Endless Bag of Games

Our Star Wars campaign kicked off this Sunday with classic Star Wars action. Now it is time for recap of the session for those who’re interested. I tried something new, since it was once again opportunity to GM that first session of the campaign. Few weeks ago, I took a look about the preview of the new 4th edition Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 and I liked what I saw. So I decided to give a try for this Group Storytelling concept and see how it goes. Since our players had already seen the opening crawl, I explained the situation how we were supposed to start. The beginning scene was going to be played without the dice and each player was given a character that he was and I clarified what were their characters motivations and intentions. This way, I managed to implement something not known to our actual player characters, but also brought some deepening to what is yet to come.

The scene was about Jedi-master Jacinto Sarn, Mysterious jedi Jinar Aurinar, Admiral Varth and his lieutenant Callista Star and how they me in secret at Octurion Cantina under the Imperial Blockade in Mon Calamari. Jinar had arranged a meeting with the Admiral and his lieutenant in order to discuss about finding shelter for the fugitive jedi and to agree with future actions yet to come. When we began the session, I could see the unsure looks on my players faces silently screaming what the hell is this, wut?!? fuuuuu etc. Luckily, after the biggest shocker was gone, everything went quite smoothly. The rest was just pure storytelling.

The scene ended when a starship crashed suddenly inside the cantina. Callista Star had betrayed his Admiral for the good of the Empire; Inquisitor ________ and other Jedi with red lightsabers had arrived. Jinar Aurinar took action to his own hands and send Callista Star flying across the cantina and instantly he cinematically stunted himself away through the window. Admiral was yelling in pain as the Imperial troops quickly shot him down. Then it was only the Inquisitor, other warriors wielding red lightsabers and Jacito Sarn. Jacinto fought valiantly, Jacinto Sarn fought honorably, Jacinto Sarn fought against many enemies and Jacinto Sarn died…

So it began, when our jedi-padawan Avan Virai woke up screaming in pain about the vision he had seen. His master was dead, they were without money and food and arriving shortly to the Zel Sonn station just outside the core world of Brentaal. Our heroes took some time to familiarize themselves with the station and its promenade and shops. Our twi’lek rigger girl was eager to take a look about the droids offered in Mechanical Allies, a shop run by shady twi’lek man. Soon after I lead Maya encounter them. Maya was a Alderaanian security agent badly wounded as she stumbled upon the heroes, hurt and asking for our heroes help. Two imperial loyalists and two stormtrooper recruits was quickly on to them. “Step away from that woman!” they commanded. Soon it was a promenade shootout. Battle went extremely quickly since our Kel Dor soldier let his gun sing. That autofire works like a charm!! The heroes were smart enough to flee without any prodding and Maya took them to her hidden apartment. The discussion that followed went fairly well. Maya offered the heroes 1000 credits to secure the cargo he was supposed to acquire from his contact Switch.

Tayth (our twi’lek girl) went to a public access terminal to see more information about Storage Bat V14. She also checked that had been identified on the Promenade and was pleased to learn that they were not. After few skillful Use Computer checks Tayth was in control of the security cameras near V14. It seemed that only two gamorrean guards were guarding the entrance. In addition our rigger saw that there had been no maintenance calls in the area for a year now and still the area was set to be under maintenance. Gathering more information about the area from local residents they also learned that the maintenance chief in the area was taking bribes to keep the area outside of visitors. The one who was delivering the bribes was no other, than the shady twi’lek our heroes met already in the droid shop. After they had learned some vital information how to get past the gamorrean guards, there was intriguing discussion which ended up the owner giving enough information for the heroes. Ready, they moved on to Storage Bay V14.

Switch was a droid whose memory had been intact for a long time and he had been working as a small crime lord within the station. The discussion went well after the heroes explained the situation and soon they had an agreement. Suddenly Ganga Lor, a rival crime lord, arrived with his goons. Taking our heroes Switch’s men, buzzing of energy filled the storage bay. The battle went poorly for Ganga Lor since our jedi mind tricked him and immediately he fled in terror. Only our rigger girl was seriously hurt in the encounter. Dorn Dol (our Kel Dor soldier) shone as he shot down almost every attacking thug. One of the thugs almost got away, but our jedi soon caught him with his abilities. He brought him back and gave him to Switch. Begging for help, begging for mercy Avan gave the thug to Switch who immediately had the Ganga Lor’s man killed. Knowing this would happen, Avan let it happen thus a dark side point was rewarded. In gratitude, Switch gave the party access to free bacta treatments through his medical connections and offered the Heroes a job to ship his ale to Alderaan. The party agreed.

Switch told the heroes that the cargo was at Blue Deck in the station just under the Imperial troops. The heroes located the hangar and opened up the climactic fight. The Jedi rushed in and soon the trooper controlling the repulsor-sled was fleeing as fast as he could. Others attacked the stormtroopers. The imperial officer was shot down first and the troopers did not survive long enough to alarm anyone. Our heroes grabbed the cargo and were ready to take off. Contacting Maya, she arranged a starship to the Deck just before squad of stormtroopers arrived, they escaped blasters flying.

