Hi all, this will be a bit wordy.
Last Saturday we played another session in our ongoing RuneQuest campaign "The Gates of Karshit." This campaign starts in 589 AD in Byzantium, and then takes the crew to the Ancient Mycenes (2000 years before) so the PCs can remove a curse that befell upon them for raiding Agammenon's tomb. It's full of Mythic Greece stuff, the clash of Christianity vs the Old Ways, and some other stuff.
Thing is, we had the most unexpected emotional moment during the session, and I wanted to share it.
In order to remove the curse, according to a seer they have with them (friendly / burden NPC), the PCs had to visit the Oracle at Delphi, and sneak back into Ancient Mycenes to access the Sun Temple which hosts the time gate. But the seer foretold that they could just not try to come back to the city, as the King himself would kill them at the city walls. To get back to their time, they had to defeat the Chimera, which guards a tunnel that leads into the heart of the Mycenian fortress.
Chimeras are tough motherfuckers, but one of the PCs (kind of a bard) managed to roll Lore and remember Bellerophon's myth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellerophon), so all they had to do is get Pegassus to help them. That's why they had to steal a magic bridle from Mycene's King treasure (which they did), and that's why this King wants to kill them.
The PCs managed to escape the city, joined a rebel army led by the King's brother, tried (and failed) to prevent this man from meeting his tragic fate, watched as the rebel army was destroyed by the King's army, and fled to Delphi. After getting some ideas from the Oracle on how they could lift the curse upon them (whihc involves getting back to their own time), they set course to find Pegassus. And find him they do, frolicking at a beautiful glade. It's time to use the bridle.
After some discussion, they decide that the best course of action is to have only one person approach the winged horse. For some reason, they decide that a virgin woman is best suited for the task, and as they fail their Lore rolls I don't object. We have a male PC (a Goth noble warrior from Spain who wants to be king), and three female PCs. Of them, only one is a virgin (my girlfriend's PC), an amazon warrior sent on a quest to capture one of the other PCs: another amazon warrior who dishonoured herself by falling in love and fleeing with a sorcerer from Athens. The third girl, the bard PC, spent a whole night with a Satyr King, so obviously doesn't qualify as virgin (she's actually pregnant, but that's another story). So, it's on my girlfriend's PC the task of taming Pegassus.
As she approached the horse, I described the magnificence of the creature, its majesty and beauty, and my girlfriend started to fall into... bliss, I think. She was really impacted for the beauty of the scene she was imagining. Her PC managed (with heavy risks) to tame the horse, and Pegassus agreed to help them to defeat the Chimera (and preventing Bellerophon from becoming a hero, btw :D). Using the winged horse to scout ahead, they managed to avoid all the barbarian raiders in their way to Mycenes (Greece was invaded by the Sea people and the Dorians at that moment), and confront the Chimera. All that time, my g/f sported the biggest smile and happiness grin I've ever seen in a game.
Once they reached the Chimera, a motherfucking Big Epic Battle ensued. While the rest of PCs tried to keep the beast at bay using long spears, my girlfriend's PC and Pegassus tried to throw lead bars into the fiery mouth of the monster, so it would melt on its smoldering breath and choke the beast. As I roll all the dice in the open, the battle was an all out nail-biting contest. Luck favoured the PCs, though, and they managed to finish the monster without casualties, despite 2 of them being wounded by the fire breath of the beast.
After defeating the Chimera, Pegassus prepares to leave the PCs. My g/f humbly ask if she can hug the horse, and Pegassus allows it, and gently caress her face. Then Pegassus flew away, and my g/f asked "May I find a feather from him? Maybe one of them fell around." I allowed it, and her expression was the most blissful ever, again. Pure happiness.
Thing is, I was totally unprepared. I didn't see that coming. I believe that you cannot fully prepare for these moments, and you cannot try to ellicit them when planning the session. But you have to be ready to roll with them.
Have you ever been in similar situations, guys?
