RPGaDay 2015

Here's a fun little activity taking place in August.  I participated last year and I'll do so again on Google+.  Feel free to post your responses on your favorite social site, just make sure to use the hashtag:  #RPGaDay2015.

Here's a higher resolution copy if you're having trouble reading this one.

Knight's Tale - 486

Sir Tristian's Tale

At my lords request, we march for Silchester, there we gather with the rest of the Kings army to prepare for battle against the Saxons, I can look around and see many of my fellow Knights nervous, though I look at Sir Jayden and see an award winning grin on his shoulders, and I cannot blame him, for I too wore such a grin, a chance to prove to Sir Osbert what I can really do, for Saxons if nothing else would at least prove a worthy foe to test my mettle against.

At Mearchred Creek we did battle, charging in with lance in hand, I effortless dispatched my first opponent, however we were ordered to fall back, a mistake on Sir Elads part as it put all of us in great danger. Luckily Sir Osbert efforts in my training were not wasted as I pushed back my next foe, and with the tides shifting I once again showed my mettle, slaying anyone who stood in my way until the battle was done, where I took pity on the foes in front of me, and let them run away, but not before giving him a nice scar to remember me by.

Winter Court this year was depressing, much had happened and people were worried, many of the festivities simply did not occur, nor did I get a chance to see the one I secretly like….

The Year is 486 and the mood has improved if only slightly, we knights assemble to Sarum in order to do our duty to our Lord, Earl Roderick, sadly that duty was simply Garrison and patrol duty, no doubt due to the embarrassment that Sir Elad received by the hands of Jayden and Morah. Nevertheless, we did our duty, and in doing so we came across an old man who was in need of aid, at his request we went to secure his goat, however this was no ordinary goat… the thing was MASSIVE!! I mean come on! How did he grow such a beast!? You’d think he fed it with grains and oats from the Heavens themselves!! It was at this time we came across a foul giant that was assaulting the poor beast, we swiftly charged in and with one mighty thrust from my blade I slew the beast, to ensure that the beast was dead however, I got off my steed and delivered a rather fancy Coup de Grace. Upon our return to the old man, his appearance changed into a rather familiar figure, Merlin. It appears he had in need of our assistance in a matter. We followed him into the woods when we were besiege by some weird figure on top of a horse with four arms, and we did battle with it, and in the end it appears we bested it, because apparently it got a lucky blow and knocked me out…. Damn Faerie creatures and magic, such pains they are to deal with, give me Saxon hordes any day… At least they fight fair…

Sir Morah's Tale

Now let me tell you of Saxons scum. Sir Morah wasn’t just called to Sarum to be knighted. You might remember I told you war was waging and men were needed. Very shortly after the knighting Sir Morah and his friends set of to fight in what would become the Battle of Mearcred Creek. You might have heard that the battle ended indecisively. This was indeed the case as the battle went back and forth for several hours. After the initial charge the unit your great great grandfather was in was foolishly ordered to pull back. This mistake almost cost the battle. Were it not for Sir Morah and his friends valor and strength to pull the fight back King Uther would have likely been defeated on this day. After the battle Sir Morah and his friend Sir Jayden’s pride led them to berate their commander, Sir Elad, for his folly in front of the Pendragon himself! They are lucky he didn’t have them killed for their arrogance, but they didn’t get out without penalty for Sir Elad held a grudge for them after that.

Winter that year was quite boring as Winter Court was but a shadow of what it could since the Pendragon was busy dealing with some problems of state. Spring started out that year no more exciting as Earl Roderick had Sir Morah and his friends hold garrison duty. While honorable and worth of glory garrison duty is, it is not a knight’s first choice for adventure. However, one patrol would change the tone of the entire summer.

