Gothic Earth Session 6: Into the Swiss Alps
Game night went well! We started with what was to be the
finale of the last adventure, but I did shorten it up some, yet it still took a
while to complete. I had planned on forcing combat with the German Military, I
still had them stop the train, but more as an inconvenience, I still got things
pretty hot, but at the last minute I allowed my NPC banker to pay off the
Major, and they let the train pass.
I did keep the finale though, seeing how combat right off
the get go would effect play later, getting into the mindset of play can be
difficult, and I feel that this did actually help. I designed a runaway train scenario,
it was foreshadowed by the German Military, they stopped the train because they
claimed that it contained archeological finds that were not allowed to leave
the country. The PCs knew from last time that The Watchmen were transporting
some kind of religious artifact on the train, they were worried that this was
what the soldiers were trying to get. One of the players, Sam, the gunfighter decided
to sit back in the freight car, figuring that the military would try an
American style train robbery, nor did he trust the American cowboys assigned to
guard the relic. It was a fatal mistake, the archeological specimens were skeletons,
including the bodies of two knights that fought like knights. Their purpose was
set, they were going to take over the train, attempt to destroy the relic in
the crash, if that didn’t work then they would try and hide the reliquary out
in the wilderness where nobody could find it. Sam was in the wrong place, and
all by himself.
The runaway train was being driven by 4 regular skeletons,
they were pushing coal into the steam engine at an enormous speed, not caring
if the thing over-heated and exploded or not; it was maintaining the trains top
speed through the territory of 125 mph, the train was also entering the Alps,
which is twisty and up hill, pushing the engine even further. I assigned saving
throws to be done for the train, every 3 minutes of real time. If a saving
throw was failed, the train took a lot of damage, and everyone on top or not in
their seat had to make saving throws as well. Destroying the skeletons working
the engine would slow the train down depending on how many of them could still
shovel coal. The Skeletal Warriors had different tasks, one headed up to the
front to defend the weak skeletal labor, and the other went to the back to
destroy the emergency breaks on all of the cars.
So, then we add the PCs into the equation, the strongest
fighter is alone in the worst possible spot to be, the rest are back in the
Royal car lent to them to aid them in getting the dethroned Prussian King out
of the country to Switzerland. Sam was unable to stop the skeletons from
leaving the freight car, but somehow survived the fight with the skeletal
knights, he pursued the warrior heading to the front of the train, while the
rest of the party attempted to stop the other from disabling the breaking
systems. In the end, Sam lost the fight, but lucked out again (this character
is known for always almost dying), the funny thing is that while he is fighting
this enemy, he is also rolling up a new character. He does well, but not well
enough, he was reduced to a perfect 0hp, which gave the rest of the party 1
turn to get to him. I rolled a saving throw for him from behind the screen, and learned that when he slid off of the roof
of the train, his coat got caught up on something and he is just hanging there,
bleeding to death. The party was able to save him, it took them 6 rounds, and
Sam was at -4. Death in my games is -10 for fighters.
They decided to separate the train at the freight car, and
one of the heroes was physically strong enough to do it. This was a very very
dangerous scenario, both of the skeletal warriors were slain, the relic and the
Prussian King was saved, and the party won. I deducted XP for the lives of the passengers
in the coach car which they sacrificed, but
the number of XP was still really high and they had time to level up since they
weren’t going anywhere until help arrived, so I gave it to them. The Prussian
spy, and the Irish Explorer both leveled up.
The party was able to figure out what they had saved when
they opened the large box in the freight car and found the Reliquary of Saint
Sabaldus, the priest (and Watchman) who was riding in class with the Swiss
banker told them that they were secreting
this artifact out of Germany and into Switzerland to keep it out of the hands
of the military.
In the morning, help arrived in the form of Johnathan
Harker, the Reliquary was loaded onto his wagon and everyone finished the
journey to Zurich with no troubles. We said goodbye to Bismarck, completing the
goal of getting him to safety; they met up with Van Helsing who gave them a
proposition. He replaced the silver casket containing the bones of St. Sabaldus
with a fake, and asked them if they would accompany him to the remote village
of Belalp to properly hide the relic in the medieval church where it would be
safer from theft. Once this short task was done, he’d personally see them back
to London. They agreed but insisted that he find them better weapons, the
creatures that they have been fighting thus far seem to be mostly unaffected by
them. He agreed.
