So today I have to go back to my 4week hiatus’ed DW game. Loosely modelled on the “chains of Promathia” expansion / campaign from FFXI, we last left the party camped at the entrance to the Spire of Holla
The question is, how can I make it feel fresh and different after such a break when I myself am feeling more than a bit grey about the whole thing?
Write up some “love letters,” like the fighter example in the Advanced chapter. (Sorry, no page reference handy.)
Jeremy Strandberg It´s on p 352.
You could also have a look at the love letters in AW for more examples.
As soon as they enter the spire, add something, a character, a monster, that really interests you, right now. Change the state of the plot, the overarching theme, make it exciting again! For yourself and them!
I don’t know FFXI so I don’t know what the deal is with the Spire of Holla, but if delving it doesn’t excite you, frame forward and do something else.
Cut forward in time, imply some large changes in the world. Over the course of the session, slowly extract details from the players about what happened at the Spire of Holla, and how that changed things.
Or just treat it like the first session again. Ask someone, “what happened in the spire?” Ask someone else how much time has passed. Ask questions like crazy, build new fronts from the answers. I like a little reboot after a hiatus.
As it was, after a solid half hour’s laughing about the Scots, we jumped right back in and realised exactly how bad an idea taking a bagpipe dual wielding bard on a stealth mission.
Good times.