Hello all! This is a post mostly for myself, as I have to make some additions to the upcoming session notes, since I've added a new player since I typed them up. Yes, this is the guy I have doubts about. But I think I mentioned before that I plan on having two sets of notes in hand - one including him, one not including him (so that's be the notes as they are now). However, I don't have the notes with me, so I have to make notes on the notes to update the notes later. That sounds more needlessly complicated than it is, really.
Anyway, here goes:
~ Abaddon (the new guy's character) will meet with Governor Callirhoe first, while Syma is outside waiting for Galyn (another new player's character). Callirhoe will ask Ilke, the Paladin that escorted Abaddon, to wait outside while she explains the situation to him alone. Callirhoe will take the ring from Ilke before the meeting, but give it back to her afterward, so that whoever's with him at the time will always have control of it. Callirhoe will explain the situation to him - the party has come from an Island-continent far across the sea that no one has heard of, to return the honor of dragons and reunite good dragons with the other good forces so they can be united and stop Garyx's forces, yadda yadda. She also tells him that two of the party members are draconic in heritage, and two others have heritage in other traditionally "evil" races, but through magic they found the true good in their hearts and their intentions. This group seems strong in and of itself, but could use additional force, and their eclectic nature makes it seem that Abaddon would fit in better there than with a division of the army. She will also be sending another individual from their own forces to monitor the group and report back to her of their adventures. Assuming Abaddon agrees to this, she would call Ilke back in, give the ring back to her, and explain that as soon as everyone has been briefed, the ring will be given to a worthy candidate in the group. She asks Ilke to take Abaddon to another room in that hallway (a sitting room with chairs and books) to wait until the entire party has been caught up. In that room he will find travelling gear (standard backpack, bedroll, etc.) and a cloak big enough to fit him. His weapons and other possessions, which were taken from him when he was arrested, are also there.
~ When Galyn arrives, and Syma brings him upstairs, it will be just after Ilke has gotten Abaddon into the other room. Callirhoe lets Syma stay, and explains the situation to Galyn - the party has come from an Island-continent far across the sea that no one has heard of, to return the honor of dragons and reuinite good dragons with the other good forces so they can be united and stop Garyx's forces, yadda yadda. She also tells him that two of the party members are draconic in heritage, and two others have heritage in other traditionally "evil" races, but through magic they found the true good in their hearts and their intentions. Because of his reputation, she wants to send him with the party, to a) make sure they don't try anything funny, even though she knows what they say is true, and b) to report back to her every month, by Sending or written message (though, assuming Gazit is trustworthy, Sendings are safer - still, she will leave the choice up to him, so whether or not he sends messages that can be intercepted will be based on if he thinks he can trust the group). He is also being sent along so there will be someone more familiar to her in the group to keep an eye on Abaddon, who she describes to him as a criminal with demon heritage, who has pledged to redeem himself by fighting against Garyx's forces. She asks him to do this, not orders, because of his history with Syma. If he demands payment, she will give him 300 gold to do it, hoping that makes up for whatever coinage he lost in coming here.
**Start actual session here, the above notes will be taken care of over e-mail
~ Assuming he agrees, she asks him to remain in the room, and calls for Abaddon again. A guard (who would have gotten there and stood outside the doors shortly after Abaddon's meeting, assume those guards were running late for guard duty) summons both Abaddon and Ilke from the sitting room. Ilke escorts him to the office again, Callirhoe asks for the ring again, and Ilke gives it to her. What it is is not explained to Galyn. Ilke is then dismissed, and nods formally at Abaddon as a goodbye. Callirhoe introduces Galyn and Abaddon, then, and then asks ones of the guards outside to bring in the party.
~ The party would come in and be introduced to Galyn and Abaddon, who may or may not have chosen to hide his features. Meeting and explanation of what Callirhoe has decided will go mostly as written already, except Abaddon will be there to hear all of it. The captain and first mate still decide to stay in the city, etc. Then, at the end, as everyone is released to go into the hall and get their things, Callirhoe asks Gazit to stay behind for a moment.
~ Once they are alone (Syma would have gone with the others), Callirhoe gives Gazit the ring and explains what it does. She urges her to take care in using it, and wishes her well. Gazit thanks her, puts the ring on the hand opposite the one she wears her ring of protection on, and leaves the room. Should take no more than 2 minutes.
~ Add Abaddon to the other notes as needed, since he'd get to go shopping with them too, and travel along with them until they reach Gnathon. The soldiers there wouldn't know who he is, so he'd get the same treatment as the rest of the party (except for Galyn). So just add him to everything, but that shouldn't change anything too much.
