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Judd
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
 Posted - 15 Jun 2010 : 17:50:05
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Hi, my name is Judd and my friends and I are beginning a campaign set in Waterdeep, using the Burning Wheel system. I ran across this site while googling up some details concerning the realms and thought I would post up the pre-game campaign prep and keep a campaign thread here (as well as at the BW forum).
This thread will not be straight-up fiction based on the games but a mix of the game's events and the mechanics that got us there and table banter. Feedback and questions are appreciated.
Aaron e-mailed us and asked if we'd be up for a Sunday game. We both were and after some talk of resurrecting an old campaign setting, we went with the Forgotten Realms, specifically, Waterdeep, the City of Splendor as described in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting for D*d 3.0.
The three of us are BW fans, so we went with Burning Wheel as our game system of choice.
Turns out, both Aaron and Pete are pretty knowledgeable Forgotten Realms geeks. I had no idea.
I asked if they were interested in being bodyguards for one of Waterdeep's masked lords and they were cool with that. Somehow, the concept of the group, the Harpers came up and they both perked up, so we looked up the Harpers and read about them in the 3E FR campaign setting book.
We liked how they were becoming fractured along different philosophical lines of how to do good in the world. We chose the sect the characters would belong to, Silverhand's sect, and went with it. It made some sense that the Harpers would be called in to help keep a Lord of Waterdeep safe as there had been an assassination attempt and the when the Harpers were called in to help, the player characters were the two nearest by.
I read a few lines from the description of Waterdeep, particularly the parts that stood out to me as cool. I like that it is a bright, fantastic city with citizens who see the world and its many civilizations and species as part of the city's own culture.
As a kind belief scaffolding, I suggested:
* One short term goal that can be completed in the first adventure.
* Something about being a Harper or the Harper's Code (there is plenty here to fiddle with)
* Something about Waterdeep (any toys you want to interact with)
* And if any of those are lukewarm, feel free to substitute something about your relationship to one another, as you have had adventures as Harpers together before.
After a while of poking at lifepaths and such we came up with:
Pete's character
Arkadian Lahl, a Lord and War Wizard from Cormyr
* I believe the elves to be wholly innocent of these attempts.
* I will joyously aid my elven friend in his work against villainy.
* I will show Waterdeep that the Moonstars are a pale shadow of the Harpers.
Aaron's character
Celedon, a leader in the Waterdeep elven community
* This city is the light of the West; I will root out those who threaten its peace.
* Faranel's crime was one of youth but the Thayan deserved to die; I will see her exonerated.
* Arkadian is my most trusted friend; I will see him named a friend to all elves.
These are five livepath characters, probably a bit more powerful than a 1st level, starting D&D character, which is fine by me.
It might not be clear that Faranel, from Aaron's beliefs, is a young Harper who killed a Red Wizard of Thay in a fit of pique on information she gained through eavesdropping on veteran Harpers.
It is a solid start.
My goal is to NOT have to bust open the book and look up anything in play. If we don't know, I'll make it up and to not have to buy anything else in order to play.
I haven't played in a big, published setting a long while, as we usually make up our own, but the nice thing about FR is that the 3E book has about as much information as I'd ever need (probably more) and there are plenty of resources online.
Maps:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ag/20050622a
http://www.kepier.org/dnd3/waterdeep_players.jpg
http://www.kepier.org/dnd3/waterdeep_wards.jpg
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ag/20060607a
A wiki:
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
This morning I went through the wiki and just jotted down notes on the towns and cities of the Sword Coast.
Luskan: pirate captain lords ruled by shady wizards
Neverwinter: timepieces, fire elemental heated rivers, ruled by former adventurer
Daggerford: Masked duke, ramshackle suburb of Waterdeep
Dragonspear Castle: built by dwarven adventurer, now a ruin
Warlock's Crypt: undead, ruled by Larloch the Lich
Baldur's Gate: ruled by Grand Duke and Council, home of Flaming Fist mercenary company (flaming? really?) whose leader has a place on the council.
Candlekeep: monastery, library, keep
Beregost: town, ruled by high priest of Lathander
Athkatla: City of Coin, oligarchy, ruled by wizard-merchant houses
little souther towns, Murann, Zazesspur (ruled by Amethyst Dragon), Myratma, Memnon
Calimport: Grand Sultan and corrupt Ward Sultans vs. crime families
I read over Cormyr, as that is where Pete's character is from, Sembia and Westgate, just to get an idea of the situation in his homeland but I doubt the first leg of the campaign, at least will deal with his home lordship.
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Dracons
Learned Scribe
USA
299 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jun 2010 : 18:30:58
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I find it funny that Celedon is an elf. Is he a wizard thief on top of that?
There is a Celedon in Forgotten Realms. Not saying two characters cannot have same name of course, just found it funny is all.
