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It's just a grimdark campaign now, it's all. Your doing the god's work. Just react to their reaction. Making their seemingly pragmatic choices have unintended long term consequences is very fun and good.
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Jan 18, 2020 23:40
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Glory to Italia! 
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My Lovely Horse posted:I'm planning out some stuff for next session and I've come across a situation that might go something like: the party strikes a deal with a necromancer where their end of the bargain is to wipe out a nearby village with a necromantic bioweapon. In return, the necromancer opens a path for them. They'll be on their way, but later they encounter an entity that will want them to kill the necromancer to help them achieve their actual long-term goal. So they'll have killed a whole village for nothing. Do the players understand how the bioweapon works enough to modify in such a way that it causes the villagers to fall into a temporary death-like sleep? If not is there a reasonable chance that the necromance has short-sold them the "minimum safe distance) and that the thing will infect them as well as the village (and the only one with the treatment (not cure) is the necromancer, who now has some new adventurer slaves). The way I look at it, these folks are either evil poo poo-stains willing to murder a bunch of innocent people with an undead disease, or they aren't. If they are, gently caress 'em. If they're willing to look for another way, then there should reasonably be another way.
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Jan 19, 2020 03:01
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My wife and I are having an argument about quivers and hooded cloaks. How do they work? I proposed a "quiver hole" above the shoulder to which she threatened divorce.
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Jan 19, 2020 08:48
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Everyone posted:If they are, gently caress 'em. Modifying the weapon and tricking the necromancer is a totally valid way to handle it. He'll be expecting to harvest a village's worth of bodies at some point, but if he doesn't get to that just means they'll have made an enemy. Actually if they're clever about it this is how they get rid of him: lure him to the supposedly dead village and ambush him aided by the villagers.
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Jan 19, 2020 08:51
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Not to be poopy, but you're looking a teensy bit too far into the future in terms of how things could play out. Just plan around the setting and motivations of your npcs and let the characters decide/discover/determine the way things can happen. It's a cool concept and you can nudge them towards that option as a possibility, go so far as to have a trustworthy npc suggest it's the best course of action. Don't make it "the way", just let it be "a way". But you probably were already, the wording just triggered the diatribe, apparently. ILL Machina fucked around with this message at 08:59 on Jan 19, 2020 |
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Jan 19, 2020 08:57
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Yeah I have lots of other ways this could go in my head, it's just that this specific potential sequence of events gave me pause. And overthinking stuff is kind of my thing. 
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Jan 19, 2020 12:14
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ILL Machina posted:My wife and I are having an argument about quivers and hooded cloaks. How do they work? I proposed a "quiver hole" above the shoulder to which she threatened divorce. Could the quiver not be placed on or near the side of a leg a bit like a pistol from the Old West? Does it have to be placed on someone's back or something? As far as a "quiver hole" goes, figure any hole in clothing that's supposed to be useful will be less so when those wearing it are moving a lot, like so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=843Q5-6j5Zw
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Jan 19, 2020 16:10
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Everyone posted:Could the quiver not be placed on or near the side of a leg a bit like a pistol from the Old West? Does it have to be placed on someone's back or something? Historically, quivers on the back weren't great for combat. An archer would sick their arrows into the ground beside them in easy reach, or they would have a quiver strung on their waist. Quivers on the back were for marching.
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Jan 19, 2020 18:46
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ILL Machina posted:My wife and I are having an argument about quivers and hooded cloaks. How do they work? I proposed a "quiver hole" above the shoulder to which she threatened divorce.
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Jan 19, 2020 19:51
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Infinite Karma posted:Is wearing the quiver on top of the cloak not how you'd do that? The specifics of carrying bows is weird anyway, they're very big and awkward and keeping them strung 24/7 is going to wreck them or end up breaking a lot of strings. Likewise with bardic instruments and great weapons. A quiver needs to be attached to you with some sort of strap, which is a little cumbersome when wearing a cloak because the strap needs to be on the outside as well. One of your arms would be essentially trapped under the cloak. Belt quivers are really the best option for the cloak wearer on the go.
