After the First Session - Thoughts on The Missing, Pt. 1

[Nebuchadnezzar]

My group recently finished our first session of HQG using The Missing from Eleven Lights.  It was a good experience and I figured I’d share some thoughts from the session.  There are spoilers for The Missing so read no further if you intend to play.

 

First, The Missing is a great introduction to Eleven Lights.  The interactions with Broddi and his three rivals let the PCs quickly get up to speed on the main political currents in the clan.  The scenario also introduced three of the clan’s main enemies – the Lunars, the Telmori, and the Emerald Sword – in engaging ways.  It’s a great set up for the rest of the campaign.

 

The potential downside is that there is a lot for the GM to keep tabs on.  I did a lot of prep to make sure I understood all the different NPCs and how they relate.  I don’t say this is bad, as I think Eleven Lights’ complexity is great, it’s just something GMs should be ready for.

 

The Missing is also a great introduction to HQG.  The scenario naturally flowed from simple contests to a group simple contest (the attack on Grave Hill) and then to a group extended contest (a fight with the Emerald Sword at Creek Turn) and a climactic extended contest (persuading Wandle to release the children).  The group was therefore able to get the hang of the underlying mechanics before moving on to more complex iterations.

 

All told I think there were 20+ contests played during the scenario.  Of these, 2 (Grave Hill and Creek Turn) were combat.  Grave Hill was a group simple, and Creek Turn could have been avoided with different PC choices.  So there was a lot of dice-rolling and tense, fun moments with the vast majority completely unrelated to combat.  I can’t think of too many systems where that happens.

 

Finally, I love that there is little chance to get “100% player victory” in The Missing.  The PCs found the children and reconciled with Wandle, so some of the clan think they’re heroes.  At the same time, they stirred up trouble with the Lunars, including a massive weregild, and deepened the feud with the Emerald Sword, so some of the clan think they’re Trouble People.  It’s great how “completing the quest” actually set them up for more problems down the road. 

 

Great job Ian and Jeff!  I’ll have a few thoughts on how the play developed in another post and then probably a post with some rules questions that arose.

Edited May 9, 2019 by Nebuchadnezzar

[Ian Cooper]

Thanks.

One of the goals in that scenario is to introduce the PCs and GM to the movers and shakers in the clan. The 1619 scenario, Flight from the Bat, is intended to do the same for the Tribe and Telmori. Once your PCs start interacting with the 'movers and shakers' enough, you should find your own adventures flowing.