Do NOT forget about Skullport. Alot of bad stuff is there, if they ever want to see undebelly, that is place to go. It's ruled by giant huge freaking skulls of green fire, that are if I remembered right, ex netherise high wizards. |
I love PMs! Please send me a message. Even if its Hi. |
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Judd
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jun 2010 : 18:42:16
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I will post the lifepaths for Aaron's character later. The game we are playing doesn't use classes, so Thief and Wizard don't really apply, especially to the elven lifepaths.
Yeah, ya can't really forget about Skullport, the yin to Waterdeep's yang.
It is ruled by glowing, green, skulls of ancient undead wizards? Really?
Nifty. |
Githyanki Diaspora: gaming blog |
Edited by - Judd on 15 Jun 2010 18:49:32 |
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Basil the Geek
Acolyte
USA
16 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jun 2010 : 00:36:53
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Good lord, you reminded me about The Burning Wheel, a game I’ve been forgetting to check out for a few years till reading this post.
I’m glad I finally got around to it as it’s about 90+% identical to my own system having been hammered out since the nineties. Yes, I’m glacially slow in publishing. Now it’s too late. Oh well, you snooze, you lose. At least I was saved the embarrassment and waste of money in court.
Back to the old Acme atomic brain.
Have loads of fun, it’s a great system!
sigh... |
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Judd
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jun 2010 : 17:48:01
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Thanks, Basil.
Embarrassment? Waste of money in court?
I have played a bunch of Burning Wheel for some years now and did some development work on the newest book, The Adventure Burner.
I burned up (BW-speak for made a character) Mirt the Moneylender and was happy to see him come out of his lifepaths already in possession of the trait, Merciless.
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Githyanki Diaspora: gaming blog |
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Basil the Geek
Acolyte
USA
16 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jun 2010 : 05:13:06
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quote:
Originally posted by Judd
Thanks, Basil.
Embarrassment? Waste of money in court?
I have played a bunch of Burning Wheel for some years now and did some development work on the newest book, The Adventure Burner.
I burned up (BW-speak for made a character) Mirt the Moneylender and was happy to see him come out of his lifepaths already in possession of the trait, Merciless.
It would have been embarrassing should I have published my own system that is so incredibly similar or worse if I did publish, it took off, and Crane took me to court a few months later. I’m really kicking myself for not publishing over a decade ago but I really wanted to get it right and it was oh so rough way back when.
What amazes me is that Crane and I must think alike, read the same books, played the same games. I can see the same influences and even see where he chose one path and I another in certain aspects of the design. It’s really sort of spooky.
Anyway it’s a great product and I’m considering adapting a few of my games components to the wheel to hop in and help with this great system.
Enjoy your adventures. I’m currently purchasing other BW products and prepping to run the Wheel for some friends who are familiar with testing my system and need to convert over. I expect we will have a lot of fun.
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Judd
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jul 2010 : 18:45:52
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We finally played!
The characters:
Name: Auric Heimdalssen
Concept/Bio: The Hanged Prince. One of the few Delzhounian Princes to have survived the fall of Felbarr. Now an adventurer and former leader of the Deep Six - a group sworn to recover the Dwarven treasure of Felbarr.
Lifepaths: Born Noble, Noble Ardent, Noble Axe-Bearer, Prince, Lead to Dwarven Outcast, Adventurer
Age: 172
Stats: Wi: B5, Pe: B6, Po: B4, Fo: B5, Ag: B6, Sp: B4, Speed Mult.: x3
Attributes: Ref: B5, Ste: G4, Hes: 5, Hea: B7, MW: B11, Greed: G4, Circles: B3, Resources: B7
PTGS: Su: B3 Li: B6 Mi: B8 Se: B9 Tr: B10 Mo: B11
Beliefs:
To be edited in.
Instincts:
To be edited in.
Traits: [Dt] Accustomed to the Dark, [Char] Bearded, [Dt] Greed, [Dt] Oathsworn, [Dt] Shaped from Earth and Stone, [Dt] Stout, [Dt] Tough, [Char] Humilityinthefaceofyourbetters, [Char] Grumbling, [Dt] Adventurer, [C-O] Balefulstare, [C-O] Street Smart
Skills: Appraisal B4, Axe B6, Brawling B4, Climbing B3, Conspicuous B3, Dwarven Rune Script B4, Haggling B3, Intimidation B5, Lockpick B5, Portal-Wise B3, Sing B3, Streetwise B4, Survival B3, Symbology B5, Throwing B5, Tunnel-Wise B3
Affiliations: 2D The Harpers, 2D The Lord's Alliance, 1D The Deep Six
Reputations: 2D The Hanged Prince
Relationships: Valet - Poignard (Significant, other family), Mirt the Moneylender (Significant), Laeral Silverhand (Minor), The Xanathar (Powerful, hateful/rival)
Gear: Dwarven Arms, Dwarven Chainmail, Sturdy Shoes, Clothes, Travelling Gear, Finery, Dwarven Lockpicks, Dwarven arms, Forge Mask
Property: Deep Six Meeting Hall - Waterdeep, Deep Six Meeting Hall - Evermeet
Name: Celedon Amarillis
Concept/Bio: High Harper, Elven Sage of Waterdeep. House Amarillis is a noble house of Evermeet known for it's members heading to the continent to explore, etc.
