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What to do about the NPC massacre?
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In my campaign, everything is constantly going badly. The Source has been destroyed, devastating the local region. The main hardhold was shelled with white phosphorous. Almost all of the NPCs (including NPCs that players invented for their playbooks) are dead. I've found that I am constantly having to invent new NPCs, since the players have started genocidally destroying any conflict. I think this is largely because they aren't developing relationships with NPCs. When I bring in new NPCs, only the Skinner, Chopper and Child-Thing are open to having relationships with those NPCs other than "I don't care about them" or "I want to kill them". Only the Skinner and Chopper develop meaningful relationships, the CT's relationships are all just "he brings me treats", "he finds me weird", et cetera. He has never fought to protect an NPC or worked in an NPC's interest.
Two PCs (Chopper and Skinner) have 3 or 4 NPCs they care about. But they will genocide anybody outside of their tiny group. Two of them don't care about any NPCs and generally resist any attempt I make to create NPCs that have backstories with them. One of them (the maestro D') doesn't really care about the game at all (girlfriend of one of the players) and just likes to use Just Give Me A Motive on any NPC she can. Her response is usually "I don't know" when I ask her what her relationship is with an NPC I'm inventing, what her crew does in her establishment, or whatever. I'm thinking I should recommend she switch playbooks since she doesn't really care about establishing who her crew is or what they do. She has basically just turned her maestro D' into a poison-mad loner who sits in her bar alone and drinks, and occasionally rolls to remote-control murder people for slighting her.
The move says "someone who might conceivably have ingested something you've touched" - perhaps her establishment should start developing a reputation for causing people to drop dead? I don't want to nerf her move, but I don't like that she is just murdering NPCs with no repercussions or real story motive.
The other one (the Driver) doesn't establish relationships even if I suggest them. "What's your relationship like with your dad?" "I dunno, I guess kind of detached." I can never get him to answer a backstory question with anything other than "I sell him drugs" or "I don't care about him". He doesn't save NPCs, fight for them, or really do anything proactive other than joke around and go on psychotic vision quests. I don't really know how to bring up this problem with him, or otherwise maneuver him into situations where he has relationships with characters. I think the best thing would be to use respond to "Open Your Brain" with something that commands his character to care about other people. He is very receptive to drastic character changes due to psychic experiences.
What can I do about this issue? Do I just need to keep inventing NPCs until they find some personalities they attach to? Do I just keep bringing in new threats from elsewhere whenever they annihilate the current threat with high explosives? How can I develop threats that they won't want to solve by poisoning / fighting / blowing up everybody?
apocalypse-world powered-by-the-apocalypse
edited 1 hour ago
Rubiksmoose
38.6k5191295
asked 1 hour ago
Daniel Paczuski Bak
39011
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
In my campaign, everything is constantly going badly. The Source has been destroyed, devastating the local region. The main hardhold was shelled with white phosphorous. Almost all of the NPCs (including NPCs that players invented for their playbooks) are dead. I've found that I am constantly having to invent new NPCs, since the players have started genocidally destroying any conflict. I think this is largely because they aren't developing relationships with NPCs. When I bring in new NPCs, only the Skinner, Chopper and Child-Thing are open to having relationships with those NPCs other than "I don't care about them" or "I want to kill them". Only the Skinner and Chopper develop meaningful relationships, the CT's relationships are all just "he brings me treats", "he finds me weird", et cetera. He has never fought to protect an NPC or worked in an NPC's interest.
Two PCs (Chopper and Skinner) have 3 or 4 NPCs they care about. But they will genocide anybody outside of their tiny group. Two of them don't care about any NPCs and generally resist any attempt I make to create NPCs that have backstories with them. One of them (the maestro D') doesn't really care about the game at all (girlfriend of one of the players) and just likes to use Just Give Me A Motive on any NPC she can. Her response is usually "I don't know" when I ask her what her relationship is with an NPC I'm inventing, what her crew does in her establishment, or whatever. I'm thinking I should recommend she switch playbooks since she doesn't really care about establishing who her crew is or what they do. She has basically just turned her maestro D' into a poison-mad loner who sits in her bar alone and drinks, and occasionally rolls to remote-control murder people for slighting her.
