I like to read about other peoples' play experiences in TSoY, so in the spirit of fairness, I'm posting ours...

Anyway, I recenlty finished running my first TSoY campaign.  It ran for 10 meetings and the final meeting ended in a triple transcendence (I don't know if this is typical, but we took it as a sign that the tenth meeting was the last). 

We had a blast and one of the players volunteered to take up the mantle of Story Guide immediately after our campaign ended because she was interested to base a new campaign upon some of the foundations we'd set in this one. 

The campaign took us to a lot of strange places and we discovered some things in Near that I did not expect, including:

Transmutative Alchemy

In House Landry, Ammeni, there is a group of alchemists headed by High Alchemist Dragos de Landry who have integrated Three-Corner Transformation into their formulae.  With these potions, they are able to physically transform men into beasts.  Most of the time, the alchemists create potions to give a person a single beast propery.  We saw wings, poisonous fangs, claws, and thick fur, but there are probably other features they've come up with.

Mechanically, these sorts of things were taken as mostly-permanent physical changes and worked like Equipment (e.g., Wings give +1 to fly, +1 to glide, Flight Imbuement, etc.).

The Lost Lands of Goblantis

We discovered a race of goblins lived deep beneath the earth of Khale, I hear that they're called Grue, but I cannot confirm this because we did not get a chance to explore. 

When the Skyfire came, they receded into their caves deep in the earth.  Unlike the trolls of Goren, the goblins of Goblantis never had the desire to return to the lands of man.  Some people think these grue are already among us, but they are invisible.  Who can say?

Mechanically, they have a Grue Ur-Pattern and are able to be unseen.  They are typically addicted to dark places and eating people who don't see them.

Tribe Vatik

It turns out that the Khaleans have their own sort of temporal stabilizer heroes who see to it that the past is altered and nudged in order to provide a safe and glorious future for Khale.  The men and women of Tribe Vatik travel back through time to critical parts of Khale's history to alter events according to their own vision of the forest.

Telperion, the Silver Tree

Apparently, some Khaleans have taken to worshipping Telperion, the great Moon-Metal tree at the center of the Silver Forest.  Those who eat of Telperion's fruit have discovered a way to travel into Illae nu Terra, the Silver Lands where it is said that the Queen of Shadow herself lives.  As the Green World of Old Khale can be used to travel into the past, so too can the Silver Lands be used to travel into the future. 

We travelled to one possible End of Times in which the Queen of Shadows has covered all the lands in Moon Metal and became able to shape all of Near (and the people in it, who had all eaten the Silver Fruit) to suit her whims.  Near, in this End, was a flat, featureless land whereever the Queen was not currently focusing her thoughts.

This ran counter to many peoples' assumptions about the Queen of Shadow, but perhaps being trapped alone at the end of time caused her to change her perspective, who knows. 

Fortunately for the people of Near, this dark End of Times did not seem to be destined.  One of our characters, a walozi of considerable power, travelled into the Silver Lands alone and forced her spirit into the body of the Queen of Shadows.  Thus, Hrishikesh (the walozi), acquired the queen's power over all Moon Metal in Near.  With the power came the curse:  Hrishikesh could never take physical shape in Near until the End of Times.

Almost immediately, the Moon Metal that had been expanding out from the Silver Tree receded and reformed in the shape of a great dragon to serve as the new Queen's avatar in Near. 

Mechanically, we developed some crunch to handle advanced functions of Lunar Forging and we had some Lunar Travel stuff.

I have a long-winded version of our adventures through Near on my web site (you'll have to scroll down a bit):
http://toasty-fish.com/tsoy

Absolutely delightful, this campaign has gone a long way since we discussed it last. I can see how the game went from your transcript - I recommend that others take a look as well, that's very life-like roleplaying right there beyond that link. I especially liked how the player apparently decided with his post-Transcendence powers to transform the Qek theology to the wacky side: "Hrishikesh danced. Within moments, 500 ancient and evil spirits, zamani, appeared in the grove... Thirsting for blood and yearning for oblivion. Hrishikesh gave all of them a cup of Brawndo and declared, 'at this time, every day, until the end of time, all zamani will drink tea.' And so it was that zamani: evil, ancient spirits began having tea parties at a quarter past five." I can only imagine how that's going to puzzle shamans to come. I can only recommend that the Story Guide take this sort of thing with deadly seriousness so as to ride it for all it's worth. An Eccentric Practice based on Tea Ceremony (I) seems warranted, too.

