My schedule for OrcCon is posted.
| RPG
Event |
Up to 8 Beginner 13+ |
Fri 8:00 pm |
3 hrs | Dirty Cops Description Fiasco GM: jim pinto |
| RPG
Event |
Up to 5 Experience 13+ |
Sun 8:00 pm |
5 hrs | Cycles Description An Experimental Design GM: jim pinto |
Character sheets in this game will be very different. Each player at the convention will be given a different prop
A day planner
A business card
A job application
A steno pad of notes
A letter from home
How the players interpret these props during the opening acts of play will determine their relative “traits,” which I will mark on my notes as we play.
The first Chapter of the story will have each character waking alone in a foreign place, like a hospital bed or next to someone they don’t know. I am still mapping the rest of it.
I don’t have any information to give out just yet, but I stumbled upon a design idea tonight while I was at the movies. I am scratching out notes as we speak, but I will be running the game at OrcCon 2012. We’ll see how it goes. Feel free to ping me for details if you’re interested, but right now in my head it’s a mixture of Psychosis, Fiasco, and Unknown Armies.
We had a disappointing session tonight, trying to coordinate skype with a player in Lancaster (he’s there for work) and the energy just wasn’t the same. All in all, the party meandered around the valley trying to make sense of everything they witnessed.
In short, the party argued for a while about what to do next, traveled with the Herald (Aidan) back to Ingram’s cabin where a note was left for them, written in a flowing elven script by a woman named Viviene saying they had gone south to deal with the missing Wallace, deal with rumors of more disappearances, and investigate talk of an orc camp in the vicinity.
After escorting Aidan all the way back to the keep, the party returned to Thurmaster, witnessed the unloading of a great deal of stone, brick, and lumber at the docks, and snuck into Luther’s tower to investigate his whereabouts (and if there was any sign of Skye). Well. Crandel snuck into the tower.
Afterwards, the party gave the dogs something of Skye’s to smell and the party headed north into the Hardlow Wood (a very dangerous place) once the dogs found her scent. The journey took them on a strange course through the wood, up into a desolate and damaged landscape, to some dead bodies, then to an obelisk, and then to the Great Rock Dale (I didn’t name that).
From the north end of the Dale, they could see down into the chasm of stoney earth that the dogs were heading into. The path down looked treacherous and the conditions of the Dale appeared very dangerous — any number of creatures could be hiding in there ready to strike. But the party headed down anyway and the GM had to basically pretend nothing was in there this day (ugh).
The journey was slow-going and the party found a cave to sleep for the night. During the night a scuffle between orcs and goblins took place outside of the cave and by morning two goblins had been stoned to death.
The party headed south and upon reaching the south end of the Dale, encountered an obelisk much like the first, although this one radiated positive, soothing energy. Everyone but Verner touched the obelisk and immediately felt better.
The trail for the dogs continued up and out of the Dale, across the plains again, and over into the Carmen mines (just north of the city of Milborne). The session ended with the party squaring off against the dwarven foreman (Grim), who the party had met before. A gruff stand-off occurred as the party wished to enter the mine to investigate the missing Skye, but Grim refused to allow entry.
The session ended there and we promised each other we would not try to do a skype/telephone game again.
Upon arriving in Milbourne, the party noticed a few things about the village.
One. It’s a tiny nothing on the edge of an insignificant valley. It would be so easy to miss this place as no major roads some through here and the river is too shallow for anything but barge traffic. If it weren’t for the copper ore coming out of the hills, no one would live here.
Two. The land is unsuitable for tilling and farming. Many people have lost their farms to swamp water rising in the south and those north of the village must deal with polluted ground-water.
Three. The people are not sociable, or even interested in meeting the newcomers. I did require that each character take a relationship with someone in the town, so they’d have some kind of history with the people here. They didn’t necessarily ever have to visit, but it would give them some “roots.”
After an exhausting meeting with the local miller and reeve (Vromme) and wife (Brandy), the group split up for a short while meeting their respective friends. News of a local girl going missing — Skye, daughter of Vromme and Brandy and apprentice to Luther — soon echoed through the village. Panic set in among some of the townsfolk and the local constable and carpenter (Roth) set about making a posse. A few misunderstandings led to Roth suspecting the party and an interrogation followed. Eager to prove their innocence, the group offered to aid Roth as they were on their way to Thurmaster anyway.
Verner also had a short meeting with an old business rival named Engel, who had taken over the exporting of copper from Milbourne into Divers. He also came to learn that his father might be in the vicinity.
Not wanting to rush and/or pay for the ferry to Thurmaster, the characters walked overland, passing a cottage in the middle of a field on the north side of the river. It looked more like a hunting lodge than anything, so the party rested there and fished in the morning before heading on.
Upon reaching Thurmaster, the players were in for an even bigger shock than before. Thurmaster was nothing more than a cobbling together of huts, surrounded by a wooden fence, with a single stone tower on the south end. In no time it was apparent that there was a strong garrison in the town, with nothing to defend. Poor people sputtered about in the dirt, shuffling to and fro as they collected wood from the abandoned farms outside the walls.
