Double Cross: Part 2 - After Action Report

Part 1 - Review

While a reivew of a game is good, there is nothing quite like actually playing it. Since there was a request for information on how it runs, it seemed like a great excuse to get one of my groups together and put Double Cross through the paces.

Stating the obvious, this game isn't for everyone. Not every game has to be, nor should it be. Double Cross is no exception to that. That being said, all of the players and myself enjoyed Double Cross a great deal, despite some of the stumbling that we encountered. Be aware, it doesn't necessarily play how it reads, for better or worse.

What it offers is a game that has a tight narrative structure. The Encroachment mechanic keeps each scene focused and players generally don't feel the need to get involved in every interaction. This keeps the action moving forward and reduces events from getting bogged down; everyone was invested in maintaining the pacing.

Some groups may find this to be a bug, rather than a feature. If players are likely to be distracted if not directly involved in a given scene, then a structure where everyone has something to do in a given scene will be important to maintain. In a more global sense, this means that your scene economy will likely be reduced as players accumulate more Encroachment simply by interacting with the world around them.

The session was overall low intensity; I was more interested in getting a feel for things than really stressing the limits. Even then, I expected Encroachment to be a more significant issue than it was. Whenever the opportunity presented itself, every character let loose with the biggest combo at their disposal. Despite having no restraint whatsoever, only one character was in danger of becoming a Gjaum at the end of the session, and they backtracked from the edge.

Behind this disparity is, without a doubt, how combat proceeded. Since I wasn't familiar with the nuances of how the powers interacted on my first read-through, I decided to trust in the wisdom of the pregens. While this wasn't strictly a mistake, none of the characters at the table had a defensive ability to their name. One NPC had a defensive ability, though it was okay, and the other just had a big sack of hit points.

The overall impact of this is that there were four glass cannons at the table. The fifth character, Evergreen Apostle, was... really boring. Don't let anyone play that character as written (there are better ways to put together a support character in the system). Without fail, if a PC took damage, they were taken out. Luckily, there are a variety of ways to bring them back into the fight, so it wasn't really a deal. At the same time, they could dispense with ridiculous quantities of violence as well.

For example: In the first combat, the antagonist was downed with the first attack. Then I realized he had a guard ability (see below). My players graciously allowed him to use his power and live, take someone down, then go down to the very next attack against him.

There are two forms of defense: dodging and guarding. The former is all or nothing, the latter reduces the damage you take. They are mutually exclusive and it is a very straightforward setup, which is nice and easy to communicate. None of the characters had anything that really impacted this. Dodging was pretty useless since attack pools were considerably higher and invariably reduced the result required to critical.

An aside: Typically 10 is a critical, allowing you to reroll until you don't roll a critical. Some powers allow you to reduce this number, 7 being a common limit. When you reroll a 7, it still counts as a 10. The end result is relatively fast to deal with, since you are just counting the rerolls, rather than adding up all of the dice (you only take the highest number rolled).This is very effective and worth doing every time you get the chance. When rolling against someone that has not reduced their critical, it isn't a competition.

The good news is that there are a number of powers for each Syndrome that can affect this in interesting and thematic ways. Some have powers that give them bonuses to dodging (which allows you to reduce that critical value), others give bonuses to guard to directly reduce damage. Some: all of the above. None of the pregens had them. Any of them. So keep that in mind.

There is a certain amount of system mastery required to begin to take advantage of the power structure. It isn't difficult to acquire that system mastery in the first place, which is always a bonus for everyone. The Syndromes don't have any hidden traps and a specialist and a generalist can each be effective.

While everything moves quickly when it is tallied out ahead of time, if your players start combining powers on the fly, things can potentially slow down. This is where the system mastery really comes in. There are some simple and straightforward guidelines on what can be combined, but there is also a lot of information to process. If they want some variety, I would suggest putting together a few different combinations on notecards (one listing for below 100% Encroachment, another for over 100%) and just using those.

As I indicated at the beginning, Double Cross is a fun game. The crunch is quite crunchy, but it isn't complicated and there is a sense reward behind that for some players. I honestly wouldn't consider my players really into mechanics, they certainly don't shy away from them, but it's not their thing. Despite that, they picked up on everything quickly and at least seemed to have fun with the mechanics. Which is a definite plus.

It plays quickly and has a nice narrative structure; if you have long enough and/or your players really keep up the pace, you could easily fit two scenarios into a session. Just play your first scenario knowing that mistakes will be made and to roll with it; it should all fall into place without too much effort. Plain and simple: my group had fun, despite the fumbling around at times. That is a pretty good litmus test for how it will go when everyone is familiar with the game - also, they are interested in playing it again.

The Tulip Academy's Society for Dangerous Gentlemen

The Tulip Academy's Society for Dangerous Gentlemen (hereafter referred to as "Tulip Academy") is a cooperative story game. It easily has one of the best pitches, where each player portrays a child from one of the most powerful families in the world attending the most prestigious school in the world, the eponymous Tulip Academy. From this elite student body, the very best are selected to join a ancient and secret organization, the Society for Dangerous Gentlemen.


Students within the Society have effectively limitless resources to pursue whatever goals they desire. Right up until they graduate and must rejoin their family. Once home, they will be adults and expected to carry on the family traditions. The Society is their chance to exercise their power and make connections. Whether they decide to travel through time fighting back an impending alien invasion, put on the most epic concert of all time, or change the fortunes of one very lucky girl, it is entirely their choice.

The book itself is extremely slender (24 unnumbered pages), but full color and with evocative art. The text itself is endearing and very easy to follow. Given the high production quality, I can forgive the high price tag ($16) for such a slim book.

Character creation is simple and cooperative. It involves answering some questions about your Gentleman (e.g. How were you able to attend the Academy, what is your drive, what do you look like, etc.) and defining your strength and weakness. The other players will work together and offer you options for each that you get to select from. I am always a fan of collaboration in character creation, so this appealed to me a great deal. It also neatly avoids two of the common pitfalls associate with group input on character creation - thoughts from the group being cast aside, or being forced on you - by offering that choice. Finally, each character randomly determines an NPC who is either their unrequited love or rival. Though, how either of those can remain static before a Dangerous Gentleman is anyone's guess!

