I want to turn up the intensity and immersion just one more level, so I’ve added a few things as of this session. The first is a wiki where we can store all the campaign information. I could have used Obsidian Portal, but decided to just set up my own mediawiki via Dreamhost. The players have already gotten some good ideas of what to put up, and I’ll be updating it with the characters they meet and more information on Greyharbour’s history. The next thing is a mailing list. This is mostly a convenience, but I hope to get some interesting character exercises on the list now in between sessions to build hype and stimulate interest.
The last thing…is music. I’ve never been prone to using music myself, but decided that the game could use a soundscape.
I spent a little bit of time hunting down some classic fantasy soundtracks. When I say some, I mean two –Conan and Lord of the Rings. I got the Soul Calibur IV soundtrack when I bought the deluxe strategy guide, so I ripped that to itunes as well for battle music. I built two playlists in itunes, put the music on low and flipped between the ambient playlist and the battle playlist when appropriate. I didn’t think it was going to have an effect, but everyone really liked it. So it stays! I think I’m going to have to play around more with Syrinscape to incorporate extra sound effects over the music. Imagine the atmosphere with a low pounding drum and the sound of a thunderstorm over it. Or flashes of flame and lava crackling over a strident orchestral piece. I’m excited to where I can take this.
My wife decided to join us, and I couldn’t have been more pleased. My wife is my best friend, very funny, and an excellent storyteller, so I knew she would bring something special to the table.
Anna wanted to play a warlock, so we know have three strikers(!) and one defender.
The tally thus far:
Arctana, Half-elf Warlock
Tyrst, Tiefling Rogue
Bobric, Elf Ranger
Marc, Human Paladin
As the game starts, Tyrst Bobric and Marc are still looking for the kobold camp. Arctana has been tasked by Troy with following them. Troy is a cagey dwarf, and expects that Huxor would take this opportunity to kidnap the players and replace them.
Following them doesn’t last long, as Arctana horribly botches her Stealth rolls and gets spotted. Arctana explains her mission and gets grudging acceptance into their group. Everyone suspects Troy of sending them into a trap as is, and finding this bit of deceit doesn’t improve their perception.
The players commence their search in the midst of a downpour. Skill challenge! We used the skill challenge errata, and everything went pretty well, though we keep seeing a problem where certain players have no good skills to contribute to the challenge and either have to pass or to just aid another. I’ve decided that I’m going to have to rewrite the skill challenges for my game (I’ll post them here, or course), but the narrative-game merge of skill challenges keeps me hooked on and committed to making skill challenges work.
They eventually locate the camp. They hear the screech of an owl overhead (eye of alarm ftw!), which is odd (Bobric notices that there are no owls in this area) but ultimately they ignore it. The ranger and rogue go into stealth-mode, but all they manage to overhear is some impatient kobolds murmuring about wanting to go back home. The duo make their way back to the outskirts…
Where the paladin and the warlock have gotten ambushed. A warning shot is fired near the paladin. Marc and Arctana slowly pivot and see a dozen blackwater mercs with crossbows, calling for the two to surrender. The kobolds and mercenaries in camp begin to move towards the group.
Tyrst and Bobric see this and make their way back towards the other half of their group. The warlock tries some clever improv diplomacy that goes nowhere, and the palading pretends to surrender and launches an attack. In two turns mass point blank crossbow fire drops him. As he drops the ranger and the rogue join the fray. The rest of the camp is in hot pursuit.
The warlock manages to revive the paladin with her healing potion, and Bobric goes house on the minions. The players grab their horses and flee.
The players are now being chased, which leads to the next skill challenge. This one was pretty nail-biting, as the PCs get to a point where they have one more roll to determine if they fail or succeed. And they do! They throw their pursuers off their scent, and race to New Water.
No time wasted, Marc leads a charge right into Troy’s office and demands an explanation. Why did he set them up?
The short answer: he didn’t. Huxor, the person they rescued from the kobolds, did. The group finds this impossible to swallow. Why would he do that?
This is when Troy explains to them the history of the doppelgangers in Greyharbour. Before the Baron’s ancestor’s claimed this area for their own, their was a prosperous civilization of doppelgangers living here. Baron Fuhlger didn’t trust a group of people that could pretend to be anyone, so he did his best to wipe them out. Troy puts out to the players that he suspects there are small cadres of doppelgangers left that seek revenge.
Troy Blackshield’s “theory” (a theory of Troy’s is like someone else’s meticulously researched fact, but none of the PCs but Arctana know this yet) is this: Huxor was captured, but soon thereafter was killed and replaced by a doppelganger, who let himself be rescued so that he could provide false information to the New Water Militia, leaving them seriously unprepared for whatever threat they were actually facing. Troy asked the players to “prove” Huxor’s theory so that he could see what Huxor would do. Troy predicted that Huxor would try to replace the PCs to feed Troy even more information.
Troy tells the players that he’s not sure that they aren’t now doppelgangers, but he’s pretty sure simply because Arctana returned, and he didn’t think that the doppelgangers (he believes them to be exceedingly short on numbers) would have been prepared for this.
He dismisses the players, but only after they come up with passwords to confirm each of their identities when they meet. Troy will send an agent to them when he has need of them, but until now the PCs are to just wait until they hear from him.
This was the end of the session, and now the campaign is fully kicked into gear. The PCs are now starting to take control of what’s happening, dictating their actions. I recorded each thing they wanted to do, and will just lead out into that next time.
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A Jack of All Trades ,or if you prefer, an extreme example of multi-classing, Gamefiend, a.k.a Quinn Murphy has been discussing, playing and designing games straight out of the womb. He is the owner and Editor-in-Chief of this site in addition to being an aspiring game designer. As you would assume, he is a huge fan of 4e.
By day he is a technologist.
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