AAR: In which AsenRG prepares his next session

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
I'm a bit behind...
Since then, I ran a session of Sigil and Shadow, which went great. Here's what I wrote in the Actual News thread.

Lots of roleplaying news on my side, and for a change, all of them sound positive:heart:!

1) I ran Sigil&Shadow for a second time on Saturday. We had a good group of 4 players (2 of them new, one of the old players couldn't make it due to studying).
That's one of the few times since my several-months-long pause where I felt like I'm doing a good job. Maybe the first time when I felt I'm doing everything right, maybe the 3rd time when I was happy with my own performance...
(Now, the players were happy every time. I'm much harder to please:devil:!)

They are doing a splendid job of performing their part of the deal with the New Rochelle's Fairy God(less)mother*, who promised to hide the Mad Hatter's teapot under so much glamour, he'd never be able to find it. And thus, he'd never be able to attempt killing Time.
She just needed a small favour - investigating and dealing with a serial killer specializing in killing fairies... eh, if he kills her, she couldn't really hide it, right? Fairy glamour dissipates after the death of the fairy!

*Yes, she's a fairy. One of the mythical ones, not the slang term - though she's pretty ready to experiment, too...:grin:
No doubt at least one of my players would be glad to hear that, BTW.

2) My most regular player (he has hardly missed a session since the first time we played - coincidentally, he's also among the few Bulgarians with more experience than me) promised to consider running Aquelarre. The setting is exactly up his alley, the presentation is detailed, like he likes, magic system seems to be made to match his preferences, he loves the sanity system...
I have my hopes:thumbsup:! The man is running not one, but TWO PF2 campaigns. So once one of them concludes, who knows...

3) First Daughter liked the D&D movie. At the same evening we watched it, a friend announced in Discord that he's planning to introduce his 11yo daughter to RPGs, as soon as our favourite FLGS announces the next weekend-long mini-RPG-con...
As my daughter is roughly the same age, I suggested we should put them in the same group.
Then he said the owner has informed him that he won't announce it for a couple weeks more at least. So I suggested we could offer them a session elsewhere, earlier. If there isn't a GM at the ready, I can fill the role!
And then it turned out, he knows more kids the same age who are interested in roleplaying, too (they met them at the local fantasy con, so obviously the parents are our kind of people:tongue:)!
OK, I can run for a bigger group as well, no problem. Or I might talk one of my regular players into running, maybe. Whatever works.

4) I'm gearing up for running a (one-on-one) game of The Petal Hack tomorrow or after tomorrow.


5) My players are voting for what we should play on the next session, and on which day. It's either Tuesday, Wednesday, or the week-end, but the latter would need additional negotiations (I'm working on the weekend, but should be able to free up one of the afternoons by taking a morning shift).
I gave them the options "modern thriller via Mythras/Destined, Sigil&Shadow (but with different characters if it's on the weekend - one of the players can't make it), or something OSRish".
Expanding on to that, I've been using Bing and Chat GPT to help me create a one-shot for The Petal Hack. Yes, they're really just helping - I tell them what to create, and then there's the editing...but I prefer editing to writing.
So now I've got 15 pages of a Tekumeli-based "setting snapshot" (i.e. the starting situation at the beginning of the session, ready for use at the table:thumbsup:).

...Maybe I should give them the task to write me a system and edit it, too:grin:?

On the bright side, I might have taught Bing how to run a sandbox campaign. Hey, it asked me how I run, it's a very involved AI:angel:!
Fingers crossed that it's trainer would allow it to remember that, of course...:shade:
 
I'm running a Destined one-shot today - street level, I'm actually using it to run a thriller-style action where two ninja, a CIA agent, a Triad member and a Yakuza with cyberprosthetics have to plunge in the underworld of Tokyo to save a well-known head of state that I'm not going to name to avoid attention by search engines:tongue:!
OTOH, I'm at work, and I haven't finished preparing the PC pregens:shock:!

Clearly, I need someone to make them for me...:thumbsup:

I can't bribe the Pub to do it, so I'd have to bribe some of the players. Let's see how much XP I'd have to offer:shade:.
 
Destined went well, mostly. BTW, the PCs saved Zelenskyy - in a totally apolitical, sandbox way...they actually had an option to help the hired hitman instead (they had been hired by mysterious parties to off him during his nonexistent visit in Japan on 20-05-2023).


As I just said on Discord (I've got my own channel in an RPG-oriented server, yay:grin:!) I've got to run between 1d4+2 and 1d4+3 one-shots more. Then I'm starting to set up for a new campaign.
Sigil &Shadow, Cryptomancer and some OSR game (Spellcraft@Swordplay, The Petal Hack, DCC or Cities Without Numbers) are mandatory. And I should probably run another session of Zaibatsu as well.

Legends of the Wulin, Fight! 2e and Blade of the Iron Throne are part of the dieroll, though. I mean, the first two of them would only make sense if the players want to learn the rules. And BotIT would make sense if the players don't tire from heavy combat systems:tongue:!

The likely candidates for a campaign: Sigil&Shadow, Mythras/Destined (either wuxia or thriller aesthetics), Riders of R'lyeh with their campaign, M-Space, Exalted Essence, Art of Wuxia with a Brendon campaign (either Strange land of Li Fan or Sons of Lady 87), Cryptomancer, and - if the other old GM decides against purchasing and running it for us - Aquelarre. But I'd much rather be a player in the last one:shade:.

The campaign should last at least a year, though:thumbsup:. I'm also looking at an investment of ~$100 before starting it, since this time, I intend to buy the books in print (well, print+PDF, where applicable). After being a PDF-only guy for a while, I've decided that it's actually easier to read from books...but mostly it's because books are easier to pass around the table.

Also, some players obviously like to see books, and hype themselves after seeing the print book:angel:!
 
Last edited:
No session this week. A kiddie birthday party threw me for a loop. Ah well, such is life, I wasn't really in the mood anyway, so I might not have pushed too strongly:angel:!

OTOH, I can try finishing the Petal Hack one-shot that got interrupted (by needing to sleep, imagine that...) at least. And there are rumours I might get to play Art of Wuxia, but I'll believe it when it happens:shade:!

On the plus side, the wife was seriously impressed with Arbiter of Worlds:thumbsup:!
 
So, guys, anyone willing to give me advice on running a game for pre-teens is welcome to do so...:grin:
(And yes, I'm going to run Mythras, why bother asking?)
 
Current status: making pre-gens. Hasaph, on the Mythras Discord, already pointed out to me what I've been forgetting: that witches are quite adequately represented by Folk Magic, and that transformation magic :grin:!

The current plan is to have 7 chracters for them to pick from: Warrior, Witch, Hunter, Assassin (?), Thief, Wizard (or maybe 2 wizards &/or 2 warriors), Shapechanging Bard.
...note to self, use variant chargen (the pyramid). I'm not planning to use the standard chargen any more, but this goes double for when I'm doing pre-gens. The Destined chargen was a serious challenge for my nerves:shade:.
Not because Destined doesn't support the pyramid option, mind you - it does. I just forgot to use it:angel:!
 
Last edited:
So, my (9-12 yo) newly-minted Mythras players dealt with a band of 29 goblins* and met Goblin Slayer, who decided to show them how to deal with the goblins.
Yes, that Goblin Slayer. And the goblins are kinda like those in the manga, minus the age-inappropriate stuff. They still shocked the players, though, just with the "human soup" (which prompted comments how "this game should have a VR" from the eldest player, and comments from her father* "if there was one, it would be 18+ and you wouldn't be allowed":grin:).
If they only knew the reference...:devil:

Next plans: Goblin Slayer would keep killing goblins. But the entity behind the goblins might have spotted the PCs...Amusingly, that's exactly what Bing said as well! (This AI is learning, it just offered to run Mythras for me...and actually suggested Thenla:shock:!)
After some more consulting with Bing: the PCs shall receive a work offer that they might decline, but they'd also get to talk with the prospective employer. A talkative fellow, actually an actor, employed by a wealthy merchant, who is himself under the patronage of a noble, who is (not publicly) a client of a powerful necromancer.
Depending on what they share, they'd get pointed towards suitable (for them) enemies of the necromancer:skeleton:.

*They used a total of 5 magic spells for that. But one of them was Entangle. Goblins attack in numbers? Well, not when they are entangled.
Also, Sleep fucks up any goblin Champion, and Blind opponent sticks it to any goblin shaman:shade:.
The best part of it: I actually didn't suggest any of those - at least one of them is actually thinking on her feet:gunslinger:!
**He was present at the table, and has claimed that he'd want to learn to run games...but he "doesn't know how to improvise", so his first attempt was a disaster. The kind of "players getting off the railroad, Referee having no idea how to deal with it" disaster, AFAICT (based on his account).
So I told him, via a wall of text on Discord, the basic rule of "set situations, not storylines", and added that it's easier to show than to tell how to do that. I think he got the gist of it (and was seriously impressed with allowing the players to do anything they want:tongue:).
 
Yesterday, I ran Savage Worlds Mars, loosely inspired by Barzoom. The PCs were 2 Eartmen (one Mayan girl who was going to be sacrificed and one US Lieutenant who disappeared from the Pacific war theater during an off-the-books mission), a Synth Woman sniper, and a Red Martian who had a nihilistic streak about as wide as the Att Lyman bay...:tongue:
So a Red Martian vizier decided to use them as the unafilliated barbarian former-militaries that he presumed them to be, and asked them to investigate a new cult.
Long story short, I made a Q-An'on/reptioloids analogue on Barsoom. The prophet, some Questarius guy, declared that the rulers are being replaced by reptiloid beings, who were eating Red and Green Martians. Suspiciously enough, he saw that in a vision by Issu, after a near-death-religious-experience brought by the lack of water...:shade:
He was also getting funding and consulting support by a specialist from another city-state, unsurprisingly.

