Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Campbell" data-source="post: 8087387" data-attributes="member: 16586">[USER=42582]@pemerton[/USER]I have touched on my default constellation approach a bit in some other threads, but not in too much detail. If I am running game like Apocalypse World, Dogs in the Vineyard, Smallville or The Nightmares Underneath that demands a particular approach to prep I follow that. My sort of natural approach to preparing for games is kind of a synthesis of techniques drawn from indie games that have specific prep you are supposed to do like Apocalypse World, Dogs in the Vineyard, Smallville, and Sorcerer. I also include Blades in the Dark and Lady Blackbird in the mix because they have largely already done the prep. I am also fairly influenced by OSR games like Nightmares Underneath and Sine Nomine games (Stars Without Number, Silent Legions, Godbound). I try to experiment with the form and treat needs of each game a little differently, but there are some general trends.I tend to view Blades in the Dark as a high water mark in scenario design. My end goal is usually to have that sort of range of potential allies and enemies all with their own agendas that the main characters can assist, exploit, or find themselves at odds with. I generally want to be more personal  so I like to do most of my prep after I have sense of who the main characters are and what they want.My prep comes in a couple of different forms. For my personal use I maintain a set of relationship maps that I look at and add to between sessions. These detail possible connections between characters, factions, sub factions. This stuff is mostly unfixed. I also maintain a player facing campaign wiki that details the current state of the fiction for all of us to use as a reference when needed, Some of the stuff included are descriptions and some are brief fiction snippets. For each session I also do like a one pager of notes for the current fictional situation.The most unusual thing (I think) about how I do my prep is I will do unwritten acting exercises for individual NPCs. I try to build enough here so I have like emotional tools to call upon and like a distinct voice and way of talking (not an accent) for each major named NPC. I do this for my own PC when I play in more character focused games.I am still working through the right prep process for the current game. I try to keep it relatively, but I do have a somewhat more fixed view of the current situation and characters. There's a lot of fictional positioning play that is crucial to my enjoyment of RPGs. Some of this will change. Beam Saber has some of its own prep requirements (though not mechanical).Here are my session notes for the last session. The stuff that I talk about that will happen is stuff happening in a different star system.[Spoiler= Session Notes]Jasven will blame Reinhardt Bravossi and Delphine Armiger for kidnapping the children. Will plead for return of Kas Vertu and other children.The clone of Aurelian will be executed.Aurelian, Delphine, and Reinhardt will be genetically purged from The Ascendency.The Ascendency uses Kryptonian like genetic matching for development of most offspring.Delphine Armiger used to be the Ascendent Lord's personal body guard.Reinhardt Bravossi was the founder of the Crimson Lotus.Exquisite Pain of Multitudes has Lohattsiel Vangelos, Tunepz Vangelos, and Runa captured.Runa got captured on purpose.Multitudes is being assaulted by Reinhardt Bavossi, Delphine Armiger, and Saren Grandst.[/Spoiler]Some Wiki Stuff[Spoiler= The Ascendency]Humanity has not always traversed the stars. Our feet used to bound to dying planets by cruel gravitational fields. We were running on the exhausts of fuels that were killing us. Our atmospheres were choking us. Humanity was dying. The Ascendency changed all that.Back in those days it used to take years to travel from one system to another. Many of died in the process, vainly hoping to find verdant worlds to colonize. We harvested what we could, but we knew our species was doomed. We were desperate, so desperate we sought comfort from our greatest enemy.In our attempts to seek survival amongst the stars we kept running into the forces of The Black City terrible machines that would kill us, torture us, and enslave us. In those days there was no beating them. They were so much more technologically advanced than us and worked together as a hivemind.Vitellus and Aurelian Verdan would change humanity's fate forever. They led a small expedition to the heart of The Black City and reached an accord with the hivemind. They were changed. They came back not with warships that could traverse the stars bonded with sentient alien war machines. They lead humanity on a conquest. The Ascendency was born.- Redacted.[/Spoiler][Spoiler= The Crimson Lotus] The execution of Ascendant Lord Vitellus Verdan for high treason caused a splintering in the Ascendency. The imperial guard took up the blood soaked lotus as its new colors and defected from the Ascendency. At first they hoped only to have High Lord Aurelian Verdan replace his brother as the new Ascendant Lord. Those hopes were diminished when Aurelian bent the knee to the Sol Fortuna and used all the might of Sol Invictus to quell the uprising. It would not be quelled.The Crimson Lotus has stood in open defiance of The Ascendency for over 300 years. It has lost much of its original purpose and connection to the imperial guard although it still recruits heavily from Sol Invictus. Today the Lotus stands mostly as symbol of violent rebirth.[/Spoiler][Spoiler= Runa][ATTACH]126203[/ATTACH]Runa is a wild card. She's officially part of the Lotus, but does not seem to take orders from anyone. Has penchant for chaos and destruction.Led Fulgen Vangelos to a cloning facility once used by his parents. Downloaded information from the facility with the help of Rafiq. Uploaded a virus that freed all the clones in the facility with their memories intact (including 5 clones Fulgen).Flirted with both Rafiq and Fulgen Vangelos. Has a history with Aurelian.[/Spoiler][spoiler= Kas Vertu][ATTACH]126206[/ATTACH]Kas Vertu is the daughter and heir to Jasven Vertu, a very important Senator. Her brother, Deras Vertu, is a known terrorist and assassin in league with the Crimson Lotus.Kas was the best student in her class at the Academy, particularly in close combat and infiltration techniques. She consider Five Star her rival, but really wants to be friends. She does not have many real friends.Kira was kind to her. Kas considers her a friend.[/spoiler]</blockquote>

Verification