FC: GM Expectations
Ok guys and gals,
We're drawing to the close of the official submissions process. since we're so close to start, I wanted to make a certain point clear about hwat I'm planning and expecting from this 'campaign'.
First, the setup ..... I alluded to this in my update piece, but here's a base explanation.
The set up is that Duvalle has cast a spell, letting the magic choose it's champions, the newest generation of members of the Foundation. The magic is acting of it's own accord, guided by Duvalle's need but using it's own 'judgement' in showing, choosing the group.
This group will be autonomous, tentatively associated with the Foundation, able to access its resources, but not 'controlled'. There'll be no assigned missions, no expected routines, etc.... After the intiial introduction pieces, Duvalle will fade into the background, present only if the players wish to add him in.
Second, the process..... Again I tried to make it clear in my call, and the campaign page, but perhaps some clarity is needed. I have to reiterate, you and the other players will drive the story, I will be 'guiding' from the shadows. There's no script, no outline of how I want each episode to flow, just your interactions, and me providing bits and pieces of information in the background. My official posts will be direct replies, and 'meanwhile' pieces. I will not be writing for the characters, your character's reactions are yours, how you introduce information to the other players will be yours.
You will drive the story, you will control the direction. This was my original concept of the 'game', and beign involved in thrak's Tabula RASA game, tells me this is not only possible, but a hell of a lot of fun for the players. So While I'm not stealing it, I am borrowing it. :)
Comments
bump
bump
Can I just ask a couple of
Can I just ask a couple of questions to ensure I'm clear on this.
Will be GM(s) be providing infeed into the "missions", such as info about items, where they might be, who might have them, perhaps what they might do? Hopefully, someone will be providing some initial intel for the players to work from? Or do we just make it up completely from scratch?
Are the player characters going to be working together as a group? Or individually (but might happen to cross paths)?
Will you be controlling and speaking for (some of) the NPCs? Of course, the players will each have their own NPCs but what about the rest, such as the "bad guys'n'gals"?
Am I right in saying that superheroes, and supervillains, exist in the game world? And so people with superhuman abilities are not unheard of?
most of this will be driven
most of this will be driven by you the players, at first I'll be guiding each of you, and in pm's giving some interesting little tidbit to follow.
KL's visions have been/will be a very good starting place and one mechanic I can use, probably the first one I'll use to introduce the first object.
You'll be working as a group, or at least as much of one as you would like to. Basically you're brought together, told what's going on, and asked to join the cause. You'll be provided a 'base of operations', as much info as the foundation has on the missing items, and set free to do your own thing. There won't be an Npc saying.. "We've ehard odd reports about xx happenings in yy location, go check it out."
What you will get are visions, news reports and odd happenings crossing your path, mostly behind the scenes, how you introduce those facts, follow up on and interpret are entirely your's.
Thanks for that Darren. That
Thanks for that Darren. That clarifies things. Oh, and just to re-ask my last question...
Am I right in saying that superheroes, and supervillains, exist in the game world? And so people with superhuman abilities are not unheard of?
(this is for me to know how folk react to encountering people with 'powers'. Are they "You see visions? That could be useful" or "You see visions? Yeah... right. Have you seen a doctor?")
Super heroes and villains do
Super heroes and villains do exist but will only be a background element. The PCs won't encounter any except on the rare occasions they may involve one. They won't be seeing them on the streets and will only know of them only through newspaper articles.
As for the reaction of the average person to someone with visions their first one would be "Have you seen a doctor?". I think other powers it would depend on the power and the person they were talking to but "Oh, you're a superhero" would not be their first reaction in any case.
Hope that makes sense.
--
Imagination is the seed of intelligence. Nourish it and watch it grow.
What she said. :) As for the
What she said. :)
As for the speaking for NPC's, I'll try to do as little as possible. I don't want to get bogged down with ton's of NPC's. The only one(s) I'll be writing heavily for will be Duvalle and his immediate cadre (his driver, his secretary, his butler. )
Unless you specifically want me to pick up an NPC for a piece or plot thread (and I'll probably have a few I introduce myself,) Feel free to run with what you want, If I need to reign it in, or edit, I reserve the r1ggiht, but the one thing I won't do is write for the characters. :)
Hopefully this clears things up, and hasn't scared you away. :)
Darren wrote:Hopefully this
Nope. Just clarifying things now rather than later.
