And this finally brings us to the present, and most recent game session, session 4. Big round of applause, please. Anybody. Oh, c'mon, you could at least give me a bloody golf clap here! Fine, onto the story.
So, the party was given many things by the ghostly guardian. Sigmar's Seal (which was put in Gilbert's possession), a bunch of books (Gilbert again), the Will of Sigmar (a magical two-handed hammer put in Calcius' protection with the instruction to take it to a temple of Sigmar), and 60 dwarf silvers, which were split evenly.
This was when our party gained its two, likely, last players. We'd lost Matt along the way, so until something is done about his character, it's been npc'd. Kerry took over Emma, and James is playing a halfling watchman who showed up with 'Rena, the halfling cook that had come along and I simply failed to mention 'cause I was in a hurry to get these written up. Klaus, the watchman, had decided that after a failed coup by who knows who caused a stir (riot) at the refugee camp, it was time to find someplace safer to light. Like the chaos wastes.
Bruno had lost two more men to the goblins and, under instruction of the guardian, presented Travis with the relic... which got him told that the survivors were all worshippers of chaos and he'd best put that up if he knew what was good for him.
Hartmut, being a man of his word, lead all of them into the ghetto region to root out the greenskin menace. The ensuing battle was, actually, very long, and began with pots of hot oil being dropped from above. It finally ended with a He-man reference, as our bare chested wizard made his sword glow and held it aloft, in as menacing a manner possible; Hartmut and Perrin's battle against the orc that just wouldn't die; and Gilbert getting knocked out and carried off by Bruno's men.
I then ended the session with a message that would lead them to the Arthonis Merchant house, and a fire which, actually, was started when Hartmut set the temple of Sigmar ablaze, as per the guardian's request. Oooh! I wonder what's going to happen next.
Monday, June 25, 2007
A Third Session
Okay, so Hartmut had promised Bruno that he would help him out with his goblin problem, but before that, he decided that he'd take a little detour to the temple of Sigmar.
The temple was remarkably well preserved. In fact, one could say that it was out-an-out beatiful, with stained glass windows, white-washed walls. The only thing that would ever tell you that there had been a fight here was that the doors were no longer on their hinges. Well, that, and the 300 decomposing bodies in the main hall of the temple ending at the altar which was desecrated with the sign of Nurgle.
So, our party, showing nerve, pluck, and a penchant for never being able to keep their stomach contents in their stomachs (yes, Aaron, I'm talking about your character now), decided to take the stairs into the lower parts of the temple. Where they found themselves in a narrow hallway with arrow slits on both sides. Nothing quite like fighting a bunch of giant rats while trying to dodge arrows being fired from behind impenetrable walls to really make your day.
After making it past the hall of screaming arrows (it's a metaphor, Tyler) they made their way to the illusionary library, which almost made gilbert break down in tears. And the ghostly guardian named, oddly enough, Diefenback. The ghost sent them to running a few errands. You know, stack the black powder by the tunnel entrances, kill off all the ratmen before they cook us up as stew, you know, that sort of thing. After the Sarge and Gilbert were nearly killed by the ratman shaman, they finally managed to turn the tide and were teleported out by the grace of Sigmar (we needed to be done immediately, so I just teleported them out, didn't tell them where they were going, and decided to leave it there).
The most important part about this session is that character relationships are being very well established now. The Sarge is in charge, Calcius is second in command, and Gilbert gets to be the butt of everyone's jokes until he blasts someone, which usually makes people shut up pretty quickly.
The temple was remarkably well preserved. In fact, one could say that it was out-an-out beatiful, with stained glass windows, white-washed walls. The only thing that would ever tell you that there had been a fight here was that the doors were no longer on their hinges. Well, that, and the 300 decomposing bodies in the main hall of the temple ending at the altar which was desecrated with the sign of Nurgle.
So, our party, showing nerve, pluck, and a penchant for never being able to keep their stomach contents in their stomachs (yes, Aaron, I'm talking about your character now), decided to take the stairs into the lower parts of the temple. Where they found themselves in a narrow hallway with arrow slits on both sides. Nothing quite like fighting a bunch of giant rats while trying to dodge arrows being fired from behind impenetrable walls to really make your day.
After making it past the hall of screaming arrows (it's a metaphor, Tyler) they made their way to the illusionary library, which almost made gilbert break down in tears. And the ghostly guardian named, oddly enough, Diefenback. The ghost sent them to running a few errands. You know, stack the black powder by the tunnel entrances, kill off all the ratmen before they cook us up as stew, you know, that sort of thing. After the Sarge and Gilbert were nearly killed by the ratman shaman, they finally managed to turn the tide and were teleported out by the grace of Sigmar (we needed to be done immediately, so I just teleported them out, didn't tell them where they were going, and decided to leave it there).
