They did it. Out of curiosity or boredom or misplaced trust, they pushed the big red button. The party gave the MacGuffin to the evil priestess, she summoned her evil god, and literal hell is about to break loose.
Today's post is a writing exercise, because I have twenty minutes to write it. I have some long posts queued up, but my weekend got away from me and this is what I have: my mental prep for next week's game.
So yeah, last week my players (roving crew of the good ship Murderbucket, stop reading here) accidentally summoned an angry god, and are currently trying to get the hell back to surface before she destroys the undersea dungeon they are in. They know there is a way back to the surface in the heart of a palace in the middle of the alien city, so that's where they are now.
At least, that was their first reaction. Then, over our group chat, they began to coalesce around the idea of burning it all down, to stop her. And I began to think, wow will happen next?
Blorb would say, go with what your prep says about the world, and let the players work out the story. And sure, I could do that. There is technically a way to drop everything to the bottom of the sea. Well, several things would happen after. What would happen then to the evil? I am the GM, I have no idea, I'll make something up. That's off the map of what I expected them to get to.
On top of that, I don't know from my prep how the neutral NPCs will react to this unexpected situation. I have to decide for them. Yep, all the prep in the world is not a shield against GM choice. Blorb is attempting to fix GM choice in place via prep, so players can work through a 'reality'. In this case, how the NPCs react is critical--will they choose to blow the city first? Abandon ship? Attack the goddess with everything they've got?
And here's the one thing I do know from my blorby prep--burning it all it down would likely kill the entire party, the way I set up the world in my head, with no chance of escape. Where's the choice in that outcome? They released a god. They know they fucked up, and it was their choice. I want to honor that choice, but I also want to not make them feel like I am railroading them out of guilt into killing their entire party. I mean, they are doing the railroading to themselves out of guilt, but I set this situation up, so...
So what's the solution? Well, I am off the map. Time to build some new prep onto my old prep, and build in the opportunity for more interesting choices than morally-enforced, guilt-driven collective party suicide. Sure, it may involve a reborn Quantum Ogre or two, but I think the world needs more Quantum Ettins--times when the players face different roads, all leading behind the scenes to a restricted, manageable set of really interesting choices.
I mean, I am going to keep party self-sacrifice on the table as an option--what sort of evil, choice-manipulating evil GM do you think I am?
No, I just want to give them MORE choices, so that if they choose to kick the bucket, they feel GREAT about it. Thus, the Quantum Ettin--one road leads to self-sacrifice, and the other road....well, wouldn't it be funny if they had to choose between a local good and greater evil? I may add more roads...the point is, I hadn't really considered what would happen if anyone tried to sabotage this alien city for destruction. The exact way the machine works is up to me. So in doing this blorby prep, I am constructing a Quantum Ettin--a story where my players have a real choice, with many options. One they will feel they selected with clear eyes, even if they all die afterwards.
Because Blorb isn't enough, especially if it doesn't give players choice--the heart of an adventure game.
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