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Jan 19, 2020 20:34
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Enchant your cloak with permanent Prestidigitation powered billowing and never worry about it. Or you could wear your quiver under your cloak and just take it off every fight. I had some thoughts about tucking it under the quiver, but taking the whole lot off is a much better idea.
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Jan 19, 2020 21:50
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In our next game I'm running a kind-of one shot but within the campaign. One of our players can't play for a week or so, so he's been kidnapped. His companions have called in a favour from an airship captain to follow him and I've got some arial combat/boarding action stuff planned out. Following this I want them to land and then find they can't take off again because under the spot where they've landed is an [X] that's keeping them there. Any idea what X can be? I can knock up a generic dungeon fairly quickly (it's what the players have said they want) but I can't think what can be at the end for them to deal with, and therefore take off again.
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Jan 20, 2020 12:36
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Bigger better airship that would blow them away, they need to board and sabotage it before escaping. Rune prevents the airships engine from working. It appears to be originating from a nearby temple. A dragon has made the area their hunting ground. The group must find fresh meat to sate it's hunger or find the dragons nest before taking off as the captain fears for their ship should the battle take place in the air.
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Jan 20, 2020 14:26
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Afriscipio posted:Historically, quivers on the back weren't great for combat. An archer would sick their arrows into the ground beside them in easy reach, or they would have a quiver strung on their waist. Quivers on the back were for marching. I thought they held all the arrows in the same hand that gripped the bow so they could draw and shoot as part of one action while doing backflips, jumping off walls, and shooting lazily turning windmill targets. Source: that one youtube prick who does stunts with like a 20lb bow and claims this is transferable to whatever nightmarish shoulder-warping monsters they shot in ye olden days.
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Jan 20, 2020 14:53
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Sanford posted:In our next game I'm running a kind-of one shot but within the campaign. One of our players can't play for a week or so, so he's been kidnapped. His companions have called in a favour from an airship captain to follow him and I've got some arial combat/boarding action stuff planned out. Following this I want them to land and then find they can't take off again because under the spot where they've landed is an [X] that's keeping them there. Any idea what X can be? I can knock up a generic dungeon fairly quickly (it's what the players have said they want) but I can't think what can be at the end for them to deal with, and therefore take off again. When the ship lands they are beset by
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Jan 20, 2020 16:02
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After my group finishes SKT I plan on going through a system shopping phase where we try out short adventures in other systems to see what we like. I don't want to force my players to read through like 5 different systems and build characters for each of them. My plan is to give the players a page or 2 of essentials for each system and give them each a choice of premade characters. We would be going from 5E to systems like 13A, SotDL, taking another stab at PF2e, and perhaps a couple ventures into very different systems like CoC. What I'm hoping for is advice on what I should be focusing on for these system summaries, what other things I can do to make these transitions without demanding too much of my players, and also maybe some other systems to try out. My goal is, even if my players want to stick to 5E, we can at least gain new tools from these other systems to expand our games.
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Jan 20, 2020 17:07
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Def try dungeon world. For 13th age Make Your Own Luck is a good one shot that also leads into the amazing Eyes of the Stone Thief if you want to go that way.
