In this page's comment section, share a story about off-screen shenanigans. Whether it's a bunch of recurring NPCs or a player who was gone for a session, there are some untold adventures that are implied but sometimes never expanded upon.
That's quite the bunny. General Woundwort would give pause before that gaze.
For some reason, I didn't think either you or Newbiespud were anywhere close to old enough to have been around when that movie was made. I can't remember what played alongside that when Dad caught it in a drive-in double bill.
Off-screen shenanigans? Well, there was the time a few sessions ago when the half of the group I was in got captured offscreen. For a while, we didn't even know if we were alive or feeding Zecora's herb garden.
Forget off-screen shenanigans, what about the on-screen ones we had? Like dumping a corpse in front of a train conductor (gorram it, Draggy), Scales and the Soft Dragon song, or Soaring's...umm, well everything he did was a fail, aside from breaking from his bonds in the holding cell with the nat20. That was awesome, and he went right back to failing until the very end.
I was running a Star Wars Saga Edition set during Episode III. The all Jedi party was taking shelter in the archives when they discovered an old model protocol droid. When they told the droid that the temple was under attack, the droid shut down...and rebooted. "Statement: Termination protocols activated.". Turns out that HK-47 had been hiding his programming in various droids for the last few thousand years. He told the party that he was going to defend the Temple like Revan had intended, and was most interested in meeting these "mass-produced meatbags" and goes off on his own.
He eventually meets up with the party at a Jedi safe house, covered in blood and wielding a stolen blaster rifle. "Query: Was your evening as fun as mine?"
One of our group's rogues botched a survival check at the end of one session. Since he couldn't make it to the next one, I decided that his character 'went quark' which was a direction in the realm of madness run by one of their allies.
He had this huge enlightenment trip and came back hearing the 'voices of the gods' in his head. But, realm of madness...
in my first campaing, one player could come anymore, so the DM made his charater fall uncontious for a session, in which the party had to carry him.
we got arrested, fighted goblins, fighted the royal guards, confronted the king and talked to a giant dragon.
we thought "in all this time, his character shouldn't have awoken?" so every time we started something, the player carrying the body threw it just when he was waking up, hit his head, and fall unconcious again.
Off screen huh? Not sure if this exactly counts but...
One time my brother had to leave our Changeling the Lost game early. Since I'm the Story Teller I rule his character vanishes into the Hedge and the others forget he was even there.
During the week, my brother runs a Changeling game for another group of friends. I'm playing that game and another character shows up that looks and acts a lot like his Changeling from my game, only here she's not a Changeling. During the course of the game she also winds up vanishing into the Hedge (it was a weird session).
So we get back to the game I'm running, my brother rejoins the party. His character comes running up to the rest of the team babbling disjointed nonsense that reflects things that happened to the NPC in the game my brother ran. I realize just what he did with the "vanishing act" I used on him first. I can't stop laughing and need to stop and explain to the others why this is so funny.
You're welcome, Zuche. I'm glad you all liked it. I amended some of the "farm work" from the episode to make Sweetie Belle feel more included (and give her some encouragement when she messes up). The "forced session" with Rarity was also fun to write.
So, I'm planning on writing the conclusion to this story (no promises about when it'll be done). My main concern is how to pull off the "switcheroo" in the "real world". This is important, since I can't just have Applejack's player go through the Mareathon and then say, "It was Rarity, all along!". This game has to resolve the "real" conflict that the two sisters have. Any suggestions?
That's a good question, Lyntermas. I'm still pondering it. You're either left with bringing Sweetie Belle's player in on the masquerade, or you have AJ's player running Rarity for the session. The latter runs against the significance of the event, doesn't it?
It really does need for "Sweetie Belle" to believe she's playing alongside "AJ". The hard part is finding a believable way to disguise "Rarity" to fill that role. The latter player seems to thrive on RP, so it's not hard to believe she could assume the personality, but it's appearances that need to be hidden.
Hallowe'en is a bit trite, but some other excuse for a costume might work. It would depend on the players both having a place where they could perform a quick switch. That's hardest to do if it takes place within one room, but it's also more difficult to see through it that way. Switching at a cabinet that barely would hold either might work best. The costume itself is the hardest part to keep from being contrived. Who's going to want to play from under a full face mask? I doubt they'd let someone dirty enough (whether from work or recreation) to be unrecognizable sit at a table, so that might not be an option either.
