Nozbat

Darkon had forgotten all about asking Egil how long they'd been at the house of the young woman, opting instead for a game of picking the petals off a daisy saying "She loves me'. "She loves me not". He threw the daisy away in disgust when it turned out the she didn't love him. It just goes to show that even flowers have greater insight than any of the three men in the grip of a dopamine rush triggered by being in love. It was left to Stove to try and work out what was going on and to accidentally resolve the problem. Being a donkey probably had some advantage in dealing with emotions generated by magic as he at least could think relatively sensibly about things. His greatest crush at the moment was for the carrots that he found growing in the vegetable patch behind the cottage. He was poking around in the vegetable patch trying to find one more of those delicious carrots, using his hooves to dig at the earth. He began to unearth bones. Lots of bones. Skulls, rib cages, long bones. And they were human bones. Why here? Who had killed them? He couldn't work out what was going on. He retired to the shade of the stable to think about it. It was there that Arianrhod found him."You used to be a man," said Arianrhod to the startled donkey, "but I guess you can't tell me, poor thing." She tickled his chin and climbed on his back. He felt his hackles rise. Stove may have had the body of a donkey and the eating desires of a donkey but he drew the line at people hitching lifts on him. He suddenly reared and bucked to remove her as fast as possible. in normal circumstances she would have been deposited on the ground just in front of him with only a dent to her pride. However, she was so light. the sudden force of the movement sent her across the stable and smashed her against one of the central columns of the stable. There was a horrific cracking noise and then silence.Stove moved closer to the column to examine what had happened.He couldn't find Arianrhod anywhere. There was a large piece of broken, rotten wood on the ground. at the base of the column. He looked behind the column and there was the lower half of Aranrhod's body missing its upper torso. Fearing the worst, Stove went back and examined the piece of rotten wood. He flipped the wood over using a combination of hoof and nose. On the reverse was the image of Arianrhod. Well it was her missing torso. Relief of finding her top bit was tempered by her once lovely face distorted by what he only perceived to be the beginning of a powerful magic. Self protection is a powerful driver of behaviour and before the thought entered his head both hooves pounded the torso of Arianrhod to small pieces. A chill wind that made the donkey shiver, a sad sigh on the air and the sun momentarily darkened. Stove knew something significant had happened even if he couldn't work out exactly what. It was as if Arianrhod was two dimensional - one side a beautiful woman, the other side rotten wood. Stove realised that he had never seen her turn her back to any of them. She was always facing toward the people she was with. What sort of creature was she? She had bewitched the three men putting a glamour on them and she had obviously meant to kill them and bury them in her vegetable plot. No wonder the carrots tasted good. Stove decided to pound the bits of wood to matchstick size and scattered them as best he could. Exhausted from reaction he lay with his head in the straw and would have wept except donkeys are unable to do so. Darkon Graphen and Egil were calling for Arianrhod and when she didn't answer they searched for her. Stove, in his fear, had done a good job of reducing her to kindling and nothing was recognisable. With the removal of whatever glamour Arianrhod had made, the three men returned to type. Arguments started about who Arianrhod had loved most, each was convinced it was him. All three developed narratives about why she had left,blaming the other two. It is likely that it would have come to blows had the Magic not slowly dissipated and left them with a slight longing for something they just couldn't remember. It took two further days for their senses to return and they finally remembered they had a contract to fulfil. Egil secretly nursed the view that he was the one Arianrhod had chosen and he slipped one of her silk scarves under his leather breastplate. At nights he would hold it to his lips and smell her perfume.It was funny he thought, he just couldn't remember her face any more. And so with an unexpected loss of memory and a delay of eleven days are intrepid three and donkey continued on their way still not sure what had happened. They re-crossed the river Rubicon and headed for the Gorge of the Green Man, the next obstacle in their path

