[Official] Loch Varn

[Gully]

Thanks Tamsyn,

I think your solution was excellent, but I inferred the following text meant they never got to the exit so no need to block it

"When the PCs think they are reaching the room that leads to the exit, they end up facing a corridor going left and right! The exit seems no longer to exist... The Leader can then insist on the psychological effects by describing the feeling of panic starting to take hold on the PCs as they compulsively check the exactness of their map. Being confronted with this distortion between their map and the refinery induces a Complicated (14) Mental Resistance roll for each PC."

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RE: Refunding health, etc.

I thought refunding them at Act 1 makes them think Act 2 might be real, of course they would get refunded again at the end of Act 2 ... I wish this aspect of the scenario was clearer.

Could someone clarify the authors intent? Thanks!

[tamsyn]

Oh yeah that stuff in the text. For me it felt that felt like it showed them it was a dream and I wanted to keep up the illusion with a real world answer. Both work though.

I never thought about the refund twice thing, could be fun! I warn you I'm suffering as a gm in the next scenario because of it

[Clovis]

Hi Gully! Looks like everything went well, and that your players were really immersed in the scenario; good to know!

Now, for the various questions you raised:

Oh, because no "Potential" was listed for NPCs I didn't give them any attitudes, not being sure what was intended. I now assume that NPCs can take attitudes.

As any living being, yes, the NPCs, whether humans or animals, have a Potential score. The reason it was not included in "Loch Varn" was that such an aspect of the system is not described in Book 0, so it would have probably made things confusing.
As a rule of thumb, you can consider that a NPC hs a Potential score of 2, since it is the most common one.

I thought refunding them at Act 1 makes them think Act 2 might be real, of course they would get refunded again at the end of Act 2 ... I wish this aspect of the scenario was clearer.

I'm not sure I get what you mean... I don't know if it's me being stupid, you being confusing, or just Loch Varn's madness taking hold...

At any rate, if you are wondering whether to give the PCs' stats a clean slate after the "dream", as I understand you are, well, anything can work really. You can make them awake feeling all pristine (which would indicate that this was all a dream), leave them as they were in the factory while accounting for a possible recovery period (indicating that they did suffer such an experience), or even give them totally arbitrary conditions (stressing the feeling of unrealism and dream-like confusion).

It's all up to the GL. After all, the PCs are being manipulated by a crazy ghost, so you can mess up with them! Just make sure to sort everything out at the end of the scenario.

[Gully]

Re: Potential

Ah, yes. I should have caught that myself. Makes perfect sense.

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Re:

I'm not sure I get what you mean... I don't know if it's me being stupid, you being confusing, or just Loch Varn's madness taking hold...

I think so ... you did manage to answer my unclear question though!

But one follow up, should the mental Trauma be reset at any point?

I first thought, no, since this is going on in their heads. But then I thought that because only some of them actually remembered the events then maybe it didn't stick with them. How did you see it working?

[Gully]

I never thought about the refund twice thing, could be fun! I warn you I'm suffering as a gm in the next scenario because of it

Care to elaborate? Did they expect easy healing, etc. for their next adventure?

[tamsyn]

No constantly asking if they are really awake!

[Clovis]

But one follow up, should the mental Trauma be reset at any point?

I first thought, no, since this is going on in their heads. But then I thought that because only some of them actually remembered the events then maybe it didn't stick with them. How did you see it working?

I'd say it all depends on how much your Players are ready to play their characters with memory holes.

Let me elaborate: to reset their Trauma points would imply that they have forgotten everything about the horrors they have just lived through; at most, such events are only a confused blur, hence the fact that their minds are not scarred by such experiences. Therefore, if you consider some, or even all of them, to have no precise memories of Act 1, then yes, you can erase the Trauma points.

However, if they all remember Act 1, then, no reason not to keep the Trauma points they suffered during the "nightmare".

Still, since, according to the scenario, they are supposed to remember everything at the end, then this clean slate should only be temporary... even though you can still leave gaps in their memories if you want, and if your Players are disposed to act accordingly.

[Gully]

No constantly asking if they are really awake!

I suspect I'll hear that too

Thanks Clovis, that makes sense. To touch on the earlier issue of when to let the PCs get their health back, I guess my thought of it returning after the first act was because at least one or more would be coming back from the dead when they awoke in the woods. Any of the above is fine, but I want to through out my reasoning.

Unfortunately, my group can't together next week after all, so it wont be until January for the next part of the scenario. When we do have it I'll be sure to update the thread!

These are very helpful in the trouble shooting of issues that come up. Thanks to Tamsyn and everyone else!

[Clovis]

Anytime!

[rcoverdale]

I'm gearing up to run a group (two seperate groups actually) through this. For group one our first scheduled session is Tuesday. Wish me luck.

I had them pick the premade characters based on looks alone (showed them the six pictures).

I'll post as soon as we're done (if i remember).