Hi everyone

Disclaimer

i ask for some suggestion about the last part of Chronicle of Gatekeeper adventure , so it's a big, really big

SPOILER

about the adventure and its end.

So it's a post intended only for GM, or for who already played the game

The problem

Reading the book i see there is a major flaw about the NPC know as "The Hermit". As usual, the PC are very suspectfoul and they already think Warde is not dead, so facing the hermit they probably will jump to the right conclusion that they are the same person. Even pointing out to the apparent very old age of the hermit, putting him in very different light (ie making him beg to be spared by Onrein Hasar/the NPC who are following the PC), or playing him like a crazy old one, they will think he's Warde and sure will raise suspect about him.

I read some people will use a Ghostly Sith Vision in lieu of the hermit, to guide the PC in the sith tomb; i was thinking more about using a different NPC like an alien (a nemoidian, for example, or someone clearly not Warde) or an half reprogrammed droid.
Or, better, a different NPC who they think is Warde, but is a different guy, more like a real crazy hermit...

What do you think about?
do you have some suggestion/advise?
when you played it, did you/your GM used the "standard" Hermit or a different solution? wich one?

Thank you for your help

1 hour ago, kelpie said:

Hi everyone

Disclaimer

i ask for some suggestion about the last part of Chronicle of Gatekeeper adventure , so it's a big, really big

SPOILER

about the adventure and its end.

So it's a post intended only for GM, or for who already played the game

The problem

Reading the book i see there is a major flaw about the NPC know as "The Hermit". As usual, the PC are very suspectfoul and they already think Warde is not dead, so facing the hermit they probably will jump to the right conclusion that they are the same person. Even pointing out to the apparent very old age of the hermit, putting him in very different light (ie making him beg to be spared by Onrein Hasar/the NPC who are following the PC), or playing him like a crazy old one, they will think he's Warde and sure will raise suspect about him.

I read some people will use a Ghostly Sith Vision in lieu of the hermit, to guide the PC in the sith tomb; i was thinking more about using a different NPC like an alien (a nemoidian, for example, or someone clearly not Warde) or an half reprogrammed droid.
Or, better, a different NPC who they think is Warde, but is a different guy, more like a real crazy hermit...

What do you think about?
do you have some suggestion/advise?
when you played it, did you/your GM used the "standard" Hermit or a different solution? wich one?

Thank you for your help

It doesn't matter if they identify Warde before the big reveal. He is going to reveal himself anyway. So unless they jump on him and try to kill immediatly, follow the adventure and Warde will lead them to the temple, with the excuse of giving them the crystal, and fight the group.

When I got there in playtest, my players did try to save him. This is the behavior that players should be seeking to emulate, as prodded by the conflict system.

Make a point to remind players that attacking someone unprovoked causes major conflict; if they kill the person in such a fight, it's a pile-o-conflict - 10 for the murder, and more for violence first, and giving in to fear/anger.

An alternate version to consider :

The hermit isn't Suljo; it's his former padawan, gone mad, who THINKS he's one with his master... and when the players arrive at the temple, they get a double dose... Suljo Warde and his faithful ex-padawan, Yrgnad Nag-Nouy (same as Suljo, except WT15, ST15, Willpower 3, FR 3, and adversary 1.

I've considered making the Suljo Warde of the holocron a different species or gender from the Suljo Warde on Moraband. The holocron is just an electronic device, and it could have become corrupted, or Warde could have intentionally masked his true appearance.

I also was doubting that a Hermit would fool my players so I wanted a better alibi for Warde. A way to make him seem weak and not a threat but also could be of assistance to the players.

Instead of a Hermit, I had Warde take the place of a crew member on a crashed ship outside of the Valley of the Dark Lords. Warde said he was part of an expedition to find the Sith Tombs and knew alot about them. He was found wearing a flight suit like the others (who were dead) who were in the cockpit and I purposely only described his clothes to hide his identity better. They "revived" him with some water and he offered to help them find the person they were looking for.

