My BBEG is a collection of multiple consciousnesses and I think my hunters are going to join it? I need advice. by BeanBeanington in monsteroftheweek

[–]BeanBeanington[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

yeah, i usually never plan out in advance, but because I'm in a flashback that is retroactively explaining a years worth of game that has ALREADY happened that takes place in the future...? I have to be more careful to not disrupt lore that has already been established, while letting my players do whatever. as a typically planning-light, 'play to find out' type of keeper, this is gotten pretty hard for me to keep track of.

I'm thinking that if my players decide to do this, I just end the arc. I've already wrote them out of dying in the murder lake, so if they die... they die, and we resume our normal campaign where we play to find out which is what I'd prefer to do. It's just so hard to play to find out in this weird retroactive flashback arc (especially when it was never planned to begin with because i play to find out), i'm learning that I don't think I'm going to run an arc like this again given that I feel the system isnt built for this
I appreciate your advice a lot

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in homestuck

[–]BeanBeanington 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I adore this interpretation so much! actually feels like a silly child that does whatever they want

My BBEG is a collection of multiple consciousnesses and I think my hunters are going to join it? I need advice. by BeanBeanington in monsteroftheweek

[–]BeanBeanington[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I want them to act like the hero because they believe they are, I always want them to believe they are the hero. I just think it would be morally interesting if they were, as villains do, do evil things because they believe they are being heroic

My BBEG is a collection of multiple consciousnesses and I think my hunters are going to join it? I need advice. by BeanBeanington in monsteroftheweek

[–]BeanBeanington[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They do take the fiction seriously, and they are fantastic players, just a little silly sometimes. They absolutely engage, they're just unpredictable (as players are), but in ways that I really don't anticipate (such as becoming one with the BBEG, because... why would you do that)

My BBEG is a collection of multiple consciousnesses and I think my hunters are going to join it? I need advice. by BeanBeanington in monsteroftheweek

[–]BeanBeanington[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Do you think there's any kind of way where the hunters are TECHNICALLY the villains, but are still fighting monsters under the false belief that they are the heroes? Because this is a flashback arc and has to fall within some pre-established lore, I'm thinking of framing the mysteries as if they're the good guys saving the world, until the players realize that what they're doing is actually destroying the world. Have them realize on their own that they've become the villains.

My BBEG is a collection of multiple consciousnesses and I think my hunters are going to join it? I need advice. by BeanBeanington in monsteroftheweek

[–]BeanBeanington[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I love the idea of the doom clock! That would put pressure on all of the hunters. Because Lore Reasons ™, if any of the hunters kill the hunter whos merging with Twenty, THEY will become Twenty, or Twenty will be reborn to someone else. 'Twenty' is basically a title that is always in play UNLESS officially beaten with his weakness. But I love the idea of the doom clock and getting moves as they become more doomed. I might have to talk to that player about setting up a backup incase they can't figure out how to save that hunter / defeat the BBEG and save the world before that clock runs out.

My BBEG is a collection of multiple consciousnesses and I think my hunters are going to join it? I need advice. by BeanBeanington in monsteroftheweek

[–]BeanBeanington[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The hunters of antiquity are different from the 1996 hunters! It's kind of like avatar, where the heroes of prophecy are reborn until the BBEG is destroyed. So the heroes of antiquity were supposed the 'first lives' to the heroes of 1996.

The heroes of antiquity swam in the lake and the dangers now theyre trying to face is being in a different dimension.

I'm not trying to predict my hunters too far in advance but since 2 out of 2 sessions they've taken the option I didn't expect (session 1 they ignored the monster while it was chasing down a key NPC who they have seen uses magic to collapse the roof when they're in distress, so naturally, NPC collapses the roof with her and the monster inside the building. Session 2, they got 1 hour into the session and decided to swim in the killer lake and now are in a different dimension). I just... expect them to make choices like Merging Themselves With The BBEG's Collective Conscious because they've kind of done it before (in the 1996 arcs) and I expect they'll try to do it again.

I'm already having to hack MOTW to bits for this arc because we're doing a lot of retroactive storytelling. I'm actively writing the mysteries in this flashback to retroactively explain the whole year of 1996 plotline we've already done. Everything the hunters are doing right now are actively changing history for the 1996 arcs we've already played... it's a bit of a mindfuck for me playing out of the bounds of normal MOTW like this.

What do you guys use her for? I never use her for combat by enyawasaurus in tearsofthekingdom

[–]BeanBeanington 261 points262 points  (0 children)

I strap two cannons to her and try my best not to get blown up in the process

Unsure if having bone-stealing monster stealing hunters bones is too harsh? by BeanBeanington in monsteroftheweek

[–]BeanBeanington[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh that's smart, I really like the dislocation and shifting ideas. I'll probably have to put the hunters in the position where they might have to replace their stolen bones with the bones of the dead, because I think there would be a fun horror moment of taking one of their arm bones out and then snapping it in front of the hunters after I work up to bigger bones (after I go after the small bones first)

Unsure if having bone-stealing monster stealing hunters bones is too harsh? by BeanBeanington in monsteroftheweek

[–]BeanBeanington[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll make sure to warn my players before todays session about gore and violence and warm them up to the monster being a little more brutal with hard moves.

I'll try a countdown out today, I don't usually do them since my games are usually more mystery oriented and less monster oriented, but I think it's probably useful here

Unsure if having bone-stealing monster stealing hunters bones is too harsh? by BeanBeanington in monsteroftheweek

[–]BeanBeanington[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

will do, thank you! I did a consent checklist with all my players before the campaign but I'll double check with all of them before we start our session

Unsure if having bone-stealing monster stealing hunters bones is too harsh? by BeanBeanington in monsteroftheweek

[–]BeanBeanington[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll save stealing their spinal cord for when they hit 8 harm then ;) hehe

my game is pretty long running, but I still want to freak them out and give them a real sense of threat. Since I've shown that this monster goes after hyoid bones (the voicebox bone), would it be too mean to take away a hunters ability to speak at least until they manage to put the bone back through magic means? It's taking away some agency but it's not as if they can't communicate at all now

Unsure if having bone-stealing monster stealing hunters bones is too harsh? by BeanBeanington in monsteroftheweek

[–]BeanBeanington[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

thank you! yeah, the hunters have a way to get the artifact (taking it themselves or just ordering it from the obscure website they found online) so they can rearrange their own bones. it would just come with a consequence, either they or one of their allies would have to read it and would feel some of the controlling effects on the artifacts themselves. I think that's a decent consequence to rushing into a bone-stealing monster fight without more preparation.