The Forge Archives

There are so many amazing gamers on this site. One thing I'm always dying to ask people, but that's rarely appropriate to bring up in the regular forums, is about some of your great gaming experiences. What are some of the best situations, scenes, adventures you have been involved with over your gaming career? Ones that stick out in your mind as making you say: yeah, that's what it's all about, that's why I do this. Moments of great inspiration, or pathos, or just laughing-out-loud joy.

Since this is the Forge, I'll add a request for an optional codocil: did you learn anything important about gaming more generally, or game design from these experiences? If so, what was it?

AD&D 2nd ed.  Freshman year of high school.

I have been playing a maimed and extremely pacifistic priest (you could actually do this under 2e rules), sworn to poverty, chastity, all the good stuff, for about three years now.  As the game goes on, we realize that the corrupt government that we are fighting to overthrow is actually a puppet for a dark priesthood of slavery.

Three sessions ago, my God appears to me in a dream and says, essentially, "Now is the time to fight" and hands me a sword.  Wham.  Full conversion to Paladin levels, right of the bat, no questions asked.

But still, I won't kill.  Everyone is redeemable.  I knock enemies down with my holy sword and talk to them about the nature of inner peace.  And get bit in the ass a lot -- but that's the whole point.  I trust.  The rest of the party would hate me at this point, but I'm the one with all the healing, and they know an avatar when they see one.

Finally, we have pierced the grand cathedral of this priesthood -- located at the very heart of a great city -- under cover of a driving rainstorm that the Loki priest summoned up for us.  We fight our way up to the tower, and find the head priest of the dark order -- the guy who has been fucking us over all along, encircled with dark candles, performing foul rituals on the Duke.

Well, fuck.

We attack him, disrupting the ritual and, after we have pierced his mystical spells, the assassin accompanying us (GM NPC) fires a poison dart straight at his heart.

"No!" I scream at here and, trying to save his life, I tackle him.  We go flying out a stained glass window onto the roof.

Picture this -- pouring rain, lightning flashing everywhere -- two figures, one in rags and one in regalia, face each other down on the cathedral rooftop, underlit by the fires of the rioting city dwellers, who are storming the halls of government as we speak.

What might have been mistaken as a bolt of lightning envelopes the pauper and when he emerges his rags glow with a brilliant white light, his arm -- the maimed arm that was cut off so that he could be a better beggar -- is whole again, and in it he holds a white-blue sword of glowing crystal.

Before him, the priest is wrapped chains and from them pulls a grand flail linked with human finger bones.

GM hands me a new character sheet.  "Divinely empowered," he says almost casually.  18/00 strength.  20th level.  The works.

We roll init.  I win.  I roll.

Natural 20.  Stupid damage.
The dark priest twirls his nearly decapitated head around, and speaks although he no longer has a throat.  "It is not this mortal flesh, but the service to my Lord's will," he screams, and swings the flail.
Natural 20.  Even stupider damage.
"Call me Master."
Wrapped in chains of slavery, I stare deep into his eyes.  "Never."  My sword swings by its own will.
Natural 20.  The chains burst off, and the blade through his chest throws his skittering back across the rooftop.  I walk across the roof, and, pulling the blade from his chest, offer him a hand.  "You are still a man, and you are still my brother.  Know freedom."
He turns towards me and suddenly lunges up, swinging his endless chains around him.
You guessed it.  Natural 20.  At this point we're looking at the dice in disbelief.
So here we are, nearly out of hit points after two rounds, still dead even, and I'm winding up to take a finishing blow.
I call "Subdual Damage"
Natural 1.
 "At that moment," says the GM, "you look into his eyes and see only evil, and you want to kill him, your faith falters, and you fall, skittering down the roof."
 Dex check.  Grab onto the roof with my one good hand.
 The enemy priest now stands above me, gloating, and stomps down on my hand to finish me off.
 Rolls.  Natural 1.
 He falls, and barely manages to grab onto my foot.
 GM says "You can't hold on forever like this.  What are you doing?"
 "See if you can get a grip," I say to him, "and I'll try to pull us up."
 He merely grins, pulls out a dagger, and goes for my foot.
 GM says "You can take one action as he draws the dagger.  What are you doing?"

 A long, long pause.  We are all holding our breath.
 "Fuck this noise," I say on impulse.  "I kick the bastard in the face."

 Wham.  2 damage.

 Which is enough to knock him over the edge into knockout, and he plummets to his doom.


 Do you know what happens to pacifist priests who kill purposefully?  Yeah...  Lost all my powers.  And, because I wouldn't repent, never got them back.

Coolest scene ever.

yrs--
--Ben

We can keep it going here, of course, but I should like to point out that this is a Grade A Prime Steak post topic for Actual Play.

In fact, why the hell aren't people posting this stuff all the time in Actual Play? That's what it's for. I'm starting to rant. C'mon! Post in Actual Play. It doesn't matter if it's old, or AD&D, or this or that, or anything. Just fucking post there. Yeesh!

Best,
Ron

I keep *meaning* to post this stuff the actual play, but... I just get distracted.

Actually, if someone promises to strike up a damn conversation about it, I would post.  :-(  I was burned by the Chorus thread, where I was like "Here, front-loaded Nar, on a platter."

Now that I type this, I realize this is silly and bitter.  I'll post soon.

yrs--
--Ben

Quote from: Ron EdwardsIn fact, why the hell aren't people posting this stuff all the time in Actual Play? That's what it's for.

