Thoughts on campaign structure

A few things have been mulling around in my mind lately about how to structure a good campaign (good meaning: 'the kind of campaign I want to run'), and what sorts of limitations can be put on the game to achieve that.

My current Age of Chaos campaign was designed from the beginning with certain in- and out-of game limits which were attempts to define how it should work. Here are some of these principles:

1. A fixed group of characters is not required. This was the original impetus for the campaign, in fact. To be able to run a game with players who aren't all able to commit to coming to every session.
2. Each session should be its own self-contained adventure. This kind of follows from the first principle - if the group of characters can be different every session, then the normal idea of a campaign as a continuous story doesn't necessarily work out.
3. It's a sandbox - the players are the ones who drive the action, through their choices of where to go and what to do. The DM does not have some over-arching plot in mind which the PCs are implicitly expected to follow.
4. No moral imperative - connected with point 3 - the campaign won't take the form of saving the world or suchlike. It's more about exploration.
   

It's interesting, looking back, how the campaign has developed. The first point has become pretty moot, as the group of players actually is more or less the same every session - there's a core at least, and the occasional drop-in from another friend. This has also nullified the second point - the story can continue directly from where the last session left off. I guess I came up with those guiding principles from perhaps a more idealistic perspective (the idea, which really appeals to me, of having a large rotating pool of players), rather than a practical point of view (that actually we have a pretty static core of 4 players in our RPG group).

So far point 3 has gone well. I've not deliberately introduced any pre-planned story arcs (although hints of plots and subterfuges have come up during play, which is only natural), and the players have chosen their course of exploration. I do get the feeling they're a little shy of choosing their own path, which is perhaps due to a difference in experience, as they mostly grew up on D&D 3.5 or later, whereas I grew up on Basic/Expert D&D. I think the emphasis in those two eras of the game was pretty different. Since reading ars ludi's thoughts on his West Marches campaign I'm very much taken with the idea of the players deciding between games where they want to go next, giving the DM some time to prepare something which they might encounter there. This unfortunately also requires knowing how many people are going to come to each session - it's all very well planning a daring raid on a Goblin city, but when only two players come to the game it suddenly doesn't seem such a good idea.

Point 4 is a tricky one for me. The campaign currently seems to be veering in exactly the opposite direction - a band of witch-hunters out on a crusade against Chaos. It's not really what I had in mind, and I can't quite put my finger on what it is I don't like about it.

All in all it's very interesting to see that really what I'd prefer to run is a series of more modular games, where each session has a pre-defined emphasis ("we're going to explore the ruins of the old mill", "we're going to try to steal the Duke's diary from his library", "we're going to follow that treasure map we found", etc). A sort of modular sandbox. I want the players to be totally free in their course of actions, but I guess I want to know up-front what they intend, so I can prepare something engaging, and I want each session to be an adventure - with enticement, danger and reward (or pain)!

Ah I guess I'm just suffering from having had three slow-paced town based sessions in a row! Still, things are looking up - strange things await the PCs in those cellars...

One conclusion I can draw for now though is that I'd definitely like more players, to enable this kind of tag-team adventuring...

Age of Chaos - Sessions 11 & 12

We've just had two fairly slow and uneventful sessions in a row, the first due to there unexpectedly only being two players and myself present, and the second due to a rather short amount of play time available. The characters are building up for a return to the ruined manor house which they have been exploring, and the whole business of getting from the city of Aglong back to their base in the frontier-town of Keet has been getting a bit long-winded.

So the two sessions instead became a kind of addendum to session 10 - the "R&R in town" session. There were a couple of things that needed to be resolved, but not much really. In retrospect I think it was a shame I didn't have any little interesting side-events happen, or even a mini town adventure, rather than just dragging out the couple of minor tasks the PCs had to finish up in town. But then there is also an argument that that becomes unrealistic - when "adventure" follows the PCs wherever they go (like the apparently cursed Miss Marple and Jessica Fletcher), even if they choose to head away from the dangerous wild lands of Chaos!

It's a difficult point in this kind of campaign - if the players decide to just linger in town chatting with NPCs, well, that's their prerogative. It's certainly made me consider re-organising how the campaign works though, to make it a bit more cut-to-the-chase, and especially so after reading Ars Ludi's very inspiring posts on the West Marches campaign.

Featuring:

Barur son of Tharur - Dwarven noble
Arthanius Lex - Witch-hunter and hound-master
Darian - Youthful wandering bard

The main item which the PCs still wanted to sort out in Aglong was trying to talk with Lady Esmelna, the heir of the Baron who'd owned the ruined manor in Ballan. They headed through the snowy city streets towards the noble quarter, where they'd been told the rough location of her house. Finding the walled house without too much difficulty, they inquired with the guards at the gates as to whether it might be possible to speak with the Lady. The PCs didn't look or act too suspicious, so the guards fetched the house keeper, a man called Asmenius. The Lady had no time that day, but after a bit of 'haggling' they arranged a meeting for the following afternoon.

In the evening Arthanius went back to the temple of Arg to see if his superior had any news on whether he could provide any support for their explorations in the ruined village. The Eld had good news - that two of Arthanius' fellow order members were available and would accompany them to further root out the chaotic creatures which had infested the village, and to investigate the possibility of reclaiming the village or at least the manor as an outpost of Order. They arranged to all meet at the temple in two days' time, to begin the journey back to Keet.

