03-18-2020, 12:18 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Citadel at Norđvörn
This past weekend, three of my players and I retreated to a small family cabin in the snows of northern Minnesota to launch our new Norđlond campaign. I've been buying Doug's great DFRPG products since the first kickstarter, but have only run bits and pieces as one-shots with side groups. (I snagged a few monsters and sample characters for other adventures, too.) My main group just wrapped up their previous campaign, so we decided to dive in whole hog.
I wasn't sure where to begin and, with my school rapidly retooling for distance learning, I had little time to prepare. It came down to skimming/rereading my Nordlond material (Hall of Judgment, Citadel at Norđvörn, and the prerelease PDFs from the Nordlond Sagas kickstarter) and hoping something would click. As I headed into the weekend, I expected that we would begin with Hall of Judgment as an introductory scenario. The players, however, wanted to get to know the wider setting before diving into an adventure, so we decided to begin with some vignettes along the Jotunnáin river. This led me to pull out the Citadel at Norđvörn. This was the book that I was the most unsure about. I loved reading it as a setting book, but I wasn't sure that I would be nimble enough as a GM to flesh out the various plots on the fly. I should never have hesitated. It was awesome. Seriously. I'll post more about it in this thread as I have time, but we probably played for 15-20 hours over the weekend and there was no shortage of material. The vignettes idea faded away as the group became absorbed by the plot threads in the small town of Áinferill. The NPCs were rich and evocative. The maps and pictures in the book made great game-aids, and my players were fully immersed. It grew naturally from low-stakes roleplaying with minor NPCs to an epic quest into the Dragongrounds. There were moments of comedy, pathos, and edge-of-your-seat action. It was some of the most rewarding gaming that I've ever experienced. Last edited by Dalin; 03-18-2020 at 02:59 PM. |
03-18-2020, 02:06 PM | #2 |
President and EIC
Join Date: Jul 2004
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Re: Citadel at Norđvörn
This makes me happy. Congratulations, Douglas!
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03-18-2020, 04:35 PM | #3 | |
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
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Re: Citadel at Norđvörn
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03-23-2020, 02:00 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Citadel at Norđvörn
I meant to write more about our adventure, but homeschooling three children while adapting to an entirely new employment paradigm approaches infinite-time-suck. (As an experienced teacher, I should know this... but I was still taken by surprise.) While taking a break from creating math problems, I'll add more here. I'll start with the player characters.
Three PCs at 300 points. The extra fifty points let them start at about the same power level as they were at when the last campaign ended. This way we can explore different power levels of the game. There was Ruus, a one-eyed swashbuckler with a bit of fae blood (half-elven) from a region to the south (off the map somewhere). She was fast and could attack twice per turn. DPS wasn't especially high (though she acquired a better sword by the end of the weekend that boosted things somewhat). Her vow to never refuse a challenge to combat was very fun in Nordlond. Then we had Valtyr, a sea druid. (He's the one I mentioned in the Druid's Harpoon? thread.) He acted, in some ways, like a cleric of the god of wind and sea. He enjoyed differentiating himself from landlubber druids. For example, he is less concerned with protecting trees. One of his big disadvantages was Weirdness Magnet. I haven't dealt with that as a GM for a long time, but I had a good time with it. Finally, there was Thridi, third son of the Hajarl of Midgard, wealthy, connected, but eccentric. Some would consider him to be a bit of an embarrassment to the family, but he has developed a bit of a legendary reputation. He is notably plodding in the intellect department, never wears armor, fights only with a ridiculously expensive knife, and is impulsive and easily distracted. (His knife was discussed in this thread: My knife doesn't cost enough.) He seems to believe that he is blessed by the fates to be invincible, and thus far he has survived numerous ludicrously dangerous situations. Under the hood, he has serendipity, ridiculous luck, Move 8, Dodge 15, and HT 13. All of this barely keeps him alive since he truly has no fear of danger and chooses the riskiest course of action at all times. More soon, I hope! |
03-23-2020, 08:10 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Citadel at Norđvörn
So, we started off the weekend with a swashbuckler, a druid, and an odd duck (mostly built with the thief template). Not exactly a typical group of Nordlond adventurers.
As a bit of backstory, we determined that Ruus (the swashy) and Valtyr (the sea druid) had met on a ship. At the start of the game, they were heading north up the Jotunnáin river in a longboat toward Ainferill. Opening with some action, a thurs hidden in a gully on shore tossed a boulder onto the boat, capsizing it. The third PC, Thridi, was coincidentally walking along the shore when this attack occurred (with serendipity and piles of luck, he is not afraid to travel solo). Shenanigans ensued. Soon the thurs was defeated, but some nordalfs slipped away into a dark tunnel beneath a gnarled oak. I riffed off of the nordalf warrens in Hall of Judgment. The party pursued but quickly realized that they were unprepared for the traps (even lucky Thridi was paralyzed after he only managed to dodge five of the six poison darts). It was tense and fun; the fae element added some fine atmosphere. The party crawled back out of the hole and decided to heal up in Ainferill, flagging down a passing boat. Up to this point I was just grabbing threads at random. With Ainferill, the Citadel at Nordlond really came into its own. I gave the group a bit of backstory on the voyage upriver. The fact that the Happy Jotun was closed on the docks helped bring home the losses that the town faced. There were plenty of NPCs to draw from with clear, evocative personalities. We had a good time with some roleplaying and the players were quickly intrigued by the Elskadr backstory (ultra-short butchered version: a scorned lover attempted to prove his manliness by founding a frontier town in the scary forest; everybody died). There was a duel between our swashbuckler and the daughter of the Jarl (who wanted to see if Ruus was worth anything). It was a great scene where Aslief got the first two hits and was then dramatically disarmed by Ruus (on a critical success). Great stuff. It was amazing how easy it was to run this town with barely any preparation. The party basically handed off the nordalf situation to the town cleric and decided to see if they could head to Elskadr on their own to retrieve the remains of the Jarl's family. I provided in-game hints encouraging them to hire some muscle, but they weren't interested. As a GM, I'm good with modifying things on the fly, so I took a break to read up on Elskadr and decide how to run it. I knew that I wanted it to be dangerous with a real possibility of failure (ideally with multiple failure options), but didn't want it to be an automatic TPK. More tomorrow. |
03-23-2020, 10:13 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Central Texas, north of Austin
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Re: Citadel at Norđvörn
I like these kinds of play reviews. Thanks.
