02-20-2016, 06:58 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-15-2016, 09:46 AM by lostnobody87.
Edit Reason: a few minor edits
)
Part the Third or The One In Which Things Actually Happen
BOY-HOWDY am i excited. So by now everyone should know about the players and the world of Gemma, now we get into their first foray into adventure. I placed the group in the FF canon town of Rabanastre which resides in the (also canon) continent/world of Ivalice. This was done intentionally, kind of as an homage to both that particular setting and FF in general. Ive always lurved the FF Tactics games as well as FF12, so i wanted to add sumthin a lil familiar. Rabanastre is the starter town for FF12, so my thinkin was that its big enough to contain all the essentials of a town while not being too big so that the players dont feel lost. Ivalice itself is really more an appropriation of the name, which i applied to a wide circular section of Gemma that surrounds La Giunturra Stesso and contains all of the hemispheres, thus opening the door for many travelers from vastly different backgrounds.
In the intro to the game, before any playing took place, i explained that each individual PC belongs to the Clan/Guild Centurio, which is presided over by a moogle named Montblanc (Centurio being the default clan name in FF Tactics Advance and Montblanc being a staple character in FFTA & FF12). I did this for a few reasons, the main reason being that i didnt want to begin the game with "You enter a tavern, you see people you need to know, there is a fight and you all become friends thru the joy of punchies". Its basically a cliche at this point and, while taverns certainly have their place in fantasy worlds, it just didnt come across as organic to me. While i was hesitant to outright command that the PCs are a part of an organization that they as players dont know and had no choice in, I felt it was a gamble worth taking. I felt that being a part of a larger organization both helps and restricts them; they have someone who is clearly in charge but also someone who has their back if an encounter went south but the PCs intentions were good. Also, while i do not hold them to 'realistic' cycles of food and sleep the PCs do require income, and having them be conscripted by the clan allows them to grow from lv1 intern nobodies (heh) to to higher leveled subcontractors with their own interpretation of how best to complete a task within certain guidelines. Not to mention that i wanted the clan to be a place of familiarity, where the PCs may have seen one another walking about during their routines, thus allowing for a level of friendliness without them completely knowing or not knowing one another.
SO, they work for Clan Centurio, basically as interns. I establish that they do miscellaneous tasks here and there, but ultimately theyre lil more than errand boys at this point. They get a summons from Montblanc and formally meet one another for the first time outside of his office doors. Theyre waiting for a bit, knocking and getting impatient, before they finally hear a faint "...help..." inside the door. They break in to the darkened office, bookshelves with vast tomes lining the walls. Lowkey the Dragoon equips his lance and the party calls out to whomever they heard. Another "...help me!..." can be heard at the far end of the room. The party rushes over to find!... a pile of books with a moogles pompom sticking out of it. The party frees him and helps restack the books while Montblanc thanks them and lights all the candles with a snap of his fingers. For Montblancs character, i take my voice into an octave that i didnt think was possible to the point where i sound like ive been suckin helium, and i throw in a few kupos for good measure. He explains he called them because he needs people for a job relating to the clans supplies, and to go and speak with Horace the Seeq in the Centurio Requisitions Department for the details. The party departs to the lower levels of the clan building in search of Horace.
They enter the long, cavernous hall with a wall at the far end. In the center of the wall is a large door, inside the door a window at about chest height for medium creatures and rowed with theft-prevention bars. The party reaches the window and looks inside only to find the wide hunched back of a seeq, doubled over onto the low counter behind the window. Horace is asleep. They call out to him and he awakens with a start. Horace is a jovial guy with a big belly covered in various scars, indicating a past beyond being a desk jockey. The party says theyre there to assist him with his requisition issue and are ready to get started. Horace is excited that the issue is on its way to being solved and starts hurriedly grabbing various items from here and there around the shop, all while explaining the nature of the task: The clan is hard-up for supplies, the usually shipment being several weeks late. Horace arms are grabbing at things unseen as he continues to explain. The thought is that the supplies are closer to town than farther, based on timetables and communication with other buyers and sellers, which makes it all the more strange that it hasnt arrived. Various power tools can be heard behind the counter. The partys job is to find out what happened to it and, more importantly, get the supplies to town. Horace looks up at party, beaming with joy. "It's done!" he exclaims excitedly, just before lifting a MASSIVE scooby doo-esque hoagie and proceeding to eat the whole thing in much fewer bites than one would think possible to eat a sandwich of that size. The party stares in annoyance and disbelief as Horace reclines back and lets out a contented sigh. The party shakes it off and gets the location info for the task, then proceed to head out. On the way out of the hall, i had them roll a quick perception check to get em used to the idea. A few of them made it and, on looking back at the massive wall-containing-a-door-containing-a-window, they see hinges on one edge of the wall, implying that its not a wall at all and Horace deals in much more than the standard sword and potion.
