23
« on: January 12, 2015, 02:07:12 AM »
Anecdote about an Anecdote.
So this will actually end up being two stories.
I just finished running a Two part scenario in Pathfinder using a low magic setting. I generally consider level 10 to be max level for my PC's and the Players were settled in at level 7. So they are pretty strong compared to most people in the world.
The team is trying to get an audience with their informant and have to get into the most exclusive party in the known world.
They managed to finagle invites but in order to do so one of their NPC allies had to go on a date with the man who's family owns the venue. This is complicated by the man being known for being "aggressive" with women.
Well push came to shove and he roughed her up after the party because she refused to sleep with him (she's not a prostitute!) I figured it'd get a strong reaction and probably some violence on my hands but what ended up happening has led me to believe that Domestic Violence seems to be some kind of incredible trigger that turned them all into psychopaths.
So they paid a little trip to his home. Not unexpected. He lives with his wealthy parents. One player proceeds to set his side and front doors on fire. Leaving only the back door accessible.
The family comes fleeing outside right into the waiting arms of what equates to The League of Extraordinary Lynch Mobs.
Two of them grab his parents, the other two savagely beat him. At one point one of the players tells the mother "You're going to watch, and if you try to look away, we are going to kill him." Then they turn on his father proclaiming "You raised this son of a bitch!" and proceed to break both his legs with a club.
Once they leave one of the players goes to the local crime syndicates whom he already has an in with, and spends every last gold piece he possess to have the man killed, and to ensure that it leaves an impression on his family.
So a masked man besets out upon the fleeing family disables their carriage and decapitates the son in front of his parents.
Shit got real. Local authorities were on the hunt but some political connections and cash transfer have relegated much of the search to "inactive".
Now for the Anecdoteception.
My coworkers are pretty cool. Neither of them game but they both enjoy a good tabletop story. One of them is a part time fantasy writer and the other's husband and her used to play white wolf or something years ago.
So I was recounting events to them while we were out to lunch on Friday, and a woman had sat down at the table across from us. I hadn't noticed that she was sitting there not eating for most of my story. Apparently she had finished her food like 2-3 minutes into my story, and finally when I finished telling them, she stood up leaned forward toward our table and told me "That is FUCKING awesome!" I was super shocked but it made me giggle to think that someone who probably had never played a role playing game before, found a story about Tabletop Domestic Violence and it's consequences fascinating.
Thank you random L and L BBQ Patron, in a weird way your appreciation for my story validates my narrative aspirations.