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03-24-2020, 08:59 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Republic of Texas; FOS
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Re: Citadel at Norđvörn
Also enjoying the play reports!
I’ve been looking at some pre-session info to give my players some background before delving directly into Nordland... should I bother? Seems diving straight in worked well, or did you give some history while they were building their characters?
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03-24-2020, 09:44 PM | #8 | |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Citadel at Norđvörn
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03-24-2020, 10:23 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Citadel at Norđvörn
So let's see... the group took on the quest of finding out what happened to the frontier village of Elskadr. We played this out over the course of an entire day. (It was pretty glorious to start gaming after a leisurely breakfast, pause for lunch and a bit of snowshoeing around the lake, another afternoon session, pause for dinner, and a final one before bed. I haven't gamed like that in a very long time.)
Before we resumed play, I came up with a rough idea of how each of the three PCs could be useful. Obviously it couldn't be an all-out fight because they would be hopelessly outnumbered. Highlights included:
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03-25-2020, 08:07 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Citadel at Norđvörn
Ok, the final episode:
The party is running back to the wall from Elskadr. They've got a cart loaded with some of Gunnulf Bjornoxl's wealth along with the bodies of his son and wife. The sun rises in the east just as the forest begins to thin. The wall is near, but the hastily organized "truce" between the dragonkin and the humans has ended. Suddenly, a 10-yard long winged beast swoops down from above (a drekafugl from Dragons of Rosgarth). Upon its back is mounted a gangaedla. This launched the most cinematic battle of the weekend involving numerous lightning bolts, a miraculous harpoon shot killing the gangaedla in a single shot, the scion of Midgard grabbing the harpoon rope and swinging into the air. Many lucky rolls later and he ends up in the saddle while the beast swoops and twists, trying to dismount him. (His Perfect Balance advantage paid for itself in spades during this sequence!) What does it take to control a domesticated winged predator? I can't remember how we resolved this, but Thridi ended up with a modicum of control, though he couldn't make it fly toward the wall. He wanted to capture it, but couldn't figure out a way to pull it off, especially because he spied a flock of similar creatures flying toward him from the east at high speed. He managed to land and sadly realized that the creature was a tremendously powerful weapon in the hands of an enemy, so he used his Luck to land a critical neck shot with his knife, killing it with a single blow. (Everyone was appropriately sad at this slaying of such a grand creature.) This led to an all-out sprint to the wall. The druid and swashbuckler were ahead and made it to the gate unscathed. (The druid used his Penetrating Voice to alert the guards on the wall before they got there.) Soon there was a crowd on the battlements watching as Thridi raced toward the gate with a squadron of lightning hurling dinosaurs behind him. (The druid was still maintaining Resist Lightning, or he would have likely been toast.) In the end, his Move of 8 (9 while sprinting) combined with the drekafugls' dread of the wall allowed him to make the gate ahead of his pursuit. The crowd cheered wildly as the dragonkin turned back toward their grim woodland. The weekend ended with the party being treated as the returning heroes that they were. The news traveled faster than they did, and they arrived in Ainferill to be greeted by an ecstatic crowd. The players made some very astute decisions during this time, recognizing Gyda as a bad influence on Gunnulf, and attempting to maintain strong relations with Asleif. They turned over all of the wealth and the two bodies, holding nothing back in their tale (except one small detail; see below). They proposed that the funerary rites and associated festivities be hosted at the Happy Jotun (a formerly popular establishment on the docks that stood empty because the proprietor and his entire family joined Asbjorn's doomed expedition to Elskadr). This was a brilliant idea that played very well with Gunnulf, Asleif, and the remaining townsfolk. The druid, who has a few skaldic pretensions, delivered an epic poem about their deeds. After the public events, Ruus (the swashbuckler) meet with Asleif privately. She told her that in addition to finding much of the town's treasure, she also found Sigrid's jewelry box and private diary. She had carefully kept these safe to return to Asleif. (Honestly, this scene was so powerful that my voice was cracking as I tried to roleplay Asleif's heartfealt thanks.) Crazy good times. And, truly, this was just one tiny sliver of what The Citadel at Norđvörn has to offer. Imagine if I had actually prepared some notes prior to the weekend? |
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norđlond, nordvörn |
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