Saturday 17 May 2014

Retrospective 1 - Desperately Yanking the Starter Cord

These first few sessions were Important.
I remember being really worried about whether it would collapse at any moment.

My overriding motive was to be totally, insanely, completely reliable.
Every week, at the same time, D&D.
Even if I could only get two people in a session, I'd hold on tight. I constantly felt like I was at the edge of the precipice.
I knew that even a single flake-out early on would lead to the whole thing plowing into the ground before it had properly taken off.

The first session they woke up in a dungeon, naturally.
Goblin Hill from Better Than Any Man. Captured by cannibals, they stole some robes and escaped by luckily managing to head in the exact direction of the exit.
The next session Tom, as Olaf Tenderloin the Dwarf, had his kidney spiked out by a giant rhinoceros beetle. I think I was using an unrefined version of the Death and Dismemberment system, and it worked great!
It was Emmi's first time playing and she was actually really good, as totally new players often are.
I honestly believe that people have to be de-programmed from video game/late edition rulesiness in order to really "get" old school D&D, and she was a blank slate.
The third session saw the arrival of George and Jacob, two people who'd become the backbone of the game for a while. They were inventive and silly and really got into the whole "you can try anything" aspect of playing pretend with dice.

Better Than Any Man is a fucking great opening module by the way. I hope the thing I'm writing is anywhere near as good.





Session 9, pictured above, was played in a candlelit actual-dungeon under a bar called Garlic and Shots.
It was pretty legit.
Also evident in these recaps - an early Quest mechanic that I gave up on soon after. It was unnecessary, and too video gamey.

I also ran a really good couplet of sessions around a "vampire" murder mystery, whose actual culprit was a Devil of Wrath.
It was just one of those situations where everything lined up absolutely perfectly, lucking into a beginning, middle and end. Great fun.

Michael turned up in session 6 from somewhere or other. He was around for a long time, and actually never lost a character. He became the crazy Rune Wizard of legend mentioned at the end of this post about party upgrades.

Session 10 saw him being given a time travel scroll and a mission to go back in time to prevent an insect god arising.
He never really got the chance, he missed a session and by the time he came back everyone had moved on. I believe his character's still carrying it around to this day, albeit he himself eventually dropped out due to workload.

Finally, you can see that I originally just wrote down the main things that happened. You'll notice the recaps getting bigger and bigger over the next couple of years. Inflation, man.

Friday 16 May 2014

Session 10 - More plot twists than a Mexican soap opera

Session 10 - More plot twists than a Mexican soap opera

Enemies defeated:
- +/- 10 townsfolk (50 exp)
- A demon (50 exp)
- The same demon (50 exp)

Challenges overcome:
- "Solved" vampire mystery (1000 exp) 
- Ensured the townsfolk would no longer bother Willibald Schwartz (500 exp, a unique spell)

Treasure and Equipment:
- Nothing this time

Exploration and Misc:
- Giant ant taxidermy (50 exp)
- Temporarily talked down Gerald Finch (50 exp)
- Did nice things for Bill Higgins (50 exp)
- Potential demon possession?! (50 exp) 
- Failed Saving Throw Bonus (Keith, Mist Urman, Baron Noel Pompadour - 100 exp ea.)
- Near Death Experience (Baron Noel Pompadour - 100 exp)

Quests and Rumours:
- Willibald Schwartz wants you to go back in time and destroy a ruby statue of an ant, says you can keep it as long as you break it.
--- Reward: 1000 exp, treasures of the past including ant statue carved from pure ruby, a unique spell

Death Toll and Injuries:
- Baron Noel Pompadour - Friendly flail: Broken arm, pretty fucked up. At 0HP until arm is healed, arm itself useless. Recovery time: 1d6+2 months.

Exp Totals:
George / Keith, Level 3 Specialist: 3030 (Level up at 6000)
*DING* | +1d6 HP! | +2 skill points!
 --- The Joy, Level 1 Magic User: 284 (Level up at 2250)
Michael / Mist Urman, Level 1 Magic User: 1563 (Level up at 2250)
Jacob / Kacey Demure, Level 2 Specialist: 2166 (Level up at 3000)
Tom / Baron Noel Pompadour, Level 1 Specialist: 1223 (Level up at 1500)

[[]]

Recovering:
Tom / Olaf Tenderloin, Level 2 Dwarf: 2737 exp (Level up at 4400) ETA: 34 weeks

Absent or Retired:
Kate / Khaleesi, Level 1 Muscle Wizard: 37 (Level up at 2250)
Emmi / Lyrel, Level 2 Necromancer: 2891 (Level up at 4500)
--- Schmidt, Level 0 Human
That one guy / Nadriel, Level 1 Barbarian: 293 (Level up at 2000)
That other guy / ???, Level 1 Fighter: 293 (Level up at 2000)

Friday 2 May 2014

Session 9 - Vampire Weekday

Session 9 - Vampire Weekday
New characters:
- Khaleesi - Lightning-fisted muscle wizard and Kacey's old mate from the knackery (Kate)

Enemies defeated:
- Would you believe, none?

Challenges overcome:
- Uncovered numerous clues (50 exp)

Treasure and Equipment:
- Various things purchased in Werneck

Exploration and Misc:
- Entered the Mound (100 exp)
- Met Willibald Schwartz, "eccentric" wizard (50 exp)

Quests and Rumours:
- A vampire is on the loose in Werneck! Nobody knows who it is! An angry mob is turfing out all the old and lonely people and killing them just in case!
--- Reward: 1000 exp, gratitude
- Willibald Schwartz wants you to go back in time and destroy a ruby statue of an ant, says you can keep it as long as you break it.
--- Reward: 1000 exp, treasures of the past including ant statue carved from pure ruby, a unique spell
- Willibald Schwartz wants you to stop the townsfolk from bothering him in his house.
--- Reward: 500 exp, a unique spell.

Death Toll and Injuries:
- Nobody stabbed anyone!

Exp Totals:
George / Keith, Level 2 Specialist: 2514 (Level up at 3000)
 --- The Joy, Level 1 Magic User: 78 (Level up at 2250)
Michael / Mist Urman, Level 1 Magic User: 1051 (Level up at 2250)
Jacob / Kacey Demure, Level 2 Specialist: 1753 (Level up at 3000)
Tom / Baron Noel Pompadour, Level 1 Specialist: 611 (Level up at 1500)
Kate / Khaleesi, Level 1 Muscle Wizard: 37 (Level up at 2250)

[[]]

Recovering:
Tom / Olaf Tenderloin, Level 2 Dwarf: 2737 exp (Level up at 4400) ETA: 35 weeks

Absent or Retired:
Emmi / Lyrel, Level 2 Necromancer: 2891 (Level up at 4500)
--- Schmidt, Level 0 Human
That one guy / Nadriel, Level 1 Barbarian: 293 (Level up at 2000)
That other guy / ???, Level 1 Fighter: 293 (Level up at 2000)