Anecdote Megathread

[Wooberman]

We just started a Savage Worlds Dead lands Weird west game. Our kind DM picked up a copy of the old Twisted Tales IC Journal and asked us if we would be so bold as have one of us write a journal entry at the end of each session having a different character voice their point of view each time. For the first session I was volunteered to write the first entry.

So here it is, hopefully it will speak for itself. As time goes on I'll put up the additional entries as they are written.

Journal entry #1

So this rube comes along with this “I’ll pay you $10 if you guard my turkeys on the way to the middle of nowhere”. I figure I need a bit of spendin money so I hop along for the ride.

What a bunch of misfits we had here - An above-board Brit broad packing her own metal tinkered horse sportin a horn… A horn! Why? “Science” she says as if it meant anything with a glazed faraway look in her eye. She was sitttin pretty on the coach along with her Injun Scout friend. I didn’t know much bout her but can’t say I asked neither.  I figured Little Miss Science was payin her as a guide or somesort. Thought she was going for the firewater but a tee totaller… though I saw everythin till then. There was this little Jewish feller too, looked a right snake oil salesman and no doubt, stingy too. Doc Holliday was on the coach too, beat him at hold’em for $5. Damn I’m good.

Now there’s Roy. He’s a mean sunovabitch. Before we left I saw him blow a kid away for spillin his whiskey. I won $1.50 off the Injun scout for that one too. Lightning fast for an old codger but I’m not getting on the wrong side of him, a real curly wolf and no mistake. Then there was this China girl, nuthin much to her at all but she started askin all these questions about me… I got to figurin that that Ol Steinberg is still sore I haven’t coughed up his money and sent for rubes to come collect so I’m layin low. “Just Jack” to anyone who asks is the best course for now.

The trip went well, barring Lil Miss Science gettin fixin up the wagon when it slipped a wheel. If someone told be she’d do that before we left I’d be thinkin they were full of blow but lo and behold there she was doin better than I could have thought. Hats off lady, you’re all right. We also had an old prospector with a nameless ass come along and share his bacon. Good stuff.

We arrived at the town with no turkeys and after gettin my hard earned dinero I went straight to the waterin hole where the bartender was bleatin on about people being dragged from their homes at night and hung on an old oak outside of town. Lil Miss Science was deep into this one firin questions like no one’s business. I guess this is when the posse got together

I don’t rightly know why we banded together but it just felt right at the time. We got to the tree with the scout diggin all about the tree, lookin for tracks I figure and I thought this is a good time to crack out one of my good hexes, the one that gives me the knowin of things. I saw that tree was bad, real bad and old and thirsty for blood. Knowin what little I knew about the other side I figured this was the problem. Like the ol docs say, “Find the rot and cut it out”. I didn’t know how to tell the others but I knew that this tree had to go.  Stupidly I figured, make it a bet… yeah they called my bluff and I folded like a cheap suit. I wouldn’t be stopped though; I went straight to the general store to get provisions for burning this evil thing down. Storekeep was shuttin up but I gave him my good grin and he let me in.

When I got back even the Brit was sayin I was crazy by this time. Soon they left leaving me and the Scout behind, poor girl… I feel bad for what happened to her. That tree lit up like a bonfire then all hell broke loose. I clambered out of the ground and lunged at us. I don’t remember much, just running… so much running.

We made it back to town where it looked like the others were havin a fuss of their own. The scout went down, bein choked by the tree. It weren’t her fault bein there with me, didn’t deserve that. I got angry and threw out my all in a big ol hex. Ol scratch musta been playing bad cos I’ve never hexed that powerful before. There was nothin left of that tree just sawdust and ash. It was stupid, throwin that much out in one go right in the middle of town. The posse saw it and even some of the townies. Lil Miss Science gave me an out though, shoutin about fosfers or something. The Jewish flimflam man musta smelt an opportunity cos he came clamberin out of his hole to sell his “Medicinal whiskey” to calm the nerves of the townsfolk. I helped him do it cos it helped my case. Stingy snake didn’t even give me a fair cut either… last time I do that for certain.

The townsfolk wanted to know what happened and knowin I couldn’t just tell them that a demon tree was killin people and raisin the dead I spun a tale about bandits and complicated schemes. It works every time. When I get my big win I could be a snake oil salesman too.

And that’s all I gonna say about that.

Diamond Jack, Huckster

[clockworkjoe]

Nice! Savage Worlds does seem like a good fit for Deadlands.

[Wooberman]

Deadlands Journal Entry #2

We rode into a town they call Coffin Rock. Small wonder why they call it that… I saw a thing or two there that should ‘a been long since buried.
My obligation to Lady Loxley being for the moment fulfilled, I found myself at somewhat of a loose end. The Saloon seemed a likely place to rest up awhile – unfortunately one of the ignorant law-men of this heap of shit town thought otherwise; a person of local heritage such as myself was not welcome there.  He did not put it quite as delicately.

