The Spidermen that Came to Hirot

Our second session went well. Not quite the furious pace of the first one, but we had to take care of levelling up which slowed us down.

The Company;

Jeremy

• Brand the dirty sneaky Thief
• Rubin the warrior

Sebastien - I keep forgetting to write done Seb's character's names! Sorry man...

• A very tactical and pragmatic Cleric
• A Warrior

John

• Chez the "How do we start fighting here?" Warrior
• Adel & Bezal - 0 level halflings

Todd

• Daniloth the "my spells kill me" Elf
• Chester and Lester - 0 level radish farmer

Trevor

• Grom "I'm a Wizard!!"
• Jenson the Warrior

We crunched through levelling and got semi-familiar with some of the class specific rules. Unfortunately no less than three PC's rolled 1 for additional hit points. Two of these were Jeremy's meaning Ruben the warrior had a grand total of 2! Although disappointing the players sucked it up and valiantly played on. We've since made a house rule that a player can spend a point of permanent luck to re-roll a hit die. I think I'll make it retroactive...

The action started several months after the events of Sailors on the Starless Sea. The adventurers had been honing skills and learning spells from the local priest and the chaotic carvings on the dragon boat. The local blacksmith, used to making only horseshoes and shovels, had been hard pressed to make a half decent weapon for each of the adventurers. The group also had some treasure from the last adventure but no place to spend it in such a small village.

That's when a trope of Halfling traders, the Sonorous Fermentators of Milk and Barely, brought news of the far village (several days to the north west - further than anyone had ever been) of Hirot suffering from attacks by a savage beast. Seeing this as an opportunity for further adventure and treasure, the band gathered its gear and headed up the old king's road. A few days later, as they neared Hirot, they encountered a group of peasants and warriors dragging a bound woman to a set of standing stones.

There was a terse exchange where the players attempted to inquire as to the nature of the situation. The leader of the group, an immense warrior deferred to as the Jarl, made it clear that no help was required, that they were on their own business and that they were seeing to the safety of the village. A few of the villagers didn't seem so convinced and shouted out that they were leaving the woman as an offering to placate an evil beast that was plaguing the town.

This of course cued the adventurers and there followed many loud brags that they could rid the town of any monster, that they were the heroes of Lemsby and had killed a chaos demon and they could do it again, especially if gold were involved. The Jarl was unimpressed, his warriors looked on in interest,

I'd thank you to all piss off.

acknowledging the apparent capabilities of the band, but unsure if the situation was going to turn ugly.

That was when Jenson the Warrior lit up the chaos flail he had acquired from Sailors of the Starless sea. The villagers cowered, the Jarl stood impassive and his warriors observed in measured states, hands on swords. Things were tense for a few moments, but calmer heads prevailed and the Jarl simply picked up the woman and rode to the nearby standing stones and bound her to a stake. With a warning not to interfere he led his people back, presumably, to Hirot.

The adventurers waited a few moments then went and freed to woman (whose named turned out to be Morgan), who was grateful but obviously nervous. They learned that the beast had been attacking at night for several months and though it had been slain once, it simply returned the next night more vicious than ever. The Jarl's advisor, one Sillus Ru had come up with the idea of a lottery sacrifice, which had been done every three days which seemed to sate the monster. After a bit of quick math, it was realized that this was not a sustainable situation. It was also discovered that none of the Jarl's men had been picked in the lottery, which immediately set off the rigged lottery alarm.

The adventurers decided to wait for the beast at the stones and were not disappointed when it appeared in the dark of night just beyond the light of the campfire. Brand, with his extra sensitive elephant ears heard it first and a couple left the safety of the firelight to flush it out. A fierce melee ensured and they managed to kill the beast, without casualties, though there was a quick heal when one of the PCs was brought to 0hp.

The band then departed for the village of Hirot, arriving in the early morning. They were greeted by a horn blast and cautious guards at the gate where they discovered that the rumours of great heroes come to save the village had already spread. Urging them to come to her father's Tavern Morgan lead them to the Wolf and Spear as early rising farmers looked on with a mixture of hope and fear.

Broegan was the tavern owners name and was very grateful to see his daughter. He readily offered room, board and gossip. Much was learned. There were ancient myths of a wolf demon, that had been slain or tamed by a champion named Ulfheonar with a great spear. They also learned the trouble started when those no good brothers Kej, Stien and Illham, got the weird idea to go treasure seeking (they'd been bragging) in an old tomb to the north. They also learned that that old Ymae the witch woman had been living in her hut before the village had been founded and knew much of the old stories.

After a meal and a sleep the gang headed out that afternoon to speak with Ymae. Villagers were popping up to check them out. They encountered and had a shouting match with the local cleric of Justica, Father Beacom who loudly proclaimed they were all going to die from their vague and various sins. Reasoning with a looney zealot is seldom satisfying and the band moved on. Ymae's hut stood in the shadow of the promontory on which the Jarl's hall was built, and appeared ancient and unassuming. A knock at it's wobbly old door elicited a crone's voice "You've come at last. Please come in"

Amazingly everyone seems to fit comfortably in the tiny hut which was stuffed with shelves and trunks and bottles and cases filled with an endless assortment of strange and mysterious items. The old lady herself sat by the fire that seemed to crackle and spit as if it were talking, handing the crone wisps of flame which she spun on a spindle. All very impressive. The conversation ranged but the group was able to learn that a great wolf demon plague these parts in ages past but was defeated by a great chief known as Ulfheonar. Ymae give the impression that she had known Ulfheonar personally and said that he had bound the demon to his tomb in the north. The party quickly surmised that the brothers Kej, Stien and Illham had somehow set the wolf spirit free. The witch informed them that a spear capable of destroying the wolf lay in the tomb. She also offered a deal - she would construct a rope that could bind the demon if the party brought her the hair of a dead man and one of their number agreed to marry her. No one committed to this deal, but they thanked her and left. 

