Much to my surprise, the campaign in which I play Tanisevania is resuming this Saturday *blinkblink* This is totally awesome, mind you, since I do miss playing her (and this time, I’ll get to play her as I intended, without having to worry about a certain individual’s opinion of my roleplaying abilities). I was just under the impression that we weren’t restarting that game until the beginning of October because of schedule conflicts. Luckily, my llovely girlfriend thought we might be starting soon after all, and we were both unsure about it enough that I gave our DM (Heather) a call to check, and ta da!
Anyway, I need to get back into Tanisevania’s mindset quickly. And of course, her mindset is a bit…different than usual because she was still in love with Grim at the point we left off.
This is where I think we left off/what is going on with her:
After leaving Ni-Shan, we stopped back briefly on our home continent, then set out for another one (who’s name escapes me at the moment, and I don’t have my stuff with me, so no checking the map) in order to get Grim and Imari (a badass NPC) to a fighting tournament there. I also believe Grim is supposed to fight in it as a representative of the kingdom we set out from, since he is the King’s Champion. Anyway, after we got there, we agreed to help these two guys – Angelus and Magnus, I think – rescue their sister. In return, they would guide us to the tournament, since none of us have been here before. This is also a desert continent, so she’s been studying the wildlife a bit, having never been to a desert before. However, oweverHoweveshe’s not that happy with it – she misses trees, a LOT. I can’t remember if we’re in the middle of the tower with the sister or not – we probably are, or haven’t even gotten to it yet, considering that I don’t recall checking how hot the sister was (remember, Tanisevania is a big ho). Soooo yeah.
In terms of what happens next, though, Grim is no longer in the picture. He was played by our DM’s husband, who turned into a royal, flaming douchenozzle who runs from all of his responsibilities and everything worthwhile in his life. But that’s another story. I’m expecting our DM to do one of two things – either Grim and Tanisevania had a falling out, and as a result he left the party, or he died accidentally in some horrible painful way. I understand if she goes for the latter option, but I kinda hope she doesn’t, because if Tanisevania and Grim’s relationship is still solid when he dies, she’ll have to mourn him.
So, here’s how she’ll probably end up acting – If she and Grim have a falling out (no matter what happens to him afterward), it will reaffirm her idea that she can’t be in a relationship, and she’ll go back to being fine with being alone and screwing around with whoever she wants to (mind you, she hasn’t been monogamous at all this whole time she was with Grim either). If she needs to vent, she’ll likely vent to Indigo, and if she needs to angst about how love sucks, she’ll likely talk to Imari. If Grim dies before they break up, she will mourn him appropriately, but that in its own way will reaffirm her no-relationships rule – loving someone like that, and losing them, is just too painful, no matter how accepting of death she is. She’ll go through a mourning period, which I’ll need to keep good track of, and return quickly to her usual ways. Afterward, she’ll probably remember him fondly but realize it was for the best. And she’s not going to cast reincarnation on him, because coming back as something other than what he was would not have made him happy.
Damn, with all that in mind, I’m not sure which way I’d prefer our DM to go after all.
But moving on, here’s some things I need to do before Saturday:
~ Go over Tanisevania’s character sheet, backstory, etc.
~ Reread the most recent post about her here, to refresh my memory of the story.
~ Draw her, if I have time (as an artist, that will help me refamiliarize myself with her even more).
All this on top of planning for my own campaign this Sunday, and getting ready to take my trip next week. Busy busy busy. As such, will talk more later.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Session review, 09/06/09
Last night was the first official session of the relaunch of my campaign. Honestly, it didn’t go as badly as I thought it would. I did okay, DMing-wise, and everyone was flexible enough to work with each other despite the fact that two of the members are still total strangers to the rest of the party.