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Jan 20, 2020 20:09
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Hey GM Advice thread! Let's do try something different and Build Us A Fantasy City! I've been running sandbox-style Eberron in 5e, and, as such, have more or less made it a point to not plan more than a session ahead. My players have expressed interest in going to Vathirond, a large town / small city is eastern Breland, and official information about it is extremely limited. The players are probably going to be spending at least two sessions in and around Vathirond, so rather than concept and draw up a city all on my own, I figured we could make it a group exercise / I could crowdsource ideas. Sounds good? Sounds good. For those not in the know, Eberron is a post-war industrial magic setting where the war only ended because of a catastrophic event called the Day of Mourning that turned one of the countries into a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and Vathirond is one of the largest settlements of note near said wasteland. Here's what we have to work with from official sources: The Eberron Wiki posted:Country: Breland The real breaking point was the Day of Mourning, when Vathirond suddenly found itself on the front lines of a very different kind of war. Shambling monstrosities regularly throw themselves at the city's walls, strange plagues sweep through the city streets, and all manner of strange phenomena beset the beleaguered city on what now seems like a daily basis. Worse still, trade has has all but dried up. Vathirond is now the last stop on the Western Line before it's bisected by the Mournland, suddenly transforming the city from trade hub to dead end. Even with the war officially over, Breland's royal coffers are low enough that sending anything more than token aid is off the table, so the people of Vathirond have been left to fend for themselves using only crumbling walls, outdated military weapons, and whatever grit and determination they have left. Vathirond is a classic Fantasy Walled City, but the walls are a motley mixture of stone and wood after repeated attacks, and its mighty catapults and magical anti-siege weapons are worn with nearly a century of use. Its people aren't just worn down, they're broken. Hope and nationalistic pride are dead here, and everyone that currently lives in Vathirond does so because they're too poor to leave. Several districts have been abandoned entirely, which (at the very least) means the city's poorest citizens usually have a place to squat. The general vibe is somewhere between an even more depressing London during the Blitz and Grecit from Castlevania, with citizens shockingly used to death and a government completely outclassed by the threats it is expected to protect the people from. As far as Religion goes, eastern Breland has always been Soverign Host country, as proximity to Thrane's borders bred distrust about the zealousness of their northern Silver Flame brothers. The gods most commonly worshipped prior to the war were Onatar (god of craftsmanship), Kol Korran (god of money), and Ollandra (goddess of hope), but worship of the first two dwindled not long into the war when trade dried up. Vathirond's faith in Ollandra shattered during the Day of Mourning, however, and attendance at temples and religious ceremonies associated with the Host is at historic lows. Most the folk here think the gods have abandoned them. If there's one thing Vathriond has going for it, it's the Mournland Expedition Industry, but as far as industries go it's having some real trouble finding its footing. The typical gentleman adventurer types flock to Xen'drik, which offers more money at considerably lower dangers, and those who choose to scour the Mournland in search of treasure have the well-earned reputation of being craven looters and desperate thieves. The city has no shortage of self-styled "Mournland Guides" who offer to lead brave (or stupid) bands of travelers and explorers into the wastes. The industry has begun to stabilize slightly, but only slightly; entering the Mournland is still fraught with peril, and casualties are all but expected. That said, as more and more of the region becomes mapped and an upper crust of trusted, veteran guides begin to emerge, Vathirond's reputation as both a launching site for trips to the Mournland and a place to sell whatever valuables you find has nowhere to go but up. Pitch me cool things to put in this cool city
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Jan 21, 2020 04:02
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Insane parties, because gently caress doom
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Jan 21, 2020 04:33
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The Gairnshiel Lodge: Being a brand new frontier, the town will of course attract a class of gentlemen hunters who want to test their mettle in the waste, but be able to return to a place of refinement and class. The type of establishment where the members refer to each other as "Old Sport," "Old chap" and the like. Think a Victoria era hunters' lodge with the walls covered in the stuffed heads of trophy kills. In this case the trophy heads would be vile monstrosities instead of wild animals. Of course security would be rather tight, what with the surrounding city being full of all manner of riff-raff. Should the heroes manage to gain entrance however, the members would be full of all manner of information about the wastes from their many excursions and maybe even offer employment as part of their entourage into the waste.