The party then proceeded to seek out the remaining no good brothers lead by a certain Master Jenks. These they found in their residence, a filthy flophouse of the other side of town. On their way there the caught the eye of one of the Jarl's men who greeted them with a smile and a caution that the Jarl was none to happy that they were interfering. Strangely, the warrior didn't seem too upset about the situation...

Master Jenks and company were uncooperative at first but after some threatening agreed (it wasn't like they had a choice actually) to lead the group to the tomb and show them where the missing brothers crawled in (they had run away once they heard screams from within the tomb so have no idea what happened to the brothers). 

The adventurers took Master Jenks with them back to the Wolf and spear and tucked him in a closet for the night and got some rest themselves, planning to get up after dark knowing that the demon wolf would likely attack that night. 

Of course it did. Again Brand with his odd elephant ears was the first to hear the howls. The adventurers spread out along the walls, joining the night guards and a few of the Jarl's men. The mood was grim and the friendly comradery was gone. The attack occurred on a little hut and the they arrived too late to save the elderly couple within. A ferocious fight ended with the wolf demon vanquished once more but with the death of Rubin "I only have 2hp" the Warrior. Seeing that one of their number had fallen in defence of the village, the guards were more accepting, but one of the Jarls men made it clear that more villagers would die unless something was done, and at least the Jarls plan was keeping the bloodshed to a minimum. 

Suitably admonished, the party slept the remainder of the night and headed out first thing in the morning with Master Jenks in tow. They came upon the tomb a few hours later in the dense forest to the north. Shaped like a massive serpent, the earthen mound was surrounded by a stream that formed a pond at the serpents's head. Wary of that obvious entrance, the group pushed Jenks to show them how the missing brothers got in and he lead them to a crumbled opening in the mound where a collapse had made an unintended way in. 

The band crawled in and discovered a partially collapsed room with ancient murals and writing on the walls, apparently praising the exploites of a tribe that had taken the wildcat as it's motif but paid tribute to a more powerful tribe whose symbol was the snake. Not finding much beyond rubble, they crept out to find a larger corridor beyond. One direction lead into darkness, the other had a golden glint. Eagerly choosing golden glint over the darkness they discovered themselves in a large, impressive room decorated with murals depicting the snake tribe and a great chief, presumably Ulfheonar, striking down a demon wolf with great spear. There were Two great bronze doors that reflected the light (and not a giant pile of gold as had been speculated) which refused to open. Unnervingly the floor was covered in thousands of cast off snake skins.

It was Daniloth the elf sniffing about for secret doors that came upon the pile of pile of dried twigs and roots by the entrance to the hallway and looked above it to see a secret passage. Brand the thief, sensing  the opportunity to be the first to find the "real hoard" volunteered to go in and scout it out. "Wait!" cried  Grom the wizard "I'll cast a spell!". Everyone groaned.

It should be noted that Grom had been casting spells left right and centre since learning how to do so. Quite a few spells had failed but he had miraculously avoided corruption. Spider climb was the spell he choose to cast this time, with the mercurial effect of Whimsical Patron. This gives a random action die type. In this case, Grom rolled and got a d30 as his action die. He then proceeded to roll a natural 30, a critical. Which means he adds his caster bonus twice for a total of 34. With this result Spider Climb 

Oh Yeah Baby!

essentially turns all friendlies within 20 feet into Spiderman for the next 24 hours. Everyone can climb walls, does extra damage in melee and CAN SHOOT WEBS. Yes they all gained the ability to shoot super strong, sticky webbing...

Bastards.

Chortling over this incredible new ability, Brand leaps up the wall and scuttles into the secret passage with a web rope around his waist so the others can pull him out if something goes wrong. Unfortunately, the Super Spider Powers did not include a spider sense and he was set upon by some sort of zombie in that cramped space and apparently killed. Chez the warrior quickly went in to help and destroyed the zombie and turned Brand over to discover that he was not in fact dead, but just very very hurt. Brand crawled out and Chez crawled forward. Chez soon discovered a chamber with a stone and wood pillar with a very grand looking spear and shield hanging from it halfway up. The pillar looked suspicious and was apparently holding the ceiling up. Chez covered the ceiling with a series of supportive web strands to stop it collapsing (at least immediately) and then scuttled across on a web rope snatched the spear and shield and scuttled back as the room rumbled. He watched it collapse from the relative safety of the secret passage and returned triumphant to the others.

It seemed like they had found the famous wolfspear, but Sebastien's very tactical and pragmatic Cleric wasn't convinced. Were did that zombie come from? He climbed up and searched for a second secret passage in the secret passage. He was rewarded quickly enough by finding an upward tunnel which led to a far less ornate room within which sat a mummified corpse on a simple throne. There was a wolfspear and drinking horn on the corpses lap. Gently lifting these away the Cleric side back down to meet his comrades.

And that is where we ended it for the night!

Modules, sandboxes and things in between...

For my DCC game, I'm planning on using a mix of the Goodman Games modules and third party adventures from Brave Halfling, Purple Sorcerer and Purple Duck games (hmm... purple) among others. There's three reasons for this;

1) I think they're excellent
2) I have to be realistic about what I can reasonably prep in the limited time I have
3) I think they're excellent

That's right! I have the shirt!

There's a couple of challenges however. First, there is a big focus on dungeon crawling. That may sound like a silly complaint given that the name of the game is Dungeon Crawl Classics, but simple room clearing gets old fast. Fortunately, although the setting for most of these are "dungeons" (that is self contained locations with encounters in each) I think they are non-standard enough and have enough character that they won't feel like kill the orcs, take their stuff, repeat.

Secondly, there's no overall story or campaign arc, which is something my group seems to be used too. It's really just a series of adventures. I'm going to add a few themes that will tie them together, but there's no concept of campaign goal other than adventuring. I'm hoping that the "story" such as it is, will emerge from the evolution of the characters (and their deaths of course - this is DCC). One of my gang, Mr. Todd over at Beacon, is a big advocate of emergent story, and I'm hoping the others in the group will see it that way too.

The final consideration, which is both positive and negative, is that by using modules, this won't be a sandbox game. I love sandbox games and I think they have the greatest potential for a truly rewarding game experience. Sandbox campaigns were the norm in the glorious high school and university years when we had oodles of time to explore, discover and build.

