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Lord Khadow
Joined: 17 Jul 2008
Posts: 90
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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 Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks! For me I think handouts really make the game.
And I have tried hard to preserve the look and feel of the A|State book in some of them, as I think that's an important factor in the World of A|State.
A lot of my game revolves around the relationships that the players need to develop with the NPCs, and I've emphasised the very Victorian art of writing letters. There are dozens, sent to and from (and the players seem to be getting well into it as well) players and NPCs.
I'd post those, but some are of a personal nature (which the players might not like if they're looking into these threads) and I suspect that because the context is missing without the write-up for the games, they'll not make much sense. |
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Malcolm
Site Admin
Joined: 09 Nov 2002
Posts: 1836
Location: Falkirk, Scotland
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| Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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Yep, it's really great to see that kind of stuff getting produced for the game. If I were a player, I'd be very impressed at your level of dedication.I love the anarchist newsletter especially, it really captures the alternating pedantic/fire breathing nature of real niche political commentary. You haven't been reading stuff like The Spartacist Hammer, have you?
Also, emphasising the importance of letter writing is really cool. I like that a lot.
Cheers
Malcolm
_________________
The worn sprocket on the singlespeed hub of CGS
"If the concrete and the clay beneath your feet
Don't get you son
The avenues and alleyways are gonna do it
Just for fun" |
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Lord Khadow
Joined: 17 Jul 2008
Posts: 90
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:26 am Post subject: |
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Heh, nope. Not read The Spartacist Hammer I'm afraid to say.
Phew, it's taking me all my time to do the player handouts for the game! :)
Here's the latest edition of the Holstburn Gate News-Letter; some stories about events that have affected the players (front page news), and some stories for amusment/adventure hooks.
Holstburn Gate News-Letter, issue 87
We're playing this coming Saturday; so you get it before the players do. :) |
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Paul
Joined: 09 Nov 2002
Posts: 391
Location: www.contestedground.co.uk - Scotland
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| Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:45 pm Post subject: |
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Loving the new newletter by the way. The moustache trainer is brilliant, I love the idea of eating with a constant dread! It reads really well too, fantastic work.
thanks for posting this
Paul |
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Lord Khadow
Joined: 17 Jul 2008
Posts: 90
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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That moustache trainer ad is crazy-cool. It's a real advert as well... along with the handgrenade one. I found them online and photoshopped out the unreadable text.
thanks, though! :D |
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Lord Khadow
Joined: 17 Jul 2008
Posts: 90
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Sat May 02, 2009 6:37 am Post subject: |
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I'm going to steal this question from Kammerice's thread; mainly because I don't update in the same way, and also because my next game is in an hour. (perhaps a little attention whoring going on here as welll)
| Paul wrote: | At the risk of being predictable, how are the players enjoying it!!! How are they finding the setting / the combat / the mish-mash of old and new technology?
It's always good to get a bit of feedback to use for future reference!
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We've had a month-and-a-half break in my game (perhaps shorter; it felt long). The players have travelled to Skank Hill, dealt with the Brotherhood of Cargo Carriers, the Squire, Scarecrow and mixed with the Carnival of Song. As well as making some very important friends in a small company called TriCon Rail.
They're enjoying the game. Very much so. The political intrigues have pulled them in. Jason, the player of the businessman, has plans to rule - The City, or a part thereof, I don't think it matters too much. Eleanor, the player of the Lostfinder, finds the personal-level interactions great deals of fun.
The setting has won them both over. They love The City and how dark it is. They love how difficult it can be to do things that they take for granted every day. The technological split works really well (although they haven't touched on a whole lot of the high-tech stuff, yet).
I've emphasised the Regency elements of the setting; so when I start dropping them into the less moral and ethical world of the richer, more powerful people... then that should come as a shock.
The combat; it's a bit different because we're using the WoD ruleset as that's what we're familiar with. And actually, I think this has made them too comfortable and too complacent. Combat isn't as deadly as I'd like.
55 minutes to go! I'm rubbing my hands together with glee... the Rutgart Kombine has invaded Holstburn Gate and seized the Ramblemile using several 'borrowed' warcrawls. There is house-to-house fighting, people lying injured in snowy streets, and dogs eating the dead. And the players have to sort it out. :) |
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Lord Khadow
Joined: 17 Jul 2008
Posts: 90
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:15 am Post subject: |
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A session or so ago I had to introduce the power of The Church to the players in order for them to get a grasp on the social shifts that occur around this.
