Saturday, October 1, 2011

Computer Woes, Lost Character Sheets, & Animal Island

I thought my 3+ year old hand-me-down computer was a goner.  Crashing like the ram was bad.  Which sucked because I came home from work and could work on silhouettes or anything.  But it looks like it was a buggy version of Firefox (fingers crossed).

Yesterday before game time, I was frantically searching through all my stuff for my players' character sheets.  I usually keep them all because I figure I'm less likely to lose them.  But they were gone! 

After a few texts, turns out that one player in the mountains thought that would be our last game we ever played and kept the sheets for sentimental reasons.  Okay, go to the house.  No sheets.  Where are they?  Must be here.  Finally decide to just improvise, start writing down ACs and probable amounts of hit points.  And begin playing.

Then, another player arrives with all the character sheets.  Everyone is happy to have their trained ferrets and fairytale spells back.

The session was short
"G" - F
     La Bouche - hireling
      Janis - hireling
Darkyo - F
Athydas - MU

We last left our heroes washed ashore on a weird animal island.  There were four players involved.  Two of those players are now gone.  The three players I was with yesterday had not been there.  It seemed to make sense to have these three wake up on the shore and explore the island a bit and meet up with the two remaining from the original crew.  Because those original two arrived a little late, events were already rolling and they ended up sitting around observing and probably bored.

Ah, for a dungeon and a nearby tavern.  Who knew rotating player rosters would be such a challenge.  I suppose if I was a better DM I could have switched the spotlight to the two late arrivals, but a) I was afraid they would be at mortal risk with just the two of them and b) they are at a part of the island which is sort of central to everything so I wanted all the players together when they tried to figure out the animal machines and such.

So what happened in play?  The three wander through a coastal forest a bit.  They stumble upon a village of strange creatures that walk on their hands and have no lower torsos.  They spot the two hirelings tied to spits near the fire.

G moves into the village, throws some fireworks into the fire- which shocks all the creatures and blinds them.  Then begins walking on his hands-- which, for some reason, enrages them.  Battle ensues.  Darkyo is laying down bow fire from the trees.  Athydas closes to throw some darts and is knocked out.  G manages to cut one hireling free before getting knocked out.  Darkyo's missile thins the ranks of the enemy.  The first hireling frees the second and they manage to turn the tide of battle.  The unconscious are roused and the huts are set afire as the sound of more of the creatures approaching comes from the forest above.

Some Thoughts
__________________________________________
I need to figure a way to put character sheets on my blog so I can access them anywhere from my phone.  I thought of uploading photos first, but I suppose I could just type up the stats in the barest numerical form.

I wish I could reboot my whole campaign with a B2-like area and central homebase.  Starting at Nidus on an island has made where players go pretty unpredictable and meant I had to have an idea, not of just one or two cultures, but pretty much what the heck is going on in the whole world.  Once they figure out a mode of travel to get off this island I have only the vaguest idea of where they might head.

I hate nothing more than seeing bored players.  But there was a lot of confusion and it's been months since we've played so I'll go easy on myself and strive to do better next time.

6 comments:

  1. I vote Dropbox. It's awesome.
    Also, don't sweat it! Shaking off storyteller dust can take a little bit. I started a game about 6 months ago after years of not running. It took a while - and I made some rookie mistakes - but after a bit, I was hitting my stride again and could deal with whatever hair-brained ideas they came up with.
    When I get stuck, or plot-line ambushed might be the better term, I just improv, give everything a veil of mystery (so I can fill in the details between games) and smile like I had this planned the whole time. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. http://www.wikidot.com/ ? Dropbox is decent, but https://one.ubuntu.com/ is probably more up your alley.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks all. Storage isn't a problem so much-- since I have my own domain and blogger here-- as transferring all the many sheets.

    I might just take pics, make a pdf and put that on my phone, that way I'll have them even without internet connectivity.

    @Frankie: Thank you. I appreciate that. I seem to swing from confidence close to hubris to humility close a complete lack of confidence very quickly. Blarrgh.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We all do. It's the curse of the storyteller. I mean, you have to be cocky/crazy/humbled to role-play gods and sages and villains.

    Just don't let the players see your weakness. They're rabid and will eat you alive. ;)

    ReplyDelete