#session reports

[scribbleofstars]

Session Report

Exerpt From The Journal of Roxanne Skylynn

Today the expedition to the old mine took place and well, it was interesting to say the least. I have learned much about the area and a few rumors of things that might end up becoming issues. For instance, a large lizard is being held in the mines....I wonder how it got there? Either way it's far too big to fit into the actual mines and is stuck in a single large room for what I can tell. Plus the mine has an elevator shaft that needs exploring, given that it doesn't collapse.

I am a bit worried however at a potential uprising that we...learned about during a particularly harsh interrogation that lead to the one being interrogated being well.....shoved into the room with the lizard. He probably wont survive. In fact I think we watched him die. Then again, I watched a lot of things die......I wonder if I will ever get the feeling of blood off of my hands, or if I will eventually get used to the feeling.....Perhaps I have gone too far for the College this time.

Only time may tell.

(scribbled in the margins are images of a coin from a time long past, a pipe surrounded by bubbles, and the image of a barrel.....a few notes are also written "Reminder: Ask A.R.C. to further explain a calorie")

[master-of-evil-lord-of-the-dark]

Session 4

A few weeks late on the write-up, but session 4 was a doozie.  This really was a killer session ;)  ...but in the best way possible.  I was anxious to run this particular one, but stuck to the script, and boy howdy did it pay off.  Sessions like this one are the standard to which I hold all others.

Without any further ado...

Read up on the best session I’ve run in recent history (maybe ever) beyond the cut!

From left to right:

Barton: Bugbear Barbarian

Dell Cherrycheeks: Halfling Monk

Sammel: Tiefling Ranger

Percival: Tabaxi Bard

Maiirien: Elven Sorceress

Malgath: Shadar-kai Cleric of the Raven Queen

Killgore: Triton Wizard

Malgath and Killgore’s players we late, but arrived just in time for the best part.

The session started off with the gang returning to the (proverbial) ghost town of Pike’s Retreat to continue looting exploring the place.  In their sights, they had the manor house on the east side of town.  The approached, weary of the fish-men that have been plaguing their expeditions, but things were quiet.  Before entering the manor, they decided to check out a carriage house adjacent.

Their caution allowed them to get the drop on a giant dire rat.  (Dire Wolf stats because actual dire rats are apparently weaksauce)  The giant rat summoned several rat swarms to their aide.

A battle ensued, but our heroes quickly dispatched the rodents  As they rested and caught their breath, Malgath and Killgore, having left town late, caught up, and at 7 strong, began to scope out the manor house.

(Drawing from my own notes of the hosue  notice the greenhouse on the left and the carriage house on the right.)

The center of the house was two stories, so Barton decided to hop up on a wing and try to get a good look through the window.  A 3 on the die for the roof strength and a natural 1 on investigation from Barton resulted decidedly in the roof collapsing under their feet.  They fell into a workroom on the north (left) side of the house, and summarily let the rest of the party in a side door.  Despite (or perhaps due to) their comically loud entrance, they party moved through the house with relative caution and quiet.

They moved from the workroom into the kitchen, and it was there that things started to get strange.  Dell could swear there was something behind her ... wait, no, there wasn’t anything there.  Try as she might, she could not shake the feeling that something was watching her.  And no amount of perception seemed to reveal a presence.  ...the rest of the party by contrast was absolutely certain that there was nothing amiss, but nonetheless took caution.

They discovered stairs into the basement, and resolved to explore that later. XD

Coming into the foyer, and a grisly sight was found.  The corpse of a half-elf woman, wearing ragged cloths, was stretched towards the door.  Her face and back were mangled, and one arm was missing.  The blood stairs led up the stairs towards the south side of the house, and about halfway up, her other arm (as well as a set of manacles) were found.  Malgath identified an arcane mark on the manacles as one of a variety commonly used within the Imperial penal system.

In a bout of bravery, the gang followed the trail.  And found their way to the master bedroom.  The room, as the rest of the house, was eerily silent.  They explored, and found naught but a small chest of gems, and a mundane mannequin.

Content that they had found all there was to find in the room, they began to make their way downstairs.   Maiirien, the last to leave, was attacked!  A horrific figure, not quite alive, but not quite dead, lunged from out of nowhere and stuck her in the back with a rusty cutlass.