Thanks!
More fun and wonderful
More fun and wonderful information for those in the need to know or who care. :) I posted these in response to a fiction piece I received, and I figured it'd be good post publicly.....
this poratins directly to How the public sees the Foundation and what information is given prior to the introduction....
The Foundation's involvement with the recovery of the objects is not publicly known and Faust's absconding of objects is a secret kept to the foundation members only, and those only are a select few. Secrecy is the watchword at the Foundation. Particularly because the existence of these objects would not be generally believed. those that would believe would probably be the ones we're desparately trying to keep the knowledge from, those that would seek the objects for their own use, not the good of society.
(this portion is specific to the piece written but is good information, take what you can.)
Now..... It's entirely possible the good priest is a member, or the church is the site of a vault, which would account for the knowledge, however, if he was a member, he'd know that the letter came directly from Duvalle (the contents of which I'll be expanding on during the initial move once I select my cast ) and he would know that any particular information regarding this particular aspect of the foundation would revealed by Duvalle, and is his preferred method of dissemination. If the church was the site of a vault, and he it's guardian he would be secretive and would not admit the existence, unless given specific guidance, or permission. there will be a 'device' introduced to identify each 'member', but I reserve the right of introduction of that device for the first few chapters of this story.
(more general information)
It's entirely possible rumors might exist in the church, If this is a Roman Catholic institution, because the Order of the Resplendent Phoenix Rising,(the original order's full name) was once a personal Prelature of a Pope in the 900's and it's Papal support was never repealed, but the reasons for the appointment have been sealed by Papal decree and Vatican law.
I think I'm going to withdraw
I think I'm going to withdraw my submission at this point. Not interested in exhausting any more effort in this.
seeya
Final Cast
Posted for Darren
***
The casting call for Faust Chronicles has officially ended.
To date I have received 7 solid submissions, with the last sneaking ion under the wire.
Liz Downing - KL (Heatwave)
John Constantine -John (Imajica)
Jack Hutchinson - Stephen(Nimbus)
Marco Conti - Ben (tribe)
Lavender Hope Bradley - rgordona
Miles Aldred - Chris De'young (Chud)
Father Malachi Baptiste -art exercise.
No further submissions will be accepted. With the submissions I've received, 3 of which are returning players, I have a cast that fits my vision of the game perfectly.
The following characters are my choice for Main cast members:
Liz Downing (returning player)
Miles Aldred (returning player)
Marco Conti (returning player)
Father Malachi Baptiste
John Constantine
Dr. Jack Hutchinson
I'll be extending an invitation for a re-occuring guest spot to RGordona for his Character Lavender Bradley.
There'll be other guest spots available. Please contact myself or Heatwave if you're interested.
I'll be posting the first official move Saturday 8/08/09.
--
Imagination is the seed of intelligence. Nourish it and watch it grow.
The summons pt 2 - The dinner
Alrighty, we're almost ready to go into the dinner. I've got a thread to complete with Liz, and waiting on Nimbus to get back and wrap up his thread. So far, I'm wery wery happy.
I'm incommunicado for the next three days, But I'll get caught up and moving along again shortly.
Assignment #1- The dinner
Hey there.
Ok, the first time I did the dinner scene, each person had a plate that had their favorite dish on it. It worked out, but rather than go that route, I'd like to try something a little different, along the same vein, but not so obvious a ploy.
Dinner will be a 6 course meal. Each course will be based on one of the character's favorite dishes.
In no particular order the courses are as follows:
course 1 - Jack
course 2 - Malachi
course 3 - John
course 4 - Miles
course 5 - Liz
course 6- Marco
The serving staff and cooks are at your disposal. :) enjoy
I'll set the scene for the dining room in another document some time this weekend.
So does that give Marco
So does that give Marco dessert or drinks and cigars?
Whatever you wish it to be.
Whatever you wish it to be. Though in this case, I think the brandy and cigars on Duvalle :)
With Jack's course being a
With Jack's course being a starter, I think he'll go with... Pea (and Ham) Soup served with crusty bread.
Just like his mother used to make when he was younger.
Quote:Well I was hoping for
We can hand wave with a consensus, I was just trying to deepen the mystery a little.
