#Shadow of the Wolf Narrative Questions

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wary oxide
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Containment thread for quick questions and longer form discussion relating to the narrative. Specific feedback should still go in unique threads.

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Shadow of the Wolf Narrative Questions

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(there's been some channel shuffling due to limitations with Discord, feel free to repost comments and questions from the previous thread here!)

static pulsar
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Inconsequential note: my mental image of Castor-Eyros is Claude von Riegan and that works out pretty well

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Also

"Print credits" is a clever bit of diegesis, and is now making me think of the narrative implications of running a Balor

novel coyote
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Still reading through it, but I just wanna say I LOVE the scene goals, enough to the point that I sort of wish they were the first thing listed in each beat/scene. Really helps contextualize the section before diving into the larger blocks of text.

static pulsar
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This might be a false flag operation but man do some of these names go hard

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compact cobalt
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Just wanna say thanks for the pronunciation guide at the end, lord knows I needed it while reading through lol

wary oxide
wary oxide
wary oxide
wary oxide
static pulsar
south fox
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ah shit I never posted it here again because I was too busy eating the reich

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lemme get the link again

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Folder with the tokens: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18nSZlfSQNJzleycjNh8h8IOH3oFA2P3Y?usp=drive_link
Here's the link of what I used for VTT tokens, as well as launch sentences for NPCs (my playtest of this campaign requires people to say their Launch sentence before they take their first turn)
People token were made with https://aamatniekss.itch.io/pixelart-portrait-maker
NPC mech tokens were made with https://aamatniekss.itch.io/pixelart-portrait-maker

These aren't official in any capacity, its just what I'm using for my go at a playtest of this module

compact cobalt
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Apologies if I've missed it, but are the maps out for playtest yet?

wary oxide
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Not yet, but they're being worked on and will be out when they're ready. 🙂

compact cobalt
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Cool, thanks 👍

rocky mason
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Not sure if this should be here but I don't seem to be able to make a thread in the spoiler area: so:

it feels to me perhaps like I'd like to see just a few more guided elements within beats focusing on what the actual curriculum looks like and how classroom scenes might play out.

There's obviously the table listing classes and topics at the back and a suggestion in act 4 that this would be the place to use them, but it feels to me that a little guidance on weird karrakin classroom culture would go a long way and I don't know how feasible it would be but a class focused beat would go a long way for me

wary oxide
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Thanks for that feedback! I'll add it to my notes as something to consider. I would also like to integrate or expand on the classes more, as they've had a lot of positive feedback, so perhaps that's something I can work on

rocky mason
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Outside of that comment, this is a great module! It's fantastic hook, it's got a brilliant reason for you to engage with and the antagonists and have a personal relationship with them, which I think is so important in a campaign.

When I read over the synopsis at the start there was a part of me that wasn't sure if I liked the openly heinous character being the chief traitor, (it almost felt too obvious) but in the context of the whole I like it.

static pulsar
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This is probably kept vague on purpose, but about what time frame does the adventure take place in? And relatedly, how long does education at the KCC normally last?

wary oxide
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It is purposefully vague, yes - the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor/TOPGUN program (which this is heavily influenced by) is around three months long, but equally it wouldn't be out of the question to make this the equivalent of a compressed academic year you find in universities like Oxford and Cambridge, which sums to about six months of teaching with long reading/work breaks between terms

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the length is not specified so that the GM has more flexibility in how much additional/extended content they want to include

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the suspension period (i.e the downtime between Missions 1 and 2) can be as long as you think is realistic and/or appropriate for the downtimes your PCs want to take. I would say probably not long enough for students to return home to planets not served by a blink gate, but that's up to you, you could handwave that travel time if you wanted

burnt oyster
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Since the risky consequence of the M1B2 sword duel is injury, does the PC still get injured on success?

burnt oyster
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Makes sense if so, just a smidge counter intuitive for a first-blood duel.

wary oxide
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Yes they do. This could probably be clarified, but Praya is an extremely sore loser and will absolutely still injure the PC even if she technically "lost" by first blood rules.

mortal cove
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Hi, question. Where are short rests and where are long rests in the module?

wary oxide
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(but I see now that it doesn't explicitly say that about Full Repairs in the FAQ, that's only mentioned in the downtime section, so I will update to clarify)

burnt oyster
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Hi I’m running the playtest right now, what specific bits of playtest data are you most interested in?