It had rained heavily overnight and Darkon's blankets were wet. Graphen was struggling to light the fire. He fiddled hopelessly with his flint to try and spark the damp tinder to life. Egil was hopping from one foot to the other attempting to keep warm. Stove alone was comfortable, his oily coat kept out the rain and he was finding the oat and grain mixture of his nosebag agreeable. Darkon, Egil and Graphen grumbled at each other throughout the morning. All were soaked through as the rain steadily got worse. With their hoods turned up and their thoughts turned inward they missed the forest track that would have taken them to the kindly woodcutters cottage. His wife would have regaled them with stories of the forest while her husband shard his home brewed poteen and cooked a vegetable stew. They also missed the important information to beware of the woman who lived by the lake but it looked like fate may have conspired against them. As it was, the intrepid three plodded towards the lake and spent their time cursing fat men (in general), rain (in particular) and their inadequate waterproof underwear (specifically). Stove was spending his time profitably and musing on the developmental stages of humans and creating a possible research project on the psychopathology of adventurers. Although it would be several millennia and in a different time/space continuum, Stove was toying with some ideas that would make Sigmund Freud famous some day. While Stove was thinking "not yet reached anal developmental phase...." , Graphen smelt wood smoke on the rising wind. "Shelter", he shouted at his companions, "down near that lake". As the reader is aware from the safety and comfort of their own home and as any experienced adventurer knows that beautiful young women living on their own in the wild is either ① Not what she seems (2) Is extremely powerful to survive on her own (3) A plot device by the GM to get them in trouble or (4) possibly all of the above.Dankon, Egil and Graphen were so cold, wet and fed up that even if they had thought any of the above they wouldn't have cared. Egil also seemed to have a recurrence of the runs and was desperate to find a good water closet. He had sadly run out of Grimtooth's Certified Clogging Powder for Intemperate Guts. Some sense came back and they cautiously crossed some stepping stones to the front porch of a rather quaint house. From inside they could hear a woman singing the latest ballad of the famous all women troubadour act, The Travelling Willards. Egil thought he had never heard the song sung so beautifully. Graphen paused mid stride and thought of the first kiss he had with Sarra Bjornsdötter behind the milking shed when he was 14. He had been heartbroken when she had revealed she had done it for a bet with her friends but had cheered up a bit when she shared some honeyed nuts she bought with her winnings. Darkon was momentarily troubled by some memory of a warning about stepping stones. However he noticed a sign that said "River Rubicon" and decided crossing the Rubicon couldn't bring that much bad luck. To be honest he felt like dancing at the moment and that was odd as he hated dancing. He would have scowled if anyone had asked her to dance when he was at home.. Only Stove found this all very peculiar but couldn't put his hoof on what was wrong. However he immediately forgot his concerns when a beautiful young woman came out of the door carrying a wet basket of laundry which she dropped in surprise when she saw three strange armed men on her doorstep. "Please don't hurt me" she said plaintively and then had to repeat it again as none of our three intrepid heroes seemed capable of responding. To be fair Egil had tripped over his tongue, Graphen had opened and closed his mouth without communicating anything vaguely resembling sensible speech. Darkon, who was last to climb the three steps to the porch, missed the last step and fell forward, crashing into the young woman and knocking the wet washing over. Years of training, suddenly kicked in with the sudden t unexpected events as Egil and Graphen rushed to the young Woman's aid. Darkon was left to extract himself from the wet washing. It was eight days later as Darken sat on the porch watching fish jumping for flies in the lake, that he thought he was actually meant to be doing something. Was it eight days they'd been here? He must ask Egil. Every day they had spent hours with the young woman who said her name was Arianrhod. Life was perfect. No squabbles. No fighting. No worries. In fact no thinking either. When did he, Rankin, actually think of anything other than pleasing Arianrhod? He was sure he was supposed to go somewhere, do something? He must ask the others. This place was perfect, maybe he should go fishing instead. No he was a bit too tired for that. Despite the perfectness of the setting and company he had strange dreams every night. Dreams that made him feel exhausted in the morning. He really must ask Egil and Graphen

There's nothing like a good ham.. even if I am a vegetarian My experience that 'haming" is the default position of a lot of players at conventions

Its very different but in some ways a bit liberating. I've found that using video technology allows more frequency for playing short 2 hour sessions. It also brings into stark contrast skills of the GM and the ability to ensure everyone is engaged. Even with existing familiar groups there are some personalities who dominate and often the role I find that I most take is that of facilitator. I have started each session with a quick round of 'where you think you are now' which allows for some analysis of the situation and planning about what they are going to do. Insisting players take notes during sessions and use Action Plans at the end of sessions has also been useful. It provides a link between sessions. Making sure I get feedback , particularly on things that didn't go well has ironed out problems before people get disgruntled. My main issue has been acclimatising to 20 years of RPG development that I've missed !

