torchbearer – Page 2 – Sean Nittner

Actual Play – Stone Dragon Mountain SUN-01/02 (6/29/2014)

GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Tony Dowler, Morgan Stinson, John Powell, Warren Powell, David Fooden, and guest starring Twyla Campbell
System: Torchbearer
Adventure: Stone Dragon Mountain

Dude, I had a bunch of rock stars in my game… and they kept wanting to play! The morning slot was supposed to be Gary Montgomery’s Treasure of Traveler’s Hill Torchbearer game. And then life happened, child care vanished, and Gary couldn’t make it to the con on Sunday.

Morgan grabbed me at one point and asked if I could run in his place. Hell yeah, I could!

After Matt’s World of Dungeons game I stayed up for another hour drinking substances potent and potentially blinding, and making characters for the Sunday game. Well, I made two characters and then I wised up and realized I should just copy the ones out of the book. It was faster and didn’t require as much thought, both perks that late at night!

Who Bears The Torch

Morgan played Varg as a condescending know it all magician that made enemies easily. He was indispensable to his allies and he liked to remind them of that as he called them lesser beings. A great guy.

John played Karolina the skeptical warrior. She didn’t believe in magic and loathed to lend Varg her bearskin cloak, given to her by her father that she never knew.

Warren played Ulrik the greedy and mostly deity-ambivalent cleric.

David played Bassle Brune, not a cook, but a chef! He was put out by the mayor of Carin when he was betrayed by his sous chef Denny that intentionally spoiled his hollandaise sauce! Now accompanying new companions, he sought to impress them all with his halfling bravery.

Tony played Torril the dwarven adventurer who was always cognizant of how his actions, and the actions of those around him might be viewed by the gods. He had been banished from the temple of brick and mortar and carried a grave memory of that denouncement.

In the second session, Twyla took Tony’s place and played Beren the dwarf adventurer seeking out Karolina for a debt he owed to her parents, who were old allies of his but died some time ago. He did not know Karolina but knew he would recognize her by her father’s bearskin cloak.

Highlights of the Game

At base camp the Sharwa were generally friendly despite their lack of a common language. That was until Varg decided to use his eldrich magics to summon sages that would help him commune with them. Unfortunately doing so required clipping the hair of one of the Sharwa and eating it. The Sharwa man had no idea what Varg was doing but he did notice that Varg cut and ate his hair. Awkward.

It fell upon Karolina to drag Varg out of the camp and Torril to make peace with the locals. That is how Torril met Jhala, a woman who spoke the common tongue. She aided Torril by giving him supplies for the climb… but also told him of the curse on the mountain and that the Gods were punishing them. For me this was about the best “fail” result I’ve ever had. He got what he wanted, with the condition of being afraid, and I got to do some exposition in the process. Bad ass and not expected.

While hunting for game (the first time) Varg tore his cloak on a stout tree branch. Rather than try to repair it, he left the torn cloak in the base camp and borrowed Karolina’s bear skin cloak. This caused much awesome confusion later when Beren (who arrived in the 2nd slot of the game session as Twyla joined the game) found Varg first and identified the cloak because it belonged to Karolina’s father. That were some awesome misunderstandings there!

Discovering the ambushed camp was awesome. Watching the players realize that they were looting from other fallen adventurers that were killed in their sleep was awesome. Good treasure (supplies they needed) and a grim bitter moment breaking off a halfling’s frozen finger to take the ring on it!

Torril, who already felt cursed by the gods made the most amazing sacrifice. As they were climbing up the edge of the mountain, Torril lost his grip and went falling down. The rope that was tied to him caught him, but it pulled Bassle down with him and threatened to take Ulrik and Karolina as well. Torril knew that with his weight he could very well pull down all of his companions with him. Instead of trying to climb back up, he spit on the god’s curse and with his sword cut the rope holding him and fell to his death below. Such sacrifice.

These adventurers camped often and camped well. Hunting in the mountains is tough though and the second trip led Karolina and Beren into a Mikra Ambush. The fended them off, but in doing so realized that the creature wore fur and loped on all fours, but fought with weapons and in their eyes they could see the spark of intelligence of man!

Karolina had been besmirching magic the entire game, saying she didn’t believe in it, which was just an awesome interplay between John and Morgan. When Varg finally did cast a spell (lightness of being) and levitated up over a huge chunk of ice that blocked their pass (the same one that killed Torril on their first attempt) Karolina’s chiding dismissal turned into awed reverence. It was pretty awesome.

Encountering Kumbha’s goats and deciding that “forget about the giant, I don’t want to mess with goats, let’s get out of here!”

A knock down, drag out, gnarl fight that ended in a total party kill (minus 1) when the adventurers rolled down the slippery slope of the maw and were ambushed again by Mikra. Karolina lived but woke up in the dark, alone, bleeding and half frozen. Ouch.

Highest praise I could hope to receive

Morgan, in discussing the game with me wrote “Thanks again for running this for us. I had a fantastic time.”

Tony, in his GPNW write up said “Sunday morning I got hijacked by a Torchbearer game on the way to White Books. Sean Nittner runs a seriously tight game of Torchbearer. This is a game that really rewards DM mastery, and Sean has it. My Dwarf sacrificed himself nobly to save the party and spite the capricious gods.”

More than anything though, what really put a spring in my step was when all of the players but Tony (who had another game scheduled) asked to play a second session in the next slot. How great is that! We did end of session rewards (beliefs, goals, instincts, etc) at the end of the first session and the characters got to have a few fate and persona points to spend in the second. That’s how I’d like all of my con games to run!

Thoughts on this game

Extra uses of conditions – Exposition about the terrible things happening in the game are awesome. When Torril failed his persuader roll to get Jhala to give him climbing gear, instead of refusing him, I had her tell him of the curse on the mountain and gave him the afraid condition. It worked out to be a great way to spread the lore of the mountain. I’m going to look for other wise to do this in the future. More ideas for it here.

In addition to their enthusiasm for the game this group showed me more than the other three that the adventure doesn’t exactly make sense. Several of he players asked after the game “what was up with that guy” or “why weren’t the dragon’s teeth there/why should we go inside the cave?”. These questions are great. They tell me that I need to do two things:

Make the promise of reward more obvious and tempting. The cave will now have a glinting that can be seen below and the frozen lake will have a treasure visible beneath it.
Make the story of what is going on more obvious and accessible. Dermot is a great example. The character exists to (without malice) lead the characters astray. I’ve revised him now to instead provide accurate information about the dangers he faced, and where his knowledge is fuzzy, to give incomplete (but not misleading) information.

I lost more characters (5 of the 6) in this game than in any other I’ve run. Killing is my Business is serious business.

We got to do two sessions this game which was great. It means players reviewed their beliefs and such, were rewarded appropriately, and got to rewrite them as appropriate. Karolina changed her goal from “I will impress my companions with my bravery” to “Bring the party to the top of this mountain. For TORRIL” That was personal and it was awesome!

Be a fan of your players. Really, I mean I know you’re told to do it, but really do it. It makes such a difference. I was so excited to run Stone Dragon Mountain that I embraced every character with exuberance and it really paid off. It also make it so much better when you do kill them all off.

Twyla showed up for the second session and brought Beren into play. They met up at the base camp and Twyla devised a reason to be looking for Karolina. That was the smoothest new member of the party integration I’ve ever seen. Bravo!

Thanks to Morgan Stinson, John Powell, and Twyla Campbell for giving me feedback on the adventure. For those that haven’t, if you’re inclined, here is the feedback survey.

Feedback so far (two new entries since the SAT-02 session)

Torchbearer [How familiar are you with the following?]

Mouse Gaurd [How familiar are you with the following?]

Buning Wheel [How familiar are you with the following?]

How well were you able to understand what was going on in the adventure?

