Dog Days: Session 7

 

After a nights rest after talking to the Captain the party set out back to the spot of the ambush armed with a map of the area that was provided by the Captain. Per the direction of Ghost, the party decided to head towards the hills as there was rumored to be some caves there. 

The trek through the woods went on for awhile without incident as Roger proudly flew is wolf banner just in case they run into the wolves unexpectedly. It was then that Phanes noticed the background noises of the woods were missing and right before he could mention this to his fellows, the ambush was sprung by faeries! Phanes and Roger took the initial brunt of the ambush before the party was able to rally and fight back. As Roger regained his senses from some vicious faerie magic he planted the banner in the ground before drawing his weapons to join his companions. Even though the party valiantly cut down many faeries they were still outnumbered and their wounds started to mount. 

When all seemed hopeless, howls echoed through the woods and a band of wolves showed up through the trees and bushes. The lead wolf noticed the banner and barked orders to help these strangers that were fighting under a wolf banner. This turned the tide of the battle and eventually the last remaining faeries retreated. In the aftermath of the battle, Thorin found a wounded but alive faerie and that faerie was tied up and the entire company was taken to the wolves encampment by the caves of the hills.

Thane and Ghost explained the situation of the town and why the party was investigating the situation they learned that wolves have been killed in the same way of the townspeople and it has been happening for about five years as well. The wolves also told them that they indeed have the shipment of steel and they told them that they would freely give it to them if they helped them solve their murders as well. About this time some of the wolves came into the tent and explained that their prisoner is awake and should be interrogated. 

During the interrogation the faerie ended up admitting that they have been responsible for the murders and both sides and did it in such a way that it pitted the wolves and the townspeople against each other. This was because both parties were responsible for destroyed sacred lands and shrines. The wolves were responsible in trampling a faerie circle that they ran through in their hunting path when the settled permanently into the area. Then the blacksmith of the townspeople cut down some memorial spirit trees for fuel for his forge and other building requirements. 

The faerie was convinced to deliver a message to its leader describing a possible peace treaty after it was agreed that the faeries wounds will be completely healed and granted safe passage. The faerie said they will leave a message regarding their answer and where the meeting will be (if any) in two days time.

The party returned to the town to speak to the Captain and start planning for this three way peace treaty.

Chronicles of Neverwhere: An Introduction

The Seeds of Inspiration

For a long time I have been wanting to put together a campaign and run. Over the last few years between time, the waxing/waning of motivation, gamer ADD, lack of people to run it for, and countless other reasons my campaign has never happened. Though, at this moment despite various obstacles I find myself motivated, inspired, and I have people to run it for.

My main inspiration for the core concept of this game as come from three places. The first one bringVincent Baker's Dogs in the Vineyard (sadly the game is currently unavailable but additional information can be found here, here, and here.) Secondly, from the work done regarding the Ashen Company on the Runehammer Forums and Justice: An Ashen Company Adventure. Finally, I cannot forget the Night's Watch from Game of Thrones.

The base setting is heavily influenced from Warhammer Fantasy with ideas mined from The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane.

So, the world is dripping with the usual fantasy tropes, politics, chaos, corruption, a dash of black powder, and beings that just want to see the world burn.  

The Premise
All characters are members of the Crimson Company (they get their name from the crimson cloaks they wear which acts like a badge of office) which is a company of Rangers that are set up like a guild. The Crimson Company has authority to seek out corruption, act as law officers, and sit in as a judge if necessary (their authority is recognized throughout the various lands and kingdoms - think something like the UN). Though, with that being said the Rangers mostly deliver mail, assist towns with problems, protect people and towns from monsters, retrieve artifacts from forgotten places, etc. The Rangers get a monthly stipend for travel and food, access to some specialty items,  and must submit a percentage of their wealth found to the guild in addition to logging in magical items.

The System of Choice

This is where I have went round and round with myself to decide what system to use. I have done a lot of prep work using differences systems then decided to scrap it at the last minute and look for something else. I have finally decided on using The Black Hack Second Edition along with some of my rules variants (One of the systems I have had to mess with the least).

