Ship of Fools: Developer's Diary 2

Hello, fellow Rooks!

Andy Law here to welcome you to the second of our Developer Diaries for Ship of Fools. The first can be found here. I'm writing this a little later than expected due to yet more health complications. #NotFun I'm now on antibiotics and receiving a lot of sympathy from my family, which is lovely. Even if they are laughing at me as I wince my way through the house. I have to admit I do look rather amusing.

Aaaaaanyway, let's put that aside!

As mentioned in the last blog, in preparation for the release of Ship of Fools, we're running a series of developer diaries inviting you Inside the Rookery to discuss the realities of finishing the adventure.

Today, let's take a look at one more NPC that has been significantly expanded for the final version.

However, before I do that, let me reiterate the request I made in Blog 1. This series of developer diaries is just as much about you as it is about us, so if you have anything Ship of Fools related you'd like to see us discuss, post them here or in the #itr-rookery channel on Discord. I'm keen that we discuss the questions or concerns that you may have. So, please, don't hesitate to drop us a message.

So, with that in mind: do you have any burning questions you'd like us to cover about Ship of Fools?

Also, like last time, this diary entry will go to patrons first. It will go public two weeks later.

So, let's take a look at...

A Dwarf Priestess.

INTRODUCING...

In the playtest version of Ship of Fools, Plot 2, A Matter of Faith, had a group of NPCs called 'Old Reekie Fanatics'. 

There were four of them, named 'Agata, Rakel, Ugo, and Xanthe', but beyond that, they had little in the way of description or detail. They were primarily there to service Plot 2 and cause issues for the core NPC there.

After the playtest, we gathered everyone's ideas and reworked not only the NPCs involved but the entire plotline. And I rather love where it's landed.

All of the Old Reekie Fanatics have been significantly expanded. Agata now has a full character description and all of her followers have distinct personalities. Further, the River God fanatics have more to do during the course of the adventure and have clearer motivations, which should make it easier to run them as a GM.

Agata, in particular, has an axe to grind. I shan't say why, but as is often the case with fanatics, it's a horrific and grim tale...

So, who is Agata Grindola?

Agata Grindola is a Dwarf Priestess of a River God called 'Old Reekie'. Of course, for your campaigns, you can have her worship any water-based god in your setting of choice, but our version of her is devoted to an old god with old concerns.

She's a known fanatic and has been the source of many different troubles up and down the rivers for many decades.

Now she's boarded the Ship of Fools. And she has a plan. But, when she sees who is also on the ship, her plans adapt...

In the finished Ship of Fools, Agata is central to Plot 3, which, for those of you who were in the playtest, is still called A Matter of Faith. Like all the plotlines, it's entirely optional, so can be used or not according to your preferences.

What else would you like to know?

How about answering a different question?

Sure. What do you have in mind?

Well...

Roderick asks: more insight into them there tools, please!
Longshadow Games adds: oh yes please, more about narrative tools!

Ah, so the narrative tools I mentioned in the last blog post, yes? 

Sure, let's take a quick dive into that.

One of the core design goals of Ship of Fools was to present an adventure that was not just one-and-done. By that, I mean that we wanted to make sure the book had utility long after you'd played the adventure for the first or even fifth time.

One of the ways we did this was to fully detail the Ship itself so it could be used and reused, and we also provided some extra ways to present the ship.

Another was to add The Ship of Tools.

The Ship of Tools is a collection of seven 'tools' you can use to expand any adventure. Each presents a different way a standard adventure can be embellished by a GM and then provides an example of how to do using the Ship of Fools.

The tools included are:

1) Prologues
2) Missions
3) Side Adventures
4) Side Quests
5) Flashbacks
6) Shared Narratives
7) Epilogues

Each of these are discussed and, as mentioned, a full example is provided. Should you decide to use them all, The Ship of Fools becomes quite the epic! Or you could use them to embellish any other adventure you playing.

The Ship of Tools is a part of the book's appendices, which also includes the Handouts, ways to Reuse the Evien (the Evien is now the name of the ship - for reasons!), some handy Adventure References, three Alternative Endings (all of which can be combined!), and more.

Is that enough on that, or would you like to know more?