Venter had a short and useless meeting with Squire Kent, the local authority in Thurmaster before determining that 1) Luther was not in town presently and 2) it would be prudent to visit the local Baronett (Uther) in order to procure aid. Uther’s allegience to the Baron was not in question until the players arrived in Thurmaster. But it was clear, something was amiss.
The four-hour walk uphill to Huntley Keep revealed that the east end of the shire was worse off than the west end. Abandoned and burned out villages revealed recent raids and poor crop outputs. Many families had vacated the area and others were driven out. In the worst case scenarios, they were burned with their homes. The players learned that the most recent orc raids on this side of the valley were four months ago, but many farms appeared to have been fallow for up to two years.
Once at the keep, the characters came face to face with another garrison of troops. They were armed and trained (although not amazingly so) and stationed in a very small two-story keep that could hold at best, 50 men. There was no official count, however.
A short introduction to a 14-year old herald/page by the name of Aidan and a long wait for their meeting inside the keep played on the character’s patience, but eventually Ian was an audience with the regent, Barclay. A meeting with the Baronet was out of the question of course, but Barclay would hear what Ian had to say. Ian disclosed that he was a scholar seeking out Luther (in order to conceal their true motives) and that Skye had gone missing in Milbourne.
News of Skye’s disappearance concerned Barclay (for a number of reasons) and he immediately formulated a plan. He issued a letter and asked that Ian deliver this letter to Roth in Milbourne. Aidan would escort them back to Milbourne. The party spent the night inside the courtyard of the keep, among the stabled animals. At night, they encountered a lone man (Brother Nigel) taking a late-night constitutional around the compound who spoke briefly to Crandel about other faiths and metaphysical points of view. Crandel didn’t understand any of it and proceeded to talk enough to drive the man back into his room inside the keep.
Verner also noticed his father’s saddlebags (and insignia) in the stables, indicating he was either inside the keep or nearby. Verner’s need for revenge did come up as a topic. He found a pendant inside the bags that he did not recognize, probably from some sort of gentleman’s fraternity or order.
The next morning, the party headed back across the Shire toward Milbourne, with Aidan as their escort. This time, their stopped at the cottage brought them face to face with Ingram, the local woodsman who lived there. Gregarious and selfless, he seemed the antithesis of everyone else they’d met in the Shire. They shared some broth from a stew Ingram was cooking and the six men talked of the missing Skye. Ingram reported that another child had gone missing — Wallace; from a farm on the south side of the river — and that news of a second child going missing was cause for concern. Ingram offered to talk to a woman he knew about it all and would meet with them again upon their return through to the Keep.
And this is where things got very interesting for the party.
Upon returning to Milbourne, news of Barclay’s letter reached the important people of the town and a meeting at the Carmen estate (largest house in town) was called. Vromme, Roth, Darius Carmen, Aidan, and all of the player characters were present, during which time it was learned that
One. The Baronet had recently asked people to start calling him the Count, a big self-promotion.
Two. Aidan was Uther’s nephew and a shoe-in for the throne.
Three. Milbourne had always maintained some semblance of autonomy from the keep (unlike Thurmaster), but that Barclay was looking for any excuse to annex the town to the Baronet’s lands. Missing children would reflect that the townsfolk could not govern themselves and that they would need protection. This is not something anyone in Milbourne would want.
Four. Aidan would be more than willing to be the voice of reason on behalf of Milbourne — for the right price.
Five. A large farm was going up for auction tomorrow and Darius Carmen was sure to win it, but the farmland was among those submerged in the growing swamp.
Six. By the looks of Carmen’s parlor, he was nouveau riche and didn’t know how to spend his money. Among his tchotchkes was a book called “Songs of the Hammer of the Gods” (a purposely annoying title), detailing a time before the human gods when giants roamed the earth. Ian sat alone with the book for a time while the other’s argued about the fate of Milbourne.
The session ended with Aidan and the key people of Milbourne leaving the room in various intervals as the conversation grew more and more hostile, leaving the party alone in the parlor.
We play again in about 18 hours.
Someone begged me to write up what’s happened so far in my present non-D&D campaign, so this is an attempt to shut him/her up.
The Setting
First off, I am using the old 2nd Edition D&D Boxed Set called “The Night Below.” A poorly-written, but well-conceived project that I’ve played in once before. It is among the best campaigns I’ve ever enjoyed as a player (not as GM) and I wanted to run it for my present group. However, we are not using D&D for the rules and there is little to no magic. The background is akin to 800 AD Anglo-Saxon Britain, with a small list of gods and a short write-up (by me) on how people view shamanism, sorcery, witchcraft, and superstition.
We are using a slightly modified version of the Dogs in the Vineyard rules set. We aren’t rolling dice all that much, though. And when we do it’s just for random stuff like, who notices the smoke or the footprints. I am not running this campaign with DC values. If it’s important for them to spot the dead body, they spot the dead body.
