M&M Session #1 - Isle of the Red Minotaur

"Lanike, the only daughter of King Neokles, has suddenly fallen into a deep magical slumber. Youguys, brave and foolhardy and expendable heroes, have been tasked with finding Xenon the Sage, currently imprisoned on the Isle of the Red Minotaur out of divine punishment. Captain Boros and his crew of thirteen are ordered to take you to the island, wait until your return, and sail towards wherever the magical cure is according to Xenon." - my verbatim introduction to the players

The party:

• Kitipos son of Karipos, Noble 1
• Orion, Spearman 1

Arriving at the rocky island, the party wagered 20sp each against a total of 100 of the crew that they would bring back the Red Minotaur's horns.

Following a trail inland they heard a melancholy tune. Orion decided to play harmony, and soon they met the source of the music: a childlike spirit of fortune and prosperity. He shared a lot of information about the island, and tasked the adventurers with retrieving his cornucopia from a pair of mischievous lemures.

The duo advanced forth, literally cutting their way in the forest, when suddenly vines of malicious intent grabbed Kitipos. The plant-creature was quickly dispatched, and the adventurers marched on.

They arrived at a log, inside from which they heard laughter. With their fierce looks and powerful words they pressed the lemures into handing over the cornucopia, which they then returned to the good spirit, who gave them a flask of oil that would protect them from the Red Minotaur. They feasted and rested, and in the morning they headed towards the Ursid village.

The bearmen were skeptical of the adventurers' plan to rid them of both the minotaur and the griffin, but nonetheless they gave them two goats, and the old Murbo concocted a sleeping drought.

The duo applied the sleeping potion to the goats' skin and headed towards the minotaur's cave. On their way they discovered a scorched grove of trees, one of them, beneath a thick layer of ash, appearing calcified.

They lured the minotaur's pet bicephalous dogs out, who quickly fell asleep as they ate from the poisoned goats. With but a thrust the adventurers executed the slumbering creatures.

Soon the minotaur became agitated as its dogs weren't responding. The adventurers barely had enough time to apply the oil to their bodies and dress themselves in armour - the minotaur came charging. Its fiery breath indeed proved ineffective against the ointed skin of Kitipos and Orion, and withing a minute they decapitated the Red Minotaur.

They took its Girdle of Strength and Bridle of Taming, skinned the dogs, and cut the minotaur's horns. When they returned, the Ursids rejoiced.

Then Kitipos put on a goat's skin to lure the hunting griffin close enough to Orion to put force on the bridle. The griffin did show up, Kitipos escaped its claws, but Orion only managed to jump on its back. With both adventurers hanging onto the creature, the griffin flew away, trying to run poor Kitipos into a cliff or treetop. Fortunately Orion was soon able to put on the bridle.

Once they both climbed on its back, they flew towards the tower where Xenon was kept prisoner. The landed on a balcony and entered. They saw broken mirrors and an emaciated man of unkempt hair and with empty eye sockets.

Xenon regaled his tale of tragic love: the dryad he fell in love with now dead because she chose a mortal, and himself imprisoned and unable to die or leave. Upon mentioning the calcified remains of the woman-shaped tree, Xenon realised there still might be a chance.

The adventurers were directed towards an island where the Temple of Doom is built on top of many springs where waters from the Underworld enter the mortal realms. In exchange for a flask of such water, Xenon would tell them about the cure to wake the sleeping Lanike.

And so, they set the fast Okeai's sail towards the Temple of Doom - with a bridled griffin on board, nonetheless!

Referee's note: A session of three hours, including character generation and a generous amount of joking around. I slightly tweaked the number of enemies (as I was originally expecting four players), but even starting characters are fairly strong anyways. Healing is very slow, however, so the lack of a magician (and thus access to curative or area-of-effect spells) might become a problem later.

Actual Play Musing: A recent semi-TPK

Last night I killed two player characters. Well, I technically didn't kill them: one of them was left behind, polymorphed into a frog, while the other accepted the anger of their wizardly patron.

