Chatty's Bedtime Campaign: Nico's Party!
This is the last part of Nico’s Quest, an interactive bedtime story game I started with him my 6 year old son Nicolas in the last week. I also just bought a digital recorder to better capture the story and write it later since my blogging schedule is starting to get crowded!
Chatty: “So what happened last time we played?”
Nico: “I met Polywag and gave him a diamond so I could enter the Cave.”
“Oh yeah I remember now”
“I enter the cave now”
“So, what do you expect to find in there? Something big?”
“Yeah! Are you recording this?”
“I am, so I can remember all the cool things you said”
“How does it work?”
“You press the button here and it just records”
“Cool”
Chapter 6, The Arena Cave
“All right, you enter a huge cave that’s all dark! You don’t see much in it as only the light from outside the little door comes barely in.”
“Hmmm, I take my laser sword and I fill it with laser energy to make a sort of light”
“Nice, What color?”
“Yellow, because that’s what powerful swords look like”
“Yes, power does glow. Okay, You see you’re in some sort of immense super huge Oval shaped rooms with Smooth walls that go up really high over you.
(Excitedly) “Oh Yeah!”
“It looks like a Pokemon arena.”
“What’s an Arena?”
“That’s the large places where Pokemon fight”
“Oh yeah, like in the movies!”
“That’s right! Also, high on the far wall, you see an opening like a window and in it you see Polywrath sitting on a large Stone throne. Beside him, there’s a man tied up and gagged, trying to speak… but all you hear is Mmmmmmrghmmmm!”
“It’s my father” (Notice how he’s started to separate his in-game father with me)
“That’s right, it’s your kidnapped father”
Chapter 7: The Faceoff
Polywrath: “Mwa HA HA HA Nicolas, we finally meet. Are you bringing the crown so you can have your Daddy back?”
Nico: (With conviction!) No! I came to recuperate my daddy, not to give you the Crown!” (God I’m happy I recorded that, I now can recall the emotions.)
Polywrath: “I will never give you back your daddy unless you go back and get me the crown!”
“Fine! Did you know how I entered this cavern even though you left Poliwag guarding it?”
“Yeah, I was wondering how you did that”
“I gave him one of my Diamonds!”
“What? And he left and let you in?”
“Yes.”
“Argh! He’s not very nice to leave his job like that”
“No! It’s you who’s not nice… You never gave him gifts so that he would help you!”
(Long Pause… I was shocked) “Yeah, you do have a point there Nico… but, but but that’s not what I want from you. You were supposed to bring me the crown, I should have the crown, I should be the King, not your father, ME!”
“Yeah, let me tell you that you don’t always get to be the King in real life!” (What???? Am I being thought a life lesson by my own 6 year old here?)
“But, GAh, Hmmm…. ARGHHHHHH! What you’re telling me is making me very mad!”
Chatty: “Polywrath picks up your father and hangs him high over the Arena floor”
Poliwrath:” Bring me the crown or I drop him on the floor! That will hurt him a lot!”
Nico: “Awww, What can I do now? Do I tell him no? What can I do” (There are long pauses between each sentence as he’s trying to find a solution”
Chatty: “What is it that you’d like to achieve?”
Nico: “I want him to put my father down, but I don’t have the Crown”
“But you don’t want to give him the crown?”
“No I don’t, even if I had it with me”
“Poliwrath gets real mad that you aren’t leaving to get the crown and he lets your father fall. Your father says…. mmmrghplmmmmm!. What do you do?”
(Giggles and Stutters)
“Calm yourself Nico, you have time to think it over. What are your powers again?”
What followed was a little bit of back and forth to lower Nico’s rising but unnecessary anxiety and brainstorm ideas to save Nico’s father. Then Inspiration Struck!
Nico: “I’m going to use my armour’s weather powers to conjure a Cloud to stop his fall”
Chatty: (Picking up on Nico’s uncounsious DragonBall reference): Awesome, you manage to summon the Nimbus Cloud that flies in.
