Session was played on 09/15/21. Spending 5 days adventuring and 1 day of rest as per ACKS rules. PCs can make downtime requests and adventure on and after 09/21/21.
Foreword
Praised and blessed be Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
Session Report
The party set out from Oakhilt's Fastness as soon as they could. They "parked" there at the end of the last session and Oakhilt, an Elven Lord of the Poul Anderson and Dunsanny school (NOT Tolkien's Elrond) was none too happy to host humans at his decidedly NOT Homely House.
PCs wanted to meet with the Elf Lord and discuss some seemingly aligned goals they had with him but he had no interest. According to most of the elf rank and file at the fastness, Oakhilt was bummed about a recent magical experiment that blew up in his face and he was going to take the next few months, or decades, lamenting his lot.
Kalan, an NPC Elf Commander under Oakhilt, told BriarWhisper (PC Elven Ranger Level 4) he'd try and convince Oakhilt to go along with Briar's Big Plans soon. Who knows how that would turn out...
So Oakhilt as much as kicked them out of the beautiful hidden fastness and the party traveled north to Turos Orn. One the way a random encounter with 5 pit vipers hit. This was the only encounter of the night and considering the level of the party it wasn't really a big deal. I tried to rush through it because the only thing that really mattered in this battle was if any of the vipers would get a lucky bite off and instigate a Save Vs Poison or Die roll from the PCs.
Gaius (PC Fighter Level 4) did indeed get bit and the whole table (including me) held its breath as he rolled Save Vs Poison. Keep in mind this is the second (soon to be first) highest XP player character in the campaign. He's faced Ferigno, Dairin the Mage, BOB from Twin Peaks, and the Hags; and lived to tell the tale. Would a dumb snake take him down?
No. He saved.
From there we wrapped the battle up quickly and the party easily mopped up the snakes without any further bites from them.
From there they followed the Auran road to the city of Cyfaraun and parked their wagon of goods with the Merchant's Guild. They paid a pretty steep toll at the gate into Cyfaraun to bring their wagon(s) of goods in. I was surprised they went along with it since most PCs I've DMed would rather murder an entire town than pay a pittance of a toll.
At this point the Players wanted to switch out their PCs who had traveled thus far for other PCs. I'm still on the fence about allowing this, if it's in the spirt of #brosr gaming. But I didn't want to argue about it and was more interested in seeing what sort of trouble the Players could get into before we were out of time.
They debated their next action, checking the calendar and trying to assure none of their PCs would get stuck in time compression if they went out of the city to adventure. So they gamed out they'd have 1 day to leave town, look around for trouble, and get back before dark. Thus allowing these PCs to be usable in the next session a week away.
This is how Elite BrOSR players do things. You can whine about real time not being the best way to play, make complaints that you'll never delve a deep dungeon or go out deep into the wilderness, or you can except the game as is and find ways to win.
They spent the day scouting a lake to the south of the city. I'm not exactly sure what they were looking for. Lairs with easy treasure, for one thing. But they've found that there are much fewer lairs close to the city than deeper into the Borderlands. They found none near Cyfaraun or the Lake.
BriarWhisper sent his pet owl Shadowfeather (Owl henchmen NPC) out to fly around Lake Laman to scout it for lairs and stuff. I guess the PCs thought they'd find an island of riches and maybe rent a boat to go get it next session? No idea.
Daria (PC BladeDancer Level 5) promised Shadowfeather he'd find lots of mice to eat out on islands around the lake and have a fine time hunting and eating. He found no such thing and some hours later he came back quite annoyed with the PCs indeed.
He said that all he saw was a big island of fire and dancing pink elephants. It was a total loss, in his owl mind. He started complaining on and on until Daria cast Charm Animal on him and he calmed a bit.
That was pretty much it for session play. A bit of travel a bit of scouting. We were wrapping up and telling very polite and absolutely not politically incorrect jokes on the mics for a bit before we logged off. When one of the players mentioned that Gaius had magic lamellar armor to sell that he had absconded from Ferigno's lair back in Session 30. BriarWhisper also had a magic sword.
They tried to sell it when they arrived in town but I misread the ACKS economic rules at that moment and thought they only had a low chance to sell the items, which are each worth 5,000 GP. Turns out with Bautiatus (PC Venturer Level 1) or Timothy (PC Venturer Level 1) handling the transaction, there was a 100% chance to sell either item.
Well selling magic items in ACKS gives 100% of the sale value in XP to those PC(s) who had a hand in acquiring it. Gaius alone survived the raid on Ferigno's lair so he gained a whopping 5,500 XP from the sale of the armor. BriarWhisper and Gaius were the ones who secured the sword so they split another 5,500 XP.
WOW.
So at the end of this mostly (imo) uneventful session Gaius made a level and became the highest XP PC in the Campaign. As such, he deemed it the Best Session Ever.
D&D is so weird.
Surviving PCs Present
Aurora (10% xp bonus) Priestess Level 1. Gained 0 xp. Total: 0
Batiatus (10% bonus) Venturer Level 1. Gained 22 xp. Total: 22
BriarWhisper (5% xp bonus) Elven Ranger Level 3. Gained 2,909 xp. Total: 10,986
Daria (0% xp bonus) Bladedancer Level 5. Gained 20 xp. Total: 14,326
Gaius (10% xp bonus) Fighter Level 4. Gained 9,097 xp. Total: 20,655 [LEVEL TO 5]
Marn (10% xp bonus) Mage Level 3. Gained 22 XP. Total: 5,804
Surviving Hench
Kagan (5% xp bonus) Dwarven Craftpriest Level 1. Gained 11 xp. Total: 1,589
Owl and horse received 10 xp.
Deceased:
Dama (L1 Venturer) played by RR. Current total xp: 75. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.