The rest of the session was spent healing and flying to Alderaan where Senator Organa’s good associate, caamasi Lamek D’em met them. Lamek was acting as a substitute for Senator Organa who had been travelling outside Alderaan recently in several occasions and was not present for the time being. Trusting their competence and being grateful for all the help they had been receiving, Lamek offered our heroes another mission: Aid them in the retrieval of Admiral Varth from a prison compound at Felucia. The meeting with the Senator’s substitute went smoothly enough when they asked enough questions to understand their key objectives. The heroes took their time, sold their useless equipment with outrageous price to a toydarian merchant (lot’s of laughs since we used Watto’s voice in the scene) and were now ready to set off…

Some of you may have noticed that the session was almost directly taken from the Dawn Of Defiance adventure path. That said, I have something to say for my players: If you dont want to ruin your gaming experience, leave that material alone. For others, maybe you can get ideas and see how the campaign actually differs from DoD when the time comes I can promise you, it will…

Well I don’t know what to say about the session. Concerning the story, it took a leap towards and it ended the beginning chapter where it was supposed to end. We could say that Chapter I in our story took nine gaming sessions, though originally it was supposed to take few more. The shortcut, as we could call it, was the actual carnival. Now we actually played only few carnival-quests, but in-game there was much more. Here is the recap of the session:

Few days apart from Athkatla, our heroes stood in the rain outside the zombie invested tower. The priest of Asmodeus was already gone from the tower, but it still held other unsavory inhabitants. So our heroes headed back inside, killed the beasts and finally burned the tower to the ground. Yet there was no sign that their mission was done. When our heroes eventually arrived back to Athkatla we found out that there had been a little misunderstanding. The mission was supposed be only simple orienteering. Our group however, killed the owner of the tower and his undead minions. Legal or not, we were treated as qualified for the next mission.

So our heroes solved quests after quest, until there was only one to be done with: The finals; the labyrinth. This time, our heroes faced only the elite warriors in three other teams. All of them were the warriors who had been training outside Esmeraltaran. Warriors from House Gunagan, Arroc and other High houses. Inside the dungeon, they no longer cared for their appearances and did not hide what they truly were. Werewolves. They cared not for the prizes, but only for the fame. So our heroes and the werewolves made a contract. That the wolves would win the carnival, but our heroes would gain the prize. So they found their way out from the labyrinth together, people cheering for the new champions: The warrior men of House Arroc.

People was cheering but it did not last long. When the Council of the Five itself was about to present the victorious people with their prize, they attacked. The werewolves were suddenly everywhere, spilling blood mercilessly. Namarch, Iltarch and Meisarch were slain immediately and a fair amount of their bodyguards and soldiers. Among this chaos, our heroes managed to defend the Tessarch. The city guard with Captain Phran Reddirge did everything what they could to protect the Pommarch. So they fought valiantly and eventually were forced to run. They set their sails and escaped towards the sea. Few hours later they saw the burning Athkatla in the horizon. The council of the five was no more…

END OF CHAPTER I I hope that you have enjoyed Comments are most welcome, since I’m now starting as the GM of the Star Wars campaign.

Let’s discuss a bit about the upcoming campaign. We’re going to start our Star Wars SAGA edition campaign at Sunday 30.8.2009, the same place and time as we have agreed.

In the previous post I asked you about what do you guys like to see in the campaign. When I put all of those comments together, it was clear what is needed from the campaign. That is struggle against the evil empire which will include the elements what you guys want to see. Now we know what is coming, the main storyline thus will include that struggle. This means, that you’re NOT allowed to create a character who is not interested in the matter. This way we can get more about the main storyline and we can avoid unnecessary hassle around the characters. Of course, I will bring personal things to the plot, but that is a different matter.

About character creation. In general, there are no restrictions about creating a character, but we have the rule, that if your Dark Side score increases enough, the character will become NPC. Create your character starting at level 1. You’ll find everything necessary from the main book. Including the amount of money and gear etc. What I would like you guys to remember, that when you create your characters remember that the character should get along and wants to travel with other characters. Every book is allowed, so be creative. In addition, I need the 10-minute background before next wednesday, so I have time to put everything together.

Now without further ado, here is the beginning of our campaign:

Now it is time to start developing our upcoming Star Wars campaign. Previously we sat down to have a beer and discuss the matter in person. This time however, we can do it here and save the money from the beer for let’s say a new set of dices.

Star Wars means different things to different players. What we have to agree on are the common elements and share our likes and dislikes in the Star Wars universe as it is in every campaign. I.e. Walter will most likely to play a jedi padawan who wants to be a full jedi someday. The point is that characters personal goals would not go against the whole purpose of the group. If one is a jedi padawan and others want to be members of Jabba the Hutt’s posse, I see few difficulties bringing the group together. In other words: We need the common element, the common theme such as “Empire is Evil and I’m not” or “Let’s get rid of every Hutt in the galaxy” etc, the rest is mere detail.