In Zurich Sam and Harker took the Reliquary to the Swiss
Bank, and transferred the funds earned from saving Bismarck, when he learned
that someone, using his name had already opened an account, and much of his
fortune had been restored! The question is who did this?
The party also had to plan a way to get the real relic of
Sabaldus out of Zurich, and they did a great job! Posing as merchants, they had
Harker purchase crates of wine, hid the casket in an empty winecrate, everybody
healed up and lived like human beings for a few day then they once again left
modern civilization behind as they drove the wagon deep into the Swiss Alps, and
three days later, they reached the city of Naters, where Van Helsing sold most
of the wine, and then the grewling hike up into the mountain and officially
kicking off the new game!
They follow a nice gentle trail up into the alps until they
get to the village of Blatten; they do not look forward to the next day, Belalp
is straight up the mountain, they are loaded down with supplies, and they need
to buy more. They purchase warmer clothing, some mountaineering gear, more
food, and spend the night in the Blatten Inn. Spending some time in the inns
tavern, they visit with the Blatten locals and discover some facts about the
area:
- The Blatten Mill was forced to shut down.
- Belalp is secluded as hell, very few of the people ever come down to town, except in winter time when travel is much easier.
- The people that live up there are tougher than normal people, seeming to enjoy the severe isolation that would drive most people mad, and adding that no amount of money could convince any of the Blatten locals to go up there.
- The whole area is dedicated to wood and mines. While the Blatten mill was forced to shut down, the Belalp mine caved in a few years ago and the miners up there are stubbornly working a less productive and much older mine, which they say is haunted.
So, in the morning, the party slowly makes the two day climb
through a thick forest, up the steep mountain; following the zig zagging trail
lined with flags, until they finally get to town and to their horror, they
discover that Belalp isn’t Medieval at all, the Church that they were going to
hide the relic in is nothing but a bare-bones cheap church made out of plywood
and ran by an old priest that isn’t even civilized enough to not cuss every
other word, never the less have a civil conversation with. Van Helsing is
upset, he too thought that this would be a short trip and he couldn’t wait to
get off of this mountain, but it is evident that this is going to take a while.
The party was very productive up here, they learned that in
order to keep the Belalp #3 mine open, the land lord who owned all of this
stuff had to hire some Spiritual Specialists out of Bern to run an
investigation.
The Landlord is an eccentric Italian of incredible wealth
who insists on being called Lord.
Many of the native locals are extreamly big people,
typically standing about 7’ tall.
Visiting with the “Lord” they learn that this is an old
village, a witch had been burned at the local park or something, and the entire
area surrounding the village has remnents of a rich history as Romans and the
old Bavarians had settled this area.
The party rented an empty cabin, and paid a local woman to
provide housekeeping. The locals were just as interested in them as they were
of finding this church and getting the hell out. The sheriff stopped by and
introduced himself, trying to figure out the parties business (adventurers
exploring historical places), and the local law man was helpful, suggesting a
few people that might be able to help them get started, and that was where we
ended the game!
As far as prep goes, I developed a system to dictate an
unpredictable MR, I have a detailed overland map with a key of major triggers,
I also started a player map, as they’ll probably want something to look at as
the try to find the areas I’ve hidden around. I used to have two sets of Random
Encounters lists, I’d get bored with running combat and just go with non-combat
lists, so this time I consolidated the two into one list, with non-combat
taking up most of the common entries on the RA list.
I drew up three
original maps for this adventure, the overland map loosely based upon images found
on Google maps, a layered dungeon designed to provide multiple adventures in,
and a finishing dungeon. I recycled some old village maps from published
adventures, and rekeyed them. I’ve got a very large list of NPCs, as well as
some mysteries going on. I wanted to strip the game down to its barest essentials,
this is pure D&D, it contains mystery, exploration, hack and slash combat,
it just doesn’t get any better than this! I’ve got my story in place, and the
motives of major NPCs accountable for, all I have to do is describe what the
players see, and figure out how my NPCs interact with the party based on their
decisions. I’m very happy with this.
