The Gaming Post

[jdotmi]

templar_rose and I have gamed together for over a decade. We know eachother inside out and can bounce gaming plots and ideas off of eachother for hours, no, days on end without issue.

We were discussing some interesting things going on in the game he is running, some of which you can read about on lisastall's in character journal as well as gaelicbrigitte's in character journal. I discussed the discipline I am developing for my character and we talked about some of the finer points of the game politics.

The first thing to mention is really the dynamic of the player characters.

In the two big games that John has run, I have come in after the fact to give the players some focus and some direction. Apparently, the PCs had camped out in castle having ghouls do internet research for several gaming sessions and were driving John batty. He had zombies attack and the castle destroyed. I gave them a new home and some reason to actually do some work.

After I joined, the player character cast started to expand. More and more people joined and a few left. This has led to some loose ends being opened up and some plots being revamped to fit new characters. This isn't a bad thing, it just makes it slightly more work.

I came to one conclusion, and John came to another that fits well with the group. I concluded that the group had fallen into a "D&D Party" mode. He concluded that some characters were suffering from LARP syndrome.

D&D Party Mode: Get mission from boss. Get group together. Find mission target. Beat mission target into submission and claim fabulous prizes.

LARP syndrome: "I'm telling the Prince on you!!!"

Now, neither problem is actually quite to the level described here, but we have, as group, opted for the blunt-object-to-head approach when dealing with directives from on high.

We have a slew of people being complete and utter stalkers with Diana. Yes, the Prince asked us to protect her. PROTECT HER. Not "suffocate her", but "protect her" and "keep her safe". We're Kindred, we work in the shadows. We have far too many non-shadowy types for this kind of work.

I sorta feel bad for griffonisrex because his character is in such a messy position right now, and we just keep pushing him and latching on to his mistakes. At the same time, it's a great learning experience for him as a player, so I don't feel horrible about it. His character has made a lot of really really bad choices and they're starting to come to bite him in the ass now. We're helping him, out of character, to learn how to play an elder. It's a great process and he's improving.

John and I came to the conclusion that if mock_cat and I have our characters actually get together and become allies, the rest of the party can just kiss their asses goodbye. Lisa and Wren are scary enough on their own. We so don't need them in collusion with one another. Especially since Cat and I have begun discussing things they could do together. Very very frigtening.

Speaking of Lisa, I'm actually amazed at how many PCs are actually just glossing over her existence. I wonder how much of it is players accepting another player character and how much of it is them just not interacting with her enough.

Some thoughts on NPCs:

Allison- She's the Prince. She acts like a total air head. However, she is the Prince. Airheads do not become Prince unless someone is pulling puppet strings. Mobius seems to like and/or respect Allison, so it is unlikely he is pulling strings. Since the Tremere ain't doing it, my guess is Allison is a lot more calculating than the party seems to be giving her credit for.

Diana- This bitch is DANGEROUS. She knows what Kindred are. She knows she's a beautiful young woman and she uses it. She knows she is the Prince's favorite mortal grandchild and can get away with murder. She isn't afraid of anything. She's manipulated the majority of the Kindred in the city into eating out of her hand. This bitch is DANGEROUS.

Zoriel- Gee, where'd he go?

Orion- Gee, where'd he go?

Sammael- Gee, where'd he go?

Chalkydri- Only one character knows who he is. Everyone else has glossed over him in favor of other NPCs. This can be good, it can be bad.

There is a lot going on in the game. I think the problem is that the player characters aren't looking at a larger picture. If it isn't in their immediate field of vision, they're missing the hooks.

Comments

[brigittefires.livejournal.com]

Don't forget about Aliara. She's kinda gone on the back burner tho... I'm thinking of doing something to get her attention, just for kicks. I've gone too many weeks looking for my daughter, and while it's only been 2 nights in game... I'm bored. Margarette can just look like an impatient little fuckhead.

That and I'm gonna have to get ahold of Lauren. Find out if she's really serious about coming to game. If not, I'll either have to find someone else to play Morrighan, or play her myself--not the option I'd like, but I'm not gonna ask John to play her.

Hm.

Who's Chalkydri?

[jdotmi.livejournal.com]

Chalkydri is the nice man in the coat giving out his business card to people who will "require his services".