Please tell a short story of how you or someone you know creatively interacted with the world.
I will give 2 examples.
1) So my NPC Robert had a humble beginning. He was once called Bob. A group of PC's (yes a group) wandered to NPC camp to talk to someone in the village about a problem. I being so awesome with names said "poof" im Bob. I was laughed at. I asked why and I was told "We prefer formal names" Good point I return and I rewind the scene and Poof im Robert. Well Robert got tasked to help the villagers with a growing threat. I could not fight, I had no skills but a man put a hand on my shoulder gave me one hell of a speech and I said sure. Then the GM team altered the plot a bit to take into account Robert since he needed to be on the plot. Well needles to say Robert was able to help in a small way. The man was impressed and asked to make me a knight and to teach me. How could Robert refuse its not like anyone ever believed in him before and farming sucked. BOOM Robert was born. Fast forward and BOOM Robert saves the lives of half the town..maybe even a couple times. Point: he was a made up character and not part of any plot at all which turned into a giant super awesome plot that ended up saving people. Working the environment you could create a Robert that saves countless lives.
2) So some dude brings his friend to his very first LARP event. We as very funny GM's have our comedy plot and we cant stop laughing. So we have tree man versus Strong man. This was a GOOFY plot with total throw away characters which is why we never even gave them real names. In the end of the plot where strong man was suppose to just die he was instead captured by a guild and then left alone with the new player who was suppose to torture him. My brother who is super awesome going with the flow finds himself in an interesting conversation with new guy who wants to learn how to really hurt people. BOOM strong man is born. Mike escapes (with help) and we have a plot meeting. WOW lets have a starwars theme we can have the Strong man strikes back and return of the strong man (yes that is what we named the plots in the future events)..Oh this will be fun. Who would have thought that this stupid 1 shot plot would evolve into a 5 year crazy thing where BOOM Corbyn kills half the town. How? Because he never assumed that something wasn't possible. He asked, if the situation was possible and we shot him down nearly every time. We would say "Hmm do you have this skill?" Sometimes we make crap up, sometimes we rolled a die to see if it worked or not based on factors.
So any of you have a crazy story of stuff you want to reveal to the player base on how to work the world? We work very very hard to now be "scripted" its our super power. Unfortunately organization is our kryptonite, but you get the idea.
Hint: This is why there are still guild perks. There is no spoon..expand your mind or wait for Jared's future super awesome post on the subject whic will explain all.
Chris
I be one of the gamemasters so e-mail me questions if you have them
As Sen Joe and I snuck into Kendal keep and poisoned everyone there with Fein Death and Poison potions. We ran out so we stayed there and brewed more and put it in their food.
The attempt was so successful that the Saturday attack never happened and the food got sent back to woodhold and they had a plague.
All because we went up to wayne and asked if we could sneak in.
At Winter Haven while playing Zeira me and a bunch of people noticed Happy had a bad case of the "got bitten by a vampire" syndrome.
Normally this would require some research and a well thought out approach.
That was not the case here.
I just happened to have tracked down the location of the Life Orb which was in the possession of a doppleganger of Ambrose (played by Taki). My plan was to just kill him and take the orb. Upon entering his house we got into a conversation about how he had been experimenting with the Life Orb trying to unlock it's power. He then pointed at a two headed squirrel saying "some experiments had worked out better than others". I came up with the idea to try and use it to pull the vampirism out of Happy with the Life orb while using a Healer and an Empath to stabilize the situation.
Ambrose said that that was way beyond what he had done with the Life Orb so far and it would require months of research.
My response was "We don't have that kind of time...We're just gonna have to do this one Cowboy Style"
We laid Happy out on the table and started the process. Our Empath (Garrett...well technically Rylls) started to manipulate the forces of magic in order to draw the vampirism out of Happy. Suddenly a hand burst out of Happy's chest and another sickly version of Happy crawled out and landed on the ground.
Meanwhile Matt was narrating the scene explaining this. Garrett yells out "Kill the abomination". However I wanna make sure that this is the right course of action and continue to listen to Matt's narration while my gang of thugs stand over the sickly thing that popped out of Happy's chest ready to rain down hell on it...
Matt: "The hole in Happy's chest starts to seal up..."