This also might work if "Sweetie Belle" was blind, but that ship has probably sailed. I guess playing in a "power outage" isn't going to cover that either. Candle light just isn't that concealing.
Hmm. What could work best is something that holds most of the younger player's attention. Tricky. Visually engaging props and hands-on puzzle requirements only work up to a point. How do you keep the younger player from looking to her "sister" until the reveal?
I've been conversing with Raxon too much, because I keep thinking Deadpool could make this work. Still, I'll keep pondering it.
I think I've got a plan. "AJ" is planning a Skype session with another group, and wants to test it out in the Farmer's Mareathon (so they can figure out the kinks in a controlled environment). "AJ" will be playing via webcam in the next room (like Shawn from Full Frontal Nerdity). The system works well, but the voice coming from the webcam seems a bit...distorted.
Having included an ill player by webcam before, I see how that could work. Good plan.
It's a lot easier than creating a scenario in which the younger player faces the challenge of distancing herself from player knowledge. While that could make for an interesting story, it risks distancing itself from the goal.
Sorry, no. Writing the story was challenging enough, but finding and organizing the pictures to go with it? Particularly since Rarity's scene starts off not being in the "game" at all. Glad you liked it, though.
I did submit a small little comic, though. We'll see if NewbieSpud chooses it.
Posting here on Lynt's recommendation: Some of you comment watchers might remember the "Zilean's Revenge" play-by-post campaign, that I started back on the comments of page 141. It has since transferred to the pony tales forum and continues there.
Anyhow, one of the original players (Kris/Tiffany) became completely inactive, so I'm now recruiting for one (possibly two) new players.
If you're interested, go to this link for details and contact me via PM (You'll need to register for that forum).
In a game I played in, we had an airship and while we were adventuring, we left 2 kobold brewer NPCs on our ship. This actually flowed together really well. Anyway at one point we were using a little airship equivilent to a row boat to get down. Part way through the ship just failed and fell in the middle of an ice troll encampment. It turns out that the kobolds had scavenged parts from the ship so it was no longer air worthy... At least my barbarian did not QUITE die, by 1 hp from rage...
My character in a Pony Tales campaign run By Commander Shepard is a Rorschach/Q-inspired P.I. (Pony Investigator) by the name of Theorycraft.
Two sessions back, I had to miss because I was at an Anime Convention all weekend, so CS gave me a solo session where I spent all my time collecting clues, making friends, and revealing the "big bad" for the psycho, serial killer, 4th-wall breaking zebra that he was.
Then the zebra beat Theorycraft up when I tried to jump him, and TC got thrown in prison under charges of "harrassment."
He was locked in a cell for 3 days (which was long enough for the party to complete the session I missed) - then when he gets out of jail, Theorycraft has suddenly learned how to break the 4th wall...
I really want TC to write a journal entry about his experience while in that cell. I'm imagining that the zebra might have opened his eyes to the truth... that the world of Equestria is full of darkness, corruption... and colorful cartoon characters!
-Yeah, I think I'm going to start putting a bit of a Deadpool spin on TC from now on.
In the same Roaring Twenties era story I shared in an earlier comment, the party encountered a nameless NPC librarian who helped them uncover the secrets behind a local legend in exchange for their help in helping him stage a coup against the head librarian.
This one-time character turned out to be a huge hit with the whole party, and became a recurring figure in a whole variety of unanticipated locales.
Despite his overly serious personality ("RUTHLESS LIBRARIAN POLITICS") he was a total fanboy of Geoffrey Chaucer.
There was one time the party reached a fairly large dungeon. They tied their horses and left enough feed for the day, plus the two rangers in the party told their wolves to watch the horses.
The dungeon crawl was indeed long, they spent some 13-15ish hours in there.
When they finally came out at night, they found their horses were untied, but were sitting around a campfire with the wolves. All were eating (the wolves apparently hunted rabbit), but there was a pack of playing cards laying by them and some of their money was missing.
The players weren't sure what the hay happened, but were pretty sure to not leave their money lying about with their animals anymore. :D
Horses don't play poker, right?
Well, of course they don't! AJ can't bluff, FS folds instantly, Twilight takes forever to calculate probabilities, and RD always raises despite having bad cards. Rarity is the only one who's any good, but PP always ends up winning somehow. Their weekly get togethers are mostly movie nights now.