Challenging the players [Rate the how well the adventure did overall at:]

Rewarding the characters [Rate the how well the adventure did overall at:]

Delivering a compelling situation [Rate the how well the adventure did overall at:]

Keeping your interest [Rate the how well the adventure did overall at:]

Depicting a harsh world [Rate the how well the adventure did overall at:]

Depicting a fantastical world [Rate the how well the adventure did overall at:]

What was your favorite memory of the session(s)?

When Morgan’s character actually successfully used magic to float up to the top of the ice block.
Crossing the Walkway
The dangerous lowering of the bridge
Diamond Tooth’s demise
Dealing with Diamond Tooth
Trying to pass equipment and light sources up and down the line while supporting Sparky in crossing the gap.
The whole bit at the bridge.
Snot. You should emphasize snot.
Balls out fighting the mikra and failing miserably, allowing for only one survivor who was surely going to die soon.

Any other comments about Stone Dragon Mountain?

Very fun game. Lots of laughs and holy crap, that is impossibles!
It seems like the set up is simple, which is cool, but I wanted a touch more complexity. We had the Sharwa, on one side, and the Mikra on the other. The Mikra seemed to be savage, beasty killers. That set up seemed too straight forward. I long for a third faction to make things really jacked up and complicated. Did someone back in town want us to do something specific, maybe? Is there are third group to add to the ecology of the mountain? When I think of keep on the Borderland, we have Bandits, plus the people in the Keep, plus a variety of Tribes in the Caves of Chaos, without even messing with the greater outside world. The more groups we have, the more our decisions affect those around us. To me, this is the thing I look for as a player. I came to a place and I may have fucked it up pretty badly, but I made an indelible mark.
Also, after we get to the maw of the cave, and find that the teeth aren’t gems, it seems like we need a new promise of treasure. The Mikra have worthless stone idols and crude axes. Why would we go in the cave?
What was up with that guy who was wounded at the beginning? He was really weird.
I love the “loot” available from the Sharwa and the bodies at Taleil’s. It felt really organic and natural and not like crap from a random treasure table.
The demon thing with the sheep was confusing, tone-wise. Did we just forget to ask about that guy.
Just kind of a reminder of our conversation, for a convention setting, it would be best to have pregens and the players just pick their inventory and answer the pregame questions. Other than that, the part I played was fun.
It was too bad we didn’t get to more of a part where other people further back in the line on the trail could do stuff.
I wasn’t clear on the player’s motivations in the set up except “get some kind of treasure.” I might have been distracted or walked briefly away from the table.
I wonder about the value, just like in computer rpgs, of having content in branches that half the players won’t see. Aftertward, I wanted to see what we’d missed since it sounded like it contained some of the best content. I suppose with another session we could have ventured to the path we didn’t see.
Nothing beyond what was already said at the table.
I rated kind of low on rewards and fantasy just because I don’t think we quite got to that part.

More thoughts on this feedback on in the first playtest report for Stone Dragon Mountain.

Actual Play – Stone Dragon Mountain SAT-02 (6/28/2014)

GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Mark Levad, Fred Lott, Soren Ludwig, Peter Adkison, and Wilhelm Fitzpatrick
System: Torchbearer
Adventure: Stone Dragon Mountain

Woot, my first chance to play-test Stone Dragon Mountain. I had been working my ass off to get it play-test ready and I’m really glad I did. The game ran very smoothly and was deliciously perilous for the characters and (from what I could tell) delightful for the players.

Who bears the Torch

We started with character creation. Which although it ate up too much time (see thoughts below) was a ton of fun. Here were our heroes.

Recordin the human warrior (Mark) grew up in a wizards tower, but got kicked out when thought to be trusted companion Boggin framed him for stealing form the wizard. Now he walks these lonely roads a loaner, tough and cool.

Sparky Bigglemeister the halfling burgler (Peter) would have been head cook for the mayor of a bustling metropolis, if not for Gordo Ryebread who soured his stew! He was now adventuring with a new found hunger for gold and a thirst for luxury.

Feylimige the Wanderer (Soren), an elven ranger. She had left the Elflands because she was different. Curious about different things and could not conform. She played to return one day and give the elves what for by proving that the traditional way isn’t the only way.

Jaesik the Loud (Wilhelm), a human cleric. Jaesik was actually a good person. He helped the weak and stood against the darkness. He wore a medallion of Sigrun the Defender, lady of Battles that his mother had worn before she died. He was also very loud about his beliefs! Benedictus the high priest sent him on this holy mission to help the Sharwa people after he dragged the mayor’s daughter back to the temple to be purged of sin! Not at all to get Jaesik out of his hair and finally get some peace and quiet in the temple, no, not at all.

Agar Dirtsmith the human magician (Fred) from the small village Bayrit where his magics were not understood. He wanted to move up in life, I mean, how do you get any lower than being a dirt smith!

Depicting the World

Here are notes that I’ve written to myself when trying to describe the feel of Torchbearer in play. I don’t read them down the line, but whenever I come to a moment where I feel like the style of play or setting needs to be articulated, I’ll pull one of these out:

Torchbearer is a game of exploration and survival, neither of which is easy.
It’s less like Lord of the Rings, and more like surviving Vietnam.
There are treasures to be found but they are going to be pried from the frozen grip of the mountain.
Your characters are desperate people with no respectable or promising opportunities.
Your characters aren’t heroes, but they can become heroes.
Like characters in Fiasco, your adventurers have powerful ambition and poor judgment.
They are foolishly optimistic opportunists.

As we start I’m also asking questions to develop the world. Here’s some of them:

What led you to this life?
What as the last thing you ate that didn’t make you sick?
What have you let down?
What was the job that was going to get you off the street? How did it fall apart?
Does anyone at home depend on you? How have you failed them?
Who in your new group besides you shows he most promise?
What about this adventure gives you hope?
Who is your leader?
Really, who is the leader?
To the leader: What heroes story inspires you?

These are pretty standard fare questions, but asking them reminds me to make the game not just about adventurers, but to make it about these adventurers. Hearing their answers also helps me be a a fan of their characters.

Notable Moments

By far, the highlight of the game was when the adventurers had to scale a bald mountain face to cross over a stretch of missing walkway that loomed over an impossible fall below. Everything working up to the climb was so tense and when Peter’s Halfling Sparky finally made it over to raise the bridge, the whole table cheered in triumph! Peter has done some mountain climbing and said that the depiction of the challenges felt very real. Huzzah!

Pictures from the game

Thoughts on the Game

When you’re play-testing a game, never do character creation in a con slot. It eats up way to much time. We spent 90 minutes on it when we could have spend 15-20 going over pre-generated characters and started playing. I wanted to see if characters made by players planning for a mountain climb would make a difference. Nope, or not enough to be measurable.

Mountain climbing in the snow is amazing dungeon delving. So much my fave.

Playing a game that doesn’t require torches every turn all the time actually makes it more interesting when people have to light them. The sun going down was a favorite twist of mine because it changed the status quo a lot!

Feedback. I’ve asked all my players to give feedback on the adventure. Thanks so far to Soren Ludwig, Mark Levad, Wilhelm Fitzpatrick, and Fred Lott for their responses. To everyone else, if you’re interested, here is the link to the survey.

Feedback response so far (over all three sessions played). My take away was that I should be more obvious about the various people’s and their motivations (a constant reminder to myself to just in general be more obvious). Also, rewards weren’t clear enough, there should always be something enticing them to delve a little deeper.

Torchbearer [How familiar are you with the following?]

Mouse Gaurd [How familiar are you with the following?]

Buning Wheel [How familiar are you with the following?]

How well were you able to understand what was going on in the adventure?

Challenging the players [Rate the how well the adventure did overall at:]

Rewarding the characters [Rate the how well the adventure did overall at:]

Delivering a compelling situation [Rate the how well the adventure did overall at:]

Keeping your interest [Rate the how well the adventure did overall at:]

Depicting a harsh world [Rate the how well the adventure did overall at:]

Depicting a fantastical world [Rate the how well the adventure did overall at:]

What was your favorite memory of the session(s)?

