We now have the protagonists defined: five members of the Saliorson household of the Osmanning bloodline of the Red Cow Clan of the Cinsina Tribe. They all participated in Starbrow’s Revolt and have now fled to Pavis to avoid the repression. The year is 1615.

We have

• the two hunter brothers Gaios and Salion, one an Odayla initiate and the other a Yinkin.

• Their cousins, the Orlanthi farmer Dangsarle, and his brother the Orlanthi redsmith Gaar.

• And finally their cousin, the Orlanthi farmer Antip.

But let me describe the session from start to finish. After personal presentations (most of us had never met before) the session began with a few general words from me on Glorantha. I then explained the undefined player characters’ general situation and decision to seek employment with a settler duke in Prax. Mercenary Captain Daine then presented his map of Weis Domain and held his briefing.

At this point we began the character creation process. Everyone was informed that this would take the entire session. I had prepared a family tree with named grandparents and parents, and ten or so empty spaces where the players could write their names (as the characters were still unnamed). On this family tree they selected their significant ancestors. We then rolled for their histories. I had prepared a few random tables for early years, as my campaign takes place ten years earlier than assumed in the rules.

I really enjoy the family history part of the character creation process, but I think it would be even more fun if it had even more impact on the characters. There is a chance of getting a passion or some reputation, but in our case, that only happened to one character. I’d prefer if every character always brought at least one thing from the family history to the character sheet. As I’ve already adjusted the family history process to handle earlier years I might do something about this too. One idea is to make “A normal year.” give +10% to one of the ancestor’s occupational skills.

The rest of the character creation process went smoother than expected. We skipped skill category modifiers and other attributes. I’ve added those to the character sheets after the session.

The players were a little afraid of making bad choices regarding occupations and cults. I tried to reassure them that as long as they didn’t pick something they really didn’t think sounded fun, it would be alright. Spell choices were also a cause for some worry about picking something they’d come to regret, but I tried to advice them, and offered them the option of changing something after the first sessions when they’ve learnt more about the game.

Everyone in the group expressed satisfaction with this session. Some were a bit overwhelmed with all the information they had to take in. I had prepared a leaflet with cultural background information for them to take home, which they did. I stated several times that they did not have to read anything at all in order to be able to play. Everything in between sessions is totally optional. I offered an invite to the Kanka site, and two players have joined so far.

Next session we will probably start with questions, finishing up anything left on the character creation, and then continue with Scouting the Lands, the first mission from Duke Raus.