Nico: “For real?”
“Of Course. The cloud zooms right underneath your falling father. Does the King have a pure heart?” (The Nimbus Cloud is solid only to those types of people)
“Yes, The king has a Pure Heart”
“Well then if he’s a such a good King, he hits the cloud gently and it flies him down to the ground, safe and sound”
Polywrath: I’m tired of this Nico, you always foil my plans! I want to fight in this arena you now!”
Nico (laughing!): “Ok!”
Chatty: Polywrath jumps down in the arena and starts his Hypnosis attack. What attack do you prepare?
Nico:” I aim with my laser sword and shoot!”
“Okay, we’ll play this combat with Rock Paper Scissors.” (Nico always, always starts with scissors… so I was on safe ground here).
Nico: “Scissors!”
Polywrath: “Paper!”
Chatty: You hit Polywrath with a laser beam and he’s knocked back and he slams against the Arena’s wall, stunned.”
Chapter 8: The Disney Imperative
Poliwrath (Wheezing and Crying): You won! It’s no fair! All I wanted was to become the king because no one wants to be friends with me. Maybe if I was King I’d have friends.”
Nico: “No. If all you wanted to have is friends, you just had to ask and be a little more nice” (My wife reading over my shoulder commented that kids really soak in those children movie values… Think about it).
“You think that it would work?”
“Of course!”
“People are never nice to me.”
“But why?”
“Maybe it’s because I’m too mean ?”
“But what did you do to be mean”
“I always say bad things about people, I never want to share my toys and I always want others to play the games I decide to play” (Yeah, yeah, parenting agenda and all)
“Okay, you don’t HAVE to share your toys, but you really should let others chose the games they want to play. When you want to make friends, you have to share many things and let them decide things for themselves. You can chose games, but not all the time.” (Once again… Shocked. That little man will go a lot further than me in life if he sticks to that philosophy. He would also be one hell of a Gamemaster).
“You really think so?”
“Of course. You should also share your toys a little sometimes”
“Okay then. Can you forgive me for having kidnapped your father”
“Yeah, it’s Okay.”
“Phew! Thank you Nico. I’ll try to be nicer. You can go with your father, I’ll stay here and think about this”
“Okay! I’m done! yay!”
Epilogue: Party!
Chatty: “You did it Nico, your a champion! What do you do now? Do you go back to your Castle and make a big party?”
Nico: “Yes! And I’ll invite all the friends I made during this adventure! ”
“Do you invite Polywrath?”
“Of course!”
“Awesome, it’s a great party and everyone has fun! Good Night Nico”
“Good night daddy!”
Here ends Book one of Nico’s Quest.
Chatty’s Thoughts: The number of GMing lessons I learned in this little exercise (That I will definitively keep on doing , I might just not write about it) are countless. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. I’m now closer to my six year old and we now have our very own father-son thing.
I’m just so proud of my son!
I’ll never tell you how to live your life, but please do everything in your power to slow time around your family so you can actually see your children grow up slowly.
Peace out!
Credits: Nicolas Menard (Story), Nintendo (Image)
Done with World of Warcraft Forever
I haven’t played World of Warcraft in several years, since a few months after the game was released. (I played for a while in the open beta before that.) At the time, I had a lot going on in my life, my internet connection wasn’t stable enough to play long term, and all my friends who were playing were rapidly outpacing me in leveling, making adventuring with them impossible. So, I quit. I had heard that even if you stop paying for the account, you can still return to your characters if you ever reactivate the account.
Off and on I’ve toyed with the idea of playing again, especially as friends of mine from college dived into the game hardcore, and talked about it often whenever I’d visit. The goal would be to hang out with them online on a regular basis, moreso than playing the game itself. [Read the rest of this article]
The Seven Habits of Great GMs
Inspired by the Stephen R. Covey’s seminal books.
After 25 years of GMing, you learn a few lessons about GMing. Some are easier to learn than others.