But that was then and these days our group (not the same group as in uni of course) seems to lose its way in sandbox games - we tend to wander about aimlessly until the GM gets mad and throws something nasty at us. I'm not sure why this is exactly, but I think it's because sandbox games require a lot of proactive energy from the players. As players we need to be as creative as the GM and look for ways to build longer term goals, strategies and stories into the setting's framework. This is a long process and requires patience, effort and lots of investment but pays off in epic proportions.

But the reality is most of us don't have this sort of time or energy anymore (some of us do, but they're rare and lucky bastards, each and very one of them) - we've got jobs and kids and a million other things demanding our attention. When we get together on a Friday night we're brain dead from a week in the real world and I think we're lacking that vital creative capacity. We need to react, as it were, rather than proact. We also only have about four hours of gaming every two weeks - which makes it hard to sustain that (wonderful) meandering, discovering the world and our role in it approach that typifies sandbox gaming. We need to get into a game quickly and start seeing results. If a game world is just too big or complex, it tends to overwhelm us into a state of paralysis and we chase after the easiest, nearest thing like a pack of ADHD crazed camp kids with axes and fireball spells. In short we arrive at the table and we're craving immediate action. We need a goal we can quickly understand and work toward solving in a session or two. If things are too open ended (which would be a feature in the sandbox style) we can get frustrated (and frustrating for the GM).

I'll use my own Trail of Cthulhu Armitage Files game from last summer as an example. I had multiple secrets, personalities and stories sketched out with multiple approaches, an open world where multiple leads and hooks meant the investigators were free to chart their own course to uncover deadly conspiracies and deal with them however they would. Their actions would have ramifications that would reverberate in many directions and shape the future of many nascent plots. It was fucking magnificent and perfect if we gamed eight hours every week for the next two years (with lots of secret notes and e-mails between sessions) and the players had the time to invest in thinking and planning for the long haul. I was very proud and excited about it (and was the reason I started this blog in fact). But it closed after three sessions. I certainly don't blame my players - they had the best of intentions. It was simply too much, too long term, too involved and required far more effort than most players could give (there were other factors too, such as it being the summer when attendance gets spotty, but you get my drift).

Now before anyone gets too yanked up over this, I'm talking about my experience, which will obviously differ from yours. But it comes down to this; for better or worse, our group seems to need something to focus us for our sessions. Something's gotta kick in the door and give us a reason to get out there or we'll just sit around and talk in funny voices for an hour or four. It's one of the reasons board games go over really well with us - jump right in, clear objectives, not a lot of rev up time.

Modules are also great for this. There's a clear set up and a feeling of accomplishment in one or two sessions rather than the slow group build to an epic arc over say, five, ten or more sessions. So, that's the way I'm going to go. Our first session with Sailors on The Starless Sea was a lot of fun so hopefully that becomes the trend.

Unfortunately this removes that treasured freedom to explore, at least at a macro big world map kinda level. It can feel a bit railroady and "monster of the week" too, so there's a definite trade off. The question is, will we be content with these limitations of the module approach in exchange for the benefit of having highly focused games, or will we eventually get frustrated and start trying to break out of that box? I have seven or so more sessions in the GM chair before it passes over to the next game, so this will be my experiment to find out.

Sailing the Starless Sea part 2

Incredibly we completed the entire module in one four and a half hour session. I say incredibly because our game group loves to take its time. We like in-character stuff, we like making jokes, we like getting side tracked and often forget what were doing and end up harassing completely innocent bystanders. For some reason I always have an image of a us as a group of slightly befuddled, cranky, bickering old geezers with ADHD. And weapons.

Anyway I digress. We ripped through Sailors on the Starless Sea in record time, surprisingly the players missed little. They just seemed to be very very focused. Might have been the character death...


Spoiler warning for those that haven't played this!

The players, each with four 0-level funnel characters generated at Purple Sorcerer;

• Todd - Nerista the mercenary, Smint the blacksmith, Daniloth the elven sage, Lance the noble
• Jeremy - Draug the beekeeper, Rubin the rutabaga farmer, Ester the hunter, Bran the barber
• Trevor - Thursby the unnaturally strong halfling, Corren the trapper, Grom the indentured servent , Jenson the squire (Grom and Jenson were Lance's retinue it was determined)
• Sebastien - Four as yet to be named; a parsnip farmer, a dwarven blacksmith, a blacksmith, and an orphan
• John - Daley the incredibly strong orphan, D'tali the elven falconer, Arvin the rat catcher, Chez the gravedigger

So we left off in the last post with the party descending the stairs into the tunnels beneath the ancient keeps mound. They'd had four or five fatalities by this point (poor old Todd had lost three of his four characters, through no fault of his own), so were starting to get more cautious.

The stairs led down, down, down into a dark and dank corridor. Lighting up torches the party stood on the steps none too eager to proceed (visions of traps dancing in their heads). That is until Brand the barber (who was shaping up to be a magnificent bastard) once again saw the glint of gold in the darkness ahead. With a cry of "Worry not! I'll scout ahead!" he scrambled further down the stairs and found a couple of gold coins up against the stairwell wall. Searching about he found a not very well hidden door that opened easily to a small room beyond.

Shining the torch in he spied three upended chest and sprinkling of coins. "Don't come in! Still checking to see it's safe!" he shouted back. The rest of the group, beginning to see a pattern in Brand's behaviour, filed in anyway and dispassionately watched Brand discover a hidden compartment in a chest and then almost immediately loose a couple of fingers when he activated the associated trap. He still managed to stuff a few coins down his pants while wrapping cloth around his hand.

There followed a touching moment when Brand (whose pockets and shirt were now filled with more coin and goodies than he'd ever seen in his life) tried to convince the rest of the group that maybe they should turn back, because, you know, they'd tried their best, and what good was coin if you weren't around to spend it. It was Chez the gravedigger that reminded Brand that they were in fact here to rescue kidnapped villagers, one of whom was Brand's very own son. "Oh yeah..." replied Brand, eyes shifting about.

