General Chat

Here is a reference to our Disc World game leveling. Just in case people are interested in having a look :)

I’d much rather do milestone leveling than tracking XP. I prefer some kind of leveling, but understand that it can make for an unbalanced game for new players. Perhaps not too frequently? The Discworld leveling is interesting and novel, but I don’t strongly prefer it over other options. I do love Discworld a lot though! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go plot how to work Discworld references into every possible post (geeking out intensifies) :D

I don't care a ton about leveling, beyond the fact that I don't want to think about it a ton. Milestone is preferred over tracking XP.

Agreed that the discworld leveling does sound novel, but like QuietPanther I don't strongly prefer it.

Ooo I realized that I’ve already done it! Lille’s "kneel in the runner’s starting position" is a direct Rincewind thing :)

OK. We will do something like milestones, in that I will tell you when I think we each should level up. We can see about this voting on improvements process (a watered down version of the 'leveling' system from Burning Wheel) when that happens.

Thought this was appropriate being in the circus ourselves.

Checking in about how we are feeling.

I am not sensing a lot of engagement with the current material. As always, we —all the players— decide how much time we spend on any elements in the game, we also decide on the tone (which I left open to be whimsical or scary, and we seem to have settled on the slightly creepier side of middle).

• Do we want immediate feedback and 'answers' (most of your actions seem to be asking me 'what next' rather than driving the story yourselves).

• Do we want to get out of this quickly?

• Do we want to start bringing the characters together? Albert and Lille, maybe?

• Do we want to bring Emze into the carnival to join the others? Do we want me to make that happen or does karabooo want to find a way?

• Do we want Ezme to have more time with Theo? (as an NPC he does not drive the story)

I am equally happy with all options. I have no agenda with this, and no plans that will be disrupted.

I'm honestly not sure how to 'act' as Albert in this dream. I think I need some more stage direction. Should albert say yes to anything that happens? Does he still have common sense right now? Does he realize it's not real? Right now he is cautious because this is all quite strange.

I always have a preference to interact with other players. I was trying to do that by using Ezme's lines inside my dream (not sure if anyone noticed that :P) Ezme could maybe hear Albert mumbling back in his sleep.

Is this dream a hurdle to get past or an important story element? As in, does it serve to find out as much as possible, or will 1 task snap us out of it and we can get back to other things?

Fair. Hence this discussion.
No, no. Have him act as he always would. It seems strange, and I will 'direct' you if anything happens that 'overrides' your ability to choose (as with not feeling the need to wake your companions (the Split Them Up GM Move)), but otherwise do what you think he would do with the information he has.
I think that that will be an endgame thing, right? As soon as we realise that, it ends the exploration part of the scene and turns into a fight to get out, right?

It is up to the players how soon we want to move to that stage, but also how hard we fight once we know.

If we want out soon, just say so and we can make that happen. If we want to explore the act of exploration and discovery, say so and we can do that.

Let me know how overtly 'strange' you each want things to be for your character and we can do that. Roald's is already stranger than the others'.

Whenever you want you can have your characters start realising things are strange and start actively seeking enlightenment.
Agreed. We can try get that working if anyone else wants us to push themself and Albert together.
I missed that. It could work, though.
Possibly, though that may need to be coordinated on a player level, since she is focusing on Daryl.

We could use Ezme's close contact with Daryl to bring her into the scene with you guys. That is only one of the ways I can see to get her inside 'the dream'.
You should know better than that. :)

For the record: I almost never gate story progress by forcing something to be dealt with. Whatever players choose to engage with will be what drives the story forward. These choices to ignore or engage with things will shape what happens, but I have no plans and this dream sequence is of karabooo's doing. :)
Only in as much as the other option is for you to awake with no clue what happened, which is fine too.
I have no idea. If the players choose that they want to snap out of this, then we can do that, the 'tasks' are arbitrary and can be skipped if we don't want to engage.

I didn't specifically mention it, thought it would be fun if someone figured it out :D
It was subtle, I must admit.The "Hey Albert! Are you awake?" was something I thought Theo might have said when trying to wake people up.

That's true :) I know how you GM by now.

For my part, I’m engaged and enjoying this. I have a vague "agenda," but was waiting to get more info from you and Gen before proceeding. No need to pull me into dreams just yet.

If I were a dreamer, though, I think I’d want guidance as to what is expected of me. Solving a riddle that somehow leads to one’s own escape? Gathering intel and (possibly) imparting it to Ezme so she can help? Creating some sort of intriguing scene that reveals character backstory while waiting to be rescued? These are all options, some of which have already been explored a little…

I suspect your wish is for players to choose for themselves what they get out of it. If that is the case, should the players agree behind the scenes what the dream agenda is for consistent storytelling? That’s a little unclear to me.

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I definitely caught what you were doing here. Thought it was clever. ;)

Sure, sure. :)
I thought that phrase strange, but did not pay enough attention to make the connection (it was 17 hours between my reading those two posts). :)
I saw that one, but thought it was in reference to Roald call out to you. [ref]

That is indeed my wish at all times. :)

All the options you listed are within our grasp.
Before taking too strong an action to force things in one direction or another the players should be on the same page. While 'exploring the world', this is consensus less necessary.
Just let me know when, or tell me if you want me to hold off. Or we can use dice and the current actions to decide (but only after you are ready to move over).
As a personal preference, I am not a fan of riddles, it is hard to solve them as the character, and there is little value in bringing in out-of-game knowledge to solve in-game problems. I have no issue with in game riddles, but they are merely part of the story and a purely character-based thing.

Feel free to keep forging a connection.

Thanks :D I'm happy you found that hint!

One possibility is that you guys somehow find each other in the dreamscape, and Ezme gets a hint that this is happening. I could probably piece together a way for her to figure that out, especially if she has the aid of a sleep talker.

If Ezme understood you were all together, she would be more willing to enter the dream world to rally you all to some sort of action... whatever that might be. (I don't require that as a story point, but I'm throwing that out there.)

I threw Lille in a blanket with Roald. Maybe those two could find each other first, because of this action taken in the real world? :: shrug :: Just an idea.

You can learn that from Daryl if you want. Have him say anything you need.
The character does not need to be willing, of course. We can swap her with Daryl if the player is interested.

If you want the character to be actively involved in the decision, maybe you can do a little bonding with Theo to establish him as an anchor over here for you to come back to before you risk crossing over?
A nice fuzzy blanket... a fuzzy bear? Looks like they are already being drawn together. :)

You're also welcome to use any line of Albert's. Even the NPCs are in his imagination and could be something he says out loud.

I'm trying to keep up with both threads, but it's not always easy due to busy life things happening 😅