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Gears of Revolution: Notes on my campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Colmarr" data-source="post: 5610998" data-attributes="member: 59182"><p><strong>Session 0</strong> </p><p>(Story Hour updated)</p><p> </p><p>Session 0 went ahead as planned, and I even had a chance to put together that combat after all.</p><p> </p><p>The ad lib session went incredibly well (by my reckoning), and we ended up with a very realistic-feeling group. I think the impromptu nature of the questions together with a willingness to circle around and review the answers results in some very surprising results.</p><p> </p><p>For example, one PC (Erik, the thief) ended up being the oldest PC and the longest serving member of the RHC, so when I asked another player "Who is the leader of the group", she duly nominated Erik. </p><p> </p><p>That single question then prompted two significant character insights - that Erik is too fatalistic after his Yerasol War service to want to be responsible for the lives of others, and that Willheim believes that his lifetime<u>s</u> of service with the RHC mean he should have been promoted to leadership of the group.</p><p> </p><p>You'll see from the PC summaries in the story hour that each of the players voluntarily linked themselves to the others in one way or another. It was quite pleasing to see it happen, particularly given that we went into our last campaign with the cliched meeting in a tavern.</p><p> </p><p>After the ad lib session, we handled the investigation. I told the players that they were investigating the disappearance of the citizens of Parity Lake, and I specifically told them that the culprit would turn out to be a dwarven necromancer and his undead minions. Then, one by one, I asked them to describe one stage of the investigation and how their PC was instrumental in that stage.</p><p> </p><p>There were no skill checks in ths section. It was pure interractive storytelling; sort of like those stories where each author writes a paragraph before handing off to the next. The purpose of this segment was to stress that the PCs were investigators, and not just warriors. I wanted each player to think of how their PC would contribute to the investigations that will no doubt form a big part of the campaign. They didn't let me down.</p><p> </p><p>After reaching the deserted mansion in which the necromancer was conducting his rituals, they moved in to investigate - soon realising that only one of the PCs (Willheim the monk) has a free hand to hold a light source! Tok's stats are yet to be finalised, so hopefully Tok's player takes that into consideration <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p><p> </p><p>For the combat, I reskinned a Goblin Hexer as the Drakran necromancer and Poisonscale Brawlers as his advanced zombies (both from MV). I also threw in some decrepit skeletons to serves as distractions. </p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, I threw the skeletons at the PCs a round before the zombies and necromancers really engaged, and the result was predictable (ie. not many skeletons survived to see the second round). I must remember to use minions as the second wave in future. Chalk that up to a novice 4e DM.</p><p> </p><p>When the combat was all but over, the necromancer pulled out his diplomatic papers and declared his immunity. For a second it looked like the players were going to ignore them, but then they did the "right thing" and took him in. Score one for setting conventions!</p><p> </p><p>Things are looking good for session 1 in (fingers crossed, looking at you [MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION] and [MENTION=63]RangerWickett[/MENTION]) two weeks time.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Colmarr, post: 5610998, member: 59182"] [B]Session 0[/B] (Story Hour updated) Session 0 went ahead as planned, and I even had a chance to put together that combat after all. The ad lib session went incredibly well (by my reckoning), and we ended up with a very realistic-feeling group. I think the impromptu nature of the questions together with a willingness to circle around and review the answers results in some very surprising results. For example, one PC (Erik, the thief) ended up being the oldest PC and the longest serving member of the RHC, so when I asked another player "Who is the leader of the group", she duly nominated Erik. That single question then prompted two significant character insights - that Erik is too fatalistic after his Yerasol War service to want to be responsible for the lives of others, and that Willheim believes that his lifetime[U]s[/U] of service with the RHC mean he should have been promoted to leadership of the group. You'll see from the PC summaries in the story hour that each of the players voluntarily linked themselves to the others in one way or another. It was quite pleasing to see it happen, particularly given that we went into our last campaign with the cliched meeting in a tavern. After the ad lib session, we handled the investigation. I told the players that they were investigating the disappearance of the citizens of Parity Lake, and I specifically told them that the culprit would turn out to be a dwarven necromancer and his undead minions. Then, one by one, I asked them to describe one stage of the investigation and how their PC was instrumental in that stage. There were no skill checks in ths section. It was pure interractive storytelling; sort of like those stories where each author writes a paragraph before handing off to the next. The purpose of this segment was to stress that the PCs were investigators, and not just warriors. I wanted each player to think of how their PC would contribute to the investigations that will no doubt form a big part of the campaign. They didn't let me down. After reaching the deserted mansion in which the necromancer was conducting his rituals, they moved in to investigate - soon realising that only one of the PCs (Willheim the monk) has a free hand to hold a light source! Tok's stats are yet to be finalised, so hopefully Tok's player takes that into consideration ;) For the combat, I reskinned a Goblin Hexer as the Drakran necromancer and Poisonscale Brawlers as his advanced zombies (both from MV). I also threw in some decrepit skeletons to serves as distractions. Unfortunately, I threw the skeletons at the PCs a round before the zombies and necromancers really engaged, and the result was predictable (ie. not many skeletons survived to see the second round). I must remember to use minions as the second wave in future. Chalk that up to a novice 4e DM. When the combat was all but over, the necromancer pulled out his diplomatic papers and declared his immunity. For a second it looked like the players were going to ignore them, but then they did the "right thing" and took him in. Score one for setting conventions! Things are looking good for session 1 in (fingers crossed, looking at you [MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION] and [MENTION=63]RangerWickett[/MENTION]) two weeks time. [/QUOTE]
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