That doesn't look spooky at all.

Back in the stairwell it was noticed that a draft was coming through from the wall opposite the emptied treasure room. Pushing at the wall opened a second not very well hidden door leading into a rough chill passage. Not liking the look of it but still wanting to investigate, some one distracted Bran as another tossed a few coppers in and announced "Look - are those coins in there?". Bran immediately took the lead and the party soon found itself in front of massive stone door bearing symbols of Chaos that glowed with a faint
magic. Daniloth the Elven sage attempted to read the runes and came away with the impression that it was some sort of limerick involving cold and heat and bad weather. Chez the grave digger took a look and came away with "Fire, Ice, Hate and Storm". The group decided to go ahead and try to force the door. Amazingly no one was killed in the ensuing blast of magical fire triggered by their efforts.

Behind the door was unnaturally chill tomb containing a corpse with savage looking hide armour and a brutal looking waraxe. One of the nameless four run by Sebastien managed to get to the corpse and after much exertion tore the axe away along with a couple of frozen corpse arms and get out of the tomb without freezing to badly. They didn't fancy going after the armour and decided to get back to the main corridor.

Descending the rest of the stairs the party found itself in a curious long room dominated by a central rectangular pool. Of course Brand gazed into its depths and was initially filled with hope as a several golden points glowed back at him. Hope turn to trepidation however as the golden glowing started moving and then surfaced as four ancient and algae covered skulls, eye sockets shining with undead energy. Several tense moments past while the party stood pressed against the wall ready for battle, but the heads seemed content to bob there watching benignly. Growing bold, a few the adventurers threw stones at the skulls, cracking one which sank.

Not entirely convinced that the skulls were harmless the group turned its attention to the rest of the room and examined pair of murals depicting two mighty chaos lords and battles going on around them and some sort of sacrificial ritual on an island with tentacles rising from the waters. Neither filled the party with optimism. Also discovered were four mouldy robes with chaos markings on them, which were bundled into a back pack.

With a last nervous look at the floating skulls, whose gaze turned to follow them, the group departed through the other side of the room and followed the stairs down even further. Eventually the stairwell ended opening up on a wide dark beach overlooking an immense underground lake. At the edge of the beach was a tall 30 foot rock spire with stairs chiseled about it. Out 30 feet or so into the water was a dragon prow boat and in the far distance, near the centre of the great lake, was a sinister glow and the echo of drums and howls.

Brand decided to check out the rock spire and while climbing the stairs noticed some very intriguing chaotic writing that circled around with the stairs. By the time he reached the summit and discovered a partially melted black candle at the flattened top, he had decided that it would be a very good idea to savagely murder Daniloth the elven sage. He wasn't exactly clear on why this was a good idea, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. He ran back down and called the sage over indicating that there was something very interesting at the top that only a sage of his prowess could figure out. Halfway back up Brand gave himself a good shake and realized slaughtering a companion wasn't such a good idea.

Meanwhile the others were trying to figure out how to get the dragon boat to shore. Wading out toward it seemed to prompt something to start swimming about in the water. They beat a quick retreat. Then Thursby the unnaturally strong halfling threw a rope with a hook (not exactly sure where they got this, but oh well) which caught on the boat. They couldn't pull it in but they tied it about the rock spire and tried to cross above the water. Unfortunately the thing in the water figured them out and a radish farmer was torn into tiny little shreds by a violent frenzy of tentacles.

With nothing to loose, Thursby decided to light the black candle at the top of the spire. On his way up he too, after staring at the carved runes, became enamored with the idea of stabbing a compatriot. After a bit of a frantic chase about, he managed to recover himself and get to the top and light the candle. The dragon boat slide gracefully over to shore.

Light the incense!  Light the godamn incense!!

They all jumped on board and the boat immediately set off toward the island in the lake's center. Gearing up to what they figured was the big showdown, the adventurers were horrified when the boat stopped halfway over and those same tentacles emerged from the water and waved expectantly. Suddenly remembering the mural depicting the sacrifice and the tentacles, the party started eying each other. The tentacles were not satisfied with the shoes and other bits of junk tossed at it and it was with sinking dread that they realized that the beast was waiting for someone to be tossed overboard.


Just as mob violence was about to break out it was Jenson the squire that had a sudden flash of insight and figured out that maybe burning the chaos censer found in the temple would placate it. The rushed to do so, and to everyone's relief the tentacles swayed back beneath the waves, apparently satiated. The boat then continued towards the island and the hellish glow and sounds of unholy rites.

As boat beached itself the adventurers saw that a massive ziggurat dominated most of the island. A great number of the beast men where hauling groups of wailing villages up the zagging stairway to the pinnacle where they were being hurled into a pit by a high beast priest. A great and terrifying figure, hard to discern in the waving heat, seemed to preside over the ghastly ritual. They party had lost six members and where greatly outnumbered by the beast men - a frontal assault seemed like suicide. The squire thinking quick again, suggested that four of them don the four chaos robes and pretend to take the rest of the gang up as prisoners. They felt it was their best bet, especially as they didn't have a lot of time to figure out something better.

With mounting incredulity they found their ruse working, passing beast men who were transfixed with the ceremony at the top and who seemed to ignore the robed villagers. They slowly made their way closer to the top, and were nearly there when one beast man turned and focused on them. Suddenly realizing the presence of interlopers it raised the alarm hooting out a warning. The boatmen were galvanized, but spread all the the way along the ziggurat ramp, only a couple were with striking range. As they began to move in, the party made a heroic effort to get to the top of the structure, where it was was relatively empty. They saw a high priest and two beast men chucking villagers and treasure (treasure! cried out Brand)

The following battle was intense and there were many near misses. The giant figure turned out to be an effigy which Thursby cut down. Unfortunately the brilliant plan of cutting it down only resulted in it falling into the giant lava pit in the the center of the ziggurat and seemed to accelerate whatever evil process the beastmen had started. Just as the adventurers seemed to gain the upper hand a towering lava encrusted figure erupted

Crap!

from the pit. The party concentrated their attacks on this new threat but succeeded only in shattering the lava cooled to stone outer layer and a chaos demon emerged from within. Hideous and beastial, with a skull head and single burning eye the monstrosity waved a fearsome flail. D'tali the elven falconeer and Arvin the rat catcher met their doom, but the demon was beaten back and finally felled with mighty blows from Thursby, Rubin and Ester. Lying in a pool of burning remains were the beast's hide armor and terrible flail. Thursby strode forward to claim the flail but the demon had one last surge which engulfed the brave halfling abruptly ending his short but brilliant adventuring career.

