The Second Playtest Group
So I recently managed to get together with my second little group of players, for whom this mash-up game was written in the first place. Their time is at a premium, and the idea is to merge the two groups together when the logistics of timing and running the game can be sorted. That’s the biggest challenge right at the moment. We finished off some of the tail end of the character generation, (equipment etc mainly) and then plunged in to a little pre-game as I like to call it. At this point I made it clear that it was fine to continue to develop the character, and the idea of this separate story arc was to get the players up to speed with the system as it currently is, and have them both experienced and comfortable with their characters before the two groups and story-lines join up for the combined gaming session. To this end Tim changed the gender of his character, deciding that he wanted to make Tillie male. He’d also changed the description of his character’s body-shape – to ‘butterball’.
Sketches of the New Player Characters and Completion of Character Development.
Richard and Tim have rolled up characters from scratch (and PC versions of the characters will appear on the site in due course, along with those of the other PC’s in the group). Richard is playing Felicity ‘Flick’ Sparrow: a youthful Herbalist/Hedge Wizard hailing from one of the idyllic fishing/hunting communities that lie in the foothills of the Lakes of Pleia. She is currently enrolled in Ulris of Lankhmar’s College of Wizardry and is under the tutelage of P’Henris the Master Mage-Healer. She has been a student of Ulris’ for the past 6 years having previously been under the wing of her Aunt. Her Aunt initially recognised her burgeoning natural talent for herbcraft and healing and nurtured it in her. It was also Flick’s Aunt who found the resources for her to study in the highly esteemed school of Wizardry in Lankhmar. In the course of the pre-game the players have the opportunity to continue to develop the personality of the characters and to embellish and co-develop their back-story.
Tim has created Tillie Wetwang (that’s a kind of sphagnum moss in case you were wondering, indigenous to the Great Salt Marsh). Tillie is a Marshlander and labours under the usual Lankhmarian prejudices against his folk. Marhslanders live in the inhospitable environs of the Great Salt Marsh and are curiously adapted to do so. They tend therefore to be somewhat elusive, isolative and are often criticised for having less well developed social skills. They are, to be fair, certainly less gregarious then their neighbours elsewhere on the continent. Marshlanders are however, extremely resourceful, tolerant, loyal, and are enormously talented hunter-gatherers. They also typically have a profound respect for nature. Tillie is a barman part-time at the Great Salt Marsh Way Crossroads Tavern, and also a dedicated Spear Fisherman by trade. He is carving out a career as a guide in the area. Problem is, most folk travel through the Salt Marsh only out of necessity and to get to other places, rarely for other purposes. Occasionally a party may cross the shifting sands but no one has made this perilous journey in Tillie’s living memory. In fact it has been several months since the Crossroads Tavern has had guests for more than an overnight stay – until Felicity and Amberrh of the Icy Wastes arrive that is.
Second Play Test Group Session Summary.
P’Henris has set Felicity a task. This is much to her relief as she had started to worry that her studies were never going to progress. Getting tasks at the School is vital to progress. Do well and succeed and you are inevitably rewarded with new spells. Do badly and fall from favour, or fail to live up to the ideals and expectations of the School and you may as well join the Beggars Guild and be done with it. And some have. Some have been so disenchanted with their learning or failure to move on in the echelons of the school that they have left to pursue other, more lucrative careers.
So she learns that she needs to collect some samples of Salt Marsh Cat Claws, or the Great Salt Marsh Leopard as it is otherwise known. They say that something that is unlikely to happen is ‘as rare as finding the Great Salt Marsh Leopard’, because it is famed for being elusive. It’s also well known for being disturbingly lethal. That’s ok – she only needs to find maybe some shed claws, so no need to come across the beast itself. Mind you do they shed claws? She’ll have to get some local knowledge. First things first – get organised, get booked on the stagecoach, and umm, yes get organised. Felicity (Flick to most) hits the marketplace in the Plaza and gets herself a new dagger. She also gets herself a decent physician’s first-aid kit, and lucks out by bagging a small phial of Newton Isaac’s Patent Healing Potion Formula 97. It costs a tidy amount – but that stuff is just the best of the best when it comes to decent healing potions. She aspires to learning how to make this sort of stuff herself but getting on the Alchemy course is tough at the College. All of this stuff has probably fallen off the back of a cart, but it’s cheap. Even so, and with the extra expenses provided by the School bursar – this is going to be an expensive trip.
