Monsters wrap up
We finished this game yesterday. I was pretty satisfied overall.
Here's what happened:
- the orphans discovered that the giant whaling ship they were on was being crushed and had to escape
- once reading land, they discovered a group of government agents, including Mr. Green wearing a beekeeper's suit
- The agents had some ugly people in cage, and proposed a trade: the kids' monsters for their (supposed) parents
- kids refused in a variety of ways: Johann used his monster to pick up Fletcher and fling him at Mr. Green. Mr. Green got his only good roll of the campaign, and side-stepped, sending Fletcher flying into the cage. Inside was a crazy eyed, bearded old man who pressed a crystal ball into Fletcher's hands. Fletcher immediately shook it, causing the sky to darken and rain to fall. He then had Bumgo smash the thing, but Bumgo sent it flying out to the ocean in the process. Dottie Ann's monster went after it, transforming into a fish.
- Also Bumgo ate up Mr. Green, who steadfastly threw his notebook to the nearby Mr. Orange.
- Johann's monster picked up a nearby building and flung it into the air, then pushed the cage full of Innsmouth parents away before it could land. The MIB scattered.
- Bumgo spat Mr. Green out, right under the house.
- While this was going on, Lyan Salt was talking to the pieces of the trash monster, which appeared unhappy and still missing its boy.
- Charlie (Dottie Ann's monster) returned the crystal ball, and a seaweed covered Mr. Scragg followed it out of the water.
- Mr. Orange ordered the execution of plan D. Jolts of electricity fired through the water and into the trash monster, and it rose up as a towering behemoth made of garbage. The trash barge, broken in half, was its legs, and the whaling ship, complete with crane and whale hooks, was its arms. Also, it was on fire.
- Fletcher and Johann argued about combining their monsters as the trash monster tried to crush them.
- Everyone noticed the priest from the second adventure was hooked up into some kind of machine in the middle of the monster. Graggl and Lyan climbed the thing's legs to try and unhook the machine. The first try failed, though.
- At this point, Bumgo and Fletcher filled two of the MIBs' lungs with sticky fluid. They go down.
- Johann and Persephone fling two more into the trash monster, smacking them into the "cockpit". This exposes some wiring, that Lyan pulls on and breaks the machine. The priest wakes up, angry and resentful. However, he loses a shoving match with a little girl (no joke, the dice were in an odd mood) and topples over the side.
- The trash monster is still being driven mad by the electrified wires wound through it; it needs its boy to restore any control. Also, being this big and on fire is kind of a strain.
- Johann and Persephone bite open the cage containing the weird people, and noticed there is a boy there. They fling him into the cockpit as well while Lyan (and the trash monster) desperately grab soft things to cushion his landing.
- But it works and the trash monster begins to fall apart, reverting to its previous size.
- Mr. Scragg explains that they just have to use the sphere now to "make the stars right". His captured friend (who was Dagon, by the way, though he never appeared "on camera") had already gone to wake up the Big Boss (Cthulhu).
- For some reason, the kids don't do this. They first draw a smiley face, then a whale shape.
- The smiley face summons Yog-Sothoth, just for an instant. The whale summons many whales, who inexplicably have deep ones riding them.
- Fletcher and Dottie Ann go home to Innsmouth with the residents. Johann and Lyan each strike out on their own. A lot of flaming garbage and wrecked ships are left in their wake.
Overall I was really happy with this game. It went longer than I expected, partly because I changed my mind about what the plot should be about half-way through. Oh well!
I got a much better feel for the Monsters rules, which I like a lot. They do have some eccentricities for sure, but it's a simple, solid system. (I thought of another weird application for it - you could even use it for an Avatar game, with the Monster as your fighting style/strength - so you use that for fighting and as you lose strength from your style it's harder to continue fighting.)
For the Team Rocket game, we may have to tone down the monsters a bit. The fact that nearly everyone in that world has monsters will make for a major difference in tone, too. Regular people or threats just do not stop Monsters.