Some of you might recall that if a player couldn't make it to a session, his absence would be explained ingame by his character taking Sarah out shopping or to the capital or something like that.
So one time, Jim, the fighter, couldn't attend the game so we did the usual game and let him explain what happened with his character. Usually, the explination is something very mundane so that we go over it quickly and get back to the game.
Not Jim.
For that rare occasion he couldn't attend (as he almost always could join us), he conjured up an entire side-story that the group only got to hear in minor bits and pieces without a flowing narrative through it. It started with the group waking up and finding Jim downstairs making breakfast. An unusual sight on its own but what really stood out was that his face was painted like a bunny, he had bunny ears on his head and he was wearing the most colorful outfit this side of a rainbow. Before anyone could make a snide remark or inquire just what was up with that getup, Jim addressed the party:
"If you don't ask any questions, I don't have to punch you in the face."
And for the rest of the session, he kept wearing that ridiculous outfit and the bunny face paint. Threatening people with a sword while looking like a bunny in a clown's costume is a lot more effective that you would think...
In a gamma world game, we had a genetically engineered doppleganger named Redshirt #x.
Dopplegangers make clones of themselves that last a round before dying. So, when he started the character, he was Redshirt #1. For every clone that died, he raised the number.
Any time, on or off-screen he got a chance to increase his number, he did. Ended a round with a power that pisses off all robots in a 1 mile radius? He got shot down by the robot mafia. Number ++. Went off on his own to scout? Number ++.
Hm...two npc's left to go adventuring, and turn up later in the story as lovers.
Actually, my entire campaign revolves around off-screen action, thanks to the time skip. Lessee...
-The cult of Iborighu used an artifact to cast Uuber-Fimbulwinter and plunge a quarter of the continent into eternal winter.
-The elves developed a terribly oppressive society reminiscent of Noradz, from Deltora quest (anyone read those? great fantasy series.).
-the most populated area on the continent was taken over by abberations and turned into a poisonous swamp because of a religious disagreement gone wrong.
-Oh, and sorcerer who's technically behind the time skip went insane because his eldritch master, who he started to hate 4 millenia ago, is now trapped in his mind. He therefor decimated the Halfling race and took up residence in their tunnels.
Yeah, a lot of bad stuff happens off-screen in my campaign. It almost makes me feel bad for that world.
Almost.
They were an egalitarian society. They just left 80% of the elves to madness and starvation.
So the Racacharz were, say, a fifth of the population, and they liked things clean. The orchard keeper is the lowest recognized (inner city) position, because it involves staying on the ground instead of in the treetops.
Yup. I also drew from the old movie Zardoz. Fantastic movie from 1974. In any case, the safe elves are encased in their magical protective bubble that keeps all elves on one side or the other.
And the best part is that my players might not ever encounter this area. Because they're crossing the entire apocalypse-wrecked continent to invade a beholder-ridden swamp just to see if one guy's family is still alive. Which I haven't decided yet.
I can't tell if I'm just not good at contingency planning, or if I enjoy those unexpected think-on-your-feet situations...
Off screen shenanigans in my game mostly give a personal session. The party, for the most part, tells each other what happens (2 posts right now about solo excursions in the making). However right now we have a post by our resident Pinkie Pie (just as zany) that will only be shown in the fanfic. yes, fanfic.
This is a PBP post that's rp heavy so it kinda is coming out to be more of a "Group storytelling". I'd try battling but during our resident Pinkie Pie's battle with a creature that uses words like knives, he pulled something that, like pinkie, made NO sense but made PERFECT sense causing the effect.
So yeah.
+20 Pinkieness to Grey.
This was in an old Forgotten Realms campaign I was a part of (these got pretty loopy at the best of times). Friend's character finally escapes after being held captive by the Drow for a year (a module set-up, if I recall). His NPC wife, a Xena-type, is unhappy about him being gone, to say the least.
He keeps trying to explain that he was kidnapped, and she keeps decking him, hard enough that he takes damage.
I don't quite know about off screen, but there was this one time where my character (in a shadowrun campaign) was trying to investigate a newspaper office to figure out some things about a ghoul attack. (investigation is the reason why I prefer combat centered campaigns. I hate searching.) suffice it to say, after some "investigation" while invisible, I got up to the chief editor's desk and found... well, let's just say it sort of caused the whole group to bust out laughing. And caused my character to scrub his hands with steel wool.
