DFRPG 2/11/12: Into the frying pan...
So, when last we left our heroes, Ted, Riley, and Venus had to decide what to do with the one-armed mercenary that the Warden "disarmed", obi-wan kenobi style. The players when back and forth for a bit, even suggesting dumping him in the never never while unconscious. However, after a totally appropriate compel, Venus decided that she was going to add him to her flock. What could possibly go wrong with having a one-armed mercenary that used to work for the Vampires as a faithful follower?
Meanwhile, the Warden finds himself waking up between a rock and hard place... or was something else hard? Turns out, it is the Winter Lady who is attached to the sexy pale white arm draped over him. She informs him that it is about time for him to pay up on the favor he owes the Winter Court, namely to restore the balance the PCs caused. They can either do this by returning Oberon to his prison, or by convincing the EarlKing to return to his wife Mab. Alex groans at this mission, though Maeve suggests that she might be able to offer him the Mantle of Winter Knight if he so chooses. Alex immediately declines, and Maeve pouts a little.
Meanwhile, back at the club, the gang has gotten together to discuss what to do about the ongoing assaults upon Venus and Ted's businesses. During the discussion, Alex makes a timely arrival and announces the White Council has ordered him to "Stop the vampires". To this end, he drafts up an official request to meet under the accords, and has it delivered to Gregor Raith, the Leader of the White Court in SF. Three days hence the meeting is set, and the gang does it's best to prepare.
Gregor shows up in style, as befitting the White court. With him is several others who later are introduced as Baron Skavis of Oakland and Don Dela Cruz of the Red Court. Enter into a social conflict. The players goal is to get the White Court to agree to stop its machinations. Gregor's goal is to identify and exploit any/all weaknesses to his advantage.
As both sides were sitting down to begin talks, down came walking from the upstairs level Rashid, the Gatekeeper and member of the Senior Council, with his Raccoon apprentice in tow. Rashin proceeded to LOOMING GATEKEEPER aspect on the Scene, giving the Vampires pause that the Council was taking this quite seriously.
The Warden was nominated as the attacker for the conflict, and anyone else was allowed to help out and place maneuvers upon the scene, though by doing so they would suffer as well the perils of losing.
The highlights of the conflict were a whole mess of creative maneuvers placed upon the scene, as well as the Warden realizing just how hopelessly out of his depths his is in a social conflict. Only the fact that he was able to tag most rounds 2-3 maneuvers kept him from getting utterly crushed by the social prowess of the White Court Lord.
Another brilliant moment was when Lord Skavis turned his incite emotion despair gaze upon Ted. Ted's player rolled a +6 discipline check, only to have his jaw drop and hit the table when the Skavis ended up with a +10. Some stress and consequences later, Ted was quickly OUT OF HIS LEAGUE.
Finally, after numerous rounds of back and forth in the conflict, the wizard finally decided to concede defeat before the Vampire took him out with a half-way decent roll. The results of exactly what information the Vampire found is is still to be determined, but they left with the knowledge that the White Council's position in SF is weak.
Afterwards, the Gatekeeper cryptically informed Alex that he had shown the Vampires weakness, but knowing that he did so can be used to his advantage. With that, he walked back upstairs and presumably back to wherever he goes when he's not being mysterious.
At one point right near the end of the negotiations, Riley got up in a huff to leave, going over to the bar for a drink. While setting down the glass afterward, she accidently smashed it onto the table, shattering it with mighty strength. Indeed, afterwards everyone was inquiring as to what had happened, and she didn't know. She informed the group that Gregor was not someone to mess with, as she watched him throw a huge heavy desk through a wall, like so( miming the action). Of course, while trying to pantomime the action, she proceeded to actually throw the really heavy table across the room and smashing in the wall.
totally weirded out, Riley starts asking folks what's going on, and Ted and Alex give each other wary looks. With Riley's ability to use glamour, and now her manifestation of inhuman strength, it would appear that she's possibly a changeling. Alex asks her "Hey, does your father hunt?" To which Ted's player begin emphatically saying "No... No... NO, NO!"
Which of course, leads me to giving Riley's player a FATE chip and telling her to change her "PLUCKY LITTLE HUMAN" aspect into "DAUGHTER OF THE EARLKING". Which led to perhaps the best line of the session, "Well, finding the Earlking won't be hard, I've got him on speed dial".
What Rocked:
Social Conflict: Once again I love the fact that social conflict uses the same resolution mechanic as physical conflict.
Warden out of his depth. Having Rapport and intimidate at only +1, the warden was desperately scraping around to find any scrap of maneuvers to use against Gregor, at +5. A series of good rolls on his part and mediocre rolls on mine stretched the conflict further than the stats would have suggested.
What Could have Gone Better:
Alystria was essentially forced to sit out the whole conflict because of the presence of the her Teacher, the Gatekeeper at the meeting. I should have let her participate in the conflict and act as the gatekeeper's proxy. That way he wouldn't have to say anything, but everyone would assume she was talking for him. Very Gatekeeper-y thing to do.