Lifepaths: Born Etharch, Attendant, Lead to Citadel, Adjutant, Loremaster, Althing
Age: 576
Stats: Wi: G6, Pe: B6, Po: B4, Fo: B4, Ag: B6, Sp: B6, Speed Mult.: x3.5
Attributes: Ref: B6, Ste: B8, Hes: 4, Hea: B9, MW: B10, Grief: G4, Circles: G3, Resources: B6
PTGS: Su: B3 Li: B5 Mi: B7 Se: B8 Tr: B9 Mo: B10
Beliefs:
To be edited in.
Instincts:
To be edited in.
Traits: [Char] Born Under the Silver Stars, [Dt] Essence of the Earth, [Char] Fair and Statuesque, [Dt] First Born, [Dt] Grief, [Dt] Keen Sight, [Dt] Etharchal, [C-O] Calm Demeanor, [C-O] Organized, [Dt] Servant of the Citadel, [Dt] Mind over Matter, [Dt] Familiar Face
Skills: Administration B3, Ancient and Obscure History B3, Ballad of History B3, Brawling B3, Citadel-Wise B3, Code of Citadels B3, Council-Caller G5, Elven Script B3, Etiquette B3, Haggling G3, Instruction G3, Lament of Stars G3, Lyric of Law B4, Persuasion G5, Protector-Wise B3, Research B5, Rhyme of Tongues G5, Riding G3, Soothing Platitudes G3, Streetwise B3, Sword B5
Affiliations: 1D Elven Etharchs, 2D Waterdeep Government, 2D Harpers, 1D The Hearth
Reputations: 2D Sage of Waterdeep, 2D High Harper
Relationships: Gersali (Wife) (Minor, immediate family, romantic love), Aradryn of The Hearth (Minor), Khelben 'Blackstaff' Arunsun (Significant, forbidden)
Gear: Elven Arms, Elven Plated Leather, Elven Clothes, Elven Shoes, Elven Finery, Travelling Gear, Tome of The Eldar
Property: The Wanderer's Dell (Inn)
Spells:
Weapons[/b]:
Bare Fisted I:B2 M:B4 S:B6 Add 2 VA - Fast Shortest
Elven Sword I:B4 M:B7 S:B10 Add 2 VA 1 Slow Long May Great Strike
Elven Knife I:B3 M:B5 S:B7 Add 1 VA 1 Fast Shortest
One Night in the City of Splendors
The game took a while to get moving. I was a touch antsy, as hours went by and I didn't feel like I had really touched on or pushed on anyone's beliefs. The game was turning really investigative and every detail I added felt like another red herring.
Aaron's elf, Celedon, had the following belief, the first belief of the campaign to get banged on hard:
Faranel's crime was one of youth but the Thayan deserved to die; I will see her exonerated.
Forgive me as I describe a bunch of stuff, getting to that moment.
Faranel was a young elf, a young Harper and when she overheard a group of older Harpers discussing the crimes of a Thayan wizard who lived in the city, she took it upon herself to perch in a building's balcony and kill the villain with arrows. The City Watch took her in and her trial was coming.
We had a great scene with the Thayan ambassador and Celedon offered to exile Faranel, using Elven magics (Doomsayer) and they agreed to also exile the impetuous young elven wanna-be hero to Undermountain.
No Duel of Wits was needed, we just role-played it out. Auric gave the ambassador a gift, some Waterdeep candy and turned to Celedon when they left and muttered, "I am going to have to kill her. I'm sure of it."
Later, Pete's dwarf, Auric, was in the dungeons, visiting a total dead-end red-herring NPC but it was a nice exchange with nice moments. Auric decided to visit the young elf, also in the dungeons.
She was gone. This set up the great moment of the night. Aaron uses Celedon's impressive Circles to find the young elf before anyone else can. She was set free by a mysterious wizard-for-hire but when the wizard didn't know any harper safe-word codes, she ditched him in the sewers. He found her in the Park of Heroes, on her knees, praying.
He lays it on her thick, letting her know that she is only free because the Thayan ambassador likely sprung her so that she could be in their pocket or be killed by them. What you have to understand is that Celedon is older than Waterdeep itself. He has seen the foundation stones laid for the castle, has lived through its history, the founding of the Masked Lords, the Guild Wars, the expulsion of the Shadow Thieves. He explains that in a few decades, the stain of her going free, of his having to lie to cover it up will likely be gone and well worth her being still alive.
