Happy New Year!
For someone my age, 2026 just sounds so much like the future I can't help but think someone will soon announce the discovery of a nearby wormhole with a mysterious waterworld at the other end. Wishful thinking aside, I want to sincerely wish everyone a Happy New Year and offer my hope that the coming year will renew our faith that people can be better to each other and to the planet. Well, here's hoping anyway ...
Storm Surge
I have used much of the winter holiday from my day job to make some real progress on the Storm Surge stretch goal campaign. As anticipated, its presentation and structure is turning out to be pretty unorthodox. By way of explaining what I mean, I thought I would share some excerpts from the introductory text. (Please note that this draft text is unedited and subject to change.)
Plot Nodes
Most published RPG adventures outline plot points interconnected by more or less direct pathways for the characters to follow. More complex campaigns may interweave these plot points into nonlinear-seeming plot networks, creating a greater sense of verisimilitude. To best support its unorthodox structure, Storm Surge leans into this latter approach, but perhaps more so than most such campaigns.
The events in the story should be considered nodes in a flexible, modular schematic the moderator must reposition and customize to account for the interweaving timelines and often directly conflicting actions of the three different crews of characters. The moderator should therefore focus on prepping and presenting the nodes, while allowing the actions of the characters to build the interconnecting narrative scaffolding between them. This requires a high level of flexibility and a strongly improvisational approach on the part of the moderator.
This text provides some advice in this regard, but playtesting indicates the moderator is best served by using their players' actions and intentions as inspiration for building custom bridging connections between the plot nodes. In fact, the moderator should have frequent meta conversations with their players about their intentions for subsequent sessions so that the moderator can use their planning time to reposition and customize the plot nodes. To facilitate tracking and this possible reorganization, each essential node is designated with the character party name, chapter number and a sequential letter.
Each node is described in general terms - structural guidance for each plot point rather than descriptive details of just what form the node takes. This is because the conceit of the campaign - the three opposed sets of player characters - makes proscribing such details and timing impossible. That said, along with each node, the author provides several suggested options for how the plot point may be presented.
Native Node 1A - Slice of Life
The characters are residents of Augusta, a small native village southwest of Atlantis. Though not a focus of GenDiver security, the inevitable relational and trading ties between Augusta, Sulfur Water and Adobe Walls (M96) means residents of Augusta are surely sympathetic to the insurgency if not directly involved.
The moderator should introduce this node with some slice of life play, setting a bucolic scene of rugged but successful frontier life that grounds the native characters in their background and relationships. They are then dramatically called upon to act quickly to protect fellow villagers:
Suggestions:
A - The characters are all helping to move a large repaired boat back to the water using only hand winches and log rollers. Suddenly, a young mother screams for help as her toddler is being dragged toward the water by his diaper by a train of chain beetles (M253).
B - After a week of heavy rain, the characters are taking advantage of the first sunny day to deal with a new fast fungus (M256) infestation in their young crops. Suddenly, a steep, nearby hillside, saturated by the rain, gives way in a landslide that topples several houses, trapping several fellow residents.
C - The characters are standing together in the shallows fishing with casting nets. Suddenly, one of them is grabbed by the leg and dragged under by a medium-sized, prowling polypod (M270). It attempts to rapidly pull them into deeper water and stash them in its food cache.
OrcaCon
OrcaCon is next week, and I am excited for one of my favorite gaming and social events of the year. This convention is intentionally, uniquely inclusive and always has such a great vibe. I will be running both Blue Planet and Upwind games at the event. As of this update, there are still a couple of seats for the games, so if you are in the SeaTac area and want to play, sign up before they fill.
