I'm happy with how things have gone, and where we're at, just conscious of the skills I am trying to build, and the places where I can improve. I hope that these threads are illustrative of the game, and the process of MCing it, even as it is through the lens of someone who is learning as they go

I've also been trying (and often failing) to do broader descriptions of people, places, the weather, the moment in which events are taking place... I'm not used to needing to do so, and so I just forget. When I actually do it, I am pretty happy with the results, but I need to reinforce the habit

and my players might be pushing their characters and their stories quite hard. I'm not sure. As I'm sure I have said before, I'm not especially confident in the MC/GM role, so I second guess a bit about these matters of pacing, stakes, and escalation.

I think if I were a bit more on top of things as the MC, we probably could have/should have already been in winter by now. It might have been good to have more less eventful seasons, rather than these very busy and dramatic ones that keep happening. I might be a little quick to escalate...

but some examples and ready-made pieces won't hinder that in any way, and can act as a bridge for less experienced or confident MCs.

Like mantles, they'll probably be positioned as ready made examples, usable if you want to take them, and they fit your game, but also templates for you to make your own things. People are capable of making their own things without our invitation, sure...

It's deliberately left open for the MC's expressivity and narrative flourish. Luke and I are talking about building some playsheets of Terrible things, that come with some mechanics and moves of their own, but I don't think that will fundamentally change the nature of it.

and I think I'll make a point of saying some of that explicity to the other players at the start of the session, just to calibrate expectations and such. It'll be a good reminder for them and myself. Didn't take too long to summarize, but I spent a lot of time mulling Something Terrible this week

I'm conscious of the fact that this could all be series ending/culminating stuff, or maybe a sort of mid-series climax. Further escalation is going to push things beyond the scope of the game, so I need to act as though we are hitting the ceiling on threat levels, stakes, etc.

I already have Emeric's patrol written up, so they're ready to go if there's a battle or whatever. We're likely to resolve season goals next session, so I plan to declare that autumn will end next session (likely at the end of session, since we're doing big climax stuff)

Lastly I decided on 3 harm and 2 armour for the Nyxie, though trolls can have as much as 4 or even 5 harm, and 3 armour, with further bonuses from their size and scale as appropriate. Trolls are real scary!

If Fausta tries to make a weapon from the Nyxie iron she got, well that won't work. She should have stuck to her old ways. Besides, thanks to Faustas actions, the Nyxie also has a 7th harm line "Though dead, I live." as it was worked into Wynda's big ritual as the 13th chosen

I went with: Its flesh mends by night, no matter the wounds it suffers, with the caveat of only so long as it is submerged in water. It moves light on its feet despite its size and bulk. and one of my own creation: It distills metal in its guts, and any metal it has spun cannot harm it.

For the Nyxie's hunger and hate, I wrote up a variation on one of the stock answers: It takes children and secrets them away in its lair forevermore. I had fun thinking of what that looks like, and hopefully I'll get a chance to describe it... I then picked some powers...

Since the Nyxie is getting active, I needed to make a few choices for it as well. There's a playsheet with picklists and such for trolls, and I worked off of that. I already had its threat info, so I built on that to fill in the playsheet...

I'm still a bit undecided on this one. It's such a big swing, that I feel I need to really make it feel special, so I'm probably overthinking it. The direct thing is probably best, as it follows from the fiction so far, and makes sense.

In terms of Something Terrible: The most direct thought I had was the river drying up, as embodied by the throat of the mountain somehow drinking the river entire. Maybe this would also feature an earthquake or volcanic event that materially justifies the change.

So it's even bigger than the Nyxie, our troll, which by the way is going to kill Fausta's parents and steal her brother because Fausta's player chose a right that refrences her murdered parents right before skipping town, which is an opportunity on a silver platter for me...

Something Terrible is not a strictly defined thing, it's something I need to figure out as the MC. There's some broad guidance, it's like a plague, an earthquake, a wildfire. Natural disaster scaled/themed, but maybe additionally a dragon or something like that embodying that disaster

So things are gonna get really violent and messy next session, as far as I can tell. I need to be ready for the possibility that Octavia kills Kelsi as an offering to the throat of the mountain, which as established previously with Raginmund will Awaken Something Terrible...