The most important part about this session is that character relationships are being very well established now. The Sarge is in charge, Calcius is second in command, and Gilbert gets to be the butt of everyone's jokes until he blasts someone, which usually makes people shut up pretty quickly.
Second Session
Okay. Sorry about the delay, but my computer was acting up. Anyway, onto the rundown of the second session, also known as, why did we come to this dead city anyway.
My players finally came to a complete list of characters at this time, so here they are:
Selennia the elf noble - played by Sheena
Hartmut Dienfenback, aka the Sarge - played by Tyler
Gilbert the shadowmancer apprentice - played by Aaron
Perrin the hunter - played by Matt
Calcius the dwarf pit fighter - played by Justin
Originally we had a different character for Sheena, a Shallyan priestess named Emma, but she chose to change characters in mid-stride, so I npc'd Emma until our fourth session, when she was given new life by Kerry. James would later be playing a halfling named Klaus, but he won't show up till the fourth session either.
And so it was that at the crack of dawn (actually about 10 in the morning, cause the wizard overslept) that our noble and courageous party head out for the ruined city of Ferlangen. The wizard had also now been tasked by his master to retrieve Sigmar's Seal, though, of course, he failed to mention this fact to anyone else, along with the fact that he was a wizard. After all, who wants to get burned at the stake for mistakenly being blamed for practicing witchcraft, right.
Upon entering the city they found themselves under fire from two survivors, Brettonians that had made their way to Ferlangen before the storm by the name of Rick and Travis. Poor Rick would later die of infections caused by a wound given to him by Calcius (yeah! pit fighters).
After Rick and Travis surrendered they took the party to Bruno, "commander of the last defense against the forces of chaos." To say that someone was confused would have hardly been a stretch. After a rather strained introduction, Bruno told Hartmut (Tyler) about a group of greenskins that they had been dealing with for about a week, and Hartmut agreed to help him out.
That night the survivor encampment got attacked by a minotaur, who died a horrible and bloody death as he took on the force of no less than fourteen combatants... no, fifteen. It was a slaughter. During the battle Gilbert unleashed a magical barrage against the battle and, afterwards, Travis knocked him out (not the last time this would happen) and informed Hartmut that one of his men was a daemon.
Fortunately for Gilbert, he had some papers to prove who he was, and that he was hardly a daemon, nor was he cavorting with daemons. While the interrogation was proceeding, however, Travis managed to take off with Gilbert's drawing of Sigmar's Seal.
Thus endeth the second session. I was really hoping that more would get done (and my apologies for the broken way in which the story is written, the game did take place a while ago so my memory is hardly fresh), but we've been getting better.
My players finally came to a complete list of characters at this time, so here they are:
Selennia the elf noble - played by Sheena
Hartmut Dienfenback, aka the Sarge - played by Tyler
Gilbert the shadowmancer apprentice - played by Aaron
Perrin the hunter - played by Matt
Calcius the dwarf pit fighter - played by Justin
Originally we had a different character for Sheena, a Shallyan priestess named Emma, but she chose to change characters in mid-stride, so I npc'd Emma until our fourth session, when she was given new life by Kerry. James would later be playing a halfling named Klaus, but he won't show up till the fourth session either.
And so it was that at the crack of dawn (actually about 10 in the morning, cause the wizard overslept) that our noble and courageous party head out for the ruined city of Ferlangen. The wizard had also now been tasked by his master to retrieve Sigmar's Seal, though, of course, he failed to mention this fact to anyone else, along with the fact that he was a wizard. After all, who wants to get burned at the stake for mistakenly being blamed for practicing witchcraft, right.
Upon entering the city they found themselves under fire from two survivors, Brettonians that had made their way to Ferlangen before the storm by the name of Rick and Travis. Poor Rick would later die of infections caused by a wound given to him by Calcius (yeah! pit fighters).
After Rick and Travis surrendered they took the party to Bruno, "commander of the last defense against the forces of chaos." To say that someone was confused would have hardly been a stretch. After a rather strained introduction, Bruno told Hartmut (Tyler) about a group of greenskins that they had been dealing with for about a week, and Hartmut agreed to help him out.