I think that I will try to Draw up the Belalp Village map,
and label it better so that it is easier to use. I’d also like to draw up the
Mining camp, but that isn’t a have to. Events are set and just waiting for the
players to either set them off or foil them. I prefer this kind of game, it
basically runs itself instead of me forcing issues. I feel that everything is
interactive, it is the players that will make the story happen vs. me doing it,
which is nice. I guess it would also be nice to have statblocks for my RA list,
but again, that isn’t really a have to . . . the only have to is the Belalp
Village map. I also want to get a roll of Gaming Paper, which I found
inexpensively at wondertrail.com.
Next game will be delayed, as a friend’s 50th
birthday is that day, which is fine as it puts game day on St. Patricks’
Weekend, and it has become a yearly tradition to play that weekend, so I’ve got
plenty of time to do whatever I want to do.
Monday, February 06, 2017
|
Labels:
Ripper's Gaming Sessions
|
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
- campaign ideas
- NPC's
- combat
- Miscellany
- encounters
- rants
- Ripper's Gaming Sessions
- monsters
- money and equipment
- Reviews
- pc classes
- magic
- Proficiencies
- Treasure
- Time and Movement
- Sunday Supplemental
- experience
- campaign add-ins
- Alignment
- races
- Mechanic Series
- vision and light
- Ability Scores
- wizard spells
- Supplemental
- priest spells
My Blog List
-
-
Ho provato Pasión de las Pasiones! - Salve, Ieri sera ci siamo trovati a giocare Pasión de las Pasiones. Si tratta di un gioco di ruolo che ha lo scopo di riprodurre un copione delle teleno...6 days ago
-
Play as Sculpture, Play as Prism - Watching my eldest child and friends engaging in imaginative play, I'm often struck by the fact that what seems to excite them is deciding who gets to be...1 week ago
-
The Light Dawns - THIS!!! Yes, a thousand times, this! Back in the day, I referred to this as “neo-classicalgaming,” which is to say, the sorts of games that came ou...3 weeks ago
-
Daggerheart vs. the MCDM RPG vs. D&D: A Playtest Comparison - If games to suit every play style and new games bringing fresh ideas makes a golden age, then the best time for gamers is now. In the past weeks, I’ve play...3 weeks ago
-
MASSIVE GEEKOUT With David Finn Of Signal Of Doom – Episode 275 – 3/29/2024 - Shane Plays Geek Talk Episode #275 – 3/29/2024 A wide-ranging geekout with David Finn of the Signal of Doom podcast. Lots of comic book and MCU chat (lik...3 weeks ago
-
Protect your Gamemasters (and don't call it "fudging") - *November last year I went to check out X. I had heard lots of promissing things about the changes there, and the possibilities that come with them. Gott...1 month ago
-
Attronarch's Athenaeum - Over at the forum El Borak mentioned Attronarch in his thread Hirelings, loyalty, and morale which you should take a look at. Attronarch has a website Att...1 month ago
-
Xandering, Jaquaysing, or Arneson-ing the Dungeon? - Yet another gamer firestorm arose shortly after the passing of Janelle Jaquays when it was noted that Justin Alexander had changed a rather well known p...2 months ago
-
Last move - to self-hosting! - As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to self-hosting. I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at) Blog: ht...3 months ago
-
Sex-Crazed Falling Stars, Free Weather Magic, and Adventures: News of the Hill Cantons - *Grandma Gaya, the Rav-Witch of High Kezmarok*, seeks the stout of limb and humble of mind in the *obtaining of fallen stars* from an upcoming prophesied ...3 months ago
-
Thanks for your comments, friends! - Dear friends and followers of the blog, Thanks for all your comments over the years. When Google+ opened, I decided to jump on board. Everything got coupl...8 months ago
-
GUARDIANS OSR Superhero RPG- DC Heroics House Rules - It's been a rough year with sickness. But here I am. Let's go. Guardians is a fun little game from Night Owl Workshop games. They have a lot of fun OS...10 months ago
