UK Student National RPG Championship Valdorian Age - request for ideas

[Bismark]

First, to paraphrase my original post about this game a few days ago:

 

 

<

 

I have created ten characters, of which I expect six to be used. Characters of this level can be a bit 'hot to handle' in Elweir, so I will be taking the adventure into the trackless wilderness.

 

The cast of characters is:

 

Haile - an Abyzinian merchant with mucho bureaucracy skills and a very big Dembus (a 2-handed maul which acts as his 'walking stick);

 

Mbembe - a massive Savannah tribe warrior with big shield and spear, plus one of those spiffy multi-bladed throwing knives - he has mucho MA with his spear;

 

Bayan - a north Pelosan Steppe nomad with the classic Bow Tricks and Riding Skills;

 

Freya - a Khorian Brewmistress with an impressive frame (and COM 20 to go with it - a 1.85m tall blue-eyed redhead [yes, she is a wish-fulfilment character on my part ]);

 

Tarja - a Pelosan forest-steppe boundary tribeswoman with a very stout spear, lariat and a savage reputation (think savage pagan Finnish tribe like the Burta or the Moksha);

 

'Synthia' (name not yet finalised) - a Cynthian Rider (female, good-looking [COM 14]) with the usual gear, plus a shield faced in human bone and a human skin undershirt and a drinking cup made from a human skull;

 

Tessa - a barbarian from the Crumble (female, COM 20) with a big 2-H axe, a long 'flat bow' (which can stand extreme cold without breaking) and Beast Speech;

 

'Nimblefingers' (name not yet finalised) - an Elweirnian sophisticate with an amazing array of skills appropriate to his profession (a river captain who is basically a rogue and smuggler);

 

'Stabby' (name not yet finalised, but he often masquerades as 'Lord Stabwold') - another Elweirnian sophisticate who specialises in the darker side of roguery [he knows Brew Poison and has the 'Backstab' variant of Deadly Blow - go figure] and uses a matched pair of Cinquedeas (one long, one short)

 

Brannus - a Cold Peaks hillman who is a typical 'Conan the Cimmerian' type (broadsword, dagger, javelin, medium shield)

 

Now the question is: where do I send them for a one-off scenario liable to be 4-5 hours in length?>>

 

Secondly, the details so far:

 

I will be sending them to the World's Edge Mountains, where they will end up exploring the ruins of an old Elothian city.

 

I expect them to encounter Cynthian riders along the way (stay within sight of the Serpentine, folks…) and run into equally unpleasant people in the foothills of the mountains, who revere 'Long-Winged Death'. I am working on a champion of this tribe at the moment.

 

This is now an official request for scenario ideas; I am supposedly doing a run-through of my scenario this coming Saturday, but ideas are welcome from now all the way up until the week before the game proper (weekend 29-30 March) - the more detail I can add, the better.

 

Areas where I could do with assistance (all you S&S fans, unite!) include:

 

1. The nature and manifestation of Long-Winged Death (before the proper tournament starts, I can then design a shaman/priest of same);

 

2. What is lurking in the lost city (I may use the 0one maps 'The Lost City' for the floorplans - this includes a ziggurat with tombs underneath it) - I am thinking of adapting Susano's version of the Hyborian Age beastie/god known as 'Thog', for starters (and maybe a flooded area where an Orobon-like beastie [see MMM for details] is lurking);

 

3. 'Random' (not really, but you get the message ) encounters for the party both on the way to and in the city itself .

 

Many thanks in advance…

[Doc Democracy]

Re: UK Student National RPG Championship Valdorian Age - request for ideas

 

I've run a couple of games for the student nationals in the past.

 

Have you put much thought into what the character sheets will look like? Are you doing this under a Supers category or under a Hero (Champions) category?

 

 

Doc

[Bismark]

Re: UK Student National RPG Championship Valdorian Age - request for ideas

 

I have an outline of the Nationals adventure below - it needs a fair bit more work, unfortunately

 

Valdorian Nationals Game

(Heroic-level game, power level as in first post in this thread, party will be recruited from the characters in that thread as well)

 

Basic Premise

Haile, an Abyzinian merchant, wants to go delving into the fabled ruins of an Elothian city deep in the foothills of the World’s Edge Mountains.

[He is looking to enlighten his countrymen about Elothia; he has also come into possession of an old scroll written in Old Elothian script, which was translated for him by a Graecorian scholar. The scroll mentions the Elothian city of Purush-Pe, rumoured to be in those very foothills.]

