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End of Days - An AIMHack Campaign!

nikki.

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nikki.
Magnificent Ornk

nikki.

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Thanks for calendering, everybody.

 

The first day everybody has marked as free is Tuesday 1th November. After that, the following Tuesday (8th) is also marked as completely free. The other option is Thursday 3rd November, which Nioca has marked as busy due to AtCT, which is fair enough.

 

Based on that, if everybody is still free, shall we say 1st November? That's exactly a week. If anything comes up, or other AIMHacks clash, we can push it back a little. I'm aware that EoD and AtCT share many of the same players, so there's the potential for clashing, but as EoD is coming to an end, hopefully we'll be able to avoid that.

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nikki.
Magnificent Ornk

nikki.

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Oh, we should probably figure out what time we're doing this at. If we do it at the usual 12am for me, that's sometime in the evening on Tuesday for most people, and Wednesday morning for Lilith.

 

With BST ending though, and with America still observing its summer time, the proposed 12am UTC start might mean starting an hour later for most of you.

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Lilith
Hatchling Cockatrice

Lilith

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usual time works out to 10 am for me, which is fine, but an hour later is fine too

 

i'm going to be out for the rest of the day and i may be too tired to check the forums by the time i get home so i'll just wake up at the usual time and if nobody's there i'll kill an hour somehow

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nikki.
Magnificent Ornk

nikki.

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nalyd, could you let me know as soon as you know, please? I did want everybody to be present, but I also don't want to postpone again.

 

We'll go for 12am UTC. Use this to convert: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

(For Lilith, it'll be 11am, I believe. For East Coasters still on daylight savings, it'll be 8pm).

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nikki.
Magnificent Ornk

nikki.

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Originally Posted By: Triumph
Originally Posted By: Thin Gypsy Thief
It's still tentative. I have the computer (obviously), but when people get home, there will be a talk. . . I just don't know yet. :|


This grounding business sounds frustrating...you need to lay off the electricity.


see lilith for a tutorial in punning. kthx
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Sudanna
Understated Ur-Drakon

Sudanna

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*Ding* Got to play all session anyways, and despite the experiences of this session, I will not be going for more health. tongue

 

Click to reveal..
Name: Aluar Malara de la Torre Arce y Santo Reinoso

Occupation: Psychopath Inquisitor

Race: Lacewing

Deity: Mariona

Alignment: Peace. Really.

 

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 6 (+1)

Intelligence: 3

HP: 29

 

Composure: 5

History: 2 (+1 Racial Bonus included)

Martial(Knives): 8 (+3)

Perception: 1

Stealth: 5

Streetwise: 3

Thievery: 4 (+1) (+1 Racial Bonus included)

Religion: 1 (+1)

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Nioca
Understated Ur-Drakon

Nioca

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Wait, did everyone return to full health/STM this level?

Click to reveal.. (Hexelion Tyralson, Level V)
HEXELION TYRALSON

RACE: Elf, Male

OCCUPATION: Bodyguard

PERSONALITY: Reasonable

DEITY: Sliros

 

LVL: 05 | XP: 00/81

STR: 05 | HP: 30/30

DEX: 04 | SPD: 5

INT: 05 | STM: 10/10

 

Martial (Shortblades): 8 (+2) [36 XP]

Magic (Enchantment): 6 (+1) [21 XP]

Composure: 4 [RB+6 XP]

Streetwise: 2 [RB+1 XP]

Perception: 4 (+1) [10 XP]

Artifice: 2 [3 XP]

Stealth: 1 [1 XP]

Martial (Thrown Missiles): 2 [3XP]

The 8th works for me. Also, prepared spell/technique list:

*Flawless Anticipation

*Dazing Blow (1STM)

*Stalwart Defense (1STM)

*Steelstorm (2STM)

*Myn's Friendly Fire.

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Lilith
Hatchling Cockatrice

Lilith

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have an epilogue:

 

Click to reveal..
Zatira returned to her clan, carrying a small fortune in gold as a reward for her slaying of the witch, though she was uncharacteristically reluctant to relate stories of her glorious victory to her people. She insisted that the bulk of the money be taken to Houghton's merchants and traded for weapons, and that the Endless River Clan prepare to defend itself against the coming of one known as Hatine.

 

Despite Zatira's victory, little changed for her: as before, she was respected as a warrior and a hunter but not as a leader. When her father died of an illness some months after her return, her brother Dharush was appointed chieftain of the Endless River Clan in accordance with the late chieftain's wishes. Though Zatira rankled under his rule, she continued to fight for her people.