The move says "someone who might conceivably have ingested something you've touched" - perhaps her establishment should start developing a reputation for causing people to drop dead? I don't want to nerf her move, but I don't like that she is just murdering NPCs with no repercussions or real story motive.
The other one (the Driver) doesn't establish relationships even if I suggest them. "What's your relationship like with your dad?" "I dunno, I guess kind of detached." I can never get him to answer a backstory question with anything other than "I sell him drugs" or "I don't care about him". He doesn't save NPCs, fight for them, or really do anything proactive other than joke around and go on psychotic vision quests. I don't really know how to bring up this problem with him, or otherwise maneuver him into situations where he has relationships with characters. I think the best thing would be to use respond to "Open Your Brain" with something that commands his character to care about other people. He is very receptive to drastic character changes due to psychic experiences.
What can I do about this issue? Do I just need to keep inventing NPCs until they find some personalities they attach to? Do I just keep bringing in new threats from elsewhere whenever they annihilate the current threat with high explosives? How can I develop threats that they won't want to solve by poisoning / fighting / blowing up everybody?
apocalypse-world powered-by-the-apocalypse
edited 1 hour ago
Rubiksmoose
38.6k5191295
asked 1 hour ago
Daniel Paczuski Bak
39011
Why is this an issue exactly? Has anyone complained that they are not having fun? Are you not having fun?
– Szega
1 hour ago
Some of them have complained, most specifically the Driver has complained about being sidelined and mostly irrelevant to the plot. The artifice of the game is starting to shine through, as fresh batches of NPCs are brought into the game every other session to be slaughtered. I feel a little silly developing threats, personalities, et cetera when they are basically just cannon fodder for the PCs to massacre. I am running out of ideas for NPCs.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
59 mins ago
The chopper only cares about his gang, but gets very upset when members of his gang die or the gang is weakened. So I have trouble creating consequences for mass murder. Likewise I think the child-thing is a little bored. He's the most invested in the "lore" of the game due to his character's attachments with one of the primary maelstrom deities, but doesn't really have relationships with NPCs that aren't patronizing. Basically, the Driver and Child-Thing don't have connections to NPCs, but also don't participate in the genocide. So they kind of just do nothing.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
56 mins ago
I've had to invent more and more communities in the area of The Source, but they have been annihilated again and again. So it seems like the group will need to relocate, since the local area has been depopulated and I don't know how I can contrive/retcon more communities to have existed all along. (4 communities have been extinguished so far). But if I force them to move somehow, the Maestro D' and Child-Thing won't have their bases, so I'll be kind of ruining the characters.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
53 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
In my campaign, everything is constantly going badly. The Source has been destroyed, devastating the local region. The main hardhold was shelled with white phosphorous. Almost all of the NPCs (including NPCs that players invented for their playbooks) are dead. I've found that I am constantly having to invent new NPCs, since the players have started genocidally destroying any conflict. I think this is largely because they aren't developing relationships with NPCs. When I bring in new NPCs, only the Skinner, Chopper and Child-Thing are open to having relationships with those NPCs other than "I don't care about them" or "I want to kill them". Only the Skinner and Chopper develop meaningful relationships, the CT's relationships are all just "he brings me treats", "he finds me weird", et cetera. He has never fought to protect an NPC or worked in an NPC's interest.
Two PCs (Chopper and Skinner) have 3 or 4 NPCs they care about. But they will genocide anybody outside of their tiny group. Two of them don't care about any NPCs and generally resist any attempt I make to create NPCs that have backstories with them. One of them (the maestro D') doesn't really care about the game at all (girlfriend of one of the players) and just likes to use Just Give Me A Motive on any NPC she can. Her response is usually "I don't know" when I ask her what her relationship is with an NPC I'm inventing, what her crew does in her establishment, or whatever. I'm thinking I should recommend she switch playbooks since she doesn't really care about establishing who her crew is or what they do. She has basically just turned her maestro D' into a poison-mad loner who sits in her bar alone and drinks, and occasionally rolls to remote-control murder people for slighting her.