Darius LeVay (L1 Assassin) played by JB. Current Total XP:451. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.
Donald the Guardsman (L1 Fighter) played by MP. Current Total XP:570. DECEASED. Intra-party justice in Session 3.
Felix (L1 Thief) played by Nicholas. Current Total XP:431. DECEASED. Poison gas in Session 3.
Hektor (L1 Paladin) played by Moai. DECEASED. Cause of Death: goblin warg rider throat removal surgery in Session 2
Leonidas the Inquisitor (L1 Cleric) played by RR.Current Total XP:498 DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.
Mard the Mage (L1 Mage) played by Nicholas. DECEASED. Frozen undead blistering cold aura left his skin frostbitten and broken in Session 6. Body not recovered.
Yolo Baggins "My friends call me Swaggins" (L1 Gnomish Trickster) played by J. DECEASED. Paralyzed and eaten by ghouls in Session 12. Body not recovered.
Jack Filcher (L1 Thief) played by C. DECEASED. Shot full of arrows by Inthorn's brigands in Session 12. Body not recovered.
Swoleous Maximus (L1 Paladin). DECEASED. Captured then drawn and quartered by Inthorn the Brigand warlord in Session 12. Posthumously named "Petty Hero of Turos Tem" by Legate Valerian. Ashes offered a place of pride in the Hospital.
Damianus (L1 Cleric). DECEASED. Captured and beheaded by Inthorn the Brigand warlord in Session 12. Posthumously named "Petty Hero of Turos Tem" by Legate Valerian. Ashes offered a place of pride in the Hospital.
Bucky (L1 Barbarian). DECEASED. Became a illegal pit fighter during his downtime. Had two bouts to the death, winning the first and losing the second. Was killed by Young Jack Sparrow who sashayed into the ring, drank rum, and mogged on Bucky before putting a dagger into his ribs, killing him. This happened during downtime between Session 17 and 18.
Broll Wolf-Eater (L1 Barbarian). Current total XP: 1079. DECEASED. Carried off by harpies after falling for their enchanting song in Session 19.
Brother Franklin (L1 Cleric). DECEASED. Decapitated by a mad cultist of a Lovecraftian slime thing in Session 19.
Felix the Elder (L1 Bard). Total XP 825. DECEASED. Captured by mad cultists and fed to a Lovecraftian slime monster in Session 19.
Templar Flavius Africanus (L1 Cleric). Total XP 7. Killed by the claws and beak of mad harpies in Session 19.
Xendi (L1 Explorer). Total XP 6. DECEASED. Carried off by harpies after falling for their enchanting song in Session 19.
Yllmeeton (L3 Shaman). Total XP 4,563. Bludgeoned by the corpse of a bowmen by Rosie Odonnel hag in Session 21.
Longinus (L2 Assassin). Total XP 2,036. Had his face ripped off by Rosie Odonnel hag in Session 21.
Mandonio (L3 Fighter). Total XP 4,779. Charred to a leprous crisp by diseased Dragon breath in Session 22.
Corydon (L1 Joker). Total XP: 0. Burnt to a crisp by chimera breath so thoroughly his corpse wasn't even fit for the crows. Died with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. that's life and as funny as it seems... some people get their kicks, stomping on a dream... In Session 25.
Donny Keebler (L1 Elven Spellsword). Total XP 2,238. Had his legs burned completely off by chimera fire breath in Session 25.
Marina (L2 Fighter). Total XP: 2,204. Burnt into ash by a chimera fire breath in Session 25.
Gundro (L2 Gnomish Trickster). Total XP: 2,575. Had his mouth and tongue bitten off by a lizardman ambusher in the dank sewers below Cyfaraun in Session 26.
Polydoros (L1 Fighter). Total XP: 0. Had his legs ripped off and eaten by Akira monsters in the dark canopy of the Viaspen Forest in Session 28.
Odrum (L1 Explorer). Total XP: 287. Javelin to the heart from the hands of weird vine goblins hidden in the walls of Ferigno's lair in Session 30.
Garvin the Nutless Wonder (L1 Mage). Total XP: 0. Fell off the side of Ferigno's lair 20 feet to his death in Session 30.
Blackmoon (L1 Assassin). Total XP: 768. Choked to death by BOB from Twin Peaks while stealing treasure from Ferigno's dragon horde in Session 30.
Xanthus (L2 Cleric). Total XP: 2,364. Choked to death by BOB from Twin Peaks while hanging out on the roof of Ferigno's lair in Session 30.
Turin (L1 Cleric). Total XP: 0. Eaten by Wargs in Session 32.
Alexa this is so sad play "Jump" by Van Halen
How do you handle cost-of-living during downtime? I'm planning out a BroSR-style post-apocalypse game (using GURPS), and want it to be meaningful.
ReplyDeleteJoseph: I started the campaign tracking each gold piece PCs would spend each week at a tavern and each loaf of bread they bought. This was too much work.
ReplyDeleteSo I decided to do an "average" cost of living thing.
ACKS has "cost of living" rules in the Core book Page 39. Some ACKS DMs use them as written and some don't care for them. Charging PCs for weeks I didn't DM seemed however, so I made this house rule:
"At the start of each session attending players must pay GP equal to 1/4 of his living expenses (ACKS page 39) for room and board if your PC isn't new that session."
It's a sort of Pay for Play for the session itself. PCs who get "parked" and go unused for long periods of time aren't accruing debt and if I can't DM some week it's not a financial punishment for the PC since, with real time play, time continues to march forward.
IF I were running 1e Ad&D I would NOT do this. The training costs in 1e perfectly encapsulate the Farfahd and Gray Mouser trope of seemingly always being completely broke. Yet somehow still buying drinks.