The Forge Archives

"How can this be healed?" asked Orlanth.
"It cannot be," Chalana said. "This is a grief without limits. There can be no balancing in this, only sorrow."[/list:u]Here follows a brief summary of my upcoming Heortling game. This first post is about my pre-chargen preparations, presented in no particular order.

The player heroes will all be connected to the Owl Clan in one way or the other. The current year is 1620.

The Owl Clan is now the Broken Clan, living on the brink of extermination. The population is heavily decimated and has gone from well over 1,000 to about 350 members. The clan has lost countless able-bodied men in the many wars and rebellions following the Lunar invasion in 1602.

Things have become so bad that most clan members now suffer from the flaw Undernourished 17.

Backstory
I made up a backstory for my game, centering around two conflicts; one secular and one religious. As usual in Glorantha, there are no clear-cut lines between the two.

1. Secular Conflict
The secular conflict is heavily inspired by Hrafnkel's Saga.

The Owl Clan was originally part of the Culbrea Tribe, but was forced by the Lunars to join the Aranwyth Tribe after a short inter-tribal war in 1615. In the post-war  turmoil, clan chieftain Tormakt Daylanusgodi was assaulted and driven off by Roganvarth Eaglenose of the Toena Clan of  the Aranwyth Tribe. Roganvarth let his opponent live as long as he swore to leave and never to return. Roganvarth then made peace by marrying one of the wealthiest women of the Owl Clan. He moved to her stead, and used her political clout to make himself clan chieftain.

Meanwhile, Tormakt and his closest supporters settled in the wilderness just outside the Owl Clan territory. For half a decade, Tormakt has been making allies, patiently awaiting the right time to take back his rightful position ...

2. Religious Conflict

The religious conflict can be summarized as follows:

* Yelmalion mercenaries are occupying the Hill of Orlanth Victorious, which is sacred and used to be the center of clan worship (see Dragon Pass: Land of Thunder, p. 33).

* Roganvarth has replaced several of the traditional Orlanthi customs of the clan with Elmali traditions, such as the Anatyr Ring (see Masters of Luck and Death, p. 9).

* Lunar authorities have outlawed worship of Orlanth, even though they don't really care to enforce it in far off places such as the Owl Clan. The Lunars know that the clan is broken.

The Premise

This is is meant to be a campaign that focuses on secular and religious conflicts that threaten to tear apart the very community that the antagonists belong to.

Are you willing to risk the destruction of your clan in order to save it from that which threatens it?

The threat in question is likely to be different for different characters.

John Hughes has pointed out that the "greatest" Gloranthan heroes, such as Arkat or Harrek, are of the kind that destroy their world in order to save it. What path will the player heroes choose?

Groups and People
I made a brief list of groups and people who are involved in the conflicts, to show the players.

-Tormakt Daylanusgodi

-Roganvarth Eaglenose

-"The Grandmothers": women (and some men) tired of the constant warfare and feuding that is destroying the clan. Who will tend the crops when there is constant unrest? Who will feed the children? The grandmothers put the welfare of the community before any other goal. They are also the most powerful clan faction, since most of the influential war-makers are either dead or exiled.

-Yelmalion Mercenaries.

-Lunars (the closest centre of Lunar population is in Jomesland to the north, see Dragon Pass: Land of Thunder, p. 35)

-Aranwyth Tribe, under the leadership of Elmali king Ilgalad Trollfriend.

-Culbrea Tribe, under the leadership of Ranulf Turn-Tail.

Note that at this stage I didn't really have much of a relationship map. I had Tormakt and Roganvarth, and Tormakts wealthy wife, but that's it. The rest were groups and communities who have an interest in the conflict. I did plan to make a proper R-map post chargen (and I did, more on that later).

Sources
I want to utilize a lot of the published material when running this game. My main Gloranthan sources at this stage are Thunder Rebels, Barbarian Adventures, and Masters of Luck and Death. Other relevant Gloranthan litterature includes Storm Tribe, Orlanth is Dead, and Dragon Pass: Land of Thunder.

The quote at the top is from "How to Solve Kinstrife" in Storm Tribe, p. 207.

***

I will post more later. Meanwhile, comments and questions are more than welcome! As you will see, the really cool and interesting stuff happened during and after character generation.

Cheers,

One more thing:

Of all the things that inspire me, the most important is other gamers.

