Hello Tavern!

Hello Tavern!

Hello Tavern!

I have a request for ideas and links for the opening of my DW session this Friday.

My PC’s ended with a cliffhanger meeting with a wizard who may or may not be evil, but is really powerful and I expect them to engage him right away in a violent and hostile manner.

The scene is framed outside in a town square of a village that they are currently in after sacking a nearby tomb. The wizard has a Staff and cloak, and has descended from above In a rather dramatic manner.

I was thinking about a “love letter” style

Opening to the combat, but am unsure if it’s the best approach.

What would you use?

3 thoughts on “Hello Tavern!”

  1. This is totally personal preference, but I think “love letter” style openings are better used when time has passed in the game world between sessions. Like if you’re going back to the PCs after days, weeks, or months have passed since we last saw them.

    But you can, and should, ask questions to the players. I’d ask questions about the wizard and their items especially. Is this a wizard the characters would have heard of before? If so, what have they heard? That sort of thing.

  2. At a glance I’m going to throw your game into disarray (because that’s how games powered by the apocalypse SHOULD be) and start the game by coming up with questions to ask the players to start off the next game and see where it goes. If you expect your players to do something… make them feel the opposite. Or make just SOME of them feel the opposite. Here at the 5 questions I would ask your five players (remove one or add another for your group.) I’ll be calling the wizard Steve.

    1. What promise did you break to Steve that you feel you need to make up for?

    2. When Steve saved you from Ulruk the slaver, why did you feel his intentions were not EXACTLY what they seemed?

    3. Why are you the only one from your home village who distrusts Steve?

    4. Why do you trust Steve completely?

    5. The amulet Steve is wearing looks familiar, where did you last see it?

    Remember: when you ask questions the players must agree with the entirety of the question. You can’t ask, “why do you trust Steve?” and then have the player answer “Well… I don’t.” No… you f*!&^ing DO and answer the question.

    This is going to make Steve a VERY complicated character and the troup will feel differently about him. Pick carefully who you ask the questions to. There are 2 people who are going to feel positive about Steve, 2 that will feel wary of steve and one that could go either way. Make alliances where there are none. If you have two players who are always playing a buddy buddy pair, split them up. Make it interesting. Group politics are fun.

    This kind of prep (honestly all the prep I do these days) is enough to run through several sessions. That amulet is going to be interesting. See where it goes. NOW you’re playing to find out what happens.

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