With the final destruction of the demon the came a massive shuddering, shaking and roaring as the immense underground cavern began to collapse. The remaining beastmen were in disarray, howling in confusion and frustration. The surviving characters freed the villagers and raced down towards the dragon boat. Brand stopped to scoop up some fallen gems, but even his greed could not hold him as great chunks of rock began falling and crashing about.

The Squire Jenson however, risked his life to run forward and take the fallen holy symbol of Law and cast it as a curse into the evil chaos pit. For this act the Lords of Order took notice and he regained luck spent during battle.

With bare moments to spare the party managed to get themselves and the remaining terrified villagers past the panicked beastmen and into the dragon boat. An enormous wave crashed down and drove the boat out past the island and down a dark cave. After what seemed like an eternity of dark crashing and thundering the boat was shot out into daylight landing in a calm and sun drenched lake.

20 went in. 11 came out...

And so ended our first session!

Next session: Leveling up and Doom of the Savage Kings. Can't wait.

Sailing the Starless Sea, Part 1

You're no hero.

You're a ditch digger, a beekeeper, a turnip farmer, maybe a barber, baker or candlestick maker. You've been eking out a living, saving a penny here or there for the occasional pint down at the pub. The land has been generally peaceful, life mostly uneventful, and everything is, well... kinda dull.

But now there's a big, strange new star in the sky. Old man Roberts says it's a sign, an omen. The ancient cycle of order and chaos is turning and the world just started getting wilder. For the brave, greedy, or simply not too bright, this means adventure.

Most of you will die. Or become hideously corrupted. Being sucked into some hellish outer dimension is also a distinct possibility. But some of you will survive, by hook, by crook and by sheer dumb luck. And if you survive, you'll get better, you'll get stronger, richer, and be able to afford cooler clothes. You'll become an adventurer; a warrior, a cutpurse, a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets. Yes, maybe even a hero.

You'll seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the monstrous, the dark, the demons, and more than a few of your vanquished companions. There are treasures to be won and secrets uncovered, and you shall have them.

Mostly though, you'll still die.

With this we kicked off our DCC mini campaign, starting with Harley Stroh's excellent funnel, Sailors of the Starless Sea. Unbelievably we managed to finish the entire adventure in one night, but I'll break the play report into two pieces. Spoiler warning for those that haven't played this!

The players, each with four 0-level funnel characters generated at Purple Sorcerer;

• Todd - Nerista the mercenary, Smint the blacksmith, Daniloth the elven sage, Lance the noble
• Jeremy - Draug the beekeeper, Rubin the rutabaga farmer, Ester the hunter, Bran the barber
• Trevor - Thursby the unnaturally strong halfling, Corren the trapper, Grom the indentured servent , Jenson the squire (Grom and Jenson were Lance's retinue it was determined)
• Sebastien - Four as yet to be named; a parsnip farmer, a dwarven blacksmith, a blacksmith, and an orphan
• John - Daley the incredibly strong orphan, D'tali the elven falconer, Arvin the rat catcher, Chez the gravedigger

We opened with a group of 20 pitch fork and torch bearing villagers approaching an ancient ruined keep south of the drowsy village of Lemsby. Many homesteads had been discovered empty that morning, their inhabitants taken in the night. The trail had led to these old ruins and smoke had been seen above its crumbled towers.

"Anyone bring a snack?"

On the dusty road before them stood a macabre sight of two corpses bound to a pole with spiky vines.  To everyone's horror, the corpses detached themselves and stumbled forward tendrils waving. Sensing that his great moment had arrived, Lance Darkrouge (one of Todd's characters), the only noble in the village, boldly stepped up with his grandfather's broadsword and with a rousing "Follow me peasants!" to lead the charge. His almost immediate death by throttling certainly inspired the villagers as they proceeded to pummel the vine horrors. Everyone was then rewarded with an explosive covering of pungent corpse mucus as the defeated corpses burst and spread their foul seeds.

There was a moment of reflection as Jenson the squire took his master's signet ring and with trembling lip bid them move on. They spied the silhouette of some beastly creature on the ruined wall, and hung there flapping in the breeze was a crude banner with a red flaming skull. They pressed forward and had rock and other debris flung down on them below the main gate. Uncowed they started crawling under the partially raised portcullis which was promptly dropped on them when half their number were through. Amazingly no one died, and with the aid of the unnaturally strong halfling Thursby, they pulled the old rusted gate off their companions and moved cautiously into the courtyard.

A few titterings and hootings could be heard above, but there were no more attacks. The courtyard presented a few intriguing areas. There was a massive collapsed hole in the ground that no one wanted to go near, a well with a complex looking winch system attached, a burnt out chapel of some sort barred from the outside, and a stout recently repaired door leading into the only tower still standing.

Brand the barber (who had heard that loot was often found in these sort of expeditions) decided to investigate that well, as obviously someone was using the winch to store stuff down there. He looked over the edge and a profound blackness stared right back. No loot down there he thought. Why yes there is! said a sudden thought that just popped into his head. Lots of treasure and and women too! "We must investigate the well! I'll go first!" He stated aloud and one of his companions obligingly cranked on the winch pulling a terrifying leather harness up from the depths. "This is going to go well" remarked another as Brand strapped himself in and was lowered down.