Patrolling is part of a knight’s responsibility during garrison duty and Sir Morah and his friends were not ones to shirk their duty. On one of their patrols they came across an elderly man claiming to the knights that his goat had run off and he desperately need their help. Helping the peasantry is very important for a knight and the group, albeit not eagerly, set off to help the old man. They quickly spotted the goat and upon further inspection found it to be huge. It was easily the size of a horse. Their approach spooked the goat and it ran into the forest. The knights chased after it and after a few minutes they lost sight of it over a hill. Soon after they heard the pain stricken cries of the goat coming over the hill. They quickly rode up the hill and found the goat being held by a giant. Now things were getting interesting. Finally it was time for the knights to do something worthy of their station. All the energy the knights had yet to use this summer was quickly put into one furious charge at this creature. Sir Jayden led the charge and dealt a sound blow to the creature knocking the tree it had in its hand to the ground, Sir Tristian followed and finished the creature off with a second blow. While Sir Morah followed quickly behind Sir Tristian he got there after the creature was just felled.

Now all of you have surely heard of Merlin the Druid. When they returned the goat the old man magically turned into Merlin himself! This was a test for the knights for Merlin had need of their help. They began off into the woods and immediately something seemed off to Sir Morah. Your great great grandfather was quite knowledgeable about things relating to the Faerie World and immediately realized they were heading there. Not seconds after arriving in the Faerie World Merlin said he had something to do and we needed to protect him. A monster of Green Goo stood before the brave knights and charged them. This creature was a man and a horse with 4 arms each wielding a weapon. The brave knights fought this beast and slowly they began to fall to it. After both of his friends were down and Sir Morah was the last standing, he too took a mighty blow that put him on the ground, or so the monster thought. As the monster crept away towards the druid Sir Morah stood back up and finished the creature with one last swing of his sword! And that children is where the green sword we have comes from, for Sir Morah took it after slaying the beast as a trophy of the accomplishment.

Sir Jayden's Tale

The Battle of Mearcred Creek, The first battle in which I fought as a knight. War is an interesting subject. At no time in my life was I more afraid, yet nor has there been another moment more exhilarating. One false move could end in death.

Before the battle was met I had decided to look upon the field of battle. It was at this time that I discovered the land from which our army was supposed to fight upon was wet and muddy. This would have led to a serious disadvantage to our knights and the rest our men. How the King missed this was beyond me. Upon realizing this I immediately tried to alert King Uther but was blocked from entering his tent. Unable to alert the King I went to Sir Elad with the information, and he had gone to Earl Roderick who was able to inform the King.

Know that while being engaged in mortal combat with the enemy may be a scary experience, there is nothing more terrifying on the Lord’s Earth then being in front of the King. It was an honor to advise him on the upcoming battle but never before in my life had I had to carefully choose my words.

Now onto the matter of Sir Elad. During the Battle of Mearcred Creek he was the commander of our eschille. I now believe this to be a mistake. He may have been the man to train us, but mistakes in battle lead to lives being lost. Sir Elad’s command to pull back after the initial charge was such a mistake. If it wasn’t for the efforts of myself and my fellow knights Sir Morah and Sir Tristian our eschille would have been destroyed. After the battle though, Sir Elad was given the credit for our actions. My blood was boiling. I do not know if it was due to my nerves after nearly dying in combat or if I truly felt slighted by Sir Elad but I had to do something. Sir Morah and I confronted Sir Elad on his tactical mistakes during the the battle, especially that first pullback that nearly led to our deaths. I am not sorry for what I did.

It seems that I may be making an enemy in Sir Jaradan for during Court at Christmas he had challenged me to a duel to the death. He may have had too much to drink, but I believe I should be careful around Sir Jaradan from now on. I may have to end this feud one day, and that would have deadly consequences.

The Green Sword wielded by both Sir Morah and Sir Jayden, taken from the vanquished Nukulavee.  While wielding the Green Sword, the knights cannot be disarmed.  The sword is also cursed.  The knights cannot willingly discard the sword and as long as they wield it they receive a permanent check to their Cruel Trait.

Year 486 - Her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite...

With talk of war brewing and the Saxons still raiding in the Northeast, the knights descend upon Sarum to do their yearly duty to Earl Roderick. They are brimming with excitement at the possibility of once again riding forth to bring battle to the ravaging Saxon horde. Instead, Earl Roderick crushes their expectations and announces that they would stay behind and perform garrison duty in Sarum. There was much grumbling, but the knights are loyal and do their duty to their lord.