Again, the pitch for Tulip Academy is amazing and there are endless plot ideas. Gameplay doesn't have a traditional GM, instead each player takes a turn narrating one scene. The player in charge of the scene runs all of the NPCs for that scene, while the other players may choose to include their character in the scene, or take on the role of an NPC. At the end of each scene, the host will decide if the Gentlemen were victorious or not, note as such, and pass it to the King. Whoever is running the first scene will also portray the "King", an a senior student NPC that leads the Society. The King will introduce the scenario and close it out at the end, the After Party, where the votes are tallied and it is determined if the Gentlemen won the day or not.

All of the generalities for the session are determined through draws from a standard deck of playing cards, which will also be used for conflicts (more on those in a bit). The initial premise is determined through a card draw and can range from mysteries, competition, and revenge, to giant robots and zombie attacks. The host of each scene draws a card for the location and then two more cards for the NPCs.

The random theme is interesting and gives all of the players an objective place to start and begin to discuss where things can go, what they would like to see, really what they are going to be doing that session. This impression I got from play is that you can easily play a few of these scenarios in the span of a more traditional game, which may have some appeal.

A big downside to the scene structure as written is that you can end up with combinations that are awkward and require a talent for thinking on your feet - this is a group of people trying to host individual scenes that fit into a cohesive story, and that doesn't always work well. An unexpected problem that also came up for us was the exact same cast of NPCs for a subsequent scene, just in a different location. It gave an interesting continuity to events (clearly they went to detention for something that happened off-screen), but there wasn't anything new or interesting to play with the same characters. Given the limited number of scenes, this was something of a waste.

Certainly it is easy to call a mulligan on any of this and redraw the scene, or cards until it fits, but then why is anyone bothering with the random location/NPC mechanic in the first place?

There are only three kinds of conflicts in Tulip Academy: Art, Fencing and Science. Each is a unique mini-game played with the deck of cards. This is also where your strength and weakness come into play. If you invoke your strength, and everyone agrees that it applies, you gain some significant benefit to the mini-game (typically meaning that you are going to win), but you can only use your strength once a game. If your opponent uses your weakness, you win, but they get to narrate how your weakness robs the victory of glory.

When reading these, it sounded like a lot of fun, describing your actions during the mini-game exchanges. In play the mini-games were so separate from the actual game we were playing, that narration quickly fell by the wayside (or became ridiculously violent in the case of every incredibly one-sided fencing contest). Role-play and the scene disappeared and there was only a little card game with the occasional, half-hearted description. An even greater sin was that the mini-games weren't even fun. For example, the fencing conflict is just War with a small deck of cards.

In each case the strength gave an overwhelming advantage, which is fine, but it makes playing out the actual conflict uninteresting. Even the weakness was difficult to work into play - it isn't easy for everyone to describe that particular scenario well, and the victor is still the victor. This can create some difficult math for the host to determine success for the scene or not - does a weakness automatically cause a loss, even though they still won? It's not necessarily easy to determine, particularly keeping in mind that each host is also a player and they want to win in the end.

Even the After Party was somewhat fraught with narrative peril. It's more of a summary of victory, rather than a true ending. It can include some description of events that happened off-screen to support the ending, but there won't be much role-play to support that, or really a chance to revel in the victory. It feels artificial and forced (likely because it is). There is always the significant chance that we were simply doing it all wrong, or that this game simply is not for me, despite really wanting to like it.

While this game is likely not for me, I'm still willing to give it another play or two, just to try some different approaches. It still has a premise that I adore, and I still want to like it. My issues may not apply to everyone. If a semi-structured cooperative story game that requires a lot of on-the-spot thinking appeals to you, particularly with some different little card games involved, this may just be the game for you. Similarly, if you have played Tulip Academy, leave a comment and let me know what you thought and if I missed anything while playing.

Earthdawn: Adventure Log 08 - Ardanyan's Revenge

This is the eighth Adventure Log in an ongoing series about Earthdawn.Introduction and Index.

Prior to the Scourge, the Mad Passion Raggok was known as Rashomon. At that time his ideals were endurance, leadership, perseverance and tolerance. None of the other Mad Passions were twisted to the degree of Raggok, and now he has the ideals of bitterness, jealousy and vengeance.

Raggok is closest Earthdawn comes to the standard fantasy evil god, often appearing as a large man with a ram's head and open, festering wounds. The common elements associated with him include cold, insects, skeletons and the undead, weapons and wounds. His generally associated powers involve calling up painful memories to torment, inspire hatred, raise the undead and just generally everything you would expect the localized incarnation of evil to do.

His followers, questors, tend to either wallow in debauchery, flaunting their wealth and wasting it, or to lead lives of deprivation and spend all of their resources doing whatever they can to make things worse for those around them. Though there are certainly shades of grey between those extremes, all questors of Raggok have an investment in making the world a generally worse place to be, particularly on a personal level.

Adventure Log – 08 Ardanyan’s Revenge

Recorded By: Elmod of Glenwood Deep

Date: 13 Riag, 1506 TH
Group Name: Mismatched Steel

Group Members

Elmod the Nethermancer(1)
Honeysuckle Sunspray the Windmaster(2)
Jak’Tak the Weaponsmith(3)
Ting the Swordmaster(4)

Ting and I found Honeysuckle and Jak left town quickly. I talked with Issir Faang(5) again and was reinspired to look for the amulet he previously spoke of – the spirits being restless. He also offered an old item in exchange for the amulet expedition.

Ting and I then gallivanted into the forest at night, trying to be quiet, but either way were undisturbed by the forest elves. We found the amulet in an old shallow grave of a humanoid skeleton. We returned, Issir looked and inspected the amulet, and returned it to me. Also he gave me a strange doll. We parted.