Here’s a list of what I’ve observed in good GMs and what I strive to develop. It’s in no particular order.
- Being Enthusiastic: A great GM exudes loves for the game you to play in. He relishes in your successes and convinces you not to quit when things are grim.
- Being Empathic: A great GM is directly connected to the emotional energy of the table. She actively looks out for the emotional states of each player (Boredom, Excitement, Frustration, Irritation, etc) and can use that knowledge to keep the fun level high.
- Being Open Minded: A great GM is willing to throw any part of his preparation out the window if something more fun comes up in the game, especially if this comes from the players.
- Being Humble: A great GM is perfectly willing to admit she made a mistake or misinterpreted something. She’ll be willing to compromise to bring the game state to the best possible outcome once the issue is resolved.
- Showing Leadership: A great GM will bring players together and give everyone (including him) all the necessary tools to have fun. He’ll wear the mantle of authority with fairness and concern for the fun of all.
- Being Organized: A Great GM will make sure that her material is arranged to suit her natural style and flow. She won’t lose precious time looking for things and break the game’s pacing.
- Being Self Aware: A great GM will know his strengths and limits during prepping and at the table. He’ll focus on his strengths and make efforts to push back his limits in order to outdo himself as a GM.
You want to share any more? Please do, I sure can afford to learn more.
Project Kobold Love: The Adventure Plan
Hello and welcome to the 1st official design essay of Project Kobold Love.
Here I’m going to reveal it to you, all 5 scenes of my adventure, including the very Tropa-licious ending I cooked up last week on my plane ride back from Gen Con.
The 5 scenes model
Kobold Love will follow a model similar to Johnn Four’s seminal 5 room dungeon model. It will consist of 5 self-contained scenes (or Encounters in D&D 4e speak) that are linked in a linear fashion by a story.
I chose that model because it makes for a short adventure (I want to tackle another project soon). I also chose it because a 5 scenes adventure can usually fit in a 4 hour gaming session, which is a common time slot in home games and conventions.
Kobold love is not designed for campaign play, although it could act as a springboard to one.
The Adventure Plan
When I prepare a homegrown adventure for my gaming buddies, the first thing I do is a plan of each scene I envision in the upcoming adventure. I don’t necessarily write it all, I’ve made and played 5 scenes adventures without notes, but it often helps me when I do.
While this yet unnamed adventure (Kobold Love is just a placeholder name) will be somewhat linear, I still like to have a high level idea of the possible encounters before I start building it.
The way I do it is to write a few paragraphs for the introduction and each scene of the adventure. That allows me to outline my main idea about each part. If inspiration hits while writing the plan, I pour it in, but I try real hard not to let details creep in too much (and take over my creative cycle), that’s for later.
So here’s Kobold Love’s plan:
Adventure Introduction
A party of big ugly kobolds have lived all their lives with an old Kobold crone that acts as the dungeon’s Oracle/Witch Doctor. What the ugly duckling kobolds lack in grace they more than make up with cunning and a very acute sense of survival. Since their infancy, they have been able to avoid the numerous adventurer raids of their home dungeon, pulling their adoptive mother to safety while most other dungeon denizens perished.
One day, the Oracle had a vision and shared a prophecy with the whole underground complex: Now was the time to break the cycle of raiding and killing in the realm of Darkness. A group of outcasts was to go to the Outside Dungeon, seek the “House with Dark Corners” and slay the Quest Giver!
As soon as the words were spoken, outrage and anger ignited the dungeon…
Chatty’s Comments:
That’s typical me, I start writing and it all pours out… this is basically the whole adventure background. I’ll just retouch later.
At least it gives you all the context of where I plan to go with this.
Scene 1, Dungeons and Diplomacy
Shortly after the Oracle pronounced the prophecy, angry (and muscled) representatives of the dungeons’s strongest factions show up in the Crone’s Cave Lair and demand that she retracts such heresy. They are ready to argue their position with weapons, teeth and claws.
Monsters don’ t just leave dungeons! Therein lies madness!