I've been using Zoom for sessions with ironically old school friends too. Maybe thats the difference, having people you know over a long time. I haven't played RPGs for a long time and had been relying on the occasional Boardgame to satisfy my gaming lust. In lockdown (although my work has been operating as usual throughout as I work in frontline services) we've played CoC and RQ which has worked pretty well. I guess it also depends on the technology available but I'd use screen sharing often and use maps which I can draw and add to in real time. It also means I generally would be using my laptop and iPad simultaneously. PM and break-out rooms have been good for individual moments during the session. I've also used email to request written statements for Police interviews. Really its all about adapting to our strange new world and looking for solutions to issues that arise. Gaining feedback from participants about what works and what was an abject failure is useful.The main issue for me is getting people to talk one at a time and ensuring that everyone is brought into the game. Next time I'm in Berlin, I must get round to visiting your shop. My wife is German and I'm in Berlin fairly often until recently.

If Stove could have beat his hoof off his forehead he would have done so for the twentieth time in the last hour. Graphen and Egil had been interrogating Darkon about his meeting with the Fatman in the Grapes End. "What gives you the right to make contracts Darkon?" snarled Egil,"Is it just because you've got no nose?" "It always comes down to my lack of nose, doesn't it," replied Darkon." you just can't leave it alone. I don't tell you your ears stick out and you're as bald as a Coot." Stove attempted the hoof to the forehead anyway knowing it was going to be futile. Donkey's were not anatomically built to do so but it seemed to be a good metaphor for the situation. No-one actually was aware of it, but Stove used to be human. He had the misfortune to meet a Thessalonian witch on the way home from the pub one night. His life as a donkey had begun shortly after that. In between the pub and his new form had been some intemperate words about the witches familiar. Stove may be presently a donkey but he was also by far the cleverest of the bunch. It was just a pity the only communication he could indulge in was braying. Darkon, Egil and Graphen had been arguing about what they needed to take on the trip. Egil had basically wanted to bring the kitchen sink. Graphen, who was a unreconstructed hypochondriac, was all for a quick "in-and-out”. He was too afraid to be away from the Grimtooth's Apothecary and Hair Salon for too long. Darkon was expounding the need to plan. The goal was to surprise some bandits in a house or a cabin or a cottage in the woods, steal all the stuff they had, strip them naked and bring them back to town. Their employer had wanted a pendant that one of the bandits wore. Everything else was theirs. Graphon had been expounding that they would be rich as he had heard from the barmaid in The Yodeller’s Rest that the bandits had been particularly successful recently. Egil had been worried that they might be particularly good at fighting and he in particular might get hurt. It was eventually settled that the plan would be to spy on the bandits and then attack at night when hopefully they would be asleep or drunk or both. The intrepid three left Santos the next morning having eventually settled on equipment and loaded it on the unfortunate Stove. Egil noticed some odd hoof prints on Stove's forehead and had wondered aloud to the others how this could have happened. Stove found that donkey's are also anatomically incapable of rolling their eyes. The best he could do was to look slightly cross-eyed. This made him dizzy so he stopped and decided to pass the time working on his masters' thesis on the air velocity of dragons. The trio set up camp after their first days march. It hadn't quite gone as well as they had expected. Graphen had forgotten the iron rations and none of them had trusted Darkon to be able to hunt for them. Rather than go hungry they had returned to Santos, bought some gourmet iron nations at Carbone's Emporium for Gentlemen Travellers. They had also stopped at the Duke's Armpit tavern and spent 8 silver pieces on some excellent wine and heart early lunch. They felt there was no point in enduring hardship too early in their trip. That could come later. So as they drew lots for the order of the night watches, Darkon sleepily reminded Egil not to fall asleep. Egil who was nursing a hangover from an overindulgence of excellent wine, complained that no-one trusted him. As Egil spent his watch mumbling profanities against Dakon and Graphen he didn't see the various nocturnal visitors that briefly watched the campsite from the shadows. Not that it really mattered, except for the wondering fairy who was down on her luck and in need of a stiff drink for which she would have swapped an excellent healing potion. And so the night passed and the companions woke to a light rain that later on that day would become a torrential downpour. But they didn't know this yet and would not be aware of it until the next session.

