The video for Session Eight:
This Episode:
The group decided to pause their current investigation to
meet with the leader of the Summer Court, Lean-and-Hungry Mike. While the
Autumn Court carefully presented themselves as refined and controlled, the
Summer Court ran things from a Strip Club/Buffet with a one-star Yelp review of
"Sticky." Still, the group put their best foot forward, and then
began to irritate the mostly Ogre/Beast gathering. They left on troubled terms,
made worse later because John the Wizened Smith built a tiny smoke machine and left
it in their offices. Morosa found herself blacklisted from the Ogre Buffet
Phone Tree. John's actions caused some contention in the group, ending with
them splitting and most going to check in at the Hob-run 25 Hour Convenience
Mart. There they found out some useful information, including details of a
crazed Hob gang which had been trading goods from the lost Greyhand Grip's
stores.
A Few Gamemastering Thoughts and Notes:
1. I think the Summer Court came off well- or at least
fairly distinctive. I was able to convey the personalities of a couple of the
characters (Rumblestiltkin, Father Canon, and maybe Mike) pretty decently. At
the very least I was able to get across a couple of character tics the players
will remember. The Summer Court offers a more visible and classic agenda, as
opposed to the other two Court’s they’ve met. John’s deliberate tweak is
interesting, and I have to consider the various personalities in Summer to
decide how they’ll react. At the very least it will make the choice of task
they assign the players more interesting. I don’t want to bang that gong too
much- the group’s still neutral and valuable, plus as a GM I don’t necessarily
want to increase internal party friction.
2. There’s an interesting thing developing in that several
of the players have strong crafting and creation talents. John’s obviously a Smith
and has those benefits. Morosa’s a costumer and seamstress, with that tied to
her kith. Syd has the Muse background and an artistry emphasis; she’s investing
in Contracts of the Forge. Andi’s taken a couple of dots of Crafts as well.
That means I need to look at the item and token creation systems, and also come
up with my own spin and options for those. How much can the players build on
the fly? What do projects involve? What kinds of cool things can I throw at
them as a result of this- rare resources, special tools, rival craftsmen, lost
patterns and blueprints. I run loose, so not mechanical or thematic devices and
projects should be pretty easy. But when the rubber hits the road of building
items which offer effects and bonuses, how do I want to handle that?
3. We’ve had a couple of discussions of the Motley pledge,
with- I think- the group settling on the version which offers them Resources. I
think that’s probably a good call. We’ve hit a couple of times on the group
being poor, so fixing that will be a priority and retires that theme (for the
moment). I’ll check to see if everyone’s on board for that next time. Related
to that, I need to consider what resources mean. The group established the idea
of the Hob Casinos as a version of the Goblin Markets. I need to consider more
fully how I want to run that once they get down there- defining how bargaining
works and what can be done with that. That will probably apply most to the
players talking up the things they’re offering up for exchange (to get chips or
whatnot). They’ll be trying to get the best value.
4. I’m also trying to track how many “scenes” I get through
in a session. I think we had three last night. That seems a reasonable number
given the two hour length of the session. I think the GM has a challenging task
in a G+ session. They have to balance between pushing the scenes forward to a
conclusion and letting them have room to breathe. I want to make sure all of
the characters have a chance to speak their peace and interact. When I write
scene notes up, I try to come up with at least one detail to throw at anyone
who hasn’t necessarily stepped forward. I was able to throw out a plot thread
for Amber, for example, last night regarding the rogue Freehold in Summerlin.
5. One thing I try to do is restate threads from the last
session at the beginning of a session as clearly as possible. I’ve seen other
GMs do it and I think it is really vital, especially with sessions as time
constrained as these are. I try to break down what the group established or
found out and where they’d decided to go. I’ll admit to some editorializing in
this process; I’ll often downplay a little threads or tangents which weren’t as
related to the core investigation. I try to use this power only for good, never
using it to put them off the track.
6. The group’s really good about moving together to take on scenes. They’re still getting a sense of how I run and what I’m going to play
out in a scene. I expect eventually we’ll get some sessions where the group
splits to take on two separate tasks; they’re smart and skillful enough to
handle that. But that’s as much a trust issue as anything else- I have to
establish trust so that they know that if they do split like that I’m still
going to give everyone equal attention and not give one side short shrift. I’m
looking forward to the gap between this and their next quest; I’d like to do a
session (or part of a session) with individual scenes for everyone.
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