The setup and the payoff

We just watched the Harry Potter films on TV over a week. It's weird seeing the progression from whimsy to gloom in a matter of days rather than years. (The last two-parter is about 35% beautiful shots of people in dark clothing standing alone under leaden grey skies. It looks lovely, in a strange Ingmar Bergman way.)

And there are plenty of rousing moments of characters returning, stepping up and joining the fight.

And there are also at least two characters who pop up from out of nowhere even in the last one. Dumbledore's brother arrives a bit late to seem fair. And we could have been introduced to the two-scene magic burglar earlier as well.

So the stuff that's set up is great. The stuff that isn't... isn't.

I'm sure some of it comes from writing the books one a year with gaps, just like the tone (as well as the average length) changes drastically as it goes along.

As a Storyteller or GM, there's only so much groundwork you can lay when the players are moving in various unexpected directions. It's why my mysteries tend not to be very mysterious, or very long. I generally manage to sketch out some NPC conspiracies and enmities for overarching plots, but what they're up to might be pretty minor. Also, I tend to work in more of an episodic TV manner, with each session largely a small story and maybe a bit of an arc rather than planning a serial saga with a big smash-all-the-sets finale. Might be fun to try...

Cops and Robbers

Idle idea for solving the common "why don't we call the police?" issue in modern games:

1: You are the police. Disadvantage of this is that it still lets them call for backup. But they can be put on (and taken off) specific cases, get to crime scenes... you've seen cop shows, right?

2: You're outlaws. The only people who can stop vampires taking over the mob - are in the mob.

Which would be more fun?

Hello again!

Hope you had a good festive break thingy. Didn't get anything game-related for Christmas although almost everything non-edible was geeky. All caught up on Marvel movies and Neil Gaiman illustrated short stories.

So of course I took advantage of the Onyx Path POD sale on the brand new updated Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition rulebook.

Testing

I am now allowing anonymous comments.

I am sure this will end well.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Other Christmas-type games.

I've been in a few long-running games that saw the year turn, so Christmas happened at least in passing, usually before the game broke for the holidays but sometimes after it resumed due to slowness. There was the odd relevant plot, but not a lot. I've been tempted to do more.

I don't think he's 100% keen.

I looked in on New Bremen at the holidays but mostly just to say hi to people, everybody was naturally a bit busy for plotting. Just working out what your PC gives other characters could be fun, though.

As my imaginary WOD online game commentary moves with the seasons (at least in theory, I only started in November) I'm dropping in the odd idea for a WOD Christmas, from hunting in cold weather to Dexterity penalties for ice to vampires having solstice parties at Elysium to angelic visitations.

This goes back to the tradition of ghost stories for Christmas. A Christmas Carol is the most famous example because it's really seasonal and upbeat, but most were just meant for a good scare around the fire in the dark. We usually have creepy one-shots around Hallowe'en and light-hearted ones around Christmas, but being creepy I'm always tempted to go the other way.

I'm dreaming of a dark Christmas

Tonight in Walking Alone...

... our Puny Mortal heroes found the student's missing brother.

He's not really sure where he's been.

Moving it from a search for a missing NPC could give the sister and roommate PCs reason to leave the game but that's not the plan for them - there's still plenty to find and plenty of trouble to get into, and now They Know Too Much - but it gives them a little hope.

Also there was a shining figure so bright no-one could look directly at it. Dunno what that was about. ;)

And now, the weather

The weather comes, the weather goes... that's why they call it "weather", I suppose.

There's nothing like potentially falling over because of ice on the street to make you think of Dexterity penalties. I suppose you'd have to apply it evenly for the players not to complain.

Random tables to decide the weather? Nah, I like my perfectly timed storms too much.

Tis the season

Christmas shopping achieved!

Apart from that one thing. Damn.

Some game-related gifts for gamers, some generally geeky things. Some game stuff and some geek stuff on my wishlists.

In tonight's violent, er, exciting episode of Walking Alone...

Those Mortals may be Puny, but they can still rescue soon-to-be sacrificial victims and kick cult leaders out of windows.

Next week, a Christmas Special.

WOD MMO ART

Ouch. So much ouch.

What to include, what to exclude

So far in Walking Alone we've had ghosts, vampires, what may have been a werewolf, cults, and I plan to feature an angel soon. What else fits? And what doesn't?

I'm considering how "traditional" the angel should be, if the God-Machine fits or not. It may be too big. But then, regular God is pretty big too... I guess that I'll keep it mysterious and otherworldly...

One thing I have no real plans for at the moment is magic. Partially because I don't have Mage: The Awakening but also because I don't want the PCs getting into that...

Wraith Kickstarter interview

With Richard Dansky.

At last, something they can handle.

"Oh good," said the Puny Mortal. "Cultists."

I see dead people.

IC dead people. Hopefully OOC alive people.

Wraith is back. Fully Kickstarted after an hour and nine minutes, nearly double by now, and not far from an Orpheus expansion stretch goal...

Merry Christmas, Puny Mortals!

Is it bad that I'm already planning the Christmas special for Walking Alone?

Don't answer that.

Cold weather, people loaded down with shopping, decorations heavy on the angels and wreaths... and ghosts, of course.