The Cracked Head Tavern in Conglomeration Square. The Fountain Dedicated to the Mighty Warrior-Poet Statue of Lord Sir Gyles Brandreth of Hakesmere Looms Large.
Flick heads to the Cracked Head Tavern and climbs aboard the morning stage-coach. It’s going to be a long bumpy trip but at least she’s inside and not hanging off the roof like some of the other passengers. After a few hours crushed against the floury bosum of a middle-aged garlic smelling fish-wife of a woman with more money and access to food then sense, and also the infernal irritations of the loot playing minstrel sat opposite she’s more than ready to disembark. There’s no rest though, or break, until the sullen sword carrying fur bound barbarian woman opposite her – who barely acknowledges anything happening around her or speaks for the first half of the trip – smashes the minstrel’s loot for him over the side of the wagon. She tells him in no uncertain and vicious invective terms to shut up and Amberrh and Felcity share smiles. To both their surprise they find themselves both getting off at the Cross Roads Tavern as the coach trundles on.
Amberrh of the Cold Wastes
They stagger on in the mist as the dark looming shape of the frontier outpost of the Salt Marsh eludes them. They see a light emerging dangling on a pole from the dark mists, and a butterball figure – introducing himself as Tillie, greats them and welcomes them to the Cross Roads Tavern. Amberrh curses her situation, that she should have to ‘lie low’ in such a dank miserable place populated by Marsh people. She can’t wait until Burli gives her the all-clear. That cannot come too soon. Amberrh makes her displeasure at the horrendous accomodation and the conduct of the staff quite clear. The locals are getting to know the swift cutting invectives of High-Lankhmarian, the Barbarian tongue pretty quickly. In the end, as Flick bemoans the cost of a room at the tavern Amberrh offers to share the cost with her. Amberrh knows that if she doesn’t find something to occupy her in this place whilst she waits things out that she will probably go quite, quite insane with boredom. It’s probably best to stick with this Lankhmarian then these strange Marsh people. If she doesn’t go mad with boredom then she feels certain she’ll catch some kind of hideous marsh-bound disease first!
Tillie does his best to please the out-Marshers: the Lankhmarian Witch Woman and the Barbarian Woman from the Wastes. Little he says seems to please them, and little they have to offer at the Marsh seems to be what they desire. They are tough folk! Especially the barbarian woman she curses continuously – mostly at him! Except it turns out that the Witch is desperate to secure the claws of a Great Marsh Leopard. Finally a chance for him to earn his keep and be a guide! He puts himself forward. Nevermind that he’s never seen a Leopard in his life – few have, he knows where to find their eating cave – the Charnel Caverns. If you can find them, you’ll ultimately find a Leopard. Or rather, it will find you. That’s why they are avoided for miles around – strictly off-limits. Still – they’re willing to pay to be led safely to them and back – hard $smerducks. This could be his ticket to greater things. Well, maybe.
The morning sees Tillie guiding Flick and the terribly rude and ungrateful Amberrh through the flat-lands of the marsh to the Charnel caves to the east. Amberrh is hacked off with wading through slush, mud and stinking crap. She is also bemused by the fact that fairly soon both her and Flick have no idea which direction they are travelling in and have come from so disorienting is the marsh. They are not so far now from the shifting sands according to Tillie and sure enough they hear the crash of the surf in the distance. It’s hard to get a sense of direction with the swirling mists that creep and hug the land. It’s dank, muddy, marshy and smelly.
Tillie steadies the group who are continuously complaining. He points out the crooked tree that stands over the cavern entrance as Amberrh casts about for some sign of the legendarily elusive Marsh Cat. She spies after much searching a single dinner-plate sized paw print. It’s a partial print, but clearly indicates there is a large cat in the area, it’s recent and it’s pretty terrifyingly big. Tillie smiles comfortingly and knowingly. ‘Just a kitten really – nothing to worry about’. Amberrh shakes her head – ‘dimwitted Marshland butterbrain’ and hefts her swords. She adjusts the straps on her greaves and looks to the Wizard. ‘I have the means to subdue the beast if it comes to it’, she says confidently tapping her rune-inscribed staff. Her crooked bent out of shape pointed heavily brimmed hat is sagging under the dripping weather as it continues to rain. The barbarian sighs further – her fur pelts are sodden now and so are her spirits. She can’t quite believe how much she misses the big city.