Part of this was an impassioned speech that an NPC priest made (of the Third Church of God the Architect) to assembled people; many of them displaced by the invasion of the Communist Rutgart Kombine - in the midst of the season of Cold; all of them suffering, hungry and scared.
| Quote: | The clock is ticking, brothers and sisters, counting down to Armageddon. The Great Demolisher reveals himself in many guises across this once great City; from the intellectual elite cruelly indoctrinating our children with the savage blasphemy of the Mortal God, to the craven Cult driven pagans, corrupting them in the darkness of the local den of iniquity, from the false prophets cowering behind our City's pulpits to the vile parasites in our banks and businesses and the godless politicians, growing fat on the misery of their constituents. The signs of the end times are all around us, etched in blood and fire by the left hand of god.
You have but to open your eyes, brothers and sisters. The truth is that the Demolisher is here. The Child of Lies, the Son of Darkness walks among us cloaking himself in the flesh of beasts, of the Shifted and of Man. Does the Lord not weep at this degradation? Does He not tremble with righteous fury? And shall he not seek retribution?
I open my eyes and I see a black sky that tears apart and screams with a voice that is thunder, 'Rise up, rise up brothers and sisters and take your place at my side. For you shall be my gun and your face shall shine like a thousand lights and the streets shall be sanctified by the steaming black blood of the heretics.' And together brothers and sisters, together we shall build a shining temple, a City that will last for thousands and thousands of years.
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Lord Khadow
Joined: 17 Jul 2008
Posts: 90
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:52 am Post subject: |
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Tonight is session 21, and I'm preparing for another speech by NPC Brother Janus Pilton.
This speech marks a transition from the one prior, where Father Pilton was trying to illuminate the way for the followers to go. This time he's filled with fury. Daylight has murdered his understudy and left him as an example, and he wishes to incite the people of Holstburn Gate to rooting out and destroying all traces of this foul, corrupt gang.
| Quote: | Brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters. As you know Brother Tenbrook, Danil Tenbrook, met his untimely end at the hands of blasphemers most foul. And in this way the Great Demolisher reveals himself to us, as a coward, as a betrayer, as a shadow that lucks in the night. The Great Demolisher is a vile parasite, feeding on the living flesh of The City. And that flesh, brothers and sisters, are the people who stand here before me! You are the flesh of this City! You are the lifeblood. You are the heartbeat. And so it is you who will pull back the facade of the Great Demolisher and reveal him for the leech that he is.
All we must do, brothers and sisters, is open our eyes. You have heard my sermons. You have heard me warn that the Great Demolisher is here. And now we have suffered the consequence of complacency. Will it happen to you next, brother? Or you, sister? Or your children? Your loved ones? We must not let it happen. We banded together to drive out an obvious foe - the Rutgart Kombine. But now we have a more insidious face of the Great Demolisher sneaking through the cracks in our vigilance. It is these that we must seek out and stamp on their heads and grind their teeth against the cobbles least they sink them into our very spirits.
For this is the work that the Great Architect would have us do. He would look down upon us and beckon us upwards. Not by ladder nor stair, but spiritually, elevating ourselves through our actions here in The City. God is not Mortal. Nor is God watching us from many miles away. God is here all around us, bidding us to build. To become greater.
The Demolisher is here, brothers and sisters. The Child of Lies, the Son of Darkness. The Demolisher walks among us cloaking himself in cloth and hat, pretending to be just as you and I. The Lord will no longer weep at this violation of our lives. The Lord with thunder with VENGEANCE! We will rise up and together we will take our place at his side. For you will be my gun, and your lives will be my sword, and your fury shall burn like a thousand fires and the City will be sanctified by the steaming black blood of the Demolisher.
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The sermon is intended to be as emotive as possible, with Father Pilton pointing out the player characters during it. |
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Lord Khadow
Joined: 17 Jul 2008
Posts: 90
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2009 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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Session 24 tonight, woo hoo.
I've got another sermon lined up. I love these things, because the players don't seem to know what to do regarding them.
The aim here is to incite the general populace of Holstburn Gate, the lower classes, the working classes, into action against the corrupt upper classes (into which the players fall).
There's been a skirmish recently between Holstburn Gate and the neighbouring Rutgart Kombine - which has meant that business and workhouses have closed. Those affected are the working classes. Unable to earn, they are unable to pay, and so are being evicted, or their houses are being foreclosed on. They are being cast out into the streets.
As the players are embarking on a campaign of politics and assassinations, their corruption becomes apparent in the eyes of those they disregard the most.
| Quote: | Brothers and sisters, do you see what is happening? That your home, that our home here, Holstburn Gate, is struck through with corruption and vice, decay and decadence. You starve and freeze. Your beautiful children, your loving wives, your mothers, your fathers, they all starve and freeze. Disease spreads through our streets, there are no jobs. No warmth and there is nothing to protect you from the stalkers in the mists.
For there is a terrible lie festering in the dark heart of our City today. We have all been lead to believe that through honest labour, industry and optimism that we can achieve success and enjoy prosperity. What of you brothers and sisters who have worked so hard, toiling long hours, only to see it snatched away. Not by God, but by man. By banks, by the craven businessmen who run the banks. These men, these money changers have feasted for centuries on the fat of this City and now they turn their gluttonous eye to our misery and the gobble up your houses and homes. They are the hands of evil.
