[UA] Stupid Newbie GM questions...

[Anthony H.]

 Very cool, Eric. I'd like to see a write-up of that as well.



> I actually never make up a story.  All I make up is a beginning.  Since UA
> is always character-driven and it wouldn't feel right for me to have
> players build characters with all that personality and then make them
> conform to my story whims, my planning goes into concepts, not story.  I
> spend hours over hours for a campaign beginning: collecting images for all
> sorts of stuff, writing handouts for random stuff, making up artifacts,
> adept schools, avatars, etc. which might be interesting for the concepts.
> Then I define a starting point, and let it develop from there, improvising
> the rest of the game based on what the players do with it.
>

> For example; next campaign I've almost got pinned down about 80% has got
> these concepts:
> - Character creation -> High school psychologist sessions -- Each player is
> asked questions as if from a school psychologist, and to answer them as
> their character would, and I note down stuff on their character sheets, then
> let them fill out the rest.  One of the questions amounts to what the
> character's worst nightmares is.  The characters are all street level,
> returning from their vacation after high school graduation, due to a
> disturbing phone call from Mila; a misfit like them but more reclusive. The
> call draws them back to Misty Pines, where they're on their way to, together
> in their car...
> - Initial scene -> They run out of gas in the woods not far outside of
> Misty Pines.  A short walk to Old Man Jerome's house or the last gas station
> they passed nearby might net them the gas they need, but on the way to
> either location, hordes of possessed animals will either pester them or be
> downright dangerous.
> - Next big plot hook -> Misty Pines is turning into their worst
> nightmares.  Literally.  The Sherriff seems possessed, the people are all
> going nuts, and at night Misty Pines is nothing short of horrible.  Mila
> holed herself up in room 33 (of floor 3) of the Myers Hotel in Misty Pines,
> where she blew her brains out at one point, and 40 bizarre artifacts are
> lying around with post-it notes stuck onto them and a diary of her
> "research" on the items and the man in black who brought them to her.
>
> Where does it go from all that?  Can't tell till we've played it.  I have
> more ideas behind it but I'm afraid of sharing too much lest one of my
> players reads the UAML too.  ;)
>
> Right now I'm working on the 53 artifacts relevant for the game, all sorts
> of weird phenomena occurences, and collecting image material for possibly
> worst nightmares, and stuff like town and building maps which I will have to
> edit the names on.
>
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>


-- 
"Disbelief in magic can force a poor soul into believing in government and
business."

- Tom Robbins
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