Norse Campaign Journal

[Ragnarok]

Hello folks. I wanted to start a campaign journal for both your entertainment and for some feedback on my campaign. This is my first time as a GM so I'm basically doing the best I can to make sure they have fun.

 

This campaign is heavily Norse-themed. It's not strictly historically Norse, and the PCs aren't necessarily authentically Norse, but what I'm hoping for the campaign to achieve is a nice balance between Norse mythology and culture and a few variations of my own.

 

Roster:

 

Felnor - A well-respected, wizened human fighter-type at the ripe age of 40. He uses throwing axes and dual wields hand axes.

 

Jax - A young, curious Ice Elementalist from the Northern Wastes. The caster of the party.

 

Hadhood - Gruff Dvergar tank-type. Strong as an ox, but slow and cumbersome.

 

Sol - Alfar archer with some Druidic cantrips. A.K.A. "Bjorn" - his human-given name.

 

Campaign Opening:

 

The four travellers converge separately from various desinations to an island port. They're seeking passage to Midgard, the nearby continent about the size of Australia. They do a bit of asking around, with the Dvergar and Alfar characters getting some strange looks. They're all told at separate points that there have been mists that have swept across the channel, mysteriously destroying ships caught in it. They're told the only man crazy enough to dare a passage is a guy by the name of Knudsen. After a bit of a wild goose chase, they find him at separate points and pay for passage as long as they row and fight if they come under attack. They ship out in the morning, so Knudsen arranges for them to stay overnight at the meadhall. They all meet each other and cautiously converse with each other with a little less enthusiasm than I had hoped. They bed down for the night.

 

The next morning, they pack up their gear and head off to the Long Serpent, Knudsen's ship and the largest in port, measuring at around 30 meters long. They see that Knudsen is taking some other warriors along. When asked why, Knudsen tells them it is to aid his Jarl on Midgard. They get rowing well enough, and manage to keep up with the rest. Just out of sight of the coast of Midgard, the winds change, and the crew grows restless. Sure enough, the Long Serpent is being chased by a clammy mist. The skipper shouts to row harder, but soon the crew sees the grosteque, twisted dragon head of a ship's bow emerge from the mist, with severed torsos chained to the bow. Yup, it's the Draugr. They see one of the Draugr crew: a thing in the shape of a human warrior, put with pale, torn flesh and glowing white eyes. It's swinging a grappling hook. Then, the bows of 100 other ships emerge from the mist. No wonder trade's been disrupted... After barely passing some Strength rolls to row harder, the PCs manage to give the Long Serpent enough of a boost to make it past a couple of islands into a large cove area. Forebodingly, the Draugr mist swings wide and pulls away. After a few tense moments, and passing their Perception roll, they see shadows under the water. They tell the skipper, who runs over and takes a look. The PCs sense that his heart sinks, and he yells "Kraken!! Grab an axe!" A tense struggle ensues. Tentacles shoot up from the water, some grabbing the ship, some dragging a few of the crew down to the murky depths. The melee PCs manage to hack apart the tentacles trying to crush the ship, to hurt it enough so the head surfaces. Jax and Sol take aim on the head, with Sol managing to hit an eye, and Jax pulls a Haymaker, blasting the Kraken with jagged bolts of ice, blowing a hole through the head. It sinks, and the surviving crew and the PCs make their way to the dock. Instead, they find that the dock has been destroyed and is but a bunch of flotsam and jetsam. Just as they land, they hear something huge surfacing in the distance. They look back on the horizon, and see absolutely huge tentacles shoot up from the sea's surface like towers. The tentacles wave around for a bit, then come crashing down, causing massive waves to hit the shore. They just saw the big guy.

