Weekly Games: M&M

This will probably be my last post on this for a little while, due to some significant changes happening in my life (as well as a lot of holiday) in the near future.

Now, that doesn't mean that my games will suffer, just that I'm unlikely to have the time to post on this blog.

Last night's session was really rather good: A fair chunk of characterisation, a plot-twist, and a lot of fun.

There are currently two threads of investigation: Joanne Blake, student at Claremont Academy; and Aiden O'Hara, assistant groundskeeper at the same establishment.

The ladies (Liberty Belle and Rapscallion) followed and found Joanne, and Raps had a nice conversation with her, while the men (Axelerator and Procyon) headed off to investigate the gardener. Scrub's player was unavailable, through no fault of his own, so he was relegated to the background - I had enough to handle as it was!

Split party adventuring is always tricky, but since it was all talky stuff, no combat, I felt confident that I would be able to handle it... and I believe I managed it with aplomb.

Joanne revealed herself to be a young student feeling the pressure of her teachers, struggling with the complexity of her learning (who said magic was easy?). It was discovered that she had, in the middle of the night, performed a magical ritual, intended to summon an imp to help tidy her room. According to Joanne, though, nothing happened, and the following day it was discovered that all of the teachers and adult support staff had vanished from the grounds. Joanne, feeling guilty and frustrated, came to the conclusion that it might be her fault, so kept quiet about it. She can't see how she could be to blame, but is afraid that she is.

The pair heading to see Aiden, the gardener, found his residence, and discovered evidence of a pretty wild party - beer, babes and bongs would be a pretty fair description. As events unfolded, though, it seems that there is something decidedly more sinister at work, here, as Aiden himself, along with an as-yet-unnamed girl, was crucified in his own bathroom, mystic symbols inscribed in their flesh.

No, I'm not above introducing some slightly dark themes to my games.

Now, I've said before that it takes a lot out of me to run this game, and it really does. But it's at times like this that I just love it! Up to now, everyone has been assuming the situation at Claremont is due to either Joanne or Aiden. Now the seed of doubt is thrown in, because it looks like it could be both.

I'm going to try to avoid spoiling my intended plotline with reveals about my thinking process, but I will offer my players a little teaser by pointing out that one of these events was not planned by me until the very last minute. The other was intended all along.

This brings me on to my preferred GMing style - winging it so much that I might as well be flying. Okay, let me clarify that a little. I don't just make stuff up as I go along, really, but I'm pretty well practiced at allowing events to pan out along a very loose plotline, and then suddenly bringing in details that match previous observations, but cast them in a completely new light.

I'm not very good at using red herrings, though. I like to interweave and combine all my plotlines into a single tapestry that, when viewed after the fact, looks stunning... but I can guarantee that I didn't actually plan it that way.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this style. The biggest disadvantage is that the plots can sometimes have little direction while I'm waiting for a flash of inspiration that will allow me to link it to what else is going on. In those situations, I tend to resort to events and encounters that don't require me to think all that much, and that can make a campaign stagnate. On the other side of the coin, though, when my mind is working the way it usually does, I am able to adapt events and encounters to the changing world in a coherent and sensible fashion, and the coolest thing it means is that player actions matter. If the PCs have a moment of insight, and come up with a brilliant plan, I'm not going to force events unless it will ruin the rest of the story. I'd much rather the players felt a sense of accomplishment, than my carefully crafted plotline flow out the way I've planned.

Let's take a quick look at the current situation in this game, as an example. What follows are pretty much my notes for this adventure, not counting NPC statistics, and this may contain spoilers (though I've removed huge chunks of them), so be warned:

The Scenario: The adult staff from Claremont Academy has vanished, and the heroes are drafted in to help find them.

1) Get the players involved. Use Serena Vervain (Seven) from Freedom City. Asking for help from heroes as trying to avoid the public eye.

2) Suspicious events. Gardener Aiden O'Hara not missing (under age 20), lives off-campus, hasn't been in to work since the first morning, though. Joanne Blake tried a summoning ritual that failed.

3) [Deleted due to spoilers] has resulted in the teachers being transported to [Deleted due to spoilers]. PCs must find a way to get there (piggy-back off previous event?).

4) Staff have been captured by [Deleted due to spoilers], and handed over to [Deleted due to spoilers], who consist of [Deleted due to spoilers].

Yes, that is an entire adventure, so far. Everything else that happens is completely off the cuff.

Essentially, it's a flagrant acknowledgement of my number one rule: No plot survives contact with the players. I know what's happened, I know why it's happened, and I know what's going to be happening right up until the PCs arrive on the scene... but after that, all bets are off. NPCs have to react to changes just as much as anyone else, and they only know what they know - though super-smart ones might be able to guess and have put contingencies in place that I will simply invent on the fly.

Many people might ask why I do it this way, and the simple answer is: Because otherwise I'll just be writing a story.

I like writing stories. I enjoy it a lot, and I get a kick out of it. But I like shared stories better. I like being surprised by what players come up with. I like stealing player ideas to improve my plots. And allowing the players to directly affect the outcome of the story is the best way I know of to ensure that they feel involved and a real part of the world we're building together.