Shadow of the Sea Lord - Building Relations and Project Hiatus

Firstly, this'll be the last post in this series for a bit. I'm at the point where I need to work on plot and that means spoilers I want to keep from my players, whom I hope are also among my readers. As such I'll be going radio silent until, with all probability, after GenCon, at least as far as this project goes.

Building Relations

Two weeks ago I detailed how I intended to lean into trope and start off in a bar. With a bar fight. Because pirates.

I expect this to go a long way to generating the forward momentum I need for the game to get underway smoothly, but it's not the only thing. I need to be sure to give the players and their characters ample reasons to stick together. The best way (I think) to do that is to ensure that the players on on each other's sides. That means establishing relationships between the PCs that connect them together, via their back stories, so that the group can form up around common bonds with a common purpose.

Eren Auma

• Eren was apprenticed to the same inquisitor as Qart at the same time. Eren doesn't blame Qart for the accidental release of the demon.
• Eren and Fairhilde met during their respective times wandering the world. The two bonded over dwarven culture, and their own mutual free spirited natures. 

Dettah Isan

• Alyse & Dettah met when the two were working security for a merchant. They formed a casual friendship based on their mutual admiration for the flair for the dramatic each brought to conflicts and combats. 
• Dettah and Zags met shortly after the Great Green Fire. Having both seen the lowest of lows in life they found common ground. The pair have worked together with Zags' rage and Dettah's grace serving as unique counterpoints when defending their clientele. 

Qart Eyesore

• Qart used to work with Eren during his days of henching for an Inquisitor. Qart liked the human, who seemed more willing than most to actually see other cultures rather than dismiss them out of hand.
• Qart met Alyse because he was selling and she was buying. Their mutually mercenary natures created a friendship built of a love of haggling and getting the best of the big folk. 

Zags Gash

• Dettah and Zags met shortly after the Great Green Fire. Having both seen the lowest of lows in life they found common ground. The pair have worked together with Zags' rage and Dettah's grace serving as unique counterpoints when defending their clientele. 
• Zags owes Fairhilde his life. The monk found him in the aftermath of fight for his life, and dragged him to temple to be healed. Though the dwarf thinks nothing of the deed, she also appreciated that Zags feels he needs to repay her in some way.

Fairhilde Goldheart

• Eren and Fairhilde met during their respective times wandering the world. The two bonded over dwarven culture, and their own mutual free spirited natures. 
• Zags owes Fairhilde his life. The monk found him in the aftermath of fight for his life, and dragged him to temple to be healed. Though the dwarf thinks nothing of the deed, she also appreciated that Zags feels he needs to repay her in some way.

Alyse Swifthand

• Qart met Alyse because he was selling and she was buying. Their mutually mercenary natures created a friendship built of a love of haggling and getting the best of the big folk.
• Alyse met Dettah when the two were working security for a merchant. They formed a casual friendship based on their mutual admiration for the flair for the dramatic each brought to conflicts and combats. 

Nuts & Bolts #72.5 - Review: Shadow of the Demon Lord, 5 sessions deep (player perspective)

Earlier today I posted my thoughts on Shadow of the Demon Lord. It's an incomplete review as I have not played the game as a player, and I feel 5 sessions is simply not enough to have a true appreciation. Well thankfully one of my players +Andrew Cady sent me along some of his thoughts as a player only with the same exposure as I just from the other end of the table. Without further adieu ...

SotDL from a Players perspective.

So I am one of the Players in Marc’s game.  My experience is only as extensive as his but from the other side of the table.  So I’ve seen things a little bit differently.

The Good

Character Options, - Wow.  I’m the type of player that likes to let my character’s experiences determine how he/she progresses.  I’ve never seen a game before that let's me do that to the level that SotDL does.  My clockwork ended up pilfering a couple small objects, so ended up becoming a rogue, then accidently summoned a demon and was seduced by the power, so he’s now fledgling warlock.  I don’t see how any character you make will end up a carbon copy of anyone else’s character; you will truly be unique, and that is AWESOME.

Tone - The Tone of the game is consistent throughout and the mechanics just reinforce this.  This is a brutal world; where everything even the players get shifted into morally grey.  Everything we face we have faced with apprehension, fear, and dread, knowing from the start that it wasn’t going to turn out great; we just hoped it didn’t all go horribly wrong.  The humor gets Morbid even Gallows like as some characters sift through an alter strewn with human organs, while a couple others are busy throwing-up outside.

The Products-  I would be remiss to mention that the book looks gorgeous, and the sheer amount of content already available is staggering.   There is great value here.  Everything I have read has been well made and really interesting, and maybe a little bit twisted.

The Bad

Fortune -  The Fortune mechanic seems a bit off.  Our GM has had a hard time figuring out when/if to award them, and players spending them seem to be arbitrary.  Mainly I think because official uses of Fortune seem a bit random.   This could be due to my experience with other games but it has been a hard thing to nail down.  Is it like a Benny, a XP in Cypher, Flipping over a Light side point?  Each session we seem to try a new approach to how we deal with fortune.  So far none have really felt right.

The D20 – OK I admit I prefer dice pools and games with a bell curb so you may disagree. But the 20 is a fickle fickle  icosagon.  Adding boons and Banes does try valiantly to mitigate the random results of this 20 sided polygon, but adding a 6 to a 3 is only a 9 and probably still a miss.  And a +6 Is the best result you can get even when you are rolling 5 boons.   This randomness can quickly end what was supposed to be a challenging encounter, or make a mild encounter devolve into tedium.

Nuts & Bolts #72 - Review: Shadow of the Demon Lord, 5 sessions deep

Reviews are hard. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Yes, it is easy to spout off your opinion, but doing so in a fair and balanced way, with enough exposure to the object of the review to provide a valid argument for your opinions requires time and experience and often multiple exposures.

