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Saturday, October 17, 2009

[Playtest Campaign] Governors of Doran: The First Four Months-

The Isle of Slavers ended prematurely with the detonation of the Aelbaan system-ship in the fortress courtyard --after the PCs made it to cover behind a steep dune, and before the worst of the burning debris rained down.
--They hastily retreated to the NW shore and after a brief adventure with descendants of the Aelbaan Scout Service personnel who had originally touched down there over 2k years prior, then blasted a Humanoid pirate vessel, just because, stranding the Humanoids on the island.
---Not certain if I have the energy at present to write up the actual adventure, as my time is now re-directed to UWoM in full.

We have had one group session on the island of Doran as the WICE Governor cedes control of the island to the Kherstic League in some behind-the-scenes deal. Tybalt and Ashta are the original KL employees ('Assassins' -- ha!), with Delver their happen-stance compatriot through these crazy mis-adventures they have had, and the secondary characters of Darius, Mela, and 'Cici' having been 'brought into the fold' back in Qerzyk.
--In that first episode, the individual characters began to find activities that interested them, and they settled into their new position of authority.

Thursday I ran through Delver's plans, and his player set up a solid business shipping and passage company, utilising their monopoly on Doran's resources and workforce, and now is pulling in about 5k net, monthly. He also has launched an anti-Piracy campaign using almost entirely his own funds, and one of his Faux-Pirate Force crew was able to gain acceptance into the 'Kingdom of the Black Flag', and even entered a Pirate cove inside a hollowed out columnar island of sheer granite, crowned in a dense jungle. In this cove, large enough to have five ships in drydock and others still in the port-town, the crew met someone who identified himself as the King of the Pirates, and gave them his blessing (as they had to operate under deep cover and actually pirate to gain the good rep), and an item to scry upon them. Fortunately, Delver had given the captain his amulet versus scrying and detection. Lastly, Delver personally contacted an alien life form and has entered into negotiations with its species representative.

Last night, Tybalt and Ari (another WI Vrun lesser noble) set to work making money in more island-centric means, ranging from a kennel for the island's small population of two-headed dogs, to capturing a, for lack of a better name, Hawknoid chick, to incubating faerie pods (the islands are replete with all manner of Fae), and Tybalt's joining a débutante tea-circle of low-level magic-users with plans on starting their own magickal institution.

The LGS propietor was largely unable to play, but his Archer was able to gain a few horses, and more importantly, pick up the Mounted Archery proficiency. His plan is to amass horses and enough ships to make it back home, and start his own powerful clan.

Ashta/Mela's player was at work.

11 comments:

  1. And that, as they say, is entertainment! Was the ship blown up on purpose, or did somebody mistake the waste disposal for the scuttling charge? ;)

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  2. I love this idea of the "débutante tea-circle of low-level magic-users" - it would be a great way to add in new MUs should it so happen that a low level PC MU dies (likely), along with potential plot hooks. Without the possibly overbearing presence of a guild (or with a more rural setting), it just makes sense that birds of a feather would flock like this.

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  3. Chirine,

    Thanks! :D

    They were using the teleporter and weapons which consumed a lot of power and there was very little fuel left in it, so they had to choose where they were going to land and...well...they shore the rear of the craft off and were fortunate to have crashed it where they did. :D

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  4. zb,

    Cool. I'm glad. :)

    Looking forward to your Tales of the Tea Circle.

    :D

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  5. Any landing you can walk away from, as they say... :)

    I don't know why, but as a GM I'm always hugely amused by players who manage to crash the flyer/run the ship aground/sink their own boat. I've had this happen several times, and no matter how many times I drop heavy-handed hints that they need to look out the window, the players keep talking the situation into the ground. Or the shoals. Or whatever Deadly Peril Awaits...

    Of course, it all provides the start of Another Thrilling Adventure, as they then try to figure out how to get out of their predicament... :)

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  6. I concur. :D

    I feel that half of the fun of GMing/Refereeing is being amused with / stunned by the plans of the PCs. :)

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  7. Man, this is good stuff! Two-headed dogs? This setting is totally alien, a quality that I think fantasy RPGs have lacked for a long time. Thanks for bringing the weird!

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  8. This sounds like a fun campaign. I particularly like the pirate infiltration angle. And the harvesting of faerie pods. Perchance are these plants that hatch faeries?

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  9. James,

    Thanks! :D
    --I do seem to remember some sort of Fiend Folio critter with two heads as well, but then again, I always liked the weird creatures in FF.


    Carl,

    :D Cool. Thanks. (:
    --Yes, they are. The lasses could be seen in silhouette through the petal-pod, with the base of the thing about as large as an artichoke.
    ---Other Fae on the island include tiny, milk-crate pirates that sail the creeks and rivers, and drowsy, crumb-eating critters living in the walls of the guest mansion.

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  10. The two-headed dog actually reminded me of an old Roky Erickson song (entitled "Two-Headed Dog" appropriately enough). He's one of the founding fathers of acid rock, which is what Urutsk strikes me as. . . I mean, if D&D 4e brings the Metal, Urutsk brings the Psychedelic.

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  11. James:
    --I'll have to look that song up.
    ---Thank you! I'm honoured. I'm glad the roots of the setting show through. :D

    :: Doremi Fasol Latido queue's-up in the background ::

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