 

Reactions:

 

A bit of a slow start with the roleplaying aspect, but that's to be expected because they're pretty new to the whole roleplaying scene. I think they liked the mist the most (hey that sounds nifty). It was a bit of mystery until they saw with their own eyes what was in the mist, then it was a tense race with lots of suspense, and nasty-looking undead warriors swinging grappling hooks right behind them. I think the Strength rolls really highlighted to them the importance of their efforts to outrunning the bad guys. And, right when they thought they were safe, here comes a Kraken for them to deal with. They fought much better than I anticipated, and managed to save more of the crew than I had thought. I think including the Draugr and the Kraken in the opening session set the tone for the scale of what they are up against, and introduces them to aspects of Norse mythology. They passed the rolls that they needed to to acheive the maximum effectiveness (strength rolls to escape the Draugr, and perception rolls to spot the Kraken before it took them by surprise, both saving them some warriors in the end.) So far, things are going well I think.

[Ragnarok]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Session #2:

 

Knudsen, the ship's captain, mutters something and his hands glow softly, and he places them on the bow of his ship. The PCs are hailed by a patrol from a nearby hill fort. The clan that the ship was bound to aid is under siege, and enemy patrols are drawing nearby. The PCs aren't bound to help, but opt to anyway. The PCs, the patrol, and the surviving sailors make it past the patrols to a secret door on the side of a cliff that leads up to the walls of the fort. They enter, and find a handful of defenders left, with good weapons and armor but most wounded and battle weary. The hill fort itself is defensible, built on the tip of a narrow peninsula, encircled by a stone wall above the cliff face that juts down to the crashing waves below. Longhouses span the interior, with the meadhall/barracks in the center, and the Jarl's hall on the highest point of the fort. There is a single gate that leads to the rest of the peninsula. There are bodies of both attackers and defenders both inside and outside the walls. Looks like some of the attackers got in with ladders. The defenders have better gear and from the ratio of the bodies, appear to have better training. The attackers' bodies carry the symbol of a Raven on them, and most of them have something red on them. Their weapons and armor are poor, mostly spears and leather. Not many shields, very few swords. They look like recycled soldiers - wounded and bandaged from previous battles. The defenders have extensive tattoos, and elaborate facepaint. They are the Deathsworn, bound to fight for death and glory. They do not fear death. A few of the Alfar from the forests to the South come to aid their allies, slip in through the secret gate and take their place on the wall. The PCs are met and briefed by Siegfried, the brother of Knudsen and acting commander. Once again, the PCs are told they are not obliged to stay, but do anyway. Siegfried tells them that the Jarl, Alric, was incapacitated by some dark magic and cannot be woken up. They must find a way to hold the line while one of the Alfar attempts to break the magically-induced coma.

 

The PCs immediately start aiding the defenders in shoring up the defenses and distributing weapons. Hadhood gets started on improving the edge of the blades, and Felnor inspires the men to hold their courage. Jax creates some ice blocks on the walls for cover, lays down a sheet of ice in front of the gate, and both in front of and behind it to brace it against battering rams. Toward nightfall, the PCs and defenders take their place on the walls. Soon enough, sounds of the approaching force sweep across the peninsula. In the fading light, the PCs spot the sea of torches of the invaders. The enemy takes up position out of bowshot from the walls, and a large man with a battlehammer and chest tattoos emerges in the front. He promises the defenders a swift death if they come down, but is met with silence. He lifts his hammer and yells the charge, and charge they do. He strides back through the lines, out of sight.

 

The PCs manage to shoot a bunch of the bad guys before they reach the walls. A few slip on the ice, easy pickings for the Alfar archers. Before long, the attackers start pulling up ladders, but Felnor and Jax do a good job of pushing them over/freezing them to their ladders. Everything seems to be going well, and that's when they hear loud, evil-sounding incantations and a massive swirling fireball fly from the enemy's lines and melt the ice Jax had set up. The raiders bring up a battering ram, and start pounding at the gates, while the fireballs wreak havoc on the defending archers. Sol is nearly taken out by one, but manages to escape the worst of it. The raiders burst through the gate after taking heavy losses. The defenders form up at the gate, and that's when the trolls show up.