When Morgan’s character actually successfully used magic to float up to the top of the ice block.
Crossing the Walkway
The dangerous lowering of the bridge
Diamond Tooth’s demise
The whole bit at the bridge.
Snot. You should emphasize snot.
Balls out fighting the mikra and failing miserably, allowing for only one survivor who was surely going to die soon.

Any other comments about Stone Dragon Mountain?

Very fun game. Lots of laughs and holy crap, that is impossibles!
It seems like the set up is simple, which is cool, but I wanted a touch more complexity. We had the Sharwa, on one side, and the Mikra on the other. The Mikra seemed to be savage, beasty killers. That set up seemed too straight forward. I long for a third faction to make things really jacked up and complicated.Did someone back in town want us to do something specific, maybe? Is there are third group to add to the ecology of the mountain? When I think of keep on the Borderland, we have Bandits, plus the people in the Keep, plus a variety of Tribes in the Caves of Chaos, without even messing with the greater outside world. The more groups we have, the more our decisions affect those around us. To me, this is the thing I look for as a player. I came to a place and I may have fucked it up pretty badly, but I made an indelible mark.
Also, after we get to the maw of the cave, and find that the teeth aren’t gems, it seems like we need a new promise of treasure. The Mikra have worthless stone idols and crude axes. Why would we go in the cave?
What was up with that guy who was wounded at the beginning? He was really weird.
I love the “loot” available from the Sharwa and the bodies at Taleil’s. It felt really organic and natural and not like crap from a random treasure table.
The demon thing with the sheep was confusing, tone-wise. Did we just forget to ask about that guy.
Just kind of a reminder of our conversation, for a convention setting, it would be best to have pregens and the players just pick their inventory and answer the pregame questions. Other than that, the part I played was fun.
It was too bad we didn’t get to more of a part where other people further back in the line on the trail could do stuff.
I wasn’t clear on the player’s motivations in the set up except “get some kind of treasure.” I might have been distracted or walked briefly away from the table.
I wonder about the value, just like in computer rpgs, of having content in branches that half the players won’t see. Aftertward, I wanted to see what we’d missed since it sounded like it contained some of the best content. I suppose with another session we could have ventured to the path we didn’t see.
Nothing beyond what was already said at the table.
I rated kind of low on rewards and fantasy just because I don’t think we quite got to that part.

Actual Play – Sour Beer (5/25/2014)

GM: Sean Nittner
Players: June Garcia, Morgan Hua, and Brian Williams
System: Torchbearer
Adventure: Under the House of the Three Squires

Not having anything else on my schedule I ran an impromptu game of Torchbearer. It took us a little while to find a group, and then a little while to find a space, so once we got rolling there was only about two hours to play… but man how much we got done!

To House or not to House

At the last moment I was faced with a conundrum. Run Stone Dragon Mountain, which only exists right now as a series of notes for wandering monsters, a google doc with half the locations, and a pinterest board with art ideas. Or run House under the Three Squires.

Unsure of myself I folded and ran the House. We had little time and I wanted to get the best out of it. In retrospect, I should just be flinging Stone Dragon at anyone that will play it from now on until I have it fully developed and tested.

Character Selection

It’s worth noting that the iconic characters are not all individually prepared for adventure. For example between Taika, Ulrik, and Gerald, none of them have a tinderbox. Hmm. We realized this after the first turn when someone wanted to light a torch. Fun times. Taika had an open slot in her pack so I gave her the option of having a tinderbox in it, but after that they were pretty much on their own.

It seem like a GM with new players serves the game well to tell everyone that they should have a source of light, a source of food, and perhaps a tool or spell component in their pack. For more experienced players though, let them be figure it out.

The players selected Taika, Ulrik, and Gerald. After the adventure introduction each of them chose goals and then gave a little snippet of their character’s description. For Taika and Gerald we go a look at their raiment. Ulrik, we saw a flashback of him giving last rights to a man, then pilfering the coin purse of the dead man’s body.

Adventuring – Turn by Turn

Instinct – After inspecting the wreckage in the house, Taika identified the scales as belonging to kobolds [Ob 2 Hunter. Success]. With this knowledge in hand she strode forward confident she was prepared…

Turn 1 – …but not expecting the first set of stairs she walked down to collapse on her. With the help form Ulrik who was holding the torch behind her, she leapt back to safety [Ob 2 Health. Success]

Turn 2 – Sturdy rope in hand, Gerald quickly started tying knots and loops in it to make a rope ladder. He secured it to a rafter in the building and they safely descended [Ob 3 Weaver. Success].

Turn 3 – Below, seeing the rubble stacked in on corner and hearing a whining noise behind hit, Gerald quickly set to uncovering the what ever was under (or in this case behind) the stack of debris. His friends helped but it was tiresome work, made worse by the increasingly loud whining and pawing sounds. [Ob 1 Laborer. Failure. Condition: Exhausted for Gerald, Hungry and Thirsty for the others]

Finding the emaciated Pomeranian in the wine cellar was no threat, they opted to make camp in the larger cellar and try to recover from their weariness.

Camp Phase

Events – Lucky Break! One of the patron of the in had died during the skirmish and his body had been propped against the door as well under the debris. Upon moving them, Ulkrik found the man had a scroll with a Blessing of the Lords of Light and Darkness on it. Wow!

Instinct – Before doing much of anything else Gerald set about making food for his compatriots. He cooked up a lovely meal [Cooing Ob 2 [3 from exhausted] Success, after using a Of Course! with Needs a little Salt-wise] and everyone ate, including the dog.

Check – Taika took some of the wood from the collapsed stairwell and fixtures and scraps off cloth off the dead man to assemble a few more sturdy torches [Survivalist Ob 2. Success]

Check – After a good meal, Gerald found himself a comfy spot in the corner to rub his feed and rest his weary head. [Health Ob 3 to remove Exhausted. Success].

Adventure Phase

Though fed and no longer hostile to the adventures the small dog now had the energy to go find his master. He tried to go through the cellar door but it was closed and the adventures weren’t going going to open it for him.

Turn 1 – Inspecting the wine cellar, Ulrik realized there were four in tact casks of the famed Three Squires Sour Beer. He proposed to haul all four back up to the surface and take them back to Skogenby to sell! Carrying them up the rope ladder though was a challenge (Laborer Ob 2. Fail. Twist). As they toiled they didn’t realize the dog had gotten the attention of a kobold patrol. While they were all in the wine celar, the kobolds snuck in, slammed the door shut and and knocked the pile of furniture and debris back down in front of he door. Snickering to themselves, they were eventually chased off by the loud barking of the dog.

Turn 2– Inside the cellar, Ulrik was not deterred. With a hammer and spikes he started disassembling the door jam so the entire door could come through it. Though unskilled in such matter’s it’s easier to take things appart than it is to put them together, especially when the promise of gold and freedom is on the other side. With aid of his companions Ulrik cleared the path (Carpenter Ob 2. Success)!

Turn 3 – Though the brigands talked of eating the dog, it was all skin and bones. Eventually Taika decided to tame the wild beast by offering it a bit more food and some kindness. The others joined, trying to scratch it and say kind words. It worked, but god was the little dog stubborn, it just wanted it’s master. By the time they called it their own, all of them were reconsidering eating it! (Hunter Ob 2. Fail. Condition: Angry). Taika named the pooch after the inn’s namesake drink: Sour Beer.

Kegs in hand, the set out for Skogenby!

Town Phase

When they arrived in town a dance was being held in the center of Skokenby in celebration of a good harvest. All who joined had their spirits uplifted by the revelry (Remove Angry).