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Jan 21, 2020 05:16
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Sanford posted:In our next game I'm running a kind-of one shot but within the campaign. One of our players can't play for a week or so, so he's been kidnapped. His companions have called in a favour from an airship captain to follow him and I've got some arial combat/boarding action stuff planned out. Following this I want them to land and then find they can't take off again because under the spot where they've landed is an [X] that's keeping them there. Any idea what X can be? I can knock up a generic dungeon fairly quickly (it's what the players have said they want) but I can't think what can be at the end for them to deal with, and therefore take off again. The airship lands and is suddenly ensnared by the tendrils of some ginormous eldritch beast that lives under the ground - kind of like a sarlacc from Star Wars. However, the creature is so ginormous that it moves verrrrrrrrrrrrrry slooooooowwwwwwwwly and will take about a week to eat the ship, giving the brave adventurers all the time they need to free the ship... which they can only do by leaping down into the beast's gullet, through its digestive tract (which is inhabited by strange creatures living in a symbiotic relationship with the megasarlacc, meaning you get to build a generic dungeon only with fleshy walls), and into its stomach, where poking at a particular nerve cluster with a sword or hammer or something will cause the beast to convulsively vomit, releasing the ship but giving the PCs a time limit to escape before the torrent of eldritch stomach acid washes over them and dissolves them. Along the way the PCs will find bits and pieces of other, previously-eaten and only half-digested airships, which may have loot to find, as well as exceptional parts that, if scavenged and used to refit the PCs' airship, will make it faster and more combat-capable, for which the captain and crew will be eternally grateful. Froghammer posted:Pitch me cool things to put in this cool city When you live in a city that is literally on the edge of devastation and gloom you need all the morale-boosters you can get, which is why the remaining priesthood of Kol Korran have pooled their dwindling resources to create the Unceasing Carnival, an area of the city set aside to serve as a never-ending circus and fair and party. Originally the priesthood was able to spread its wealth and attract a veritable cornucopia of clowns and bards and tale-tellers and puppet shows and even hire some inventors to build only-slightly-anachronistic amusement park rides, and while the money has largely dried up a surprisingly large number of performers have stayed on, knowing that they can do more to turn back the tides of whatever horrors are out there (I don't know Eberron, so whatever those shambling monstrosities are) by brightening the spirits of the citizenry than they ever could by force of arms. While the city's general mood has turned much of the humor to the 'gallows' variety, the Carnival remains a surprisingly effective oasis of good spirits in an otherwise bleak landscape, and while the rest of the city may have a cavalier attitude towards petty crime, on Carnival grounds con men and cutpurses are strictly forbidden, a rule that even the local thieves and desperate folk obey. Bad things are not permitted to happen to the Carnival's visitors, because there are enough bad things awaiting them once they leave. It is a place to eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may well die.
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Jan 21, 2020 06:28
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One of the Daelkyr sleeps uneasily beneath the city. Its dreams are what populates the Mournland with monsters.
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Jan 21, 2020 06:32
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Froghammer posted:Pitch me cool things to put in this cool city The city is hard up for cash, as its ability to collect taxes more-or-less vanished after the Day of Mourning. It’s imposed exorbitant entry and exit fees at the gates to try to make up for this. This is one reason why most gentleman adventurers go to Xen’drik instead. There’s also a thriving business in underground tunnels and improvised entries through holes in the walls. The authorities know all about them, but don’t act to stop them because the illegal entry points are controlled by powerful political figures.
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Jan 21, 2020 14:54
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Froghammer posted:Pitch me cool things to put in this cool city Some people never really got over the day of mourning and have spent years preparing for whatever comes next. Expeditions into the mournlands didn't just bring back trophies, some were able to bring back living specimens that were hidden away in labs under the city where they could be examined further for weaknesses so that the city would be better prepared for future attacks. Turns out some adventurers realized the blood of the mournland creatures is a powerful hallucinogenic. A drug trade has started to bring new money and attention into the city for all the wrong reasons, and it may just become the city's newest export.
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Jan 21, 2020 15:16
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Froghammer posted:Pitch me cool things to put in this cool city An unceasing presence on the city's walls and in the field is a company of warriors known as Revenant Company, a mercenary company under contract to the city on a semi-permanent basis. Anyone who joins the company is, by law and by custom, considered to have legally died, and died with honor - any outstanding criminal charges against them are dropped, and any inheritance their heirs might stand to gain is passed along. This applies even if the new recruit had been guilty of, let's say, high treason, and their wealth and lands might have been forfeit. A cross between the Night's Watch, the Black Company, and the French Foreign Legion, Revenant Company is comprised entirely of men and women who had no choice but to walk away from their old lives. Recruits abandon their names, and instead adopt nicknames - normally of their choice, but by unspoken agreement anyone who tries taking a name that is seen as arrogant or edgy like 'Bloodripper' or whatever usually has a new name forced upon them by their comrades, which may or may not be complimentary. Their commander, Captain Ashes, is well-regarded by his men and is one of the more capable tacticians in the city's service. A city under constant threat from monsters is a city with an underclass, and Vathirond is no exception. There are many poor and hungry within the city, as the greater part of the city's food supply is reserved for those who must maintain combat readiness. Many manage to stay fed, however, by visiting Arnulf's Pie Shoppe, the proprietor of which is known to sell food on liberally-extended credit, or even hand it out to the truly destitute so long as they're not coming by every day. Arnulf has managed to amass a large amount of grain and flour for making crust for savory pies, but where he gets his supply of meat is a mystery to most... though the truth is less shocking than might be imagined. In most cities under siege, the city's pigeons and rats have a tendency to leave town quick once people start using them for food; however, Arnulf's shop happens to face a plaza with a statue of a long-forgotten druid which, through some arcane means, always seems to have two or three pigeons perched atop it, and Arnulf is an excellent shot with a sling. So every night he kills some pigeons and cooks up some pigeon pot pie, which he makes available to the poor. "Few things are more dangerous than a hungry cripple" has become a commonplace saying in the city, owing largely to the example of a band of crippled veterans known as The Crutchy Push (link provided for inspiration). This group of former soldiers have all been maimed in service to the city, but as they are no longer combat-effective, some of them were pushed aside in favor of more hale and hearty soldiers, leaving them with no real future. Rather than become beggars, they have become a band of louts and thieves instead, and have amassed a surprising amount of influence in the city's underworld. No one suspects a guy on crutches of robbery, after all... right?