The party sets out into the desert, not taking chocobos because they dont have that much gil and its not far enough to warrant every ones favorite FF birb. They travel the road that the shipment typically uses and find a bridge-out over a rocky and somewhat deep ravine. I have em roll a few perception checks based on what theyre lookin at, and one of the PCs finds an old sign in the dirt. Its words that trace the edges of the sign are written in a language that none of them can understand, or maybe its just too weathered for anyone to make it out. One thing about the sign is clear; in the center is a figure in a shape not unlike a swastika, with two circles above one oblong circle to indicate what could be a face, with various straight lines all over its body. A few of them get it immediately, but i remind them not to meta. Once the various members have completed their perception checks of the bridge, they deduce that based on the wood and the nature of the destruction, fallen rocks are the culprit. This is strange, as while there are certainly plenty of rocks available, theres no verticality in the area to allow for a rock slide to happen. Furthermore, there are localized scorch marks on some of the bridge beams, indicating some kind of lightning-based magic. The party is puzzled and im so fucking happy. Across the way, the party can see a stopped wagon laden with a massive amount of supplies. The PCs with wings can make it, but the others need some alternate means of getting past the gully of rocks. The party ties a rope to a bridge-post and, in a stunning display of cinematic storytelling, Lowkey the Aegyl jumps with the other end of the rope and glides across the gully to the awe of the group. He ties the rope off and, with some basic checks, the group gets across safely.
The party meets up with the driver of cart, who explains that with the bridge out he'd have to take an alternate path that takes a lil bit longer. Problem is, this path that is usually just an out-of-the-way stretch of road that became more or less obsolete with the bridge being present, is now infested with a variety of wildlife that make passing thru without incident nigh impossible. Clear the mobs, the cart can continue.
So the party hits their first battle scenario, and for many gamers this is what its all about. I place their figures in the corner of a flat-ish desert clearing, with a small dried creek bed bisecting the middle and a few rocky outcroppings around, to add a lil variety. The mobs present are a few of the first level flan(s?) that seem to be fighting some vampire bats in various places around the area. In addition to that, before anyone is permitted to move, I wanna give the PCs a little show. In the far corner of the map, opposite the party, is a medium chicken-like creature that seems agitated. Its pawing the ground with its chickeny legs and strutting around as something small and green darts around an erratic fashion. I give the PCs a chance to roll 2 perception checks, one medium and one a lil harder for the smaller size at a distance. A few of them recognize the cockatrice, a monster with a CR3 by itself, and only 1 or two of the PCs got the smaller creature, a cactuar. The party is officially afraid and i love it. They begin discussing other options to fighting, all while keeping their eyes on the cockatrice/cactuar brawl thats about to go down. The cockatrice looks like its about to go in, when out of nowhere the cactuar unleashes 'thousand needles', a spray of barbs that just rip thru the larger beast. The PCs are in a terrified state of awe. The cactuar bounces back and forth for a moment, staring at its handiwork, then runs off into the horizon, leaving only a dust trail and an ass-ton of needles behind. The party is cool to fight now.