Then I picked up the belief and whacked him with it: "Celedon, if you want me to go back, if you want to me go back into the dungeon, I will. I don't want you to have to be a liar."
Aaron, bless him, looked shocked. He looked at me as if I had punched him in the neck. It was priceless. "Do a scene with Pete for a bit. I have to think this through."
Faranel was brought back to Castle Waterdeep under guard. Celedon was in tears as she was put back into the dungeon but the High Harper's honor was intact.
Other things to write about in this game:
* The power of nostalgia
* Peirgeiron's Court
* Maps on the table
* The Deep Six
* Aaron and Elves
When the game was over I realized that we had gamed through one night and one day in the city of Waterdeep. I like this place. |
Githyanki Diaspora: gaming blog |
Edited by - Judd on 07 Jul 2010 16:56:41 |
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Judd
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 07 Jul 2010 : 16:55:01
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Alright, what else...
[*]The power of nostalgia
[*]Peirgeiron's Court
[*]Maps on the table
[*]The Deep Six
[*]Aaron and Elves
Nostalgia
I think the idea of playing Harpers in the Realms is what got Aaron and Pete sitting up and bought in, along with the idea of playing in this setting of our youth with BW, the system of our recent fantasy gaming. But nostalgia's a tricky thing, especially with the Forgotten Realms.
People like the Realms for all kinds of reasons: the novels, the 1E or 2E or 3E or 4E supplements, the Time of Troubles modules, the history, etc. and within those parts, people like different bits. In talking about the Realms and what we thought about Waterdeep, we found that we liked the same things and as Aaron said, "It'll be nice to play some good guys."
I knew we were on the right track when Pete took a relationship with Mirt the Moneylender, an NPC I have always liked in his original incarnation from Waterdep & the North. His first character concept was a War Wizard from Cormyr and it was a neat character but two things came up:
[LIST=1]
[*]He didn't think he would be able to keep up with Aaron's bad-ass elf.
[*]I was worried because none of his relationships felt tied in to the toys of the Realms.
Nostalgia gaming for me is about finding the situation and tying the players to the situation and fun toys from our youth.
Peirgeiron's Court
The second scene of the game took place in the High Lord of Waterdeep's court. I had daydreamed up some details, issues that came up in court that had nothing to do with the players, for color and a few that tied in.
[*]A gnome suggested they build a Dragon-Cart up and down the Sword Coast. Peirgeiron wrote him a letter of introduction to Waterdeep's many guilds so they could see the invention and judge for themselves.
[*]The court received a letter from an extra-planar kingdom known as the Githyanki, asking to set up an embassy in Waterdeep. Peirgeiron sent the letter to Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun for a deeper investigation.
[*]The murder of a Thayan Wizard (ripped right from Aaron's character's belief) was set to be tried in two days before a high court of no less than 7 Masked Lords.
[*]The introduction of a new Thayan ambassador commenced, turns out she was the brother of the wizard who was killed.
[*]The introduction of the two player characters as agents of the High Lord who would be looking into the security of the Masked Lords (it was not public knowledge that one attempt was made on one Masked Lord and another was murdered when not in her mask).
[/LIST]
If someone wanted to talk, they got a candle to limit their time. I think I stole this detail from a Forgotten Realms supplement...not sure. I like these little details and they fed into the rest of the game in subtle ways. I tossed in stuff that interested me as well as them and it only took a few minutes of game time until we got to the stuff that the players could interact with directly.
Maps on the table
Playing with the old maps on the table was cool. Turns out Aaron had those maps on his ceiling when he was growing up.
The Deep Six
I haven't talked about Pete's dwarf, Auric the Hanged Prince nearly enough, mostly because the central conflict of the game was with Aaron's elf and the murder case and the elven girl's escape from prison.
Another cool old school Realms detail Pete added in is that his character is the leader of an adventuring party, the Deep Six, dedicated to gathering the treasures of Felbar, Auric's lost, orc-infested keep. Due to how easy it is to use the online character generator, I burned them up.
I loved adding in details concerning what the group was doing while Auric was busy. It reminded me of those city adventures when I was a kid, where everyone split off into their own directions and did their own thing, but we didn't have to wait around while everyone else in the party did their thing, it was just background noise.
Also, the Deep Six have their own Hall in Waterdeep. So cool.
Aaron and Elves
Aaron's first character in our first, glorious, messy, disastrous BW campaign was the Herald of the Dawn, the baddest ass elven sword-singer that Aaron could burn up. So, when he was burning up Celedon, the Herald was certainly on our minds. He didn't want just another swordsman, or even a bad-ass who just used a bow instead of a sword.
Celedon is tied into the community in neat ways. Its neat watching him find another way to enjoy BW elves.
