seasong's Light Against The Dark (FEB 06)

[incognito]

Whew! I am back from a 6 day T-day break, and as I suspected this thread has had, significant seasong posting. Good gravy seasong! You are prolific; wanna write a term paper?

Ok questions:

1. Where are the Orc spell casters (are there any?)

2. The orcs seem to have some pretty impressive resources. Why are they just now becoming a threat?

3. How do the players feel about having somewhat of a "along for the ride" role in this portion of the story arc - certainly this is somewhat derailed from your 'typical' adventure in which the players are the main stars.

4. I assume you have worked out counters for each military trick, each side, that comes up. ie: the shield wall is used to keep out physically superior, or more numerous combatants, and the rams are designed to take down the shield wall - what takes down the rams? Fireballs? or something non magical.

5. With the capture of the adventurers, are we going to see some...errr...gritty treatment of prisoners? Or are we keeping this on the up and up.

6. there is no question 6...

 

[seasong]

1. Where are the Orc spell casters (are there any?)

You'll be meeting one in the next update or two. In general, however, orcs are less able to employ specialists who can devote the study time required to become a good spell caster - where Theralis can support about 1 in 250 people as a spell caster, orcs can support less than 1 per 1,000.

2. The orcs seem to have some pretty impressive resources. Why are they just now becoming a threat?

Lots of reasons. The major ones are:

* Orcs are nomadic raiders and hunters by culture, grouped into tribes of (typically) 500-1000. They organize into warbands of 20-30 orcs, who hunt over a really huge area. Usually, a tribe will slowly migrate from hunting area to hunting area over the course of a few years, covering somewhere around 4,000 square miles. That's sufficient to support the tribe, and barring occasional raids for 'goods' in civilized areas, that's all anyone sees of them.

* They are occasionally a threat. Some tribe will get a bone in their head about killing all the humans, or retaking sacred lands, or moving into sweeter pastures... and a whole tribe (usually a bit bigger than usual, say 1500-2000 orcs) will up and assault some area. Those are rough times, but it's only one tribe.

* This isn't one tribe. It's closer to half a dozen tribes, all at once.

* Impressive resources? They've got spears, drums, hide clothing, and some purchased axes. The Bunahken orcs comprise about 1200 (they're the largest tribe currently attacking Theralis), and they ended up at the more difficult Eastpass - most of the others are trying to assault the city instead.

* As to why the orcs are attacking all at once, now of all times... well, that's something the players have to discover .

3. How do the players feel about having somewhat of a "along for the ride" role in this portion of the story arc - certainly this is somewhat derailed from your 'typical' adventure in which the players are the main stars.

I can't really answer for the players here, but...

* I think Athan would disagree .

* A large part of Merideth's and Greppa's concepts are ambition to rise above exactly this. So I have to give them a taste of being one among hundreds, before I let them work their way to the top.

* We're building heroes. Heroes come from somewhere, and I like to build the 'where'.

It's more complicated than that, but I'm running out of time to post .

4. I assume you have worked out counters for each military trick, each side, that comes up. ie: the shield wall is used to keep out physically superior, or more numerous combatants, and the rams are designed to take down the shield wall - what takes down the rams? Fireballs? or something non magical.

Yes.

Neither side has really fought this kind of war before. Theralis was founded by slaves of the orcs, each and every one of whom fought for their freedom (hence the tradition of Service for the first year of adulthood). Discipline was a given, but the primary tactics evolved from a few clever generals during the early years of Thera's rule, and have not changed much since then (a few things, like the longspears and constant presence of a healer or two, were added later in their history). The orcs are fighting like they've always fought - individually, as fierce warriors, united by the heartbeat of their drums.

So both sides are learning how to fight, and learning where their weaknesses are.

A real simple trick to stop the rams, incidentally: Open the ranks for the ram, and set spears to catch the orcs carrying it. The main advantage of the rams was surprise.

5. With the capture of the adventurers, are we going to see some...errr...gritty treatment of prisoners? Or are we keeping this on the up and up.

The rating for this Story Hour is EG (Eric's Granny). Some things may be implied, but this is an instance where I prefer drama over realism.

6. there is no question 6...

Yes, absolutely. Fish.

 

[seasong]

As a side note regarding mass battles (incognito's question made me think of this)...

Reading the above, it should be apparent that the PCs are not pivotal to the way the battles turn out, although they have come close. Some instances where they influenced events heavily:

Greppa screaming "ORC" and nearly dying determined whether the orcs or Theralese would have the advantage. Things would have been much, much worse otherwise.

Merideth's healing IS pivotal - without it, the Theralis soldiers would have been overrun days ago.

Athan targetting leaders with his immensely deadly spear-chunking skills and Greppa's "blinding mud spell" have essentially guaranteed that the orcs approach more cautiously.