I had a few reasons for wanting to show the party this random clip from FF National Geographic. Firstly, i wanted to remind them that they are not the most powerful stalwart heroes of the land. As id mentioned in the first post, we ran a D&D beginner box before the FFd20 game which lasted 10 or so play sessions and ended with the party being VASTLY overleveled (a clear oversight of mine that i did not intend to have happen again). Second, i wanted the players to understand that some things are going to be beyond their abilities, but in such a case there would be warning. Im not the kind of person that would throw them to the wolves and laugh while they bleed out one by one, and i want them to know that. Lastly, i wanted them to see something COOL. And cool it was. Oh, and there was a story element to it, but thatll come into context in a later post.
And so the fight begins in earnest. The party members move around, bit by bit, feeling out the situation. The flans are fighting the bats. The PCs start engaging, with Draco the Arcane Bomber throwing a few cantrips of fire and earth orbs, Cid the MWS shooting some bolts thru a flan, and Lowkey the Dragoon leaping majestically with his jump ability before crushing a bat into non-existence. Draco goes on to throw one of his arcance bombs at a flan, the element hed chosen as his permanent attribute being lightning. We take far too long looking up throwing rules (again, my fault. I knew hed be throwing bombs so i shouldve had at least a cursory idea of how that goes). The bomb detonates spectacularly, the area briefly bathed in the light of arcing electricity as the sharp smell of ozone lingers. Oh, also Elyot the Sword Saint missed a buncha times and So the W.Mage fluttered around. Ahh, good times with tabletop games. Of course, good times never last. Most of the creatures had been eliminated, either by the party or by one another, and all that was really left was a bat and a flan. Easy.
So the party starts takin shots at this bat, cuz its closer, and just whiffing all of them. The few that do connect a the lowest damage outcome. It gets to the point that we start pretending the bat is like neo and its just matrix-dodging everything. We even start to love it a lil bit, with Elyots player saying that he almost didnt want it to die just because it persevered so long. If the turns had looped back to Elyot, i wouldve made the bat his pet (cuz hed wanted a pet anyways) and i thought itd be funny to kinda commemorate their first battle with a spazzy group mascot. Alas, it was not meant to be, and the bat got its face-body caved in by So's light orb. All that remained was a flan, which had been engaged by Lowkey and/or Elyot during this time. And thats when it happened, the thing that i as the GM never expected... a tank went down, and then ANOTHER TANK WENT DOWN. Shite. Allow me to explain; one of our house rules is that no one rolls for crit confirmation. I figure nat 20's are rare enough that i shouldnt take it away from the players when they finally do get them, and because i have the monsters do it too, it adds a lil spice to the game. Whelp, that motherfuckin flan rolled a nat 20, and took out Lowkey the Dragoon. Now we gotta look up rules for PCs goin down, as well as death and recovery (hopefully not in that order). This takes a lil too long (as these things do) and i get variety of different rules from which i cant tell what is accurate. We make a decision, i make a note to read up on this further, we press on. Combat, and the party tries to rez Lowkey. Nat 20, Elyot goes down. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.
I pause, unsure of how to proceed. I hadnt counted on this. The party is now comprised entirely of squishies. I do the only thing i can think of at the time, and im not proud of it; i employ deus ex machina. The old cart driver shouts from the edge of the map, "How ya'll holdin' up?!". The party replies as youd expect and he runs out with something in his hands. He gives Draco, who is both the closest to the entrance and the furthest away from the flan, 5 vials of a red substance. "Them are cure potions, just drink 'em to heal up! Ya'll. Owe. Me." and then he promptly flees the scene. I explain the exact nature of the cure potions and what the appropriate actions are for using them, then give the players time to deliberate on the best course of action. Eventually they figure out a formula and the game continues. The battle concludes, not with a bang, but a whimper. The party won. They can go home. Before they do, however, they inspect some of the monster corpses and come back with a few cactuar needles for Cid and the tail of the cockatrice.
The cart makes it back safely to the town, and the party checks in with Horace. Hes pleased, and offers the party a permanent 15% discount on all merch sold by the guild, on top of their gil reward for the completed task. The party then goes to Montblanc to let him know that the job is down. He informs them that this whole scenario, tho necessary, was an experiment to see how the PCs could work with one another to form an effective team. He says that they should expect to see one another much more often from then on.