It was a campaign that originally began as repeated explorations into the city's necropolis (I reskinned parts of Barrowmaze for it). We had four player characters, but two of them (an assassin and a barbarian) only showed up infrequently: the other two (a monk and a berserker) sat firmly in the driver's seat.

For the last two sessions we've been taking a break from the undead-infested necropolis and participated in some good old urban investigation. A slave escaped from an eccentric noble's palace and kidnapped his daughter. The players quickly realised that the daughter and the slave were lovers, and through some colourful interactions found them hiding in the Lunar Garden. Before confronting them, though, they returned a diamond ring to the noble (which the couple stole and sold to cover their expenses).

The initial "I'm giving you this quest" scene and this one surely have communicated that Phlianos wasn't a simple noble: he was hiding in a completely covered sedan chair carried by 8 bald servants with visible incision marks on their craniums. Also, the spokesperson conversed with the lord, not willing to show his visage, through a serpentine thread (like a thin plastic tube or something) that entered his brain through the ear. At any rate, they were paid for a job well done - apparently, the diamond ring was of greater importance than the daughter or the slave.

Still, the party learned that the noble-sorcerer would use the gem as a phylactery to achieve immortality: something they thought they should stop. So they learned of a rival sorceress, contacted her, and told her of the news. The sorcereress told them to steal it for her, and gave them an amulet ("When you have the gem, think of this place, and call my name out loud").

The players went back to the sorcerer with a terrible excuse to sniff around. A terrible reaction roll followed, and the players - instead of chancing an escape (which, for the matter, would totally have been possible) - went for an all-out assault. Sadly, the opposition won initiative, and the berserker failed his saving throw: he was instantly transformed into a frog. The monk threw a flask of oil, but it had little effect. In the next round, he decided to call out the sorcerer's name - so he was instantly teleported back to a safe place, leaving the polymorphed berserker behind (it was apparent that the player actually wanted to grab the frog immediately after activating the amulet; its power wasn't known, after all).

Since polymorph lasts indefinitely and the polymorphed creature assumes the behaviour and mannerisms of the new form, the berserker was assumed dead, unless a rescue mission would be attempted with haste. The sorceress was also greatly displeased. I informed the player that grovelling would surely convince her to spare his life, but he refused and accepted an off-screen death.

I don't think my portrayal of the sorcerer patron/villain was insufficient: the servants and especially the wire-tube were surely enough that it wasn't normal. Also, if a wizard is about to achieve immortality, one can assume it isn't some lucky novice but one with levels and items to back it up.

My players might have misinterpreted the poor reaction roll (result 2). The spokesperson was just yelling a solid get-the-fuck-out (had they complied, they would've let them leave the premises unharmed, although followed by watchful eyes), but of course they had to reach for the flasks of incendiary oil. I even gave the enemy a surprise check (I figured the spokesperson was furious enough to miss subtle movements), but they made it, and... the rest you already know.

The last bit I wanted to mention (truth be told, it was the first thing I wanted to, but I needed some context) is that after the monk's player accepted an off-screen punishment of his character, he offered an alternative ending: one in which the monk didn't use the amulet, and instead he was also polymorphed into a frog - and so the two frogs lived happily ever after in the sorcerer's garden of fountains.

Even though it totally could've happened (had the player not activated the amulet, the sorcerer would definitely have used his wand another time), the important thing is it didn't. Even though I am totally into negotiating fitting epilogues, I am firmly against changing events, even those of little consequence, that have already been established.

As I have already said it, we aren't crafting a story together: we are recognising a story as we look back at the events that unfolded.

Rappan Athuk AS&SH Campaign Data

A year ago I ran several sessions of Rappan Athuk (using AS&SH for those sweet sub-classes) - 18 sessions out of a 26-session campaign, to be precise. The sessions were 2-3 hours long each, conducted over TeamSpeak. I kept notes and maintained an ugly master sheet for XP and mortality data, of which I was just reminded by a question on Reddit (How many XP do characters bring back per session in your games?).

My answer to the question lies in the document hereby shared for all of you kind readers to see.

