The Campaign Builder's Guild

Don't worry Crow, I'm not going to pit Sirje unsupported against a troll or a band of kobolds or something :).

Leetz, more skull-cracking is a mandate I can get behind!

Another map, this time of the Hrafnlands.



In case some players missed this:

Quote from: SteerpikeA few things I'd like to draw players' attention to...

1) I have reading week coming up and while I'm doing my CE game on Monday (probably a big climactic session too) I have a little more free time than usual.  Would people be able to make it to another Wednesday session (i.e. the 22nd) to finish off the kobold warren?  I know playing in two games a week is problematic for Crow, but Sirje is currently guarding the horses, and I will give her a chance to make up for the lost experience at the beginning of the next regularly scheduled session; what I don't want to happen is to force Crow to sit through the end of the kobold warren crawl twiddling his thumbs while his character guards the mounts.

2) Now that we're several sessions in, feedback would be great so I can make the game as good as possible.  What do you guys think so far?  Are there things you like particularly and conversely things you dislike or are annoyed by?  Having such a big party creates some challenges, but it's mostly led to a pretty rich dynamic.  I'm trying to make combats somewhat quick, and sparkbot is helping with that.  I'm trying to go for a "non-linear episodic" game in the sense that the overall, narrative is pretty episodic but there are multiple ways of dealing with each situation.  Is this working, or does the game feel too railroady?

3) Is there anything you'd like to see?  More roleplaying encounters vs combat (or vice versa)?  More horror & gruesomeness (or less?)?  Would you like some more maps, or some more setting information of a particular kind?  Does the party need a greater sense of direction or are you fairly happy with the main goal of the group being "survive in the post-apocalyptic winter-wasteland" plus your individual character goals?

4) While it's sort of verging on metagaming and I don't want to dictate character actions, it might be smart to roughly decide which way the party is headed in this thread, out of character, as a kind of "rehearsal" for the actual conversation between characters as to where the party will head next.  The benefits of this are twofold: 1) it will allow me to prepare my notes better and 2) it will cut down on time-consuming in-character debates about where to go and what to do, thus allowing us to get to more interesting encounters, roleplaying and otherwise, more efficiently.  This is purely a suggestion.

5) A clarification, in case anyone was confused: we're playing with E8, not E6.

Thanks to everyone participating so far.  I'm having a great time with this and I hope everyone else is having as  much fun as I am.

1) I'll try to be there.
2) Not too railroady. I'd like this to be kept episodic since that's what I signed up for. It would be well to keep each episode from taking more than 2 game sessions to finish though :)
3) Although I think the survivalism aspect should be always present, it wouldn't hurt for the party to be tempted with some more ambitious objectives from time to time.

Yes the timing aspect is challenging with such a large party!  I think I'm going to try and tighten things up.  My perennial problem of writing too much and underestimating the amount of time it takes to get through a given encounter seems to be in full effect :P.

I will say this - if people ever want to avoid an encounter, skip a quest, take a short-cut, or whatever, I am totally cool with that.  I have enough notes so accommodate "jumping the tracks" of what may seem to be the railroad.

Btw, those are some sexy, sexy mountains on your map.

+1 for sexy
mountains

Should be able to do another Wednesday game.

Here's a rough description of what your characters can expect depending on which direction they head...

Due East

This direction will lead through Ironwood to the Gyllirlands.  This is probably the riskiest direction to travel in: the giantess Angrboða, paramour of Loki, reigns over much of the forest from her seat at Ironwood's center, near one of Yggdrasil's roots.  Infested with vargar, Trolls and their ilk, kobolds, and all manner of monsters and evil spirits, Ironwood would provide a lot of supernatural encounters, wilderness exploration, environmental hazards, and battles with grotesque creatures.  Other than a few eccentric woodsmen and any travellers or captives there would be few other humans.

West/Southwest

This direction will lead to the Eyði and the Ægirlands.  The Uncertain Lands are a morass of competing factions, a chaotic no-man's-land where mercenaries, warlords, bandits, fractured tribal groups, and refugees contend against one another and the elements.  There are rich opportunities to make plenty of coin, but obviously the region is very dangerous.  Expect a higher proportion of large battles as well as numerous skirmishes.  If heading east leads to supernatural horror, heading west leads to warfare and military engagements.  Beyond the Eyði you would reach the lands of the Ægir, where opportunities for adventure in the western isles might become possible.

Northeast

This direction will lead to the Hrafnlands, Kvenland, and the Gyllirlands (if you then veer southeast).  This region is politically unstable, with raiding parties, bands of brigands, and wild beasts to contend with.  Here you can expect a lot of encounters with other humans, though there would also be plenty of monsters – undead in the Gloom-Wolds and the Cairnreach, Dragon-kind from the Orm-Fells, and abominations from out of Ironwood.  In general, though, this path would lead to villages, towns, forts, and settlements and their various woes; Nest, the Hrafnii capitol, is a small city, so those looking for intrigue and quasi-urban adventuring should consider this path.

Northwest

This direction will lead to the Görnlands and the Slaughterstone Mountains.  This path would first take you through the Orm-Fells, an extremely dangerous region where Dragons of various breeds are known to lurk, along with degenerate hill-folk and troglodytic flesh-eating humanoids which some claim to be Half-Trolls.  Apart from a few fellow travellers you would not encounter many friendly humans – you'd be much more likely to meet a pride of cave-lions or a tribe of starving wildmen.  Once into the Görnlands you'd find reclusive, xenophobic isolationists, but if you could charm your way into their mountain fastnesses, you'd also have access to a healthy food supply.

South/Southeast

This direction will lead towards Austrogötaland, Myrkwood, and the Gyllirlands (if you then veer northeast), or towards the Fens, a region stricken by great famine and ecological turmoil.  Travelling this way would involve cutting across large swathes of Bloðbard territory with all the risks that entails.  If you arrived in the Fens there'd be numerous encounters with various swamp-fey and undead, while if you headed instead towards Austrogötaland you'd fine a lot of political and religious turmoil, intrigue, and unrest.

That all sounds awesome!

But what putting in a rumor of a relic or something really awesome that would give us something to go for. Considering this is a survival game (in a sense), the rational things would be to hide somewhere and hunker down, which doesn't sound that much fun. A rumor about some fabled axe or ring would give us direction, to an extant, but how we decide to get there would still be entirely up to us - go seek an oracle, go to a library, make a pact with something dark for information, etc...

But the West/Southwest sounds good to Aeskil, he wants to crack some serious skulls.

I'm planning on introducing elements along those lines pretty shortly, so that should work well.

Cool, I think some direction wouldn't hurt with this otherwise awesome, awesome campaign so far.

I'm in favour of northeast so far. Looking at the map, it seems that we could have the option of sailing the Sea of Skulls if we later decide to leave for other lands from there.

I am attracted to the northeast because it sounds like it has the highest concentration of bears the most varied encounters (humans, wild beasts, monsters), but I'd probably want to steer a bit further away from the cities.  Cha 8 is not conducive to intrigue.

Andreas obviously wants to head northeast, as it will lead in the relative direction of what he seeks.

I'll be online tomorrow (11:30 EST) for anyone who wants to play.

We've got three votes for northeast at the moment.