Things I should have covered that I didn’t – I forgot to have one of the players describe his character, and neglected to describe some of the NPCs in as much detail as they should have been described. I will have to correct that next time. Also, the party traveled together without incident for about a month, and I summarized over it. Yes, this helped with gameplay, but I should have had them roll Intelligence checks or something to see what they figured out about each other in that time (everyone seemed to keep to themselves as much as possible even though they were traveling together, so its not like they were sharing sob stories about their character history on their own). Will have to be more mindful of that as they travel together in the future. I also totally forgot to have the new characters roll spot checks for Gazit’s eyes – they are odd, and mark something very important about her past/abilities. I will have to remember to have them do that next time too, in a retcon kind of way.
Things that went well – like I said, everyone was flexible about getting the party together, and even though they knew out-of-character they they were supposed to form a party, they still roleplayed it out very well. Certain things were noticed that implied troublesome things about the new characters, but still they managed to stick together. They didn’t even throw me for any loops this time, and did a great job investigating the plot hook I threw at them. They were actually very creative about that, and managed to talk their way out of a battle, using the skills at their disposal to avoid it instead of randomly slaughtering NPCs. So very good on them, and we stopped right after that, so I hope what’s next will be worth it to them.
Other problems – the only other thing that I need to keep in mind is that one of the new characters, Abaddon (played by Alex) is EXTREMELY overpowered. This is not because of the numbers on his sheet, he just reeeeeeeally knows what he’s doing and how to play his character to the maximum potential. Luckily, the other new character, Galyn, is played by someone (Forrest) that also knows the game, and the rules, really well, so he acts as a great buffer between Alex and the rest of us. Yes, as a DM I should know the rules better, but I don’t, and my focus is really to have fun with this and not worry so much about the technicalities. Anyway, I will need to “beef up” encounters in the future to make them more challenging for Abaddon, and the rest of the party by proxy.
This means that I have a bit more editing to do for next week’s session (though not nearly as much as I had to do for yesterday). They have found potetntial help, but this help is going to test them to prove their loyalty to the good side. This was originally going to be a relatively easy test, and they will still think it’s going to be, but they’ll be misinformed about what they’re facing. Mwahaha. Basically all I have to do is make some of their enemies in this encounter higher level than I planned, and maybe throw a monster in to boot.
So, work for next week – make the upcoming fight more challenging, and adjust treasure accordingly (if its going to be hard, the reward should be worth it). Refamiliarize myself with the bad guys’ classes, too, so I won’t have to turn to the book for information every two seconds. Make sure that Joel describes his character, Dwyr, like he should have last time, and give better descriptions of the NPCs. Have Galyn and Abaddon roll spot checks to notice how weird Gazit’s eyes are.
That’s all for now. If writing things out like this helps me next week, then I’ll probably start writing reviews like this after each session we have. Like always, look for more later.
Things I should have covered that I didn’t – I forgot to have one of the players describe his character, and neglected to describe some of the NPCs in as much detail as they should have been described. I will have to correct that next time. Also, the party traveled together without incident for about a month, and I summarized over it. Yes, this helped with gameplay, but I should have had them roll Intelligence checks or something to see what they figured out about each other in that time (everyone seemed to keep to themselves as much as possible even though they were traveling together, so its not like they were sharing sob stories about their character history on their own). Will have to be more mindful of that as they travel together in the future. I also totally forgot to have the new characters roll spot checks for Gazit’s eyes – they are odd, and mark something very important about her past/abilities. I will have to remember to have them do that next time too, in a retcon kind of way.
Things that went well – like I said, everyone was flexible about getting the party together, and even though they knew out-of-character they they were supposed to form a party, they still roleplayed it out very well. Certain things were noticed that implied troublesome things about the new characters, but still they managed to stick together. They didn’t even throw me for any loops this time, and did a great job investigating the plot hook I threw at them. They were actually very creative about that, and managed to talk their way out of a battle, using the skills at their disposal to avoid it instead of randomly slaughtering NPCs. So very good on them, and we stopped right after that, so I hope what’s next will be worth it to them.