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Githyanki Diaspora: gaming blog |
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Judd
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 09 Jul 2010 : 18:47:03
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"That is how we do things in Waterdeep." - The Hanged Prince
Zhents
The game began with me upping the ante with the imprisonment of Farrenell and putting the Zhentarim on the table. The head of the Harpers arrived and proposed that they publically strip Farrenell of her Harper status, denouncing her act of murder as she ventures into the Undermountain. If she should make it to Skullport, they believe that she would be recruited by Zhentarim agents.
They are making the world believe that she is no longer a Harper in hopes of sending her deep undercover in the Zhentarim organization. When Farrenell said that she would do it, I was shocked that Celedon and Auric supported her decision.
The two strands and the red herrings
There are two primary strands running together in this game so far. The first is Farranell's trial after she murdered the Red Wizard of Thay. The second is their mission from Peirgeiron, High Lord of Waterdeep, to keep the Masked Lords safe from the recently returned Shadow Thieves.
Having two things going at once with Beliefs linked to both, has allowed me to put lots of toys in the table and they've manipulated them. There have been several points where the players have asked for information and I have tossed out some info that was directly involved in the threat to the Masked Lords (and hence, their Beliefs) and some that were just fun. They followed a few false leads but the encounters/scenes felt true, felt right and it never ate up a ridiculous amount of game time.
I reckon if one of them had gone nutty and decided to really grab onto a false lead hard, I would have just told them it was not right but that never happened. So, there were pieces floating out there:
* Mad, lovestruck wizard whose party was killed and he was caught attempting to summon up the spirit of the woman in the party he loved when she was alive. Convicted of necromancy in the City of the Dead, he is to be exiled into Undermountain.
* The Four, a named adventuring group, mentioned in the book because they were exiled from Waterdeep but in the game that hadn't occurred yet.
* Peirgeiron informing them when they asked about links between the original Shadow Thieves, banished a decade ago and the Waterdahavian nobility.
Celedon went to Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun and asked him to equip the convicted wizard so that he and Farrenell could ally and make their way down to Skullport together.
Auric's own adventuring group, The Deep Six attacked the Four when Auric realized the group's leader had information about the Shadow Thieves. Based on other clues he had gathered, he now has 3 important names. We ran the Six jumping the Four with a Bloody Versus Brawling roll with some helping dice here and there.
If Pete won, Auric and his crew would have the Four at their mercy. If the Four won, a member of the party would take a grievous wound and the Four would get away. He won, got the information and then intimidated them into leaving Waterdeep forever and retiring. "Leave Waterdeep, get out of his line of work, live a long life."
"I don't know anywhere else, where should I go?"
"I hear the Moonshae Isles are nice this time of year."
After the bad-ass scene, Auric turned to his adventuring group and said, "That is how we do things in Waterdeep."
The Moonshae Isles being nice this time of year has become a joke at the table since Aaron circled up a former Shadow Thief who had snitched on his buddies a decade ago. When he heard that there had been evidence of a Shadow Thief return, the guy turned pale and Celedon made a roll in order to assuage the NPC's fear and keep him in Waterdeep as a source of information. He failed and off he went. When we looked at the map, we decided he ran to Waterdeep and anothe gaming joke only funny to those of us at the table is born.
I didn't push really hard this game. We hit their beliefs and because we haven't been doing any DoW, R&C nor Fight!, the players are racking up the Artha. I believe we will take care of some of that next game, as some poopy hits some fans. There was a bit more what-do-you-do-now than I would like but with a time-limit, with Farranell's trial coming up so fast, the players had things they wanted to make sure they pursued before that went down.
The game's pace and such give the feeling of laying the foundations for a big, long game. Its nice to get away from the 3-6 session mini-campaigns that typified the 13 Cities play and hit something different.
Other things to write about:
* The Big failed Resources Check (resources color in a D&Dish world)
* Gersali - Celedon's wife, Masked Lord of Waterdeep
* Nice moments with NPC's - Mads, Poignard and Unto the Rune-Mad
* Waterdeep-envy
Mod edit: watch the language, please.  |
Githyanki Diaspora: gaming blog |
Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 24 Jul 2010 04:25:00 |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2010 : 09:27:14
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I tried to find out more about this system and it looks interesting.
It appears to be very RP-heavy, is that correct? That makes it ideal for FR. 
Sorry in advance for posting in your thread, if you only want to post your own session-info here.
I will be following this - thanks for sharing. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3249 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jul 2010 : 15:09:44
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| Burning Wheel is very RP heavy, including a character generation system that uses life-paths akin to those in the MechWarrior RPG to generate your stats & skills. |
I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2010 : 02:05:00
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Interesting....
I've played in RP-heavy, and even in RP-exclusive rules systems (if 'story-teller' can even really be considered a 'system' - more like a 'style', really), but I always gravitated back to D&D. I have also played in crunch-heavy games as well, but D&D seemed to achieve a nice balance through the years.