Brand's disappointment that jewels and vivacious woman were not immediately thrust upon him quickly turned to consternation as an alien wind from some far and terrifying realm of chaos began to moan about him. "Up! Up!" he yelled, and he was cranked up out of the well but not before that alien wind got in his ears. The others were dismayed to see him appear with massive elephantine ears instead of the tasteful regular ones and there were muttered comments about dropping him back in.

Pulling Brand out the others spent a few moments prodding him until more rocks were chucked down from the old battlements. Daley, an incredibly strong orphan picked up a rock and chucked it back. Against all odds his stone not only found his target crouched behind a crenellation, but killed it stone dead. Encouraged, he picked up and threw two more stones and repeated the performance twice (he rolled 3 natural 20s in a row...!). With three dead beastmen, lying crumpled in the courtyard, the emboldened would-be adventurers decided to try their luck with the barred chapel.

Bizarre chaotic inscriptions, leering gargoyles, burned out and barred from the outside, the chapel seemed to beckon the party forward. Straining as a group they hoisted the massive door bar and

"Hmm.. I'm sure it's safe in there now.."

cranked open the double doors to be met with the sight of burned ruin and charred bones beyond. All hesitated, except Brand who thought he could see a hint of gold buried in the ashes. He stepped in and was greeted by ghostly screams and a phantom blast of heat, echoing from the past. Greed quickly overrode fear however and Brand pushed forward digging in the detritus discovering a few partly melted gold coins.

The rest of the group quickly pushed their way in and discovered a few more coins, a few old maces and bits of armour which they distributed. Brand quickly proving himself to be quite the treasure hound, pulled out a solid gold brazer with runes inscribed around it. He quickly hid it under his shirt and turned to find the party peering at him and the new "growth" bulging out his side. He laughed a little laugh and pretended not to notice their stares. Also found was a box containing incense cones obviously for the brazer.

It was the glitter of gems that drew Brand's attention to the toad statue with the burning black tar oozing out its mouth into a stone bowl. He approached even though the heat became intense. A few feet away the black ooze suddenly leap from the statue's mouth and the party rushed forward to engage. Brandon's barber scissors did little other than get his fingers burnt, but Thursby the unnaturally strong halfling and Draug the beekeeper waded in with their recently found maces smacking the ooze about, sending great burning chunks off in all directions. Unfortunately Neristina the mercenary and Smint the blacksmith just happened to be in some of those directions and both were horribly burned to death (Todd's second and third funnel character - he was now down to one). Thursby and Draug felt slightly bad and the band beat a hasty exit from the chapel.

Out in the courtyard their eyes fell upon that recently repaired door to the still standing tower. There was some discussion as to who would be the one to open the door. Daninoth the not so sage elven sage (Todd's only remaining character) flatly refused to go anywhere near the door. Finally a few of the stronger types kicked it down and hurtled inside. Immediate roaring, croaking and bleating battle ensued as beast men and peasants hacked and stabbed at each other, and a towering beastman master came swinging into the fray.

The beastmen were defeated but the peasants took casualties as well. A quick check of the repellant chamber (no one was much interested in scrounging through the rotting hides strung across the floor) revealed little other than a few captives taken the previous night from the village. They were quickly released and most fled after a quick thank you. A pair of radish farmer brothers, Chester and Lester, decided to join the adventurers and seek revenge. They would accompany the party but were not yet recovered enough to fight or help out in any meaningful way. After a quick scout onto the battlements turned up nothing, the party decided to head down the stairs leading into the hill from the beastman room.

To be continued in part 2...

...and I'm back!

So I haven't written in this blog since last summer. The Trail of Cthulhu game came to a close in August and I never got around to writing up the last session. I can't recall the details, but it involved the usual antics. Kidnapping an army major in his bathrobe, infiltrating a small military base posing as evil psychologists, being discovered by terrifying experiments, and wild shooting and screaming in the middle of the night. It was only three table top sessions in all, and combined with a couple G+ Hangouts we made lots of story progress, but the group never really warmed to the gumshoe ruleset.

Ubiquitous "I'm back!" type image.

Since that time we played more Beacon run by the illustrious Mr.Todd and tried out FATE with Diaspora run by the indomitable Mr. Jeremy, both of which I enjoyed. Jeremy was especially brave to run Diaspora as it involved a lot of plot control from "the table" and I think we kinda destroyed what was probably a very interesting and intriguing plot by lighting pillows on fire and and de-orbiting space stations. Also by creating non-violent hippy worlds. Non-violent hippy worlds are the most boring places to go in an rpg by the way. Great in concept, but lead balloonish in play. Sorry about that Jeremy. I also got to run a one shot of Ashen Stars, which was lots of fun - it was an expansion of the Stowaway intro adventure. Interestingly the group liked the Gumshoe implementation in Ashen Stars. Fickle bastards.

But this past Friday I had the pleasure of starting up a Dungeon Crawl Classics game. This campaign will run for about eight sessions. So I'll summarize here for my group and anyone else that happens by.

Hospital Inspection

Armitage Files Session 4

So I'm still learning how to do this whole blogging thing and one of my big lessons is that it's easy to skip a couple of weeks. Things got busy at work, summer evenings outdoors beckoned, and suddenly three weeks since my last post goes by!

At any rate, I owe a post from our second tabletop session from three weeks ago. Present were the players of Dr. Krombach, Fredrick Perrin and the P.I. Monroe. The player of Glen Cameron was off so Mr. Cameron was recovering from injuries and mental fatigue.

This session began with a general discussion of what to do next between Dr. Krombach and Fredrick Perrin in Dr. Krombach's office. The investigators had a couple of leads; the Kingsport Yacht club, references to a hospital, an asylum, a military base, a charity organization called the Helping Hands, even an amature astronomy associating amoung other things, along with the mysterious Tears of Azazoth.

This discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Fred Monroe, the P.I. sent to find Ms. Crumpot, the socialite who'd been missing since the events from "The Book". Mr. Monroe had indeed found Ms. Crumpot (and John happily came up with a few unsavoury details around the recovery of Ms Crumpot, which I'm sure her player will have a few words over...). Ms. Crumpot was in rough shape, having been using the same time distorting drug that Dr. Krombach had been experimenting with as well as being guided (or perhaps manipulated) by the spirit of a long dead time travelling poet for the last six months. Dr. Krombach examined her and pronounced that she required rest and better diet, and decided to put her under the care of Mr. Cameron while she recovered.