She was alive but just barely.  (thanks to some shitty rolls and a rules fuck up by yours truly)

A fight broke out on the stairs, and the Wendigo, the hate-fueled specter of the late Pike was dispatched.

The encounter was too easy in my opinion, for what I was hoping would be a climactic fight.  In hindsight, I wasted a perfectly good opportunity to break out the legendary action and lair action rules.  They would have been quite fitting for my vision of the boss, and would have set the challenge at the appropriate level for a party of 7.

As it was, the party, relatively uninjured, was willing to continue down ... into the basement.

*DUN DUN DUN*

...the basement was actually pretty small and plain, with nothing but a few dried out wine casks.

Laaaaame.

The players naturally didn’t buy this, and searched thoroughly. ...quiet thoroughly.  And a cool nat 20 from Sammel discovered a secret passage way in the back of a large cask...

They pushed the secret door open, and discovered a magical workshop....

Two workbenches, on one, various tools and ingredients, a leather bound book, and a shiny (silvered) cutlass.  The other, cleared, save for a rune-carved slate block, various incense, and a stone statuette of a skull with a tentacle crapping around it. (The statuette being correctly dismissed as a non-magical trinket.)

As the party took stock of the room, Killgore sat down with the journal.  In it, the unidentified writer detailed their saga of research.  They were seeking a means to save the town from its misfortune, and were certain that they had found a means of securing power:  A powerful ritual for enchanting an item.  They had even commissioned a gorgeous silvered cutlass for the occasion.  However, they had become uncertain due to an unspecified “great cost” to the ritual, and it seems that it had never been attempted.

A round of arcana checks, and the book for cross-reference, and the group was certain that the ritual was ready.

The question hung in the air: Would they attempt it?

The group was divided, and with the facts laid out, all I could do was sit back and smile while the debate raged on.  Character motivations were put to the test, and player curiosity weighed heavily.  Barton and Percival were having none of it.  Dell was a little curious, but anxious, Malgath was ambivalent.   Maiirien was curious, but relatively cautions. Sammel kept flip flopping, but eventually curiosity seemed to be getting the better of him.  Killgore was 100% in favor and chomping at the bit.  

Eventually, Barton and Percival went outside, and Malgath waited upstairs (in earshot, lest his services were needed)  Sammel and Dell took up defensive positions in the doorway with Maiirien, and Killgore began the ritual (on one of Sammel’s hand-axes per his request)

As the incense were lit, a darkness encompassed the room, and the house, and the porch.  Motes of of purple light floated in the air around the ritual.  After a minute, they coalesced into the axe, and all the players rolled a d20.

Sammel rolled the lowest.

The energy at the table was palpable.  After all of this build up, EVERYONE wanted to know what was going to happen next.  Naturally, I decided that this was an excellent time for a break. XD

...but not JUST because I’m a sadistic fucker who was enjoying the tension.  I also needed to take Sammel’s player outside and explain what was about to go down...

We stepped outside, and I told him, “Ok.  You’re dead.  Completely, totally, flatlined.  Sorry.  However!  Your soul has been sucked into the axe.  You are fully aware of this fact, and can perceive the area around it.  Moreover!  You can psychically communicate with anyone holding it.”

The player, to his massive credit, was LOVING this.  I could not have asked for a better victim, because he simply REVELED in the absurdity that we were about to unleash on his unsuspecting partymates.

We went inside, and the game resumed.  As the ritual finished, there was a dull thump, and in the doorway, Sammel collapsed to the ground.  Dell and Maiirien moved in to check on him, and no pulse was discovered.  As the full weight of what had happened hit them, Killgore moved in to pick up the sparkling new axe.

“Ok,” I said, “so two things happen simultaneously.”  Killgore’s player, who all night had been gleefully charging headlong into everything, stared at me excitedly.  He full well expected Something Bad, but was too busy having fun to care.  “First, you realize this is a NICE AXE now.  It possesses an unnatural balance, and almost hums in your hand.  You have no doubt that this is an incredible weapon to fight with.  Secondly...” and I turn to Sammel’s player who didn’t miss a beat.

“You hear just a string of cursing.” he says.

Looks of incredulity abounded, as the group realized with shock and horror what had happened.

