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Thanks, guys. I threw some questionnaires at my players the other day - I hope this will get me a bit more to work with. At the moment, my main problem is not knowing what they want to do. I want them to be in charge, pursuit their goals, not just react to the stuff I throw at them.

Wow, fantastic, Claymore! I'll give them that, and I'll be checking out the Podcast.

Hi, Some of my players complain that they don't know the setting very well. I've instructed them to read the intro chapter of the player guide, and to look around the Wyrd site a bit, but can anyone recommend any online reading and/or fluff to get an easy grasp of the setting? They just need some easy-access bits to get started.

Summing up is probably a good idea, also for my own sake. I'm not as good at writing things down as I should be... I've left a lot open. I've made some thoughts, but few clear plans, since I want the wishes and choices of the players and characters to shape the story. So I seldom detail-plan more than a session or two ahead. I'm also waiting for the players to give me some concrete goals and wants for the characters, but it seems like I will have to force this (thinking about making a simple questionnaire). So this is what we got: What happened so far: I started with the intro-adventure from the Chronicle, with the train going through the Breach. After this, the group had a nice walk through Malifaux, seeing the sights, before they were tricked into an ambush. The ambushers were defeated, but the 'pretty lady' luring them into it got away. A friendly young man managed to catch the only other escapee and provide some proper directions (I have no plan for what this guy really is, but he is *something*). The crew gets simple jobs at a saloon, and spends some time trying to track the 'pretty lady'. They find that she lives at a saloon/brothel (off course, it is more), but do not risk going inside. Instead, they let the thread drop. The morning after, they are hired by a widow who runs an orphanage, to recover three of her children which went missing in the night. The widow is a good person, but shunned by the locals because her husband was a resser which was apprehended by the Guild. The kids were stolen by local workers. These guys were hired by a flesh construct under the control of one of McMourning's nurses. By following clues, the crew is able to track down the construct's hideout (with a red herring sending them on a detour to an asylum to try to speak with the children's mother). This is where we quit the last time. Time to confront the villains. Alice: She is on a dreamquest, but there are no details around this. The player is incredibly creative, but not very spontaneous, so I'm going to twist her hand a bit to give me something concrete. The Dreamer opposes Alice. I have no idea why or how. The Dreamer doesn't need goals, but it is cooler if there is some reasoning behind it. Sonnia Creed is her ally, they might have similar goals. Once I get more from the player, I'll see if I can tailor in some of Brib's incredibly cool ideas here. Calvin: The sideshow wants to learn magic. I'm going to tempt him into necromancy. If he goes there, great, if not, the ressers who want him to join with them will be upset. McMourning is his ally (which can be revealed once he gets into real trouble with the guild), Sonnia is (obviously) his enemy. I like the thought of him getting great, but uncontrollable power, though it will be hard to balance. Simply using the danger of the Guild is not enough. Maybe some collateral ... Sandra: She is an orphan/street kid, but has no other revealed background or goals beyond short term employment. In this campaign, McMourning is using street children for various experiment (no body cares if they disappear, and the undeveloped might have thus far unknown properties he wants to explore. Plus it is pretty gruesome), and thus her enemy. The Dreamer, being a child, opposes this and is her ally. Slugger: No background, he wants to make a living and beat people. Oh, and there's a starting romance between Slugger and Sandra. Slugger is something special which Pandora wants. She'll both help and hinder him. Her first move is to use one of her agents (the woman who lured the group into a trap during the second session) to 'infect' Slugger so that she can influence him. She will then use him (and/or his special purpose) to open another Breach and let the Neverborn invade our world. Thus, the four plotlines are: 1) McMourning is stealing and experimenting on children. 2) The Guild is as always protecting their interests. There are rumors of some powerful item surfacing, they want to get this and use it to their own means. 3) The Dreamer... dreams? Here I could use some ideas. 4) Pandora wants to use a special human (Slugger) for opening an invasion gate. The plots will (so far) interlock in the following manner: 1) McMourning knows something about the artifact the Guild seeks. He wants it, but does not want to risk attention. 2) The Dreamer has a dislike for McMourning's experiments, and wants to stop them. 3) Sonnia has a dislike for ALL the other players, and will try to stop all of them (either personally, or using the Guild). 4) Pandora can probably use the artifact for her plan. Possibly also McMourning's experiments, though she is no friend of McMourning. Stuff I haven't placed, but really want to use: 1) Brib's idea of having one session each against a different master. 2) The guy who came to the crew's (belated) rescue. 3) Brothels with foul things in them. 4) I also want everything to tie together as much as possible in the end. That should be mostly everything...

A key (of some sort), and a visit from the guild. Yeah. I can work with that. (but you can still keep the ideas coming, this is great, thanks all)

Trying to think of something that can be tied in later... maybe pieces of an artifact? Several maps that overlay to reveal something later? Still nine hours to game start, plenty of time!

Okay, after a little hiatus (due to many reasons, but main one is that one of the players lives out of town) we are back. New game tomorrow! I'm looking to finish up the session with the kidnappings for McMourning, which I hope will take up most of the night. In case it won't take up most of the night, I'm planning a little ahead, this time focusing on Calvin. Now, I know what I want, more or less, but I have some problems translating it into proper plans without knowing how the players react. I find this immensely frustrating, as it has come easy to me in the past, but I have let myself get old and out of practice. So help is appreciated! Calvin is about to "spend his silver thread like golden promises". After the last session, the group has gotten McMourning's attention, and he wants to figure out if they are a wrench in his plans, or if he can throw a wrench in theirs. Somehow he picks up that Calvin has a dark side, and sends him a present, either a spell book or clue on where to find one. Whatever it is, it is decorated with silver thread. I lean toward the second part, since this is more likely to pique the interest of the players. The thing here is to make sure Calvin is interested, and what to do if he is not. It should lead to him finding the spell, and using it, and this should go wrong and/or be consumed quick. And how does golden and/or promises come into play? To make things more interesting, the Guild are also looking for the spell, to grab it and contain it, thus crossing paths with the group. It might be time here to introduce some of the heavy hitters, I am thinking Samael (NPCs have spoken of him before, so this should worry the players) . The Guild shouldn't get too close, I don't want the characters to get into a full conflict with the guild yet. Also, this whole arch needs some kind of conclusion. Any ideas for me?

Are there two of these? I saw another one at A Wyrd Place a couple of days ago, didn't add myself there since it was inconvenient to do so by phone. However, I saw people on that one that I don't see here.

I'm around every night this week, with Friday the only exception so far (TTB time!). So if anyone is interested, message me. From around 7 CET.

I'm available in about an hour.