In the Market, Taika traded three of the kegs and bought herself a bow! (Ob 3 Resources Text. Success)

We wrapped there as we were out of time, and didn’t have time to do lifestyle costs, but had they succeeded (they had no conditions to recover or taxed nature) they may very well have walked out of Skogenby Fresh! (Shudder the thought).

Thoughts on this game

By the Hands of the Lords of Entropy this group was lucky! Rolling not only a lucky break on the camp and on the town, but also getting just what they needed at every turn. Some of this was due to me starting them off with 1 Fate and 1 Persona at the start of the game, but their rolls (and my rolls for that matter) were also on fire!

I should have required a Pathfinder check to get back to town as well as doing the Artha award but we were cutting it too close on time (Morgan had to be in another game) so I just thanked them all and send them off to plunder other’s tombs.

Morgan was a good sport in the game, and played Ulrik really well, but the game was too crunchy for him (more details here, scroll to the bottom). I’m still working on putting the fiction first and not saying “okay, two turns have passed, your torch is out” but rather saying “After lighting your way while the rope ladder was made and descending safely, your torch burns down to it’s embers”. I think that will go a long way towards the players not feeling like there is so much crunch to the game.

First time the dog has been named. I loved it! Sour Beer FTW.

Next time I run it’s Stone Dragon Mountain. It’s happening!

Actual Play – Free town is Free! (4/25/2014)

GM: Josh Curtis
Players: Justin Evans, Sean Nittner, and Greg Bailey
System: Torchbearer
Dungeon: Mines of Angocost

After awakening the dead spirit of Prince Jaha, our heroes were faced with preventing (or fleeing from) the destruction he and his wraiths would cause! TORCHBEARER!

Prologue

I was late to the game (thanks flat tire, great timing) and so the others recapped from our last adventure. Varg was no longer Hungry and Thirsty.

Beliefs, Goals, and Instincts

Quite a few of these changed from last session. Some belief had been broken, some goals accomplished.

Beren

Belief: There’s nothing for me but blood and treasure spent and earned. (unchanged)

Goal: Escape this waterlogged shit hole with Karolina.
Instinct: Don’t trust Varg!

Varg

Belief: Only power can save me.

Goal: Get out of this dungeon alive.
Instinct: Always study new lore when I discover it. (unchanged)

Karolina

Belief: I am the bulwark between my friends and harm (unchanged)

Goal: We will save the people of free city from Prince Jaha’s wrath.

Instinct: Always look for escape routes.

Adventure Phase

Turn 23 – Josh describe the scene before us. Inside the courtyard of Free Town, chaos and death surrounded us. The lights of the skulls had gone out, and now only a dim glow came off them. Tunnels ran off into darkness, a creek ran through the middle of the town, but most notably, shadowy wraiths had erupted from the skulls of Prince Jaha’s soldiers. The wraiths, led by their vicious prince sought to kill every dwarf that defied them in life. Jaha from the center of town directed their wrath!

Karolina, turned to Beren and said we’ve got to get these dwarves out of here. They’ll die if they try to fight (this was after just seeing a dwarf swing his sword and having it apparently pass harmlessly through the wraith).

Beren protested “we’ve got to get out of there. I don’t care about them.”

Karolina refused. She ran to Thurn and told him to rally his people together and get them out of the town. He was clearly torn. He wanted to fight, but his people were all dying.

Varg fled to safety but then realized he was alone, in the dark, with little change of getting out allive. Wise in the ways of magical arts, he grabbed one of skulls and smashed it against stone. He witnessed, we all witnessed that as he did so the wraith that come from it was destroyed. “If your will is strong, your blades can harm them. Fight them off and destroy the skulls.”

Varg looked to Beren for a companion to flee with, and Beren looked to Karolina because he would not leave with out her. Karolina, hearing this first glimmer of hope, plunged her last torch into the cooking fire to ignite it, held it above her head for all to said and cried out “To me! We will fight for Free Town Together!”

Battle Conflict!

Josh had made a custom conflict for this fight. It was a modified Kill conflict (i.e. very lethal) but the stakes were much bigger, it was for the entire population of Free Town.

Attack/Maneuver – Commander, with help from Commander or Fighter
Defend – Arcanist or Ritualist
Feint – Lore Master or Theologian

Weapons:

Eternal Grudge – +1D on Attacks
“Free Town is Free!” +1S on Defend
Wraith’s weapons were “No Fear” and “Shadow Walk” which we knew the names but not the effects of.

The fight was a daunting one. Mostly because Varg and Karolina were afraid and because we had few of the skills needed at decent levels. Thurn aided us, which was a boon, and hell, we had a decent amount of Artha to blow… which we did!

I took on the role of Conflict captain because Karolina had started the fight, and went for an initially defensive option. We had the great weapon “Free Town is Free” and I was pretty sure that Josh wouldn’t lead with Feints. So we scripted Defend, Defend, Maneuver. It worked out well. Josh scripted Attack, Attack, Maneuver. By putting Varg in 2nd place (and having him blow a ton of Artha) we were able to recover the Artha lost in the first action (Thurn was a poor defender). Maneuver vs. Maneuver is independent, so Karolina, with some help from Beren and Thurn was able to gain position for the beginning of the next exchange. The Wraiths also impeded their side, but that was a net positive exchange.

At the end of the volley, Josh described the Wraiths disappearing and then erupting from the shadows of our few fires. Our line broken we had to move. Karolina led the dwarves over a bridge to stand at the be bank of a creek. “Shadows cannot pass over water” was her belief and it turned out to be true!

Eternal Grudge! – Beren had to start out the next exchange. He would be using beginners luck to roll commander, but opted to tap, nay double tap his nature to make the attack. Helped by Thurn, the position granted and the Eternal Grudge weapon we picked, and only impeded one die by the Wraith’s maneuver, he rolled a huge hefty handful of dice.

The wraiths were also attacking, and so in a brutal exchange, many lives were lost. But amid the chaos and destruction Beren found a particular skull of great significant, atop the bridge was a a skull that had a cooper band hammered into it, the skull of Jaha! He pushed Varg aside (who had been studying it) and smashed it to dust!

Doing so sent a wail through the town, one that most of us would hear in our dreams for weeks, but that Beren himself could not shake. A kind of maddening wail that persisted and sought to drive him insane. Beren was sick, Karolina was exhausted from the life draining force of one wraith that sought to stop her heart, but was destroyed when Jaha was vanquisted. Many, many, almost a quarter of the towns people died… but we saved Free Town!

And then all was dark.

Turn 24 – After Jaha and his wraiths were destroyed every light in the town except the one torch that Karolina held had gone out. It was pitch black in these caves. The dwarves had found a way to bind the souls of the fallen slavers into their sculls and use them to produce light. Now that the souls had been vanquished, so too was the light.

Varg remembered the violet fungus though, that grew not far from the town. He ventured out with a pack of dwarves to show them how to fashion lichen lanterns. Their pestering and inquisitive nature earned his ire though, and by the time he was done, the task made him angry.

We were all hungry and thirsty

Turn 25 – With the new source of light, the dwarves were able to give us that mean the promised! We gathered out meager belongings and bid the dwarves farewell, telling them we would return again soon and rid them of the Lizardmen the still warred with below. Getting back to the surface though was a challenge. With all the water coming down, the already steep inclines were now perilously slippery.

Karolina with lantern in hand, and her spear spiked through her belt to act as a pole to keep her and the rest connected, forged ahead. The trip was perriulous though and when she got to the top she slipped and her backpack spilled open. A sack that she didn’t recognize slipped out and was being carried back down the tunnel by a strong current. (Twist)

Turn 26 – Both Varg and Karolina leapt for it, but in the commotion she got knocked into the giant machine, a bean cam crashing down and broke her arm (injured). Beren at the last moment caught the sack, but felt like a heel for allowing his greed to get Karolina hurt (angry). Inside the sack however was a old broken gold crown. Broken, but gold! It turns out the dwarves of Free Town had something more to reward them with after all.