As a result I basically never trust a review of a new RPG that comes out within the first few weeks after the RPG first hits shelves, not unless the reviewer cites experience during playtest and/or extensive and heavy play during the intervening time since release. For my part I waited a year before I reviewed Numenera (and directly via that the Cypher System), because I needed time to play the game, to run the game, to see all the wheels in motion, the progression, etc.

It's been about 6 months since Shadow of the Demon Lord (SotDL) darkened our collective doorsteps and plunged us into a filthy world of madness and shadow. I've not yet played Shadow of the Demon Lord, and so in a way I feel like I shouldn't be writing this, but I've GMed half a dozen sessions on a fairly regular monthly schedule and, that has given me some opinions.

Now keep in mind two things. Firstly, as mentioned before, I have only sat on the GM's side of the table, so my experience is as such. Secondly, this is based on only five sessions of play. As such this is more of a review in progress, than it is a true review, as I expect to have a more complete view and opinion of all aspects of the game after more time as GM as well as some player experience.

The Good

My players are now at Expert level having started at level zero. This means I have seen not only all six basic ancestries in play at least a little, but I have also seen my players grapple with the choices of both Novice and Expert paths. As a result I can say honestly that I think that character creation and advancement is probably the best part of Shadow of the Demon Lord. Creation is quick and easy with a handful of choices or rolls that allow for a wide range of unique results from hideous orcs to tiny flying clockworks.

Advancement requires choices, and those choices are unfettered by stat minimums or prerequisites from other choices. You can start as a magic using magician and then become a berserker if you want to. This allows for a great deal of variety and the kinds of unique characters that you don't always get to see in other, less flexible, systems.

The simplicity and flavor of the game mechanics is also a bright point. The system is easy to learn, and robust enough that you seldom need to remember obscure sub-systems for things. Just about anything you may wish to do comes down to adding boons or banes to a standard roll. It's elegant and adaptable. From a flavor standpoint the character abilities, creatures, and spells all go a long way toward injecting the darkness and corruption of the setting into the way things play.

The Bad

Combat, when balanced well, has been difficult and brutal with players going down to zero on occasion, but getting that balance has not been easy. I often find that new game systems often need a period of trial and error and learning the curve before a GM can really understand the balance complexity well enough to be able to throw together encounters on the fly. I may well downgrade this after more plays, but my early combats have felt (for my part) either too easy or too difficult, and I think that is due to my continued climb up the learning curve.

The length of combat is another point out of favor for me. My most recent session I built an intentionally challenging combat and it ran for a good ninety minutes with five players and three primary monsters. The combat stayed fun and engaging (at least for me), but it felt a little long and consumed fully half of the game session which is less than ideal in my opinion. Perhaps I am missing out on something to help move this along faster, or this is due in part to playing online, but fast and snappy combat that is difficult and engaging is my goal and I feel I am falling short of that with SotDL.

Current Thoughts

It's early still and I have a lot more time to play with this game and learn how best to GM it. I also hope to get the chance to sit on the player side of the table for a campaign and see how combat runs on that side. Likewise I want the chance to see how it is to be the player making the tough choices of paths, spells, and abilities.

In the meantime I don't feel the need to hesitate about giving Shadow of the Demon Lord my recommendation. It's steeped deeply in the flavor of dark fantasy, and it offers one of the best character generation and advancement systems I've seen in many years. Check it out if you haven't already, I think in the long run it'll be worth my initial reservations.

Story Seed - The Hunt

Image Source: http://dawnpu.deviantart.com/art/Txmp-454362420

It was a terrible day.

I crouched silently, listening and looking with all of my attention. My knees wanted to complain but I just wouldn't let them; this wasn't the time or the place. I felt a bead of sweat run down the back of my neck before soaking into my shirt collar. The oppressive heat seemed that much worse for my predicament.

I cursed the scientists who'd come up with this idea. Honestly, who could have thought that this would not end poorly. Chamelosaurus was going to be the death of me, I felt certain of that, and I was just hoping that if I was right it would be quick and painless. The alternative was a lot less appealing.

I adjusted my grip on the assault shotgun, trying to somehow make it feel less of a half measure. Of course a bazooka wouldn't help track a cold blooded dino in a hundred degree jungle so I guess half measures were all I had. There was a scream, bloodcurdling and final and my HUD showed me that Philips' life signs had just cut out. That put the beast some fifty yards to my west. I carefully changed my facing and used the chance to get into a slightly more comfortable position.

I wondered if the creature was smart enough to see the trap we'd laid. I shuddered involuntarily at that thought; this thing was already far too scary without it being whip smart to boot. More silence except for the buzzing of insects and the whisper of wind through the jungle foliage.

The crack of a twig behind me almost made me jump out of my skin. I spun, bringing the gun up, knowing that the friendly fire interlock would prevent me from shooting anybody on the team. Instead as I squeezed the trigger the fully automatic 12 gage started to bellow like some kind of monster of its own. The shimmering thing that was hurtling toward me started to bloom crimson blood.

I woke up to the sterile smell of a hospital. I wasn't dead. Turns out it was a good day after all.

Last Week Today - Week of March 14-20, 2016

My co-hosts +James August Walls and +Ryan Chaddock are finally going to dive into the Cypher System Rulebook's newer rules later this month. Join us for Cypher Live on Sunday March 20th. We're going to talk about stuff like Power Shifts, Horror Mode, Insight, and more.

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Monday
Story Seed - Punished One

Wednesday
Nuts & Bolts - What's in a Name

Friday
Year of the Demon Lord

• Death Comes to Blackstone Ford (pt 2) & The Undertaker's Apprentice
• The Crimson Bone Dagger

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The Worlds of Cypher System Kickstarter is going gangbusters. Check it out!