On a routine patrol, the three knights happen upon an elderly goatherd, who cries out for their help. His prize goat, a beast of unusual size, has slipped his lead and run off up a hill. The goatherd begs the knights to catch the prize goat as his back and knees are far too sore and weak for him to make the climb. The knights immediately take up the challenge, though they mutter words of suspicion and distrust, and charge their horses up the hill in an attempt to catch the goat. The goat proves itself far too nimble, however and easily eludes their clumsy attempts. It runs into some thicker brush down the other side of the hill and disappears.

The knights begin to trot down the hill when they hear the goat shriek in pain and then suddenly the ground shakes and the trees part. A huge, three-eyed giant emerges from the copse of trees, the hapless goat clutched by the horns in the giant’s huge fist. Spotting the knights, the giant tosses the goat aside and tears a tree from the earth to use as a club. The knights, undeterred by the size of their foe, dip their lances and charge! The knights strike true with their weapons and lay the giant low. “That’s easy!” they cry as they gather up the goat and return to the goatherd.

As they approach the goatherd, the air around him seems to shimmer and he suddenly transforms into Merlin! He nods at the knights and tells them that they will suffice for the coming task. He bids them follow him and protect him as he goes about the business of the kingdom. They follow him into some woods and find themselves walking through the faery realm itself. A short time later they come upon a calm lake, a small raft secured at its shore. Merlin steps onto the raft and tells the knights to defend him with their lives.

Before the knights can question the druid, a mounted knight emerges from the woods. Both knight and horse are a sickly green color and seem to be slimy and not-quite solid. The knight holds a green sword in each hand and, to the horror of the knights, grows another set of arms! With those arms it rips free branches from a nearby tree to use as clubs. The knights boldly move to intervene as the creature charges directly toward the lake and Merlin. The conflict is bloody, with Sir Jaradan nearly being killed with a single blow of the slimy, green knight’s sword. Sir Tristian, likewise, falls to the creature’s attacks. Sir Morah, the last knight standing between the knight-creature and Merlin, suffers a stunning blow and is knocked off his feet. Morah, being a tactical and prudent knight, plays dead for a moment, which causes the green knight to move past him toward Merlin. Morah then surges back to his feet and launches a desperate attack, which finally destroys the creature, just a few feet from the lake. Morah, bloody and barely able to stand, watches as Merlin’s raft drifts unerringly to the center of the lake. He gasps as a hand, clad in the brightest, shimmering samite, rises from the still pool clutching a glowing sword. Merlin takes the sword and tucks it under his robe. The hand then slowly slides back beneath the surface and disappears.

With no visible means of propulsion, Merlin’s raft slides across the water and returns to shore, where he acknowledges Sir Morah’s bravery and skill at arms. He then uses his strange powers and heals the knights, returning them to full health. With a wink and a small bow, he disappears back into the woods, leaving the confused knights to return to Sarum with their strange tale. Sir Morah and Sir Jayden take the strange green swords that the Nukulavee (as they learn from Merlin) dropped when killed.

Back at court, Sir Tristian awes the assembled court with a song about the exploits, while Sir Morah tells the tale around the hearth fire. Sir Jayden butchers his version of the tale and is accused of boasting.

Thus ends Year 486….

485 - The Battle of Mearcred Creek

Our Knights, Tristian, Morah, and Jayden, travel with the Earl’s retinue to rendezvous with King Uther’s army just outside of Silchester. The King’s army is massive and the knights begin to feel anxious. This will be their first battle as knights and they struggle against a tide of anxiety and fear as they march closer to the site of the battle against the Saxon force led by King AElle.

The King’s forces finally confront the Saxons at a narrow valley, bordered on the south by dense woods and rolling hills to the north. The Saxons make camp in the woods while King Uther’s men strike their tents in the hills. The battle will take place in the valley, over a shallow stream called the Mearcred Creek.

