So, I posted earlier about my desire to play through a large number of modules, but I'm already running into issues.
I'm playing the first one, Clash of Wills. It's a relatively short module, all things considered, but dear god is it painful to get through. There's very little the characters CAN do, they have little or no bearing on the plot. Worse, the timeline presented doesn't make any sense on it's own terms, let alone the RAW for the core game.
I need some tool to break this damn thing open--any advice?
It's a dream sequence. Run it as a quill-style letter campaign, with the characters writing in their diaries during and after?
ReplyDeleteI don't know anything about this module but I can suggest you give all characters a reaction roll. Orcs might be friendly. Necromancers might be looking for allies. Bandits might like your style.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like this fits the model of a Plot Point Campaign really well. Its a term coined by Pinnacle Entertainment Group, the makers of Savage Worlds. The basic idea is that you have a series of Plot Points, things that must happen in the story. But when and how they happen is left up to the GM and the individual group. It's a really great system and it allows for groups to run the same campaign with vastly different (almost unrecognizably so) paths and outcomes.
ReplyDeleteI've run two full Plot Point campaigns over the course of the last 5 years or so and I absolutely love the format. A cohesive plot, but it encourages the PCs to go off the rails and find their own way. The space in between Plot Points is filled with player-directed content.
You could make each of your modules a Plot Point. When and how your characters get to them can be adjusted so it makes sense in the continuing narrative.
Here's a little writeup on the campaign style. It really doesn't do it justice until you've run a game in this style for yourself. It's like a guided sandbox. The characters are free to explore, but the main plot always finds them.
peginc.com - Plot Point Campaigns | Pinnacle Entertainment Group
Tell us where it pinches. Well help make it fit better.
ReplyDeleteOk, so, the game is Vampire. The module sends the party out to ensure a dying noble wills his lands to the crown, and not the church. He's an evil bastard, and fearing his immortal soul. The priest he's confessing to is in league with Vamp A. The old coots son is Vamp B, and he wants the land for himself. All the cool drama is between the Vamp B and the old coot.
ReplyDeleteThe module has various side quest things, but none of the timing makes sense. In Act 1, they show up. Act 2, they meet the Earl later than night. At the end of Act 2, it's quite possible that Vamp B has turned his father. Subquests assume they happen the NEXT night or subsequent ones. Even though Act Three (the violent confrontation and ending) all happen the day AFTER he's been turned.
There's no time for any of the subplots.
Also, in the core book, a person turned into a vampire returns IMMEDIATELY. There's no time for the mourning period/surprise return.
I'm thinking of back tracking and just having the PC's do something very "PC"--lie to the old bastard, get him to sign the document, and kill him. Then toss the rest of the module and use Mythic to see how everything shakes out.
Actually, I think I've figured out the problem. I'm not running a solo game. I'm running a GROUP game, solo style.
ReplyDeleteI did this, because I really enjoyed my last "vampire module" series, and that was a group thing. But, looking back, I realize that A) THAT module was a sandbox, and this one isn't. B) Even then, there were a lot of "proper solo" sessions. And when they WERE together, SOMEONE was almost always in charge.
In my attempt, the PC's kept getting into each others way, making the party really passive. PC A wanted to do X, B wanted to do Y, and C wanted to Z. They all stymied each other, and so the party did NOTHING but passively witness what was happening around them.
So, I'm going to reboot, trim down the characters. I'll still have a "party" --because I want ALL the characters in the Chronicle to cross paths with each here and there. BUT, each adventure will have a pre-defined "main" who will make all, or most, of the decisions, with the others functioning more as henchmen than as fellow PC's.
Now I need to rebuild my party, and start from scratch.
I like that. You can even do things like Johan's Chronicle and then for the next tell Imir's Story, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnother thought; you could always have bit players end up important later.
ReplyDeleteIt also sounds like the turning event should be much later than expected. Seems weird to me he'd even turn the guy in the first place instead of just acing him and forging his signature if need be. Or producing a sudden secret spouse for the dead dad and using her as a figurehead if he can't do it himself.
... I had a vampire NPC do something like that once, now that I think of it. All you need then is for one of the PCs to be smitten with the figurehead and drama will ensue.
It kind of sounds like there's not enough personal motives going on, and not enough reason for the PCs to care, maybe.
Tam H oh, Lordy, there is completely not enough reasons for the PCs to care. White Wolf produces some of the worst modules out there. Like, no one else wrote modules as bad as do. Did? We'll see what they do with V5.
ReplyDeleteIt's why I'm soloing this. I can skip through the parts that completely railroad the characters and hopefully with a good GM emulator I can wrench the module free. That, and I have sick desire to see how all this clicks together.
But I'd never inflict this on my friends.
Sounds like a railroad type module. I don't really have any advice, but am interested in how it works out on your second try. I don't know if it might help to map the module plot points on a flow chart?
ReplyDeleteBack in the day, our gaming group avoided the published adventures like the plague. So, your tilting at WoD windmills is educational and appreciated (if a little cringe-worthy as well.) :-D
ReplyDeleteHa, I owned a couple of early D&D modules but I've never actually played a module in my life, now that I think of it, unless you count BSOLO.
ReplyDeleteNow you've got me curious to dig a few WoD modules up and try them out! Maybe with Risus, lol.
in a railroad adventure I play an autonomous solo adventure using the published stuff as sourcebook/setting, nothing more.
ReplyDeleteHey, idea! Why don't you play until you reach a ridiculous bit or dilemma, post it as an excerpt, and everyone can volunteer a solution. Then just roll a virtual d#ofposts and go with it.
ReplyDeleteI had thought of that, but there really isn't anything that interesting
ReplyDeletethat happens with the current setup. The railroad plot is pretty good, it's
just that the PC's have nothing to do, and there current personalities and
inter-party conflict ensures that they'll remain out of it. Just the effect
of all the random rolls I've been doing.
Once I bring in more active and dynamic characters, things should change.
And hopefully get more interesting.
A glorious train wreck is a LOT more fun than a functioning rail road.