Its a well known fact that sequels rarely match the hype of their predecessors (and Empire still doesnt count, Return was better!). This I think can equally well apply to gaming sessions. A great starting session leads to higher expectations for subsequent sessions which can be hard to deliver on.
We play Session 2 tomorrow so I get to test that theory. Session 1 worked in part because it was (a) new, (b) very linear (c) massively over prepared and (d) had lots of enthusiasm behind it. Session 2 has (d), to a lesser extent (a) (newness wears off fast) and much less of (c). It also has almost no (b). I have various events which the players can get involved in but its entirely up to them what they do and I have been actively soliciting ideas from them for scenes they would like. I plan to adopt a PTA lite approach of giving each player (and me) the chance to set a scene and see where that takes us.
This means I have sketched out some outlines for various possible scenes, knocked together some stats for possible encounters (reusing some of the stuff we missed from Session 1) and am trying to second guess like crazy just what the players might decide to do.
I am also left wondering a little whether this is really necessary. My players seem inclined to accept a fair amount of viking hatedness (unusual for us) but I cant bring myself to do it. Its just a style of GM'ing I have moved away from a lot.
It may be a bit cathartic to give it a go again. Who knows, lets see what tomorrow brings first.
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3 comments:
A little bit of advice. You may be over thinking the entire affair. Sit us down, stare us in the eye and ask the immortal words - What Do You Want To Do.
You'll be stunned by the outcome.
Trust us. Trust Yourself. Everything will be fine.
That was sort of the plan.
It'll be fine.
To be honest, even if it does experience a 'second session wobble' it'll be fine as well!
On the Viking Hat thing, the trouble with discussing these things is it's a scale, not a on or off thing.
Personally, I think all of our long-term games have had quite a bit of DM input - but whether that is the viking hat depends on the relative factors - like are measuring it from PTA at one end of the scale? etc, etc.
Ian.
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