 

Sure enough, an elven warlord named Hatine soon came to power in Houghton and declared a war of extermination upon the tribespeople of the island's forests, regarding their existence as a threat to civilisation. Zatira distinguished herself in battle and rallied her people against overwhelming force of numbers. She used her tactical skills and superior knowledge of the forests to draw her enemies into traps and inflict heavy losses upon them, driving back Houghton's army and crushing its morale. With his military campaign stalled, Hatine lost the confidence of his own people and was violently deposed, bringing an end to the war.

 

In the wake of these events, Dharush saw the need for the Endless River Clan to do more to protect itself and created a new position for Zatira: that of war-leader. Dharush retained command over the everyday affairs of the clan, but Zatira oversaw the training of its warriors. She flourished in this position, and in times when food was plentiful and hunters were not needed she was given the liberty to hire out the clan's warriors as mercenaries to nearby cities, bringing wealth and honour to her people. Though its traditions continued to change and adapt through its gradually increasing contact with the outside world, the Endless River Clan remained alive, strong and respected, as did Zatira.

 

also, if anyone was curious, Zatira's regret from the start of the campaign:

 

Click to reveal..
Zatira's coming-of-age ritual included a hunting contest. She found a hiding place in the undergrowth, readied her crossbow and waited until a bear came into view. Just as she was lining up her shot, her brother Dharush set himself up directly between the bear and her hiding place, blocking her view of her quarry. She considered shooting her brother, knowing that everyone would see it as a tragic accident and she'd inevitably be named heir by default, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

 

In the end, her brother successfully shot the bear and Zatira returned with a deer instead. Her father claimed his choice of heir had more to do with Zatira's lack of leadership skills than the results of the hunt, but she has always held a grudge against her brother for the moment that she sees as costing her her rightful place as future leader.

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Nioca
Understated Ur-Drakon

Nioca

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An epilogue!

 

Click to reveal.. (Hexelion, the Aftermath)
"Not all stories have happy endings."

 

Hexelion had said it as an automatic response to Zatira about what had happened to Cassandra. Nothing more than a throwaway line, to put their minds at ease. But it struck a chord with Hexelion. His time in Discord had brought up memories, memories he had long thought were in the past and buried.

 

Now, he had several more memories he wanted nothing more than to bury. He had been left feeling empty and forlorn after Cassandra's death, his faith in the world shaken. After the ceremony celebrating the death of the witch, he quietly slipped away without his reward, never to return to Houghton or to his partners in witch-slaying. But though he tried his best, the memories continued torturing him.

 

Cassandra had said that he would have a choice to make, and he had tried to lead the way to save Cassandra and destroy E'lessra. He did everything he could for her. He was willing to put everything on the line for her... and for what? To find out the ending was already written? That there was never a choice to begin with? That he was just part of some cosmic joke?

 

Slowly, the emptiness turned to bitterness. People did not make choices, he realized; they were instead only the world's playthings, to be tormented on its whims. Hexelion knew now that he was destined to remain lost, to forever be haunted by the memories of what could have been his, of what had been done, and to always have any hope of happiness or contentment dancing just out of reach. He didn't try to change his lot in life anymore... what was the use?

 

Hexelion continued his work as a bodyguard, far away from Houghton and his home. He remained a wanderer, never staying in one place for long. And those who did know him were quick to point out his bitterness and how he never strayed far from a source of liquor.

 

Erm... yay?

 

Also, since Zatira posted hers, here's Hexelion's regret. Like a moron, I completely failed to notice that Nikki wanted something that wasn't directly connected to one's backstory, so... yeah.

 

Click to reveal.. (If regrets were pennies...)
The unsuitable paramour mentioned in the backstory is the source of Hexelion's main regret. As the relationship grew, Hexelion knew that he had a choice to make. He could either stand by his family and break it off with the girl, thereby ensuring he had a life befit of a noble. Or, he could stand by his lover, and live the rest of his life with what he believed was his soulmate. Unfortunately, he stalled on making that choice as long as possible, believing he could keep his paramour a secret from his family indefinitely. The result was that, when his family discovered Melena, he wound up losing them both; Melena disappeared (his family presumably had a hand in that, though he never did find out what happened), and his family disowned him.

 

In short, he regrets not actually stepping up and making that choice, which wound up costing him everything.

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nikki.
Magnificent Ornk

nikki.