This seemed like everything was good to go. So I gave my thugs the go ahead to beat the crap out of the "abomination" by giving "The Nod" for the very first time. They go to town on it. Matt continues his narration.
Matt: "And her eyes turn read and fangs pop out as she stands up on the table and bursts through the roof."
Everything freezes...as we realize that Garrett was unable to pull the vampirism out of Happy so he pulled Happy out of the vampirism. And we were beating the crap out of her.
The GM's were very generous and said she was at -15. We were so shell shocked from the whole thing I forgot to grab the Life Orb from Ambrose. Happy was so traumatized from everything she was mute for two events.
The Ball was taking place and no one was allowed to bring in weapons. So we smuggled a few weapons in ahead of time and hit them in plain sight over by the towers.
We had our potions and gear and all was good.
The problem was Ren. We had traded some potions to him in exchange for some information.
During the Ball, Ren Decided to poison the Elf Ambassador with Feign Death. I do not know how he got into their drink, he was pretty wily. when the Elf went down I was pretty sure I knew what was going on. When delayne figured out she couldn't heal him, I told her about a potion that would cause the same effect.
It worked, and all was well until Ingram and Sen got arrested for the attack, and Ren and Ginger were assumed to have nothing to do with it. (sad.) to this day I am usually blamed for jacking up that party and I was trying to save it.
at last years port huron event, we were transported to the rainbow kingdom and the seer's recieved the vison/hint "dont eat the children"
one of the plots involved a pear tree which guarded by a bull we needed the pears to for reasons i have forgotten but it was one of our objectives none the less. we then found out that if you ate any of the pears it granted you a buff of +4 combat reflexes for the entirity of the event.
after we acuired the pears we found gnoll children, and all thought " ah these must be the children from the seer's visiion" and it was made a point for them to be protected.
then on saturday after breaking the spell that had afflicted the dancing bear and pig. they started calling for the children, again we thought "yeah perhaps those gnoll children have been changed back, awesome!"
it was at that time gm mike said to gabriel serith and myself(i was playing braidenvayl)
"put a pig and a bear together what do you get?"
we are didnt understand, it was like "what the hell, pig and a bear together what a big a... O.O!!!!!!!!"
the three of us took off at a dead sprint from a stand still, and seeing this, kat playing a zero level serena looks at me says "braidenvayl what did you do?!?!"
to which i replied with what would be become braidenvayl's famous tag line. "i'll explain later!"
i still talk about that event to this day. it was a great time.
Rothek HowlingFang
Den-father of the Howling Fang tribe.
friend and ally of the dwarves of Killeshandra.
Sometimes, timing is everything. Other times, it's just plain luck.
(a little backstory...)
So, Quen appeared one day when the past's timeline intersected the current timeline and suddenly the Inn was altered with the "Hunting Lodge" that it had been 50 years prior, as well as the local people/town/landscape was mashed up with things of 50 years prior (buildings altered, or appeared out of nowhere. The local graveyard increased in size and other things from other timelines started to appear and disappear as the timelines crossed each other. The "Hunting Lodge" had belonged to a not so nice Lord by the name of Malcom. According to Quen, "The next day" there was going to be a wedding of "Lady Rose" to "Clover" there at Lord Malcom's hunting lodge. Unfortunately for Quen, the time-thing had screwed things up and Quen found dozens of uninvited guests in Lord Malcom's building! They even claimed that they owned it! Quen had been the caretaker of the building for ten years and had pledged his allegiance to Lord Malcom, but being as that these folks were warriors and such, he waited for Lord Malcom to come and remove them. As for the wedding?... Rose and Clover never arrived and it was some time before Malcom, Rose and Clover showed up. Quen always saw these people as "Intruders/Invaders" with no legitimacy to their "ownership" of the building as Malcom had built it and he had tended to it for 10 years. But until Malcom removed them, they were guests, and so Quen put up with them.
Now... one night, a few years later, things had moved forward. Clover and Rose had returned and were getting married, again at the Inn/Lord Malcom's Hunting Lodge and the town of Final Haven were invited this time as his guests. However, the day before the wedding, a man appeared and took Quen aside. "You give your allegiance to Lord Malcom, correct?" the soldier asked Quen. "Yeah. I do. Why?" "Your master has a request of you. Here is a dagger. He wants you to kill Clover."
