The Forge Archives

Well, we finished our first session of TROS and it went extreamly well.  I think everyone enjoyed much of what happened.  I figured I'd do a recap for the players to read and for you all to hopefully enjoy.  Perhaps you might get some ideas, or give me some ideas for play.  The adventure takes place in a moderately sized port city in Helena i made up named Traguna.  Let's start with the PCs.

Stanislav Naberezhnyi, the Stahlnish soldier fought alongside his father in a small war among rivaling groups in Stahl.  When his father made a terrible tactical mistake, and lead his men into a slaughter, Stanislav amazingly survived, escaping the overwhelming enemy forces by riding off into the harsh wilderness.  Driven away from society by the shame he felt due to his father's idiocy on the battlefield, he lived for many years surviving in the harshest areast of the mountains and woods, learning many of the animal's ways of survival.  He is destined to become a great hero who will be sung of in songs across the land, but nothing pushes him more than the simple drive to escape his father's shadow.  Feeling strongly that the Gods play NO role in his fate, he pushes himself where others might leave it to faith.  Unfortunately his depression often catches up with him, and he returns woefully to his opium pipe nightly.  Hoping he will make a fortune being hired as a mercenary, he couldn't turn down a job to guard a shippment from Farrenshire to Helena.  The money was good, almost too good.

Nicholas D. Wolfwood, once was a ground pounding soldier, but left his violent ways to find peace in faith.  He acheived priesthood, and left his home in the Seat of the Xanarian Empire to work as a missionary and run an orphanage in a remote area in Farrenshire.  While tending to his flock, a great demonic beast arose from the ground and set fire to his church, and destroyed the orphanage and all those within.  Unfortunately he is the only one who saw this beast which he cannot explain in any way.  Moreso, eye witnesses placed him at the burning, and he has become the prime suspect of the attrocity.  In a matter of hours he has been excomunicated from his church, and is now hunted so they might put him to trial for the crimes he is accused of.  With nothing more than the clothes on his back, and the sword he kept from his soldiering days, he steps aboard the only ship leaving port at that hour.  From Farrenshire to Helena.  He fears there is something magical going on, and it must be the work of evil.  Alas, even tho his church has forsaken him, and his reputation is spreading fast as news spreads... he still clings to his desire to help the needy and protect the innocent.

Myron Habernae, as only he could witfully state, "It all belongs to me, just some of it I haven't taken yet."  This overconfident streetrat once snuck high in to the ranks of the nobility in Farrenshire, his homeland.  Able to lie, cheat, and sneak his way into any social status, with the help of some proper attire and his skills with etiquete, he soon learned, no matter how sly you might be, bedding down with a Baron's daughter out of wedlock is always a bad idea... if you get caught.  Luckly for him, it was more a shame to the Baron's honor, so it was all kept quiet.  Either way he had to leave quick, and to a place far away where people had a lot of money for him to sample.  A few months back he arrived in Helena after a journey through many lands.  This was the place he hoped for, with all the trade going on, and the shipping, he had plenty of purses to pilfer.  Moreso, he worked his way into the information trade.  People always want to know something they dont.  And he'll find it out for them... for a fee.  It is here he met Anthony, who became a close companion for many nights of drinking and gambling.  The latter of which, he has a passion for making bets, and is unmatched in knifethrowing competitions.

Anthony Aeschulus, raised and trained as an entertainer in the courts of Helena, he soon learned his talents lay elswhere, and found a job as an accountant with a shipping company.  Tragedy struck when he lost his job, his sweetheart left him to be the mistress of a wealthy trader Alejandro Piccotti, and when she became pregnant was cast out... and hung herself.  In Anthony's eyes, only Alejandro Piccotti was to blame... and he is now driven to destroy the man in every sense of the word.  One to make cunning plans, he is also amazingly skilled at coercing others to see things his way.  While working as a simple laborer on the docks he has been waiting for the right time to strike.  But in his work he's started to understand just how corrupt the trade industry in the city of Traguna really is, and feels his life's work will bring it down.  

And so we have our characters...  Stanislav and Nicholas meet aboard the ship from Farrenshire, and Nicholas hires Stan to help protect him, for he has no clue who might be hunting him, but hopes he's far enough away from the news.  They arrive at port in Traguna, Helena.  On the docks the heads of the Piccotti Trade Firm recieve the large crate that Stan was guarding for them.  This is unusual for them to be out on the docks, and caught the attention of a dockworker(Anthony), and a man running rigged games of chance(Myron).  Stan and Nicholas quickly seek a place to stay, and go to the edge of town, where they aquire a room in the Inn of The Smoking Gnome (an homage to a character in a AD&D campaign we ran last year).  Myron was short on cash, so he went to the bank, and picked people's pockets.  Anthony was intrigued at what might be in this crate, and went to the Piccotti warehouse, and convinced the guard he was there to get a crowbar....  The guard let him past (someone needs to hire new guards)... being an employee(a lowly dock worker) he was able to find the crate being stored in the warehouse and get a shipping number.  It was too crowded to find out what was in it during the day, so he had to plan something.  He met up with Myron, and they compared notes, and decided they NEEDED to know what was in that crate.  Myron also wanted to know the state of affairs in his homeland of Farrenshire.  