wary oxide
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This is going to sound unhelpful, but literally as much information as you can give me. Anything from party composition, to an account of how they handled the various beats, to how the combats went, to what NPCs the party are friends/enemies with IC and love/hate OC, what pieces of GM information were useful to you, info you would have liked to have, etc etc

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The playtest groups I've been running/following have cemented to me just how many moving parts there are, and how interdependent they are in practice, so the more info you can give me when giving feedback the better

static pulsar
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@wary oxide What thought went into Lord Praya's name, and for the noble characters in general? I have a pilot from the House of Stone who's backstory I want to integrate into her's, and I want his old name to fit alongside everyone else's

wary oxide
# static pulsar <@246563369165914123> What thought went into Lord Praya's name, and for the nobl...

Oh! I could talk about names all day!

Praya's name was based on me trying to understand the name Hyderad, which seems to evoke (but not directly correspond to) an Indian origin, so I wanted to go with something similar in feel. Praya is quite close to the sanskrit name Priya, which I adore, and is a very minor reference to the Burning Kingdoms series.

The reason she uses the Lord title is a reference to the KTB FG's claim that "Lord" is a gender-neutral default, which I have a lot of thoughts about but is perfect for a character who on a metatextual level occupies a traditionally male and conservative role in the narrative. Her appellation "the Ironhanded" relates to her tendency to resolve problems with violence, and she is referenced as the "Graven Heir" as a nod to the way that the House of Stone has unique names for noble ranks, and signals that her position as an heir is so strong that it's as though it were engraved upon rock.

static pulsar
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Does the "di Khayradi" mean she's also descended from the house of the same name?

wary oxide
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yes! (as is the Underbaron, though that's a slightly different case, House Akrita is essentially lost and Iphianassa found herself functionally Houseless)

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I did consider making that more explicit but I'm really strapped for space on the character writeups and I had to cut some extraneous detail

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now that I'm thinking about it more directly, I might end up cutting it from the name since it does make things a little confusing

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but basically, the main reason that Praya gets away with a lot of bullshit is not only a matter of her status and who is backing her, but also her ties to the Dean and (more distantly) to the Underbaron

static pulsar
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Do you have a write up on the titles anywhere? I'm really curious how the generic "Lord" relates to "Stonelord" or "Underbaron" or "Principes"

wary oxide
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Not directly, I wanted to leave that intentionally open-ended

static pulsar
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That's fair, leaving it undefined does a good job of conveying how labyrinthine the system probably is

wary oxide
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For sure! Same reason I didn't actually define anything concrete about the flower language

burnt oyster
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Not super important, but one of my players were curious if Lord Tomas's book, Concursus Delenda Est, was written before or after the battle of Kantus void.

wary oxide
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That's a super interesting question! I think that before Kantus Void makes the most sense to me; I can imagine the anti-Union sentiment of the time being at an optimistic highpoint, and therefore being most open to satire. I think it's probably more fitting as something that Tomas would be studying, too, since his interest in Union beyond Karrakis is based more on principle than experience.

burnt oyster
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While "Life's not fair" is a classic, are there any other good narrative explanations for why duels and exercises will have an uneven number of frames on each team (especially when repairs are limited)?

wary oxide
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You could potentially say that allies who were assigned to the PCs' team are unexpectedly unable to make it, or they do show up but their mechs break down or are destroyed at the start of combat, or someone is cheating and the people running the fights are looking the other way for whatever reason.

But yeah, "life's not fair" is definitely the go-to at the College, Iphianassa in particular is big on hammering home the idea that real combat isn't fairly balanced, and winners often increase their advantage over the losers instead of it balancing out (see also the end of Combat 5).

hearty mica
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Hi. I am a GM experienced in various systems and new to Lancer, planning to run my first game in the KTB setting. I hope this is the right place for feedback and I would like to point out that I have not participated in previous discussions (digging through this discord was a bit overwhelming for me).
Part 1:

  • I like the scene goals and OpFor Tactics sections. This, together with the structure of the scenario, makes it a very friendly adventure for people getting to know Lancer from the GM side.

  • Tables with sample lessons and a student generator are great. It's a shame there's little opportunity in the adventure itself to take advantage of this.