But we cannot solely blame them. For evil exists, brothers and sisters. It is written in the spirit of Man with blood drawn from the Demolisher's veins. We cannot escape it. We cannot hide from it. We cannot deny it. It is part of who we are. Who I am. Who you are. The evil in you is the root of your sin. And you have sinned great sins.
Janus moves through the congregation, pointing at those sitting nearby as he does so.
You, you sold your daughter to some men for one pound. You have laid down with the sister of your wife. You have stolen from the cashbox at your place of work. You have cheated long time friends in business. You murdered your brother out of jealousy. You have lied to your mother and father. You have lusted for the loins of a man.
And I, I have committed murder.
In my heart I have killed those craven businessmen again and again. Wishing for their deaths with loathsome desire. I am an evil man. I am a sinful man. I am... A man. But we can be saved brothers and sisters. Yes we can. Not through prayer. Not through piousness. But through BLOOD and FIRE. The blood of atonement and the fire of rebuilding. Only through death and rebirth can salvation be had by mortal man.
We will be reborn, brothers and sisters. And once reborn we will be the Great Architect's weapon. We will find these men, all of them. These men that make evil in your lives, and we will lead them to rebirth.
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Lord Khadow
Joined: 17 Jul 2008
Posts: 90
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2009 9:56 pm Post subject: |
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I've also updated the Holstburn Gate map to include a bunch of streetnames and canal names. Not all streets are named yet, sadly.
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Lord Khadow
Joined: 17 Jul 2008
Posts: 90
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 12:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Rather sadly my game came to an end prematurely; one of my players found the pace of the game unfavourable, and she roleplays for quite a high level of escapism. I tried to accomodate it, but it was too little too late. :( |
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Malcolm
Site Admin
Joined: 09 Nov 2002
Posts: 1836
Location: Falkirk, Scotland
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| Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2010 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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What a great map. I'd forgotte how full of really exciting names and ideas it was. I mean, who wouldn't want to find out what's going on around the Holy Bones Bridge across the Dead Dog Ditch? Great stuff. Shame your game ended, but it sounds like you've got more plans for the future!
Cheers
Malcolm
_________________
The worn sprocket on the singlespeed hub of CGS
"If the concrete and the clay beneath your feet
Don't get you son
The avenues and alleyways are gonna do it
Just for fun" |
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Lord Khadow
Joined: 17 Jul 2008
Posts: 90
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
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| Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2010 2:38 am Post subject: |
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I've got a few more plans for The City, as I mentioned elsewhere. And I agree - the names for the streets/canals were really important. If anything they were the most evocative part of the locations.
Here's an updated map and key:
1. Trenevier Station
2. Strangers Hall
3. GRID Substation
4. Taras Strauss Brewery
5. Kuster’s Workhouse
6. The Jolly Sailer Beerhouse
7. Dimitar’s Restaurant
8. Aoife Eichmann; Apothecary
9. The Twist; Beerhouse
10. Gissing Leatherworks
11. Cross Street Workhouse
12. Giorgi Decker; Cooper
13. Shadow’s Knave; Beerhouse
14. Gutter’s End Almshouse
15. Holfstead Brewery
16. Aleksi Fink; Gunsmith
17. Choler Straight Beerhouse
18. Barker’s Blacking Factory
19. Skysheen Church; Shining Sky Religion
20. Kaspar Dreschler; Haberdashery
21. The Hoop Theatre
22. Holstburn Gate Station
23. The Office of the Sherrif (destroyed)
24. The Grand Canal Savings Bank
25. Nightsleep Cobblers
26. Brinklow Tailors
27. Union Street Gambling Hall
28. Borders Creep Legal Advice
29. Wallbrook Baths
30. Holstburn Gate News-Letter Offices
31. Scattery Printing Press
32. Menzes Procurement
33. March Real Estate
34. Crown & Sun Law
35. White Friar Leather
36. Smet’s Construction Company
37. Urran Kilns
38. Clearwater Fisheries
39. Kilns
40. Paper Factory
41. Antiques and Curios
42. Schmidtt’s Construction and Restoration
43. Holstburn Gate pipes and plumbing
44. Eastcote Textiles
45. Paean Cartiers
46. Rutledge Guest House
47. Mrs Manners’ Boarding House
48. Bleak House
49. The Singing Fish Tavern
50. Hesselberth’s
51. Emmett’s
52. Subway
53. The Full Circle Inn
54. The Fleishglasse Meatery
55. Smelter’s Arms
56. The Crooked Millet
57. The Crossways Cafe
58. Tilly’s Tearoom
59. Justicar’s offices
60. Justicar’s apartments |
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