GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Greg Wirth, Sarah Hawklyn, Sean Phelan, Mike Garcia, and Bay Chang
System: Torchbearer
Module: Stone Dragon Mountain
Up Diamond Tooth’s pass they went. Karolina made the dive to leap the expand unto his bridge and she came very, very close to making it!
Introducing the game
Not sure why but I really felt the need to disclaim the nature of Torchbearer by way of apology at the start of the game. Mike Garcia has played in my Apocalypse World games, Greg and Sarah run a Teenagers From Outer Space LARP, and Bay and I have often talked about simple game mechanics. Torchbearer is none of those things. I started with these introductory snippets:
- Torchbearer is a game of survival and exploration; neither is easy.
- There are treasures to be found, but they will have to be pried from the frozen grip of the mountain.
- Your characters are desperate people. Foolishly optimistic opportunists.
Here were my questions to get them thinking about their characters:
- What led you to this life?
- What was the last thing you ate? Did it make you sick?
- Who have you let down?
- Does anyone depend on you?
- What gives you hope this band of adventures will succeed?
- Who shows the most promise?
- Who is the leader?
We got some interesting results. Taika had betrayed Ulat, the head of the rangers. Berren knew Karolina’s father. Ulrik killed a puppy.
Adventure Highlights
Ulrik trying to save the dying Dermot and being interrupted by the snowfall.
Adventurers trekking up the mountain in the snow! Pathfinding has never been so hard!
Taika saving Karolina by casting Lightness of Being on her when she was about to slip off the edge of the walkway.
During camp Varg casting Wisdom of the Sages to speak with the caged Mikra and someone for the first time learning who they are!
Some pics of the game
Thoughts on the game
There was a moment when Karolina almost fell off the walkway and Taika saved her by casting Lightness of Being. Sarah (who was playing Taika) asked if why Karolina was levitating if she could also cross over the expanse they were looking at. I declined because that was a separate test. It was a pixel bitch move of me to make Taika’s spell end once Karolina was safe and not let her traverse the bridge first. I was interpreting it very literally (last for one test) when within the fiction it should have covered both.
Once again I think the adventure would be stronger not starting in the base camp. That one is going in the hopper for edits.