With the moon high, the knights look over the field of battle, perhaps trying to envision the carnage to come or to screw up their courage for the inevitable slaughter. Sir Jayden’s keen tactical mind spots what he considers a fault in the battlefield which would put the King’s knights at a disadvantage. The ground north of the creek, over which they would be charging, is mired in deep, thick mud, while the ground to the south, upon which the Saxons would be assembling, was more rocky and solid. Jayden immediately seeks counsel with the King, but is turned aside by his house knights. Instead, Jayden and his companions seek out Sir Elad, their trusted trainer and friend. He surveys the battlefield and finds Jayden’s observations both insightful and valuable, so he takes the information to Earl Roderick, who takes it to the King. The King is grateful for the insight and thanks Sir Jayden for bringing the information to his attention. He asks Jayden how he would conduct the battle and is satisfied with his response. Jayden returns to his fellow knights with a bit more glory and the King’s respect, but whispers of him being disrespectful to the king filter throughout the camp.

As the sun rises, the knights find themselves assembling in the command of Sir Elad, who would lead their eschille. Earl Roderick himself addresses the group before the battle, offering words of encouragement and inspiration.

Across the creek, the Saxon forces scream and chant in their gutteral language, sending new waves of anxiety through the young knights. Sir Elad’s strong presence and forceful command set their minds at ease, however, and when the call comes to charge they set spurs to flanks and thunder across the valley, the tips of their lances shining brightly in the morning light.

The knights meet Saxon footmen, armed with longspears on their initial charge. Their lances strick true and Sir Elad’s forces smash through the Saxon lines, dealing death to their lightly armored foes.

As the knights recover from their charge, deep in enemy territory, their luck turns. Closely engaged, Sir Elad calls for his unit to fall back so as to allow for another charge. The order proves to be a disaster as they are attacked by well-trained but older Saxon warriors, clad in chainmail and wearing blue cloaks. Armed with long spears, these Saxons attack with ferocity and strike the knights hard, unseating Sir Jayden and wounding Sir Morah. Sir Tristian rallies his squire, Terric, and has him give his horse to Sir Jayden. Terric is more than happy to retire from the battle and scurries off toward friendly forces. The unit as a whole, however, is in disarray and threatening to unravel completely. Sir Elad attempts to rally his forces and calls to stand fast as axe-bearing warriors smash into his knights. Tristian, Morah, and Jayden fight with savage desperation and overwhelm the lightly armored axe-men by force of will and the might of their arms, driving back the attacking forces.

Sir Elad, finding the field around him clear, thanks in no small part to the heroics of Jayden, Morah, and Tristian, orders a charge against a group of shield warriors setting up for an attack.

Again, the knights smash into the smaller Saxon forces and rout them, sending them fleeing from the field of battle. Things are looking up for Sir Elad, until he makes another horrible error in judgement and allows his forces to be surrounded by another force of shield-bearers and axe-men. The knights fight with desperation and ferocity and manage to drive both groups off. As they recover from the fight, they hear the general retreat and fall back as both armies leave the field. King Uther’s forces prevail, but the victory is minor and come at great loss of life.

Sir Elad’s force was the most effective unit on the field and glory and praise is heaped upon him. Sir Jayden and Morah, however, confront the man about his tactical blunders during the battle and point out to all those within earshot that if not for their prowess, the entire unit would have been destroyed. Sir Elad is shamed in front of the Earl. With a face ruddy with embarrassment, he retires to his tent to await the return to Sarum.

At the Christmas Court later that year, Sir Jayden is confronted by an obviously drunk Sir Jaradan, who demands satisfaction for his loss to the Jayden earlier in the year, a duel to the death! Sir Jayden is able to talk his way out of the fight, much to the relief of the court, but feels that Jaradan’s hatred and envy of the young knight will lead to an inevitable confrontation.

Year 485

Below is an accounting of the first half of the year 485 in the Great Pendragon Campaign, as told by the knights Morah, Jayden, and Tristian.

The Story of Sir Morah of Winterbourne, a knight in the service of Earl Roderick

Life of Sir Morah as Told by his grandson to his great, great grandchildren.