TBC
BOY-HOWDY am i excited. So by now everyone should know about the players and the world of Gemma, now we get into their first foray into adventure. I placed the group in the FF canon town of Rabanastre which resides in the (also canon) continent/world of Ivalice. This was done intentionally, kind of as an homage to both that particular setting and FF in general. Ive always lurved the FF Tactics games as well as FF12, so i wanted to add sumthin a lil familiar. Rabanastre is the starter town for FF12, so my thinkin was that its big enough to contain all the essentials of a town while not being too big so that the players dont feel lost. Ivalice itself is really more an appropriation of the name, which i applied to a wide circular section of Gemma that surrounds La Giunturra Stesso and contains all of the hemispheres, thus opening the door for many travelers from vastly different backgrounds.
In the intro to the game, before any playing took place, i explained that each individual PC belongs to the Clan/Guild Centurio, which is presided over by a moogle named Montblanc (Centurio being the default clan name in FF Tactics Advance and Montblanc being a staple character in FFTA & FF12). I did this for a few reasons, the main reason being that i didnt want to begin the game with "You enter a tavern, you see people you need to know, there is a fight and you all become friends thru the joy of punchies". Its basically a cliche at this point and, while taverns certainly have their place in fantasy worlds, it just didnt come across as organic to me. While i was hesitant to outright command that the PCs are a part of an organization that they as players dont know and had no choice in, I felt it was a gamble worth taking. I felt that being a part of a larger organization both helps and restricts them; they have someone who is clearly in charge but also someone who has their back if an encounter went south but the PCs intentions were good. Also, while i do not hold them to 'realistic' cycles of food and sleep the PCs do require income, and having them be conscripted by the clan allows them to grow from lv1 intern nobodies (heh) to to higher leveled subcontractors with their own interpretation of how best to complete a task within certain guidelines. Not to mention that i wanted the clan to be a place of familiarity, where the PCs may have seen one another walking about during their routines, thus allowing for a level of friendliness without them completely knowing or not knowing one another.
SO, they work for Clan Centurio, basically as interns. I establish that they do miscellaneous tasks here and there, but ultimately theyre lil more than errand boys at this point. They get a summons from Montblanc and formally meet one another for the first time outside of his office doors. Theyre waiting for a bit, knocking and getting impatient, before they finally hear a faint "...help..." inside the door. They break in to the darkened office, bookshelves with vast tomes lining the walls. Lowkey the Dragoon equips his lance and the party calls out to whomever they heard. Another "...help me!..." can be heard at the far end of the room. The party rushes over to find!... a pile of books with a moogles pompom sticking out of it. The party frees him and helps restack the books while Montblanc thanks them and lights all the candles with a snap of his fingers. For Montblancs character, i take my voice into an octave that i didnt think was possible to the point where i sound like ive been suckin helium, and i throw in a few kupos for good measure. He explains he called them because he needs people for a job relating to the clans supplies, and to go and speak with Horace the Seeq in the Centurio Requisitions Department for the details. The party departs to the lower levels of the clan building in search of Horace.
They enter the long, cavernous hall with a wall at the far end. In the center of the wall is a large door, inside the door a window at about chest height for medium creatures and rowed with theft-prevention bars. The party reaches the window and looks inside only to find the wide hunched back of a seeq, doubled over onto the low counter behind the window. Horace is asleep. They call out to him and he awakens with a start. Horace is a jovial guy with a big belly covered in various scars, indicating a past beyond being a desk jockey. The party says theyre there to assist him with his requisition issue and are ready to get started. Horace is excited that the issue is on its way to being solved and starts hurriedly grabbing various items from here and there around the shop, all while explaining the nature of the task: The clan is hard-up for supplies, the usually shipment being several weeks late. Horace arms are grabbing at things unseen as he continues to explain. The thought is that the supplies are closer to town than farther, based on timetables and communication with other buyers and sellers, which makes it all the more strange that it hasnt arrived. Various power tools can be heard behind the counter. The partys job is to find out what happened to it and, more importantly, get the supplies to town. Horace looks up at party, beaming with joy. "It's done!" he exclaims excitedly, just before lifting a MASSIVE scooby doo-esque hoagie and proceeding to eat the whole thing in much fewer bites than one would think possible to eat a sandwich of that size. The party stares in annoyance and disbelief as Horace reclines back and lets out a contented sigh. The party shakes it off and gets the location info for the task, then proceed to head out. On the way out of the hall, i had them roll a quick perception check to get em used to the idea. A few of them made it and, on looking back at the massive wall-containing-a-door-containing-a-window, they see hinges on one edge of the wall, implying that its not a wall at all and Horace deals in much more than the standard sword and potion.