Jack, ever the gentleman, saw that I was fixed alright for a bite to eat, bringing a platter of greased sausages and beans as I sat fuming on the saloon stoop.  One of these days I will not slink away meekly like a dog when told I do not belong somewhere. One of these days, one of them will be sorry they opened their fat, stupid white mouth. I forced my meal down angrily as the sun dipped towards the horizon, smearing a blood red smudge across the sky.
Presently Jack emerged and we set to finding somewhere for our horses for the night. This didn't seem the kind of place you’d want to leave them unattended outside. Something felt… wrong somehow. Most of the dusty old shacks that made up this town seemed unoccupied. There was the constant feeling of being watched and my Paco was throwing his head around and whickering nervously.

After some time wondering around in the dark we came across a corral. Upon entering, we were immediately hit by the stench of decay, and could just about make out two bulky shapes slumped in the dirt. It was two dead horses. No other horses were in sight. Other than its two very deceased occupants the corral was empty. There was no way in hell I was leaving my Paco there, and I stated as such to Jack. Him being of the opinion that it wouldn't be such a problem, and that they seemed long dead (as if that made any difference) we parted ways. There was a nasty feeling about this place and I wasn't about to spend the night there.

I ran into the oriental lady and the Jew on my way out of town – they had the same ideas about the town as I did, and we found a decent enough place to make camp not far down the road. We built a fire in the shadow of a hill and hunkered down for the night. I took the second watch.
I was sitting with my back to a tree, listening to the wind moving through the branches, and the rhythmic breathing of my companions, when I saw them. Two man sized shapes, moving steadily down the hill towards us. Something about their gait looked strange to me in the moonlight, they moved awkwardly in a shambling manner, and seemed to be swinging large sticks, which I observed were actually pick axes as they got near enough to make out. Leaping to my feet, I yelled out ‘Who goes there?!’

They didn't reply of course, and my companions and I (who were awake by now and grabbing their weapons) readied ourselves for a fight. Once the two men came into the circle of light from our camp fire we could see that they wore miner’s clothes and helmets, and there was something horribly wrong with their skin…it was pure white, as if all their blood had drained away, and they looked kind of shrunken. One of them muttered something about brains.

The fight that followed was a short one. I pulled off a couple of half decent shots, the Jew (somewhat panicked) misfired his gun off into the darkness, and then proceeded to cower beneath his blankets. Luckily the oriental lady made short work of the pair of them. By the stars that woman can move. Nothing but a whirl of fists and kicking feet. The first miner somehow ended up with his pick axe through his eye, and the second I swear she punched his head clean off.
We waited out the rest of the night drinking coffee and trying to keep warm, sleep was impossible then. Around sunrise we headed back into town and found our travel companions breakfasting in the saloon. Jack, bless his heart, paid off the barkeep to allow us the back room for our meal and turn a blind eye to having a native and an Asian in his bar. I was too tired to be offended at the barkeep’s attitude this time.

Lady Loxley has another job for us all, she wants us to go and investigate some copper mines her family has shares in. She couldn't pay us up front she said, this town having no bank, but I know she’s good for her word and will honor her debt once we reach the next town. As far as I’m concerned reaching the next town can’t happen soon enough, but it would be crazy to pass up the $5 she’s paying.  The other’s seemed slightly skeptical regarding our night time encounter, but they promised that we would all swing by the place where we camped out on our return from the mines.
If we return from the mines…

"Bobcat" Native American Guide

[beej]

http://www.deviantart.com/art/MHI-Vehicle-Combat-365365267

I think this picture sums up every Delta Green game I've ever been in.

[j_train1]

I have borrowed Ross' one Shot playtest for Wild Talents:Caped Crusaders and Cannibals and I have run it 3 times to just show people the world that is Wild Talents.

Now here are the different notes and anecdotes that have come out of the game sessions:

--in 2 of the games the players all piled into a Soccer Mom van and the Telekinetic lifts the van with his mind and the float down the street. They turn up the base and make the van do bouncing as it floats down the street, well the Ex-con was driving.

--in 1 of the games the Tech from the beginning gets gut shot and the PC's just leave him behind.

--in all three versions they kill Cutting Edge ,but in different ways
        1. set his head on fire
        2. use telekinesis to make his head bend the wrong way and snap around a building
        3. use the Invincible PC as a javelin and slingshot her into EDGE. HEAD SHOT!

--in 1 of the games they fly out of the city in said minivan into the sunset and see in there rear view mirror the city getting nuked.

--in 2 of the games they go after the cure to make it back to the IDEAL base. In 1 of those games granny gets bitten because she is being used as bait for the trap.

--in 2 of the games they encountered the alien warrior.
        1. they fight him and kill him.
        2. they send the elevator up and he gets lose into the city.

--in 2 of the games the Invincible PC can't stay clean for she is covered in gore and blood.

