We played a second session of this campaign today. I don't kmow if it was the best RPGing ever, but it was my first session since the shutdown began, and so I enjoyed it a lot!
We played through 1 Action Scene, which went on longer than I anticipated because I got some good rolls early and the players got some poor rolls to further boost mine. And everything was a bit slower than it normally would be due to online playing.
At the end of the first session the PCs - Gandlaf, Nehar the Dunadan, Mirenlea the Noldor maiden and Dwalin the Dwarven traveller - were pursuing Orcs south towards Eregion. The Orcs were bearing the Palantir of Amon Sul, which they had taken possession of in the north of Eriador while the PCs were distracted by wolves and Nazgul.
There were two Scene Distinctions: All Things Are Silent, With a Sense of Watchfulness and Fear; and, In Pursuit of the Orcs. The latter started the session at d10 (having been whittled down from d12 towards the end of the previous session) and had to be stepped down to d4 for the PCs to win the scene by completing their pursuit.
I had two NPCs in the scene: a group of 3d6 Orcs (the ones being pursued) and a mysterious presence whom the players conjectured, particularly as evidence accumulated, to be Saruman.
I won't go through everything blow-by-blow (and don't have the memory for it anyway), but the initial actions involved trying to bear down on the Orcs. Some of this was tested against the Doom Pool, which was fairly low (starting at d6 and d10) but some against the Orcs where it seemed to make sense for them to be actively resisting the attempt to catch them. When the Orcs took their first action I resolved it as an attempt to inflict emotional stress - resulting from their foul tracks and markings in the lands they were passing through (I was inspired by the passage in Book IV of LotR where Frodo comes to the cross-roads in Ithilien and the statute of the king is knocked down and defaced). This was surprisingly successful, so two of the PCs took heavy emotional stress. I was also able to turn an action by Gandalf back upon him (spending a die from the Doom Pool to use my reaction effect die as if it was a successful action) and so inflicted mental stress there.
Somewhere about here Mirenlea the Noldor found herself stressed out by Emotional stress - narrated as her wrath at the Orcs overtaking her - but Gandalf was able to calm here down - via a successful recovery action that brought her back in at d12 emotional stress, and which also failed to help Dwalin and hence stepped his emotional stress up to d12.
I also spent a d8 from the Doom Pool to introduce a new Scene Distinction, Crebain from Dunland, which had an additional rider that If this Scene Distinction is not eliminated by the time that the company reaches Ost-in-Edhil, the next scene begins with a Watched Scene Distinction: each time it is used in a pool, step up the Doom Pool. The attempt by the Elf to eliminate the Crebain by calling up wind and a storm (stunting of her Weather Influence power and using her Singer of Songs distinction) failed; but then Dwalin succeeded by leading the PCs into the secret ways of Moria: this being the only way the player of the dwarf and I could see that his character had a way of targetting and elminiating that particular Scene Distinction.
Only after performing this action did Dwalin's player realise that he'd also earned 10 XP for completing one of his Milestones, by returning to the halls from which his people had been exiled. We have to work out a new Milestone to replace this one.
The PCs entering Moria created too good an opportunity to pass up, and so I spent a d10 from the Doom Pool to split the PCs up as they got lost in the cavernous halls and maze-like tunnels. I made both Dwalin and Merinlea be alone, while Gandalf and the Dunadan remained together. The practical affect of this was to create some amusing reconfiguration of Affiliation dice. In the fiction, Dwalin had hurried off into the halls of his ancestors; while Merinlea's wrath had also led her off hunting the Orcs of Moria.
At an earlier stage I had spend a die from the Doom Pool to step the Orcs up from 3d6 to 3d8, using the rationale that proximity to their home in the Misty Mountains and to the end of their travels bouyed their spirits; and in Moria I spent another die to add a 4th d8, as reinforcements joined them.
There were three main series of events in Moria: Dwalin met the mysterious stranger, an old man with a walking stick and a lantern. The stranger remarked that it was rare now to see one of the Dwarvenfolk in their old halls, but that he was there to look for gold and trinkets and invited the Dwarf to join him. Mechanically this was an attempt to impose a Lust for Gold complication - but it failed, and then (as I was able to pass the action order to myself at that point) the frustrated stranger tried to clock Dwalin on the head with his stick instead, but that also failed. But he did use his magical powers to rust away his coat of mail. (Mechanically, I triggered the Gear limit to shut down Dawlin's Enhanced Durability power.) Dwalin's player had already shut down his Axe power at an earlier stage (to gain a PP), which had been narrated, I think, as throwing it away in frustration or dropping it in fear. So having evaded the depradations of the stranger, he went off to find an axe in the ancient armouries of Moria (mechaincally, he succeeded in a check vs the Doom Pool to recover his Axe power).