The move says "someone who might conceivably have ingested something you've touched" - perhaps her establishment should start developing a reputation for causing people to drop dead? I don't want to nerf her move, but I don't like that she is just murdering NPCs with no repercussions or real story motive.
The other one (the Driver) doesn't establish relationships even if I suggest them. "What's your relationship like with your dad?" "I dunno, I guess kind of detached." I can never get him to answer a backstory question with anything other than "I sell him drugs" or "I don't care about him". He doesn't save NPCs, fight for them, or really do anything proactive other than joke around and go on psychotic vision quests. I don't really know how to bring up this problem with him, or otherwise maneuver him into situations where he has relationships with characters. I think the best thing would be to use respond to "Open Your Brain" with something that commands his character to care about other people. He is very receptive to drastic character changes due to psychic experiences.
What can I do about this issue? Do I just need to keep inventing NPCs until they find some personalities they attach to? Do I just keep bringing in new threats from elsewhere whenever they annihilate the current threat with high explosives? How can I develop threats that they won't want to solve by poisoning / fighting / blowing up everybody?
apocalypse-world powered-by-the-apocalypse
edited 1 hour ago
Rubiksmoose
38.6k5191295
asked 1 hour ago
Daniel Paczuski Bak
39011
In my campaign, everything is constantly going badly. The Source has been destroyed, devastating the local region. The main hardhold was shelled with white phosphorous. Almost all of the NPCs (including NPCs that players invented for their playbooks) are dead. I've found that I am constantly having to invent new NPCs, since the players have started genocidally destroying any conflict. I think this is largely because they aren't developing relationships with NPCs. When I bring in new NPCs, only the Skinner, Chopper and Child-Thing are open to having relationships with those NPCs other than "I don't care about them" or "I want to kill them". Only the Skinner and Chopper develop meaningful relationships, the CT's relationships are all just "he brings me treats", "he finds me weird", et cetera. He has never fought to protect an NPC or worked in an NPC's interest.
Two PCs (Chopper and Skinner) have 3 or 4 NPCs they care about. But they will genocide anybody outside of their tiny group. Two of them don't care about any NPCs and generally resist any attempt I make to create NPCs that have backstories with them. One of them (the maestro D') doesn't really care about the game at all (girlfriend of one of the players) and just likes to use Just Give Me A Motive on any NPC she can. Her response is usually "I don't know" when I ask her what her relationship is with an NPC I'm inventing, what her crew does in her establishment, or whatever. I'm thinking I should recommend she switch playbooks since she doesn't really care about establishing who her crew is or what they do. She has basically just turned her maestro D' into a poison-mad loner who sits in her bar alone and drinks, and occasionally rolls to remote-control murder people for slighting her.
The move says "someone who might conceivably have ingested something you've touched" - perhaps her establishment should start developing a reputation for causing people to drop dead? I don't want to nerf her move, but I don't like that she is just murdering NPCs with no repercussions or real story motive.
The other one (the Driver) doesn't establish relationships even if I suggest them. "What's your relationship like with your dad?" "I dunno, I guess kind of detached." I can never get him to answer a backstory question with anything other than "I sell him drugs" or "I don't care about him". He doesn't save NPCs, fight for them, or really do anything proactive other than joke around and go on psychotic vision quests. I don't really know how to bring up this problem with him, or otherwise maneuver him into situations where he has relationships with characters. I think the best thing would be to use respond to "Open Your Brain" with something that commands his character to care about other people. He is very receptive to drastic character changes due to psychic experiences.