Most of the stuff in there should be fairly obvious, but here are some notes: In the Overview tab the PC and NPC columns show the number of characters present at a particular session, whereas in the Mortality tab the Sum columns have the number of PCs/NPCs present up to that point combined for purposes of lethality calculations (given in the mW columns). In the XP tab the "Loot XP %" value notes that over the course of these 26 sessions about 60.69% of XP came from treasure.

Zweihänder - Session #0

Dramatis Personae

• Ozir the Stump
  Elderly, Corpulent Ogre Hedgewise
  Scholastic Lowborn
  Ferocity/Hatred
  Drawback: Veteran's Foot
• Ray "Walking Stick" Reddington
  Elderly, Slender Human Pugilist
  Reverent Lowborn
  Adaptation/Mayhem
  Drawback: Cursed
• Sir Fergus Witherwaddle
  Middle-Aged, Frail Human Slayer
  Villainous Aristocrat
  Humility/Incompetence
  Drawback: Black Cataract

Events, Thoughts, Etc.

• Character creation was pretty smooth. Everyone rolled twice for Racial Trait and Profession. Otherwise, everything (except the choice of Human/Demihuman, Archetype, sex, and starting weapon) was determined randomly.
• Everyone opted for a Drawback to gain a second Fate Point. Ultimately, we ended up with a crew of elder adventurer wannabes. Cue in Silver Horde jokes by the dozen.
• Didn't prepare much in terms of setting and plot, so it was mostly about making sure the players were familiar with the system (a Skill Test or two, a straightforward combat, stopping some Bleeding, that sort of stuff).
• Party encountered a pair of wolves attacking a trio of small children. Put down the wolves. Took children to the village (one of them was severely injured). Went to look for their father, the lumberjack.
• Another player will probably join, too. I expect an other handicapped elder, so... more Silver Horde jokes. Maybe Expendables, too. Won't lie, I'll enjoy hurting them. Unfortunately, so will they.

Grim Tales, Playtest 1

We had our first playtest of Grim Tales (well, more like a proof of concept session), this dark fantasy thing I have been thinking about lately. It has been on my mind for quite some time, but reading Blood & Bronze (a fantastic sword & sorcery game) was the catalyst I needed to start fleshing out my ideas.

The basic concept behind Grim Tales was to give players certain unique tools, abilities that don't just enhance something they can already do but provide them opportunities they otherwise wouldn't have (possibly mitigating risks in some endeavours, thus rewarding pro-activity). This was done by introducing a list of unique backgrounds (a sampling of which can be found here).

Characters present:

• Melvina Shabriri, a Cambion Witch
• Wolfgang Tranquility, a Shadowtorn Warrior
• N/A, a Nameless Scoundrel
• Balthasar Corvus, a Skinthief Scoundrel

Highlights and stuff I've taken away from this session:

• I didn't prep a proper adventure, just a bunch of loosely connected personalities, their goals, and the general environment, much like with my previous Vikings & Valkyries campaign. We started the session with a bogus mission of sorts (find the lost brother of some mayor), but ultimately the players found enough toys to play with instead of completing the quest.
• The resolution system works fine (roll [Attribute] six-siders; count 5s and 6s; the more the better), although I'm not sure if it adds to the game (I might end up playtesting certain things used as an overlay onto B/X).
• The players really liked their special abilities, although now I think the Backgrounds might be too exciting compared to the Classes. I think I want to keep the mostly mundane aspect of Classes, though, so I might just add more varied and flavourful items to their equipment lists.
• The players got themselves involved in a religious conflict going on in the shadows. The village's priest had an artefact (a grail that grants sacrifical wine ale special properties) that he had hidden, and apparently some people (the priest's right hand man included) were conspiring to acquire it.
• There was another artefact in the village: a small scythe's blade that when attached to the sacred (and, as it turns out, purely ornamental) scythe's handle, became a magical object (its capabilities yet unknown to the players).
• The players, as they were trying to figure out who is against whom, switched sides a couple of times, basically ending up with most major participants dead. Except they know the priest tried to contact allies in the nearby town.
• They went deep in the forest and witnessed a horrific ritual that bore demons into the world. Despite the session's generally jovial nature (and that's a huge understatement), this scene managed to invoke feelings of uneasiness, so not all was lost.
• As it stands now, the Skinthief poses as the former under-priest. They claimed the forest people killed the priest, so they basically run the village now (although some elders might not like what they are doing).
• The Nameless, although really flavourful as a concept, probably shouldn't work in a party if we take the ability to its logical conclusions. I think I can sacrifice immersion for the party's sake for now.
• The Skinthief is really fun to watch in the hands of a creative and proactive player. Need to turn up the ability's cast time, though. Regardless, his ability alone can make so many shenanigans possible, it definitely stays.
• The Shadowtorn is pretty sweet as is, but I'll keep a close eye on him to make sure its restrictions are clear but not overly limiting.
• The Cambion mostly shined in providing moral dilemmas for the player (whether they should give in their darker self; it helped that as a witch she had opportunities to gain power in exchange for terrible things). It is certainly something the player was happy to play with, and had she chosen otherwise, the Background wouldn't have provided much in terms of gameplay, so I might need to rectify that.

