Weaving plots

[oistene]

(Maja, Tore, Torun, Erlend - if you found your way here - do not read!)

 

So! My campaign is well underway, the first game was two weeks ago and this Saturday, we are at it again. Currently, I am looking at the character's destinies, and trying to puzzle together a campaign out of what I have there. The only other idea I have, is that I want to be able to use some or all of the masters I own for Malifaux (currently Sonnia, Dreamer, McMourning and Pandora). Preferably, I want there to be three or four plotlines (probably four, so that each player has his own) that weave together into one large story with a mutual conclusion.

 

I work best when I can throw out some ideas, get ideas thrown back at me, and then tailor everything together. I am also well aware that while I can make rather good plots and have good ideas, I have trouble making good and exciting conclusions.

 

In hope of getting some ideas thrown at me, I'll start brain storming and leaving my notes here. This is what we got:

 

 

Alice Whistler (native american pioneer on a dream quest, and probably the most noble of the crew)

As you strain to see through the noon veil (12 crows) - already took place as the group passed The Breach.

the cauldron-spawn will crawl to your birth (10 rams) - really stumped here.

as the witless man fears the child. (2 tomes) - the child might be the Dreamer.

The red woman will light the path (5 masks) - pretty much must be Sonnia Criid.

and the ordeal will be your own (6 masks) - yeah ...

 

 

Calvin “Sideshow” Hobbes (romani circus artist dabbler with long fingers and questionable morals)

Once your silver thread spends like golden promises (2 tomes) - no ideas yet

you'll take up the sword of your father (7 masks) - might relate to mercenary Station

for not all treasure glimmer in the light. (9 crows) - magic of some sort is a treasure. Maybe a spell book.

Escape is impossible, freedom is inevitable (4 masks) - nothing concrete here yet.

you’ll burn the oldest page (8 crows) - and maybe some or all of the magic treasure from 9C needs to be destroyed or bad things happen.

 

 

Sandra Dee (drudge of Scandinavian ancestry with a talent for taking a beating)

After the reaper has come for innocence (7 masks) - to many ideas to list, but clearly someone bad is taking people. Tied to McMourning?

the mud flows like a river into the sky (6 tomes) - seems like a trip into the sewers might be in order.

for the coldest court will bow their king. (7 rams) - could be something with the undead.

Spirits run sour in your weins (A masks) - eh....

And you will forget yourself (2 rams) - dunno ...

 

 

“Slugger” O’Toole (uncharming charmer and guard from Ireland, likes to beat people with heavy objects)

If you beware oblivions hand (9 rams) - is currently unfolding as the group is lured into a trap in the streets of Malifaux. A simple robbery, nothing fancy.

the sting of a single wasp will light the agony (8 crows) - the thief that got away might be tied to something more sinister, and might return.

for the stars illuminate your path. (Lich Crows) - no idea yet.

Denying the battle will win the war (A crows) - Ehm...

and you will unshackle the prisoner (7 masks) - need to have some dual meaning here, probably doing something good will trigger something bad, like releasing a demon (or something? Pandora's box?) into the world.

 

Any ideas, folks?

[brib4169]

I'm just getting to a similar  point in my TtB campaign.  The first thing I noticed was four fated and four masters... do you want each character to have a nemesis or do you want the whole party to be against all four masters equaly?  I'd lean towards the former but have one session each where they go against a different master just to mess with them.  Here is what I came up with... Hope it gives you some ideas.

 

Alice definitely seems analogous to the dreamer in a lot of aspects.  Cauldron born are traditionaly just celtic zombies dispatched to gather corpses (per wikipedia).  You can easily tie that into McMourning, but I still like the idea of using bigger and bigger summoned nightmares instead that Alice starts attracting as she progress alongs her dream quest.  The Birth it refers to could be when she finally awakens from the dream and boom LCB is there to drag her back in.  The witless man fears the child.. oh yeah, confront dreamer, but do it in the dream world and try to make him see that he is more than just dreaming, try to get him to reject LCB.  Have her dream quest spark some latent uber ability as a reward but it gains the attention of the witch hunters and thus Sonia has to step in and reign her in and teach her to control/dampen her power.  Which can lead right into the ordeal shall be your own, with the dreamer gone, LCB latches onto Alice and starts to manifest through her and she has to choose to accept or reject him. 