Young ones let me tell you of the first year they called your great great grandfather Sir Morah.

The year was 485. As with any knight your great great grandfather was known only as Morah as he had not yet earned the title Sir. Early spring came that year and as a final test, their knighthood was believed eminent, him and his longtime friends Jayden and Tristian were put through the grinder. Morah was the first to go through the trials and started out loudly declaring his famous loyalty for Earl Roderick and even though his horsemanship was not known to be outstanding he seemed as though he was a champion horse rider! He flew through the course jumping bushes and ditches with great ease. He was set to make an expert time when at the last test, the two on one fight, where instead of hitting the squires below he threw his sword. Were it not for that mishap he would have surely won instead of finishing second.

The next day Morah and his friends were called to Sarum as war was waging and men were needed. On the road there they came across three bandits beating a poor farmer. The three were directed to fight the bandits and Morah, being a valorous squire, quickly squared off against the one who posed the most challenging. After a few seconds of blow after blow Morah knocked the man off the cart he was standing on and demanded the bandit’s surrender. Morah was well known to be an incredibly just knight and justice was due this man so they took him as their prisoner and gave him to the earl when they reached Sarum.

Two days after arriving and Sarum Morah would forever be known was Sir Morah for he and his friends were knighted. Now you’ve all heard of the leap. Well Sir Morah had too, but in a grand fashion forgot the leap part and tripped right into the rump of his horse. It is lucky that he is not known through the land for this magnificent failure though he is known to have joked about it during his life.

Sir Tristian's tale, a knight of Cholderton in the service of Earl Roderick

The year is 485, and yet it seems just like any other year, Sir Osbert the famed and feared knight known as “The Bear” has yet to improve his boar’ish attitude and demeanor towards me, or anyone really so I guess it’s just not me. On the bright side though, while I may not of scored high, I at least passed Sir Elad’s Grinder, a task to which I know that not even “The Bear” himself has…..

Talks of Saxons and war are spreading like wildfire these days, some tell tales of that squires may be knighted to help improve the Lord’s Army size. I hope this to be true, to test my mettle against Saxons would be far more glorious then sparring with these silly wooden effigies they call training dummies…

By the request of Sir Elad, we occupied him to Sarum when something most interesting occurred, we encountered a local being accosted by brigands. I swiftly flew into the fray and slew the vile thug with one swing of my sword in the Earl’s name, though admittedly on the inside it was no more glorious than dealing with those Effigies again…

Seems some lively entertainment befalls us tonight, Sir Jaradan, the supposedly renowned knight known for his swordsmanship challenged my friend Jayden to a duel. It seems that all the knights bet on sir Jaradan to win but three…. I of course was one of the three, Morah was another, and to my surprise, Sir Elad was the last…. Sir Jaradan may be skilled, but to be famed is to be arrogant, and to be arrogant would lead to his downfall. For it was with one mighty swing that Jayden knocked the arrogant fool on his buttocks in front of the entire court. The Knights that lost to our bets were at a loss for words, though Morah and myself just grinned quietly knowing that this would be the outcome.

Rumors of knighting seemed to be true, but alas, Sir Osbert being the stubborn man did not name me for recommendation…. Only after I stood up to him did he finally relent and with the rest of the squires I became a knight, and now I am one step closer to my goal, to overcome sir Osbert and truly prove I am stronger than he is, in both body and soul…..

From the journal of Sir Jayden of Broughton, a knight in the service of Earl Roderick

Spring of this 485th year of our Lord

Transcribed by Father Tewi

I, Sir Jayden newly knighted servant of Earl Roderick have decided to begin the keeping of a record in which I may put down my thoughts and experiences. Due to my inability to both read and write I have enlisted the help of the venerable local Priest of Sarum Father Tewi to help me in this. I hope that with time I will learn to read and write. I feel that a man of my great station should be able to do such things. I am no common peasant. A man of honor such as myself should know of these matters.

The reason I am starting now is my recent knighting. I am now a Sir. No longer a Squire. Because of this I believe that a record should be kept of my actions and the actions of my fellow knights.

