[TROLLBABE] Lillian and the Sacred Peaches

[Bailywolf]

I ran Trollbabe last night for my wife while the Challah baked in the oven.

She is pretty much a non-gamer who rarely 'gets' the experience, but I thought Trollbabe would be a nice departure from previous attempts (NEVER try and initiate a non-gamer with d20 D&D!  Bad Scene! ).

Some general notes and comments on how I found Trollbabe to handle in play:

*  I based Social on the LOWER if Magic and Fight, and fixed Action Type at the start of conflict.  Per Ron's suggestions, when I initiated conflict as the GM I made them all 1:1.

*  Trollbabe is a surprisingly robust little game- despite a character's raw abilities being defined by a single number, I found it quite challenging to run.  There are a suprising number of little rules to keep track of- the game is crunchier than you might think at first.

*  I caught myself several times slipping into 'DM MODE' and trying to narrate Lillian's failures rather than leave it to Sarah...  This was my knee-jerk reaction to gaming in general.  I found I had more trouble with Trollbabe's narrative conventions, and Sarah had more trouble with its raw mechanics.  Her inexperience with RPG systems and my biases with gaming were the main obstacles to the game.

*  Modifiers are a bit complicated, so I winged it for the most part.  I generally applied only a '-1 first' or a '-1 series' modifier where I thought she was going for something beyond the Scale of the adventure (personal) especial with Magic, since you can do just about everything with it.

*  I explained the difference in Troll magic and Human magic as this-  troll magic is nature and element oriented, dealing with the external natural world most strongly.  Human magic is most effective dealing with people directly, affecting their minds or bodies.  She got this pretty well.

OK, Here is how things went.

The Basics:  The village of Hapstien is protected by a benevolent hearth goddess who looks after the villages fortunes, and emanates from the hearths and kitchens of its homes.  Fertility, brewing, crops, and such are enhanced by the goddesses favor.  Her rights are simple, but the main being the sacrifice of the Sacred Peaches which grow in a small orchard in the town center (six trees), and always produce the last peaches of the year much later than all other peaches (they serve as a ritual inducement for the goddess to protect the village through the winter).

Someone has stolen the peaches.  

Women of the village are going into premature labor, and their lives and that of their children is in danger.  The cows have dried up.  The beer has gone sour.  The cheese has molded over.  A band of outlaws has stolen the peaches, and damaged the trees, and the goddess is angry with the villagers for breaking the covenant.  All she asks for is the peaches, and they have failed.  

OK, there is the setup (some of it prep on my part, some of it arising though play).  The Stakes are the disposition of the Peaches, and the Consequences are fairly obvious- women will die, and the village will suffer through a terrible winter... but there is another side to things...

A Troll shaman named Turloth has hired these bandits to steal the peaches because he needs them as a lure for the Death Bear.  Once the Death Bear is distracted with the sacred peaches, he will sneak down the Shadowed Path into the Underworld and bring his dead son back to life- his son who was killed by hunters from Hapstien when they thought he was a 'bad troll'.


OK, Enter Lillian.  

I handed Sarah the map, and asked her where she was traveling and why.  She said Silent Forest because there was an old wizard who lived there, and she wished to learn from him.  Lillian is a #4 trollbabe, and she is Athletic, favors Troll magic, and is Insightful.  She carries a walking staff carved by her human father, and a medicine bag of herbs and charms from her trollish mother.  Her hair is long and braided (worn up or down) and she has very large spiral horns.  Sort of a sexy trollbabe librarian.

Scene 1
She is walking down the path, and hears cursing and shouting off the main path- things like "Damn you!  If even one is bruised, it will cost us dear!"

