Chronicle Types


What sort of Scenario do you want to run, and your players want to play?

While it's not fair to pigeonhole a wide array of games into a few categories - and some categories may overlap quite a bit - there are some choices that are more obvious than others for an Endgame Chronicle.

 

Adventure:

Why wait for The End to come and pick your characters off? Get off your ass, grab your swords and go do something about it!

Adventures work on the notion that Oblivion can be outfought, or outwitted, or outrun. Maybe there's some way the Wraiths can stop what's happening, if only they can scramble across the Deadlands and boot some ass. Maybe they have to go rescue someone who can save things for them, so long as they can get there and back. Maybe it falls to them to stand against the second black charge of Diké, or keep the Labyrinth's forces busy just long enough for something important to happen.

If your players liked Last Danse Macabre from Ends of Empire, with its Shadowlands-spanning narrative and high amount of action, then you could come up with a two-fisted tale for their amusement. Just be sure to keep the danger real and the stakes clearly high, so there's no mistaking this for anything other than an Oblivion Chronicle.

 

Defiance:

A Chronicle based on defying Oblivion can have as much boot-to-ass action as an Adventure, except that instead of going somewhere to seek something or someone, your Wraiths are staying put. Such a Scenario may or may not include the chance of The End being averted, but players who enjoy strategy over action may find this both appealing intriguing.

Maybe the Circle has to manage the defenses of a Necropolis under siege, within and without. Or maybe they have to hunker down in a Haunt, along with Wraiths they don't know - or don't care for - and hold out until whatever's going on outside blows over {or doesn't}. Either way, they'll have to adapt to the sudden tactical changes of a wily enemy, and marshal everyone's resources in order to persevere, or at least hold out for as long as possible.

If your players are intrigued by such historical episodes as the siege of Masada, Jerusalem or Troy, then a Defiance Chronicle might be the way to go.

 

Intrigue:

This sort of Scenario can make a good Chronicle for those who prefer Politics to fisticuffs, and would rather employ their Backgrounds than get their own hands dirty. As with the Defiance Scenario, strategy is a must, but the battlefields are the backrooms and council chambers of Wraithly society, and their ability to gain followers - or take away those of others - will be of paramount importance.

Maybe the Guilds, or what's left of the Hierarchy, are being hampered in their attempts to unify the Necropoli due to their own differences. Maybe they're being manipulated by traitors, or Dopplegangers. Maybe the secret to saving the Underworld lies in someone's hands, and they have to figure out whose, and convince that person to share.

If your players tend to have their characters survive by wits and graces, and would be sorely trounced if they had to enter mass combat with the forces of the Labyrinth, they should enjoy this sort of game.

 

Personal:

So what do you do if your players don't like adventure, strategy or intrigue, or you all want to do something a little more "meaningful" if it's all going to come down? In that case, you could try the Personal Scenario, where the true meat of the conflict comes from the characters looking after their Fetters and following their Passions one last time, trying to save them from what's to come, or else Resolve them before it's too late.

For some, this may be the very heart of Wraith: the Oblivion. What will you do about your teenage niece, who could be doomed to die if Oblivion isn't stopped, somehow? How about that statue you worked on in the city square, now in serious danger of being uprooted without you to protect it? And how can you finally champion the rights of the city's poor when you're only a few days away from being eaten by the Darkness?

Wraiths will have to decide what's really important to them, and what lengths they'll go to in order to safeguard it as best they can when they're gone. Alternatively, the urge to protect their Fetters and fulfill their Passions may lead them to make strange bargains with unsavory types, or crawl to the heart of the Labyrinth - risking the supreme sacrifice - in order to try and stop what's coming.

{The difference between the Adventure and the Personal, then, is that the Personal weighs heavy on the side of what's at stake, and makes it clear there is probably nothing that can be done to save the Wraiths, while Adventure posits a chance - however slim - to beat some spectre ass and save the Underworld.}

 

Psychodrama:

Out of all the options, the psychodrama may provide the most hard-hitting experience of all. It could start out like any of the others, except that at some point all options are cut off, and Oblivion swamps them all. And right about then is when things get more than a little bizarre...

If the Personal Scenario has the characters dealing with their own loose ends in the face of almost-certain extermination, then a Psychodrama picks up the pieces of their own minds and uses it against them, one last time. It could be a final group Harrowing as the characters try to prove they have a reason to exist, or perhaps it's as gentle an easing into the beyond as Oblivion is willing to give. Either way, surreality rules, and the psychology of the characters is what will determine their success, failure, or final understanding of what it all means.

If your players like the surreal and threatening mindgames of a Harrowing, or want to experience some really messed-up stories {imagine having David Lynch as a Storyteller} then a Psychodrama might be the way to go.


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