World of Warcraft - Interbellum (OOC Thread)

[MrAbdiel]

I'm not really sure... it does feel pretty railroady. What if we just wanted to play as having adventures but not like... you know, have a whole freaking base and a guild? I do think Isaera's biggest complaint would be being so far away from "home" and family, in a town run by goblins no less...

...
And double indeed, I don't think Marion would fancy living among a bunch of Goblins on the border of the Horde...

Really interested to see what you help make of your (mysterious unnamed) guild! It should be fun with so many similar but different aims (Marion, Isaera and MorLag all seek arcane knowledge, but combined with very different complications between them; Jakkari might be the only unambiguously kind person out of us all?). What types of NPCs were you all hoping to have join (if you're sticking around)? Also, is it worth Banana Phone waiting out the initial location and then being like "oh hey, you know what would be a GREAT place for our second location?! I'll even do the hard part to oversee it!" or am I being too naive about this?

...If we are getting NPCs to help us out, I'm not sure who else we should be aiming for either... People who are good couriers? Savvy merchants? More mercenaries? An old mage tutor as suggested? Or perhaps, a linguist?

A little railroady, for sure! But I hope in the appropriate volume. I'm going to get a little game-philosophical here for a minute. If it reads like I'm talking down to everyone or spoonfeeding or anything else negative, it's only because I'm trying to be complete, as writing this is part of cleaning up my thought process on the whole thing. This is a good time to do it, both for me to purify my thoughts on it and to give you some insight into what I'm angling toward.

On GMing:

Railroading is, at least as it is popularly understood, a bad way to run games. You must cross the desert. You are on a train crossing the desert. You are free to rearrange the furniture on the train as much as you like in a way that expresses your character, but we are going to cross the desert because that's where the plot requires you to go. It's the bane of many published adventures which do not cultivate buy-in from players and characters and a few scenes in the characters are wondering can we just jump off the train? My character is more interested in exploring the dunes and looking at exotic lizards.

The obvious extreme flip is what I'll call dune buggying; the natural motorized selection for one who is enthusiastically exploring a non-linear path through a desert. You are in a desert. There are train tracks, and train filled with nerds winsomely recounting previous campaign highlights. You can follow them, or explore, or dig a hole, or build a sandcastle. Obviously there is more freedom for players and their characters here. It's more fun for many players though I hesitate to say most. New players, particularly, get decision paralysis when you stick them in a dune buggy and tell them to have adventures. Especially the newer generation of PnP players who are coming to the table not from reading about the Dragonriders of Pern or the Lord of the Rings, but from Skyrim, and Mass Effect, and World of Warcraft. They lean out of the dune buggy, squinting in the searing light of possibility, and wonder What am I doing here? How do I approach my victory conditions? How do I know I am winning? If I don't follow the train now, will I never know what the train was about? What are my cues I'm supposed to use to experience this space as completely as possible? But that part's not really an issue here. On a forum like this, it's reasonable to assume most players are either hardened grognards or at least reasonably familiar with how games tend to go.

And all of that is only the player side of the arrangement. You can sometimes find a GM/DM who is keen and delighted to run a dune buggy sandbox. They tend to be savvy, meticulous people with a shelf full of GURPS reference books and an amazing skillset that permits them to tell you that actually since you're playing in a kingdom that is essentially France in the eleven hundreds, the land situation is pretty locked up and the best chance you have to start a fief of your own is to take up the cross and go serve in the court of one of the crusader states, though to buy your way into influence there you'll want to have about eighteen or nineteen pounds of silver, and one of you should be an ordained priest. I love such GM/DMs. They are rare creatures, to be captured and respectfully studied like unbreeding pandas so that one day, God willing, there will enough of them that we need not fear their wholesale departure from the world.