Off-screen shenanigans? Well, there was one, but the PCs never found out about it.
They encountered 1/4 of a small bandit army and killed them off, but where wary about the other 3/4 who where due to return. An advance scout for the rest of the army was an evil elven ranger. He first turned up with a pack of war-dogs, so he set the dogs on the party and shot his bow at them until the dogs where dead, then he fled into the forest and got away.
This ranger kept up the harassment with long-range ambushes and traps, ending with killing a baby Ankheg and sneaking the body onto the PC's wagon. The party killed the Ankheg and found the ranger's trail leading into the forest.
The ranger, in his last ditch-attempt to get revenge had gone to the grove of an evil vampire-like fey spirit and solid his body/soul to her in return for power and allies. It was a terrible choice to make, but he did it out of revenge and malice. So, to wore the fey's evil magic ring, let her possess him and waited...
The party, despite finding the ranger's trail decided it wasn't worth it and carried on down the road. They never saw the ranger again, as he gave up his life for nothing.
A fairly short one. One time a new player was a playing as a minotaur and guiding us through a forest to a elven outpost.
In the forest we stumble across some forest trolls and fight them. But the minotaur's player wasn't there that week. So he stood off to the side while we fought.
The net week the player realizes that he can't play anymore. So what happened to the minotaur? Well, we came to the conclusion that he got confused by a forest spirit as the battle started and attempted to bullrush a nearby tree. Apparently, the tree one. The fun part was, we were in a hurry, so we just left him there.
I have on. It was off-screen for my party cause the DM split us all up for the "event." I was warped into a room with a werewolf and was expected to fight it on my own. I may only have been level 4, but I had a special move up my sleeve (that I used later to fell a CR7 two sessions later). I won the initiative... against the werewolf. However, a little furball turned traitor just happened to by sitting on my shoulder. Before I get a chance to move, this little fucker bit me on the next with a maxed critical, immediately knocking me out from full health. To this day, I slay ever lemur I see. Little furry bastards.
In one of the first campaigns I was in, I had two characters. The first was the first character I ever made in that, who was a decent character concept but ultimately bland as bologna and cheese on white bread. I made my second character purely to stop playing my first one since he was boring. Every so often, I would ask the GM what my first character was up to. He died as one of the faceless mercenaries we had with us in the Battle of Japan.
In our Mutants and Masterminds game, after a large break we came back with a New Season that happened after a Lost Episode that we reference but never will ever actually run. What we have so far:
1 Ming the Mercless money.
2 Resuing Santa
3 A giant panda lives in the HQ now.
Also, while one of the characters was learning to use his dimension travel powers he would wind up in every game we played. And I mean EVERY GAME! Card games, video games, other RPGs, he kept popping up.
I had forgotten about this one. I played an artillery specialist in a 2nd Edition D&D (-ish) military-style game. I didn't get much opportunity to use my expertise, but I did my best. At one point, our unit stopped to investigate some explosives, and I was sent to supervise.
One botched roll later, the ground collapsed to drop me in a tunnel, just as a drow patrol wandered by. My character was shot with a paralysing dart and dragged away.
The reason this becomes off-screen is because there was no reaction to it among the players or the NPCs. The drow never appeared again, having no bearing on the campaign at all. No one attempted to investigate what had happened. They moved on as though the character, the hole in the ground, and the explosives had never existed. For years, another player insisted they'd done the right thing.
Now if the character had simply died in the explosion, I'd have been fine with that. If the character had displeased the DM and other players, I'd have been okay with playing something else if they'd just asked. But to be told I was taken by drow no one else ever met, only to see no one acknowledge anything about my disappearance, just seems petty.
Maybe they were bitter about the previous character and adventure, where I got commended for playing the commanding officer perfectly by having the character delegate authority at every turn just before the player went to sleep through each session. (I'd been pretty sick all that winter. Non-contagious, thankfully.) I guess that entire adventure took place off screen for me as well.
Have I started something? Because if so, I must warn you that I'm about as stubborn as a creature with no physical mass but a visible gravitational effect on matter.
Impossibly so, to clarify.
Well, we had an interesting variation on the off-screen idea in our last session. It was a custom system, heavily political dark fantasy. My character (Constance) was supposed to help my friend's character (Rosa) deliver a very unpleasant message to the very powerful lord of the province, basically stating that the Emperor was removing him from his post (which Rosa was supposed to keep from happening at recent Imperial Rally . Whoops). Constance was supposed to keep her alive and then recruit her for the Emperor's secret service.
But, last time Rosa's player was absent. So our MG ran a session where Rosa ran away after the Rally and was probably killed by lord Nicolas, and now Constance had to deliver him the news, with the assistance of the other players. It was basically an alternate reality session, representing a conversation between the chief of the Secret Service and his paramour "what would happen if..."
We all died. It was great. Incidentally, that's an awesome way to deal with player absence.
I was gone for a few sessions, to accommodate, the DM had my character get poisoned with a sleeping potion. I had work conflicts and didn't think I'd be able to make it for a while. The DM forced the group to find a way to move on without leaving my character behind or killing me off permanently, just in case I was able to rejoin. The solution? Our warrior had a giant bag of holding. He put my character in it. When it became clear I wasn't going to be able to make it back to play often enough to keep up, the DM had the warrior clean out the bag of holding while they were camped. As he took my char out of the bag, one of the other PC's asked what he was holding. His reply? "Rogue jerky, no good to eat."
Well, I suppose this counts. The game using The Book of Unremitting Horror encourages DM's to use a certain monster that's capable of repairing and upgrading itself, which is what it constantly did (in games using that book you assume that everything's going to fall to pieces and you'll never escape your enemies). But one time the monster showed up with some injuries on it. When we inquired after the game it turned out that one of the rolls for it had led it straight into a police station.
...This doesn't make feel young in the slightest, actually.
Also, for an idea of the bunny, this is a picture of the bunny.
For some reason, I didn't think either you or Newbiespud were anywhere close to old enough to have been around when that movie was made. I can't remember what played alongside that when Dad caught it in a drive-in double bill.
He eventually meets up with the party at a Jedi safe house, covered in blood and wielding a stolen blaster rifle. "Query: Was your evening as fun as mine?"
He had this huge enlightenment trip and came back hearing the 'voices of the gods' in his head. But, realm of madness...
we got arrested, fighted goblins, fighted the royal guards, confronted the king and talked to a giant dragon.
we thought "in all this time, his character shouldn't have awoken?" so every time we started something, the player carrying the body threw it just when he was waking up, hit his head, and fall unconcious again.
in the end, we felt the guy in a random town.
One time my brother had to leave our Changeling the Lost game early. Since I'm the Story Teller I rule his character vanishes into the Hedge and the others forget he was even there.
During the week, my brother runs a Changeling game for another group of friends. I'm playing that game and another character shows up that looks and acts a lot like his Changeling from my game, only here she's not a Changeling. During the course of the game she also winds up vanishing into the Hedge (it was a weird session).
So we get back to the game I'm running, my brother rejoins the party. His character comes running up to the rest of the team babbling disjointed nonsense that reflects things that happened to the NPC in the game my brother ran. I realize just what he did with the "vanishing act" I used on him first. I can't stop laughing and need to stop and explain to the others why this is so funny.
All I got is Part 2 of that Sisterhooves Social alt-script that I started earlier. Hope you enjoy it.
I'm going to have to use that comment about players not being at fault for bad rolls. Someone can always use that reminder.
So, I'm planning on writing the conclusion to this story (no promises about when it'll be done). My main concern is how to pull off the "switcheroo" in the "real world". This is important, since I can't just have Applejack's player go through the Mareathon and then say, "It was Rarity, all along!". This game has to resolve the "real" conflict that the two sisters have. Any suggestions?
It really does need for "Sweetie Belle" to believe she's playing alongside "AJ". The hard part is finding a believable way to disguise "Rarity" to fill that role. The latter player seems to thrive on RP, so it's not hard to believe she could assume the personality, but it's appearances that need to be hidden.
Hallowe'en is a bit trite, but some other excuse for a costume might work. It would depend on the players both having a place where they could perform a quick switch. That's hardest to do if it takes place within one room, but it's also more difficult to see through it that way. Switching at a cabinet that barely would hold either might work best. The costume itself is the hardest part to keep from being contrived. Who's going to want to play from under a full face mask? I doubt they'd let someone dirty enough (whether from work or recreation) to be unrecognizable sit at a table, so that might not be an option either.
This also might work if "Sweetie Belle" was blind, but that ship has probably sailed. I guess playing in a "power outage" isn't going to cover that either. Candle light just isn't that concealing.
Hmm. What could work best is something that holds most of the younger player's attention. Tricky. Visually engaging props and hands-on puzzle requirements only work up to a point. How do you keep the younger player from looking to her "sister" until the reveal?
I've been conversing with Raxon too much, because I keep thinking Deadpool could make this work. Still, I'll keep pondering it.
It's a lot easier than creating a scenario in which the younger player faces the challenge of distancing herself from player knowledge. While that could make for an interesting story, it risks distancing itself from the goal.
I did submit a small little comic, though. We'll see if NewbieSpud chooses it.
Anyhow, one of the original players (Kris/Tiffany) became completely inactive, so I'm now recruiting for one (possibly two) new players.
If you're interested, go to this link for details and contact me via PM (You'll need to register for that forum).
My character in a Pony Tales campaign run By Commander Shepard is a Rorschach/Q-inspired P.I. (Pony Investigator) by the name of Theorycraft.
Two sessions back, I had to miss because I was at an Anime Convention all weekend, so CS gave me a solo session where I spent all my time collecting clues, making friends, and revealing the "big bad" for the psycho, serial killer, 4th-wall breaking zebra that he was.
Then the zebra beat Theorycraft up when I tried to jump him, and TC got thrown in prison under charges of "harrassment."
He was locked in a cell for 3 days (which was long enough for the party to complete the session I missed) - then when he gets out of jail, Theorycraft has suddenly learned how to break the 4th wall...
I really want TC to write a journal entry about his experience while in that cell. I'm imagining that the zebra might have opened his eyes to the truth... that the world of Equestria is full of darkness, corruption... and colorful cartoon characters!
-Yeah, I think I'm going to start putting a bit of a Deadpool spin on TC from now on.
This one-time character turned out to be a huge hit with the whole party, and became a recurring figure in a whole variety of unanticipated locales.
Despite his overly serious personality ("RUTHLESS LIBRARIAN POLITICS") he was a total fanboy of Geoffrey Chaucer.
The dungeon crawl was indeed long, they spent some 13-15ish hours in there.
When they finally came out at night, they found their horses were untied, but were sitting around a campfire with the wolves. All were eating (the wolves apparently hunted rabbit), but there was a pack of playing cards laying by them and some of their money was missing.
The players weren't sure what the hay happened, but were pretty sure to not leave their money lying about with their animals anymore. :D
Horses don't play poker, right?
So one time, Jim, the fighter, couldn't attend the game so we did the usual game and let him explain what happened with his character. Usually, the explination is something very mundane so that we go over it quickly and get back to the game.
Not Jim.
For that rare occasion he couldn't attend (as he almost always could join us), he conjured up an entire side-story that the group only got to hear in minor bits and pieces without a flowing narrative through it. It started with the group waking up and finding Jim downstairs making breakfast. An unusual sight on its own but what really stood out was that his face was painted like a bunny, he had bunny ears on his head and he was wearing the most colorful outfit this side of a rainbow. Before anyone could make a snide remark or inquire just what was up with that getup, Jim addressed the party:
"If you don't ask any questions, I don't have to punch you in the face."
And for the rest of the session, he kept wearing that ridiculous outfit and the bunny face paint. Threatening people with a sword while looking like a bunny in a clown's costume is a lot more effective that you would think...
Dopplegangers make clones of themselves that last a round before dying. So, when he started the character, he was Redshirt #1. For every clone that died, he raised the number.
Any time, on or off-screen he got a chance to increase his number, he did. Ended a round with a power that pisses off all robots in a 1 mile radius? He got shot down by the robot mafia. Number ++. Went off on his own to scout? Number ++.
Actually, my entire campaign revolves around off-screen action, thanks to the time skip. Lessee...
-The cult of Iborighu used an artifact to cast Uuber-Fimbulwinter and plunge a quarter of the continent into eternal winter.
-The elves developed a terribly oppressive society reminiscent of Noradz, from Deltora quest (anyone read those? great fantasy series.).
-the most populated area on the continent was taken over by abberations and turned into a poisonous swamp because of a religious disagreement gone wrong.
-Oh, and sorcerer who's technically behind the time skip went insane because his eldritch master, who he started to hate 4 millenia ago, is now trapped in his mind. He therefor decimated the Halfling race and took up residence in their tunnels.
Yeah, a lot of bad stuff happens off-screen in my campaign. It almost makes me feel bad for that world.
