TL;DR: if the bard reaches 0 HP, the ghostly captain bound in his dagger will try to switch places with him. How could we handle that at the table?
The bard aquired a dagger with the soul of a famous privateer captain in the first session. He was a blood thirsty pirate who hid his soul away to escape the powers of the deep.
The Bard really leaned into this, becoming more blood thirsty, and has bound himself to this spirit by blood, gaining some CC moves. Nine sessions later he is at 4 HP, and we ended last session on a double miss from him and the immolator, deep in a dungeon. There might be a Last Breath coming up soon.
I think the ghostly privateer will seize the opportunity and try to switch places with the bard, trapping him in the dagger. Any bright ideas how to handle this?
My initial thoughts: replace Last Breath with a custom move, where 7-9 is a deal with the captain or die, and 6- he is trapped in the dagger.
If the player is game, he can continue with the same playbook, but change his alignment statement to represent the goals of the captain. Of course, being corporeal again means the powers of the deep can find him. Cue grim portents.
Don’t really think this should be a move. This should just happen.
As a player, I would want to pick up action After an assumed action, then piece together everything from there.
Last we saw our adventurers, you were fighting with 4hp.
Next session, You wake up sputtering and coughing, draped across driftwood, soaked through. The fog is thick, your muscles are sore, and your wounds have long scarred over. Go.
Linearity is for the weak
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Tony Scinta III been trying to make hard scene framing happen, but our old school genes has been fighting it.
But maybe this is the right moment. If so, we probably wouldn’t cut that hard. They’re in the middle of stopping a cult from bringing about Ragnarok, so jumping straight to the climactic showdown could work.
“Immolator, how did it make you feel when the bard was skewered by that spear?” “Thief, when you saw the bard rise again and fight like a trained killer, what made you worried for his soul?” “Bard, what did you see beyond the Black Gate?”
The Bard is now a Evil Pirate Captain that has to deal with this Bard Bound to his Dagger.
Uhhhm this is so great!
Jan Berger my thinking exactly.
I would give him a new drive based on the captain’s desires, and just let him go to town.
So my instinct for any online recommendation is to overcorrect.
What you’re describing is a great time.
If the story demands that something happen, don’t make that action rely on chance. Don’t be afraid to skip the roll for the sake of story. Everyone will be better off.
This sounds like such a great campaign!
Stephanie Bryant it’s great!
The Bard’s player took to it with almost too much relish! He changed his voice to emulate captain Korps’ drawl, and when they had driven the cult leader back, he tried to complete the dark ritual by extracting their halfling hireling’s soul.Unfortunately for Captain Korp, the hellish machine fueled by these extracted souls was cut down, landing on Captain Korp. The escaping souls killed him again, and he rolled a 4 on his Last Breath. The bard described Captain Korps black gate as an hidden harbor cove, shimmering with warm and inviting lights. (Totaly different than the Bards black gate, a neverending path in the deep forest.)
I asked the Bards player if there would be any rest for Captain Korp, but he is barred from the lands of the dead apparently. As he thought he would finally dock, a black mist enveloped him, and a horrible sound, half foghorn, half horrible beast, was approaching.
The Bard woke up in his own body, trapped beneath the fallen machine. They got out, but now the deep powers that made a deal for captain Korp’s soul are onto them!
Reading this is so inspiring. I almost imploded while doing so. Thank you for sharing!
Jan Berger a lot of credit goes to my players! They’re really providing a lot of fuel now, I didn’t really understand “play to find out what happens” untill yesterday’s session!