Session 0 Worksheet
I keep thinking about Session 0. I like to have an organized session 0 where I know what I’m trying to accomplish. This includes tone, summary of core rules concepts, safety tools, setting overview, character concepts, and any other elements I believe I and the players should have to put together a firm foundation. This gives the group the best odds of having a solid game. I’ve done it around a dozen times with different games at this point and now I’ve got what I think is a solid Session 0 Worksheet Outline for a Streets of Avalon game. It’s included as an attachment.
Playtest Book Update Stuff
So I started to put my adjustments and rules updates into the Playtest book so I can push out V02 this month. It’s a process figuring out work flow but I’m working on it so as I update between google docs, the Indesign files, and the PDFs they all get the updates and I don’t miss anything. Also providing myself a change log of things I’ve done for myself and to provide to you. Thank you World of Warcraft Blue Posts and Video Game change logs for the inspiration here.
The Whisper Killings
I’ve had my session 0 and first play session of The Whisper Killings. I quite enjoyed it. The group is a Elizabeth AKA: Bitsy – Nurse Fighter who works at an orphanage, Samuel – a prostitute illusionist Magic User who wants to break away from their old brothel and run their own brothel , James – A Rat Catcher Enhancement Magic User who wants to become a legitimate magic user in the city and potentially join the Order of the Eye, and a TammyO – Private Eye Expert who’s moving up in the world as she’s relocated from the a neighborhood in the docks to the Clocktower district and is all about solving cases.
They were called by the local griffons to investigate the scene of a grizzly murder where the victim was dismembered for use in some foul ritual. That first scene also had a fight in it with someone jumping into a barrel of water to avoid being burned badly. Then we got to see a bit of their home lives as they got some rest since it was quite late when they were at the scene. The next day got together at their favorite local tavern, talked, and then split up to begin their investigations after getting a solid evening of sleep. Things became interesting after that where the Samuel helped a depressed man potentially start down the road to better days, Tammy tracked down a crazed former homeless sawmill worker and while she got information out of him he attacked her, and James and Bitsy went to the Tik Tok, a local graveyard and discovered they may have some living dead problems.
The NPC Problem
I have to say it was quite enjoyable but it comes with the thing that I know will be a lot for potential GMs of this game. There are a lot of NPCs that you have to sometimes just invent. It’s the thing about investigations in a city. There’s just a lot of people and sometimes the players don’t go where you expect. That means a name list is almost required for playing this game and having some extra stock locations you can introduce if you’re not comfortable with inventing them on the fly.
It also means I need to put some pieces in the book that can help with those problems. I’ve already done some of that but I can see this being an area that needs more support. I also need to provide at least a starting point for helping GMs track these campaigns. Lucky for me I haven’t written the campaign chapter of the book yet. I think a lot of this stuff will go in there. Advice and tools for the game.