Setting Notes

I am keeping the setting vague for various reasons and some of them I cannot discuss because I know my players read this blog. Mainly because I want to the world to be a living, breathing, and growing situation so my players can add to it. There are a few points to note about the setting:

• The war between the Gods and the Titans (from Scarred Lands) did happen in the distant past of Neverwhere. 
• I am using the pantheon from The Scarred Lands.

• There is a strong element of Chaos and and the substance warp stone which both cause mutations and other nasty effects. I was going to post my page of rules regarding that but I want to keep it a surprise when my players encounter mutants or suffer the taint themselves. 

Well, that is it for now. I hope to have a Session 0 up in a few weeks or at least some more setting information.

Dog Days: Session 6

Thorin gained passage on a ship called the Wave Runner that was heading to Retriever. During the voyage the crew of the Wave Runner spots another ship (which is called the Golden Dragon) and assumes it is a pirate vessel because the other ship starts to close and fire on the Wave Runner. Both ships circle each other and shots are exchanges as minimal damage is sustained by both ships. Eventually both ships get close enough to board each other and mass melee ensues. During the battle, Thorin notices his other companions on the Golden Dragon and sees Phane mouth the word "slavers". As Thorin fights his way to his companions he finds Ghost in trouble and kills his now former shipments to save Roger and this leads to Thorin obviously switching sides. As the battle quickly turns in the favor of the Golden Dragon Roger and Phane slip below the deck and set a fuse to blow up the Wave Runners gun powder stores. During their trip down, Phane and Roger do not notice any slaves. 

Both Phane and Roger return to the deck of the Wave Runner as the battle ends and the Captain of the Wave Runner is killed. The Golden Dawn sets sail away from the Wave Runner to find a port for repairs and the party reunites as the Wave Runner explodes in the distance. During Thorin's introduction to the Captain and the first mate of the Golden Dragon, Phane informs the Captain that there was no slaves on the ship and he demands to see the Wave Runners manifest. An argument ensues the ends when the Captain yells to everyone that he will share the manifest when he is done studying it and anyone that thinks differently can swim with the fishes. Ghost escorts Phane away from the Captain to avoid anymore trouble.

The Golden Dragon finds a port a few days later and docks for repairs. As most of the party stays with the ship to help with repairs Roger heads to the local tavern and Thorin decides to track down the local blacksmith to see if he could trade some work for new armor. The blacksmith did not have any work that Thorin was qualified for but did mention a few weeks ago his shipment of steel was stolen by wolves and if I am able to return it he would make me armor and pay Thorin 500 gold. 

Thorin finds Roger at the tavern to explain to him the job opportunity. During their conversation, Thorin learns that Roger has been talking to the barkeeper and has learned some interesting things that shed light into the Blacksmith. About five years ago there was another blacksmith in town that did better quality work but he died in a mysterious fire and he was not the last person that has died mysteriously over the years. In addition, the current blacksmith does shoddy work on purpose so he is needed to keep fixing door hinges and other things around the port. The barkeep also knew about the missing shipment of steel and offered the party 2,000 gold to give the steel to him has he has a plan to run the blacksmith out of business and out of town. 

Roger and Thorin then return to the ship and explain the entire situation to the rest of the party. It was decided that the party will return the steel shipment to the bartender. The party takes the night to rest and then heads to the blacksmiths at first light. The blacksmith says he will send his son as our guide to lead us to the spot of the ambush. 

 

As the party travels to the ambush spot the kid opens ups and explains that the murders have been happening for five years and the bodies are usually found skinned. The kid also explains that he has fleas that talk to him and tell him things which is one of the reasons why he is able to keep safe. The party finally makes it to the ambush site and finds a note nailed to one of the bodies, the note reads;

"this is revenge for the murders" 

The kid interrupts the parties discussion and says the fleas are telling him that it is not the wolves fault - they just retaliated. Roger decides it is time to pull out his wolf banner and the kid says the fleas told him the banner will keep them safe. During the following discussion it is decided that whoever is doing the killing they are killing both the wolves and the townspeople. The townspeople suspects the wolves and the wolves suspect the towns people. The party decides to head back to town to talk to the local guard captain to see if they can get more information before setting out to track down the wolves. 

