Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Why do RPGs have rules?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 9280191" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Right, so mostly I just look at how play happens. We did a one-shot the other day where 2 of us ran a couple of NPCs that are now about to figure in our regular Stonetop game. So we just quick did them up and ran a kind of kicker scenario for them, like 'how did they start out?' kind of thing.</p><p></p><p>Now, given what we already know about these NPCs (not too much, they've never been on screen, but one of them has been a behind-the-scenes character, so we know at least what role she's playing in the setting now) we kind of know what sorts of characters they are. Maeve is being portrayed as a 'heavy', her role in our story is as a kind of a menacing thug leader. The other character is her right hand, a mysterious person who may be a sort of priest or hetman, 'The Eye'. </p><p></p><p>So, we start out located in our original tribe in an area called Manmarch. The GM posses a situation, following general DW/ST GMing principles, though the setup is not quite bog standard Stonetop. Our food supply has up and disappeared, the big elk some hunters brought in is GONE! The Eye starts doing spirit stuff to try to figure out what happened, Maeve takes on her role as a 'heavy' and lends assistance. We meet with some success, we're able to determine that the animal was spirited away by some sort of druidic magic, and we can track it.</p><p></p><p>Now, The Eye gets a vision of a monstrous cave bear and the message that if we don't stop the bear from eating this elk it will become a real threat, gaining uncanny sustenance. We set off and track the thing down, still mostly getting some decent rolls for tracking and seeing what the situation is. </p><p></p><p>Eventually we get to a steep drop in front of the bear's cave. Maeve now kicks into full heavy mode (the heavy is a bad-assed fighter) and drops down in front of the cave, a torch in one hand, armor equipped, with a big iron warhammer in the other fist. At this point the magic opposing us picks rolls a wave of icy river water into the cave, and extinguishes Maeve's torch, threatening to drag her under. The Eye tries some magic, canceling half of the effect (I rolled badly for my defy danger move to get into this situation). Now I'm in the dark again, taking cold damage, and slowed down by the water. The bear attacks, I'm now at 1 hit point, and my counter attack, though it works, doesn't kill the bear. Once again the water pulls me back and I go under, and now I'm at 0 hit points!</p><p></p><p>At this point Maeve gets a 14 on her Death's Door, I tell Death to take a hike and I'm going to kick this druid magic in the arse! I come leaping back out of the water, with my 1 hit point back, and The Eye drops into the cave from above to help me. I kill the bear with a mighty blow, and the people feast on bear meat, while I take the pelt.</p><p></p><p>So, we have a pretty standard narrative here, in a sense. I mean, you could describe a game using B/X D&D pretty close to the same way, though magic works a bit differently here... Anyway, the point is, consider the DW-esque principles at play here. The scenario was fun, and hazardous for the characters, but interesting. We learned that Maeve is an iron-willed sort of character who gets what she wants. The Eye has some sort of mysterious connection to the spirit world and an agenda of his own. Maybe he's just using Maeve! We will play to find out, even though these are going to be NPCs in the rest of our play.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 9280191, member: 82106"] Right, so mostly I just look at how play happens. We did a one-shot the other day where 2 of us ran a couple of NPCs that are now about to figure in our regular Stonetop game. So we just quick did them up and ran a kind of kicker scenario for them, like 'how did they start out?' kind of thing. Now, given what we already know about these NPCs (not too much, they've never been on screen, but one of them has been a behind-the-scenes character, so we know at least what role she's playing in the setting now) we kind of know what sorts of characters they are. Maeve is being portrayed as a 'heavy', her role in our story is as a kind of a menacing thug leader. The other character is her right hand, a mysterious person who may be a sort of priest or hetman, 'The Eye'. So, we start out located in our original tribe in an area called Manmarch. The GM posses a situation, following general DW/ST GMing principles, though the setup is not quite bog standard Stonetop. Our food supply has up and disappeared, the big elk some hunters brought in is GONE! The Eye starts doing spirit stuff to try to figure out what happened, Maeve takes on her role as a 'heavy' and lends assistance. We meet with some success, we're able to determine that the animal was spirited away by some sort of druidic magic, and we can track it. Now, The Eye gets a vision of a monstrous cave bear and the message that if we don't stop the bear from eating this elk it will become a real threat, gaining uncanny sustenance. We set off and track the thing down, still mostly getting some decent rolls for tracking and seeing what the situation is. Eventually we get to a steep drop in front of the bear's cave. Maeve now kicks into full heavy mode (the heavy is a bad-assed fighter) and drops down in front of the cave, a torch in one hand, armor equipped, with a big iron warhammer in the other fist. At this point the magic opposing us picks rolls a wave of icy river water into the cave, and extinguishes Maeve's torch, threatening to drag her under. The Eye tries some magic, canceling half of the effect (I rolled badly for my defy danger move to get into this situation). Now I'm in the dark again, taking cold damage, and slowed down by the water. The bear attacks, I'm now at 1 hit point, and my counter attack, though it works, doesn't kill the bear. Once again the water pulls me back and I go under, and now I'm at 0 hit points! At this point Maeve gets a 14 on her Death's Door, I tell Death to take a hike and I'm going to kick this druid magic in the arse! I come leaping back out of the water, with my 1 hit point back, and The Eye drops into the cave from above to help me. I kill the bear with a mighty blow, and the people feast on bear meat, while I take the pelt. So, we have a pretty standard narrative here, in a sense. I mean, you could describe a game using B/X D&D pretty close to the same way, though magic works a bit differently here... Anyway, the point is, consider the DW-esque principles at play here. The scenario was fun, and hazardous for the characters, but interesting. We learned that Maeve is an iron-willed sort of character who gets what she wants. The Eye has some sort of mysterious connection to the spirit world and an agenda of his own. Maybe he's just using Maeve! We will play to find out, even though these are going to be NPCs in the rest of our play. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Why do RPGs have rules?
Top