What can I do about this issue? Do I just need to keep inventing NPCs until they find some personalities they attach to? Do I just keep bringing in new threats from elsewhere whenever they annihilate the current threat with high explosives? How can I develop threats that they won't want to solve by poisoning / fighting / blowing up everybody?
apocalypse-world powered-by-the-apocalypse
apocalypse-world powered-by-the-apocalypse
edited 1 hour ago
Rubiksmoose
38.6k5191295
asked 1 hour ago
Daniel Paczuski Bak
39011
edited 1 hour ago
Rubiksmoose
38.6k5191295
asked 1 hour ago
Daniel Paczuski Bak
39011
edited 1 hour ago
Rubiksmoose
38.6k5191295
edited 1 hour ago
Rubiksmoose
38.6k5191295
edited 1 hour ago
Rubiksmoose
38.6k5191295
38.6k5191295
asked 1 hour ago
Daniel Paczuski Bak
39011
asked 1 hour ago
Daniel Paczuski Bak
39011
asked 1 hour ago
Daniel Paczuski Bak
39011
39011
Why is this an issue exactly? Has anyone complained that they are not having fun? Are you not having fun?
– Szega
1 hour ago
Some of them have complained, most specifically the Driver has complained about being sidelined and mostly irrelevant to the plot. The artifice of the game is starting to shine through, as fresh batches of NPCs are brought into the game every other session to be slaughtered. I feel a little silly developing threats, personalities, et cetera when they are basically just cannon fodder for the PCs to massacre. I am running out of ideas for NPCs.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
59 mins ago
The chopper only cares about his gang, but gets very upset when members of his gang die or the gang is weakened. So I have trouble creating consequences for mass murder. Likewise I think the child-thing is a little bored. He's the most invested in the "lore" of the game due to his character's attachments with one of the primary maelstrom deities, but doesn't really have relationships with NPCs that aren't patronizing. Basically, the Driver and Child-Thing don't have connections to NPCs, but also don't participate in the genocide. So they kind of just do nothing.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
56 mins ago
I've had to invent more and more communities in the area of The Source, but they have been annihilated again and again. So it seems like the group will need to relocate, since the local area has been depopulated and I don't know how I can contrive/retcon more communities to have existed all along. (4 communities have been extinguished so far). But if I force them to move somehow, the Maestro D' and Child-Thing won't have their bases, so I'll be kind of ruining the characters.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
53 mins ago
add a comment |Â
Why is this an issue exactly? Has anyone complained that they are not having fun? Are you not having fun?
– Szega
1 hour ago
Some of them have complained, most specifically the Driver has complained about being sidelined and mostly irrelevant to the plot. The artifice of the game is starting to shine through, as fresh batches of NPCs are brought into the game every other session to be slaughtered. I feel a little silly developing threats, personalities, et cetera when they are basically just cannon fodder for the PCs to massacre. I am running out of ideas for NPCs.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
59 mins ago
The chopper only cares about his gang, but gets very upset when members of his gang die or the gang is weakened. So I have trouble creating consequences for mass murder. Likewise I think the child-thing is a little bored. He's the most invested in the "lore" of the game due to his character's attachments with one of the primary maelstrom deities, but doesn't really have relationships with NPCs that aren't patronizing. Basically, the Driver and Child-Thing don't have connections to NPCs, but also don't participate in the genocide. So they kind of just do nothing.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
56 mins ago
I've had to invent more and more communities in the area of The Source, but they have been annihilated again and again. So it seems like the group will need to relocate, since the local area has been depopulated and I don't know how I can contrive/retcon more communities to have existed all along. (4 communities have been extinguished so far). But if I force them to move somehow, the Maestro D' and Child-Thing won't have their bases, so I'll be kind of ruining the characters.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
53 mins ago
Why is this an issue exactly? Has anyone complained that they are not having fun? Are you not having fun?
– Szega
1 hour ago
Why is this an issue exactly? Has anyone complained that they are not having fun? Are you not having fun?