Post your suggestions and thoughts about the theme and likes and dislikes to the comments section. I want to see answers of every player who wishes to take part of this campaign. It is the responsibility of the gamemaster to create a campaign that is fun, but if you’re not doing your part and tell me what do you like, how the hell can I do that!?

Here are some phrases that might help you:

1. I would like to see struggle against the empire, building the foundation of the rebellion.
2. I would like to see Jedis as the keepers of peace and bring justice to the galaxy through missions.
3. I would like to see some smuggling action, be part of a syndicate or organization.

Every time when there is a change around the game table, we just have to adjust to the situation. According to the feelings and thoughts of participants, we decided that another campaign would be best to run alongside our Forgotten Realms Campaign. The problem was that there were difficulties in finding a common tune how the change could be implemented with the most fluent way. Now the decision has been made:

MkaY will lay down his Dungeon Master’s Godhood and in return embraces the Unlimited Powaaaa! of the Force. The Mac will be taking the place as the main Dungeon Master of the Merchant’s Domain campaign and leads the campaign to a new era with his evil minions (other Dungeon Masters).

So it is two campaigns, two systems. 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons: Forgotten Realms and Star Wars SAGA edition. This still means, that you’re supposed to occasionally sit the Dungeon Master’s seat in the Forgotten Realms campaign just like before, no change in that! So you just endure like we agreed when we started the campaign. I sincerely believe that this solution is the best and we can have numerous fun sessions by continuing like this. I personally enjoy running Star Wars Campaigns, so I try to deliver what is expected: Fun! I hope that you do your parts as well. The Gamemaster can only lead to certain extent, then it is up to players to deepen the campaign.

Thanks for The Mac for walking the walk with me in this. You’ll still be able to play your character Nexus, because I can now promise occasionally to throw one-shots to this campaign with pleasure. I will provide you with all the notes that I have about the campaign (there are quite a few) so you can guide the campaign to the direction you want it to go. Luckily for me, after this milestone we’re about to reach, I don’t have any idea what is going to happen next. =)

About our new Star Wars campaign, there is going to be another post for that and I just can’t wait to get to work with that!

It has been a long time when I previously managed to draw anything. Luckily today was different. I tried to create something new. In my work, I have to deal with photoshop almost constantly and lucky for me, I’m steadily improving in it (hopefully at least!). Usually when I scan pictures to the computer, I only give the character the basic coloring with photoshop. No shadows, highlight areas nor anything fancy; just the actual picture.

The honest reason why I have been doing this is, that it is always a disaster when I try to add the shadows or highlights etc. Also I lack the patience.. So I made a promise to myself that this time it would be different. That I would be patient and try before pressing delete. Here is what was the result of that: (It is still incomplete and I’ll upload the final version here when it is done. If I manage to finish the picture that is.)

It is supposed to be my version of our campaign’s gnome wizard “Dabbil” if someone is wondering. It isn’t much, but according to my poor skills it was a success. Thanks to countless tutorials I have been recently reading from the internet.

I know we talked about the subject at the end of the previous gaming session, but since not everyone were present, let’s go through it in little more detail: The current gamemaster is having difficulties with time.

Unfortunately that is true, I have to admit. All in all right now I have job, project works and thesis going on all in the same time. This makes it very difficult to plan ahead and develop sessions for every Sunday. Currently we have been having this Forgotten Realms 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons game under way and since I have been responsible about the main storyline, it had taken effort, and especially time, to run it fluently. Of course we could run just some random adventures or things like that to save time, but I reckon that is not something which would suit to our group. Am I right? I would gladly continue to run our Merchant’s Domain campaign on continual basis, but there is the lack of time and overburdening amount of work. So in order to lighten my load, there was a discussion what was going to happen next and here are some suggestions what we could do (from my point of view)?

1. We run the current game, I’m still the main gamemaster, but there are lot more fillers. This would be ok, but it means that the actual story is very difficult to put together and it continues slowly if there are more of these extra adventures implemented in.
2. We start another campaign, another setting, where the main gamemaster is someone else AND we also continue the current 4th edition D&D campaign. This way, I can take more responsibility as a gamemaster in Merchant’s Domain game and “rest” every time we play something else. We would still have a game every Sunday, but every other game is different (OR two/three sessions in a row and switch). This would make the MD campaign move onwards every time we play that and I could even remove my own “PC-Role” from the group thus making my character NPC. This would also bring some dynamic to the campaign I believe. The second campaign could still be run with multiple gamemasters (if preferred) and sometimes I would gladly create a session or two. In addition there was some talk that the new system would be Star Wars SAGA edition (my pants are wet).

My personal opinion is to go for the second option. Feel free to suggest a third solution if you have something in mind. Please give your vote and opinions here or in the IRC so we can move on. The main thing is, that we can agree on something everyone enjoys or somewhat agrees. The point of the whole thing is to have some fun