<TBODY> Major Arcana and Minor Indiscretions

Newsletter           September 13^th, 2008</TBODY>

<TBODY>Wade Lahoda	Head Storyteller   storyteller@saskatoonbynight.com or 477-0145
Narrators:    Allan Schnell & James Nobel

The official Saskatoon by Night webpage can be found at www.saskatoonbynight.com

Next Game Date Saturday, October 11^th.  Downtime due in Saturday, September 27^th.

Last Game – Saturday, November 8^th!!!

I said I’d give two months notice as to when the last game was going to come, so this is it – our target game to end is now officially Saturday, November 8^th.  That will be the end of the Major Arcana and Minor Indiscretions continuity and the Mage chronicle.  I expect Saskatoon by Night will continue on in some form however – I am currently talking with two potential Storytellers who have expressed interest in taking the reins and running a new(non-Mage) Chronicle in the new year.  I will let them speak for themselves on such when and if things come together – for the moment though I’d like to focus on tying off Mage.

Creating Climax

As you’ve hopefully figured out by now, I’ve tried to let Major Arcana and Minor Indiscretions be fairly driven by player actions.  I’ve got metaplot, but I’ve tried to let players provide the motivation that keeps plot moving along.

As such, coming up with a satisfying climax for the campaign is going to be difficult.  So here is what I need you to do – over the next month, e-mail me with your ideas for what type of climactic events we could have at the game.  I emphasize do this over the next month, that way we’ll have the last month to get any last minute things into place.  I won’t madly warp probability and logic to make these climaxes happen, but I will give a push to the good ones and try and make it come together.  Here is what I consider criteria for a good plot climax:

· Is open to participation from other players, and will be enjoyable for other players to participate in and witness.  If this first criteria is not meant, the idea is no-go.

· Happens at the main gathering.  It can be triggered by something that happens in downtime, but in order for it to be enjoyable as part of the game, it needs to occur at game.

· It needs to be events primarily between player characters.  Showdowns with NPCs are generally pretty boring – all the really exciting plot conclusions I’ve seen have been primarily about the interaction between characters.  If you’ve been continually escalating your relationship with someone (and getting Escalation XP), that’s a damned good sign this person might have a role to play here.

· You have the cooperation and wiliness to make the climactic moment work from the other primarily involved PCs.  It is fine if your characters have different goals – how that all sorts out will decide which (non-lame) outcome occurs.  But everyone has to agree to go there in the first place.

· It needs to trigger or expose a conflict which has a) multiple possibly outcomes of which b) all the outcomes are satisfying.  Proposing something wherein the outcome is just “I win!” is boring.  Say what is at stake, and which ways it can go.  And if one of the ways it can go is lame, figure out a way to make it not lame.

Talk to me, talk to your fellow players, think it over and come up with something fitting to top off your experiences with Major Arcana and Minor Indiscretions.

Clarification of the Escalation XP

I’ve been fairly lax on this, but I am going to tighten up my requirements for giving out the Escalation XP.  You have to tell me what you Escalated, as well as how you did it.  “I don’t like Mr. X anymore, so he went from my friend to my enemy” isn’t enough.  “I punched Mr. X in the face, pushing him from being my friend to being my enemy” is just fine.  It has to include both how the relationship changes(from what, to what), and what you did at the game to make it happen.  Just changing your mind about someone doesn’t count.  Having someone else do something to you doesn’t count.  What matters here is what you did to bring things up a notch in a noticeable manner!

Sympathetic Conduits

In order to take advantage of a Sympathetic Conduit, you must be affected by it.  If the sympathetic spell is aimed at someone who isn’t you, you can’t take advantage of it to send stuff back to the caster.  If you are the target however, when you cast back you can bypass any Wards the caster may have between him and yourself so long as he maintains his Sympathetic Connection to you.

IC Venue:  St. Andrew’s College

Yes, that’s right, What You See Is What You Get.

In the Community

Firefly: Boomtown!  Saturday, October 4^th, 2008

Deb and I will be running a one-shot LARP set in Joss Whedon’s Firefly universe on Saturday, October 4^th(doors open at 5pm, play to begin soon after).  The venue will be the Western Development Museum.  Cost is $10 in advance, $12 at the door, but I really really recommend you register as soon as possible to get a character you will love.  Further details and a character list are available on the SLARPA website.  Send inquiries to firefly.boomtown@gmail.com.

SLARPA - Costumed Pubcrawl – 7pm Friday, September 26^th

Starts at the Sutherland.  $5 members, $10 non-members.  Talk to Kyle Y. for tickets and memberships.

SLARPA - Fall Social – Sunday, October 5^th

11:00 Sunday October 5 at the forestry farm.  No charge, but RSVP so we can get some numbers