Need game advice, *Quick*

[Narf the Mouse]

The first time my Brother tried Hero System, he didn't find it interesting enough. However, he's decided he wants to give it another shot and I, of course, decided to run a game for him.

 

...As soon as he finishes his character.

 

There were two problems with the first game; both of them game-killers. The one I'm worried about is keeping a coherent storyline. So - Adventure ideas. (The second was rules knowledge/explanation)

 

The character is an experienced adventurer (100 CP + 50 XP, 30 Complications) coming home after his latest series of adventures. He's decided on a Paladin of some sort. I've decided on undead attacking his village.

 

Current thoughts: Help fight off undead -> Find out who, what and where -> Kill them.

 

I need, as quickly as possible, ideas, resources and inspiration for this adventure. I'll do my best to bungle through, but help would be greatly appreciated.

[Curufea]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Paladin assumes he belongs to a religious group of knights - which means an organisation and taking orders. What is his church involved in, any crusades or guard duties?

[Nolgroth]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

What sorts of resources do you need and how much time do you have?

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Paladin assumes he belongs to a religious group of knights - which means an organisation and taking orders. What is his church involved in' date=' any crusades or guard duties?[/quote']

Ah...The Northlands. A wasted, blasted desert where nothing lives...But many things move. But the Northland is quite far from his home village...

 

So, the undead are connected to that - Gate? Stray Necromancer? Controlled invasion/strike behind the lines? And what are they after? It is just a village, after all? Revenge?

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

What sorts of resources do you need and how much time do you have?

Ideas and plot, mostly. Although undead of appropriate danger would be useful, too.

 

Until he finishes his character. So T + X. And, of course, I can continue planning/building when I have breaks in the action, but I can't count on that.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

The Undead are attacking under the direction of an evil priest for the dual purpose of defiling the local holy ground and stealing an important religious artifact. The Big Bad that your Brother's character is going to face is actually a Henchman sent to lead the attack. While he is off doing that, the Real Big Bad is sneaking into town with all sorts of evil powers to cast down the church and subvert the local priest into some sort of evil pawn. The local priest then becomes the second Henchman that YBC must confront. Being a Paladin of the same faith, he may go the Skywalker saving Papa route or may strike him down with a mighty vengeance. Clues lead back to the RBB and the final confrontation is with him some adventures away.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Skeletons. YBC OCV -2 (3 Minimum), DCV 3. Armed with appropriate weapon that does 1.5d6 Killing (no str Bonus). Body 3-5 each. PD/ED of 3/6 (resistant/normal).

Zombie. As above but boost Body to 5-7.

Ghoul. As Zombie, but increase Body to 10. Add STR Drain 1d6 if attack hits.

 

First Henchman. Duplicate YBC stats. Tweak them just a little. Add +2 STR, -1 DEX, +1 OCV, -1 DCV. Add a couple of Martial Maneuvers. Make him an Anti-Paladin so his powers mirror YBC.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

That should buy you some time. You can stat them out fully later. Hope any of that was a help.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Ah, that works - Thanks, I'll start with that and see where things go.

 

Hmm...Subverting the local priest would make defiling the holy ground (A graveyard of heroes?) a lot easier. Then, raise the dead bodies of heroes after the desecration...If the RBB succeeds, there'll be a powerful strong point in the enemy rear. And even if that fails, he still gets away with...A waterskin used by a holy man. Said holy man survived in the desert for the proverbial forty days, because the waterskin never ran out of water. To this day, if the need is great, water will flow. Holy water. Desecrate that and...

 

And, at this point, the local priest is already half-subverted. You see, young Davy Owen is forty years old and quite dissatisfied with his lot in life. He served under Grant Tolsten, an old, stern, but caring priest for over twenty years - And, in his opinion, he should have risen far higher. Grant Tolsten died still hoping his student would win the battle with his pride and ambition - The fact that he hadn't is why he was never recommended for other duties.

 

At an appropriate point, I'll make an Ego roll to decide if Davy wins his own battle against his desire to be powerful. If he does, an obvious battle ensues in the church. If he doesn't...Hope the desecration gets noticed before it gets too far...

[Nolgroth]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Good ideas.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Thanks.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Sir Rodrick returned home from adventures abroad to find his village beseiged. In particular, four skeletons were tearing at the wooden gates of the palisade and had managed to wrench it open somewhat on a corner. Bravely charging the skeletons, they battled back and forth. He downed two, but a couple of lucky strikes near knocked him unconscious before a rescue rushed through the gate; five villagers, smashing down the skeletons and driving the zombie back with a spear.

 

Escaping into the village, he was apprised of the situation, took a minute to rest and then charged onto the wooden walls, where he confronted a couple of skeletons taking advantage of a momentary break in the defenses. Bad luck kepts him from immediately smashing them backwards, but they were shortly defeated.

 

A ghoul lunged up onto the parapet afterwards, taking a brutal swip at the local woodcutter who had come to help, but missed the hulking man. A swift blow (Hand-and-a-Half + Killing Strike for 3d6+1) smashed it backwards, dying.

 

At that moment, Davy Owen made a momentous and horrendous decision...And a chill and erie wind swept over the village, towards the church. Rodrick immediatly went to investigate, where he found Owens and a cloaked and hooded figure going out the back door into the graveyard of heroes. Sir Rodrick confronted them, asking boldly who the cloaked figure was. The response...Was swift and devastating. With a flicker of the cloaked figure's hands, a surge of dark energy struck Rodrick unconscious.

 

When Rodrick awoke, perhaps five minutes later, he found himself bound, the cloaked figure gone...And a cackling Owen pouring a dash of blood onto each grave. In his wake, dead heroes rose...

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Stuff I can see I need help with:

 

1) Battle pacing and variety. How to keep things interesting, flowing and varied.