But I am the other kind of DM, at heart. A Type-A, basic beachball, barefoot teller of tales. I am the archetype - someone who refuses to think of themself as a writer because they haven't actually cultivated the skilled patience to sit down and write something of a publishable length. One who loves stories, and narratives, and Joseph Campbells, and dark nights of the soul, and journeys that have a destination. I am, in short, someone who would desperately like to one day write a book or two; but for now I am someone who is just pleased to write, and pleased to write with and for you.

The with bit is the tricky part, because doing that badly means I am stuffing your characters in the train and implicitly demanding you play them as characters I would play, and that is not so fun for many and utterly extinguishing of the collaborative joy of PnP RPG to others. So if you'll indulge my distortion of the metaphor, my efforts in my games tend to be striving for a handcart variety of game.

I have a story that I want to tell but we only get there if you're invested enough to volunteer the labor of getting there. My job is not only to simulate the world and calculate and describe the impact your decisions have on the world, and not only to produce a script and successively seal off avenues until you are forced into my preferred protagonistic posture. My job is to understand your characters as you play them enough that I can braid them into a satisfying narrative without heavy handed coercion. That is what I am attempting to do.

This Game Specifically...

Like I mentioned at the start, part of my inspiration for this game was that I wanted to learn how to run the system (I think I have the hang of it now for the most part! :D). It's also a setting I love and have wanted to tell stories in for a while; and since many people have experienced Warcraft at various levels, there's a certain amount of affection for the setting and its messy sprawl of colliding tropes that I know I can expect players to also possess. When we were recruiting, I thought "If I'm lucky, everyone will choose Alliance folks, or Horde folks, and I can start them in Elwynn Forest or Durotar, and literally begin with quests like collecting wolf tails and skinning thunder lizards and jumping Hogger. And if they're a mix, I'll have to think of something else, which will be harder but more rewarding in its complexity." And you didn't disappoint! A High Elf who has good reasons to disdain the Horde, trying to hold together her family with the smoking ruins of Silvermoon behind her and the looming shadow of Horde integration infront. A human noble who despises the orcs as planetary invaders, but who is living in the impoverished reality brought upon her by human machinations, her countrymen and women and their neighbour kingdoms. An ogress with deep resentment for the Horde that led her people first into pressed service and then into defeat, not to mention personal loss and displacement; and whose minds are almost vibrating with the internal conflict of deeply rooted will-to-power individualism and the roots-and-wings legacy of ancient kingdoms, and honor, and shame, and generational interconnection. A Farraki sand troll whose people have been distant spectators at best for the three major wars that have defined the present world, who is staring down the barrel of, functionally, the age of colonialism and possible cultural annihilation if he, in his own elementally aided strength, cannot shield what is good and best about his people from the flensing sandstorm of indifferent, oncoming history. And, without being to spoilery about Hand Ax's character in hope of a return some day, a good soldier whose loyalty and skill were badly abused by the very forces of good that he raised his hand and stood up to protect.

This is an extremely diverse cast, even intimidatingly so; mainly because it ran into the first hurdle of any game that isn't a strict railroad: Why are these people hanging out at all?

The typical PnP conceit is that you all meet in a tavern taking the same job. And so I asked as you built your characters to integrate the fact that they'll need to be under enough financial pressure to take a dangerous mission with the promise of moderate pay. And that worked well enough! Traditionally, say in dungeons and dragons, when the level 2 characters return from their first mission together they conclude hey, we work pretty well together, let's keep doing this. I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to rely on that here, though. The characters are so different, so differently incentivised, that it's just not realistic to imagine that once you got back to Theramore you'd all join hands and smile at each other, agreeing together that now we're family, and family sticks together.

Fortunately, one of the great things about a game like M&M3 is that it requires the players to produce a list of things that a canny GM can use to add incentives to the story. In this game, they're Complications. So then, if my task is to understand your characters as you play them enough that I can braid them into a satisfying narrative without heavy handed coercion, the next step was creating a more substantial reason for your characters to continue operating together, and to do that without drafting you, or arresting you, or asking you what you want to do next and then whack-a-moling your ideas until you choose the right one.