– Szega
1 hour ago
Some of them have complained, most specifically the Driver has complained about being sidelined and mostly irrelevant to the plot. The artifice of the game is starting to shine through, as fresh batches of NPCs are brought into the game every other session to be slaughtered. I feel a little silly developing threats, personalities, et cetera when they are basically just cannon fodder for the PCs to massacre. I am running out of ideas for NPCs.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
59 mins ago
Some of them have complained, most specifically the Driver has complained about being sidelined and mostly irrelevant to the plot. The artifice of the game is starting to shine through, as fresh batches of NPCs are brought into the game every other session to be slaughtered. I feel a little silly developing threats, personalities, et cetera when they are basically just cannon fodder for the PCs to massacre. I am running out of ideas for NPCs.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
59 mins ago
The chopper only cares about his gang, but gets very upset when members of his gang die or the gang is weakened. So I have trouble creating consequences for mass murder. Likewise I think the child-thing is a little bored. He's the most invested in the "lore" of the game due to his character's attachments with one of the primary maelstrom deities, but doesn't really have relationships with NPCs that aren't patronizing. Basically, the Driver and Child-Thing don't have connections to NPCs, but also don't participate in the genocide. So they kind of just do nothing.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
56 mins ago
The chopper only cares about his gang, but gets very upset when members of his gang die or the gang is weakened. So I have trouble creating consequences for mass murder. Likewise I think the child-thing is a little bored. He's the most invested in the "lore" of the game due to his character's attachments with one of the primary maelstrom deities, but doesn't really have relationships with NPCs that aren't patronizing. Basically, the Driver and Child-Thing don't have connections to NPCs, but also don't participate in the genocide. So they kind of just do nothing.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
56 mins ago
I've had to invent more and more communities in the area of The Source, but they have been annihilated again and again. So it seems like the group will need to relocate, since the local area has been depopulated and I don't know how I can contrive/retcon more communities to have existed all along. (4 communities have been extinguished so far). But if I force them to move somehow, the Maestro D' and Child-Thing won't have their bases, so I'll be kind of ruining the characters.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
53 mins ago
I've had to invent more and more communities in the area of The Source, but they have been annihilated again and again. So it seems like the group will need to relocate, since the local area has been depopulated and I don't know how I can contrive/retcon more communities to have existed all along. (4 communities have been extinguished so far). But if I force them to move somehow, the Maestro D' and Child-Thing won't have their bases, so I'll be kind of ruining the characters.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
53 mins ago
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
7
down vote
accepted
As a baseline for why they should care: the NPCs are their resources.
Self-sufficiency is an illusion in Apocalypse World.
Someone grows their food, someone patches their clothes, someone makes the drugs and gas and bullets that they need to do action-hero stuff all the time.
Where does the Angel keep getting supplies? How does the Gunlugger still have special armor-piercing ammo after putting 300 rounds into an armor-plated stego-bear last week? Where do the Maestro D's exotic spices and poisons come from? Where does the Chopper go to recruit fresh blood when her gang is decimate after a fight?
It doesn't need to be about backstories, it's about the here and now. Who are their friends, their clients, their servants, their playthings? Who are the people who do all the dumb, thankless tasks that they don't want to do? How many of those people are out there? 100? 200? — well, if you just firebombed the town there's 50 now, and that means half the stuff the town does for you has just stopped working.
answered 45 mins ago
Alex P
20.1k350104
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
In a comment, you tell us that the Driver feels undetached to the plot. Explain him, out of game, that NPC triangles are what makes the game alive and that fighting for or against them is a great way to get the spotlight he wants. Basically, be where the action is.
Instead of asking who's this or that guy to [generic you], make questions that imply facts. For instance, introduce a scene where a character is approached by someone. Good questions might be "How could your brother trace you in all this mess?" or "What name will you give the child she's bearing, once it is born?". Make the NPCs relevant to your players. Make them people they want to protect. Even better, make them people some of them want to protect and some of them hate.
answered 7 mins ago
Zachiel
25.8k361124
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
7
down vote
accepted
As a baseline for why they should care: the NPCs are their resources.
