nWod-Prelude Conclusion
So, you may remember that, about a month ago, I started a nWoD mashup game! We had our second session last night after a monthish of hiatus because of cons.
Rather than continuing at the cliffhanger (deep in the bowels of the coliseum), we flashed back to the morning. I'd flashed ahead to the night to see if the PCs would actually contact the bad guy and start fighting, and they did. So now we went back to see what they had done to prepare.
Some awesome stuff resulted:
One PC made a weapon designed to break tridents.
Others found out about the herb used to keep the Trident Killer out of the baby's room.
Still others got a map to the tunnels under the Coliseum.
Some researched the killer himself, and found the last surviving nun of the convent where he stayed as a boy.
There was also some individual scenes:
A drug dealer was detailed, as was his crappy using space.
Both the sanctum and the (place in the Hollow) were detailed.
A 'massage' parlor was detailed.
One PC went to a zoo to look at monkeys.
As the PCs got together, they decided that the last thing they wanted to try was to bring the nun (who self identified as the boy's adopted Mom) to the coliseum. After a lengthy conversation, they convinced her to come with them.
After that, it was *snap* back into the action!
The changeling and one of the Werewolves were approached by John (the Trident Killer) and the nun wigged out and told John what a good boy he was and that he had to kill everyone here or they would hurt him. (Awesome looks on player faces).
After that, there was a lot of running from John with the nun popping up disarmingly and trying to lure people to their deaths. And failing. But she did convince one that she couldn't possibly do any wrong!
Eventually, all the PCs made their way clear of the pits under the coliseum and all met back up in the arena, where Yvette had been fleeing from John, making him run after her. The group descended on John, broke his trident somewhat and slowly and painfully ground him down. When he finally fell, the wolves jumped on him, killing him.
The last scene was of the nun, Mother Larissa, swearing vengeance.
What Rocked
This whole belief thing is working great. A lot of the hard work of gming gets done FOR me as players create NPCs and locations that they care about.
The changeling had a REALLY awesome moment. Normally, her demeanor is strange and aloof, but when it was mentioned that people wanted to get the nun suddenly she became fearful and almost childlike with her demands that no one have to go if they don't want to. An awesome touch of humanity.
I'm really glad I didn't stop the combat against John. I knew from my sheet that they had him, but the players didn't, and were still scared that he could kick the crap out of them right up until he died.
The whole thing really got the horror movie thing down. I'm happy that the rules worked well that way.
The player that I thought wanted flying monkeys just wants a monkey slave, preferably with a human soul that he stole from someone and bound to the monkey. Neat!
What Didn't
SOCIAL CONFLICT! The nun scene took way too long and I was reluctant to bring it to die rolls because of the 'featured skill' system. Time to talk to seannittner about a new system then check back with silverpaw (the social character)
One of the players felt railroaded when the nun disappeared (after a roll to let her) and I said that they can get out of the pits now. The point wasn't to railroad, just advice that now is a good time to get, but it was taken as railroading, which wasn't my intention.
One of the players encountered a creepy dung beetle spirit (named Legion) and was gung-ho about letting it ride in her and kill her. I tried to explain that it wasn't something that she could get and then get rid of, but it felt like it was just table pressure that made her not let it ride in her.
I felt like the last battle got a little lackluster. A big part of that is that I knew I was beat, even if the PCs didn't. Shoulda been better about descriptions!
Rather than continuing at the cliffhanger (deep in the bowels of the coliseum), we flashed back to the morning. I'd flashed ahead to the night to see if the PCs would actually contact the bad guy and start fighting, and they did. So now we went back to see what they had done to prepare.
Some awesome stuff resulted:
One PC made a weapon designed to break tridents.
Others found out about the herb used to keep the Trident Killer out of the baby's room.
Still others got a map to the tunnels under the Coliseum.
Some researched the killer himself, and found the last surviving nun of the convent where he stayed as a boy.
There was also some individual scenes:
A drug dealer was detailed, as was his crappy using space.
Both the sanctum and the (place in the Hollow) were detailed.
A 'massage' parlor was detailed.
One PC went to a zoo to look at monkeys.
As the PCs got together, they decided that the last thing they wanted to try was to bring the nun (who self identified as the boy's adopted Mom) to the coliseum. After a lengthy conversation, they convinced her to come with them.
After that, it was *snap* back into the action!
The changeling and one of the Werewolves were approached by John (the Trident Killer) and the nun wigged out and told John what a good boy he was and that he had to kill everyone here or they would hurt him. (Awesome looks on player faces).
After that, there was a lot of running from John with the nun popping up disarmingly and trying to lure people to their deaths. And failing. But she did convince one that she couldn't possibly do any wrong!
Eventually, all the PCs made their way clear of the pits under the coliseum and all met back up in the arena, where Yvette had been fleeing from John, making him run after her. The group descended on John, broke his trident somewhat and slowly and painfully ground him down. When he finally fell, the wolves jumped on him, killing him.
The last scene was of the nun, Mother Larissa, swearing vengeance.
What Rocked
This whole belief thing is working great. A lot of the hard work of gming gets done FOR me as players create NPCs and locations that they care about.
The changeling had a REALLY awesome moment. Normally, her demeanor is strange and aloof, but when it was mentioned that people wanted to get the nun suddenly she became fearful and almost childlike with her demands that no one have to go if they don't want to. An awesome touch of humanity.
I'm really glad I didn't stop the combat against John. I knew from my sheet that they had him, but the players didn't, and were still scared that he could kick the crap out of them right up until he died.
The whole thing really got the horror movie thing down. I'm happy that the rules worked well that way.
The player that I thought wanted flying monkeys just wants a monkey slave, preferably with a human soul that he stole from someone and bound to the monkey. Neat!
What Didn't
SOCIAL CONFLICT! The nun scene took way too long and I was reluctant to bring it to die rolls because of the 'featured skill' system. Time to talk to seannittner about a new system then check back with silverpaw (the social character)
One of the players felt railroaded when the nun disappeared (after a roll to let her) and I said that they can get out of the pits now. The point wasn't to railroad, just advice that now is a good time to get, but it was taken as railroading, which wasn't my intention.
One of the players encountered a creepy dung beetle spirit (named Legion) and was gung-ho about letting it ride in her and kill her. I tried to explain that it wasn't something that she could get and then get rid of, but it felt like it was just table pressure that made her not let it ride in her.
I felt like the last battle got a little lackluster. A big part of that is that I knew I was beat, even if the PCs didn't. Shoulda been better about descriptions!