We made up characters and all agree that the character generation system makes a whole lot of sense and was fun.

Beginning the process as an e-mail asking the players what their characters' philosophy was and what would they kill for along with examples for both made it easier. Everyone came to the table with a clear idea and the process began from inside the character's heads and went outward, which was neat.

The priority system worked well, the only nit-pick I have for the night was that the statistics for race weren't in the Race section of character creation, nor was there a page # referenced. Easy enough to look at the glossary and find the race descriptions at the end of the Wyerth section.

Those of us who have played the combat simulator are even more jazzed to play the RPG.

The Spiritual Attributes were discussed but not written down, giving everyone until game-day to write them on paper all together as a group. We have a loose outline of SA's and if we had to write them down we could've but stressing their importance we left it for tomorrow.

We will start the game with the characters spectating at the dueling bridge, so that we could get a grip on the combat system before taking the helms of the player characters. I want them to know how vicious the Riddle's violence really is.

At one point during character creation Matteo turned to me and asked, "So, what is the proficiency for dirty fighting?"

I replied, "It is all dirty fighting."

Wow and double wow.

The system is a hit.

The part of the game that I most dig is the Spiritual Attribute mechanic. Playing your character with character is a benefit and the benefits are direct. Those little personality quirks and great sweeping epic dramas that make your character yours really are highlighted well.

The combat system is even cooler than I thought. Combat is scary, dramatic and messy. Violence is feared but done when a hero deems it necessary. Daggers are scary.

We started the game with an in-game invention that I'm proud of that I would whole-heartedly reccomend to anyone playing the game for the first time. Write down a bunch of NPC's and allow the players to run through varios duels with them.

I ran it as an in-game event, known as the Dueling Bridge, a low bridge over a slow moving river. Down the river is the Shame Bridge. When combat over-comes a duellist they jump off the Duelling Bridge and float to the Shame Bridge, where priestly chiurgeons await.

This allowed the players to toy with combat and see first-hand how violence works in this game. Don't get hit, simple as that. NPC's were decimated with single hits, maimed, killed and done.

The players literally walked away from fights that didn't directly have meaning right then and there. They wouldn't do unnecessary violence, the Duelling Bridge taught them well.

Spiritual Attributes were a constant reminder to me and the players of the characters' motivations. I knew where my plot-hooks where at all times, they were written down in front of me. The players chased their Spiritual Attributes like rabid dogs running down a bleeding rabbit.

I'd reccomend writing down all of the SA's as the game starts, write under the characters' names and glanse down at them, remember where your pressures points and leverage is. So much of this game was linking up SA's so that the characters wanted similiar things and when the SA's conflicted the results were magical.

One character in particular had an SA, Drive Myself into Oblivion -or- Drink and Whore Myself to Death. When he was accused of killing a prostitute whose corpse he woke up in a drunken stupor next to, the drama was on and led to some fantastic role-playing and ADVENTURE.

Combats have always been the weak points of my games but the Riddle makes every combat dramamtic. I can't speak highly enough for the game. It is a joy to run as a Senechal and from the reactions of the players, a joy to play.

As one of the players in this game, I gotta say that it was a trmendous amount of fun.

The Duelling Bridge worked amazingly well... especially when the outcome of a fight between some NPCs played into the SAs of the PCs, and suddenly our actual characters were up on the bridge, fighting for thier lives.

Tremendous day of gaming.

Reading this makes me want to play even more....

I'm jealous! ;-)

The game went really well, one of the better one-shots I've run in a while. Another one-shot that ended with everyone wishing they had the time for another campaign in their lives. We'll see if we can mini-campaign it to some kind of completion.

Glad you enjoyed reading it.

Thanks.

At one point during character creation Matteo turned to me and asked, "So, what is the proficiency for dirty fighting?"

I replied, "It is all dirty fighting."

I'd reccomend writing down all of the SA's as the game starts, write under the characters' names and glanse down at them, remember where your pressures points and leverage is. So much of this game was linking up SA's so that the characters wanted similiar things and when the SA's conflicted the results were magical.

I'd reccomend writing down all of the SA's as the game starts, write under the characters' names and glanse down at them, remember where your pressures points and leverage is. So much of this game was linking up SA's so that the characters wanted similiar things and when the SA's conflicted the results were magical.

Jake Norwood wrote:

And the Duelling Brigde--what a great idea. I love it! We ought to write an article for the site.

I hope that you play more and post more when you do.

Jake

Thanks, Jake, I am a big fan of your game and will scream it from whatever gaming rooftop I can.

The Dueling Bridge worked out really well and I'd love to write out an article about its use and value for introducing the Riddle's combat to newbies.

Hopefully this fine week I have off I'll get to run Dark Sun using the Riddle for a buddy of mine who just got out of the hospital, we'll see.

Bankuei wrote:

Some of you may have seen my lively discussion on rpg.net about railroading and the use of SA's, but basically this was the methodology I've been recommending

Chris

It wasn't railroading at all. The players' actions drove the game from beginning to end. I sat back and let them dictate the next move and they moved because they were thrown in way over their heads, pissing off people in power and knowing full well that people in power pay people with sharp objects to put said sharp objects in would-be heroes' eye sockets.

They moved and moved fast. When they planned they planned thoroughly, making sure they dotted their i's and crossed their t's.

The game's pace moved fairly well and although driven by SA's no railroading was done at all.

In fact it was quite the reverse. SA's are the player's way of letting the Senschal know what they want to drive their character through the story.

The game's pace moved fairly well and although driven by SA's no railroading was done at all.

In fact it was quite the reverse. SA's are the player's way of letting the Senschal know what they want to drive their character through the story.

I see railroading as not giving the players choices, leading them down a path that they must go on for the adventure to work.

The game that I ran using SA's was almost entirely driven by player choice and player action. I had no idea what they were goign to do...but by virtue of their SA's I knew that their characters, if played as they were written on paper were going to do something.

Hello,

GM contribution to the game-content which focuses on player-character features (e.g. SA's, but anything really) is not ipso facto railroading. Railroading, at the Forge anyway, has come to mean interference into the choices of the player regarding his or her character's actions. By using the term "interference," we are already integrating Breach of Social Contract into the definition of railroading. By definition, therefore, railroading cannot be something that the targeted person likes.

"We" in the above paragraph refers mainly to me and Marco, who have spent many hours trying to understand one another about the issue (and I think finally do).

Best,
Ron