Musing on a game for GenCon

cheeplives · Post by **cheeplives** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:39 pm

I have been trying to come up with a game for GenCon and I came up with something that I think is kinda neat... here's the 450 character blurb for the registration:

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Dread Caverns: Followers and Hangers-On

The Greylords are renowned around the lands as the greatest adventurers in generations. They have felled dragons, toppled kingdoms, and swam in riches beyond imagine. To serve your apprenticeship under them is a great honor.

Now, knee deep in the Caverns of Madness, that honor seems a might dubious. But the 'lords know what they're doing and they're your liege. So, onward! Sure, there's been some close calls, but wait a second what's that?!

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Does that seem evocative at all? Basically each player will make a low-level character that is an apprentice to a high level NPC. They are helping their masters on a mission when something goes awry, leaving the apprentices to fend for themselves in a dungeon that is "out of their league"... basically it's a survival game.

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:55 pm

So your running this "officially"? Meaning I'll have to sign up through GenCon?

A lot of people are wary of "apprentice" games, so you may want to make it very clear that they won't be playing slave to high level NPC's, etc...

Sounds intriguing to me as well.

You may also want to tone down the "masters". It may make it hard to believe the premise if they are powerful enough to kill dragons and topple kingdoms. So maybe have them kill giants and topple guilds and temples of evil instead.

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 8:31 pm

Sounds real good. Looks like there will be lots of good C&C at the GEN this year.
..............................................Omote

FPQ
_________________
> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

StealthSuitStanley · Post by **StealthSuitStanley** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:51 pm

Sounds fun to me!
_________________
later

SSS

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"Size matters not."

-Yoda, Jedi Master

cheeplives · Post by **cheeplives** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 12:08 pm

Yes, this will be an "official" game... I'm even trying to get the Troll Lords to sponsor it.

Well, let's be honest, even if they were like 15th level adventurers (the masters) it's still possible to get a TPK in C&C... and that's basically what i'm thinking of. In the end, they're just set pieces. I'm going to make at least one "master" per class and then let the players quickly make their characters... each master will grant the player a couple of "facts" and helpful things... also, the players may be able to "loot" their master's bodies for more useful (i.e. magic) equipment, if they are sneaky/smart...

Now I just need to come up with a sufficiently difficult dungeon that low-level characters have a chance of escaping... this should be a challenge.

Post by **Breakdaddy** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 2:07 am

Sounds interesting. I know Todd is running a few official C&C games at Gen Con already. The more C&C games, the better.

Omote · Post by **Omote** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 2:00 pm

Breakdaddy wrote:
Sounds interesting. I know Todd is running a few official C&C games at Gen Con already. The more C&C games, the better.

Defintely! Last year I didn't get to play as much C&C as I would have liked. So this year I hope to make make up for that. Damn GenCon sells out those game too quickly!

.....................................Omote

FPQ
_________________
> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

tacojohn4547 · Post by **tacojohn4547** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 2:50 pm

Omote wrote:

Quote:
Sounds real good. Looks like there will be lots of good C&C at the GEN this year.

Breakdaddy wrote:

Quote:
Sounds interesting. I know Todd is running a few official C&C games at Gen Con already. The more C&C games, the better.

Omote wrote:

Quote:
Defintely! Last year I didn't get to play as much C&C as I would have liked. So this year I hope to make make up for that. Damn GenCon sells out those game too quickly!

This is all very interesting, and encouraging. I went to Gen Con last year, and I from the events list that was available at the time event registration went live, there weren't ANY official C&C events scheduled.

Were all of the C&C sessions unofficial last year? Or were they official but operating in stealth mode?
tacojohn4547

Post by **Breakdaddy** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 11:19 pm

I got to play in a few, but they were all unofficial. Casey Christofferson, Steve Chenault, and another game whos CK I can no longer recall (sorry random CK!). We need to talk Gary into running us through an adventure while we are there

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 1:02 am

Powergamer issue #1: what stops the PCs from looting the corpses of their "master" and getting a quick Haul brew?

cheeplives · Post by **cheeplives** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:45 am

serleran wrote:
Powergamer issue #1: what stops the PCs from looting the corpses of their "master" and getting a quick Haul brew?

Two things:

1) whatever TPKed the masters

2) what's wrong with that? They're still low level characters in a high level dungeon... a +2 Sword might just help out a bit...

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:51 am

What's wrong with it is simple: reliance on items, and not skill... hence, not really a "survival" contest at all, but "who managed to pilfer the best bling." And, not the threat is not necessarily able to keep the party from obtaining the "master's hoard...." especially if things like bags of holding are about;it may keep the most powerful things away for some time, but there can still be other, very useful, things.

Also,it cheapens a playing experience when the only reason you're able to do anything is because the DM was gracious enough to hand out things like candy... there is no sense of victory or accomplishment, but as a one-shot deal, might not be too bad. Perhaps as a timed tournament...

cheeplives · Post by **cheeplives** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:27 pm

Meh... I guess I see this more as a fun lark rather than a true test of your gaming skill and mettle.

I fully intend to make it difficult to recover anything of import from the master's bodies, though... but it is still possible... rewards versus risk management, I guess.