So, the game is on. This Saturday will be episode 3. Episode 1 and episode 2 are up on the Portals. I’m also looking down the barrel of wildly inconsistent attendance – one of the players is going to be out for the next two weeks, then is briefly back, and then is out again for three or four weeks due to a planned motorcycle vacation. I’ve already got one player who missed the first two sessions due to a work trip, and God only knows how many other absences we’re looking at. So … rah.
The removal of the first player I mentioned may cause some issues down the road, so I might have to figure out how to work around that. Another player’s character is giving me trouble because he intentionally wanted no ties in the game location, which is both frustrating and unhelpful; having to figure out how to work around that as well. I’m currently leaning toward trying to combine the two issues by maybe having the linkage(s) that player 1 was going to have somehow tie instead to the unhelpful one. Something to consider…
Session 3 is not coming together as quickly as I’d like either; I’ve got some subplot elements ready, but this is supposed to bridge into a “dream” session for 1×04 so I need to get my crap together and focus on the session planning instead of screwing around with Wrath of the Righteous like I have been. Bad GM! Bad!
Currently, I’ve got the following for the active characters:
- Graham is recalled to Las Cruces, though I may have him be meeting with a PC or two when he gets this call, so everyone has a reason to know certain information.
- Finlay is introduced. He’s been out for two weeks. He’ll meet the professor in charge of the archaeological digsite referenced in the previous session (that Ryder is super focused on). They already know one another from university – Miskatonic, of course! – and Finlay will be invited to the dig.
- Hurt is heading back to the cabin his (now dead) friend owned, and he’ll get picked up by Deputy Begay. This is to kick-start a subplot I’d intended to start last week but somehow forgot. The two may end up having a “very good time” because of his super-pheromones toward her kind (Garou!) and will hopefully entice him into investigating his new powers.
- Dr. Lopez returns to the hospital where he’ll learn that one body has disappeared. Additionally, he’s going to be doing autopsies on the corpses discovered last week where he’ll learn some things, specifically that despite the lack of exit wounds, all of the corpses are missing their hearts.
- Mac goes to the address on his license and finds May waiting for him. They converse (read: she argues with him), but their bodies know each other so they may end up making out before she bails. He’ll find some other stuff that points toward the body’s previous life, including a hard hat that hints at his previous occupation.
- Ryder must deal with his car sputtering and coughing, then must make a phone call with his sister regarding their mother going “on a hunting trip and hasn’t returned.”
As I type this out, some things occur to me:
- In 1×02, Hurt agreed to meet later with Graham. This was before we knew the player was out due to family stuff – something to do with his daughter? Father’s Day? Dunno – so as I stated above, I could have Will be recalled to Las Cruces take place in that meeting or after it.
- If all PCs conveniently happen to end up in the same diner that Finlay is in, I could theoretically have him still be there when everyone else shows up and takes a table within earshot … and he can overhear them which should trigger his Curious disad…
- Also, Finlay can see ghosts so, with regards to the Ryder subplot above, I could have Finlay being bothered by Ryder’s deceased mother (although he (Ryder) doesn’t know that yet.) That’s definitely something for me to keep in mind…
- The problem that immediately comes to mind is that the majority of the PCs don’t know Finlay from anyone so why would they think he’s a “trustworthy sort”? I’ve already got a subplot about Lopez’s youngest sister, Faith, semi-stalking Finlay, so I might be able to link those two elements …
- Don’t want the digsite people to still be there when the other PCs enter. Moving this meeting to Monday evening instead of Sunday is probably a good idea since, by that point, everyone in town will have heard of the “occult ritual” where Deputy Lopez was killed. So with that in mind, Dr. Lopez could be here to pick up some dinner for his family since his other sister, Patience, is now in town; Faith could be with him and react oddly to Finlay’s presence. (Essentially, she’s a future Slayer and has been Dreaming about her future Watcher, which is wigging her out.)
Despite all that, this is still so very, very boring. I also need to advance the Dream angle. Other things that I want to do during this session:
- Mac rejoins a construction crew.
- Hurt gets a job at the gun range.
- Introduce the school and the Library that Finlay is monitoring.
- Multiple PCs realize that everyone in town is dealing with nightmares.
- Multiple PCs have experiences with people with the Sandman curse.
- The high school is locked down because everyone has abruptly gone to sleep.
- Find a way to end the session with everyone going into the Dream (if at all possible)…
So yeah … I need to get off my ass and get to work…