The Forge Archives

Out of Game

Getting together to make up Kickers is a nice little half-session activity that I find is best done over lunch or dinner.

We're gearing up for the finale game of this mini-campaign.  We decided as a group to jump the timeline ahead 20 years and bring this puppy to a close.

There are quite a few plot elements to bring together but I think it will work.  All in all it has been a solid group of games and it has given me some insights into what needs doing in the Dictionary of Mu.

Especially after running DitV lately, I feel that I haven't been driving my Sorcerer game hard enough.  I let off the throttle and let my players breath when I should lean in hard.  Maybe that's why I asked that this be the last game of Mu's Bed, so I'd be sure to lean hard and leave nothing on the table when we're done.

That said, here are the kickers and several plot threads floating around that need picking up after:

20 Years After

The following is almost entirely player-generated.

We've decided that the Witch King of Lemuria and the Damsel Messiah killed one another in a vicious duel.  The Witch King's heir, the Prince, was crowned Witch Emperor and in the two decades following gained control of Hy-Brasil, Atlantis and Lemuria.

After their Kickers they will gather at the Emperor's coronation to summon the spirits of the dead nations that are to be subsumed by the Witch-Emperor's newfound Empire.

Ardash - We find the former concubine of the Witch-King now a aged widower whose nephew sits on the throne of Lemuria with an Atlantean bride who is possessed by an ancient Cydonian Empress.  

Amaranth - We find the priestess and bride of a dead god on the brink of having her husband's religion made the state religion by the new Emperor.  What will happen to a dead god when he is made into a state religion and thus brought back to life?  Will he remain her Demon?  Will her bond remain?  Will he take her into the heavens as he promised when he was just a hissing dead god with a single worn shrine to mark his religion's passing from the world?

Kickers

Ardash - With a Legion of Stygian Calvalry he is heading to Atlantis to gather their royal acutrements for the coronation summoning and to declare Atlantis a colony of Lemuria, within the Witch Emperor's control.

Amaranth - As her triplets, two daughters and a son, are sent off for marriage and their vocations she takes them on a last maternal trip to the Gladitorial Pits of Black Rock in order to buy them all bodyguards.  She will find out that her father, who left Mu's Bed over 20 years ago (in the midst of the first game) to find Amaranth's mother, whom unbeknownst to him, Amaranth herself killed.

Other Tidbits

Carv and the One-Armed Atlantean - Carv was the Prince's lover, before he was a lofty Witch Emperor and he spurned her badly.  The one-armed Atlantean was butchered by the Prince in a duel.  They've teamed up.

I'm thinking the Atlantean has a new silver arm, gleaming and alien.  He might be married to the Khan's daughter and thus able to muster a considerable horde if his wife agrees.

Dogod, Lord of Black Rock - How will he react to his daughter and grand-children?  I'm not sure.  We talked it over as a group and thought he was taken as a slave while looking for his beloved.  Having been the former slavemaster of Mu's Bed, he quickly led a slave revolt and is now the Lord of Black Rock, a vicious gladitorial stadium frequented by many of the nobles of Marr'd.

The Exorcist of Hy-Brasil - He faced down a Guardian Mummy and lived, kidnapped Ardash and was never caught.  He is a PC who needs to come to direct conflict with Ardash.  Should be a cool thing when it happens.

Flashbacks

Ardash vs. Amaranth - The players thought there was a time in their past when they had fought just after the Witch-King died and Ardash was grieving.   They almost started to half-role-play it tonight while making Kickers over dinner.  I gently asked them to stop half-playing it and that we'd play it as a flashback during the game.

Summoning her Grandfather, the Late Duke of Mu's Bed - Amaranth's grandfather was killed and Paula wanted him to be summoned during the between times but I figured it would make for a nice flashback.

Next Up

Bangs and Things.  Luckily, I have more than a week to let this mess stew together into a coherent set of bangs.

Hi Judd,

QuoteWe've decided that the Witch King of Lemuria and the Damsel Messiah killed one another in a vicious duel. The Witch King's heir, the Prince, was crowned Witch Emperor and in the two decades following gained control of Hy-Brasil, Atlantis and Lemuria.

!!

OK, now I'm over the shock of that one. Here's my question: how have the issues of the setting come out through the conflicts and resolutions of play?

As I see it, the issues of the setting have a lot to do with valuing the past as opposed to letting it rule you, as well with working toward the future without idealizing it into an excuse for tyranny.

Since nearly all of the canonical governments and NPCs in the setting represent bad choices along these lines, I'm very curious to know whether the player-characters have forged a "new outlook" in any way.

Best,
Ron

Quote from: Ron Edwards
OK, now I'm over the shock of that one. Here's my question: how have the issues of the setting come out through the conflicts and resolutions of play?

As I see it, the issues of the setting have a lot to do with valuing the past as opposed to letting it rule you, as well with working toward the future without idealizing it into an excuse for tyranny.

Since nearly all of the canonical governments and NPCs in the setting represent bad choices along these lines, I'm very curious to know whether the player-characters have forged a "new outlook" in any way.

Best,
Ron

I think they have spent the first few sessions caught up in their own pasts, struggling with their political situations.  The struggle of Marr'd has been going on all around them but it has manifested in more personal stories than the players or the characters really taking notice of the struggle to get off this barren rock and take a side.

In this third game their sphere of influence is going to expand quite a bit.  They are going to find themselves as real political movers and shakers and will get to really create their own thoughts on how the nations of Marr'd should be and how their characters will bring these thoughts into action.

They are going to be deciding what to do with these pyramids that were created to aid those who wish to flee from the home-planet while dealing with a Demon reborn and ascending to godhood and a widower of the late Witch-King whispering in his nephew, now the Witch Emperor of Marr'd's ear and giving his own advice among a council of others who want nothing more than their own sordid agendas.

It should be a rather glorious mess and I'm curious to see how the players leave this world they have found.

Bangs:

Atlantis tries to seduce Ardash with all of the pleasures Atlantis can offer.

Amaranth finds her father an angry amnesiac who falls in love with her daughter.

The Exorcist kills Ardash's sister while leading a revolutionary cell in Hy-Brasil.  The Witch-Emperor goes mad with fury.

The Witch-Emperor unviels his plan to leave his throne in the hands of a dignitary who wants his power from the Stygian Towers while he plans to lead the best of his people into the Heavens aboard a star chariot, with navigating via a farrow from one of his many pyramids.

The Qan's hordes surround Mu's Bed and demand the king faces his silver-armed champion or they will destroy the city.

Amaranth's in-game demon, a dead god, comes to life as the Witch Emperor declares him the official  Imperial Religion and leaves her for the heavens, all former promises of taking her with him a lie.

One of Amaranth's children goes against her plans to marry them off in order to chase the love of a dead desert god.

A guardian mummy's heart, stored in a clay jar under the Emperor's palace in Mu's Bed, is stolen, thus one of the Mummy Guardians is working for someone else.