Inspired by James Gillen's [edit misspelling - sorry!] Turakian Age campaign I thought I would post my own FH campaign notes here, for the cheap amusement of the masses. The game's been going on for a few weeks now, and it seems to be going well. It takes place in my own fantasy world (see the "FH Mythologies - Storytime" thread http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18634 for a little info on one aspect of my world).
The concept is this: The Royal Explorers' Society has commissioned one of its members to assemble an expedition to sail south and map the Black Blood River, a very large river (think: the Amazon or the Nile) which has never been fully explored. The PCs are members of the expedition, hired on as guards, guides, translators, healers, or whatever. They are all beginning, low-powered characters (25 base, 50+ disads).
The PCs on the team consist of:
Breena of Adrom, a ranger and a paladin in the service of Adrom, god of woodsmen. Breena is a very large (6’), very strong woman who hails from the rough and mostly unsettled part of Kalon (a heavily forested country ruled by the druids). She doesn’t have much of a sense of humor, but she does have a kind heart. She has come on this adventure to test her skills and her mettle against all odds, and was hired as a guard and a guide. Breena is being played by my lovely wife, Tammy.
Hathym Veddol, a White Elf noble who didn’t fit in with the expectations and demands his family, so he was apprenticed (read: shuffled off) to a Brown Elf ranger at an early age. Despite all expectations, he took well to his training and became a full-fledged ranger. Hathym has a taste for the finer things in life – particularly women (he would charitably be called a “dawg†); his nickname back home is “The Rake,†which he has very carefully failed to mention to his new teammates. Hathym is on this mission because he had to get as far away from his homelands as he could, as quickly as possible. He hasn’t mentioned why, but it apparently has something to do with a young lady and an angry family. Hathym is played by Ron, an old friend.
Brother Radley Zane, a priest of Comme, god of laughter and minstrelsy. Radley grew up in the mean streets of the biggest and baddest city in the world, but was rescued from a life of poverty and crime when he found religion. He’s on this trip because… well, it’s a funny story. See, he took a bet that he couldn’t sneak aboard a ship after dark. He did so and fell asleep. When he woke up, he found himself hundreds of leagues from home and heading west. He decided that this was a test sent to him by Comme (very funny, big guy!), so he’s going wherever his feet take him. He was hired as a healer. Radley is played by Mike, another old friend.
Kishara, a powerful wizard. Actually, Kishara is a wild mage, but she knows that wild mages have a bad rep, so she tries to keep her true power a secret. So far she has been extraordinarily lucky – especially given that she’s the only thaumic spellcaster on the team, no one else really knows what a wizard is supposed to be able to do, so they just assume she’s an ordinary wizard. Kishara is looking for adventure, knowledge, and a way to better understand her powers... but more importantly she’s looking to get away from mobs of angry villagers who discovered her secret and want to string her up. Mike’s girlfriend Kate is playing Kishara.
Ulkiel Artu of Cainith North is a hobbit bard, a proud graduate of the finest bardic college in the world. He has a smattering of language talent, a smattering of magic, a smattering of combat ability, a smattering of artistic skills, and a smattering of outdoorsman skills. Ulkiel wants to see and experience new things – go places no one else has gone, do things no one else has done, see things no one else has seen – and that’s why he’s come on this mission. A new player to my group (Ilija) is playing Ulkiel.
Marina is a priestess of Cynthea, goddess of the moon and stars. Marina was a peasant girl who was lucky enough to be apprenticed to her local temple and made good. After finishing her apprenticeship, she signed on with a naval vessel that was hunting pirates. Signs indicated that these pirates were supernatural in origin – possibly even Undead – and she is a staunch foe of the walking dead, so she wanted to be part of that mission. Unfortunately, the mission ended badly; she was found by our heroes, unconscious on a piece of flotsam. What happened to her ship, no one knows, but she joined the crew of this new ship and has proven a capable leader. Marina is played by Dawn, a friend-of-a-friend who joined our group at about the same time her friend dropped out.
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Since this is not a standard dungeon crawl but rather a long-term exploration into dangerous territory, the Expedition is a large group consisting of porters, boaters, diggers, guides, and the like. In addition, I added a few more NPCs to round out the group and fill in some skills that the team might need later. These are mostly off-screen personalities who generally only show up when the PCs call them.
Arialle Darkleafe is a Green Elf archer. Beautiful and as skilled in the woods as she is with her bow, Arialle also has serious impulse control issues. She tends to shoot first and ask questions never, so the heroes only invite her along when they know that combat is about to start. She also has trouble with the common language spoken by the group (when she started the game, she spoke only Elvish; now she has 1 point in the common language), so she frequently misunderstood orders.
