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Spire: The City Must Fall
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<blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 8404041" data-attributes="member: 6785785"><p>So we did character generation and our first bit of play all in our first game night, but I’m gonna break them up here into Session 0 and Session 1.</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Session 0</u></strong></p><p>The PCs form a cell in the Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress, a sect devoted to a drow goddess whose worship is outlawed by the aelfir. As members of the Ministry, they're devoted to the drow people, and to taking back the city by subverting control where they can. This is a clandestine revolution at this point. Things have been this way for so long and many are content with how things are. The drow nobility accepts aelfir rule to one degree or another, and they plot and scheme for favor and standing among the upper districts, while down-Spire the common drow live in squalor.</p><p></p><p>There are three players, and the PCs we wound up with are:</p><p></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Myridian, a Knight</strong> of the Wolf and Hound Pub in the North Docks, a thug who served his durance as a killer for an (as yet unnamed) aelfir lord; he has an NPC squire named Nathan as a Bond who is overly optimistic and hopeful; he's a gifted combatant</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Caspune, an Idol</strong>; an artist with supernatural skill who can influence others through his craft; the player modeled him after David Bowie with a Ziggy Stardust type persona; he spent his Durance as a “pet” of an aelfir noble; he has a Bond with three devoted fans that he can rely upon for help; he's a charmer and enchanter</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Chthon, a Vermissian Sage</strong>; a hermit who lives in the corrupted train tunnels of the failed Vermissian mass transit system that runs throughout Spire; he spent his Durance working in one of the universities in the richer districts of Spire; he has access to the Vermissian Vault, which holds books from other worlds and alternate histories, giving him knowledge of things that never were or only may have been</li> </ul><p>Creating the characters is a group effort. Each PC has a Bond with another PC, where that player can determine facts about the other players’ characters. This is a minor but very interesting process, and really works well to establish the group dynamic and set up some of their backstory without getting too overly detailed so that there is plenty left to emerge through play. So as an example, the player of the Vermissian Sage has to select another PC about whom he knows a secret, and then he says what that secret is, and if the other PC is aware that he knows or not. So it turns out Chthon knows who was the first person that Myridian the Knight killed, and Myridian isn't aware that he knows. Who was it, and why is this a secret? We don't yet know.</p><p></p><p>This is a pretty cool part of character creation. It takes away some control from the PC's player....but given the nature of the setting, not having full control over what's happened to you in your past seems fitting. It introduces elements that may prove interesting to play, but which are not so detailed as to be restrictive. It also helps establish some group dynamics and a sense that these characters know each other. So they all know each other....we decided to figure out exactly why.</p><p></p><p>We decided that the PCs were all childhood friends who were “clutch mates”, which means they were raised in the same hatchery (drow are born from eggs in the world of Spire, eggs that must be given blood to grow strong). They were nurtured by Sister Lenore, a priestess who helps care for drow young known as a Midwife (also a playable class). We decided that it was Sister Lenore who is their Magister, or overseer, in the Ministry. She raised them all on the blood of drow heroes, and knew that someday they would join the cause.</p><p></p><p>Once we were done with character creation and we decided on their mutual history with Sister Lenore, we talked about some of the expectations of play. The book lists several, and we just went down the list. I won’t reproduce them all here, but to summarize: this mission is too vast to expect to succeed; don’t expect play to result in toppling the aelfir hierarchy and freeing the drow. It’s instead about small victories. And ultimately, you are on your own in this; the Ministry will disavow you if you’re caught, your loved ones would turn you in if they knew you were a Minister, and the aelfir Solar Guard will hunt you down and kill you in the streets.</p><p></p><p>One way or another, this mission will destroy you.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="hawkeyefan, post: 8404041, member: 6785785"] So we did character generation and our first bit of play all in our first game night, but I’m gonna break them up here into Session 0 and Session 1. [B][U]Session 0[/U][/B] The PCs form a cell in the Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress, a sect devoted to a drow goddess whose worship is outlawed by the aelfir. As members of the Ministry, they're devoted to the drow people, and to taking back the city by subverting control where they can. This is a clandestine revolution at this point. Things have been this way for so long and many are content with how things are. The drow nobility accepts aelfir rule to one degree or another, and they plot and scheme for favor and standing among the upper districts, while down-Spire the common drow live in squalor. There are three players, and the PCs we wound up with are: [LIST] [*][B]Myridian, a Knight[/B] of the Wolf and Hound Pub in the North Docks, a thug who served his durance as a killer for an (as yet unnamed) aelfir lord; he has an NPC squire named Nathan as a Bond who is overly optimistic and hopeful; he's a gifted combatant [*][B]Caspune, an Idol[/B]; an artist with supernatural skill who can influence others through his craft; the player modeled him after David Bowie with a Ziggy Stardust type persona; he spent his Durance as a “pet” of an aelfir noble; he has a Bond with three devoted fans that he can rely upon for help; he's a charmer and enchanter [*][B]Chthon, a Vermissian Sage[/B]; a hermit who lives in the corrupted train tunnels of the failed Vermissian mass transit system that runs throughout Spire; he spent his Durance working in one of the universities in the richer districts of Spire; he has access to the Vermissian Vault, which holds books from other worlds and alternate histories, giving him knowledge of things that never were or only may have been [/LIST] Creating the characters is a group effort. Each PC has a Bond with another PC, where that player can determine facts about the other players’ characters. This is a minor but very interesting process, and really works well to establish the group dynamic and set up some of their backstory without getting too overly detailed so that there is plenty left to emerge through play. So as an example, the player of the Vermissian Sage has to select another PC about whom he knows a secret, and then he says what that secret is, and if the other PC is aware that he knows or not. So it turns out Chthon knows who was the first person that Myridian the Knight killed, and Myridian isn't aware that he knows. Who was it, and why is this a secret? We don't yet know. This is a pretty cool part of character creation. It takes away some control from the PC's player....but given the nature of the setting, not having full control over what's happened to you in your past seems fitting. It introduces elements that may prove interesting to play, but which are not so detailed as to be restrictive. It also helps establish some group dynamics and a sense that these characters know each other. So they all know each other....we decided to figure out exactly why. We decided that the PCs were all childhood friends who were “clutch mates”, which means they were raised in the same hatchery (drow are born from eggs in the world of Spire, eggs that must be given blood to grow strong). They were nurtured by Sister Lenore, a priestess who helps care for drow young known as a Midwife (also a playable class). We decided that it was Sister Lenore who is their Magister, or overseer, in the Ministry. She raised them all on the blood of drow heroes, and knew that someday they would join the cause. Once we were done with character creation and we decided on their mutual history with Sister Lenore, we talked about some of the expectations of play. The book lists several, and we just went down the list. I won’t reproduce them all here, but to summarize: this mission is too vast to expect to succeed; don’t expect play to result in toppling the aelfir hierarchy and freeing the drow. It’s instead about small victories. And ultimately, you are on your own in this; the Ministry will disavow you if you’re caught, your loved ones would turn you in if they knew you were a Minister, and the aelfir Solar Guard will hunt you down and kill you in the streets. One way or another, this mission will destroy you. [/QUOTE]
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