A squid you say?

Meanwhile Mr. Monroe became intrigued by the conversation regarding the investigation so far, especially where it concerned the Kingsport Yacht Club. As it turned out Mr. Monroe had a brother - an accountant who worked for a number of organizations, including the yacht club, who went missing two years before. At the time he had believed that his brother had been a victim of alcoholism and the resulting paranoid delusions. However, he had just been informed a few weeks previously that his brother's desiccated corpse had been discovered in an old oil barrel in a rundown warehouse (which had been leased for a time to the Yacht Club)on the outskirts of Arkham. Very strangely, the corpse was missing it's lower jaw and had what appeared to be the body of a squid surgically attached in its place. When Mr. Perrin offered to employ Mr. Monroe to assist in their investigation, he readily agreed ($2 a day plus expenses).

On hearing this, Mr. Perrin observed quite astutely that it was a remarkable coincidence. And in fact there were a number of remarkable coincidences in which the investigators and those around them were connected. Though ominous, the investigators did not know what to make of this yet.

The investigators then left to drop Ms. Crumpot off in the care of Mr. Cameron and to reconvine at Mr. Perrin's estate. On arriving at the mansion, they found that the gangsters had come by for a chat, making themselves at home and helping themselves to Mr. Perrin's fine scotch. Not only were the two thugs and the weasly lawyer, Mr Nugent present, but so was the big boss himself, Mr "Diamond" Walsh.

Walsh wanted the investigators, Mr. Perrin in particular, to carry out some inquires that he and his men were ill equipped for. Specifically, he wanted them to find out what Oliver Gardiner at the Kingsport Yacht club was up to. Walsh had been laundering money for the yacht club for a few years, a profitable and straightforward business in his eyes. About 18 months ago, Gardiner had requested that Walsh transport patients from a local hospital, St. Anthony's, to a small military base on the outskirts of town. Gardiner had told him it was part of a secret government program to "rehabilitate" the mentally defective. Walsh, seeing himself to be an all-American business man was all too happy to help in a clandestine but patriotic operation. However, this turned to unease when a short while later Gardiner requested that he supply him with the occasional miscreant, vagrant or other undesirable, for the experiment or "enterprise" as he put it. Transporting patients was one thing, supplying them was another. Walsh had no shortage of "undesirables" in his business and he did send a few Gardiner's way. Gardiner was never satisfied though and wanted more. Very recently he demanded that Walsh supply him with healthy younger people, and even children. Walsh, hardened gangster that he was, did have limits, and this was definitely one of them. He had children himself, and the idea of snatching honest hard working Americans off the street was, well, unAmerican. Walsh refused, but felt compelled to discover what Gardiner was up to. He was no fool and knew such an investigation would require finer methods than what his men could apply. Hence his request of the investigators. Owing the gangster for taking the heat for the death of Mr. Kittrell, the investigators agreed. And Mr. Perrin noted that it was yet another disturbing coincidence that they should also be investigating the Kingsport Yacht club

The next day the investigators headed to the yacht club. Mr. Perrin was a lapsed member, having joined years previously but not really participating in any meaningful way, or even visting in the last few years except for the occasional lunch. And lunch is what they decided to have once they got there. In the ornate and richly decorated luncheon room they sat munching on a heavy dish of Beef Wellington. There were a few other lunchers present, and Mr. Perrin decided to begin speaking loudly about how empty his life had become and how he longed to be part of some greater endeavour or enterprise to which he could contribute his passion and fortune. The other dinners resolutely ignored him, but one youngish professional looking man was watching him intently over his folded newspaper. Mr. Perrin decided to approach and found that the young man was a Dr George Belling who worked at St. Anthony's. There was a faint whiff of chloroform about him and his smile seemed a little too intense. Dr. Belling invited Mr. Perrin to return on Thursday evening (three days time) to hear a little private speech by the club president, Mr. Gardiner that may give some direction to the emptiness of Perrin's life. Perrin agreed and the investigators left.

With three days to fill before the Thursday night speech, the investigators decided to make a trip to the New York library to see if they could locate this mysterious tome, the Tears of Azazoth, mentioned in the documents. At the library peculiar things started happening when they asked about the Tears of Azazoth. One particularly aged librarian at first denied ever hearing of the book (certainly it wasn't in the card catalogue) but then seemed to think that maybe he had heard of it the more he thought about it. He suggested looking in the mythology section in the lower stacks, which Dr. Krombach promptly did. There, in the dim, dusty and silent stacks he encountered an old woman, with eyes partially covered in cataracts. The woman seemed to be mumbling "Azazoth, Azazoth" under her breath as she trailed her boney fingers over the spines of ancient books. When the doctor quietly and somewhat trepidiciously asked her if she was looking for the Tears of Azazoth, she turned and screeched "You fool! By saying it you have made it true!". The doctor fell back with a sudden tight chest, the world spinning for an instant and when he recovered, the old woman was no where to be seen.

On the way back from New York, the investigators also stopped in Providence to visit an antique booksellers. There they encountered a similar experience where the booksellers at first denied ever hearing of the tome, then seemed to recollect hearing of it, but not remembering precisely where or when.

The New York trip taking a long day of travel, the investigators decided to call it a night. The next day they decided to check out St Anthony's hospital, since a hospital was mentioned in the documents, Walsh had named it and the intense Dr. Belling worked there. They decided to go in the evening around 9pm when there would be a reduced staff and no visitors. Arriving at the hospital they very convincingly identified themselves as county health inspectors on a spot check, and bluffed their way into a tour of the basement. Lead by a decrepit janitor, Dr. Krombach and Mr. Monroe found evidence of people having been shackled up in a storeroom. Meanwhile, Mr. Perrin managed to slip away and track down the office of Dr. Billing and clumsily break in.In that office he found secured in a desk drawer a curious journal that described something called the "great enterprise". It was quite vague but suggested that subjects where being used in some form of experiment with a serum and that it was transformative. These experiments had been going on for a number of years, but now with financial backing and proper facilities supplied, progress was being made. This was enough for our investigators to decide that they needed to pay a visit to Dr. Belling immediately.