  • Who is “the Wolf” of the title? Is it Argo or the Wolf whose blade he is (the pirate from the weapon's description)? Is it even this pirate or someone who beat them? There is nothing about it in the answers from Argo. As for beat 7, any predatory animal can be introduced into the augur's divination.
    Knowing my players, if they get their hands on The Wolf's Blades after beating Argo, they would have tons of questions that this adventure doesn't answer at all. And they would immediately wonder how this pirate is involved in all of this, because of the title of the adventure itself. Maybe even earlier on, probably after the scene with the augur, they would wonder if someone with Wolf's bond was involved.

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Part 2:

  • Maybe it's worth considering some suggestions on how to use the bonds system throughout the adventure? At first glance, it seems that SotW should be placed next to Field Guide to KTB, which encourages me to use the bond system in narrative scenes.

  • I feel that Rawan Azar has some untapped potential. A hidden Ungratefuls guerrilla should have had a more active role after beat 6, if only as someone who notes that the real Ungratefuls cannot be behind this attack. At least some narrative tidbits during Combat 5, when playing them on the Ungratefuls side.

  • I have a slightly personal issue with the finale (beat 10+) - how is campus security disabled and why doesn't Eligos intervene or help in combat 8B? Here I feel that I have to contribute a lot in the finale to make it credible for inquisitive players.

wary oxide
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Hi, thanks for the thoughts, I appreciate you taking the time to put them together. I'm going to split this into a couple of posts because otherwise Discord is going to hit me with character limits 😅

The titular wolf is not really one thing but several. Most directly it refers to the Passion, which is reflected a number of times across the module literally and metaphorically. It is the coming war that Kahin prophesies and references using that metaphor in Beat 7. It is also the drive of the module's antagonists to destroy in order to achieve their aims - to tear out the heart of Karrakis to institute their new empire. It is also Argo, both in reference to his title and reflected back as the Passion he is bonded to. As a point of curiosity the pirate that the blades once belonged to is also bonded to the Wolf, though that's not relevant to the module itself at this point in time (the knives are part easter egg and part a plot hook for future adventures). You are very much encouraged to develop this as far as you want to take it, there are a lot of overlapping metaphors here that are unclear by design.

Speaking of the Bonds system from KTB, I'm afraid Tom's request for this module was that it should be possible to run it without reference to the KTB Field Guide, so providing inline guidance for the use of bonds is not really on the table. However it is something that may be discussed more in future (before this was picked up by Massif, bonds were going to play a more central role). For now the adventure is constructed so that they should slot in naturally - a bond reading is the first thing the PCs do when they reach LL1, and you can tie their bonds into that beat should you want to, without it being compulsory.

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I'm also a little sad that I didn't have the space to do more with the lessons. To explain, I had to cut a lot of the module down and chose providing tools for GMs to improvise over explicitly making more room for lesson scenes (for reference the module is approximately twice the target wordcount). I would very much advise GMs to insert more scenes if they want to interact with that more, and I've tried to highlight points where the lessons would fit in most naturally.

The reason the finale is not more explicit in terms of the "how" is because I didn't want to get too into the weeds on precisely explaining things that players wouldn't see, and that GMs might want to follow up in their own way after the module was done. If you need a simple explanation, my vision of this is that the Khayradin Elites used their Void Rend systems to effectively arrive on the campus grounds with no notice and seized control before an effective response could be mounted - the PCs arrive back just as an organized resistance is forming within the College, which is why they're able to link up with the other students. For reference this is also how the RPVs arrived in the Hound's Teeth Range.

Rawan does indeed have potential! For various reasons I'm not going to comment on that much more, other than to say that I have plans in that regard (apologies for being mysterious). You're right that she could potentially get more of a direct reference in the module though, and I'll consider adding something.

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I understand that it can be a little frustrating to not have all the answers straight away, and to want more detail on everything - and I do appreciate you flagging these, as I can take a more in-depth look at them. If I had my way there would be a lot more in the book! My original design prior to Tom contacting me was much larger in scope, and I had to cut a lot down. Ultimately I've had to make a judgement call on what sort of content is the most important to include, which has been tough, and is something I'm also hoping to address further during the editing process.

hearty mica
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However, I will still return to the topic of the Wolf. There is "unclear by design" and there is "confusing" - unfortunately its the latter for me.
I understand the intention though, but for my players I would make two changes:

  • I would change the Argo's title and the name of the blades; Otherwise, well, they'll just see his title and start pointing "oh, that's the main bad guy". It's kind of like a spoilery Dustgrave's cover issue :D
    And after getting the knives, believe me, my players would immediately start wondering where that badass pirate was and what he wanted from the campus. And since it's not important in the module, I'd rather change the names than lead things astray. Unless I had an idea how to connect it, but not every GM has to.
  • I would point out at beat 7 that it is about the Passion. Let players guess who they might represent. This may push them into interesting roleplay and investigation within the KCC area.
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Actually, it just dawned on me. It would be enough for me to turn up beat 7 augury scene and at the same time emphasize how many things in Baronies are named after the Passions. I might still rename Argo's title.

burnt oyster
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Two quick questions about varient frames:

  • Would getting new frame mid-mission reset the OC count on the player?
  • Would the new repairs available be the repair cap of the new frame minus the amount already expended.
wary oxide
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by default, yes (since it counts as a Full Repair aside from expended repairs), and yes

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though that's one of the levers you can pull on as a GM to adjust difficulty if you want

burnt oyster
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Just to confirm, combat 3 needs players to start their turn adjacent to the escort to move it (as opposed to just starting standard move adjacent like from wallflower and dustgrave)

wary oxide
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it is a standard Escort

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I assume the wording in Wallflower is an oversight rather than intentional because it refers to the Escort sitrep (Dustgrave appears to be intentional according to Ralf)

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if you want to modify it you're welcome to, I know some people don't like the standard rules

analog crow
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Is there any particular reason the PCs are framed, or is it just petty payback for (presumably) winning the duel?

wary oxide
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A mix of different reasons, some of which may be more or less important depending on how the module runs and the specific interactions the PCs have with Praya and Argo - it could be petty revenge, but it could also be identifying the PCs are a genuine threat to the plans, or a good way to deflect what's about to happen onto a convenient scapegoat

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it is conceivably possible (if unlikely) that a party could try to actually make friends with Praya and Argo, at which point it's most likely about disposing of a talented rival

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it's important to leave the reasons canonically unspecified so that any and all of these could be true depending on the PC party and how an individual game goes

analog crow
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I might have missed this, but how long is a typical course of study at the college?

wary oxide
analog crow
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Thanks.

I wonder if you'd like, have both short-rotation students who come in for brief tours, and long rotation students who are coming in from farther away and it doesn't make sense for them to spend two years in transit each way for a three month course.

wary oxide
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that's quite possible, would also depend on their status as some students probably go on to become instructors, and because of the nature of teaching there'll be at least some lessons that are basically along the lines of "I just came back from a warzone and here are some of the techniques we developed while fighting against this new style of tank/without air support/in a dense urban environment against the new mk2 Sherman" etc. since part of the point is to propagate practical knowledge across the BUC

analog crow
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If you wanted to plant some clues ahead of time, or be ready for players trying to investigate, what do you figure are the best approaches to figuring out who did it?

wary oxide
analog crow
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The attack on the instructors.

wary oxide
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If you wanted to go beyond the clues in the module, possibly the best way is to have Praya and Argo be obviously up to something during the previous parts of Mission 1 and allow the PCs to investigate or tail them - the fact that they spend so much time away from the other students suggests an opportunity to maybe do some intrigue scenes in Throne Karrakis. I would advise being careful with this though, as giving hard evidence too early has the potential to derail things if players are proactive. It might be fine depending on the group and your experience level, but information management is definitely something to be careful about throughout the module.

analog crow
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I am the last person to be concerned about derailing. Play to find out and all that.

It's more like, if it's not super clear to me as the GM how an antagonist is doing something, that means I need either invent it on the fly when my PCs start poking, or just no-sell all of my PCs investigative efforts. The former is annoying and easy to trip up on, the latter, frustrating and sometimes game breaking.

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(or if there's specific clues to feed them, then that can at least make them feel like they accomplished something even if their investigation gets stalled by the needs of linear game design)

wary oxide
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that makes sense, but in general the module is set up in a way that doesn't assume PCs are going to be investigating in advance of the antagonists carrying out their secret plan

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including that isn't impossible but there's a lot that has to be left out of the module for space reasons (it's already too big as is) so this is fairly straightforward to cut

analog crow
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Are there any circumstances where members of the College would be expected to deploy to handle 'real' assignments or get 'live fire' experience, or is the assumption that they only do that after graduating and heading out to their unit (whatever it might be) ?

wary oxide
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I suppose it would be possible if their sponsors called them back for some reason, or if the Baronies were suddenly embroiled in some kind of total war