Ting made friends with Wuschwusul, a new t’skrang in town, that also came in with an obsidiman Warrior, Caedrus. Ting had fun gallivanting with Wuschwusul.(6)

Returning to have tea with Issir again, I found he had vacated the premises. Asking around I found no one even recognized he had been there until I found a poor willed soul that revealed Issir had fled anonymously and threatened death to those around his house – and he’d left through the West gate (which also did not see him leave). His place vacant, I began to live in his house.

I saw Ting shortly thereafter reporting that our companions, Honeysuckle and Jak’Tak had returned to town. Reconvening with them, we discussed leaving the town to catch up on the poor climate of the elves in town.

On leaving, however, we found that posters identifying us as outlaws (including an obsidiman Honeysuckle and Jak had met outside of town). Guards were promptly alerted to our leaving and we fled through town.

Down an alley. Honeysuckle and Jak’s friend, Titoo, gets our attention to come and follow him and we proceed to follow and hide in a cellar of his.

He discussed how Grankar Eisengeisser was captured by the local elf conglomerate, also looking for the kaer that Honeysuckle and Jak found previously. A hastily devised plan is made to rescue Eisengeisser at the Council Hall’s basement. Ting asks her new friend to try and create a distraction to five us advantage. We set forth with disguises from Titoo.

Explosions are heard in Hangside(7) as we near the Council Hall’s rear gate. Many guards are seen leaving. Honeysuckle flies through the gate and mostly kills the two guards, one of which I finish off with an Astral Spear quite handily. Keys are found as Titoo opens the gate and we proceed through the house.

We meet a group of six guards at the front door. We battle for some time. My foe wounded me most furiously before I eventually ripped his spirit from him finally. The others fought well too. We locked the doors and fought the remaining guards in the cellar and the stairs. Grankar and hooded prisoners were found along with a secret passage in the treasury.

Following the passage since the prison doors could not be opened, we found a shrine to Raggok – a Mad Passion. The passage eventually leads to a passageway with pit traps and a magically concealed passageway to a cave passage to an underground kaer.

The kaer was teeming with life and population. We were still quite haggard from the battle and were noticed as outsiders – not least by some Illusionist that tried to “summon” some Horror-like lizard beings(8). It was enough to let him get away, though he was spotted as associated with the City Council of the city of Ardanyan by his ear clasp.

Finally reaching the Council Hall in Kaer Ardanyan, a dwarf, Joran, lead us to a chamber to talk (in deference to the angry mob alarmed at our entrance and presence). We informed him and his elven counterpart about the end of the Scourge and corruption of their Council members who were corrupted the city of Ardanyan. Leldrin was also additionally responsible for deluding the Kaer by claiming a Horror at the gates to the kaer. Other things about the Questor of Garlen.

We reluctantly agreed to appear in chains to assuage the townspeople’s fears – however somewhere we were also duped as Joran was impersonated by the Illusionist Leldrin (one of the other corrupt leaders of the city of Ardanyan). We chased him to the entrance of the Council Hall, but he escaped with invisibility.

Returning to the commotion in the city of Ardanyan, we revealed the corruption of the Council to the angry mod of townspeople – lead by Ting and eventually backed up by Joran.

Joran bestows us titles of Protector’s of Ardanyan as well as giving us a recently vacated property in Hangside.

Jak sold some of our recent loot to purchase an alchemy lab that I helped prepare. I hope to soon learn additional alchemy skills and knowledges. Other people people improve their skills as well.

Titoo was employed to watch over our new alchemy lab for 50 silver/mo.(9)

(1) Known associate of Fastoon Julari Makanth Phunkot of Iopos. Trained under Mestoph, if that information is possibly correct.
(2) An uncommon Discipline, particularly in this part of Barsaive, the Windmaster is a community guardian, similar to a Warrior, for Windlings of Glenwood Deep.
(3) Known associate of Maester Bleys and Omasu.
(4) Known associate of Tarr. Trained under T’Skee “the Magnificent”, Swordmaster of V’Strimon. See cataloged: Adventuring Groups: Exploration: Fourfathers.
(5) Human Nethermancer residing in Ardanyan.
(6) Wuschwusul, a Swordmaster of Syrtis. Caedrus, a Warrior of Ayodhya. See cataloged: Adventuring Groups: Mercenary: Scale and Stone.
(7) Regarded is as the “nice” part of Ardanyan where the ruling elves and their favorites resided. A forested area on the South side that is elevated and overlooks the rest of Ardanyan.
(8) Leaping Lizards, I believe.
(9) Received and Edited by Zamirica One-Knee.

*     *     *

This session marked the conclusion of the "Ardanyan's Revenge" arc. Some old threads were followed up on and I introduced the first real Thread Item, the Sinistral Puppet. The first half of the session went very well. Returning to Ardanyan and evading the guards was tense, and the wanted posters gave clear hints that all was not right (they were based on characters present during the previous session, not the Group as a whole). Following that was some planning and a daring nighttime raid on the Council Hall. This was exciting and full of action, the pressure was high and the pacing excellent, right up until they started exploring the kaer.

When the characters arrived at the kaer things took a turn for the disgruntled. The immediate actions of the Illusionist within and the responses from the kaer-dwellers served to frustrate some players. Essentially, a lot of the details and importance is lost if you are not actually from the kaer. With that buy-in, the tension can be maintained as there are different repercussions and some investment in how things go (also real fallout from actions outside). The big meeting at the end had something of a deus ex moment where the overall villain makes his escape. Given the significantly differing power levels, he has tricks at his disposal that the players are powerless against, but all he does is make an escape. Regardless of how you approach this adventure (from within or outside), some players will be unhappy with how this plays out.

In all, it is a good introductory adventure and plays best as the starting point of a campaign. The end is somewhat dodgy, but everything leading up to that is good. If nothing else it can be mined for a lot of ideas. The epilogue was fine and the fallout from what happened can keep Ardanyan a simmering issue for quite a while. It holds a lucrative location and will always be a target for scorchers, but now lacks any cohesive leadership. The town is bursting at the seams with new inhabitants and clearly cannot support all of them. Also, the relations between the various factions is approaching an all-time low with the betrayal that was revealed - the money that everyone is fighting over is all gone. I went with a slow burn on the problems as everyone has just gotten out and there is relief, but the tensions and resentment remains. The local adepts largely left to see the world, leaving the city even more vulnerable. Things in Ardanyan are going to get worse before they get any better. Certainly the Protector's will continue in their new responsibilities?