Nehar and Gandalf found themselves being assailed by the orcs: mechanically, when the Orcs turn came up I decided that, the PCs having gone into Moria, the pursuers would become the pursued! This went poorly for them as I inflicted Physical Stress but Nehar was unable to succeed in attack rolls against the Orcs. Gandalf, when taking the action to help Mirenlea recover from being stressed out, had shutdown Glamrding to get a PP to help with the action, which - in the fiction - was a declaration that calm was needed and that he was resheathing his sword by way of demonstration. So now he had to take an action vs the Doom Pool to recover that power ie to draw his sword. So wasn't able to actually fight until the very end.
But before that came, Mirenlea took some actions. Her first, at the end of an action order, was to finally eliminate the In Pursuit of the Orcs Scene Distinction. In the fiction, she could hear the clamour of battle echoing through the tunnels. Mechanically, she succeeded on a check against the Orcs to hunt them down. Her player then passed the top action of the order back to her, and she decided to go down in a blaze of glory. Her Milestone Hold Back the Shadow would give her 10 XP if stressed out while helping an ally; and she has the Deeds of Grief SFX which lets her include her Emotional Stress in her pool but (i) steps it up, and (ii) adds that stress as a die to the Doom Pool. So she decided to synergise, generating an Asset for Nehar to use against the Orcs at the cost of stressing herself out by including her Emotional Stress in her pool and stepping it up past 12. This succeeded, but as noted above Nehar was still unsuccessful in fighting against the Orcs.
But then Gandalf took his action, and went all-out wizard: Glamdring plus AoE Fiery Blasts against the Orcs. It was a mighty roll, dealig 4 lots of d10 stress which was enough to knock out the 4d8 Orcs - but with a 1 and a 2 in the roll, and the Limit The enemy seeks it which makes 2s counts as Opportunities when Narya is unsed for anything but a recovery action, I was able to step up the lowest die in the Doom Pool - a d8 - twice, taking it to d12. Together with the earlier d12 from Mirenlea's emotional stress I now had 2d12 which I spent to end the Scene (and the session) - with the result that while the Orcs were defeated the PCs did not find the Palantir on them. It seemed that the mysterious stranger had been able to take it.
I had been planning to run from this Action Scene straight into another, but that was before the PCs had entered Moria and beaten the Orcs. So the next scene will be a Transition Scene.
And as the PCs rest in the deeps of Moria, here is their status (before stepping back or other recovery):
I'm hoping we will be able to play again in a fortnight (our standard schedule). In the meantime I'll keep posting any new content I come up with. (Is there a Balrog in the offing?)
We played through 1 Action Scene, which went on longer than I anticipated because I got some good rolls early and the players got some poor rolls to further boost mine. And everything was a bit slower than it normally would be due to online playing.
At the end of the first session the PCs - Gandlaf, Nehar the Dunadan, Mirenlea the Noldor maiden and Dwalin the Dwarven traveller - were pursuing Orcs south towards Eregion. The Orcs were bearing the Palantir of Amon Sul, which they had taken possession of in the north of Eriador while the PCs were distracted by wolves and Nazgul.
There were two Scene Distinctions: All Things Are Silent, With a Sense of Watchfulness and Fear; and, In Pursuit of the Orcs. The latter started the session at d10 (having been whittled down from d12 towards the end of the previous session) and had to be stepped down to d4 for the PCs to win the scene by completing their pursuit.
I had two NPCs in the scene: a group of 3d6 Orcs (the ones being pursued) and a mysterious presence whom the players conjectured, particularly as evidence accumulated, to be Saruman.
I won't go through everything blow-by-blow (and don't have the memory for it anyway), but the initial actions involved trying to bear down on the Orcs. Some of this was tested against the Doom Pool, which was fairly low (starting at d6 and d10) but some against the Orcs where it seemed to make sense for them to be actively resisting the attempt to catch them. When the Orcs took their first action I resolved it as an attempt to inflict emotional stress - resulting from their foul tracks and markings in the lands they were passing through (I was inspired by the passage in Book IV of LotR where Frodo comes to the cross-roads in Ithilien and the statute of the king is knocked down and defaced). This was surprisingly successful, so two of the PCs took heavy emotional stress. I was also able to turn an action by Gandalf back upon him (spending a die from the Doom Pool to use my reaction effect die as if it was a successful action) and so inflicted mental stress there.
Somewhere about here Mirenlea the Noldor found herself stressed out by Emotional stress - narrated as her wrath at the Orcs overtaking her - but Gandalf was able to calm here down - via a successful recovery action that brought her back in at d12 emotional stress, and which also failed to help Dwalin and hence stepped his emotional stress up to d12.
I also spent a d8 from the Doom Pool to introduce a new Scene Distinction, Crebain from Dunland, which had an additional rider that If this Scene Distinction is not eliminated by the time that the company reaches Ost-in-Edhil, the next scene begins with a Watched Scene Distinction: each time it is used in a pool, step up the Doom Pool. The attempt by the Elf to eliminate the Crebain by calling up wind and a storm (stunting of her Weather Influence power and using her Singer of Songs distinction) failed; but then Dwalin succeeded by leading the PCs into the secret ways of Moria: this being the only way the player of the dwarf and I could see that his character had a way of targetting and elminiating that particular Scene Distinction.
