I'm trying to work out where to put some plot threads in Lost and Found - and they're all tangled up. Individually, they're not that bad - destruction of House Niall, introduction of the members of the Inconnu in preparation for the endgame with the Illuminati, and the return of Benedict, Bleys, and Gerard from apparent death (they aren't actually dead, just... missing). But it becomes a matter of timing. And there's a fourth thread I'm trying to decide whether to introduce; I don't think I'm going to, but it would have been entertaining. And there's a family meeting in two days, game-time... so that I don't forget my agenda here:
1. Introduction of Random's granddaughter/Mercury's daughter, Bernadette
2. Arrival of Dalt; Random's solution to the Eregnor issue; release of one of Dalt's daughters (Alexandra)
3. Discovery that Dalt's other daughter (Audrey) has vanished from the dungeon; discovery that Aphrodite is also missing
4. Finish of Random's solution
5. Swearing of fealty by: Alexandra, Mordred, Thorne, Beatrice, Aphrodite (intended; won't happen)
6. Story of how Deirdre survived the Abyss
7. Story of why Llewella isn't dead
8. Remora's outburst and departure; Flora departs to speak to Bill Roth
9. Random announces arrival of Chaos delegation in a few days (not sure how long yet), requests certain family members' attendance
I think that covers everything I want to take care of in the meeting. posted by sandrayln at 10:27:00 AM
(
)
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Wow. Okay, just had an evil idea.
Suppose you've got an Amberite - an Elder, perhaps - that's presumed dead. Then suppose that person returns to Amber unexpectedly after a period in captivity.
Suppose that person has a tattoo on their back - one they don't remember agreeing to - that reads, "A pittance for the King."
Name three games you might use to get someone who has never roleplayed before into roleplaying.
Hm. Let me start by going at this backwards. We'll pretend this isn't a stall for time, okay? ;)
Games I wouldn't recommend, based on my playing experiences:
1. Vampire: the Masquerade. Ye gods. *shakes head* This was the first game I played. Honestly, looking back at it now, I'm not quite sure why I kept playing. (It was ...fascinating - let's just leave it at that. Maybe some time I'll tell the story on this blog.) White Wolf is not a bad system - but if you're going to drop a newbie into the middle of WW, I'd recommend Changeling more than the other brands. Well, unless you have someone who really wants to be angsty and immortal. Or extremely violent, as seems to be the case with Werewolf (well, okay, I'm cutting it down to the most simple level, but every Werewolf game I've heard about had very little emphasis on the ecological sensitivities of the wolves and a hell of a lot on the violence). Wraith, from my read through the sourcebook, is way beyond creepy; Mage is hugely complex, or so I recall from my brief brush with it. I don't really know much about Demon, Hunter, or Mummy - but I'd guess they're in the darker category. I am, I must also admit, partial to Changeling. Oh yes, and Vampire seems to attract strange groupies who get entirely too serious about the game, and being mobbed by scary groupies after innocently mentioning the game will probably send a new gamer running in terror.
2. Star Wars D20. Oof. That game was a pain in the butt. "Hey, how much damage does the turret gun on a Corellian Cruiser do?" "I don't know; let me look it up." Repeat, ad nauseum. I don't like looking up things like that during a game; it bores the heck out of me. There was too much to remember or look up. I understand that it's based off of basic d20 principles and should, in theory, resemble 3E D&D, which I'd played, but the key word there is "based". I wasn't a newbie to anything but the variation of the system, and it really put me off, so I wouldn't dare inflict that on someone new to gaming itself.
All that said - I think I'd try either something diceless or perhaps 3rd Edition D&D in combination with a franchise PC game like "Neverwinter Nights". The former because it will be fairly simple and rules-light; the latter needs a little clarification, as follows: As the GM, I'd suggest the newbie play either a fighter or a thief both in the live game and the computer game; I found that playing NwN while I was getting acquainted with the D&D system really helped me understand what was going on, because it shows the important rolls made in the scroll box (or whatever it's called. I know what I'm thinking of, but I don't recall the name of it.) and gave images of what was going on at the same time.
Beyond that - well, I've hit Ye Olde Wall O'Ignorance. I'm trying to remember what *I* did after I played the first time - the only thing I can recall was a particularly complex Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style series of books (the Lone Wolf books? It was something about a wolf...) and a lot of books and computer games. Oh, and an rpg chatroom/MUSH (something like that. Lots of characters messing around, no plot or cohesion.) for a while until the system went the way of the dinosaurs.
What do you think of metaplots (plots developed in the rules and supplements published by the game company)? Are they good, bad, or indifferent? Have you played in a game with a metaplot? What was your experience?
Ugh. I really don't care for metaplots. Not from any bad experiences, but because it can be turned into a morass of widely-distributed information - I can't word exactly what it becomes in my mind, but I know the example I'm thinking of. It's the only example I'm at all conscious of, really: White Wolf. I can't even begin to track the WW metaplot without buying five or six supplements. I mean, really. Even buying five or six supplements only gives you, what, a sixteenth of the entire plot (because of the interconnectedness of the various games)? It makes my head hurt to try and figure out which book I want for a particular plot thread. There's no way I'd try to GM a game using that particular set of metaplots - or, indeed, any metaplots. I can make up my own, thank you.
As for playing in a game using metaplots - sure, I'd play. I'm not proud (and I'm usually dying to play a game anyway - any game. Well, almost any game.). I actually can't think of a game I've been in that used them - our Changeling game doesn't use the WW metaplot stuff, our 3E D&D game didn't even have a plot for most of it's duration (well, aside from what our characters generated), and most of the other games I've been in were one-shots (or amounted to one-shots because the game didn't continue) where it's hard to tell if there's a metaplot going on or not. posted by sandrayln at 4:38:00 PM
(
)
