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Old 03-08-2017, 07:03 AM   #1
Celjabba
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Luxembourg
Default Discworld short game

Hello.

I will run a Discworld game at Luxcon.lu this year.

3 hours slot, so 2h1/2 real game time.

Does anyone have a short scenario ready ?

I do have a couple scenarios ready, tailored to longer games but I have time to perform surgery and test them if needed :)
However, it's been a while since I ran Discworld, and if someone had a nice scenarios reflecting the latest books, all the better !

I ran "A Little Job for the Patrician" before, but not sure if I can fit it in a short time slot ? Anyone tried before ?

Thanks,

Celjabba
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Old 03-08-2017, 11:14 AM   #2
Phil Masters
 
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Default Re: Discworld short game

I used to run "A Little Job" in 4-hour con slots. You might be able to squeeze it into 2.5 hours if you start on the ship with an explanation ("the Patrician has persuaded you to take this job..."), skip the local-colour pirate encounter, and let PC ideas work fairly well in the final showdown.

I'll try to see if I've got any short scenarios in my files. I think I had one for the 3rd edition version...
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Old 03-09-2017, 04:07 PM   #3
Phil Masters
 
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Default Re: Discworld short game

A starting idea, based on a short scenario I ran some years ago, for which I unfortunately no longer have notes:

1. Build a party of 25-point characters, most of them based on the Fourecksian Backpacker template. You can use this to demonstrate the variety of types you can build from the same template - so you've got the big one, the sociable one, the lucky one, and so on. But you can also throw in a wandering minstrel who's joined them on the road, built on the Entertainer template, or you could even probably come up with a decent talking horse character (bought from the sale of a deceased wizard's estate to pull their cart) for 25 points, to really show off the versatility of the system.

2. Okay, so our heroes are heading from NoThingfjord to Genua through some patch of mountains. There's a high pass in front of them, and the weather is closing in, but they don't want to hang around. Fortunately, they meet a local part-time postmaster, who has a small package that needs to be delivered to someone who lives up that way; he can attach a note to the package saying that, if it is delivered unopened, the recipient can pay the delivery charges by putting these people up for the night.

3. When they reach the address on the package - a rather Gothic-looking mansion - there's no response to a knock on the door, but the door does seem to be unlocked and even ajar. Night is closing in, and there's a stable block - but would that be secure enough against the wolf pack that's audibly approaching?

4. And what has happened to the occupants of the house? Is the owner a wizard, or a mad doctor, or an experimental theologian, who's suffered an experimental accident? Is the problem something more mundane, like bandits? Or is the disappearance tied up with that wolf pack, and with the full moon that's just rising? And what is in the package? A cure for the problem? A vital component of the experiment, along with a note saying "sorry I forgot this bit - hope you didn't do anything crazy like trying anything without it"? Top quality dog biscuits from Ankh-Morpork?

For a 2.5 hour scenario with 25 point characters, don't set up any overly epic fight scenes - wolves can probably be driven off by waving torches at them - but a few quick rounds of brawling can demonstrate the combat rules a bit.
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Old 03-09-2017, 05:23 PM   #4
Celjabba
 
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Default Re: Discworld short game

Thanks a lot !
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Old 03-09-2017, 11:12 PM   #5
lachimba
 
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Default Re: Discworld short game

Every Discworld demo game I've run, but one (six so far) has been that length. Only a two hour combat caused one game to go over that time,


According to my players though I am the master of time management.
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Old 04-25-2017, 03:29 AM   #6
Celjabba
 
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Default Re: Discworld short game

I ran the game this WE.

I followed on Phil Masters suggestion and made a party of 25pts travellers who took a wrong turn in a backward area in the mountains between NoThingfjord and Genua.

Party was
-a farmer on his way to deliver eggs to a valley where a mysterious plague kill poultry.
-his talking horse associate (with a rather high merchant skill).
-an agatean tourist (with camera).
-an Ecksecksecksecks backpacker.
(both joined the farmer to travel to the next village as a group in the rather dangerous area).
There was also a young 'rebelious' dwarf and a travelling menestrel, but those pre-rolled characters were not selected.

It was scheduled as a beginner game (even if most players were actually quite experienced).
Everyone had fun, I believe. I certainly did :)
The player who took the talking horse did an amazing job in setting up the tone and interacting with the others players.

Story summary:
-The players got lost. (Planned, but a critical fail by the farmer mean I didn't even had to fudge it)
-They had a close encounter with a group of wolves but managed to scare them away with a hastily made fire, torches, an intimidating prancing horse and a nicely aimed arrow.
(the tourist did smash some of the farmer eggs with a misthrown stone ... On the good side, he made some amazing pictures).
-They ran away and found shelter at a isolated manor house whose light shone nearby.
--The manor had a Poultry farm on the side, with mad inventor mechanics (wheels, levers, ramps, ...) to distribute feed and collect the eggs. And an nice collection of lifelike statues of wild animals (and one human aristocrat) in the lawn near the poultry cages.
-They were welcomed by an Igor Butler (the manor master, M. GenTso, a naturalist having been AWOL for a while.)
-The Igor led them to guest bedchambers (and stable), drawn them an hot bath, and announced he would fix a chicken soup supper.
-Severals players did attempt to explore the manor houses non-guest areas, and encountered the Igor making a discreet cough from just behing them and informing them of the correct location of the dinner room.
-However, the time set for the supper came and go, and no supper. Investigating a burning smell form the kitcheen, they found no Igor.
-They did found a nice statue of an Igor in front of the chicken cages.
-They also notoced that the human staue next to it looked exactly like the latest portrait in the manor gallery.
-They deduced that the Igor had been petrified, and verified the theory by trying to open a closed door in the manor. When the Igor failed to appear at their back, they knew.
-They found barrels of stone eggs, deduced that M. GenTso had developed chickens that laid stone eggs for easy storage and transport, and that he, the Igor and various animals got petrified.
-By examining the kitcheen and a good use of serendipity, they found that vinegar reversed the transformation.
(they unfortunately never managed to force open the doors to GenTso study or lab).
-The horse had great plan from a commercial empire based on producing stone eggs, but an unpetrified GenTso had to confess that he never managed to get a stone egg to hatch, and that soon their would be no more "Poulatrix" chicken-cockatrix hybrid left. (And getting another cockatrix to make new ones was not easy).
-The matter of the escaped Poulatrix throwback with an actual petryfying gaze was not settled, as time ran short. (and nobody wanted to go hunting for it anyway...)

It was short, easy, silly and fun ...

Last edited by Celjabba; 04-25-2017 at 04:24 AM.
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Old 04-25-2017, 06:55 AM   #7
Phil Masters
 
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Default Re: Discworld short game

Sounds great - I'm glad that it worked. And thanks for demo'ing the game.
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Old 04-25-2017, 08:27 AM   #8
Celjabba
 
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Default Re: Discworld short game

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
Sounds great - I'm glad that it worked. And thanks for demo'ing the game.
The book did got some very positive attention from the players and onlookers.

Especially once I mentionned it was an all-inclusive, custom-rules included Discworld RPG solution.
And it did look very good next to my battered softcover Discworld v1.

Let's hope it will generate interest !
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