What's up fa/tg/uys.
I've been using 4chan for about 10 years now, but only /tg/ for roughly 6 months.
I do have experience as a DM though.
I've been lurking quite a few Quest threads, and always find them comfy as fuck, so I reckonned I'd do my own.
Constructive criticism is very welcome. I did ask the guys in the quest general, so combined with what I like from previous quest threads, I do have some vague idea of what I'm doing.
I took this run for a quick spin on /b/ just to get a feeling for it, but they are only really interested in dicks and rate threads.
Went for a pretty 101 trope as a starter, but it'll probably turn out original enough in a bit.
Pretyped the first few bits, so I'm interested to see if you pick any of them. Other than that; standard 5 minutes vote, and then my designated typing window.
Last it's pretty late here, so if I don't do more than 1 or 2 threads, I've set up a twitter specifically for this (@tgQMbio) on advice from the quest general. I plan to run every other day throughout the week.
Enjoy
(my pictures are pretty shit, so use your imagination)
Without further ado
***************
You wake up with a blinding headache. Something isn't right here. Your perspective seems wrong, and your body is aching tremendously.
Why is the world shaking?
As you come more to your wits, you realize you're hanging upside down. At least your hands are free.
What happened, why are you here? Where are you, for that matter?
As you look around, you can see you seem to be in some sort of crude basement, hanging from a wooden beam.
There's a fair amount of blood on the dirt floor beneath you, and to your right you see what could be a workbench with tools on it.
To your left there's a staircase. A closet of sorts seems to be beneath, but the poor lighting and your incredible headache is making it hard to focus.
The basement is lit by a torch on the wall by the staircase, and two candles on the workbench.
>1) Try and reach the workbench, there might be something you can use
>2) Stay still and listen. Are you alone?
>3) Check yourself. Is that your blood beneath you?
>4) Write in
>>46424406
>1) Try and reach the workbench, there might be something you can use
By the way, in the beginning I will continue with the choice with most words after a few minutes, if we get more players, I will put a 5 minute limit on voting + my designited writing window
>>46424406
>2) Stay still and listen. Are you alone?
Huh. You the guy who turned up in the 5e thread? Hope this goes alright for you.
>>46424480
> with most words
meant most votes
>>46424484
I am, and thanks man. Hope you enjoy
>>46424484
>>46424431
odds: Workbench
evens: Listen
Rolled 1 (1d2)
>>46424601
if i remember to roll
>1) Try and reach the workbench, there might be something you can use
1) You try to curl up and see what's on the workbench. After agonizingly straining your muscles, you manage to see a large carving knife, a hacksaw, what looks like a lockpicking set
and some plyers. You start to swing to try and gain the momentum needed to reach the knife. Using every ounc of will and raw strength, you manage to just about grab the knife.
You drag yourself up and cut the rope you're suspended by. The world turns white for a brief moment after you hit the ground. The thump and your loud groan makes your heart race.
Were you heard? You sit up in a crouched position with the half rusted carving knife ready at hand.
>1)Go to the workbench. There might be something you missed.
>2)Check under the stairs. Didn't you see a closet of sorts?
>3)Go up the stairs. There are many places you would like to be, and some sort of torture dungeon is not one of them.
>4)Write in
>>46424640
>1)Go to the workbench. There might be something you missed.
Grab that lock picking set
>>46424640
>1)Go to the workbench. There might be something you missed.
At the very least, grab the lockpicks and plyers.
>1)Go to the workbench. There might be something you missed.
You try to analyze the situation. Whowever tied you up, surely wouldn't invite you into mist-tea and fallbiscuits. You decide to check the workbench for something other than the knife you are clutching.
As you stand over the bloodstained table you see: a hacksaw, large metal and wooden needles (by the 7th, not lockpicks after all), set of plyers with half a fingernail stuck on them, a morter, a book with unreadable scribles, 3 coins with a dragons head on them.