Darkon had no nose. He had carelessly mislaid it in a fight with some trolls after the summer equinox. The younger trolls had found it funny that Darkon's nose had come off in the exchange of blows." For a whole season the younger trolls would joke, "The human had no nose!" “How did he smell?" one would ask in mock horror. "Horrible" was the chorused reply as the group would roll helplessly around the Matriarch’s kitchen. Of course Darkon wasn't aware of any of this as he sat patiently in the tavern of the Grapes End. He had really had enough of trolls and wasn’t intending to ever visit them again in waking life and would thus never find out he had been the subject of the Troll’s best-selling Yule present that year, a human doll with a detachable nose that cried until it was soothed. Darkon stared into his ale cup. His erstwhile employer was a mysterious fat man swathed in almost as many scarves as Darkon and he was late. Darkon scanned the crowded tavern anxiously. The jolly crowd in the tavern sang and drank the night away occasionally casting glances at Darkon as he shifted his weight from one buttock to the other to stop pins and needles developing in his feet. Finally, the door opened allowing more raucous laughter to drift in from Dead Joes' Cosmic Eatery + Barber shop that was opposite the front door, and in walked the large Fat man. He was predictably swathed in cloaks and scarves and hats and as a final precaution he had a pair of those new-fangled tinted Venetian smoked glass speck-ta-cles that hid his usually vibrant red eyes. "A bottle of your best dead grape, Innkeep". He sat heavily opposite Darkon and eyed him. Neither of the two men involved in this brinkmanship noticed the locals nudging each other and laying wagers as to what would happen next. The large Fat man was in deep conversation with Darkon when he seemed to be suddenly aware of the pregnant silence in the tavern. He looked round suspiciously and the tavern customers, rather unconvincingly, resumed trying to mind their own business. "So, 50 silver pieces for the job +50 when we give you the package?" "Correct" said the fat man handing over a bag. Darkon took a coin out and bit it. He wasn't actually sure that this was necessary but Thantos had always done it when making deals in taverns before he fell off the Bridge of Lost Hope and missed hitting the river. Darkon always thought Thantos had been unlucky that night. What were the odds of landing on the only spike in 100 metres? 1000 to 1? 2083 to 1? Whatever it was it had been unfortunate for Thanatos and quite good for Darken. As Darken ruminated on his luck or Thantos' misfortune, he suddenly remembered to bring his attention back to the Fat Man. Yes, don't go near the golden cup and avoid the stepping stones of doom by the Forgetful River. Ok back within a moon that was it. Darken thought if there was anything else he had missed he could bluff it out. They shook hands both taking care to apply just the right pressure to convey strength, decisiveness and hidden power and the both men left the tavern quickly, but obviously since they were being furtive, not together. The Fat Man stepped into to a dark alley where he metamorphosed into a tall slim woman. Darkon, who left after an appropriate wait to allow his new employer to make his escape, slid from shadow to shadow all the way to his lodgings to meet his travelling companions, Graphen, Egil and Stove

Just did a one-on-one session on Zoom to start off some new adventures with a few starting players... I'm interested how others have found playing on video? The Hook.pdf

I printed the PDFs and got them bound

I assume neither is in print ?

My apologies g33k.. the keyword, which I ignored, in your post is 'fantasy'.. in which everything is possible

done... I'm learning the complexity of political realism

I had the opportunity to have my first go at participating in a battle using Ships and Shield Walls rather than the previous method of running individual mini-battles that we used to use to simulate warfare. Overall, I was very impressed and it worked well as all the player characters commanded (to a greater but usually lesser ability) a small war band. I was wondering if anyone had any modifications that they had found helpful? That's me with the white shield attacking some heavily armed Irish "fishermen' who had taken up residence without applying for a fishing permit or building control when building a stockade

I had the opportunity to have my first go at participating in a battle using Ships and Shield Walls rather than the previous method of running individual mini-battles that we used to use to simulate warfare. Overall, I was very impressed and it worked well as all the player characters commanded (to a greater but usually lesser ability) a small war band. I was wondering if anyone had any modifications that they had found helpful? That's me with the white shield attacking some heavily armed Irish "fishermen' who had taken up residence without applying for a fishing permit or building control when building a stockade