While it wasn't introduced in this session, the group treasury was an element which really helped to bring everyone together. The idea certainly isn't a new one, but many players are hesitant at the idea of one player recording all of the group things and effectively having control over this resource in addition to their own resources. This is not an unfair sentiment. To directly address that, while still providing the benefit of pooled resources, I got a physical box to keep everything in. It's similar to the player boxes, but a little smaller, a different shape (hexagon vs. circle), with hinges and a latch - it is clearly a different box. Since money is tracked by actual coins and nearly all of the other consumables have tokens, everything fits in the box nicely and can be clearly interacted with by each player. This means there is no gatekeeper to the funds, that donating to it is as simple as tossing coins inside, and what is available is readily apparent. The actual results are very different as well. Since it's introduction, most of the players donate nearly everything to the group treasury. One player only donates most of it, and he gets some gentle ribbing, which is still remarkable. The physical construct focuses attention in a way that abstractions do not. For any groups looking to promote more cohesion, I cannot recommend these enough.

Earthdawn: Adventure Log 06 - Festering Ardanyan

This is the sixth Adventure Log in an ongoing series about Earthdawn.Introduction and Index.

Scorchers are considered a plague across the plains of Barsaive by many; they are considered the only true element of ork culture by others (these would mostly be ork scorchers).  They are tribes of loosely affiliated ork cavalry and are fiercely territorial of what they consider their ancestral lands, particularly towards other scorchers and any other groups that can put up a fight. Given the lifespan of orks, ancestral status may not take very long to reach. Most commonly these savage nomads make their living by taking from others, though some may act as mercenaries, often protecting other Namegivers from the attacks of other scorchers.

Tribes most interested in feeding their families will engage in semi-formal protection rackets; pay them to leave you alone. If you don't pay, they will take and you will be punished. If you pay, they will come back wanting more. Tribes lucky enough to have a chieftain with foresight may take that a step further and actively protect those who pay them. This is by no means altruistic; if they are successful, that means they will be able to pay more and more often. A situation beneficial to everyone, though it lasts only as long as it takes for the newest chieftain to decide they are growing fat on the yoke of these weaklings. Bringing us to tribes that are interested in the glory of conflict in the name of Thystonius, Passion of Combat. Even if the village will pay, they will still engage in an orgy of violence because that is just their way, though they will not necessarily shy away from their equals (or even betters) in conflict - that is the depths of their devotion to their chosen Passion.

Mercenary tribes may evolve from those that see the wisdom in working within the system, or perhaps just engage in a more formalized protection racket with some acceptable civilized trappings. The unfortunate nature of some of these tribes is that when the opportunity seizes them, they may turn against their erstwhile employers and engage in the very behavior they have been paid to prevent. Scorchers can be a fickle lot, likely due to a poor understanding of their social underpinnings. They are, after all, just brutal savages. Not all scorchers fall into these categories, nor should they. The Thunderers are the most famous tribe and with good reason: they have earned a reputation for honor and valor, serving the dwarf kingdom of Throal for years.

In play, they may be a common and convenient enemy. Bands of scorchers can appear nearly anywhere in varying sizes and their attacks are frequent and often brutal. Luckily for civilization as a whole, their organization rarely rises above that of a band, though all of the bands nominally operate under the leadership of the chieftain. The level of coordination, leadership and organization to have all of the bands together as a cohesive whole is extremely rare, but terrifying when it occurs (see the Thunderers for a prime example). Consider the potential threat represented by various scorcher bands becoming organized for an unknown purpose by an effective leader. A mounted horde that gives even the Thunderers pause. Dealing with a threat along those lines is the kind of thing that legends are made of.

Adventure Log – 06 Festering Ardanyan

Recorded By: Jak’Tak

Date: 02 Riag – 08 Riag, 1506 TH
Group Name: Mismatched Steel

Group Members

Elmod the Nethermancer(1)
Honeysuckle Sunspray the Windmaster(2)
Jak’Tak the Weaponsmith(3)
Ting the Swordmaster(4)

We return to Bartertown. Nishta(5) needs a mate. Titanstroke Greybeard, chief of the Thunderers. Skull Wargs(6) – ork scorchers in the area. Brutal and cruel. Warrior brotherhood works for Maester Bleys. Ting takes work as Tarr’s bodyguard. Phregas Kular, as human merchant, hires us to guard his caravan – to Ardanyan. Scorchers attack on the third day – burly orks with skull helmets. Skull Wargs! One raider rushes past and delivered an object. The driver claims ignorance. Elmod is hired as inquisitor. Jak gets a horse. We reach Ardanyan, a fine city. The city guard looks fine, but can they fight?

Karl the dwarf meets with an ork. And hands over a box. Honeysuckle follows to an ork home. In the box is a pigeon, which Honeysuckle kills(7). Elmod meets with the local Nethermancer(8). Gets a job to fetch a necklace. Ting hands out with the t’skrang folk. Eats spiced fish. We tell the authorities. The conspirators are arrested and we head out to find the necklace. Find out that it is an elven burial ground. We were confronted by elves and left empty-handed. Phregas gets arrested, Elmod goes to make a statement. We found some of the forest elves there. Strange. Uncovered a slave ring(9)? The dwarfs are dubious. We take a job collecting a debt from the Council. We are told to return in the morning. Ting and Jak camp in the woods. The Council tells us to get payment from his family. The elves are not trustworthy.(10)

(1) Known associate of Fastoon Julari Makanth Phunkot of Iopos. Trained under Mestoph, if that information is possibly correct.
(2) An uncommon Discipline, particularly in this part of Barsaive, the Windmaster is a community guardian, similar to a Warrior, for Windlings of Glenwood Deep.
(3) Known associate of Maester Bleys and Omasu.
(4) Known associate of Tarr. Trained under T’Skee “the Magnificent”, Swordmaster of V’Strimon. See cataloged: Adventuring Groups: Exploration: Fourfathers.
(5) Troll Novice Weaponsmith associated with Maester Bleys.
(6) Particularly violent and troublesome. They seem to have a new leader that is exceptionally cautious, determined, and cunning. Little more is known.
(7) This suggests a whole new level of operations for the Skull Whargs. I suggest contacting one of the Houses and arranging for a suitable group to do reconnaissance in the area. Seven Winds of War would be preferable, though expensive.
(8) Issir Fanng, a human Nethermancer residing in Ardanyan.
(9) This must refer to Grankar Eisengeisser, a dwarf merchant of Throal operating in Ardanyan. No Throalic dwarf would ever take or hold slaves.
(10) Received and edited by Zamirica One-Knee.

