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Old 12-17-2019, 12:28 PM   #9
DouglasCole
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
 
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Location: Lakeville, MN
Default Re: Noršlond questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by Magic_Octopus View Post
Thank you Douglas!

I have another question:

Previously, I have run games with mysteries in them, and sometimes I have struggled to convey the whole story to the players. They have left without a clear picture of what was going on.

This happened with Hall of Judgment, where after defeating the demon the players were wondering what the place was actually about, and why the demon was there, etc.

Here's my conundrum with Citadel of Norvörn:
Could someone give some pointers on how to let the player characters know about Orm's (or his grandfather's) deal, the breaking of it, and the consequences? I have set the game up so that they will find out slowly about the creeping alfar threat, and also the connection between the bandits in Veiddarlond and Gunnulf.

But I haven't really figured out yet how should the players learn about Orm's deal, and what that entails. It is an interesting story, and I don't want to leave my players hanging.

Any advice on this front?
it's an interesting question, and I'm pleased that you decided to pick up that bit of story-building.

There are several possibilities here, I guess. Probably more than I can think of.

One is "the guy or one of his aids wrote down some things, like a diary"

Another is a general set of Hidden Lore (Faerie) or something like it that will give the "rules" for such an exchange. How the binding of the grandfather can pass to the children. That breaking a vow with the faerie gives that faerie power over all of the things you consider to have influence over (especially your land and family).

A good way to bring that out is to have skalds (bards) sing songs of faerie tricks and betrayal in taverns, or have the party overhear a mother or father singing songs or telling tales to children. They would serve the same goal as the "real" fairy tales in our history: warning that misdeeds and bad judgment have consequences.

Having different songs come up that each give a moral lesson about making and breaking deals, how a stalwart and honest person can be killed but never taken by faerie, never make deals, that spoken three times must be true, did I mention never make deals?

That sort of thing would be a good way to seed the ideas without stopping for "and now it's time for GM exposition"
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