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Post by chronovore on Apr 17, 2017 22:36:36 GMT -8
My group and I are running a single-city-based FATE CORE game in a low fantasy world of our creation. I'm GMing, and the rest of the group are well familiar with the type of game I run from our college days: the poor can be kind but are frequently desperate; true philanthropy is rare; many powerful people will endanger others to get what they want; there is no such thing as enough money or power; sidhe are fucking crazy. Neighboring cities are competitive but rarely confrontational. The six families which control the PC's city are more likely to cause problems than external sources.
The PCs' first mission is for the Assistant Mayor, who has asked them to track down a caravan which went inexplicably missing in the city's warrens. There is a crate in the caravan which belongs to the Mayor's Assassin, er, Cleaner, um – Fixer. The crate is just a MacGuffin which will hopefully get them endeared to both the Asst. Mayor and the Fixer.
So far, I'm torn on what to put inside it. I've hinted that the wards on the box would destroy a portion of the city if it were opened, but the truth is that the Fixer would not have allowed that kind of warding to ever enter the city. One of the PCs has the ability to dull magic, and to read secrets. They will likely be able to buy their way into opening the box safely.
Is it a butterknife to complete the collection of rare items in the Fixer's silverware collection? Is it a butterknife which was misenchanted so it can carve through bricks like butter? Is it a small child which has been possessed by an extradimensional spirit, which only the Fixer knew how to free? Is it all a lure to expose the troupe which absconded with the crate? Is it a diversion?
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Post by uncommonman on Apr 17, 2017 22:56:28 GMT -8
Pandora's box...
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Post by jonas on Apr 18, 2017 4:31:50 GMT -8
The pcs open the box and notice... that it's filled to the brim with teeth? Creepy children teeth? *que scary music*
The mayor sees it as potent stuff to use in different rituals - both the kind with real magic and those that are just unpleasant superstition (depending on your game world) - and it's problematic to start a new collection without to many questions asked.
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Post by chronovore on Apr 18, 2017 16:03:04 GMT -8
The world actually has all the problems Pandora's Box once contained, and I am not inclined to have Hope pouring out of it, though I may have the corpse of a lady named "Hope" in it. Hmmmm. The pcs open the box and notice... that it's filled to the brim with teeth? Creepy children teeth? *que scary music* The mayor sees it as potent stuff to use in different rituals - both the kind with real magic and those that are just unpleasant superstition (depending on your game world) - and it's problematic to start a new collection without to many questions asked. I like this quite a bit. Especially if it's a 2nd-look reveal: "It's filled with white gravel." Later: "Upon further examination, these are very small teeth. Either inhuman, or at least not adult human teeth." I like it!
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Post by chronovore on Jun 2, 2017 1:15:27 GMT -8
The pcs open the box and notice... that it's filled to the brim with teeth? Creepy children teeth? *que scary music* The mayor sees it as potent stuff to use in different rituals - both the kind with real magic and those that are just unpleasant superstition (depending on your game world) - and it's problematic to start a new collection without to many questions asked. We had the session revealing the contents of the chest yesterday. I went with your suggestion, and everyone was creeped-the-fuck-out. Thank you very much. I ended up making the murderous waylayers sidhe infiltrators in tattered black robes which obscured them in darkness. The tatters moved like seaweed in water, trailing behind the wearers' motions. One of the players requested "no horror," so this is the limit of my creepiness. Because they are sidhe/faerie, I am halfway considering having these be actual collected teeth from the Tooth Fairie, which the sidhe were trying to reclaim.
