Bark at the Moon

[War Cry]

After a 6 year hiatus from rpgs, I ran my 1st game over the weekend with a group of guys I have never gamed with. Thought I'd share a little bit of what it was like. The scenario I used was something I had stolen from one game for another, so this is the 3rd version of it. I don't remember where it actually originated from, so I can't claim any credit for this being mine. But first, the characters.

The Characters and players -
Lothar, son of Grimnar (Jason A) A barbarian from the Northern Wilds. Lothar is a Barragoth warrior, a proud nomadic people who once ruled the Northern Wilds and had conquered much of the kingdoms of Inniath and Eldreth under the warlord Strykar the Merciless - of whom Lothar is a direct descendant. Rather fond of drinking and brawling, he is your typical barbarian. When in doubt, use brute force. He also has a soft side and large heart, which is something he doesn't particularly like being talked about.

Grinning Wolf (Tony) Wood Elf Ranger. Still young by the standards of his people, Grinning Wolf is a little unhappy that he has not attained the status of warrior among his people. He will, however, uphold the honor of his clan and father and abide by the wishes of the elders - to go out and learn of these "humans and their strange ways". Many expect him to be as uncouth as Lothar, and are rather surprised at his elagant speech and manners. A deadly and feared archer, he also wields his war club with great skill.

Delona Arkenduil (Jason M) High Elf Mage. Aloof and arrogant to outsiders, she is well liked by her traveling companions and those who do manage to get past her "icy" personality. Hers is a path of vengeance. She had traveled to the human mainlands on a diplomatic mission with her brothers, when an unexpected storm sank the ship. Only Delona and her brothers survived the wreckage, but once on the mainland orcs and other foulsome creatures hunted the trio, killing her siblings and stealing the package they were to deliver to the king of Inniath.

Jorath the Gentle (Matt) Cleric of Terva. Old and wise, Jorath is a retired paladin who chose to serve the needs of the church as a priest. Though he still retains some skill with the sword and lance, he much prefers his staff and magic. Slow to anger, his wrath is a terrible thing to behold - or be on the recieving end of. His love of gardening is a close 2nd to his devotion to the priesthood, and he keeps a small selection of favored plants in a trough on his wagon. He is the Sherlock Holmes of the group.

Svena Bloodraven (Jimmy) Sveldlinga Valkyrie. As deadly as she is beautiful, Svena is an outcast among her own people and can never return home, for she has committed the mortal sin of her sisterhood. None outside of her native land know of her deed, not even those closest to her. Quiet, reserved, and somewhat naive, Svena is a still a most formidable foe for the greatest of merchants. Usually they don't know they've been had until it is too late, and even then, none complain. Few can brag that they have been kissed by a valkyrie and lived to tell about it.

[War Cry]

The adventure started with them in a small village, Blue Creek, located in the Wyvern forest along the western edge of the Iron Mts. As they sat around their table in the local inn sipping on mugs of ale (or in Lothar's case, chugging kegs) they couldn't fail to notice the subdued and sombre mood of the locals. At first, they were a bit uncomfortable as they believed the poor moods to be directed at them because they were outsiders. Jorath and Grinning Wolf, however could sense that was not the case. Jorath succeeded in engaging a few of the locals in conversation while the wood elf used his keen elven hearing to eavesdrop on the muttered words being exchanged at the tables near thier own. Between them, they learned that all contact had been lost with the nearby village of Allesburg and the local guardsmen who had been sent to investigate have not returned. Only a handful of their mounts had come home, and these showed no signs of a fight. Some believe it to be raiding orcs or barbarians. The few remaining soldiers are preparing for the worst as the locals believe that whatever fate befell their neighbors would soon come to visit them.
At this point, a trapper (in truth, a poacher and something worse) got up the courage to meet the "newcomers" and pulled up a chair next to the wood elf.
(In a bad scottish accent) "hello there laddy. Me name be Mountain Jack, and if'n I may inquire, what be yer business in our hamlet? For ye see, there be troubles brewin in these parts, and well, some folk be a mite leery o' strangers such as ye."
The poor wood elf stutters and stammers until Jorath comes to his rescue and with a couple of really good rolls (and roleplay), gets the trapper to open up and the 2 engage in a lively conversation, during which Mountain Jack reveals that he believes the root of the problem is "Wendigos! Wendigos, I tell ye! Why there be a passel of em up in the Mts here, and now they've come down to feed on us. What be wendigos you ask? Why, they were once men, but have now been cursed by the gods, they have. As a matter o fact, one be me Uncle Tom." Mountain Jack leans in close and whispers "That be the fate of cannibals, I tell ye. I was the only one to survive that accursed expedition. We went up into the mountains to look fer gold and got caught by an early storm. Snowed in, we were, and without adequate provisions. Days went by, and then a pair o weeks, when ole Tom got the idea to eat those who had died. I was the only one who refused, and fer that, they put me on the menu 1st. As you can see plainly, I escaped."
The door to the inn burst in and a haggard, filthy, individual staggers up to the counter, already clearly drunk. (Mountain Jack uses the minor distraction to excuse himself now that he knows our heroes are not bounty hunters after his hide. Part of his tale is true. What he has kept secret is the fact that he killed some of his fellow expedition members for their food, and left in the dead of night when his uncle Tom caught him in the act. To survive, Tom and the other 2 who were still alive did feast on the dead and really are Wendigos now. And they're hunting Mountian Jack.) The new patron is a local priest, his garb soiled almost to the point of being unrecognizable. His eyes grow wide as he notices the Priest of Telva and he quickly pays for his drink. In his hurry to leave, he trips over a stool and falls. No one moves to help the old drunk as he crawls to the door and exits.

I sat back and let the group bat around the info for awhile, and when they decided it was time to get a room, the priest couldn't resist his curiosity and set out after the drunk clergyman. Lothar and Svena stepped outside for some fresh air while Delona and Grinning Wolf made the arrangements for the rooms and stabling of the horses. It wasn't that hard to see that the guys playing the barbarian and valkyrie were looking for a fight and the guy running the mage was feeling a little left out. To accommodate them, I had the seargent of the local guard and a couple of his cronies pick a fight with the "son of a horse groper" and invite the valkyrie back to the guard tower for a night of fun. For the mage, the really fun NPC would be her domain once the issues of the drunk priest and the quick combat were worked out.

[teh bunneh]

Sounds like a really good group of characters, and a very interesting setup.
One question: how'd they get together as an adventuring party? (that's always my big question when I start a game... are they chance met strangers, do they all know each other from previous adventures? It's tough for me to come up with that answer!) :)

Bill.

[War Cry]

Well, for this group, we're just running on the old "you've been adventuring together for awhile" gimmick. Honestly, this is just a one shot adventure to see if I still have the GM mojo and if these players are compatible with each other and myself. If it goes well, I'll give them a chance to talk me into running a regular game for them. Right now, it's a wait and see issue. I usually put that responsibility on the players shoulders and have them work that out in the character backgrounds. It's a good method to see how compatible the players are with each other. I've Gm'ed for years, but most of my games ran for long stretches of time. The shortest campaign I've ran lasted a year and the longest was 3 years. An entire epic campaign from beginning to end that would have put LOTR and other series to shame. For the epic, I started them in the middle of the action, the sole survivors of a major city that had been beseiged and than fallen, the occupants shown no quarter. The PC's were left for dead so naturally bonded together to figure out what had happened and went on their way to be the saviours of the world. The ones that lived till the end, that is.