GM’s Notes

The Jade Princess

The Jade Princess herself can be treated in one of two ways: as a PC or as an NPC. If you favour running a tightly-plotted game where you have a lot of control over the direction the plot takes, making her a NPC will let you direct the game without having to railroad the players too much. If you prefer a more freewheeling style, let one of the players take on her role.

If you do let a player loose in the role, have a longish talk with them after character generation to negotiate some ideas about what the princess herself is like and what she wants. If you give the princess to a very proactive, dynamic player, you’ll rarely be short of plots because the other players will be chasing around in the princess’ wake all the time. On the other hand, if you give the princess to a quiet player who has difficulty getting involved, you ensure that they have to get dragged in a because most of the plots are going to centre around the princess. You know your group better than we do, so you decide. You can always put it to a vote of your players.

The Jade Princess is treated as a character like any other, including her Imperial Favour- if she has a very high Imperial Favour, she gets more say in who she marries.

Dippy GM’s

There are develop at start and develop in play GM’s as well- some people spend hours before each session detailing every room of every building the characters might visit, where others run a whole evening’s play with a few scribbled notes.

Jade Princess is probably more natural for develop in play GM’s. If you prefer to develop everything before play begins, here’s a tip- play doesn’t officially start until session four. The first three session are character generation, a prequel to the main event, and will probably go a lot slower than following sessions because everyone will be defining their characters’ assets and shortcomings. Make sure those first three sessions can stand alone- the classic starting scenario is a society party- and do most of your development after session three. Call a temporary timeout for a week or two if you need it.