The various actual play reports in this forum from  people playing Well of Souls is so great to read. Well of Souls was very important to me, and I am pleased that other people find Chris' wonderful scenario interesting. Reading all kinds of actual play reports are surprisingly educational. Perhaps someone can find pleasure in reading this.

I have communicated with Ian Cooper about his Red Cow campaign, as well as with Erik Nolander (one of the players in that campaign and a good friend of mine). Hearing about Ian's campaign is what made me finally get my own Heortling game going.

Talking to other people about roleplaying has made roleplaying fun again. That's why I keep talking and posting, telling about my own experiences and reading about others.

Well, I just wanted to get that off my chest.

Hi Peter,

Sounds good.  The two easy ways to build an R-map would be either to poll your players for ideas or using relationships they make, or else try to create at least one figurehead for each political/religious/social group, and give them about 2 folks beneath them, who may have slightly or completely different views.  I always try to give each group a little bit of their own internal issues if the group is going to be focal.

Also- don't forget your own contributions to Well of Souls- I'm looking forward to play reports that involve the HeroQuest in it!

Chris

Hi Chris, and thank you.

Quote from: BankueiThe two easy ways to build an R-map would be either to poll your players for ideas or using relationships they make, or else try to create at least one figurehead for each political/religious/social group, and give them about 2 folks beneath them, who may have slightly or completely different views.  I always try to give each group a little bit of their own internal issues if the group is going to be focal.

As a matter of fact, I did a little bit of both. I have a lot more material about this particular region in Glorantha than I will ever need. It would be ridiculous to present it all here. Two examples, of many:

1. The Marriage Map
Heortling clans are out-marrying, i.e. to marry or have sexual relations with someone from your own clan is considered incestuous. As a part of my prep I made a kind of R-map that shows between which clans approximately 85% of all marriages happens. (A sizeable minority of marriages do not follow these institutionalised and traditional patterns. This is usually considered normal.)

For example, a quick look at this (rather extensive) map tells me that the women of the Owl Clan traditionally marry men of the Culbri Clan (of the Culbrea Tribe) and of the Gorde Clan (of the Cinsina Tribe), and move to their husband's clan. The men of the Owl Clan traditionally marry women from the Barlmani; again the women move to the men's clan. In addition to this, I've decided that men of the Toena Clan have been beginning to marry the women of the Owl Clan and -- contrary to local tradition -- move to the wives' clan. Roganvarth began this practice. In all of these cases I at least know the name of each clan's chieftain. Sometimes I know more than that. In my next post you will see that one of my players actively used my "M-map" in designing his character.

2. Masters of Luck and Death

I really wanted to include hero bands from Masters of Luck and Death in my game. It is easy to miss the fact that most of the bands in this book are story waiting to happen. There are no plots, only hero bands, characters, and conflicts. It is my belief that the book supports Story Now more than most recent releases from Issaries.

Each hero band includes a brief history, one or more conflicts in which the bands are involved (most of the ones that I wrote contain internal as well as external conflicts), and names some of the more prominent members of the band.

This is why I had the book within reach during chargen. Again, one of the players used one of the bands that I suggested when creating his hero. More about this in a future post.

Quote from: BankueiWell of Souls- I'm looking forward to play reports that involve the HeroQuest in it!

Amen!

Cheers,

Character Generation

Three players: Ola, Jesper, and Johan.

I told the players about the setting and conflicts mentioned above. I also showed them the map from Dragon Pass: Land of Thunder and introduced the local area briefly.

We chatted about possible characters for awhile. I demanded that each character have at least 2-3 relationships with people or groups (or people in groups) involved in the conflict.

I tried to encourage the players to have opinions and ideas about each others character concepts, but as usual they seemed reluctant to do this. Frankly, I have no idea how to get players to engage in the creation of each others characters. I say "feel free to ...", but I guess everybody is afraid of stepping on each others toes or something. I hereby dub this the Your Guy Syndrome. I would really like suggestions for how to thoroughly banish this common yet irrational disorder.

I will introduce the three heroes, one at a time. Also, check out the keyword ratings. I made it clear from the start that I do not believe in the concept of game balance, and that I will assign keyword ratings to the characters that make sense in the context. Some characters will have higher ratings than others. The players had no problem at all accepting that. Note that all heroes have several abilities with substantially higher ratings than their keyword rating.