 

2) Descriptions - How do I describe an entire battle surounding a village? How do I "bring it to life"?

 

3) Keeping things going with one player.

 

4) Keeping the Hero math understandable.

 

5) Designing the next adventure set.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Thanks, the two of you. I didn't have much more than a vague notion and you helped turn it into an actual session. Next one is next Friday (Woot! He wants to play more!)

[Cancer]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Glancing at this after it seems to be over, Narf, it looks like you had a brilliant initial session and got great help from the mates above. Applause from here.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Stuff I can see I need help with:

 

1) Battle pacing and variety. How to keep things interesting, flowing and varied.

This is a challenge that even the most seasoned of GM's have to face. Practice, reading how novels pace combat, and a general idea of what you think would be cool is all the advice I can offer at the moment. I encourage you to experiment with different styles and find the best one for you.

 

2) Descriptions - How do I describe an entire battle surounding a village? How do I "bring it to life"?

Remember that the character(s) are not the only ones involved. Describe briefly how the villagers are faring against the horde. Don't swell too much before bringing the fight to the good guy(s). If they instead take the fight where they are needed, so much the better.

 

3) Keeping things going with one player.

Tough one. Role-playing games sort of thrive when there are multiple character personalities playing off each other. Unless your brother is dead set on being the lone swordsman, see if you can recruit a couple of players. Even just one more can make a difference. If you can get two or three more, you got a party. (Pun intended.)

 

If it is just not possible, you have to really dig deep and find different NPC personae for the character to interact with. Not easy, but fun if you can manage.

 

4) Keeping the Hero math understandable.

Once character creation is completed math shouldn't be too hard. Just going through the paces a few times should get you up to speed on the basic mechanics.

 

5) Designing the next adventure set.

Take it from here. Look at things that have happened during your session and see where you can develop the story from that point. Desinging opposition is pretty easy too. Just base it off your brother's character's stats.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Thanks. I was worried it was too short and rushed.

[Ragnarok]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Ideas for followup adventures:

 

1) Some sort of undeath cult has roots in the area, with sleeper cells in neighboring villages. The hero must figure our how to find them, hunt them down and destroy them.

2) The main villain is after certain items buried with members of an adventuring party of years past. If those items are reunited then he gets some sort of extra power.

3) The main villain was once a paladin himself, but was failed by *insert faith* at a critical moment. As revenge, he/she is devoted to destroying *insert faith*'s credibility by corrupting relics, desecrating holy ground, killing the faithful, etc. The hero must restore *insert faith* by cleansing desecrated areas/relics/the villain him/herself. Either by trying to redeem his/her soul or just plain old smiting.

 

Some suggestions for a one-player campaign...

 

1) In battles, have the PC go after specific objectives, critical to turning the tide of battle. Interrupting a cultist's summoning, or destroying X item or person, or defending a priest who's channeling a cleansing ritual to stop the dead from rising from their graves.

2) Maybe have the PC go after items belonging to legendary defenders of the faith who were raised. Destroy the undead to put their soul at rest and reclaim the item, to either use himself or return to the churches. These items don't have to be magical, they could just have a lot of legendary significance, and could inspire the people when seen.

3) Have him deal with villagers who are losing their faith, given the recent events. Those he convinces join the fight, and those he fails to convince either sit it out or join the cult. This lets him feel like he's making a big noncombat difference, and it's an opportunity to get into religious/philosophical nuances.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Thanks - Lots of good ideas. I'll have to figure out a way to add a bit more "Star wars" type tropes and themes - He requested that specifically after I asked what he liked about the session.

 

As part of it, I'm thinking of having the BB he ran into in the graveyard being his brother (Sister works too), which brings all sorts of background into it (He married a commoner and his family kicked him out. Luckily, the Paladin orders, having a bit more "direct intervention" in their lives, tend to be a cut above, morally...) That leads nicely into 3a. For example, why and how did his/her faith fail them? One twist plotline that could lead to option A ending (Redeem) is have the whole fall having been orchestrated by the sleeper cells - Perhaps something as simple as giving bad directions to his/her backup - Or, one low person in a high position.

 

He even has a Hunted that works in nicely: Malfagar the Despoiler of Sacred Ground, As Pow. Gee, that's specific...Wonder if he might run into an enemy agent running around...

 

Hmm...Option A: Cloaked figure was sibling; that's why he's still alive. Option B: Cloaked figure was Malfagar, who figured he'd leave a nice present for the spirits of undeath...

[BlueCloud2k2]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Sounds like you've already got a good idea of where you want to go. If I might make a sugguestion, you could also have Big Bad not actually be a villain, but under Mind Control from someone far more powerful. The PCs confront Big Bad and before the killing blow is dealt, a black mist pours fourth from his mouth and nose, and says something to the effect of "Meddlesome do-gooders! You have won this round, but I shall return!"

 

This could lead into a quest to retrieve the X-number of sacred artifacts needed to cast the TRUE Big Big back into the abyss. Also, the sibling who was possessed can join his/her brother as a means of redemption.

 

I just borrowed those elements from Final Fantasy 4, Harry Potter and LotR, but who cares? The point is, you can borrow from multiple sources without straying from the Star Wars tropes.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Presenting:

[Nolgroth]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

404 Not Found. Too bad too.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

I've uploaded it as a character; it should now be visible.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Found a use for the waterskin macguffin. The pitcher of blood that the fallen priest (Davy Owen) was using is a ritual item, prepared over the course of (Hours? Days?), to raise the bodies of such powerful heroes with powerful undead spirits - And allow them to use at least some of the skills the bodies knew in life. Desecrating the waterskin would allow them to do that any time they wanted, with only the waterskin needed. And, if they managed to make even a knock-off copy...

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: Need game advice, *Quick*

 

Presenting: