| | |

Christian knocks one out of the park

Remember what happens next?

+Christian Blouin pens at least a GURPS 303 article on using social reactions and influence against PCs. Any time you’re “compelling” the characters to act a certain way, you need to be somewhat cautious, but still, it can be done, and often is an important part of a majorly fun plotline

Consternation about “player agency” only applies if the player feels she’s been denied agency. If, as I did once with a game of mine, which was a totally “this is a railroad adventure” prequel session to set up the main campaign, I pulled a player aside before a session and said “you’re going to hit the climax here; at one point, you’re going to get hit by a big magic user with a staff. At that point, your character’s soul will be plucked out and imprisoned Elsewhere; a demon mage will inhabit your body. At that point, are you willing to just unload on your fellow PCs? It’s dramatically appropriate to kill them all.”

Why yes, hes he was more than willing to have such an awesome end to the adventure. I didn’t force the role on him, he accepted it gladly. But his goals were changed.

Anyway, Christian writes some great stuff here, and it’s worth checking out in full:

GURPS Social Academy: PCs as targets of Influence Checks

Similar Posts

4 Comments

  1. Letting in a player on the plot to create awesomeness is a good way to engage the table. I've done this, more often with guest players.

    This is a great suggestion. Thanks for your kind feedback!

  2. That's a great article, Christian! Thanks for posting it Doug! I should probably pay closer attention to all the other bloggers, though I tend to have a bit of a willful blindspot when it comes to fantasy-themed blogs, since I rarely run GURPS fantasy games. I will make sure not to continue making that mistake!

    1. Thanks Jake. The blog started with my two fantasy campaign, but these posts aren't really fantasy specific as I'm developing and running a historical campaign. The blog, though, is still the most convenient place to archive material.

Comments are closed.