Still, the fact remains that much of the decision-making action has hinged on the leaders of the community. This is realistic, but can sometimes be frustrating.

Ultimately, however, these things serve a higher purpose. 5-10 levels down the line, we'll go through this kind of exercise again, except that the PCs will be playing a very different role, and this experience will provide them with the grounding to understand just how bad *** they have become.

 

[Inez Hull]

Great story hour Seasong. I wish my players were more willing to play a storytelling type campaign. It looks like your 'experience over a lifetime' system is working in practice. How do your players find it? I know mine would find the wait for Xp infuriating.

A question. Given that the PC's will only be doing a couple of adventures a year, with real life continuing in the meantime, how will the campaign play out? Obviously the typical progress five levels in one mega adventure type game wouldn't work. How will you keep a consistent story arc going though when the adventures are sporadic. This is the main difficulty I have found in moving towards this type of play. I guess a war setting in a mountainous region would help; snows blocking the passes and a 'campaigning season' when military engagements occur.

I checked out your website and I really like the ideas behind your magic system. Which classes are able to access which spell lists? Any details will be hungrily gobbled up as I'm looking at introducing a new spell system which works using the skill system.

 

[seasong]

Great story hour Seasong. I wish my players were more willing to play a storytelling type campaign. It looks like your 'experience over a lifetime' system is working in practice. How do your players find it? I know mine would find the wait for Xp infuriating.

Thank you for the kind words .

As always, I can't speak for the players' feelings directly, but when we're not doing D&D, we handle skill improvement purely with training time (as opposed to an XP system), so there's some precedent.

Also, in playing time, XP comes reasonably quickly. We spend as much time roleplaying the 'in between time' as the players want, but when they're ready for adventure and XP earning power, we skip ahead to that.

A question. Given that the PC's will only be doing a couple of adventures a year, with real life continuing in the meantime, how will the campaign play out? Obviously the typical progress five levels in one mega adventure type game wouldn't work. How will you keep a consistent story arc going though when the adventures are sporadic. This is the main difficulty I have found in moving towards this type of play. I guess a war setting in a mountainous region would help; snows blocking the passes and a 'campaigning season' when military engagements occur.

Mmmm, mountains.

Roughly how it will play out: The PCs start as young adventurers, grow into their roles, become great heroes as they approach middle age, and become living legends as they begin to age. I'm hoping to do some epic gaming before the campaign is out.

Yes, the typical 5-level mega adventure probably won't work so well for this campaign. As incognito noted, this isn't a very typical campaign.

For a consistent story arc, well... I can't say too much without spoiling some long term plans, but I hope to demonstrate a number of in-story techniques for keeping everyone together, a coherent arc going, and a sense of long-term story fulfillment.

In the present action, I'm using the war setting as a creche chamber, during which the PCs develop loyalty to each other without as strong a chance of going separate ways. Among other things .

I checked out your website and I really like the ideas behind your magic system. Which classes are able to access which spell lists? Any details will be hungrily gobbled up as I'm looking at introducing a new spell system which works using the skill system.

In theory, anyone can learn any type of magic. In practice, it requires enough dedication that someone who learns magic usually has to sacrifice just about everything else.

Greppa could be likened to a Rogue who is shifting to pure Spell Caster. Merideth is a pure Spell Caster who wishes she was also a great Warrior. Athan is a great Warrior with no magic at all.

I'm working on some expanded explanation on the web site, but I don't know how soon that will be finished. Eventually I should have a complete OGL system in place, without as much need for constant GM oversight.

 

[seasong]

Mountain Thunder: Rich Orc Culture

Deep In The Woods

Athan finally awoke, hog tied and hanging from a tree branch. His memory of facing down three orcs was clear, but all else was dimmed by pain.

"Eh, Egmah vohk. Krugahn, helkehm egmah."

Crude laughter. Cold water. Sudden, sharp wakefulness.

And that's when he figured out what had happened. He'd been captured. Not killed in battle. No heroic last stand, or courageous victory - capture, taken alive by the enemy. Athan felt sick inside.

He was in a small camp, with about two dozen orcs scattered around a pair of mostly coal fires. Human prisoners, dwarfed by the orcs, stood in two lines of twenty, tied at the neck to a common rope between pairs of trees. Athan was the only one in his particular predicament, however, and while the others were barely watched, six of the orcs were right next to him, standing in a lazy approximation of watchfulness.

The orc who had thrown the icy water on him stepped in to look him in the eyes. Despite the black pit in his stomach, Athan's gaze did not quaver. He held the orc's gaze, looked angry.

The orc laughed, "Egmah ufgah, eh!" and grinned pridefully at the other orcs.

Athan was the great hero of Eastpass. Over the last week he had felled more orcs than there were in this camp. And the leader of this small warband was rightly pleased to have captured such a prestigious trophy.