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Jan 21, 2020 15:25
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I'm considering running a play by post PbtA game (maybe Uncharted Worlds?) I've never played PbP never mind ran one. I was thinking of just setting up a discord and letting people chat in character in a channel and ooc/rolls in another Does anyone have any experience/advice for a first time PbP-er? I honestly have almost no idea what I'm doing but it sounds fun
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Jan 21, 2020 15:28
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Froghammer posted:Pitch me cool things to put in this cool city The depopulation of Vathirond has created an abundance of cheap housing in the city. Indeed some of the grander townhouses have been left abandoned as many noble houses of Breland were decimated or even completely wiped out on the battlefield during the Last War and no one is around to claim them. This proliferation of accommodation has led to a surging bohemian artist community, always in search of cheap digs and large spaces to convert into studios, decamping along the lightning rail from Sharn and Wroat. Since the horror Day of Mourning, this movement has been creating ever more abstract, surreal and politically charged art across painting, sculpture, music and theatre that has become popular amongst the intelligentsia across Breland. The 'Vathirond Movement' is also one of the foremost voices for further democratisation of Breland, with many members even going as far to demand King Boranel abdicate immediately and for the Brelish Parliament to write a new constitution. Royalist spies are beginning to infiltrate the movement, posing as patrons, promoters or buyers, to try and shut down the more radical artists. They are also looking into rumours that this new abstract expressionism has been birthed not only from post-war disillusion with modern society and the horrors of mechanised warfare, but also exposure to powerful new hallucinogenic drugs brought back from the Mournland. If so, are these drugs dangerous? Or perhaps even useful to the government in some way? tanglewood1420 fucked around with this message at 15:36 on Jan 21, 2020 |
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Jan 21, 2020 15:32
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Froghammer posted:Pitch me cool things to put in this cool city sebmojo posted:Insane parties, because gently caress doom I'm a big fan of inventing holidays for my fictional cities... it's a good tangible way to show culture and history while making the environment more visually interesting. I could imagine this city having a "Day of the Dead" style holiday, but extra raucous and boozy because the people are emotionally stifled. Parades where people wear colorful costumes (which are lovely and handmade) with skull masks, loud music, drumming, little altars with candles constructed everywhere... and everyone is drunk as hell, fistfights are breaking out, etc. And then the next day is informally called Black Day because everyone is hung over and the city is trashed. Everyone's in a terrible mood. Polo-Rican fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Jan 21, 2020 |
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Jan 21, 2020 15:38
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kaffo posted:I'm considering running a play by post PbtA game (maybe Uncharted Worlds?) Go to rpol.net because it's purpose built for that stuff.
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Jan 21, 2020 15:41
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This town sounds as primed as any town has ever been for doomsday cults and demagoguery. One them focusing the towns ire on that 1%er lodge from above would be a tidy conflict to handle over two sessions with room to spare if you want.