...my players met them both, but didn't kill either, despite being in position to do so - instead, they decided to strike a deal in return for help getting back to Earth:shock:!

On the not-so-bright side, maybe the father of my two players won't keep playing RPGs. I know you can't get them all, but I'm still feeling bad about it! Ah well...

Hopefully I'd need to plan for the kids group this week.
 
So, notes from last session...which just might become a campaign:thumbsup:!

-The world is part of Thennla. The players basically know that, I confirmed part of the cosmology already. I might need to re-purpose parts of the setting, but whatever, it's doable.
-The priests of the Moon Goddess are looking for a new Queen of the Lunar Cult (a city that's a mix of two Thennlan cities was added, Baba Yaga is from there): the priests go to pick suitable female candidates for the title of Queen, but the candidate must prepare to and then assassinate the old Queen. However, someone is trying to make one of the priests pick a specific person...:shade:
-There's rumours of a war in the South, featuring a city named Meeros.
-The Grandfather Bear cult is on the rise, after being basically wiped out in the last century. They refused to join.
-The cult's new recruit, Angelo (spelled An-heh-loo, just because) is marrying his girlfriend soon, that the PCs didn't want to kidnap for him (he offered them...well, not nearly enough money, in their estimates, then decided they've ripped him off, wrote them off, and joined the cult to get the Bear Gift).
-Her father, Vincenzo dos Santos, the holder of the Queen's Treasury, is definitely Not OK with the marriage.
-Miguel the Butcher (actually his profession) who lost the oiled wrestling against Beurg the Barbarian is not happy with the victor not willing to talk to him.
-There's a new competitor in town, participating in any kind of contest. He says he's doing that to get inspiration for his poetry.


Hmm...who wants to talk about Thennla - CRKrueger CRKrueger or Raleel Raleel maybe:grin:?
 
Last edited:
To answer myself, obviously nobody:shock:!

Well, let's see. The Thennla character who ran through the Devil's Quagmire got into a new adventure as his (and his sister's) double wedding was interrupted by murder and assault.
Her fiancee was poisoned by wine in the wedding chalice. His own fiancee, however, demanded that they finish their part of the ceremony, pointing out that if they'd been first, she'd be married now and he'd be just as dead.
They did marry them. Then the apes attacked, jumping from the temple's roof.
What followed was an epic battle where the character faced three apes at once, being surrounded (along with his now-wife) and unarmed. The wife did manage to hold the ape who was trying to grab her for two whole rounds (:shock:), and once, when he grabbed her, succeeded at freeing herself immediately.

She's got an Unarmed skill in the 20ies. I just rolled 3 failures for the ape...with a 71% skill. And the third attack of four (the wife was defending!) was a grab...countered by a 01 freeing attempt. Everyone was impressed.

In the meantime, the character was beating up on the apes using his knife and another small chair he'd managed to grab a hold of. (Why was there one? Because I rolled a check and there was. I guess they give them to cult initiates of advanced age, the way they do in churches?)
In the space of those two rounds, one of the monkeys got a broken arm by the chair and another got its hand stunned and was blinded. Then the third one managed to grab a hold of the wife.
It then fell down, along with her, and its leg was stunned, after he used a swinging hooking motion with the chair. Then one-armed ape didn't manage to hit him at all, the attempt to grab and bite his legs failed as well, and the man simply jumped on the same leg he'd just hit-stunned, breaking the ape's leg decisively.
Then he pulled his wife upright (lots of Brawn...) and ran with her for the exit. Another ape faced them, but fell down against his first attack, which ended up throwing it against the stone floor. I didn't bother checking for hit location, they just kept running.
Then he left her outside - where his sister had just appeared, much to his disappointment - grabbed a sword and shield from an accolyte, and ran to save whoever he could.
He ended up saving his uncle.
His sister's scream should be heard for leagues as she learns of that particular part of the news.
Most of the apes retreated, bleeding. Some had died. Some humans had been hurt or maimed, two killed, as well - and some young women and men had been carried off.
The enemies of that city would be speaking about this for ages, insinuating that it was the fact that some apes had been carrying off the prisoners, that reduced the apes' numbers and allowed them to triumph.
But that was for later. The newlyweds retired to their chambers - and after having had a talk with his sister, while he was inside the temple, his new wife now stated in no uncertain terms that she has already grown to agree with his theory that his sister was behind that attack. (He'd warned her not to trust Dear Sis, whispering to her ear. Which allowed her to roll another crit - a 02 - on Intuition...opposing the Deceit roll, which was a simple success. Had she not beaten it, she would have followed Dear Sis to a teahouse...:shade:). So he was getting his wife's backing, whatever he'd decide to do.
However, he'd have to be very careful: she has, officially, freed herself. As she tells it, "she just ordered the ape to put her down with such virtue that the ape acquiesced".
Which makes for a nicely moral story, and totally expected in that society: even beasts have to obey virtue!
Or might it be because apes, too, believe virtuous women are boring? Who knows:devil:?
But, as both her fiancee is dead, and his best man (who'd have to marry her given the groom's untimely death) didn't survive him...she is unmarriageable for a few months. Shall be some interesting months!




On top of that, possibly way more importantly...

You know, guys, there used to be several genres I cannot run or play. Some time ago those used to be superheroes, D&D-style fantasy, westerns, and mechas.
Then I ran Classic Fantasy and Destined. And I played Boot Hills here...:grin:

And this week, the boys asked me to run a game for them. They're in their giant robots phase, and I didn't even have dice, so I used FKR...:shade:

I guess it's all a matter of getting used to it:thumbsup:!

...and as an update to that, I've basically structured it into a workable system:tongue:.

Today, the players were using ambushing and positioning to defeat the evil space corp's mining and security robots and help the blue-skinned aliens reclame their world.
With robots they built on the specifications the players shared:shade:.

...of which world they then requested 90% as payment. Though they eventually settled for 1/8 (12,5%), as payment for the alliance with Earth.
My aliens are better negotiators than my 6yo son's mecha pilot. Who would have guessed:grin:?


Even better, as I'm leaving them on the country house: turns out Mom has watched orders of magnitude more mecha shows than me. So she's going to run a game for them:thumbsup:!
 
For a change, I'm getting to play. That's a VERY NICE change:thumbsup:!

Last night finished my second session of PF2, and my first combat in the system.
Overall impressions: it definitely seems crunchier than PF1, though I'm not an expert on PF1 (it's quite possible I just hadn't seen the crunchiest parts). However, it seemed much easier to map to IC actions, though not always in the "consequences" department. As in, some stuff felt out of place, as in there being no* bonus for hitting an opponent I was holding with the chain in my other hand.


But the class design is IMO much better, as in, the Swashbuckler is doing something that I've always believed would work well in many systems: set-ups.
Granted, I'm playing a swashbuckler with a kusarigama who's out to gain lots of power...because his endgoal is to get a goddess for his girlfriend. That's why he says he's a fan of Pharasma...but he never says he's a believer:gunslinger:!

I got inspired by Elminster and Conan's prayer to Crom in the movie:tongue:.

Fun fact: I constructed the guy without reading the whole system, using "general knowledge on D&D", the GM's help (...handholding, some would say, though I picked the class myself:shade:), online tools, and Duckduckgo.
Yes, I searched for "which class Pathfinder 2 status effects buffs", IIRC, because I was in the mood for this. I half-expected to get a caster class. Turns out, the Swashbuckler class has some decent options:shock:!
After the session, the GM noted "Asen's PC is almost the only one having self-synergy". I was really amused, given the level of my system knowledge:grin:!
That was, if you ask me, a prime example of rolling on a related skill with higher difficulty (DC?), if you ask me...




*I mean, there was a bonus, but I'm not sure whether it wasn't due to one of my feats - which would imply that normal people don't gain anything by grappling someone they intend to hit. And that's bullshit, all brawlers do exactly that, as we know (or perusing YouTube would show).



***

In related news, I'm also playing a 1-on-1 session of Art of Wuxia. Admittedly, it's the kind of campaign that would drive many other players up a wall. Why? Because of the Uber-NPCs running around...
Not a problem in my book, though. I'm just getting them to fight each other, and meanwhile, I'm mopping their helpers out. And with this GM, I know most of them would be...not quite skilled in working around organizational issues.
So I plot like a villain courtier against them, and make them suffer from behind the scenes:devil:!
 
Last edited:
In retrospect, I have been playing quite a bit in the past month, while the kids were away in the country house:thumbsup:.

How much? Well, I got 3 sessions of PF2 in, the system is definitely a keeper compared to most other D&D clones (which it basically is). I got to play some Stara Szkola, some Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, and more than a few (more like a score*) of sessions in Art of Wuxia, after we restarted an old campaign (with another player dropping out, so it ended up being 1-on-1 with the GM).

This is giving me the opportunity to put to the test my theory that this is the way to combine immersion with storytelling. Yes, I like both, I just can't combine them during the session.
But "immersion during the session, storytelling between the sessions" has been a moto of mines for a long time. I first put it away in favor of storytelling the whole time, then in favor of full-bore immersion. Time to put each of them in their places, I'd say...:tongue:

Additionally, those characters are totally unlike each other.
One of them is a righteous, but scheming scholar-warrior who avoids fights as much as he can and would rather make a villain he can't defeat fight his henchmen, then defeat him while he's at his weakest. Preferably with his own allies. He believes mystics are weird ascets and is a womanizer.
He also got adopted by an influential nobleman with a dark reputation, on the forceful recommendation of a powerful xia, and in exchange for the promise to take care of his spirit, as well as his own parents' spirits.