Greppa's situation was different. He'd yielded, when the spear was at his throat. He'd given in to an enemy, however hopeless. Athan's clenching gut would have quailed before the fury of Greppa's internalized humiliation.

His and Merideth's hands and fingers bound carefully, their mouths gagged, and then they were tied and roped into a string of other captured soldiers. A few yards from them, a muscular orc sat on a rock, a wide, flat drum of hide cradled between arm and chest. He was beating it with what looked like a thigh bone, generating a near-deafening bass sound. The orc grinned at them continuously as he beat on the drum.

Merideth, on the other hand, felt no shame. Thera had been a great hero, and had risen from origins as an orc slave. Merideth would, too. Carefully, she cultivated a firm gaze and a firm chin.

And hoped both would last.

Eh, Egmah vohk. Krugahn, helkehm egmah.
Egmah means 'my that'. They'll be hearing this a lot.
Vohk is a verb for 'dawning'; the orc is apparently a poet.
Krugahn is a personal name, and does not translate well, but roughly corresponds to 'great cat' in old orcish.
Helkehm means to greet or host someone. It is used here in an ironic sense.

Egmah ufgah, eh!
Ufgah is used here to mean 'has courage', but translated literally means 'does not bend'.

 

[seasong]

The PCs did not witness this directly, but as they got to know Olgah, came to understand it. This is a vignette from the orc's point of view. I like orcs.

Mountain Thunder: Rich Orc Culture

Olgah surveyed more slaves with a critical eye. She was a powerful shaman, she wanted good slaves. Olgah's slaves were usually women. Women were smarter, in her opinion.

Today, however, was tiring. Too many slaves to choose from. She had to pick the best, or risk ridicule, but there were so many!

Then she saw them. Two girls, huddled together, one tall and defiant, the other small and near tears. That was not important. What was important was what the spirits whispered to her - these two were mages.

Olgah nodded to herself in satisfaction, a small smile on her face. She had always admired what the mages of Theralis could do, had even considered taking a few years off to live amongst the smelly humans to learn it herself. And so many days ago, she had seen one in combat, burning several warbands to death with his spells.

It had been so unfortunate that she had been unable to acquire that one.

But these two would do.

She examined them carefully (somewhat appalled when she learned that one - the smaller, tearful one - was, despite appearances, male), and found them healthy enough and pretty enough for her status, and spoke to the orc selling them.

"Why do you want these two, shaman? They are weak. I should keep them, for shame in having caught them."

"Hmph. You have no pride? They are very adequate. I will not require heavy chores of them. I have a small cave, light things. Give these to me."

"I fear only that you will be angry with me later, when they break. This one," he pointed at Greppa, "gave up without a fight. The other only ran. I could not give such weak gifts to a shaman. My prey will laugh at me."

"I do not ask you to give weak gifts. I see into their spirit, and they are good gifts." Olgah considered for a moment, her brow furrowed, and the orc did not interrupt her. Interrupting the shaman while she thought was an age-old hazard that all young orcs knew of. "Give these to me. I will promise not to be angry at you for their nature. And I will speak to the spirits on your behalf. I will tell the prey how mighty you are, and tell them why these two are a good capture. The prey will not laugh at you. The prey will seize with fear when you come, and fall dead at your feet."

The orc nodded, and the trade was made. He regretted losing two such pretty trinkets, but the shaman's word with prey was practically meat on the table.

Only one other acquisition remained for Olgah. She wasn't happy about it, but her station demanded that she ask for the captured hero. She did not care much for heroes, particularly male ones. He would be a burden on her home, eating too much, fighting too much, trying to escape. She sighed, but finally approached Gach, the leader of the warband that had captured him.

Gach had hoped that the tribal chieftain would ask for the young hero, but the chieftain had asked that he go to the shamaness. Still, it was a great honor, and if he played it right, the shaman would owe him a nebulous favor.

"Shaman! Welcome to our camp. I am humbled by your presence!"

Olgah smiled - Gach was such a formalist - and matched his polite swagger, "I greet you and your camp, band leader. I heard that you had captured a mighty warrior, and sought to see with my own eyes, your unmatched skill in battle!"

"Your words bring me great pleasure, shaman. Here is our capture."

And with that, Gach stepped aside and two of his orcs stepped out, holding Athan firmly by the neck and arms. His hands were still bound behind him, but he had been untied from the tree for this purpose.

Olgah was speechless. She had expected some ugly, old veteran who had traded battle scars for teeth. This young man, however, was beautiful even to orc eyes.

Gach saw the measuring look in her eyes, and allowed himself a tight grin, "Shaman! I see that our capture interests you. Please, take him!"