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Jan 21, 2020 15:42
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:An unceasing presence on the city's walls and in the field is a company of warriors known as Revenant Company, a mercenary company under contract to the city on a semi-permanent basis. Anyone who joins the company is, by law and by custom, considered to have legally died, and died with honor - any outstanding criminal charges against them are dropped, and any inheritance their heirs might stand to gain is passed along. This applies even if the new recruit had been guilty of, let's say, high treason, and their wealth and lands might have been forfeit. A cross between the Night's Watch, the Black Company, and the French Foreign Legion, Revenant Company is comprised entirely of men and women who had no choice but to walk away from their old lives. Recruits abandon their names, and instead adopt nicknames - normally of their choice, but by unspoken agreement anyone who tries taking a name that is seen as arrogant or edgy like 'Bloodripper' or whatever usually has a new name forced upon them by their comrades, which may or may not be complimentary. Their commander, Captain Ashes, is well-regarded by his men and is one of the more capable tacticians in the city's service. The Revenant Company (or "Reavers", as they are commonly known) are technically based out of Karrnath, but have negotiated a major contract with the Brelish crown to fill the void in civil infrastructure war has left in Vathirond. Their presence can be charitably described as a mixed blessing; the Reavers' standing orders are to protect the citizens from the horrors of the Mournland first, prevent large-scale civil disobedience second, and maintain law and order a distant third. If, say, a fight breaks out in the city streets, the average Reaver patrol squad (they always travel in groups of at least three) is just as likely to take bets on the winner as they are to break it up. Still, they're the first and only line of defense Vathirond has to defend itself, and their ash-grey cloaks are a welcome sight when true danger rears its head.
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Jan 21, 2020 17:51
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Froghammer posted:I like this. I like this a lot. I like this enough to expand their role into the closest thing Vathirond has to a police force and / or standing army. A suggestion: there has to be some reason the Revenant Company is actually tolerated. They can't be entirely composed of society's dregs, after all, or else no one would countenance their continued existence. I recommend taking a page from the Black Company's book; the Reavers' command structure includes an officer appointed as the group's Historian, who keeps the unit's records and, on a regular basis, regales the Company's membership with takes of their past exploits. This generates a degree of esprit de corps among the soldiers, reminding them that they aren't entirely useless sacks of crap (the Historian is traditionally a bard of some sort, so their oratory really does hit home). This, combined with an officer corps that genuinely does try to be better than street thugs, keeps the Company in line... for the most part. The Reavers are still just as likely to cause trouble as to stop it, and their ranks are rife with black marketeers and extortionists, but when push comes to shove they will remain loyal to the unit and the unit's responsibilities even at great personal cost. They'll cheat you, but they'll never betray you.
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Jan 21, 2020 19:26
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Thanks for the advice on my airship thing, I’m doing the kobolds, the sarlacc rip off, and the bigger airship waiting to blast them out the sky.
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Jan 21, 2020 20:30
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:A suggestion: there has to be some reason the Revenant Company is actually tolerated. They can't be entirely composed of society's dregs, after all, or else no one would countenance their continued existence. I recommend taking a page from the Black Company's book; the Reavers' command structure includes an officer appointed as the group's Historian, who keeps the unit's records and, on a regular basis, regales the Company's membership with takes of their past exploits. This generates a degree of esprit de corps among the soldiers, reminding them that they aren't entirely useless sacks of crap (the Historian is traditionally a bard of some sort, so their oratory really does hit home). This, combined with an officer corps that genuinely does try to be better than street thugs, keeps the Company in line... for the most part. The Reavers are still just as likely to cause trouble as to stop it, and their ranks are rife with black marketeers and extortionists, but when push comes to shove they will remain loyal to the unit and the unit's responsibilities even at great personal cost. Vathirond is a special circumstance, however. While the majority of Reavers are foreigners, the absence of a local militia as well as the general hazardous nature of their work means that they've had to fill their ranks with locals more than they're usually comfortable with. Newly dead local Reavers are expected to cut their teeth patrolling the surrounding farmland and manning the walls, and are only allowed into the city proper while accompanied by at least two senior ranking members. This is all super good poo poo and I love it.