The other is literally has "Bao BuTong's kindred spirit" as his concept: righteous, paladin-like warrior-mystic who loves fighting, protects beggars (his teacher is in good relations with the Beggar Clan/Brotherhood) and is trying to find a balance between fasting and good food, freely offered and is usually oblivious to any romantic interests towards him.
He just spent a day on cricket fights and joined the "warm-up" division of a bare-knuckles Lei Tai tournament, something that would never cross the mind of the previous PC ("it's great, people here can fight freely without interference from elders, I like that part about big cities!")

The last one is a Lin Kuei-like warrior who works for one of the designated Main Villains of the setting (the lord of Rot City).
His descriptors, from his character sheet: Always Calm, Has A Reputation For Being Mildly Sadistic. He tends to keep the latter under control... except he uses it to enhance interrogations and intimidation. He has also suggested to the villain (via memos) to include cannibalism as a punishment, and to animate the bodies of those executed and have them roaming the city walls to tell the story of their transgressions and punishment to everyone that they encounter.
His idea of abject lesson is, one might say, rather abject. Righteous hero, however, he ain't:grin:!

So, overall, it was a good month roleplaying-wise:heart:!

...but all is not roses and sunshine: I have my suspicions that the GM might get in one of her worse spells. Those have ended multiple campaigns, too...so I'm crossing some fingers, here:angel:!

*I mean, I made not one, but three PCs which are playing in different parts and strata of the setting. I am positive I earned at least 21 Cultivation Points between them, possibly closer to 30ies - I haven't got my notes (and I mostly keep track of how much I've got left, anyway).
For the record, I get an average of 3 CP per session. That's what most sessions ended up with, a couple of 4CPs, a single 5CP, and a few 1CPs in the mix. I'm fine with that speed - that's for reference purposes.
 
As I said in the Recent News thread... :smile:
I managed to squeeze a couple of sessions in this week (although PF2 ended up being cancelled), and hope to manage at least one more before the end of the week-end.

First, I had a session of Art of Wuxia. I steered the NPCs until they finally managed to clean the a lair of some rather bad people, Ming Cultists included. Though we still can't find where the actual cultists are.
OTOH, we can execute a corrupt eunuch minister, and some corrupt nobles which have been a torn in our sides since the campaign started.
My character became a noble by imperial edict: the emperor literally raised one of his ancestors (by blood, he is already adopted into nobility as well) to nobility, which means that my whole line now consists of noblemen! I'm taking it extremely seriously, too, and plan to honour both sides of it (blood and adoption).
This character's* love life is also going well, though we didn't focus much on that...this session:shade:.


Also, today was my first session of a WFRP campaign. I did roll everything, got a priest, and decided again with a roll that he's a priest of Sigmar.
Got a couple important rolls during the session, failed a few others.
I met the group in a typical Warhammer fashion: in the prison, where they were after getting framed for destroying the temple of Mort in Sirland's capital (and discovering some worrisome facts about Sigmar's own temple). I promptly concluded that there's a vampire in the city...at least one...and we ran from the city and are planning to ask for help from the nearest other city.
I'm not saying more on the events of that one simply because the GM might be running a pre-made adventure, for all I know...IDKR:grin:!

Hopefully that wouldn't be the last of my roleplaying for the week.

And now First Son, at 6yo, has been playing his first "real" system. I ran Art of Wuxia* for him 1-on-1, and while we didn't achieve much, we have now his character sheet...:heart:

He asked for a Minecraft character popular on YouTube (Nightmare Dream, IIRC). I allowed it, with the "Balrog proviso", meaning he can play him, but he got 2 spells** and 1 Kung-Fu technique at 1st level. He can buy the rest with XP:grin:!
As I expected, he's treating the Nightmare Dream as a collection of powers, so he didn't have ideas for background (I suspect I learned more after reading the video description:angel:).
Which is great, because it means he accepted without asking the suggestion to play a Beggar Brotherhood member. He's not a beggar himself, he's just a xia that's protecting poor people...and in a place like Ancient China, I've got lots of work for him:tongue:!


*Except I adapted it to use d20 roll under, critical if you roll the exact number. Basically, I divided all the d%-based stuff by 5, and left the d10-based stuff mostly as it is (which required me to also multiply the d20 numbers by 5/2, instead of dividing by 2, when determining Body Points).

And then I'm also considering what to run nextr:wink:. I have a Legends of the Wulin session mostly prepared, to showcase the system (strictly one-shot, I can't run that amount of crunch for long)...but the regulars have been requesting Sigils&Shadow or Unknown Armies 3e, and politely pointing in the direction of the latter:grin:!

We'll see how this combines with the sessions we're already playing in together...:thumbsup:
 
Ran a session of Art of Wuxia last week, but I was mostly playing it.
I managed to squeeze a couple of sessions in this week (although PF2 ended up being cancelled), and hope to manage at least one more before the end of the week-end.

First, I had a session of Art of Wuxia. I steered the NPCs until they finally managed to clean the a lair of some rather bad people, Ming Cultists included. Though we still can't find where the actual cultists are.
OTOH, we can execute a corrupt eunuch minister, and some corrupt nobles which have been a torn in our sides since the campaign started.
My character became a noble by imperial edict: the emperor literally raised one of his ancestors (by blood, he is already adopted into nobility as well) to nobility, which means that my whole line now consists of noblemen! I'm taking it extremely seriously, too, and plan to honour both sides of it (blood and adoption).
This character's* love life is also going well, though we didn't focus much on that...this session:shade:.


Also, today was my first session of a WFRP campaign. I did roll everything, got a priest, and decided again with a roll that he's a priest of Sigmar.
Got a couple important rolls during the session, failed a few others.
I met the group in a typical Warhammer fashion: in the prison, where they were after getting framed for destroying the temple of Mort in Sirland's capital (and discovering some worrisome facts about Sigmar's own temple). I promptly concluded that there's a vampire in the city...at least one...and we ran from the city and are planning to ask for help from the nearest other city.
I'm not saying more on the events of that one simply because the GM might be running a pre-made adventure, for all I know...IDKR:grin:!

Hopefully that wouldn't be the last of my roleplaying for the week.
I can't edit any more, so double-posting...

I am running Art of Wuxia today. I've got our PF2 GM as the only other male, the wife, and a girl who messaged me on FB to ask whether there are free slots in "the D&D game". I told her there are, and clarified that Art of Wuxia isn't using the same rules. She was unfazed, and said that she hasn't seen many systems, so I've just got to teach her the rules...which is easy enough in this case:thumbsup:.

There are some odds that the boyfriend of one of my colleagues might join us as well. I actually invited her, because she actually speaks Chinese, but she said she's not really into tabletop games, unlike her boyfriend.
Me: "Can't you pass him an invite, then? We'd be glad to have him on the table!" (Mentally, me: "One player is one player...two players would be better, but I'd be happy if I get either one":grin:).
She said she'd pass my offer (and my phone number, if he decides to come). Of course, whether he'd decide to join, is another matter entirely, so I'm estimating the odds as <20%.

Still, having something like 36 hours to organize a session and ending up with 3 players isn't that bad, so I'm happy:angel:!
Played PF2 again (no fights, we were just recovering from the conditions due to facing a Dread Wight at lvl 5 - we ran, of course:shade:) last night, and I might be able to organize a session of Art of Wuxia on Saturday. We'll see.

It's a bit of a short notice (Master Obvious here:grin:), but I was just waiting for the Pulp Chthulhu GM to announce whether he's going to run. Well, he's not going to, due to another player not being available. (And we were only able to clarify that once we knew what days the GM is available on - he's running a PF1e campaign as well, and he's made it clear it's his priority).
I invited the GM and the other players, of course. Only one has accepted so far, though, the GM stated he'd prefer to work on personal projects if he's not running:thumbsup:.

I did advise him to take an extra player before we started...but I'm explicitly not going to be a backseat GM. I tell him what I think, briefly and concisely, if he doesn't want to follow the advice, he's free to do so.
I mean, I'm way more experienced than him...but there are people (including on this forum) whose experience is orders of magnitude longer than mine. And yet, some of their advice simply wouldn't work for my GMing style! So more experienced doesn't always mean "has the right advice". And it's time for me to realize that the same goes for me as well...:angel:

Last week's Pulp CoC session was a success. It turns out we've played through Blackwater Creek which seems to be recommended.

...does that count as standard for CoC, guys? Because it sure seemed standard to me, regarding plot. But I'm wondering about the difficulty we utterly anihilated the opposition. So much so, in fact, that my PC ended with NO SAN DAMAGE, much to the surprise of the Keeper. And despite experiencing body horror and he is technically better-off physically.
I mean, Freddy had now improved his App, Dex and Con stats (by 2 pts each, though I think the App gain was reversed) due to some Mythos elements, and his Str stat by 24 pts (random roll), which means my stat is well above the maximum for humans - 104 Str instead of 80! Body horror, I'm telling you:grin:!

Thus, I might have played the first CoC investigator who ended up genuinely better off than he was at the start:tongue:!
(The first among my characters, for sure. I mean, at least two of my other CoC PCs ended up better-off financially. But this one is the first to end off better physically).
Another player suggested that I should retire him and get him into a carnival circus, where he'd be painted green and have the name Hulk. And he'd be seen by the future Marvel authors/painters, who were kids around that time...:gunslinger:


ab67616d00001e0289c9f7b9412e966fac8d30f6

Yes, I did start playing a Pulp CoC game, and ended up playing a superhero. Sue me. AFAIK, the GM has been playing it by the book/adventure (he actually stops the game to check rules, unlike me).

OTOH, the GM has expressed willingness to run some out-there games, especially anime-themed. I'm game for a one-shot, or two-shot, of basically anything, of course. It's getting me to a second adventure that might be harder:shade:.


