goto124
2016-06-10, 11:36 AM
where I'm the clueless DM. For some value of DM.
I'm running an FFRP 'plot' with one other player. I say 'plot', because in this case I'm really closer to a player myself, who just happens to come up with scenery and NPCs. This means I don't need an actual plot that the player will act on. The opposite in fact; I need to wrap up the mini-mystery ASAP in the neatest way possible, so that the player can resume his own personal plot immediately - the main point of the game. Doesn't help that PbP is slow.
Essentially, I dropped some hints to a mini-mystery, got the player excited, only to realize even I don't know what the mini-mystery is and need to figure out what was supposed to happen. I need the player to be satisfied with the story I will eventually give him, but everything I think of is riddled with plot holes.
So, I need GitP's help to come up with a backstory for these clues:
Earlier on in the story, the player's PC was at a beach with fairy penguins (http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/i/s/p/1/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gl3qkk.png/1448000165868.jpg) waddling up the shore. One of the penguins stops in front of a scroll that was buried in the sand. He retrieves the scroll, notices that it's in unusually good condition, and tries to untie the ribbon holding the scroll together. Tries to, the ribbon just doesn't come off. So he hands the scroll to the penguin, and the penguin helps untie the scroll. How I described the scroll:
"The paper, slightly off-white and tattered at worst, is covered in what could be described as ancient runes or a magic language. Along the margins of the paper, are little doodles of penguins of different penguin species. Over half of them seem to be of the little blue variety."
"As he examines the penguin doodles in the margins, he'll realize that these are, well, doodles. In sharp contrast to the runes, which had every stroke drawn ever so carefully by a patient hand, the doodles could easily have been drawn by a small child - careless, loose lines sketched out of boredom or amusement, or just to fill up some blank space."
After the PC moved on to something else, the penguin returns and presents him with a spiral seashell (http://puu.sh/pnR5j/cd5fca6c80.jpg). The PC is now taking the scroll to a magic shop for examination.
I'd intended the scroll to be magically protected such that only a penguin could open it. I'd also intended for the penguin to be a polymorphed human, whom the PC will help return into a human at the magic shop. Other than that... well, I have lost my DMing notes, so I honestly can't remember what else I was thinking.
So, dear GitP, how could one tie all of these clues together into a coherent story that doesn't beg even more questions?
I'm running an FFRP 'plot' with one other player. I say 'plot', because in this case I'm really closer to a player myself, who just happens to come up with scenery and NPCs. This means I don't need an actual plot that the player will act on. The opposite in fact; I need to wrap up the mini-mystery ASAP in the neatest way possible, so that the player can resume his own personal plot immediately - the main point of the game. Doesn't help that PbP is slow.
Essentially, I dropped some hints to a mini-mystery, got the player excited, only to realize even I don't know what the mini-mystery is and need to figure out what was supposed to happen. I need the player to be satisfied with the story I will eventually give him, but everything I think of is riddled with plot holes.
So, I need GitP's help to come up with a backstory for these clues:
Earlier on in the story, the player's PC was at a beach with fairy penguins (http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/i/s/p/1/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gl3qkk.png/1448000165868.jpg) waddling up the shore. One of the penguins stops in front of a scroll that was buried in the sand. He retrieves the scroll, notices that it's in unusually good condition, and tries to untie the ribbon holding the scroll together. Tries to, the ribbon just doesn't come off. So he hands the scroll to the penguin, and the penguin helps untie the scroll. How I described the scroll:
"The paper, slightly off-white and tattered at worst, is covered in what could be described as ancient runes or a magic language. Along the margins of the paper, are little doodles of penguins of different penguin species. Over half of them seem to be of the little blue variety."
"As he examines the penguin doodles in the margins, he'll realize that these are, well, doodles. In sharp contrast to the runes, which had every stroke drawn ever so carefully by a patient hand, the doodles could easily have been drawn by a small child - careless, loose lines sketched out of boredom or amusement, or just to fill up some blank space."
After the PC moved on to something else, the penguin returns and presents him with a spiral seashell (http://puu.sh/pnR5j/cd5fca6c80.jpg). The PC is now taking the scroll to a magic shop for examination.
I'd intended the scroll to be magically protected such that only a penguin could open it. I'd also intended for the penguin to be a polymorphed human, whom the PC will help return into a human at the magic shop. Other than that... well, I have lost my DMing notes, so I honestly can't remember what else I was thinking.
So, dear GitP, how could one tie all of these clues together into a coherent story that doesn't beg even more questions?