The party sets out into the desert, not taking chocobos because they dont have that much gil and its not far enough to warrant every ones favorite FF birb. They travel the road that the shipment typically uses and find a bridge-out over a rocky and somewhat deep ravine. I have em roll a few perception checks based on what theyre lookin at, and one of the PCs finds an old sign in the dirt. Its words that trace the edges of the sign are written in a language that none of them can understand, or maybe its just too weathered for anyone to make it out. One thing about the sign is clear; in the center is a figure in a shape not unlike a swastika, with two circles above one oblong circle to indicate what could be a face, with various straight lines all over its body. A few of them get it immediately, but i remind them not to meta. Once the various members have completed their perception checks of the bridge, they deduce that based on the wood and the nature of the destruction, fallen rocks are the culprit. This is strange, as while there are certainly plenty of rocks available, theres no verticality in the area to allow for a rock slide to happen. Furthermore, there are localized scorch marks on some of the bridge beams, indicating some kind of lightning-based magic. The party is puzzled and im so fucking happy. Across the way, the party can see a stopped wagon laden with a massive amount of supplies. The PCs with wings can make it, but the others need some alternate means of getting past the gully of rocks. The party ties a rope to a bridge-post and, in a stunning display of cinematic storytelling, Lowkey the Aegyl jumps with the other end of the rope and glides across the gully to the awe of the group. He ties the rope off and, with some basic checks, the group gets across safely.
The party meets up with the driver of cart, who explains that with the bridge out he'd have to take an alternate path that takes a lil bit longer. Problem is, this path that is usually just an out-of-the-way stretch of road that became more or less obsolete with the bridge being present, is now infested with a variety of wildlife that make passing thru without incident nigh impossible. Clear the mobs, the cart can continue.
So the party hits their first battle scenario, and for many gamers this is what its all about. I place their figures in the corner of a flat-ish desert clearing, with a small dried creek bed bisecting the middle and a few rocky outcroppings around, to add a lil variety. The mobs present are a few of the first level flan(s?) that seem to be fighting some vampire bats in various places around the area. In addition to that, before anyone is permitted to move, I wanna give the PCs a little show. In the far corner of the map, opposite the party, is a medium chicken-like creature that seems agitated. Its pawing the ground with its chickeny legs and strutting around as something small and green darts around an erratic fashion. I give the PCs a chance to roll 2 perception checks, one medium and one a lil harder for the smaller size at a distance. A few of them recognize the cockatrice, a monster with a CR3 by itself, and only 1 or two of the PCs got the smaller creature, a cactuar. The party is officially afraid and i love it. They begin discussing other options to fighting, all while keeping their eyes on the cockatrice/cactuar brawl thats about to go down. The cockatrice looks like its about to go in, when out of nowhere the cactuar unleashes 'thousand needles', a spray of barbs that just rip thru the larger beast. The PCs are in a terrified state of awe. The cactuar bounces back and forth for a moment, staring at its handiwork, then runs off into the horizon, leaving only a dust trail and an ass-ton of needles behind. The party is cool to fight now.