Dwimmermount - Session 3-6

I suppose it is time to update my blog with the most recent events of our face-to-face campaign; fortunately, my players have been keeping quite a detailed log of deaths, accomplishments, and all sorts of things related to this game, so this shouldn't be too taxing on me.

The party have explored most of the first level (Path of Mavors), including the kobold lair - where Éöpl cut a sweet deal with the forces that secretly lead these poor creatures -, the orc-controlled parts of the Laboratory, and most recently a good chunk of the Reliquary, where they met strong undead creatures, and a strange room of forgotten technology guarded by hobgoblins.

Dwimmermount - Session 1-2

Shortly after abandoning our Anima Prime game mid-campaign (on which I still intend to write a blog post; I just don't know when), we started another old-school campaign focussing on exploration. As a tent pole of the campaign, I chose Dwimmermount, a megadungeon I have recently reviewed on this very blog. Our system of choice was the under-development second edition of Kazamaták és Kompániák, a Hungarian retro-clone of B/X D&D.

AS&SH - Session 13

Session 13 (November 8, 2014)

(Back to Session 1)

This session saw a record amount of players present in the campaign:

• Kyndvald (Viking Pyromancer 2), a chaotic and pyromaniac sorcerer, traveller from the Old Earth
• Laoise (Ixian Druid 3), a travelling druid, and her retainer, Gegnir (Viking Cleric 1), a nightmare-haunted man, recently converted to Apollonian beliefs
• Phlianos (Ixian Legerdemainist 2), a clever and sneaky thief, and his henchman, a former crewman, Hrótgeirr (Viking Thief 1)
• Esja (Viking Ranger 3), the second oldest surviving character, a master of the bow (especially with her magical weapon, a gift from Ullr from another world)
• Harald Greentooth (Viking Fighter 4), the bold javelin-thrower, the single surviving character from the start, and his loyal companion, Gustavsson (Viking Fighter 1)
• Vandar Skölsson (Viking Berserker 2), a brutal fighter, dangerous mostly to his enemies
• Styrr (Viking Fighter 3), a taciturn warrior, former crew member promoted to PC status

AS&SH - Session 12

Session 12 (October 18, 2014)

(Back to Session 1)

In which the party inquires about a way of getting home, sets sail toward the west, and suffers a great tragedy.

This time the party consisted of the following characters:

• Harald Greentooth (Viking Fighter 4), the last of the original cast
• Esja Waldensdottir (Viking Ranger 2)
• Phlianos (Ixian Legerdemainist 2)
• Laoise (Ixian Druid 2), a non-hater Ixian, who grew up among the Kelts
• Styrr (Viking Fighter 2), a member of the crew promoted to PC status

AS&SH - Session 11

Session 11 (September 20, 2014)

(Back to Session 1)

In which the party seeks a great healer but find only his hand on an island in another world, conduct the perfect heist, and blow up because of a cursed scroll.