Self-sufficiency is an illusion in Apocalypse World.
Someone grows their food, someone patches their clothes, someone makes the drugs and gas and bullets that they need to do action-hero stuff all the time.
Where does the Angel keep getting supplies? How does the Gunlugger still have special armor-piercing ammo after putting 300 rounds into an armor-plated stego-bear last week? Where do the Maestro D's exotic spices and poisons come from? Where does the Chopper go to recruit fresh blood when her gang is decimate after a fight?
It doesn't need to be about backstories, it's about the here and now. Who are their friends, their clients, their servants, their playthings? Who are the people who do all the dumb, thankless tasks that they don't want to do? How many of those people are out there? 100? 200? — well, if you just firebombed the town there's 50 now, and that means half the stuff the town does for you has just stopped working.
answered 45 mins ago
Alex P
20.1k350104
add a comment |Â
up vote
7
down vote
accepted
As a baseline for why they should care: the NPCs are their resources.
Self-sufficiency is an illusion in Apocalypse World.
Someone grows their food, someone patches their clothes, someone makes the drugs and gas and bullets that they need to do action-hero stuff all the time.
Where does the Angel keep getting supplies? How does the Gunlugger still have special armor-piercing ammo after putting 300 rounds into an armor-plated stego-bear last week? Where do the Maestro D's exotic spices and poisons come from? Where does the Chopper go to recruit fresh blood when her gang is decimate after a fight?
It doesn't need to be about backstories, it's about the here and now. Who are their friends, their clients, their servants, their playthings? Who are the people who do all the dumb, thankless tasks that they don't want to do? How many of those people are out there? 100? 200? — well, if you just firebombed the town there's 50 now, and that means half the stuff the town does for you has just stopped working.
answered 45 mins ago
Alex P
20.1k350104
add a comment |Â
up vote
7
down vote
accepted
up vote
7
down vote
accepted
As a baseline for why they should care: the NPCs are their resources.
Self-sufficiency is an illusion in Apocalypse World.
Someone grows their food, someone patches their clothes, someone makes the drugs and gas and bullets that they need to do action-hero stuff all the time.
Where does the Angel keep getting supplies? How does the Gunlugger still have special armor-piercing ammo after putting 300 rounds into an armor-plated stego-bear last week? Where do the Maestro D's exotic spices and poisons come from? Where does the Chopper go to recruit fresh blood when her gang is decimate after a fight?
It doesn't need to be about backstories, it's about the here and now. Who are their friends, their clients, their servants, their playthings? Who are the people who do all the dumb, thankless tasks that they don't want to do? How many of those people are out there? 100? 200? — well, if you just firebombed the town there's 50 now, and that means half the stuff the town does for you has just stopped working.
answered 45 mins ago
Alex P
20.1k350104
As a baseline for why they should care: the NPCs are their resources.
Self-sufficiency is an illusion in Apocalypse World.
Someone grows their food, someone patches their clothes, someone makes the drugs and gas and bullets that they need to do action-hero stuff all the time.
Where does the Angel keep getting supplies? How does the Gunlugger still have special armor-piercing ammo after putting 300 rounds into an armor-plated stego-bear last week? Where do the Maestro D's exotic spices and poisons come from? Where does the Chopper go to recruit fresh blood when her gang is decimate after a fight?
It doesn't need to be about backstories, it's about the here and now. Who are their friends, their clients, their servants, their playthings? Who are the people who do all the dumb, thankless tasks that they don't want to do? How many of those people are out there? 100? 200? — well, if you just firebombed the town there's 50 now, and that means half the stuff the town does for you has just stopped working.
answered 45 mins ago
Alex P
20.1k350104
answered 45 mins ago
Alex P
20.1k350104
answered 45 mins ago
Alex P
20.1k350104
answered 45 mins ago
Alex P
20.1k350104
20.1k350104
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
In a comment, you tell us that the Driver feels undetached to the plot. Explain him, out of game, that NPC triangles are what makes the game alive and that fighting for or against them is a great way to get the spotlight he wants. Basically, be where the action is.