That's the origin of the Opal Collocation, from a plot standpoint. It makes sense to exist in the world (it's exactly the kind of thing people like Jaina and Cairne and the tree-huggers and rock-strokers of the world would set up), and the adventure you just completed was high enough profile that it's not confusing that you caught Jaina's eye or that she would try to invite you into such a project. It functionally allows you to go anywhere you want to go to pursue adventure in the name of global cooperation, and in doing so, bankrolls your characters sufficiently that gives them good reasons to consider it a financially strong move. On top of that, as I was putting this together, I went through your character's complications for the incentives you flagged and tried make sure the idea of joining the Opal Collocation made sense. It came out something like this.

Isaera's Complications
Spellcasting: Not Applicable.
Peace: Isaera wants the world to calm down long enough for her family and her people can breathe and begin recovery. Correlates strongly with the goals of the Opal Collocation.
Manabread for the Family: Isaera wants to protect her family both from physical danger, and also the bitter poverty they have been thrust into. While the stable and solid income would assist that goal, the idea of either living away from that family to earn that money, or moving that family to a neutral goblin town, is likely to be unappealing. Correlates and conflicts with the goals of the Opal Collocation.
Bad Blood: Without the ability to trust the alliance to protect the elven people long term, Isaera worries about the alternatives that exist. Since the Collocations goal is to breed cooperation between the factions, it may work on some small level to mitigate some of the bad blood between elves and humans; and it certainly helps to hedge the elven bets with their closest neighbour being Lady Sylvannas's Forsaken. Correlates moderately with the goals of the Opal Collocation.
A Lot To Live Up To: Isaera wants to fill out the legend of her family name as an arcanist; which is hard to do as a penniless adventurer. Having a benefactor finance a private library or even full blown mage tower over time would greatly project her towards this goal - much faster than earning the money from jobs alone. Correlates strongly with the goals of the Opal Collocation.
Mana Addiction: Not Applicable.

Mor'Lag's Complications
Hates the Horde: Mor'Lag sees the Horde as the reason her father died in shame, and the reason she has been robbed of a legacy of glory and given one of clanlessness and shame. They're unlikely to see much inherently appealing about boosting relations between the factions. Conflicts moderately with the goals of the Opal Collocation.
Orphaned: Not Applicable.
Power-Hungry: Mor'Lag sees Arcane and Fel power as the gateway to real, genuine power and therefor as strongly morally good. By the end of the first adventure, the idea of learning such things is actually possible and being financed to do so, especially with access to knowledge and tutors on both sides of the faction conflict, is likely to be very appetizing. Correlates strongly with the goals of the Opal Collocation.

Jakk'ari's Complications
Diplomacy: Jakk'ari wants to elevate the position of the Farraki in the eyes of both factions. Correlates strongly with the goals of the Opal Collocation.
Home: Jakk'ari's family are back in Tanaris. Ratchet is not too far away - not on the other side of the world, at least - but it would be even more of a sacrifice of the time he could give to his wife, and children, and tribe. Conflicts mildly with the goals of the Opal Collocation.
Travelling Shaman: Jakk'ari is trying to cultivate a reputation, and the clout that comes with it, of an elemental troubleshooter who can be relied upon, in such a way that reflects well on his people. Correlates strongly with the goals of the Opal Collocation.
Eager to Please: Jakk'ari is very inclined to accept decisions, even burdensome ones, that come from potentially powerful allies. Correlates strongly with the goals of the Opal Collocation.