It would be wrong to consider the Italian communes, or indeed the Lombard League, similar to the Hanseatic League. There are fundamental differences in the way they operated. The Italian communes were in most part individual states that sometimes combined due to external threat (mostly the Holy Roman Emperors desire to exert his authority) but for the most part they fought each other (consider Venice, Genoa and Pisa vying for dominance of trade and seapower in the Mediterranean). Their ability to work together was very limited. The Hansa, on the other hand, placed an emphasis on co-operation and a sleight against one city was a sleight against all. Their ability to achieve their end without recourse to declaring war or rebellion from the temporal powers was remarkable. They never declared war on one of their own cities but used temporary suspension of rights to bring errant cities back into the fold.And a hefty fine. The desire for freedom in the north of Europe was more a desire to allow commerce and wealth to flow instead of being subject to the petty whims of barons, assorted greater nobility, feuding statlets and the Church that often preyed on merchants, townsfolk and peasants. The desire for freedom from the predatory nobility and the strict confines of feudalism was no doubt ignited by commerce with the Italian communes and their experience but was also influenced by the fact that they saw they had more rights, freedoms and privileges in foreign countries they had trade deals with than they had when they returned home to their native cities. Something was always going to give in that.

Lawrence, I was looking at your Guilds, Factions and Cults supplement as a possible template for the Hansa but the League was more akin to a nation state in that it could declare war, defend its borders, bully the Holy Roman Emperor and conclude extremely favourable trade treaties without even referring to the 'Art of the Deal'. I was thinking how to conceptualise the Hansa. For those Hansestadts in the League it brought freedom, wealth and power that challenged Emperors, Kings, nobility and the Church, created powerful burghers, possibly started a (bourgeoisie) democratic movement and arguably ended feudalism. For those cities, states and countries that were outside the Hansa, it must have been viewed with dark trepidation and given the often unfavourable trade treaties that they were forced to sign, they must have been viewed as the Evil Empire. However there is a lot of source material to suggest that some countries still found it beneficial (ie The Steelyards in London until it was sacked at the request of English Wool Merchants in 1469) or others that found them despotic (ie the Bergen Factory) and others that were willing to battle them for the right to the shifting Herring fisheries (Kalmar Union). I assume Gülden will be a Stupor Mundi supplement? Can you tell me how you are viewing the Hanseatic League? (thats if it's not a state secret)

Excellent... I was thinking that the Hansa Factory set-up could be the source of many interesting scenario plots given its ubiquitous presence throughout northern Europe and allow engagement with those cultures that I find interesting.. The only sad bit about your post is...'part based'...lol

thanks Soltakss... I'd looked at your stuff earlier...or possibly last night which I remember perusing years ago... and maybe even swopped a few emails with you I was thinking possibly about the Hansa period in Northern Europe.. or Early Middle Ages in laypersons terms: The Hanseatic League (also known as Hansa, Hanse, 1356-1862 CE) was a federation of north German towns and cities formed in the 12th century CE to facilitate trade and protect mutual interests. The league was centred in the German town of Lübeck and included other German principalities which established trade centers ranging from Kievan Rus through the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Britain.

Thanks both for your replies. I appreciate it. I guess I've had these ideas for many years and have collected lots of source material from historical texts and fantasy genres without actually ever doing anything about it. Mainly, I guess because real life got in the way with family and a busy job. I've now begun to have more time and with lockdown the time to actually begin playing RPGs again after a hiatus of 25 years. In the past I have run several alternate earth campaigns involving several generations of characters (Vikings, Celtic and an aborted Mycenaean Greek campaign based on Robert Graves writings) As a oldtime player its interesting to see how the game has evolved and I have a lot of catch-up to do You're right Vile.. the first thing is to set boundaries and decide on an epoch and how a magical world interacts with the 'real' world. My historical interest has always been Heroic age Greece, Celtic Mythology (being Irish), Greco-Roman/ Carthaginian and Scandinavian/ Rus/ Slavic history. Its way too broad and although each area has had my interest for 30 odd years I need to make decisions. There is a lot of thinking to do but equally its good not to re-invent the wheel but possibly collaborate and add to existing work I'll think about it and post some stuff as I do for comment

Hey people I'm interested in discussing ideas for a Mythic Earth campaign possibly along the idea of some of Poul Anderson's novels (Broken Sword, Three Hearts and Three Lions, Merman's Children) I've flirted with various ideas in the past but never quite got it together to go further than write a few ideas down I'd be happy to collaborate if anyone else is interested