Sarah asks me some questions, and I fill in the details but we quickly get into Conflict territory.  She decides she wants to use Magic to conceal herself and silently observe the source of the shouting.  Goal- to see what is going on and not be seen myself, and Pace- 1:1.  She rolls it easily, calling the spirits of the shadows and forest to hide her, and I describe the disreputable outlaws (a small group) who's leader is shouting at them to 'be more careful with that basket!' because two are carrying a large wicker basket covered with a blanket.  The bandit leader is Olgof the Black Dog.  After himming and hawing on what to do, I say "You cold, you know, talk to them." And so she appears in front of them dramatically.  

They jaw a bit, with me playing Olgof as a slick lying bastard- he says they are Salted Pork merchants carrying a basket of their wares to the next town Gromstien (where Lillian stayed the previous night).  She decides to try and figure out of they are lying (goal) with her social insight (action), and rolls for it in a all in one paced conflict, and fails the first roll (discommoded:  "they seem quite convincing, and chuckle a bit at this forest woman), but taps A Sudden Ally (one of the Bandits steps in on her behalf, spilling the beans).  I introduce Brom, an outlaw with a conscience.  He says, "Olgof, give her a break."  This one succeeds, and she realizes they are lying.  So, telling the truth, Olgof says, "Actually, we are carrying a very valuable basket of peaches. This late in the year, they are worth a fortune."  She checks the basket, and realizes they are telling the truth (hehehehe...most of the truth).  

I subtly suggest that she might like to form a relationship- Brom is the obvious choice being a sympathetic character- and so after chatting with him a bit, and parting ways She writes him up as a 'nice guy and potential alley'.  Brom is a little bit smitten with Lillian.  She and the outlaws part ways.

Scene II
The closer she gets to Hapstien, the worse the weather.  As she approaches the low wall surrounding the town, she sees that it is surrounded by villagers with torches and pitchforks, with the occasional sword mixed.  They see her and shout "Its one of them!  Get her!"  And a bunch rush out after her.  A Fight conflict at the all-in-one pace.  She fails this, and chooses to accept the failure.  Narrating, they catch and surround her, but realize she isn't a bandit at all.  Fat raindrops start to fall.  They escort her inside the village proper.

Scene III
The Empty Jug (the local tavern/inn/public house).  A bawdy, smoky, old little place with a pall of fear hanging over it, and fallen weirdly quiet.  People eye her as she crosses the room, and when she gets beer and a meal, the beer is sour and the stew bland and flavorless.  The bread is flat and hard, and failed to rise properly in the over.  The innkeep says "Sorry about the poor fare, but the goddess is angry with is fer loosin her sacred peaches."  Lighting and thunder begin in earnest.  She decides to use Magic to try and contact the Hapstien goddess and communicate with her, and she succeeds first roll.  She feels the maternal energies emanating from the hearths and kitchens, but especially from the peach orchard in the center of town.  She heads out the orchard.

Scene IV
The trees are in bad shape- the outlaws hacked off branches to get to the peaches, and generally made a mess in the sacred space.  She uses Magic again, this time to restore the trees to health (at a -1 modifier... this bordered on Small Group in my mind, and with the crashing storm and the general significance...).  But she made it... and healed the damaged trees, and felt waves of maternal affection radiating from the goddess.  She communed with the presence for a few moments more in the sacred grove, and formed a Relationship with it (Maternal).  I thought this was pretty neat.  From within the Hall (the central building where the chieftain lives) she hears a woman scream and moan in pain

