"Luck!" then.
It's a good idea to have your players pick the characters based on their sole appearance ; some surprises are to be expected! Ean, for example, looks sly and nasty, which he is, but Urvan can come accross as some sort of zealous holy warrior, which is far from his actual character!
I look forward to hearing about your experience.
[Official] Loch Varn
Re: [Official] Loch Varn
Allez, come on, allons-y, here we go, en avant, godspeed, hardi, let's do this!
Re: [Official] Loch Varn
Good luck!
@xtamsynx
Book 1 Farl Collector
Book 2 Farl Collector
MOT Tri-Kazelian
Book 1 Farl Collector
Book 2 Farl Collector
MOT Tri-Kazelian
Re: [Official] Loch Varn
I just ran Loch Varn's Vale with my group tonight! It's our first experience in the world of Tri-Kazel and I feel as though it went quite well! The scenario lasted us for about 4 hours in order to fully complete it. I added a bit though, as I completely re-wrote the entire adventure into a google doc with my own twists, complete flavor texts, and rolls.
When the adventure began the players were adequately confused. I had a roll set for the perceptive hunter character in the group in order to see if he saw Terent before he was able to fire his crossbow. He did, and comically, he didn't say anything but rather just jumped over the pile of rubble and let his companion (the occultist) get shot in the shoulder. The warrior then charged forward and beheaded the man. The group left the ruins, ran into a very difficult fight (they would have all died if I didn't fudge the stats) and came to the camp site. At this point they were still confused and upset. They decided to head for room 2, the vats. When they stood on the liquid on the ground (which I had mistaken as fossil flux) they decided to test if it was flammable. With a torch. About 10 seconds after they all ran for their lives, everything living inside the room was completely devoured, including the vine monster. I misled them a bit about the catwalks and got them to go back to the room where the adventure began. Terent's body was missing! They were insanely scared. When they went back to the vat room, I had his body drop from the ceiling in a very, very gruesome way. ( I wrote that flavor text for the vine monster, and by god I was going to use it somewhere!) They exploded into a cacophony of yelps and attempts to escape and get the door to room number three open. In a sadistic GM sort of way, I knew I had done my job correctly. (It's also worthy to note that two of my players, the occultist and the ranger, are both hemophobes.)
After they ALL died, they awoke in the forest, completely senseless. I had the temple NPC with them at this point, I forget his name, but they immediately attempted to kill him. He was not amused and left the tiny ranger with a very large black eye. At this point, one player (the least perceptive of the group generally) actually figured out exactly what was going on, but nobody listened so he discounted it as crazy. (This entire scenario is crazy, maybe that's why!) Nothing of note happened until the players decided to completely skip the mountain monastery and head straight to town. Upon arriving and hearing that the players had ALREADY been to the town, the hunter exclaimed, " I have a strong urge to slice this guy in half, somebody is lying, and somebody is getting sliced." to which I immediately disengaged the PC's to embark on a side quest to introduce them to a persistent NPC that will be joining them in their campaign, a healer named Enlah who is skilled in science, erudition, relation, and empathy. I literally took as many disadvantages for her as I possibly could, so that I could use as many advantages as well. She's immensely beautiful with red hair that flows down her back, a huge rending tear down her spine that won't heal for any circumstances, an unimaginable drinking problem, and overall many more interesting tidbits. In any case, they dealt with her and a problem with some corrupt guards and a injured girl.
The dream was one of my favorite parts of the scenario. When the occultist had a dream of his brother Terent liquifying in blood (Remember, he's a hemophobe) he literally spent the next thirty minutes cowering in a corner muttering incoherently. When the players tried to get him to help them with the adventure, he just kept cowering. It was beautiful. At this point the party's sanity all around was destroyed, so I had fun toying with them all since ALL of them has hallucination as their mental disorder. It was glorious.
When they arrived back in the ruin at the very end, one of the players actually still jumped out and killed the Terent without even thinking about what he was doing. I didn't have to say it had already happened or anything like that. The PC's, still mortified by the creature that had devoured Terent before, were scared out of their minds. Eventually they were able to leave (after nuking the building with the fossil flux again) and came to the final conflict. They sided with Verzal, and the occultist was told to descend into the cave in order to figure out what was going on. This is where it gets interesting. He didn't destroy the crystal, he didn't leave it, he TOOK it. It's in his inventory right now. He's planning on setting up a consecrated area in order to attempt some rituals with the scientific help of Enlah. (Being someone who's studied the occult extensively, specifically Chaos Magick, I found this to be incredibly interesting. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this one.) I can't wait to see what happens when he runs into the flux leak in Poison next! And the amber stone in the Red Fall. Any ideas on where I should go with this? I have some thoughts... but It's better when you get another perspective!
TL;DR = My occultist kept the Amber for himself. It's going to get real.
