Post by providence13 on May 17, 2013 9:08:32 GMT -8
Spoilers to my players. Don't read this, fools.
First, I'd like to get 2 things out of the way.
1) Just like testsubo said in his review, fire exits and access corridors.. I didn't work in a mall but had many friends who did. After hours in the game room/arcade playing video games with mall security was a blast. Now if you add the back passages to the map, another problem arises. Why wouldn't moaners use these as well?
The first encounter my pc's face in the mall will probably be Giant Jaw Worms crossing their path. If they are very still, it might slide on by. I'm stocking the maintenance sections with Jaw Worms; tight corridors would be a natural fit. It's implied that moaners are superstitious and I'm making them afraid of the big worms. I added maintenance rooms to my map and provided a reason moaners avoid them. If the group discovers these private passages, it could help them out or Total Party Kill.
2) Most robots can enter a sleep mode, using minimal sensors to await orders. Their power cells can last 50-70+ years in this standby mode. So how the heck can so many 'bots have power in the MOD? In multiple encounters, the diggers might disturb a sleeping bot and a few rounds later, it activates. It's been around 200 years since the fall so all of the power cells in the mall should be drained.. except for the 'bots in the Clinic. The Clinic has it's own power source and presumably can recharge the staff. In our current real life timeline, people are introducing a limited form of broadcast power. Some devices can obtain a minimal charge by being near/in direct contact with a charging station. Some people are using wi-fi to charge batteries. If the Clinic is still operational, then maybe some form of broadcast power is still up and running. Just a wi-fi net but no real information exchanged. Not every 'bot in the mall was equipped to charge from local em fields, just the one's that are active when the PC's arrive. They could come out of hibernation every few decades and obtain just enough of a trickle charge to keep their systems running. This is my way of explaining the active 'bots to the players, should they put 2 and 2 together and ask me. Players always ask.
This is a fantastic adventure. The potential loot for my group is a tad over the top, but they can't carry everything!
Very dark and dangerous. I told them 'don't get too attached to your characters!' Just have fun. (Our last game was Rolemaster and you get very attached to your character in that game even though it is crazy lethal.)
3 players are playing 2 characters each and half the party almost died at the cage wall from a grenade. Luckily, Benwad's daughter had a point in First Aid and was able to stabilize the injured.
Speaking of loot.. Laser printer toner cartridges? I'll bet one of the harder aspects of designing a far future game is making relics live up to the expectation of future science. I'll bet we'll still have pencils and post-it notes, paper and glue sticks, but I wonder if we'll have toner? Maybe.. I've replaced entries like these with "3-D Printer Forge-vat aggregate #72", or something. If everyone will have 3-d printers in their homes in 10-20 years, by 150+ years from now, maybe we'll have some standard printing 'stock'. Same thing, different ideas. (I'm letting Benwad have access to a secret solar powered Forge-vat (Alastair Reynolds, Pushing Ice) printer to make some items and low-tech equipment for the town; blue vests of the town council and symbols of service- two dots with a half circle on a round yellow badge and small visored hats that read "Save at Walsave!".
The Multi-path adventure system is actually making more work for me than I thought. If the info was simply presented, I'd read it and deal with each instance as it occurs in the game. That's what I know. But this is like I'm working with someone else to design the adventure. This ain't a bad thing. It just takes me a while to get used to it. I'm sure Multi-path is a great boon to less experienced GMs and I'm not knocking it. When we first gamed, I found the randomness was slowing down the game a bit. It was fun for me, but my players are use to me running scenarios a little faster. Sure, random rolls come up, but a random roll that generates a random roll that forces you to look up something else, was a bit of a buzz kill. Again, I'm not blaming the game, I'm blaming my lack of preparedness as a GM. The next time we game, I'll have most everything set in stone. I like the encounters fleshed out, then whatever the PC's decide to do, I'm ready. Now I'm reading through the book with my hand drawn map (with added rooms) making notes as I go!
