"Play your own damn Antagonists!"

Flyck

Flyck

Senior Member
So, I'm running a mix game consisting of some Solars, Abyssals, and a Lunar.  Naturally, I set it up so the poor Terrestrials would bear the brunt of their wrath, and get pummeled in the first dungeon I threw them in.  The fight was pretty much set clearly in the group's favor, with the 5 of them (6 counting NPC), squaring off against 3 dragon blooded, and 2 fangs of moderately armed/armored soldiers.  Blood everywhere, yay.


Now, I figured there'd of course be a response from the Realm for this, especially considering the 3 DBs were originally sent in to only kill off a single NPC solar, and that (at least 3 of) the group of players were 'planned' to have been dealt with by the 3 (now dead DBs) and the rest of their brotherhood en-route to meet up with them.  So.  I came up with an idea.  Having the players throw together Dragon Blooded, and run a 'Anathema-hunter' style game on the sideline of the main, with the players acting as their own antagonist-group...  Granted, the majority of conflict between these 2 groups will be indirect, as telling players to play 2 opposing sides in a combat is a bit difficult (let alone actually doing it).  But the idea would be that actions taken would affect the second group in some way, and that the idea would be to alternate the games.  


Haven't fully gotten this plan in motion yet, and wanted to collect some opinions on the idea.  What do you guys think?
 
In my old Mage game I had the players in a fairly well established game play the Technocrats that were employed by their main adversary.


It was nice for the players to see how the other side lived, and in the end though, they did a pretty damn good job at nearly hosing their old characters.  We did get into a situation where they had a good chance at assassinating their old characters, and they nearly clipped them.  One half of the party wound up taking their old characters and the other half rolled on them like a big wheel.


It depends if your players are willing to commit to the characters, and more importantly, if you can reveal a larger thread by their playing the other side. A common threat?  Something that might bring them together? Reveal a new enemy?  Don't just have them play their enemies, but make the arcs work together.


I tend to do multi-cast stories.  Primary characters, secondary and less powerful characters that are often in the employ of their primary characters, often NPCs who are then handed out later on, and even tertiary characters who are often just Mortals/Consors/Kinfolk/Heroic Mortals.  Each has their place, and everyone has their goals, and while they are inter-related, they all are there to reveal a larger part of the tale.


Think of how Vorenus and Pullo affected the plot in Rome--your secondary/tertiary cast are affecting larger events in the same manner.  They put things in place, or they trigger events for the primary cast--and they have their own plot lines to deal with too, that have very little to do with the primary or tertiary cast, but you are building an ensemble sort of story.  


Think of how Peter F. Hamilton builds up his stories as well.  Lots of elements, but it builds a much bigger story.  That's the best way to use multiple cast stories.


You can have all the characters play their own adversaries if you have good role-players, and then run the fallout for the other cast.  DBs plan their assault, and get their teams into place. Cue the Star Wars full screen wipe to the new scene to the Solars arguing in a tavern and a vat of oil crashes through the door and spills flames throughout the inn and burns up a couple of their allies and some strangers.  They go to engage the DBs, who have melted away, and keep sniping them, slowly eroding their base of support, and towns ahead of them are getting the idea just being near the Solars is a bad idea...
 
Nice post Jakk.  Alot to take into consideration there.  I do dig the idea of giving them a common threat, as well as the cause/effect tavern example.  Very good thoughts to ponder.
 
Kabuki ran a story that was half Lookshy, half Lunar, and at one point we were literally trying to kill ourselves as our Lunars went over Lookshy's fortifications lobbing arrows at them and the legionnaires came boiling out into the woods after them. I was fine with this at the time 'cause I had grown sick of my Lunar and was earnestly trying to kill him as my DB secondary, but in general the fight was for style. Everybody was stunting left and right, showing off, trying more to wound than to kill.


And my not-so-secret ST plan for my Solar PCs was to build them up to a certain point, switch to a group of DBs, and make the players lead the invasion of their own city.


So I say go for it. It'd probably be cooler to switch frequently so each group affects the other in "real-time."
 
Not sure I could flip flop between the two groups. It would certainly be a cool idea to try, and I'd love to give it a go, but playing a character whilst I know what the 'enemy' is going to do might be a tad difficult. I'm not sure how much that information might influence my play. It might not, if I'm totally absorbed in the story. But I'd have to try it to see if it would work.


Now if we switched to the hunters without going back to the original characters, now that would be cool.....
 
You guys see the new Ninja Turtle movie yet?  This kinda thing comes up in there.  It's pretty well put together.
 
One summer, when there was a lull between our normal games at university, me and my friend ran a game where I played both a starting Solar leading a rebellion in Linowan and a fairly experienced Immaculate Monk trying to quell the rebellion. I'd alternate viewpoints with each session, and often I'd have to figure out  "How do I undo what I just did?" as the perspective shifted.


The real key to the experience was my friend, who was STing, and how he really orchestrated how everyone else reacted to my actions, regardless of which side I was on. Having to deal with hordes of mortals, differing factions within the rebellion, other zealous priests, the Abyssal playing both sides, etc. was way more fun than being my own worse enemy.


I thought the whole thing was rather fun because a) it was sort of novel and b) I was focused less on "my" character and becoming attached to it, and more focused on "what would make an interesting story."
 
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