awakeWhat follows is the first post about the Friday night The Dark Eye RPG campaign. This blog entry may be somewhat long, but even if it's not, I've put it behind a cut so that folks who don't want to read any detailed rpg posts don't have to.
Note: If you're in my Sunday afternoon gaming group, you might not want to read the blog journal entries about the Friday night game. **SPOILERS AHEAD!**
CHARACTERS:
Sanya Ulfaran (Kathy Bauer) - Kuslik Guildless Mage
Ernka Cornbaler (Angela Marsh) - Andergastan Lady-in-Waiting
Refarde Foxhunter (David Matchuk) - Svellter Hunter
Fiana (Silversalver) (Ellie Bauer) - Griffonsford Thief
Mantulo of Salzerhaven (Mark Williams) - Nostrian Guard Captain
Marketday 12th, Phex 1038 Fall of Bosporan (FB)
The players begin with an introduction to the world of The Dark Eye RPG (Aventuria), learn some of the basic mechanics of the game, proceed through with a basic world Glossary, and partake in several samples of combat that teach them the basic mechanics of the traditional fantasy rpg game (with a slightly different set of game mechanics). And how deadly the combat system is.
The place: The continent of Aventuria. The country of Weiden in the Middenrealm. The small town of Geres (population 200), a walled community, on the Rallian River. The time: the early spring of the year 1038 Fall of Bosporan (FB). The player characters are Sanya Ulfaran (KathyB), Ernka Cornbaler (Angela), Refarde Foxhunter (DavidM), Fiana (Ellie) and Mantulo of Salzerhaven (Mark). The world of Aventuria is one that has all sorts of tales to be told about its Heroes. And this is the start of a new group of Heroes who will make a name for themselves in this world.
The adventures begin on the forested plains of Weiden, some 50 miles from the Nine-Eye Lake. Sanya Ulfaran, a guildless mage from Kuslik in the south of the Horasian Empire, is travelling cautiously through the wooded area, ever on the lookout for orcs and other hostile creatures. This close to the Shadowlands, she knows anything is possible. Attracted by the sounds of fighting, Sanya cautiously approaches to see what's going on. In a small copse of woods, an obvious fighter type is being attacked by three orcs. He is struggling to fight them off, even as a young woman dressed ridiculously cowers against a tree, a short sword drawn in her defense. She attempts to use her Paralysis spell on one of the orcs, and is successful, but this draws the attention of one of the other two orcs. It starts to move cautiously towards her.
Refarde ("Ref") Foxhunter is moving cautiously through the forested region of Weiden, heading for the community of Geres in the hopes of selling some wolf furs and pelts that he has managed to obtain. Checking the ground, he spots tracks that he identifies as those of orcs. He decides to follow the coal pelts' trail and see where it leads, arriving soon at a small clearing in some woods to see three orcs attacking a man and a woman whom he can't identify. As one of the orcs turns to the trees after spotting something, he spots the orc's prey - a female Mage of some kind. Leaving the pelts on the ground, he moves to intercept the orc.
Cursing herself, Fiana realises that she's out of her depth in the forested plains of Weiden. She figures that when she gets to Geres, not if!, she'll hired a guide to take her the rest of the way north into the Bornland. Surely they won't pursue her all that way! She's so engrossed in her musings that she literally stumbles over a woman hunched on the ground by a tree, a weapon of some sort drawn. As she turns, trying to get up, the woman above her hisses, "Don't move!" and she feels the cold metal of a short sword against the back of her neck.
Friday night's game, the first campaign session of the The Dark Eye RPG campaign went very well, and I really enjoyed myself. The players told me they had a pretty good time of it as well, and really liked the game system once they got into it and were able to get used to the dice mechanics of the game. They liked the set-up that I used for the game (a bit railroad-y, I guess), and like the way the character interactions are starting off.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to running the next session of the game, but we'll see how that goes down, as I seem to have caught a bit of a cold as well. Throat a bit raspy for the moment.