I did make a few mistakes, both with the rules (to be expected) and with running the game. I was pleased with introducing the trash monster behemoth, but went and got a beer right afterwards, which kinda drains some of the tension.
Generally I think most players got roughly equal time in the spotlight. Hopefully each player felt like they got some time to shine. This was an awesome cast, and I think they will return as cameos in future games or as a one-off sequel.
I am really bad anticipating how long things will take. Both for the characters to do, and for me to get through the story.
I have to really fight the urge to be stingy with revelations and details. I am going to try and only require notice checks for really obscure things or in combat when a lot of stuff is going on. It's a little bit of a holdover from playing video games, I think? I love overcomplicated plots and want to guard them. But if you do that too much, the players never find out what's going on. That's not ideal.
I had to resist the urge to also make the MIBs robots. I don't know, it just seemed like they might be. 1930s robots. Or time-traveling ones.
I think the game was good practice at thinking on my feet, which I am mostly good at. The final conflict, I wasn't sure how they would handle it but the approach they took was reasonable.
This was the first game I ran without (really) long breaks between some of the sessions. It's a little easier when everyone has a clear memory of what happened last time, and makes it a little easier to keep a consistent "feel" throughout. I have less time to prepare things in depth, but then I'm less attached to my plans when everything goes off the rails.
After finishing this game, I am really excited to run the next one but also to get a chance to play in Paul's game soon. I like having a weekly game to look forward to - and it also keeps me from getting too caught up in overly ambitious plans.
The ending was a little weak on this game, but the characters mostly got what they wanted and they were the ones driving the plot in a big way.
Wow, that's a lot of words about pretend monstergames.
Future things I would like to run: (at this moment, it will change)
- Team Rocket game
- Paranoia: Orcbusters
- Maybe Reign - War of the Mages?
- Maybe Burning Wheel - Black Company or Planescape?
- Maybe Mouse Guard?
- Maybe (Monsters and Other Childish Things) My Little Beholder? (Dungeon kids or kobolds)
- and more work on our homebrew type setting/system
Yeah, that wouldn't keep me busy at all..
Here's what happened:
- the orphans discovered that the giant whaling ship they were on was being crushed and had to escape
- once reading land, they discovered a group of government agents, including Mr. Green wearing a beekeeper's suit
- The agents had some ugly people in cage, and proposed a trade: the kids' monsters for their (supposed) parents
- kids refused in a variety of ways: Johann used his monster to pick up Fletcher and fling him at Mr. Green. Mr. Green got his only good roll of the campaign, and side-stepped, sending Fletcher flying into the cage. Inside was a crazy eyed, bearded old man who pressed a crystal ball into Fletcher's hands. Fletcher immediately shook it, causing the sky to darken and rain to fall. He then had Bumgo smash the thing, but Bumgo sent it flying out to the ocean in the process. Dottie Ann's monster went after it, transforming into a fish.
- Also Bumgo ate up Mr. Green, who steadfastly threw his notebook to the nearby Mr. Orange.
- Johann's monster picked up a nearby building and flung it into the air, then pushed the cage full of Innsmouth parents away before it could land. The MIB scattered.
- Bumgo spat Mr. Green out, right under the house.
- While this was going on, Lyan Salt was talking to the pieces of the trash monster, which appeared unhappy and still missing its boy.
- Charlie (Dottie Ann's monster) returned the crystal ball, and a seaweed covered Mr. Scragg followed it out of the water.
- Mr. Orange ordered the execution of plan D. Jolts of electricity fired through the water and into the trash monster, and it rose up as a towering behemoth made of garbage. The trash barge, broken in half, was its legs, and the whaling ship, complete with crane and whale hooks, was its arms. Also, it was on fire.
- Fletcher and Johann argued about combining their monsters as the trash monster tried to crush them.
- Everyone noticed the priest from the second adventure was hooked up into some kind of machine in the middle of the monster. Graggl and Lyan climbed the thing's legs to try and unhook the machine. The first try failed, though.
- At this point, Bumgo and Fletcher filled two of the MIBs' lungs with sticky fluid. They go down.