Scene V
Barging into the Hall with the storm behind her is a good entrance for any Trollbabe.  The hall is crowded with men, and they turn to look at her, one bent older man in a heavy wolf skin cloak says "Are you the midwife?  Hurry!  My daughter is dying!  My grandchild is dying!"  Sarah says, "Do I know anything about midwifery?"  And I say "do you?"  And she says "Well...of course.  I have my mother's medicine bag full of healing herbs too."   Sarah is a midwifery student, and Trollbabe suggests making the Stakes and the Adventure interesting to the PLAYER as well as hooking to the character.  She goes into the room where the Chieftain's daughter is wracked with painful labor, and sends the twittering maids away with orders to "boil water for tea!"  The daughter says, "The goddess is furious with us!"  Lillian tries to appeal to the goddess to spare the girl (magic, goal- stop the premature labor) but fails.  She uses A Carried Object, bringing out a Blessed Wheat Stalk from her mother's medicine bag, and asks where the goddess accepts her sacrifices.  She learns of the small stone alter at the edge of the village, and rushes out through the storm to place the wheat stalk on the alter... but fails again.  The goddess strikes her down for her impudence (making her Injured).  She gives up on this Conflict, and limps back inside and announces that the peaches must be reclaimed, and who is brave enough to go with her.  A small group of men volunteer, including the chieftain's son.  Lillian tells of the outlaws and the direction of their travel, and he tells her that the troll shaman Turloth has always envied the village its prosperity, and he is the only person in the area who might have use for the peaches, and the outlaws were heading in his direction.  

Scene VI
In a makeshift camp, at least a day behind the outlaws.  Lillian hears a weird howling, like wolves, but no one else in the group can hear them...  so she uses her knowledge of weird arcane things to figure it out (Magic conflict goal- figure out what the howling means).  She succeeds, and I describe the howls of Ghost Wolves- spirit assassins favored by Troll shamans, which only their intended victim can hear or see...  She preempts the ghost wolves (who despite their ethereal forms, would attack physically) with an Action by Action magical conflict, her Goal being to destroy the wolves.  Her first action is to invoke the powerful of a powerful animal god to imbue her with an aura of fear which will drive the wolves off (success), so when the wolves burst into the clearing, they fall back before her supernatural aura.  Next action, she seeks to invoke her own animal spirits to fight the wolves, but forgets the proper invocation (fails).  She elects not to take the reenroll, and moves on to the next action, this time trying to strengthen her protective aura, and succeeds, keeping the wolves back.  Finally ready to go on the offensive, she lashes out with spiritual bolts of energy trying to destroy the wolves, and succeeds, causing them to unravel into moonlight and spider webs.  Angered by the attack, she wants to track the source of the spirit wolves (an all-in magical conflict) and succeeds- they came from the cave-village of Trollhelm, and served Turloth the shaman.  She then explains to the men what had happened (they couldn't see the wolves until they died), and one of the men says "how did they know we were coming?"

(note- this was the first and only extended conflict of the nigth, and I liked the way the multiple-series conflicts handled.)

Scene VII
Finding the Bandits.  Seeing a fire burning up ahead (very early in the morning) Lillian becomes invisible again (as the first time out- goal is to sneak into the camp unseen and look around) she finds the outlaws passed out drunk, and the basket tipped over and filled with wine bottles rather than peaches.  Clearly Turloth met the bandits on the road and traded them for the peaches.  So onwards to Trollhelm.

I described Trollhelm- a series of caves carved into a low sandstone cliff face, with ladders and wooden platforms on the upper cave entrances, and lots of domestic trolls moving about, including a bunch of baby trolls and whatnot.  

Here we broke for the night- the Challah was done, and we were both getting tired and Sarah's creative muscles were aching from over use.  

All told, I'm looking forward to concluding the Adventure.

-Ben

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

Nifty overall. I recommend boning up on the Trollbabe rules, because as you've rightly surmised, this is not an "ah just talk" game. The rules are very tight. In case you're interested, the parent games for the system are Dust Devils, Extreme Vengeance, and HeroQuest. All three require a very similar shared-group understanding of how scenes, conflicts, and actions are conducted and related.

My advice for next time: get some viciousness into your GMing. Violence, blood, rage, and danger. You're soft-peddling the scenario, and I will refrain from commenting on any possible husband-wife dynamics that can contribute to that.

Kick Lillian's ass (or try) now. Adversity makes a trollbabe character hum. Remember that when you declare a Fight conflict, that's what it is.

Best,
Ron