Convergence DM Log - Session 6 - 12/14

 Preamble

This session was one that had some very high stress planning.  I know that the party has to get to Point C to continue "the story", and it's non negotiable because not only is it part of "the story" but one of our KickStarter Backers backed at a very high level to be able to design the "major NPC" at Point C.  So not getting the party to Point C is Not An Option much like Gene Kranz made the statement "Failure is not an option" while coordinating the rescue of the Apollo 13 astronauts.

So with that said, I set out to right some wrongs and put the party on a good path after last weeks well and truly horrific clock cleaning.

I Think Your Intestines are Over There

So the adventure started off with some serious role play as the party tried to piece together themselves, literally and figuratively.  While we had some mechanics conversations about spells and healing and the like, we also had some amazing interplay between the characters as they sorted out who did and did not do what during the fight.  Molly expertly recalled how little Sam contributed to the fight through no fault other than that of the dice.  Tiffany played well into Syb's guilt at having broken and run from the New Blade's HQ and effectively lead the gnoll raiders right to the party.  All of the characters were on point as they limped away from the carnage and looked for a place to shelter for a time to lick their wounds and take a short rest.  

In retrospect I wish I had planned the farm house a little more.  Throughout this part of the state there are patches of farm that have survived the suburban creep.  Every few years another family sells the land their great great grandfather bought back in the 19th century and another housing development goes in.  If you follow any of the major arteries north out of Detroit, you can see them dotting the sides of the roads.  But once you push away from the pavement, down a few dirt roads you'll see large plots and sporadic farm houses.  

Here's a Google earth shot of an area not far from where the party had their fight.  You can see the functional farm land nestled off a dirt road (I think the farm house is on the left), and a freshly minted golf course on the right.  Awww suburban creep.

A Vision from the Past

When we were creating our characters and setting the stage for the game, Aveline's story as the most recent arrival in Reality Prime set her up to be one of the first eyes we would see the world through.  We watched as she was pulled through reality and deposited in this strange land.  It set up the character of Fredrick / Harrison, it set up the immense loss that people trapped in a convergence event feel seeing their reality being transported to Reality Prime.  What we haven't talked about yet is what happens in Reality Prime as this new reality is coming down on it and replacing what was.

Similarly, Pond had some time to develop her back story with one of our backers who specifically asked to back an episode that featured that arc.  So as we've been going on I've also been trying to find a way to work in a story line that either reunites Aveline with her fiancé, from whom she was separated in the event.  I had lots of ideas in the works for Harrison to cross her path with a rumor or some other "there's a story about someone who looks like this over there".  Knowing Aveline's character arc, that's a sure fire way for the party to start beating feet that way.  

But then I had a moment of creative insight.

Talk.  To.  Your.  Players.

I am blessed to have such a good and open relationship with all four of the people who come to my table every week.  We're able to talk frankly with each other and a few of them have checked me over the last year when I needed that check.  And it's always been done with kindness far beyond as required.  

Now I'm always nervous about potential romantic subplots.  Earlier this year, in another game, we had two characters starting to slip into a crush with each other.  My hope was to introduce a romantic foil, someone who could tease one of the players away from the other a little.  I thought I had designed a good character mechanically (an arcane rogue) who had a bit of flair and a bit of swagger, and useful information.

I quickly learned how rusty my flirt game was with people not named Mrs. Noir.  

I also knew that I'd be asking a player to take their character on a romantic story, one that they (plural) might not be 100% on board with.  And that meant sitting down, pre-game, to say things like "I'd like to introduce a possible romance" and "this will be adding to Aveline's back story".  I thought I had a pretty good idea how Pond would take it, and how Aveline would roll in character but I wanted that extra layer of consent.  Full disclosure, I'm also a straight man, role playing a character that's going to get into a "thing" with a gay character played by a gay woman.  It made sense to communicate pre-game on a lot of levels.

And I really can't repeat this enough.  As the DM, it's not "My" game.  It's "Our" game.  While I wrote the story, and I act as the final rules arbiter, at the end of the day the entire experience, at my table at least, is collaborative.  Part of my job is to create situations the pressure the players to make choices, put their characters through moments of growth, but that only works if everyone at the table is on board.

