Ship Campaign's First Session - Lieutenant / Bard Prelude

The Andoren ship XXX limps into port, battered and bruised from the storm, missing two anchors and their topmost spars. Normally they would steer clear of the leeward shore but, unfortunately, without their anchors they were going to be battered against the shoreline anyway so they were better off making for a hasty dock to seek out repairs.

Unfortunately, while there's a current peace treaty between the Andorens and the Chelish, the ship is equipped with top secret canon equipment, carries top secret documentation, and is actually originally a Chelish vessel captured by Andoren privateers and sold to the government. So they're currently flying the flag of Taldor and taking advantage of the storm (which is blowing itself up to a hurricane) for the cover it provides but knowing they must be ready to clear the docks before too long as there'll be no escaping the Chelish once they're ready.

So the 2nd Lieutenant, Lieutenant Balthazar Archer, was sent out with three sailor NPCs and the NPC Midshipman Vera Wellard (whose hair was chopped rough at her shoulders to give her a more masculine appearance to track down and beg, borrow, or steal the requisite equipment to repair their ship and find a way to bring it back to the ship. As they get down to the dock itself, they soon realise that they have accidentally docked in the Imperial Marina, and thus their situation grows more dire, though the heavy winds and driving rain and darkness has kept any of the few guards from noticing them.

One of the sailors remembers some kind of tavern where you can buy all sorts of things, the Sally Port or something? And they set off, only to soon become hopelessly lost down the winding alleys as it's hard to see one side of the street from the other and thus keep their heads. They have a single lantern to guide their way and none are locals. One of the sailors lagged behind and there's a terrible yowling sound before he's dragged off into the night, his screams roughly silenced by some mysterious threat, leaving them to move onward. They soon notice a gang of Hellknight Armigers with Chelish sailors heading into a tavern and then coming out with a whole bunch of locals. The pressgang is out in force tonight which means war is in the air once more.

Three of the Armigers notice them and they sprint down an alley. The lieutenant is afraid to fire his gun as the noise might make the Chelish realise that the Andorens are here though if he can time it with thunder he should be all right. The alley is walled off with a threadbare rope hanging down the bricks but the various sailors shimmy up the pitted bricks and fling themselves down, leaving Wellard to mount the rope as the lieutenant covers their retreat before coming up behind her.

They spot two giant cockroaches and a swarm of roaches mingling in the trash below, sheltering from the flooded sewers, water-logged roads, and wind roughened passageways, as they're nicely wind broke here and riding high on a lot of trash and debris. The other two sailors crawl sideways along the rain slick walls, past a door to some tavern, and drop down on the other side into the darkness. Lieutenant Archer has lost his lantern now and both and he and Wellard fail to duplicate their acts and drop down onto a crate by the wall. They try again and again but fail to make their way. Lieutenant Archer threatens one giant roach that attempts to clamber up using his cutlass, only to fumble and drop it.

The door to the tavern opens as the Undine sailor, Proteus Antonia, has heard the ruckus on his way to take a piss in the alley and he sees the mass of roaches and the imperilled two likely looking chaps (Wellard does look like a boy with her hair chopped like that) who both have their uniforms covered in their oilskins. Proteus Antonia starts calling out helpful tips (Perform Oratory) to keep their spirits up and tosses the tavern's lantern into the alley, setting fire to the roaches and keeping them distracted. Finally the two manage to crawl sidelong across the wall to the safety of the doorway. In fact, Lieutenant Archer finally gets his head together and gets across with such skill he even manages to recollect his cutlass, surprising himself as much as anyone else.

The two head in through the rear door and Wellard tries to distract the Proteus Antonia (she thinks he might be some sort of tiefling, do they come in blue?) through mention of the pressgang. Unfortunately, she's so earnest in her telling of it that she seems to be bald-faced lying. Still, as Proteus leads them through the tavern he announces loudly to all and sundry about the pressgang and they flee the tavern, leaving Proteus to down their drinks on his slow way out.

Outside, however, he sees the pressgang hurry to chase those who are trying to flee them and says quickly, "I'll be damned. There is a pressgang!" Then he follows the other two as they try to make their way allong to the Sally Port, the other two sailors nowhere in sight. Eventually, they all get lost (though at least the Undine's darkvision means they can see what's in front of them) until they reach an opening into a wider courtyard that has a few wall-less timber roofs set up on creaking posts. The Slave Markets.

The session ended there.

Ship Campaign's First Session - Tiefling / Mercenary Prelude

I need a better name for my campaign (running with Flashpoint campaign for now). Any ideas? I can't really call it the 'pirate' campaign as they're not pirates just yet and might end up privateers or even naval officers (who knows?) so I can't hamstring myself with what may be a false label. Anywho, so we began in Westcrown on a storm-battered night. I made the players each roll Initiative to determine who would be the first off the prelude rank and it turned out to be the tiefling.

