Fate chat and game room

doppelgreener

15:01

@BESW She is aware she must seek out the Shadows and end them, and aware of her drive to do this; vs she must seek out the Shadows and end them but does not internally realise she has this drive, like a rat doesn't think twice about why it's picking apart a berry?

BESW

Rather, yes.

There are levels of this, of course.

She might consider the Shadows her prey without recognizing the Bigger Picture implications.

Also to consider: what happens when she's done? Who determines it?

doppelgreener

@BESW ... I like the idea she simply considers the Shadows something she has to remove from the environment.

And that's it.

or that the shadows are her prey... would complicate things c(:

BESW

We don't know what the Shadows are yet, or what it means to be their Plaything, or what their goals are.

doppelgreener

@BESW Alright. I'll work out her relationship to the shadows as we go - beyond knowing simply they're the thing she exists to stop, whatever that means.

BESW

I strongly urge players to participate in the process of developing the plot.

Declarations are ideal for this.

doppelgreener

15:22

@BESW Declarations in what sense? Me saying so right here, right now, or things happening ingame?

BESW

I meant things happening in-game, like making rolls to "discover" aspects that weren't actually there.

But talking about things that would be cool in chat out of game is also good. The GM is "first among equals" in Fate, and the players are expected to participate in world and plot building.

doppelgreener

Alright. Well, for my part: lore-wise it might be more interesting for Stella if the Shadows were not some entirely new unfamiliar threat, but either the Shadows have been here before (and were forced away again, thanks to ancestor Dryads and others), or they're something she vaguely understands.

At least, it feels better in the sense that foreshadowing makes things better?

(insert any story revelation in doctor who this season to demonstrate the effect of a lack of foreshadowing)

BESW

Agreed. I'm envisioning that the Shadows are a threat that recurs every... few hundred years?

And each time, a Guardian of the Wild is awoken to drive them back from whenceever they came.

doppelgreener

They added positioning of images!

My thingy looks rad

cuz piktur

BESW

It does.

So it's a bit of a tautology, but perhaps she knows she's supposed to fight the Shadows because that's what her memories are of: fighting the Shadows.

doppelgreener

15:36

@BESW I like this, yes.

@BESW The shadows might not be all her ancestors have awoken to deal with, but she's pretty clear they're what's going on this time. Probably.

If Dryads live to be the anti-Shadow and that's it, I guess that's also ok! Plus it makes the fact she phosphoresces that much more appropriate. Maybe it's one of their primary reasons for existing but not the be-all end-all.

BESW

Yeah, I imagine they get animated for other threats too, but not too often.

It takes Cthulhu-level threats for nature itself to worry enough that it sends in a champion.

doppelgreener

It occurs to me that by nature's terms, there must be at least a little bit of arms evolution between the two. The Dryads have evolved to defeat the Shadows and the Shadows are trying to evolve to defeat the Dryads.

I don't really want to make myself the star of the show or anything in saying that but if Dryads are their antithesis it tends to be that way.

BESW

I'm tying everything together so everybody's connected somehow.

doppelgreener

Wonderful. :)

BESW

And it's all very loose because of not knowing who'll be playing with whom when.

doppelgreener

15:43

I wonder how much she knows about the Shadows from racial memory.

BESW

So Sindaria's the plaything of Shadows, and Zemenar wants to control her, and his son is courting/cursing Thursday as part of a possibly-connected plot, and Wil being a Wizard will draw him into one or both of their schemes...

Northface has been sent to find out about his mother from a hermit, who is probably Kirby, whose talents are going to be the recurring focus of attention by just about anybody with a plan...

Sanguine's been sent to kill a witch, who is a wild card: could be on anybody's side and might not technically be a witch at all.

It's likely that Zemenar is pulling a lot of strings we haven't seen yet--perhaps too many for him to keep track of as PC Interference sets in.

doppelgreener

@BESW As an old man evidently not new to the string-pulling business he has probably built up a bulk of strings tied to his fingertips.

BESW

Yeah, I can throw just about anything at a PC and claim Zemenar was involved somehow.

(See: distraught princess in clearing.)

doppelgreener

@BESW The dragon is just Zemenar in a dragon suit!