The party members present were the following:

• Esja (Ranger 2)
• Freydís (Priest 3)
• Gylfi Flogasson (Legerdemainist 1)
• Harald Greentooth (Fighter 3)
• Ingegeirr Lynetsinner (Anti-Paladin 1)
• Jormund (Magician 3)

Referee's note: The player of Gottfried decided that, since there were already enough combat-oriented characters in the party, he would try one of the more interesting classes: he chose the Legerdemainist, a thief with ample magical skills to be really different. Obviously, he went for illusionist magic, as well. Also, a new player joined the party (actually, a first time table-top role-player), who really liked the idea of an evil paladin. Although the rulebook doesn't include that option, for now, we went ahead with simply reversing every ability of the paladin (e.g. his touch caused damage and disease instead of curing it; he would control undead instead of turning them; he would use necromancer spells, etc.)

Vikings & Valkyries - Session Ten

Session 10 (August 23, 2014)

(Back to Session 1)

Lately, I have become quite enamoured of AS&SH (see my review); I discussed it with the party and we decided to convert our campaign to AS&SH. Thus, this post both reports about the events of our last session and thoughts about the conversion and whether we appreciate the changes the new system brings to the campaign.

For continuity's sake, further reports of this campaign will still  be tagged Vikings & Valkyries, although I will, of course, add the ASSH tag, as well.

Vikings & Valkyries - Session Nine

Session 9 (July 26, 2014)

(Back to Session 1)

In which our intrepid heroes gathered information about the mysterious sorcerer who attacked their village, travelled north to personally investigate a possibly related matter, and saved a damsel in distress.

The party included the following characters:

• Esja Waldensdottir (Hunter 2)
• Freydís (Priestess of Freya 2)
• Gottfried Flogasson (Prince 3)
• Harald Greentooth (Viking 3)
• Jormund (Sorcerer 3)

Vikings & Valkyries - Session Eight

Session 8 (March 22, 2014)

(Back to Session 1)

In which our troublemakers found the location of the legendary Sommarsverd, fought undead warriors, had a wedding, and win a spectacular battle against the forces of an unknown wizard. The player of Esya (the Huntress) was still abroad, so the party roster was the following:

• Harald Greentooth (Viking 2), javelin-thrower and spear-wielder with an unlikely high Defense Class
• Jormund (Sorcerer 2), cunning sorcerer
• Möjmöj (Half-Giant 1), amazingly and gamebreakingly powerful warrior
• Gottfried Flogasson (Prince 2), tank of the party and fiancé of Ingrid Olafsdottir
• Freydís (Priestess of Freya 1), plotting archer-priestess

Vikings & Valkyries - Session Seven

Session 7 (February 22, 2014)

(Back to Session 1)

In which the party learnt of a legendary sword, fought some monsters, and negotiated with dwarves. The player of Esya (the Huntress) was abroad, so her place was taken by another player; the party thus consisted of the following characters:

• Harald Greentooth (Viking 2), javelin-thrower and spear-wielder with an unlikely high Defense Class
• Jormund (Sorcerer 2), cunning sorcerer; so far he has kept his powers hidden from his companions
• Gottfried Flogasson (Prince 2), noble tank of the party; fiancé of Ingrid Olafsdottir
• Freydís (Priestess of Freya 1), archer-priestess; eager to learn Jormund's secret identity
• Möjmöj (Half-Giant 1), powerful warrior capable of turning any likely TPK to TMK (Total Monster Kill); at least so far

Vikings & Valkyries - Session Six

Session 6 (January, 2014)

(Back to Session 1)

This year's first face-to-face gaming session, during which we tested the mass combat rules found in the M&M Companion (slightly changed to reflect minute differences between M&M and V&V), some general raiding rules (mostly inspired by Aegir's Fire), and my crudely programmed village-generator; lastly, the party returned to Jarl Olaf Gunnbjörn's court and became involved in the local politics.