The Sammel-axe was passed around, and many courses of action were proposed.  The ritual book gave no indication as to how this process could have been reversed.  ...or even how it happened.  One suggestion was to put Sammel’s corpse on the slab, but the characters, vaguely aware of the random nature of the ritual, were weary of unforseen consequences...

Malgath wanted to bury the body, so that proper dues could be paid, but this idea was (fortunately!) shot down in the hopes that this effect could be undone.

In the meantime, Sammel was thoroughly enjoying bossing around whoever happened to be their bearer. (And we were presented with a unique insight into how the personalities of sentient weapons come to be)

Eventually, the party decided to call it a day and return to town.  Someone told Barton, who was currently holding the axe, to throw it with the corpse while they lug it back to town and figure out what to do.  Barton, with a peculiar pragmatism, walked over and proceeded to bury the axe blade-first in the chest of Sammel’s corpse.  With a start, Sammel, now returned to their original (albeit bleeding from the chest) body sat bolt upright.  At first, the gang kind of wanted to just leave it there, for fear that tampering would kill him again, but when I suggested that this would result in a permanent docking of Sammel’s maximum hp (as might be expcted from keeping a gaping chest would open), they began to experiment.  Sammel himself removed it, and seemed to be fine, but once he put it down, collapsed dead once again.  Some belligerence from Barton (who coveted the powerful weapon) resulted in another axe wound (very nearly damaging Sammel’s tiefling body irreparably), but some experimentation was completed and the specifics of the magic became established:

So long as the axe is on Sammel’s person, he will feel, appear, and behave alive.  The instant it leaves his possession however, he will become mortician-certifiably D E A D ...and his soul will be back in the axe.  Currently, it has been identified as a +2 axe.  Powerful (insanely!) but perhaps worthwhile for something that is lethal if disarmed...

[heedra]

its not a climactic session of exalted without a giant kaiju battle happening in the background

[master-of-evil-lord-of-the-dark]

Session 1

*Featuring no pictures because apparently I didn’t take any*

You live in The Empire.  Its the unified conglomerate of all peaceful humanoid races.  Life in the empire is great.  Everything is prosperous, everyone is happy, and everything is wonderful.  Basically, we've got world peace.  ...but therein lies the problem.  World peace ... is ...well, its actually really *boring*. Some people, though they are few and far between, want more.  They want thrills, they want excitement, they want ADVENTURE ... and maybe a little danger.  They want to explore the wild unknown in search of gold and glory, even if it means risking their lives to do so. If you're reading this, than that sounds like you!  ...fortunately, you've realized that there is a solution to the doldrums that you're in.  For the empire spreads only so far, and past its western edge lies The Great Untamed Wilderness!  So for now, you gather your belongings, and head to Westmarch, the last town on the farthest edge of civilization. ...who knows, maybe when you get there, you'll find some like-minded individuals to help you on your journey... (Or maybe that's just your cover-story, and you've got ...other motivations.  All that matters is that you're comfortable leaving civilization behind, and seek to explore the great unknown!) 

That was the prompt I gave to each player who was interested in the campaign.  That and to create a level 1 character in the 5e rules.  Of the ~10 players having shown interest.  6 were able to make it to session 1, and we were off!

(I lied)

The heroes arrived in town all around the same time.  I explained to them that the Western Edge of the Empire was built along a great chasm that ran from the north to the south.  It is of indeterminate depth, and anywhere from a hundred feet to a mile across.

At the narrowest point, a bridge and a town was built.  At first, the empire began to expand across the chasm, but ultimately logistical complications resulted in the western side declining and ultimately being abandoned.  At this time, Westmarch is the only remaining town on the border.  The population, for the most part, is a garrison force to protect civilization from the wilderness, but it is well known that between the danger pay, and the fact that nothing ever actually attacks, this is a cushy posting.  The garrison spends most of there time drinking, gambling, and carousing.

As our heroes arrive in town, they inquire at the local BREWHAUS if there are any expeditions heading out.  The congenial barkeep, Johnathan Bartlett, laughs ... and upon realizing they are serious, explains that no, no one goes out there because its dangerous and that would be fucking stupid.

However after getting this request a half a dozen times withing several days, he eventually suggests that that these individuals might be able to form a band so that they might be able to venture forth and at least die together.