After a quiet evening and following morning in the Serpent & Eagle inn, they headed back to Lady Esmelna's house for the meeting. The Lady, an aging and proud noble-woman, was a little cold at first, but was soon won over by their descriptions of the manor where she had spent her childhood, and the talk of possibly being able to cleanse the place of the scourge of Chaos. They showed her the painting of her grandfather, which Barur had cut from its frame, and asked her about the orb and quill which the Baron was depicted holding, but she didn't divulge any new information. (Barur didn't mention the fact that he actually had the quill in his possession.) The Lady was glad to give them permission to continue exploring the ruins, but impressed on them several times the fact that everything there is the inheritance of my estate. Meaning to say - "no looting". *

They spent another evening at the inn, and this time were joined by Erik, one of the men from Arthanius' order, who was going to join them on their mission to Ballan. Erik and Arthanius knew each other somewhat, and had some discussion of their recent doings. Erik told the story of how he had travelled to Thane's Haven in the west, braving (and barely surviving) the perils of the Fey Wood in order to take a message to the monks who live at the haven. After the catching-up Erik left to return to the temple, and Barur and Arthanius decided to get an early night in readiness for the next day's journey. At this point Darian, who had wandered off on his own that day, rolled into the inn completely drunk.

The next morning they rose (Darian only after a little 'encouragement'), breakfasted, and made their way to the temple of Arg to begin their journey. They met the other order member who was to come with them - an enthusiastic young lad called Balder, whom Arthanius was a little unsure of - most of the order members are a little older than 18. The Eld, however, assured him privately that the lad was a competent fighter, that he had sworn an oath to serve the god of justice, and that the order needed young blood.

So the five of them set off to Keet: Barur, Darin, Arthanius and his two dogs **, and Erik and Balder of the Order of the Hammer.

The day's journey to Keet was uneventful, and they arrived in the village at dusk. However as they walked along the now-familiar riverside path towards the lights of the village, they noticed a sinister black shape lurking in the edge of the forest behind the settlement. Edging closer to investigate, it appeared to be a man-sized spider-like form hanging unmoving in the branches of a tree. Creeping along the edge of the woods, they got a closer view and Barur (with his dark vision) noticed that the thing was in fact made of wood - it appeared that the branches of the trees had somehow woven themselves into this sinister shape. At the insistence of Balder they lit a lantern and Barur climbed into the tree and hacked the thing down with his axe. They gathered up the pieces, which appeared to be just normal wood, and took it to the Grinwold's Eaves inn to provide the landlord with a gift to feed to the fire. The landlord knew nothing of the spider shape in the trees, and was a little concerned about his fire when they revealed the source of the wood.

Over supper and ale the party discussed their next move - to return to the ruined manor in the morning, and to fully explore the tunnels in the cellars.

* This is developing into an interesting theme in the campaign at present, with the introduction of the witch-hunter character, who is assuredly not an adventurer or treasure-hunter. It'll be interesting to see what happens if they discover any further riches at Ballan, when they've been explicitly told that they do not have permission to loot the place.

** Arthanius' player officially renamed his new dog 'Scourge' (it was called Will when he bought it) - even changing the name on his character sheet.

Age of Chaos - Session 10

One of the things I'm especially enjoying about this campaign so far is the very different pace of various sessions. The previous two, for example, were very combat / exploration heavy - in the classic dungeon crawling style, more or less. Last night's session, on the other hand, was a complete contrast - it consisted entirely of roleplaying and hardly a die was rolled. It was essentially an 'R&R' session for the PCs, but this allowed the story to really develop, opening up a lot of new possibilities.

Featuring:

Barur - Dwarven noble
Darian - Crowd-fearing Bard
Arthanius Lex - Servant of Arg (god of storms), witch-hunter, accompanied by his faithful hound Bane

Upon returning to Keet in the night, after their largely victorious siege on the bugbear-riddled manor at Ballan, the PCs made their way straight to the village temple to deposit the body of Barur's ex-henchman Barath in the hands of the high gods. They found the temple occupied, and the Seid (the village temple warden) engaged in a funeral ritual for the two guards who had died earlier that day, also in the raid on the manor. They spoke with the Seid for a time, before leaving Barath's body with him to consecrate before burial the next day.

Returning to the Grinwold's Eaves the party found the inn surprisingly busy. A number of the village guards were gathered there and were drinking and simultaneously celebrating the victory at Ballan and mourning the death of two of their fellows. Olm, the only survivor of the three guards who accompanied the PCs to Ballan that morning, was the hero and the centre of attention, and was drunkenly telling and re-telling the story of the battle. The PCs joined the guards in the evening of drinking and recounting, and planned to travel to Aglong, the nearest larger town, the next day.

In the morning they attended the simple and unassuming burial of the three deceased, and then set off on the road to Aglong, arriving at dusk. Passing through a gate in the wall, they were surrounded by the bustle of the town. Barur was happy to be back in a larger settlement, after having spent most of the last few weeks in the tiny village of Keet, but Darian started to feel a little unnerved at the crowds. The party decided to split for a time, as Barur and Darian headed to an inn and Arthanius went to visit the head of his Order, who was based in the temple of Arg in Aglong. They agreed to meet later on at the Serpent & Eagle inn, where Barur had stayed previously and could recommend as a reputable and reasonably priced establishment.