But you can mention what they had for each course in a paragraph or two and we can react to that.
To be honest, the only thing I would probably add would be a line or two with Jack commenting (or thinking to himself) how lucky that the first course was one of his favourites.
Jack rubbed his gloved hands together and then picked up a silver spoon. "Hmmm, pea soup", he smiled, licking his lips. "And it smells just as good as me mum used to make". He sank the spoon into the greenish liquid and took a big slurp, eager to quench his hunger.
With the following courses not being his favourite, he would most likely put it down to coincidence.
But if he did think something "interesting" was going on with the meal, it would just lead him to ask more questions of their host ("How did you know this was one of my favourites?" Jack asked their host). Which would probably lead to the usual reply of "I'll tell all after dinner" or vague non-answers.
Personally, I'd like to cut to the chase and get down to business, whilst adding to few lines to indicate that the meal was somewhat extraordinary. But that's just my thoughts.
Nimbus wrote:Quote:Well I was
We can hand wave with a consensus, I was just trying to deepen the mystery a little.
But you can mention what they had for each course in a paragraph or two and we can react to that.
To be honest, the only thing I would probably add would be a line or two with Jack commenting (or thinking to himself) how lucky that the first course was one of his favourites.
Jack rubbed his gloved hands together and then picked up a silver spoon. "Hmmm, pea soup", he smiled, licking his lips. "And it smells just as good as me mum used to make". He sank the spoon into the greenish liquid and took a big slurp, eager to quench his hunger.
With the following courses not being his favourite, he would most likely put it down to coincidence.
But if he did think something "interesting" was going on with the meal, it would just lead him to ask more questions of their host ("How did you know this was one of my favourites?" Jack asked their host). Which would probably lead to the usual reply of "I'll tell all after dinner" or vague non-answers.
Personally, I'd like to cut to the chase and get down to business, whilst adding to few lines to indicate that the meal was somewhat extraordinary. But that's just my thoughts.
Fair enough, anyone else want to chime in here?
I'm with Nimbus.
I'm with Nimbus.
--
Imagination is the seed of intelligence. Nourish it and watch it grow.
Nimbus wrote: Personally, I'd
Personally, I'd like to cut to the chase and get down to business, whilst adding to few lines to indicate that the meal was somewhat extraordinary. But that's just my thoughts.
I'm okay with it either way, and we could certainly do both at once - not all edits have to happen at the end.
My thought - just for added mystery - was that Miles' course would be something uncommon, an unusual way of making something maybe, or some other bit of uniqueness to make it *really* unlikely that anyone else would come up with it by chance. I haven't really settle on what yet though.
And That was why I wanted to
And That was why I wanted to play it out.... Give some small insight to the characterm their reactions to the meal, etc....
But, Chris is right, I can start an after dinner thread and we can work on both at once, if that's what everyone wants.
Chud wrote:My thought - just
With Jack's, the pea soup is - literally - just like his mother used to make, using a recipe which would be around 150 years old.
Unusual.
My concern was that Darren would post a few lines about the first course, we'd then each react to that (and perhaps react to each other reactions), then Darren would post a few lines for the next course, and so on. Which, given the timescales for these things plus the quiet holiday period, would mean that the dinner wouldn't be finished until the end of February. Considering we're still in the set-up phase of this game, that seemed a little long to drag things out.
I'm probably too impatient! Sorry 'bout that.
I'll go with the majority,
I'll go with the majority, here. It would be good to finish the dinner properly but it would also be good to fast-forward to the after-dinner conversation. 2 threads sounds like the way to go.
Nimbus wrote:Chud wrote:My
With Jack's, the pea soup is - literally - just like his mother used to make, using a recipe which would be around 150 years old.
Unusual.
My concern was that Darren would post a few lines about the first course, we'd then each react to that (and perhaps react to each other reactions), then Darren would post a few lines for the next course, and so on. Which, given the timescales for these things plus the quiet holiday period, would mean that the dinner wouldn't be finished until the end of February. Considering we're still in the set-up phase of this game, that seemed a little long to drag things out.
I'm probably too impatient! Sorry 'bout that.
Actually, I wasn't going to post aything about the courses, I assigned them to the players because I wanted each of you to write up the courses. :) It was/is the first assignment in this grand experiment.