NOTE- Gelure is currently abiding by a non-agression treaty with Ostenreich, but is massing ships in a blockade around Farrenshire, and has numerous troops waiting to invade nearby territories.  Everyone suspects war, and the nobility of Farrenshire has become quite lax in recent years.  

Anywho... they met up with the Mercenary, and the mysterious man at the Inn.  After introductions, they learned they could trust each other.  For the most part.  For the next few days, Myron went to find contacts who could help them, Anthony helped Stan get a job with the Piccotti Trade Firm as a night guard.  Nicholas disguised himself, and started spending a lot of time copying books for pay in the library.  Stan started to get the other guards using opium.  It was somewhere around this time that they recieved news that Gelure had invaded Farrenshire.  The war had begun.  Myron eventually got an audience with Marco Pottillico, the pirate captain.  Anthony and Myron met with Marco, and a plan came together.  Marco would lend them a man (Smith) to assist them in robbing the Piccotti Trade Firm warehouse and offices.  They would copy detailed shipping routes, dates, manifests, etc for the pirate.  (This also played into part of Anthony's greater schemes)  And so the planning began.  

Note - These guys went insane with the planning.   I think they might have taken the saying "play smart or die" to the extream.  But they planned for EVERY CONTIGENCY for getting in... and getting away witht he crate.  Also for covering their "footprints" and making it look like they never touched the papers.  Instead of stealing, they'd have Nicholas copy them.  As for all their planning for events I never thought up, they had the getting in, and getting out covered so well, they forgot to think through what they'd do while they were there.  

So, Stan drugged one of the guards while on duty, and the party arrived in a covered wagon.  Myron asked the other guard for directions, and while he was distracted, plunged a blade deep into his neck.  This surprised EVERYONE... but brutally finished off the remaining guard without a sound.  Stan opened the gate, and they dragged the guards inside off the street.  Stan then stood guard out front, to keep things looking normal.  The wagon came to the big doors of the warehouse, and the door to the offices.  Myron and Smith, went into the warehouse to find the crate.  Anthony and Nicholas went into the office to find the papers.  Only they soon found out that many doors were locked.  So Nicholas and Myron switch places...  And Myron starts unlocking doors.  The first door they picked was nearly impossible to pick, but Myron barely got it.  Then the door wouldnt open, something blocked it and they couldnt push it open (i'd think they would get the hint that they couldnt open this door).  But Myron dislodged the pins out of the hinges, and the door fell out of the doorway.  To reveal the back of a large wardrobe or bookcase.  Not to be stopped they pushed on it.  It wouldnt budge,  then they devised a way to get more leverage and pushed again.  Ok, so it shifted stuff fell, but they couldnt get through.  All they could see was a dark room with some tables....  So much for making it look as if they were never in the offices....
In the next room, they came across a drunk man who welcomed them to sit and drink.  He was in charge of the captains of the ships the Piccotti's used.  A terrible drunkard, he didnt notice these were people breaking and entering.   But they pummled him into unconciousness in an act of panic.  Searching revieled nothing much on the first floor.  There were papers, and a memo stating to transfer documents up to Alejandro's office.  
Meanwhile in the warehouse, Nicholas and Smith found the crate, and inside it was a number of holy relics from Nicholas's church and a number of ancient relics he has never seen.  He went to find the papers on theshipment, and found it was sent by a Doran Fehin.  The majority of the crate was empty tho.  There was more in there, but it wasnt there now.  Further searching uncovered other shipments in Doran's name.  But no crates.  Also they found a crate with the body of a dead woman in it.  She seemed to have been strangled with a rope or something... and they took her necklace with a family crest, to identify her later.    
Then they went upstairs, and found Alejandro's office.  Inside it they found a safe with the maps, charts, papers, they were looking for.  Nicholas went fast to work copying.  Myron decided to search the last few rooms, and came across an empty room with bare rafters.  In the corner was a piled up rope, and the dusty floor had a woman's footprints leading to a chair that was knocked over on it's side.  There were NO other footprints.  The floorboards however seemed to have some waterdamage.  During a quick look over the room the floor gave way and Myron fell to the room below.  (ironically the room they couldnt get in before)  The sound of the crash, the yell of a falling man, and the scream of a surprised woman brought Anthony and Nicholas up the the edge of the hole in the floor.  In the room was a beautiful woman with long blond hair.  She introduced herself a Mirelda, and quickly seemed worried as to if Myron was ok.  At being questioned what she was doing there... she said that she had been doing research on plants from distant nations in search for new medicines, and that the Piccotti's were patrons, funding her work.  And that this was where she worked on her notes.  She also stated she blocked the door with a wardrobe on rollers on a track in the floor, to keep people out while she worked, and that someone had knocked it off the track while she was taking a nap.  (something didn't seem quite right with her story, but Myron accepted it, and assisted her in moving to blocking furnature.  She said she had to work some more, but would be interested in seeing him sometime later.  Myron agreed.  

