First and foremost I want to say thank you for all your
support for both the narrative blog and this tech one over the past four plus
months. I've set up a Patreon account if you wish to support with what I'm
doing. I want to do so much more, such as podcasts, new games, Twitch, You-Tube
and more writing.
Hopefully you will know by now that I am inviting you to join
in with the Needle's universe campaign. Not only am I looking to you guys for
inspiration and suggestions, but I'm reserving a seat just for you, you only
have to claim it. For those that have taken me up on the offer two have already
taken part. Megan and Aser from The Redacted Files are my first guests in the
universe and here a little post game interview:-
D: Could you tell everyone who you played ?
M: Lavinia Marsh, a Mad Nano who Crafts Powerful Poisons
A: Randall Whateley, a Clever Jack who Entertains
D: Did you know much about the universe before you played?
M: I was pretty new to the world and had just read the Season 1 summary and the wiki entries for the living characters
A: I knew the basic geographical and political details about the setting, garnered from the wiki page.
D: Since you've read the blog and some of the Wikia, what do you think to the campaign story so far?
M: I liked the take on the Beyond All Worlds adventure quite a bit. It was run with a different background than what I have used, which made it fun for me to read. I liked the use of the third party materials and it inspired me to go buy some of those for my own campaign.
A: The political manoeuvring and overlapping conflicts, as well as the flawed characters, lent the world a sense of gritty realism I find lacking in the original Ninth World materials.
D: The regular cast loved having you with us, what did you think of them?
M: I think the wide variation in personalities caused a lot of unexpected moments, that were fun to play through.
A: The diversity of character outlooks and styles of play made for a surprisingly dynamic story that provides the cast with interesting challenges. They always seem to find entertaining ways to overcome them.
D: From the two sessions, what was your most enjoyable moment?
M: I liked using my “Self-Inflicting Poison” on Froge.
A: The sudden onset of the Iron Wind. It was unexpected but alarmingly plausible and emphasized the alien nature of the Ninth Wor
D: From the two sessions, what was your most memorable moment?
M: I think the scene with the dinner table, where Lavinia was trying to do whatever she had to, in order to get out of this house again.
A: The room of mirrors. It defied expectations and truly created a feeling of powerlessness.
D: This is definitely a spoiler but can you tell us if you survived?
M: Yes!
A: Yes!
D: Overall, what do you think of Needle's Universe?
M: I really like the intrigue with the guilds and all the factions. It’s very different then the take I have of the Ninth World in my game and it’s a lot of fun to manoeuvre through.
A: See above.
D: The regular Needle's cast would love you to have you back, would you come and play in the Needles Universe again with us sometime?
M: Of course! And we would love to have you come play with us as well.
A: Absolutely
For players joining my table I try not to railroad them into specific characters that I'm looking for that fit with the campaign. The ideas behind a GM's narrative is just that, ideas. The world we inhabit is not by design nor should it be, and neither should your characters. Characters that are thrown into unexpected situations are far more interesting than a generic hero going on a quest. I believe player agency to be one of the most important aspects of table-top gaming and so I don't get to choose. What I can do however, is mould characters. Lavinia and Randall started off as a mercenary duo. It only took a few quick edits, mainly of names and places, that contextualised the characters.
Having set up an established world, and having the Wikia on hand to explain the finer points, doing this grounds the player in a sense of realism within the universe. All characters in any game should feel like that. A player shouldn't feel placed on the world, neither should a character feel newly spawned. The more you know about the world you're in, the more you can bond people to it, creating for a more compelling and interesting narrative.
For one of my players however, the appearance of Lavinia and Randall brought unexpected news. Although going any further would count as a spoiler, I have tried to tie them both into one of the greater, and more character-centric plotlines. It did involve a bit of meta-gaming on my behalf but it worked for the players. There are at times where a GM wants to pass information privately to another character, and thanks to online play, this can be done via private message. However, I did not want to deliver the information myself, so I had my guests deliver it for me. Not only was it up to them when and where they said it, it would also come as a complete surprise to my player. It was in fact such a surprise that we had to talk about its implications after the game for a quite a while.
Being able to throw curve balls at my regular players, with
using my guests to help facilitate it is great, not only does it shake things
up but it gives every character a sense of purpose.
GMs: Think about how you disseminate information to your
players. How much information do they know about the world from just being in
it, and how much have you had to tell them? Can you provide more information
via experience? Could you use another character to inform another on what you
want them to know?
Players: Do you actively seek out information about your world around you, or do you let it pass by? Outside of what your character is doing now, how much do they know about the wider world? Do you know something another PC doesn't, or could never know? Is anyone in your party keeping secrets from you?
This weekend I have another guest player, playing, as I mentioned last week, a Guldspar. If you wish to join in don't hesitate to ask and follow me on twitter @proftesla, google+ or support me via Patreon.
Talk to you guys later on this week,
/Drew- Tesla
No comments:
Post a Comment