Nobody saw the dragon and Zemenar standing side by side now, did they?

(meta: this is actually entirely 100% true and Sanguine is just so naive she never realised it was a dragon suit despite the shoddy craftsmanship and obvious stitches.)

BESW

And Kirby's blind, the Princess is an idiot, and Lord Northface has a vision-obscuring helmet?

doppelgreener

15:53

@BESW Lord Northface has had his helmet on backwards the whole time but he's too proud to admit it and nobody will notice if he acts natural.

BESW

heheh.

doppelgreener

Maybe I should do this, also:

Stellata, the Dryad

(psst! pin it!)

BESW

Do what?

Oh.

Trouble | Stellata

Better space economy.

doppelgreener

8)

Good heavens, just look at the time. I think I should go sleep.

BESW

Alright, Pinkie. See you tomorrow.

doppelgreener

16:02

Goodnight. :D

Problematic

17:23

We're picking up new players at a good clip now, it looks like.

BESW

Yeah....

Problematic

I'm kind of intimidated by that, and I'm not even running the thing.

BESW

We have... ten participants now, including myself?

And not including BenHardy, who hasn't put a character together yet but wants to.

Problematic

Who's playing the dryad?

BESW

Hobbs.

Problematic

17:27

Ah.

Heh. The more competent characters that come into the story, the less place there is for Wil, methinks.

BESW

I dunno.

Let's give him a competent staff and see what happens?

Problematic

Agreed.

BESW

I mean, our dryad has the trouble Earful of Bees.

When can't I take advantage of that?

Sohum

On the Plane of Bees

BESW

Gooble gobble! Gooble gobble!

Sohum

17:31

where every object - the ground, the chair you're sitting on, the food you're eating, the walls of the house around you, the sun - is made of bees

so, you know

an ear here or there doesn't really stand out

BESW

One of us, one of us!
We accept her, we accept her!

Sohum

@Problematic Wil is absolutely just as effectual as the rest of us; he just has to find instances where being clever and quick and flashy helps :P

so this is interesting

Wil is "trained in magic", which is supposed to mean that he's at a story disadvantage without his staff

but... is he?

BESW

@Sohum I think it's less about mechanics than how @Problematic wants the character arc to run.

Problematic

@BESW this. Originally the "heroes" were kind of a ragtag band of misfits. Now we have actual heroes and highly competent individuals.

Sohum

@BESW mmm. that makes sense.

BESW

17:35

@Problematic I think it can still work.

Problematic

We kind of have the hobbit story and the hero story of LotR going on.

BESW

Especially since so many sessions are probably going to be one-on-one.

Sohum

@Problematic Well, we have Lord Northface and Stellata. I don't think Thursday qualifies, especially as her Curse gets compelled more and more

Sang is ... scary

and that's all I'm going to say

BESW

Sang is also... Brian.

Sohum

that is a full majority of the reason she is scary

BESW

17:37

And Sang's villain is about to team up with Zemenar.

Sohum

...wut.

when did tha-

how did you-

bwuh?!

BESW

After that ass-whupping she handed Zemenar, he's gonna go see what strings he can find that are attached to her.

He didn't expect her, and he never wants to make that mistake again.

Problematic

Who is her villain?

Sohum

This makes sense, but still BWUH

BESW

A palace agent known as The Wolf, who wants to turn her as a spy within the order of the assassin god.

Problematic

17:39

I must have missed that.

Sohum

Does he love pastries?

And is he amazing at disguises?

BESW

@Sohum No, but he's been led to think that he's her father.

Sohum

@BESW mmm, good enough!

It'd be ideal if he was also very popular with the older palace ladies

always seen tittering with them about one inconsequential thing or another

BESW

I've been envisioning him as a lean middle-aged man with sunwrinkles and a shaggy salt-and-pepper lack-of-haircut.

Sohum

mmm

(I am riffing off the actual wolf, from Little Red Riding Hood)

BESW

17:42

Yes, but Brian is riffing in theme rather than content.

...although the witch Jenny's been assigned to kill is known as "Grandmother."

Sohum

right, so "popular with the older ladies" and "good at disguises" and not "kills her grandma and wears her skin as a disguise" :P

BESW

I suspect Zemenar may provide him with the means to... influence... the dragon.