After a few more pained steps, the made their way back up the entry room and out of the Minds of Agnocost… back outside.. and into a river! The entrance had been flooded during their time down there. They carried on though. Loot in their packs (well, Beren’s pack) and promise of a warm meal and bed in their hearts.

Thoughts on this game

When I got to decided if we fled the spectral horrors or stayed to fight, it was about the most Braveheart moment I’ve ever had in a game. I was thinking about the Narrative Control episode we just recorded about Torchbearer and decided that Karolina believed in something, and she was willing to put herself and her friends lives in danger to defend it. It was pretty fucking awesome.

As a GM I pixel-bitch. Playing this game really gave me some perspective on the scale that Torchbearer needs to work on. Yes, it’s a punishing game pinned down by minutia, but I don’t need to make it more so. Josh does a great job of giving out tough challenges but follows with right rewards, even when those rewards are ephemeral (like the shades not being able to cross the water, or destroying their skulls to vanquish them, or the gratitude of Free Town).

This game was great. I don’t really know how practical it would be for us to go back again, but if we do I want to fix that broken elevator to lower us safely, repair some of the mining carts to access other parts of the tunnel, defeat the lizardmen (or convince them to leave or make peace with the Dwarves), and of course, steal that magical scepter from a dragon!

Actual Play – Escaping the Three Squires (3/26/2014)

GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Chris Moore, David Gallo, and Max Külshammer.
System: Torchbearer
Module: Under the House of the Three Squires

Back in the House!

Prologue: Milton recouted the events from last session: Death to Crooked Tooth!

While you were gone: Thrallson let us know that after the adrenalin of fighting kobolds, he froze up, in shock from all the carnage and wondering what he was doing.

Beliefs, Instincts, and Goals

Thrallson’s Goal: Changed from “The Kobolds will pay their debt in blood for every life they’ve taken” to “I will loot enough spoils to pay for my parents freedom.”

Torchbearing on Air

Torchbearing by Turn

Turn 27 – Thrallson hollered that the war band was charging in, and they have a fevered, panicked look to them. Milton got to prying away at the locks and lashes holding the cages together. [Criminal Ob 2 (+1 From Exhaustion, +1 From Darkness). Success!] The people were freed! Miles and Milton grabbed the weapons from the fallen kobolds to arm the prisoners and face the war band.

Magic – Celestial Magic – As the kobolds charged though, Milton could tell they were more terrified than anything else, coming to Crooked tooth for protection… a giant spider was chasing them down. Milton tried to get their attention, something to rally them, but his voice was simply drowned out by their fervor. In desperation he pulled the scroll from his backpack and cast Celestial Music to amplify his voice, and the voice of his companions [Arcanist Ob 4. Success]. The bewitching sound forced the Kobolds to momentarily stop and listen. Both terrified and mesmerized.

Turn 28 – With the magic amplifying his voice and making it ring true to the Kobolds (who could not otherwise understand common) Thrallson stepped up in front of them and told them of great dwarven battles, rallying them to stand by the adventurers side and together, slay the spider that haunted them all!

Conditions Applied

Turn 29 – With a few of the prisoners armed, and a warband of kobolds filled with momentary courage, the adventurers plunged forward into battle with Uttan, intent on slaying the beast! They mobbed the beast and forced it to fight in the open. Together the defeated it, but not without suffering themselves. Two of the prisoners were and Thrallson were badly injured. An abdominal wound, a broken arm, and slash across the throat. [Injured]

Turn 30 – Once the commotion settled down, the heroes decided to reset before heading out of the dungeon. Milton set about securing a camp [Survivalist Ob 1 (+1 From Exhaustion, +1 from Dim Light). Success]. Milton used some cages to form a small blockade, protecting them from intruders. Safe camp!

Camp Phase

Instinct – Miles fashioned a eyes mask filled with lavender and other pleasant smelling herbs to aid in sleeping [Healer Ob 1 (+1 from Exhaustion). Success].

Check – Thrallson used the sleeping mask to try and rest and recover [Heath Ob 3. Success]. Thrallson was still injured but no longer exhausted.

Instint – Milton set about fixing is obviously inaccurate map. [Cartography Ob 3 (+1 from Exhaustion). Failure. Twist]. As he worked away, Milton’s ink was knocked off his knee and spilled all over the ground, preventing him from mapping any further!

Check – Miles bitched out his companions for dragging him down. If the wizard could draw a map, and if he dwarf could do any good dwarfing. [Will Ob 2. Success]. After a good bitching (and losing some good will from the prisoners that listened to him berating his companions).

Adventure Phase

The ground had a fierce shake, and everyone wanted to move! Agata (Ronwald’s wife) though wanted to find her husband. She began calling down the corridors for him.

Turn 1 – Milton tried to convince her to come with them, telling her that her husband Ronwald was killed and that she shouldn’t make his death meaningless. [Persuader vs Persuader test. Tie -> Tie Breaker roll Nature vs. Nature. Fail. Twist]. He tried to give her a hug to console her but she shoved him away and told him that she was going to go find her husband’s body to lay it to rest.

Turn 2 – Thrallson had enough of this. He grabbed Agata and threw her over his shoulder [Heath vs. Heath test. Success] Against her will, he carried her off.

Turn 3 – To see their way out Thrallson tried to scavenge together some torches from the wooden cages and the soiled rugs. [Survivalist Ob 2 (+1 from Dim light). Fail. Condition: Angry] He did it but the quality was crap, and having a woman beating on his chest didn’t help (should have been a factor Sean!). He did it, but he was angry about it!

Fast Traveling – The moved back to the Whipping Post and then continued down the only passage they hadn’t explored so far. After setting off an alarm (with no more kobolds let to alert) they made it back to the upper limestone cave and found the the way back to Ronwald’s cellar!

Hooray for the heroes!

Thoughts on the game

I think characters need to have some kind of shtick, or some very non-conventional belief they play up to get the embodiment reward. It just doesn’t come up as much as it does in Burning Wheel or Empires. Most of the time people are focused on dealing with the challenges at hand like a puzzle more than they think about their “character”.

David’s line at 2:05:14 “I’m going to try and tell this woman that her husband’s not dead when I know very well that he is, and she’s not going to believe me because I only have two dice, and I’m going to get angry again.” echoes a horrible fear I have running the game. That the mechanics will drive play (or in this case prevent play) instead of the fiction. It’s this wacky balance of wanting people to act based on what’s happening in the game, not on what they think will be mechanically advantageous, but the the game is constantly creating mechanical penalties for doing otherwise.

This was especially tough because I really wanted to give Miles the opportunity to take some action in the game (all the other adventure phases tests had been done by Thrallson or Milton this session) but he was too conditioned up to make it viable.

We completed The House Under The Squires. Huzzah for the big damn heroes!

Actual Play – In the Bandit’s Lair (3/19/2014)

GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Jon Edwards, Tim Sanders, and Soren Ludwig
System: Torchbearer
Module: Temple of Elemental Evil

Oh my, three months later, adventuresses still plunder on, for riches and glory!

Prologue: Orrin the Afraid recapped the events of last session, A Bandit’s Haul.

Beliefs / Instincts / Goals

Before play I wanted to review the BIGs that everyone had to make sure they were still relevant.

Beliefs: Unchanged

Goals:

Thaspar – We will honor Sixtoes parent’s wishes.
Thomer – I want to find a new member for the pack, and make it stronger. [Editors note: Gnolls are strong]
Orrin – I will consecrate Sixtoes body.

Instincts: Unchanged

Adventuring on Air

Adventure Phase

Turn 3 – Thaspar lit a torch off the embers of his previous one. With the light improved, Orrin noticed something scuttling above and moving just out of his vision. Motes of dust poured down as something moved above him. All of them tried to creep out of the room quickly, but when only Orrin was left, the stone spider descended upon him. He tried to leap out and slam the door on the spider. [Heath versus test. Failure. Twist: Thaspar’s torch was lost in the fray].