No PF2 this week, for OOC reasons. Turns out some people thought my Swashbuckler is too active, and overshadowing the supposed group leader.

...I mean, I struggle to imagine a passive swashbuckler - but I guess I might not be a good fit for the group. Which is fine, I did intend it as a guest appearance - in fact, I'd overstayed my plans already:thumbsup:. The initial plans were for 1d3 sessions. I'm at 4-6 sessions so far (can't be bothered to count, honestly).

And I definitely don't want to cause issues for the campaign. That's not how you treat a campaign where you're guest-starring!

So, I'm skipping this week partially to give them some time to cool off, partially because it would be hard for me to schedule...and I'm going to leave at the end of the interlude, where my OOC&IC skillsets are really useful.
(Also, it's a megadundgeon named Abomination Vaults. I'm finding the interlude much more fun).
And then I am going to leave, so Rodrigo - pronounced Rhodrigo - is having a couple more sessions of "shelf life", at most.


We'll see about sessions in the week-end. Warhammer might or might not happen, and another Pulp CoC might or might not materialize as well.
I'll try to get them to commit, and if we skip either or both, I might run a session instead. Maybe Art of Wuxia or Sigil&Shadow (which I folded and ordered in book form).
There might be other sessions in the week and/or during the week-end as well, so again, I'm not complaining. I just need some clarity.
 
Also, I played WFRP4e, which was fine. We're using Fast SLs, and I have a confirmation that we're not playing a pre-made campaign. As our PF2 GM* puts it, this guy has never ran a pre-made adventure. And he is a long-time friend with the WFRP GM, so he should know.
That's typical of the early crop of roleplayers around here, actually. I only started running pre-made material because I was in a slump.
So now we're running from a Vampire in Stirland, who has usurped a position of authority, and have almost managed to get to a different city to call for help. Luckily, we have a Devoted of Mors amidst us, who cannot lie, so we can use her testimony, as my PC pointed out.
That's how you hear my Priest of Sigmar (randomly rolled) saying "right, we must go straight to the temple of Mors, and make them listen to her, then we add our testimony". Normally his idea was "go to the temple of Sigmar and swear upon my immortal soul"...:shade:
A Crusade** is in the making!


I also ran Art of Wuxia last night. We kept indoctrinating one of our players into the D100 Orthodoxy.
The PCs ran into another classical story: that of Kui Mulang and Yunu!

From Wikipedia:

All right and proper, but in my games it's not so easy. Yunu had accepted a deal to reincarnate into a prepared body without losing her memories. The deal was offered by the White Lotus.
That was 20 years ago. She can't perform her deal, because it's impossible: she had to bring a prince's (the son of a wan) head. Said prince had left the country by ship and went to look for the Peaches of Immortality in the Eastern Sea!
Which was fine by the White Lotus. By the rules of the contract, she serves them until such time as she performs the task.

OTOH, Kui Mulang, having performed his task - it did take 30 years for him, he found a deal faster - has become the trader Yellow Robe, and is now amassing his fortune. He also hires xia - whom he makes sign a magical NDA contract to not uncover his identity even if they don't agree to the task - to help Yunu.

Given how willing my players were to deal with the demons, I suggested that they should found a Fraternity For Promoting And Improving Friendship With Demons.
I mean, "demons are people, too" wasn't exactly what I expected to hear from not one, but two PCs with Totally Honourable traits.
Granted, they also were looking for a way to rob a whorehouse, so I guess that's a different kind of honourable...
Either way, they're still thinking on that idea!

Funny enough, one of them had a task to learn the abilities of another PC has. Since they resolved it without fighting, she failed at that, and she'd have to tag along in other adventures as well! (Her lead-in hook was literally "you have to research this new xia's abilities and estimate her ranking", as a clan-imposed task...:gunslinger:).



*I'll stop calling him that when he runs Maelstrom Domesday:devil:!
**What do they call them in Sigmarite lands? A Hammeriade:tongue:?
***I'm not making them take those quests, they had other options as well, one of which was based upon a popular Southern Rock song, another based on their previous adventure, and everything else that is going on. They just picked yet another classical - well, sorta - tale:grin:!

I won't have any sessions to play in this week-end. Not my fault: the WFRP GM is too busy this week. The CoC one refuses to run if a player is unavailable - a habit I find something between amusing, irritating and shrug-worthy - and one of our players is visiting relatives in the country, and shall stay for the week-end.

So I might run two sessions instead...:grin:

The Sunday one is already scheduled. It's Art of Wuxia, continuing the play in my wuxia sandbox, as seen on this forum.
One of the players is printing out Confucian canon precepts to quote, willing to play his kung-fu scholar to the hilt:thumbsup:!
We should also have another new player, from the WFRP4e group.
Oh, and our player from the Pulp CoC group, who's in the country? She shall join us remotely, via discord voice. "One fantasy-Persian princess reporting for duty, sir!"

Well, we won't be at the usual place. They've got, amusingly enough, a Warhammer tournament! But then we're going to get a separate room at another FLGS, so we are playing!
I had to call one of the owners, whom I know from HEMA, but we set it up:tongue:.

...and I just realized I've set it on a day when I have a night shift:shock:!
Fuck it, we're playing all the same:shade:! My mistake, I am going to suffer for it. Seems fair:angel:!


So I'm running Art of Wuxia again (I wonder whether the number of times I've mentioned the system would get the publishers to register on the Pub:grin:), and I think I should note how the sandbox has changed.

Events, almost all due to sessions:
The players have a countdown - 40 days + (d30-d30) to receive bonus money from The Fisherman. He is going to split the proceeds from the sale of the huge-ass pearl between them and the Daoist temple, as in 10% going to the PCs that were in that session).
Developments Down The Drain (DDTD): Gangsters looking to steal the pearl or kidnap the fishergirl for ransom (that the fisherman can't pay).

Two out of three Cannibal Cultists#2.5. are alive: the PCs killed Zhou the Careless...Chen the Flashy and Li the Firemaster are both more powerful, and went missing.

Huang Xiang#2.6. is missing. Wang the Merchant is offering a reward for her return, twice that for her being alive. (She's probably not. Li and Chen have kidnapped her as "emergency rations")
Less known fact: Iron Teeth Gao#2.4. is also looking for her. He is a cannibal, teacher of Li and Chen, and Huang's out-of-wedlock lover.
DDTD: RIGHT NOW there is a string of attacks, as Gao is breaking up criminal enterprises, looking for Huang. He has no idea what has happened.

Related to the above: a gang is fighting for control. That only leads to beatings, though: the former students of Li the Brigand are fighting for control of the gang.

There was an attack at Madame Zhu's floating Whorehouse:#11.0. A client has been decapitated, but no body has been found. However Madame Zhu#11.1. has forbidden the staff from ever mentioning it, because the body withered into dust later (the prince was turned into a vampire, after finding not the Peaches of Immortality).
A theatre troupe is lacking a director. Clerk Liu Bao#5.1. is going to investigate the disappearance, as well as the lack of body. 11.3. Chuan-Kang Shih has been assigned to make sure none of the staff would talk to anyone. #5.3. Gu Xiao He is going to suggest #5.1. or #5.4. (Inspector Ding the Slayer) to investigate the crime (and lack of body) by going to 11.0 (she doesn't want her husband to go to the whorehouse while she's pregnant).


13.0. Hariti and Scorpion Demoness: two demonesses-seductresses who kidnapped the former Prince and turned him into their own plaything. SD is out for revenge, Hariti has her back at the Celestial Bureaucracy and investigates via mystics that employ Sexual Tantra. She is going to learn what happened from #11.3. in a week, which he's going to say in a trance, while "communing with the goddess". Then she will relay this to Scorpion Demoness.

13.1. The Prince's former Thetre Troupe: 13.0 is going to take control of it within 3 days (to the delight of the actresses).


Anyone who wants to look at my sandbox attempts - but especially BedrockBrendan BedrockBrendan (the city is nominally in WHoOG setting) are invited to look at the spoiler, though.
I expect Ravenswing Ravenswing CRKrueger CRKrueger TristramEvans TristramEvans Baulderstone Baulderstone L Lundgren Dumarest Dumarest Fenris-77 Fenris-77 and robertsconley robertsconley would have a field day with this, including by shooting holes in my "sandbox plotting" (if you don't want to, guys, apologies for the mention:thumbsup:)!
 
Last edited:
I keep feeling that I'm forgetting some consequences that should logically happen:shock:!

I hate that feeling, BTW...:shade:

Anyway, the table for today:

1.Master Xiong 4.1.
2.Feng Quai She 4.4.
3. Wanyan 4.3.
4. Shih Chuan-Kang 11.3.
5. Iron Teeth Gao 2.4.
6. Clerk Liu Bao 5.1.
7. Madame Gu 5.3.
8. Inspector Ding the Slayer 5.4
9. Li Firemaster&Chen Flashy 2.5.
10. Late Master Li's former Gang fighting for control.

Those combine with an elemental approach determining the kind of event. Elements can be Yin or Yang.

Yin Elements
1. Metal
2.Water
3.Wood
4. Fire
5. Earth
Yang
6. Metal
7. Water
8. Wood
9. Fire
10. Earth
 
So I'm running Art of Wuxia again (I wonder whether the number of times I've mentioned the system would get the publishers to register on the Pub:grin:), and I think I should note how the sandbox has changed.

Events, almost all due to sessions:
The players have a countdown - 40 days + (d30-d30) to receive bonus money from The Fisherman. He is going to split the proceeds from the sale of the huge-ass pearl between them and the Daoist temple, as in 10% going to the PCs that were in that session).
Developments Down The Drain (DDTD): Gangsters looking to steal the pearl or kidnap the fishergirl for ransom (that the fisherman can't pay).