CHARACTER 1: GAVIN

Gavin is played by Johan, who was in my Well of Souls game, my Sorcerer game and who've playtested a convention scenario with me that I wrote. His characters are always highly Bangable (eh, well, you know what I mean). I especially like Johans ability to come up with really melodramatic stuff. I am a sucker for melodrama.

Gavin
Gavin is the chief priest of the Owl Clan. His temple would have been the Hill of Orlanth Victorious had it not been occupied. He is a friend of the notable rebel leader Orngerin Thundercape, and a member of his hero band the Silent Wind (see Orlanth is Dead!). Gavin and Orngerin fought side by side in Starbrow's rebellion, and Gavin is a hardcore heortling rebel at heart.

When his brother died, Gavin felt that he had a responsibilty to take care of his widowed sister in law, Ismynda, and her three children (ages 5-8). So he married her! Gavin and Ismynda have no children of their own, and he suspects that she is doing something deliberately to avoid pregnancy. Ismynda is also daughter of Ranulf Turn-Tail, tribal king of the Culbrea (Ranulf is mentioned in each and every book in the Sartar Rising series and is called Turn-Tail because he fled battle with the Lunars during the rebellion, so he has quite a bad reputation among the rebels).

Gavin knows the magical secret of how to make firewater (no, it was the players idea, and I am fairly convinced he has not heard of Pete Darby's Serenwyn campaign that features a character with this specific ability).

Keywords: Heortling 17, Chief Priest 4W, Devotee of Daylanus Thunderous 10W.

Significant Relationships: Faithful to wife Ismynda, Stepfather to children, Son-in-law to King Ranulf Turn-Tail, Member of the Silent Wind heroband, Comrade in arms to Orngerin Thundercape.

Followers: A divine compainon (a hawk) and two retainers (an assistant priest, and an old  man who helps him make firewater.)

Goal: To replace Roganvarth with a chieftain that worships Orlanth.[/list:u]My Comments
This character connects beautifully to both the secular and religious conflicts. Johan used my M-map to connect his character to king Ranulf. I like that Gavin returned to his clan and took care of his brothers wife and children rather than follow Orngerin and his rebels. Both Ranulf and Orngerin can be used to put pressure on hero.

I suspect that Johan imagines that Ismynda does not love Gavin, and that that's why she won't get pregnant. I plan a surprise for him: Ismynda is deeply in love with and the reason she avoids pregnancy is that she suspects/knows/realizes that Gavin does not love her ...  Ismynda will support Gavin in everything he does. She will try to help him out in all manners possible, and she is literally willing to sacrifice everything for her heroic husband! Ismynda's answer to the question "are you willing to risk the destruction of your clan in order to save it from that which threatens Gavin?" is undoubtedly YES!!

Coming up with Bangs for Gavin/Johan will be easy. More on that later.

[EDITED to clarify things]

CHARACTER 2: JOTARLYS

Jotarlys is played by Jesper, who was in my Well of Souls game.

Jotarlys
Jotarlys is a member of the Inner Ring (the clan council), and the leader of the clan scouts. The scouts is a part-time force consisting mainly of hunters and herders, and perhaps a rider or two. He is also the clan horsemaster. His mother is re-married to Roganvarth, who is a lot younger than her. Jotarlys mother is Frieda No-Buts one of the clan elders, and the leader of the Grandmothers faction. Frieda also sits on the Ring.

Jotarlys father, who died in the wars, was Clan Champion. Jotarlys is now the last surviving member of the Stonebuilder bloodline.

Jotarlys is an initiate of Elmal, who is the Heortling sun god. However, he is drawn to the rival sun god Yelmalio, whose worshippers sometimes visit the clan wearing nice clothes, cool sun-symbols and large horses. And they look hale and hearty too. He is a friend of the leader of the mercenaries at the Hill of Orlanth Victorious, a genial fellow named Belonni.

He is secretly a member of the Forloss Raiders (see Masters of Luck and Death). The Raiders are essentially glorified bandits, hiding behind revolutionary rhethorics and a proud history. Jotarlys considers supporting Inganna Speaks-With-Horses who is planning to challenge the current leader Aski for the leadership of the band.

Keywords: Heortling 17, Warrior 14W, Initiate of Beren Elmal 17.

