Typewriter
2011-03-10, 11:09 AM
This jounral has two purposes. The first is just a place for me to talk about my current campaign, and the second is to post pictures! I've collected quite a few heroscape sets over the last few months (around 500 dollars worth) and as a result, will be using large tactical environments for several battles. I intend on taking pictures of these environments to go along with descriptions of the combat.
The first session didn't have any combat, but an example of what I mean is:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs094.snc4/36040_1644412391946_1285959220_1838321_4236693_n.j pg
Setting
The party is growing up in the village of Mazri. Their world is one of squalor, oppression, and heat. The sun burnts red with an unholy heat that is felt even when the sun is set. The days are hard, searching for food, water, and wealth. The food and water are for the villages survival, and the wealth is the bribe to be left alone, paid to the ruler of this land.
During the night people retreat into their homes, which are connected via underground chambers. These adaptations are necessary for the nights sometimes last for days, and the creatures that roam the night kill any who are fool enough to leave the protection of their hovel.
Characters:
Bogun Gates
Feron (Female)
Lewis Fukhito
Bob
Unknown(will replace with his real name later)
Character information coming soon...
The people who live here tend to couple with whoever is available. No marriages are performed, no longterm couples exist. As a side affect of this, the party is all related in one way or another.
Session One
Note: The first session is a 'grow up' session, in which the players grow up and get to know each other and the world they live in. It will seem disjointed as it takes place over a 10 year span of time. It's main purpose is to generate character personality and relationships.
Each character chooses a level of "Citizen" or "Mystic". Shamans get +2 to two mental stats, and +2 to one physical stat, while citizen are the opposite.
Shamans spend the day tending to the sick and performing rituals to the old gods. Citizens go out hunting and explore the world.
One day, at the age of 8 the children are ushered into a closet by their nanny and told to stay quiet. While inside they hear a voice they've never heard before talking to the mayor, Neil, along with the sound of wings.
Unknown: I've given you 5 years, what have you for me?
Neil: We've picked through many of the ruins around here, I'm afraid it's not as much as it was 5 years ago.
Unknown: It is a paltry sum, but I suppose I will spare your village for now.
Neil: My lord?
Unknown: Yes?
Neil: We have few ruins left to explore. What will we be able to offer you in a few years time?
Unknown: How about you expand your search? The village of Valla lies only a couple days east, and could probably be easily crushed, even with numbers as few as your own. Their territory still contains many valuable ruins.
At this point all the children have crept out to try and get a better look, and to see what is making that flapping noise. They see through the window a man on the back of a long eel-like dragon. Suddenly, the dragon turns towards the hut and rips the roof off.
Unknown: Hello child. Aren't you...little.
He glares at Neil
Unknown: How many more of your...size...are there?
The children back away and say nothing.
Unknown: What did I say would happen if I caught you trying to hide youths from me?
Neil: I'm sorry my lord, we were going to tell you, but we didn't want to put any pressure on the children and....
Unknown: Oh, just like you 'planned' on telling me about the others? But you 'forgot' until they were too old for me to shape? Effective immediately any children I find to have been hidden from me to the point in which they are too old will be killed.
Neil turns and his dragon rips the youngest adult, Amanda, in half with his teeth. Bob, Amandas son, screams and hides in the closet as the rest of the children flee. Neil sends people to recover the children as the dragon rider leaves.
A few months later the children are out looking for ruins and they stumble upon a guy half buried in the sand. He's out, but breathing. They go back to town and get help for him. The older mystics are busy so he's left in the care of the children, who roll poorly on heals. He's stable, but in a coma.
Lewis finds one of his toys missing and goes hunting for the culprit. He asks around the adults and finds out some of the younger kids recently aquired some new toys. He 'resolves' the issue.
Feron gets wounded and overhears the comatose man mumbling in his sleep about a treasure map. He searches him, and finds it hidden away in his boot. Feron asks the village recluse, Niall, about it, and Niall offers to buy it from him for a gold. Feron refuses, and gives the map to Neil.