There the kobold PCs, who have been identified as the obvious “Outcasts” by all factions, must debate with the factions leaders to convince them of the validity of their quest. With a skill challenge based on social skills (and role playing), the PCs can reduce the number of hostile enemies they have to face.
The number of successes and failures determines the number of factions the PCs will have to fight simultaneously as each success returns a faction to its lair.
Scene 2, On the Road…Again
As the Kobolds make their way to the nearest Human city, they have to rest near a road. During their rest, a generic adventuring party is passing by to raid their dungeon. If the PCs are spotted, the party of adventurers cries ‘Kobold Ambush!’ and attacks.
Chances are PCs will attack if unspotted, turning this into a real ambush!
Chatty’s Comments:
This scene is a tribute to Keep on the Shadowfell and countless other In Media Res adventures. I just had to put it in!
Scene 3, Skill Challenged in the City.
Kobolds have to get into the city. Various ways are made available, including climbing the outside wall at night, Bluffing the City guards (Skill challenge: Disguise, Bluff, Diplomacy) and sneaking into the sewers
Chatty’s Comments:
This is the least developed (and least linear) scene in my mind currently. Therein lies the danger of over writing it. For example, in the sewers, I have possible trap-like encounters with monsters or another roleplaying skill challenge to convince sewer denizen of righteousness of quest in mind.
Actually I think I’ll give DMs playing the adventure the option of making their own 5 room dungeon just for the Sewer part of the adventure, possibly adding treasures to help the PCs later.
Scene 4, Trope Showdown in the Tavern of Clichés.
PCs make it to the Tavern where they meet a roomfull of the some of the most known D&D archetypes/clichés characters. Among others, they’ll meet a dual-scimitar Drow Ranger, a Naive Fighter and his sickly Wizard brother. a wisecracking halfling rogue and, of course, the Stranger in the Corner.
An epic, very hard fight ensues… with a possible Roleplaying “out” See Scene 5.
Chatty’s Comment:
Yup, a subverted barfight against tired clichés! Choosing the right archetypes for maximum effect is going to be important here. Crunch wise, the encounter must be at the near maximum of the party’s capacity. The Tavern must also be a dynamic environment ripe with props and cool terrain exploits to give bold/creative PCs a slight edge.
Scene 5, You wouldn’t dare!
Edit: This Scene as be marked for possible rework. See comments.
As the stranger in the corner dies, he drops 2 scrolls. The first, written in common, says “Go forth in the nearby Caves of Doom and find an old Kobold Crone living with a small band of kobolds and give her this scroll. Kill everything else!”
The second scroll, written in a secret language the Crone taught the PCs says “My love, I miss you so! I’m ready to be a good father now, if you’ll still have me”
Roll Credits.
Chatty’s Comments:
Did I forget to mention that all PCs were half-kobolds? I did? My bad. =)
If the DM feels especially evil he can let the PCs bring back the scroll without reading it and witness ‘mom’ cry herself to death upon reading the note.
However, I really want to allow the adventure to finish in a different way… Maybe the stranger will be willing to surrender and parlay if bloodied and that might be an occasion to have a ‘Sith Lord Daddy’ moment that’s just as strong.
Possibilities…Endless!
Your Turn!
So any thoughts on this in general? Anyone wants to take this in another direction?
Sound off in the comments, on our Forum or on your own web site (don’t forget to link!)
Up Next: Adventure Background and Summary (and maybe a bit more)
Credits: Wizards of the Coast (Image)
The Sound of Gnomes
In case you haven’t already, head over to Gnome Stew (which you should be reading anyway) and leave a comment on this post to be entered into a contest for one of the coolest prizes I’ve ever seen for RPGs: custom sound effects for your game! The sound effects are made by the professional sound engineer that runs World of Twilights Studio so it’s not just some bum in a basement hitting bottles… it’s real quality work (and check out the samples if you don’t believe me.)
Be sure to enter by Labor Day this Monday for your chance to win!
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