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Thanks you two. I probably have stuff to say about this in a day or two's time, and I'll try and have a log for then too, but if anybody has any comments or criticisms, feel free to post them.

 

And, thanks to everybody who took part, or has been following along, either in the sessions or with the logs.

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Lilith
Hatchling Cockatrice

Lilith

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Sure. I'll crosspost any particularly interesting stuff that comes out of our discussions into the metathread so that other groups can learn from it, if that's okay.

 

Warning: Lilith-brand mega-harshness incoming. For the record, I did enjoy End of Days, and I think it was a generally good campaign marred by one serious mistake and a couple of minor ones.

 

I'll start the discussion off with an IM I sent to Sarachim immediately after the end of the campaign:

 

I guess my overall feeling is that each individual session was generally good but the campaign as a whole didn't quite hold together. It kind of felt like we were being shunted through a disconnected series of events, you know?

 

I stand by that sentiment. I felt like most of the time we didn't have enough information to make an informed decision about our long-term course of action, so instead we looked to you (through Cassandra) for direction and let you take us from setpiece to setpiece. Which was okay when the setpieces were good, which they usually were, but it fell apart a bit at the end -- the ending felt like just another setpiece, not a payoff that brought together everything we'd done so far.

 

There was a lot you did right in the campaign, and I could tell you were willing to take our preferences into account when we actually had enough of a clue about what was going on to express any particular preferences. If I can boldly offer a diagnosis for what went wrong, I think that the situation you presented us with was fundamentally too weird and revealed in too obscurantist a way to allow very much meaningful decision-making on our parts. We didn't have enough information to fully understand what the heck was going on until the very end of the campaign, and even if we'd known what was up earlier, there was no clear way to do anything about the situation except press on and hope that killing the right person would solve it. Furthermore, even though we had a rough idea of what information we were missing, it wasn't clear how we could go about learning it. In short, we didn't have the right verbs to interact productively with the nouns we were given.

 

Oh, and I feel like you also went too easy on us with the combat and challenges in general. Beyond the two fights near the start of the campaign that we were clearly supposed to lose, I never felt as if we were seriously threatened -- which, again, kind of robbed us of the element of decision-making, since we could just steamroll everything in our path. But I get the feeling that was just you getting used to the system and underestimating what we were capable of rather than a conscious decision. I made the same mistake with City of Hope.

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Nioca
Understated Ur-Drakon

Nioca

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I'll echo what Lilith said about setpieces and disconnectedness, but I've got a few criticisms of my own to level, and I'm afraid I'm going to be very brutally honest about them. Since the plot was the most important part of the campaign, that's what I'm going to focus on.

 

(And before I continue, let me just say HUGE MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT!)

 

The plot did not do a whole lot for me. Part of that may have been because I had just been involved in another campaign with a time-travel plot (Po3), but there's a few other reasons as well.

 

1) Plot Holes

As the campaign continued, it felt like you were adding complexity for the sake of having a complex plot, and it resulted in a number of holes that are difficult to explain. When Nikki explained what had happened, the only conclusion I could come to is, 'That makes no sense!' Plot holes aren't a big horrific crime when you've got a campaign like RomD or CoH, where figuring out what's going on isn't the main point. But when the scenario's focus is on piecing things together, plot holes go from slightly sloppy to just flat-out bad: it screws up the players' understanding of what's happening, which means they just wind up meandering, somewhat lost.

 

Before we start, here was Nikki's explanation of what happened:

 

Okay so yeah lets explain this. You know how witches are born from the previous ones ashes? well, that means when cass got involved in E'lessra's timeline there was a paradox, which started blowing things up. From her perspective, you arrived at Discord, got her to ask for help, and she started meddling. The meddling meant that the universe tried to cancel both her and E'lessra out and create one witch. Remember how at the tree, Cassandra said it was hers? and how it was split? when each fragment got fixed, it resulted in the Cass/E'lessra hybrid thing you just fought. ANyway, yeah, so she sends you off places, and each time she does, things get a little more confused; on the ship as you fell, you saw a little girl being split into two, and then the next thing you get Cassie being kidnapped instead of E'lessra. So yeah, you go on these adventures, and then, originally, you go, fight, die, and Cassie, knowing that she'll see you in her past, has to send you back there, to do all the stuff, making the loop. This time, you had the weapons, and of course, there was only one witch, so nobody to send you back anyway.

 

Reasonable enough, right? Except...

