how are people's campaigns?

[Nick the Nevermet]

Time for me to live vicariously...

Who is doing what with TROS?
How is it going?
Any good stories?
Any annoying problems?
Any new insights that arose from play?
I liked reading through people's characters that they posted a while back... just curious about the worlds those characters live in.

[Mokkurkalfe]

Ooh, I've got two campaigns actually.
One X-Com campaign, which is more or less about the tRoS combat system with guns. Fun, but boring if played too much. Just a reserve.

The real one, a fantasy campaign in a nameless world, is rather comical at times, mostly because the players(three of them) can be very mean at times.
It was really fun when they decided that they wouldn't fight the twenty or so men-at-arms to protect their noble boss. Instead, they kicked the noble in the arse, causing him to fall down the stairs to the soldiers below.
This made for great story-potential as they now have an enemy out for revenge, as well as a reputation for being slightly unreliable.
However, it can be problematic when they start stealing each others equipment and stuff.

[Nick the Nevermet]

ok, now next question: how do their SAs relate to them being mean?
Do they support the idea?  Are they in contradiction to it (example: conscience)?

*grin* anyone else, feel free to also post.  I need all the vicariously living I need.

[Mokkurkalfe]

They all have some coincence(1-2 per player), but it is mostly overridden by Greed and Bad reputation flaws(i.e. they think they have to live up to that reputation, and I agree somewhat there).
Mostly, it's just the players themselves that like to bug each other, and I didn't push very hard on them to get "cooperative" SA's or a common goal. Bad thing? Maybe...

Others SA's are Luck, Passion: Hating Gols, Faith(the "basic" religion of my world) and Drive: enforce law and order. All spread among three different PC's. I don't have the sheets here with me to check values and stuff, though.

[Spartan]

I'm just starting a TROS campaign, and I'm pretty stoked.  It's going to be a solo campaign unless the other bandmembers decide that playing that weird game with me is more interesting than staring out the tour bus windows for hours on end. ;)

Like I mentioned in another thread, the player is a newbie to RPGs, except he plays a lot of Baldur's Gate.  He created a mercenary who took up the sword as a response to his abusive upbringing.  He's quite conflicted, actually.  He has a Conscience SA and a "kill of be killed" philosophy forced on him by his upbringing and profession.  Kind of interesting, huh?

So now my thoughts are bent on selecting a setting.  I'm torn between Harn and Weyrth.  Harn has lots of caravan routes sprinkled with tonnes  of adventure seeds.  Prime target for mercenary types.  I'm thinking of using the Salt Route/Trobridge Inn angle for that, for those of you that are familiar with Harn.  On the other hand, I'm going to read the Weyrth section again to see if there's anything there that sparks my imagination.  The more I read about Weyrth, the more I like it.

Any suggestions are more than welcome.

-Mark

P.S. Bringing newbies into the fold rocks! ;)

[Valamir]

My suggestion...don't worry about setting.  

Pick a small region where the character is from works, populate it with just enough conflict to give you something to work with and go.

Advantages.

1) This is how most of the great sword and sorcery literature was written...Conan et.al.  So you'll be in good company.

2) You'll never be in a place where you have a great situational conflict but no place to put it.  Nead a place to exemplify the character's emotional struggle, between X and Y...guess what...you'll find it right on the other side of that river you've never crossed before.

3) Less likely to overwhelm a new player with mountains of baggage.  Give them enough to sink their teeth into and let them run.

4) Less prep time worrying about whether to use Harn or Wyerth :-)

[Vanguard]

Right. I was a die-hard RPGer with years of playing varied systems under my belt.  Hadn't played any, however, for years.  When I heard about TROS, something about it captured my interest.  Bought it straight away and loved it, became really excited about running a game.  Cheers Jake.

Hmm, kinda forgot why I said all that but....

I've run one session so far, but that was monumentous in intself.  Got together the core of my old group, who all somehow turned up purely on the strength of my rambling enthusiasm, despite none of them having RPGed in ages.

It was to be a test session, to so I wanted to keep it simple. I set it in a remote area, so little extraneous knowledge of the world was required (as much something less to worry about for me as for the players). I used Oestenreich, on the border with Gelure.

Used generic fantasy setting:
PCs are peasant boys who've never ventured more than twenty miles away from home.  One is the son of a blacksmith - strong and reliable, very loyal to his friend, the other PC. His virtures were conscience, luck, passion (love of his land and urge to protect it), drive to seek glory, and faith.