While visiting Feron in the 'hospital' Unknown notices Feron and Boguns mother (who has been in a coma since before his birth) sitting up, looking at him. He alerts Feron, and as Feron approaches, she shifts her gaze to him and smiles, whispering, "Bogun is... special", then returning to her coma.
One day, while looking for Ruins, Bob gets lost and fears he won't be able to make it back after dark. He stays hidden until morning, and hears things that terrify him.
Niall tells the villagers he found the remnants of a teleportation circle, but it's been damaged and can only send/receive smaller creatures. Like children. The party volunteers, and they get sent through.
They find themselves in a strange abandoned town made mostly of Stone. As they explore Lewis notices a platinum disklike amulet with odd etchings on it. The etchings depict the flow of souls through the world. Lewis keeps a firm hold of it. They continue searching, and Bogun finds a strange vial with purple liquid in it. Lewis has spent a few years as a mystic and he's fairly certain purple means either death or power, but is unsure which. Feron dares him to drink it, and he does.
They explore a bit more, but find nothing of interest. It's beginning to get dark, but as they start to head back to the teleportation circle they notice a tower in the distance. Most of tower anyway. The top of the towe is there, in the sky, but nothing is connecting it to the planet. As they get closer they notice that portions of buildings are simply missing. They get close to the tower, but find themselves falling asleep. Bogun lasts the longest, and right before falling asleep sees a strange glowing eye looking at him. They all hear the whisper, "Not yet, not for another few years", and find themselves back at the teleportation circle.
They return home and tell the mayor what they found. When they describe the city Neil orders the teleportation circle destroyed. Lewis requests permission to keep the amulet until its needed to be given to the dragon lord.
The party is now 10 years old, and everyone gains another level of citizen or mystic.
Feron sees the village store keeper, Jeram, talking to a stranger one day. The stranger notices her and takes off. She talks to Jeram about the stranger, and he tries to blow her off, but she doesn't believe him. He reveals that the stranger was from another village, and was offering him a position of power in their city if he stole all the gathered treasure for them. Feron is doubtful at first, but Jeram convinces her that he turned the offer down. Feron tells no one, and a week later Jeram and the towns collection of treasure go missing.
At around the age of 12 a large force marches to the village. Bogun runs to watch them, as the other children run home to warn people. Turns out the army is a group of people out to kill The Dragon Lord, Raziel. They offer supplies to the town, and request that any who would join them do so. Neil thinks they're crazy, and are sure to die, but the armies enthusiasm encourages all the party except for Bob to join them.
They march with the army for a few months, hunting and exploring often, looking for other villages to help, and having a good old time. And then Raziel appears. As the dragon flies overhead a single breath of green/black flame licks the field and removes half the army. Some try to stay and fight, others flee. Bogun hides under some corpses, while the other children hide. All except Feron who swings wildly at the dragon who has now landed and is tearing people apart. The dragon picks her up, and flies off. The army, vanquished, scatters. The party grabs everything or worth they can off the corpses and return home.
At the tender age of 13 Raziel returns to Mazri. The children say goodbye to their families as the dragon lord looks over his offering. Unimpressed he destroys half the town, then leaves with their children. On the trip Lewis mutters about wanting his amulet back. Raziel looks through his back of loot, and tosses the amulet to him, saying that he is generous, and that if they do well, they will continue to be rewarded.
Once they arrive at the Dragon Lords castle they are tested and assigen to different 'classes'. Warriors, Nobles, and Casters, each with unique stat bonuses. Unknown and Lewis both wind up as warriors, while Bogun and Bob join the Nobles. They don't even know she's alive, but Feron gets a level of Prisoner.
Warriors are taught to think as part of a whole, and to forget their unique identity. Lewis rebels against this, and is charismatic enough in his endeavors to get the attention of the younger children. Whenever he would get in trouble with older recruits they back him up.
Nobles are taught controlled response. On their first day a volunteer is requested, and said volunteer is then slowly and painfully bled in front of the rest. Those who look away are beaten. Each noble is exposed to demons, torture, and all manner of things, all with a focus on 'controlled response'.