Marion's Complications
Thrills: Being a part of this effort is as good a way, or better, to attract opportunities that bring high risk and the rewards that come with them. Correlates mildly with the goals of the Opal Collocation.
Knowledge Accumulation: Much like Isaera's arcane ambitions, Marion's dark designs are much more easilly realized with a wealthy patron and carte blanche access to mystical contraband - the sort of things that are only tacitly illegal in a goblin town, rather than a burnable offense in many others. Correlates strongly with the goals of the Opal Collocation.
Restoration of the Family Name: The Mordis legacy cannot be to vanish into shame and obscurity in the ashes of Alterac. While the long term project of recovering her family home is a physical world a way, this direction at least leads to possibilites of being recognized as a legitimate political figure, to gain allies, and maybe carve out a local domain even if her name is on the deed with four others. Conflicts mildly and correlates moderately with the goals of the Opal Collocation.
Alteraci Minor Noble: Not Applicable.
Warlock: Can't be run out of town if you have diplomatic immunity. Correlates mildly with the goals of the Opal Collocation.
Flirt: While Marion's preferences have not been stated in explicit and definitive detail, it seems likely that her prospects for flirtation are limited by a demographic preponderance of neighbours who are three and a half feet tall, and green as green beans. Conflicts mildly with the goals of the Opal Collocation.

That was roughly my calculus. There seemed to me to be enough incentive that it would be broadly appealing for most characters; and the ways in which it was not appealing would be rewarding IC. Isaera is a lot of fun to read about when she's rubbing her temples and reminding herself why she's knee deep in mud, and not immersed in a rose scented bubble bath somewhere. Marion is a lot of fun when she's smiling at orcs through her teeth, like ahahaYesWeAreFriendsYesOfCourseExcuseMeIMustGo. And Mor'Lag - well, Mor'Lag has some extremely complicated dimensions. But I reasoned that if you build a character who is caught up in ancestral shame and grievance, you want some chances as a player to revel in your character's negative circumstance, with the expectation there's some payoff down the line. It wasn't an accident that the first adventure was quite ogre-heavy. Mor'Lag is the character I felt I had the least grasp on, so I have her/them a lot of things to react to. And the explosion of catharsis in the final fight was fuelled by all the sullen woundedness that came before it, so... You know, more of that seems like a good story to me. Jakk'ari, on the other hand, just happens to be perfect for all this. Since his character is very much about diverse groups of people working together, almost anything that would make an interesting story inherently ticks some of his boxes. And being part of the Collocation pretty much ticks all of them, with heavy, enthusiastic underlines.

So that's where we're at, presently. The offer from Jaina begins with property in Ratchet with all the frustration and possibility that comes with that, as well as a new backdrop for me to describe. It's Ratchet because that makes the most sense within the setting's neutral possibilities, in the part of the world where you are. The adventure ideas I have planned for your party will take you far and wide (do not lose track of keys, and tongues, that you pick up on your adventures, by the way ;) ), but that is the place I decided Jaina would establish for her sponsorship. I'm not exactly planning on running a kingdom-building game here - the Queendom of New Alterac is an awesome ambition for a character, but not one that permits me to expose all the characters to all the stuff that their backstories provoke me to expose them to. But that doesn't mean that, for example, your group couldn't use their starting location in Ratchet for a temporary measure and then actually stake a claim somewhere else to build a proper guild stronghold, complete with dual mage and warlock towers and family accommodation and so on, and so forth.

With all that said, this is a handcar, not a train; and if the party decides we talked about it and thanks but no, then I'll roll with it and rejigger some things I had percolating because that's my job and what, you don't think I can dance, I can dance, watch me dance! If some of your characters say 100% Mama Jaina, send guild invite when ready and the others say nah fam imma dip, then I'll have to dance really hard, but I'll do my best to figure something out.

Or, if you feel like this is the kind of thing your character wouldn't decide on the spot (for example, if they want to talk to their family first), then I can set up those scenes, and do a little flashback stuff with everyone else while we're in this space between missions. If there's any questions about anything, now's a good time for it - either about system stuff, or story things that you want clarified, or anything else, inbetween chapters here is a great place to field 'em, so lay 'em on me. :)