[dungeoncrawl] Re: Thursday Morning Review
- From: jimkaren@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- To: dungeoncrawl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 12:57:53 US/Eastern
Nah, you're right. I'm really
committed to the long-term story arc
that I envision, but it's important to
me that the foundation not be
undermined to rush to the good stuff.
Last night, I went in assuming that
after the first two or three characters
got free, they'd get together with
Magnus and take care of the rest on
their own (eliminating any need for
individual roleplaying).
That's one reason why Mylena came back
partway thru - she thought that the
group only needed her to get them
started, and they'd take it from
there. Still, though, it was important
to me that the characters come together
in a plausible way - after all, they
were put on the planes in a manner that
made it tough to leave, and I didn't
want to make that seem like a trivial
limitation.
I don't foresee any need for nights
like the last few down the road -
actually, if it does happen, I'll be
banging my head on the wall to keep
things moving - but it does seem like
it's becoming the norm.
I guess the stakes are so high in what
we're doing with the "powerful" group,
that I want to make sure the group
earns their victory - warts and all.
The last thing we need is for the
characters to easily obtain godhood,
and then for us as players to find the
whole thing so unsatisfying that we
look for ways to make them mortal again.
Definitely open to suggestions - I'm
actually planning on emailing Shawn B.
soon (hee hee) to get guru level advice
on my long term plans, but it's
important most of all that everyone is
having fun when we get together -
>
> Ok, I'm going to start by being
honest. I have been debating how to
> respond to Jim's e-mail, which may
seem odd, since I am the cold hearted
> bastard of the group and I usually
have no problem being honest. My
> concern is that I know that Jim is a
superior DM, and I don't want this
> taken the wrong way. That being
said, I didn't enjoy last night as much
> as I had hoped to.
> I think the thing that really
killed me was the second week in a row
> of individual role-playing. It seems
to be a common thread for us, and
> I'm not sure how we became caught in
the trap. Three weeks ago, before
> the Riders fought Rig, Jim had
brought the subject up with me. I had
> advised against it. He decided to do
it anyway, and he did some
> individual role-playing with Ilana,
Kilian, Valeria and the group. And
> it went very well. Jim jumped from
one player to another and kept the
> sessions short. He had proved me
wrong; individual role-playing can
> work, and he went on to DM one of the
best nights of D&D we have had in
> a long time. He also left me feeling
incredibly positive and excited
> about the future. I believe, if Jim
had suggested it, I would have
> called off work, and told Brad I
wasn't coming home, and then barricaded
> myself in the basement for the next
three weeks straight to see what Jim
> had planned.
> Then last week happened. We did
almost all individual role-playing,
> and it caused the night to slow
down. I know that when I left last
> week, my enthusiasm had dimmed a
little, but I was still excited.
> Unfortunately, last night was more of
the same. I had hoped that Jim
> would quickly gather the party and we
could be off. Instead, each
> individual character was gathered.
It took almost all night. And I'm
> afraid it drained my enthusiasm even
more.
> I'm still looking forward to
where Jim is going with this plot. As
> we saw three weeks ago, he can DM an
adventure better than most, and
> deliver us a great night of role-
playing. But I fear that the last two
> weeks have leeched some of the
momentum he had going. It's going to be
> more work on everyone's part to get
us back to the fever pitch we were
> in a few weeks ago.
> Comments? Please? I don't
intend to be overly critical of Jim. I
> know how hard it can be to DM (I am
the person that has had more than
> one campaign that I put a lot of work
into shot out from under me when
> the players said that they weren't
interested), and I know Jim can pull
> it together. But the last few weeks
just haven't worked for me.
>
> jimkaren@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> > I don't know about everyone else,
but I
> > had a good time last night! It was
an
> > odd night, in a way, as only one
player
> > was doing anything at any given time
> > for most of it. I didn't intend
that
> > at first, but somehow it worked.
> >
> > The gist was Magnus sent Mylena, his
> > alternate-reality daughter (believe
it
> > or not, it all makes sense from a
> > campaign perspective) to "capture"
> > certain Riders who were imprisoned
on
> > the outer planes. If they left of
> > their own free will, or knowingly,
> > there was a greater chance of the
gods
> > becoming offended or realizing what
was
> > happening.
> >
> > And since the gods have no
influence in
> > the city of Sigil, and since Mylena
> > technically never existed in these
> > characters' version of
the "realms", it
> > seemed plausible that her activities
> > could go unnoticed for a period of
time.
> >
> > In the end, Mylena succeeded in
> > capturing most of the Riders she was
> > sent for after a very difficult
> > struggle. She exhausted Rig, my now
> > very-deceased evil 17th level
> > gladiator, five powerful mercenary
> > githyanki, and almost herself to do
> > it. She used sheer power,
treachery,
> > luck, or whatever it would take to
pull
> > it off, and it was fun to see in
action
> > since I didn't have a definite
outcome
> > in mind.
> >
> > I thought about forcing characters
to
> > be captured last night, but in the
end,
> > I would be helping the Riders to
win.
> > And that wouldn't be fair. It may
> > sound like a "yeah sure" thing, but
the
> > group's rivals (like Celane, the
Black
> > Legion, and maybe Dr. Klaw) all
have a
> > chance to succeed.
> >
> > So the Riders ended up prisoners of
the
> > Dustmen faction in Sigil's Mortuary
(as
> > Mylena is a member there -
apparently,
> > she's at least partly a
necromancer).
> > They were released simultaneously
from
> > gas-filled iron caskets, and
proceeded
> > to deal with their situation.
> >
> > In the end, Magnus got a core group
to
> > agree to his crusade. Some other
> > characters offered to help Marnie
(my
> > swashbuckler) search for her
husband,
> > Surrote, who had gone missing on his
> > own and couldn't be located by
Mylena.
> >
> > Ambrosia preferred to remain
retired,
> > running her new inn, and the "lower
> > level" riders that we used last week
> > are still doing their own thing.
> >
> > And that is where we ended.
> > Thoughts/comments?
>
>
>
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