The tiefling, in theory at this stage a simple Expert, is closing up the alchemy shop for the night in readiness to go to the Sally Horse floating tavern which is set up in an old ship not far from the Imperial Marina. The bartender there has set him up with a mercenary because the tiefling, Lhye, has recently heard that Arexia, the Elven daughter of an important cleric of Calistria back in Riddleport (the tiefling was partially raised by the Calistrian clergy), was back in the city with the Okeno slavers that had taken her. She was due to be sold with the rest of their cargo.

So Lhye sets off in the thick of a storm that has water rushing the streets and winds howling through the sky and his head starts to ache. He sees a local stray cat yowling and twisting and writhing across the cobblestones and it stops to lay at his feet. He goes to pat it and it wraps around his arm, claws and teeth sinking in, just as lightning tears through the sky (to him, it's almost like sutured smiles stitched across the storm clouds). The tiefling was always a little crazy so the odd metaphors that slam through his mind (the wind's howls sound like blessed screams, the thunder like the beating of the drums) don't seem so odd. He is pretty annoyed by the cat, though is soon distracted when lightning slams into the roof tiles nearby. As he hurries off, he starts to feel a static charge all about him and he tosses down his metal cane which is soon struck thrice by lightning, yet is strangely cool when he picks it up again.

The barbarian, Lenny, arrives at the Sally Horse tavern, which is bucking at her ropes, despite its relatively sheltered position on the River ..... Still, she heads inside the rickety death trap and purchases some rum in the dim interior (the bartender is justifiably pyrophobic during storms and sets up a simple pair of Light spells focused on the antler horns of an elk's head.

Finally Lhye reaches the Sally Horse and barely manages to gain the deck via the gangplank that's nailed down between deck and dock and that drums the cobbles against the length of its partially pulled free nails. A random tiefling on deck snickers at him but he ignores him and heads inside to the bartender who points out the mercenary. The two discuss prices and the tiefling offers Lenny a masterwork ivory horn musical instrument worth around 100gp.

Just so you know, the horn wasn't out of the player's loot, obviously, but was an additional item I allowed him to have to justify her coming into the game. Loot is loot no matter where it comes from.

Anywho, so despite the storm (or rather, because of it, as it meant the guards were likely staying indoors and the slave market would be largely empty) they set out through the winding roughly cobbled streets of Westcrown through the dark. Both of them knew of the risks of the shadow creatures, but hoped the storm and the lightning might keep them at bay, as neither has a real light source that could withstand the strong winds. Lhye had darkvision, however, so was reasonably comfortable with guiding them along.

For Players: Learn the Rules Beyond Your Character Sheet

Basically, this is a simple piece of advice. If you don't know that the rules allow you to charge, you won't get that choice. If you don't know you can request an equipment bonus from your sneakers, you won't run as good. And if you don't know what the fighting styles are, why would you pick one?

Relying on the Storyteller and other Players is all very well and good but after awhile you should bite the bullet and read the books. No one expects you to memorise them as well as some of the other players in the party but if you familiarise yourself with them, at least you've got a good starting base. Even if you don't remember the specific mechanics, you can know the fundamental basics of the rules, or the fluff surrounding it, and take that into account when making your decisions.

In short, don't hide from the rules just because they involve numbers. Take a look through the books and see what you pick up.

Ship-based Pathfinder Campaign

Sorry about the long delays in posting but the arm overuse injury keeps flaring back up. I've been to see a physio and have been advised that I should take it easy but am able to get back onto the keyboard. So, I thought I'd start by posting up some information on my new Pathfinder campaign. Hopefully I'll have the time / energy to finish off my other weekly article lines as well. Anyway, on to show off my beautiful new campaign based around a massive Avistan / Garund-spanning sea-based campaign.

I'd decided this campaign was going to be the Shackles Pathfinder Adventure Path way back in December 2011 to follow up on Crimson Throne but realised that I had far too many ideas to simply stick to a pre-made. By mid-February, 2012, I entered the planning phases where I settled on a starting city (Westcrown, Cheliax), determined the primary regional conflicts they would face (Cheliax declaring war on Andoren after a 20 year peace treaty) and the approximate time span (about 30 years in the future from Crimson Throne). A lot has happened in those 30 years.