 

Calvin can be paired against Sonia at the start and she and the witch hunters could be constantly hunting him (as a dabbler he falls under her jurisdiction).  Once your silver thread spends like golden promises, he gets a new magic ability that goes awry and draws guild attention.  You'll take up the sword of your father , he has to take up a family profession (circus penguin seems appropriate) that reveals answers to controling his power.  For not all treasure glimmer in the light, Further develope the powers / decend into madness.  Escape is impossible, freedom is inevitable, He starts to think the power is under his control but then it turns on him and he is too far entrenched to let go  (enter Pandora to push him / drive him mad).  The only way to escape is to become insane.  You’ll burn the oldest page could be related to somehow triggering Sonia to release Cherufe (sp?) and purging the madness with fire.

 

Sandra can be pit against Mcmourning. 

 

After the reaper has come for innocence, McMourning is abducting test subjects (kids, elderly, ...?) Force her to choose between rescuing the innocent or persuing the villian.  The mud flows like a river into the sky, yup head to the sewers, need an obligatory fountain/explosion of poo.  For the coldest court will bow their king, Death is pretty cold, and the now-undead teswt subjects are serving McMorning.  Spirits run sour in your weins, NIghtmares are spirits.  Dreamer can pop in somehow and mess up some plans.  And you will forget yourself, Have Mcmorning poison her so she cannot rely on her resilience to damage and then require her to solve some sort of challenge whe would normaly bull rush through.

 

Slugger gets to face off against Pandora.  If you beware oblivions hand, is currently unfolding as the group is lured into a trap in the streets of Malifaux. A simple robbery, nothing fancy... so they think.  The sting of a single wasp will light the agony, During the previous step, Pandora managed to somehow link herself to Slugger and can now channel her abilities through him.  For the stars illuminate your path. You see starts when you get hit, maybe he needs to get pandora's influence beaten out of him. 

Denying the battle will win the war, put him in a position where violence is not the answer (ie Pandora is using her ability that makes you hit yourself). 

and you will unshackle the prisoner, McMourning could have some sort of toxin that will purge that part of his brain from neverborn influence but leave him partialy lobotomized.

[oistene]

This is gold. I'll comment a bit more later on what I've done and what I want to do; just wanted to give kudos and say thanks for this, it's awesome.

[oistene]

Alright, I've been churning my thoughts a lot lately, problem is that they churn the best when I can't sit and write stuff down. However, I'll try to write down a few things now::

 

Bri's idea for Sandra was EXCELLENT for giving our current scenario a twist. Let me sum it up quickly: The crew is 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 - having Sandra chose between saving the children and capturing the villain is a great twist.

 

I've been thinking about the 'nemesis' part - so each will have a nemesis, but also a potential ally:

 

McMourning will be Sandra's enemy, but a potential ally for Calvin.

 

The Dreamer opposes Alice, but can somehow help Sandra (she is an orphan, so this might suit her story).

 

Sonnia will be after Calvin, but can help Alice (have no concrete ideas for how yet, but this can work).

 

Pandora is... special. She will both help and hinder Slugger. How? Well, I have decided to go for an epic scope. I do not feel a need to stick to canon, what happens in this Malifaux need not be what happens in any other Malifaux. So, Pandora has a plan to open her box, not into Malifaux, but into the 'real' world, opening another Breach which will allow Neverborn and worse to invade our world. Pandora will use different guises to help and harm Slugger, since he is (for some unknown reason) instrumental to accomplishing this. Finally, Slugger get to chose to help Pandora open the new Breach or not - I'll cheat this one, so regardless of what he does, the Breach will open. He can either do it willingly or unknowingly.

 

The others will in other ways be tied up to this epic endpoint - once Pandora invades and all four destinies are fulfilled, there will be a final battle.

[Mason]

Pandora is... special. She will both help and hinder Slugger. How? Well, I have decided to go for an epic scope. I do not feel a need to stick to canon, what happens in this Malifaux need not be what happens in any other Malifaux. So, Pandora has a plan to open her box, not into Malifaux, but into the 'real' world, opening another Breach which will allow Neverborn and worse to invade our world. Pandora will use different guises to help and harm Slugger, since he is (for some unknown reason) instrumental to accomplishing this. Finally, Slugger get to chose to help Pandora open the new Breach or not - I'll cheat this one, so regardless of what he does, the Breach will open. He can either do it willingly or unknowingly.