Making his way through the streets of the town, Arthanius came to the temple of Arg, a large square stone building in the centre of the town, decorated with rows of columns and the crossed hammers of the god of storms. Entering, he gave a brief prayer at the feet of the statue of the god, and passed through a corridor at the rear of the temple and into a courtyard where the priests' quarters were found. His superior, a tall, elderly, battle-worn man named Meerax Eld, received him, and the two talked for some time. Arthanius reported what he had discovered of the ruined village of Ballan, and of the disappearance of the necromancer in Keet, and they discussed the possibility of Ballan being reclaimed from Chaos. This was hoped to be possible, with the aid of the priests of Hraal (god of protection & warding), but there had been very few instances of the realms of Chaos being pushed back in this Age, in fact quite the opposite. Nonetheless the Eld deemed the ruined village worthy of further investigation, and agreed to try to enlist the aid of some further members of Arthanius' Order to make a kind of scouting / clearing party. He also suggested that the Lady Esmelna, the granddaughter of the baron of Ballan, and heiress to the manor and village, should be consulted, at least out of courtesy, before any further excursions to Ballan were made. Arthanius took his leave and made his way back to the south gate and to the inn to meet his companions.

Meanwhile, Barur and Darian had found the Serpent & Eagle incredibly loud and crowded, much to Barur's delight and Darian's chagrin. In fact it was all the bard could do to enter the place and go up to the bar to drink the mug of beer which Barur had bought for him. It is becoming clear that Darian has some kind of problem with large crowds. As they sat at the bar, Barur was surprised to hear someone addressing him from behind in the Mountain tongue, the native language of Dwarves and various other mountain-dwelling races. Turning around he was delighted to see one of his kinsmen, a fellow Dwarf, smiling up at him. Dwarves in this Age are a somewhat rare race, their dominions having been wholly overrun by Chaos, and a huge majority of their number slain in the wars with Goblins. So the two were pleased to meet, and began talking excitedly in their tongue, leaving poor Darian to suffer alone in the noise and bustle of the inn. The Dwarf, whose name was Nenn, invited them to join him and his travelling companions, who were seated at a table in a corner. Much as an evening with four Dwarves did not strike Darian as his ideal pastime, the idea of a corner appealed. Once they were all settled, the four Dwarves began recounting tales of their people. They were considerate enough to translate the stories, as best they could, into the Kargeen tongue, for the benefit of Darian.

At about this time Arthanius entered the Serpent & Eagle, and made his way through the crowds to the table with the Dwarves. There they discussed their plans, and waxed heroic with their vision of reclaiming Ballan for Order, and then beginning to explore the City of Iron, the ruined Dwarven city in the nearby mountains. The three Dwarves - Nenn, Dak and Embed, who had been travelling companions for some time, were greatly inspired by this talk of glory, and agreed to join the party in Keet in the next week or so, after having finished some business they had elsewhere. The two humans went to bed early, leaving the four Dwarves to drink and reminisce together.

The morning brought thick snow and a cold but bright day. The party spent the day wandering the streets of Aglong, visiting various markets and shops, selling treasure and buying equipment. Barur took the painting, which he'd cut from its frame in the manor house at Ballan, to an antiquities dealer, where it was identified as being a portrait of the ex-baron. The proprietor also surmised that the orb and the quill which the baron was portrayed as holding were perhaps magical, as he was known to have possessed magical gifts from the wizard Elleg. Barur, being in possession of the feather, was intrigued at this suggestion, and attempted to find out if any wizards lived in Aglong, who might be able to identify the item, but to no avail. The antiques dealer also mentioned Lady Esmelna, who might be able to shed more light on the history of the manor, and would no doubt be pleased to see the painting of her grandfather, even though it was now in an awful and worthless condition.

Arthanius used the time to stock up on useful equipment like torches, oil and a lantern - not planning to be caught out below ground with only a single guttering torch again. He also purchased a second animal companion - a large black dog trained as a guard. The dog was called "Will", which the witch-hunter found somewhat too mundane for his taste, and began considering a renaming.

The session ended there, with the PCs intending to visit the Lady Esmelna, and Arthanius planning to return to his superior in the evening to see if any aid could be provided.

Random dungeon stocking

I experienced the pleasure of the Basic D&D random dungeon room contents table last week, as I was stocking the cellars and tunnels that lie beneath the ruined manor at Ballan, which the PCs have just begun to explore. There are various permutations of this table in various versions of the game, but what I used was: 1 - 2 Empty, 3 - 4 Monster, 5 Trap, 6 Special. It's nice and simple, although I was concerned it'd produce far too many "Specials". And, as expected, it did. Out of maybe 20 rooms, 5 were rolled as Special. But this actually turned out absolutely fine - indeed I had a lot of fun thinking up all these dungeon weirdnesses. I mean, I didn't go overboard - it's only the 1st level of a not-particularly-supernatural dungeon, so we're not talking reverse gravity chambers or talking pools. But I found it a real pleasure to add that many unusual / interesting / slightly magical / mysterious features.

Overall I have to say I loved using the random room contents roll. It made the process of stocking both challenging and exciting, all in all far more engaging than the sometimes daunting situation of sitting there with a keyed map, no idea what's in which room, and an hour to go before the game starts! I'll definitely be thinking about using further random tables in dungeon stocking in the future.

Age of Chaos - Session 9

Featuring:

Barur - Dwarven noble, accompanied by his two henchmen - Angur and Barath
Darian - Wandering Bard
Arthanius Lex - Servant of Arg (god of storms), member of the Order of the Hammer, witch-hunter, accompanied by his faithful hound Bane
Kratos - Warrior from the Northlands, follower of Arg, accompanied by a horse known only as "the entertainer"

The session continued straight on from the events of the last - with the party making a hasty retreat from the ruined village of Ballan, where they'd had a narrow victory against a horde of bugbears.