My players diligently created new characters for this campaign. My fiance made about five before finally settling on a Tiefling Witch from Riddleport who came to Westcrown for a more accepted lifestyle with his kin as surely a country that worships devils would treat tieflings kindly (yeah, right!). There's an Andoren Gunslinger who wields Andoren's new secret weapon (pistols and canons, due to the establishment of an alliance with movers and shakers in the Mana Wastes) who serves as the 2nd Lieutenant on an Andoran Naval Vessel. There's a Tianese traveller who's been enslaved twice who has studied combining wizardry with guns. There's a barbarian mercenery, part Tianese, part Chelish, who is always seeking the next cash-based experience and who gets a kick outta hurting people. Then there's the Undine bard / sailor who has sailed on many merchant vessels throughout the Inner Seas.

They're a lively bunch and we began our first adventure two weeks ago. I'll update you soon with what happened in the sweetly dangerous city of Westcrown.

WoD To Do With Ordo Dracul, Part 1

Hehe, the title rhymes within itself. Kinda rolls off the tongue quite nicely. I'm sure many an Invictus Prince (or a Carthian or whichever covenant) has muttered these words to themselves quite a bit over the years. Why? Well, they're a secretive covenant that likes to dabble in things they shouldn't and if you let them dabble as they will then they'll not only probably support your praxis but will doubtless unleash something awful upon the city. If you try to stop their dabbling, then they'll turn against you, because, really, why not let them have access to that old dock or that irritating piece of land that'll never sell? But, I digress, let's take a look at the Ordo Dracul from a plot perspective.

Theme: Curiosity didn't kill the cat. Ignorance did. Curiosity just reanimated it into a horrible abomination.

Mood: Mystery, Secretiveness, Hierarchical bonds, Discipline, Curiosity, and Exploration.

15 Plot Hooks:

1. The Chapter House librarian has been growing increasingly more secretive and erratic ever since that latest shipment of local history books have been brought into the library.

2. There's a little shop in a busy, yet quite old, shopping mall that seems to be at the locus of several powerful leylines according to a map painstakingly put together by the kogaian with some boons paid to a Crone with Arcane Sight yet ... there seems to be nothing odd about the shop at all. Any investigations into the shop's past do confirm that a mass suicide 10 years ago occured which suggest it might be a powerful Crucible of the Coil of Souls yet the place seems about as normal as you can get.

3. An elder Ordo Dracul begins stalking the coterie, interrogating any human allies, and watching over them from afar. He's even provided them some assistance when they've gotten themselves into trouble but otherwise refuses to get nearer to them. Why? And does it have anything to do with the musical tune he hums to himself whenever he gazes at one of them?

4. One of the Ordo Dracul Daeva's eyes have inexplicable become lined with thick, black veins, that make it difficult for her to deal with humans. What is this affliction and where did it come from?

5. The kogaian has gone into a catatonic state but he's not in torpor. He drinks blood when given to him and sits up each dusk and collapses each dawn as he should. Yet he won't move nor speak to anyone. This began when he arrived on the coterie's secret haven door stop.

6. Using Heightened Senses - hearing in the Ordo Dracul Chapter House reveals the distant sound of screams that seem to come from different places, often from within the walls, but sometimes from outside, poised in the air. The higher ups refuse to talk about it and there's no sign of ghostly phenomena. Some Ordo Dracul have gone missing, though, simply vanished within the house's walls over the years.

7. An Invictus gifts an Ordo Dracul with a book filled with strange scrawls in another language with only a few words within it that can act as a Rosetta Stone. Over time, those who attempt to read it, find the words make themselves known in dreams and nightmares that call to them to open a gate to ... where?

8. The Carthians have grown distant and wary, many of them becoming downright hostile toward the Ordo Dracul, though they refuse to give their reasons. This is quite strange as the relationships between everyone used to be quite cordial.

9. A solitary werewolf notices the Ordo Dracul's interests in his locus and, rather than chasing them off, he desperately clings to them, hoping they can help him keep his territory against the Pure that besiege him. He can reveal quite a lot about the Hisil and the wyrm's nests around the city but the price they would have to pay is one of protection ... against his enemies, their own, and possibly the covenant itself.

10. The kogaian's shadow has begun writhing and twisting in absolute horror and agony whenever people deal with her, gesturing desperately as though trying to warn the other Ordo Dracul, while remaining ordinary on the rare occasions when she deals with outsiders. The kogaian herself seems to be acting strangely - stranger even than usual - and sometimes doesn't seem to recognise those whom she's known for years.

11. The Invictus seem to be purchasing a number of properties and demolishing them to make way for new constructions and they seem to be targeting wyrm's nests and other places of interest though they claim that it is entirely coincidental. Have they figured out these location's value to the Ordo Dracul? If this goes on, then study of the coils will ground down to a snail's crawl.

12. The Lancea Sanctum have been spying on the Ordo Dracul with rats for years, and the Ordo Dracul have built up countermeasures, yet recently, strange golden-eyed rats have joined the normal rodents and they move with an intelligence they should not possess and ignore Animalism from even the greatest master of that discipline. What deals have they made? And what are those creatures? (Maybe Beshilim?).

