Options

One thing I forgot to mention in the last session report was that the options I offered the players started to see some use. I hope this starts a trend.

The knight used his intercept option when the knave was taking a beating, allowing the knight to take the damage instead of the knave. I like that option because it comes with a choice, which may be tough (he chose not to do it later because he was running low on HP too). 

So far the knave hasn't used his extra action option, which will allow him to take another option if he ends up in a worse predicament. Should I quantify that? I don't think I need to at this point. We'll figure that out later.

Also, the alchemist hasn't used his occult investigation option to look into the unnatural. I'm thinking maybe I should associate a resolve loss with use of the option, but I think that the revelation of new knowledge (along with its resolve loss) is enough. I was just thinking that I may be somehow able to roll the two together somehow. 

Regardless, I need to come up with some other options, since I think they may things a little more interesting. 

Session Report #5

The players continued their stint in 1230 Languedoc, serving as inquisitors for the church. As the alchemist took Marie to the next village, the knight and knave scouted the mountains again so as to not raise the suspicions of the possibly monstrous townsfolk.

In the mountains, they encountered half a dozen strange lizardmen (resulting in resolve damage) and a battle ensued. They killed four before the last two fled. The knight and knave decided not to pursue because of their substantial injuries. They headed back to town to wait for the alchemist, who may have some talent as a healer.

In town and after dark, the knave set out again to seek out evidence of the townsfolk’s evil. He stopped by the old woman’s house and found her nervously waiting, but had trouble seeing through her closed shutters. He circled around to the old man’s house and the lights were out. He couldn’t tell if anyone was home. He stopped briefly at the inn to observe the other townsfolk, but all seemed calm. Back to the old woman’s house he went and found she had a visitor – someone named Lord Rocard (his voice was inhuman enough to cause resolve damage). She apprised Rocard of the PCs’ injuries and he confirmed that they had killed some of the “others”. He told her not to worry and that he would take care of things. He asked the old woman if she was “ready to begin” and the knave took that as a sign to leave.

He went back to the old man’s house, found he was sleeping, broke in, and questioned him roughly. He learned that Lord Rocard was the devil, that the old man and woman were the only ones in town that were allied with him, though the others would join soon enough, that the old woman was currently engaging in a rite that would allow her to join the others, and that Rocard had created a monster that would surely kill them.

He tied up the old man, woke up the knight, and the two went to the old woman’s house. Since questioning took several hours, the old woman was in bed alone when they kicked in her door. However, she appeared weak and in pain. They questioned her, but got little information. The knight attempted an exorcism, and during the course of it (and their questioning of her) found that she had some kind of orifice/wound on her back, along her spine, and that it seemed wet with what they guessed was semen (ew, and more resolve damage).

In the meantime, the alchemist arrived at the next village and took Marie to the church. The priest there didn’t want anything to do with Marie, as he was convinced she carried the her village’s evil with her. Only by suggesting that the priest lock Marie up was he able to convince him to keep her for a few days. He then returned to the village to rejoin with the knight and knave.

We ended the session just before the alchemist returned. We still haven’t completed the adventure, though the players have learned a lot of information. I find it interesting that at times they seem to be actively avoiding learning more information, because they’re afraid of the resolve loss involved (not only did the knave leave before he found out what the old woman and Rocard were up to, but they specifically didn’t investigate the old woman’s condition afterward.)

The only social skill I included in the game was lying, though it looks like I may have to add more, at least to account for interrogations. So far I’ve been allowing the players to write in skills of their own as they come up, which has worked fairly well. I may just continue along with that.

We’ll see how far we get next week. While I assumed that they would just go take care of the problem, they’ve launched an investigation that I wasn’t expecting (though I was prepared for). This is good, since they seem engaged. However, this is no longer a “one shot” adventure.

Session Report #4

Last night saw a return to Languedoc 1230, the year after their first failed expedition. The PCs were a new set of inquisitors sent to stamp out witchcraft and demonic activity. The core of their information was derived not only from the rumors from the area, but from the sole surviving member of the failed expedition. They went in knowing that something evil lived in the mountains and that strange lizard-like demons prowled the forest.

The knight woke to strange dreams filled with fear, sadness, and fevered activity. Strange turns of phrase echoed in his waking mind, like "defib", "clear", and "we're losing him". A pall of dread was cast over the day.