They meet at a table... to awkward silence,

Barton, the Bugbear Barbarian

Killgore Trout, the Triton Wizard

Maiirien, the Elven Sorceress (Arcane)

Dell Cherrycheecks, the Halfling Monk

Sammel, the Tiefling Ranger

Halifax, the Aasimar Sorcerer.(Divine)

Barton, featuring a legendarily slow conversation speed, was fascinated by these interesting characters, and inquired after their names.  (shoutout to Barton’s player for getting things off to a great start when I failed.  In the future, I should just have the barkeep do the same)

We went around the table with everyone introducing themselves in character, and they decided to set out. ...after first gathering some supplies.  They headed to the general store in town, wherein they got to meet one of my favorite (and only) NPCS, Heironeous Heimdall, of Heimdall’s IMPorium. (There’s an imp on the sign, I know, I’m hilarious.)  And thus begin the fast-talking and figety Heimdall’s blooming hatred of Barton and ... their ... very ... very ...slow ...way ...of ...working ... through ... each ... word ... in ... a ... sentence.  

With arrows, javelins, and a few healing potions in tow, they set out, to the west!

They made their way across grassy rolling fields along an overgrown gravel path until they eventually reached an old crossroads.  They examined a sign post, and after discovering a half-buried, missing sign, established that “The Mines of Morkul” lay to the north, “Grey’s Bridge” to the west, and “Pike’s Retreat” to the south.  After a brief discussion wherein they decided to check out the mines, one of them spotted movement to the south west, in the direction of some standing stones out on the plain!

Several of them stealthed, and moved towards the stones, only to spot, and be spotted by a small orange humanoid, which turned, fled, and hid among the stones.  As it did, Killgore fired a blast of magical energy and combat was off!

Sammel, who had been stealthing closer, reached the stones first, and rounding the one he had seen the creature disapear, came face to face with a pair of zombies!  His squishy level 1 ass was ill equipped for such a close encounter with the living dead, and he went down.  The party rushed forward, laying into the zombies, as Halifax quickly got Sammel back on his feel.  Barton and Dell swung wide around the stone and came face to face with a pair of kobalds!  The kobalds lunged uselessly at Dell, and were each dispatched in short order.  One to a broken neck courtesy of Dell, and another to a caved-in cranium courtesy of Barton!  The rest of the party wrangled with the zombies, putting one down while under magical fire from the remaining kobald, a sorcerer.

Realizing the tide was turning, the sorcerer ordered the zombie after Killgore, and then began to flee, pursued by Dell, throwing javelins while riding on Barton’s shoulders.  Killgore was in for a rough time, being repeatedly downed by the zombie (and some friendly fire from Maiirien!) and stabilized as the party struggled with the remaining zombie.  (For 3 rounds undead fortitude roles, I could not role below a 15!)  The sorcerer had nearly escaped, when Sammel, exasperated with the zombie, turned and fired a max-range longbow shot towards the sorcerer.  The arrow arced through the air, gently, the silent whisper of wind in fletching, before burying itself in the sorcerer’s spine, dropping him.  Moments later, the casters dealt with the zombie and the fight was over.  Exhausted and bloodied, our heroes decided that they should perhaps return to the town, but not before looting the bodies, wherein an interesting piece of loot was discovered on the sorcerer...

A mysterious map!  (The picture is recent, and the party has started using it for their own hand written notes since)

What will be in store for their next expedition...?!

[tenleaguesbeneath]

my in-person l5r group had a somewhat shortened session today that was pretty much just one big long combat.

which was fine; I'm playing an air shugenja so I'm as adept in combat encounters as I am in the social scenes. our courtier struggled to make herself useful though, but then, in the last two sessions the bushi struggled with the same thing so turnaround is fair.

plus I went up an honor rank by doubling back during the boss fight 'cause I was close to tapped out of useful spells (aside from my void slots that I was saving for emergency healing) and making sure the miniboss we'd downed on the way there didn't bleed out.

[paperpatchnotes]

City of Ghosts Session Report 1

System: Worlds Without Number

I've recently begun a campaign in the WWN system, using my own setting but liberally stealing from the WWN setting as I enjoy the concepts presented there.

Previously I have run Alien one shots, hefty D&D 5e campaigns, and have been fortunate to play a pf2e campaign, several Call of Cthulhu one shots, a Star Wars (FFG) campaign, a Vampire campaign, and a MOTW campaign. At this point the only thing missing from my experience is something more OSR adjacent so I was actually very excited to dive into this.