Aaaaaand that's that. Hopefully I can sit down and get this actually written out in my notes soon.
Also, on a semi-related note, my wonderful girlfriend gave me one of my birthday presents early!!! Its "Song and Silence," the supplement guidebook to Bards and Rogues circa 3rd edition. We play 3.5 though, so its definitely usable, and TOTALLY AWESOME!!! This means, of course, that the next character I play as just a PC (like in whatever game Heather runs after the game I play Tanisevania in is done) will have to be a Bard so I can utilize it. My plan of playing alphabetically through the core classes be damned, I say.
Will write again when it gets sooner to starting, either in my campaign or Heather's. I'll have to get back into the Tanisevania mindset too, after all, and think of how she'd feel after breaking it off with Grim for good. Probably angry and like she betrayed herself by making so many compromises for him. But I'll have to save that for another post.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
New player, woes and worries
Ooookay, so last night my girlfriend (who, as I've mentioned, plays in my campaign) and I went to meet that potential new player last night.
Through all the e-mails he's been sending, and talking to him on the phone, he's seemed more and more like a competent individual. It looked like he might be a bit more conservative than the rest of us, but not in a way we couldn't work around. He also seemed like he was close to our age. Still, I wanted to meet him before inviting him into our home (just in case he turned out to be creepy or something), so we finally met for coffee last night. My girlfriend came along for extra security and moral support.
Its a good thing she did, cause I don't know how I would have reacted if it was just me.
First off, he's MUCH younger than I thought he was. I'm 24, and he's 17. That's not even legal age! I don't know if I'm going to get in trouble for letting him game with us. Should I be asking permission from his parents? Seriously, I have NO idea. But that aside, he's also MUCH more conservative than I thought. Not that he seemed put off that we're lesbians, but he did skirt the issue (in his e-mails as well, now that I think about it - he called it my "lifestyle" at one point, and I asked him NOT to, and he never said anything to that...). And when I warned him that I swear, he said that was fine as long as we didn't "overtly" swear. What the hell does that mean? And who is he to decide what we can say around the table? Oh, AND he's a Powergamer! Way for him to not mention that until I had already gotten him set up in the game! I've played with Powergamers before, but I've never DM'd for one, and I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it.
*inhales deeply*
Anyway, I obviously have a lot of concerns. But now that he's put so much work into his character, and I've put so much work into getting him set up, I don't want to just kick him out.
So here's what I think I'll do. I'll let everyone know before the game starts that the first two sessions (however long it takes us to get through what I've prepared, actually) are a TRIAL PERIOD for all new members. So that excludes me, Kel, and Joel, since we've all played together before. It would apply, then, to Joel's boyfriend Forrest, and the new guy, since they're both technically new. After those first couple of sessions, I may ask a player to leave the game if I don't feel that they mesh well enough with the rest of the group. And obviously, any of the players can leave anytime they want. And if someone does something I can't deal with, like disrespecting Rule 0, or making their character do something REALLY HORRIBLE (there are certain things I can't stand action-wise), I can kick them out early. I'll just note that in the e-mail I send announcing when we're starting.
In the meantime, I'll keep getting the new guy set up, and add his character to the notes I have prepared. I'll also keep a copy of the notes as they are now, in case he walks into our house, sees the blatant evidence of our lesbianism, freaks out and runs away.
...Is it wrong that part of me wishes he'd do that, just so I don't have to deal with getting rid of him myself, if he is going to be a problem? ^^;
Through all the e-mails he's been sending, and talking to him on the phone, he's seemed more and more like a competent individual. It looked like he might be a bit more conservative than the rest of us, but not in a way we couldn't work around. He also seemed like he was close to our age. Still, I wanted to meet him before inviting him into our home (just in case he turned out to be creepy or something), so we finally met for coffee last night. My girlfriend came along for extra security and moral support.
Its a good thing she did, cause I don't know how I would have reacted if it was just me.
First off, he's MUCH younger than I thought he was. I'm 24, and he's 17. That's not even legal age! I don't know if I'm going to get in trouble for letting him game with us. Should I be asking permission from his parents? Seriously, I have NO idea. But that aside, he's also MUCH more conservative than I thought. Not that he seemed put off that we're lesbians, but he did skirt the issue (in his e-mails as well, now that I think about it - he called it my "lifestyle" at one point, and I asked him NOT to, and he never said anything to that...). And when I warned him that I swear, he said that was fine as long as we didn't "overtly" swear. What the hell does that mean? And who is he to decide what we can say around the table? Oh, AND he's a Powergamer! Way for him to not mention that until I had already gotten him set up in the game! I've played with Powergamers before, but I've never DM'd for one, and I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it.