I'm trying very hard to get away from the whole gm posts, players react methodology. You all are driving the story as much if not more than I am. Once we get past this part, there's no one telling you where to go or what to do. Everything will be driven by player actions. This is our story, not mine. Your not just characters along the for the ride. you're all co-authors totally in control. The dinner was my first attempt at letting you get a feel for this.
I understand the concern about the time line, and the pace has been slower than even I expected. Part of that is, I think, the expectation of the post/react thing. I'll open up another thread for the post dinner discussion, however I still wish to see this fleshed out.
Darren wrote:Actually, I
Well, to be honest, I have very little interest in writing up a scene of my character eating 6 courses. Even the one course that is relevant to him would just get a passing coment - i.e. the two or three lines I wrote above.
Others may have a different view and are happy to flesh out their characters based on this meal. In which case, I'm happy to go that way. Heck, I've been in other games where a meal has taken months to write out (though that included a food fight). And another where the whole game took over 2 years in real time to cover just 2 days of game time.
Pretty much every game I've been in has been driven by player actions. Sure, the GM sets the scene, but after that it's up to what the PCs do. Yes, the GM controls the actions of important NPCs and resolves certain actions (e.g. rolls the dice) but those are based on the actions of the PCs.
What's different here, I think, is that you're asking us to actually write up the story, to come up with plots, villains, situations, & conflicts and to resolve these ourselves. The GM is not in control of the world beyond the PCs actions - we all are. Which, for me, is going to be difficult - but we'll see how we go!
Anyway, it's now beginning to sound like I'm a moody bugger complaining about everything. I'm not, honest!
Nimbus wrote: What's
What's different here, I think, is that you're asking us to actually write up the story, to come up with plots, villains, situations, & conflicts and to resolve these ourselves. The GM is not in control of the world beyond the PCs actions - we all are. Which, for me, is going to be difficult - but we'll see how we go!
Czege Principle
A principle named after author Paul Czege, roughly stating that if the same person generates the adversity and also its resolution in an RPG, the result is boring.
Husband, Father, Gamer, Programmer
artexercise wrote: Czege
Czege Principle
A principle named after author Paul Czege, roughly stating that if the same person generates the adversity and also its resolution in an RPG, the result is boring.
Although, funnily, the result is often quite interesting in books, and other works of fiction, created by a single person.
Perhaps it's better to say that if the same character generates the adversity and also its resolution, the result is boring.
I think the key there is "In
I think the key there is "In a Book" vs "in an RPG". Different forms of entertainment. Just like I'm thinking about the valid points in my idea thread. I think it would be interesting to write but as a game it might not be what everyone is looking for.
I can say though that there are several instances in which Mr. Bean both causes and resolves the problem that is far from boring to me.
Husband, Father, Gamer, Programmer
artexercise wrote:I think the
Perhaps what we're working on here lies somewhere in between the two, rather than being strictly an RPG?
I'm fine with thinking of this more as collaborative authorship of fiction rather than an RPG. Or not, depending on the consensus... I'll go with the flow. 
By the way guys and gals,
By the way guys and gals, Say hello to our newest member Psimon. He'll be introducing himself to the fabulous Four in the new thread. In the meantime, I'm going to try working with him and explain my vision a little bit, and I thought I'd bring it to the forums. this way I can explain a little bit more now that we've got a dedicated group...
In the first couple of moves, I wrote some 'meanwhile' side pieces that kind of set up a plot in the background. Snippets of things that are important to that episode's plot. I encourage each and every one of you to do similiar things, For the most part you're free to create your character's world. As they start interacting with the other characters, I'd like to see them included as well.. Once I cut you loose, I'm only going to be posting when the foundation is directly involved in your separate pieces. I'll be sending you individual pieces of information 'clues' so to speak, and its up to you to respond for your character... How does that clue fit into their day, and how does that day affect the rest of the players.
I only ask final continuity veto... I do have plots,
I'm world building, you're doing the writing of it. :)
That means we get to be the
That means we get to be the Not-Particularly-Famous Five! Excellent.
Welcome aboard, Psimon.
Hi! and thanks Imajica. Lets
Hi! and thanks Imajica. Lets see if we can get the ball rolling a little. Should be interesting.