13. An Ordo Dracul experiment has backfired horribly when the mysterious dealings beneath a local women's and children's hospital becomes public. Many of the human staff are arrested and the scenes of depravity below the school become public news. Yet it's too little, too late, all this attention merely serves to feed the growing wound beneath the school and the ghosts and spirits begin to plague the area, creating a growing Masquerade breach on top of the legal one as curious sightseers and hunters both flock to the area.

14. A Crone becomes romantically interested in an Ordo Dracul and goes to increasingly greater lengths to draw their eye. The trouble is, the Ordo Dracul's mentor believes this Crone is disrupting the student's studies and demands the study rectify the situation.

15. The Harpy goes on a crusade against the younger Ordo Dracul and nothing they say or do is good enough. It's vital to figure out what's drawn the harpy's ire and why the elders within the covenant do nothing about it.

Man, do I love the Ordo Dracul. I'd love to run an Ordo Dracul campaign one day where everyone plays Ordo Dracul and their coterie has to deal with all kinds of stuff. I'm looking forward to writing up Part 2 next week. They're just so awesome. What's your favourite covenant?

Next up will be Goals and Daily Activities and finally will be Iconic Locations and NPCs.

13: Preparing for a Caving Survival Horror, Part 2

So, after all the preparation for the first half of the caving adventure, I'll bet you assumed that my work was done. Well, not exactly. I used a different format for the second session and so I needed to do a whole bunch worth of prep work.

I drew up a map on several A4 sheets of paper and created another layer of room covers so they couldn't see what was within those room. There were six major antagonists to design alongside the Cryers that were almost faced during the session beforehand (a knight in armor enchanted to release pulses of the Decay lore when struck who had a flaming sword Imbued with the soul of a Namaru), a brawler (with brass knuckles enchanted to wrack people with agony), a knife thrower (with knives that each had their own enchanted ability when they struck people), a statue that Nechoshel could possess to attack them, a Mage that she briefly possessed who would keep struggling to disrupt her lores, and Nechoshel herself when they reached her reliquary chamber.

Then there were the traps:

The first corridor had zombies embedded in the doors and a weakly made rug across the floor that stretched out over spiked pit traps so if they tried to crawl over it to avoid the blade-embedded fingers of the zombies, they would fall into the traps. Oh, and one of the Cryers was at the other end of the T-Junction, throwing daggers at them.

The corridor to the right was lined halfway down with dampened sticks of wood from the doors that lined that corridor, and those lines even crossed the corridor at one point at a height of about two feet, and at the other end was a cul-de-sac similarly lined, where the brawler waited out of sight with a hostage (random guy) and a non-safety lighter that he could drop on the chemical-stained wood once the Fallen had come into range. This would fill the corridor with choking smoke that would likely cause them to pass out.

Another couple of corridors had this thick fungal growths (from Earthbound Lore of Corruption) that bulged here and there and would release hallucinogenic spores. I had to make up a bunch of mini-hallucination cards.

There was also a shotgun trap. Just because.

The Earthbound statue possession room also had a similar looking statue sitting in a wheelchair in the middle of a very large and gloomy room, so they would focus on the wheelchair-bound statue when the real possessed statue had taken to the ceiling, using its chameleon-like appearance to blend in (Lore of Corruption).

So, there was a lot of thinking time, though less literal cutting and pasting than when I was preparing for the first session.

Next week, I'll talk about the Downtimes in a Caving Survival Horror and how they really worked to provide some additional tension. If you'd like to read prior articles, you can find them here.

Overuse Injury & Plans For The Future

Well, again, sorry for the disappearance, but I've had an overuse injury in my forearms and so have backed off on personal use of the computers to save up my typing-without-pain-time for work-related reasons. Easing off on it has certainly shown some improvements, so I'm confident that I can now type up the odd blog article for you guys again. I'll be aiming to get back into the old schedule.

I've got three more For Players articles and three more A Caving Survival Horror articles before I start something new. I'm thinking to run you two new series on some Campaign Creation guides, worldbuilding and information on both how I've created an Action Hero / Explorer-type pirate-based Pathfinder campaign (and later on how the game is going) and how I've created an Investigation / Explorer type Demon: the Fallen campaign. I look forward to relating the various shenanigans of the players.

One those other two previously mentioned series have ended, I'll be doing the Pathfinder one on Mondays (I run Pathfinder Monday nights) and the Demon: the Fallen one on Fridays (I run it on Saturday).

Obviously, for my players who are reading this, both will contain spoilers so please don't read these articles. I'll try not to put in massive spoilers but some spoilers will be necessary in any worldbuilding sections, so it's best not to read them until you're onto a different campaign.