Significant Relationships: Loves Mother Frieda, Stepson of Roganvarth, Loyal to Inganna Speaks-with-Horses, Friend of dedecuron Belonni, Last of the Stonebuilder Bloodline.

Followers: A horse sidekick.

Goal: To become clan chieftain. (Jesper seems not to have made up his mind completely about this, but I hope he keeps it.)

Significant Personality Traits:Tempted by Yelmalio.[/list:u]My Comments
Another first-rate premise-adressing character ready to get a bucketload shit thrown at him. I am very pleased.

It was Jesper's idea both that his mother be married to Roganvarth, and  that she was the leader of the Grandmothers. This was not at all what I had in mind, but I am perfectly willing to change things to suit the players.

When Jesper started brain storming about his character, I showed him the Forless Raiders from Masters of Luck and Death. It fitted his concept perfectly, and he kept coming up with ideas after that.

One thing that really triggered me about Jotarlys was the fact that he was the last of his bloodline. So I made up a lot of cool stuff about this. I showed it to Jesper (it is his character so I need his permission) and he liked it.

Here it is:

Ilgaladstead
Ilgaladstead was formerly called Hindalstead and belonged to the Stonebuilder bloodline. When Roganvarth married Frieda, he changed the name of the stead to honor (and appeace) his tribal king Ilgalad Trollfriend.

The main building is several hundred years old and is built entirely in stone, which is very rare.

Hindal Stonebuilder (Guardian)
Hindal Stonebuilder is the guardian of Hindalstead. He built the stead and founded the bloodline that carries his name. Hindal grants his powers only to a chosen member of his bloodline. This means that Hindal's functions only are available when Jotarlys is present.

Form: A stone altar.
Functions:
Awareness—The Coast is Clear 15W.
Blessing—Summon Ancestors (ritual) 5W3.
Defense—Keep the Enemy Out 15W2.[/list:u]

CHARACTER 3: ABRAXALOR

Abraxalor is played by Ola. I've roleplayed with Ola many, many times, mostly various White Wolf games, before I got tired of them. We haven't played together in the last couple of years, though.

Abraxalor (Name may change)
Abraxalor is a warrior, and a devotee of Rigsdal (the pole star & god of Vigilance and Night Watchmen).

Abraxalor's mother Mikara is the sister of Frieda No-Buts, who is the leader of the Grandmothers faction and mother of Jotarlys (Jesper's hero). Mikara has told Tormakt that she has prophesised that her son will play an important role in the battle for power in the clan. Apparently Mikara often has visions, but her divinations and self-proclaimed prophesies are rarely correct.

When Tormakt was forced to leave the clan, Abraxalor secretly stayed loyal to the former chieftain. On a suggestion from Tormakt, he enlisted with the Yelmalion mercenaries guarding the hill of Orlanth Victorious. Presumably to find out their strengths and weaknesses. The Yelmalions are occupiers, after all. It turns out that the Yelmalions have hired several Rigsdali watchmen, and Abraxalor befriends them.

Abraxas has a great deal of respect and trust for his aunt Frieda. He believes that Frieda is willing to fight for what is right, and that her apparent lack of rebellious action is a mere strategy to reach a higher goal.  

Keywords: Heortling 17, Foot Soldier 5W, Initiate of Rigsdal 20.

Significant Relationships: Loyal to Tormakt, Thinks Highly of Aunt Frieda, Indulgent Towards Mother Mikara, Member of Yelmalion mercenary band, Feels Affinity with Rigsdal-worshipping Friends.

Goal: (He hasn't decided yet)

Significant Personality Traits: Cares about the Welfare of his Clan.[/list:u]My Comments
At first, I think Ola tried to make a character with no real connections at all. His character had enlisted with an enemy force (and was therefore was not very well liked by the clan) and had been gone for years. He has some kind of connection with the former chieftain, but their alliance is a secret. At this stage, his only real relationship within the clan was Frieda, and he decided that she was his character's aunt, and it it was not really decided what he felt about her.

At first I didn't see it, but then I realized that he was probably trying to create the default Outsider Player Character (tm). You know the one that has a backstory that has only one purpose: To make a character that is optimized to solve whatever puzzle or mission the GM will throw at him. However, since there will be no mission to accomplish, this is a problem.