Orrin propped the door closed with his shoulder, but in the darkness he couldn’t see anything that could prop it closed. Thaspar fumbled through his belt to pull out his tinderbox and light a torch. Once their was light Thommer (who smelled a wet dog musk and heard sniggering in the distance) set about trying to lock the door but the bolt was rattling and moving too much. Thaspar cast Wizard’s Aegis to hold the door steady. Orrin rammed the hilt of his warhammer in the latch to keep it from moving. The door momentarilly still, Thomer used his picks to turn the bolt over and lock the door.[1]

Turn 4 – Trying to track the location of the gnolls, Thommer followed their musk and the sounds of their sniggering. [Scout vs. Nature (Ambushing). Success] Thommer moved west following the smells and sounds. He realized there were several gnolls inside a room, but distracted enough by something else that they didn’t know exactly where the party was.

For all their efforts the entire party was Hungry and Thirsty (but I missed it, so told them not to mark it) [2]

Turn 5 – Thaspar tried to lead the party through the door to the north, passing by the gnolls (in the room to the west) undetected. [Scout vs. Nature. Failure. Twist.] The gnolls burst out of the room they were in, where Tuft the leader had apparently been teaching one of them how to pierce his ear with a flail, an gave chase. Orrin lead the way running straight down the stairs, only to hear a sucking sound and see some horrific ooze fall down on him. [3]

Turn 6 – Orrin tried to dive out of the way of the ooze. Thaspar grabbed him and pulled him back. [Heath ob 4. Fail. Twist]. Caught by the slime, Orrin was trapped! He felt his skin become numb as his skin began to melt off.

Turn 7 – Trapped conflict [Modified kill conflict]. With torch, hammer, grappling hook and alchemical weapons to harden it’s form, the adventurers not only saved Orrin from the ooze, but managed to destroy it and take the coin that had been floating in its gelatinous body! Orrin’s body, once exposed to fresh air, felt the sting of his melted flesh. Thommer’s leg was also dissolved down to the muscle. Both of them were injured.

What they found after, above the slime, in fact what it had been clutching too was a stone rod, the end carved into knots that were impossibly woven and intricate. Above gnolls could be heard sniggering at the high quality violence that had just ensued.

Thoughts on this game

I made several choices during this game that had me thinking. From the footnotes above:

[1] Worth noting that I didn’t call for a roll here, what I really wanted to do was watch the players justify their successes by taking actions in the fiction. Once they had done so, I called the action a good idea and just ruled that it was successful. While this didn’t engage the mechanics as much as a test would, I preferred give the players impetus to do stuff.

[2] What to do when you realize a turn or two late that you forgot something like conditions applying, torches going out, or some event being triggered?

[3] Bad call on my part. I should have said that by Thommer sneaking up on the Gnolls, they could pass un-detected.

The trapped conflict was a good one to have (it was a big deal, and Orrin could have easily died during it) but it did take a long time. I’m going to be podcasting soon (I know, gasp) with a few other Torchbearer GMs to discuss when are the best times to call for conflicts and when you should just make something a single test.

Things I wonder:

1) How do you handle and NPC in the party (Thommer wants to “grow” the group)?
2) What do you do when you forget to apply a condition, snuff a torch, etc, and remember two turns later?
3) Does it make sense to not ask for a test, or to use a test in place of a conflict when it will expedite the game, focuses on the stuff your interested in, or generally feels like the right thing to do?

Actual Play – When ritual sacrifice goes wrong (2/21/2014)

GM: Josh Curtis
Players: Justin Evans, Sean Nittner, and Greg Bailey
System: Torchbearer
Dungeon: Mines of Angocost

This has to be the best session of Torchbearer I’ve played in to date. We had everything. Dragons. Ritual Sacrifice. Necromancy. Possession. Saving the innocent. And just as we hoped to relax and enjoy our rewards, a undead invasion! Tops.

Prologue

Varg recounted the tales of his greatness, with a few mentions of his accomplices. Entertaining us all, he removed a condition as normal.

Beliefs, Instincts, and Goals

Beren changed his goal to “I’m going to get us out of his dragon hole”.

Varg changed his instinct to “Always study new magical lore.”

Karolina changed her goal to “I will convince my companions to rescue the constable’s daughter.”

Our adventures, Turn by Turn

Falling…

We left off from last session falling in the darkness. We fell impossibly far until a skyline of green stars blossomed around up, and father still we fell until finally crashing into a freezing lake below. After being submerged for an impossibly long time we finally broke to the surface, sputtering and confused. Just as we were getting our bearings, Argarak came crashing down on us, sending us all back down under water.

The giant cavern we were in was dimly lit by green crystals glowing on it’s room, from within the lake we could see a small island that looked like a wave, or a fin made of stone that breached the water’s surface. There was also nearby shore that had a gazebo on top of it.

Fearing the dragon they spoke of might be on the island, or my be the island, we made our way to the shore. There we found the gazebo was actually an alter made of bone, equipped with a set of manacles and dragon’s head idol (also made of bones) set with two giant opals (halfling fist size, also known as dwarven testicle size).

Turn 15 – With the cave providing only dim light, Varg endeavored to light his candle using Karolina’s tinderbox. The candle wet, his hands shaking from the cold, and the dreaded alter ahead, he succeeded by was beginning to believe Karolina that we were probably going to be eaten by the dragon [Survivalist Ob 2. Fail. Result: Afraid]

Instinct – Candle lit, Varg inspected the alter itself to find out if it held any mystical secrets. He saw visions of sacrifice. Dwarves chained to the alter, the alter itself a red bloodcast light. He heard their screams as they were devoured. Magical power is hear and can be tapped into! [Lore Master Ob 2. Success]

Meanwhile, Beren pried the opal eyes from the idol, saving his matched set.

Turn 16 – At the edge of the shore were stairs that descended down to a river which poured into the lake. Holding his candle up Varg could make out a small amount of breathing room above the water up the cave that it came from. On top of Argarak he swam/rode up the current and discovered hand holds leading up to the fishing whole we had discovered before! A way out! [Dungeoneer Ob 5. Success]

Meanwhile Beren instructed Karolina to take a needle and thread and sew up his would as best as she could while he stood there grunting and scowling. [Sucking up the injury, taking -1 on Dungeoneering as he now walks with a limp]

We were all Hungry and Thirsty. Karolina and Beren had the benefit of waiting behind where they could drink their fill of cool river water.

Turn 17 – On his way back Varg lost his grip and went under water. His feeble candle extinguished and his friend Argarak panicking he got thrashed around and ended up drinking half the river on his way down. From under the depths something grabbed him! [Dungeoneer Ob 4. Fail. Twist: Captured]

Turn 18 – Worried that Varg had been gone too long Beren and Karolina peered up the cave to see if they could spot his candle, but there was nothing but darkness. Ready to jump in and swim upstream to find him, Karolina only stopped because Beren pulled her back. He head something moving down the stream towards them. Several somethings. First came Argarak without Varg but they could hear more coming behind them. Karolina and Beren both found a few turned over logs and Karolina used her cloak to cover them so they could hide. The whole thing was against her nature though. She wanted to be fighting and trying to free the constable’s daughter, not hiding like a coward! [Scout versus test. Fail. Condition: Angry (for Karolina), Hungry and Thirsty (for Beren) and Angry (as he was already H&T for Varg).

Turn 19 – Hidden they witnessed the lizardmen drag Varg and the constable’s daughter out of the water with them and chain them to the altar. Their king began chanting, presumably to summon forth the dragon to devour them… but he never got a chance to finish! Trying to call on the power of the Alter, Varg summoned forth the spirit that was withing him, hoping to unleash it on his foes. It manifested indeed, however not as Varg would have wished. The spirit announced itself (in his brain) as Prince Jaha Agnocost fourth of his name, cursed Varg’s wretched weakness , possessed him, and then brought eldritch wrath upon his enemies (which thankfully at that time were the lizardmen). After they were vanquished or chased off, it told him that he most go to the Dwarven Freetown, or he would be destroyed. [Aranist vs. Nature. Fail. Twist: Possession]

In the chaos Varg’s friend Argarak ran off with the lizardman king.

