GM discussion thread.

Kirby;

You can see how it might be difficult to summarize all this.

Briefly...

The Winchwell and Blaenville threads all deal with a plot to kill Archbishop Tameric of the Church of Zilchus and get a local man (Father Silas Taro) put in his place.

A group of wealthy citizens with lots of underhanded dealings has been receiving aid from a harvester devil named Matukal. Father Taro has made a pack with this same devil.

Matukal works for Mammon, who wishes to promote the Crooked Stile here in Fairhaven... though he will later turn on them.

Mammon believes that desperation will drive more souls to him. He intends to bring the Fellowship to power in order to instigate a war between the Brotherhood and the Fellowship.

Mammon is actually secretly behind the series of events that led to the destruction of the Brotherhood here in the first place, although the high level paladin who led the strike force would be horrified to discover this!

The Winter Wolf in the docks thread was being shipped to a rival of Momma Toki's. This same rival is connected to the Brotherhood.

Chastity Neverton was spying on the admiral of the fleet currently docked at Fairhaven and patroling its waters. He is a high ranking member of the Brotherhood.

She had a slight indiscretion... which angered the admiral, and resulted in him contacting Momma's rival (don't recall his name offhand) to sic some nasty magebred wolves after her... if you get to the thread with the wolf combat at Momma's, that's what that is all about.

Wow, there's the whole curse of the Nordengeist family, which is related to the thread you came into. The John Doe there is actually one of the family members. That plot line is not currently being pursued... well, it is, but it's complicated...

The Nordengeist family curse is related to the beast that dwells under the city, which ties in with the shaman bag/ K'tallah spore plot.

The former head of the Nordengeist family was a member of the Brotherhood, who have made Infernal pacts with the enemies of Mammon... these pacts were made before Mammon's ambitions and enmities were realized. It was Mammon who made the move of approaching the enemies of his enemies, even though he's only seeking to set them up for a fall...

The beast beneath the city also ties in the the Praetor Syndicate thread. The Praetor Syndicate is a group of assassins, mostly nonhuman, a subsection of whom are a group of Cult of Thoon Mindflayers.

The Praetor Syndicate has one known representative in the group that Father Taro and Bax are involved with (the group in Blaenville, who are considering naming themselves the Underhaven Society... but they don't agree on much). He is a Rakshasa.

The group from Blaenville (including Meridin Caraster, a wealthy merchant) in league with Matukal are concerned that their Praetor Syndicate contingent will assassinate Archbishop Tameric, then use their willingness and ability to 'get the job done' to further their position in the group. They are jockeying to be the next big thing in organized crime. Due to favors Matukal has done for them, they have to at least pay lip service to his desire to see the Fellowship rise in power, but they secretly desire to take the place over themselves.

There's a lot more, and I know this isn't terribly organized, but this is the quick version.

Feel free to ask questions.

... Wow.

Well, one thing I can say right away is that you've got a lot going on. Speaking from a writer's perspective, it's not easy to keep that many plates spinning at once, so you've got my respect.

That said (and please don't take this the wrong way), my first impression after reading all this is that there may be too much going on. It all sounds really awesome, but my worry is that if you try to introduce all of this in the game, it may all get a bit hard to follow.

My suggestion (and take this with a grain of salt, because I have an awful track history when it comes to being a DM) would be to see where you can consolidate some of these plots/hooks, condensing them down into a few united fronts that you can push on the players. This will be good because:

A) You won't be making as much work for yourself chasing down all these threads, and keeping track of all this information
B) Your headache might diminish slightly
C) The players won't have to juggle as much information, which will allow them to follow the story at a more leisurely pace


These are just two red cents from a loose cannon, so take them as you will.

I've run several games that have lasted 6+ years on tabletop, and, despite the recent temporary slow-down, CotF has made it past the one year mark.

All my games are like this. That's because this is how my brain works.

The Gwynneth game is much simpler, but I'm having a really hard time with it. Unless I figure out how to complicate it soon, I'm going to get bored.

Ever hear of Asperger's Syndrome? I'm being evaluated for it next month. I mention this because it might be the simplest way to explain why I can't make it simpler.

If I were normal, you'd be right.

My intention is to give everyone bits of plot in manageable sections.

I don't really care if they ever figure out everything that's going on. The fact that it's there lends verisimilitude to the world.

You're going to make me feel bad about calling you a loose cannon. Did I mention that I'm also kinda blunt? But, if I flatter you, you can take that at face value too.

Aw, shucks.

Well, it all sounds very neat. If you want to tie a few of these things in to the larger plot picture- which appears to be this Mammon guy, who's pulling the strings of this puppet show- here are a few suggestions that leap to mind.


* Perhaps the Hunter in the Dark is a "lieutenant" of Mammon? A sort of right-hand man, or maybe a creature Mammon uses to perform his dirty work. If this were the case, I'm sure Mammon would have a vested interest in freeing the Hunter from its Greb prison, so perhaps he (?) pulled a few strings here and there (especially with Tooz, planting a suggestion in his head that the Greb pouch was something of value) in order to make this happen.

* The Praetor Syndicate's Rakshasa leader is also being manipulated by Mammon. In this sense, Mammon is playing both sides in order to ensure the assassination of Archbishop Tameric, with the rationale that the more eager of the two will ensure the cleric is laid to rest.

* The long and short of this is that Mammon is playing every side of this conflict against each other. In this way, no matter what happens and no matter who wins, Mammon will come out on top and rule Fairhaven.


What do you think? I like it because it's devious. *wipes away drool*

Don't feel bad! Actually I take it as a compliment, because just like a loose cannon...

I CAN'T BE STOPPED.

Brotherhood has multiple Infernal ties, so, yes, Mammon's manipulation on that side would definitely work.

I've got to think a bit about the other suggestion...

I'm inclined to make Fairhaven the site of a power struggle between powerful beings, rather than hand it all to Mammon.

Alright, sounds good. Where (if any place just yet) do you want me to jump in? I'll bide my time until you're ready, of course, but I'd like to get an idea of any areas where you'd want me to pick up where another co-DM may have left off.

I could also leverage Antonin toward advancing the plot, somehow. In case Medusa's thread needs a deus ex machina-style kick, the old fart could "discover" a vital clue?

Really, the meta-theme of the game is the greater powers backing separate groups, and not everyone knows whose backing them.

The PCs are the lynch-pins on which these other powers have hinged their own plots.

So, I don't give it all to Mammon. Simplifying to him takes away from the future options of a long term game. Once the players discover who the major powers are, they will have options to support one or more powers to their own advantage.

So, actually, I'm probably keeping to two or three.

If this is going to run for many, many years, there can't be a single end-boss.

I avoid deus ex machina like the plague. I think you're going to end up taking over the Ender's dock thread, with me NPCing the wolf. It'll probably be a day or two before I'm ready for you. I need to get Covenant rolling.

Every video game I've ever played has felt like it was lacking something. Now I know why.

Sounds like a plan. Just let me know what I need to do.