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most of them already have "real" experience by the time they walk through the doors, the College is perhaps more analogous to professional development than it is a boot camp

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"Congrats, you've proven that you're an extremely talented pilot. Your prize is we're sending you to train alongside other top pilots to share knowledge and polish your skills, and then bring back what you've learned so you can teach it to everyone else."

analog crow
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cards on the table I am trying to steal from 3 Houses

and was trying to think about situations that would put them in the middle of some conflicts

one idea was that a professor is an expert in "HORUS shit", she gets called to help deal with a problem, and decides to, rather than cancel class, bring the whole group along to observe and assist

static pulsar
analog crow
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I MEAN

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I DIDNT

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but NOW

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you are simply correct

analog crow
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Anyway I'm sure I can come up with something for why PCs are involved in anti-piracy or anti-insurgent fights, but it would be helpful if there was an existing hook for students.

split dagger
# burnt oyster While "Life's not fair" is a classic, are there any other good narrative explana...

This may be a bit of a necro post, but last week my group did ran SOTW, and somehow I got the idea that.... Praya didn't actually challenge the PC's on the spot, instead she "arranged" for next weeks "supposedly random" selection of historical combat re-enactment exercises to be between her and the PCs, whereupon an informal duel would be issued on the spot (with Rawan warning them of such a development)

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The theme was a re-enactment of a spaceport battle between Barony local militia and an Armory Deep-raid team during the Interest War, with combat against AI being first done in VR, and combat against real enemies done later. PCs did pretty well during the first (narrative) scene, so they were assigned as Armory forces again during the real battle

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Hence, the numbers were a "circumstance based adjustment" to "ensure historical fidelity and the disparity in fielded forces between the two sides"

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With Lord Praya "naturally accepted the temporary installation of limiting modules to simulate the tech disadvantage of Karrakin forces... well she's too good at piloting, anyways"

harsh mist
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My group is about to finish up their time skip and get into Combat 3: Trial by Fire. I'm reading ahead to Combat 4: Harlequin's Knife, and it states there are three objectives to extract, the three faculty: Castor, Imani, and Iphianassa), but there are potentially more faculty than that (Achilleia and Hesketh) if there are more than three PCs. So, are the other faculty just supposed to be ignored? Or what was the intention for how they are to be handled?

sudden brook
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I'm pretty sure the idea is that they don't stay behind to congratulate the PCs like the three main faculty do - there are, after all, non-named characters in the combat 3 opfor that are also not present afterwards, and it can be assumed that they left in the time between combat 3's end and combat 4's start. The other faculty also serve as backups in case one or more of the three in combat 4 fail to extract and are thus, one way or another, out of commission for the foreseeable future, so on a meta level that's another reason why they shouldn't be at risk in combat 4.

(Mechanically, I really do not think you want to be running a 5 objective extraction as it is - in our playtest, we managed to extract all three, but it took basically all our remaining resources and more than a bit of luck to do so. As it is, you're already not expected to extract all three to win and getting all of them is considered an exceptional victory - adding one or two more would basically just be saying outright "pick who you want to sacrifice." You also already have the potential complication of how to handle the potential reinforcement in the event they're taken out - in our playtest, we picked Hedros, and when we went down, our GM decided to make him another objective to extract. That's not how you have to handle it, to be very clear, it's all up to what feels right and you could absolutely just decide whether they escape, get injured or die then and there, but however you handle it, the players are likely going to care how their chosen ally comes out of the fight, and thus even if they stay intact the whole time, they'll likely pull double duty as both reinforcement and another character for the PCs to protect.)

wary oxide
# harsh mist My group is about to finish up their time skip and get into Combat 3: Trial by F...

If Achilleia and Hesketh are around it's assumed that they get to safety on their own somehow. As Freaky has outlined, that has to be the outcome for mechanical reasons. The reason why the narrative outcome isn't specified is that there are a lot of potential ways that Combat 3 can end (depending on who is present, their relationship with the PCs, and whether they're still in their mechs) which would each necessitate a different explanation.