Other problems – the only other thing that I need to keep in mind is that one of the new characters, Abaddon (played by Alex) is EXTREMELY overpowered. This is not because of the numbers on his sheet, he just reeeeeeeally knows what he’s doing and how to play his character to the maximum potential. Luckily, the other new character, Galyn, is played by someone (Forrest) that also knows the game, and the rules, really well, so he acts as a great buffer between Alex and the rest of us. Yes, as a DM I should know the rules better, but I don’t, and my focus is really to have fun with this and not worry so much about the technicalities. Anyway, I will need to “beef up” encounters in the future to make them more challenging for Abaddon, and the rest of the party by proxy.
This means that I have a bit more editing to do for next week’s session (though not nearly as much as I had to do for yesterday). They have found potetntial help, but this help is going to test them to prove their loyalty to the good side. This was originally going to be a relatively easy test, and they will still think it’s going to be, but they’ll be misinformed about what they’re facing. Mwahaha. Basically all I have to do is make some of their enemies in this encounter higher level than I planned, and maybe throw a monster in to boot.
So, work for next week – make the upcoming fight more challenging, and adjust treasure accordingly (if its going to be hard, the reward should be worth it). Refamiliarize myself with the bad guys’ classes, too, so I won’t have to turn to the book for information every two seconds. Make sure that Joel describes his character, Dwyr, like he should have last time, and give better descriptions of the NPCs. Have Galyn and Abaddon roll spot checks to notice how weird Gazit’s eyes are.
That’s all for now. If writing things out like this helps me next week, then I’ll probably start writing reviews like this after each session we have. Like always, look for more later.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Plan? What plan?
My campaign is set to resume this coming Sunday. There were a couple of PC’s that were supposed to meet up before the party (as it is now) would have fully joined together, so I ran what was supposed to be a short session last night with just those two players. I had a plan, a road-map if you will, of how they were going to get from point A. Meeting each other, to point B. Meeting the other PC’s.
In true DnD fashion, the players did something totally unexpected that I was NOT prepared for, and instead of stopping the session so I could prepare (like I usually do), I kept trudging along and pulling things out of my bum, still trying to get back to my original road-map plan. To make a long story short, let’s just say that it didn’t work.
The players said the session wasn’t a total loss, and they still had fun, so it was worth it, but as a result I have to scrap EVERYTHING I had planned for the next two sessions. I have to re-plan all of this by Sunday, so I won’t have to put off starting the campaign. This is especially important, because the way I scheduled things was to have two sessions before I go on vacation in two weeks, expecting to miss 2 weeks of gaming while I was gone, and resume once I returned.
*headdesk*
To clarify, I am not upset at any of the players because I understand that this happens, but it still is really frustrating, and this place is, after all, somewhere for me to vent and talk about the game. Other DM’s will understand what I mean, though, right?
Anyway, here’s the new plan/idea that I will be working out in the notes:
~ The players have chosen to keep their quest a secret from the local good-aligned government, as well as the draconic heritage of some of the PC/NPC’s. They will be traveling the continent on their own, seeking out old temples and other places that might point them in the direction of where the dragons went.
~ The new players, who were supposed to be assigned to go with them by the government, will now be sent to follow and spy on them in order to find out what’s really going on – the characters proved that they were no threat and not aligned with the bad guys, but they are still clearly acting weird, so the Governor of the area wants to find out what’s really going on, and since there’s a truce in place, she can afford to send “troops” to do that.
~ Hopefully the new players have their characters meet up with and join the party instead of just following them all creepily. But I am making NO assumptions, since that always tends to bite me in the freakin’ ass.
So that’s the plan. Looks like I’ll have to just plan one session out for now, so Sunday will be covered, then see what happens, and take the week after to plan for the following Sunday.
