EOW 2015 Recap (with helpful GM notes) Part Two
Author's Note: Part One can be found here.
Session Two
Setting: Star Trek, Deep Space Nine era
What Went Right: Some great roleplaying by the GM (if I do say so myself)
What Needs Work: Overestimating player knowledge
So this was my session, and happened on Saturday, which is always the best attended session for the weekend (in this case, nine players). I had been hankering for running science fiction and Star Trek in general, so I figured the best way to ensure that everyone was relevant was to have the party split into two crews: Federation and Klingon. With the help of some friends, we put together a DS9-era story rich with the classic elements of DS9: religious and cultural conflict, murky morality, and some Dominion ass-kicking. I was pretty pleased with the scenario, but I also knew that the group was composed of a lot of die-hard Trekkies, so I crammed the last couple of months for this session watching old episodes, reading articles from online DS9 wikias, and talking to my friends who know Star Trek much, much better than I do.
And in the process, I ended up outpacing the group. While I had some pretty impressive roleplaying of my own, the subtle nuances of the story were missed by the group. Nuances that were, in the end, rather important when it comes to the outcomes of their actions. In this specific case, an artifact which allows the Skrreans to commune with the Prophets would have a major impact on the religious community of Bajor, and possible cause a public rift within the Bajoran community. When the Skreeans find this artifact and turn it over to the Federation crew, which includes a member of Sector 51, what do they do? That was supposed to be the real point of internal debate and conflict within the party, but instead they just turn it over to Kai Winn without being truly aware of the consequences, and then were a bit shocked as a result.
In hindsight, I should have included a Bajoran NPC in the Federation crew who would be my own mouthpiece to highlight the cultural/religious tension and help the players make an informed decision.
More to come!
Session Two
Setting: Star Trek, Deep Space Nine era
What Went Right: Some great roleplaying by the GM (if I do say so myself)
What Needs Work: Overestimating player knowledge
So this was my session, and happened on Saturday, which is always the best attended session for the weekend (in this case, nine players). I had been hankering for running science fiction and Star Trek in general, so I figured the best way to ensure that everyone was relevant was to have the party split into two crews: Federation and Klingon. With the help of some friends, we put together a DS9-era story rich with the classic elements of DS9: religious and cultural conflict, murky morality, and some Dominion ass-kicking. I was pretty pleased with the scenario, but I also knew that the group was composed of a lot of die-hard Trekkies, so I crammed the last couple of months for this session watching old episodes, reading articles from online DS9 wikias, and talking to my friends who know Star Trek much, much better than I do.
And in the process, I ended up outpacing the group. While I had some pretty impressive roleplaying of my own, the subtle nuances of the story were missed by the group. Nuances that were, in the end, rather important when it comes to the outcomes of their actions. In this specific case, an artifact which allows the Skrreans to commune with the Prophets would have a major impact on the religious community of Bajor, and possible cause a public rift within the Bajoran community. When the Skreeans find this artifact and turn it over to the Federation crew, which includes a member of Sector 51, what do they do? That was supposed to be the real point of internal debate and conflict within the party, but instead they just turn it over to Kai Winn without being truly aware of the consequences, and then were a bit shocked as a result.
In hindsight, I should have included a Bajoran NPC in the Federation crew who would be my own mouthpiece to highlight the cultural/religious tension and help the players make an informed decision.
More to come!
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