The party consisted of the following characters:

• Harald Greentooth (Viking 2), veteran javelin-thrower and spear-wielder
• Jormund (Sorcerer 2), cunning sorcerer
• Gottfried Flogasson (Prince 2), designated tank of the party, also of noble heritage
• Esya Valdensdottir (Huntress 1), a hunter living in the forest
• Freydís (Priestess of Freya 1), a priestess coming from a secluded community of Freya-worshippers

Vikings & Valkyries - Session Five

Session 5 (October 26, 2013)

(Back to Session 1)

I am very much late with this play report, so let me just get through it quickly.

The current party of adventurers:

• Harald Greentooth (Viking 2), veteran javelin-thrower and spear-wielder
• Jormund (Sorcerer 2), cunning sorcerer
• Gottfried Flogasson (Prince 1), designated tank of the party, also of noble heritage
• Esya Valdensdottir (Huntress 1), a hunter living in the forest
• Freydís (Priestess of Freya 1), a priestess coming from a secluded community of Frey-worshippers

Rappan Athuk - Session Three

Session 3 (October 15, 2013)

(Back to Session 1)

This report should've been written two weeks ago. Now I don't remember every detail and my mind is occupied with other things. In fact, I only finished it because I didn't want it to be missing. I intend to continue with this, I'm just busy right now.

The party included the following characters:

• Azureus (Magic-User 1)
• The Baron (Fighter 1)
• Bolwír (Fighter 1)
• Starbucks (Fighter 1) and Starbucks Junior (light infantry)

The highlights of the session were the following:

• The party entered the dungeon through the Mouth of Doom and found themselves in a room of many doors, one of which (the one with the carving of a goat-face above it, claims one of the partying adventurers) turned out to be a false door with a pit trap in front of it.
• The eastern exit lead them to a couple of outlaws, hiding from the authorities. The party killed all of them but one; he joined the murderous company in hopes of staying alive.
• The party fought some skeletons and, after an intermezzo with the bandits, a mummy-like creature (fortunately, they managed to kill it before it could rise from its grave).
• They were surprised by a bunch of bandits, who led them to their base of operations within the dungeon. There they met their leader, found a girl (possibly Emily, daughter of Bernard), and received a quest which would require their descending to the second level.

Rappan Athuk - Session Two

Session 2 (October 10, 2013)

(Back to Session 1)

The present party:

• Azureus (Magic-User 1)
• Erik (Fighter 1)
• Ozborn (Cleric of the Sun God 1) and Milkiway (archer)
• Starbucks (Fighter 1), and Starbucks Junior (light infantry)

The major events were the following:

• The party returned to the mausoleum where they left an animate corpse wearing a ring. Long story short, said undead lost his ring and his head, as well.
• Entering the main mausoleum the party figured out the puzzle to enter Rappan Athuk; unfortunately, members of the adventuring party refused to share the secret. The only thing they mentioned was a fight with two skeletons black as coal.
• The party, due to sheer luck, successfully avoided a dangerous trap; they also marked its place with white chalk.
• They encountered a bunch of ratlings, who shared some useful information with the party: (1) the northern half of the first level, as the party suspected, is the territory of the infamous Dung Monster, (2) the western corridor leads to the second level, home to a group of ogres, and (3) the river supposedly leads to a temple of sorts.
• The ratlings also offered some vials of poison in exchange for eliminating Ambro, the leader of the ogres.
• The party encountered the Dung Monster; reasoning with it seemed to be less than fruitful (all it cared about was food), and eventually they had to run away.

It was a much less fruitful delve than the first one; the party only recovered 247gp worth of treasure (compared to 3170gp for the last time). Nevertheless, they have explored most of the first main level and have a rough idea what else is about to come. Furthermore, the rumours and quests also helped in certain situations, which is exactly why I devised them in the first place.

(Next session)

Rappan Athuk - Session One

Session 1 (October 3, 2013)

Due to sickness on my part, we could only start the campaign this week. Three players were present for the first session, during which they talked to dead guys, killed an undead knight, and looted some nifty items.

Vikings & Valkyries, Session 4

Session 4 (June 8, 2013)

(Back to Session 1)

The report of our latest Vikings & Valkyries game of ours, in which the party fights Sea Devils again, gain some help from villagers, and - by a hilarious(ly clever) trick - conquer a whole village, the home of the bastard Gregorssons.