So I explained my concern to Ola. I pointed out that the lone wolf concept will not be fun for him at all. He accepted that, and spent a lot of time brainstorming around his relationships and what they were about. Eventually, I think things have worked out well. It will be easy to come up with Bangs for this character as well.

There are things in this characters backstory that I don't think I quite get. For example, the whole prophesy thing was important to Ola, but I don't find it very interesting at all. When he talked about it, I just said said "uh, okay" and that was it, but he seemed to like it. Another thing that seems really important to Ola is that when Abraxas recently returned to his clan, he was instrumental in driving off some raiding Telmori (a stone age werewolf people). Well, okay. So what? Why is that important. I blame myself for not getting it.

At first it worried me that I seem unable to fully understand what it is with these things that makes Ola tick. However, I just came up with a fantastic[/color] solution.

Are you ready?

Okay, here we go:

1.
Make sure that Abraxalor gets an ability with a rating for each and every idea of his that I don't quite get. ("Saved Village from Werewolfs 19", for example)

2.
Make up Bangs on the basis of these abilities.

This is really great, and I am so proud of coming up with this all by myself.

Feedback is always appreciated.

I found the John Hughes quote I was referring to in my first post, on my own website no less.

Quote from: John HughesOne thing I've always emphasised in my games is the way some (most?) of the greater Gloranthan heroes work to an alien, non-human scale of values. No one merely-human survives contact. Such heroes destroy the village (city, country, continent...) in order to save it. For those who encounter them, (or their armies), there is only suffering, bloodshed and death. [...]

The land is afflicted by a hero...

This is one way of talking about the premise of this campaign.

Quote from: Peter NordstrandHe has some kind of connection with the former chieftain, but their alliance is a secret.

the whole prophesy thing was important to Ola, but I don't find it very interesting at all.

Another thing that seems really important to Ola is that when Abraxas recently returned to his clan, he was instrumental in driving off some raiding Telmori (a stone age werewolf people).

Alabraxas wants to be a Hero. Hell, the lack of relationships thing was even better for the vibe I'm getting from this. Outsider within the Clan, someone whom no one likes or respects, wants to get that respect - how do you get it? You save the Clan, you be the Hero, and everyone will look up to and admire the poor bullied outcast. How far will he go to be the Hero? What will he sacrifice? Will he throw aside the few real connections and friendships he has on the road to the top, or will he realize that Heroes are even more alone than he is now?

Seems to me this character sums up the broader premise at least as well as the other two!

I've recently been sorta challenging the whole "outsider" as unsuitable idea in HQ. That is, I understand the theoretical issue, and agree that if the player thinks that his character is going to be all about problem-solving that there's simply a CA problem going on. But can't you have good stories about outsiders?

I think that, as long as the player realizes that HQ is about relationships and such, that the outsider is quite viable, in fact. There are implicit issues with all outsiders, and powerful ones. In fact, at Origins this year I was slated to run "Return to Apple Lane" the HQ version of the old RQ classic. And it was very well devised in HQ fashion. The characters were all ones who had left from the Apple Lane that we all knew from RQ, and come back to one that had been under Lunar control for a while, and generally in a slide. The characters, of course, during their long journeys, had all adopted other cultures, and other religions. Now, as they returned home, the classic premise of "Can you go home again?" is in the air.

What HQ does in these cases is point out the lack of relationships just as clearly as it does when characters have relationships. Further, the way that HP spending works, you find characters often very quickly gaining relationships in play. This is just as potent, or more potent than long-term relationships, as issues of trust and permenance become issues.

Because the obvious premise in the outsider case, is "Where is home?" or, even more prominently, "Who is my family?" Also, "Who are my people?" Give the outsider more than one choice, better yet, conflicting choices here, and it becomes more than a little thematically charged.

So do you think you might want to reconsider for this game, and allow the outsider concept? Yes, it's been said that in HQ, that the friendless man is in dire trouble. How is that a bad thing for drama? How does it not drive directly to a dramatic outcome?

So I'd look at the idea again. If the player is thinking in these terms, then maybe it's not such a bad idea. I mean, think about the movie Yojimbo for a moment...

Mike

You campaign souds very good. My campaign also started with the Culbrea tribe, though now the rebellious PCs have been given lesser outlawry, because they managed to make the wrong lunars angry.

I'll try to give you more detailed comments after my next exam is finished.

