Sometimes you have to rip the rug out from under the players and take them for surprise. Sometimes you try and the players see it coming from a mile away. Games where at the end the PCs find out they were the villains all along. Games were PCs know what is going to change, but still go with it. The change of pace, change of direction, can still be a lot of fun.
So what is your favorite one?
For me, it probably goes back to the end of a game I was in years ago. In the last mission it became clear to the party that their boss wasn't actually playing for the right team. Suddenly the person who knew everything about them, brought them together, and gave them purpose was the enemy. Could the group out plan that person? Could they succeed? It made the next few sessions very tense and interesting, and made for a solid ending.
What about you?
Also, while I have you, there will be no posts next week. I'm going to be out of town on a business trip and won't have reliable access. If I can get something up I will, but I'm going to assume that I won't be able to.
Have a good week!
I actually just pulled this in my regular Star Wars game. One of the players was introducing a new character, so I worked up a session where the PCs were sent to a certain planet to recover information from a spy. It was designed to look like a standard introduce-the-newcomer plot.
ReplyDeleteBut shortly after the PCs arrived, they noticed that communications were screwy. No one in the system seemed able to get a transmission further than local, not even the Empire. Someone was also flooding the local comm channels with gibberish. While working with the spy, the slicer noticed that the gibberish was actually an older text-only transmission being sent by his enigmatic rival.
Properly interpreted, it was just three words on infinite repeat: "Leave. Get out."
Then they started intercepting reports that the Empire had lost contact with its recon picket, and then with the outlying planets. All ships sent to find out what was happening went silent, too. Then the planet's moon, and then the ships in orbit.
On the ground, it seemed like there was a sudden influx of meteor showers. The PCs were savvy enough to start loading up their ship with the spy and his people, and as they took off they saw one massive yet sleek silver ship hovering silently over the planet, with the debris of two Star Destroyers spinning away from it.
That's where the session ended. Lucky for me, it doubles as the set-up for a creepy Halloween-themed session next week.
Gort Clatu Barada Nikto?
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