Tangent:  Do not hurt this NPC ever

I'll take this chance to reiterate a point raised by a player at a different table.  The party met an NPC that she took an affinity to.  It was RP'd in a way that engendered affection and protection and that player made the statement:  I won't be able to emotionally handle this NPC being put in harms way.  A lot of DMs would take any NPC that the party connects with an see that as a pressure point to create tension.  You kidnap them to make the party take action.  You kill them to put the party on a revenge arc.  You use them for emotional motivations.  And sometimes, the players don't particularly like that.  They don't feel up to the anxiety of protecting that particular NPC.  And that's okay.

The Flashback

So when I was making the opening titles of The Convergence, I knew I needed something to fill the room where the lyrics set up the world as dark and dangerous.  Being on a budget I went trolling through websites that offered free to use, royalty free videos.  I found the rising moon, the walking down a dark path, and a few videos that featured a woman with black hair, in a black dress.  I had no idea how she fit the story but the flash of her lighting a candle and the image of her looking over her should fit perfectly into the lyrics.  

The problem was simple:  I had no idea how she fit into the game.

So taking the fact that I wanted to work in Aveline's back story, and I wanted to create room for the party to meet a sage-like character to give them direction, and I wanted to create some interesting tension with the backstory I knew.  And out of that was born the "in the past" character.  It wasn't meant to be a long scene but I wanted to lay some foundation and give Aveline some room to RP but not too much as it was a flash back.

In full honesty, it was 100% up to Pond what Aveline did in the moment that was created.  She could have been noble and said "no no... I can't take advantage" or "not now but I'll come back for you" or any other answer.  Again, full player agency.

The Adventures of Syb, Master Spy and Con-woman

In the meantime, Syb, guilt ridden, goes of to redeem herself by trying, once again, to infiltrate the New Blade's HQ.  To be honest I did not see this coming nor did I fully grok what Tiffany's goal was.  While the New Blades had clearly taken a similar licking, they weren't wiped out and many survivors were still in the camp.  They had wounded to tend and the implication was made that the gnolls never breached the main building.  

What I do appreciate is that Tiffany did have at least one McGuffin she was looking for:  She wanted to find out what they wanted with the shard and was willing to go face to face with Handsome Dan to find it.  Of course, like combat at the previous session, sometimes the dice don't favor you and only but the skin of her teeth did she make a break back to the team.

https://clips.twitch.tv/BrainySplendidGarbageNinjaGrumpy-CDZYIeps9XgxKuOy

This time however she made it back to the party and didn't die or get followed.

A Win

While I don't want to downplay the RP of my players or their amazing dice rolls and team synergy, I did want to present a combat encounter that was not as brutal as last week's.  And from a story point of view, I think the party needed a chance to see that the gnolls could be bested in combat.  The whole 'withering' monster type was good for this and it also gave Kati, as a cleric, a chance to do the cleric thing.  Further it gave NLK a chance to shine in her ability to describe a scene around her character as divine magic happens.  I was almost worried that they would pass up a chance to ambush the beasts but I think a light nudge did want I wanted. 

This flowed to the discovery of the woman deeper in the forest and left a pile of unanswered questions.  Who is she?  Why is she out in the middle of no where?  How did no one see her before?  And why does she look exactly like the girl, Clarise, that Aveline had lain with so many years ago and a world away?

And those questions were the perfect end to a great night of gaming.

Conclusions

Again I don't have any real long term visions to talk about in this log.  I don't even think the knowledge that there's a "major NPC" coming in the future is a spoiler as it was on the Kickstarter.  We have mostly kept the details of this particular little character under wraps and each week I wonder if this will finally be the one he appears in.  Overall it was a session I really enjoyed being a part of and for the first time in a while the players seemed to feel that there was a path under all of the wandering.

I also need to start to do a deep dive in the coming weeks into the other back stories, from Kati's time on the desert peninsula to Sam's mechanical arm to Syb's rooftop running days.  There are so many stories to explore and this is still early in Season 1.  

I can't wait to tell stories for weeks, months, maybe even years to come.