Firstly Barur took care to heal the seriously wounded bard, using two of the healing salves which he had purchased previously from the local herbalist. In return Darian revealed his own healing powers, which he used on Arthanius - the first time he had let on to the party that his music could produce magical effects. After this revitalisation the party journeyed back to their base at Keet, carrying with them the bodies of the two deceased town guards who had aided them and perished.

They left the bodies with the guard captain, who bemoaned their fate and yet stated that a warrior could ask for no more in life than to die fighting the forces of Chaos and to be remembered as a hero.

As the party were talking with the town guards, and describing the battle in Ballan, a hulking man clad in furs and carrying a long spear rode into the village and approached them. It was Kratos, an erstwhile companion of Barur, who had wandered back into Keet out of curiosity as to how the Dwarf's adventures in the region were progressing. He was, of course, eager to join them on their return to Ballan, hoping to wet his spear with bugbear's blood.

As planned, they journeyed back to Ballan in the afternoon, hoping that the fleeing bugbears had not yet returned to the manor. On arriving at the ruined village, they found it quiet and empty, as had always been its first appearance. Heading through the village, they returned straight to the manor house, the front doors of which were still hanging open.

Firstly they explored the upper floors, discovering a series of more or less ruined chambers, one containing a strangely green coloured corpse of a woman. They also found what appeared to have been the master bedroom, where a figure was chained to the four poster bed. The huddled figure seemed to be alive, so they approached and tried to rouse it. Upon the first touch the figure sprang up out of the bed, as far as its chains would allow, and started clawing at the adventurers. It was a woman, wild with some kind of madness, and in some state of transformation - with blood red eyes, vicious claws, and a horrid grinning mouth full of fangs. They attempted to talk to her, hoping that she might be at least partly lucid, but all their words were met with blind animalistic rage. In the end Kratos drove his spear into her chest, putting her out of her presumed state of misery and suffering. Exploring the ex-baron's suite further, they found one noteworthy item amongst the ruin - a single long black feather tipped with a band of bronze.

Next, finding a wooden staircase and trapdoor leading up, they ventured into the attic. The top of the house was filled with broken wood and smashed crates and furniture, and two gaping holes in the roof were seen. A large mound of wood and crates was gathered beneath one of the holes, and the party went to investigate. The first gentle probing of the pile provoked the sounds of rustling and scurrying from within, and a full thrust of Kratos' spear unleashed the inhabitants - a swarm of black winged creatures, half bat - half bird, with talons and long, murderously sharp beaks. The disturbed flock swirled briefly in the rafters before diving upon the adventurers, attempting to find weak points in their armour to pierce with their beaks. The birds proved no match for the party, even in their large numbers, not even getting the chance to demonstrate their blood-draining ability. Many were slain and the scant remainder flew screeching out of the hole in the roof. Searching through the pile of crates which had been home to the birds, the party discovered a haul of coins and several valuable items, which had obviously been lying there for some time, undiscovered by the bugbears.

Returning to the ground floor, the party explored the remaining rooms of the manor, which were mostly full of rubble and ruin. At one point Kratos exerted his might to break down a stuck door, and narrowly avoided falling head first into a pit which was on the other side - it wasn't clear whether this hole had been deliberately put there as a trap, or whether the floor had coincidentally caved in, but in any case a hole leading down to the cellar was revealed. The party also found a room with a series of paintings, most of which had been shredded. One painting however was mostly intact (it had been spattered with blood, but the image could still be seen) - it depicted the ex-baron of Ballan, seated and holding an orb of dark stone in one hand, and a quill in the other hand. The quill was recognised as the feather they had found upstairs.

Lastly, as the day outside was beginning to wane, the party descended into the cellars (via a stairway which they found elsewhere). They had previously lit a torch to investigate one of the upper rooms with boarded windows, and this was still burning, allowing the non-Dwarvish members of the party to see in the gloom of the cellar. The cellar appeared to consist of two large rooms, both thick with mould and damp, and full of broken and rotting barrels and caskets. The first of the two cellar rooms had some odd formations of green mould on the walls, which had formed into what looked like some kind of runes or writing. Unfortunately none of the party could decipher what the mould had to say.

On a wider inspection of the cellar it was discovered that both of the large stone rooms had been "extended" by several rough, low-ceilinged tunnels, running off at odd angles. As the party were considering their next action, Darian heard a whimpering sound coming from a barrel in the corner. They gathered around, and shook the barrel slightly, provoking a more determined wailing from within. Kratos fearlessly opened the barrel, which was sealed, and saw a small boy cowering within. (Not one member of the party thought for a moment that the boy was what he seemed to be :)) Kratos reached in to grab the boy, suspecting that he may be some kind of shapechanger or demon, and in fact discovered that he was a ghost - the Northlander's hand passed straight through the phantom, causing it to wail even louder. Darian suggested that maybe Arthanius should try to do something with or to the ghost, to which he memorably replied "I'm a witch-hunter, not a ghost-buster".

