Nope, I think the names are great. This campaign is set in a campaign world dominated by a continent-spanning empire. Universities exist, and people who attend them for higher education receive doctorates. In this case, Dr. Caldwell is an intellectual from a well-to-do family who got caught doing something more than a little bit... controversial. Given a choice of being hanged or joining the Grey Guard, he chose the latter. In addition, the advantage of a large empire is that you can have folks from different countries and cultures. You can be sure that naming customs vary based on where you're from.
And yeah, Hyp., I liked the name so much I repurposed it. Very different personalities, though.
The campaign premise is that the PCs are members of the Grey Guard, an empire-spanning and politically neutral organization that is dedicated to keeping monsters away from the citizens of the empire. It has a bit in common with GRRM's Night's Watch. It also has a horrible turnover, with most members dying young. It's a good thing that according to legend, monsters are repelled so long as the empire remains strong. And that certainly can't come back to bite anyone, can it?
I haven't started a new campaign in a
very long time, and I had forgotten how intimidating it is. Incredible fun, though; new gods, new cartography, new plot. I have a campaign wiki I can share if anyone is curious. The players are the same as the players in my Defenders of Daybreak campaign, although Mara's player hasn't joined the group yet due to some timing issues. We have great chemistry as a gaming group.
I expect that my skill challenges will tend to be implicit instead of explicit. I haven't gotten the hang of explicit skill challenges yet. I make them meaningful, though; in thsi one, the PCs were racing back to their guardtower against a rival team. The total amount by which they made or failed their challenges (modified by a bonus or penalty for good or bad tactics) determined a final score, which I compared to their rivals. In this case, the rivals lost and had to stand watch all night while the PCs slept comfortable. Poor bastards.
That being said, the first game went differently than I had expected. the group chose not to pursue my big plot hook for the evening. I expected that might happen and had a backup plan prepared, but I hadn't really expected it. It creates interestingly plotty stuff for the future, at least.
Not next session, though. The PCs are being sent off to a small halfling fishing village where a legendary dog-eating monster has apparently reappeared. The PCs are headed off to help.
Jack, we play my game every other week, and Sagiro's game every other every other week. So about 25 times a year per.