Let’s begin with my recent bout with Sir Jaradan. It is said that Sir Jaradan is supposedly the finest swordsman in all of Salisbury. I have to disagree. To begin a fine swordsman does not play with his opponent, instead a fine swordsman would take his opponent seriously. Not playfully tapping their sword on their opponents shoulder. I am a bold man. This is the truth of the matter. Entering into that duel I had no idea which one of us would leave with their pride intact. I knew I was not the favorite to win, most bet against me. But I would not back down. I made them eat their own words. The buffoon tried to play the crowd, and I took advantage of it. As he was distracted while dancing around me I caught him off guard with an unexpected sweep of my sword and sent him flying into the wall. I took everyone by surprise, even the Earl who exclaimed “Good Lord”.

On top of the Victory I had against Sir Jaradan there were the Ladies that my dear friend Sir Amaury de Ganis had introduced me to. Of course, I made a great fool of myself only making Sir Amaury de Ganis look all the better in comparison. It isn’t his fault. I know I am not the best looking or most suave of men, but I hope to make up for these faults with strength of arms and honor in battle. I dedicated my victory over Sir Jaradan to the lovely Lady Gwiona who had taken my breath away when I first saw her. Some say she is cursed but if this is so I seek to shatter it.

GM's Recap

The Grinder

The spring of 485 found our young squires, Jayden, Tristian, and Morah, in the court at Vagon Castle, where they had wintered with their knights and were continuing their martial training under the tutelage of Sir Elad, the Marshal of Salisbury and Castellan of Vagon Castle.

Sir Elad had heard that the squires, having reached the age of 21, were soon to be knighted, and not a moment too soon. King Uther had called up all able knights to battle the Saxon King Aelle. All eligible squires were to report immediately to their liege, Earl Roderick, and receive their sword and spurs. Sir Elad had but one task for them left: The dreaded Grinder!

The Grinder is a steeple chase of sorts, mixing horsemanship with combat arms in a gruelling and dangerous course. Many a young squire has failed to complete the Grinder, much to their life-long shame. The famous Knight, Sir Osbert, is among those who failed to complete the course.

Morah was the first knight on the course, astride his trusty charger. He completed all the jumping tasks along the course, but failed to strike the quintain and failed the “footman’s ambush” task. He finished the course with a score of 46.

Tristian was next on the course. He also failed the “footman’s ambush” as well as the solitary lance target and the ditch jump. His final score was 48.

Finally, Jayden ran the course. He also failed to strike the stationary lance target, but partially completed the “footman’s ambush”, the only squire to do so on the day. He won the course with a total score of 42 (the lower the better). He received 20 glory, while the others received 10 for having completed the course.

Sir Elad and the squires left for Sarum immediately, leaving their knights to follow along later with the supply trains. Elad was anxious to get the squires to the Earl, not knowing exactly how quickly he wanted to knight them. On the road to Sarum, the squires and Sir Elad encountered a few bandits harassing a farmer on his cart. The squires sprang into action and routed the bandits, killing two and taking one prisoner.

At Sarum, the Earl was impressed by their actions on the road and took time to congratulate and speak with each of the squires. The squires spent the rest of that evening in prayer with Father Tewi at the Church of Salisbury and playing chess in the Earl’s Great Hall with the rest of the squires and pages.

The next day, the squires were treated to witnessing the arrival of Prince Madoc, who brought news of a second Saxon force marshalling at Caercolun. Prince Madoc declared openly that all eligible squires were to be knighted on the marrow by order of his father, the King, and called for a feast to celebrate. The knights from Vagon finally arrived and the squires were put to work arranging their kits for battle and seeing to their horses. Sir Osbert swore that he would not nominate young squire Tritian for knighthood.