Olgah stopped staring long enough to smile, a bit sourly, as she realized how she'd been set up. She'd asked without asking, and in so doing, was unable to offer an exchange gift when she received one. To offer now would seem crass. She had her station to remember.

"You are too generous, band leader!" She meant it. "It does indeed interest me. My gratitude flows freely!"

And with that, Olgah found herself in possession of a rare specimen of human athleticism, who was going to eat too much, fight too much, and probably escape before she could even pay back the debt incurred upon her.

Olgah led Athan away in a foul mood.

 

[incognito]

This is a vignette from the orc's point of view. I like orcs.

Hmmm, seasong...we may have to have a leetle talk sometime...

high points of the recent posts: the very differnt reactions of the 3 PCs to being captured. All belivable too!

AND: I have a much better idea what Greppa looks like now that I can see him through Orcish eyes. I had though Meredith was the slight, frail one...but I see I was mistaken!

Q1.
Do the Orcs undrestand Greppa is not human?

Q2.
Are there (for Athan's sake I hope not) 1/2 Orcs? (aside: daaaang - can any PC/NPCs stop drooling over Athan? I getting jealous!)

Q3.
Are slaves good eatin'? Or stricktly workforce types.

Q4.
Did the captain make it?

 

[Delgar]

Just thought I would say that I've enjoyed reading through your stuff so far. It seems like you have a very rich and detailed world and some very interesting character development. I myself, lack the time and ambition for such a project but definately applaude your attempts!

I myself am running a very hack and slash campaign at the moment (Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury, etc.). Thanks to your Greecian theme, I'm also throwing around the idea of a Gladitorial campaign (I know it's Roman, but it's close).

Anyway, that's all moot. I look forward to reading more about your campaign.

Delgar

 

[seasong]

Brief History of Theralis

600-500 years ago

According to legend, Thera was a slave who led her people to freedom. In the legends, she led the fight to freedom, arranged a deal with a dragon for land to settle, defeated a horde of orc barbarians, invented the shield & spear fighting line, placed the first stone of the first tower of Theralis, and slew the morgantor (a fell creature of the infernal realms that had escaped and intended to destroy civilization).

She died defeating the morgantor, dragging it back into the infernal pits from which it came, a little over 500 years ago.

500-400 years ago

The end of Thera's reign was marked with a great deal of confusion and bitterness. Up until her death, she had simply led her people, and they had followed where she went. The structure was reasonably simple, almost tribal, and was based more on her wisdom than any common cultural foundation.

Without Thera, factions sprang up around how things should be run, and outright fighting threatened.

In the end, for better or worse, the militant faction of Urith prevailed - if it had come to fighting, they were the strongest, and so they managed to broker the needed alliances to forge a solid government. Urith was the strongest of Thera's generals, and the least liked for his hard ways (he was also possibly the true originator of the shield & spear line).

Urith was a militant to the last. He believed that every citizen should fight for their nation, and instituted a system for ensuring that each individual spent time in Service (the original term was 5 years, plus random years spent training new soldiers; this reduced steadily over the generations). He also weakened the position of 'leader', and created a military council that made most of the major decisions. He lived for another decade after setting this up, his succession already assured in the form of the council.

The remainder of this century refined this system. Only soldiers who had spent at least 1/2 of their lifespan in Service could become members of the Council; members of the Council selected their replacements by nomination and seconding; the Council consists of 10 council members and each of their cabinets. The population also swelled, and a number of small towns grew up in the shadow of the vine-covered mountains.

In all, the towns managed reasonably well, and no major threats occurred. Civilization incubated, and the Council grew in strength.

The beginnings of recorded history

The beginning of this century, the historian and lore master Rajold began recording events. Urith's great grandson, Rajold first recorded the name 'Theralis' in referring to the valley region, and first began the practice of recording names at birth. The latter was done purely for purposes of history, but the military soon coopted the records for their own purposes - making sure everyone spent time in Service. Rajold also did a fairly credible job of recovering the names of the past several generations, although some have complained of his bias.

Based on his best understanding of prior history, Rajold declared the year since the founding of the valleys to be 202 (it is now 608).

Recorded History (major events)

198 The first census
202 Rajold declares the year.
221 Rajold dies of chills in winter
245 The first recorded war with orcs; a tribe of 600 is repelled
240+ The hero Turin (defeats the orcs, re-routes a river)
300 The Century Riot
310 Council Member Mura declares centuries to be a celebration
350+ Trade begins with the north
366 Eastpass is carved out of the mountains
398 Amalan the dragon attacks a village that encroached to far
399 War with Amalan is avoided with northern tribute
400 Century Celebration
420+ The grape first starts noticeably dominating the valleys
450+ The hero Athana ('the drunken spear maiden', many deeds)
500 Century Celebration
579 Urmrat the kobold warns Theralis to clean their water
600 Century Celebration
607 The First Battle of Eastpass