Only after performing this action did Dwalin's player realise that he'd also earned 10 XP for completing one of his Milestones, by returning to the halls from which his people had been exiled. We have to work out a new Milestone to replace this one.
The PCs entering Moria created too good an opportunity to pass up, and so I spent a d10 from the Doom Pool to split the PCs up as they got lost in the cavernous halls and maze-like tunnels. I made both Dwalin and Merinlea be alone, while Gandalf and the Dunadan remained together. The practical affect of this was to create some amusing reconfiguration of Affiliation dice. In the fiction, Dwalin had hurried off into the halls of his ancestors; while Merinlea's wrath had also led her off hunting the Orcs of Moria.
At an earlier stage I had spend a die from the Doom Pool to step the Orcs up from 3d6 to 3d8, using the rationale that proximity to their home in the Misty Mountains and to the end of their travels bouyed their spirits; and in Moria I spent another die to add a 4th d8, as reinforcements joined them.
There were three main series of events in Moria: Dwalin met the mysterious stranger, an old man with a walking stick and a lantern. The stranger remarked that it was rare now to see one of the Dwarvenfolk in their old halls, but that he was there to look for gold and trinkets and invited the Dwarf to join him. Mechanically this was an attempt to impose a Lust for Gold complication - but it failed, and then (as I was able to pass the action order to myself at that point) the frustrated stranger tried to clock Dwalin on the head with his stick instead, but that also failed. But he did use his magical powers to rust away his coat of mail. (Mechanically, I triggered the Gear limit to shut down Dawlin's Enhanced Durability power.) Dwalin's player had already shut down his Axe power at an earlier stage (to gain a PP), which had been narrated, I think, as throwing it away in frustration or dropping it in fear. So having evaded the depradations of the stranger, he went off to find an axe in the ancient armouries of Moria (mechaincally, he succeeded in a check vs the Doom Pool to recover his Axe power).
Nehar and Gandalf found themselves being assailed by the orcs: mechanically, when the Orcs turn came up I decided that, the PCs having gone into Moria, the pursuers would become the pursued! This went poorly for them as I inflicted Physical Stress but Nehar was unable to succeed in attack rolls against the Orcs. Gandalf, when taking the action to help Mirenlea recover from being stressed out, had shutdown Glamrding to get a PP to help with the action, which - in the fiction - was a declaration that calm was needed and that he was resheathing his sword by way of demonstration. So now he had to take an action vs the Doom Pool to recover that power ie to draw his sword. So wasn't able to actually fight until the very end.
But before that came, Mirenlea took some actions. Her first, at the end of an action order, was to finally eliminate the In Pursuit of the Orcs Scene Distinction. In the fiction, she could hear the clamour of battle echoing through the tunnels. Mechanically, she succeeded on a check against the Orcs to hunt them down. Her player then passed the top action of the order back to her, and she decided to go down in a blaze of glory. Her Milestone Hold Back the Shadow would give her 10 XP if stressed out while helping an ally; and she has the Deeds of Grief SFX which lets her include her Emotional Stress in her pool but (i) steps it up, and (ii) adds that stress as a die to the Doom Pool. So she decided to synergise, generating an Asset for Nehar to use against the Orcs at the cost of stressing herself out by including her Emotional Stress in her pool and stepping it up past 12. This succeeded, but as noted above Nehar was still unsuccessful in fighting against the Orcs.
But then Gandalf took his action, and went all-out wizard: Glamdring plus AoE Fiery Blasts against the Orcs. It was a mighty roll, dealig 4 lots of d10 stress which was enough to knock out the 4d8 Orcs - but with a 1 and a 2 in the roll, and the Limit The enemy seeks it which makes 2s counts as Opportunities when Narya is unsed for anything but a recovery action, I was able to step up the lowest die in the Doom Pool - a d8 - twice, taking it to d12. Together with the earlier d12 from Mirenlea's emotional stress I now had 2d12 which I spent to end the Scene (and the session) - with the result that while the Orcs were defeated the PCs did not find the Palantir on them. It seemed that the mysterious stranger had been able to take it.
I had been planning to run from this Action Scene straight into another, but that was before the PCs had entered Moria and beaten the Orcs. So the next scene will be a Transition Scene.
And as the PCs rest in the deeps of Moria, here is their status (before stepping back or other recovery):
The Doom Pool has a single d10;
Néhar has d12 physical stress;
Gandalf has d12 physical stress and d8 mental stress;
Merinlea has been stressed out and so has d6 emotional trauma;
Dwalin has d12 emotional stress and his Enhanced Durability is shut down.
Néhar has d12 physical stress;
Gandalf has d12 physical stress and d8 mental stress;
Merinlea has been stressed out and so has d6 emotional trauma;
Dwalin has d12 emotional stress and his Enhanced Durability is shut down.
I'm hoping we will be able to play again in a fortnight (our standard schedule). In the meantime I'll keep posting any new content I come up with. (Is there a Balrog in the offing?)
