Desdichado
Hero
OK, here's some quick background. We were sorta gearing up for a Star Wars game, but one guy didn't show, and we hadn't gamed in so long we wanted to do something. We decided to play a fantasy game -- pretty much core D&D rules -- because we know them better and could wing something much easier. Me and shadowlight rolled off to see who was going to DM first (he got it -- I'm next) then we all threw some characters together and started right away with an impromptu game. The house rules were that we rotate DMs, you essentially don't prepare anything other than a few randomly generated NPCs ahead of time, and everyone brings a little bit of setting development with them every time we play. We also made a tweak or two to the classes -- my fighter has Wilderness Lore as a class skill, for instance, and we handwaved away a prereq or two for some feats that we thought would be fun to play with. We decided that although we'd make an attempt to run XP more or less as per the rules, we'd also arbitrarily level up after each session regardless of what the XP did.
For the setting itself, we did a really bare bones start -- we had a map that had an uncharted wasteland of dead trees and dust taking up the western end of the map. This land was called Abbis, and is known to be the homeland of various goblinoid peoples and nations. A north-south mountain range splits the map in two, and goblinoids from Abbis are known from time to time to pour through the Blood Pass in an attempt to subjugate the more bountiful lands on the eastern side. These lands comprise the mostly human kingdom of Inistaad (or, Inista'äd as we jokingly dubbed it) and an unnamed "elf forest" that abutts the mountain range. The city of Liska is a treetop city a few days on foot from the mountain range that has a mixed population. Liska has a "Swiss style" militia -- all able-bodied citizens are expected to take tours of duty patrolling the surrounding area six times a year for about a week's time. The three initial characters were about to start a patrol together at the beginning of the game, a week in the woods on a route that would take them through various locations between Liska and the Blood Pass. There hadn't been any goblinoid activity in the area for many years, and the patrols, while still maintained, were not taken terribly seriously anymore.
We begin play with my character Baenn -- a human fighter (played by me) who uses a greatsword and is at home in the woods, Cyrus "Not Black" a human sorceror played by shadowlight, and Amallind, a human ranger played by Mrs. shadowlight. Because of the nature of the game, we didn't really flesh these guys out to start with, but we're working on that even as we speak. We initially proposed the game as a kind of stop-gap thing; something to do when we all really wanted to game and our whole group wasn't yet available. However, we had so much fun with it that we decided to run with it for a while. I don't know how long we'll play it, as we do all have other games in the backs of our minds to run (including Star Wars, Mutants & Masterminds, a homebrew fantasy game, Arcana Unearthed, GURPS, etc.) but I figger "what they hey, it's fun right now."
I also took very good notes this session, so the report will be fairly accurate. However, I'm not writing this report to be a game session log, it's a story first and foremost, based on the session, but not slavishly. For one thing, I probably won't have such detailed logs in the future, and for another thing, I didn't take any real notes on the dialogue anyway.
For the setting itself, we did a really bare bones start -- we had a map that had an uncharted wasteland of dead trees and dust taking up the western end of the map. This land was called Abbis, and is known to be the homeland of various goblinoid peoples and nations. A north-south mountain range splits the map in two, and goblinoids from Abbis are known from time to time to pour through the Blood Pass in an attempt to subjugate the more bountiful lands on the eastern side. These lands comprise the mostly human kingdom of Inistaad (or, Inista'äd as we jokingly dubbed it) and an unnamed "elf forest" that abutts the mountain range. The city of Liska is a treetop city a few days on foot from the mountain range that has a mixed population. Liska has a "Swiss style" militia -- all able-bodied citizens are expected to take tours of duty patrolling the surrounding area six times a year for about a week's time. The three initial characters were about to start a patrol together at the beginning of the game, a week in the woods on a route that would take them through various locations between Liska and the Blood Pass. There hadn't been any goblinoid activity in the area for many years, and the patrols, while still maintained, were not taken terribly seriously anymore.
We begin play with my character Baenn -- a human fighter (played by me) who uses a greatsword and is at home in the woods, Cyrus "Not Black" a human sorceror played by shadowlight, and Amallind, a human ranger played by Mrs. shadowlight. Because of the nature of the game, we didn't really flesh these guys out to start with, but we're working on that even as we speak. We initially proposed the game as a kind of stop-gap thing; something to do when we all really wanted to game and our whole group wasn't yet available. However, we had so much fun with it that we decided to run with it for a while. I don't know how long we'll play it, as we do all have other games in the backs of our minds to run (including Star Wars, Mutants & Masterminds, a homebrew fantasy game, Arcana Unearthed, GURPS, etc.) but I figger "what they hey, it's fun right now."
I also took very good notes this session, so the report will be fairly accurate. However, I'm not writing this report to be a game session log, it's a story first and foremost, based on the session, but not slavishly. For one thing, I probably won't have such detailed logs in the future, and for another thing, I didn't take any real notes on the dialogue anyway.
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