You pick up one of the dirty coins. Haer. You remember the name of the dragon on the coin. Haer. He is a protector or diety, something like that. You are certain. You instictively pocket the coins.
1)Take a candleholder. Is the upstairs lit? Hard to tell
2)Check the closet you saw. Why a closet in this place?
3)Go upstairs. Enough of this madness, I need to get out
4)Write in
>>46424761
>2)Check the closet you saw. Why a closet in this place?
>>46424761
2)Check the closet you saw. Why a closet in this place?
>>46424761
>2)Check the closet you saw. Why a closet in this place?
If anyone's upstairs, we're going to run into them anyway, and ought to scrounge up the best weapon we can to deal with them as fast as possible. If not, it doesn't really matter if we spend a few extra seconds here.
Remember to take the candleholder after checking the closet.
>>46424825
You take one of the candleholders from the table. What harm would a little more light do in this rotten place?
>2)Check the closet you saw. Why a closet in this place?
You decide to have a better look at the closet you spotted whilst hanging upside down.
As you approach, you can see it's not as much a closet as a cupboard of sorts. You try the doors on it, and as you find out it isn't locked, a pile of clothes and shoes spill out on the floor.
On closer inspection, nearly all of the clothes seem to be fairly small, child sized even.
A small leathershoe with bloodstains on, lands on your boot. You instictively kick it away, and look around
>1) Search the pile of clothes. Who in Haer's name would keep this stuff lying around?
>2) Stay still and listen. Was that a shadow, or is your imagination running wild?
>3)Go up the stairs. You've had enough of this, time to get out!
>4) Write in
>>46424879
>3)Go up the stairs. You've had enough of this, time to get out!
Nothing useful to be had here. Time to be gone.
>>46424879
>3)Go up the stairs. You've had enough of this, time to get out!
>3)Go up the stairs. You've had enough of this, time to get out!
It's dusk or a moonlit night, hard to tell. The hut is small of size, and you can feel the night's breeze coming through the wooden beams.
A hearth is glowing with dying embers, and a kettle of sorts is suspended above. There's no furniture per se, except a wobbly table with what appears to be herbs and spices arranged on top.
A small bed of chicken(?) bones is lying in the far corner. You feel a chill crawl up your spine. You don't remember anything, but this feeling of unease is pure instinct.
The main door is to your left, only a few meters away.
>1) Inspect the bones. Surely they aren't...
>2) Inspect the fireplace. Somehow you know you understand fire well. Maybe you can figure out how long ago it was last tended?
>3) Inspect the table. You don't think you know anything about herbal arts, but maybe there's something useful there.
>4) Write in
>>46425006
>3) Inspect the table. You don't think you know anything about herbal arts, but maybe there's something useful there.
Prioritize potentially useful things.
>>46425006
>2) Inspect the fireplace. Somehow you know you understand fire well. Maybe you can figure out how long ago it was last tended?
>>46425061
>>46425064
Assuming you two are the only ones here right now:
odds - Table
evens - Fireplace
Also, leaving pretyped territory now, so give me a sec to type out.
Rolled 2 (1d2)
>>46425113
Keep typing "roll+1d2" instead of "dice". My bad.
How do I know this? Why am I so familiar around fire?
As you approach the fireplace, you see small pots and kettles stacked nearby, all reeking a fould odor. You kneel down and hold your bloodsoaked hand over the embers.
Roll. Best of 2 since you are 2 players atm.
>>46425198
Die size?
>>46425235
My bad, go for 20
Rolled 6 (1d20)
>>46425251
Rolled 11 (1d20)
>>46425198
You hold your hand over the familiar throbbing heat of embers. You recall.. something, but what?
The fires won't speak to you, it's impossible to tell when this was last tended.
Frustrated with yourself, you angrily get up and knock one of the pots over by your side.
A rotten, sweet smell fills the claustrophobic room. Did..