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Jan 22, 2020 01:36
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Froghammer posted:This is all super good poo poo and I love it. One of the themes the local Historian keeps harping on in Vathirond are the tales of past Revenant Company dead who encountered people they had known while living (that is, before joining the Company); these tales always end in heartbreak and misery. They're trying to drive home to the local recruits that, no, you shouldn't go see your girlfriend or your kids, you're dead to them, you have to be dead to them, let your past lie. Naturally, this is a lesson that not all of the Reavers will take to heart. Hammer out a few examples of past Reavers who hosed up and let your PCs overhear them, then drop a guy in front of them who's sneaking off to watch his wife, who is now a Reaver, patrolling in the fields and working up the courage to approach her; let them decide whether or not to stop the guy. If they don't, his wife will want to go to him - and the other Reavers will later beat him to a bloody pulp to get him to stop tempting a promising new recruit (and assign her to a further-off guard post while they're at it). The other city folk will view this, perhaps surprisingly to the players, as only right and just. "She's dead, he needs to let go."
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Jan 22, 2020 05:32
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Continuing on the Revenant Company theme, the city's leadership and nobility tolerate it as a way to get rid of inconvenient sons and troublesome claimants. Second in line for the inheritance and making a stink about it? Making worrying claims about the latest contract to rebuild the cathedral and the bribes used to secure it? You're "persuaded" to join the company. "Things would go much better for your family if you sign up. If you don't, their house seems like a real fire hazard..." Company members do not have legal rights, since they're dead, so they can't testify in court or claim any rights to property or titles. This is also a good way to include all strata of society in the not-foreign legion.
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Jan 22, 2020 10:04
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Afriscipio posted:Continuing on the Revenant Company theme, the city's leadership and nobility tolerate it as a way to get rid of inconvenient sons and troublesome claimants. Second in line for the inheritance and making a stink about it? Making worrying claims about the latest contract to rebuild the cathedral and the bribes used to secure it? You're "persuaded" to join the company. "Things would go much better for your family if you sign up. If you don't, their house seems like a real fire hazard..." Company members do not have legal rights, since they're dead, so they can't testify in court or claim any rights to property or titles. This is also a good way to include all strata of society in the not-foreign legion. Can we scrap the city population idea and just develop Revenant Company as its own thing? Because this idea rocks.
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Jan 22, 2020 12:54
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I'm not familiar with Eberron and the Mournland, but I feel like if there's strange monsters and weird poo poo going on there would be a black market smuggling some of those abominations and materials to other kingdoms. Stuff like a bored noble housewife wanting a triple-lion-headed lizard as a pet, or rich youths wanting to try some new narcotic extracted from monster residue. To go along with the company of scoundrel mercs, they could be the ones who set out to gather these illicit creatures/substances. It would be a fun adventure, with some of the mercs talking to your party about a monster that got loose near town and they need it taken care of quietly, or helping them catch an elusive, legendary monster. Or side with the city guard, whatever is left of it anyway, and root out these smugglers before they gently caress up and let some monsters out.
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Jan 23, 2020 07:19
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I'm about to have my sci-fi tabletop group abducted by creatures that are basically the Borg. Are there are good horror sci-fi modules out there that I can steal ideas from? Or does anyone have cool ideas for what can happen on a Borg cube besides the obvious assimilation attempts? Our version of the Borg are called the Po and they are hosed up, stretched out Teletubbies so they all have screens implanted in them somewhere (sometimes more than 1!).
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Jan 23, 2020 15:14
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| # ? Jun 12, 2024 15:47 |
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There's a "virus" on the Borg ship, manifesting in the form of rebel Borg units that abuse the software systems to avoid being detected. New detainees are obviously of interest to them. The Borg recently assimilated some cosmic horror, and the attempts to integrate its wholly incomprehensible thought patterns / physics is causing them to glitch out. Borg members are performing seemingly pointless actions like painting sigils on the walls with coolant fluid or clearing out large open areas to construct spiralling sculptures in. An optimization system has been corrupted and has started identifying random parts of the ship as superfluous, causing it to constantly be feeding portions of itself into the recycling units. Some random schlub named Bob is living a life of luxury on the ship. Bob discovered that the root password for the entire collective is "password". Bob's not really interested in stopping the Borg, just in using them as a meal ticket.
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Jan 23, 2020 16:37
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