When the adventure began the players were adequately confused. I had a roll set for the perceptive hunter character in the group in order to see if he saw Terent before he was able to fire his crossbow. He did, and comically, he didn't say anything but rather just jumped over the pile of rubble and let his companion (the occultist) get shot in the shoulder. The warrior then charged forward and beheaded the man. The group left the ruins, ran into a very difficult fight (they would have all died if I didn't fudge the stats) and came to the camp site. At this point they were still confused and upset. They decided to head for room 2, the vats. When they stood on the liquid on the ground (which I had mistaken as fossil flux) they decided to test if it was flammable. With a torch. About 10 seconds after they all ran for their lives, everything living inside the room was completely devoured, including the vine monster. I misled them a bit about the catwalks and got them to go back to the room where the adventure began. Terent's body was missing! They were insanely scared. When they went back to the vat room, I had his body drop from the ceiling in a very, very gruesome way. ( I wrote that flavor text for the vine monster, and by god I was going to use it somewhere!) They exploded into a cacophony of yelps and attempts to escape and get the door to room number three open. In a sadistic GM sort of way, I knew I had done my job correctly. (It's also worthy to note that two of my players, the occultist and the ranger, are both hemophobes.)
After they ALL died, they awoke in the forest, completely senseless. I had the temple NPC with them at this point, I forget his name, but they immediately attempted to kill him. He was not amused and left the tiny ranger with a very large black eye. At this point, one player (the least perceptive of the group generally) actually figured out exactly what was going on, but nobody listened so he discounted it as crazy. (This entire scenario is crazy, maybe that's why!) Nothing of note happened until the players decided to completely skip the mountain monastery and head straight to town. Upon arriving and hearing that the players had ALREADY been to the town, the hunter exclaimed, " I have a strong urge to slice this guy in half, somebody is lying, and somebody is getting sliced." to which I immediately disengaged the PC's to embark on a side quest to introduce them to a persistent NPC that will be joining them in their campaign, a healer named Enlah who is skilled in science, erudition, relation, and empathy. I literally took as many disadvantages for her as I possibly could, so that I could use as many advantages as well. She's immensely beautiful with red hair that flows down her back, a huge rending tear down her spine that won't heal for any circumstances, an unimaginable drinking problem, and overall many more interesting tidbits. In any case, they dealt with her and a problem with some corrupt guards and a injured girl.
The dream was one of my favorite parts of the scenario. When the occultist had a dream of his brother Terent liquifying in blood (Remember, he's a hemophobe) he literally spent the next thirty minutes cowering in a corner muttering incoherently. When the players tried to get him to help them with the adventure, he just kept cowering. It was beautiful. At this point the party's sanity all around was destroyed, so I had fun toying with them all since ALL of them has hallucination as their mental disorder. It was glorious.
When they arrived back in the ruin at the very end, one of the players actually still jumped out and killed the Terent without even thinking about what he was doing. I didn't have to say it had already happened or anything like that. The PC's, still mortified by the creature that had devoured Terent before, were scared out of their minds. Eventually they were able to leave (after nuking the building with the fossil flux again) and came to the final conflict. They sided with Verzal, and the occultist was told to descend into the cave in order to figure out what was going on. This is where it gets interesting. He didn't destroy the crystal, he didn't leave it, he TOOK it. It's in his inventory right now. He's planning on setting up a consecrated area in order to attempt some rituals with the scientific help of Enlah. (Being someone who's studied the occult extensively, specifically Chaos Magick, I found this to be incredibly interesting. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this one.) I can't wait to see what happens when he runs into the flux leak in Poison next! And the amber stone in the Red Fall. Any ideas on where I should go with this? I have some thoughts... but It's better when you get another perspective!
TL;DR = My occultist kept the Amber for himself. It's going to get real.
Re: [Official] Loch Varn
Wow, looks like you really gave them one hell of a hard time... on the other hand, your players don't seem to be that innocent either, given their propensity for immediate and violent action!
Seems like you did a very good job with the nightmare in the factory. Maybe a little bit too harsh at times, but after all, this part of the scenario is meant to fraek the Players out, so what the hell.
Regarding the Temple NPC, I guess you are talking about Vector Jaber? How unfortunate for such a helpful Character to fall prey to frenzied PCs!
Enlah seems promising as a recurring NPC, but aren't you afraid you're making it a little too much like what I call a "Magic NPC"? You know, the one that always looks awesome and is able to do almost everything well and has always something up his/her sleeve to put the PCs back on the right track, even if it means doing so forcefully. Personally, I'm always taking care not to put such a Character in my campaigns, since it can very easily take the spotlight away from the Players and make them feel dispirited. Maybe I'm just being somewhat paranoid, but at any rate, my advice as a GM would be to avoid the Mary Sue pitfall.
One of the Players looting the stone was indeed unexpected! What you are going to do with it is up to you, but I would consider making it have the same effects on the PC as with Terent: he could become increasingly paranoid, feeling like everyone may have a grudge against him and is trying to lead him away from ground-breaking discoveries. As for the fossil Flux-based elements in Poison and Red Fall, well, maybe the deleterious effects of the stone could be intensified... or they may even go haywire, causing gruesome changes in the psyche and/or physiology of the PC(s). Your call.