Also, that player who tries to bed all named NPCs in the story, male and female alike, only to end up transcending out of such an attempt - tell them to rock on, that tea scene with chief Aonghus Bearskin is just wicked. I think I'll have to read the entire thing from start to finish to see how the campaign ended up with that psychedelic wibe you have in the last session transcript.

I have to also give high marks to your setting exploration, if I may; very exciting discoveries you've made in the land of Khale. Reminds me of Dragonlance in places for some reason, maybe because you have Queen Takhisis in a supporting role there. You should all take the Secret of the Unknown for your next characters for free to celebrate a successful campaign like this - tell the Story Guide I said so ;)

It seems to me from the transcript that you drove hard for Transcendence during that session. Was it because the group was seeking to end the campaign and you felt it necessary to end with a bang, or was Transcendence the best solution to the problems the characters faced? Or was it accidental, perhaps? It seems to me to be pretty natural for many characters to be within range of Transcendence at the same time, but in my experience players don't usually seek it out so aggressively; even when a campaign is clearly ending they often consciously opt to let their character ride towards the sunset without pushing for the Transcendence epilogue, perhaps in the hope that the character might get revisited later on after all.

Hmm, you should definitely let us know if you get that new campaign going, and write about it, too. I'm reading the transcripts here and enjoying them immensely. Apparently the campaign's structure is specifically adventurous, with the presumption that the player characters form a disparate crew of adventurous ne'er-do-wells. I especially appreciate the comedy, as you clearly had fun with the game, but there's also lots of quite serious fictional stuff in there. I like the risque tone, too. Apparently this has been written as on-going notes as the game progressed, instead of typing from memory afterwards. Some of these conflict descriptions are just hilarious.

This Castor fellow is definitely my favourite, he's living the high life like some sort of picaresque anti-hero, with little to recommend him except for the magnetic ears - and yet he manages to achieve the satisfaction of all his desires in the end. Funny how he remembers occasionally to not take things so seriously. "Castor Casseus strolled up one of the Vatik who was keeping watch and said that he was back to... Umm... Conjugally visit the chief's daughters. He implied that it was okay and that the chief was cool with it, but the Vatik was not convinced. He blew a large horn, alerting the entire tribe. Seeing danger, Castor threw a bottle of rice wine in the Vatik's face and remembered that this world was just a dream. He faded and hid."

In fact, reading this further, the overall sense I get of the campaign's tone is very picaresque. Reminds me of Decamerone or some such, as the irresponsible adventurers roam around Ammeni lands and cheat and kill their way through a colorful cast of thousands... The Dying Earth RPG strives for this same genre. Quite interesting, a very rare genre in the oh-so-serious fantasy rpg scene. In fact, I can't stop reading this, as every session springs up some new lunacy ranging from eat-offs to off-topic priapic feats, all topped by frequent punch-lines.

What do you think, will your next campaign fall along these same lines in terms of tone and content? If I may ask, also, is this typical of your group's style? I'm quite intrigued by the seemingly effortless comedic stylings here; the stereotypical view of fantasy gaming tends to be that while players might like all sorts of irresponsible wackiness, GMs rarely go along, and will rather fight these inclinations all the way to preserve his serious and committed vision of the setting. Here, the best I can discern, you seem to have used the game mechanics a lot and provided more material conscientiously, and then participated in turning the proceedings into a delightful farce all the while utilizing the game's systems (instead of throwing them out and freeforming, which I often see when a campaign turns farcical). Besides, I think that a lot of the material here is genuinely interesting from a dramatic point of view as well, so I find it a very pleasing feat of Story Guiding in that as well; often a comedic game will disintegrate because the jocular efforts pull the story to all possible directions, but here we see a Story Guide who ever so patiently knits together fictive material until something sticks with the players. I write about this exact approach to transcending the limits of comedy and drama at the very end of the WoN book, so it's really interesting to see somebody else execute something similar.

Also, if I read the xp flow correctly, you might consider upping the Advance cost from 5xp to 10 if you haven't already done so. Not a necessity by any means if you like the pace you've been setting, but it's an option to keep in mind.

"Numquam, if you can lead me to Moon Metal, I can give you a rarity that only someone like you could truly appreciate... I can give you Moon Cheese!"

Numquam's eyes went wide and a single tear poured from them. The ratkin said, "you have the cheese of the Queen of Shadow? A piece of the Moon that Was? How did you come by this? By Telperion, the Moon Tree, it is a sign! The Lady has made it clear to me that I am to take you to her. I will lead you to Illae nu Tropa, the Silver Forest, if you give me this cheese."