*     *     *

This session marks the beginning of a three-part arc using the adventure, Ardanyan's Revenge. It is typically suggested and used as an introductory adventure for groups just getting into Earthdawn. There are two different ways in which it can be run: a Group of Initiates starting inside of a sealed kaer, or a group outside of the kaer. The former is the most popular take, which is as expected since having characters come from a recently unsealed kaer is a good way to start of any chronicle. It gives them a common history and reason to be together, and also allows them to explore the world together with limited expectations that they are already familiar with the setting. To those steeped in lore, the issue of spell matrices can be a sticky one (they weren't available until after the Scourge), but there is some discussion on how to handle that within the adventure; including that when they were developed they were immediately a part of the larger Discipline, which is my preference, or characters can be created as "old-style" characters with different Talents.

Since this Group was already well under way, I decided to go with the much less common take and have them become embroiled in the events. Some elements were added to include this arc in the larger story (notably further implications with the scorchers in this session). On the whole, the adventure works much better with the direction that it was clearly intended. There are parts where, depending on your group, keeping them interested and focused on the issues at hand and not walking away from the mess, can be tricky. Besides that, the adventure as a whole is good, though the end can seem like a railroad if your group needs to feel they have agency in every scene and action. I will try to address these specifically as they occur, though they are generally not helped by being outsiders and having no initial buy-in to the premise and actors involved.

Despite using them for all of the sessions, I realized that I had not yet brought up one of my favorite game aids: note cards. These are the best way for me to distribute things that I want players to have in some way and tend to quickly go on replacing traditional ways to track various things. For example, I have cards for every piece of equipment with the game effects and stats (including weight and cost), along with a description. This helps save time looking things up (including buying more, or even making it), gives a place to take notes and also tracks who actually possesses the item in question. All of this is doubly true for Thread Items. They make great handouts and a useful way to introduce new characters. Make a card with their Name and some key traits about them; easy descriptors to convey the important elements about them. Players can then take notes about that character in one place. I prefer to color code my note cards, so I know at a glance what I have; for example, purple is people, green places, red blood magic, white equipment, blue key items, and yellow consumables. An interesting way to implement theft is to quietly remove a card from a stack and then have the theft noted when the player notices the item is missing. This is not a good idea for every group or player, though can be effective for groups that appreciate that kind of play.

School Daze

In School Daze, by Tracy Barnett of Sand and Steam Productions, you play a high school kid that is going to be (inevitably) involved in some kind of trouble, from which hijinks will ensure (probably hilarity as well). This is to say, School Daze sets out to emulate the high school genre. I got in on the Kickstarter project and recently ran a one-shot playtest.

School Daze is a game that can be picked up with minimal prep and get started. The system is simple and easy to understand: you roll a d6 and apply some modifiers, if it is 5+ you succeed, if not then you fail. The modifiers come in only a handful of flavors, so few in fact that I will list them all: Favorite subject, ranks, consequences and gold stars. None of these individually get over +2 or -2; the system is a breeze and will quickly become unobtrusive. There is enough "mechanics" to it that it isn't completely blase, but players that like to interact with the mechanics in a more significant fashion (such as FATE), will probably want to look elsewhere.

The favorite subject is the class in school which the character excels in, granting a significant bonus. Ranks are character traits, which can be good or bad depending on the circumstance, and are selected from a list. Consequences are gained from failed rolls and represent a penalty that will follow the character around for an appropriate amount of time. They come in mental, physical and social and have a significant penalty associate with them. Gold stars are the currency that players earn and can affect the game, spending them for a bonus, to eliminate a consequence, or to directly affect the story in some way. Each player starts with one and can have no more than three at any time.

All of these elements are easy to deal with and understand. For the particular setting I ran (a magical high school), the favorite subject was changed to magical talent, which meant that the players had considerably more power and were able to do quite a bit. Consequently, I scaled back on the gold stars and didn't hand any out; creative usage of magical talents meant they were throwing around large bonuses on a regular basis and things would have gotten out of hand with access to even more gold stars. That being said, the magical talents were a hit and gave considerable latitude in how to use them. In contrast, a favorite subject could be of limited use (such as French). Consequences were fun and always the result of a failed action on a character's part.

Ranks are easily the weakest part of this setup. The basic premise is largely sound, a trait that will provide a bonus in one circumstance and a penalty in another. It is the execution that has issues. A list is provided which is simultaneously helpful and hindering for the same reasons: it is limiting. The limits help move things along quickly, but also can stifle what a player is after. While it may be silly, it is the naming system of the ranks that, well, rankles me: they all end in -ank, no matter how strange it may be, which also lends itself to some bizarre inclusions. For example, plank, Shawshank, skank and stank all make appearances. Plank means that you are up on internet memes, but not on real life; Shawshank that you know about movies, but are regarded as a flaky thespian; skank means you are attractive, but people think you are a slut; and stank means you stink - hypothetically there is an upside to this in that people will leave when you want. This feels like something that started as a joke and didn't have the common decency to remain a joke. It is entirely possible that I am the outlier in this, and I will fully accept that. Some of the ranks are difficult to assess when to apply penalties, and others seem more suited to enforcing a particular kind of behavior when inconvenient rather than assessing a penalty. It is a fine idea and it worked in game, just one that could use some more polish.