Almost.
So the Racacharz were, say, a fifth of the population, and they liked things clean. The orchard keeper is the lowest recognized (inner city) position, because it involves staying on the ground instead of in the treetops.
And the best part is that my players might not ever encounter this area. Because they're crossing the entire apocalypse-wrecked continent to invade a beholder-ridden swamp just to see if one guy's family is still alive. Which I haven't decided yet.
I can't tell if I'm just not good at contingency planning, or if I enjoy those unexpected think-on-your-feet situations...
This is a PBP post that's rp heavy so it kinda is coming out to be more of a "Group storytelling". I'd try battling but during our resident Pinkie Pie's battle with a creature that uses words like knives, he pulled something that, like pinkie, made NO sense but made PERFECT sense causing the effect.
So yeah.
+20 Pinkieness to Grey.
This was in an old Forgotten Realms campaign I was a part of (these got pretty loopy at the best of times). Friend's character finally escapes after being held captive by the Drow for a year (a module set-up, if I recall). His NPC wife, a Xena-type, is unhappy about him being gone, to say the least.
He keeps trying to explain that he was kidnapped, and she keeps decking him, hard enough that he takes damage.
He finally loses it and decks back.
She grabs him and hauls him off-screen.
[DM rolls a die] "...4 hours later..."
They encountered 1/4 of a small bandit army and killed them off, but where wary about the other 3/4 who where due to return. An advance scout for the rest of the army was an evil elven ranger. He first turned up with a pack of war-dogs, so he set the dogs on the party and shot his bow at them until the dogs where dead, then he fled into the forest and got away.
This ranger kept up the harassment with long-range ambushes and traps, ending with killing a baby Ankheg and sneaking the body onto the PC's wagon. The party killed the Ankheg and found the ranger's trail leading into the forest.
The ranger, in his last ditch-attempt to get revenge had gone to the grove of an evil vampire-like fey spirit and solid his body/soul to her in return for power and allies. It was a terrible choice to make, but he did it out of revenge and malice. So, to wore the fey's evil magic ring, let her possess him and waited...
The party, despite finding the ranger's trail decided it wasn't worth it and carried on down the road. They never saw the ranger again, as he gave up his life for nothing.
In the forest we stumble across some forest trolls and fight them. But the minotaur's player wasn't there that week. So he stood off to the side while we fought.
The net week the player realizes that he can't play anymore. So what happened to the minotaur? Well, we came to the conclusion that he got confused by a forest spirit as the battle started and attempted to bullrush a nearby tree. Apparently, the tree one. The fun part was, we were in a hurry, so we just left him there.
1 Ming the Mercless money.
2 Resuing Santa
3 A giant panda lives in the HQ now.
Also, while one of the characters was learning to use his dimension travel powers he would wind up in every game we played. And I mean EVERY GAME! Card games, video games, other RPGs, he kept popping up.
Another retired God-class character owns the 4th Wall Café where characters that break the 4th wall hang out. We never found out how he got it at all.
One botched roll later, the ground collapsed to drop me in a tunnel, just as a drow patrol wandered by. My character was shot with a paralysing dart and dragged away.
The reason this becomes off-screen is because there was no reaction to it among the players or the NPCs. The drow never appeared again, having no bearing on the campaign at all. No one attempted to investigate what had happened. They moved on as though the character, the hole in the ground, and the explosives had never existed. For years, another player insisted they'd done the right thing.
Now if the character had simply died in the explosion, I'd have been fine with that. If the character had displeased the DM and other players, I'd have been okay with playing something else if they'd just asked. But to be told I was taken by drow no one else ever met, only to see no one acknowledge anything about my disappearance, just seems petty.
Maybe they were bitter about the previous character and adventure, where I got commended for playing the commanding officer perfectly by having the character delegate authority at every turn just before the player went to sleep through each session. (I'd been pretty sick all that winter. Non-contagious, thankfully.) I guess that entire adventure took place off screen for me as well.
Impossibly so, to clarify.
But, last time Rosa's player was absent. So our MG ran a session where Rosa ran away after the Rally and was probably killed by lord Nicolas, and now Constance had to deliver him the news, with the assistance of the other players. It was basically an alternate reality session, representing a conversation between the chief of the Secret Service and his paramour "what would happen if..."
We all died. It was great. Incidentally, that's an awesome way to deal with player absence.