At about this time the party's luck was up. Unbeknownst to them, a group of bugbears which were lurking in the one of the low tunnels had been sneaking up on them, and, aided by the noise and distraction of the screaming ghost, leapt on the party out of the darkness and completely by surprise. They attacked Barur's henchmen, Angur and Barath, who happened to be situated at the back of the group, and the nearest victims of the ambush. The henchmen were taken completely off guard, and were both run through by the bugbears' spears and fell to the ground. Barur and the others retaliated quickly, and slew the bugbears in their wrath, but the henchmen had both taken fatal wounds, and were dead by the time anyone could get to them.

After the battle the party noticed that their torch was burning very low, and only at this point realised that this was the one and only torch they possessed between the six of them. (A fact which I found rather amusing :)) And, seeing the diminishing light coming from the hole in the ceiling which Kratos had earlier almost fallen through from above, they realised that dusk was nearing. They took these two facts as a sign to get going, although they were eager to explore the tunnels leading out of the cellars. Kratos had taken a liking to the ghost in the barrel (which was still crying), and formed a plan to take it back to town and to try and make some money by displaying it as a curio of some kind. So he began to roll the wailing barrel up the stairs. It was only the smoking and hissing of the barrel dissolving which saved him from the nasty surprise of stepping straight into a corrosive black ooze which was now spread across the stairs leading up. The ghost vanished as the barrel dissolved, and the black ooze began to slowly advance on the party, spreading itself wide over the floor of the cellar. With no other escape route, Barur swung a grappling hook up through the hole in the ceiling, and the party climbed out one by one, with the ooze advancing on them as they fled. All living members of the party narrowly escaped without being dissolved, but poor Angur's body became ooze food.

They left the manor and the ruined village at sunset, carrying with them a nice haul of treasure, and the body of their fallen comrade.

The two hour journey back to Keet became perilous as night descended, and they had to resort to creating makeshift torches with sticks, rags, and the large amounts of oil they had (but no lanterns!). They skirted around the edges of Grinwold wood on their way back to civilisation, but their light and movement did not go unnoticed. A band of mountain goblins leapt out of the woods in an attempted ambush, which Arthanius' dog Bane warned the party of just in time. Despite their number, the goblins were easily defeated - Barur and Kratos slaying large numbers of them with an initial strike, causing the remainder to flee in terror.

The session ended with the slightly diminished party safely back in the village of Keet, indeed just in time for supper.

Can bugbears worship ooze?

Yeah, why not?

After the events of the last session in my campaign (the storming of a ruined manor inhabited by bugbears), I started to wonder "what lies beneath?". I'd already decided that the bugbears don't actually live in the manor house, they just use it as a kind of base of operations. Like any self-respecting "humanoids", they live in a series of tunnels underneath the manor and the nearby village. So I started drawing a map of said tunnels, and then came to think "well, what else might be down there, cohabiting with the bugbears?". Ooze was not the first thing that came to my mind. However, after laying eyes on this lump of melted purple candle wax, the possibilities of ooze & bugbears living in subterranean harmony became suddenly rather vivid and appealing.

I've only recently started using miniatures & a battle mat (since starting to play Savage Worlds), and this is the first time it's occurred to me to use something unusual and creative as a miniature. Let the floodgates open!

Age of Chaos - Session 8

A long session which, in contrast to the two previous (combatless) sessions, was taken up mostly with a huge battle!

Featuring:

Barur - Noble Dwarven warrior, accompanied by his hirelings Barath and Angur
Darian - Wandering Bard
Arthanius Lex - Servant of Arg, member of the Order of the Hammer, witch-hunter

After the disappearance of Aergyl the Necromancer early in the morning during the last session, Darian, Barur and his henchmen gathered in the tavern to discuss events and to make plans for their next action. They decided to attempt a raid on the ruined village of Ballan, which lies to the south of Keet (where they are staying), on the slopes of Mount Garn. They had visited Ballan on two previous occasions, and had encountered the village's new inhabitants - bugbears. They were drawn to explore the manor house which they'd noticed on a hill at the rear of the village, surmising that this was perhaps the lair of the bugbears, and that there was probably loot to be had. They'd discovered that the manor was previously owned by a Baron Halld, and that he was friends with a well-known wizard, Elleg, who had dwelt in the region - meaning that the potential for valuable and interesting treasure in the ruined manor was guessed to be high! So, they made plans to head to Ballan early the next morning.

That evening, as the party were relaxing in the inn, a stranger arrived in Keet - a short, rugged, bearded man, dressed in a long leather coat, carrying a crossbow, and leading a lithe dog on a leash. He entered the tavern, escorted by one of the village guards, and strode directly up to the party of adventurers. Introducing himself as Arthanius Lex, he stated that he had come to investigate the strange goings-on in the village, and the escape of the Necromancer, whom he'd been informed had been an acquaintance of Barur's. The Dwarf, bemoaning further accusations for the deeds of his ill-chosen former companion, re-asserted his innocence in the matter, but did little to gain the trust of the witch-hunter, who remained very suspicious. He did however declare that he would accompany the party to Ballan the next day, in order to see if they really did intend to fight against the creatures of Chaos.

Leaving the inn, Arthanius asked the village guard to lead him to the house of Meredith, the local herbalist, who was also known to have had dealings with the Necromancer. The old woman told all she knew of the wizard, that he had seemed somewhat suspicious, and had spoken of strange matters, but that she had had the feeling that there was good in him, and that he was not purely a servant of Chaos. Again, the witch-hunter's suspicious mind was not pacified, and he left with the feeling that some strange plot was afoot in the village.