*inhales deeply*
Anyway, I obviously have a lot of concerns. But now that he's put so much work into his character, and I've put so much work into getting him set up, I don't want to just kick him out.
So here's what I think I'll do. I'll let everyone know before the game starts that the first two sessions (however long it takes us to get through what I've prepared, actually) are a TRIAL PERIOD for all new members. So that excludes me, Kel, and Joel, since we've all played together before. It would apply, then, to Joel's boyfriend Forrest, and the new guy, since they're both technically new. After those first couple of sessions, I may ask a player to leave the game if I don't feel that they mesh well enough with the rest of the group. And obviously, any of the players can leave anytime they want. And if someone does something I can't deal with, like disrespecting Rule 0, or making their character do something REALLY HORRIBLE (there are certain things I can't stand action-wise), I can kick them out early. I'll just note that in the e-mail I send announcing when we're starting.
In the meantime, I'll keep getting the new guy set up, and add his character to the notes I have prepared. I'll also keep a copy of the notes as they are now, in case he walks into our house, sees the blatant evidence of our lesbianism, freaks out and runs away.
...Is it wrong that part of me wishes he'd do that, just so I don't have to deal with getting rid of him myself, if he is going to be a problem? ^^;
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Hiatus over, sort of
Hello all. The campaign I play in is still kind of ... on pause, we'll say (since I'm not really sure if/when it'll be starting up again). However, my campaign is well on its way to starting *insert happy dance here*
As I mentioned last time I posted, I've got two players lined up. One is ALMOST ready to enter the game, the other will be as soon as he and I sit down and talk about what happened to his character since the last time certain other characters saw her (he played with us before graduating and moving for a job, but he's back in the area now). Also, I heard recently from a guy who saw a flyer I put up in ye olde local gaming shoppe about the fact that I needed players. We're talking about his character right now, and what he has in mind sounds very interesting and fitting for the setting. For those of you who want a clue, think Etrigan from the DC Universe. I hope he works out - I intend on meeting him before I invite him into my home to play, just in case he gives me the heebies. Over e-mail he seems totally competent and cool, but on the phone he seems a bit awkward. So we'll see what happens.
More interestingly, because we were going through gaming withdrawal, last night my girlfriend and I (my girlfriend plays Neeta in my campaign) pulled out the two characters we created for situations like this and gamed a bit, just the two of us. Her character is a Halfling rogue named Gitana, mine is a Gnome bard named Rasurda (they are adorable, even with weird head proportions). What I came up with dealt with something from their past catching up with them, in the form of some bounty hunters that they dealt with before.
It didn't go exactly as planned. What what "supposed" to happen was that the bounty hunters were to kidnap us and take us to their boss, who we inadvertently stole something from. He was then going to offer us a choice - he could turn us in for theft, or we could work for him to pay for what we stole.
What actually happened was this - my girlfriend, not knowing that things were going to be okay, got worried that her character was going to die (understandably, even though she knows I wouldn't do that to her). Rasurda was defeated quite quickly by one of the bounty hunters, but Gitana was actually doing very well against the other two, considering that a) it was 2 against 1 and b) they were both one level higher than her. She had managed to lift a wand of "Wall of Ice" last session, and cleverly used it to trap all 3 bounty hunters in hemispheres of ice. It also turned out that she had a healing potion, which she used to revive Rasurda, and they fled back into the city the bounty hunters fought them in (which was only like 2 miles away).
Now, the two of them had actually been staying in the city for a couple of weeks prior to this - Rasurda wanted to stop somewhere and begin building herself a fanbase. So they knew their way around, and were able to quickly find a place to sell the thing they had stolen, then use the money to quickly buy magical protection and weapons. Gitana then used her status as a follower of Yondalla, and a donation of 100 gold, to find us protection in a hidden place underneath the only shrine of Yondalla in the city.
It turned out, by the way, that the only place that could afford to buy the thing we stole was the Royal jeweler. So the item - which is a large diamond worth more than 12,000 gp - is in the hands of the royal family now. The fact that Rasurda has a fanbase here, is easily recognizable, and returned to the city in a very injured state, will also prove very much to our benefit.