 

3 trolls stride to the front of the line, bellowing loudly. These trolls stand about 8 feet tall, with huge bulging muscles but not much in the way of armor. 2 big guys with axes, 1 caster. The PCs focus fire on the caster, who wasn't expecting such a spirited resistance. The defenders hold the line at great cost, while Hadhood and Felnor start beating up on the caster's bodyguards. Despite the Trolls' regenerating ability, they finish them off and start wading through the carnage to the caster. After narrowly avoiding a fireblast, they catch up with him, and Hadhood goes enraged (enraged vs. trolls), fells him with his axe, and Felnor steps up and hits him with both his axes to finish him off. As soon as he does, everyone hears a fierce warcry from behind the defenders, and they see the Jarl Alric run at full speed down the hill, leap from the walls, and land into the crowd, crushing one guy, and taking out a wide swath of the others with his greatsword. The attackers cow at such a disastrous turn of events, and turn tail in the face of inevitable destruction. The PCs manage to capture two, but the scant remainder of the attacking army gets away.

 

Variations from actual Norse-ness: A second "moon" as it were, glowing with an otherwordly green. Not quite Aurora Borealis but I wanted to give this world a distinct feel. I also put the Jarl in Meteoric Iron plate. Lets the PCs know that not only is this guy super-important, but he's pretty strong.

 

Reactions: I was surprised that the PCs jumped so eagerly to defend a seemingly doomed fortress. Guess they were itching for a fight. The PCs fought very well. They got lucky on a lot of their rolls, making the fight a little less desperate than I had intended. But, I think the turn of events with the Trolls and the Jarl captivated their interest and kept the fight dynamic enough to deviate from the cookie-cutter siege. Some of the PCs missed a few critical things during the battle, such as the fact that they couldn't see what was launching the fireballs, and Jax didn't think to cast detect magic or use his infrared vision to see that there was an invisible caster, who was, in fact, a Troll. They found out soon enough though. He made up for that with his judicious use of his ice magic to shore up the defenses. Felnor fought very well, connecting with both of his weapons most of the time. Sol fought well, but missed a lot of his aimed shots. Hadhood didn't really get a chance to show his full damage potential, due to his poor positioning, but his trollslayer ability came in very handy.

 

The raiders' seeming alliance with those Trolls should bring up some interesting questions. Hopefully it will stimulate their interest with the politics of the area.

 

Note to self: The PCs dish out a lot of damage, but can't really take an equal amount...

 

 

 

As always, let me know what you think!

[phookz]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Sounds like you had a lot of fun - keep it coming please, I'm enjoying the story so far.

[Ragnarok]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Session #3:

 

Mostly a mop-up session after the big battle. The characters ask some questions about the clan they defended, why the trolls would ally with another clan, what relationship do the Alfar have with the clan, etc. The PCs get to know Jarl Alric a bit better, and ask him some general questions. Alric offers them each gold rings to signify their contribution and service to the clan, and to represent a duty to protect the clan. The PCs all accept, after Felnor hesitantly agrees once Alric assures him that Felnor's clan's interests will not conflict with theirs. Alric invites them all to join him in the Great Hunt, a tradition of the clan. However, the more pressing security needs of the fortress take priority, and Alric bids them go out and seek strong lumber for the gate in the Alfar forest to the South after he secure permission from Kurufin, the elf captain who helped defend the hill fort. The PCs ride out in the morning with Kurufin and head South toward the forest. It's about a 3 day ride, so they make camp for the night and take watch beside a creek running past a hill. The PCs decide to hunt for their food, since the fort couldn't spare any supplies. They manage to track down a deer, but miss it. After some time of following it, they catch back up and manage to bring it down. After cleaning and cooking it, they cut the meat in strips to pack for later. The travel a full day and stop again for camp. During the night, Hadhood hears a great bellowing screech come from a nearby patch of woods, and the crying of a deer. He creeps forward a bit, and can barely spot the entrails and blood of the deer go flying around the trees and shrubs past the creek, and some feathers emerge from the top of the hedge. He awakens the next watch, Jax, and tells him of his findings. Jax uses his infrared vision, but he only barely manages to catch a glimpse of the infrared outline of a large, bipedal, lumbering beast run across his field of vision then disappear. The rest of the night goes without incident. They are awakened in the morning by Kurufin, who bids them ride on toward the forest. Toward the end of the day's riding, they crest a hill which gives them a view of the Alfar forest on the horizon.