Instead of asking who's this or that guy to [generic you], make questions that imply facts. For instance, introduce a scene where a character is approached by someone. Good questions might be "How could your brother trace you in all this mess?" or "What name will you give the child she's bearing, once it is born?". Make the NPCs relevant to your players. Make them people they want to protect. Even better, make them people some of them want to protect and some of them hate.
answered 7 mins ago
Zachiel
25.8k361124
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
In a comment, you tell us that the Driver feels undetached to the plot. Explain him, out of game, that NPC triangles are what makes the game alive and that fighting for or against them is a great way to get the spotlight he wants. Basically, be where the action is.
Instead of asking who's this or that guy to [generic you], make questions that imply facts. For instance, introduce a scene where a character is approached by someone. Good questions might be "How could your brother trace you in all this mess?" or "What name will you give the child she's bearing, once it is born?". Make the NPCs relevant to your players. Make them people they want to protect. Even better, make them people some of them want to protect and some of them hate.
answered 7 mins ago
Zachiel
25.8k361124
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
up vote
1
down vote
In a comment, you tell us that the Driver feels undetached to the plot. Explain him, out of game, that NPC triangles are what makes the game alive and that fighting for or against them is a great way to get the spotlight he wants. Basically, be where the action is.
Instead of asking who's this or that guy to [generic you], make questions that imply facts. For instance, introduce a scene where a character is approached by someone. Good questions might be "How could your brother trace you in all this mess?" or "What name will you give the child she's bearing, once it is born?". Make the NPCs relevant to your players. Make them people they want to protect. Even better, make them people some of them want to protect and some of them hate.
answered 7 mins ago
Zachiel
25.8k361124
In a comment, you tell us that the Driver feels undetached to the plot. Explain him, out of game, that NPC triangles are what makes the game alive and that fighting for or against them is a great way to get the spotlight he wants. Basically, be where the action is.
Instead of asking who's this or that guy to [generic you], make questions that imply facts. For instance, introduce a scene where a character is approached by someone. Good questions might be "How could your brother trace you in all this mess?" or "What name will you give the child she's bearing, once it is born?". Make the NPCs relevant to your players. Make them people they want to protect. Even better, make them people some of them want to protect and some of them hate.
answered 7 mins ago
Zachiel
25.8k361124
answered 7 mins ago
Zachiel
25.8k361124
answered 7 mins ago
Zachiel
25.8k361124
answered 7 mins ago
Zachiel
25.8k361124
25.8k361124
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Why is this an issue exactly? Has anyone complained that they are not having fun? Are you not having fun?
– Szega
1 hour ago
Some of them have complained, most specifically the Driver has complained about being sidelined and mostly irrelevant to the plot. The artifice of the game is starting to shine through, as fresh batches of NPCs are brought into the game every other session to be slaughtered. I feel a little silly developing threats, personalities, et cetera when they are basically just cannon fodder for the PCs to massacre. I am running out of ideas for NPCs.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
59 mins ago
The chopper only cares about his gang, but gets very upset when members of his gang die or the gang is weakened. So I have trouble creating consequences for mass murder. Likewise I think the child-thing is a little bored. He's the most invested in the "lore" of the game due to his character's attachments with one of the primary maelstrom deities, but doesn't really have relationships with NPCs that aren't patronizing. Basically, the Driver and Child-Thing don't have connections to NPCs, but also don't participate in the genocide. So they kind of just do nothing.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
56 mins ago
I've had to invent more and more communities in the area of The Source, but they have been annihilated again and again. So it seems like the group will need to relocate, since the local area has been depopulated and I don't know how I can contrive/retcon more communities to have existed all along. (4 communities have been extinguished so far). But if I force them to move somehow, the Maestro D' and Child-Thing won't have their bases, so I'll be kind of ruining the characters.
– Daniel Paczuski Bak
53 mins ago