From the Ashes

[thessalian]

Okay, so boredom eventually pays off. I'm too tired to actually work (not that there's really anything urgent to do anyway, since I polished most of that off last week and finished the rest this morning) so instead, I'm ... well, doing a whole different kind of work.

I'm working on Affils again.

Okay, it's not sourcebook material exactly. Yet. Basically, I remembered that the main bitch about Affils was that it "wasn't GM-friendly enough". Read: not enough blow-by-blow scenarios for GMs to run their players through. I suppose that's fair enough, given that I've seen how dodgyhoodoo bitches about not being inspired enough to actually run anything and how unhappy corone got when we short-circuited his book-derived Rilasciare Paix plot in 7th Sea (not to mention how hard he tried to run it unchanged right up until the last lot of gunpowder blew up). I suppose I'd want book-derived scenarios too, if I wasn't ... well, me. The way most players don't like being chained to a plot, I don't like being chained to a plot as a GM. After all, how's a book going to know what subtleties and set-up any given party's going to have? They're all different. You can't predict how they're going to end up.

Which is why writing up the kind of 'Case Files'-style scenarios that the reviewers seem to indicate that gamers want is so damn hard. I do not write these things down anymore. I used to, but I wound up throwing it all out the window about a half-hour into the session because I had doubts or there was something I wanted to do more or I wanted to do it a different way or ... well, something. I pull half the Mage stuff out of thin air and ... well, I'll let you in on a secret. Changeling? Has no plot. It has theme. It has ... well, stuff for people to do. It has paths. When people go down a particular one, then there will be plot. Briefly. For as long as it takes for them to get to the next branch point. If I actually get around to plotting it. I don't do this well. I write stuff, fine. I can tell a story. But if it involves other people, I'm not going to lead them down something I roadmapped earlier, because they are going to leave the road and probably the map area and wind up somewhere in Tijuana and I'll be forced to extemporise with the Titty Twister, copious amounts of tequila and fomori strippers a-go-go. (Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'Lick it, slam it, suck it, eat the worm', dunnit? Heh; at the Titty Twister, the Wyrm eats you.)

There was a point here once. It's gone now.

Oh, right. Case Files. If nothing else, at least it'll be a nice free download for people. Plus it'll be a good place to put the Dragonmeet scenario, if I can ever find my notes. (Basically, my notes were "There is this thing. They must do that thing to prevent this thing from happening. Tell them to go do that thing." Everything else? Came straight out of my arse and the players' imaginations. Explosive green goo. Ha!) Anyway, it'll make a good intro to the Bloodlines book, if I can ever get reinspired on that one. I did have one idea, but this one is going to be the most boring of the bunch. *sigh*

So anyway, yeah. Smythe Affiliated rises from the ashes. Again. It'll keep doing that, I take it. Wheeeeee.

Comments

[aberrantangels]

they are going to leave the road and probably the map area and wind up somewhere in Tijuana and I'll be forced to extemporise with the Titty Twister, copious amounts of tequila and fomori strippers a-go-go.

*applauds; probably not as hard as if I'd actually seen FDTD yet, but pretty hard nonetheless*

at the Titty Twister, the Wyrm eats you.

That may be even better than the Cryptkeeper signoff I once came up with in an email convo with stolisomancer: "Nighty-night, boils and ghouls, and remember to worship the Wyrm at the Pentex subsidiary of your choice!" Objectively viewed, it probably is better, for being shorter if nothing else.

There was a point here once. It's gone now.

I've had thought-trains like that.

Smythe Affiliated rises from the ashes. Again. It'll keep doing that, I take it.

I suspect so. Here's hoping it doesn't outstay its welcome, while also hoping it doesn't blow off said welcome.

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

Maybe I'll just do the Titty Twister thing anyway. Knowing my players, it really won't take much prodding to head them towards Mexico. Aztec temple, previously hidden enclave of Cult of Ecstasy who somehow managed to survive the Technocrat cull, booze and hookers (probably affiliated with the previously mentioned CoX enclave)... Hell, just remind them that in Mexico, there are whole new vistas of buildings that they haven't accidentally blown up yet.