1) Strain yourself and listen. Impossible to tell when the fire was tended, only Haer knows when the resident of this hellhole will be back
2) Check the table. Surely there must be something?
3) Time to leave, I overstayed my welcome and with the noise I'm making, better to not take any chances
4) Write in
>>46425412
>2) Check the table. Surely there must be something?
A quick glance, a fast grab, and we're gone.
>>46425412
>3) Time to leave, I overstayed my welcome and with the noise I'm making, better to not take any chances
Rolled 2 (1d2)
>>46425450
>>46425586
odds - table
evens - run
The putrid, sweet smell fills the cabin, and almost makes you vomit.
You glance quickly over the cabin: nothing worth risking life for here!
As you move towards the exit, you hear a fluttering of birds in the distance. Unnatural for birds of the night. Your heart is racing, and you rush out the door, half crouched, looking around you:
>1)To your west you hear the sound of running water.
>2)To your north the forest seems to get denser, and the light weaker.
>3)To your east there seem to run a small path or animal trail, hard to tell.
>4)The hut is right behind you.
>>46425656
1) Rivers mean civilisation, and survival.
>>46425656
Move in whichever direction is away from the birds
>>46425734
You can not pinpoint the noise of the fluttering birds. But you are sure you heard them, an umistakeble sound. You realize, with your heart in your throat, that someone or something is coming. It was a matter of time, and you rush towards the sound of the running water.
As you approach the stream, the soil beneath your feet stop gripping to your boots, the air is just a little bit less rotten in the feel.
However, your feeling of unnatural dread remain the same.
Eventually you reach a small stream, a few frogs and toads are by the side of it. You look to the nightsky, and by your judgement, dawn is roughly 2 hours from now.
How would know that? If only you could just remember. The forest seems to be just as dence as by the hut, but the natural bedsoil of the small stream is soft and not reeking.
You realize, standing by the flowing water, you are both famished and parched.
>1) Taste the waters. You need to drink something, or you fear you will simply collapse
>2) Head downstream. Waters mean life, and you need help or you will face this wretched place alone. Not a thought you cherish
>3) Find a nearby place to huddle down and wait for daylight. You can bairly see a thing, even with the Moon gracefully trying to light your way
>4) Write in
>>46425830
>1) Taste the waters. You need to drink something, or you fear you will simply collapse
We really don't want to collapse, and we can't stop to rest for long.
>>46425830
1)Inspect the water before drinking it (we still have out candle right?)
And
2) We need to gtfo and away from this place.
And
4) Take inventory if what we have incase there's something that can jog our memory
>>46425894
In that order
You kneel down to taste the water. Your throught is literally in pain from thirst, and you almost have no choice but to taste the sweet-looking waters.
As you start to kneel, you hear the snap of a branch from the direction of the hut.
You stand up, ready to run, ready to fight.
You stare into the almost pitch blackness of the small trail you came from. An icy touch on your shoulder, and you spin around to face a horridly weatherbeaten, desease ridden face of an old crone.
"Now, see, I needed that vheeskan for my dinner, you know. That was so terribly rude, dog"
The wretched abomination is keeping up with your backtracking at unlikely speed:
>1) The knife! Try to stab her, bring the fiend down
>2) For what you know, you are uninjured, fit and in your prime; run, flee this.. thing
>3)Talk to it, it is clearly able of speech and coherent thought
>4) Write in
>>46426077
>Your throught is literally in pain from thirst
your throat. Quicktype spontanious dyslexia I guess
>>46426077
>1) The knife! Try to stab her, bring the fiend down
lots of typos
>>46426077
>3)Talk to it, it is clearly able of speech and coherent thought
Information is key. We know nothing, and she(it?) knows everything.
>>46426077
1) Stab city baby.
She seems to move too fast to escape and I doubt we can reason with something the wants to eat us.
Rolled 2 (1d2)
>>46426126
>>46426131
I will pay better attention to the typos!
