Plot help (Spoilers ahead!)

[Thorn Darkblade]

To the players in my Wednesday night online game, don't read!


Alright, for my game, I have the players currently going through a series of tests in a gauntlet style, one challenge for each caste. The Dawn Caste was pretty easy. A really tough fight. Next up is Zenith, then Twilight. I have Night and Eclipse planned. Debating whether to give them a recharge or not for Zenith, but, that one I am open to suggestions. The Twilight challenge is where I'd like some advice on. Interesting mental puzzles, dealing with magitech, that sort of stuff.


Alright folks, gimme your best!

 

[cyl]

I'd like to know what you have in mind for the Night and Eclipse.


For the Zenith I feel like it should be a test of righteousness and faith. A series of questions and enigmas where the only good answer would be the right thing to do according to the principles of the four virtues.


For the Twilight well, I'm tempted to tell you to build some sort of complex enigma labyrinth, requiring the circle to use every ability of the Caste. A bit like the adventure tv shows.


Craft for repairing / modifying a key to access subsequent rooms


Investigation to resolve enigmas and find elements to add to the key


Lore to answer some of the enigmas


Medecine... well not much inspiration for that one


Occult, obviously some heavy essence stuff (essence hazard to be fixed or essence mystery to be understood).

 

[Thorn Darkblade]

The night one is gonna be a little akin to the Thief series of games. Deathtraps, stealth required. Golems that can easily be defeated...if you sneak up on them. Plenty of stuff to disarm.


The Eclipse is gonna be social combat based, but, due to my plot, not what they think. The Eclipse section has been tainted by several millenia of disrepair, and an angry ghost of the Twilight that built the place. It's gonna make them face their deepest fears through a series of mental attacks.

 

[cyl]

Coooool 8)

 

[Thorn Darkblade]

I expect a possible Limit Break, maybe two, from the Eclipse challenge.

 

[Josh the Aspie]

Well, depending on the format, there might be the option of working out an actual physical puzzle you set in front of them, with clues given based on how high a roll they get. This was a popular trick for a while, but it has fallen heavily out of favor with some gamers.


You might also try having the twilight challenge spread all through. After each test, an item or clue is given out, and it must be used to open the door to the next room, or if the twilight test is next-to-last, the clues from previous rooms could be used to make up the twilight's puzzle as a whole.


Perhaps the difficulty of the twilight puzzle is based on how well the previous tasks were completed.


For example, if you rate each previous puzzle from 1 to 3 successes, then the Twilight gets 3 symbols/words/pieces of a tablet to work with, and there are 15 pieces total, 3 of which are already in a pedistal/door/wall frieze, and the Twilight must succeed at a roll with difficulty equal to 12 - number of recovered pieces + C (Where C is some other constant, used to represent arranging them and general puzzling difficulty) in order to come up with the answer to the puzzle, and speak aloud the answer to the riddle.


The better others do, the better the chances of solving the puzzle.


Of course there may be ways other than the puzzles in the other room to get some clues. Perhaps the sizes of the gaps in the pedestal provides useful information.

 

[Thorn Darkblade]

I would LOVE to do a physical puzzle...but the game in in AIM chatrooms. Online, unfortunately. I -could- make a jpg of a puzzle or something though...


I've decided the Zenith one is gonna be a little shattered, due to the artifact's damaged nature. It's gonna be warped to tests of zealotry, not just mere faith, although, the players will get rolls to realize something is -wrong-.


I've got a few ideas of my own, from simply leading a prayer, to sacrificing a heart and stuff like that. I'd like to have a few ideas tossed at me though, both for tests faith and tests of zealotry

 

[wordman]

Make the Twilight test about Craft. Everyone else will be getting tests that allow them to make skill rolls to solve (e.g. Stealth rolls, combat strikes, etc.), but with a lot of latitude and choice in how they make those rules. Doing some kind of puzzle turns out to suck in real life because it subverts this. Either the player figures out the puzzle, or it boils down to some kind of Lore check to see if the character figures it out. With a Craft-based challenge, the player needs to a) figure out what they need to make to solve the challenge, b) track down how to actually make it (plans, ingredients, workshop, etc.) and c) actually make the thing. Has a bit more meat on it, more like the "thief-like challenge" for Night.


Really, I'd encourage all these challenges to focus around the less used caste abilities (e.g. make the Eclipse test focus on Sail). Or make sure that it requires all of them.