That, and the fact that I could always readily find D&D players, but try and find people who know how to play some obscure system. There were plenty of settings/rules I wanted to run, but couldn't find anyone willing. 
Besides, I prefer a more open-ended system, which is why I loved 3e/OGL - I find being shoe-horned into any sort of 'path' very restricting to character generation. I have even gone so far as to try and deconstruct D&D's class-system into a point system, but I could never achieve the right balance. It's along the lines of 2e's skill system - they had to separate language skills, otherwise no-one would have ever bothered to take any. Thats the problem I kept running into - without classes, you foster a lot of min-maxing (which is now referred to as 'character optimization'!)
I would be greatly interested to see how Burning Wheel overcame these obstacles. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 12 Jul 2010 02:07:06 |
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Judd
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2010 : 04:18:43
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Markustay,
Thanks for posting. Please, post! Threads are supposed to be dialogs, to my mind. Ask questions, post comments, whatever.
I am not sure, from your descriptions of what you like, BW is the game for you. It is a chunky, white-dwarf-dense game. But far be it from me to tell you what you like, I'm just making a guess based on your comments up-thread. If you give it a read, let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Judd |
Githyanki Diaspora: gaming blog |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2010 : 09:02:46
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ANY system that helps me (as GM) move the game along, without bogging down in endless books and options, is Aces in my book.
Too bad I'm going to be in Kentucky for 2 weeks - I could have made their convention - I live not far from where its being held. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Judd
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2010 : 18:10:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
ANY system that helps me (as GM) move the game along, without bogging down in endless books and options, is Aces in my book.
Too bad I'm going to be in Kentucky for 2 weeks - I could have made their convention - I live not far from where its being held.
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Githyanki Diaspora: gaming blog |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jul 2010 : 20:36:51
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Long Island, NY.
Manhattan is a little under an hour from me (and that's mostly due to traffic). |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Judd
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jul 2010 : 21:08:39
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quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
Long Island, NY.
Manhattan is a little under an hour from me (and that's mostly due to traffic).
NerdNYC has a forum that might interest you and has mini-con events where folks get together in New York City and game (including Burning Wheel). Might be worth checking out. |
Githyanki Diaspora: gaming blog |
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Judd
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jul 2010 : 14:56:36
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The Big failed Resources Check (resources color in a D&Dish world)
Aaron wanted to get some Elven Chain for the young elven Harper who will soon be sent into the Undermountain. We looked over the resources list and decided it was a 7 ob test. Pete had Auric make a decent ob test in order to loan him 2 dice. It was neat describing the family heirlooms that the Hanged Prince took out of his vault in order to get the money together.
Celedon failed his test. I decided to give the Gift of Kindness but only if Celedon opened his inn, the Wanderer's Dell to a group of particularly mercenary adventurers, young gun upstarts. This led to a few neat moments.
Their frist night in the Dell's common room, Auric had to make an intimdate check in order to calm the out and explain that the Dell was not the Yawning Portal. And there was another quiet moment, where Celedon and Poignard shared a drink just before Poignard ran a message back to his lord. Celedon asked if he thought there were any future Harpers among the new adventurers. "We won't know until they've been truly tested, until they go into some hill that they think is an old barrow but is actually a liche's nest, until they go into the forest and uncover a group of Drow slavers. Then we'll see, in the heat of that moment we'll know if they are heroes or just mercenary tomb-robbers."
Gersali - Celedon's wife, Masked Lord of Waterdeep
There have been a few nice moments where Aaron needed Celedon to talk something through and has asked to talk to Gersali, his wife. She isn't on any of his beliefs and due to that, I haven't threatened her. And I am loath to do so. I don't want her to be a victim and I like Celedon having an oasis of wisdom and reason in this fast-moving human world.
I like that she has her own back-story: a princess from Evermeet who rebelled against her father in marrying an adventurer who lived among the young races.
One of the Masked Lords was killed, the death that kicked this adventure off and Gersali was offered the mask. |
Githyanki Diaspora: gaming blog |
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Judd
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jul 2010 : 05:12:05
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The Fall of the Shadow Thieves
One of my goals for this game is to work our way up to the kinds of complicated, ludicrous action/fight scenes that I remember from junior high D&D games. Tonight we flirted with that.
After the trial, they were taking the Masked Lord through Castle Waterdeep and the shadows seemed to move oddly. Enter Speed tests for Range and Cover.
They managed to close the distance and turn the R&C into a Fight! but not before the Shadow Thieves got a crossbow bolt off. It hit the Masked Lord but on 4 dice he rolled 3 successes and his armor held. After that, they wore the two bastards down.
Auric took his thief down with an axe blow to the face, after hitting him with several superficial wounds, he got a midi and forced a failed steel test.