 

Reactions:

 

I was pleased that they were asking more questions. The guy who plays Felnor seems to be very attentive and has a great eye for detail. They botched a few rolls on the deer hunt, but in the end they pulled it off. I think they were relieved for a break after the two large fight sequences in the previous sessions. Sol's player seems a bit impatient, but the others seem to be adjusting quite well. Good exposition session.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Sounds rocking good, Rag! I´ve always enjoyed Patrick´s (Felnor) eye for detail.

 

I´m glad to see that they are working well together and really using their characters´abilities. Hadhood getting to go Enraged at such a peak moment is a really cool thing too!

[Manic Typist]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Well, when´s the next game man?

 

I am curious as to what´s next, since I had originally thought the siege scenario would have lasted longer with multiple missions... perhaps they still need to scour the countryside to clean up the remnants of the shattered army? Won´t know until you tell us!

[Casper]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Well from what we know Manic is that this wasn't really an army but infact a bunch of rag tag leftover, worn down, soldiers, with bad equipment and armor who were expecting a pushover (main army somewhere else perhaps?). I highly doubt that it would have been that easy if we had been fighting a proper seige army. It also seems like the were relying on the trolls to do most of the heavy fighting when their numbers wouldn't suffice.

 

I believe the seige only lasted 1 mission because well, that session was about 7 hours long...

 

Without explaining much (that ill leave to Rag) we currently are dealing with leftovers and trying to figure out more of whats going on, who were faceing, and why are trolls helping humans.

 

we just finished an 8 hour (approx) session the 31st. So i'm looking forward to Rag's perspective on how we did - its very interesting reading the GM's view - and what occured (I'll give you a hit, it was very intense RP *including me dealing 28 body and 140 stun to 1 dude with 1 swing*, involves elves, trees and us going down a river).

[lonewulf]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

I think the games are going quite well, so far. Manic, I think that Ragnarok is going to post this weekend's session sometime soon.

 

I do think, however, that as a group we could ask more questions. However, since a lot of the game happens in real time, often the trouble can be thinking fast/hard enough to ask the right questions. Often, after a session I find myself thinking "dang, I should have asked that." I have made note of people to seek out later.

[Ragnarok]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Apologies for the delay. I have been pretty busy and remiss in my journal duties.

 

Session #4:

 

The session begins with Kurufin and the PCs preparing to ride the rest of the way to the forest in order to get some strong wood as a replacement for the shattered fort gate. The PCs show Kurufin a trinket on a leather cord they had found among some heavy footprints a good distance away from the camp. Kurufin takes a look at the trinket, and with alarm bids them make haste. They ride all the way to the forest, and find several troll bodies riddled with arrows and some nasty looking slashes, but fail their perception roll to detect the ones who shot the arrows. Needless to say, a large Alfar ambush party rises out of the leaves and behind the trees like snipers in gillie suits, and it becomes apparent that the PCs only have a short time to properly identify themselves. Luckily, one of the ambushers recognizes Kurufin and the rings on the fingers of the PCs, and she reveals herself to be the Princess Morwen, sister of Kurufin, daughter of the Forest King, and romantic interest of the Jarl Alric. The ciblings rejoice at seeing each other unharmed, and confer about the troll attack and the necessities of the PCs. It is agreed that they should cut a tree, stay the night with the elves, and head out in the morning via river on rafts. They cut the tree, and I describe the situation as the tree begins to fall...yet they do not move out of the way. I make them make Dex rolls so they can move out of the way in time, and all but Felnor pass. An elf pulls him to safety though. The Alfar at the outpost hold a little celebration following their victory over the trolls and there is a little NPC interaction with the PCs, including some friction between Jax and the elves, due to him being an Elementalist and them being of the Druidic persuasion. Sol inquires about his mentor, the Druid Omen, and about the status of the eastern outposts (where he was found) but gathers inconclusive information. Felnor speaks briefly with a battle-scarred veteran, Aeglos, and the two open possibilities of trade between their two people after the Draugr threat has been dealt with.

