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| Hell yeah, Title Card! |
We have pool of players for this game who come and go somewhat West Marches style. A few of the players have RPG experience before hand, but none had played GLOG or any OSR system so I've decided to give them a mini tutorial dungeon and a little leeway to learn the ropes.
THE PLAYERS
Georgia Georgie of the Georgie Clan. A member of a clan/coven of swamp witches who make foul pacts with a hideous soul-devouring goose. An impulsive Animist who doesn't take shit from anyone.
Father Mortimer. A Fire and Brimstone style preacher who has come to the Barrier Islands to bring the word of the Authority to the ignorant masses. He preached so hard though, he is now incapable of saying anything but the word of God. A serious Paladin of the Word following the divine plan.
Ghostcutter Wob. Once content to live a solitary life as a lumberjack with his dog as his only companion. However when malicious ghosts took his dog's life, this morose man pledged his cutting power to cutting ghosts rather than wood. A depressed Sword Exorcist who seekers eternal John Wick-style vengeance.
Brother Dorvus. A spiderling who heard the call to the priesthood early on, only it was the priesthood of the Goddess of Sewers. Polite, excited, and somewhat lackadaisical, Dorvus is always certain that his Goddess has him in good hands. A faithful Night Soil Priest who is ready to clear your pipes.
Piercy Montana. A young hot-headed man with a posse of foul followers and a hunger for revenge. He seeks a man named Dixon Beaumont who killed his father over a parcel of land. He is a man of bold action and is willing to do anything to fulfilled his goals. A strong-willed Fighter who does all his own stunts.
Unpictured and currently inactive are The McCoys, a clan of inbred swamp-hicks who act as single unit ala Many Goblins and Yanny/Laurel, a pipe smoking illusionist.
THE LOCALE
A VERY rough flowchart of the pointcrawl because I am shit with anything that isn't a Windows Office product. The players are starting off in Lord's Landing, a fairly well established port city spread out over a few connected islands. As they opted for a more traditional start, I provided them with a tavern in the residential district of Lord's Landing. As we play, I plan to drop adventure seeds and leave my players access to this map. I feel like it gives them enough of a taste to see what is going on without spoiling much for them.
THE ADVENTURE
Our adventure opens in the Thunderlock Tavern, a little something I'm adapting from the Rolled and Told free July Issue, to give our would-be heroes a stage to test their skills before venturing forth into the Islands. The adventurers gather here on their own accord, each here for their own purposes and serving their own needs. Some are locals, some are new to the area, all of them have something to prove.
After a little bit of time for characterization and introductions, they players tentatively started to interact. Georgia cast Charm Person on the barkeep after not agreeing with their gruff attitude and getting her to open up more as an information resource. After few rounds ofdrinks rotgut moonshine for everyone, and a peppering of refreshing lemon scent from Dorvus, Wob inquires about local hauntings and receives an earful about how you can't spit without hitting a ghost in the Islands. They learn of the heavily haunted Last Folly Island, of the Hainsely Hall ghost infested Halls, of the unresting Lady Elmyra and her indigo plantations, and several other lesser ghost-related seeds.
Just at this point, Piercy Montana bursts into the scene seeking a party of would be mercenaries to help him avenge the death of his father due to one Dixon Beaumont. Not originally part of any plan of my own, this type of introduction was too good to pass up and I've adapted Beaumont to be one of the larger antagonist background NPCs. Piercy, however, showed himself to be all swagger and no coin, claiming after Georgia's inquiry into the pay that looting Beaumont should be all the pay she'd need. Several patrons point out the madness of this revenge plot, Dorvus and Wob being particularly pessimistic about it. Father Mortimer, however, smelling the chance to put down a corrupt sinner, pledges himself to Piercy's cause. Georgia, being more practical, suggests splitting the loot should everything go well. If everything goes south though, Piercy has agreed to give Georgia all the fingers on his left hand.