1 = knife
2 = diplomancy
>>46426152
My bad, we have 3 players now, I will give the voting more time at next choicephase.
Typing inc
>>46426179
All good.
Unless we die. Than its not good
As the thing approaches you, you tence your body in fear and defiance. Your right hand clutches against something.
The knife, that blessed, old carving knife you got from the basement! In an act of defiance and self preservation, you tence your body, bend your arm, take a step foward and strike at the old hags neck:
Roll 100 - best of 3
Rolled 55 (1d100)
>>46426273
>inb4 nat 1
DEAD END
Rolled 39 (1d100)
>>46426273
Death lays at the point of my knife
Rolled 95 (1d100)
>>46426273
>>46426360
Damn, nice roll
>>46426360
Without a whisper
>>46426360
As you bring the knife to the hags neck, you feel a familiar force surging through your body. A confidence, a surge of power and purpose.
Your thrust digs the old blade through bone and fiber, nearly severing the beasts head in one strong flowing motion. There's no time for screams of pain and regret.
You tower over the corpse of something that seemed so intimidating before, so dangerous,
You look at your surroundings with more defiance, more confidence. This darkness holds no sway over you.
>1) The stream. I am parched
>2) This ghastly thing must have something of value
>3) Back to the hut. It mentioned something. Something it valued
>4) Write in
-----
Funny, what takes the longest is finding an apt picture for your scenario
>>46426492
>2) This ghastly thing must have something of value
>>46426492
>1) The stream. I am parched
And then we fuck off. Nothing of value to this thing will be anything we want to touch.
>>46426522
>>46426552
d2 rolling in one or two minutes, unless third player gives his choice
Rolled 1 (1d2)
>>46426522
>>46426552
evens = check your kill
odds = test stream
You need to drink. You simply have to, you are feeling weak, dry and spent.
You kneel down by the stream as the first ray of sunlight peaks through the top of the forest.
No foul taste, no putrid smell.
You drink till you are about to burst. You had no idea how thirsty you were till now.
As you catch your breath, you see a glimmer of your reflection by the first rays of sunlight:
Young, fairly handsome, a week worths of beard.
It doesn't ring a bell.
>1) Follow the stream south. Seems as good as any direction
>2) Cross the stream and head into the southern part of the forest. Maybe the light is playing a trick, but that might be a clearing...
>3) Go back to the hut. The.. thing.. is dead, it must be safe now
>4) Write in
>>46426735
>>1) Follow the stream south. Seems as good as any direction
Nope, fuck all this, we're out.
>>46426735
>3) Go back to the hut. The.. thing.. is dead, it must be safe now
I kinda want to figure out why/how we were there
Rolled 2 (1d2)
>>46426755
>>46426788
I assume we're back to 2 players:
1 = South
2 = Hut
>>46426788But what if it has a mate?What if we were its mate?
>>46426816
If we were. Then we're fine.
Duh
>>46426804
I'm back bro
You go back to the hag.
Where the should have been a pool of blood, only a few droops of stinking liquids lay.
You feel the surge of confidence again.
Why were you scared in the first place? Surely this abomination left something of value behind, and you start the trek back to the hut.
You approach your previous house of capture, and in the morning light, you see it's nothing more than a weatherbeaten, ill built hut waiting to collapse.
You go back in through the door, and find yourself overwhelmed by that putrid, rotten-sweet smell you left behind.
1) Check the table. You only glanced over it the last time
2) Check the "bed". Those bones..
3) Got to the basement. I was panicked, I probably missed something
4) Write in
>>46426923
wb mate, we're back in the hut
>>46426933
Start from the basement.
Hopefully there is something of ours somewhere.
>>46426933
1) Check the table. You only glanced over it the last time
Rolled 1 (1d2)
>>46426975
>>46426976
1=basement
2=table
(3rd player?)
Okay, let's go back to where it started, maybe I will remember something..
You go down the stairs, into that humid basement again. Everything is as you left it, except the rope you were hanging from has been tossed aside.
