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Thread: Plot Threads

  1. #21
    Stuart's Avatar
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    The "Lens-men" SciFi books being a case in point or the Chaos v Law system behind the Moor**** books; Law seen as "Good" but prohibitive of change (Chaos being seen as its antithesis : anarchic, unrestrained, unpredictable and amoral).

  2. #22

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    As a twist, have your "evil" guys do something that is of real benefit for "downtrodden little guys" - for all the wrong reasons. Make sure the evil guys benefit from it, too. It will drive your heroes crazy.

    As an example, I was running a Super Hero game. A clever gang of powerful villians went in and took over a small country run by a corrupt dictatorship. They liquidated the dictator, and the landowning and corrupt classes, pocketing all their wealth. They turned around and did true land reform and stopped corruption dead (literally). They maintained control of the country and took a massive skim of the money being generated by the sale of the country's natural resources. What they also did was take a small but signifigant percent from the resource sales and spend it on improving infrasturcture which helped the poor - far more than the old corrupt regime had ever done. The average citizen was *much* better off.

    The PC's *hated* these villians. They went around and around on what to do about them.

    In this type of scenario the PCs will have to figure out: 1) How to get rid of the evil guy(s) with out everyone thinking they are not evil themselves. Or course the PCs may not care about their reputation. 2) But even if they don't care about rep - if they are good - they are going to have to figure out a way to replace replace the benefit the evil guy(s) was giving to the downtrodden or force the population to be worse than off than under the evil guy(s) rule. 3) Prevent chaos when they topple the bad guy(s).
    Last edited by Griogre; May 19th, 2006 at 10:46.

  3. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stuart
    The "Lens-men" SciFi books being a case in point or the Chaos v Law system behind the Moor**** books; Law seen as "Good" but prohibitive of change (Chaos being seen as its antithesis : anarchic, unrestrained, unpredictable and amoral).
    I haven't thought about the "Lens-men" in years - read them when I was a kid. Originally D&D was like this, or pre D&D the First Fantasy Campaign anyway, there was Law, Chaos and Neutral. Chaos was evil. Under some interpretations Law was good, but under some - Neutral was the good - with both the extreme positions of Law and Chaos being evil.

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Griogre
    As a twist, have your "evil" guys do something that is of real benefit for "downtrodden little guys" - for all the wrong reasons. Make sure the evil guys benefit from it, too. It will drive your heroes crazy.

    As an example, I was running a Super Hero game. A clever gang of powerful villians went in and took over a small country run by a corrupt dictatorship. They liquidated the dictator, and the landowning and corrupt classes, pocketing all their wealth. They turned around and did true land reform and stopped corruption dead (literally). They maintained control of the country and took a massive skim of the money being generated by the sale of the country's natural resources. What they also did was take a small but signifigant percent from the resource sales and spend it on improving infrasturcture which helped the poor - far more than the old corrupt regime had ever done. The average citizen was *much* better off.

    The PC's *hated* these villians. They went around and around on what to do about them.

    In this type of scenario the PCs will have to figure out: 1) How to get rid of the evil guy(s) with out everyone thinking they are not evil themselves. Or course the PCs may not care about their reputation. 2) But even if they don't care about rep - if they are good - they are going to have to figure out a way to replace replace the benefit the evil guy(s) was giving to the downtrodden or force the population to be worse than off than under the evil guy(s) rule. 3) Prevent chaos when they topple the bad guy(s).

    Now this is a lovely take on "villains". I'd even go as far as to say that the best opponents are the ones that just don't share the same goals or in fact have oposing goals as the PCs. This means that it can come down to a political solution in the end. Make the other solution seem BAD or useless.

    Or even better, if you REALLY want them to hate the other... "team" have THEM suceed when the players do not.
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  5. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by kalmarjan
    The game has restarted after a TPK in the former group.
    Sandeman
    TPK! YES!

  6. #26
    O.o

    YES? It was the first TPK I have had after 20 years of playing, and it kind of sucked...

    OTOH, the new start is going very well.

    Sandeman
    Ultimate Licence holder

    I've had FG for so LONG I DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE IT!

    But I'm learning!

  7. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by kalmarjan
    YES? It was the first TPK I have had after 20 years of playing, and it kind of sucked...
    I'm like you I can't even remember the last TPK I had before 3.x. Since the latest edition I've had a couple of times where it could have easily happened. There's no doubt the risk of TPK is much higher now especially with a small or badly rounded party. I insist on a minumum party size of five now.

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Griogre
    I'm like you I can't even remember the last TPK I had before 3.x. Since the latest edition I've had a couple of times where it could have easily happened. There's no doubt the risk of TPK is much higher now especially with a small or badly rounded party. I insist on a minumum party size of five now.
    One thing almost always seem to end up as a TPK wether I want it to or not though.

    IF someone takes skills in explosives in Sci-Fi or modern day eras it usually ends up with a catastrophic misshap. If nothing else they will usually play around with the stuff while carrying more in their backpack.

    <Me> "The explosion is too close, you will need a better safetydistance..." <Player1> "I can take a few HP of damage." <Me> "And the nitroglycerine in your backpack?"
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  9. #29

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    Love your tagline:
    Quote Originally Posted by Oberoten
    So... let me see if I get this straight. You are a frecking superhero with strength to rival that of a russian collectives tractor-armada... And you TACKLE the little girl that has been shoplifting?
    Reminds me of a conversation I had with a player one time:
    <Me> So let me get this straight... You want to disbelieve the alleged invisible Mind Flayer you can't see?
    <Player> Yes!
    <Me> Well... (roll dice behind the screen) You still don't see a Mind Flayer or anything else.

  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Griogre
    Love your tagline:


    Reminds me of a conversation I had with a player one time:
    <Me> So let me get this straight... You want to disbelieve the alleged invisible Mind Flayer you can't see?
    <Player> Yes!
    <Me> Well... (roll dice behind the screen) You still don't see a Mind Flayer or anything else.
    The original quote comes from a MSHRPG session we ran back in the days. Mutant players all the way through, each with a boost to physical stats... and a SEVERE penalty on intelligence.

    We pretty much went for a "Great lake avengers" style campaign. Very humorous with the players really TRYING to take on supervillains and getting trounced by the likes of Kaptain Kangaroo. Not to mention that the team was handpicked by a anti-mutant organization to make mutants look bad. Heck, they even had their own cameraman that followed them around.

    Think "Mutants - Big Brother Sees You" a reality show...

    Some memorable moments aside from the poor shoplifter were them accidentially breaking into a high-tech weapons lab. Yes, it WAS an accident, wrong adress. Hillarity ensued when the security guards arrive and one of the players decides to hightail it by "borrowing" a high-tech glider. (Think Green Goblin) "What do you mean 'pilot skill'?"

    Or another PC singing the "I am a little teapot" song in the shower... while on camera. WITH all the gestures.

    Or the plasma generating mutant that can obliterate mountains... and has a TERRIBLE phobia for spiders. Terrible for the others mostly since he INSISTED to use full power against them with his mutation.

    Lets just say that the Antimutant organization got their money's worth.
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