[Gen Con 04] The Insane Game - Updated 8/15/03!

[Cedric]

Actually, that's a pretty decent thought....we could have the ENWorld D&D tournament.

But still...the original idea was for one large game with huge logistics, multiple layers of GM's, designed to place it's own unique stamp on the history of GenCon.

I think we should stick to that idea and just come up with ways to make it work.

How do you write an adventure that keeps people together on the same timeline? Does it have to be a huge battle?

My best "spur of the moment idea" ... a bunch of groups racing for one prize. And the GM's will have several interrelated real time obstacles to throw at them. (ie, at 8:30 the Volcano erupts).

Cedric

 

[Teflon Billy]

If this is going to be run "Concurrently" (all group playing at the same time, toward a goal) I think that it would be near-insane to try and make individual rounds work.

I think we would do much better to have "Scenes" (To steal a WoD-ism) and make sure that before everyone moves onto scene "B", all groups have completed Scene "A".

Now the scenes could be very different for each group (The thieves guild's "SCENE A" is an attempt by them to get a local Strongman seperated from his magic sowrd or whatever), The Mercenary Band's "SCENE A" is an attempt to hijack a ship...etc.

So although many different groups are getting a lot of things done, it all sorts oout "by the clock"

I think we might also take a look at sending players from one group to another at various points in the adventure (The Druids need a thief, the thieve's Guild sends them one in exchange for a Tame Dire Bear or whatever"

all of this negotiation takes place "Between Scenes".

In the final few scenes, perhaps we can merge entire groups to take on more powerful obstacles, leading up to the fianl scene where all groups meet and do whatever is appropriate.

This post is necessarily vague, as I really haven't given anything much thought as yet (Call it brainstorming), but in the final analyis, what is necessary is to keep all group "busy", "Having fun" and "(basically) in Sync with one another"

more as I think about it.

 

[Teflon Billy]

My best "spur of the moment idea" ...the GM's will have several interrelated real time obstacles to throw at them. (ie, at 8:30 the Volcano erupts).

that I like

 

[Morpheus]

Actually, that's a pretty decent thought....we could have the ENWorld D&D tournament.

But still...the original idea was for one large game with huge logistics, multiple layers of GM's, designed to place it's own unique stamp on the history of GenCon.

I think we should stick to that idea and just come up with ways to make it work.

How do you write an adventure that keeps people together on the same timeline? Does it have to be a huge battle?

My best "spur of the moment idea" ... a bunch of groups racing for one prize. And the GM's will have several interrelated real time obstacles to throw at them. (ie, at 8:30 the Volcano erupts).

Cedric

This just reminded me of something I was trying to remember. In CoC, there is an adventure called "The Raid on Innsmouth". In the adventure, the PCs take on several roles during the raid and the adventure is set-up with scenes that are non-sequential (i.e. 5 Acts with 5 Scenes done 1a,4a,3a,2a,5a,4b,3b, etc.) It was really quite amazing when played. How this helps, I have no idea...

 

[Cedric]

Hmm...wealthy noble gets bored. He's lying on his deathbed watching his relatives (his would-be beloved family) fighting over which of his possessions they are going to get when he kicks the bucket.

So, he has them banned from the Castle and sends out runners that he is hosting a game.

There is a chest that needs to be returned to the Castle. The chest resides in the heart of a giant mountain seen rising above the horizon. Each person will join into a group of 6, as decided by a council overseeing the game. The groups will start at various towns and villages equidistant from the mountain and they are charged with returning the chest from the caves within before the time limit of one week expires.

There are strong warnings that the caves are very well guarded.

If no one wins, the family gets the money (so they are trying to stop the groups).

The winning group will "inherit" his Duchy to be split into equal size portions among the survivors of that group of six who will become Barons. If only one person survives the group, he/she inherits the Duchy itself as Duke.

This is purely off the top of my head...but something like that may actually work out.

Cedric

 

[mythusmage]

A Suggestion

It's the same dreary morning it's been for the last year. The bread's gotten even moldier, more beans have sprouted, the rats are very well hidden, those that are left.

Your party cleric is still muttering, "No more 'create food'. No more 'create food'." over and over again.

Today is the end of the twelfth month of siege.

Each group of four is a (truncated) squad of mercenaries caught in a nasty siege. Food is low, so is morale, and the water often has more calories than the soup. Each round is a day in the seige, covering the defense of the city, and the search for food.

Things have gotten bad indeed. Can you provide for your own needs, hold your section of the wall, and dispose of the undead, cannibals, and such like that infest the burg you've been hired to protect?

Or will you tell your employer to take a hike?

For 4 players per table with a mix of roleplaying and combat with a touch of dark humor.

(Any Thoughts)

 

[Stone Angel]

Hell yeah I am in. This is sounding better and better. You could have some villians and some hero's some in between all on indeffinate path of collision maybe each party is after an artifact for there benefactor and after defeating the guardian and it's minions in an epic showdown, they still have each other )who's standing) left to deal with.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Ashy.

Unless some huge miracle happens, I won't be making it to GenCon next year. Though this is still very early, I wouldn't throw my name on the DM list, since...I won't be there to DM. I'll gladly help out on the conceptual side of things...adventure design and such.

Teflon Billy.

I LOVE that idea. If you have groups designed around different things(Thieves Guild, City Watch, etc etc) then it would be interesting to see the roleplaying going on. Only thing with this, is that it seems a lot bigger than just one(very huge) adventure. The hardest part will definatly be cooridinating the different groups, because there is no way to run a 40 person combat without taking a very very long time...

 

[PowerWordDumb]

With all due respect to the LARPers *cough cough* I think half the fun of this would be showing that through sheer stubbornness and determination running a vast d20 game *can* be done. Where's the geekiness in just doing something we already know works? It's much cooler to do something that's never been done (to our knowledge) and to prove the strength of our geek-fu to the whole world.

As to logistically making it work while still keeping it d20 - I think Teflon Billy's got the right kind of idea.... while if we had all day we could do the concurrent round-by-round thing, inevitably some "I'm a roleplayer, don't crush my fragile spirit" person will want to show up and parley and discuss deep metaphysical questions rather than getting into the spirit and laying the smack down. Normally I'm quite up for that, but in this context I think hack'n'slash would actually be a virtue.

As to characters - anyone thought of handing out pre-genned characters? Using some of the generator tools it would be relatively simple to hand out skeletal characters and let people fill in the blanks. Might not sit well with the people who want to do their own concepts, but it may help get things moving while keeping things sane. *shrug* It might not be worth it though if it takes the fun out of it.

 

[Cedric]

I don't really think we would prove anything just by having a 60 person continuous combat scene. There really isn't any challenge in that, you just put people on different parts of the battlescene and keep hacking.

With moderate effort I think we could come up with something fun and challenging that involves combat and roleplaying...while keeping it on a grand scale that allows everyone to participate.

It will be up to the GM's (we have some of the best in the world to draw from here) to keep the groups in line. Encourage roleplay, but not allow hour long political discussions in character that derail the game.

Cedric