Also, conflict without any mods was painfully slow, going round after round. Need to develop some sort of "social weapons" that can be wielded, similar to guns/knives. Most likely very situational.
Meanwhile, the Warden finds himself waking up between a rock and hard place... or was something else hard? Turns out, it is the Winter Lady who is attached to the sexy pale white arm draped over him. She informs him that it is about time for him to pay up on the favor he owes the Winter Court, namely to restore the balance the PCs caused. They can either do this by returning Oberon to his prison, or by convincing the EarlKing to return to his wife Mab. Alex groans at this mission, though Maeve suggests that she might be able to offer him the Mantle of Winter Knight if he so chooses. Alex immediately declines, and Maeve pouts a little.
Meanwhile, back at the club, the gang has gotten together to discuss what to do about the ongoing assaults upon Venus and Ted's businesses. During the discussion, Alex makes a timely arrival and announces the White Council has ordered him to "Stop the vampires". To this end, he drafts up an official request to meet under the accords, and has it delivered to Gregor Raith, the Leader of the White Court in SF. Three days hence the meeting is set, and the gang does it's best to prepare.
Gregor shows up in style, as befitting the White court. With him is several others who later are introduced as Baron Skavis of Oakland and Don Dela Cruz of the Red Court. Enter into a social conflict. The players goal is to get the White Court to agree to stop its machinations. Gregor's goal is to identify and exploit any/all weaknesses to his advantage.
As both sides were sitting down to begin talks, down came walking from the upstairs level Rashid, the Gatekeeper and member of the Senior Council, with his Raccoon apprentice in tow. Rashin proceeded to LOOMING GATEKEEPER aspect on the Scene, giving the Vampires pause that the Council was taking this quite seriously.
The Warden was nominated as the attacker for the conflict, and anyone else was allowed to help out and place maneuvers upon the scene, though by doing so they would suffer as well the perils of losing.
The highlights of the conflict were a whole mess of creative maneuvers placed upon the scene, as well as the Warden realizing just how hopelessly out of his depths his is in a social conflict. Only the fact that he was able to tag most rounds 2-3 maneuvers kept him from getting utterly crushed by the social prowess of the White Court Lord.
Another brilliant moment was when Lord Skavis turned his incite emotion despair gaze upon Ted. Ted's player rolled a +6 discipline check, only to have his jaw drop and hit the table when the Skavis ended up with a +10. Some stress and consequences later, Ted was quickly OUT OF HIS LEAGUE.
Finally, after numerous rounds of back and forth in the conflict, the wizard finally decided to concede defeat before the Vampire took him out with a half-way decent roll. The results of exactly what information the Vampire found is is still to be determined, but they left with the knowledge that the White Council's position in SF is weak.
Afterwards, the Gatekeeper cryptically informed Alex that he had shown the Vampires weakness, but knowing that he did so can be used to his advantage. With that, he walked back upstairs and presumably back to wherever he goes when he's not being mysterious.
At one point right near the end of the negotiations, Riley got up in a huff to leave, going over to the bar for a drink. While setting down the glass afterward, she accidently smashed it onto the table, shattering it with mighty strength. Indeed, afterwards everyone was inquiring as to what had happened, and she didn't know. She informed the group that Gregor was not someone to mess with, as she watched him throw a huge heavy desk through a wall, like so( miming the action). Of course, while trying to pantomime the action, she proceeded to actually throw the really heavy table across the room and smashing in the wall.
totally weirded out, Riley starts asking folks what's going on, and Ted and Alex give each other wary looks. With Riley's ability to use glamour, and now her manifestation of inhuman strength, it would appear that she's possibly a changeling. Alex asks her "Hey, does your father hunt?" To which Ted's player begin emphatically saying "No... No... NO, NO!"
Which of course, leads me to giving Riley's player a FATE chip and telling her to change her "PLUCKY LITTLE HUMAN" aspect into "DAUGHTER OF THE EARLKING". Which led to perhaps the best line of the session, "Well, finding the Earlking won't be hard, I've got him on speed dial".
What Rocked:
Social Conflict: Once again I love the fact that social conflict uses the same resolution mechanic as physical conflict.
Warden out of his depth. Having Rapport and intimidate at only +1, the warden was desperately scraping around to find any scrap of maneuvers to use against Gregor, at +5. A series of good rolls on his part and mediocre rolls on mine stretched the conflict further than the stats would have suggested.
What Could have Gone Better:
Alystria was essentially forced to sit out the whole conflict because of the presence of the her Teacher, the Gatekeeper at the meeting. I should have let her participate in the conflict and act as the gatekeeper's proxy. That way he wouldn't have to say anything, but everyone would assume she was talking for him. Very Gatekeeper-y thing to do.
Also, conflict without any mods was painfully slow, going round after round. Need to develop some sort of "social weapons" that can be wielded, similar to guns/knives. Most likely very situational.