Bob begins to steal things from other Nobles, and plant them on others. As this happens he maintains a tame attitude, all in an attempt to keep from drawing attention to himself.
Feron is never tortured or assaulted. Any other prisoners who made advances towards her were killed by the guards. She is taken, and has her mind and thoughts read regularly. One day, she finds herself brought before Raziel. Raziel questions her about her arcane training, and tests her using a small magical item. He tells her that if she is willing to assist him in a task she can be brought out from the dungeons. She agrees. He tells her that she is going on a mission, and that she will use the device to distract someone while the group leader finishes the task.
The rest of the party is gathered, and Feron is brought to them. They are ecstatic that she is still alive. After a short reunion Raziel joins them. He tells them that Bogun will be delivering a letter to an old enemy of his, and that Feron and Bob will be his escorts, while Lewis and Unknown will be his personal guards. If the opportunity presents itself Bogun is to drive a knife into their 'host'. Raziel gives Bogun a strange black knife with a dragon headed pommel, and leaves, telling them they leave in an hour. Bogun doesn't want to murder someone, but he fears Raziel, and his sister(Feron) is insistent that this must happen to prevent her going back to jail.
During this same conversation Bob lifted a ring off of Raziels hand, and then slipped it back on a different finger. Raziel seemed to notice, but only smiled largely, and did not interfere. After he leaves, Bob finds the ring in his pocket again.
The party rides Raziels dragon across the sea and past a few abandoned cities and keeps before getting to a keep in the most bountiful land they've seen before. They deliver the missive, and are told they'll have a response in 2 days. They are given free rein over the keep, and enjoy their time in the grass and sunshine.
At the end of the second day, they have dinner with the leader of the keep and are given their return message. Bob slips the ring into the keep leaders pouch, but he notices and gets offended, yet when he searches his pouch he finds nothing amiss. Bob finds the ring back in his pocket somehow.
Feron activates his magic item, which causes illusions of large beasts to appear outside. The leader of the keep blows out his windows to face the illusions, but before he gets a chance to realize what they hare Bogun stabs him. The blade transforms into a green/black flame and destroys him. The party jumps/climbs out the window and to their dragon, evading capture. Once they return to Raziel he rewards them with either a +2 tome, or 2 +1 tomes.
Feron is allowed to go and train with the mages from then on.
A few years later, at around the age of 18, the party is brought before Raziel again. He reveals that their home village just gave him their best bounty yet, a feat they performed by conquering their neighbors. The downside to that, he says, is that they've made enemies. One enemy in particular has made Raziel an offer, the location of a powerful artifact in exchange for the destruction of Mazri. Because he finds it fitting, Raziel is sending them to do it.
As they set out (on foot this time) they try to come up with a plan. None of them have any intention of killing their people, but they don't know what they can do to avoid Raziels wrath. They send Unknown ahead to get to the village a few days before the rest of them, to warn the village. When he arrives Neil is glad to see him and hear that everyone is alive, but reveals that he's no longer the mayor. The man who had been in a coma awoke a few years back, and is now the leader. Unknown meets with him, and reveals that he feared something like this might happen and had the teleportation circle repaired. Fully. He says that this is a trap, laid by Raziel for his own amusement. If they destroy their village they're untrustworthy for being so easily turned against their own. If they don't destroy their own village they are not good troops. It's the same trap he fell into. The party will have to come with them through the teleporter. Unknown agrees.
When the rest of the party arrives, they agree, and they all go through the teleporter, becoming level 4.
While getting set up in the new village, the party all hears a familiar whisper, this time it says, "The gateway is open". They split away from the main group, and head towards the tower, finding an old open gate around its yard. There is no base, only the top of the tower, high above, and stairs leading to a basement. They are only down there for a few seconds, examining strange runes on the floor, when everything seems to begin to crumble and they get a feeling of falling.
