Had our character creation session last night (for eight players the ninth will join us next week) and it was awesome. We were almost unanimous in our praise of the debts system to create a network of connection at the beginning. One player felt it was too confining and forced him to drift from his concept too much. I will post a long write up this weekend but we had a blast.
Had our character creation session last night (for eight players the ninth will join us next week) and it was…
Had our character creation session last night (for eight players the ninth will join us next week) and it was…
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Holy crap, 9 players?! I am curious to see how that goes. Something I have found in all the sessions I have played is that storylines often end up spotlighting one or two characters at a time just as a natural part of the fiction so it will be interesting to see how that large a group works. I think 7 is the highest number of players that I have played with so far, Mark Diaz Truman ran that one actually… I was super sleepy for part of it but still had fun.
I’ve run 7 players once at a local con and although it meant very little spotlight for each individual character, I felt we had fun with it. Ended up with three storylines with mixed PC’s in each, one of which ended up with taking an exiled faerie princess out for beers and a rom-com at the theatres lol! I will never forget that!
Yes I can already see some groups forming for storylines. I run this large a group regularly, although we will be decreasing in size soon by a few, so we have all learned to cooperate on pacing and story events for each person. Obviously, some characters get more face time then others but everyone gets some shine time.
I have run a few PbtA games with this large a group, both this crowd and at con, and it has gone well. I find the character creation and moves gets them so thinking and invested from the get go that you can run multilines of story and it still works because the players are already booked into character connections.
3-4 hrs once a week.
I started a new thread for this discussion and posts but I will double post here to for people who are following this thread.
I am finally getting to write out our first session report. Our first session was strictly character creation. There are nine players in the group but only eight were available for character creation.
Our story is taking place in Charleston, SC. We had voted and were tied for Charleston and Detroit. I decided on Charleston because it fits the themes and images I was thinking of for an urban fantasy game. Detroit was a very close second for me because of the imagery of decay and desolation as well as the potential for rampaging monsters through the streets. Ultimately, though I liked the idea of Charleston better. None of us have any great understanding of Charleston but that allows us to create a mythical Charleston of our story.
I will first introduce all the characters and then talk about Debts and the creation process.
We have two members of Mortality:
Getharius Chaples (The Veteran) was a Russian Sleeper agent for 15 years. When his unit was crushed five years ago he went deeper underground and began to find work with the
supernatural underworld of which he was already aware.
Saturday Hawthorne (The Hunter) is a local early 20s punk who took on the mantle of hunting vampires because he couldn’t stop them from killing someone he had cared about. He is a drug addict.
We have three Power faction members:
Oracle: She was not here this week but will be making her character Wednesday.
Dr. Henry Caldwell (The Immortal) is a man who joined a secret cult in the early 1800s and quickly became a devout follower. He sold his own soul and body to his dark masters for power and eternal life. When his wife died he brought her back with their dark gifts but it was no longer her. He left the cult at this time and has survived as a doctor and scientist studying the connection between life and death since.
G. Jonathan Knight (The Hallowed) is a man blessed with a mission to help those in need. He is a young man who joined the Guardian Angels motorcycle group for a purpose in life. One night he could not save a person from a traffic accident without a miracle. That miracle occurred and he knew he had a new directive in life. He does not know where his power comes from only that he will uses it to protect.
We have one member of the Wild faction:
Alexander (The Tainted) is a being born from a man and the Arch-Demoness Lilith. He does not know his father and was raised by his mother on her home plane until he was seven when he was cast on to Earth to survive. That was two decades ago. He has a love/hate relationship with his mother and he seeks human companionship to show him what it truly means to be human.
For the Night Faction we have three members:
Emily (The Spectre) is a young girl, around 13, who was being trafficked by smugglers. The group who were trafficking her got nervous and dump the goods outside Charleston. Emil has sworn to kill the men who did this before she moves on.
Miguel Villalobos (The Vamp) comes from an old Charleston family. They chose to become vampires when they ran the largest slave market in the South but after the War of Northern Aggression they became a secluded family who live on crime and monetary power in Charleston. Miguel revels in his monstrous animal side.
Raphael St. Claire (The Wolf) has been a werewolf for over 1,000 years moving as the need arises. He has been in Charleston for only a short while. His territory has turned into a crime ridden neighborhood that also happens to be haunted by a supernatural presence.
That is our cast of characters. I will do the process and Debts post next.