Slick Motomo is a rogue from the Empire of Kidbod, a corrupt regime that stands at the crossroads of east and west, north and south. Slick came on this expedition in order to make a profit… at least, that’s the story he gives. In reality, he’s a bounty hunter hired by Hathym’s enemies to bring the Elf back to them – dead or alive. (That’ll teach the player to take a 15-point Hunted!).
Huang-Jin, a mysterious woman from the far east. Huang-Jin is the company’s cartographer, with an innate sense of geography and an artist’s touch. Huang-Jin is one of the company’s two translators (Ulkiel is the other) since she has great facility with language. She is also a spellcaster who knows a variety of useful non-combat spells. I made Huang-Jin because Ulkiel’s player thought his wife might want to join the game; turned out to not be the case, but we’ve kept Huang-Jin around because she frequently proves useful.
Lord Walter Robert Dungeness is the leader and financier of the expedition. He was an officer in the military until an encounter with a Giant cost him his eye. After retirement, he headed south to the edge of the Hidden Jungle to become an explorer. He wants nothing more than to leave a great legacy, for his name to go down in history as one of the great explorers of his time, and so he founded this expedition. Dungeness is no coward and no fool, but he tends to be hidebound and rigid in his approach to problems; this has made some interesting dynamic tensions in the group.
There are other NPCs in the group – N’Amwei the quartermaster/cook, Kenbede and Igdobe the native guides, and a few others, but they’ve not been very important to the game so far.
Haven't posted one in awhile. Here's one of the current roster of the team we started in college (hard to believe its been 10+ years!).
FORCE 2004 L to R (Back): Starhammer, Anvil (the only character I've ever freehanded), The Mighty Meteor, Winterhawk, Heavyweight. (Front) Magenta, Minutiae, Dr. Tempest, The Lensman (with all respects to Edward Elmer Smith).
To understand this quote (in context), you have to understand the character I was playing at the time. Ghost Sniper, she's the professional's professional, gal you send you send out when you need someone killed and done right. Calm, polite, and deadly. Scares the hell out of Scorpia. That sort of gal.
During a game, the team was going through New York to find a kidnapped girl, and somehow we wound up in this really nasty bar that DEMON, VIPER, and everybody else that's a bad mook considers their watering hole. Due to events that would require you to drink at least HALF a pint-bottle of Jack Daniels to believe, Ghost Sniper had finally made it back to her team, just before the bar fight was going to start.
Note, she had been rolling AWFUL rolls the whole game.
Walks into the bar, with this terible scowl on my face, and I say, "I'm just going to let a burst off into the ceiling. Just to get everybody's attention."
GM:"Okay-do you want to roll to hit or do damage, or I can just give it to you."
ME:"With the way my luck has been today, I'd probably blow off my own foot. Just getting their attention."
GM:"Sure, not a problem. Nice little burst, makes everybody pay attention."
ME: (Deep Breath) "I AM NOT HAVING A GOOD DAY! I HAVE BEEN SHOT AT! I HAVE HAD THREE CARS AND TWO MOTORCYCLES SHOT OUT FROM UNDER ME! I HAVE HAD A DRAG QUEEN TRY TO SEE JUST HOW GOOD I WAS IN BED, AND SOMEBODY BLEW UP MY LAST PAIR OF CLEAN PANTIES! NOW, ARE ALL OF YOU GOING TO BE NICE AND TELL US WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW, OR AM I GOING TO HAVE TO HURT SOMEONE?"
GM: "One of the mooks, wearing a VIPER uniform stands up and says, 'I don't think you've got the guts...'"
ME: "I shoot him. Machine-rifle mode. Roll?"
GM (A Bit Shocked): "Sure, roll."
Natural 3. House rules were that a natural 3 meant you did full damage on an attack. On a 2D6 AP RKA, 5 shot autofire, with a character that has Accurate Autofire.
GM (Looks at His Map): "Well, all that's left of him is his boots. Most of his upper legs, too. And, the bar now has a nice back door. Right into the car dealership. Across the street. Everybody's look at you and wondering what's going on."
ME (Deep Breath): "Now! Does anybody else wanna give me trouble?"
Oh, and for reference, here is an example of g-chan who is my favorite cosplayer. Of course that probably has something to do with the fact, she has cosplayed as a Final Fantasy 5 character which no one else, to my knowledge has done. If I get rep for this post, I'll provide a direct link.
Doug McCrae reacted to teh bunneh in FH Campaign