Since my girlfriend doesn't read this blog, here's what's going to happen next:
Upon freeing themselves and following us back to the city, and being unable to find us, the bounty hunters will ask around and find out where we sold the jewel. Knowing that its in the hands of the royal family, they will retire at an Inn for the night. The next day, they will go to see the King/a representative of him, and try to pass themselves off as normal mercenaries on behalf of the Lord who owned the diamond originally. However, they're really assassins, and not very good at diplomacy. They'll be find out, which will reveal their Lord's connections to the Assassins Guild (which is why they were working for him). This Lord happens to fall under the jurisdiction of the King of this very city, so an investigation will be launched into the nature of his work. The assassins will be imprisoned. Also, because the story of what happened to Rasurda will have spread, and because she is so loved, the assassins will not be able to get to her or Gitana even if they escape/are released. Her fanbase will protect her and anyone she cares about. Beware the power of fanboys/girls, bitches.
I only hope that Gitana and Rasurda stay in town long enough to see this happen. If not, they'll hear of it in the next town they stop in.
As I mentioned last time I posted, I've got two players lined up. One is ALMOST ready to enter the game, the other will be as soon as he and I sit down and talk about what happened to his character since the last time certain other characters saw her (he played with us before graduating and moving for a job, but he's back in the area now). Also, I heard recently from a guy who saw a flyer I put up in ye olde local gaming shoppe about the fact that I needed players. We're talking about his character right now, and what he has in mind sounds very interesting and fitting for the setting. For those of you who want a clue, think Etrigan from the DC Universe. I hope he works out - I intend on meeting him before I invite him into my home to play, just in case he gives me the heebies. Over e-mail he seems totally competent and cool, but on the phone he seems a bit awkward. So we'll see what happens.
More interestingly, because we were going through gaming withdrawal, last night my girlfriend and I (my girlfriend plays Neeta in my campaign) pulled out the two characters we created for situations like this and gamed a bit, just the two of us. Her character is a Halfling rogue named Gitana, mine is a Gnome bard named Rasurda (they are adorable, even with weird head proportions). What I came up with dealt with something from their past catching up with them, in the form of some bounty hunters that they dealt with before.
It didn't go exactly as planned. What what "supposed" to happen was that the bounty hunters were to kidnap us and take us to their boss, who we inadvertently stole something from. He was then going to offer us a choice - he could turn us in for theft, or we could work for him to pay for what we stole.
What actually happened was this - my girlfriend, not knowing that things were going to be okay, got worried that her character was going to die (understandably, even though she knows I wouldn't do that to her). Rasurda was defeated quite quickly by one of the bounty hunters, but Gitana was actually doing very well against the other two, considering that a) it was 2 against 1 and b) they were both one level higher than her. She had managed to lift a wand of "Wall of Ice" last session, and cleverly used it to trap all 3 bounty hunters in hemispheres of ice. It also turned out that she had a healing potion, which she used to revive Rasurda, and they fled back into the city the bounty hunters fought them in (which was only like 2 miles away).
Now, the two of them had actually been staying in the city for a couple of weeks prior to this - Rasurda wanted to stop somewhere and begin building herself a fanbase. So they knew their way around, and were able to quickly find a place to sell the thing they had stolen, then use the money to quickly buy magical protection and weapons. Gitana then used her status as a follower of Yondalla, and a donation of 100 gold, to find us protection in a hidden place underneath the only shrine of Yondalla in the city.
It turned out, by the way, that the only place that could afford to buy the thing we stole was the Royal jeweler. So the item - which is a large diamond worth more than 12,000 gp - is in the hands of the royal family now. The fact that Rasurda has a fanbase here, is easily recognizable, and returned to the city in a very injured state, will also prove very much to our benefit.
Since my girlfriend doesn't read this blog, here's what's going to happen next:
Upon freeing themselves and following us back to the city, and being unable to find us, the bounty hunters will ask around and find out where we sold the jewel. Knowing that its in the hands of the royal family, they will retire at an Inn for the night. The next day, they will go to see the King/a representative of him, and try to pass themselves off as normal mercenaries on behalf of the Lord who owned the diamond originally. However, they're really assassins, and not very good at diplomacy. They'll be find out, which will reveal their Lord's connections to the Assassins Guild (which is why they were working for him). This Lord happens to fall under the jurisdiction of the King of this very city, so an investigation will be launched into the nature of his work. The assassins will be imprisoned. Also, because the story of what happened to Rasurda will have spread, and because she is so loved, the assassins will not be able to get to her or Gitana even if they escape/are released. Her fanbase will protect her and anyone she cares about. Beware the power of fanboys/girls, bitches.
I only hope that Gitana and Rasurda stay in town long enough to see this happen. If not, they'll hear of it in the next town they stop in.
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