Gaming
Gaming was yesterday. Last session, the players managed to not get stranded in Atlantis, and I vowed to make sure that didn't happen again. I had two ideas on how to do that:
1. Two of the people who the PCs trust have been offered a lot of money to take over the boat. Stranding the captain and other PCs is a good way to do that. The ringleader is Arthur, the second-in-command, and he told the sub pilot, Flash.
2. The sub is, well, not the most reliable thing in the world. If something happened to it while all the PCs were in Atlantis, then they're trapped.
So, I had this vague idea of railroad tracks, and nothing much else. I waited. The players talked about the best way to get people in Atlantis and explore. Basically, it's a "set up an outpost" situation. Unfortunately, it split up the party something major, with some people on the surface, some on the sub ferrying people, and some in Atlantis. Mitch (Amy's character) and Ed V. (Phil's character) did some exploring with two NPCs. Ed V. came back, as someone had to open up the airlock for the sub for the second batch.
During this time, Arthur talked with Captain John North (Kevin's character). Arthur said, "someone should be here and someone should be down, and I think you'd be much more effective in Atlantis." Kevin took the bait, so he went down. So, when the second batch went down, it was all the PCs, and several NPCs. Ten people, all together.
I had Kevin roll percentage dice, and in our group, high is "interesting." He got a 77, which was good enough for me. They met some tritons who attacked immediately, and one had an Atlantean device that shot electricity. There was a pitched underwater battle, one of the NPCs died, and the sub was knocked out. Kevin made a passionate speech, they did some more exploring, and found the hallway to Atlantis proper, guarded by two large lizards. Mitch found a letter from around 1890, from previous explorers.
There's a lot of hand-waving going on in the campaign, and I think they could sense the railroad tracks. I'm fortunate that the players are tolerant.
In a way, it's turning into a Hollow Earth campaign, except they're trapped in Atlantis. I didn't like the idea of Hollow Earth; it just seemed too large and too unrealistic to work for me. The underwater theme is actually making the game interesting, with issues about holding breath, maneuvering in 3D space, and potential for flooding or suit breach.
The characters are a lot of fun to play, and it's pretty neat seeing the players take their roles. There's a lot of potential. Phil's character knew a mermaid; Brian's character's grandfather was here, the pilot who knows about the betrayal was one of the ones trapped here. The NPCs that came with the crew were just names pulled out of a hat, but they turned out to be interesting; one is a reformed thief and a second is smart but cowardly. Plus, there's a small war between tribes of the mermen/tritons, there's a lot of Atlantean stuff around, and the Germans will be coming soon.
1. Two of the people who the PCs trust have been offered a lot of money to take over the boat. Stranding the captain and other PCs is a good way to do that. The ringleader is Arthur, the second-in-command, and he told the sub pilot, Flash.
2. The sub is, well, not the most reliable thing in the world. If something happened to it while all the PCs were in Atlantis, then they're trapped.
So, I had this vague idea of railroad tracks, and nothing much else. I waited. The players talked about the best way to get people in Atlantis and explore. Basically, it's a "set up an outpost" situation. Unfortunately, it split up the party something major, with some people on the surface, some on the sub ferrying people, and some in Atlantis. Mitch (Amy's character) and Ed V. (Phil's character) did some exploring with two NPCs. Ed V. came back, as someone had to open up the airlock for the sub for the second batch.
During this time, Arthur talked with Captain John North (Kevin's character). Arthur said, "someone should be here and someone should be down, and I think you'd be much more effective in Atlantis." Kevin took the bait, so he went down. So, when the second batch went down, it was all the PCs, and several NPCs. Ten people, all together.
I had Kevin roll percentage dice, and in our group, high is "interesting." He got a 77, which was good enough for me. They met some tritons who attacked immediately, and one had an Atlantean device that shot electricity. There was a pitched underwater battle, one of the NPCs died, and the sub was knocked out. Kevin made a passionate speech, they did some more exploring, and found the hallway to Atlantis proper, guarded by two large lizards. Mitch found a letter from around 1890, from previous explorers.
There's a lot of hand-waving going on in the campaign, and I think they could sense the railroad tracks. I'm fortunate that the players are tolerant.
In a way, it's turning into a Hollow Earth campaign, except they're trapped in Atlantis. I didn't like the idea of Hollow Earth; it just seemed too large and too unrealistic to work for me. The underwater theme is actually making the game interesting, with issues about holding breath, maneuvering in 3D space, and potential for flooding or suit breach.
The characters are a lot of fun to play, and it's pretty neat seeing the players take their roles. There's a lot of potential. Phil's character knew a mermaid; Brian's character's grandfather was here, the pilot who knows about the betrayal was one of the ones trapped here. The NPCs that came with the crew were just names pulled out of a hat, but they turned out to be interesting; one is a reformed thief and a second is smart but cowardly. Plus, there's a small war between tribes of the mermen/tritons, there's a lot of Atlantean stuff around, and the Germans will be coming soon.