The Characters
The players have all taken on the roles of four absolutely nobodies ranged age 15 to 20 — a farmer, an apothecary, a silversmith, and a failed merchant. They have been tasked with visiting the town of Thurmaster (from the game) and convincing Luther (was Tauster) into returning to Divers with them to aid the Baron who fears another siege upon his city in the coming months. They were given a box (an actual game prop, I should add) filled with who knows what, in order to curry Luther’s favor.
Character creation was very different on this one. I did not pigeon-hole the players, but instead came up with eight different categories of limited choices for them. Some included goal, age, value of relationship to the Baron, value of relationships to one another, and so on. Using these ingredients, the players constructed their characters and backgrounds. Each and every foible and obstacle on their character sheets have been placed there by the players. Not by me.
Aaron is playing Verner, a merchant whose father betrayed the Baron and who has been stripped of his wealth. Having some allegiance to a high-ranking councilor of the Baron, Verner was cleared of the charges associated with his father’s treason on the condition that he seek out Luther.
James is playing Crandel, a self-deluding and small-minded silversmith (of limited skill I might add), who has taken to this task in order to prove his value to the Baron and thus (in his mind) reclaim his lost business.
Jason is playing Ian, a scholar and an apothecary who served during the previous siege as a medic. Ian is the least damaged of the four characters, but has recently begun smoking a great deal of herbs that have “medicinal value.” He is Verner’s oldest friend and among one of the few people the counselor can trust AND afford to be without.
Finally, Weston is playing Straug, a farmer and the youngest of the group. He was conscripted into defending the city during the previous siege and instead of being let go after the battle, was then assigned as a jailer. His role in the group has been the most quiet so far, but stellar nonetheless.
The Tone
The first two sessions of the game were purposely slow and quiet. I characters were sent along a remote and desolate path to Haranshire in order to avoid any enemy patrols. In addition, they disguised themselves as traveling merchants, “just in case.”
In addition, the first two sessions were designed to show the disparate nature of the setting. The outlying villages are taxed and belong to the Barony, but otherwise feel no kinship to the city. People do not value the word of outsiders, they do not go looking for news of the outside world, and mostly want to be left alone.
This will matter in the coming weeks.
The characters also encountered evidence of orc and goblin tribes fighting over territory on the far-reaches of the Barony. It’s not land the humans would want, so… who cares? But it does shed light (for the characters) that there are many orc tribes and they do not get along, nor do they like the goblins.
The Story So Far
Divers (name stolen from Greyhawk) was sieged by the city of Lakhmar (also stolen) some seven months ago. The siege lasted nearly three months, after which time the attackers returned home for more men and supplies and the city Elders examined their options. The Baron, falling ill, has been unable to rally support among his own counsilors and so a power vacuum has formed. His most trusted aid, Counselors Kreiger and Enrich have hatched a plan to get Luther (a rumored Warlock) to come to Divers to help the city fend off another attack.
But all of this must be kept quiet, thus enlisting the aid of four people who no one would ever notice went missing (except perhaps Ian).
Over the next two weeks, the characters traveled overland in a roundabout way to reach the town of Milbourne (nestled in the Haranshire) where they encountered desolate villages, ranches, a hermit, an orc, a defunct lighthouse, and a shipwrecked crew along with a gyspy caravan. They also saw activity of logging and mining along the western side of the Shire.
The second session ended with them arriving in Milbourne. More in the next post.
I am running the old 2nd Edition D&D campaign set “The Night Below” presently for my gaming group. We are using a slightly modified Dogs in the Vineyard system and the world is closely related to 800 AD Anglo-Saxon Britain. We are four sessions in and loving it. Fantasy gaming, with low-magic and conflict resolution (vs. task resolution) in a world of creepy omens and small settlement crisis…. Damn. I should do weekly updates.
I have played many of these (not all), and I think 9 little boutique/hipster games for the price of one is a bargain even if they weren’t awesome. Seriously good games in here. Mark’s been trying to finish this for a while and I’m glad to see it’s almost done.
I am pledging some $. You should too.
I promise not to do this too much on here, but I need to get this off my chest. Video games are not my bread and butter and chances are I will not be working for a video game company in the near future. So my perception stems from intellectual observance-to- sometimes fandom. Most video games are outright dreadful and even the good ones attempt to do to much and thus fail at many things.
The last Assassin’s Creed comes to mind.
But. Today I want to just rant about games that require to me to “unlock” stuff. It’s one thing to say, Islands 2 and 3 on GTA will not be open until you’ve done something in the story to merit going to them. Fine. It sucks. But fine. It’s another thing to say, you can’t race this track or play this song until you’ve “unlocked” it.
I call bull****.
I paid the developer $50 for a game I’m not allowed to use? Excuse me? Where do you get off? If I want to play a 20th level fighter in D&D, I don’t have to wait to unlock it. I just do it. It’s my game. I do what I want with it.
The same is true of a board game. I don’t “unlock” the additional boards for Power Grid. I pay for them, I open them, and I lay them on the table.
Stop treating the consumer like an idiot that has to “learn” your game before he can drive the GTO. Let him have the f****g car.
jim pinto makes a reprisal appearance on fear the boot dot com.
Almost an hour of nonsense chatter with Chris, Dan, Pat, and Chad.
post world games 