The other PC is more of an outsider, living on the edge of town with his mysterious grandfather - a stern but benevolent figure who keeps to himself, shunning the other villagers but educating the youth with stories of the past. His virtues were conscience, luck, passion (love for his grandfather), and destiny (to be determined).

It all felt very Lord of the Rings, very Sam and Frodo :) And this played quite well into the plot.

It basically ran like this:

On an average day in the village, whilst out on an errand, the two PCs are surprised by a strange old man (Ok, we might as well call him Gandalf-Clone).  He is a friend of the PC's Grandfather, a member of the court passing by, paying his old friend a visit.

My PCs being experienced, they picked up on this mysteriousness and enjoyed the atmosphere. I was scared their eyes might glaze up - after all, there had been no fight yet, no rolling of dice.

But I was convinced that something about the character generation in itself, something about how much they'd been forced to consider about their background, had already given them a lot to sink their teeth into.

Anyway, I am waffling (this whole text is a big waffle but that last bit was particalularly bad).

The session basically involved this strange old man visiting the grandfather, the arrival of some sinister figures enquiring after this old man, and a brief scuffle between the PCs and the village boys round a campfire party.  

There had been relatively little rolling so far.  And though the fight was a paltry affair, with little to risk (just peasant boys with fists) the PCs became involved nonetheless. They didn't want to lose. Not because there was no XP at stake, nor for fear of death, but because of pride. And the variety but logical array of manouevres available to the PCs (and me for that matter) made the situation tactical rather than a measure of stats, and involved the scenery far more (forcing me to embelish even). They enjoyed it, strangely more than the usual 50-orc raid against your lvl 100 Half-Giant Demonic Titan)

But at one point, when one of the PCs earned a point of conscience not from dice-rolling, or evading death, but by making a roleplay decision, something clicked. The SAs had come into play. Suddenly there came a gleam in my PCs eyes as they realised how much this could alter a standard fantasy yarn into an epic. They too had become excited.

To conclude, the session lasted around 8 hours, and ended with the PCs being lured into a trap at a remote cottage.

Challenged again by the sinister figures questing after the old man, they ask after his plans, and displayed some magic. The PCs suitably cowed. they then withdraw allowing their minions to engage.

Having left the scene, the sinister figures leave the PCs facing a half-dozen scrawny men, and a SINGLE armoured figure with sword and shield.

Just the sight of that foe in full chain and helm, with sword and helm, scared my PCs shitless.  So different from the generic RPG.

What followed was a superb fight. It involved almost every piece of furniture in the cottage, waged from ground floor to loft, and had wrestling, tosses, hooks, and all manner of things flying around.

Having come to appreciate the way in which combat worked, the PCs managed to keep the armoured enemy out of the fight for most of it, and succeeded in disabling the scrawny ones through a series of cunning moves and outright slaying. When the armoured foe finally came into it, it involved so much strategy, forethought, and tactical gambles that we were all close to going epileptic from the sheer tension. Was very cool.

It all ended with the Grandfather appearing to save the day, dispatching the armoured foe and rescuing the PCs.

Phew. God I hope this all makes sense. Anyway, it all worked quite well for a first day on a new system, and despite constant referencing from the book. The PCs lavished huge amounts of effort into the combat. Though we've always wanted to in previous games, it became difficult by using the rules. Swing at someone with a sword and whether he'd alseep or drunk, on his knees or with his back to you, the damage of the blow will generally be the same. With this game, PCs were scrounging for every little bit of advantage to be found. They were being rewarded for thinking, and in turn every scene gained vitality as a result. I was enjoying it.

So, yeah to put an end to my ramblings. My first session wasn't the stuff from which epics are made of, but it worked. And for once, the rules enhanced the play rather than detract from it.

Hope this proves interesting to someone out there, apologies to all those it will bore to tears.

Take care

[Ace]

Right. I was a die-hard RPGer with years of playing varied systems under my belt.  Hadn't played any, however, for years.  When I heard about TROS, something about it captured my interest.  Bought it straight away and loved it, became really excited about running a game.  Cheers Jake.

Hmm, kinda forgot why I said all that but....

I've run one session so far, but that was monumentous in intself.  Got together the core of my old group, who all somehow turned up purely on the strength of my rambling enthusiasm, despite none of them having RPGed in ages.



