*SPOILERS* #81 The One Who Watches..- Advice and Experiences

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CptMuffincubes
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*SPOILERS* #81 The One Who Watches..- Advice and Experiences

Post by CptMuffincubes »

Howdy,

I'm new to DCC and plan to get a campaign rolling this year. I'm fairly new to old school roleplaying but I'm running my players through BX versions of N1, L1, and U1. I read about some of the "best" DCC modules out there and #81 was talked about quite a bit.

Judges that have ran this quest (and I suppose players that have experienced the curse)...how have you handled the curse? How have your players creatively handled the situation? After a few readings of the curse mechanics, I fail to see how it mechanically translates into a sustainably fun time. On a straight read, it sounds like the player is going to wear an eye-hole mask and then make funny eyeball gestures the entire session. This is a funny gimmick at first, but is it sustainable for multiple sessions?

How is someone supposed to communicate "I stick my eyes onto that monsters head and try and control his brain," or "I stick my eyes to the [ceiling, floor, door, wall, etc.]," with just their eyes?
That leads to another issue I can see. How is a player supposed to discover their powers through play if they can't easily communicate where they're going to move their eyes?

My intuition says to give the player some paper cut-out eyes that are glued on the end of a stick and have them use that for their movement. They could use the eye mask for "communicating" and then wave their funny eyeball wand around for movement. With a little contextual explanation at the table, that could work, I guess. I just feel that since the curse lacks some solid examples of play, I am at a loss as to how to run it.

I'm interested to hear experiences from other games. I don't have anyone at hand to chat about this with so I'm looking to the community! Thanks.
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Raven_Crowking
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Re: *SPOILERS* #81 The One Who Watches..- Advice and Experie

Post by Raven_Crowking »

I let them say where they wanted to go physically, but not why. Communication with other players was through the eye-screen only. The player can tell the judge they want to take control of a body....but that's it. Not why, or what they mean their eye rolls to communicate.

I ran this for kids. The curse was so much fun that most of them tried it. Then the laser harpies came and they all died.
SoBH pbp:

Cathbad the Meek (herbalist Wizard 1): AC 9; 4 hp; S 7, A 7, St 10, P 17, I 13, L 8; Neutral; Club, herbs, 50' rope, 50 cp; -1 to melee attack rolls. Hideous scar.
CptMuffincubes
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Re: *SPOILERS* #81 The One Who Watches..- Advice and Experie

Post by CptMuffincubes »

Raven_Crowking wrote:I let them say where they wanted to go physically, but not why. Communication with other players was through the eye-screen only. The player can tell the judge they want to take control of a body....but that's it. Not why, or what they mean their eye rolls to communicate.

I ran this for kids. The curse was so much fun that most of them tried it. Then the laser harpies came and they all died.
Speaking to the just is allowable but not speaking to the players. That seems doable.
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Raven_Crowking
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Re: *SPOILERS* #81 The One Who Watches..- Advice and Experie

Post by Raven_Crowking »

CptMuffincubes wrote:Speaking to the just is allowable but not speaking to the players. That seems doable.
Just make sure that they understand that they are not allowed to "speak to the judge" in order to impart information to the other characters. Aggressively taking points of Luck for each transgression works wonders.
SoBH pbp:

Cathbad the Meek (herbalist Wizard 1): AC 9; 4 hp; S 7, A 7, St 10, P 17, I 13, L 8; Neutral; Club, herbs, 50' rope, 50 cp; -1 to melee attack rolls. Hideous scar.
CptMuffincubes
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Re: *SPOILERS* #81 The One Who Watches..- Advice and Experie

Post by CptMuffincubes »

Do you think it is a good idea to blatantly explain what powers the eyeballs have to the cursed player? Such as controlling creatures? Or how could they discover that during play...
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Raven_Crowking
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Re: *SPOILERS* #81 The One Who Watches..- Advice and Experie

Post by Raven_Crowking »

CptMuffincubes wrote:Do you think it is a good idea to blatantly explain what powers the eyeballs have to the cursed player? Such as controlling creatures? Or how could they discover that during play...
There are a lot of creatures with eyeballs riding around on them in the adventure. Keep letting the players see these, and see the eyeballs scatter after the monsters are dead. The players should be able to draw some conclusions from that.

Once a PC has its eyes on a creature, you can explain that they feel like they could control it, but the creature's waking mind resists.....

Basically, string along clues until they figure it out.
SoBH pbp:

Cathbad the Meek (herbalist Wizard 1): AC 9; 4 hp; S 7, A 7, St 10, P 17, I 13, L 8; Neutral; Club, herbs, 50' rope, 50 cp; -1 to melee attack rolls. Hideous scar.
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Re: *SPOILERS* #81 The One Who Watches..- Advice and Experie

Post by Deronius »

I have a related question. The curse rules state:

'Eyes can move onto any unintelligent creature that is unconscious, pinned, or otherwise restrained using an action die.'

However the description for the Spying eyes says:

'The eyes can also dominate characters with an opposed Will save. On a failed save, the target falls under the control of the spying eyes (target gets a Will save every hour). For more information about this power, see the “Curse of the Emerald Eye” section.'

The way I understand that is that the Spying eyes don't have the same restriction (target having to be unconscious, pinned, or restrained) as those players with the curse. Is that how others understand it?
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Re: *SPOILERS* #81 The One Who Watches..- Advice and Experie

Post by GnomeBoy »

Deronius wrote:I have a related question. The curse rules state:

'Eyes can move onto any unintelligent creature that is unconscious, pinned, or otherwise restrained using an action die.'

However the description for the Spying eyes says:

'The eyes can also dominate characters with an opposed Will save. On a failed save, the target falls under the control of the spying eyes (target gets a Will save every hour). For more information about this power, see the “Curse of the Emerald Eye” section.'

The way I understand that is that the Spying eyes don't have the same restriction (target having to be unconscious, pinned, or restrained) as those players with the curse. Is that how others understand it?
Or else, PCs get a Save -- others don't.
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