If you're looking for advice on how to handle this here are some ideas: If they've been knocked out of their mechs, you can assume that they're able to make it to cover more easily since they weren't out in the open when the firing started so can more easily run or hide. Another way to handle it is to note that like the PCs, they have been specifically ordered to leave by their commanding officer (Iphianassa) but unlike the players, they don't have plausible deniability for disobeying those orders. Another alternative (if they're still in their mechs) might be to have them fight just offscreen against forces we don't see in this combat.

harsh mist
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Thanks, all! Yeah, I wasn't about to try and increase the number of objectives in combat 4, so I was just trying to figure out how to handle them after combat 3, and wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something more obvious that I should be doing with them since they just aren't ever mentioned after the combat ends.

This definitely helps, though. Personally, I like the idea of them maybe just heading off right after the combat, while the three other faculty discuss the results of this fight in private. They maybe have to go get other students prepped for the next fight or something. Second option would probably be having them go off screen to intercept and fight other forces elsewhere.

Maybe adding just one or two sentences somewhere clarifying what you just shared, Kat, would be good. But, I know you're limited on space and what not, so it's understandable either way.

wary oxide
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I'll add it to my notes, and see if I can add something helpful

hearty mica
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Hey @wary oxide , so I've started my first Lancer campaign. I'm using Shadow of the Wolf for the first mission of the campaign (Beat 1 to Combat 3). I want to tell a different story, I'm changing a lot of things, but I decided to keep the beginning faithful to the script so that I could share feedback.

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The players (3 people, have already played Lancer, one also as a GM) are currently after Combat 1. They like the setting very much, as do the NPCs. Due to the characters' personalities, I assumed that their goal at the ball would be to sneak out discreetly. In beat 2, they immediately stood up for Rawan, but fight quickly broke out and instead of a duel, there was a brawl.

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They accepted the challenge for an official mech duel, though. Combat 1 ended with their victory: one person lost structure and was left with 1 hp, the other lost structure and was left with 6 hp. The third person only lost 1 stress (the sniper, kept his distance for most of the fight). I've seen in other topics that you don't intend to change anything here, but I'll share a few comments anyway.

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The players really liked the composition of the opponents. Two of them had no problem with the clash, but the third one (the Lancer's GM) thought that elite+veteran was too much to start with. Personally, I like the idea and it gives the feeling that they are fighting against someone equal to them.

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But I admit that when there are three players, I could have easily led to a situation where one would be deleted instantly when a stun occurred after losing the structure and Argo was next to it. Especially since I was incredibly lucky with the dice at the start (all attacks landed, Praya and Argo regularly renewed their systems on good rolls). In the end it didn't turn out bad, but one player was left with a bad taste. For winning the duel, they ordered Praya and Argo to prepare an official apology to Rawan at a public assembly.

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The map itself... maybe with more players its layout is better used, but with three players the action took place in the center and that's it. I feel like I would be better off making my own. I don't have that feeling with the next one, it's also more interesting because of the layout, but we'll see how it turns out.

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And despite my fears, no one points out Argo as a bad guy to watch out for immediately, even when I regularly emphasize his title and make no secret of the fact that I use Shadow of the Wolf.

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As for the changes I am already making - apart from the unimportant ones related to my own scenario, I gave players a free point in the skill trigger for one of the three Syllab, in which a given character specializes more. These act as knowledge checks in a given subject area and can be developed as part of Downtime's Get Focused action. Just a little thing to emphasize that they are undergoing lancer training at a proper academy.

wary oxide
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Thank you for the feedback, it's very much appreciated! I do agree with you that with three players things have the potential to get a little swingy when the dice go badly, which is an existing problem with LL0 Lancer play. It's something that's already top of mind so it's useful to get more feedback on that front. So far in testing that's been borne out - some groups have absolutely breezed through that combat, while others have struggled more. I can say there are tweaks in the pipeline for Combat 1 (they may not make it into an update before we move to editing though), though right now they're not extensive - but nothing is set in stone until we move to layout!

hearty mica
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@wary oxide It's me again with feedback after Combat 2. Again, opinions are mixed. This time, players took reinforcements in the form of an additional (custom) NPC they befriended, Hive. I still wanted to keep the forces equal, so I removed one Sentinel (plus it made for a cool subplot of the twins learning to fight without each other's company). I might not have given them an NPC, but I wanted to playtest how powerful Zero would be.
He was powerful.

On a positive note: everyone liked the map and the friendly interactions with the NPCs were just as nice. I had fun putting the cars on the road. The players won by 1 point (9 to 8), OpFor lost Sentinel and Cataphract. Support lost one structure, Sniper intact.

