aka_fatman
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Mysteries

Sun 27 Nov 2016, 11:52

What directions do we want to see the Mysteries take at this stage? Interconnecting Mysteries that lead to a central Mystery (I'm assuming this is the default mode) or Mysteries-Of-The-Week? How dangerous do we intend on making these Mysteries in our home game? And how much will these Mysetries affect the characters' daily lives?
 
ysarius
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Re: Mysteries

Fri 16 Dec 2016, 03:22

The Loop could also be a local mirror for all teenagers dreams and nightmares.

If there is interconnected loops, there could be more and more dreams and nightmares alive
 
aka_fatman
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Re: Mysteries

Fri 16 Dec 2016, 03:45

The Loop could also be a local mirror for all teenagers dreams and nightmares.

If there is interconnected loops, there could be more and more dreams and nightmares alive
Not quite sure how the Loop is going to work at this stage. I'm leaning towards some kind of a time distortion/manipulation sort of thing (which explains the futuristic robots and dinosaurs from the past). But it might be weirder than that.
 
cdipierro
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Re: Mysteries

Fri 16 Dec 2016, 17:40

Yeah, that hits on the big question I have around the strange events in the Mysteries. How out of the norm is this stuff for our group of kids? Based on the art I've seen, some of this sci-fi weirdness is commonplace. Strange machines dotting the countryside, vast technologically advanced towers in the distance. Some of this stuff has to be expected. In a world filled with these creations at what point do we cross into things that push our heroes out of the status quo?

As for danger level - I'm hoping for lethal. Not that I want to run a gory or gritty game, put a "Kids in Peril" story needs to have real peril.
 
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menschi
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Re: Mysteries

Fri 16 Dec 2016, 19:58

I wouldn't run a regularly dangerous campaign. Kids are foolhardy and can't comprehend all the risks of their actions, but if they're constantly risking their lives for no real reward, it just doesn't make sense. Even if the kids had access to actual weapons (rifles, pellet guns), I could see them risk death to save one of their own (maybe if they didn't think their parents or the police would believe them), but not on a daily/weekly occurrence.

Right now what comes to mind for a kid campaign is more of a risk of growing up -- kids moving away or transferring to different schools for high school, or even being separated from their friends due to their risky adventures being discovered. I would borrow somewhat from the Goonies and make the mysteries tied to something that threatens to turn the player's town into a ghost town, so they're living on borrowed time. Maybe unless they can solve the underlying mystery of what is threatening their town and might make them evacuate (such as the Centralia, Pennsylvania mine fire that was discovered burning underground as far back as the 1960s and eventually led to the town's condemnation. The fire's expected to burn for up to 250 years), they'll have to leave their homes and split up.
"His name is Bobo. He knows no mercy."
-- Simon White-Thatch Potentloins (a/k/a Peanuts the chimpanzee)
 
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Tomas
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Re: Mysteries

Fri 16 Dec 2016, 21:02

Hi!

The four Mysteries included in the core book are connected to a common backstory, and can be played as a short campaign.

Regarding the danger level - there is danger, but the PCs generally don't die. They can however get injured, exhausted, scared, etc.
Fria Ligan
 
cdipierro
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Re: Mysteries

Fri 16 Dec 2016, 21:56

I wouldn't run a regularly dangerous campaign. Kids are foolhardy and can't comprehend all the risks of their actions, but if they're constantly risking their lives for no real reward, it just doesn't make sense. Even if the kids had access to actual weapons (rifles, pellet guns), I could see them risk death to save one of their own (maybe if they didn't think their parents or the police would believe them), but not on a daily/weekly occurrence.
That's a really good point, for some reason I hadn't even really thought about running one long story. A TV series style approach where each week is a different threat/adventure would need to have different stakes/pacing. I had my head set in 'one shot' land where a Mystery would be like a movie, with high stakes, small time table, and the possibility to greatly alter the hero's lives. Not that a longer running campaign couldn't do those things, it would just rob it of tension to do so constantly.
 
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menschi
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Re: Mysteries

Fri 16 Dec 2016, 22:21

I wouldn't run a regularly dangerous campaign. Kids are foolhardy and can't comprehend all the risks of their actions, but if they're constantly risking their lives for no real reward, it just doesn't make sense. Even if the kids had access to actual weapons (rifles, pellet guns), I could see them risk death to save one of their own (maybe if they didn't think their parents or the police would believe them), but not on a daily/weekly occurrence.
That's a really good point, for some reason I hadn't even really thought about running one long story. A TV series style approach where each week is a different threat/adventure would need to have different stakes/pacing. I had my head set in 'one shot' land where a Mystery would be like a movie, with high stakes, small time table, and the possibility to greatly alter the hero's lives. Not that a longer running campaign couldn't do those things, it would just rob it of tension to do so constantly.
I could definitely running your one-shot idea to see if my friends are really interested in the game. If so, yes, a longer-running game would definitely have to build up to something big. Something the kids wouldn't take seriously at first so it'd just big a big game, until they start connecting the dots. And mixing up the stories between humor, action and horror would keep them guessing.
"His name is Bobo. He knows no mercy."
-- Simon White-Thatch Potentloins (a/k/a Peanuts the chimpanzee)
 
aka_fatman
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Re: Mysteries

Sat 17 Dec 2016, 04:00

Hi!

The four Mysteries included in the core book are connected to a common backstory, and can be played as a short campaign.

Regarding the danger level - there is danger, but the PCs generally don't die. They can however get injured, exhausted, scared, etc.
It would take a cold-blooded GM to kill/maim the kids. From a child's perspective, the world would seem heightened; their accomplishments greater ("I'm GREAT at this sport. I'm going to be a world CHAMPION!") and their failures seem deeper ("If my parents see how badly I ruined the couch they will literally ground me for the rest of my life").

However, the threat of danger/death should always be hovering in the back of their minds. Initial thought for an into adventure is to have events take place 3 months before the core events with pre-gen characters. The players will get involved in a Mystery (getting to find out about the system, the background), a [insert event] will happen and all the characters will go missing.
Cut to: three months later. Now the players get to roll their real characters. They have to find out what happened to their friends, siblings from the intro adventure.
 
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Björn Hellqvist
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Re: Mysteries

Sat 17 Dec 2016, 04:09

The stakes in "Stranger Things" were pretty high, and I'm not sure that would suit the Loop setting, but OTOH, without a sense of real danger, it will just be kids playing in the woods. One way of upping the stakes is to have bad things happen to NPCs (classmates, friends, siblings), or introducing potentially lethal situations (getting lost in an underground maze, stalking/avoiding sentry robots and dinosaurs, and so on). Having something happen as outlined in the post above sounds like a great idea.
My life fades. The vision dims. All that remains are memories. I remember a time of chaos, ruined dreams, this wasted land.

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