My 5e group is what I would call a "hardcore" gaming group. They are good at number crunching, dedicated to the system they're playing (only players I play with who will read the rulebooks unprompted "for fun"), and have strong thoughts and opinions on things like the difficulty and frequency of encounters and magic/martial balance.

We're also young. A lot of the people I run into in the gaming space are older. The oldest of us is still under thirty. We came up on 5e - something oft forgotten by angry Redditors is the reason a lot of us have only ever played 5e isn't because we're stupid but simply we were the prime age for that to be our main game. the timing of it hitting the mainstream and us being old enough to have both the free time and energy to buy and read books and run campaigns go hand in hand. I've noticed in my other groups there's a similar bias towards whatever system welcomed them into the TTRPG space (shout out to my friend whose first game was Werewolf).

So given that, as pretty serious gamers and 5e players, we all think the DM tools are trash, consistently challenging combat is hard to craft, and the caster/martial disparity is annoying to work around (and the magic item system and crafting is hopelessly broken) - for our next game we wanted to try one of the D&D replacements.

Having played pf2e (the favorite suggestion of many) our thoughts were this: it's too much. An overcorrection. While much was also done to reduce the way modifiers stack, there is a general consensus it would be very difficult to play without a VTT and we simply didn't "vibe" with it.

The common desire we have is deadly or challenging combat and a better balance between martials and casters. Working crafting systems are a bonus.

While we have been eyeballing Shadow of the Weird Wizard as an alternative to Shadows of the Demon Lord and a potential option, I have long been using WWN as a worldbuilding tool in my 5e games and pitched trying it out instead. We are two sessions (and a session 0) into a small scale campaign.

Disclaimer: This is a city based campaign instead of a hexcrawl exploration. I love a city game and am of the opinion a lot of principles of exploration apply, but it may color my opinions.

The most frustrating thing so far has been the lack of organization in the rules, hampered further by no online codex.

I had a discussion with a friend about this. No one has ever claimed that 5e was the pinnacle of organization, so I do wonder if this is just a familiarity gap, but I struggle to find rules and information. What I do find is scattered, requires multiple re-reads, or strong interpretation.

People constantly bemoan confusing rulings in 5e and the onus put on the DM but it certainly doesn’t seem like WWN, at least, changes that at all. It’s not really a knock against the system either. As I understand it WWN and its sister games are made by a one man army so editing, parsability, etc, is probably quite different. It’s probably also very different for someone already familiar with the OSR scene to parse versus myself coming up on 5e. 

The main thing though that I find frustrating that is a genuine talent of the 5e writing and design team even if other games do it better, is the lack of “rhyme”. I bet there’s a better word for it, but when design decisions across the game rhyme, it makes it easier to fill in gaps or make rulings on the spot. Things like Proficiency Bonus per Day, subclasses at level 3, AOEs coming in a general subset of sizes and shapes. You don’t want total homogeny but some idea of the general rhyme scheme of game makes it easier to navigate. WWN has some of this...but it also often doesn’t. Trying to rule of the spot can be so tricky, and often I think rules have been left unwritten because of a desire to “rule it as you would real life”. But in real life I can’t see the future or read minds so it gets a little tough to adjucate situations. It doesn’t help my players are incredibly clever.

The other thing that’s definitely become noticeable is that I think, in general, I prefer more niche protection in the form of exclusive mid power abilities scattered across classes than a few very powerful ones. This is still cooking, I may change my mind, but I find myself missing what felt like mechanical diversity in 5e - which is not something 5e often gets praised for.

I’m going to keep eyes on it though. I will probably include more narrative details in future as we go but for now this campaign is mostly to evaluate the system :) 

[redlilyadventuringcompany]

The Betrayed – Session 1: Slow Beginnings

The 9th of Highharvest was a rain-chilled autumn day in the town of Ebenhall. The fire roared in the hearth of The Tin Moray Inn that night,

[dwimmersworn]

I’m going to try and write play reports more often. I think they’re an important part of the space which we don’t see enough of anymore. Rather than just narrativising play, I’m aiming to also talk about any techniques or decisions I made in play.

Luke Gearing, on writing session reports