under their thumb for a bit. He's also a second son, so no big inheritance coming unless he makes one for himself.

Barbon has come south to fight the Shadow. Also, his family has recently fallen on hard times, so he wants to relieve them of the burden of supporting him.

It's tempting to introduce him and mention that "he looks strangely familiar," but then I'd have contests on my hands and maybe give the whole game away in the fourth session. :)

I was actually planning to do something much more mundane than detection by magic. Delfino has been reading Vitale's papers, and I was planning to make Vitale financially associated with Barbon's family (which is why Delfino can offer to help the family if Barbon does what he wants). So, Vitale and thus Delfino is aware that Barbon has been through Seer training, since that's not a secret process. I didn't think that would be too intrusive, since only a few people will know.

The only thing that worries me about the latter is that I have little confidence that the player will pursue the matter if Barbon makes the resistance roll.

If Barbon balks, it'll be "well, you've heard to much to just walk out now," probably followed by a physical or character assassination attempt.

Heh. I've reminded myself, "DON'T PANIC." For good measure, I even installed the "I must not fear" extension for Firefox. I should be golden.

StalkingBlue wrote: And if they've already had a conversation about Stephen "knowing" her secrets as you were planning, all the better. So have her come back and try a new approach. Perhaps at that point let her complain about an NPC who's pestering her with his unwanted love and she's beginning to be worried about him - perhaps Stephen could escort her to the dance tonight? If going to the dance with her means he has to skip doing something else (such as meeting another possibly interesting contact for dinner), it's a bang. If not, then it's just an event building towards future bangs. If at the dance Stephen has to confront Ashas's admirer (who is another important lord's son), he'll have to choose: help her out by insulting him / shoving him out of the way? hang back because he doesn't want the son as an enemy? convince Asha to go out into the garden for "fresh air" to avoid the meeting? At which point of course she'll want kissing... and so on. Tons of options.

Play with Lokesh has also given you two more NPCs to work with: his father and Sujit. As long as Sujit isn't a follower, use him. I don't know what the problem is with him, so it's hard to get ideas - maybe have people come after him, or have Lokesh realise (perhaps through another NPC who tells him) that his new servant is having clandestine meetings with strange people.

Cool, a possible conflict. If you want to get him embroiled, have a family member arrive, desperate for financial support for the family, before anyone approaches him for seer services.
Or if it's plausible, have a family member be thrown in prison for an alleged crime... like stealing Nayan's Family Book.

I dunno. Why would he pursue the matter anyway? Unsavoury, corrupted people talking to him. What's his benefit in even hearing them out? When already he hasn't been using his powers all by himself?

Then you'll have two sets of NPCs set up who may come back to him in the past to ask for help: the authorities; and the unsavouries. (Not to mention his unlucky family member, if you decide to go for that.) Much material for future bangs, and for now you give the player a chance to feel that his character is important and has options.

Like Kerstin says, you'll be fine.

Well, I didn't want to completely regurgitate what I've posted on the other thread about them.

I haven't put him in yet because I've only recently gotten a firmer idea of who he should be and what he wants. I could definitely introduce him at this point, though. It's tempting to introduce him and mention that "he looks strangely familiar," but then I'd have contests on my hands and maybe give the whole game away in the fourth session. :)

Yes, Party X is aware that Asha scares easily, and is using her to make Stephan suspicious of Nayan. Right now, he has only mild reasons to distrust Nayan, but another clue pointing in his direction may be enough to get him on the trail. That would, hopefully, keep him distracted from the sender of the note, who is either Dhavlesh or the vampire--I hadn't decided yet.

It might be my newness at using bangs, but I'm having a little trouble finding ways to insert them in any arbitrary time and place. (I wanted to do this particular one immediately afterwards because I thought it might add some interest if the players notice that they're seeing another facet of the same issue Stephan was just involved in.)

Delfino has been reading Vitale's papers, and I was planning to make Vitale financially associated with Barbon's family (which is why Delfino can offer to help the family if Barbon does what he wants). So, Vitale and thus Delfino is aware that Barbon has been through Seer training, since that's not a secret process. I didn't think that would be too intrusive, since only a few people will know.

Since I posted this, CPXB and I did some brainstorming and came up with a second bang for Barbon--a secret group of sorcerers and corrupted Seers trying to recruit him.

(To tie them into the above, the group is part of Dhavlesh's new social circle, but one or more of the members is a pawn of the vampire, working to get to Dhavlesh. I hope I'm not getting too complicated for my own good, here.)

I see a couple of options for introducing them, right now. Either a member of the group was eavesdropping on Delfino and Barbon's conversation, or I could go the magical detection route you suggested above. The only thing that worries me about the latter is that I have little confidence that the player will pursue the matter if Barbon makes the resistance roll.