At the feast that night, the squires were able to meet and introduce themselves to many ladies of the court, including the beautiful Lady Elaine, Lady Gwiona, Lady Adwen, and the dowager Lady Indeg. Sir Amaury was his usual charming self, and was confronted by Sir Walter after he spent some time flirting with Lady Elaine. Calmer heads prevailed, however, and Sir Walter was pulled aside and calmed down. Sir Osbert, as usual, drank himself under a table…literally. He managed to embarrass himself and his squire, Tristian, a situation that Tristian is all too familiar with.

Toward the end of the evening, Sir Jaradan, known as the finest swordsman in all of Salisbury, challenged Jayden to a duel. Jaradan struck the first blow, a light tap upon Jayden’s shoulder. It was obvious to the court that he was merely toying with the young squire. Jayden, however, would have none of it and knocked Jaradan off his feet with a staggering blow, causing the Earl himself to rise and exclaim, “Good Lord!” For his part, Sir Jaradan took the loss in stride, but promised to see Jayden upon the field of honor again. Much money changed hands that night, including a large wager between the Earl and Sir Elad.

The next morning, Jayden and Morah were nominated by their knights, but Sir Osbert, true to his word, refused to nominate Tristian. Tristian, before the entire assembled court, launched into a stirring oration and was able to sway the recalcitrant knight. Sir Osbert finally conceded and offered Tristian for knighthood. After the ceremony, all but Sir Morah made the leap. Morah, much to the delight of the court, stumbled and planted himself face-first into his horse’s ass.

The Earl’s entourage set forth immediately for Silchester to rendezvous with King Uther and bring battle to the hated Saxons.

The Great Pendragon Campaign Begins....

I've been wanting to run this campaign for decades.  Yes, decades!  I've finally found the time and a willing group of victims...er...players on Roll20.

I'm going to be updating my campaign site on Obsidian Portal if anyone would like to take a peek. Comments and criticisms are, as always, most welcome!

Apocalypse in the Family

The AP report from a game I recently played with my son, Jordan, and my daughter's boyfriend, Frank.  Neither had played Apocalypse World before.  In fact, neither had played any sort of RPG before this game.  Given that, they did a fantastic job!  I originally posted this on Google+, so if you've already read it there, it's the same thing.

So, as briefly as I can, here's the AP from our game last night.  Both Jordan, my son, and Frank, my daughter's boyfriend, are very quiet and reserved people.  Jordan doesn't speak much unless he's very comfortable and I've known Frank for years and I've only heard his voice a few times, so I knew it was going to be challenging, especially if I wanted to run a "social" game.  Instead, I took the advice of +Todd Nicholas and gave them something concrete to do/accomplish right off the bat.

Seeing as how we had a Juggernaut in the game (armor described by Jordan as a "steampunk monstrosity") I determined that he would be the protector of the Hardhold.  His name was Lucky and he called his armor "Ton-O-Phun".  The Hardhold was a fortified village on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, surrounded by trees and rolling hills and very near a mountain range, from which the 'Hold mines iron and coal.  The Hardhold, back before everything went to hell in the world, was a boy scout camp called Olympic Pines.  That name stuck, but now everyone just calls it the O.P. 

The Hardholder, Foster, had not heard back from the mining supervisor who had been sent with a small party to investigate a new vein.  He decided to send Lucky and his pal, Cal, who has a dog named Icarus to investigate.  The mine was about an hour by foot away so they set off through the woods.  I described a scene in which they suddenly noticed that all wildlife sounds had ceased, and it wasn't because of the steaming, whistling monstrosity that was Lucky's armor.  I introduced them to the Read a Sitch move.  Cal rolled and only got one question.  He decided to ask about an escape route, so they did not detect the ambush when a small explosion felled a tree right on top of Lucky.  He rolled to Act under Fire to dodge the tree and got a partial success.  I allowed him the option of dodging the tree, but having it strike his machine gun, potentially damaging it, or taking the brunt of the tree himself.  He chose to allow the tree to hit him.  Since Ton-O-Phun as 4 armor, he was not hurt but was knocked off his feet into the foliage and missed seeing a couple guys slip out of the bushes on either side of the trail with submachine guns. One fired on Cal, but he successfully dived into the foliage himself, landing directly on top of Lucky.  The other fired blindly into the bushes, hoping to hit Lucky.  As Cal helped Lucky to his feet, one of the ambushers pushed through the bushes and fired a burst at Lucky's chest.  He ignored the bullets and reached out and grabbed the poor guy by the head, crushing it in his huge,  armored hand.    Meanwhile, the other ambusher had gotten in position to take an easy shot at Cal, but his dog, Icarus, streaked in out of nowhere and locked his jaws around the attacker's wrist, breaking it and forcing him to drop his gun.  Lucky let loose with a burst of machine gun fire and easily killed the attacker, but barely missed Icarus with his spray of bullets.  Lesson learned for Lucky and Cal was left breathing a sigh of relief.  The two exchanged some harsh words about Lucky's carelessness and they decided to push on.

