Hello all,
Today we are chatting with Alex again to hear about how the Horus Heresy narrative event went at LVO. As we discussed in our previous article this is one of the first narrative events for the new system so let’s see how it turned out!
1. So how did the story wrap up? What was the epic conclusion?
This chapter evolved from the Traitors making initial beach-heads on day 1 and pulling out ahead of the Loyalists. This gave the Traitors a slight edge for day 2; but without the titan support seen from the Titanicus event, the Traitors lost that lead to the Loyalists. That lead us into day 3 – the mega battle – where Loyalist forces were reinforced with and Imperator Titan before a small group of Custodians, Imperial Fists, and Iron Hands managed to board and take control of a Word Bearers ship in orbit. We had this ship represented by a 12×4 zone mortalis table that the Loyalist boarding party then crashed into the planet. This gave us a great capstone to the Assault on Rioh Prime that will bridge the story into next year’s campaign.
2. In your opinion what was the best moment of the event (ie. Epic save roll, narrative moment, etc
I would say it would have to be the Loyalist boarding party crashing the ship into the planet. This has effectively represented the grounding of forces on the planet and ensures continued fighting on Rioh Prime next year.
3. Reflecting back on the day, what things went better than you had hoped?
We introduced a Remembrancer mechanic that allowed players to use the free Remembrancer model we provided to create war propaganda and influence their side towards victory in the campaign. We had a few players paint theirs up between day 1 and day 2 and a couple of Traitors really hung their hat on the mechanic scoring most of their points through propaganda.
4. Is there anything you would want to change moving forward? Were you happy with your narrative adaptations?
I always try to keep the story moving, almost like a large RPG campaign, for the LVO Narrative Experiences instead of locking myself to one self contained story. While that had traditionally been my methodology, there’s only so many times you can write a campaign of “land on the planet, fight it out, leave” and still have it be unique. So I’m excited about the potential for this new direction.
5 What surprised you about the event (positively or negatively?)
How readily players embraced the empowerment provided to them. The Remembrancer mechanic had me initially concerned – along with the Loyalist/Traitor specific secondaries – but in making none of those mechanics mandatory I think player’s enjoyed their ability to select their objectives and take as much as they want from the experience.
6. What advice do you have for other players looking to run their own narrative events?
If you have a unique idea or mechanic, don’t be afraid to lean into it. Especially if you have a basis in the lore (i.e. the Remembrancer Corps). Players will follow your enthusiasm and as long as you don’t make a mechanic rigid, you can help players who are new to narrative gameplay adjust at their pace. Also, when designing a narrative try to remember it’s about the story – but I would argue it is more about the player’s stories than yours.
Wow thanks for the input Alex. It sounds like this was an amazing event and I loved the idea of a remeberancer mechanic. Very fluffy and thematic! I look forward to your future events!
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