Sohum

...

that

ow.

BESW

I'm drawing on a classic strategy that I use in many of my campaigns: Identify a major visible villain who plots and schemes. Tie him into nearly everything the party does, because he's that schemey, especially once the party has caught his attention.

Then ensure that at least one of his schemes is tied to a bigger background villain/danger.

Preferably in ways he's unaware of or overconfident in his ability to manipulate.

Then just have him keep juggling all his eggs while the party fumbles around like a three-legged bear trying to bowl.

He's threatening because his influence is felt everywhere, but he's got too many things going on at once to be entirely effective at all of them, which gives the party room to maneuver.

And there's potential for a three-way power struggle in the opposition: background power, main villain, and sometimes the party can help (accidentally or otherwise) a string to pull back.

See exhibit A: if the party is able to help the dragon throw off the influence of the Wolf, the Wolf will almost certainly rat out Zemenar when an angry dragon is eyeballing him hungrily.

Sohum

huh.

yea, that makes sense

I don't gm often, but when I do - I tend to prefer background dangers/opportunities that have inspired different unrelated groups of people to act

and generally a teaming up is a big deal, because these groups are in it for themselves and want not much to do with each other

but this makes a lot of sense

BESW

17:53

So Zemenar's strings are a way for the GMs to throw whatever is necessary into the mix for personal development of characters and the resolution of their individual goals, while tying it all back to one central rat-king.

Sohum

is rat-king a deliberate reveal? :P

BESW

No, it's a reference to the Aurelio Zen novel of the same name.

Sohum

okay

BESW

@Sohum I've run that kind of campaign, but my favorite are the ones that appear to be open sandbox --but due to the scheming and pervasive nature of the true villain, whatever the party does they'll be bound to run into some facet of his plot whether they recognize it immediately or not.

Sohum

mmmm

BESW

17:55

A rat-king is a group of rats who live in such cramped conditions that their tails have become inextricably tied together.

They don't cooperate deliberately, but by each looking out for his own interests they accidentally sustain each other and thrive.

Only when one of the rats becomes weak do they turn on it all at once and devour it; otherwise they maintain a unique equilibrium.

It's used as a metaphor for government and corporate corruption in Rome, and it's apt enough that I've adopted it as a visual for some of my campaigns.

Sohum

that is a pretty excellent visual

Problematic

Rat king (folklore)

Rat kings are phenomena said to arise when a number of rats become intertwined at their tails, which become stuck together with blood, dirt, ice, excrement or simply knotted. The animals reputedly grow together while joined at the tails. The numbers of rats that are joined together can vary, but naturally rat kings formed from a larger number of rats are rarer. The phenomenon is particularly associated with Germany, where the majority of instances have been reported. Historically, there are various superstitions surrounding rat kings, and they were often seen as a bad omen, particularly as...

That's kind of horrific.

BESW

My goal is usually to create the illusion of a rat-king, believed even by the "rats" themselves, but they are secretly and subtly prodded and poked to achieve some hidden agenda.

@Problematic Yes. yes, it is.

Vermin have been a mainstay of my campaigns, literally or metaphorically, for a very long time.

The Vermin Lord is one of my favorite justifications for a mini-campaign plot.

Sohum

okay

I'm up for a session right now if you guys are

BESW

I am not, sorry.

I should have been asleep hours ago.

Sohum

18:06

fair fair

BESW

But if one of you wants to GM the other, go for it.

Goodnight!

Sohum

oh god GMing fate

that's an entirely different section of the book to read :P

@BESW night!

Problematic

@BESW G'night.

Sohum

@Problematic I could give it a try, but, well, abandon all hope all ye etc

Problematic

I'm mostly paying attention to the developer conference going on right now, sorry :P

Sohum

18:09

ooh

conference on what?

Problematic

JavaScript/front end development

Sohum

(yes, I am this eager for distraction from goddamn abstract clones)

being streamed anywhere?

Problematic

Hmm. The keynotes were, I'm not sure the sessions are.

fluentconf.com/fluent2013/public/content/video

Sohum

cheers!

Problematic

Ayuh.

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