Of course I had it "end" not in his home but a Sith tomb where they fought a Sith Ghost. After its defeat, Warde revealed himself and fought the group.

12 hours ago, killerbeardhawk said:

I also was doubting that a Hermit would fool my players so I wanted a better alibi for Warde. A way to make him seem weak and not a threat but also could be of assistance to the players.

Instead of a Hermit, I had Warde take the place of a crew member on a crashed ship outside of the Valley of the Dark Lords. Warde said he was part of an expedition to find the Sith Tombs and knew alot about them. He was found wearing a flight suit like the others (who were dead) who were in the cockpit and I purposely only described his clothes to hide his identity better. They "revived" him with some water and he offered to help them find the person they were looking for.

I like this idea, i think i'll borrow it

Of course, they probably will end up suspecting this "lone survivor" is Warde, but a suspicion is ok, they will probably follow him.
I can also use an hermit/padawan who think he's Warde, just to throw them more suspicion

(as a side note: one of the Jedi has a Sense power who let him try reading the mind of the "lone survivor" or "the wanderer"; of cours i can add some difficulties arguing is Moraband's influence, but this will surely throw in suspicion... why a lone survivor has so much Discipline to resist mind reading? i think suspicion is part of the game, and conflict-wise it could be worse to having a not proven suspicion than have just knowing... right?)

18 hours ago, kelpie said:

I like this idea, i think i'll borrow it

Of course, they probably will end up suspecting this "lone survivor" is Warde, but a suspicion is ok, they will probably follow him.
I can also use an hermit/padawan who think he's Warde, just to throw them more suspicion

(as a side note: one of the Jedi has a Sense power who let him try reading the mind of the "lone survivor" or "the wanderer"; of cours i can add some difficulties arguing is Moraband's influence, but this will surely throw in suspicion... why a lone survivor has so much Discipline to resist mind reading? i think suspicion is part of the game, and conflict-wise it could be worse to having a not proven suspicion than have just knowing... right?)

It's only his current thoughts, just say something about the excitement of having help in the Valley of the Sith Lords.

Aye and being a Jedi himself he would be aware of sense, and would purposely think away, only had an ominous tone to it, that something about his frame of mind seems off, something he isn't aware of.

Ok they played it

i used a mirialan hermit/crazy wanderer who pointed them to the "tomb of suljo warde where the ghost speak to him".
and a crash survivor who's actually the real suljo warde

they trusted the survivor (his crashed ship crashed after the end of clone wars, as they saw on the ship journal) and followed the hermit. Then they where attacked by the real suljo warde and discovered the hermit is the real crash survivor, made crazy by moraban, suljo warde, or both. They tried only to read mind of the crazy one and he's crazy, you know, so they read gibbersih and fooliness...

Problema arise in the first round of fight, where the Sith one-shotted one of the PC throwing him a sil2 head of statue. And being oneshotted from the Jedi PC with the rest of the statue...
Less epic fight EVER...

(i should ask for some advise about that... in a new topic ...)

21 hours ago, kelpie said:

Problema arise in the first round of fight, where the Sith one-shotted one of the PC throwing him a sil2 head of statue. And being oneshotted from the Jedi PC with the rest of the statue...
Less epic fight EVER...

I think we topped this overkill by actually dealing 120 or so damage to the former Jedi Master with our quad-laser cannon turret, while Suljo Warde was chasing the nearly dead jedi PC who went into the temple alone to face him. The jedi was basically the only one who did not want to fry the hermit on the spot, so the rest of the group agreed to let the Jedi talk to Warde first. Turned out, there was not much talking and Warde's lightsaber skills were pretty decent and his ranks in parry superior to the ones of our jedi.

So the final scene was basically a jedi force jumping into the cargo hold of a hovering VCX-100 and the fallen Jedi Master getting hit from turret fire when trying to follow. Fitting end for the crazy Warde.

Still, knowing that the Hermit is most likely Warde did not create any problems at all. Quite the opposite actually, it allowed the group to send in just one man to try to talk.