Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Spire: The City Must Fall
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 8404797" data-attributes="member: 6785785"><p>So with character creation out of the way, we moved on to the beginning of the actual game.</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Session 1</u></strong></p><p>We opened our first game in the Works, an industrial area about a third of the way up-Spire, filled with factories and furnaces. The PCs have come to Sister Lenore’s hatchery at her request. They listen as she coats the drow eggs in blood, and tells them their mission. Another cell of the Ministry was discovered down-Spire in the lawless undercity district of Red Row. The cell members were brutally killed in the streets by a Paladin of the Solar Guard, Steel-Glints-In-Sunlight (many aelfir have this kind of naming convention, and used a shorter one word version in everyday converstion). Even worse, the cell’s Magister was discovered and, although grievously wounded, was taken alive. Far too injured to make the journey up-Spire, the Magister, a priest named Brother Bells, was taken to the nearby Hidden College for his wounds to be treated, and then for interrogation. Sister Lenore tasks the PCs with making sure that Brother Bells cannot be interrogated. That’s their primary task; she also asks them to find out whatever it was Bells and the other cell were investigating in Red Row, and also how they were discovered by the authorities.</p><p></p><p>The game is very player directed in its approach, but I felt for our first session and to get things started, establishing the initial premise was kind of necessary. How they would achieve their primary goal and investigate any of the secondary goals would really be entirely up to the players to decide, but I wanted to give them some clear sense of direction given that we're all new to the setting and the system. As we move forward, I expect to start to let them set their own agenda more and more.</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Red Row</u></strong></p><p>Spire's undercity is a generally lawless place. The powers that be don't much care for what happens down here so long as it doesn't interfere with their comfortable lives up-Spire. In fact, a lot of the drow nobility and even some aelfir can be found in the undercity, very often for an exciting night out of gambling and carousing. Red Row is a bustling place, filled with all sorts of vice dens and gambling halls and a gladiatorial arena run by gnolls. The district is a haven for criminals and outcasts, a dangerous place if you don't know your way around.</p><p></p><p>The first thing our PCs did upon arriving was to try and establish a base of operations. The Knight has a core ability called Pubcrawler, which allows him once per session to declare a nearby pub with an owner that he knows. So Myridian declared that they'd go to The Lone Wolf Pub to speak to the owner, Jenkins. I decided that Jenkins would be of neutral standing toward Myridian; they have mutual acquaintances, but Knights tend to get into barfights all the time, so he'd be a bit nervous having one about. So they arrive and rent some rooms and order a meal, and then before long, Myridian tries to ask Jenkins about recent events, notably the Paladin who killed several drow, playing the questions off as mere curiosity. This was going to be the first roll of the game.</p><p></p><p>So he wound up rolling 3d10 because he had a relevant Skill (Compel) and a relevant Domain (Low Society) and he gets one die just for the attempt. He rolled a 10, so a Critical Success! A good start to the game.</p><p></p><p>I decided that Jenkins shared what he knew about the event. The exact nature of the crimes committed by the slain drow is unclear, but Jenkins heard that they may have been spies for the Ministry. He knows of two people who saw the battle; Trill, a junkie who hangs out in Thread Needle Square, and Cannelure Hellion, the daughter of the leader of the Church of the Gun, a newly active cult in Red Row. One person survived the attack and was taken to the Hidden College to be treated (Red Row doesn't have anything quite like a hospital, so the college, a place of arcane study, was the next best thing).</p><p></p><p>Because the roll was a Critical, I decided to share some additional information. Jenkins explained that the Paladin Steel-Glints-In-the-Sunlight is not a stranger to Red Row, she sometimes comes down-Spire to see a fellow aelfir fight in the Arena. In fact, the aelfir gladiator, Proud-Shimmering-Beast-of-the-Dawn, is due to fight tonight. Jenkins also reveals that Steel-Glints has remained in Red Row since the attack, hinting that she has more to do here. She's taken up residence in Vorloren Standard, the one station of the city watch in the district. This is making the city watch members nervous.</p><p></p><p>The players conferred and decided that their main and immediate concern is to get into the Hidden College and find Brother Bells before he can recuperate enough to be "questioned". However, they don't want to wind up in a fight with the Paladin, so they decide they'll head over to the Arena, make sure that Steel-Glints is there to watch her comrade fight, and if so, then they'll head to the College. </p><p></p><p><strong><u>The Arena</u></strong></p><p>One of the main attractions for outsiders to come to Red Row, the Arena is run by the gnoll Crime Boss, Mother Moon. She's a canny and dangerous person, and she uses the idea of the "savage gnoll" as portrayed in aelfir propaganda to her benefit. In fact, gnolls are no more or less savage than the aelfir or drow. The PCs arrived on the scene, and I explained to them that crowds were forming outside the Arena as the preliminary matches were soon to begin.