- Johann and Persephone fling two more into the trash monster, smacking them into the "cockpit". This exposes some wiring, that Lyan pulls on and breaks the machine. The priest wakes up, angry and resentful. However, he loses a shoving match with a little girl (no joke, the dice were in an odd mood) and topples over the side.
- The trash monster is still being driven mad by the electrified wires wound through it; it needs its boy to restore any control. Also, being this big and on fire is kind of a strain.
- Johann and Persephone bite open the cage containing the weird people, and noticed there is a boy there. They fling him into the cockpit as well while Lyan (and the trash monster) desperately grab soft things to cushion his landing.
- But it works and the trash monster begins to fall apart, reverting to its previous size.
- Mr. Scragg explains that they just have to use the sphere now to "make the stars right". His captured friend (who was Dagon, by the way, though he never appeared "on camera") had already gone to wake up the Big Boss (Cthulhu).
- For some reason, the kids don't do this. They first draw a smiley face, then a whale shape.
- The smiley face summons Yog-Sothoth, just for an instant. The whale summons many whales, who inexplicably have deep ones riding them.
- Fletcher and Dottie Ann go home to Innsmouth with the residents. Johann and Lyan each strike out on their own. A lot of flaming garbage and wrecked ships are left in their wake.
Overall I was really happy with this game. It went longer than I expected, partly because I changed my mind about what the plot should be about half-way through. Oh well!
I got a much better feel for the Monsters rules, which I like a lot. They do have some eccentricities for sure, but it's a simple, solid system. (I thought of another weird application for it - you could even use it for an Avatar game, with the Monster as your fighting style/strength - so you use that for fighting and as you lose strength from your style it's harder to continue fighting.)
For the Team Rocket game, we may have to tone down the monsters a bit. The fact that nearly everyone in that world has monsters will make for a major difference in tone, too. Regular people or threats just do not stop Monsters.
I did make a few mistakes, both with the rules (to be expected) and with running the game. I was pleased with introducing the trash monster behemoth, but went and got a beer right afterwards, which kinda drains some of the tension.
Generally I think most players got roughly equal time in the spotlight. Hopefully each player felt like they got some time to shine. This was an awesome cast, and I think they will return as cameos in future games or as a one-off sequel.
I am really bad anticipating how long things will take. Both for the characters to do, and for me to get through the story.
I have to really fight the urge to be stingy with revelations and details. I am going to try and only require notice checks for really obscure things or in combat when a lot of stuff is going on. It's a little bit of a holdover from playing video games, I think? I love overcomplicated plots and want to guard them. But if you do that too much, the players never find out what's going on. That's not ideal.
I had to resist the urge to also make the MIBs robots. I don't know, it just seemed like they might be. 1930s robots. Or time-traveling ones.
I think the game was good practice at thinking on my feet, which I am mostly good at. The final conflict, I wasn't sure how they would handle it but the approach they took was reasonable.
This was the first game I ran without (really) long breaks between some of the sessions. It's a little easier when everyone has a clear memory of what happened last time, and makes it a little easier to keep a consistent "feel" throughout. I have less time to prepare things in depth, but then I'm less attached to my plans when everything goes off the rails.
After finishing this game, I am really excited to run the next one but also to get a chance to play in Paul's game soon. I like having a weekly game to look forward to - and it also keeps me from getting too caught up in overly ambitious plans.
The ending was a little weak on this game, but the characters mostly got what they wanted and they were the ones driving the plot in a big way.
Wow, that's a lot of words about pretend monstergames.
Future things I would like to run: (at this moment, it will change)
- Team Rocket game
- Paranoia: Orcbusters
- Maybe Reign - War of the Mages?
- Maybe Burning Wheel - Black Company or Planescape?
- Maybe Mouse Guard?
- Maybe (Monsters and Other Childish Things) My Little Beholder? (Dungeon kids or kobolds)
- and more work on our homebrew type setting/system
Yeah, that wouldn't keep me busy at all..