Two out of three Cannibal Cultists#2.5. are alive: the PCs killed Zhou the Careless...Chen the Flashy and Li the Firemaster are both more powerful, and went missing.

Huang Xiang#2.6. is missing. Wang the Merchant is offering a reward for her return, twice that for her being alive. (She's probably not. Li and Chen have kidnapped her as "emergency rations")
Less known fact: Iron Teeth Gao#2.4. is also looking for her. He is a cannibal, teacher of Li and Chen, and Huang's out-of-wedlock lover.
DDTD: RIGHT NOW there is a string of attacks, as Gao is breaking up criminal enterprises, looking for Huang. He has no idea what has happened.

Related to the above: a gang is fighting for control. That only leads to beatings, though: the former students of Li the Brigand are fighting for control of the gang.

There was an attack at Madame Zhu's floating Whorehouse:#11.0. A client has been decapitated, but no body has been found. However Madame Zhu#11.1. has forbidden the staff from ever mentioning it, because the body withered into dust later (the prince was turned into a vampire, after finding not the Peaches of Immortality).
A theatre troupe is lacking a director. Clerk Liu Bao#5.1. is going to investigate the disappearance, as well as the lack of body. 11.3. Chuan-Kang Shih has been assigned to make sure none of the staff would talk to anyone. #5.3. Gu Xiao He is going to suggest #5.1. or #5.4. (Inspector Ding the Slayer) to investigate the crime (and lack of body) by going to 11.0 (she doesn't want her husband to go to the whorehouse while she's pregnant).


13.0. Hariti and Scorpion Demoness: two demonesses-seductresses who kidnapped the former Prince and turned him into their own plaything. SD is out for revenge, Hariti has her back at the Celestial Bureaucracy and investigates via mystics that employ Sexual Tantra. She is going to learn what happened from #11.3. in a week, which he's going to say in a trance, while "communing with the goddess". Then she will relay this to Scorpion Demoness.

13.1. The Prince's former Theatre Troupe: 13.0 is going to take control of it within 3 days (to the delight of the actresses).


Anyone who wants to look at my sandbox attempts - but especially BedrockBrendan BedrockBrendan (the city is nominally in WHoOG setting) are invited to look at the spoiler, though.
I expect Ravenswing Ravenswing CRKrueger CRKrueger TristramEvans TristramEvans Baulderstone Baulderstone L Lundgren Dumarest Dumarest Fenris-77 Fenris-77 and robertsconley robertsconley would have a field day with this, including by shooting holes in my "sandbox plotting" (if you don't want to, guys, apologies for the mention:thumbsup:)!
You know what's the best part of writing notes? You write 444 words in the spoiler tag, you sit on the table, you open the tag to use as notes, and after you take a sip of green-white tea...you remember the part that you didn't write:grin:!

Namely, the part that there has been a spirit manifestation in the "Wolf-Capturing Sword of Zhao Bao Yao" martial arts school.
There's actually a former victim of the White Lotus who has come back for revenge. He's trying to kill Zhao, or kidnap his daughter, or kill his best student. But what he really wants is the identity of the man or woman that killed his wife, and the identity of whoever ordered it... everything else is negotiable.
Think "we can negotiate about me only killing the perpetrator slowly, and emasculating his boss at the time, but the identity of whoever gave the order is something I need, and that's non-negotiable" kind of argument. Nothing less would be acceptable, of course.

Of course, he's literally going to utter the line "I AM THE RIGHTEOUS HAND OF GOD! AND IM THE DEVIL THAT YOU FORGOT!" when he meets Zhao. Or he might play an...err, I need to think what instrument would seem to replace the harmonica in China:shade:!



But whatever, I remembered it in time, after all!

It was another good session. They got Feng Quai She's job, realized what he is (a series of rolls starting with a crit success on a Detect roll) and decided...that it's above their paygrade, and Trader Wang is paying more anyway. (No idea how they decided that, they never asked how much Feng is willing to pay).

So they went looking for Miss Huang. Well, it's not like that got them very far away from the Feng Quai She - Hu Li Jing tangle...they should have gone for the other events if they wanted to actually escape that:devil:!
But first, they went looking for info on spirited animals. One problem, though: one of them got drunk while meeting Master Xiong (random event)...

They did manage to follow Huang's cold trail to the Hu's house, having guessed she was having an affair there. There, some of them went talking to some tenants they'd heard about, while Hu lead the drunk scholar away, and mocked him.
(She found him being drunk tasteless, and made some relatively light fun of him - pouring him more white baiju in the dog's ceramic glass - because that's who she is, she teases and mocks people if she can get away with it, and does far worse if she thinks she can do so without blowing her "cover". Some NPCs need a reason to be bad, some need a reason not to).
And it was all going more or less smoothly when the drunk scholar got into the house and asked her "have you heard of Feng Quai She? I hear you know him?"

Now, keep in mind, they were warned she doesn't know he's in town, she thinks he's still studying for exams, while he's looking for a way to break their engagement...it's just that the scholar PC is just as much of a Confucian as Feng himself - ironically, they're too much alike - and he thinks it's tasteless to go against his parents' wishes:grin:! I think this just got to a culmination when being drunk, and snubbed by Hu, so he decided to "show her"...
(My speculation, I didn't ask).

So she got very polite all of a sudden, and then gave him more to drink...including a detoxicant. It made him vomit - her medicines all make you suffer, even if they don't need to - but another PC used the magic "commune" and started singing in his head. He started repeating it, or trying to (it was kinda hard after the detox started working, which was "almost immediately").

At the end, all she managed to get from him was that yes, he'd met Feng today. He claimed he has forgotten where, somewhere where they drank...and she decided not to push it. Besides, she was literally too angry at being ignored, and had to "go for a stroll".
Well, "jumping on the roofs and looking for someone to hurt to make her own pain stop" is more like it, in her case. I make no excuses for having actual villains:gunslinger:.

Thus, they all acted as their characters probably should - they know she's seriously out of their league, and no, I don't apologize for that, either - and went to their superiors/more experienced connections for help.
The Scholar went to Xiong, who gave him an anti-fox talisman, and turned his family's domicile into a small fortress, from the point of view of spirited foxes. (No fox is going to pass those wards...seriously, none, the next day the two Mystic PCs looked at the stuff at the corners of the rooms and realized they can basically study a chef d'oeuvre.
The PCs think he's a spirited bear himself and since his name means "bear", many jokes on "5e bears" were made. The fact that Master Xiong refers to himself as "old ne'er-do-well" who'd be a lot more interesting to be around if he was "only 90 again*" doesn't help:shade:! (He's also mentioned his childhood friend Master Li, so he's seriously ancient!)
"But remember, they only keep foxes out!"
I was unsure if the PC understood him.

So they met at his house and after inspecting the wards, stopped wondering that the scholar is alive something that the Night Breeze guy mentioned being surprised about). OTOH, he pointed out to him that this only keeps foxes out. "So if a random jianghu bandit breaks in and drags you out, possibly taking that talisman off your neck..."
The Scholar understood the shady xia's message and kinda gulped. Another thing they'd found about Miss Hu is that she doesn't mind using human associates whom she allows to claim some of her deeds (like beating people who sneak into her house, and whom she kills herself).

However, since the same PC has already taken his Diviner skill, he got them a hint that allowed them to guess the likely location of Madam Huang!
"Inside a city, where bandits meet".
After cross-referencing the places of bandits, they got to an abandoned mill...9 minutes before Iron Teeth Gao.
So they waited for him, and offered him to ally. "We just want to help Lady Huang".
"And then?"
"Whatever, it's up to her!"
Knowing she'd gladly leave with him, Gao told them to go in front of him, and promised to back them up. Two of them did, the others snuck via the roof on the back.
But before approaching they heard two guys arguing what to do with "her" and how long to wait for "teacher". Seems they have been hiding and waiting...
And then Gao instructed them to kick in the door to announce his arrival. Hey, if you have subordinates, you don't open your own doors!..

Long story short, the three argued, and the PCs realized that Gao is the Teacher. Then they realized that the three had recently lost their friend...
And they remembered killing that cannibal (two of the PCs were present in that session). One of his legs was never found...
"Oh fuck" was a common reaction at this stage. I'm sure at least one of them realized what would have happened if they'd reached an agreement.

Luckily, they decided to fight Gao.
Gao said "fine" and immediately dropped one of his students, paralyzed. First move, one down. (Critical attack, Acupuncture Strike).
At the same time, the PCs in the back started shooting, and the PCs next to Gao swarmed the lone survivor. Kinda one-sided after that, it was. The last one tried to run at the 2nd round, while having 3 Body Points or so. Gao had suffered some 17 points of damage, himself.
The PCs shot him in the back, and prevented Gao from killing the paralyzed guy. Grabbing Huang, he jumped away with her before they could aim.

And that's how this session ended.


Re: "not getting away from the fox": She's got her paws in many pies, as mentioned in the write-up. Iron-Teeth Gao has been bringing her stolen goods and human meat, and getting recipes and rituals in return, as well as lodging...

Re: Xiong They're in for a surprise - he's a fully human xian, actually. Not a xia, a xian...think "linear fighter, quadratic wizard", and if the "linear fighter" is a kung-fu monk, a xian is the latter.
I'm not going to remind them that Xiong put those wards almost off-handedly, after drinking so much white baiju that 3 people his size should have died of poisoning. They got the message already.
OTOH, the Empress Fox can try to bust through, but that's it...and it would be a roll.

