Exciting Announcement for V30!

Exciting Announcement for V30! 4 days 12 hours ago #1

CPN
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This weekend's VTD adventure, Ymir's Icy Maw, marks the conclusion of our spring trilogy of VTD events, and I'm excited to announce that we will also be allowing our players to make a story decision for an NPC that will appear in this month's adventure! This is our first attempt at incorporating some sort of "living campaign" aspect into a year's VTD storyline. Depending on how this weekend goes, this type of player impact may be incorporated into more virtual events going forward. At this time there are no plans to incorporate something like this into in-person events.

How It's Going to Work
There is an NPC who appears in one of the rooms of this dungeon whose fate is currently undecided. We have written four different outcomes for them which have been sealed away in envelopes labeled #1 through #4. Throughout the weekend, we will collect data from each completed run, and at the conclusion of the weekend that data will determine which envelope we open on Monday to announce the NPC's fate.

So, what data will we be looking at?
- whether groups choose PUZZLE or COMBAT when presented with the option (which may or may not be in the room with the NPC in question)
- whether the majority of groups SURVIVE the dungeon or DO NOT survive the dungeon

What does this mean for the room the NPC is in?
Honestly, not as much as you might think. Normally, at the end of a room we have NPCs bid the players farewell with a short speech that might give them a small idea of how the NPC's life continues. In this room once the players have either Succeeded or Failed at their set task, the scene will simply fade to black, allowing the NPC's fate to remain ambiguous until we announce it after the event. The DM has a short few sentences of narration to read to the players after the fade-out before they proceed to the next part of the adventure.

How will the final fate of this NPC be announced?
We'll be sending out an email to all V30 ticket holders on Monday as well as posting the tale to our social media channels and this thread here on the forums. The announcement will include what happens to the NPC at the end of this weekend's adventure, but if the result is one of the options for the NPC to return it may not be clear whether they are friend or foe until you see them again.

What happens to the NPC futures that aren't chosen?
Scroll Fireball?

They'll be filed away in case we decide to reveal their contents later.

I hope you all enjoy this small attempt to let our players have a hand in determining the direction of our virtual storylines. It's not much to start with, but every little step forward is progress worth making. Feel free to leave any questions you might have here and I will answer them as quickly as I can. I'll also be sure to edit this main post so all the questions and answers are at the top of the thread.

Friday Night Results
4 / 20 runs chose PUZZLE
16 / 20 runs chose COMBAT
6 / 20 parties FAILED to achieve Survivor status
14 / 20 parties SUCCEEDED in achieving Survivor status

Saturday Night Results
10/40 runs were not played
22/40 runs chose PUZZLE
8/40 runs chose COMBAT
7/40 runs FAILED to achieve survivor status
23/40 runs SUCCEEDED in achieving survivor status

Sunday Night Results
12/40 runs chose PUZZLE
28/40 runs chose COMBAT
9/40 runs FAILED to achieve survivor status
31/40 runs SUCCEEDED in achieving survivor status

Final Totals
10/100 scheduled runs for this weekend were not played.
38/100 runs chose PUZZLE.
52/100 runs chose COMBAT.
22/100 runs FAILED to achieve Survivor status.
68/100 runs SUCCEEDED in achieving Survivor status.

RESULT #4 has won!

Gunhild Helsdottir stumbles back, one hand pressed to the arrow wound in her chest as she gasps for breath. All around you, the very stones within Ymir’s Icy Maw begin to tremble. Shadows gather all around her as veins of Darkrift energy sprinkled throughout the icy walls begin to glow.

“You… wretched—” Gunhild stutters and then gasps. She falls to her knees, whatever insult she’d conjured dying on her lips. The veins of power in the walls begin to shrink, the energy within them being drawn to the shadow sorceress now kneeling in the middle of the floor.
Slowly, a sound rises up from Gunhild’s throat. It takes you a moment to realize that she is laughing.

“You fools…” she forces the words out between one breath and the next. When she lifts her head to look up at your party her eyes are crazed. “With the last Ironboot dead, my cage is open. The shadows call me home. In their embrace, I will recover, and when I do, I will have my revenge.”

A directionless wind roars through the chamber, stinging your skin with its ferocity. Gunhild howls with laughter as the shadows close in, enveloping her completely in a blanket of darkness. Your party huddles close as the maelstrom of evil energies surges all around you. Finally, the uproar dissipates, leaving a terrible silence in its wake.

When you look up, Gunhild is gone. Her staff lies broken and charred upon the ground. You sense that wherever she has gone, it may no longer be on this plane.

Gunhild Helsdottir will return… and she won’t go easy on you next time…

Caitlin, shortened to CPN
Minion of the Lorigorgon

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Last edit: by CPN. Reason: Added Friday night results to top of thread.