The town had suffered during the winter since the last party had arrived. There were no children, not anyone under 30. Only the elderly remained, with the exception of a single able-bodied man. All others had been kidnapped, starved, or fled.

The PCs sent that only able-bodied man to the nearest town for supplies (a 1 week trip). Their letter to the church there explained the situation and authorized help to be sent immediately.

The PCs then scouted out the forest and encountered a little girl, Marie. She seemed scared and hungry, but they were able to befriend her. She told them that monsters wandered the forest. But there were monsters in town as well. The monsters in town looked like normal people, but you could tell they were monsters at night when their eyes flashed silver in reflected firelight.

They were split as to whether they should take Marie to the nearest village for safety (1 day trip), continue exploring the mountains, or head back to town to investigate these hidden monsters. Doubt was cast on the reliability of Marie's information and whether she was in congress with the devil. The decision was made to split the party, with the alchemist taking Marie to safety while the knight and knave investigated the town.

That night, the alchemist and Marie encountered a strange monster that sounded like a horribly tuned organ. They hid and it passed them by, but not without some resolve loss. The knave scouted the town after dark and saw some one's eyes flash silver. He followed him to a rendezvous with an older woman where they argued about what to do with the party. One wanted to "do something" while the other wanted to "let the devil's servant finish them off". In the end, the conspirators decided to wait it out and let the devil take care of them.

The PCs were 2nd level again. I added some options to give them bonuses at the cost of putting themselves in more danger. I'm hoping that will help offset the higher hp and resolve totals they have. They're still placing higher emphasis on constitution and willpower, even though they're playing "smarter".

This was the first adventure where we didn't hit a natural conclusion, either through TPK or completing the adventure. We'll pick it up again next week and see how far they progress.

Session Report #3

New game again, this time with fewer TPKs. They made 2^nd level characters this time.

The PCs were American explorers in 1091 on an expedition to the South Pacific to study the indigenous peoples. End route, they hit a storm that crippled their ship. After spending several days trying to make repairs, they finally cobbled together their shattered mast.

They awoke to shouts on deck. The intrepid Jack Dawson woke from his slumber with the feeling someone close to him had just died. He chalked it up to an unremembered dream and went to see what the commotion was all about.

Land was sighted and as they approached, indigenous people came out to meet them in boats. Their accents were strange and the PCs had trouble understanding them. The gist was that the natives were happy to see them, because the PCs were clearly some kind of divine agents sent to deliver them from evil. Apparently the volcano god was eating their women, sending his children to the village once a year to collect the women folk. Tonight was the night they would come, and it surely couldn’t be a coincidence.

As George Anderson and Cletus Hogg organized the other crewmen, Jack tried sketching the volcano god’s children from the villager’s descriptions. While he couldn’t get it right, the villagers seemed to keep pushing his art towards darker and more vile depictions.

Finally they set off into the jungle to see what these superstitious natives were up in arms about. Obviously there was a logical explanation. The sun went down and things started getting spooky. A strange shriek emanated from the volcano top – the volcano god calling his children to battle. An hour later, they encountered those same children as they came down to the village – strange and hideous lizardmen (they lost some resolve). A battle ensued, many crewmen fled into the jungle, Cletus, their doctor, fell to the monstrous creatures, and the lizardmen tried to abscond with the fallen crewmen’s bodies.

Jack and George pursued and chased the lizardmen back to a lava tube, killing the last one as it entered. Within the tube, strange tribal drums could be heard. They scaled the volcano to peer into the caldera and found 2 drummers and someone dancing in front of a strange idol – all lizardmen. Jack and George exterminated them quickly, their guns and distance granting them advantage.

Jack inspected the fallen dancer and found it was not a lizardman, but a lizardwoman. Inspection of the drummers revealed the same (as did the inspection of all the other fallen creatures). The drums turned out to be built in the native style, though out of human flesh (more resolve loss). The rough idol represented some kind of fish god.

Second level, which allowed them another HP/Resolve roll (if you got 1d8+3 at first level, you got 2d8+6 at second) resulted in a substantial increase in number and survival. Possibly too much. But, the first 2 sessions have led to the players favoring constitution and willpower over most other attributes, so the difference was even more visible. This was unforeseen, but not a problem.

Combat took substantially longer and I found it repetitive and boring. The higher HP meant that there was less threat of death and the lack of options in combat really showed to me. I’ll have to fix that.