Regis the guard captain offers us a reward if the party helps him solve the murders. The captain goes on to explain that the bartenders wife was murdered shortly after the last blacksmith was, The captain continues to explain that the current blacksmith borrowed a lot of money from the bartender to start up his forge and never paid the bartender back so the bartender tries to sabotage the blacksmith every chance he gets. 

First Role Playing Experiences

The other day I had random memories flood back to me and it made me realize something. That something was that when I am asked what were my first gaming experiences I usually talk about World of Darkness 2nd Edition and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition. For whatever reason, I forgot to mention what they actually were back in 5th grade before I discovered dice and rule books.  

 

In 5th grade I lived in a small town and a lot of the neighborhood kids were older. My next door neighbor R started a "game night" where we would all hang out in his room and pass a notebook around creating group fiction. Though, before the story started we all made characters and listed some of the abilities we had. R listed what were basically Dungeon and Dragons/Diablo/fantasy archetypes or classes. I choose the Paladin because I thought it was awesome that I could enchant any weapon to catch on fire, heal people, and grow wings for some amounts of time. R had various rules for how abilities would affect the story and how long they would last. We met once or twice a week and some of us were regulars while other players rotated. Between sessions one of us would take the current notebook home to add more story and a plot hook. I do not remember how many of those composition notebooks we ended up filling up but R's dresser was stacked with them - a safe guess would be far into the double digits.

I do not remember when we made the transition into X-Men inspired by the comics and the awesome 90's cartoon but we did. Though, there was a main difference - it went from notebooks to live action. We all started playing LARP X-Men throughout the neighborhood and the elementary school grounds that was within walking distance. We each got to pick three characters and rotate through them as needed. I remembered that my choices were Cyclops, Mr. Sinister, and Gambit (ya, I know there was some meta in that decision). We all contributed to creating a stack of mission cards/plot points and those were used but a lot of time in game the story just kind of unfolded. The interesting thing about this experience as I compare it with my later LARP experiences is that there was no fancy costume requirements, no props to think of, and no GM/Storyteller or other Staff, everyone was a player and the story just evolved through interaction with the random aid of those mission cards (which were written on 3x5 index cards). A lot of time was spent running around the neighborhoods, wrestling in the grass, and exploring Goonies style. 

Both of these first experiences took up all of my 5th grade year and spilled over into my 6th grade year. My memory is not perfect as it has been so long ago but my favorite thing about these memories is how organic and simple it was. No politics, no alternate motives, no edition wars, no you can't play because you don't have x/y/z, or rules lawyering. 

But I digress, I need to remember to tell people about these experiences next time I asked what my first RPG was...

Dog Days: Session 4 & 5

Below are quick recaps of three sessions that I missed due to life. These were written by another player.

Session 4

Felcher and Thorin separated from Phane, Roger, and Ghost.  Thorin and Felcher went with the villagers into the mountains to protect them, to meet in the nearest city at a later date.  Roger, Ghost, and Phane traveled towards the city.  They crossed paths with numerous soldiers setting out for war with the cat empire, who had declared war on the triumvirate.  They continued on and helped a merchant replace his wagon wheel, which was broken.  They traveled on with him to the city and left word with one of his colleagues to give to Felcher and Thorin that they were going to get passage on a ship to the Island of Retriever.  

Session 5

Roger, Ghost, and Phane traveled towards the city to book passage on a boat with the merchant.  They were stopped three times by highwaymen asking for a toll payment.  Ghost paid the toll each time.  However, when they were stopped by the actual guards who were supposed to be protecting the roads from highwaymen who requested a toll, they refused.  They argued and nearly did battle until the toll was paid eventually.  Once arriving at a border city, they discovered that wolves had attacked the city and destroyed it.  Roger assisted the wolves in tracking down a missing cohort and fought against some dogs they were in battle with.  He received a special banner which would grant protection and safe passage by wolves.  They got to the city and booked passage on a ship.  Ghost was on guard duty at the aft of the ship and discovered a pirate was closing in on them.  They did battle with the pirate ship and defeated its crew and sank the ship.