Prep work to speed up start of play

[morganhua]

After reading the scenario I ran into some issues and had to solve them.

1.  A keepers we're asked to have the players create backstory connections between the new PCs and the NPCs.  But we're told not to have any between PCs and Robert Blaine or Jason Trent.  Well, asking the players to generate connections, but then telling them you can't have one between them and those two NPCs sort of tips your hand.  So I came up with the alternate method.  Ask them to roll 1d8 and use the following lookup table:

Roll 1d8 for backstory connection (friend, enemy, rival?):
1. John Jeffrey - Missing friend - previous expedition
2. Boyd Patterson - Dead friend - previous expedition
3. Clarissa Thurber - beautiful and charming chemistry major, unattached
4. Roderick Block -- large and friendly football hero and geography major
5. Louis Gibbons -- chatty botany major, pre-med, piano player
6. Harold Higgins -- class clown, geology major, sings
7. William Noakes -- bookish anthropology major
8. Terrence Laslow -- snobbish bore, history and psychology major

This way, they have no way of telling that Robert Blaine and Jason Trent aren't on the list.  I decided to have them only roll 1d8 instead of rolling twice just in case they happen to roll all the numbers and can infer who's missing.  The other option is have them all roll the initial 1d8 and have a few PCs roll a second 1d8 afterwards if you think they would benefit from an additional connection.

 

2.  Seating chart for 2 cars and truck on the way to Cobb's Corner.  I wanted to have the PCs pick seats on the long ride to Cobb's Corner, so they can role play idle chit chat on the way there.  It took some work to figure out who's sitting where.  Here were my choices:

Car 1:  (driver) Terrence Laslow, (passenger seat next to driver) available for a PC as no NPCs likes Laslow, (backseats) Robert Blaine and Clarissa Thurber (since Robert will definitely sit in the car as expedition leader and also he would keep Clarissa Thurber near him, also he knows no one likes Laslow, so he hopes the remaining passenger seat stays empty).

Car 2: (driver) William Noakes, other 3 passenger seats are available for PCs.

Truck: (driver) Roderick Block, (passenger seat next to driver) available for a PC, (back of truck) Jason Trent in far corner by himself, Louis Gibbons and Harold Higgins will sit next to each other as they're buddies, 3 other bench seats will be available for PCs.  If you want to force some PCs into the other cars, you can put more equipment in the truck and reduce the number of available seats.

Edited April 4, 2016 by morganhua

[nclarke]

It's easier for the players to create a backstory with links to the NPCs if you give them a reduced list of NPC's and just say that these are the NPC's you are likley to have a link/connection with. That doesn't give anything away especially if the other two NPC's are rather surly and bad mannered to the others. Give them some sort of trait that makes it obvious why no-one would even consider having and sort of relationship with them.

[BoomerET]

I love this kind of thinking and replies.

Thanks!

Edited April 4, 2016 by BoomerET

[mvincent]

On 4/4/2016 at 9:53 AM, morganhua said:

Roll 1d8 for backstory connection (friend, enemy, rival?):
1. John Jeffrey - Missing friend - previous expedition
2. Boyd Patterson - Dead friend - previous expedition
3. Clarissa Thurber - beautiful and charming chemistry major, unattached
4. Roderick Block -- large and friendly football hero and geography major
5. Louis Gibbons -- chatty botany major, pre-med, piano player
6. Harold Higgins -- class clown, geology major, sings
7. William Noakes -- bookish anthropology major
8. Terrence Laslow -- snobbish bore, history and psychology major

Nice idea! To speed this up even further, you could have each of these separately printed on a piece of paper (possibly with a picture or additional details) and have the players randomly select one (i.e. to save the time of you reading each one while they write them down). You could also allow them to swap with or copy from other players if they desire.

These NPC picture handouts can also be useful later. I refer to such props constantly to help my players remember the various NPC's they encounter.

Edited April 8, 2016 by mvincent

[DeeWhite]

Great idea with the d8 plus the printed ahead of time. Also the seating chart for car/truck will be helpful for prepping ahead of time. As suggested I think I'll  have them mention what a typical day at school is like for them and it may be easier to select their connection if something comes up. (Otherwise the good 'ol selection works)

[joggiwagga]

handy, thanks!

[mibagents]

Morganhua, how have you been handling all of the NPC's on Roll20?  Are you making a handout for each?  I'm looking in particular at all the Cobbs Corners people.  If you have a handout for the NPC's, are you making them available in the PC's folders or just yours?  

[morganhua]

I drop the picture on the game table as they meet each NPC.  I have the individual pictures for each NPC.  Go look at: 

That topic has a link to my Google Drive where I have all the pictures I used for the game so far.

Edited April 19, 2016 by morganhua