Take care

Lucky Bastard :)

[Spartan]

But at one point, when one of the PCs earned a point of conscience not from dice-rolling, or evading death, but by making a roleplay decision, something clicked. The SAs had come into play. Suddenly there came a gleam in my PCs eyes as they realised how much this could alter a standard fantasy yarn into an epic. They too had become excited.

This is pure gold.  It made me grin when read it (fig 1. :D).  I hope my nascent TROS campaign will start out so swimmingly.  You've given me something to shoot for, Vanguard.

-Mark

[Ashren Va'Hale]

Ok, one of the best campaigns I was ever involved in revolved around a gimmick created to aid my writters block.
I could not figure out what character to create, I just wasnt happy with anyof teh 15 I had recently made, so I plotted with the seneshal a bit and we came up with this Idea that can be reused by any who are in similar circumstances or just want to try something new.
We decided that he would go ahead and make the character and give me a blank sheet except for some physical description. He then started the campaign under teh premise that my character had just awoken with the worst headache in history and cant remember a darn thing, staring down at him are the other PC's who just found him lying in the road. The rest of teh campaign focused on the amnesiac trying to discoverwho he is and what happened to him with lost of fun plot twists and neat conspiracies. Since I didnt know his skills or stats I had to find them out as I went along, for example, in the first of many fights my character grabbed the cut and thrust near him and charged at the foe only to realize at the point of declaring his stance that he had no idea what to do next, yep... no cut and thrust proficiency on the sheet... and I did learn at the same time however that he could run pretty dang fast. on a similar note when the charatcers were in a library he noticed a neat looking tome on the top shelf that he then began to read and when the librarian returned he was shocked that my character could even read the ancient odd runes on the page. I started figuring out fast that he was a scholar, not a fighter.
It was evilly fun figuring out the stats and proficiencies and skills this way while in the midst of a campaign and the character becomes extremely fun the more you learn of his past etc so I recommend this gimmick for the stalled campaigners out there.
In fact, the seneschal for that campaign wants to try it agian with a different player running the amnesiac, if anyone in the provo area is interested email me at slp36@email.byu.edu.

[Ashren Va'Hale]

oh, I did work on the SA's however with th seneschal for some basic stuff, destiny and passion were blank until I began to find stuff out, but he had a high conscience, drive (learn who he was/regain memories), and luck.

some of these I knew ahead of time, some I had to dicover in the campaign- well the focus at least.

[Lance D. Allen]

Vanguard,

That story is very much what epics are made of.. I wish I could say the same thing about MY campaign. Your's went awesomely from the sound of it, and I'd give my right arm (well, I'd loan it out, anyhow) for a chance to play with a group that clicked that well.

[Vanguard]

Hehe. I am grateful.

I used to go Live-roleplaying a lot across the UK, and met a lot of die-hard roleplayers through my travels.  Had thus the opportunity to find amonsgt all that lot some real gems, and was lucky enuff to befriend them.

One of them is training at a prodigious school to become an actor. The other is a Kung-fu accountant.  They're great blokes and really get into the rolepaying with the right kind of attitude. They want to live to story, not at the expense of action, nor through excessive strutting (i.e: the type of PC who'll over-roleplay every situation, no matter how banal and dull).

That's my only concern with TROS.  I get the feeling that inexperienced roleplayers might get overwhelmed by the system, and that generic roleplayers might not get the point.  I could easily be wrong.

Either way, truly many thanks for this. It's the boon us types have been waiting for ages. I sense from the style of posts on this forum that I'm not the only one to feel like this.

This game works....!

'Crom, I have never prayed to you - I do not have the tongue for it. No one will know if we were good men, or bad men, why we fought or who won. No, that does not matter. What matters is that two stood against many. Valour pleases you, Crom. So grant me one request - Grant me revenge. And if you do not listen, then to hell with you.'   Conan

Hope that was right.

Take care

[svenlein]

does anyone have any games going on in Chicagoland?

Scott

[Lance D. Allen]

Agreed Vanguard. TRoS will not be for everyone. It obviously isn't for the group I play with, more's the pity. However, for gamers like myself, it is nigh perfect. Tell us more as you play more. I'd like to see where your game goes from where it stopped.

Nice quote btw.. I don't know how accurate it was, but it definitely had the flavor of Conan that I remember.