Hey all
Sorry to ask for help yet again, but how, in a campaign, do you end a mission in such a way that it can continue the story without it feeling forced? If a lot of the characters are down, it may be an issue, and I don't ideally want tonnes of "and he actually survived"'s hanging around.
Thanks once again
Inquisitor Reiker
It really depends on the game and the character's missions. In previous games I've played I've often had character's run away if they have achieved or realise they can't achieve their mission. If a character is down and out you can always have him captured which sets up a rescue mission for the next game.
Generally if quite a few characters are down we call an end to the game. The best way to stop it feeling artificial is to role play the 'what happens next' part. Agree on a rough story with whoever you're playing with as to how the character's would act in that situation. This gives the mission a more natural end to it and you can even sow the seeds of the next mission.
A way to make it feel a little less artificial than tonnes of "and he actually survived" is to continue the impact of that injury into the next missions. Eg my acolyte got his arm ripped off by a lucky hit from a servitor with a breacher drill causing him to fall unconscious. He missed a few of the next games recovering from the blood loss and getting a nice shiny bionic arm. This injury helped develop his character now as well as providing mission ideas. He now hates servitors and wants to enact vengeance for his lost arm. He's trying to find the servitor who did it to him and kill it as well as having to carry out Imperial work for the Inquisitor he works for. He has torn loyalties between his work and getting revenge.
That's perfect, thanks :)
The simple answer is to craft scenarios where less combat/firefights occur, yet remain fun. ;)
In all seriousness though, that is a valid point. Another is that while your players model collection may not be infinite, an Inquisitors resources kind of are. If it's pure muscule they're after and their own best man is out for the count for a few games, then pull in Mr Redshirt the pdf/guard/enforcer/arbiter/crewmember that must exist in the inquisitors wider entourage.
Obviously this answer doesn't suit all archtypes of leader and any situational limitations must take precedence.
One of the reasons we work with such large retinues is precisely that. By providing a pool of both specialists and "grunts" we have the opportunity to lose people every now and then without impacting the dynamic too much.
The character's lieutenants aren't as easily expendable but they have a Fate Point each and each warband has at least one Deus ex Machinae built into it to allow for the inevitable "I did a stupid" moment.
And of course the advantage of working almost entirely pen and paper is that the range of models available is limited only by our imagination.
I quite like the idea of a main character, a couple of lieutenants and then a rotating cast of support grunts. Sounds fairly realistic and certainly similar to the way things worked out in say the Eisenhorn trilogy. The main issue would obviously be to have sufficient models to cover the supporting cast, but as you said this is nt problem for you on paper.
Cheers
James
Thanks again all - I don't play pen and paper, but we have spares so that should work fine, thanks :)