Re: [DL] Hunting Grounds

[Brett Dixon <balance@tubas.net>]

On Thursday, October 17, 2002, at 04:13  AM, Reemull wrote:

> Hi all
>
> A quick question. My posse are about to take an extended wander into
> the hunting grounds, and I'm not completely sure how to handle it in
> order to get across the strangeness and weirdness of it all. I was just
> wondering of anyone else had stuck their posse in the hunting grounds
> and how they managed to convey the whole atmosphere of the place.

A suggestion from PEG is to use it as an excuse for a one-shot of 
whatever RPG you've been wanting to try. If my posse ever tries a major 
hunting-grounds trip, say one of the ones betweens ettings, they may 
end up playing a hasty d20 conversion of the 'Dream' sequence from the 
Dragonlance Chronicles adventures, with levels given out based on how 
well they make a fantasy d20 equivilent of their character.

But basically, abuse the players. hard. And taking more than personal 
possessions seems to be a no-no.

Another example would be the way the GM for the Werewolf game I'm in 
handled the totem test for the pack (read: posse). We had some very 
vague warnings as we entered a world where a lot of the things we take 
for granted in reality broke down.. Cause and effect, basic physics, 
etc. Everything, in some way, had a meaning. In this case, out 
characters were choosing a spirit to represent the attitude of the 
group, so our actions in various moral situations (think of the dream 
example from Book O' the Dead) steered our choice.

Have fun, and play fast and loose with the rules if it makes sense for 
the story, especially here. Spirit worlds tend to be portrayed as both 
incredibly literal and extremely metaphorical: "death valley" may 
actually require death be used to buy passage, whereas the the 
symbolism of crossing a bridge may come back to haunt the players...

Oh... one of those 'dream symbolism' books might come in handy, too.