From behind the bar, a metal door opens and drops a trio of bleeding and burned elves onto the tavern floor, followed by a gruff dwarf-- one of the tavern's owners, Merp Ticklelock. The trio had failed the Thunderlock Pubcrawl and Merp was looking for the net batch ofvictims volunteers. The task was simple, survive the mini-dungeoncrawl below the tavern and get your picture up on the wall and 100 gold. Piercy, Georgia, Father Mortimer, and Dorvus leap at the chance to prove their skills while Wob, the McCoys, and Yanny hold back to watch things unfold.
To give everyone a potential chance, I've ruled that if a character dies or is incapacitated, they will be teleported out of the dungeoncrawl and the next in line will take their place.
Thus the party of four signed legal papers waiving their rights to seek reparations against the tavern for any harm done to them and stepped through the gates.
The first room was a rather simple one. Two shabby looking demon statues stood holding braziers on either side of an open door. One brazier was lit while the other was cold. Above them a runic phase was written out. As none of the characters implicitly knew dwarvish, I gave them the option to do Intelligence Checks to recognize and read the script, Dorvus with his 16 Intelligence quickly figured out the runes stating "Fire reveals the treasure, but flame conceals the Key." Wasting no time, Dorvus immediately pokes a stick into the lit brazier revealing it to be a magical flame hiding a key.
Piercy, already seeking treasure, recruited the assistance of Father Mortimer to lift the magically lit brazier and drop it and its flame into the cold brazier. I mean they could have figured a way to just get a real fire going in it, but hey whatever works. This caused some mechanisms deeper into the dungeon to grind into place, but otherwise the players do not yet know the effect of this action.
Georgia, tired of the brazier business, gets a look into the next room. A trapped gauntlet if there ever was one, the room is half filled with acid and covered in obvious traps. Piercy shoots and arrow down the hall in hopes of triggering a few of the traps, and it gets less than a quarter of the way before a fire rune trap incinerates it. A little bit of fussing from the rest of the party, and Georgia take the initiative again by stepping into the room. And triggering the trapped spiked wall.
A few successful shoulder rolls later and the party is faced with a hallway of traps ahead of them and a slowly moving spiked wall behind them. Piercy once again uses force to solve the problem by pushing against the wall to give the rest of the group more time to get through the gauntlet. Georgia decided it was time to take out the big guns and used her Animist powers to turn into her spirit-animal, a hideous Canadian Goose with a human face. Using her superior flight speed Georgiaflew past all the traps to safety flew directly into the fire trap and got her goose cooked.
A few lucky rolls and Georgia was left burned, scarred, and disabled but alive and the contingency spell set up in their contracts ported her back into the tavern for a shot of moonshine and a few hours of rest. Wob the Ghost-Cutter took her place, appearing right on the edge of a 15' long acid pit. Using a piece of wood kept from his lumberjack days, Wob tested the pit to confirm it was indeed acid. Dorvus, knowing his goddess would protect him, ignored the shoddy wooden planks that acted as bridges and stepped right in with his rubber sewer-wading outfit. I felt that it was a reasonable risk given the things he's normally wading through and gave the item a resistance check. With the blessing of his goddess, Dorvus successfully made it to the other side, though his waders were not going to be able to take another go at that.
Meanwhile Father Mortimer and Wob considered their options while Piercy continued to hold back the wall. Deciding to let fate decide their path, the pair succeeded on a couple of dex checks to roll past the fire trap and balance their way across the acid pit, leaving Piercy alone on the other side. Piercy shows himself to be observant as well as strong as he noticed that the fire trap seems to be on a recharge cycle and is set off by movement. Instead of risking the planks, the young man hauls himself ONTO the spiked wall and holds on for dear life as it begins to make its way across the room again. With the help of Dorvus shooting arrows and Father Mortimer lobbing cheese, they get the fire trap to go off in time for it to reach its recharge state by the time Piercy moved past it.