They all slept poorly during the night, due to the cold of the oncoming winter, and awoke early to see the year's first snow covering the ground outside. Barur's henchman Angur declared it to be "a cold day for killing". Before leaving the village they visited the guards' barracks, which stands on a hill behind the inn. Arthanius Lex was awaiting them there, and was gathered with a group of guards. He had managed to talk the guard captain around to sending three of the village guards with the party, as they'd need all the swords they could get if the reports about Ballan's new inhabitants were true. Thus they entered the wild lands: Barur, Angur and Barath, Darian, and Arthanius Lex with his hunting hound and the three guards: Aram, Dolg and Olm.

The 2 hour walk around the outskirts of the forest to Ballan was mostly uneventful. At one point they sighted a flight of crows above them, which the superstitious village guards believed to be the familiars of the wizard Elleg (who was also believed to perhaps still dwell in his tower on the edge of the forest away to the south east). The crows were taken as a portent of some kind, though the party were unsure whether it boded for good or ill.

Arriving at the ruined village, they found it lifeless and still, especially quite now it was blanketed with snow. The snow revealed no tracks ahead of them, so they surmised that whatever lived here had not been active since the snow had fallen in the early morning. They walked carefully through the village, Lex's dog sniffing and growling at various ruined buildings as they passed. Nonetheless they headed straight to the walled manor house on the hill. The rusted iron gates in the wall stood half open, and Barur ventured inside to find a garden wildly overgrown with thorny plants, two broken statues of noble warriors, and a path leading up to the front door of the manor. He noted that the windows of the manor were all boarded shut. They gathered at the doorstep, and pulled the creaking doors open, revealing an empty hallway with a door and a stairway on each side, and a set of magnificently carved double doors at the far end.

Lex stepped boldly forward, walking down the hall and opening the double doors, which led into what used to be the manor's great dining hall. The room was now filled with smoke, coming from the smouldering embers which lay beneath a steaming iron cauldron. A variety of wooden tables, chairs and junk also filled the room, but it was apparently uninhabited. Ever wary, Lex looked upwards to the ceiling, and noticed that a balcony ran along one edge of the room, allowing viewers on the next floor to look down into the hall. Afraid of what such viewers might do to them now, he sent two of the guards up the stairway to investigate. Also while scanning the ceiling, the witch-hunter caught a glimpse of a large black shape moving in one corner. Taking no chances, he let a crossbow bolt fly at it, heard the bolt thud into what sounded like flesh, and a muted scream of pain. The shape began to move.

The two guards crept up the stairway, and ran back down, gibbering that they'd seen "five monsters, dark gods, blood everywhere!". The battle began.

At this point, as the party was mostly gathered at the doors of the banquet hall, Darian, who was lurking at the rear, noticed that one of the smaller doors in the entrance hall, behind them, was beginning to shake, as if someone was trying to open it. Barur and his henchmen leapt up the stairs to confront the reported horrors, and Darian put his back against the shaking door in an attempt to block it. Unfortunately his strength was not sufficient, and he was sent flying to the floor, cracking his head on the flagstones, as a group of four bugbears wielding spears rushed to attack the party's rear.

Those on the upper level were confronted by the leader of the bugbears, a massive hulking beast of 8 feet tall, brandishing an axe and a huge shield, and wearing a dented breastplate. He was accompanied by two priests wielding bone rods, and two warriors with spears. The chamber appeared to be used as some kind of temple, as a magic circle was scribed on the floor, and an altar made of bones and congealed blood occupied one wall. The guards' report was correct - the whole room was splashed with blood of varying ages.

The battle was sorely fought, with the party surrounded and split onto two levels. The bugbear priests wielded powerful magic against them, summoning a blinding darkness, and shooting forth volleys of bone shards. Darian was stabbed and left for dead by the bugbears which had come from the door he'd attempted to block, but he bettered them, crawling up behind them and skewering one of them from behind. Barur fought the bugbear leader, an evenly matched battle between two veteran warriors, but after the magical darkness had passed, the Dwarf ended victorious. The defeat of their leader demoralised the bugbear hordes, and some of them fled.

The priests fought to the death, and were killed by Barur's henchmen, Angur and Barath - Barath using the unusual but successful tactic of throwing chunks of wood and bones from the altar at his opponents to disorient them. Several bugbears died with Lex's bolts in their skulls. When the last of the monsters were slain, the party assessed its losses. Two of the three village guards were dead, but the third, Olm, survived and had proven to be a stalwart warrior, single-handedly fending off attacks from three bugbears. Lex was badly wounded, but still able. Darian lay unconscious and bleeding in the entrance hall on the ground floor, but was still barely alive.

With the rout of their enemies, the party was torn between looting the manor house in victory and making a hasty retreat to the safety of Keet. They chose the latter course of action, fearing that a further confrontation in the manor would not go in their favour. But they planned to return later in the day, after leaving the badly wounded in safety, hoping that the fleeing bugbears had run far enough away that they wouldn't have regrouped by the time the party returned.

The next session will tell if their hopes will be fulfilled!

The nine hells

After waking up this morning, I started thinking about the planes of hell. Such is the life of a Dungeon Master ;)

In contrast to the traditional AD&D conception of the planes of existence, in my campaign I've decided that there's only one plane or world, and that all deities, devils, demons, etc have their realms located physically in that one world. (I don't claim to know a huge amount about real-world mythology, but I think this was pretty much the world-view held by people such as the Norse and the ancient Greeks.) Of course, most of these divine or infernal regions of the world would be obscure, mythical and pretty much impossible for average mortals to reach. (Heroes with powerful sorcery and magic items, on the other hand...)