I had a few reasons for wanting to show the party this random clip from FF National Geographic. Firstly, i wanted to remind them that they are not the most powerful stalwart heroes of the land. As id mentioned in the first post, we ran a D&D beginner box before the FFd20 game which lasted 10 or so play sessions and ended with the party being VASTLY overleveled (a clear oversight of mine that i did not intend to have happen again). Second, i wanted the players to understand that some things are going to be beyond their abilities, but in such a case there would be warning. Im not the kind of person that would throw them to the wolves and laugh while they bleed out one by one, and i want them to know that. Lastly, i wanted them to see something COOL. And cool it was. Oh, and there was a story element to it, but thatll come into context in a later post.
And so the fight begins in earnest. The party members move around, bit by bit, feeling out the situation. The flans are fighting the bats. The PCs start engaging, with Draco the Arcane Bomber throwing a few cantrips of fire and earth orbs, Cid the MWS shooting some bolts thru a flan, and Lowkey the Dragoon leaping majestically with his jump ability before crushing a bat into non-existence. Draco goes on to throw one of his arcance bombs at a flan, the element hed chosen as his permanent attribute being lightning. We take far too long looking up throwing rules (again, my fault. I knew hed be throwing bombs so i shouldve had at least a cursory idea of how that goes). The bomb detonates spectacularly, the area briefly bathed in the light of arcing electricity as the sharp smell of ozone lingers. Oh, also Elyot the Sword Saint missed a buncha times and So the W.Mage fluttered around. Ahh, good times with tabletop games. Of course, good times never last. Most of the creatures had been eliminated, either by the party or by one another, and all that was really left was a bat and a flan. Easy.
So the party starts takin shots at this bat, cuz its closer, and just whiffing all of them. The few that do connect a the lowest damage outcome. It gets to the point that we start pretending the bat is like neo and its just matrix-dodging everything. We even start to love it a lil bit, with Elyots player saying that he almost didnt want it to die just because it persevered so long. If the turns had looped back to Elyot, i wouldve made the bat his pet (cuz hed wanted a pet anyways) and i thought itd be funny to kinda commemorate their first battle with a spazzy group mascot. Alas, it was not meant to be, and the bat got its face-body caved in by So's light orb. All that remained was a flan, which had been engaged by Lowkey and/or Elyot during this time. And thats when it happened, the thing that i as the GM never expected... a tank went down, and then ANOTHER TANK WENT DOWN. Shite. Allow me to explain; one of our house rules is that no one rolls for crit confirmation. I figure nat 20's are rare enough that i shouldnt take it away from the players when they finally do get them, and because i have the monsters do it too, it adds a lil spice to the game. Whelp, that motherfuckin flan rolled a nat 20, and took out Lowkey the Dragoon. Now we gotta look up rules for PCs goin down, as well as death and recovery (hopefully not in that order). This takes a lil too long (as these things do) and i get variety of different rules from which i cant tell what is accurate. We make a decision, i make a note to read up on this further, we press on. Combat, and the party tries to rez Lowkey. Nat 20, Elyot goes down. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.
I pause, unsure of how to proceed. I hadnt counted on this. The party is now comprised entirely of squishies. I do the only thing i can think of at the time, and im not proud of it; i employ deus ex machina. The old cart driver shouts from the edge of the map, "How ya'll holdin' up?!". The party replies as youd expect and he runs out with something in his hands. He gives Draco, who is both the closest to the entrance and the furthest away from the flan, 5 vials of a red substance. "Them are cure potions, just drink 'em to heal up! Ya'll. Owe. Me." and then he promptly flees the scene. I explain the exact nature of the cure potions and what the appropriate actions are for using them, then give the players time to deliberate on the best course of action. Eventually they figure out a formula and the game continues. The battle concludes, not with a bang, but a whimper. The party won. They can go home. Before they do, however, they inspect some of the monster corpses and come back with a few cactuar needles for Cid and the tail of the cockatrice.
The cart makes it back safely to the town, and the party checks in with Horace. Hes pleased, and offers the party a permanent 15% discount on all merch sold by the guild, on top of their gil reward for the completed task. The party then goes to Montblanc to let him know that the job is down. He informs them that this whole scenario, tho necessary, was an experiment to see how the PCs could work with one another to form an effective team. He says that they should expect to see one another much more often from then on.
TBC