Re: two cannibals/final battle scene for the session:
They returned after the PCs had killed a cannibal, cut off his leg (rations), and hid, expecting whoever had killed him to denounce them to the yamen (they were right).
However, shortly before that, Hu had sent Huang to look for her lover! So they captured her while going down the slope, running away! "Emergency rations", as Chen put it. Luckily, the leg lasted them a while...
However, when rolling to see her fate (Will checks on both of them), I rolled...critical fail for Li. Thus, Li was also smitten with Huang!
Which is also the only reason she was alive. They'd have killed and eaten her, if not for that.
So basically, Gao wanted her for himself, Li wanted to get to share her - but was looking for an angle to justify it somehow - and Chen wanted to eat her and not let anyone that's not part of the Hearty Meal Path to get between them.
Neither was going to be acceptable to Gao, the dice said (I did roll to see whether anyone would budge - in fact, even their demands are resulting from dice rolls, as you can see. I expected originally Li and Chen to be 100% on the same side.
Maybe the three could have reached an agreement, but...the two cannibals wanted to test their teacher, and he counted on the PCs.
It's kinda good they didn't, though, or PCs wouldn't have been necessary. Alive, that is. And Gao himself had about the same levels of Martial Arts skill as the PCs had between them. (He is 5th level out of 6, Chen was 3rd, Li was 4th - one PC has 2nd level in her style).

BTW, why did Gao run away? Well, he wasn't taking risks with Huang, period...and the PCs did help him find her, and they were nothing short of useful - and kept their part.
So he decided to keep his part. He wasn't actually a bad person...before accepting a nasty deal to avenge an injustice. That's not an excuse, but it does give better odds if you're dealing with him than with Li or the fox, Hu.
 
Good news: I'mma run this again this Saturday, and I don't need any planning, since I already made the notes for the session.

(Wife, when I tell her she's got her afternoon planned: "You could have asked me whether I'm free".
"No, I couldn't, because I'm not on any other time this week-end. Your choice was to play or to sit it out, and I know what you're going to pick!")

Bad news: I'm still to give them XP, my players are hating that:grin:!
 
Good news: I'mma run this again this Saturday, and I don't need any planning, since I already made the notes for the session.

Well, I did...:grin:

They had a stroke of genius by deciding to give the paralyzed cannibal to Feng. The guy knows they've been working with Madame Hu, he can totally use that to get out of the arranged marriage!
So they did (he was easy to find via his named brother from one of the PCs' clans).
They also told him she knows he's in the city. Luckily, he's taken care to hide his traces and be unobtrusive...and it's not easy for Hu to ask over a young scholar, visibly much younger. (She is asking on some made-up arguments, of course, but she basically has to make up different stuff).
If they haven't told him, that she would have found him this afternoon, no roll. As it was, I allowed a roll...and he remained hidden. For a day.

Then he opened the chest in which they'd transported the cannibal.
"Ugh", Feng winced. "So much corruption!"
Which prompted a comment - OOC, as it turned out - that cannibals are so corrupt even snake demons object.

So Feng gave the man a choice: He explained he can give him to the yamen, or extract the info from him himself, or make him talk in another manner (he planned to drug him), or he could just kill him, and interrogate his spirit.

He was bluffing, he would never kill in cold blood. But neither PCs nor the cannibal got that...because Feng said that and turned into a dragon, just for a second. (A purple, human-sized one, looking like the dragon from the animated Mulan. Barney was mentioned).

The cannibal spoke. He didn't have any proof that madame Hu has known about them being cannibals, however (I rolled). For all he knew, she only knew they're killing people and robbing them. (And she could claim she wasn't sure they're killing them. For obvious reasons, their bodies are never found).
So he asked them to bring the body of the other cannibal back to him. For interrogation.
Feng is much better as a mystic than he is a warrior, although they believe otherwise. They're in for a surprise if it ever becomes relevant. Some of them would soon outclass him - he's merely got level 2 Warrior. He's talented in dealing with people and books.

He treated them to a lunch in gratitude (he isn't going to give them something as crass as money, not before he leaves). So they used the time to smoke drugs and went on to have visions (rolled on the spot using the table upthread).
Both of them rolled 3 for the topic, Wanyan! So they had a vision for the spirit who's looking for revenge.
After that, Feng rolled for his Mystic.
Crit fail on trying to interrogate the spirit.
"As he meditates, big snakes go out of his body and extract a wriggling, bone-white spiritual form from the cannibal's body. Alas, a big green-scaled hand appears out of thin air, and slaps him, before dragging the bone-white form back in the body".
That form was the Hun soul, BTW. It should remain there for...40 days, I believe?
Cue stunned silence, only interrupted by the laugh of the prisoner. Who stated unequivocally that their master's Master, the Demon Prince, is obviously keeping his part of the bargain and protecting their souls post mortem!

They decided to look for another angle, and had a discussion of the relative merits of word-based alphabets, and alphabets proper. Culture clash was had by all, courtesy of the Persian princess.
Then they considered how they can get to interrogate the spirit...and rejected Feng's idea that getting the Mirror of Truth from the Red Crane monastery in Kunlun mountains would definitely help.
So they went to look for Wanyan. To achieve that, they made a picture of him - two scholars-calligrafers can deal with much harder tasks - and the diviner made a divination about his name. I told them he's using Wan Yan, just different pronunciation of it, and adding The Cook.
So when they went to find him, with a picture, a name and a profession, it was going to take them a short while anyway. So I decided on a whim that he's started work in this same inn, hoping to find a kung-fu master willing to teach him (it's frequented by xia).

They brought him to their room, and he told them the sad story of the youngest daughter of Tian family (you can see it on my profile, he just omitted having been a bit in love with the girl).

About that time one of my players asked me to use Qi points for narrative editing. He wanted master Xiong to actually be a spirited animal...namely, a Red Panda:grin:!
"I'm not sure a Qi point can do that..."
"I spend all my Qi points".
I blinked and, in a moment of weakness, gave up:shade:.

After that, they realized that Wanyan can help the snake to ward off the Demon Prince. The next ritual ended up with a cannibal's soul ready for interrogation and the scaly hand broke a claw!

After that, they definitely had enough damning evidence. Even better, they had a spirit who was willing to testify as to her misbehaviour!
So Wanyan and Feng are going to leave tomorrow. Thus, everyone but Feng went to the PC scholar's home, which is warded against spirited animals...other than bears, that is.
I hate moments of weakness.

Long story short, they had more culture clashes. "If you have so few signs, does it mean you only communicate basic notions, like hunger, love, hate?", as one of the scholars present there put it, when the Persian princess totally botched (no dice rolled) the explanation.
During that time, the mystics felt that something was probing the home's defenses.
And not much later, they heard someone getting into the home. And they session ended after a fight with the Two Zhen Birds: mistress and student. (They usually sell medicine on the market).
They've been hired to set fire to the inscriptions protecting the house...by someone who looked "a lot like Madame Hu, but is much younger". (She's been changing her looks, since she's looking for her fiancee now!)
They decided to spare the mercenaries, who admitted their defeat, and promised to never take a task from the same person. (They're also going to return the money).
The Willpower roll said that Hu isn't going to bother with the house any more tonight, once her mercenaries disappered - she knows Feng isn't inside, after all, that was just curiosity - and on the next morning, Feng and Wanyan disappeared.
According to my rolls, Hu was going to find them in the afternoon. Ain't gonna happen.
 
I have not one, but two accounts of the last Art of Wuxia session.


First, my account - really short one... I mean, I wrote it for Bing (who was dutifully impressed:tongue:). So I thought I might share it with you as well...

"I decided to just Helloween-up (that's not a word, but it needs to become one) the regular session, because the players were all itching to go.
So I decided to pull forward something that an Immortal was planning to do anyway: warn them about their enemies. See, they have now two sets of enemies: a nine-tailed fox (Madame Hu) and the pair Scorpion Demoness & Goddess Hariti. Hu doesn't yet know she's their enemy, and the pair don't know it yet, either...but both of them will, soon. And then the bloodbath shall begin. They did help the Spirited Snake Mr. Feng to break off his marriage engagement to Hu, and delivered the lover of the Scorpion Demoness &Hariti (SD&H from now on) - a certain former prince and current guai/blood-drinker - to the demoness Yunu who had to cut off his head. (All of this has happened in previous sessions).
There is also an immortal that wants to sic them on to Hu, and to this end is looking to incite them to action - they don't know about this, though. I guess that was as good a time as any?
At the minimum, it allowed me to keep them close to the rest of the PCs, which is valuable in this case, seeing as only 2 players were able to join...less hassle for me to add the new players to the mix.
Though it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth:shade:.

Thus, when they went to an inn- they're to retrieve a rare flower for a client - they got into a dream without realizing they were in a dream. At the Fourth Watch, they started hearing cries of pain and moans of the same from all other rooms. At the same time, the are around the inn had become a lake due to the rain.
What they found in the adjacent rooms were rooms that didn't look like rooms of an inn...more or less spacious, more or less luxurious...because they were actually housing the victims of Madame Hu - a fox who kills or destroys the lives of people for fun. They were all in the final moments before the crash: one of them was trying to suicide. Another was just going to leave for the "mystic hermit" where she sent him (he was actually a mystic, yes...but also a cannibal, so the man never returned).
And of course, when they went to the main room of the inn, it was now a cave - the type where foxes like to live - and Scorpion Demoness was also there, chatting with Hu. From the dialogue (and they offered her some hash they had on them), they were able to conclude who she is and how she was related to Hariti and the now-deceased Prince. (Whom they call Prince Prince, because his title and family name are "wang Wang" in Chinese, just with different hieroglyphics...but reads the same way, which is "good enough" for my players).
Then they climbed up the stairs, and the world shattered...and they woke up in their beds."

Oh, and there was a fight in the main room vs some ruffians, but that one was unimportant. I'm still translating the player-written account for you, so this part is going to be in it.


And here's Ihinka's account. No spoilers, she's a player...but I'm adding comments, since it was written for the players in the campaign's Discord, and might be a bit hard to understand:grin:!

