Fan Actual Plays

[ghost]

Boo!  Ghost here from Swing and a Miss.

I had a lot of fun with the most recent Darkworld campaign.  Kudos to the players on that night.  There were a few rough patches in a couple areas, story moving slowly or players not coordinating well enough, but I loved how it ended.

So, yeah, shameless plug, check it out when you get a chance.  Ep. 5 is out now, 6 to come, and 7 is the one I just mentioned.
As for upcoming episodes... I don't know when, soon I hope, but CoC will be up first, and since I'm working on that project now and waiting on new players to roll up new characters, the Darkworld of Shadowrun is taking a break.  Until then, the VtM is colorful and fun, and the Hero edition of New World is addictive.

[ugnis13]

I love AP's, so this was great =)
the only suggestions i have is to add some intro at the beggining so that we know what voice belongs to who and what kind of characters there are. i only listened to the new world one so far, but i liked it.

[xHero]

Thanks a lot. The first recording of any campaign we have has player introductions, however, like I said session 7 of New World was abysmal and not released as intended.

[ghost]

I'm working on a Call of Cthulhu game now and am interested in hearing more actual plays that involve a more traditional Lovecraftian setting, similar to the Murder of Crows (but without all the background chatter).
I like the concept of WW2 soldiers digging too deep and unearthing unholy relics, and such, but I get a feeling of a Castle Wolfenstein episode more than Lovecraft's Innsmouth or traditional detective stories.

How do you really convey terror in players in these games, especially when dealing with munchkin or power gamers?
(other than trying to minimize those players and select more story driven players)

[clockworkjoe]

I'm working on a Call of Cthulhu game now and am interested in hearing more actual plays that involve a more traditional Lovecraftian setting, similar to the Murder of Crows (but without all the background chatter).
I like the concept of WW2 soldiers digging too deep and unearthing unholy relics, and such, but I get a feeling of a Castle Wolfenstein episode more than Lovecraft's Innsmouth or traditional detective stories.

How do you really convey terror in players in these games, especially when dealing with munchkin or power gamers?
(other than trying to minimize those players and select more story driven players)

a few ideas

give them everything the munchkins want and then show how futile their weapons are

body horror - infect the PCs with a nasty disease that mutates their body - clock is ticking

non combat horror - being trapped in a small room, drowning, visits from dead friends, or finding a nuclear bomb ticking down

[ArtfulShrapnel]

Those are good ones! Other good advice on getting horror across (First bit actually from Ross).

Don't kill too many PCs. CoC has a reputation for being deathy, but too many deaths will actually make the game less scary. One or two is okay to make them realize this shit is serious, but if you're killing people every game they'll just begin to see death as a matter of course.

Unexplained Shit. Just have random stuff happen sometimes. Don't give or have any reason behind it. A crazy guy runs out of nowhere and starts slinging strange green goop. For a few moments the stars all turn red. They see a portrait and for the rest of the story its eyes are staring out of every photograph or painting they see.  Trust me it will freak them out a bit.

Avoid inescapable "You Will Lose" fights. They seem like a necessity, but the important thing is to leave a solution that allows survival but doesn't rely on deus ex machina. Instead allow survival at a cost. Example: They can get away from the Beastie of Death, but only after it stops to eat the first character is catches. Now they will be terrified of the fucker coming back and spend a bunch of time trying to figure out how to stop him.

End on a Mystery. Always try to end the game right after something unexpected or inexplicable happens. The madman they've had tied up just escaped. They found the man they thought was the cultist, but it turns out he was just a puppet. The monster has appeared and was studying them for a moment, before leaving. They'll be thinking about it all week, and be jazzed up for the next game.

[Setherick]

End on a Mystery. Always try to end the game right after something unexpected or inexplicable happens. The madman they've had tied up just escaped. They found the man they thought was the cultist, but it turns out he was just a puppet. The monster has appeared and was studying them for a moment, before leaving. They'll be thinking about it all week, and be jazzed up for the next game.

I have to admit that as a player I absolutely cannot stand having a game session end on a cliffhanger. I'd much rather see a session as a chapter in a story that has a definite beginning, plot structure, and ending. Now the ending may influence the next chapter, but let it end.

[ghost]

I can see how both of those scenarios can be worked.
The big plot of the session can be completed so the players feel accomplished, but something they thought was small can reveal itself to be potentially bigger than they previously considered and will get them thinking about what they want to do for the next game.

The key thing is to keep the players thinking about the game even long after they last played.
If even one player comes to you, as a gm, and starts telling you what they want to do next time they play, or that they couldn't stop thinking about what happened last time for days, then you know your doing something right.  Sometimes it's difficult for me to prepare to gm the next session because I get distracted by Hero's campaign and what I want my character to achieve next time.

[ArtfulShrapnel]

I have to admit that as a player I absolutely cannot stand having a game session end on a cliffhanger. I'd much rather see a session as a chapter in a story that has a definite beginning, plot structure, and ending. Now the ending may influence the next chapter, but let it end.

I'd like to clarify that I said end on a mystery, not a cliffhanger. I don't myself like the "The big bad appears and is about to kill you, come back next week!" style of game ending. So there I'm in agreement with you.

What I meant to say was: Wrap up the plot point, and don't leave people in the middle of an event, or right at the beginning of one. HOWEVER, make sure that things aren't at a "stopping" point. Ensure that at least one unsolved mystery is still present, and if it's fallen into the background do something to call it out again so the players go "Ah, yeah, we never did figure out what that guy's deal was."

As Ghost said, the key is to keep the players thinking.

[ugnis13]

i really enjoyed the vampire one shot. did you make it into a campaign?

[xHero]

We are still debating that. I loved it, as did the other players, yet Wasabi is a very busy man, and we already have 2 weekly campaigns in addition to the "One-Shots"

Last thing he said was that if someone would like to take over they could... we're trying to work it out.

[Boyos]

Yeah Listend to the one shot vampires first time hearing a game of vampires I enjoyed it. Sounds a bit complicated but of course I have never read the rules Enjoyed the post though.

[xHero]

Yeah Listend to the one shot vampires first time hearing a game of vampires I enjoyed it. Sounds a bit complicated but of course I have never read the rules Enjoyed the post though.

It's actually incredibly easy... This was Misha and Nay's first time role-playing and they learned the system within 5 minutes. Of course pre-gen characters make it impossibly simple to learn most games.

[Boyos]

yeah, dont get me wrong it sounded like they got it quick, I just think dice pools are hard and Im a visual guy so just hearing how it works and hearing it played sounds complicated but if I was to see it I would pick it up, or atleast read about it first, so I understand the concept. Ill prob download some more tonight, thanks for the good recordings.

[nbneil]

I've been listening to the podcast for a while now and really dig it.  In fact the New World Primer inspired my current D&D campaign.  We had a lot of episodes building up, so we decided to put up an independent podcast.

I don't want to overstep any bounds, so I thought I'd see if Ross minds some shameless self promotion to get some feedback.  We're hoping to get some more diversity going with more Fear Itself, Wild Talents, and a few others.  Anyway, if anyone is interested, I'd be more than happy to post a link.

I hope the Actual Play server and community site make it up soon.  They are a lot of fun to listen to and there's no better way to improve your game than listening to others.