That night the survivor encampment got attacked by a minotaur, who died a horrible and bloody death as he took on the force of no less than fourteen combatants... no, fifteen. It was a slaughter. During the battle Gilbert unleashed a magical barrage against the battle and, afterwards, Travis knocked him out (not the last time this would happen) and informed Hartmut that one of his men was a daemon.
Fortunately for Gilbert, he had some papers to prove who he was, and that he was hardly a daemon, nor was he cavorting with daemons. While the interrogation was proceeding, however, Travis managed to take off with Gilbert's drawing of Sigmar's Seal.
Thus endeth the second session. I was really hoping that more would get done (and my apologies for the broken way in which the story is written, the game did take place a while ago so my memory is hardly fresh), but we've been getting better.
Friday, June 22, 2007
A Note On Obsession
This is not so much a social commentary, nor an interesting observation, so much as it is a rant, so please bear with me. Actually, it's specifically a rant about an observation, so if you don't like that kind of thing, get stuf'd.
Fact: There is no such thing as a casual game master. This will probably be disputed (I will take on all comers), but I hold firm that it is a fact. While there is such a thing as a casual gamer, they will only be found in the position of player, and will often be the type to abstain from arguments about game rules, arguing alignment (pro or con), and can even be the type that sleeps until a fight starts and his character needs to kill someone.
For the rest of us, role-playing is an obsession that takes a back seat to no other hobby. Players have a mountain of supplemental books to sort through and character details to mark, explain, interpret, author, and otherwise memorize. Game Masters are in an even bigger pickle. Even if they don't have to create the game world entire (and many GM's do enjoy such a challenge) they still must create a whole plethora of NPC's, create locations of interest, learn or author all the special details of the campaign setting, and learn as much about whatever special rules that the players are bringing in for whatever character's that they are running. They also must learn to be one part diplomat, one part storyteller, one part general, and two parts enlightened despot (let's face it, sometimes the best way to keep things going is by shoving a lightning bolt down the motor-mouth's throat).
While most people can marshall these kinds of efforts for a short span of time, it takes a mark of obsession to keep it up for any length of time (unless, perhaps, you're getting paid for it, hint, hint). It is this obsessive quality, and the fact that only the, at least marginally, obsessed will last long in most role-playing groups keeps RPG's on the fringe, though at times we do seem to posess the unity of our own little sub-culture, so I guess it's not all bad.
So, when will I actually get to the point, you ask. Well, this being a rant, there is no actual point.
Fact: There is no such thing as a casual game master. This will probably be disputed (I will take on all comers), but I hold firm that it is a fact. While there is such a thing as a casual gamer, they will only be found in the position of player, and will often be the type to abstain from arguments about game rules, arguing alignment (pro or con), and can even be the type that sleeps until a fight starts and his character needs to kill someone.
For the rest of us, role-playing is an obsession that takes a back seat to no other hobby. Players have a mountain of supplemental books to sort through and character details to mark, explain, interpret, author, and otherwise memorize. Game Masters are in an even bigger pickle. Even if they don't have to create the game world entire (and many GM's do enjoy such a challenge) they still must create a whole plethora of NPC's, create locations of interest, learn or author all the special details of the campaign setting, and learn as much about whatever special rules that the players are bringing in for whatever character's that they are running. They also must learn to be one part diplomat, one part storyteller, one part general, and two parts enlightened despot (let's face it, sometimes the best way to keep things going is by shoving a lightning bolt down the motor-mouth's throat).
While most people can marshall these kinds of efforts for a short span of time, it takes a mark of obsession to keep it up for any length of time (unless, perhaps, you're getting paid for it, hint, hint). It is this obsessive quality, and the fact that only the, at least marginally, obsessed will last long in most role-playing groups keeps RPG's on the fringe, though at times we do seem to posess the unity of our own little sub-culture, so I guess it's not all bad.
So, when will I actually get to the point, you ask. Well, this being a rant, there is no actual point.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Rundown
So, I started out with the premise that the characters would be refugees that survived the Storm of Chaos, which, for anyone who doesn't follow the WFRP mythos, was this huge army of Chaos worshippers, beastmen, mutants, amoral mercenaries, Chaos warriors, etc., lead by Archaon, a powerful champion of Chaos, that laid waste to most of the northern portions of the Empire before finally being stopped at Middenheim by the combined forces of the Imperial Army and an army of undead being lead by the Von Carstein vampires that happened to wander by at the time. Fighting chaos makes for some very strange bedfellows indeed.