</p><p></p><p>Mother Moon’s gnolls were sporadically mixed into the crowd, keeping a sharp eye out for trouble. As the PCs made their way around, I portrayed how calm the gnoll guards seemed compared to most of the attendees. I decided that a roll would be in order for the PCs to somehow learn if Steel-Glints was in attendance or not. So Caspune the Idol decided to make the roll, using Sneak to blend in and stay unobserved (a skill he's needed to learn due to his growing fame as a musician). So he made the roll with 2d10. He rolled a 7, which is Success but with Stress. Caspune took 2 Stress to his Shadow Resistance, which is a measure of your anonymity and your cover. I rolled for Fallout, but with only 2 Stress so far it wasn't likely, so the Stress remains and does not yet convert to Fallout. If it had, a low total like that would have resulted in attention from the gnoll guards, I expect.</p><p></p><p>(In retrospect, I should have had them make a Group Move here. One PC is the leader of the Group Move and if that PC succeeds, then the others get to apply Mastery for an extra d10 on their rolls. It would have made sense since they had indicated that they were all in the crowd, looking for signs of the Paladin. I'll have to remember that the next time a similar situation comes up.)</p><p></p><p>So with the Success, Caspune located the entrance to the luxury seating reserved for the rich and powerful, and he took post there. It wasn't long before he saw the crowd part to let someone through, an aelfir in golden robes and an ornate mask (aelfir almost never show their faces in public). She floated along above the dirty cobblstones, not touching the ground. A huge greatsword hung from her back and scratched the stones as she floated along. She seemed to move in a bit of a halting way, as if the screeching of the sword on the stones was a tune she was playing. This was clearly Steel-Glints-In-the-Sunlight. Caspune considered calling out and attempting some social interaction, but the other players talked him out of it, saying to focus on their earlier decision to get to the College. He wisely listened, and so Caspune met back up with the others, and they headed toward the Hidden College. </p><p></p><p>I'll post about that when I get a chance. That's where the poo hit the fan, so to speak, and we had our first taste of combat.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="hawkeyefan, post: 8404797, member: 6785785"] So with character creation out of the way, we moved on to the beginning of the actual game. [B][U]Session 1[/U][/B] We opened our first game in the Works, an industrial area about a third of the way up-Spire, filled with factories and furnaces. The PCs have come to Sister Lenore’s hatchery at her request. They listen as she coats the drow eggs in blood, and tells them their mission. Another cell of the Ministry was discovered down-Spire in the lawless undercity district of Red Row. The cell members were brutally killed in the streets by a Paladin of the Solar Guard, Steel-Glints-In-Sunlight (many aelfir have this kind of naming convention, and used a shorter one word version in everyday converstion). Even worse, the cell’s Magister was discovered and, although grievously wounded, was taken alive. Far too injured to make the journey up-Spire, the Magister, a priest named Brother Bells, was taken to the nearby Hidden College for his wounds to be treated, and then for interrogation. Sister Lenore tasks the PCs with making sure that Brother Bells cannot be interrogated. That’s their primary task; she also asks them to find out whatever it was Bells and the other cell were investigating in Red Row, and also how they were discovered by the authorities. The game is very player directed in its approach, but I felt for our first session and to get things started, establishing the initial premise was kind of necessary. How they would achieve their primary goal and investigate any of the secondary goals would really be entirely up to the players to decide, but I wanted to give them some clear sense of direction given that we're all new to the setting and the system. As we move forward, I expect to start to let them set their own agenda more and more. [B][U]Red Row[/U][/B] Spire's undercity is a generally lawless place. The powers that be don't much care for what happens down here so long as it doesn't interfere with their comfortable lives up-Spire. In fact, a lot of the drow nobility and even some aelfir can be found in the undercity, very often for an exciting night out of gambling and carousing. Red Row is a bustling place, filled with all sorts of vice dens and gambling halls and a gladiatorial arena run by gnolls. The district is a haven for criminals and outcasts, a dangerous place if you don't know your way around. The first thing our PCs did upon arriving was to try and establish a base of operations. The Knight