Celedon was singing during the fight and managed to get in close and not get stabbed. Wonderment and a solid use of the Avoid maneuver saved his elven ass. At one point, Celedon had a 3 die lock on his opponent but it was shaken off.
It was a good fight, with solid back and forths and oddly, each fight ended on the exact same moment.
We tied up some little details after that.
* Mads the Thug, the half-orc in Prince Auric's adventuring group agreed to be a bodyguard to a Masked Lord (Celedon's wife) along with Celedon's right-hand man, Aradryn.
* Celedon saw to his accounting in order to get his taxed resources back.
* Auric had an iron rose made. We decided that if it has thorns, it shows an intent to murder someone and if no thorns, it shows an undyling love. Auric had one with thorns made for the Red Wizard ambassador to Thay. He has a severe hate on for her. The box that carries the rose has Dwarven runes spelling out the old Dwarven revenge chant, "May your axe chip and shatter."
* We saw Farrennell and the young wizard charged with Necromancy sent into the Undermountain via the Yawning Portal. City Guards took them down and will let them go at a set point, where daylight no longer reaches. We had a disjointed scene between Farrenell and Celedon that I botched up a bit.
We have decided to keep playing. Prince Auric has caught word that one of the lost treasures of his dwarven house was lost in the Mere of Dead Men. So, this week we'll re-write Beliefs and next Thursday, off they go.
We did a Trait Vote. It was only 3 or so sessions but it was the end of a chapter, so I went with it.
We took a Belief and an Instinct of Celedon's and formed a new Character Trait, Elven Mentor, to celebrate his mentoring of young adventurers, Harpers and such.
With Auric, Aaron mentioned Rapier Wit, as that is a big part of Auric's character and how Pete plays him. I liked it; Pete liked it, it felt right.
Also, Pete got a 1D reputation as the leader of the Deep 6.
It was an odd arc, with no Duels of Wits but one hectic Range and Cover into a Fight! that seemed to eat up their artha stores. |
Githyanki Diaspora: gaming blog |
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Judd
Acolyte
USA
24 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2010 : 19:02:35
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After rounding up the 3 Shadow Thieves and handing them over to the Paladinson for execution, we talked about what exactly we wanted to do and decided on heading into the Mere of Dead Men after hearing that one of Auric's ancestral treasures was in the bog.
We started the game in the High Lord of Waterdeep's court, an open affair in which announcements are made and heroism is delegated out. I like this format and enjoy throwing out odd little D&Disms onto the table for the players to comment on or latch full on to with a Belief. I wrote down the following court items to come up while on break at work:
Mention of the Shadow Thieves' executions and that an ongoing investigation has begun. "Paladinson, could you tell us who will be heading up the investigation?" "I could but I won't."
We decided that the players were just ill-suited to continue that adventure and I think that was a good decision. We can always pick it up later if we want to.
Dragonslayers: 3 young village lads from towns just outside the Ardeep Forest came to court with the body of a baby green dragon. They had hopes of parades and princesses and instead got sarcasm and derision.
"I've never seen a dead dragon before."
Auric: "You didn't see one today."
"You think its fake?"
"I don't think it was old enough to be called a dragon."
Celedon was oddly touched by this and when asked about it, Aaron gave this touching speech about how this creature's eternity was cut short in its youth. Neat.
Undermountain Ghettoes Proposal: a noble from a posh family suggested putting the poor into the upper levels of Undermountain, rather than building shack cities outside Waterdeep's walls. Peirgeiron dismissed this idea as inhumane but many of the nobles seemed to like it.
The Dead Mere: One young hunter from Neverwinter was the only survivor of an adventuring party that went into the Dead Mere. The players were dragged in as he explained that among their belongings was a Felbarr Forge Mask, one of the lost treasures of the clan. Also among the party was a Thayan wizard, bringing in the Red Wizard's interest.
As the court was ending, a peasant from the far north begged all those who would hear him for someone to declare a Great Hunt on Old Snarl, the Great Wyrm of the North. Auric turned him away, letting him know that once he cleared up his own house, he would see to that ancient red dragon.
The HIgh Lord mentioned a few murders and the magisteres leading upt he investigations and court cases and let everyone know that he would be traveling north to broker peace between Luskan and Ruathym, who had been feuding and were threatening with all out war (Pirates vs. Vikings!).
Beginning each module/chapter with court is nice. I get to drop in little details that persist (we still make in-character jokes about the Dragon Cart from the first game) and flesh poopy out.
Things to write about:
[*]Writing Beliefs for the Dead Mere
[*]Kitting up for adventure via Resources is fun
[*]Treasureless Troll
[*]The Lizard Men and the Burning Wheel
[*]Gnolls at the Doorstep
After we did some role-playing at court, we wrote up legit Beliefs about our coming adventure out at the Mere of Dead Men. During the week I had e-mailed the players the following bit about the Mere entitled Vague Thoughts about the Mere of Dead Men:
[*]Ghosts of an army that was slaughtered when they routed during an orc attack centuries ago
[*]Ruins of once great keeps that were built on the ruins of something else
[*]Lizard men
[*]Will'o-the-wisps (gentlemen, prepare your Will checks)
[*] A young black dragon, dreaming during its first great slumber
I don't have the specific beliefs but...