"The morning after the thwarted attempt to turn them into barbecue material (the burning of the house, see previous posts - Asen), the group releases the two xias, with a warning from Leila that if they continue to collaborate with subversive elements like Madame Hu, they might meet more ruthless people than us next time and end up in the gutter.
The Feng Shui guy (that's how they nicknamed Feng Quai She - Asen) gathered his Wang Chef/Wanyan and they set off to finish discrediting Madam Hu.
He agreed with the group to take along the cannibal and give him to some righteous xia, who in turn will hand him over to the yamen (court). That's in order to avoid further retaliation against the group by Madame Hu if they handed over the cannibal themselves.

Han Zhen and Mei Lin are summoned on assignment (players absent-Asen), so Leila and the Scribe are the only two left to decide what they will do. We learn from the Little Tik-tok that the Fat Lotus (White Lotus, nicknamed - Asen) have summoned some exorcist to solve their problem with the ghosts in the dojo. The troubles have subsided, but one of theirs has gone missing.
And word has gotten out that some cousin of Li Bo (the pseudonym Wan Wang/Prince Prince used to refer to the head of his theater troupe - see previous posts. Asen) has shown up and claimed inheritance rights to the troupe.
They call her Li the Little Poison, an unusual name. There will be a performance by the troupe that evening.

The scribe decides it's high time to hit his books while Leila sets off to explore the city.

She passes Madame Zhu's Floating Brothel for some fun times with her favorite courtesan and to get information on the Red-Haired Xia who was questioned them all about what happened in the brothel and whether we know who killed Li Bo. But the courtesan says she doesn't know anything about the redheaded one. (Asen: Shocking to my players, but some NPCs simply aren't into girls!)

Leila decides to look for an alchemist who will possibly agree to give her lessons. She finds one, however, who has little interest in taking on new students, much less women (not out of prejudice, but because he has only one room for students, and already has 3 male students - Asen).

Even less so, someone who doesn't intend to join his business one day.

He agrees to teach her anyway, but asks her to pay - in favors, as can be expected of a xia.

But first she has to pass a test: to obtain an herb from a hill a few days' drive from town. Said herb, however, has a guardian, and no one has yet been able to get a hold of it because of this. (Asen: Nobody who admits to it...)

Leila consults Grandmother Vanga (actually the seeress Wang, ihinka just nicknamed her as well - Asen) about the herb and its guardian. She is told that she has known about this herb since she was a little girl and how this guardian does not give it to anyone. They know him as the Jade Warrior of Mount Kun.

In the evening, Leila and Liu go to the troupe's performance. They watch the equivalent of a Chinese soap opera, but with some glaring quirks in the style of presenting such a work. The audience is not entirely pleased with the oddities, though some love them.
(Like, the "bad guys" won and weren't punished. It's actually modernism - Asen).

Leila notices that one of the two lead actresses seems to be the "cousin" of Li Bo, who has come to take over the troupe. She's playing with a white face mask that seems to have a red wig coming out of it. She keeps wearing the mask during the ovation, so they never saw her face.

The Scribe Xia shares Leila's assignment with the Pen Guy and he tells them that he knows about this herb and its guardian because it was possessed by someone who tried to get it and failed. (I rolled for his background-Asen).

And the Scribe still decides to stay home and nerd out! (At this point we made him a different PC, BTW. Enter Ki (sp?) the young Mendicant Warrior - I'm not sure about the name, might have to adjust it for future sessions - Asen).

Leila sets off on her own to get the herb guarded by the Jade Warrior of Mount Kun. Once on the road, she makes a bivouac on the side of the road, but the second sleepover has to be in a outhouse due to rainy weather.

On entering the inn, Leila witnesses a group of mf-ers harassing the inn's musician, who is blind, but that doesn't seem to bother her one bit.
Leila is ready to kick their butts when the blind girl's blindfold falls off and the guy who puts it on falls asleep very quickly, seeing her blind eyes...
The prowlers spot Leila, and a young girl who enters the inn at the same time.They decide to give them a try as well, but Leila looks disinterested, turns her back on them, and sits at the table furthest from them. The younger girl shimmies briskly up to her and settles at her table.

The two make introductions. Young Ki is on her way with an assignment. And since it's clear they're traveling in the same direction, they decide to continue together the next day together.

(Ki actually has to deliver a letter from a rich girl to her beloved. A young female xia like her is used to performing such odd tasks to gain some pocket money).

Meanwhile, the thugs are not pleased with Layla's disinterest in their incredible lot, and the eldest of them comes to voice his displeasure. He leanst on the table, which creaks.

Young Ki briskly and unapologetically shoves his nuts down his throat...(By means of a well-placed kick between the legs, and a Crit success. No, that's not an automatic fight-ender in my games, but he gets a penalty-Asen).

"Little bitch!" squeaked the half-emasculated boss. "You'll pay for that!"
He tries to fight back at the outrageous assault on his manhood, but Ki is too nimble.

Meanwhile, his minions decide to come to their boss's rescue. And Layla tries to finish the job of emasculating the boss, but he's recovered enough and blocks the next kick to his balls. (May it never be said that my players don't fight dirty. Though those kicks are simply known as "raising kicks" in kung-fu, and that's the most basic application - Asen).

The minions join in the melee and we're thrust into a Jackie Chan movie, as Ki uses the table to defend against one of their attacks. Meanwhile, Layla takes the pot of hot tea and puts it in the path of a fist meant for her face (they also like getting those sweet +10% bonii - Asen).

Ki hits hard, for a young girl, and the guys are not happy about this fact, chasing her around the common room. Leila is unwilling to allow any abuse of the young girl, and fells one of them with a punch to the back of the head and a second in quick succession, without even having to go into full 'dancing dervish' mode!

Meanwhile, the blind musician kicks one of the minions to the other wall of the room without much effort. (Actually, those guys only need 5 HP damage to be taken out - I use them to represent people who're actually afraid to fight and so are giving up fast - Asen).

"Why don't you quit while you're behind!" Leila offers to their boss, thrusting the blades of her swords into each other for effect and producing an awful shriek. The boss sees the wisdom in her words and urges his minions to skip!

The only one remaining on his feet is displeased, but when he turns around, he sees that his fellows are all down, and shuts up. The brats file out of the inn, tails wagging and promising retribution (of course not, it's all an act to "save face" - Asen).

And now the real deep shit begins, as the innkeeper sends Layla and Ki to their room! (The two have decided to share it for safety).

The keeper is being weird and tells them that there are a lot of interesting people in the inn and that they might be interested in talking to them. That auntie is really weird! Thus, Layla and Ki decide to sleep in shifts just in case...
Ki takes the first shift while Layla sleeps.
Ki hears strange noises from adjacent rooms. Crying. Moaning. Creepy laughter. (Well, I said explicitly: the Fourth Watch starts. That's when demons are around...Asen)

She decides to check, moves to carefully unlock the latch. SCREECH!!!

Layla wakes up. She hears the same as Ki hears.

She looks around the room and her mystical sixth sense is triggered.

Outside, it continues to rain, but at the same time, strangely, a bird's call is heard.

Leila opens the window and the outside has the feeling of being impacted by a mystic force... but the rain wets her hand like any water.

Her and Ki decide to sneak into the hallway and see what's making those sounds. Carefully, they open the door...SCREECH!!!
(They realised later: when you're going out, the door screeches-Asen).

"Who's there?" A female voice asks from the next room. The room from which, until a moment ago, a desperate crying was being heard.

Layla motions for Ki not to answer. The two wait a moment or two. No one leaves the room and after a moment the crying is heard again.

Leila's mystic senses again feel heavy despair coming from the woman's room.

Ki and Layla decide to knock on the woman's door and see if they can help her. 'Knock knock!'

"Come in!"

Leila and Ki open the door. It doesn't make a sound. Hmm? Is it only our room? (No. But you're going in-Asen).

Leila locks the door so it won't close and the two enter to talk to the crying woman. Initially the woman doesn't want to say exactly what her problem is in front of a young girl like Ki. But in the end, it becomes clear that, as a result of someone else's advice, she has been fooling around with a young man who subsequently dumped her.

Ki also spots her holding a rope in her hand. Leila notices it too, but a little later in the conversation.

Leila asks her if the keeper of the inn gave her bad advice...and the girl asks, "what inn"!

Meanwhile Leila takes the rope from her hands just in case. Her and Ki both try to convince her that the world didn't end just because some prick dumped her, but she's inconsolable. (She also suspects being pregnant - Asen).

Layla tries to get her out of the room, thinking the room is depressing her for some reason. The girl pulls away, though, not willing to do that.
Ki pushes her out of the room and poof! The girl disappears. At the same time her room, which didn't look like a room in a strange inn at all, now looks just like one. However, the rope is still in Layla's hands...?!

Meanwhile, the strange sounds from the other rooms in the guardhouse don't stop, and Leila and Ki head towards a room from which moans can be heard. No! Not that kind of moans! Get your filthy subconscious out of the gutter! (Ihinka's words, not mine - my comments are only written like this one. Asen).

Knock knock!
"Come in!" (I was really original there - Asen).

We find ourselves in a new room. This one doesn't look like a room from a boarding house either... Or if it is, it's one of the more expensive rooms for wealthier guests. It looks like a home. There are a man and a child in it. The moans are coming from the child, who is obviously running a fever and the father is anxious to help him. The child has been ill for three days, however.

Leila tries to apply qi healing to the child, but somehow, it's not working for her. Ki, however, is doing brilliantly.

The father is ecstatic. Now he won't have to go to that mystic in the mountains that Madame Hu recommended!