 

The PCs bed for the night in one of the tree-towers and prepare to head downriver in the morning.

 

 

Reactions:

 

Another RP session. I'm trying to break them out of their initial awkwardness in their dealings with NPCs. It's slow progress so far, and they're not really as expressively curious or as interactive as I would like, but that can be improved upon. I'm also trying something new with them that they're not used to in a roleplaying environment, which is real-time reactions. Like the tree incident, I am trying to get them to make simple, snap decisions based upon my narrative. The goal of this is to get them to interact actively with the campaign rather than just sitting there and doing what I tell them. Hopefully, these can be expanded and made more complex over time, so they start to act and react with greater enthusiasm. I also wish they would ask more questions in general, but especially based upon their backgrounds.

[Ragnarok]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Session #5:

 

The PCs wake up and start loading up the rafts with the provisions they need. They decide who is to go on which raft, and what to do in case of enemy patrols and other dangers on the river. They push off and head downstream. They come to a fork in the river, and choose to go left, which takes them over a shallow, slow part of the river. Before too long, they hear the rush of imminent rapids, so they pull over and decide to scout out the rapids. Felnor, Jax, and Sol are the scouting party, and Hadhood guards the rafts. When they get about to where the rapids are Jax and Sol detect 3 trolls heading upstream and on a convergent course with them. Sol uses Tree's Embrace to morph into the nearest tree, and Felnor ducks behind another tree. Jax readies his weapons but sadly lacks the sense to hide. This results in the trolls spotting him and charging him, with the dual-wielding leader putting some nasty gashes on Jax, nearly dropping him. Fortunately, Felnor and Sol are able to take the patrol by surprise and do some good initial damage on the unsuspecting trolls. Around the same time back at the rafts, Hadhood spots a couple trolls moving on his position, and engages them. A fierce struggle ensues in both spots, and due to some tactical blunders by the PCs and a few unlucky rolls, Hadhood gets knocked out and dragged away by his 2 assailants, and Sol gets mauled and starts to bleed out, with Felnor and Jax barely besting their trolls. Jax and Felnor stabilize the unconscious Sol, and carry him back to the rafts, where they discover a trail of blood instead of their companion. The sun starts to fade as the 2 wounded heroes face a predicament. Their best tracker has been incapacitated, and they have no idea where their companion has been dragged to or to what end. After some hard-pressed decision-making, Felnor and Jax decide to lug the fallen elf back to the the forest on a makeshift stretcher made from raft poles, seeking the aid of the Alfar. They keep moving all through the night and through the morning, resting only to eat and grab a couple hours' sleep. It is during this period that they spot something very special about their rings. They start softly pulsing with a faint blue-white glow, spreading a warm feeling through their body. In the morning, they discover that their wounds have started to heal very slightly. They trudge the rest of the distance to the woods, and arrive at the outpost. The elves are surprised to see them in this state, and Aeglos tends to Sol's wounds just enough to keep him on his feet. Aeglos says he cannot send any more than 2 men, so the 3 PCs and their 2 elven companions ride fast to where the Dwarf was last seen. Sol and the elves regain the blood trail, and track it to a waterfall at the head of a tributary to the river. They hit the dirt as a troll sentry mounts the top of the waterfall. Unfortunately, Felnor fails his stealth roll, so the troll starts wandering down to investigate. The Alfar commandos slink out of sight, one into the water and one behind a tree. When the troll is almost on top of the PCs, the first rises out of the water like a Navy SEAL and cuts his throat while the other one leaps out and punctures his lungs so he can't scream, or gurgle I suppose. They swiftly cut him up and scatter the pieces.