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Now personal feedback from my players:

Player 1 (other Lancer GM): Not a fan of the missions in this adventure. He directly asked me not to take on any more Shadow of the Wolf matches. He felt demoralized seeing all the templates on LL0 and felt like he was fighting for his life again. The NPC banter and the friendly atmosphere helped him relax. He considered Sniper to be a too much. His Everest lost 1 Reactor Stress and was close to losing 2x Structure because of it. He had Exposed status, 2 hp and Support jumped him with an improvised attack with a maximum roll of d6. Luckily, Custom paint job worked!

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Player 2 (Lancer Experienced): He had a positive experience last time, but this time he also felt demoralized by the sight of all the templates on LL0. He has doubts about the whole adventure, but he really appreciates the setting and interactions with the NPCs. His Everest lost its Structure. He praised the OpFor combo and was also stressed by Sniper.

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Player 3 (still fresh Lancer player, under a year of experience): Had a great time. They liked the map, the enemy combinations, the interactions... after the first fight they felt the atmosphere and understood that the templates are there to give the feeling of fights with someone equal to them (and I think it also helps that they watched Witch from Mercury). Their Chomolungma was destroyed, and yet they had the best time from them all.

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My conclusions: Cataphract + drones from Support was a nice combination that forced them to think, not just keep an eye on the points. And they did great. The victory over him improved everyone's mood.

However, as a GM, it is really unpleasant for me when players are visibly stressed and lose motivation at the beginning. I admit that when I saw this, I quickly removed one Structure from Sniper. However, without him and an additional NPC, they would have passed this scenario smoothly even with three of them.

I have the impression that the more familiar a player is with Lancer, the more negatively they react to the sight of a stack of templates on LL0.

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From the narrative side, they are friendly with: Rawan, Kiriona, my custom NPC and Primors

south fox
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This is the thread for narrative questions, rather than one for general feedback, you may want to post this in #1019671055599681606

hearty mica
south fox
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If it’s about narrative spoilers and all this is the place, it just felt like this was more about direct combat stuff

hearty mica
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Ok. After combat 3 I'll post elsewhere

wary oxide
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Yes, I'd prefer this to go in its own thread rather than questions in the future (it's easier to keep track that way). I do have one question though, I know you've been making a bunch of changes to these sitreps, but did you run the four-PC opfor with three players?

hearty mica
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Can I make my own thread?

wary oxide
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You should be able to if the permissions are set up correctly

hearty mica
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Allright, one sec

analog crow
static pulsar
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I’ve lodged the resemblance!

static pulsar
# analog crow I MEAN

He pilots a Priest and his social link reward is a Taraxacum, you could flavor him as using an Emperor with its bow, and the latter as a wyvern…

analog crow
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one of the more interesting possibilities in the narrative, to me, is what happens if the antagonists decide to just accuse the one actual Ungrateful spy rather than the PCs (who are probably not ungrateful spies, though that would also be fun)

buoyant pumice
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Gotta ask, will we be getting a Meet the Student Body series like we did the Faculty?

wary oxide
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probably not unless there's some scheduling weirdness

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all the other portraits are done, you'll just have to wait to see the book

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but there is some more cool art on the way

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including three specific pieces that I know people are going to be excited about

buoyant pumice
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Oooooooooh (also quite excited for the mechs)

hearty mica
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Nice. I'm really curious about V&V. Right now for reference I'm using the twins art from 43 page of Field Guide: the KTB

buoyant pumice
hearty mica
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Totally

analog crow
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If I wanted to discuss remixing or extending SotW, would I do that here or in a new thread or just in the gm_corner

I really like many of the characters and tools, but the structure is not really how I run Lancer

static pulsar
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I know there’s a remixing Solstice Rain thread in the #1071623912531697764 as precedent

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That was made after it was released though

wary oxide
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I think #gm-corner is probably the right place to discuss that, this forum is focused on the mission as-written

burnt oyster
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For combat 4, could a ||PC move multiple objectives at once? I assume not since this goes against the goal of making Players make hard choices, but wanted to check||

neon swallow
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Hey yall, sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this, but is there a changelog anywhere for the new LCP version compared to older ones?

sullen bane
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Hey, this is a smaller narrative question.
What mechs do Argo and Praya pilot? My assumption is probably an atlas for argo (size 1/2 stabber) and a formorian tortuga for praya but i'm not sure!

south fox
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Okay so i'll put a little note here, now that i'm free