A player as antagonist

[anka]

So, yesterday i mastered for first time a game with a player as antagonist, and it worked!

A little about the setting:

Buenos aires city, modern days, dresden files (magic), halloween, wild hunt.

A little about the players:

They are 4, we were 3, but one of them leaves some months ago, another 2 join, and another one leave and came back. This little lovely bastard was the one that made me suffer with his request.

-I want to play again with Sec (the player he left)

-He is in coma after being tortured by the inquisition (yes!, we have an inquisition in our setting)

-but i dont like too much my new character

-then why you made this one?!

-i dont know....

He was playing with a wizard that had a power that was against the rules of magic, so he almost cant play without being chased by other wizard and being killed (this came from dresden files). So i made a little campaign while he get something to be "not criminally liable". One week after finished that he leaves the table. I still hate him.

He came back this year with another character, that was an "half vampire (that wants to be healed) evil twin brother from a priest, member of a masonic order". From spain. He kidnapped his brother in his own house's basement, feed him, took is place in the church and chase the party to gain their friendship, look if they have something powerfull for the order, and, in the middle, try to convince that his order is not bad. Why not?! .

So, he started to play with them, again with that crazy character (undercover), and all was ok. Maybe for 3 months.

3 weeks ago another player said: if you dont write a halloween special you are a shame as GM. ¬¬, ok you dont knows what are u asking me.., you will cry blood i said.

I was thinking what to write while was writing the last session (one week ago), then, one day before  that day was our talk about "i dont like my character anymore.."

-No, you leaves your character alone, if u wants to take it back, must be coherent with the story

-ok

-let me think...

i was thinking for few days after find how to take back that character and switch them.

Halloween is a strong day for the setting

The wild hunt happens that day while "someone really strong leads a hunt, where u are hunter or be hunted"

In the dresden books something about change bodies happens.

"That's it!"

so, after talking with him about that ("are u sure u wants to play again with your ex-character?"), we agreed about the epic finall of his spanish half vampire.

The other players were suspecting about him some weeks ago so, better. He was reveled as a bad guy, while was helping a necromancer that came for halloween to direct a ritual to clean his body and (and that was important) took information from the mind of the other character.

was a 12 hours session.

half session was him still being.., friend with the party doing some jobs for this necromancer, while the party was suspecting about him wihle were investigating about this guy that came to the city.

the other half was the party (the good guys) chasing him when he was revealed as traitor.

we used telegram (is like whatsapp) to prevent metagaming for very important parts. The bad guy has an agenda for his goal, while the others were chasing him, fallowing breadcrums and fake clues. Both sides knows something that the other side didnt. Both sides must accomplish things to see wich side "won".

The "bad" guy didnt know how the ritual will be till finall (because was just a minion of this necromancer).

The necromancer was dislexic.

Instead of mind fighting between the necromancer and the mind-wizard was a mind fight with the half-vampire and the mind-wizard.

The mind wizard took his body.

The whole party was: Holy shit!

the necromancer was killed. A player almost lost a leg with a knife, before, while he was hunting minions from the bad guy.

The player got his previous character in the body of the new one, because if u wants to leave a character, wrote a new one and regreat i will make u suffer the consequences.

And i got a: "that was the most epic session i had ever", from veteran players (~15 years playing)

And all worked well!! with only 50% of the party in hospital. 

So, if one day u wants to play a character against the party, you can, is not impossible for gm and player, but both will need a lot of work and the help of new technology (or just folded paper) to make it happens, make some goals for both sides, help them to not spoil their agenda, and saw what happens. And never gave a machete to a npc minion to the bad guy. Knifes are very bad.

 

Edited October 15, 2018 by anka
i just touched shift-enter while was writing >.<

[seneschal]

Glad it all worked out and that your group had fun.  What a soap opera of a plot!