This was the final setup session and one of our best, I felt. We finished up characters and I had a better idea of how to direct that.
The first thing I did was grab the Dresden character work sheets for this. They really work well (great job guys). I also introduced the High Aspect and Trouble Aspect from that game as well. These two Aspect really helped us lock down the characters and get it down right. The characters looked really good when we were done and had a ton of awesome hooks as well.
After that we did skills and stunts, a pretty straightforward thing.
The best part of the night took place in the last hour. A few weeks ago Bill had introduced me to a scene altering system (I think he got it from Universalis). It worked really well. Basically each player had a certain number of chips to be used to alter a scene that I had precreated for the night. I decided to give this a whirl as the jumping off point for the new game. Here are the two scenes
My SceneThe party lounges in an inn, enjoying a few drinks. An old man in a hood sits in the corner, telling stories to the locals and entertaining them. Suddenly a local storekeeper bursts into the room. Glancing about, he charges to the characters table and grabs one of the characters. His daughter has been trapped in the basement of his store and large rats are threatening her! She must be saved!Talk about a whole series of really crappy cliches. Here is what we ended up with by the end of it all.
Final ScenesA few weeks earlier, Artie had been tasked by the Archivists to retrieve an amulet. Not knowing where it was, he hired The Rat to help him find it. The Rat tracked the necklace to a small town on the Darkspur River trade route called Numscar. The two of them headed out to find this amulet, currently in the possession of a former inquisitor of the church, now turned merchant.Twenty-four hours earlier, all the tunnels leading into the Pyramid of Yagmur suddenly burst with light, brighter than the sun. This flash of light lasted for 60 seconds and then faded out, just as quickly. A moment later, the Forsaken Marsh is shocked to hear a deep, ominous laughter ringing throughout the entire area. Much later that day, a fat priest races up the stairs of tower, sweating and out breath. Bursting into the room of the archbishop, he proclaims in an exhausted voice, "The Third Gate has been opened!" He collapses. That same day, a horde of random wildlife stampedes through the town of Mudhaven in fear and panic.Meanwhile in the rest of the world, the city of Verger breaks into a wide scale riot and the town guard is overwhelmed. On the plains of Lofwyr, the clan chiefs are amassing their troops on the eastern edge of the plain.Back in the small town of Numscar, Artie and the Rat are having drinks in the tavern with two old companions, Onan and Osric Waters. Rumors have been circulating about the town, that it is evil. Inhabitants have been missing and scream are heard at night. An old man sits in the corner telling tales to the inhabitants. Another man, strangely dressed came into town on a river lizard. He is an assassin, sent to kill the very merchant that Artie is searching for. Suddenly screams break out in the town. The door bursts open and there stands the merchants daughter. She is bruised and scratched, her clothing torn. She quickly screams to the assembled masses that her father has locked himself in the basement, that her morbidly obese mother is locked in a closet and that she has syphilis. Then a ragged claw grabs her from behind, yanking her out into the streets as the doors slams shut.The very drunk captain of the town guard leaps to his feat and charges for the door.On a small rise just outside of the town, Kuoros the Slaver stares down at his men as the descend on the town of Numscar, searching for more slaves for his necromantic lords and also for Onan, his dread frenemy!Obviously this worked out really well and we have a lot to do ahead of us. When I first started this game, I was looking at a very Keep on the Borderlands start. A small valley, some mild dangers, nothing big. Boy is that idea shot now!
Great stuff though. Can't wait till next week when we begin: The Numscar Massacre