 

1. Recruitment in Elweir

Most of the party will be contacted via an advert placed in the tavern known as The Far Away, located in the Snake’s Den district (p. 50). ‘Nimblefingers’ and ‘Stabby’ are to be found in the River Captains’ Guild Hall (p. 51).

 

2. Journey to Three Fingers with the Trade Barges

(needs filling in…)

 

 

3. Back up the Serpentine

…to one of its sources (beware the Cynthian Riders, who may take their rules literally rather than obeying the spirit; one of the tributaries may not ‘count’ as the Serpentine itself for the purposes of the truce).

 

4. Entering the Lands of the Kasogians

The Kasogians are worshippers of Long-Winged Death (hence referred to as ‘LWD’).

i. Signs—lots of human skulls stuck on stakes, with raven symbols crudely carved onto them.

ii. The Kasogians are hostile to almost all strangers—wandering sorcerors being about the only exceptions.

iii. The Kasogians believe that the city harbours evil spirits and must not be disturbed—ever (the place is tabu to them).

iv. LWD—the divine spirit of the mountains—manifests as a raven-shaped cloud of volcanic ash with glowing red ‘eyes’; a shaman channelling him will have similar ‘SFX’. He is a divine spirit of the ‘old school’, demanding frequent blood sacrifices.

v. The Kasogians have among their ranks a ‘champion’ of LWD; he will be the leader in any fight with the party. The standard tactic is a shower of thrown spears followed by a wild charge brandishing their war clubs. If there is time, the tribal shaman will try to summon Ash Spirits (divine servants of LWD) and send them against the party. (need to do some designing of the Ash Spirits)

 

5. The Rival Party

Coming over the mountains from the other side is a group of unsavoury mercenaries, plus downtrodden slave porters and a Urethi sorceror (who is the leader, of course). (more work required here as well)

 

6. The World’s Edge Mountains (hence referred to as ‘WEM’)

The mountain range is relatively quiet at the moment vulcanism-wise; of course, this will not last long once the party get there. Just before the party enter the mountains proper, a (major) eruption will take place, ash and noxious gases spewing out with gay abandon. The area is strewn with highly acidic (strong enough to burn on contact)ponds populated by green and yellow slimy bacteria (or 'gunge' as they would call it) and reeking of H2S and SO2 (aka 'foul vapours'). [if the adventure needs more ‘drama’, a pyroclastic surge (though of course it won't be called by that name) can be added to the ‘fun’ ]

 

Now I need some inspiration as what to include in the lost city....

 

All sensible suggestions considered

[Markdoc]

Re: UK Student National RPG Championship Valdorian Age - request for ideas

 

My only concern is that this looks like a fine adventure - but not a Con game. You run the risk of getting caught up in numerous encounters before you even get to the main event - which means you may not finish it.

 

I have learned this to my pain, running Con Games. They have to be simple. No, not that simple - simpler.

 

My suggestion would be collect the players, as suggested, get them onto the boat and then drop them off well up the tributary, so that the adventure breaks down as:

 

1. Cross a short distance from the tributary to the ruins - attract attention of a large gang of Kasogians - far too many to fight. Chase them to the ruins. You can even make a big deal of the Kasogians stopping at the edge of the ruins and then the priest doing a ceremony of ritual death on several of his fiercest, most fanatical warriors (being Officially Dead, they can enter the city: the tabu says "No living man" ). Of course this means that they cannot leave the city alive: slaying the tabu-breakers is all they are after now. The rest of them sit down outside and start sharpening stakes.

 

2. The rival party has had a similar experience. There are now TWO groups of rune-painted Kasogians hunting tabu-breakers, plus the rival party. They can team up (temporarily) to deal with the Kasogians, or not. Either way, plan to at least one ambush, possibly more. Play up the possibilities of 3D space using the ruins to climb on and hide in (or under), etc. The rival party's sorceror has a copy of the original map, and not only wants what it shows but he wants the original one back, since it may show things not on his one.

