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That signature is only temporary I hope.
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It is. It gets the job done, however, considering the current climate and the level of meta-discussion.That signature is only temporary I hope.
So...you agree, disagree, or ignoring the Flashback argument?
Isn't the classic rumour table a series of 'plot hooks'?
Although I realize the term 'plot' gives some the vapors.
So ignore, just checking.
So ignore, just checking.
Examples I gave in the plot hooks thread.Isn't the classic rumour table a series of 'plot hooks'?
"I hit the town what do I find out?"
- Bandits are plaguing the road north - there's a bounty on the leader's head.
- Some miners are talking about how they dug a shaft to the north and broke into an underground crypt of some sort. As soon as they saw some of the skeletons get up and start moving they high tailed it back to town.
- A merchant's daughter has run off - apparently he's offering a big reward for anyone who can bring her back to town.
- recently there has been activity around the abandoned watch tower to the north. Travellers are reporting seeing flying monkeys of all things in the area.
- There's a rich alchemist who will pay money for any living exotic creature you can bring him.
There's a stranger in town asking lots of questions about a mysterious sorcerer with a blue crescent tattoo he's apparently looking for.
This is generally what people mean by 'plot hooks' in the context of a sandbox.
They're plots to the extent that they are things you can do- an excuse to get moving. They also serve double duty as the presentation of the situation in the local area. They may be connected - it may turn out the merchant's daughter ran off with one of the bandits - and you can of course try and capture a winged moneky and sell it to the alchemist. But they also know that any other fantastic creature they run across might be worth subduing and attempting to transport.
The fact that they are multiple and the fact that they are optional is absolutely key. The abandoned watch tower may be filled by a necromancer who is well beyond the party's ability to handle. That mere fact wouldn't be possible in a single hook plot situation. The party would know they are supposed to explore the tower because it's the hook the gm gave them and if the GM made it too hard they would just look like a dick. But in this case they don't know that, therefore they don't know if they can handle him.
Likewise if they find the bandits and decide they are too well-fortified and difficult to get to they can just go and do something else, or they can make allies of the bandits.
It's also key that, as none of the plots are 'the plot', the party are free to explore. If they come across an interesting looking path to a castle on a crag on the way to something else they might just go and explore that.
Well, once you have understood them, they're no longer confused...After thinking over the last few threads I'd probably say my default preferred game would be a living world sandbox with no narrative mechanics, but one where the PCs are bit "more" than the average person, i.e. I'd prefer a Wuxia sandbox where we're (initially weak) chi-manipulators over say a Wild west game where I'm "just another guy".
I think the alterations to "just another guy" or the introduction of narrative mechanics would both rank a roughly equal second place provided the narrative mechanics are not too heavy.
Funnily, related to something robertsconley discussed in another thread, I dislike games where the PCs have in-fiction world editing abilities more than when something similar is being covered by a narrative mechanic. For example I'm not too fond of Mages in Mage: The Awakening retconning reality with a spell, but I'm fine with BitD's flashback stuff.
Of course this is all just default. I'd eat glass to play a "just another guy" sandbox set in the Golden Age of Piracy and I love Storybrewers' stuff like Jane Austen just because of the genre.
Anyway just saying this because since there's been a bit of contention I wanted to say these threads are useful to those on the sidelines to get a clearer idea of what we like. You often learn your own tastes are a bit confused and contradictory, but you can organise them a bit better.
You specifically asked me "honestly" what I meant by elements of BitD not allowing Sandbox play.I know how frustrating you find it when people refuse to engage your disingenuous, threadcrapping bullshit.
And I want you to know how happy that makes me.
I once ran a game where the was a rival party of adventures. The NPC party beat them to a dungeon and was waiting inside to ambush them. They left their horses outside with some hirelings, so the party decided to skip the dungeon, threatened the hirelings, and just stole all the horses as their loot for the session.That's why pack animals exist. But that's a whole host of other issues the PCs have to deal with - feeding, care, the animal refusing to enter dungeons or caves, or running off in a panic if any threatening reatures show up, etc
HROSES (D12 roll)
1. HEY MAN NOT TO BAD! THE HORSE STOPS FOR ONE ROUND TO THINK THING OVER BUT YOU GET CONTROLAG AIN NEXT ROUND.
2. HORES SAYS “FUCK THIS’ AND TRIES TO TOSS YOU LIKE A SALAD- SAVE VERS. DRAGON BREATH OR TAKE 1D6 DAMAGE AND LAND ON YOUR ASS.
3. DON’T BOTHER SAVE THIS TIME– YOU ALREADY FALL OFF!! TAKE 3D4 DAMAGE BECAUSE HE TRAMPLED YOU AND GOOD LUCK CATCHING HIM.
4. THE HORSE DOES NOT LIKE WHAT IS SEE AND A TURNAROUND IS NOW. GO REVERSE DIRECTION FULL SPEED FOR 4D4 ROUNDS.
5. CRAZY HORSE IS A BLOODTHRISRTY PRICK!!!!!!!!!!!! NEXT FIGHT HE CHARGE RIGHT IN AGAINST THE TOUGHEST ENEMY………HOPE YOU CAN HACK IT, HOTSHOT!
6. NEXT TIME YOU TAKE A BRAKE THE HORSE SPLITS TOWN IN THE MIDDEL OF NIGHT. THEN HE SPREADS WORD TO ALL THE HORSES OF THE WORLD – YOU ARE A SHITTY MASTER. NOW NO HORSE WILL SUBMIT TO A RIDE OF YOU…….HOPE YOU LIKE LONG WALKS1.
7. ROUGH RIDE MEANS YOU DROP YOUR COOLEST TOY – VORPAL SWORD, MAGIC 8BALL, FIREBALL WAND, THE DM DESIDES. BETTER GO PICK IT UP QUICK!!!1
8. THE MOST EMBARESSING…….A BATHROOM BRAKE!! YOUR HORSE TAKES A BIG DUMP AND YOU HAVE TO SIT THEIR AND WAIT. ALL YOUR HIRELINKS LAUGH AND THEY TAKE -1 MORAL FOR THE REST OF DAY BECAUE SITTING ON THE POOP HORSE IS NOT A LEADER?!?!?
9. YOUR HORSE PULLS A HAMMY, MOVE IS HALF AND IF YOU BEAT HIM WITH THE FASTER-STICK ROLL AGAIN THREE TIMES AND DO ALL 3 THINGS RESULTS
10. THIS HORSE IS POPULAR AND THE OTHERH ORSES LOOK FOR INSPIRATION. ROLL AGAIN TO FIND WHAT HE DOES, AND THEN ALL THE OTHER HORSES IN SIGHT DO A SAME THING.
11. OH SHIT THATS NOT A HORSE ITSA DOPPLEGANGLER! FIGHT!!!!
12. HORSE EXPLOSDES, TAKE 6D6 DAMAGE AND SAFE VS. DRAGON BREATH OR YOU ON FIRE FOR 1D6 EACH ROUND UNTIL STOP-DROP-AND-ROLL. NOW YOU NEED A NEW HORSE, PARD-NER!
You want the new thread!I once ran a game where the was a rival party of adventures. The NPC party beat them to a dungeon and was waiting inside to ambush them. They left their horses outside with some hirelings, so the party decided to skip the dungeon, threatened the hirelings, and just stole all the horses as their loot for the session.