Quen looked shaken. "I think you have the wrong person. I can't do that." "You're unwilling to do as Malcom asked?" the soldier questioned Quen. "No, no, I mean... I would do it, but there's no way I'd ever be able to do it. I'm no fighter. And he'd just kill me before I got in a final blow anyways. I really think you need to find someone better for this." Quen was greatly torn. He didn't want to kill Clover, but he had given his allegiance to Malcom. He owed his survival to the Lord who had given him a place to live and take care of. But the truth was that if he even had wanted to, he would have been unable to really perform the duty. Maybe he could have gotten close, but, to strike with a dagger and kill someone in a room full of armed folks? And do so willingly? He was afraid of the consequences.
The soldier looked to him. "So, you're refusing to do this.
Quen nodded. "I'm afraid I'm not the man for the job. It would be a waste of his time, and I couldn't complete the task. I just don't have the skills to do it."
The man looked to Quen and nodded. "Very well then. I will inform Lord Malcom of your decision." And with that, he turned and walked away.
Now, Quen sat there for the next few hours, biting his lips, fidgiting and fussing. He was visibly disturbed as he mulled this over in his head. On one hand, he had given his allegiance to Lord Malcom. He had served faithfully for 10 years to the man who was known for his cruelty and iron fisted ruling over the people of his lands, and yet, he had treated Quen pretty fairly, so long as Quen didn't ask for much and did as he was told. But if Quen told anyone what had happened, he would be betraying Lord Malcom, and so breaking his word, not to mention angering Lord Malcom and revealing the Lord's plans.
And, yet, by refusing Lord Malcom's "request", had he signed his own death wish?
Quen rarely left the immediate area of the building, especially in the evening, but he was so overcome with worry, he felt he had to go find Malcom to explain his reasoning for rejecting the task.
And so, with cloak thrown on, and walking stick in hand, Quen left the building and headed down the path towards Lord Malcom's estate, hoping beyond hope that he would not encounter anyone, or anything, as he was unarmed and unprotected.
It was dark. The shadows of the evergreens cloaked the path in blackness and Quen saw a faint movement and rustle in front of him. "Hello?" He croaked from under his cloak. "Who's there?"
There was only silence. Quen stilled himself on the path. Again he asked with fear rising "Hello?" The shadows moved in an inhuman way... the shadow was coming for him with the buzz of a swarm of giant beatles. Quen only managed the faintest "Help!" as the insects attacked him, slicing deeply into his flesh instantly, and the life had left him before he even hit the dirt.
It was moments later that his faint cry elicited the arrival of several who saw the cloaked figure fallen on the ground. They managed to evade the fate as Quen and drug him back to their camp where they immediately tried to assess his condition, but being as none were healers of great skill, they instead tried to administer potions to the corpse. Alas, he had been dead for too long. It was then that one lifted the cloak enough to try to make out who it was. "Who's this?" one asked. "I don't know. Wait. Is that... Quen? What's he doing out here?"
Quen's body was taken to the Inn, where Cassidy and other Healers and Empaths attempted to bring him back. Unfortunately his body was too far gone and so his corpse was left to wait on a table while they tried to figure out what to do with it. Erasmas wanted to use it for his own experiments, and some folks said that since Quen was part of the town, it should not be used like that.
It was during this period of time when Delayne laid her head on Quen's chest, wondering why he had gone off and died... and heard a heartbeat and faint breathing. Quen's wounds, at some point, had disappeared. "Uh, guys? He's breathing" she said to the folks around her. After a few times repeating herself, people began to notice and came closer.
A few moments later Quen's eyes opened. Everyone looked confused and relieved that he'd come back.
Unfortunately for Quen, everything that had happened since the moment their timelines had merged was lost to him. He looked around at the room, seeing dozens of unrecognized faces and asked "I'm sorry... I must have fallen asleep. Are you all here for the wedding tomorrow?"
In fact... they were there for the wedding! And in addition to that, Lord Malcom had actually invited them this time (not that Quen knew that this was the second attempt at the wedding.) And, so, as welcomed guests by his Lord, Quen got off of the table and welcomed them to Lord Malcom's Hunting Lodge, and was friendly to them from then on, never knowing them as intruders, but as welcomed guests, and never having known the troubling reasons that had put him on that path just hours ago.