I also think I’ll still try to have them meet up with the small army group they were going to be sent to, since they do seem kinda suspicious and the army CAN help them if they play their cards right. Which means that whatever temple they end up trying to find first will have to be in the direction of that base, and they should pass the base on the way there. Which also also means that they’ll have to roll spot checks to notice that they’re being watched from the base, and hopefully attack first, thinking they are about to be ambushed…..this will also draw in the ex-military status of one of the new PC’s, which can work to their advantage. Then, as per the notes, they will have to prove to the military dudes that they are trustworthy by ambushing the Orc spies for them – the military peoples will probably also send one of their own soldiers with them, to ensure nothing goes to crap (since the PC’s will have seen the inside of the base at that point, theoretically) and still hold one of the NPC’s as collateral. They should see the base at evening first, I think, when they’re all getting tired and need to rest. That might make them more likely to stop and try and get shelter from the base. Success in that area will earn them trust from some of the good guys, even if they don’t reveal their heritage and quest. Failure will mean fleeing again, which is still doable. If they leave Gazit behind, Neeta can use the charm thing to summon her, and they can overcome the one soldier that was sent with them to keep them in check. But hopefully things won’t come to that.
Apologies for the stream-of-thought-ness, I just haven’t worked this out yet, and this does help me. As usual, I’ll post more when I know more/when more happens.
In true DnD fashion, the players did something totally unexpected that I was NOT prepared for, and instead of stopping the session so I could prepare (like I usually do), I kept trudging along and pulling things out of my bum, still trying to get back to my original road-map plan. To make a long story short, let’s just say that it didn’t work.
The players said the session wasn’t a total loss, and they still had fun, so it was worth it, but as a result I have to scrap EVERYTHING I had planned for the next two sessions. I have to re-plan all of this by Sunday, so I won’t have to put off starting the campaign. This is especially important, because the way I scheduled things was to have two sessions before I go on vacation in two weeks, expecting to miss 2 weeks of gaming while I was gone, and resume once I returned.
*headdesk*
To clarify, I am not upset at any of the players because I understand that this happens, but it still is really frustrating, and this place is, after all, somewhere for me to vent and talk about the game. Other DM’s will understand what I mean, though, right?
Anyway, here’s the new plan/idea that I will be working out in the notes:
~ The players have chosen to keep their quest a secret from the local good-aligned government, as well as the draconic heritage of some of the PC/NPC’s. They will be traveling the continent on their own, seeking out old temples and other places that might point them in the direction of where the dragons went.
~ The new players, who were supposed to be assigned to go with them by the government, will now be sent to follow and spy on them in order to find out what’s really going on – the characters proved that they were no threat and not aligned with the bad guys, but they are still clearly acting weird, so the Governor of the area wants to find out what’s really going on, and since there’s a truce in place, she can afford to send “troops” to do that.
~ Hopefully the new players have their characters meet up with and join the party instead of just following them all creepily. But I am making NO assumptions, since that always tends to bite me in the freakin’ ass.
So that’s the plan. Looks like I’ll have to just plan one session out for now, so Sunday will be covered, then see what happens, and take the week after to plan for the following Sunday.
I also think I’ll still try to have them meet up with the small army group they were going to be sent to, since they do seem kinda suspicious and the army CAN help them if they play their cards right. Which means that whatever temple they end up trying to find first will have to be in the direction of that base, and they should pass the base on the way there. Which also also means that they’ll have to roll spot checks to notice that they’re being watched from the base, and hopefully attack first, thinking they are about to be ambushed…..this will also draw in the ex-military status of one of the new PC’s, which can work to their advantage. Then, as per the notes, they will have to prove to the military dudes that they are trustworthy by ambushing the Orc spies for them – the military peoples will probably also send one of their own soldiers with them, to ensure nothing goes to crap (since the PC’s will have seen the inside of the base at that point, theoretically) and still hold one of the NPC’s as collateral. They should see the base at evening first, I think, when they’re all getting tired and need to rest. That might make them more likely to stop and try and get shelter from the base. Success in that area will earn them trust from some of the good guys, even if they don’t reveal their heritage and quest. Failure will mean fleeing again, which is still doable. If they leave Gazit behind, Neeta can use the charm thing to summon her, and they can overcome the one soldier that was sent with them to keep them in check. But hopefully things won’t come to that.
Apologies for the stream-of-thought-ness, I just haven’t worked this out yet, and this does help me. As usual, I’ll post more when I know more/when more happens.
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