With the end of the first installment of "At Sixes and Sevens", the Flaming Sofa Crew (minus Stephanie and Billy) get together to discuss the chronicle, address some common questions, go off on tangents, and announce the winner of the Free T-Shirt Contest.
In this episode:
Chris [Himself]
Shane [Himself]
Colton [Himself]
Sara [Herself]
Matt [Himself]
I'm sad to see the game come to a close but I'm looking forward to the next one! Congrats to the winner! Sara, sounded like you were trying to herd cats there for a while. ;)
ReplyDeleteNow that Chris isn't running (for now) what are the chances of seeing that storyteller tool, even in a alpha or beta phase? :)
Yeah, I'll be trying to put together an alpha in the near future. The problem is that I use my "at-home" projects to keep my teeth sharp with new technologies and never really plan them for public consumption. I've probably written a rough version in half-a-dozen languages by this point. :)
DeleteWhat I should probably do is give myself a deadline then I'll have a target to get a reasonable build together.
What features would you like to see in a Storyteller Tool? I already have a dice-roller and rough initiative manager, and plan a more robust character and scene manager.
Dice-roller and initiative manager are nice to have but a good character and scene manager would be awesome. I have a friend in my group that is starting an extremely ambitious D&D 3.5 tool, if that's something you might be interested once it gets to testing I'll gladly trade with you. :)
DeleteAlright sounds good. Yeah, trading would be awesome. I haven't run 3.5 in a few years but I remember thinking that a good software tool would have been tremendously valuable.
DeleteAre they going to make it D&D specific or just generally D20-based? That's one of the most daunting things about the Storytelling tool is that it needs to be extensible to handle all the various flavors of World of Darkness. I'd love to pick their brain about what they are planning.
I'm pushing for generally D20 based, if all goes as planned it will be a pretty huge project.
DeleteSounds epic.... Best of luck and I really hope he succeeds!
DeleteWow, what a great Chronicle, yes My favourite part was the Dark Lord, Motel of the tentacle monsters. I loved the characters, Twitch, Mr Hoffman. They were so interesting. Please record more podcasts, even if its rough and unedited, It's so entertaining listening to you guys just game and joke. Additionally do you know any other great podcasts you could recommend? thanks so much for the laughs and Adventures!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the chronicle and especially happy you liked the characters.
DeleteThe podcast that initially inspired us was Knights of the Night. They had a really awesome Hunter campaign, and I think they are running Dresden Files now. There used to be a White Wolf podcast that had an ongoing Werewolf Campaign, but I haven't checked on that one in a long time.
On a side note, if you're into programming or technology then I can't reccomend enough Hanselminutes. Also, StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson is pretty geek-tastic. Good luck and let us know if you find any good ones.
Thanks for listening!
Thanks! I'd love for us to record more podcasts (I have dozens of ideas... I just need to get them realized). :)
DeleteI want to second Chris's recommendation for Knights of the Night. I *love* their dynamic, storylines, and think they're just fab. Aside from KotN, I also really enjoy Roleplaying Public Radio (RPPR), Canon Puncture (love their Game Advocates episodes), and Darker Days Podcast, to name just a few.
Set of questions: The first one I was curious earlier but I tended to wait with it up till the end: How did Chris feel/react/think to Shane's Twitch conspiracy? Were there any original plans for Twitch which had to be abandoned because of the conspiracy theories? Oh and secondly, how many tranquilisers (and what kind) it takes Shane to play smoothly?
ReplyDeleteCheers
I'll be honest with you, the document and plan I had originally written out for the Chronicle is dramatically different from what ended up happening. But that's pretty much what happens every time. :) One of the best things about pen-and-paper rpgs is that they evolve as the story goes on. I'm continually refactoring story elements and characters...
DeleteThe Twitch thing threw me because I really didn't want her to be a villainous character. I personally think Shane was having a Keyser Soze moment. I did actually try to make her more suspicious after she was accused of being an evil mastermind though. :) I'll definitely evolve her character in future games and maybe she'll become more diabolical as her Wyrd increases.