 

The strike force moves up to the waterfall, discovering the entrance to a cave system. As soon as they get in, the path forks, so the elves take the right and the PCs take the left. After a few more forks and a lot more stealth rolls, the PCs wind their way down to a large cavern, where 3 trolls sit by a fire, one of them with a horn. There is a passage past the trolls and one to the left of the PCs. Jax suggests taking out the guy with the horn, but Felnor and Sol want to head to the left passage and try to bypass the trolls. They have to crawl to avoid being seen, and start to do so but Felnor fails another stealth roll (a trend, it seems) which rouses one of the trolls to investigate. Just when he is about to discover the PCs, the troll leader (the very one they thought they killed just a day ago, no less) orders all but one troll out of the cavern and into the other passage. The horn troll remains. The PCs resume their crawl, but this time Jax fails his stealth which brings the horn troll up the walkway and almost right on top of them, but they all pass their Dex roll to zip into the other passage right before the troll sees them. After a tense minute of the troll sniffing around (which brought visible anxiety to the group), he resumes his place by the fire, and the PCs remain undiscovered. The PCs reach another fork, but Sol senses that something just isn't right in one of the adjacent passages. The PCs check it out, figuring that Hadhood might be in there, but instead they find a small cavern with a grisly altar, with dozens of elf bodies hanging from the ceiling, some fresh and gutted, some decayed. A pile of clothing and gear lies to the left of the altar, and a large wooden chest lies to the right. Jax immediately casts Detect Magic on the chest, and much to this delight, it lights up. There is a reading on the lock and something magical inside the chest. Jax wants to loot it, but Felnor and Sol try to talk him out of it with not a little exasperation. After a few minutes of debate, they continue down to another chamber, where they can see entrances to 2 rooms: one well-lit and containing troll voices, the other darker and farther away. They must pass by the one room to get to the farther room. After all succeed on their stealth rolls, they successfully pass by the room and enter the smaller room, which contains their companion Hadhood, who has been roughed up a little by the trolls. They cut him loose and start discussing how to get the hell out without getting killed, and suddenly they hear a hornblast and some alarmed voices, and 2 trolls run out of the nearby room to the large cavern chamber with the fire. They figure that the elves got caught, and peek into the nearby room where only one troll remains: the leader. Luckily, he doesn't know they're there, and they line up some haymakers on him, all hitting him in the stomach. Needless to say, he drops, and they throw him on the fire. They cautiously head out to where the sounds of struggle are coming from, and they see their elf friends surrounded by trolls. Something is different this time, however. The Alfar warriors' eyes are glowing bright green, and they have a feral look about them, like they're enjoying the slaughter. They move with unnatural quickness and accuracy, almost like a war dance. They are so scary looking that the PCs freeze for a second before snapping out of it and coming to their aid. Hadhood, reunited with his armor and weapons, goes enraged and leaps at the troll hornblower, cleaving his head in two with his axe. (Really high damage on the head location, it was a beautiful cinematic moment) while the others join the fray. The elves hold their own and the PCs generally fight as expected, but one silly thing happens. Jax's player decides it would be a good sequence of events to freeze a troll in place, then run up to it and try to light it on fire with a torch, knowing full well that the troll is facing him, visibly pissed, and brandishing a rather large 2-handed axe with a good reach. So, like a delighted but horribly doomed child, he toddles up to the troll and sticks the torch on his chest, with very little effect other than making the troll more angry. Needless to say, he was bleeding out in the next round (he only had 3 Body left going into the fight...). However, the trolls are bested without much sweat, and the PCs help the elves bury the dead and loot the temple room. Jax takes ice pick and hacks a hole in the back of the chest, sticks his hand in, and the first thing he discovers is the rotting head of one of the Alfar. He also finds 11 gold pieces covered in old blood with the raven symbol etched on them, a troll attack map written on some parchment (with some freckles on it...) and a one-handed bearded axe. The axe head is made of black metal with some troll runes carved into it. Jax emerges triumphantly out of the cave with a severed Alfar head in one hand, and a bloody troll axe in the other, and a big old smile on his face. This smile quickly fades when he sees the elves outside begin to get very pissed and draw their swords. Felnor defuses the situation, explaining it all, and the elves take the map to their king, bidding the PCs continue their journey downriver to Alric's Fort. The rest of their journey is smooth-sailing, with the exception of a couple rapids and a waterfall. The dwarf fails the Dex check to hold on over the waterfall, and falls in. Much to his surprise, he starts floating on the shield on his back, despite the many pounds of metal he has strapped to him. They pull him to safety and make it down to the delta, where 2 of Alric's men are waiting for them with a cart and horses to bring them and the wood to the fort. The PCs report their adventure and findings to Alric, who thanks them and bids them rest and recover. That night, they awake to alarmed shouts and the clash of metal outside. Alric and a troll assassin are struggling outside the meadhall, with Alric's men around them. The duo of dual-wielders exchange blows, and eventually disarm each other. The troll swings at Alric, who catches the punch, and gradually forces the troll's arm back as their muscles almost burst with the strain. Then, Alric grins devilishly and squeezes his fist, breaking the troll's fingers and wrist. To make a public show of force, Alric lifts the troll off the ground with one hand, slowly turns in a circle to all his troops, yells "This is our strength!" and squeezes, snapping the troll's neck with his hand. He drops the troll like a limp ragdoll and strides back to his hall. The last image the PCs see is Alric glance up at them, then continue on with a mischievous smirk and a hearty chuckle.