Turn 20 – Meanwhile in the chaos of Varg’s transformation, Karolina urged Beren that the constable’s daughter had to be saved. He rammed his grappling hook between two links in the chain and started pounding them apart with his hammer. After a few furious swings, the chain broke and the girl was free. [Heath Ob 2. Success].

The lizardmen chased off, the spirit momentarily dormant, and everyone free, we collapsed, Hungry and Thirsty (Karolina), Exhausted (Beren), and Sick (Varg).

Turn 21 – We sought to make camp somewhere safe on the beach. Karloina gathered some logs to provide cover so their fire wouldn’t be seen, but that precious time mean the water level above kept rising. We saw it dripping down is even greater force and knew that some passages we had made it through before would not be cut off! [Survivalist Ob 3. Fail. Twist: Water rising]. Despite this a safe camp was made!

Camp Phase

We all drank and filled up our skins and water bottles, quenching our thirst, if not our hunger.

Check – Beren sat on the beach, examining his spoils, and marveled at their beauty. Doing this and thinking of how he would spend it soothed his anger [Will Ob 2. Success. Angry condition removed].

Check – Varg being ill, angry and afraid was in no shape to map his progress so he recited it to Karolina was able to cobble the bits and pieces together! [Cartography Ob 2. Success]

Check – Varg calmed himself down, practiced his arcane meditation and forgot his anger. [Will Ob 2. Success. Angry condition removed].

Instinct – Still full of anger with Varg about his willingness to let the girl die, Carolina was extra diligent with his training. And what do you know, he finally learned how to defend himself! [Mentor Ob 3. Success!]

Check – Seeing that the girl was clearly very distraught, Beren tried to comfort her and let her know that if he’s gone through all kinds of hell and survived, she’ll make it back up the river to her father. [Persuasion Ob 2. Success]

And the waters kept rising!

Adventure Phase

With a map to get us back, and the young girl ready to travel we swam up the river, through the fishing whole and made it back to Free Town!

When they saw the constable’s daughter, the opened the gates and immediately announced “Beren, the hero of Free town!” The constable declared a feast would be had and the town quickly came alive with activity in preparation.

Varg, however, was transfixed by what first appeared a statue and then upon close inspection, he realized was the skeletal remains of a main in armor that was once fine but now worn away with age. The man was headless but otherwise his skeletal remains there there, pinned to the wall by spear, sword, and axe. Varg stood transfixed until he started feeling nauseous. He vomited but instead of his lunch, he spewed forth a black shadowy substance that swirled around him.

The shadowy mass writhed about on the floor, and then swirled to the skeleton, and transformed it into a shadowy wraith. The man came alive and announced himself as Jaha, Prince of Agnocost. He cursed the dwarves for their rebellion and for killing him, and told them all that they would die for their crimes. With that he called forth his men, the other skeletons (whose skulls had served as light sources for the dwarves), and ordered the to destroy everyone in the city. The constable called for his men to fight, but it was clear that these wraiths could not be hurt by mortal blades. One woman threw a plate at it which passed right through it, but then it reached it’s shadowy hand into her chest, clutched her heart, and stopped it cold.

Chaos!

Thoughts on this game

Wow, what is that three games in a row that ended on a cliffhanger? First the alligator nearly biting off Karolina’s head, then being dropped into unknown darkness and falling, and finally animating the spirit of Jaha and watching him as he brought vengeance upon us. Epic!

We had our first mold breaker here. Varg, who’s believe was “careful thought and planning will guide one farther than quick action” was totally tossed by the wayside as he embraced raw power! That was pretty cool to see, and as much as I thought Karolina might turn her back on Varg after he gave up the girl, the fact that he then also helped them save her (was instrumental in fact) brought her back around. She’s still the bulwark!

I was so delighted for this trap to go off. We knew it was going to happen (as players) and it was deliciously terrifying when it did. We’re probably all pretty proper-fucked now, but Karloina has the commander skill and I plan to use it next session to try and get all the dwarves in Free Town the hell out of dodge!

One thing I find continues to be hard to track online is conditions. Exhausted (forgetting the factor) and Afraid (forgetting that you can’t use beginner’s luck) happened a bunch this game. If felt pretty grim as is, I think we’d possibly have one of us dead, or at least more boned, if we had remembered them. As is, Karolina ended up learning two skills (Survivalist and Scout) by making her final beginners luck test on them, which she shouldn’t have be able to roll. I try to be way on top of those things and I missed it with my own character. Blerg!

Actual Play – Argarak, my friend (1/31/2014)

GM: Josh Curtis
Players: Justin Evans, Sean Nittner, and Greg Bailey
System: Torchbearer
Dungeon: Mines of Angocost

Back in the mines, and wondering what would happen to Karolina after the crocodile burst from the water last session and was poised to chomp!

Prologue

Varg had been the victim of a sleep spell at the end of last session, so Karolina delivered the prologue, recounting their negotiations with the dwarves of Free Town and the impending doom.

Beliefs, Instincts, and Goals

Karolina changed her goal to “I will rescue Thurn’s daughter”

Varg changed his belief to reflect his pessimistic view of nature. I can’t remember the exact details but it was something to the effect of “we’re all gonna die.”

Adventure Time, er Adventure Phase

Instinct – As he was the only one watching Karolina’s back, Beren saw the giant beast that was going to eat her. He dove after Karolina to pull her into safety but his dense bones hammered down and pulled them instead into the pool itself! [Heath vs. Nature. Fail. Twist: In the drink!]

Spell – Floundering in the water, it looked as though we would have to fight the monster in it’s own habitat. But just before tooth and sword met, Varg caught the eye of the beast and cast an incantation to befriend he monster [Threat of Friendship vs. Nature. Success]. Instantly he knew the creatures true name “Argarak” and it ceased it’s assault and instead began the coil itself around Varg, as a puppy wold it’s master.

After ensuring that the pool was now safe, Beren dove back down to search the bottom or loot discarded by others that Argarak had killed. And loot he found! Silver! [1d]

Turn 11 – Knowing that the would have to proceed away from the light of the fungus, Karolina tried to relight Beren’s torch (which had gone out when he fell into the water) but the water level outside was rising and a drizzle started falling down making it impossible [Survivalist Ob 3. Fail. Twist: Water coming down, a factor in all rolls]

Giving up on light, we decided to explore with only Varg’s candle to guide us. We backtracked some, to go down those steps in a hidden passage, but they only led to a old fishing hole filled with discarded nets, line, and hooks. There was a hole that dropped down into a river below, and braver, might you say, more adventurous souls might have jumped it to see where it went, but we were having none of that.

We climbed back up the steps and crossed the pool. Argarak swam with Varg on his back, but the rest of us had to plunge back into the waters and swim to the other side. Eventually the water gave way to land and we pulled ourselves onto the far shore.. into the layer of the lizardmen.

Turn 12 – From here we saw four different winding passages going down, all filled with the echoing calls of lizardmen. Karolina listed down each hall to try and figure out if one was different from the other. The others aided but the echos made it confusing and by the end, she identified the hallway that contained the deepest, lowest, most booming voice, but was convinced that Lizardmen were all around her and would jump out at any moment. [Scout Ob 3. Fail. Condition: Afraid. Helpers gain condition: Hungry and Thirsty]

All of us were now wearier for our travel [Beren gained Exhausted, Karolina Hungry and Thirsty, and Varg Angry]. Karolina shared the water she had collected in her bottle, and they carried on, down the deepest, darkest, scariest (okay, channeling Karolina here) tunnel of them all.