The Mining camp was empty, but there was evidence of a fight as bullet casings littered the ground and there were many pools of blood in evidence.  The mineshaft had also been collapsed, but they investigated the ground and determined that some bodies had been dragged into the shaft before it was collapsed  (At this point I have no idea why the mineshaft is collapsed, I just wanted to give them a challenge to overcome that didn't involve combat).  I assumed that they would use the Juggernaut to try to dig through the blockage, but Cal decided to use a move that allows him to consult his dog for insight.  He wanted to find an alternate entry, perhaps an air shaft or something.  Sure enough, he hit his 10+ and so Icarus led them unerringly to a narrow air shaft higher up the mountain.  The Juggernaut couldn't fit in, so Cal slipped in and slid down into darkness by himself (armed only with the infinite knives he selected as his weapon during character creation).  Meanwhile, Lucky decided to Read the Sitch at the airshaft (unprompted by me) and so with a great roll I allowed him to spot the sniper perched in a rocky nest about 300 yards up from his position.  When Cal slipped into the shaft, the sniper opened fire.  Since I knew that I could not hurt Lucky and he was not able to hit the sniper, I decided to turn up the heat a bit.  I described how the sniper, an incredible shot, was hitting the faceplate of his helm, which he had previously described as a deep-divers helm repurposed as armor.  The first shot cracked the thick glass and the second shot put a hole in it about the size of a fifty cent piece.  This did the job and Jordan got very nervous, so he had Lucky dive for cover behind some rocks.

Down in the shaft, Cal found a couple of guys setting up some more explosives to fully collapse the mine.  He recognized one of the guys as Hugo, the brother of Matilda, the hardholder of a nearby settlement.  Those bastards were sabotaging the mine!  Cal managed to hide so that he could prepare a plan when I had Hugo hear the heavy machine gun fire from up the nearby air shaft.  He sent his partner, Monk to investigate.  Monk left through another, larger shaft that the player's had not known about.  Up top, Lucky cowered for a bit, terrified that his faceplate would be completely destroyed, until he heard the sniper moving.  He risked a quick glance (reluctantly) and saw the sniper repositioning to get a clear shot.  They saw each other and exchanged fire.  The sniper missed and Lucky's blast of machine gun fire tore him up.  Four armor and he fights like a gang?  What was I thinking?  Jordan LOVED it, though.  Over the years I guess I've gotten inured to the violence and tension in scenes like this.  It was fun and refreshing to experience it again through new players.  They were laughing and joking and speaking in first person (which I had to coax them to do in the beginning) and really getting in character.

To wrap it up, Cal managed to ambush Hugo with an awesome Go Aggro roll, taking him prisoner.  Monk was spotted by Lucky as he attempted to escape and Lucky's shots went wide, so he got away.  Monk escaping really troubled the players, which I loved.  They cared about it and felt it was a failure on their part.  I ensured them that it would just make our next session more fun.

I finished the game by explaining how I could use the elements of the story we created to push the game forward in future sessions.  What will Matilda do to get her brother back?  Why was she sabotaging the mine?  How will Lucky repair his faceplate?  Cal finds that Icarus has fathered a litter of pups back at the hardhold.  What will he do with the pups?

They cannot wait to play again and, honestly, neither can I.

(Sorry for such a long post.  TL;DR - It was fun!)