1:1 Time With John McGowan

 

This was an amazing conversation I got to have with John McGowan! Thanks, John, for coming and talking!

The Fall of the King of Sota: Chapter Seven

 

This chapter session was a chef's kiss. It took chapter six and utterly turned it on its head. There's really not a lot more to be said, as the session really does speak for itself.

I suppose the one bit of commentary I will put in is that the role of Weaver really comes into play here. The two players are corralled back to each other, where their natural aspects naturally rub against each other.

This is a ridiculously easy game to run. Just herd the cats back into the octagon, and watch!

Chapter Seven (8/9)

The Fall of the King of Sota: Chapter Six

 

This continues to be the greatest gaming I have ever had. The last two weeks on the Discord have been some of the best and chaotic scheming I've ever seen, leading to a short but extremely climactic Chapter, where everything changed.

We are down to one mortal city: the criminal haven of Newport. And we have an entire city's worth of people at it from New Sota City.

July 24-August 7

People were going back and forth in the DMs for the longest time. But it all came down to this one short statement:

A high-stakes propaganda war between King Julian, Father Laurentius, Arriquard , and Lady Marie played out. King Julian and his helpers began to spread news of Lady Marie's debauched evil, and how cruelly she had used him. Against all expectations, Lady Marie pre-empted them with propaganda of how much help she had actually done for the rice farmers and the city, and her adopted daughter was much talked about in terms of her generosity. 

Arriquard successfully began raising an army for King Lucian's church, which was being set up against Mother Elise.

BUT ON AUGUST 4TH

Were-crocodiles, an entire army of them, invaded from Montport. Turns out they had totally taken over that city! And they showed up out of the blue! However, thanks to Arriquard's efforts in the previous five days, there just so happened to be a standing army that was forming.

The fighting was intense, and many died. However, New Sota City prevailed, and the were-crocodiles were driven away.

It all came down to one problem: when were the were-crocodiles showing up? It took some time to figure out exactly how it worked out... but it just so happened to occur just when everyone else was at enough of a critical mass to where it didn't turn into a total slaughter. And then the defenders rolled really high.

Chapter Six: August 7th

The fallout of this Chapter Session cannot be understated. Two of the most chaotic characters in the whole game are dead, and to save everyone else. New Sota City has been abandoned. There's an entire train of people heading to the worst city of the old world... which happens to be the last one.

What could go wrong?

Read-Thru of Wight-Box: Book One, Heroes

 

Okay, look, we gotta talk really quick.

Coz I screwed up.

I backed this day one. Was really excited for it. Went through all three books. And went, "Meh, I'll look at this later."

If the Basic Expert reads this, yeah, I slept on this.

Okay, crow's been eaten. Onward.

So, after a few months of just not looking at these three little booklets, I just picked 'em up on random. I'd not given up on the game, just it had been sitting there for an opportune moment. Well, this was that moment. I sat down, followed the directions, and made a character in... ten minutes. Like, a fully formed character. Ready to go. And a good amount of detail for something so fast, too!

That's absolutely crazy.

Some of the directions (like with elves) could have been clearer, but a quick internet search and pinging B/XE's Discord server answered them. It is essential to mention that they're friendly bunch, who put up with me pretty well! So, I was able to get my answers pretty quickly. One could argue that I shouldn't have to do that, but I've written enough rulebooks to know that is always going to be a thing, so you may as well have your community be friendly while you're at it.

For some reason, what was an otherwise unremarkable book stuck at out me this time. I've found that I have plenty of stuff where I have to put some intensive effort into setting up. I generally prefer it this way, to be honest. I like having some set up, because I like having thematic coherence; I find it fun. 

However, there's something just so incredibly pleasing about being able to sit down, roll 3d6 six times, and then make the best of it. It is a fundamentally different experience, but I am a glutton for collecting experiences, so, I am beginning to find that Wight-Box is scratching an itch that I didn't know I could have... with a bit of crunch and depth. Which Wight-Box has.

But no thieves, kthx.

And honestly? That’s fine. Because what Wight-Box delivers in return is something I didn’t realize I was missing: pure, unfiltered play. No sixty-page character backstory required. No session zero spreadsheet. Just roll your stats, pick a class, and go be a murderhobo (or a noble defender of the realm, whatever floats your boat). There’s a beautiful honesty to it.