The party sets to work creaing new level 1 characters with a 20 point buy, applying their stat adjustments from this version as a template bonus. Any skill ranks they invested become untyped bonuses, and those skills are class skills. They retain all feats that they had earned.
The first session didn't have any combat, but an example of what I mean is:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs094.snc4/36040_1644412391946_1285959220_1838321_4236693_n.j pg
Setting
The party is growing up in the village of Mazri. Their world is one of squalor, oppression, and heat. The sun burnts red with an unholy heat that is felt even when the sun is set. The days are hard, searching for food, water, and wealth. The food and water are for the villages survival, and the wealth is the bribe to be left alone, paid to the ruler of this land.
During the night people retreat into their homes, which are connected via underground chambers. These adaptations are necessary for the nights sometimes last for days, and the creatures that roam the night kill any who are fool enough to leave the protection of their hovel.
Characters:
Bogun Gates
Feron (Female)
Lewis Fukhito
Bob
Unknown(will replace with his real name later)
Character information coming soon...
The people who live here tend to couple with whoever is available. No marriages are performed, no longterm couples exist. As a side affect of this, the party is all related in one way or another.
Session One
Note: The first session is a 'grow up' session, in which the players grow up and get to know each other and the world they live in. It will seem disjointed as it takes place over a 10 year span of time. It's main purpose is to generate character personality and relationships.
Each character chooses a level of "Citizen" or "Mystic". Shamans get +2 to two mental stats, and +2 to one physical stat, while citizen are the opposite.
Shamans spend the day tending to the sick and performing rituals to the old gods. Citizens go out hunting and explore the world.
One day, at the age of 8 the children are ushered into a closet by their nanny and told to stay quiet. While inside they hear a voice they've never heard before talking to the mayor, Neil, along with the sound of wings.
Unknown: I've given you 5 years, what have you for me?
Neil: We've picked through many of the ruins around here, I'm afraid it's not as much as it was 5 years ago.
Unknown: It is a paltry sum, but I suppose I will spare your village for now.
Neil: My lord?
Unknown: Yes?
Neil: We have few ruins left to explore. What will we be able to offer you in a few years time?
Unknown: How about you expand your search? The village of Valla lies only a couple days east, and could probably be easily crushed, even with numbers as few as your own. Their territory still contains many valuable ruins.
At this point all the children have crept out to try and get a better look, and to see what is making that flapping noise. They see through the window a man on the back of a long eel-like dragon. Suddenly, the dragon turns towards the hut and rips the roof off.
Unknown: Hello child. Aren't you...little.
He glares at Neil
Unknown: How many more of your...size...are there?
The children back away and say nothing.
Unknown: What did I say would happen if I caught you trying to hide youths from me?
Neil: I'm sorry my lord, we were going to tell you, but we didn't want to put any pressure on the children and....
Unknown: Oh, just like you 'planned' on telling me about the others? But you 'forgot' until they were too old for me to shape? Effective immediately any children I find to have been hidden from me to the point in which they are too old will be killed.
Neil turns and his dragon rips the youngest adult, Amanda, in half with his teeth. Bob, Amandas son, screams and hides in the closet as the rest of the children flee. Neil sends people to recover the children as the dragon rider leaves.
A few months later the children are out looking for ruins and they stumble upon a guy half buried in the sand. He's out, but breathing. They go back to town and get help for him. The older mystics are busy so he's left in the care of the children, who roll poorly on heals. He's stable, but in a coma.
Lewis finds one of his toys missing and goes hunting for the culprit. He asks around the adults and finds out some of the younger kids recently aquired some new toys. He 'resolves' the issue.
Feron gets wounded and overhears the comatose man mumbling in his sleep about a treasure map. He searches him, and finds it hidden away in his boot. Feron asks the village recluse, Niall, about it, and Niall offers to buy it from him for a gold. Feron refuses, and gives the map to Neil.
While visiting Feron in the 'hospital' Unknown notices Feron and Boguns mother (who has been in a coma since before his birth) sitting up, looking at him. He alerts Feron, and as Feron approaches, she shifts her gaze to him and smiles, whispering, "Bogun is... special", then returning to her coma.
