GM: Sam Tillis
Players: Dylan Arena, James Lawton, Adrienne Mueller, Sean Nittner, Matt Fisher
System: Rebel Crown
It is an uncertain era in the island kingdom of Craobhan, an era of upheaval and ambition. Some months past, the King died and his brother usurped the throne, forcing the rightful heir into exile. Since then, the politics of the kingdom have lurched like a ship atop a storm-tossed sea: some noble Houses elevated to positions of power and prestige, others disbanded or crushed. Bandits and worse—the Wraiths who remain when a soul cannot pass on to the lands of the dead—roam the places between holdfasts. The distant Church and still more distant Empress hold their breath, awaiting a certainty behind which to position their influence.
You are members of House Ubhal, a minor but once-loyal vassal to the old order, to a King uneasy in his grave. There is great opportunity now to advance your House’s station, but also great risks in the games of whisper and dagger that are played in the halls of power.
It is said that the Queen herself will soon visit your court. Impress her with your loyalty and capability, and your House will prosper; disappoint her, and you may sink beneath the waves. But beware: your family holds secrets, secrets which in these uncertain tides may rise from the depths, divide you, and consume you.
Are you prepared for The Queen’s Visit?
Warning, SPOILERS AHEAD. Sam runs this game periodically and there are plenty of secrets that are more fun to find out in plan than through my actual play reports. Read on if you’ve played the game or you know you won’t play it, or I guess if you just don’t care about spoilers.
The Play is the Thing
As usual with Sam, this game was a blast. What started as a tense situation got A LOT worse very quickly as Adrienne kicked off the game with her character yelling “By the god of paths and doors, Fearghas is dead!” That’s a good way to do it.
We played the members of House Ubhal, who presided over a great apple orchard estate.
- Gobnait, lowborn mother of Medb (Maeve) and Ragnall. Marrying her daughter to Lord Fearghas raised their entire family to nobility, and she was not going to let go of that power! Virtue and Sin: Greed and Prudence (Played by Matt).
- Medb, wife of Fearghas, mother of Taran and Emma. “If we do not fight to prove our worth, we’re as good as worthless. I picked Faith and Wrath as her virtue and sin, and boy did that make her a beast when it came time to throw down. (Played by me)
- Raghnall, Medb’s brother and general drunkard and ladies man. Loved his sister, hated her husband. Virtue and Sin: Gluttony and Hope (Played by Adrienne)
- Taran, first born and heir to Fearghas, a duty bound hunter who loved his family. Virtue and Sin: Lust and Fortitude (Played by Dylan)
- Emma, youngest daughter of Med and Fearghas. Always underestimated by her parents and never given real responsibilities. She was going to prove herself to them. Virtue/Sin: Justice and Envy. (Played by James)
We also had four loyal house staff that helped us keep everything form tearing apart at the seems. In order of age
- Tadhg (Tig), the young porter always running about and often causing accidents. Perpetually rosy cheeks.
- Isabel the chamberlain, who liked things to be done exactly correctly, her hair never out of place, her rooms always well kept.
- Una, the handmaiden who kept the women’s secrets in the house. Loyal to Medb, but of late trying to help Emma grow into adulthood.
- Eimhir the larderer. A jolly and somewhat inattentive member of the staff. I don’t think he noticed anything happened.
Finally, when they arrived we were visited by the queen’s retinue.
- Sister Brigit, devout, always on the watch for sin, distrusting.
- Sworn-Sword Oengus, the queens bodyguard, always on the lookout for trouble…and he found it.
- Sir Vadik, the kings adviser and power behind the thrown. Attempting to manipulate the queen at every turn.
- Conall Lolare, the queens nephew, a bird watcher who believed himself (rightfully so) to be extraneous. We were rooting for him, but alas.
- Gormalith, the queens servant and younger sister of Gobnait who resented Gobnait for rising to power and not bringing her along
- Queen Finoa Gearr, young, attractive, in command, and EARLY!
Favorite moments
I didn’t take notes during the game so I’ve just recalling some of my favorite moments (most likely out of order).
- Immediately deciding that we were going to “Weekend at Bernie’s” this situation and pretend the lord was away on a hunting trip because we weren’t expecting the queen so soon.
- Gobnait finding her sister and coming down hard on her “you will not fuck this up for me!”
- Telling my son Taran in the same breath “Your father is dead…and he is not your father!” SECRETSSS!
- Raghnall taking a nip off Fearghas’s flask and immediately getting poisoned by it….right after I told him that Fearghas was likely poisoned or suffocated. SECRETSSS!
- Figuring out that apple vinegar in strong enough doses would make Ragnall vomit out said poison. [Sam’s mechanics for this was very savvy. He took Level 3 harm (resisted down to level 2) and was going to keep taking level 3 harm until the poison was out of his body.]
- Finding out, later on that we were ALL pretty much ready to get rid of Fearghas, and THREE OF US had an active hand in doing it! SECRETTSS!!
- Each of us grabbing for Fearghas’ silver sword. Hand on scabbard, hand on hilt. Eventually resulting in a mother daughter due against two angry wraiths that hated each other.
- Raghnall looting Fearghas’ body and taking his signet ring and then later tossing it up in the air only for it to freeze in place as Fearghas’ wraith manifested wearing it! FUCK!
- Emma connecting with Connal, learning that the Queen was looking for agricultural estates that could fend off wraiths, as they had been attacking many of them. And then nearly convincing him to take up the sword to protect them. But alas, he hid in the end.
- Gobnait praying with Sister Brigit in the chapel and sacrificing Brigit to Fearghas’ wraith, but also using her final prayer to harm it. DIABOLICAL!
- Putting Fearghas’ musk on Taran just before he was going to meet the queen in hopes of him seducing her, which seemed like it might have worked, except he only had eyes of Isabel. SECRETTS!!
- The Queen giving us the instruction that we “cleared out the mess” in our house, she would grant us favor, making it very clear that Sir Vadik was part of the mess! Then Gobnait poisoned him as well. SECRETTTTSSSSSSSS!!!!
- Our very dysfunctional family coming together at the end to face the wraith of of Lord Fearghas.
- Fearghas’ wraith dying on his own silver sword (held by his daughter Emma) as he finally let us all live our own lives.
Delightful writeup as always Sean 🙂
One thing I didn’t mention that I thought was very clever Sam was having Fearghas’s wraith disappear after each interaction / successful roll against them. It was cool having it show up at many places around the game, and distribute its presence throughout the session rather than a “final showdown”. Forged in particular I feel can be a bit vulnerable to major plot points getting rapidly resolved by a few back-to-back actions in a narratively-condensed window, so simply making the wraith vanish until later in the story was cool.
Thanks Sean, and thanks Matt! My notion was that the wraith would vanish after ticks two and four on his clock were filled; there was a world in which he stuck around longer each time, but y’all were very good about buying up Effect and rolling successes every time he popped in.
Loved watching you all cook (as the kids say) with these characters.
Yeah, I didn’t go over my normal list of what rocked (since it was so much of the game), but on the mechanics side I really like the equipment replacement for load that you made Matt (felt like it worked great here as well), especially for one shots. Also big fan of creating clocks that are essentially “harm dumps” so the players could decide if the action would summon the wraith, gain the queens disgust, reveal a secret, and/or cause them harm. Good use of clocks!