Duval said, "once you lead us to the Silver Forest, the cheese is yours."

I can only recommend that the Story Guide take this sort of thing with deadly seriousness so as to ride it for all it's worth.

Also, that player who tries to bed all named NPCs in the story, male and female alike, only to end up transcending out of such an attempt - tell them to rock on, that tea scene with chief Aonghus Bearskin is just wicked.

You should all take the Secret of the Unknown for your next characters for free to celebrate a successful campaign like this - tell the Story Guide I said so ;)

It seems to me from the transcript that you drove hard for Transcendence during that session. Was it because the group was seeking to end the campaign and you felt it necessary to end with a bang, or was Transcendence the best solution to the problems the characters faced? Or was it accidental, perhaps?

Hmm, you should definitely let us know if you get that new campaign going, and write about it, too. I'm reading the transcripts here and enjoying them immensely.

What do you think, will your next campaign fall along these same lines in terms of tone and content? If I may ask, also, is this typical of your group's style?

Here, the best I can discern, you seem to have used the game mechanics a lot and provided more material conscientiously, and then participated in turning the proceedings into a delightful farce all the while utilizing the game's systems (instead of throwing them out and freeforming, which I often see when a campaign turns farcical).

I write about this exact approach to transcending the limits of comedy and drama at the very end of the WoN book, so it's really interesting to see somebody else execute something similar.

Also, if I read the xp flow correctly, you might consider upping the Advance cost from 5xp to 10 if you haven't already done so. Not a necessity by any means if you like the pace you've been setting, but it's an option to keep in mind.

Galwinganoon wrote:
Yet, the player who was playing Hrishikesh (the walozi) said she was going to create a really wicked drug and inxtoxicate the tree in which King Khale's spirit was said to reside so that she could summon his spirit (Secret of Eccentric Practice swapping Pray out for Psychonaut).

My wife (aka Hrishikesh) is running it so I'm trying to coach her in the ways of the Story Guide and she's pretty terrified (it's her first time running a real game).  I'm coaching her but any advice for an up-and-coming SG would probably ease her zamani-obsessed spirit.  ;)

Key of Cat's Curiosity
The character is distractible, dangerously so, and imperils himself and society to sate his curiosity.
1xp:  your curiosity distracts you from the task at hand
2xp:  your curiosity inconveniences you or your allies
5xp:  your curiosity endangers you or your allies
Buyoff:  stay focused and overcome adversity

That one was for Hrishikesh (the walozi).

Also, if I read the xp flow correctly, you might consider upping the Advance cost from 5xp to 10 if you haven't already done so. Not a necessity by any means if you like the pace you've been setting, but it's an option to keep in mind.

I'm interested to hear the reasoning for this. 

Would it mainly be to draw out the story?  Require characters to specialize more?

BTW - I changed my forum name to something more personal (from Galwinganoon) since that seems to be the standard.

Mostly that came to mind because the characters seemed to be collecting Secrets pretty quickly and routinely in the campaign description. If I read it correctly, the style of the group was that Advances were spent relatively quickly and decisively on all sorts of character-candy.

Eero,

As promised, I've added the cast bios and adventure log from the first meeting of our new game.  It was a pretty wild time and I'm glad that I've finally been able to play TSoY.

http://toasty-fish.com/tsoy/

-John

Epic yet picaresque, with horror and humor elements. Seems like playing that was fun, even if the story tends to meander with so many player characters all in one situation. It's the story of a young ghoul-in-training being egged on by a Gandalf-like figure intent on stopping the rise of the undead by the way of specialized anti-undead goblin cracktroops. A high-concept game, if any. I like how dark and twisted your Maldor is, arena fights and all. It's a decayed post-apocalyptic society.

It occurs to me that your vision of Three-Corner magic is very mystical, it reminds me of psionic mysticism, sort of like some Taoist magic. This is something I've done a bit lately myself as well, moving away from candles and incence and other traditional paraphelia of wizardry. Perhaps you'll have an opportunity to explore how it all works and whether it has some sort of hidden cost, or if it truly is the nature of the world to be moved by the minds of men intent on balance of the Foci.

After hearing Catha'ir's so-called Truths, the Historian looked particularly wise and unimpressed. Belfrius simply responded, "sir, our Lord will protect us from any sort of 'undead tsunami.' The events in your song are impossible. Have you even been to our library?"