Seems like you did a very good job with the nightmare in the factory. Maybe a little bit too harsh at times, but after all, this part of the scenario is meant to fraek the Players out, so what the hell.
Regarding the Temple NPC, I guess you are talking about Vector Jaber? How unfortunate for such a helpful Character to fall prey to frenzied PCs!
Enlah seems promising as a recurring NPC, but aren't you afraid you're making it a little too much like what I call a "Magic NPC"? You know, the one that always looks awesome and is able to do almost everything well and has always something up his/her sleeve to put the PCs back on the right track, even if it means doing so forcefully. Personally, I'm always taking care not to put such a Character in my campaigns, since it can very easily take the spotlight away from the Players and make them feel dispirited. Maybe I'm just being somewhat paranoid, but at any rate, my advice as a GM would be to avoid the Mary Sue pitfall.
One of the Players looting the stone was indeed unexpected! What you are going to do with it is up to you, but I would consider making it have the same effects on the PC as with Terent: he could become increasingly paranoid, feeling like everyone may have a grudge against him and is trying to lead him away from ground-breaking discoveries. As for the fossil Flux-based elements in Poison and Red Fall, well, maybe the deleterious effects of the stone could be intensified... or they may even go haywire, causing gruesome changes in the psyche and/or physiology of the PC(s). Your call.
Allez, come on, allons-y, here we go, en avant, godspeed, hardi, let's do this!
Re: [Official] Loch Varn
The NPC I introduced received literally every disadvantage possible (With the exception of beauty, so the PC's would actually stick around.) Entire village destroyed, horrible debilitating back wound that bleeds constantly, an alcohol addiction, hates the occultist passionately, and generally can't even move herself out of her house, much less a town. For that reason, she's strictly under house arrest (Permitting of course the consistent trips to the tavern to fetch more alcohol). The NPC has maxed out science / medicine and exists for the sole purpose of being able to heal the PC's when they do something stupid (Like decide that nobody needed any kind of medical knowledge). I like to think of it more as the doctor from Mass Effect 2. She sits in her house all day, and you can go chat when you'd like. Plus she'll keep you from bleeding out.
Re: [Official] Loch Varn
I notice one mistake in scenario.
You call centipedes - insects.
But actually they have
Subphylum: Myriapoda
Class: Chilopoda
you can see differences here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropod
You call centipedes - insects.
But actually they have
Subphylum: Myriapoda
Class: Chilopoda
you can see differences here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropod
The Leader should not hesitate to slaughter the PCs at the slightest mistake in order to instil a heavy, horrific atmosphere
Для всех русскоговорящих игроков и ведущих - русский сайт Эстерина "вконтакте":
http://vk.com/club42561184
Для всех русскоговорящих игроков и ведущих - русский сайт Эстерина "вконтакте":
http://vk.com/club42561184
Re: [Official] Loch Varn
Well it's true that strictly speaking, they are myriapods, and not insects, but our goal was to keep things simple: "insect" is more illustrative than "myriapod"... you can call it vulgarization. That's not really that much of a problem, is it?
Allez, come on, allons-y, here we go, en avant, godspeed, hardi, let's do this!
Re: [Official] Loch Varn
My girlfriend is study biology if I call the centipede "insect" she will kill me 
By the way I prepare to run Loch-Varn at saturday, and I will tell you how it was.
By the way I prepare to run Loch-Varn at saturday, and I will tell you how it was.
The Leader should not hesitate to slaughter the PCs at the slightest mistake in order to instil a heavy, horrific atmosphere
Для всех русскоговорящих игроков и ведущих - русский сайт Эстерина "вконтакте":
http://vk.com/club42561184
Для всех русскоговорящих игроков и ведущих - русский сайт Эстерина "вконтакте":
http://vk.com/club42561184
Re: [Official] Loch Varn
Ouch, I didn't expect that such a slight misnomer may put you in such trouble! 
Looking forward to hearing about your Loch Varn session!
Looking forward to hearing about your Loch Varn session!
Allez, come on, allons-y, here we go, en avant, godspeed, hardi, let's do this!
Re: [Official] Loch Varn
I finished preparing the scenario for Saturday's game.
And Iam confused by the following: characters cannot get the key information if they fail several skills rolls at the end. Why do that?
I would also like to clarify one thing. Act 1 - it is a dream of one of the characters or their "collective dream"?
And Iam confused by the following: characters cannot get the key information if they fail several skills rolls at the end. Why do that?
I would also like to clarify one thing. Act 1 - it is a dream of one of the characters or their "collective dream"?
The Leader should not hesitate to slaughter the PCs at the slightest mistake in order to instil a heavy, horrific atmosphere
Для всех русскоговорящих игроков и ведущих - русский сайт Эстерина "вконтакте":
http://vk.com/club42561184
Для всех русскоговорящих игроков и ведущих - русский сайт Эстерина "вконтакте":
http://vk.com/club42561184