Anyway, my rough plan there is for someone to approach Barbon, feel him out about the club, and then propose some sort of oath or initiation activity. If Barbon balks, it'll be "well, you've heard to much to just walk out now," probably followed by a physical or character assassination attempt.

Believe it or not, the above post is a cross-post. :-)

Mike

This post might ramble a bit, as I try to combine commentary on the latest session, responses to previous posts, and my own musings. (Not to say that my previous posts didn't ramble, but oh, well.)


Player Goals

Stephan's player, CPXB, is both the most familiar to me and the clearest about what he wants. He likes to see the same things in RPGs as in fiction: sex, violence, and intrigue, in no particular order. Game groups being what they are, the latter two are easiest to work in, but I'll be trying to add a little sex (or at least references to it). He likes to play characters who do a few things very well; Stephan is built to fight and to be charming, although not very perceptive.

Lokesh's player is the next most scrutable. In previous games, he's played a steady pattern of strong, upright types--paladins in D&D, bricks in superhero games, that sort of thing. Lokesh is less geared towards physical strength than his previous characters, but is firmly rooted in his community and upbringing as a rancher. He's put a fair bit of thought into voluntarily lowering several of his keyword abilities, to reflect how he sees the character. I'm not sure how he feels about complicated moral dilemmas, but my past experience leads me to believe that he'll give a good solid try at anything I throw his way.

Barbon's player has been discussed extensively on the actual play thread, heh. In summary, he's a new player, very timid and suggestible, who wants the other characters (and players) to see Barbon as "cool" but isn't sure how to make that happen. I think that his previous gaming experience has impressed him with the urge to seek more power for his character, and not to think through the story ramifications of his choices.


Past and Future Bangs

I still need lots of practice at making bangs, since I don't think that any of the ones I tried this session were really sharp. (The game was very interesting, but I don't think any of the players had the feeling of making hard choices.) I guess I'll post more about the ones I tried over on the actual play thread, where CPXB can chip in.

I realized as we talked about the game over dinner that I have to think about bangs in a different way for each player. That might be obvious for experienced folks, but it's new for me. :) CPXB is an extremely decisive player; I don't think I've ever seen him genuinely uncertain about his character's next course of action. It might be that I can't make bangs for him, which is okay because both he and I are enjoying the game. On the other hand, Lokesh's player shares my own tendency to waffle and try to have it both ways, so I can get multiple uses out of essentially the same bang for him. Barbon's player I think will go for obvious personal power, then the least risky path, then any extra concerns (like helping Barbon's family). He might have a harder time choosing if I really play up the "lower-ranked" element, like having a family member actually there to plead with him, but it'll be a couple of weeks before I can try that out.

I'm hoping that the next two sessions, with Stephan and Lokesh, will be fruitful ones. We've now been playing for long enough that everyone has some interest in their characters, and they've formed connections with a number of NPCs (though not purchased any relationships yet). Although I still think that Stephan may be difficult or impossible to target with by-the-book "bangs," I think I can arrange things so that the choices and actions of his character (no matter how easy for him to decide) will still lead to the kind of play that he likes. And I'll keep trying--I might surprise us both. I'll post more specific ideas later, ruthlessly plagiarizing the suggestions in this thread.

I'm posting my reply to your session 4 play report over here because there's bang-related stuff in it.

Adrienne wrote: In the above session summary, only the first part (up through Barbon's masked visitor) was planned by me. The rest of the happenings were entirely suggested by the players, which was very fun.

The two visitors to Barbon were quite funny. He was all about following the rules when Delfino offered to help his family, but I saw his eyes light up when his masked visitor dangled new powers in front of his face.

I didn't think I was being especially subtle with the Dark Side schtick, but he didn't seem at all perturbed that a masked man wanted him to swear an oath of secrecy for access to rare texts and training.

Oh, well. I'll have the "blood opera" talk with him before it goes as far as the character getting a magic keyword, and we'll see where things go.

He got a major victory, and the resistance was lower than Chris expected. I admitted that I was making things up as I went along, and would have made the resistance higher if I'd had it to do over.

Adrienne wrote: He likes to play characters who do a few things very well; Stephan is built to fight and to be charming, although not very perceptive.

Lokesh is less geared towards physical strength than his previous characters, but is firmly rooted in his community and upbringing as a rancher. He's put a fair bit of thought into voluntarily lowering several of his keyword abilities, to reflect how he sees the character.

Barbon's player has been discussed extensively on the actual play thread, heh. In summary, he's a new player, very timid and suggestible, who wants the other characters (and players) to see Barbon as "cool" but isn't sure how to make that happen.

I still need lots of practice at making bangs, since I don't think that any of the ones I tried this session were really sharp.

Although I still think that Stephan may be difficult or impossible to target with by-the-book "bangs," I think I can arrange things so that the choices and actions of his character (no matter how easy for him to decide) will still lead to the kind of play that he likes.