And a good time was had by all...
...except for Belen and CL. I missed you guys; I hope you're feeling better!
The Frost Giant Jarl turned out to be a good session; we had fun with it, but participants only versed in 1E and 2E definitely felt the "age" on the system; if anything, it hopefully gave everyone an appreciation of 3E as well as 1E.
For the sake of time I cut out about half of the module proper, and made the route to the Jarl a lot more direct than the original module; I think I timed it almost dead-on, because we only ran about five to ten minutes over the slot time in the final battle against the Jarl. They avoided a large gathering of partying giants, found his guards, slew some hill, stone, and ogre mage emissaries (lost Arlanni the thief to a friendly cone of cold and a hill giant club), avoided not one but TWO white dragons, and pacified his two polar bear pets before ambushing the Jarl, his Lady, and his bodyguards, losing Balto the monk in the LAST round of combat just before the last giant fell.
Keryn from CircvsMaximus, playing Arkayn, holds the distinction of not one but TWO incidences of Friendly Fire, something that rarely happens in 3E, but apparently happens a LOT in 1E, with the "state intentions, THEN roll init" system. There were even two character deaths in the session, which is something I almost never see in home games, either. In the end, the henpecked Jarl was found and put out of his misery, and the Frost Giant forces were scattered and disorganized. But what's this? A teleport scroll and a mention of "King Snurre Ironbelly?" The band of Aggro, Arkayn, Arlanni, and the other gallant PCs may have one further epic quest ahead of them in April...
The "Betrayal at House on the Hill" as run by Alenda was a little short on betrayal, but long on character death and almost-TPK's, carrying Belen's legacy forward admirably. the PC Tobias Moon was pretty cool, prompting me to want to run a quarterstaff fighter in the future! With the minor problem of there being a total party-decimation after the first combat, that house was a lot of fun! But in the future, Tobias moon is going to leave the search for traps up to the rogues!
Templetroll and sekeetta, it was great seeing and gaming with you all, and your gaming stories give even Old One's stories a run for the money.
Thanks to everyone there for making it a great time for me.