 

The campaign should have ended at Session 1: The whole catalyst for the time loop was the party getting sent forward in time and enlisting Cassandra's help. Which is all well and good, EXCEPT that the only reason the party got sent forward is because Cassandra intervened and sent them forward in the first place. There's no cause for the effect; Cassandra could never have gone back, because doing so meant that the party went forward, which could only have been done with her help. In short: The party (from a logical perspective) should have died during that first fight.

 

Cassandra should never have been born: We already know that witches have very long lifespans, effectively meaning that they don't die unless someone/something actually takes action to kill them. We also know that E'lessra successfully took over Mote after we failed, and apparently ruled until the apparent death of Mote itself. All fine, right? Except that if witches are born from the previous ones' ashes, there could never have been another witch; Cassandra couldn't have been born, because E'lessra either a) never died, or B) died with the world of Mote, which would have taken any new witches with it. This becomes especially egregious when you realize that E'lessra was the first, and Cassandra was the SIXTH. The temporal changes should have wiped Cassandra out of existence a thousand times over.

 

Time is a selectively malicious jerk: The explanation of how the Cassandra/E'lessra hybrid was formed sounds reasonable enough, right up until you consider one major flaw: She wasn't the only one messing with time and causing a ton of paradoxes. The party was also creating its own paradoxes and time troubles by interacting with their other selves, using knowledge they shouldn't have, and otherwise just making a mess of things. So why didn't they get hit with the same paradox problems as Cassandra? Shouldn't we have had a Hybrid party at the end of the campaign, if that's how things work? (And more importantly, would it get 32 miles per stamina highway? tongue )

 

One witch, Two witch, Red witch, Paradox witch: There's only supposed to be one witch at a time on Mote, with each witch getting born from the ashes of the last, right? If that's the case, where did Cassandra's aunt come from? She was clearly a witch, and clearly part of Cassandra's line, yet Cassandra herself stated that there wasn't supposed to be more than one witch on Mote at a time.

 

There's probably more I've overlooked, but these are the ones that jumped out at me.

 

2) The Cassandra Show! Also starring the party

One saving grace is that Cassandra was a nifty character. That's a very good thing, because the number of times she swooped in to steal the spotlight or show up the party would have gotten old very, very quickly if she wasn't as well written as she was. In fact, I think it would have been a little beneficial if we saw a bit less of her than we did. At times, it seemed often forgotten that Cassandra, whilst important, was NOT the main character in the story. In a campaign, that position always belongs to the party.

 

Rowen had a similar problem in Po3; NPCs would show up to steal the spotlight or save the day, reducing the player characters to nothing but a bunch of bumbling morons stumbling from one rescue to the next. The same applies here: the party couldn't get anything done without Cassandra or some other NPC swooping in to heroically save the day. It got to the point that I rarely got worried about things turning sour, because I knew someone would be coming to our rescue in short order (and true enough, they always did). It killed the sense of achievement that usually comes with beating or surviving hard situations, because it wasn't really our effort that pulled us through.

 

3) Explanations should come with complementary painkillers.

Not kidding here. I wound up with a low-grade headache on three different occasions after an NPC "explained" something to the party. Maybe it was just because of the complex nature of the plot, but it seemed to me that every time the exposition started, the NPCs would talk a lot whilst somehow simultaneously explaining nothing. I don't mind a little flavor text or technobabble (magibabble?), but when people explain things, they should actually explain things.

 

4) Earn your unhappy ending!

Nikki said that it was possible to save Cassandra. I'm going to flat-out say that no, it was not. What had to be done to save her was so mind-bendingly counter-intuitive (given how little we knew even by the end of the campaign, more on that later) that it would have taken a Deus Ex Machina just to even think of it. "Oh, here, just retrieve these artifacts that Cassandra told you NOT to grab before talking to her and triggering the final boss fight, and also use these little artifacts that you've never even heard of before let alone know how to use, and you can save her!" Yeah, no. All hints were building toward Cassandra being E'lessra, so why would we want to save her in the first place, knowing what she'll do?

 

Which leads me to...

 

5) A need-to-know basis, and no one needs to know.

Lilith said it, I'll reiterate it. No one in the party knew what was going on, because we were never given enough information to figure it out. Or, rather, that the information we were given was so vague that it could fit any number of theories. To illustrate, what I thought was going on right up until the final boss fight:

Click to reveal.. (Tangential Theory, ahoy!)
That Cassandra and the party were trapped in a sort of ceaseless purgatory, with the young Cassandra being the evil E'lessra. She kept getting attacked by the party, went off her rocker, and wiped out Mote. However, she was still getting attacked by the party, to the point that she eventually realized that she was the one causing it. Turning good and trying to fix everything, she became the Cassandra we knew, who attempted to go back and set everything right. But by doing so, she inadvertently created the very same purgatory, the same chain of events she was trying to stop. And the only way to actually break the cycle was for Cassandra (and all variants) to die (either by the party's or her own hand), thereby ensuring that there was no one left to continue the cycle.