Father Mortimer, concerned for Piercy's ability to continue holding on, called on the aid of the Authority. He spoke aloud for the first time and intoned, "HOLD" causing Piercy's muscles to strain beyond what he thought possible, giving him a divinely inspired grip on the wall. Once the wall and Piercy reach the other side, he and Father Mortimer work together to keep the wall at bay once again.
Meanwhile Wob has started to inspect what awaited them on the other side of the acid pit. A pair of shoddy dwarf statues faced each other across the hallway, their mouth open in a silent scream. Sensing another trap, Wob pulls out his Sword of Exocism and its nigh indestructible sheath and waved it in front of the statues, keeping his arm out of reach. One statue loosens a deafening thunderous blast while the other vomits putrid fungal mist. A number of lucky saves leaves everyone safe, but the dangers of the traps are established.
After a little dinking around with the statues, Wob takes action. He first tossed his blanket from his pack over the fungal statue, its heavy curtain causing the spores to float safely to the floor rather than being dispensed across the room. Their careful pokings at the statue revealed them to be made of wood rather than stone. Wob's lumberjack instincts kicked in as he pulled out his old ax and with a good roll beheaded the thunder-statue.
Dorvus, not even pausing to investigate further, mutters "Cloacia Protects" and steps forth. The pressure plate between the statues sinks into the floor and unleashes a spray of deadly arrows from the walls. Well...should be deadly. I completely fail every attack roll against all of the characters. In stunned disbelief, the party leaves the trapped hallway and approaches their next challenge.
After a little bit of time for characterization and introductions, they players tentatively started to interact. Georgia cast Charm Person on the barkeep after not agreeing with their gruff attitude and getting her to open up more as an information resource. After few rounds of
Just at this point, Piercy Montana bursts into the scene seeking a party of would be mercenaries to help him avenge the death of his father due to one Dixon Beaumont. Not originally part of any plan of my own, this type of introduction was too good to pass up and I've adapted Beaumont to be one of the larger antagonist background NPCs. Piercy, however, showed himself to be all swagger and no coin, claiming after Georgia's inquiry into the pay that looting Beaumont should be all the pay she'd need. Several patrons point out the madness of this revenge plot, Dorvus and Wob being particularly pessimistic about it. Father Mortimer, however, smelling the chance to put down a corrupt sinner, pledges himself to Piercy's cause. Georgia, being more practical, suggests splitting the loot should everything go well. If everything goes south though, Piercy has agreed to give Georgia all the fingers on his left hand.
From behind the bar, a metal door opens and drops a trio of bleeding and burned elves onto the tavern floor, followed by a gruff dwarf-- one of the tavern's owners, Merp Ticklelock. The trio had failed the Thunderlock Pubcrawl and Merp was looking for the net batch of
To give everyone a potential chance, I've ruled that if a character dies or is incapacitated, they will be teleported out of the dungeoncrawl and the next in line will take their place.
Thus the party of four signed legal papers waiving their rights to seek reparations against the tavern for any harm done to them and stepped through the gates.
The first room was a rather simple one. Two shabby looking demon statues stood holding braziers on either side of an open door. One brazier was lit while the other was cold. Above them a runic phase was written out. As none of the characters implicitly knew dwarvish, I gave them the option to do Intelligence Checks to recognize and read the script, Dorvus with his 16 Intelligence quickly figured out the runes stating "Fire reveals the treasure, but flame conceals the Key." Wasting no time, Dorvus immediately pokes a stick into the lit brazier revealing it to be a magical flame hiding a key.
Piercy, already seeking treasure, recruited the assistance of Father Mortimer to lift the magically lit brazier and drop it and its flame into the cold brazier. I mean they could have figured a way to just get a real fire going in it, but hey whatever works. This caused some mechanisms deeper into the dungeon to grind into place, but otherwise the players do not yet know the effect of this action.