Hi Ian (cappadocius),

You may very well be right. Thank you for the tip; most helpful, indeed. I will prepare a couple of Bangs along the lines you suggest. If it gets Ola all fired up, I know I'm on the right track.

Cheers,

Howdy Mike,

Thank you for your comments. I think we agree.  I'll just try to clarify what I mean.

Let me emphasize that Ola isn't doing anything wrong. He is intelligent, creative, and funny. I look forward to game with him again. The fact that I don't quite get what he is trying to do is my problem, and I am responsible for coming up with a solution. Yes, my original concern was one of Creative Agenda: Is he making a character suitable for Nar play?

This is what I told of Ola: Your hero must have 2-3 relationships with people and/or groups involved (see Groups & People in my first post). The nature of these relationships can be positive, negative, or anything you want. However, they must be meaningful in that both your character and you, the player, must find these relationships interesting. When the groups and people that you have relationships to take action, you (player and character) must care.

Of course you can have great stories about outsiders, but can you have good stories without relationships between people? No way! Admittedly, I haven't seen Yojimbo in almost twenty years (am I really that old?), and have a clearer memory of the other versions of that story. Surely, the main character in these pictures have relationships. He may not have them at the start of the film, but he rapidly develops pretty high ability ratings.

In my opinion, all of the following abilities are examples of valid relationships:

Outsider
Alienated from Clan
Black Sheep of Family
Ignored by Tormakt
Why Don't Frieda Like Me?[/list:u]Return to Apple Lane, by the way, is about people who have become outsiders in their own community, yes. It is also all about relationships; to their village, their family, and to their new cultures and religions.

But I think we agree.

In short I

did allow the outsider concept. In my opinion, the outsider is fully compatible with the restrictions I placed on character creation. I  should have been clearer in my earlier post.

However, this campaign is not just about any conflict. It is about the conflicts outlined in my first post. I give the players total freedom to decide most things, but I do demand that they in one way or the other are connected to the people involved in these conflicts. Naturally, this is not the only way to handle things, but it is how I've chose to handle it in this particular game. The funny thing is that both Jesper and Johan (who played Well of Souls with me) seemed quite puzzled when I didn't show them a complete relationship map to attach their characters to. They wanted clearer directions and less freedom, I think. I can sympathize with that. The best protagonists aren't created out of thin air, they are firmly placed in a context.

Finally, one very important thing is missing from Abraxalor's character sheet: His goal. Once we know his aspirations, things will become clearer. If his goal is to become a respected clan member I will probably have to prepare a different set of bangs than if it is to make peace between Tormakt and Roganvarth.

Let me know if I make sense.

All the best,

Makes complete sense, and we completely agree. What I'd say, however, is that what's important is not to start with the relationships, neccessarily. As you point out in Yojimbo, the relationships all get established after the film starts - starting with the "neutral" barkeep.

My point is that I think you can start with no relationships, if the player understands the CA to mean that he should make his first order of business getting connected to the relationship map. Rather, that all of the premise is specifically how he'll get connected to the map. The lack of relationships is only problematic if the players intent is counter to the CA, and he avoids getting entangled. If the player knows the score, and realizes that this won't work for this game, then I don't think there are any problems.

In fact, I think that drawing out the anticipation is actually valid in this format. That is, if the player spends a lot of time testing the waters of each relationship before committing to any of them, I think this is very appropriate to the themes in question. That is, I wouldn't even pressure the player to get some relationships right away in play - my only requirement would be that his play was about whether or not to get said relationships. In fact, if the character leaves town at the end having decided not to obtain any relationships, I think that's fine, as long as there were moments during play where it might have gone differently. Because, again, the theme generated by this - avoiding engagement at the loss of potential relationships - is quite powerful itself.

Now is this a potentially difficult thing to guage? I'm sure it is. But I don't think that it's impossible.

Relationships are not the only thing that one can use to have NPCs "grab" the character. Again, in Yojimbo, everybody wants him at first solely because he's the guy who can kick everyone's ass, and who can break the deadlock between the two gangs in the town. Check out what it is that the outsider has, and make that commodity what the NPCs need. Then have the NPCs offer relationships. Acceptance, rejection; it's all good.

Here's the cliche to remember to throw at the PC, "Don't you care about anything but yourself!" As long as the player narrates that obligatory three second pause in the character's step as he walks away, it's working.

Mike