I’ve spent years chasing elaborate campaigns, and thanks to Crescendo they my track record of successful launches are getting higher and higher. And that's great! But Wight-Box just hands you a little sailboat and says “the wind’s already blowing.” 

Ten minutes later you’re actually playing the damn game. 

And that's pretty nice.

The Fall of the King of Sota: Storystein 1 (1-5)

 

Last night the players saw the full scope of Crescendo 0e. The Storystein is a capstone event designed with one view in mind: force players to change their status quo. Players turtle and never really get their goals done, and it shouldn't be up to the Weaver to make them do it. And yet, turtling is really bad for gameplay and stories. So, what does the Storystein do? Force consequences. You either get what you want, or you don't, but stop pussyfooting around and move on.

This forcing of consequences then coalesces the narrative as you are playing, as opposed to after the conclusion of the campaign.

The set up is simple. Players provide a written case for why their case should be the only one to win. Their arguments are rated and given dice. After rolling initiative, the players begin to roll to see who gets what they want, one a time. The first person to succeed automatically makes everyone else lose.

Storystein 1 (Oikoya 23)

The status quo change is pretty profound. I am hooked. Let's do this. I can't wait for the next one!

The Fall of the King of Sota: Chapter Five

 

One of the things that is hard to communicate about Crescendo is not only how different each session feels, but how the game absolutely refuses to go according to your expectations. You absolutely cannot follow the rules as intended and not be surprised each session. There is nothing quite like the sheer level of tonal variety that Crescendo provides.

And this session showcases that reality really well.

The players and I thought this session would be an absolute bloodbath: the elf who keeps the evil within Cleft Mountain sealed away and the monstrous Abbadon, together in a session! That should not have worked out.

And yet.

This session brings out tech that I didn't even think may be necessary anymore: the direct challenging of Beliefs by the Weaver. Turns out, sometimes the players do manage to pull it together, and the Weaver has to be ready to make up situations that subvert and challenge their Beliefs/Debts.

ALSO: apparently I have a lot of homework. The players walked in with lore based off of what I had presented in the Setting Bible, in the first session, it turns out I may have more homework coming up. This was fantastic! People are understanding the bones of the setting well enough to riff of it and tell me what the setting does.

Chapter Five: Oikaya 19

The Fall of of the King of Sota: Chapter Four

 

This. This right here. Is the steel chair session. People started getting used to the system, and it just.. it sang. Crescendo's mechanics are reactive to player action. They intensify it and push it back into the fiction, making things wild and unpredictable.

And in this session, for the first time, I saw those mechanics sing. They weren't just good or even fantastic. Crescendo actually hit a Platonic ideal.

Oikaya 13-17

And, of course, it all began in the Discord. At the end of Chapter Three, we had a mob march on Lady Marie's compound. It all looked gone for Lady Marie. 

And then this happened.

Lady Marie’s forces, after three grueling days of fighting with the rioters, defeated them. The mob would have gotten Lady Marie, if not for the timely intervention of a young nobleman, named Eric. A rice farmer named Arriquard, along with  Father Laurentius, who were leading the mob, were injured and went into hiding… at least until Fr. Laurentius reappeared and began preaching about the evils of the nobility, particularly Lady Marie and Mother Elise, who were employing long-forgotten dark elf rituals to gain immortality through drinking children’s blood. He then began to give generously to the poor and homeless.

Ghosts have been spotted in the ruins of New Sota City, post-riots. People are beginning to wonder if the town isn’t legitimately cursed.


On Oikaya 17, a bunch of stones dropped from the sky, killing some, injuring others.

Dice were rolled and nothing went the way we expected. Lady Marie didn't go down, she got stronger. Not a damn thing that we thought was going to happen, did.

Chapter Four (Oikaya 17)

And then this utter apeshit craziness happened.

I don't have words. I genuinely don't. Cal and I talked on the phone afterwards, and were just... totally babbling about it. You have to see it to believe it. Every second is utter craziness. It really can't be summed up. It is a Platonic ideal.

Next week is the first Storystein. And that is when we make RPG history, because nothing else even remotely like this exists, anywhere.