Pete jettisoned a belief about showing up the Moonstars (Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun's off-shoot of the Harpers) and wrote up a belief about getting Celedon home safely and finding the greatest treasure the Mere had and bringing it home.
Aaron made a belief about bringing the elves into the north to help with any conflicts that should arise and uncovering the secrets of the Mere, specifically why it is growing.
After that, we got some little things done around town. Pete tried to get a blessing from a priest of Helm but it failed (and I think that Priest will show up again later, Faith rattled), one in a long line of failed Faith tests this game.
Aaron had Celedon make the beefy purchases of an elven horse and some elven rope. Pete had Auric buy a cart. We did some haggling, it didn't take long and got our dice hands warmed up for the adventuring to come. Buying stuff is fun in this game. Though, some of the drama is taken out of it as these two characters are 5 lp and RICH even for that many lifepaths. Having rich characters in the City of Splendors is kinda fun.
There's a fine line with Resource tests between things that should be tested and things the character would have based on their holdings. Celedon owns a damned Elven inn. They don't need to buy provisions, for example.
Aaron circled up a Soother (healer) and Auric brought along a member of his party from the Deep Six, Imre, a Paladin of Helm. I did not make him circle Imre up but perhaps I should've. Could be I just wanted to get to it, get us hip deep in the bog.
There was a failed History test to know where the Lizardman caves would be (they don't live in caves, silly) and that led to a nothin'-doing run-in with a Trollmother. She bragged that her son had served Obould in the north but that didn't jar Auric as I thought it might. She was treasureless and I worried that I missed a solid opportunity to ping some Beliefs there.
Some shucking and jiving when some folks failed an ob 3 Will test and got taken in by the Will'o'the'wisps, being sucked in by the spirits of the dead, feeling like they were marching with doomed, great folk to meet the orc horde threat. Celedon did some neat work with elven songs to bring them out of it. Good stuff.
Then we got to the meat. A tiny village of lizard-men gathered around a Burning Wheel...THE Burning Wheel. Tied up near the wheel was the adventuring party who was lost in the Mere and hanging from the Shaman's staff was the Forge Mask. The shaman was cutting the adventurers, spraying their blood onto the Wheel's flames.
Note on the Burning Wheel as an artifact in play: When Auric made his Symbology roll to know what these wheels the lizard men all wore on their necks meant, I spilled that this was THE artifact, a Hand of Vecna level artifact right before them. But an elf and a dwarf don't really have much use for the damned thing. Its main power is enhancing Faith and Sorcery, and neither of them have that nor have access to it. What is interesting is that in possessing it, they get to say who does have access to it. Their ownership of a powerful, world-breaking artifact that they can't use is really interesting, because it changes how the whole setting moves around them.
We made our first Greed check of the campaign and Auric failed it. He hefted his axes and stealthed down to the village, in an effort to engage in Fight!, rather than Range & Cover, where the Lizard Men's bows would have picked them apart. The Lizard men were skilled and made some nasty shots in on both of the players but their armor was too brutal (Note: good thing they didn't follow the Will'o'the'wisps and get lost, that would've lost them their gear). Wounds were dealt out to the lizards, Steel checks were forced and the Lizard's fled. The elf and the dwarf survived on the strength of their armor.
One ob 5 intimidate check later and the shaman was broken and cowed. Auric said things like, "The Burning Wheel is now propery of the Deep Six," but what he meant was, "The Burning Wheel is MINE!"
Imre, the Paladin turned to Auric and said, "I can use this artifact to cleanse the entire Mere of all evil."
They discussed it. Once again, no DOW. We haven't had ONE this campaign so far. It is really odd and not our usual method. But they talked it out, the conversation never stalled and got to that point where I feel the need to say, "DOW or shut the eff up."
Imre took his shot, an ob 10 miracle with 9 exploding dice. Failure (with more severe consequences to come later ala Faith failure in the MaBu).
They were trying to figure out how to get this Burning Wheel (see, its on FIRE) out of the swamp when a lizard man came out of the nearby bog.
"Dog-men are approaching...they are led by a wizard in red with tattoos of blue flames on her head..."
Gnolls...led by the ambassador, Sancha, the Red Wizard of Thay...
It was late, we were tired but we had to make some decisions on what to do before leaving for the week.
Mod edit: watch the language, please.
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Githyanki Diaspora: gaming blog |
Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 24 Jul 2010 04:24:39 |
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Taking the Burning Wheel to the City of Splendor