The first step was to get the group together, and to this end I decided upon conscription as a very powerful motivator. One of the players had rolled up a soldier, so it was very easy just to make him the impromptu leader of the party (the conscripter, if you will). It wasn't until the second session that everyone had finally settled in on the name, or who, their characters were, and even now we are still having changes (new players joining the mix), so I won't give a list of characters or names until I have the complete mix down.
I began the first session by describing, in vivid detail, the execution of three accused chaos cultists by burning. I wanted to set the scene and give the players an idea of the atmosphere of fear and paranoia in which they would be working, as well as introduce one of the more powerful NPC's, Captain Vridel Kreutzhof, the ad hoc ruler of the camp. The atmosphere was transmitted very well, I think, especially as I described the crowds fervor as the condemned were slowly roasted.
After that I presented our soldier with a mission from Lt. Hoss Greuben. Kreuthof had decided that it was time to start sending scouting parties into the ruins of Ferlangen, and left it in Greuben's hands to arrange the details. Greuben chose for our soldier to prepare (conscript) a group, and also gave him a side mission: retrieve Sigmar's Seal.
The rest of the first game session consisted of existential forays, as we tried to explain to one of our newbies, who had never RP'ed before, exactly what the nature of the role-playing universe, which seemed to focus primarily on who and/or what is the GM, and getting the party assembled. All in all, not too bad for our first session.
The first step was to get the group together, and to this end I decided upon conscription as a very powerful motivator. One of the players had rolled up a soldier, so it was very easy just to make him the impromptu leader of the party (the conscripter, if you will). It wasn't until the second session that everyone had finally settled in on the name, or who, their characters were, and even now we are still having changes (new players joining the mix), so I won't give a list of characters or names until I have the complete mix down.
I began the first session by describing, in vivid detail, the execution of three accused chaos cultists by burning. I wanted to set the scene and give the players an idea of the atmosphere of fear and paranoia in which they would be working, as well as introduce one of the more powerful NPC's, Captain Vridel Kreutzhof, the ad hoc ruler of the camp. The atmosphere was transmitted very well, I think, especially as I described the crowds fervor as the condemned were slowly roasted.
After that I presented our soldier with a mission from Lt. Hoss Greuben. Kreuthof had decided that it was time to start sending scouting parties into the ruins of Ferlangen, and left it in Greuben's hands to arrange the details. Greuben chose for our soldier to prepare (conscript) a group, and also gave him a side mission: retrieve Sigmar's Seal.
The rest of the first game session consisted of existential forays, as we tried to explain to one of our newbies, who had never RP'ed before, exactly what the nature of the role-playing universe, which seemed to focus primarily on who and/or what is the GM, and getting the party assembled. All in all, not too bad for our first session.
Hmm... first post.
This is probably going to start off a little rough (think sandpaper). The whole idea for this blog was inspired by the fact that my facebook account allows me to post blogs onto my site, so suddenly I was thinking, "Why don't I start a blog? I like to rant and rave and talk into space, not really caring if anybody actually cares about what I'm saying or why. It could be liberating." I suppose that I should have put a bit more care into the thought process, but there it is.
For the most part I've envisioned this as a living record of what is going on in any games I happen to be running. At present I'm running a WFRP 2e. game set just a couple months after the Storm of Chaos broke, and Archaon high-tailed it for the northern wastes. It began in a refugee camp about ten miles south of Ferlangen, one of the major cities (and majorly destroyed cities) in Ostland. At the moment the players are in the temple of Sigmar in the ruins of Ferlangen after having just recently acquired an important relic known only as Sigmar's Seal (it's an obsidian cross with an ivory skull at its center) and taking care of a group of Skaven that were trying to take control of the tunnels below the temple, allowing them to infiltrate the city of Ferlangen whenever they pleased.
I'll give the rundown on the events that lead to this point in the next post.
For the most part I've envisioned this as a living record of what is going on in any games I happen to be running. At present I'm running a WFRP 2e. game set just a couple months after the Storm of Chaos broke, and Archaon high-tailed it for the northern wastes. It began in a refugee camp about ten miles south of Ferlangen, one of the major cities (and majorly destroyed cities) in Ostland. At the moment the players are in the temple of Sigmar in the ruins of Ferlangen after having just recently acquired an important relic known only as Sigmar's Seal (it's an obsidian cross with an ivory skull at its center) and taking care of a group of Skaven that were trying to take control of the tunnels below the temple, allowing them to infiltrate the city of Ferlangen whenever they pleased.
I'll give the rundown on the events that lead to this point in the next post.
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