That's exactly why festival time is good for a community.  It breaks ya out of boxes you don't even know you're in.  

Great post, Ben. Hurrah for liminal space! ; )

--Emily

Quote from: Emily Care

Quote from: Ron EdwardsIn fact, why the hell aren't people posting this stuff all the time in Actual Play? That's what it's for.

That's exactly why festival time is good for a community.  It breaks ya out of boxes you don't even know you're in.  

Great post, Ben. Hurrah for liminal space! ; )

--Emily

BL>  Yeah, I had this whole idea of Actual Play posts as formal recountings of specific recent play experiences.

Oops.

Ron, do I have your permission to use the above post to start a similar thread in the Actual Play forum?  I don't know the Forge policies on reposting of this sort.

yrs--
--Ben

Hi Ben,

Um, sure ... although if you could, make sure to include some basis for someone to reply. I have a terrible image of a flood of rose-colored remembrances of D&D, without form or substance as a conversation ...

Best,
Ron

My old gaming group (which was composed of myself, my wife, two of my sisters, my sister's boyfriend, and another friend) had gathered to play Legends of Alyria.  A reasonable thing to do.  ;-)  We had already run a one-shot where it had been determined that one of the High Lords of the Citadel (Solomon) was sleeping with the wife of another High Lord (Rachel).  So we decided to springboard off of this for the next game.

So all the players created characters that were High Lords.  Adiel played High Lord Malo (Rachel's husband), and Josh (her boyfriend) played High Lord Solomon.  Jade was High Lord Gavin (recently raised to the position), Crystal played High Lord Strickland (commander of the Five Hundred), and Gabrielle played High Lord Vladimir (a thinly disguised rip-off of Baron Harkonnen from Dune).

So we started the game with a confrontation in the Council Chambers.  High Lord Malo accused High Lord Solomon of infidelity.  Insults were hurled, but no action was taken...yet.

That evening there was to be a party at High Lord Strickland's estate.  Everyone came in state.  It was a wonderful party.  Everyone was smiling and making veiled insults and remarks.  However, I could tell that the game was starting to stall.  I had an event in my back pocket (the one Bang for the evening), and I was about to use it.  Then, something incredible happened.

Gabrielle had announced that High Lord Vladimir was going to take advantage of the accusations to poison High Lord Malo.  They were bitter political opponents, and High Lord Vladimir was not above such vile methods.  Besides, Vladimir had been secretly in love with Rachel, and he hated Malo for having actually married her.

So Vladimir slips the poison into a wine goblet destined for High Lord Malo.  Then the servant took the tray of wine glasses over to where Malo and Solomon were working their way into an argument.  The glass was there.  The poison was poised.

And Adiel announced, "And Rachel picks up the poisoned glass and drinks it."

Ron talks about times at a gaming table when everyone reacts.  There is a rightness about what has been said that everyone can sense.  This was one of those moments.

I never had to haul out my Bang.  In fact, the scenario proceeded just swimmingly from that point on.

Rachel died in the night, and Malo assumed that Solomon had done it to get at him.  Immediately he began to scheme how he could take political advantage of his wife's death.

At the funeral, Vladimir went down to the coffin and shed one single tear.

Strickland tried to maintain law and order, but to no avail.  Malo and Solomon duelled each other within the Council Chamber, mortally wounding each other.  Gavin finally saw through the lies and deceit and leaped to his feet, finger pointing accusingly at Vladimir:  "You did it!"

Vladimir died, impaled on a unicorn's horn.

And, as the Keeper representative on the Council said at the end, "Justice has been served."

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

Oh, what did I learn?

I learned the power of extending Directorial power to players.  All that game needed was one event to get everything started, and I didn't come up with it.  If I hadn't already been sold on the benefits of this approach to roleplaying, that evening would have done the trick for sure.

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

Most of my favorite memories are scenarios in which I've been the GM.  I really like running a game... almost any game (I can beat a lot of things into a shape of my choosing).

Let me think.  A few of them have been described quite nicely by Ron in the Reviews (Little Fears and Obsidian... I enjoyed running those).  To be honest a couple of my other favorites are written-up a bit more in Actual Play under the topics "Non-Linear Play in Sorcerer" (and the sequel, Part 2)... and, my personal favorites have been described by Ron in the Violence Future threads... which, I think, begins here:

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=1601&highlight=

That would sum my some of my favorite memories, I think.

Dav

Quote from: Ron EdwardsWe can keep it going here, of course, but I should like to point out that this is a Grade A Prime Steak post topic for Actual Play.

In fact, why the hell aren't people posting this stuff all the time in Actual Play? That's what it's for. I'm starting to rant. C'mon! Post in Actual Play. It doesn't matter if it's old, or AD&D, or this or that, or anything. Just fucking post there. Yeesh!

Best,
Ron

Hey, I tried to start a thread there. There was a near universal deafening silence. I like this stuff.

-Lisa

Quote from: GreatWolfOh, what did I learn?

I learned the power of extending Directorial power to players.  All that game needed was one event to get everything started, and I didn't come up with it.  If I hadn't already been sold on the benefits of this approach to roleplaying, that evening would have done the trick for sure.

All true. But equally true: You had a bang in your pocket, in case things stalled. This was a good thing. Sometimes, you need that bang.

-Lisa