Probably the frustrations of the crone.
>1) Reexamine the workbench. Could I have missed anything?
>2) Search the pile of childrens clothes from the cupboard. Never did do that
>3) Examine the pool of blood beneath the place you were suspended. I wasn't bleeding, whos blood is it?
>4) Write in
Also, gonna end this run soonish.
It's 06 am here, hope you guys understand.
Any feedback is well appreciated, since this was my first go. I know the story was trope as fuck, but I'd rather go with a safe classic to start with, to get a feel for it, than be all elaborate, and fucking up bad.
I personally realized that pretyping is useless, and I would like more pictures to make you guys get a feel for my scenarios.
Let me know what you guys think
>>46427154
You're doing well man, keep it up.
Maybe end it here for now.
It's a good place to reboot it
>>46427248
Cheers man. Might just do a brand new run, now that I have a feel for it. How did you feel for combat vs story? Do I need more rolls to keep the players active? Sort of feel like I do
>>46427282
I'm more in favor of the QM rolling for the majority.
Stops it getting messy.
That's just me though.
>>46427349
Yeah that's a bad idea. Rolling is fun and keeps the players engaged.
>>46427349
Alright, appreciated man. But I learned a lot from this little trope testrun, and thanks for helping with that.
I will use more, both DM and PC rolls, just to keep it active and not so much storytelling, but I reckon its just getting used to it.
>>46427370
That's what I figured. That why I forced the witch thing through, because i realized i hadnt made you guys roll yet
>>46427282
Rolls aren't that important, in my opinion. What you should be doing is not giving us too many choices that don't actually have an effect on the narrative.
I may be mistaken, but I get the impression that there would have been no consequence if we had dawdled and gone through most, if not all, of the options we had at the start. We would simply have come down to more or less the same confrontation, and the same roll.
And yet none of those options really gave a sense that they would matter. For instance, taking the candlestick didn't really need to be its own option - it could have been a yes/no as part of another vote - and it didn't really seem to have any effect on the subsequent story.
I realize I'm waffling quite a bit because I'm rather tired, but my main point is this:
Try not to give decision points that don't have an effect on the overall story. You can give choices where players can pick more than one option; and you can take insignificant choices for granted, writing whatever feels most in-character for what the players have established so far.
You should try to avoid situations where players don't feel like they have much effect on the outcome.
>>46427439
No you're perfectly right in that instance. I basically just filled in the candle option and regretted it when I pressed submit, which is why I just gave you guys the candle afterwards.
But fx. The pile of clothes would have given you a letter with information about the land. The bed of bones would have given you 3 pages from a book you would have rolled to recognize, the table would have given you a key, so on, so on.
I realize that the choices looked like Bohemia Skyrim shit, but I learned from that as well.
What did you think of the writing style though? Tried to go for half way 3rd person narrative, halfway 1st
>>46427529
All part of the learning curve.
>>46427439
>writing whatever feels most in-character for what the players have established so far
This is good, thanks man, will take that to heart
>>46427529
>Tried to go for half way 3rd person narrative, halfway 1st
Honestly not something I would encourage. Try to stick to one or the other, if only because it's grammatically correct.
One more thing which leads on from my previous point is this:
As I said, every option should advance the narrative in some way. As such(with the exception of a telegraphed timeskip)there should almost never be a situation where you offer a two options, one of which leads to some payoff while the other is just filler which leads to nothing.
As something of an example, earlier we, though rolls or deliberate action, elected not to stop and listen at any of the points where we could have - despite it recurring continually. If there was no consequence to choosing or not choosing that option, it probably shouldn't have been there in the first place.
>>46427805
That is true. If you had chosen the listen option though, you would have recovered a memory, due to a coin you would have discovered. But yeah, I completely see what you mean.
At the end, I was feeling like a Bethesda developer, because I felt the options I gave you were so concrete. It's well appreciated man, I hope you stumble over my next run.