One day, while looking for Ruins, Bob gets lost and fears he won't be able to make it back after dark. He stays hidden until morning, and hears things that terrify him.
Niall tells the villagers he found the remnants of a teleportation circle, but it's been damaged and can only send/receive smaller creatures. Like children. The party volunteers, and they get sent through.
They find themselves in a strange abandoned town made mostly of Stone. As they explore Lewis notices a platinum disklike amulet with odd etchings on it. The etchings depict the flow of souls through the world. Lewis keeps a firm hold of it. They continue searching, and Bogun finds a strange vial with purple liquid in it. Lewis has spent a few years as a mystic and he's fairly certain purple means either death or power, but is unsure which. Feron dares him to drink it, and he does.
They explore a bit more, but find nothing of interest. It's beginning to get dark, but as they start to head back to the teleportation circle they notice a tower in the distance. Most of tower anyway. The top of the towe is there, in the sky, but nothing is connecting it to the planet. As they get closer they notice that portions of buildings are simply missing. They get close to the tower, but find themselves falling asleep. Bogun lasts the longest, and right before falling asleep sees a strange glowing eye looking at him. They all hear the whisper, "Not yet, not for another few years", and find themselves back at the teleportation circle.
They return home and tell the mayor what they found. When they describe the city Neil orders the teleportation circle destroyed. Lewis requests permission to keep the amulet until its needed to be given to the dragon lord.
The party is now 10 years old, and everyone gains another level of citizen or mystic.
Feron sees the village store keeper, Jeram, talking to a stranger one day. The stranger notices her and takes off. She talks to Jeram about the stranger, and he tries to blow her off, but she doesn't believe him. He reveals that the stranger was from another village, and was offering him a position of power in their city if he stole all the gathered treasure for them. Feron is doubtful at first, but Jeram convinces her that he turned the offer down. Feron tells no one, and a week later Jeram and the towns collection of treasure go missing.
At around the age of 12 a large force marches to the village. Bogun runs to watch them, as the other children run home to warn people. Turns out the army is a group of people out to kill The Dragon Lord, Raziel. They offer supplies to the town, and request that any who would join them do so. Neil thinks they're crazy, and are sure to die, but the armies enthusiasm encourages all the party except for Bob to join them.
They march with the army for a few months, hunting and exploring often, looking for other villages to help, and having a good old time. And then Raziel appears. As the dragon flies overhead a single breath of green/black flame licks the field and removes half the army. Some try to stay and fight, others flee. Bogun hides under some corpses, while the other children hide. All except Feron who swings wildly at the dragon who has now landed and is tearing people apart. The dragon picks her up, and flies off. The army, vanquished, scatters. The party grabs everything or worth they can off the corpses and return home.
At the tender age of 13 Raziel returns to Mazri. The children say goodbye to their families as the dragon lord looks over his offering. Unimpressed he destroys half the town, then leaves with their children. On the trip Lewis mutters about wanting his amulet back. Raziel looks through his back of loot, and tosses the amulet to him, saying that he is generous, and that if they do well, they will continue to be rewarded.
Once they arrive at the Dragon Lords castle they are tested and assigen to different 'classes'. Warriors, Nobles, and Casters, each with unique stat bonuses. Unknown and Lewis both wind up as warriors, while Bogun and Bob join the Nobles. They don't even know she's alive, but Feron gets a level of Prisoner.
Warriors are taught to think as part of a whole, and to forget their unique identity. Lewis rebels against this, and is charismatic enough in his endeavors to get the attention of the younger children. Whenever he would get in trouble with older recruits they back him up.
Nobles are taught controlled response. On their first day a volunteer is requested, and said volunteer is then slowly and painfully bled in front of the rest. Those who look away are beaten. Each noble is exposed to demons, torture, and all manner of things, all with a focus on 'controlled response'.