 

Obviously, I was a rather off-base on this theory, but it also nicely demonstrates how, without adequate information, the players can get the wrong ideas (or no ideas at all) about what's happening in the campaign. It's obviously a difficult line to walk, trying to strike the right balance between too much and not enough information, but I honestly think having the players figure out an obvious plot is less damning then leaving them utterly confused and disappointed.

 

-----

 

I think I'm going to stop now, before I completely break your spirit. Don't get me wrong, you did quite a few things right (The narration and descriptions, for example, was excellent, as were the various environments we often found ourselves in). It's just that there's plenty of room for improvement.

 

(Also, I don't think you did yourself any favors going for a time-travel plot for your first campaign; those have an automatic tendency to get messy and complicated, and the mere fact you pulled off a complex one at all shows you're a decent writer/DM)

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Lilith
Hatchling Cockatrice

Lilith

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Posted
Originally Posted By: Nioca
Obviously, I was a rather off-base on this theory, but it also nicely demonstrates how, without adequate information, the players can get the wrong ideas (or no ideas at all) about what's happening in the campaign. It's obviously a difficult line to walk, trying to strike the right balance between too much and not enough information, but I honestly think having the players figure out an obvious plot is less damning then leaving them utterly confused and disappointed.


For the record, I'm increasingly convinced (not just because of this campaign in particular) that hiding information from the players -- not just failing to reveal stuff that isn't immediately relevant, but actively concealing stuff that is, even when the players are looking for it -- is usually a counterproductive mode of play. The interesting thing isn't whether the players find out the secret, it's what they do once they know.
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Sudanna
Understated Ur-Drakon

Sudanna

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Aluar's backstory again, with the secret regret bolded:

 

Click to reveal.. (Backstory)
Aluar was born in a large city on a small island. They were, in theory, under the dominion of one nearby metropolis or another, but the only real power was the Church of Mariona, which kept a large church in town and several monasteries surrounding it. The church functioned as any lord would, maintaining a guard and bureaucracy and levying taxes, though they called them templars, a hierarchy, and tithes.

 

His life was uneventful, spent as a street urchin, a thief, and a thug. One day, his ineptitude led to his involuntary induction into the church. While initially troublesome, once he saw that the more powerful priests were essentially indistinguishable from very good thieves, he began to climb the ranks of the templars. When an Inquisition was proclaimed - as they were ever few decades, when the populace got too uppity - Aluar joined, and excelled. The church worshiping the goddess of peace did nothing to tame the brutal practices of religious purging the Inquisition employed - after all, peace will never come until all of the violent are dead. Also anyone that owes the church money. Or looks funny.

 

While the Inquisition was ruthless by nature, Aluar's propensity for violence and flawless facade of piety distinguished him from his peers. He gained a position of moderate power and influence within the church, and the city, and inspired the special branch of the Inquisition that policed the church and the Inquisition itself.

 

The only time that he might have shown a trace of humanity was when he led the pregnant young wife of a wealthy merchant to her pyre. There were whispers and rumors - quickly silenced whenever Aluar passed by - that the woman had been his lover, and the child his. When one of his superiors inquired, out of curiosity, Aluar flew into a rage, accusing the fellow inquisitor of heresy. The charges were later dropped, but the event was enough to cement in the minds of his comrades what he had done to his own lover and child.

 

When the call came to fight the Witch, sent from far away and from powers alien to his island, Aluar was not assigned or compelled to go. He volunteered, and his political enemies took care of the rest. The Inquisition was petering out, and Aluar had acquired - or honed - a certain bloodlust during his service that his new, higher position failed to satisfy. While he has little idea what he will find on the other end of his voyage, Aluar doesn't much care either. It was war, right? What place could possibly need the ministrations of the holy mother of peace more?

 

Since that sort of glossed over it, this is a little more detail that I decided to make up just now:

 

Click to reveal.. (Star-crossed lovers, how original. Now with added brutality!)
Aluar had met her in the early days of fall, in the first year of his service as a junior inquisitor. He had been off the streets for several years now, but was still a very young man reveling in a position of power, however minor.