This is why women in gaming are so great; they bring an extra something to the session that many male gamers can't.
My wife had a similar moment, when she discovered that the local fisherman who had been so helpful to their party was in fact the reincarnation of her character's lost lover from a previous era (her character being a vampire) and a fair amount of the subsequent quest involved her efforts to unlock his past-life memories from then on.
Amongst my male players, one of them introduced a new character, cousin to his prior who had perished rather violently in battle, who quested to find that party his former PC traveled with (having established the new character as a cousin). The other players were remarkably civil in having preserved the corpse of the old PC's body to return it to civilization for a hero's burial, and a fair amount of that session involved the proper burial/interment of that hero. It was pretty cool.
That's cool and awsome rolled together! :)
Quote from: Drohem;342126That's cool and awsome rolled together! :)
Thanks :) You know, it's even more surprising because my g/f is not heavily into inmersion and acting heavily. Yeah, she does her RPing and knows her character, but she also loves the OOC stuff, player kibbitzing and the works. So it was great to see her so inmersed.
I game with almost as many women as men these days and I see similar stuff all the time, though perhaps not nearly so poetic or mythic.
During my marathon D&D game on Halloween we were on a caravan into the underdark, guided by some drow mercenaries and divided up... two drow for every player 'guard'.
The lone girl in this group managed to make something of a friend of one of her guards... which turned out to be a big set up for the horrific 'halloween flavoring' of the session when the priestess of lloth murdered and raised said guard later.
So, she stole a finger from the zombie after finding out that my Cleric/Techsmith was a level away from being able to ressurect people.
That's right: We are going to ressurect a nameless drow NPC guard to spite the evil-pointy-haired-boss that killed her. If it weren't for the zombie thing it would have already been done via raise dead, with the female player in question ponying up the 5k diamond for the spell.
This is the same player who regularly uses Speak with Animals to sweet talk the party past encounters with various large animals (giant snakes in one game, dire rhinoserii this Saturday...) so we won't have to kill them. In the last campaign (under a different GM, admittedly) she should have had the leadership feat just to account for her vast cohort of critters, both mythic and mundane.
I believe there was a reason the campaign turned to undead slaying after a while... every encounter just made her a new friend otherwise...
As the GM I never had any moments like the one you describe with my players. My players OTOH sometimes have these moments amongst thmeselves. Bitches (Bastards) exclude me from everything. Like Tony Manero I guess they think of me as excercise.
Regards,
David R
Quote from: David R;342302As the GM I never had any moments like the one you describe with my players. My players OTOH sometimes have these moments amongst thmeselves. Bitches (Bastards) exclude me from everything. Like Tony Manero I guess they think of me as excercise.
Best description ever :D
In my experience, things like you describe depend heavily on the group. I mean, with some groups I've had thesemoments always were created by them and for them. With my current groups, they have these moments with NPCs or situations I set.
But in any case, I'm never able to predict when this may happen. Have you better skill doing this? Is it even important?
Quote from: Imperator;342304But in any case, I'm never able to predict when this may happen. Have you better skill doing this? Is it even important?
When it comes to skills I like what MacGyver said - "
I'd rather be lucky than good" which is to say, I have no idea how these moments are created , who creates them or why they happen. I think if players are immersed in their characters, their relatonships with each other and the setting itself, it sometimes happens. I think you need to let go a bit and not be self conscious but , I could be talking bollocks. And yes, it's important. It's important....
Regards,
David R
Quote from: David R;342308When it comes to skills I like what MacGyver said - "I'd rather be lucky than good" which is to say, I have no idea how these moments are created , who creates them or why they happen. I think if players are immersed in their characters, their relatonships with each other and the setting itself, it sometimes happens. I think you need to let go a bit and not be self conscious but , I could be talking bollocks. And yes, it's important. It's important....
Regards,
David R
That's my point. It would be great to know how to elicit that kind of reactions. To ensure that every game has a moment we all will cherish. But I've had no luck on that. I can, however, detect them early and ride along with them.