I will combine this man with daffodils! Bahahaha!

Locating his address on an envelope in his office, the three set off across town to the modern brick house of Dr. Belling. Mr. Monroe knocked on the door and presented himself as a police inspector to the doctor, who had obviously just got out of bed. Mr. Monroe suggested there was something wrong with the doctor's fancy new car and once the doctor stepped out, the P.I. expertly man-handled him, hand over mouth, to the waiting roadster of Mr. Perrin. With threats and a few slaps, Mr. Monroe managed to intimidate Dr Belling into talking. According to the doctor he was part of a great enterprise to save humanity (from what wasn't clear). Lead by the visions of Oliver Gardiner, they had contacted alien intelligences from beneath the sea. In exchange for a few riff-raff, the sea creatures left an incredible liquid, a serum, inscrutable to modern science but profoundly powerful in its ability to facilitating the "fusion" of species, to build a stronger more powerful race. The experiments where being carried out at a local military base.

Realizing that they could not release the doctor, but unsure of what to do with him, the investigators took him back to Mr. Perrin's mansion. There Mr. Perrin chucked the bound Belling into a baroque antique iron maiden type device (he does collect bizarre items), but did not activate it. Dr. Krombach was very uncomfortable with this and made it clear that no one was going to be subjected to barbaric medieval torture while he was around, no matter how evil they may be. There was a bit of an argument, but Mr. Perrin reluctantly agreed and they shut him in a broom closet instead.

The investigators then sat down for a drink to discuss their next moves which is where we left it for the night.

Notes from this session:

• There was a great deal of debate this session on next actions. No lack of good ideas to follow up on, just wrangling over which ones to deal with first. I like the in character debate, but I'm also conscious of our limited time. We'll have to work at balancing it out with some action.
• I made it clear that if any investigator subjects anyone to torture beyond a few slaps while intimidating, there would be a sanity penalty (and it's quite steep). I even had them do a sanity check when chucking the doctor into the iron maiden without activating it, although they all passed. As Todd said "Dr. Krombach is very much against this, but a tiny part of him wants to see what happens..."
• Ms Crumpot's player is back at the next session, so she'll be ready to join in, so we'll have all five players present (huzzah!)
• This was only our second table top session and they've made quite a bit of progress. We have three more sessions, possibly four over the rest of the summer, before the campaign goes on hold for a bit.
• I'm on holiday so the next session isn't until August 3rd.

A Conversation with Armitage

Armitage Files Session 3

Last Sunday we had a quick Google hangout session involving Dr. Krombach and Glen Cameron.

The day following the events of The Red Box part 2, Mr. Cameron and Dr. Krombach kept their scheduled appointment with Dr. Armitage. Mr. Perrin could not make it as he was engaged in a tense conversation with some gangsters (again in Red Box part 2).

Armitage greeted the investigators in his office along with two of his colleagues, a Dr. Dyer and Dr. Peaslee (who is known to Dr. Krombach).

What followed was a discussion about the mysterious document, the relegation that a second document had arrived and what course of action should be taken.

Armitage confirmed the handwriting was indeed his although he had no significant knowledge of any of the people, events or other items mentioned in the documents. A second document, written in a far less frenzied style, and apparently composed earlier that the one received by Glen Cameron, had appeared on the Desk of Armitage a day earlier. Tests on the documents revealed;

• Human blood, rat's blood and blood from an unknown phylum on the first letter
• Soot, pulverized concrete and pulverized bone dust on both
• Both were slightly radioactive

Dyer advanced the theory that Armitage may have written the documents during a mental break of some sort - Peaslee (a psychologist) disagreed saying he has found no evidence of such a break. Deter then suggested that Armitage may be controlled by some force and writing them unaware, and that it may be a good idea to keep the librarian under observation for the next while. Armitage agreed to the observation proposal. Dr. Krombach put forth an interesting theory that somehow Armitage’s mind may have been duplicated (using complex Jungian reasoning) and that the duplicate was writing the letters. Peaslee was very intrigued by this possibility.

Mr. Cameron advocated the theory that the letters had come from the future, a possibility that seemed to resound with Dyer. Peaslee himself had no theory and advised the group to remain open minded, reminding the group that there was more evidence than the content of the letters - the soot, dust and other physical evidence alone seemed to indicate a very unusual origin.

Wait... This is my laundry list...

Armitage himself felt that there was not enough information to understand where the letters were coming from, but he was greatly concerned that they indicated that he had failed at something important that then lead to some sort of terrifying event. He felt strongly that he himself should not be the one to investigate it, or even those too close to him such as Dyer or Peaslee. In fact he was very worried that his advice, or even slight involvement, may contaminate the discovery of the truth and possibly the aversion of whatever disaster was referred to in the letters.

Knowing he was asking a great deal from the investigators, Armitage formally requested their involvement in leading further inquiry, to which they agreed. Armitage then handed over the second letter which had the following leads:

• Human blood, rat's blood and blood from an unknown phylum on the first letter
• Soot, pulverized concrete and pulverized bone dust on both
• Both were slightly radioactive
• The Tears of Azazoth is a tome of some sort
• A circus, a strong man and something hidden in the freak show
• The New England League Of Amateur Astronomers
• A traveling salesman named Philip and his wild stories about the Helping Hands organization
• Black roadster and truck with "something" in the back observed leaving hospital
• Temporary agent Olson is at the army base

Armitage wished the investigators luck and said he would avoid contact with them unless it was of the greatest importance. Dr. Krombach approached Dr. Peaslee and asked for psychoanalytic services, to which Peaslee agreed. Finally, when Krombach reached his apartments, he received a telegram from the PI Fred Monroe which simply said "Found her".

And that's where we left it.