has a core ability called Pubcrawler, which allows him once per session to declare a nearby pub with an owner that he knows. So Myridian declared that they'd go to The Lone Wolf Pub to speak to the owner, Jenkins. I decided that Jenkins would be of neutral standing toward Myridian; they have mutual acquaintances, but Knights tend to get into barfights all the time, so he'd be a bit nervous having one about. So they arrive and rent some rooms and order a meal, and then before long, Myridian tries to ask Jenkins about recent events, notably the Paladin who killed several drow, playing the questions off as mere curiosity. This was going to be the first roll of the game. So he wound up rolling 3d10 because he had a relevant Skill (Compel) and a relevant Domain (Low Society) and he gets one die just for the attempt. He rolled a 10, so a Critical Success! A good start to the game. I decided that Jenkins shared what he knew about the event. The exact nature of the crimes committed by the slain drow is unclear, but Jenkins heard that they may have been spies for the Ministry. He knows of two people who saw the battle; Trill, a junkie who hangs out in Thread Needle Square, and Cannelure Hellion, the daughter of the leader of the Church of the Gun, a newly active cult in Red Row. One person survived the attack and was taken to the Hidden College to be treated (Red Row doesn't have anything quite like a hospital, so the college, a place of arcane study, was the next best thing). Because the roll was a Critical, I decided to share some additional information. Jenkins explained that the Paladin Steel-Glints-In-the-Sunlight is not a stranger to Red Row, she sometimes comes down-Spire to see a fellow aelfir fight in the Arena. In fact, the aelfir gladiator, Proud-Shimmering-Beast-of-the-Dawn, is due to fight tonight. Jenkins also reveals that Steel-Glints has remained in Red Row since the attack, hinting that she has more to do here. She's taken up residence in Vorloren Standard, the one station of the city watch in the district. This is making the city watch members nervous. The players conferred and decided that their main and immediate concern is to get into the Hidden College and find Brother Bells before he can recuperate enough to be "questioned". However, they don't want to wind up in a fight with the Paladin, so they decide they'll head over to the Arena, make sure that Steel-Glints is there to watch her comrade fight, and if so, then they'll head to the College. [B][U]The Arena[/U][/B] One of the main attractions for outsiders to come to Red Row, the Arena is run by the gnoll Crime Boss, Mother Moon. She's a canny and dangerous person, and she uses the idea of the "savage gnoll" as portrayed in aelfir propaganda to her benefit. In fact, gnolls are no more or less savage than the aelfir or drow. The PCs arrived on the scene, and I explained to them that crowds were forming outside the Arena as the preliminary matches were soon to begin. Mother Moon’s gnolls were sporadically mixed into the crowd, keeping a sharp eye out for trouble. As the PCs made their way around, I portrayed how calm the gnoll guards seemed compared to most of the attendees. I decided that a roll would be in order for the PCs to somehow learn if Steel-Glints was in attendance or not. So Caspune the Idol decided to make the roll, using Sneak to blend in and stay unobserved (a skill he's needed to learn due to his growing fame as a musician). So he made the roll with 2d10. He rolled a 7, which is Success but with Stress. Caspune took 2 Stress to his Shadow Resistance, which is a measure of your anonymity and your cover. I rolled for Fallout, but with only 2 Stress so far it wasn't likely, so the Stress remains and does not yet convert to Fallout. If it had, a low total like that would have resulted in attention from the gnoll guards, I expect. (In retrospect, I should have had them make a Group Move here. One PC is the leader of the Group Move and if that PC succeeds, then the others get to apply Mastery for an extra d10 on their rolls. It would have made sense since they had indicated that they were all in the crowd, looking for signs of the Paladin. I'll have to remember that the next time a similar situation comes up.) So with the Success, Caspune located the entrance to the luxury seating reserved for the rich and powerful, and he took post there. It wasn't long before he saw the crowd part to let someone through, an aelfir in golden robes and an ornate mask (aelfir almost never show their faces in public). She floated along above the dirty cobblstones, not touching the ground. A huge greatsword hung from her back and scratched the stones as she floated along. She seemed to move in a bit of a halting way, as if the screeching of the sword on the stones was a tune she was playing. This was clearly Steel-Glints-In-the-Sunlight. Caspune considered calling out and attempting some social interaction, but the other players talked him out of it, saying to focus on their earlier decision to get to the College. He wisely listened, and so Caspune met back up with the others, and they headed toward the Hidden College. I'll post about that when I get a chance. That's where the poo hit the fan, so to speak, and we had our first taste of combat. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Spire: The City Must Fall
Top