 

 

Reactions:

 

Probably the most enjoyable session so far. The PCs learned very quickly the limit of their power, and were forced to make several difficult decisions. They made several blunders which taught them some good lessons I think. During the combat with the patrol, Sol didn't move away from the troll's melee attacks, which resulted in his imminent blood loss. Jax didn't even hide, which made the PCs lives very difficult. To top it all off, the PCs failed to finish off the trolls after they dropped them, knowing that they regenerate. This resulted in a couple of them popping back up mid-combat, which almost proved fatal. And, of course, they had to fight them again at the cave because they didn't burn the bodies. They learned that particular lesson though, and disposed of all the bodies at the cave. I thought that the conflict over the chest was particularly good Roleplaying on their part. Part of Jax's disadvantages included an almost fanatic curiosity, and Felnor's job is a tactical leader. So they played that well I think. Amazingly, the PCs gave Alric all the gold they found. One coin to verify Harald's (the Raven Clan's) involvement of course, but they gave it all up. Maybe they thought it was cursed, or maybe they didn't want the blood money. And, of course, I'm very much looking forward to them discovering what that axe actually does...

[Manic Typist]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

First thing I´d say as a player- ´I make sure I´m not where the tree´s going to land.¨

 

Oh Jax. I´m glad it wasn´t just with me that you had your antics... Though my last character wouldn´t have mind that ambush bit as all. If someone´s willing to be the bait... I´m willing to use them!

 

What is a BEARDED axe?

 

 

(Good stuff!)

[Ragnarok]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

A bearded axe is simply an axe whose lower part of the blade extends further down. Like this :

 

http://www.hamishsdreck.com/images/bearded.jpg

 

I actually have an identical axe sitting in my room at home.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Ah, que bien.

 

Damn you. Now I´m wanting to roleplay pretty badly. Already have two and a half character concepts bouncing around in my head... but none of them could see action until 6 MONTHS from now. I need to be focused on my homework, not daydreaming about killing stuff!

[Ragnarok]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Write them down! They may develop as our campaign does. I look forward to seeing what you have in mind.

[Ragnarok]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Session #6:

 