 

I like this idea, but not so much cheating so that the player doesn't have any actual say in the matter. I'd make it an actual choice, with one of two epic conclusions as he either gives in and unleashes hell on Earth, or refuses and ends up having to face an angry Pandora and everything in her box.  That way, no matter which way the players go with it, you still have an epic conclusion, but the players were still able to influence the story either way.  That's the stuff that great campaigns are made out of.

[brib4169]

just a heads up, Calvin's "for not all treasures glimmer in the light" (9 of crows) step was just featured in the chronicles #16, 'A dragon and a vase'.

[oistene]

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?

[Dirial]

Golden Promises: What if the spell has something to do with the creation of Soulstones? Or can recharge them somehow? That would also be an excellent reason for Sonnia to want it: At first glance to protect Guild interests, but really because she wants it for herself.

 

In Malifaux, everything comes back to Soulstones.

[brib4169]

What if instead of a spell book, make it an artifact (made of silver?) that confers a spell like ability. Twist... instead of feeding off of the souls in a stone (the golden promise as suggested above), it slowly consumes the user. Mcmorning knows all about it but wants to dupe someone else into using it to see what it does to them. The guild wants it so they can investigate alternate sources of power.

[oistene]

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!

[Dirial]

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!

 

A key. Mysterious and symbolic. They can look for the door, and later learn that they need more keys. One of your big bads could have one, so you can play a heist sequence.

[oistene]

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)

[Dirial]

This thread was a bit meandering... If you could post up your current plans for their Fates, we could see where you still need ideas.

[oistene]

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...

[Dirial]

Alice's dream quest is about a way for Tyrants to overpower their Anchors or possibly vice versa. Sonnia naturally is interested once she gets some hints about her background, because she wants to know as much as possible about Cherufe.

 

The Dreamer on the other hand is pretty happy with his arrangement with Nytmare. He is way less happy about someone searching for a way to disrupt it, and he isn't happy about someone disrupting his own dream games, as well. He will probably send some Nightmares to look for places Alice dreamt about.

[Ad1]

I'm just curious what the Dreamer has to 'say' about the possibility of Pandora opening a gate to allow the 'things that occupy humanities subconsciousness' into the real world. If the Neverborn have ready access to Earth how will that impact on the Dreamer's ability to impact on Malifaux and his physical safety? So if the Dreamer was against both Pandora and McMourning he might be looking for allies to help stop both. Alice's dream quest, and knowledge of her Fate, could be something that the Dreamer made her aware of.

 

Alice could even learn some Manifest Powers that give her limited ability to cause Malifaux to respond to her dreams. I'm just looking at the Neverborn writeup here and thinking what if for Alice malifaux is kind of a subsconscious space she has entered into physically. So instead of actually entering a dreamstate to continue her dream quest Malifaux is her dream state? She is in the 'subconscious' the Dreamer and humans Earthside can interact with.

 

Could consider Manifest Powers which are different genus versions of Mind Control but using relevant skills and aspects that reflect her 'dream state', or some kinds of Teleportation for quick 'dream movement' or even the Bury Magia with increased duration to remove others from Malifaux's reality but the Dreamer's 'dream reality'. Alice becomes a kind of 'Prophet' or 'Acolyte' of the Dreamer. A small creature who works for the Dreamer turning up at odd times to 'help' Alice. Reward for Alice could be knowledge that dreams can cause a limited breach type event between the dreamer and the denizens of Malifaux. Be interesting if Slugger through his relationship with Alice was to discover this. What might he do with that information and his relationship with Pandora. What might the Guild do if such information could be confirmed.

 

Just throwing some ideas out there. Is a long cry from Malifaux as written but I can see some lines that could be explored and as you said your Malifaux story is free to deviate from the sanctioned version.

 

Jung's archetypes and writings on collective unconsciousness could give you more ideas to build narrative around.

 

Good luck, game sounds like a lot of fun.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Ad.

[oistene]

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.