NOTE - No one took the time to even LOOK at the papers she was working on.  Most were just surprised to come across a beautiful woman in this setting.

With this, they agreed it was time to get out of there.  For one reason or another, they seemed assured that Mirelda wouldn't rat them out.  On the way out, it came clear that they needed to make it look like Stan had fought off some of the thugs who stole the crates.  So, on their way out, Stan attacked Smith, the hired hand.  A battle started between the two, and Myron assisted with a thrown knife, that just barely scratched Smith.  But it must have been enough to distract the man, as Stanislav brought his halberd crashing down into the man's skull.  Identification of the body was going to be VERY difficult.  Now to keep up the facade, they roughed up Stan a bit, and knocked him unconcious.   Anthony, Myron, and Nicholas, rode off in the wagon with their newly gotten goods.  Including some spice shipments and furs.  As well as the copied papers and the religious artifacts from Nicholas's church.  Nicholas arranged for the city guards to find the religious artifacts along with their shipping papers.... to be given to the church, perhaps in an effort to help clear his name.  Myron and Anthony met with Marco again, and gave him the papers he requested.  Marco understood that Smith was killed by a guard, and let that subject go.  After all, he now had accurate shipping information with which to plan his raids.  

The guys had a few things on their to-do lists.  Research the dead woman's family crest.  Research the name Doran Fehin.  And Myron had a date with Mirelda in the park.  We'll get to that later.

Well, it is getting late and I have to work tomorrow, so I will finish the recap tomorrow night.  

Wolfwood?

Certainly no anime influences crept into this session?

Not that it would be all that bad, happened in one of my campaigns. Same one where a moon was blown up....

the real question though was of course...
did he have his cross? and if so, what were the stats?

It sounds like you had a great time...

but did you? How did TROS mechanics influence things? How did the players react to the game. Where were SAs involved? I'd love to know.

Jake

Yes someone had a little influence from anime... but we kept it well under control.  As for game mechanics.  It took some of the guys to catch on to the SA's at first, but once they got the idea...  they were fireing away like mad towards the end.  (probably let you know in the next recap)...  Had to explain the contested rolls a bit, and some of the skill rolls.  But all in all, everyone grasped the concepts quickly and the game ran smooth and quickly.  Combat was not occuring often, but when it did, is was dramatic, impressive, and EVERYONE seemed to fully enjoy it.  I think some of us might even be thinking of burning out AD&D books... (just kidding)

The only problems were ones allready answered on this forum, I just need to read up a bit.  Like reducing damage when you dont want to kill.  It was odd when the ex-priest trying to disarm a man, LITERALLY DISARMED HIM!

Anywho, I'm at a co-worker's house, and have to give him the computer again.  I'll give you a more detailed answer after I get home.

-Luke

Quote from: Jake NorwoodIt sounds like you had a great time...

but did you? How did TROS mechanics influence things? How did the players react to the game. Where were SAs involved? I'd love to know.

Play was very enjoyable.  TROS mechanics made combat exciting and deadly.  Because of that, we planned for tactical advantage.  The mortal impact made it thrilling.  Also, the context of Wyerth added flavor.

For my part, I used Anthony's SA's ("Bring down Helena's trade industry", "destroy Alejandro") a few times, but they were mostly an accessory to other factors: (1) Anthony had Persuasion (6) and . . . whatever its base is for 6 (Social?) and (2) Luke (ZazielsRephaim) uses a lot of IC with de facto Drama resolution.  So even when I needed dice, I started out with great odds, but more often, I just role-played convincingly and got whatever Anthony was after.

SA's are still cool as Hell.

And there was an uber issue of Agenda, but I don't want to get all GNS here:)  The excitement of the combat system combined with Luke's high prep carried the night.

For my part it was highly enjoyable, evidenced by the fact that this was a 9 to an 11 hour session.(Forgot when it started, can't forget when it ended, due to the fact it was daylight at the end and the storyline up to that point was incredible)

   SA's are indeed very cool, and sometimes when they get all get used by your opponent, it makes for some very tense combat situations. I have to admit to only using SA's a few select times, such as luck and religiontimes..
   I also have to admit to using my full combat pool in the first exchange of some combats, as well as witnessing others do this.
To address this, I might suggest that one could be limited to the percentage of one's dice pool being used on the first exchange, i.e. someone can not use their whole dice pool in a situation where they have not been hit, hurt, etc. So save the full CP attacks for that all important 'last resort' attack? However, I only used those full CP exchanges for a coup de grace, splitting someone's head in two most of the time :-)

   I also need to iron out my character with Luke some more, in terms of SA's, skills(never used one of my skills in that session I don't think), and ideas for the future of my character. Luke can vouch for my gung-ho attitude for the latter of those concerns, as I went postal doing research last night(morning).

   Other than that, TROS *OWNED* D&D in all aspects of play and set-up.
Even for a first run-through TROS is more streamlined than D&D ever will be, in fact D&D seems to progress in the opposite direction.

-Ingenious