Georgia, tired of the brazier business, gets a look into the next room. A trapped gauntlet if there ever was one, the room is half filled with acid and covered in obvious traps. Piercy shoots and arrow down the hall in hopes of triggering a few of the traps, and it gets less than a quarter of the way before a fire rune trap incinerates it. A little bit of fussing from the rest of the party, and Georgia take the initiative again by stepping into the room. And triggering the trapped spiked wall.
A few successful shoulder rolls later and the party is faced with a hallway of traps ahead of them and a slowly moving spiked wall behind them. Piercy once again uses force to solve the problem by pushing against the wall to give the rest of the group more time to get through the gauntlet. Georgia decided it was time to take out the big guns and used her Animist powers to turn into her spirit-animal, a hideous Canadian Goose with a human face. Using her superior flight speed Georgia
A few lucky rolls and Georgia was left burned, scarred, and disabled but alive and the contingency spell set up in their contracts ported her back into the tavern for a shot of moonshine and a few hours of rest. Wob the Ghost-Cutter took her place, appearing right on the edge of a 15' long acid pit. Using a piece of wood kept from his lumberjack days, Wob tested the pit to confirm it was indeed acid. Dorvus, knowing his goddess would protect him, ignored the shoddy wooden planks that acted as bridges and stepped right in with his rubber sewer-wading outfit. I felt that it was a reasonable risk given the things he's normally wading through and gave the item a resistance check. With the blessing of his goddess, Dorvus successfully made it to the other side, though his waders were not going to be able to take another go at that.
Meanwhile Father Mortimer and Wob considered their options while Piercy continued to hold back the wall. Deciding to let fate decide their path, the pair succeeded on a couple of dex checks to roll past the fire trap and balance their way across the acid pit, leaving Piercy alone on the other side. Piercy shows himself to be observant as well as strong as he noticed that the fire trap seems to be on a recharge cycle and is set off by movement. Instead of risking the planks, the young man hauls himself ONTO the spiked wall and holds on for dear life as it begins to make its way across the room again. With the help of Dorvus shooting arrows and Father Mortimer lobbing cheese, they get the fire trap to go off in time for it to reach its recharge state by the time Piercy moved past it.
Father Mortimer, concerned for Piercy's ability to continue holding on, called on the aid of the Authority. He spoke aloud for the first time and intoned, "HOLD" causing Piercy's muscles to strain beyond what he thought possible, giving him a divinely inspired grip on the wall. Once the wall and Piercy reach the other side, he and Father Mortimer work together to keep the wall at bay once again.
Meanwhile Wob has started to inspect what awaited them on the other side of the acid pit. A pair of shoddy dwarf statues faced each other across the hallway, their mouth open in a silent scream. Sensing another trap, Wob pulls out his Sword of Exocism and its nigh indestructible sheath and waved it in front of the statues, keeping his arm out of reach. One statue loosens a deafening thunderous blast while the other vomits putrid fungal mist. A number of lucky saves leaves everyone safe, but the dangers of the traps are established.
After a little dinking around with the statues, Wob takes action. He first tossed his blanket from his pack over the fungal statue, its heavy curtain causing the spores to float safely to the floor rather than being dispensed across the room. Their careful pokings at the statue revealed them to be made of wood rather than stone. Wob's lumberjack instincts kicked in as he pulled out his old ax and with a good roll beheaded the thunder-statue.
Dorvus, not even pausing to investigate further, mutters "Cloacia Protects" and steps forth. The pressure plate between the statues sinks into the floor and unleashes a spray of deadly arrows from the walls. Well...should be deadly. I completely fail every attack roll against all of the characters. In stunned disbelief, the party leaves the trapped hallway and approaches their next challenge.
NOTES
I believe we got ourselves to a good start on this one. We have folks from non-RPG backgrounds and non-OSR backgrounds, but they are making use of their resources and environments in a creative manner. Rolls continue to be either Great or Terrible with very little in between. I'm finding that play PbP is great for this as it gives me a reference for rules I made, I only ever have to scroll up the log to remember how I handled similar situations. All art once again is a donation from http://monsieurlebattlier.tumblr.com/
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