The framework for a session is a Group Project, essentially the adventure, and there is plenty of room for player input into the what that will be (if that is your thing). The basic structure is a theme, npcs and a time frame. The book also provides a handy chart to randomly determine a broad theme if you are having difficulties or want to trust in the fates. Results from that table include "Intramural Kickball Championship", "Big Party", and "Alien Invasion". Included in School Daze is the setting of Trowbridge High, which has a lot of blank spaces. Mostly it is a collection of NPCs ripe to be plucked and used in any game. There are also four alternate settings, a Buffy-like setting, Harry Potter, wild west, and science fiction.

The biggest strengths of this gamae are the simplicity of the system and the tone of the writing. It helps to put you in the mind for wacky high school adventures and give tips to get you there. One of the biggest tips is right at the beginning: always making failure interesting. Failure should be just as fun as success and continue to move the story forward. This is great advice for any game, but particularly one like this where you cannot rest on the mechanics to drive the narrative. The story requires significantly more investment to keep things moving forward without as much system support.

In all, this is a cute game that has a simple mechanic and a nice framework, with good GMing advice and ideas for the genre. It is fast to play and easy to pick-up.

Actual Play

The one-shot that I ran was a riff on the Harry Potter alternate setting, a boarding school with magic: The Apollyon Academy for Warlocks and Witches. The players were provided with some in-depth background to make characters with, but it isn't particularly relevant here. The theme was "Homecoming", which involved midterms, the big Homecoming spellball game (against their rivals, the Midian Academy Monsters) and the subsequent dance. The primary NPC was school heartthrob and spellball ace Jacob Ryan, he had recently broken up with his steady for unknown reasons and was at the center of the unfolding events, the other NPCs I provided were Ms. Victoria, adviser to the PCs "secret society" and Heritage instructor (teaching all the skills that warlocks and witches of good breeding need to maintain the status quo and keep everyone else down), Molly Kranzvald, a poor ginger that would like nothing more than for Jacob Ryan to notice her, and two spellball players from the rival school, Jake "Paint Them" Black and Teddy "Cull Them" Tepes. The time frame for these events was a week, but the emphasis was on the first day, to set the stage and the last day of the week.

For this setup, each character needed a motivation and three relationships. The motivation should be specific to the Group Project and show how they are invested in it. The relationships provided were the bulk of the NPCs used and helped to fill things out while giving the players a stake in the events by filling in details for me with some subtle encouragement. The general technique of having players create three NPCs is one that I have been using in high school genre games for years to great success. That being said, being a one-shot mean that not all relationships were used. The details of the session are a broad overview of the events. Here is the cast of characters (relationships that never came up have been omitted):

Cassandra Valentine
Magical Talent: Potions
Ranks: Bank, frank and swank
Motivation: Make Homecoming go as planned.
Relationships: Connor, cute boy she likes; Ellie, scatterbrained minion; and Mary, flirt and rival politician.

Eva
Magical Talent: Illusions
Ranks: Bank, Shawshank and swank
Motivation: Be the center of attention.
Relationships: Jessica, theater rival; and Matthew, ex-boyfriend.

Jason
Magical Talent: Thymomancy (emotion magic)
Ranks: Bank, skank and swank
Motivation: Hook up with Jacob Ryan
Relationships: Patrick Picard, dean and friend of the family; Joseph, rival and all-around good guy; and Miranda, BFF.

Lizza Blaze
Magical Talent: Telekinesis
Ranks: Clank, lank and rank.
Motivation: Win the Homecoming game!
Relationships: Edith Newton, spellball coach and friend of the family; and Vince Jackson, old enemy.

Viktor
Magical Talent: Necromancy
Ranks: Bank, dank and skank
Motivation: To keep the dance "real".
Relationships: Vicky, his not quite girlfriend.

At the start of Homecoming week, the biggest question on everyone mind is, "Who is Jacob Ryan going to the Homecoming dance with?" The captain of the spellball team had just broken up with his long term significant other for uncertain reasons. All that is know is that he doesn't have a date, is beautiful and athletic, genuinely nice and genial, and not very bright. The Eldritch Society, a group of warlocks and witches from powerful families that wield considerable influence within the school, have decided that one of their number, Jason (who has something of a reputation), will be attending with Jacob Ryan no matter what the cost. Also that the Apollyon Kraken will crush the Midian Monsters and the dance will be a fantastic success... a no matter what the cost.

The characters determined what their classes were and how much attention they were paying in them (this became relevant when it came time for testing at the end of the week), though by not paying attention they were allowed to pursue their social agendas. Rivalries and opposing agendas surfaced early, with Mary making a play for control of the dance by suggesting a better theme than Cassandra (a masquerade when the veil between the worlds is thin so you cannot tell if you are dancing with a student or a ghost; Cassandra would later admit that she loved this idea, but it had to die for that very reason - it too good and it wasn't hers) and Jessica shutting out Eva for control over the Homecoming dance routine.

It did not take long for the magic and unintended consequences to begin flying. Mary has repeatedly hit with ennui incantations intended for rival suitors of Jacob Ryan, while Viktor didn't keep it "real" enough and a failed test had Vicky showing too much interest in Jacob Ryan instead of going to the dance with him. The fight to gain the attention of the oblivious Jacob Ryan was brutal and often went sideways with magic gone awry. Molly was another unfortunately victim, though of the passion instead of ennui flavor. Things went well for her, for the most part; it was Jason that did not care for the results.

During the week, the power plays continued. Cassandra destroyed Mary's move at gaining control and in retaliation Mary arranged for Connor to go to the dance with Eva, while Mary herself removed Eva's back up, Matthew; creating a situation where no one would get what they want. Despite this, unintentional spells continued to haunt Mary the fate caster. Eva publicly humiliated Jessica and sent her to the wings, but was trapped attending with Connor since she could never be seen going stag.