The PCs wake up and start a new day in Carrock. Some basic training stuff, and asking lots of good questions of the residents. Alric asks Hadhood and the rest to help forge mithril hinges for the door, and asks the others to help craft a new door for the gate. After a few hours the PCs and the fort's residents craft a beautiful dark wooden gate emblazoned with mithril hinges, highlights, and structural integrity beams. Now the fort is better protected, and now the defenders can turn to specific problems that are a little further out than their mere survival. Alric asks them to discover and bring back evidence that might link Harald to the trolls. His plan is to gather this evidence and bring it up to the region wide council composed of the leaders of all the regional clans, and turn the neighboring clans against Harald once Alric has exposed this unholy alliance. Harald's fortress, Ravenhold, is a very risky place to infiltrate, so the PCs opt to go along with a handful of Alric's troops and target one of Harald's outposts where it is likely that his men might have dealings with the trolls in that area. The PCs pack up and head out, successfully hunting and killing a wild boar on the way. That night, Sol spots some hungry wolves just out of the firelight. He wakes the rest of the group, and the PCs prepare to fight the wolves, but one of Alric's men stands them down and grabs some burning logs from the fire, driving the wolves away. No need for wasteful killing.

 

Reactions:

 

Great exposition session. The PCs asked a lot more good questions and learned quite a bit today. They're starting to form strategies better together, and while they're still not very decisive or very in sync with a lot of roleplaying, its getting better. I am afraid they have a classic kill mentality though. For example, during the encounter with the wolves, they opted for brute force first. I had one of Alric's men scare the wolves away to show them they don't have to kill everything, and in fact probably shouldn't. Now, I was careful to distinguish their initial reaction to the wolves. I don't think they particularly wanted to fight, just that they expected it. I wanted to have them see that in a lot of situations you don't need to fight.

 

On a different note, should they complete Alric's task and prove their case before the Thing (or should it be Uber-Thing...) they will receive some experience points.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Have hope. I´m VERY good at talking a way out of a fight. Almost too good, sometimes. Almost.

[lonewulf]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

I thought everyone was more involved this time. I know that going back and writing down all the questions I had written down was very helpful.

 

You have to admit that the expectation of a fight with the wolves is inevitable, as pretty much EVERYTHING in midgard has wanted our blood, with perhaps the exclusion of the seahawks and the wood elves. paranoia, but perhaps justified. good example though.

[Ragnarok]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

No session this weekend.

 

Tune in next weekend for the PCs' daring raid on one of the Raven Clan's outposts! Will they pose as mercenaries and infiltrate in broad daylight, or will they opt for a clandestine slaughter? Find out next weekend!

[Manic Typist]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

My guess is that they make a plan, and then someone fails to adhere to the plan (I know who my money´s on), they attempt to adapt the plan, it does not proceed smoothly, and then it ends in fire.

 

Because when things get messy, the standard tactic of ¨Burn everything¨ is surprisingly effective.

[Lucius]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

On a different note, should they complete Alric's task and prove their case before the Thing (or should it be Uber-Thing...) they will receive some experience points.

 

Isn't the word "Althing?"

 

As in, meeting-of-all?

 

Lucius Alexander

 

And a palindromedary thing

[Markdoc]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Isn't the word "Althing?"

 

As in, meeting-of-all?

 

In old norse,"thing" is a group or meeting. Althing was the name given to the big meeting in Iceland which served as a combined law session/market and which eventually evolved into a parliament. As far as I am aware, though, that's a specific Icelandic usage, not a general norse/viking thing. The Danish equivalent was called "Storråd" or "Big council" for example, even though the word "ting" was and is used - today's parliament is called Folketinget "The people's assembly"). In Sweden, the closest to the Althing was Landsting or "Country assembly", but also as far as I know, in viking times there was no national assembly there.

 

cheers, Mark

[L. Marcus]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

The perhaps legendary Great Blot every nine years at Old Uppsala may cover that aspects, as it was open for all svear.

[Markdoc]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

The perhaps legendary Great Blot every nine years at Old Uppsala may cover that aspects' date=' as it was open for all svear.[/quote']

 

Not for people from Skåne! IIRC, medieval Sweden had three regional tinge, rather than a single national one.

 

cheers, Mark

[L. Marcus]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Everyone had their own ting! Småland, in particular; the name means "small countries/lands", and each land had it's own ting and it's own laws. It wasn't until the fourteenth century, IIRC, that the whole country came under one lawcode.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Norse Campaign Journal

 

Oh Saints help us.... Please, just post another session log or notes of what´s going on or something.....

 

They´re really getting their geek on.