So, in my campaign, the spirits of the dead travel through the Underworld (literally underground) and have to run the gauntlet of spiritual worth as various unsavoury beings vie to steal their souls. Up until now I've not put that much thought into the dark forces of the world, other than creating a list of the names of some of the major gods of Chaos - who'd be exactly the folks who would be ruling these subterranean domains.

This is what came to my mind, inspired by the idea of "the nine hells" (not sure if that's an AD&Dism, or if it's based in real-world legend?):

The Nine Hells
1. The burning hell
2. The freezing hell
3. The boiling hell
4. The parched (or desolate) hell
5. The caustic hell
6. The lightless hell
7. The hell of hooks
8. The hell of holes
9. The hell of dominion

Each of them of course now needs a suitably nasty ruler and his or her servitors. For example, I imagine the boiling hell being a swamp-world filled with bubbling pools and noxious vapours, ruled by a frog god and his amphibious devil servants. The ninth hell I envisage as the kind of central hub (also perhaps the lowest), from where the as-yet unnamed lord of hell rules each of the other eight.

Fun times :)

Age of Chaos - Session 7

A short but fun session, with a very interesting (and completely unexpected by all concerned) twist at the end.

Featuring:

Aergyl - Aged and ill-fated necromancer and devotee of Mot, god of death
Barur - Noble Dwarven warrior, accompanied by his hirelings Barath and Angur
Darian - Wandering bard

This session left off directly where the last one finished - with Aergyl incarcerated in the village of Keet after being put to the rune trial for dealing with the gods of Chaos, found guilty, and sentenced to death by burning the following day.

After the murder of one of the prison guards by Aergyl during the night, it was decided that he needed to be more securely imprisoned. A group of guards, accompanied by the Seid (the village temple warden), came to Aergyl's cell, bound his hands behind his back, gagged him, put a sack over his head, and blocked up the small window in the door of his cell. Unable to resist, the necromancer languished in the darkness, trying to think of a means of escape or revenge.

At dawn the prison guards gathered, preparing to take Aergyl to meet his fate in the town of Aglong. Barur also awoke at dawn, and, hoping to at least be able to speak with his former companion (the necromancer), he roused Barath, Angur and Darian, with whom he was sharing a room at the inn. The Dwarf's companions were rather disgruntled at being woken up so early, and none of them was keen to interfere further in the course of justice. So Barur went alone to the guard's barracks, where he met the party as they were bringing Aergyl out from his cell. Blenworth, the guard captain, explained to Barur what had happened, how Aergyl had murdered one of the men in the night with dark magic, and how there could be no doubt now that the judgement of the high gods was correct - the wizard should be condemned to death. Barur asked to be able to speak to Aergyl, but Blenworth refused, saying that they didn't want to risk him speaking any more dangerous words of power in the village. Thus Aergyl was dragged down to the road, and began his journey to Aglong.

Barur stayed and spoke with the guards' captain for a time, and reached a reconciliation. The captain said that the adventurers were still welcome in the village, and that their explorations of the wilderness to the south, and killing of Goblins was greatly appreciated. However, he was urged to take more care in choosing his companions in future, especially those who dabble in the arts of wizardry. The Dwarf then returned to the inn to mull over the events of the last day, and to decide his next course of action.

Aergyl, in the meantime, was being dragged along the road to Aglong. Being physically overpowered, and unable to use magic due to his bindings, the certainty of his fate sunk in. His mind reached out in desperation to the dark gods of Chaos. He was wearing a silver necklace in the form of a spider, which he had taken from a spider cultist whom they had encountered and killed in the forest several weeks ago. The necklace was known to have magical powers, and had been used several times to charm and control giant spiders, so Aergyl surmised that it had some connection to the spider god Ligg. Attempting to use the power of the necklace once more, he called out mentally to the spider god, asking to be saved. His plea was heard, and his mind slipped gradually into a vision - where he was standing in a dark subterranean space, surrounded by spiders of all shapes and sizes, crawling everywhere and eventually submerging him in their number. The voice of Ligg emerged out of the noise of thousands of spiders crawling, a sinister whisper answering the necromancer's plea for aid - "And what would you do for me in return?". Aergyl replied that he would serve Ligg in return for his help now. The deity replied simply "Renounce your god". Aergyl detected a malicious humour in this remark, knowing that his god, Mot, the god of death, would very likely not look kindly on one who willingly leaves his service. Nonetheless, he took the risk, and in the presence of the spider god he renounced Mot and swore to serve only Ligg. The god accepted his service.

The spider necklace began to get hot, burning Aergyl's flesh and burrowing into his chest. Through his gag, he screamed out in pain, but his mind was now elsewhere, being fully immersed in the consciousness of the spiders surrounding him. As the necklace bored to the centre of his chest, the wizard's body was transformed into a thousand tiny spiders, which scuttled away from the horrified guards, leaving his robes and bindings to drop to the ground.

And so ended the career of Aergyl as a PC. However, this episode has layed the seed of him potentially returning as an enemy at some point, a deranged devotee of Ligg. It was a really interesting session, and great fun to delve a bit further into the relationship of mortals to the gods. I have very much in mind that I want the gods to have real power in the world, and that characters speaking their names, and invoking their aid have the potential to bring forth that power. I've not come up with any formal rules for this as yet (though I might do), but have just been asking players to make Spirit rolls when they invoke the power of a deity. And Aergyl's player made some very successful Spirit rolls in his dealing with the spider god!

