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Dalin · 03-23-2020, 08:10 PM

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, 08:10 PM	#5
Dalin Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Saint Paul, MN	Re: Citadel at Norðvörn 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.