--in the last game 2 of the PCs were pretty much walking around naked for they lost their garments due to attacks or in one case the Elastic man formed into a puddle to go under a door ,but his shirt/pants do not make the trip.

--In all 3 games Granny is a ninja with her Walker, with using it as a weapon or blocking.

Thanks for all the fish,Ross and entertainment.

[clockworkjoe]

That is pretty amazing. I really need to write it up as a base raiders one shot game.

[RadioactiveBeer]

Here's how I explain the difference between INT and WIS to my players now.

"INT is knowing how to use your superpowers to turn the ground under a hostage-taker's feet into laser beams.

WIS is knowing that's not going to be good for his hostage."

I seriously had this happen in a game of Mutants and Masterminds 2e I was running. It was set in Gestalt (people are empowered by archetypes from the collective subconscious) and the game was basically super-cops. Said scenario involved a religious conference getting hijacked by supers whose archetypes were gods of old - Horus, Thor, that kind of thing - holding nuns and imams hostage to demand an end to monotheism, a return to the polytheistic ways of old now that gods were verify-ably walking the world again.

One guy, an IRL physicist whose character had light-based powers, was able to make a good case for how his hard-light abilities could conceivably be used (via a kind of power-stunt) to turn physical matter into light energy, essentially allowing him to turn the floor into lasers under the hostage-takers. He didn't mean like a small thing either, he wanted a huge chunk to hit the whole group of the rival superteam at once.

When it was pointed out that it might be a bad idea considering the hostage-takers weren't the only ones in the room, his response was that everyone in the party had flight or some other mobility power that would let them get away from the effect.

Cue ten minutes of having to explain what a hostage was and that most nuns are not resistant to laser beams.

[Henry Hankovitch]

This is how my Inception/Dreamlands campaign ended:

[Kamen]

Beautiful

[Flawless P]

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.

[Alethea]

This past week I ran the second half of Think Before Asking for my players - two of whom are completely new to RPGs. By the time they found the Oracle, one player in a scurrier morph was anxious and refusing to come out of the top hat the octomorph decided he was carrying around for the scurrier to ride under. The player with an otomorph was riding the edge of crossing the trauma threshold - he really shouldn't have snapped those neotechnics' necks. Much like in the podcast, one of the players contacts the Oracle and asked how come the bomb(s) hadn't gone off yet. The stress of the answer slammed her over the trauma threshold. She picked echolalia.

There may have been some cackling on my part at this point. 

[TMayesing78]

I thoughtlessly put an adamantine door in a dungeon.  (It was a pathfinder game.)  I probably shouldn't have been surprised but my players almost immediately left the dungeon to get the tools needed to chop the door out of dungeon and transport it to market so to speak. 

Unfortunately for them I had two weeks to consider the problem.

First I introduced the idea of overhead.  They had to cut the door up and get it formed into ingots.  Then when they tried to unload the material, they found their profits rapidly declining, due to a glut on the market.  Unfortunately this infuriated at least one of my players who walked out at one point.  He came back for the next session but still I thought I was being reasonable.  He felt I was was just being antagonistic.

[clockworkjoe]

the player was a jerk but you kind of dropped the ball - that much adamantine is of strategic importance. Any reasonable kingdom will take great efforts to secure it - players want a payday, they can get it if they can lug the damn thing to ye old allied kingdom so the court wizard can buy it and enchant a hundred swords for the order of knights. Of course ye olde evil kingdom will send mercenaries to steal it and ye olde jerk kingdom will send agents to buy it from the PCs at a higher price - of course they will use the adamantine to make enchanted swords to fight ye olde allied kingdom.

[trinite]

the player was a jerk but you kind of dropped the ball - that much adamantine is of strategic importance. Any reasonable kingdom will take great efforts to secure it - players want a payday, they can get it if they can lug the damn thing to ye old allied kingdom so the court wizard can buy it and enchant a hundred swords for the order of knights. Of course ye olde evil kingdom will send mercenaries to steal it and ye olde jerk kingdom will send agents to buy it from the PCs at a higher price - of course they will use the adamantine to make enchanted swords to fight ye olde allied kingdom.

Ross has some good ideas. I think the trick is, players think of wealth as a form of scorekeeping. But past a certain point, a big enough source of wealth stops being scorekeeping and starts to be a plot driver. Just like a +1 Ring of Protection is just a stat boost, but the One Ring of Power can drive a whole campaign.

You can also get some more plot ideas by thinking about how that adamantine door got there in the first place. How did the dungeon builder pay for it? Are there more doors down there? Was the door just a loaner from a powerful devil prince who had extra doors in his adamantine hell-fortress and rented them out? Do the dwarves have an ancient claim on the door since it was made from adamantine stolen from them 1,000 years ago? Is the door the remains of a sentient adamantine golem, crushed into a door shape to save on smelting costs, but still conscious?

[TMayesing78]

Wow.  I was happy just dropping the price from the glut on the marks.  Now I'm embarrassed I didn't think about it a little more.  Both you and Ross make great points.