Lizza studied and practiced hard, being on a scholarship isn't easy, and managed to find solace in a burgeoning relationship with Joseph that was initially formed to distract him from pursuing Jacob Ryan to spite Jason. Viktor plotted the downfall of Jacob Ryan with some effort, but little follow through, and was embarrassed terribly by summoning the spirit of his family matriarch who reminded him to change his underwear. In the middle of class. He also did some research on suspicious happenings after being confronted by a tortured spirit, slowly being devoured from within, that he could stop the cycle. Meanwhile Jason continued to fight with the other lobsters in the bucket until finally Ms. Victoria swooped in at the eleventh hour to mysteriously took Jacob Ryan away.

On the final day, things came to a head. Eva had a confrontation with Mary before class which went very poorly and ended with Mary giving her a bitingly cold kiss, searing her skin and stealing her life. It wasn't long after that when Cassandra found Mary's body, after a ritual suicide in the chamber of student government. Between midterms, the characters gathered and attempted to figure out what happened. Jason exposed himself to her final thoughts and feelings that saturated the room, knowing beyond a doubt it was his actions that drove her to placing a knife to her flesh in an effort to feel anything at that point. He was faced with the realization of what his wanton abuse of power had wrought. He didn't use magic nearly as much after that.

There was still the fact that Mary's body was accounted for, but a very real Mary was still roaming the halls, and she was up to something sinister. Which is to say in this circumstance, something they had not approved. Jacob Ryan was also missing after a concussion (more failed magic), that turned into a failed seduction attempt. The last anyone had seen of him was with Ms. Victoria. Viktor's discovery that there was a library had borne fuit: he found that Ms. Victoria had been at the school for over 200 years (the yearbooks that went past that were really high on the shelf) and that was her first name; also she doesn't seem to age. Furthermore, the Ryan family has been going to the school for generations as well, spaced evenly apart, and looking nearly identical, but something mysterious always happens to them after Homecoming. Using their connections, they discover that Ms. Victoria is in fact Elizabeth Bathory, but went by a different name for somewhat obvious reasons. With all of this knowledge, they went to the Homecoming game!

Jacob Ryan had shown up by then, and through some decidedly unsportsman like usages of magic from the stands, the Krakens claimed victory over the Monsters! Lizza had destroyed her old enemy, Vince's, spellball career for good (and nearly killed him) by soaking him with enchanted blood in the presence of a vampire, and a werewolf on the opposing team was sent into a frenzy that got him ejected from the game (for everyone's safety) after being tranquilized. After the game, Miranda decided that she wanted to go to the dance with the two dangerous guys from the other school, much to her friend's chagrin (who was now forced to attend the dance stag, of all things).

At the dance, it became apparent that Mary had been pulling strings all day and arranging things while her rivals were busy. The masquerade was attended by spirits from beyond, as she wanted, and slowly she began making her dreams come true; taking control of the dance, but also putting things right that had been tangled by the previous week's events. When confronted, she freely admitted she was dead and this was her final chance - she would either set things right and retire, or be trapped forever in the halls. She was allowed to have her way, and actually made everyone happy. Cassandra danced with Connor, Eva was the center of attention, Jason was set-up with Jake Black, a werewolf from the Midian Academy, Lizza and Joseph resolved the tensions that had arisen between them, and Viktor was chill with the spirits, which was totally "real", and got Vicky's attention.

Which only left Jacob Ryan, who was nowhere to be found. The Eldritch Society rounded up their new allies and went to set the last thing right. Tracking him to the student government chamber, they found him about to be sacrificed by Ms. Victoria. After they incapacitated her, they found out the truth: She was holding entities from beyond reality at bay with her spells and no one else knows them, thus she has to live forever, or the world ends. She was also quite unwilling to teach those spells to anyone else, because then she wouldn't have the leverage that allows her to live forever and really do whatever she wants (she never claimed to be a good person, just a necessary one). Given these choices, and the promises of power that their family status entitled them to, they decided that one boy from a bloodline groomed to be a sacrifice for generations was a small price to the continued existence of reality (also the knowledge on how to live forever, which would require the same sacrifice, but that wasn't really an issue for this group).

A typical happy ending to a high school romantic comedy: with tacit approval of human sacrifice.

Earthdawn: Adventure Log 05 - A Time to Kill

This is the fifth Adventure Log in an ongoing series about Earthdawn.Introduction and Index.

The Eye of Throal is the active intelligence service for the dwarf kingdom of Throal (the Great Library is the passive arm and where intelligence is analyzed). Duties for the Eye include both internal and external security. There are a number of different types of agents, those who adopt cover identities, known as "kaer dwellers", and those that operate more-or-less openly. It is always important to have some open influence, otherwise agents in the field may be unable to secure the resources they need in times of distress.

Within canon, there are checks and balances in place to limit the Eye's influence, taking cues from the missteps of the Theran Empire. Within this campaign, these checks and balances are still in place, but they have been eroded by collusion within and outside of the Eye for personal gain and weakened by external influences seeking to disrupt the Eye's functions. The actions the Eye is willing to take are significantly more grim, along with the sacrifices they are willing to make to protect the security of Throal. Some agents have seen so much darkness in their tenure, at times only the master they serve separates them from those they work against. This much darker morality fits better with the themes I like to introduce and makes working for this shadowy organization significantly more mysterious - you may not know whose agenda you are truly serving until it is too late.

There are numerous opportunities for Groups to become involved with the Eye, whether they realize it or not. Service in the Eye can grant considerable direction for a campaign, including events leading to their induction, while still giving the players a great deal of latitude in how they approach problems. For those contracting with the Eye, Blood Oaths are a common practice to ensure silence for a least a year and a day, and the full dwarf coffers can make many worries disappear.