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Post by uncommonman on Jun 2, 2017 11:25:42 GMT -8
The pcs open the box and notice... that it's filled to the brim with teeth? Creepy children teeth? *que scary music* The mayor sees it as potent stuff to use in different rituals - both the kind with real magic and those that are just unpleasant superstition (depending on your game world) - and it's problematic to start a new collection without to many questions asked. We had the session revealing the contents of the chest yesterday. I went with your suggestion, and everyone was creeped-the-fuck-out. Thank you very much. I ended up making the murderous waylayers sidhe infiltrators in tattered black robes which obscured them in darkness. The tatters moved like seaweed in water, trailing behind the wearers' motions. One of the players requested "no horror," so this is the limit of my creepiness. Because they are sidhe/faerie, I am halfway considering having these be actual collected teeth from the Tooth Fairie, which the sidhe were trying to reclaim. Have you read "the hogfather" by terry pratchett?
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Post by chronovore on Jun 2, 2017 21:17:23 GMT -8
We had the session revealing the contents of the chest yesterday. I went with your suggestion, and everyone was creeped-the-fuck-out. Thank you very much. I ended up making the murderous waylayers sidhe infiltrators in tattered black robes which obscured them in darkness. The tatters moved like seaweed in water, trailing behind the wearers' motions. One of the players requested "no horror," so this is the limit of my creepiness. Because they are sidhe/faerie, I am halfway considering having these be actual collected teeth from the Tooth Fairie, which the sidhe were trying to reclaim. Have you read "the hogfather" by terry pratchett? No, I haven't! Is this a recommendation? If it is, why is it related? :hyper
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2017 21:31:12 GMT -8
We had the session revealing the contents of the chest yesterday. I went with your suggestion, and everyone was creeped-the-fuck-out. Thank you very much. I ended up making the murderous waylayers sidhe infiltrators in tattered black robes which obscured them in darkness. The tatters moved like seaweed in water, trailing behind the wearers' motions. One of the players requested "no horror," so this is the limit of my creepiness. Because they are sidhe/faerie, I am halfway considering having these be actual collected teeth from the Tooth Fairie, which the sidhe were trying to reclaim. Have you read "the hogfather" by terry pratchett? No, but I've seen one! *Drools* Expensive sights.... *Drools*
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Post by jonas on Jun 2, 2017 22:38:38 GMT -8
The pcs open the box and notice... that it's filled to the brim with teeth? Creepy children teeth? *que scary music* The mayor sees it as potent stuff to use in different rituals - both the kind with real magic and those that are just unpleasant superstition (depending on your game world) - and it's problematic to start a new collection without to many questions asked. We had the session revealing the contents of the chest yesterday. I went with your suggestion, and everyone was creeped-the-fuck-out. Thank you very much. Always glad to contribute. :-D Have you read "the hogfather" by terry pratchett? I didn't think about it when I made the suggestion, but I have actually read the book. One of my favorites (together with 'Guards! Guards!' and 'Thief of Time'). It was probably there I got the idea. :-)
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Post by uncommonman on Jun 3, 2017 2:46:16 GMT -8
Have you read "the hogfather" by terry pratchett? No, I haven't! Is this a recommendation? If it is, why is it related? :hyper I recommend it, and all of his books. It involves tooth faeries.
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Post by askewdragon on Jun 10, 2017 17:24:33 GMT -8
Ooo... box full of baby teeth. Super weird and creepy. Totally going to file that away for a "creep out players" moment.
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Post by chronovore on Jun 10, 2017 18:08:04 GMT -8
Let me tell you, it worked wonders. We had another session 2 days ago, and it only managed to freak them out further as time went on. "Tell me any kind of magic, or any kind of activity at all which involves children's body parts, but is well-intentioned." Nobody had an answer.
Not only that, but they still had to make it back to the patron with their pain load of the box of children's teeth and the sidhe which had fallen in battle against them. Some toll thugs trying to waylay them en route, so they showed the dead body to the thugs, and then opened up the box of children's teeth and said do we really look like the type of people you want to obstruct? We thugs just about fell over themselves trying to retreat.
It did remind me of an HJRPG horror story when people discussed just getting the party to pay a few dollars to avoid a problem almost never dawns on them; they would rather intimidate or Afight their way out instead of dropping even a pittance.
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