Age of Chaos - Session 6

I've not gotten around to doing proper write-ups of the previous 5 sessions in my Savage Worlds sandbox campaign, and unfortunately I can't remember enough of the specifics of what occurred to do them retrospectively. So we must begin with the sixth session...

Featuring:

Aergyl - eldery and unusually ugly dabbler in the dark arts of necromancy. Worshipper of Mot, god of death.

Barur - Dwarf warrior, noble son of the lord of a distant kingdom. Accompanied by two henchmen: Angur the fighter and Barath the bard.

Darian - wandering bard, about whom little is yet known, as he's appearing on the scene for the first time in this session.

A brief re-cap:

The campaign so far has centred around the village of Keet, a small settlement in the outlying regions of the lands of Karg (yes, the classic sandbox setup :). A motely crew of adventurers have recently entered the region and have been exploring the wilderness to the south of the village, with the eventual aim of finding a route into the mountains and into the City of Iron - a Dwarven stronghold which was overrun by the forces of Chaos about 50 years ago.

Their adventures thusfar have led them into the heart of Grinwold Wood, which is haunted with a strange presence, and inhabited by all manner and size of spiders, and a cult of humans who appear to be spider worshippers. The party have also investigated the ruins of the village of Ballan, which seems to now be home to a group of Bugbears.

This week's session continued directly on from the last, wherein Aergyl was badly injured in a battle against giant spiders and thus decided to attempt to purchase some leather armour, for his future protection. He visited the village smithy, which also acts as a kind of general equipment store, stocking a range of goods which aren't produced in the village, at higher-than-normal prices. A suit of leather armour was available, but Aergyl attempted to "negotiate" a lower price with the smith - insinuating that his wares were not of the highest quality and not worth the price being asked. The smith didn't take kindly to these words, and (after a result of snakeyes for a Persuasion roll) an argument ensued. Aergyl ended up cursing the man in the name of Mot, and carving a rune of death on his door, before making his way to Aglong (the nearest large town) to buy armour there.

Returning from to Keet Aglong in the evening, after several days away from the village, the party headed straight to the inn (the Grinwold's Eaves), which had been their base for the last month or so. They were greeted with an uncomfortable quiet, but nonetheless sat down and ordered some food and drinks from the innkeeper. Barur inquired of the man if there was something wrong, or if something untoward had happened in the last few days, and was told that there had been some kind of trouble, and that they would find out about it soon enough.

Shortly a group of armed guards entered the inn, walked straight up to Aergyl and requested that he accompany them to the village temple, located on a mound to the north of the settlement. He complied, and went peacefully with them, a little unsure of what they wanted or what was to come. Upon reaching the temple he was met by the village priest, a short stocky man whom the party had not previously encountered. It was revealed that Aergyl was to be put to trial for dealing with the dark gods of Chaos - news of the cursing of the smith had, obviously, spread quickly.

The chosen form of the trial was by calling on the judgement of the high gods by means of the runes. Three village elders were present, each as a representative of one of the forces of Order: Blenworth, captain of the guard, on behalf of the King, Meredith, local herbalist, on behalf of the earth gods, and the priest on behalf of the high gods. Each selected a rune, giving three possible fates for the defendant. The runes of Death, Exile and Mercy were selected. The judgement of the god Baal was then called upon, as to which of these three fates should come to pass. *

The rune of Death was revealed, and Aergyl's fate was sealed. He was hurried off to the cell in the guards' barracks, to be taken to Aglong on the morrow to meet his doom.

Barur and his henchmen saw Aergyl being taken, and attempted to intervene, asking the guard captain what had happened, and pleading Aergyl's innocence. But the guards wouldn't question the judgement of the gods, and threw the necromancer into the cell.

After languishing for some hours, Aergyl decided to try his luck at escaping. All his equipment had been taken from him, but he had managed to secret a single tooth in a small pocket on his person - the required component for his spell to summon an undead skeleton. He hoped to be able to command the skeleton to steal the key to his cell, and unlock the door from the outside. The summoning succeeded, but one of the prison guards got into a fight with the skeleton, and Aergyl, out of desperation and anger, ended up killing the man with bolts of eldritch green fire. After the guard's death the skeleton managed to retrieve the key, and attempted to open the lock. However it's manual dexterity wasn't up to the task, and it crumbled into a pile of bones before it could free its master.

Soon afterwards Barur, accompanied by Darian (who had, strangely, just arrived in the village in the middle of the night) went to the prison to investigate and to see if he'd be allowed to speak with Aergyl. Creeping up to one of the prison's windows Barur heard the guards cursing the necromancer, and bemoaning the murder of their comrade. At this point even the loyal dwarf questioned whether attempting to rescue his companion was really the best thing to do, and Darian, who apparently was just along for the adventure, began to find the prospect of breaking a necromancer out of prison in the middle of the night to be distinctly unappealing. So they returned to inn and their sleep, hoping to speak with Aergyl in the morning before he was taken to Aglong.

The session ended thus.

* At this point, I tried an interesting experiment. I didn't feel that it'd be fair for me to just decree that Aergyl was to be put to death (which, in the setting, would probably be the usual punishment for dealing with the gods of Chaos), so I let Yves (Aergyl's player) decide which of the three fates would come to pass. In the end he decided to choose randomly by rolling a die.