This past weekend featured the ninth installment of the Story-Tellers event; an awesome-Convergences style smorgasbord of plotlines and quests that players can pick from. Three events were run and players were asked to choose two that they would play in and one that they would help run; the ratio of players to helpers was great and consistent over the whole event, which made for a series of exciting, and challenging quests.
The first of this trio of events was called; “Useful vs. Useless”. This event featured little in the way of a concrete plot, but gave players plenty to do, offering many opportunities to interact with various characters found in the tavern and help them towards their (sometimes unseemly) goals. Found within the tavern were also a number of circles containing books, missives or articles that players could enter, but could not leave until they had completed a quiz on the material they found within. These circles sometimes awarded fabulous prizes, giving players something exciting to work towards. Prizes could also be won outside the tavern, where a large fighting pit could be found. In exchange for a coin or promise of a favor, players could enter the pit to be pitted (no pun intended) against a series of terrifying monsters, also for the chance at fabulous prizes!
The section was a great introduction to a long weekend of questing, giving players a chance to stretch both their roleplaying and fighting muscles in a relaxed atmosphere without the threat of world-ending consequences. Those came later.
Part 2 by Mike "Wrath" Doherty
The Critters vs The Hunters, one of the fun quests held at Storytellers 9 and was probably my personal favorite of the three. The quest was a fun journey in which I had the pleasure of helping the village rid itself of a very peculiar creature and discover what had been happening to the local's cattle. From being able to fight my way through monsters (like zombified cows, tentacle beasts, and a giant scarlactic like creature) to evading epic traps in the dead of night (like boulder swinging robots and snap traps that blew of limbs), I found this quest was quite entertaining. We also had other challenges like solving riddles to open chests, helping lost hunters get back to the village and discovering a powerful rune that was required to banish the monstrous creature which kept the whole group entertained and busy. Of course there were times when the PCs needed a push to head in the right direction, mostly because of being distracted by the simple townsfolk. I feel that Michel Venne, the person who was running the quest did a amazing job in incorporating ways to give PCs a direction in which they should focused there attention. All in all I had a great time and I cant wait for the follow up quest or the next Story Tellers
Part 3 by Pete "Meerkat" Brillinger
Mind vs. Mind.
The heroes of the Realms found themselves awake in a strange tavern, wondering how they got there. Soon they were joined by a child named Jack, who wanted wanted to play with people. While several of the heroes engaged in competitions such as “Jack Says” and “Death Twister”, others were left to attend a lecture or meet with people in the woods. The adventurers not thusly engaged determined that they were actually trapped in the Dreaming, specifically within Jack’s dreams, and some few brave souls managed to find their way to Jack’s sleeping body and provide what comfort they could to the child. As it turned out, that was to be a great deal of comfort.
Jack’s dreams were dogged by the fear of a seemingly innocuous toy, a fear which manifested in the form of a malevolent Jack-in-the-box. After having shored up Jack’s courage, the heroes helped fight off Jack’s fears, freeing the child from the bonds of fear. When the dust settled, the toy lay broken and the heroes affirmed their friendship with the child. The long nightmare over, each of them returned to the waking world secure in the knowledge the the future looked brighter for young Jack.
***
This was actually a really fun, thinking quest. The challenges were tough, but not unbeatable, and there was definitely plenty for everyone involved in the quest to do, either by playing games or talking to Jack.. The non-linear nature of the quest meant that players could choose what they would engage with, and while the majority of the encounters were combat light, the final encounter made up for that in spades, albeit in a non-brutal to the PCs way.
Kudos to the plot marshals of this Story-Tellers plot segment for coming up with a challenging and yet fun way to end an evening of questing. I look forward to seeing what plots will come from them in the future.