actual play Calamity Comes to Selgos

[Minion1stClass]

1 hour ago, Nevermet said:

I guess in HQ rules, it really comes down to the question of goal & strategy.  I think it's potentially fun to encourage players to say things like, "I want to establish there is a secret passage using my Masonry ability" as opposed to "I want to check to see if there is a secret passage using my masonry ability."

You can do that in QW by spending a hero point. At the end of our first Anmangarn Campaign we needed a ride back to Black Spear Village so when a duck boat passed by I asked to spend a hp to have the boat belong to the durulz who'd given us a ride out of Quackford.

 

[soltakss]

12 hours ago, Minion1stClass said:

13 hours ago, Nevermet said:

I guess in HQ rules, it really comes down to the question of goal & strategy.  I think it's potentially fun to encourage players to say things like, "I want to establish there is a secret passage using my Masonry ability" as opposed to "I want to check to see if there is a secret passage using my masonry ability."

You can do that in QW by spending a hero point. At the end of our first Anmangarn Campaign we needed a ride back to Black Spear Village so when a duck boat passed by I asked to spend a hp to have the boat belong to the durulz who'd given us a ride out of Quackford.

Using Hero Points as Plot Points is really good.

[Nevermet]

The game will be starting up on Thursday, after a hiatus due to one of the players moving cross country.

They have explicitly requested that I lean into the "metal", meaning they like the more gonzo elements of Glorantha.  Dinosaurs, bizarre demons, heroes with reality breaking Feats, etc, etc, etc.

 

So, the Ogres have fled their lair in Selgos, leaving behind some Chaos monsters for the PCs to deal with.  It's not the Cacodemon, but it may take out a market or two, depending on what they do.

[Minion1stClass]

DUCKS!

[Nevermet]

Yes, Death Duck Mercenaries shall be brought in to cleanse the city!

[Nevermet]

Meanwhile, the Wind Children will fly in to deal with other Chaotic threats, and a big burly one will yell "DIIIIVE!" And... and.... I may have had too much coffee.

[Nevermet]

Bad news:  Game postponed until Sunday due to medical emergency.

 

Good news: one of my players has requested an "Old School Dungeon Crawl."

 

HOW CAN I SAY NO

[Voriof]

Really looking forward to this caravan getting on the road.

From a forest overlooking the sea,

J Kyer

[Nevermet]

Family and work have stabilized enough that I'm back.  The game has continued, and I will updating things.

[Nevermet]

ok.... wow... a lot has happened.  I will start a new thread for the new Chapter, but this is the rest of Calamity Comes to Selgos, in its entirety, though briefly:

Verse 1: The Discovery of "Ogre Town"

• The characters find a chaos monster in the Ogre hideout.  It tries to kill them, they defend themselves, light the building on fire, and duck into a tunnel beneath the building.  The chaos monster, now on fire, screams in agony but does not pursue.  
   
• The party discovers a truly bizarre dungeon: a square mile or so of a city that was engulfed by the earth when Slontos sunk, several centuries ago.  Many of the buildings are intact... or rebuilt.  They find and capture some human guards who were hired by the Ogres.  The players dub this place "Ogre Town," and we run with that name.
   
• While exploring the city, they find Mistress Stew, an ancient Ogress.  She seriously injures the merchant before the other two PCs and their henchman kill her.  They roll very well, and manage to disappear down one of the twisted, ruined alleyways.  After making sure they can catch their breathe, the Ditali healer mends the merchant's jaw that Stew broke with a backhand.
   
• Over the next day, the heroes stumble about Ogre Town, staying 1 step in front of the ogres.  3 events occur:
  • They find a tunnel with cold air and Trollkin coming in and out, patrolling and searching for something.  The players decide quickly the last thing they need is Uz trouble, and walk away slowly.
  • They find an ancient mansion, half destroyed, covered with newly made barricades and traps.  Upon further inspection, they find 2 Newtling cousins.  They are the last surviving members of a band of bachelors who foolishly hunted down the ogres, only to find themselves trapped in Ogre Town.  The skald PC spends a hero point to make them into companions.  I decide to make 1 companion out of the 2 inseperable cousins.
  • They find an immortal Godlearner who has only cared about his library for the last 400 years.  Is is proudly amoral, grumpy, and served by a collection of undead he's animated over the years.  He's annoyed the PCs destroyed two of his servants, but given that he dislikes the ogres, he shows them the way to the surface, with the agreement they will pay him in the future.  He does not specify, and they are afraid to ask.

Verse 2: Gathering Forces

• The PCs are faced with the fact that they cannot attack an ogre lair of that size by themselves, being just a merchant, a skald, and a healer.  So, they wheel and deal with everyone they can think of: the local noble, the healers camp outside the city wall, the entertainers guild... they put together a small group of about 15 additional people
   
• While this is going on, they finally break the news that the head Wizard of the city is working with the ogres.  The City's First Judge is... displeased.  They ask to see the wizard's private quarters.  The First Judge agrees, but requires they do not take anything without his approval.  They see many spellbooks they are not allowed to take, but they are allowed to take a map that appears to show the entrances to Ogre Town around Selgos.
   
• The Heroes devise a plan: their temporary menions would, all at the same time, throw brush and trash into all the entrances but one, light them on fire, and keep the entrances ablaze.  The Heroes, and 6 remaining city guards, would descend into the city.

[Nevermet]

More later - dinner

[Nevermet]

Verse 3 begins with the players and a squad of several city guards going back into Ogre Town.  They find ogres and the head Wizard of Selgos conducting a ritual to summon the Cacodemon.  There are also several guards, human and ogres, and a (small-ish) dinosaur.  They also send a city guard to the immortal sorcerer to let them know what's going on - the last thing they need is to have a batallion of zombies panicking.

• They focus their missle fire on the rider of the dinosaur, knocking him off.  They then distract the dinosaur, leading it down a street away from everything else.  They send the Newtlings to do this.
• The merchant has a spell that hurts one's ability to speak.  She crits on the Wizard, de-railing the ritual temporarily.
• The city guard does battle with the extra guards.  A relatively fair fight, but the city guard slowly gets the upper hand
• The PCs try to engage the ogres in combat, but the ogres just flee.  One gets away.

While declaring victory, the city guard that was sent to deal with the necromantic sorcerer returns.... as a zombie.  Furious, the PCs march up to the sorcerer, who informs them he took the guard as payment for the zombie they destroyed previously.  He announces a desire to seal off Ogre Town once and for all from the surface world, so he can return to his studies.  The players, injured and tired, decide to take the win and leave.

 

And really, that's the conclusion.

In some ways, I felt the climax wasn't particularly climactic.  But it was mostly the rolls fault, though I need to get better about when to allow things to be stretches, and also to put the PCs in situations that force them to use their HPs all the time.

 

My players are having a blast, and they are deeply invested in the characters at this point, which is good.

 

Later in the week, I'll start a new thread with the new campaign.