This is where Ihinka's brain kicks into second gear. A foolish maiden who did the dirty with her lover, he dumped her, and she went suicidal?! A father with a sick child, receiving advice from Madame Hu to seek a mystic in the mountains?! What the flying fuck!

Oh yes and here we have the moment with the part where nobody knows they're at an inn! They think they're home!

After some hesitation Leila pulls young Ki over and tells her everything the group knows about Madame Hu. The two promise the father to visit the boy for a second visit and leave the room.
It's now clear to both of them that the crying girl is the daughter of the Tian family, whom Wang, the house spirit, wants to avenge.

Leila doesn't remember hearing about this father with a sick child. But it makes sense that they would be one of Madame Hu's victims.

Both she and Ki decide to head this time for the infernal laughter that can be heard from the common room of the first floor servants' quarters. On the stairs, the two see through a window that the rain is torrential and the house is in the middle of a lake! What da bloody fuck?!?
(Asen: Well, it was raining a lot...remember?)


Ki and Leila walk carefully down the stairs. Layla doubts that this place actively prevents them from being sneaky when they want to be. So she appeals to Ki to be ready if it turns out they can't be sneaky even if they try. (No. Rolls - Asen).

At the bottom of the stairs, they end up in a cave! Again, WTBF!?!
Stalactites, stalagmtites, future stalactons... and in the distance, voices and light. We're heading that way.

We get close enough to hear voices. Two aunties are arguing loudly. It's about someone with two mistresses.

And here something really bothers Leila's nose, she snickers and the two aunts' attention is drawn.

Layla is on full display, trying to hide the fact that Ki is there too. She's hiding behind her.

She ends up crossing paths with Madame Hu and the Redhead Xia.

Well here we are getting into the real Freaky Fryday! The redhead doesn't seem to know Layla, though she should.

Madame Hu on the other hand recognizes her... Hmm! We're going through the same conversation, what inn are we talking about? It's her favoured cave! What have you been smoking?
That's when Leila pulls out the hash and offers them to partake.
WIP
Madame Hu fires it up in a censer and both she and the redhead get high and continue their conversation from before Leila's intervention.It becomes clear that Redhead is Li Bo's mistress.And besides, she seems to have a similar build and figure as Li Bo's "cousin" who showed up to take over his troupe.The same white-masked, red-haired actress that Leila had watched in the play before she left on the road.

Some pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place.

The other mistress is one Harriet.Goddess of fertility.Who is not at all the whore of all mystics.It's just when they go into their tantric trances, they think they're fucking her.But she's actually fucking her boyfriend.Oh yeah, and Redhead is the Scorpio Demoness!

Too bad, people!Bad!Prince Prince has apparently settled down with two extremely dangerous mistresses.I don't know how!And now they're both looking for those responsible for his death! We sa in big doo doo!It's becoming clear that if we want to get out of this weird shithole we should just... get out.There are no obvious exits in the cave other than the staircase where we came from.We head that way and...

We wake up in our room... with our legs uncovered. Did we just have nightmares because we were catching a cold?!?"
 
I forgot to edit this in time, so... after the WIP, we should have:

"Madame Hu fires up the hash in a censer and both her and the redhead get high and continue their conversation from before Leila's intervention. It becomes clear that Redhead was "Li Bo"'s mistress.And besides, she seems to have a similar build and figure as Li Bo's "cousin" who showed up to take over his troupe.The same white-masked, red-haired actress that Leila had watched in the play before she left on the road...

Some pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place.

The other mistress is one Harriti. Goddess of fertility. One who is not at all the whore of all mystics.
It's just when they go into their tantric trances, they think they're fucking her. But she's actually fucking her husband.
Oh yeah, and Redhead is named Scorpion Demoness!

Too bad, people! Bad! Prince Prince has apparently settled down with two extremely dangerous mistresses. I don't know how! (You never gave him a chance... - Asen). And now they're both looking for those responsible for his death! We're in deep, deep shit.

Anyway, after that it becomes clear that if we want to get out of this weird shithole we should just... get out.There are no obvious exits in the cave other than the staircase where we came from. We head that way and...

We wake up in our room... with our legs uncovered. Did we just have nightmares because we were catching a cold?!?"

Asen: A bit rambly, but it's obviously intentionally so, and I take that as a good sign as to the quality of my supposed Halloween session!
 
Courtesy of Bing...:angel:
Note: I'd rather find a human to make this map. Alas, the only people with any painting skill that I know of, are playing...:grin:

So for now, and because players request a map: not bad at all, I'd say. And definitely much better than what I'd have achieved:shade:!

Bing-made map.jpg
 
Last edited:
I just ran an RPG session with an educational purpose:thumbsup:.

It was just a regular RPG session, BTW. But I set it in Egypt, 568 B.C., in the reign of Amasis II, shortly after he got the throne. A certain priestess of Neith is being sent to Babylon to scout out the affairs of the Babylonian state...where his predecessor, Apries, is still plotting revenge at being overthrown:shade:.
Pretty normal as my sessions go. The difference is that I was micro-managing the daily life, including arguing what the breakfast was.
Actually, still "pretty normal as my sessions go", I was just going overboard.
So all we got to do today was go to the passport office, set up her bags, and have a good afternoon night's sleep. Oh, and she had to prove herself innocent from suspicions of trying to seduce the pharaoh.
Well, she defended herself from the killer sent to apprehend her, and turned her into a rout.

The point, of course, was to teach First Daughter about life in Ancient Egypt in an entertaining manner. Whether I've succeeded, remains to be seen.
As she puts it "history is interesting, but reading about it is dry":grin:!
 
I'm continuing both the Art of Wuxia and the Thennla games.
My Thennla is looking increasingly like Ancient Greece, though. I should just find myself a copy of GURPS Greece, I think, and adapt it to Mythras on the fly...:grin:

In fact, it might be a necessity. First Daughter's class is moving to Ancient Greece & Rome:shade:!


...well, sounds like a plan.

Thennla:
The PC is hunting pirates. They just arrived on a pirate island.
First thing they were told: "A water spirit is keeping us all here, sinking any ships that try to leave".
They're going to be out of food in ~1d3+2 days. There are suspicions that Northern (Hyperborean) witch has trapped them here!
(The origins are almost the same as the spirit in my AoW game, except without the revenge angle:tongue:).

Art of Wuxia: both PCs that are going to be present are agents of some clan. I guess it's time to send them to investigate the "spirit" in the Wolf-Capturing Spear Salle d'Armes?
 
Art of Wuxia: both PCs that are going to be present are agents of some clan. I guess it's time to send them to investigate the "spirit" in the Wolf-Capturing Spear Salle d'Armes?
Much to my surprise, I'm not sure which session that was...:shock:

Anyway, on to the current stuff.
Can't edit any more, but...:shade:

Daughter definitely wants "a game with elves, dwarves, wizards and where you get sent on quests". I guess we have to work on the idea of sandbox...

However, I explained to her what a "class" is (she has only played with me, of course she had never encountered the notion, if it wasn't for the movie, I'd be surprised she knows what D&D was:tongue:) and her reply echoed the comment I made before my first session: "That shit's too restrictive". My words, she was a lot more polite:grin:! But she specified that one should be able to invest time and XP to get better than the class would suggest...
Well, she is my daughter, no surprise there:gooselove:!

So I'm using Mythras Classic Fantasy:angel:! It allows her to get whatever she wants.

OTOH, re-reading MCF now, and for the first time with the idea of running it, I was struck by how much the setting assumptions mirror those of The Way of the Tiger's setting, Orb.
So, while I'm going to use a MCF adventure for a start, I might as well set it on Orb::honkhonk:!


...fast forward to me making a "tall half-elven healer". Because she is also her mother's daughter, and her mother always makes me deal with the mechanics:gunslinger:!
 
It's confirmed. We're going to have a player new to RPGs on tomorrow's session, and she's closer to my daughter's* age than mine...:tongue:

However, she's very much "our kind of girl". As in, her answer to what she wants to play was "warlord".
What does that mean? "A warrior with manipulation skills".
And by way of example, she also pointed out that Conan became a king:gooselove:!

A 20-something old that knows Conan was a king and not just a "barbarian" is a keeper as far as RPGs go, I'd say. Besides, what better game to introduce her with than Mythras, right::honkhonk:?


As I said this week in other thread, I don't get people who keep introducing new players via D&D. Especially if they also bitch about D&D's dominance in the hobby:shade:.


*And yes, First Daughter is also going to be there. We're going to have between 4 and 5 players (one guy isn't sure) and me.
As a consequence, I decided against doing an open sign-up for this session, this time, because those are the players who signed up from the Discord:gooseshades:.


Well, the report was from someone who played with the author on a con. He or she also stated that this made him buy the book, but then didn't quite manage to make it run nearly as smoothly...:gunslinger:

The session actually went great. I mean, I knew how much more they could have done, but they didn't, and had fun.

I switched stuff around in the adventure (G2: The Lonely Lighthouse for M:CF) because I liked it better. And, notably, I used some Warhammer terrain to represent the tower, which might surprise some of you.

The statement of the night was: "Obviously that's a mother boar which identifies as a mother rabbit!"


If I find the pictures of the terrain, I'd post them in my thread::honkhonk:.


Also, my third FB Live event was yesterday:gooseshades:.
430114732_10223541314868659_6025409579695415564_n.jpg

Left to right: First Daughter, Our New Player, AsenRG.
It turns out Petya has played D&D "for ~1 hour, about 10 years ago" (when she was 12 or 13, AFAICT). But she hasn't played since, wasn't exactly looking...and now she wants to play again.
I call this a win for the Mythras cult:angel:!


429825583_10223541314028638_1783135106062413471_n.jpg

The terrain, after AI unblurring. I never said I'm good at taking photos, but I thought some people, especially Skarg Skarg , might want to see it:grin:!
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top