As for Shane, as much as he drives me crazy sometimes I wouldn't trade him for any other player. He adds an element of frivolity and challenge that makes the games more fun, and I suspect that if the games played out the way I picture them when writing (solemn, dark, and moody), then they probably would not be as much fun. :)
During his Twitch Conspiracy ramblings I was wondering wether that's just a briliant idea or is Chris now making poker-face ("What Evil Twitch Plot? I don't know what You're talking bout")?
DeleteAnyway it was quite the enjoyable :) (Altough I do miss the extra drama that was in the begining)
Cheers to You All.
Shane usually comes up with some awesome, but sometimes game altering theories in our games. He's definitely a person with whom it is fun to watch movies or television shows; Shane truly is a master at storyline prediction.
DeleteAs for tranquilizers, in over 24 years I haven't found any that would work on him; but despite my protestations to the contrary, I honestly wouldn't want Shane to be any other way. He truly is a great, albeit energetic, little brother.
This is a question for Chris. I am very curious as to the details of the planned original plot. I know this kind of material can be easily recycled and reused for a later game, so I don't want burn any bridges by you revealing some interesting details. But would you be able to give us an insight into the original story without killing future plot devices? With every story I enjoy, I love reading up on 'What could have been' scenarios. Alternate Dimensions etc..
ReplyDeleteCheers! :)
That's a pretty big topic, if only because things did get far away from what I had originally planned. Everything was moving along with the story up until the death of the Mistress of Sevens, then Sara/Once's tale-crafting completely threw me and we went off the rails. I do firmly believe in rewarding the players for innovation and using their skills, so after that I let the players drive the story more. But, here's some stuff that I had planned:
Delete1) I wanted to play more into the dichotomy between Hoffman and Evrain. In my original story, Evrain appears to "rescue" the players after they are found and accused of killing the Mistress of Sevens. The idea was to have them get caught red-handed with the murder weapon (the twin of the shotgun that the vampire assassin uses to kill her)... Evrain then becomes the players' savior and Hoffman the supposed villain. Twitch then serves as a game piece between the 2 powers and the forms a touchstone for the players.
2) At one point Evrain mentioned the "Sunny Valley", and that was a clue that would direct the players to the Sunny Valley Trailer Park (creepy, rundown trailer parks being ubiquitous in Florida). The haven of the Nosferatu assassin was beneath one of the trailers, and I had a whole series of scenes planned out there where the characters discovered more details of the overall conspiracy. Several of the trailer-park residents were ghouls and I was going for a bit of a poor Southern Gothic theme for whole thing.
3) I had a lot more planned for the Scarecrows that the players encountered in the first chapter, including having them draw the players into a trap in a half-constructed skyscraper downtown. I really wanted to have them return in the finale, just to bring the things full circle and draw the players back in the Lord of Sixes domain, but I couldn't figure out how to do that without killing the momentum.
I really appreciate you asking. I could honestly go on and on about this. If you saw my crazy notes you would know what I mean. But I am really happy about how things turned out and believe one of the biggest reasons to play pen-and-paper rpgs is that the story can change and evolve, and that players can drive the narrative.
Best wishes! :)
Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing that! I love that fact that you incorporate other Creatures of Darkness into your Chronicle, it makes the World of Darkness setting feel much more genuine and full. That things are constantly happening in the complex politics of the Changeling, Vampires and Werewolves and how they might inter-lap at times.
DeleteYeah, I really enjoyed Hoffman's character, am really looking forward to his rap up with the Player characters. He's the type of character that you know, and you know, he's going to screw you someday, but he's so damn nice it's hard to hate him. Once's deranged phone call with him was one of the best roleplay scenes I've ever heard. haha and Poor Twitch. Also Mad dog was an awesome villain. John's showdown with him was epic!
I am currently in the works on running my own Changeling Chronicle and I cannot stress how helpful this podcast series is to me. Really.
So Thank you guys, You're just the best!
Kindest Regards :)
I'm sure this all seems like ancient history to you all, but thanks to the magic of the internet I've had the opportunity to enjoy listening to your AP. It sounded like a great time, you all have a good rapport. Thanks for sharing!
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