Eventually Lord Malcom, Rose and Clover had a few more adventures with the town before becoming mostly forgotten to the next day's and years trying events for the town of Final Haven.
Arthur Dreese- West Michigan
I just want to see tomorrow, day by day to just survive. / But this place is built to kill me. No one here gets out alive. ~Alice Cooper "Cold Machines"
"Beware the designer who does not design to play his own game." ~Justin Achilli, Vampire: the Masquerade Developer
My best story as Garritt comes from while I played him at Winter Haven (ala Avenguard).
(Told as garritt)
So here's how it went down. Late one night, a stranger in town, a guy named Lucien, decided that evidently the recent loss of a towns-person (Vaun, in this case) into captivity by pirates was enough to drive him to the depths of craziness. So he somehow managed to get Happy, the town's best (but definitely not the most streetwise) healer, to inadvertently help him perform the rituals that it took to pull off the physical element of the "Mystic Body" potion.
So suddenly, this guy goes squirrel-nuts crazy and grows several feet taller (and wider) and begins to beat everyone into a thick raspberry jam. Unluckily for a few of us, we were in the Tavern with him, and were the first targets. 'Course, it was also lucky for us, because those few of us were in the Drunken Dwarf Tavern at the time, we were also the first to see him act and were able to scramble into the back room.
Several of us, including Fionna, who was over from Haven (I guess to vacation among the insanity in Avenguard), made a fighting retreat into the room, but he was still able to get in there with us and pound all of us manly men (well, us men and Rylls) unto the edge of death before he left for more victims among the ruins of the town. Well..... except for the healer, Fionna, who, by the grace of having about a half-dozen Health potions on her, was able to get mobile again and take cover against the opposite wall.
So we're all dying messily on the floor, and I got lucky and was the closest to Fionna. So she grabs my boot from across the room, and begins closing my wounds through my foot. It was the damndest thing, but I wasn't about to argue with her skills in the state I was in.
A score of moments goes by, and suddenly Lucien-thing comes crashing through the door on the other side of the room- right next to Fionna!
I guess he wanted to finish us off as an after-thought, as he want right to it and pounded us again, crushing each man's skull in turn. Except, you see, he forgot about Fionna in his rush. See, when he slammed inside, he put her (and my very, very important foot) behind the open door, so he never saw her!
So as he tried to twist my head around to let me see my own ass, her healing magic fought against him and kept me alive. So when yet again he bolted out for victims, she simply gave the door a push shut, and went back to healing me, first reversing the killing blow he lay on me with a nice little jolt that hurt (but not as much as the neck-snapping).
So a couple boring minutes later, I'm mobile. We couldn't do anything for the rest of the guys in the room, but I planned on coming back for them later. So we just got the feth out of there.
I figure we were a pretty heroic sight. It was pitch black that night, and
we didn't dare use a lantern, for fear of attracting the bogeyman again. I knew a game trail out of town (we kinda figured well-known roads were asking for it) by heart, so I led her by her staff, her other hand holding all her bags and accoutrements to keep them from making noise. I think I squeaked once at an owl's hooting, but you know, it was probably a manly squeak, right? I'll bet it was.
Luckily, we could tell the monster was relatively distant across the woods at the time- mostly because that's where all the screams and fighting were coming from. Soon enough though, I got Fionna to the portal tree, and upon her 'gentle' urging (she had her staff back in both hands at that point), I was able to send her (and I'm just quoting here, mind you) "The Fuck Home". The woman knew what she wanted, who was I to argue?
So, I want back to it and headed off to find the best friendly power I could at the time, a man named Shizukana, from the neighboring nation. I'd seen him earlier that night, and he generously enabled me to head back into town with about a score of samurai warriors from his guard, and the best healer he could drum up, a man named Yoshi.
It turned out a couple of people had survived the attack, so we were able to secure the town and after several hours, resurrect the fallen. Lucien, as it turned out, became a statue as the end-game of the potion he took, so we busied ourselves making gravel.
I couldn't stop the killer, but at least I saved his victims from death, with the help of two people who I can now call friends.