 

The church had declared it a holy day, and the Inquisition, the bloodied hand of peace, was to be silent and unseen. Supposedly to allow for a day of celebration without wariness, but really to more stealthily identify those who should next face their pyres in the Ashen Square.

 

She was another lacewing, of course, clearly wealthy. Small gemstones glittered in her wings and on her antennae, linked by colored silk and glittering golden thread. She was with a mother, or an aunt, also dressed well for the holidays, but clearly with less extravagant means. They wandered about the square for a while, browsing the festively decorated market shops and stalls and purchasing a knickknack here and there.

 

Aluar's companion, Metano, noticed her as well. He smiled and pointed her out of the crowd "Mmm, you see her? Like to get her name. She'd look good in chains." Some of the inquisitors pursued their duties as a matter of lust. Metano was one. Aluar frowned at him, though. His motivation was rage, and Metano was starting to motivate him. "I wouldn't, if I were you. Whoever she's with works as a maid at our chapel. She might recognize you. We're not supposed to set the people on edge." Which was a lie, but Metano bought it and wandered off to pursue other prey.

 

Aluar did end up approaching her that day, and successfully - his full name and a small grin always made a good, humorous first impression. He would meet her the next day, and a few days after that, leaving his duties and his chapel without permission. Eventually, he would wear his reds to one of their meetings.

 

Eventually, she would admit how she had always been married, and how she was pregnant.

 

Eventually, he would come to one of their meetings with drawn knives and a summons to a trial.

 

Eventually, they would exchange their last sorrowful words as the fire crept up her body.

 

Eventually, she would come to haunt his dreams, bearing his child in her arms, accusing him of his crimes.

 

And, eventually, he would see his unborn child in a small Witch, and seek atonement for his atrocities in saving her from death.

 

And the epilogue:

 

Click to reveal.. (Epilogue)
Aluar left the domain of the witch with his memories of their final fight, his crisis of conscience, and his betrayal of his party members erased. To his frustration, nobody agreed to fill these blank spots in, and before he knew it, they had all gone their separate ways, to places where he was unable to follow.

 

At a loss for anything else to do, he returned to his home city, where he both confused and regaled his fellow clergymen with his convoluted tale of the fall of a great line of Witches. Filling in the blanks at the end. His exploits earned him a

 

And life returned to what it had been before. Aluar resumed his duties to the church, culling the city and countryside of those that the the church - and Aluar himself - found undesirable.

 

But his nights were haunted by images he could not place, events he could not reconcile. Cassandra, laying blame upon him, and fighting him and his comrades to the death. Watching her die. Him, turning on his own party. . .

 

Months passed, and the dreams became more vivid, more memorable. Aluar began to dread sleep, for while his memory was slowly returning, reliving the increasingly real battle with the Witch became more and more painful.

 

Finally, one night, almost a year after his return, everything clicked. Aluar saw the death of Cassandra, the child he had worked so hard to save and had so unwittingly destroyed. He saw in those mistakes his murder of his own pregnant lover. He awoke, tears in his eyes and the burning sprout that was to be his redemption in his mind.

 

He left his post and the town that night, no longer able to reconcile his regret and his continued injustices. He would have left his reds behind, but after searching for a time, he realized that he had no other clothes. So he just left, in the middle of the night, with what possessions he could claim and a modest hoard of wealth taken from his corrupt employer. He boarded a ship for anywhere, desperate to escape this place.

 

Soon, it was not only his lover and child and Cassandra that haunted his nights, but the twisting, smoldering faces of all those he had lead into the flame.

 

Anyways, thanks for the great campaign, Nikki. smile I'm not good at critiquing them, so I don't have anything other than that to say about it.

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Dintiradan
Easygoing Eyebeast

Dintiradan

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If you're wondering how she came to be

And other causal facts

(la la la)

Then repeat to yourself "It's just a game,

I really should relax."

On Spiderweb Roleplay Theatre 3000

 

Don't know if I should butt in here, since I haven't read through all the logs yet, let alone played in the campaign. I understand any complaints about inconsistencies within the time loop (and the points about GMPCs and other stuff also has merit). But I don't think it's in the spirit of things to complain about the time loop existing in the first place. In general, you've got to suspend disbelief for the things that are required by the premise of a work of fiction (there's probably a trope for this -- Diki?). Again, concerns about internal inconsistencies is fine, but worrying about the existence of a time loop feels like worrying about FTL drives in Star Trek.

 

EDIT: Oh dear, got the theme song wrong. Better now.

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