Adventure Log – 05 A Time to Kill

Recorded By: Ting V’strimon the Merciless of Urupa

Date: 29 Raquas – 10 Sollus, 1506 TH
Group Name: Mismatched Steel

Group Members

Elmod the Nethermancer
Honeysuckle Sunspray the Windmaster
Jak’Tak the Weaponsmith
Ting the Swordmaster

Farmer, Pillar(1), wishes us to look into the disappearance of some documents. He believes some of his family members killed the courier with these documents as some elaborate plan to gain the inheritance. But first! Crackbills. They breathe poisonous gas. This sounds bad. Travelling along the road to the farmer’s looking for ambush points. That is where crackbills like to hand. Donkey path, found broken bridge, but tracks told me other people went another way, so we follow to find a camp in the middle of nowhere. Windling went to flank and we step in to find four dead guys. Then the birds showed up. Very angry. There were six. One breathed on me and it was bad. Unconscious for a bit, woke up later but very disoriented. Fight did not start well for me. But after I got my footing, I brought the pain! Blades and spells whirling through the yellow, acrid fog, slaughtering the feathery beasts where they stood. We dispatched all six of the stinking creatures. We found a small out of <silver>(2) and took the necks of the crackbills. I found a body further off into the bushes which Elmod decided to screw around with(3). Whatever he did made him freak out quite a bit, look on his face was hilarious(4). Apparently this body was killed by a pair of dwarfs and not by the feathery beasts. We hiked back to town and sold the necks.

Jak was working while we were out(5). Forged me up a slightly better battle axe, Elmod even made up a banner for the thing. Very nice. Makes me feel a part of the group.

Talked to Pillar, very excitable. He is willing to take us to see his sister and husband. In Throal, nicer area. They are adepts, working for the Throne. They left a few days before (for murder!?), maybe to the farming village. Learned what a q’wril is. His sister and brother-in-law are “scouts”. Word has it he hunts Horrors(6). We tried to go around the bridge, but found more of those stupid birds. Pillar hid the whole fight, which was good on him. Kill thirteen of the bastards before the remaining ran away. We checked out where the body of the courier was, but it was gone, evaporated.

Moved on into town. The sheep are huge(7). Felt really good about the back flip in my dance. We were welcomed. The siblings are here. Pillar is nervous. Children love me! I love attention. We went to talk to Jana and Caramon and got the signal that these are our guys. Need to get a windling-sized muzzle(8). Elmod looked constipated most of the time(9). Then Pillar burst in the room all hurt, ranting about q’wril. To be attacked! Easy kills, look to have valuable bits. Elmod made us wait before we could kill more of the tings. Also filled us in on something about Horrors infecting the dwarf couple(10). Also probably why these rodent things are all up and attacking. Someone said that is not normal. Was some fun though.

Going to be a feast tonight in our “honor” of the thing they moved the statue around. Honeysuckle brought a letter. Jak also came with some serious news. Jana did the greeting ritual, no problem. They are supposedly hunting the Horror causing this. The statue is probably responsible for some of the problems in the village. Confirmed by Elmod. We then go through greeting rituals and then Jak confronted the town. Townsfolk alarmed, in denial. Jana tries to convince townspeople, but starts to lose it. Caramon attacks statue, Jak and I do as well. Jana is murdering her husband. Villagers get Horror angries and are pulling us off. Statue falls. I go after a cadaverman, Caramon has given up, Jana and Caramon killed each other. Killed the rest of the corrupted peoples. Search of houses finds the headsman’s son having all kinds of evidence of his evilness in his basement. Gather townsfolk, make them move on and burn the village(11). Head back to Bartertown. Sold loot for mad cash(12).(13)

(1) He is an exceptionally nervous dwarf from the village of Shepherd, brother of Jana.
(2) This piece is indecipherable.
(3) Insert Nethermancer and dead body screwing joke.
(4) Realized what he was doing, eh?
(5) Working at a Forge of Maester Bleys, evidently.
(6) Caramon is a Horror Stalker.
(7) An understatement; they are also fearsome and do not like to be used as steeds by orks.
(8) Indeed.
(9) Heh.
(10) This changes things; I wonder if this is what Jana and Caramon were working on when they stopped communications. More details!
(11) This is quite brutal and efficient. Kick this up to look at.
(12) How perfectly mercenary.
(13) Received and edited by Ela Pono.

*     *     *

There were a few intentions for this session. First, I wanted to show some of the dangers associated with overland travel away from established trade routes. Then actually interacting with the residents of remote areas and how they can be xenophobic. This gave the characters a chance to make some friends and interact with the locals. Building this positive rapport would be pretty important for the conclusion of the session. The Horror which many of the sessions are slowly beginning to orbit around displays more of its influence here. The fact it has Namegivers out there and spreading its influence, and that it can work through objects and not just people, was another plot point. Also how deep the corruption of Horrors can go, that their influence is alien and inimical to life as it is know.

Some important aspects of the setting also made an appearance: the existence of an intelligence agency for Throal and the unfortunate truth of artisan skills. The Throal plot has been carried through the notes on the Adventure Logs for now, though it may make a reappearance in the future. I may have pulled the trigger too soon on revealing the Ritual of Greeting is just a superstition, but I was afraid if I waited too long the players may have reacted poorly to the revelation later down the road when Legend Points were invested with no return, as well that it was being used as a litmus test to detect anyone with a Horror Mark and wasn't working.

The major theme of the session was of darkness; that victory can be had, but there is a cost. Despite the heroics of the setting and campaign, it will be going to increasingly dark places. I wanted to drive that point home early and this particular session really worked for that. The two dwarf adepts sacrificed themselves for this victory and half a village was put to the sword. It was pretty somber at the table when they started picking up the pieces.

Two different props were created for this session. Crackbill necks were simple to put together and turned out well in the end. I got a cheap, nylon (this is important) jump rope and cut it into sections, around 20 cm; they had to be short enough to fit into the boxes. Using a lighter, I melted each end. This fused it, making it sturdier and lending a nice cartilaginous feel. Then some bronze paint was applied. The end result was rough and textured, but still flexible.

The earth q'wril beaks were significantly more time consuming. The base uses glass paper weights from the craft store. I applied masking tape to the tip of each glass bauble, to create the illusion of where the earth q'wril secretes fluid to break rocks apart in the final product. Next some white primer was applied and allowed to dry. This was followed by black matte primer that was applied in a thin layer. When dried, I remove the masking tape and layered clear matte sealant over them. This protected the paint and gave a more worn feeling, particularly to the tip, while the base was left as smooth glass - showing where it had been removed from the creature. The end result has some layers, uneven parts and roughness that make it feel more natural. They can also stand up to some handling, which is a bonus.