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| Left To Right: Konrad, Baine, Maud, Hob, Othwic and Alys |
Present:
- Alys (Meredith)
- Hob (Kevin)
- Maud (Clare)
- Othwic (Pete)
- Baine (Steve, unseen in village for weeks)
- Jarl (presumed drunk and fallen in a ditch)
- Konrad (off with a random serving wench)
In their starting location - the town of Coggershall - there were no general stores or places selling "adventuring gear", they had to haggle with the blacksmith to buy one of his two horses (thank heavens for the Hackmaster random horse generation table), the journey to the adventure location was as much part of the adventure as the final destination and when they arrived in the small community of Ducksford there weren't inns or taverns to stay in - they had to sleep on the floor of generous serfs.
Events began the day after the May Day celebrations, which gave us a good excuse to not having everyone turn up, although it was quite amusing to see the faces of the players when - two game days into their journey to the mysterious ruins of Dyr Dwm - they realised that the person who had told them about the ruins, Jarl, and had the best idea of where they were they were actually were... wasn't with them!
After Ducksford the player-character entered Hex 001 from Christian's Loviator magazine, although, of course, I just couldn't resist tinkering and so - after being totally baffled by the 'sloughing tree' on the border of Baron Cenred's lands - they spent most of their time at The Iron Door inn, interacting with the landlord and fellow travellers.
After Maud spotted the "winged cat" - or 'bat-cat' as she called it - the party deduced that it was a witch's familiar and so they were on guard, as there must be one in the area.
The use of random weather, and a calendar, also delivered as on the last game day of the session, while Maud, Hob and Alys were exploring the ruins of the former Iron Door, a random thunderstorm erupted - playing straight to Maud's storm phobia, and sending her scuttling back to the inn for shelter.
All being well, Jarl (Simon) and Konrad (Nick) will join us next month (although it will be Clare's turn to look after Alec, so Maud will probably stay at the Iron Door, freaked out by the storm - even though it only lasted a couple of hours).
And how will Jarl feel about his 'friends' heading off without him, after he'd told them about the possible treasure located at the ruins of Dyr Dwm?
There's an 'in-campaign' write-up of the session over on The Chronicles Of Tekralh, with more details about what was learned and who was interacted with.
I have to admit I wasn't overly impressed with my prep for the game, I seriously underestimated how much the players would be able to cover and how uninterested they would be in dealing with all the shop keepers in Coggershall.
Except for the haggling with Wulfgar, they really wanted to just get on with the 'adventure' and I supposed they only had about two-and-a-half hours of games time after our traditional pizzas (and Meredith brought us a selection of delicious Krispy Kreme donuts!)
I love that the bit about the witch! One was mentioned briefly in hex 002, so I may have to develop that!
ReplyDeleteHmmm...random weather. I must look into that!
I don't want to say too much because I know several players read this blog, but it all worked very well. Thank you.
DeleteThe random weather helped make the session for me, certainly added to the verisimilitude (and, by chance, played on one of the character's phobias)
I don't want to be a spoilsport, but I'm thinking you're putting too much work and having too many expectations for the campaign if only half of your players show up once a month for only 2+ hours of gaming . . . I wonder if a series of loosely connected one-shots might overall be more realistic and satisfying for the situation you're in?
ReplyDeleteWhoa, way to see our campaign in a negative light after just one session ;)
DeleteI don't see it as "only half" turning up - I see it as having four gamers at the table. Simon had to pull out a couple of hours before (because of work), Steve lives in a different county and only ever turns up when he can and Nick and Clare are a married couple with a young son who will be taking alternate shifts at the table every month (while the other looks after their one-year-old).
We only meet up once a month for a few hours because that's all the others can do - they have jobs and families to work around. For a year or so we've been talking about moving it up to once every three weeks, but then it's a question of working around busy calendars.
And, outside of cons, I just don't see the point of one-shots (even loosely connected). We like campaigns and characters that grow (albeit slowly).
This is how we've played for several years and it works for us.
Sorry, Jeremy, but I think you've misjudged our situation. In the last four or five years, it's worked for an extended Castles & Crusades campaign, a Top Secret SI campaign and a short Villains & Vigilantes campaign. And every year we've attracted new members to our group who seem to enjoy our style of play.
Sure, in a perfect world, we would meet more and for longer, but circumstances prevent that and so we make do the best we can ;)
Fair enough, every gaming group is different and I too have learned how much everything changes schedule-wise once kids and spouses and careers are added to the mix.. I wasn't trying to criticize, but instead make some suggestions since I've been reading HeroPress/I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters for a couple of years now, and your oft-stated dream to have an epic campaign with the same PCs just seems hard to achieve given your group's schedule and your admitted Gaming ADD ;). Anyway, as long as everyone is having fun, that's what matters and I'm looking forward to hearing what happens next!
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha! Hoist by own petard! You really have been reading my nonsense over the years haven't you? (Thank you!).
DeleteI am, sadly, aware of my gamer ADD but have found - previously - it's easier to keep under control when I'm running a fantasy game.
So, fingers crossed and optimism set to maximum, hopefully I can keep this campaign going. The players seem very enthusiastic, so it's off to a promising start.