CoD 1: Session 03: Escaped but stranded
Pre-scene Notes
This was when I got stuck in scene splitting with using Mythic. I also split the scenes into chapters as well in SME, and thinking about plot pacing and structure, it just was not going to work. This was when I’d thought I would just ignore any form of structuring for now, and it would have to come back later for novelization. This was when also I realised that if I pad out more scenes, the chaos factor goes far too low, and the campaign goes into a rut. For both a normal GM or playing solo, or indeed as an author, this I had found was a very good indicator of when to inject some conflicts if met with a roll of uninterrupted scenes. I will post the next scene of my actual play together with this post, as this was a short scene.
Saying that, the new version of Mythic was just released, and the new version seems to have been rewritten with more perspectives on the scene starting/ending. I've already got quite a few sessions recorded, so if I do use the new version, it won't be until quite a few sessions down the line.
Scene setup/conflict:
Stranded at sea in the fog, don’t know where to go.
No altered/interrupted scene
Scene:
Stranded at sea, the party did not know where to go or how to get to their destination island. Yankovic had some naval battles before, but not much, though commented about the tide and should be washing them out West towards the ocean, just not sure if they would hit the island before it reversed.
Talk more of background and why each of them had taken up the Cave of Dreams flyer:
divulge about his parents, who had met each other as adventurers. After his parents had retired from adventuring, they ran off with each other because one was a halfling and the other an elf, and knew they would be shunned by both clans. They settled in a very small hamlet and gave birth to him. His elvish mum was the fighter, and instilled him with grandeurs knightly adventures for bedtime stories, while his halfling dad was an artificer who fixed things around the house and where Filli had most of his technical arcane knowledge from. He stayed at the hamlet when his parents were around, only having interacted with a very small local village as he grew up. His parents had both passed away now, and as it had only been him left, he thought he could now chase after this dream of becoming a world-renown knight worthy of legends. Filli gestured to his backpack, where the gauntlet Yankovic had seen previously hanging out was actually a mechanical arm, and said he knew he was physically weak now, but soon he would complete an arcane contraption to realise his knight dreams. He had thought after getting the flyer right after arriving in the Capitol from his small hamlet was fate telling him this was the way to make a name for himself, exploring this mysterious cave.
I’d elaborated more here again but as a GM, this would be when I guess each player should share as much or little of their background during character creation. Tbh, this was what I had planned for the very first scene if they had made it to the dinning room…
Stella nonchalantly took the flyer as Yankovic wished Filli good luck. He had taken part in some of the recent church wars, but lately just been in a promotion drive for young joiners in the suburbs. Didn’t get much results so he had been sent by the church to establish a base for the Red Princess sect basically at the ‘frontier’, hopefully to gain influence ‘on the ground level’.
Zar said after he had left his order, he tried his hand dungeon diving with wildcard groups. Being the unluckiest half-orc one could find, these expeditions were not fruitful, and almost had him killed. He had seen the flyer and thought it would be a suitable to make money.
Yankovic confronted Zar on what happened to those other adventurers from his previous expeditions, and how would a trained paladin leave his back open to a pirate, not to mention Zar he could not even name a deity from this order.
Zar used intimidation and just said he was indeed very early in his training, and repeated paladins did not necessary need a deity, but a belief or code they swore by, and their resolve will grant them power. Yankovic asks further on the rusty sword on his belt, why Zar was using another one, and Zar simply said he did not want to share.
As the two PCs already had an introduction, as a GM, this should focus more on the conflict, as it was logical for the PCs to not trust each other. I’d found it a common theme in DND sessions it could be hard to find an actual reason for players to stick together adventuring without metagaming. For a well known or RP heavy table, it may be easier to do, but having conflicts within the main group of adventurers made everything more interesting. As an author, it was essential to show how strangers’ relationships developed. I would write out in more details these scenes if the mood took me during soloplay. It just happened it did not when I was playing through here, but could always go back and pad out.
Filli tried to pacify the two and asked for Stella’s background, who just smiled. She said it was not the job of a fortune teller to talk about herself, but asked if they wanted their fortunes read for free.
- She got a cup, scooped a handful of seawater, poured some tea leaves, cast Prestidigitation to have it warm and tasteful, then asked Filli to drink. Filli asked if he would make it as an adventurer as he downed the cup. Stella said as long as he stayed true, may be there would be a chance.
- Zar scoffed. Stella pulled out a crystal ball in response as if from nowhere (bag of holding) and asked him to put his hand on it. Zar did and the ball filled itself with a vision of green smoke. Stella frowned and said she saw a dark broadsword of bloodlust amongst the smog that others did not. There would be dire consequences if the bloodlust consumed Zar, and not just personal consequences. Zar ignored her.
- Stella then turned to Weird Elf, producing a deck of Fey Tarot cards. He shrugged and picked one. It was one of a bear walking down a seemingly endless yellow brick road. It was of a fable that the bear was looking for a brain as he felt his head was hollow, but at the end of the brick road, he found that he was just a toy bear. His insides not only had no place for a brain, but were just stuffing. It was more of a Grimms’ fairy tale. Weird Elf’s face turned, and voiced a vehement agreement with Zar that Stella was a hack. Weird Elf stood up, making the lifeboat rock precariously and proclaimed that no matter what, as long as he believed in Xanthia, all would be well.
They all went for a long rest in unease under the crescent moon.
Stella didn’t do much but I had in my head a logical way for the PC to get to the island already instead of dumb luck. As notes for later novelization or just later references and reason if the PCs dig into this event later: Stella used Locate Object and Find the Path spells on the flyer’s call for adventurers, hoping the flyers were made on the destination island and not back to the continent. She suggested fortune telling to cast these divination spells. She remained stoic but used Shape Water to guide the boat in the direction of the island.
To be honest, the Stella fortune telling was again supposed to be in the initial dinning room scene to spill a bit on PC’s hidden motivations, so I’d done a quick one here. I just had her with multiple fortune telling instruments because the idea took me, same as the fable, not pre-planned.
Scene close-out:
- Chaos factor down to 6
- ! party thread: update stranded at sea to find a way to the island
Post-scene Notes
A scene I had said should be where something happens that moves the plot along. Maybe I coped out a bit here by having Stella solve the party’s problem to being stranded, but this was such an apt point to stop. In SME, I have this as the end of chapter 1, which obviously can as easily be start of chapter 2. I had thought Chapter 2 would have the party at Cavesmuth however, so thought it was neater this to have a scene this way compared to what I had in mind for the following scenes. I will post the next scene together with this post.
Considering this was basically a non-scene, here is a preview for next the scene. This is a map of the actual base of operations and hub of the story, the settlement of Cavesmuth. I made this up through Inkarnate and just using the free version, but then found out I could just add images to the map layer on Roll20 to make it into something usable (eg the merchant stalls at town square). It really bugged me I had to put a fog in where the Cave entrance should be as I could not find a free asset, but for the purposes of soloplay, I think this is pretty good for just a map and a way for me to update this as the campaign goes on. Especially if the PCs affect the town in any way.
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