Running the War Trilogy

Discussion on game mastering Earthdawn. May contain spoilers; caution is recommended!
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TheQuicksilver
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Running the War Trilogy

Postby TheQuicksilver » Sat Jun 09, 2012 4:41 pm

Hey everyone. Getting my PCs rolling on a massive undertaking to run the three war books back to back (Prelude to War, Barsaive at War, and Barsaive in Chaos). We're just getting through the first scenario in Prelude, and they should beat the Horror Marlek tomorrow if all goes as planned.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has done this as a GM or player, and if you found anything that made it better, more interesting, or more fun?

galafrone
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Re: Running the War Trilogy (spoilers)

Postby galafrone » Sun Jun 10, 2012 12:19 pm

SPOILERS SO BEWARE














first i am playing prelude. i had the 3 books already so i had an idea where they wanted to go. But the most important one is the first, since it is already "embedded" in the ED3rd timeline, while the second and the third arent part of the canon.
So i started my campaign in early 1508, with ardanian revenge.
i thrown them at many old fasa adventures (terror in the sky, infected and shattered pattern)
we played this long prelude so to have them at a good circle before starting the whole prelude to war (they are at 5th circle at the moment).
i had triumph landing the 1st of april 1509 and had varulus assassination the 22nd may 1510
i didnt played all the stories, they cant be played ALL, since you cannot force one event after the other and be consistent with the plot
so i gave them glimpses of anything
1) they were ardanian scouts, sent by the new council to see what the therans had done at the life rock (and 2 of them were also captured then released as a sign of goodwill by the therans)
2) they were caught in the paranoia leading from the landing to the death of varulus (prices of healing stuff, weapons, services tied to the war preparation all raised)
they had also personal stuff to do, so i let them go with some kind of hints of the collapsing of the situation (therans slaving raids for triumph)
3) having ties (not real ties, but somehow having been in the sight of the eye) with some shadowy folks they think are eyes of throal operative, they were sent to bartertown to discover if one of the 2 refugees families (i "invented" a second, to do some kind of suspect grown up in them) but they were attacked by theran operatives and it was a slaughter. Since they have a lot of enemies, they cant know who set the trap, they just sprung on it.
when they returned in throal, they discovered that the durevigius were the culprits (but i had the scout learning theran from the master of the house 1 year before, so he was really suspicious about that framing) and they were already been arrested and prosecuted.

having a second group i played the miniscenario "the lost galleons" and put those adepts in the role of scouts. they found out the galleons but couldnt free them alone, they were too low circle, so they went back to throal and reported it to the expeditionary corps (that sent them there) they were part of the great rescue operation and then were signalled to varulus and neden that did a public ceremony to give them a reward (one of the players, my wife, is a beastmaster from the chaozun family, sort of young brat following her istincts, but still under the wing of the famous 5 sisters, so there was a great moment when neden gave to her the reward and her etiquette failed, going to kiss him straight, having ALL the nobles gathered there roaring about the fact thinking that neden was secretely engaged with that red furry previously unknown dorfette...)

well, things are marching now, the main group having been sent on the tracks of ardalea (since they saved icewing drakes from tyrlaan claws in kaer carelle and now are somehow tied to the big dragon) while the second group is at parlainth for some chaozun business running there.

i dont know if one of the groups will partecipate in the battle near triumph (prajjor's fields) i hope one or the other will do, but i am giving free rein here
after that, the carafhad subplot awaits the main group (that has 2 orcs females on 4 members and is leaning a lot on that side of the story) while the second i dont know how will be affected.

galafrone
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Re: Running the War Trilogy

Postby galafrone » Sun Jun 10, 2012 12:24 pm

also i will play the events really slowly, more slowly than the timeline indicated in the books
i want the events unfold when the groups are ready, and there isnt really any motive to apply the timeline, since we dont know when RB will publish their point of view of the canon.
so i suggest you to slow the events a lot in prelude, let them taste all without being on a rush.
prelude can fit 1 year and a half of weekly sessions, if played properly
i am on varulus death and playing with that in sight for like 2 years now.