As we descended we heard activity around us, growing closer and closer. The lizardmen were following us and closing in. When the tunnel opened up into a cavern we spotted the lizard man kin, a monstrous beast with a black head that towered over 8′ tall. He sat on a throne and above him was a might warhammer that looked as though it was forged by dwarves. In his retinue were several other servants tending to him and a cage with a young dwarven girl in it, surely Thurn’s daughter. There was a great blackness, a window opening to an empty void in one wall and tracks form the days of King Agnocost leading leading out of it into darkness.

Turn 13 – The cavern was now filled with lizard men watching is and waiting on their leader to command them. He spoke in common tongue “Come. Tell us who you are before we eat you.” Varg approached and boasted that he was a powerful wizard and that he had ensorcled their pet Argarak, who now served him. We joined in and spoke of his might, and of the other mighty creatures he has under his command that would come down and destroy them if they challenged us.”

We started a convince conflict that we won with a minor compromise, but the stakes of that conflict were the heated issue. Karolina wanted to rescue the girl. Beren wanted the dwarven Hammer. Varg wanted the scepter. Since Varg was walking forward and making demands he captained the conflict, which also meant he set the stakes. The king laughed at us and told us he would show us the scepter, but only because it amused him to do so. His god would devour us. And with great haste the lizardmen grabbed us and tossed us out the window in the wall, to the great back void outside.

Argarak followed and leapt out after us!

Thoughts on this game

Another great cliff hanger ending. This one being more like a fell off a cliff and falling ending, bu you get the idea.

Varg super saved the day this game. First by charming the crock, and then by leveraging that charm to convince the lizardman king. He was the most MVP of MVPs.

That said, Karolina is furious with him. She’s outraged that he traded the girl’s life for the scepter. She may be afraid, but she’ll take her chances against the wizard!

Walking down to the Lizardman Kig’s lair while we were angry, afraid, exhausted and injured. Brilliant!

Actual Play – Death to Crooked Tooth! (1/15/2014)

GM: Sean Nittner
Players: David Gallo, Colin Madden, Mark Miller, and Max Külshammer.
System: Torchbearer
Module: Under the House of the Three Squires

Colin returns! After five sessions he couldn’t make because of work, Mr. Madden and his soul-weary elf returned to Torchbearer. Huzzah! Unfortunately, Chris and family were sick so we were still down one adventurer. We got something of a slow start waiting to see who would show up, so the session was rather short.

Prologue

Miles recapped their victory over the kobolds and saving Joreg’s life!

While you were gone

Aranim told us when he had been this whole time, at first he ran off after the dog, but then the party had left and he had been on their heels whole time, now with a war band behind him!

Kill conflict on air!

Turn by Turn

Turn 25 – Entering Crooked tooth’s lair he found her with four guards and two groveling magistrates. The magistrates were trying to warn her of the impending threat but she disregarded them. Milton made up a story of killing Uttan the stone spider to impress and intimidate her [Manipulator vs. Nature. Fail. Twist: Inciting her to battle] but her fear was feigned. The let the adventurers pass but as soon as they had them flanked jumped them from both sides with spear and dagger.

Turn 26 – The heroes fought back…to the death! We got in a brutal Kill conflict, but due to some strategic “Defend” actions in the end, the heroes walked out of it with nothing but flesh wounds (no disposition lost). Aranim ripped the broach from Crooked Tooth’s neck and claimed it as loot.

After that they head a cry from ahead and when they advanced saw prisoners locked in tiny cages! Now they just had toe deal with the war band behind them!

Thoughts on the game

Much as I appreciate a fine trick, or convince, it was pretty clear these guys wanted blood. Crooked Tooth and her guard were tough (Nature 3) but once a guard was taken out and they were down to Order of Might 1, the battle was over.

I thought once I had the advantage about pushing it but scripting Feint, Feint, Feint. It means that the adventures might completely out script the kobolds, but they would never heal the disposition they had suffered. Had I done that, someone would have died in the fight (they were down to major compromise territory) but it did seem a bit unfair to have the Kobolds act so heedless of their own lives in order to go for a kill. In the end it was a bit hard to imagine that all the brutal blows that happened during the battle turned out to be cosmetic, but I was happy for the PCs to get a win.

Still no sign of Uttan. I have an idea for how they could use that to their advantage, but I’m waiting to see what the players do next session.

Actual Play – One Bloody Apron (1/8/2014)

GM: Sean Nittner
Players: Chris Moore, Mark Miller, David Gallo, and Max Külshammer.
System: Torchbearer
Module: Under the House of the Three Squires

After tricking the Kobolds to go past in 15 Kobolds tricked, our intrepid heroes made there way deeper into the Kobold den.

Prologue

After a month of not gaming, and without the actual play report up, it was a bit of a stretch to remember what happened last time. Thrallson did his best to recall what he could.

Breaking up congress on air!

Turn by Turn

Turn 21 – The adventurers tried to quietly climb out of the chimney without being overheard by the warband in the room to their north. [Scout vs. Nature. Success]. As they crept out they heard shouts from the other room, Kobolds bickering with each other, wondering where they had gone.

Turn 22 – Lizard Funk the Kobold just wanted to get away from them. He was pretty sure that they would kill him at their earliest convenience given what they had done to the other kobolds. They insisted that he come with and he threatened to scream and call the war band back if they attacked him. [Manipulator vs. Nature. Fail. Twist: Lizard Funk agreed but stole Thrallson’s tinderbox when they traveled together].

Turn 23 – After traveling through the treasure room, eating, and then walking up the steep steps, the adventurers found a host of Kobolds in some mockery of court. Having caught them off guard, and seeing that there was an injured man among them, they charged in to chase them off. Some brutal blows were exchanged between the torturer (who had been whipping a kobold strapped to the table but now turned on Cleg) as well as a nasty wound that Thrallson suffered as a hidden dagger was stuck in his leg. [Drive off Conflict. Won with a major compromise. Thrallson injured]. Lizard Funk ran off during the fight. Afterwards the found the man Joerg, his foot cut off, dying in the corner.

Turn 24 – The kobold’s driven off, Cleg freed the one that was tied to the table, and in an act of incredible generosity, used is pristine apron to make a clean surface for Miles to operate on. Miles bound the wound so the man wouldn’t die. [Healer Ob 3. Success]. Joerg was saved, as he passed out from the pain he uttered a few words “My daughter Elsa… save her.”

Everyone is Hungry and Thirsty. Miles is Exhausted.

Thoughts on this Game

I should have had Lizard Funk say the captives were in a different direction as he wanted to get out of the caves before he was killed. Wasn’t thinking straight.

Having a war band chase you is rough. My rule was that they could spend 2 turns in any area before the war band caught up unless they specifically tried to put some distance between them (which would give them more turns) or stopped (camp would be automatically interrupted, any kind of other long stops would put them one turn closer. I was thinking along the lines of Psi Run’s mechanics for being found and captured.

We only did four turns in part because of a lot of discussion about which way to go at any given turn. I think I may make Torchbearer too punitive simply because several problems end up taking several rolls (and thus resources) to resolve. It could also have been because of the aforementioned war band on their heels, but I thought that would prompt them to move faster.

The court scene is such a gorgeous one that I couldn’t help but keep it in “stasis” until the adventurers came upon it. Like, logically speaking, it probably should have happened well before they got there (as they had been in for a LONG time), but I loved it so much I decided to have it happening when they arrived. And much fun was had with that one.

I forgot to give them +1s on all actions (+2 when the numbers got down) due to a difference in Order of Might, but I’ve forgotten penalties to them so many times, I don’t think that was a tragedy.

Since they are pushing towards the end, I’ve been looking for ways to bring Uttan back, but so far haven’t found good twists that would justify her showing up.

Cleg giving up his apron to save a man’s life was a thing of beauty. Huzzah for dwarves!