Manny Donos wrote: ↑Sat Aug 08, 2020 11:01 pm
Wow! That was really great! Thanks for running it for us!
So, this is a
huge question, but I could see that there were lots of plotlines. Like, plotlines everywhere! Do you think you could give really brief summaries of them, maybe? Anything that we missed?
Lots of cool NPCs! Did you have a favorite? Did anyone come close to melting Alder Divo's cold heart? Or Vex's? Or anyone else's, for that matter?
Any big lessons learned? "I know what type of GM I want to be". Tell us more about that!
Geez, I really shouldn't hog you. Again, great time, and well done!
So, personal answer first!
"I know what type of GM I want to be." There's so many good types, and mine I think that I want to get to work here is a little chaotic but I think possible with a player-base as great as this one. My hope is for a game with a lot of rewards, big gains but also the potential for big losses. You might get say, 10,000 credits on a job but then be forced to pay nearly that much to a crime-boss. Or, you might get a cool shiny new weapon but lose it in the process of high stakes combat.
I could always add the easy going, narrative focused nature in there, but those bits are definitely far too broad to give as the only answer. My hope is to accomplish a goal where there's a flux. Always a general plus toward the players but ups and downs that can help drive their personal stories and the main story forward.
Which can be hard, if I'm holding the reins on everything, but I hope by opening up Character Sheets next game and trusting in players to do the right thing I will mitigate that added work-load and get something closer to what works for me and you guys.
For my first foray I liked the idea of more control, but now that I've gotten my bearings I'm happy to let people help out, in a sense, where I need them to.
I could go on for so many other lessons I'm taking from this game, but I think the one I want to note on most is that the plot-lines focused nature of the narrative was a good attempt but ultimately didn't match up to expectation. It was clunky and made the flow of the narrative feel limited by denoting different plot-lines to get into. I think it caused a drop off of steam more than another type of style that surfaced over the course of the game.
Matching that my focus on next game will be pushing forward NPC's who are doing their own thing and will get the players involved should the players want to get involved with them.
Wanna do Jedi stuff? Find and do stuff with Cartess. Mando stuff, find a Mandalorian, though generally it will be more specifically noted on that particular NPC.
NPC's:
I had so many favorite NPC's at different times, I think is the only way I can properly answer that. Mallory was a sudden addition after needing a bodyguard for Vex and finding that image and I fell in love with the way she played off some of the PC's. Vex was very strong early game too, I think I really hit a nail on crime-boss with her. Enough that you didn't hate her but also were aware she was dangerous. A good place for the up and coming crime boss.
Praxton will probably be one of my favorite "just wing it" success stories. Watching the Mandalorians as a group develop was super fun and super great overall. I love so many of their characters, and a big part of that is because I'd planned none of them. I knew who Mandalore was, the type of person he was, and from there decided on the others as a need or drive to show off another came up.
As far as Divo's heart, he is very much a professional. If his heart's on the market, surely I nor anyone else would know. Vex, however, has had a on-again off-again relationship with Grand. Both being not so great people in close proximity they understand one another better than most anyone else really could. Vex is always the one who declares the off-again, which I feel helps define her pretty well.
Plot-lines:
For this game I started with a main five:
The Fugitive: Was aimed at helping the girl, Jaina, get off Kamda after she punched an officer who was quick to make a stink about it. My goal was something light, something wholesome. Just saving a girl from a tough spot put on her by the nature of the Empire. Parents being Non-human being a big catching point for her in her action, something that was revealed much later with Jaxom visiting them. Leah, actually, met one of her fathers first but wasn't aware of it at the time.
The Beauty: Tybalt Pokosta, I'll actually be posting a little fiction to show off what that was all about. We got to a point with it, I had more planned, but honestly looking back I think the overall arc was shaky. So, it's pretty alright it didn't get explored more than it did.
The Jedi: Didn't go down the way I originally planned it. At the start, my thought was that eventually players would get to her. Convince her to come back to the idea of being a Jedi, and then there'd be a big to-do about getting off. She'd help the players off the moon and then go to help some more friends before she could leave. Setting the players toward the End-game without a good and proper Jedi Knight hogging up the hero slot.
The Job: Went down about as I planned. Pass the test. Get the loot, win the day. Idea was to have a lot more conflict and difficulties but time constraints ended up making the whole thing feel plenty complicated on it's own without anything properly complicated mechanically. For the players it was a lot of waiting.. for the characters it's probably the easiest 10k they'll ever make.
The Bounty: Went off perfectly as I hoped. Idea was originally that they were clones turned bandits for the players to take down and bring in but taking inspiration from the animated series not only did they become good and proper clones but also did the whole clone in storm-trooper armor thing. Which I always kinda enjoy. Creating that little family of theirs was a delight.. honestly, I'm surprised I didn't mention them above in the NPC bit now that I think about it!
Beyond that, everything else just came naturally out of player interaction. Plot-lines I had ideas for with Vex wasn't actually what it became and it slowly but surely became a cool idea after cool idea that became something far larger. Nothing like a good ol' hostile take-over plot!
There is honestly so much more I could write here but my fingers are tired from all the clickety clacking!
<3 You have every reason to be pleased and happy with this.