Bob begins to steal things from other Nobles, and plant them on others. As this happens he maintains a tame attitude, all in an attempt to keep from drawing attention to himself.
Feron is never tortured or assaulted. Any other prisoners who made advances towards her were killed by the guards. She is taken, and has her mind and thoughts read regularly. One day, she finds herself brought before Raziel. Raziel questions her about her arcane training, and tests her using a small magical item. He tells her that if she is willing to assist him in a task she can be brought out from the dungeons. She agrees. He tells her that she is going on a mission, and that she will use the device to distract someone while the group leader finishes the task.
The rest of the party is gathered, and Feron is brought to them. They are ecstatic that she is still alive. After a short reunion Raziel joins them. He tells them that Bogun will be delivering a letter to an old enemy of his, and that Feron and Bob will be his escorts, while Lewis and Unknown will be his personal guards. If the opportunity presents itself Bogun is to drive a knife into their 'host'. Raziel gives Bogun a strange black knife with a dragon headed pommel, and leaves, telling them they leave in an hour. Bogun doesn't want to murder someone, but he fears Raziel, and his sister(Feron) is insistent that this must happen to prevent her going back to jail.
During this same conversation Bob lifted a ring off of Raziels hand, and then slipped it back on a different finger. Raziel seemed to notice, but only smiled largely, and did not interfere. After he leaves, Bob finds the ring in his pocket again.
The party rides Raziels dragon across the sea and past a few abandoned cities and keeps before getting to a keep in the most bountiful land they've seen before. They deliver the missive, and are told they'll have a response in 2 days. They are given free rein over the keep, and enjoy their time in the grass and sunshine.
At the end of the second day, they have dinner with the leader of the keep and are given their return message. Bob slips the ring into the keep leaders pouch, but he notices and gets offended, yet when he searches his pouch he finds nothing amiss. Bob finds the ring back in his pocket somehow.
Feron activates his magic item, which causes illusions of large beasts to appear outside. The leader of the keep blows out his windows to face the illusions, but before he gets a chance to realize what they hare Bogun stabs him. The blade transforms into a green/black flame and destroys him. The party jumps/climbs out the window and to their dragon, evading capture. Once they return to Raziel he rewards them with either a +2 tome, or 2 +1 tomes.
Feron is allowed to go and train with the mages from then on.
A few years later, at around the age of 18, the party is brought before Raziel again. He reveals that their home village just gave him their best bounty yet, a feat they performed by conquering their neighbors. The downside to that, he says, is that they've made enemies. One enemy in particular has made Raziel an offer, the location of a powerful artifact in exchange for the destruction of Mazri. Because he finds it fitting, Raziel is sending them to do it.
As they set out (on foot this time) they try to come up with a plan. None of them have any intention of killing their people, but they don't know what they can do to avoid Raziels wrath. They send Unknown ahead to get to the village a few days before the rest of them, to warn the village. When he arrives Neil is glad to see him and hear that everyone is alive, but reveals that he's no longer the mayor. The man who had been in a coma awoke a few years back, and is now the leader. Unknown meets with him, and reveals that he feared something like this might happen and had the teleportation circle repaired. Fully. He says that this is a trap, laid by Raziel for his own amusement. If they destroy their village they're untrustworthy for being so easily turned against their own. If they don't destroy their own village they are not good troops. It's the same trap he fell into. The party will have to come with them through the teleporter. Unknown agrees.
When the rest of the party arrives, they agree, and they all go through the teleporter, becoming level 4.
While getting set up in the new village, the party all hears a familiar whisper, this time it says, "The gateway is open". They split away from the main group, and head towards the tower, finding an old open gate around its yard. There is no base, only the top of the tower, high above, and stairs leading to a basement. They are only down there for a few seconds, examining strange runes on the floor, when everything seems to begin to crumble and they get a feeling of falling.
The party sets to work creaing new level 1 characters with a 20 point buy, applying their stat adjustments from this version as a template bonus. Any skill ranks they invested become untyped bonuses, and those skills are class skills. They retain all feats that they had earned.