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What kinda plottage you wants?
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myrkul



Joined: 19 Dec 2009
Posts: 279

PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 2:40 am    Post subject: What kinda plottage you wants? Reply with quote

Hi guys,

What kind of plot stuff would you be interested in?

-End of summer party?
-Zombie attack (my favorite)?
-Find the long, lost McGuffin for gold and glory?
-Help with your own personal plot? (item, a npc, deity?)
-Bounty hunter? Jail break?

Are Fri-Sat-Sun evenings still good?
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cyric
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Joined: 17 Nov 2006
Posts: 291
Location: Singapore

PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2016 6:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pulling an epic prank should be an option.
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myrkul



Joined: 19 Dec 2009
Posts: 279

PostPosted: Fri Aug 26, 2016 12:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Happy to oblige Smile
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Verbannon



Joined: 30 Sep 2013
Posts: 398

PostPosted: Fri Aug 26, 2016 3:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pizza Courier delivers to a lonely housewife plottage. j/k But eh I'm like never able to get on at any predictable whenever anything else is happening time. So doesn't matter. I tried putting my e-mail in my sig so people could contact me whn they want to dungeon delve with me or do plots but Nienne said not allowed. So Doesn't matter.
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Lujke
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Joined: 18 Nov 2006
Posts: 642

PostPosted: Fri Aug 26, 2016 5:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You could ask people to pm you here for plottage - and set your profile to notify you, so you get an email when you get a private message.
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cyric
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Joined: 17 Nov 2006
Posts: 291
Location: Singapore

PostPosted: Fri Aug 26, 2016 1:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Other plot ideas:

Frame someone for murder.
Solve a crime with multiple witnesses with different stories as to what happened.
Find dirt on someone's political opponent.
Assassinate someone's bastard son and make it look like a suicide.
Sabotage the demonstration of a new (insert research here) to preserve the status quo.
Return a kidnapped servant, twist she is actually a sex slave who ran away
Destroy a nest of vampires, twist they only drink the blood of animals and your employer wants them gone to mine the cave they live in.
Burn crop fields and cause starvation so a greedy merchant can make a load of gold from price gouging.
Stopping any of the above from happening.
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myrkul



Joined: 19 Dec 2009
Posts: 279

PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2016 1:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awesome, thanks Cyric Smile And always open to a PM or mail, Lujke!! Smile

I guess let me rephrase -- My favorite plots (ok, not just zombies) are where we can get a lot of players in on the RP and not just doing their own thing. The best plots are where I can do some interaction with a player, who will then go interact with another player, who gets another player, and so it goes in a chain reaction Smile

But a lot of times, people like the Avatar to drive the plot with events or to do things that are only of interest to a single player, but this can take a lot of effort as the Av has to constantly come up with new stuff -- but I would much prefer if I could get some plots going where we can create a virtuous circle of passing the plot baton from player to player, getting more people involved.

I guess what I am getting at is a question: what kind of plots hooks can Avatars do so that it is enough fun that players want to take over?
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Verbannon



Joined: 30 Sep 2013
Posts: 398

PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2016 7:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Honestly the main thing I feel avatars are needed for isn't to run plots. At least not player focused ones. For player focused plots, all thats needed is for the avatars to roll some dice in the background. Here is a hypothetical example.

Lets say Alzar and Aunuit were still around and so was I. Aunuit has built up herself a sizable personal faction force(As per D&D 2e war machine rules) and wants to eliminate rival factions in Tharis. So she contacts an avatar and the avatar just adds up her force modifiers and makes some force rolls on her behalf to see how well she destroys rival faction forces and cells. And she rolls very well.

Alzar's own faction (cyrists) has people in Tharis and through them he gets wind of what is happening in Tharis. He realizes if the drow become a dominant player in Tharis they could act as a stabilizing force. So he starts funneling gold into the NPC rivals of Aunuit's faction (resulting in maybe a +20 to the BR (Battle readiniess) of these NPC factions) in addition he dispatches assassins to start eliminating high value targets within Aunuit's faction. (The Avatar will take the stats of the standard Cyrist assassin and make stealth checks vs a dc set by the level of the typical Drow Officer stats, on success by 5 or less the assassin successfully infiltrates and kills the target but is made in the process and must make an untyped save to avoid dying by 5 or more the assassination is flawless) being cyric though he also decides he wants to blame someone else for this so he has the assassin wear the colors and insignia of a band of mercenaries he recently associated with Verbannon in a bank robbery in Tonovi. Assuming the assassin doesn't fail his stealth check then fail to resist interrogation (Will save vs a dc set by the passive influence of the torturers) Alzar hires these mercenaries to assist the NPC factions shortly thereafter (adding their numbers to the NPC forces and averaging out the Basic force ruling of the two forces) to finally seal the frame up. Verbannon tries to make his own spy checks and at this point direct contact and roleplay is likely to happen between Verbannon and Aunuit (Or one of her PC lackeys) and it continues on from there.

In other words we need someone to roll dice way more than we need anyone to run plots imo.
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Verbannon



Joined: 30 Sep 2013
Posts: 398

PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2016 11:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gret idea Lukje about the forum pm thingy.
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myrkul



Joined: 19 Dec 2009
Posts: 279

PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2016 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Verbannon wrote:

Lets say Alzar and Aunuit were still around and so was I. Aunuit has built up herself a sizable personal faction force(As per D&D 2e war machine rules) and wants to eliminate rival factions in Tharis. So she contacts an avatar and the avatar just adds up her force modifiers and makes some force rolls on her behalf to see how well she destroys rival faction forces and cells.
...
In other words we need someone to roll dice way more than we need anyone to run plots imo.