 

3. Whatever is IN the city. Personally, given time limitations, I'd go for a single big bad. From your description, I'd suggest something steamy and slimy - a bit like a giant animated hairball - or the Giant Armoured Toad from Hell. The players can try killing it, running from it, or leading it onto the waiting Kasogians

 

That gives you an adventure breakdown of:

 

1 Startup (includes description of journey)

2. Short intro to the actual adventure area and chase by 200 enraged Kasogians. I'd start 'em off with one hunting party to give them a fight and then swarm them with increasing small groups to make it plain that this is a fight they can't win.

2. The city. More description (take your time here: this is the actual game setting) and then passage through the city. Let the players see their pursuers, and ambush them, or get ambushed first, if they can't take a hint.

3. Make it to the temple, library, or whatever and encounter "the thing". Get the Mcguffin and then either a big fight with the thing or flight from it.

4. Get past the vengeful waiting Kasogians, who are there sharpening sticks for some new skulls. This can be as simple as a secret path out into the mountains, a crumbly sewer (with some monsters) leading out under their camp, or as complicated as leading the hungry thing into their camp at night and fleeing to the sound of terror-stricken wails and the sound of crunching bones.

5. Play ending theme and roll credits

 

cheers, Mark

[teh bunneh]

Re: UK Student National RPG Championship Valdorian Age - request for ideas

 

Yup, Markdoc is right. A con game should be simple and fairly linear. You've only got... what, maybe 6 hours total? You can't afford to have the heroes chasing red herrings and wasting time with minor battles and scenery changes.

 

Markdoc's outline is pretty good. Personally, I'd probably skip the rival adventuring party (definitely skip if it's only a 4 hour game). I'd also start the game with the PCs all knowing each other so they have a reason to work together.

 

Best of luck!

[Doc Democracy]

Re: UK Student National RPG Championship Valdorian Age - request for ideas

 

I found that Student national games work best if you think hard about the characters and (as everyone else has said) dont worry too much about the complicated story. After all, this is role-playing, give them a role to play.

 

I tended to ensure that each character had a breakdown of the other characters, what he thought about them and why he wanted to be in the party (even if one or two others were a bit of a pain to be with).

 

Complications can come through those backgrounds.

 

In one adventure I had the party too large and the first encounter resulted in the death of half the party - they were removed (rules about non-players around the game) but the dead players were removed by another GM who then ran the dead character through a parallel scenario that joined for a final encounter with all the players, two GMs and lots of blood and gore.

 

All the bad guys died as did 3/4 of the player characters - including the eventual winner who sacrificed himself to achieve his secret goal and that of two allies in the game.

 

 

Doc

[Bismark]

Re: UK Student National RPG Championship Valdorian Age - request for ideas

 

Thanks for the input guys.

 

After reading your suggestions:

 

1. I will streamline some of the plot using the old 'Conan-esque' serialisation technique (i.e. long periods of game-time elapse, but since the PCs are not threatened, it can simply be narrated in one or two paragraphs) and also incorporate a few of Markdoc's suggestions .

 

2. I will make sure that the back story of the characters (which was developed for a campaign so each character actually has a half-decent 'origin') is on the character sheet (or supplementary sheet) so the players have something to 'get their teeth into':

 

For example, the 'Viking Brewmistress'-type has a rather amusing way of recharging her Sorcery END Reserve - 5 days of non-stop getting drunk and passing out, often forgetting to put clothes on (one of the more entertaining suggestions that the {female} player of that character came up with)

 

Now back to that horror called W-O-R-K (then maybe I can do some interesting stuff this evening)

[Shadowsoul]

Re: UK Student National RPG Championship Valdorian Age - request for ideas

 

 

2. I will make sure that the back story of the characters (which was developed for a campaign so each character actually has a half-decent 'origin') is on the character sheet (or supplementary sheet) so the players have something to 'get their teeth into':

 

Ah yes there are some amusing backgrounds. Such as the way that the Merchant Captain had to escape across the rooftops with arrows and daggers clattering all around him, he'd conned a large chunk of the party out of most of their reward money and they weren't happy with him! Then he took refuge in an inn and the party tried to burn it down ... Good times.

 

My old character, (the Steppes Nomad), had one or two amusing adventures as well. Such as engineering the arrival of a rival gang at the vampire infested mansion we were investigating, we let the gang stroll in, waited for the screams and then ruthlessly ambushed those that came out. And we then knew roughly where the vampire/snake/beasties were, bonus! Then there was his adoption of a mildly maimed bandit whom he christened 'Thumbsy'.

 

Good luck writing all that up Bismark, I'll just have to invent a load of stuff for my characters.