Quote from: David R;342302As the GM I never had any moments like the one you describe with my players. My players OTOH sometimes have these moments amongst thmeselves. Bitches (Bastards) exclude me from everything. Like Tony Manero I guess they think of me as excercise.
Regards,
David R
If it makes you feel any better, I like to exclude you as much as possible also.
Quote from: StormBringer;342314If it makes you feel any better, I like to exclude you as much as possible also.
It does. I've seen the company you keep.
Regards,
David R
Quote from: Imperator;342095Lovely flying horsey story.
If this happened in my group they/we would be going on about an unexperienced girl having her first sexual awakenings while flying a horse that's oh so very bumpy.
In the last session we named a player's retinue. He plays a judge who has no combat abilities so he has a bailiff as staff who does the fighting for him. The judge has been belittling and insulting him the entire way through the game. The last straw was when he stole the bailiff's ham sandwich. With the GM ramping up the hate for the judge from the bailiff we named him in the last session. In a swine moment the players decided the bailiff is actually Shaft, and is black, and the judge is racist. We're playing Savage Worlds, and in a fantastic moment of GMing the GM decided that as he was now named, the bailiff would go from a standard extra to a full on Wild Card with all the added benefits, bennies and bonus dice with it. The bailiff will soon be retiring to become a pimp in my brothel.
Quote from: Buceph;342317If this happened in my group they/we would be going on about an unexperienced girl having her first sexual awakenings while flying a horse that's oh so very bumpy.
Pervert :D
QuoteIn the last session we named a player's retinue. He plays a judge who has no combat abilities so he has a bailiff as staff who does the fighting for him. The judge has been belittling and insulting him the entire way through the game. The last straw was when he stole the bailiff's ham sandwich. With the GM ramping up the hate for the judge from the bailiff we named him in the last session. In a swine moment the players decided the bailiff is actually Shaft, and is black, and the judge is racist. We're playing Savage Worlds, and in a fantastic moment of GMing the GM decided that as he was now named, the bailiff would go from a standard extra to a full on Wild Card with all the added benefits, bennies and bonus dice with it. The bailiff will soon be retiring to become a pimp in my brothel.
Awesome. Absolutely awesome. I expect it to be played by Samuel L. Jackson.
Quote from: Imperator;342310That's my point. It would be great to know how to elicit that kind of reactions. To ensure that every game has a moment we all will cherish. But I've had no luck on that. I can, however, detect them early and ride along with them.
That's the thing, I think that those pure moments of almost complete immersion are spontaneous. You just have to ride the snake when the come up to try to stretch them out a bit. It is important to recognize them when they happen so that you can jump on the snake's back and ride it out. I think that the best tool for facilitating these situation to arise is intimate knowledge of both your player's, and their character's, motivations, fears, ambitions, drives, hot buttons, and etc. When a GM is armed with this kind of knowledge, then they can structure the play and guide its course towards situations that have a high probability of eliciting that type of pure immerse moment.
Quote from: David R;342316It does. I've seen the company you keep.
I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.
Quote from: StormBringer;342415I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.
Don't mess with the bull, young man. You'll get the horns.
Regards,
David R
Quote from: David R;342416Don't mess with the bull, young man. You'll get the horns.
Regards,
David R
That's it. I have had it with your crap. You just made the list, buddy.
On a serious note, I think the only time I was emotional at the table was missing the resurrect survival roll for my 15th level Magic User. That was with my high school group, and we had been playing together with those same characters for a few years by that point. It felt like a pretty big let down, really. I think I took over one of the NPCs until that adventure ended, then the other players retired their characters and we started over.
Imperator, out of curiosity, which edition of RQ do you guys use?
Quote from: camazotz;342466Imperator, out of curiosity, which edition of RQ do you guys use?
We play RQ III, as it is the ediiton it got translated here around the 88.