I know players love faction stuff Smile But honestly, it drives me a little bonkers because I find it very hard to find ways for other/lower level players to get in on the action.

If we had like "castles" where you had a faction Flag, NPC guards you could hire, and a NPC King/Queen that other players could raid, plunder, and kill when you weren't around, I would feel much better about factions.

I've tried a plot before where I made Lathander Infantry, Tharis Thieves, Grumbar Elementals, and so on. And then players hard guards that would follow them around and try to protect them. But this failed because the guards are designed to fight players not each other. So when the factions clashed all the guards started fighting the players and not each other. I was a little disappointed!

Anyways -- are their plots that I can do where I give a McGuffin to a PC and then the other PCs get involved to either capture/protect the McGuffin? What I really want is a giant player RP magnet where players want to get involved and share with others?
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kellan



Joined: 27 Oct 2013
Posts: 39

PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2016 6:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Myrkul,

I think there are a couple of issues. One is that you're trying to involve every player. Some plots just don't make sense for certain characters. Perhaps it'd be better to limit your scope. I'm okay with not being involved in every single avatar plot and I actually find it a bit frustrating when people try to be, because it doesn't make sense unless your character would do it.

Myself I'm not a big fan of random encounters, reminds me too much of Final Fantasy old battle system where you couldn't see your opponents. I need a story to be drawn into a plot and have fun. It doesn't matter whether that story is a personal plot for someone else or myself, an NPC plot etc, but random stuff just isn't my cup of tea. Most of Cyric's idea could be fun, but for me I saw very little ability to drive my characters goals, evolve his personality etc.

My perspective from reading your post is that you enjoy including everyone and don't really like the deeper plots. I'd suggest teaming up with another avatar who could do the planning and working with the players in regards to what they want in "storytelling" while leaving you to do some of the combat and then do one offs when everyone looks bored out of their mind.

I think constant attacks within cities sets a bad example or going against deity charges, which I've seen done by avatars is a horrible idea, because it doesn't present the world as real. My focus as a player seems to be the waning way SG is played, but these are my thoughts.

Alzar
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Verbannon



Joined: 30 Sep 2013
Posts: 398

PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2016 9:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

@Myrkul, I don't see why you should have trouble involving low level players. Every time a new player pops in the factions are like wolves circling in to snatch them up to enlist in their faction. For one thing every adventurer even low level ones acts as a major bonus to the faction BR. So like say in the example I gave you.

Aunuit as you may recall had like 8 players in her faction. Of all levels. So when you came on you could easily engineer a quick fight for some of the low level ones. In addition perhaps some of the fighting between her npc forces and the other factions npc forces could spill out somewhere some low level players are at. And of course Alzar's assassins would naturally target adventurers and again maybe an assassination occurs at the Rhapsody or some place. The most important thing for new players is they see stuff happening even if they don't understand it or are directly involved. It gives them something to be excited about. I know when I first came on shadow came under attack then afterwords there were like a dozen adventurers standing around in serious conversation about the attack for an hour. I had no idea at all what was happening but it was exciting to know stuff major did happen.

And of course I like to find and hire low level rogues and such if I can when I make my spy checks and not just because of that sweet cumulative +1 (per every ten points in stealth and perception the rogue has) bonus to my spy check each one working for me gives.
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myrkul



Joined: 19 Dec 2009
Posts: 279

PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2016 10:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My principle interest as an Av is to run plots that maximize participation. If that's the epitaph on the Myrkul tombstone, I will be happy Smile

As an Av, I want to catalyze RP where players follow on with their own stuff. Sure you can complain about zombie attacks, but the value that I see is that I can get 4 or 5 players to get together and RP, who normally don't choose to hang out. That mixture is where interesting things can happen.

I'm fine with back story or faction plots, but there should be some hook that I can use to interest a broader audience.
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Verbannon



Joined: 30 Sep 2013
Posts: 398

PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2016 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thats fine. But a random zombie attack is less likely to involve a lot of players imo then say looking for a paladin already busy icly preparing efforts against the shades and throwing together a raid. Not only is it something people are already invested in unlike the random zombies. It will actually result in RP beyond the event itself. I dont want to be rude sounding but I honestly cant recall anytime your random events actually was a catalyst for anything. Instead people pop in, kill stuff, pop out ten seconds afterwards. And the event is never mentioned again. Or people get silly with a personality altering dagger. And attempts to follow up on the dagger are ignored.

Having you do the random event a day was nice and did help keep the mud alive. But I am pretty sure its no ones first choice. People want stuff that lets them feel like they matter and are part of a larger world.
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cyric
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Joined: 17 Nov 2006
Posts: 291
Location: Singapore

PostPosted: Sun Aug 28, 2016 12:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What you guys are asking for makes sense but is difficult to implement considering we have multiple GMs. It requires an objective way to measure each organization's influence and capabilities within each region and category (i.e. political influence, economic power, military strength, etc), almost like affiliations in 3.5, in case they ever come in conflict with each other or attempt to aid each other. This way anyone could adjudicate what happens when affiliates come in conflict with each other. It would also be a good way to sink gold out of the economy, because one of the ways you can grow your faction is to donate money to it.

We'd need an imm only board with _all_ of the affiliations, including city governments, thief guilds, faiths, and other guilds, and assign rankings to all of them. Then players could join up with an existing affiliate or start their own (if they have leadership).

If you don't have an objective system, what ends up happening is lack of consistency in the organizations themselves, and in adjudicating what happens when they conflict with each other. I know there is a politics section on this board, that's probably a good start for background info.
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