Thanks for a wonderful game. We're all having a great time!
More to come after this Sunday's game.
First, I'd like to get 2 things out of the way.
1) Just like testsubo said in his review, fire exits and access corridors.. I didn't work in a mall but had many friends who did. After hours in the game room/arcade playing video games with mall security was a blast. Now if you add the back passages to the map, another problem arises. Why wouldn't moaners use these as well?
The first encounter my pc's face in the mall will probably be Giant Jaw Worms crossing their path. If they are very still, it might slide on by. I'm stocking the maintenance sections with Jaw Worms; tight corridors would be a natural fit. It's implied that moaners are superstitious and I'm making them afraid of the big worms. I added maintenance rooms to my map and provided a reason moaners avoid them. If the group discovers these private passages, it could help them out or Total Party Kill.
2) Most robots can enter a sleep mode, using minimal sensors to await orders. Their power cells can last 50-70+ years in this standby mode. So how the heck can so many 'bots have power in the MOD? In multiple encounters, the diggers might disturb a sleeping bot and a few rounds later, it activates. It's been around 200 years since the fall so all of the power cells in the mall should be drained.. except for the 'bots in the Clinic. The Clinic has it's own power source and presumably can recharge the staff. In our current real life timeline, people are introducing a limited form of broadcast power. Some devices can obtain a minimal charge by being near/in direct contact with a charging station. Some people are using wi-fi to charge batteries. If the Clinic is still operational, then maybe some form of broadcast power is still up and running. Just a wi-fi net but no real information exchanged. Not every 'bot in the mall was equipped to charge from local em fields, just the one's that are active when the PC's arrive. They could come out of hibernation every few decades and obtain just enough of a trickle charge to keep their systems running. This is my way of explaining the active 'bots to the players, should they put 2 and 2 together and ask me. Players always ask.
This is a fantastic adventure. The potential loot for my group is a tad over the top, but they can't carry everything!
Very dark and dangerous. I told them 'don't get too attached to your characters!' Just have fun. (Our last game was Rolemaster and you get very attached to your character in that game even though it is crazy lethal.)
3 players are playing 2 characters each and half the party almost died at the cage wall from a grenade. Luckily, Benwad's daughter had a point in First Aid and was able to stabilize the injured.
Speaking of loot.. Laser printer toner cartridges? I'll bet one of the harder aspects of designing a far future game is making relics live up to the expectation of future science. I'll bet we'll still have pencils and post-it notes, paper and glue sticks, but I wonder if we'll have toner? Maybe.. I've replaced entries like these with "3-D Printer Forge-vat aggregate #72", or something. If everyone will have 3-d printers in their homes in 10-20 years, by 150+ years from now, maybe we'll have some standard printing 'stock'. Same thing, different ideas. (I'm letting Benwad have access to a secret solar powered Forge-vat (Alastair Reynolds, Pushing Ice) printer to make some items and low-tech equipment for the town; blue vests of the town council and symbols of service- two dots with a half circle on a round yellow badge and small visored hats that read "Save at Walsave!".
The Multi-path adventure system is actually making more work for me than I thought. If the info was simply presented, I'd read it and deal with each instance as it occurs in the game. That's what I know. But this is like I'm working with someone else to design the adventure. This ain't a bad thing. It just takes me a while to get used to it. I'm sure Multi-path is a great boon to less experienced GMs and I'm not knocking it. When we first gamed, I found the randomness was slowing down the game a bit. It was fun for me, but my players are use to me running scenarios a little faster. Sure, random rolls come up, but a random roll that generates a random roll that forces you to look up something else, was a bit of a buzz kill. Again, I'm not blaming the game, I'm blaming my lack of preparedness as a GM. The next time we game, I'll have most everything set in stone. I like the encounters fleshed out, then whatever the PC's decide to do, I'm ready. Now I'm reading through the book with my hand drawn map (with added rooms) making notes as I go!
Thanks for a wonderful game. We're all having a great time!
More to come after this Sunday's game.