-
Coming Fast! 50th Anniversary of OD&D January 2024 (OGL comments) (& how Wizbro is stupid) - The 50th Anniversary, the 50th Birthday of OD&D is approaching and will be here in January 2024. Wizards of the Coast, instead of preparing for something s...1 year ago
-
Original Dungeons & Dragons Has Its 50th Anniversary In January 2024 (Feb 2023) - The countdown to the 50th Anniversary of the Original Dungeons and Dragons in January 2024 continues. Give the drama with Wizards during January 2023, it...1 year ago
-
I'm In!! The monthly posting challenge leadup to the 50th Anniversary of OD&D in 2024 - I am inspired by this post found here, to be part of the monthly posting during 2023 and 2024 to highlight the 50th Anniversary of OD&D. We were challeng...1 year ago
-
It's been a decade, now... - This is a tough time of year for me. So, with your indulgence, here's this link to a post I did a decade ago... EDIT: I have no idea why it didn't take. S...2 years ago
-
This Blog is now on Indefinite Hiatus - Greetings, I haven’t been able to post except sporadically for a while. I just found out I will need to find a new place to live within the next few months...2 years ago
-
Ind of the Year - The Colors of Magic - On December 1st, there will be a nice bundle of small, indie itch RPGs from around the world called the *Ind of the Year Bundle 2020* that includes *The Co...3 years ago
-
Be The DM, 1 - OK, I've run plenty of games and I've talked with and read the thoughts of many other DM's. One thing is certain; No two DM's are the same. I have seen ...3 years ago
-
The Crowning of King Harold - Here is a spooky story that comes from my latest novel, Lions Red and Gold, available now in digital and dead tree only on Amazon. I post it here in ho...3 years ago
-
MIDLANDS CHARACTER GENERATION - Character development (of Player via imagined formative experiences) in my dog in DMing. Placyer character development is a huge part of my sandbox. I use ...3 years ago
-
Lake Geneva Original RPG Campaign: Merlynd the Magician: A Remembrance of Don Kaye, ... - Lake Geneva Original RPG Campaign: Merlynd the Magician: A Remembrance of Don Kaye, ...: LINK to Description and Ordering: https://www.tlbgames.com/colle...4 years ago
-
Character Concepts: Planescape pt 3 - Part 1 Part 2 Continuing my series on oddball Planescape Faction Personalities... Harmonium Sidby the Stick (LG/halfling/fighter) - Sidby's a good enough b...4 years ago
-
D&D Sling Damage vs. Large Targets - In many early editions of D&D, weapons were assigned two damage values: one for small/medium targets (i.e. man-sized) and one for large targets (giants and...4 years ago
-
Announcing the Contest Winner! (Plus Some Interesting US Coin Facts) - The third semi-annual Save Versus All Wands contest - What is the Value of this Coin Hoard - is over. $1,000 was the winning guess, only a bit below the ...5 years ago
Statcounter
Contact me at Ripx187@gmail.com
Search This Blog
Blog Archive
-
►
2018
(5)
- ► October 2018 (1)
- ► September 2018 (1)
- ► April 2018 (1)
- ► February 2018 (1)
- ► January 2018 (1)
-
▼
2017
(39)
- ► November 2017 (1)
- ► September 2017 (3)
- ► August 2017 (2)
- ► April 2017 (6)
- ► March 2017 (5)
- ▼ February 2017 (5)
- ► January 2017 (4)
-
►
2016
(58)
- ► December 2016 (4)
- ► November 2016 (6)
- ► October 2016 (5)
- ► September 2016 (4)
- ► August 2016 (4)
- ► April 2016 (4)
- ► March 2016 (4)
- ► February 2016 (4)
- ► January 2016 (7)
-
►
2015
(24)
- ► December 2015 (6)
- ► November 2015 (7)
- ► October 2015 (7)
- ► September 2015 (4)
-
►
2010
(14)
- ► March 2010 (5)
- ► February 2010 (5)
- ► January 2010 (4)
-
►
2009
(123)
- ► December 2009 (3)
- ► November 2009 (4)
- ► October 2009 (6)
- ► September 2009 (4)
- ► August 2009 (13)
- ► April 2009 (15)
- ► March 2009 (14)
- ► February 2009 (5)
- ► January 2009 (10)
-
►
2008
(73)
- ► December 2008 (3)
- ► November 2008 (4)
- ► October 2008 (5)
- ► September 2008 (4)
- ► August 2008 (4)
- ► April 2008 (18)
- ► March 2008 (5)
0 comments:
Post a Comment