TheQuicksilver
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Re: Running the War Trilogy

Postby TheQuicksilver » Sun Jun 10, 2012 11:22 pm

Well, tonight, Marlek successfully killed one PC (saved by a last chance salve), and brought another within 7 points of dead. All told, a pretty successful beat down that left the group with some respect for a "real" fight and what was at stake in finding the airships. The combination of Terror and Thought Worm via a Horror with three actions makes for a pretty nasty combination.

Next week they get to be introduced to some espionage work via infiltrating the liferock posing as slaves. Nice change from the big fight.

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Tanthalas
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Re: Running the War Trilogy

Postby Tanthalas » Mon Jun 11, 2012 4:47 pm

I have not ran the whole war trilogy, but I have flipped through all three of them. Currently the group I am running is at the tail end of Prelude and I would have to say that overall the plots are pretty solid. I likely won't be going through the other two War books, instead branching off into more individualized plots. I will try to keep my post mostly spoiler-free...but if you are reading this thread you [hopefully] don't need spoiler warnings.

The group I am running now is starting to break into 8th Circle and the fights are getting fairly epic, they have completed three of the four main plot arcs and are neck deep in a variety of their plot-hooks, most of their own making.

I would have to say that the big lead-in adventures really help with the feel of Prelude. In particular I ran both Infected and Shattered Pattern prior to Prelude and that really helped my players get a feel for the factions in the world. I also used Shattered Pattern to lead the group into Blades. Blades makes all parts of Prelude that deal with Cara Fahd that much more fun. It takes a little bit of work to work all the stuff in together, but I think that the pay-off is worth it.

I would agree with what other posters have already said, keep the timeline a bit loose and let the pacing of things be mostly determined by the players. If you run the book as written (four huge events in as many months) it is likely that your players won't have time to circle up, sidequest, research, or any other things that require downtime.

A potential issue for Prelude vs. other prepared adventures is that you are generally just handed frameworks. But a few of the baddies are statted out. Those that DO have stats are usually unstoppable bad-asses, so just make sure you keep scaling in mind and be very familiar with the framework you plan to use, and how you intend to scale it to your party.
I'm one of the Legends of Barsaive guys. Questions? Comments? Concerns? Bawdy Jokes? PM me!

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Crusader
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Re: Running the War Trilogy

Postby Crusader » Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:45 am

I GM'd the entire trilogy with my group several years ago. I stuck to the overall story, with some minor deviations.

Just some general tips really:

--Keep the looming threat of the Therans in the atmosphere. Let them know this is truly a war and the Therans have a very good chance of winning. Make them hate Kilas and the troops on board, it will help create atmosphere for the end game.
--Confront the party with the effects of the war; bombed villages, refugees, wounded soldiers, etc. Things they can't do anything about and makes them understand war is a nasty thing.
--One thing I had happen was that a Theran air attack happened on Urupa while the party was in it. They had to flee the city as fire cannons rained destruction down. On the way you can add challenges; save a child from a burning house (and let the house get hit by a fire cannon after 3 rounds if they can't breach a burning door blocked with debris inside, damaging anyone inside with a high step damage, automatically killing the child. Also, if they decide to do a massive buffing before they go in, just count 3 rounds. If they spend 3 round buffing... BOOM! Child dead.). Other challenges: avoid getting trampled, etc, having a fireball fall in the surge of fleeing people and give the characters the choice if they want to help anyone, etc. The party can't stop the attack, but will they step up and aid other namegivers?
--Resource shortages (for example, the price of healing aids can go up and weaponsmiths have all been hired by the army). In addition, the roads are unsafe (especially the areas around Ktenshin and Triumph) so trade is slowing to a crawl. Make weapons more expensive, food more bland, etc.


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