Thursday, June 17, 2010

Dwimmermount, Sessions 39-41

I've been terribly remiss in posting session reports from my ongoing Dwimmermount game, in part because a combination of holidays, business trips, family events, and illness has kept the game on a biweekly or triweekly basis since the beginning of May rather than the more typical weekly schedule. There's also the fact that I sometimes find my interest in writing up session reports isn't all that great, since, on some level, spouting off about your ongoing campaign is the referee's version of the infamous "let me tell you about my character." But I also feel it's important to let people know that much of what I write here stems from the demands of actual play rather than from "pure theory." I grow ever more convinced that far too many "gamers" only participate in their hobby by talking about it and that, as much as anything, has contributed to its deformation over the years. So, like it or not, I'm going to keep writing these posts, even though I frequently don't enjoy doing so.

Now, that said, I'm not going to try to detail three sessions spread out over the course of seven weeks or so. Instead, I'm just going to summarize the high points to catch everyone up and then write a "normal" entry next week after this coming weekend's session.
  • Many of the PCs and their henchmen have gained new levels. Most of them are now in the levels 4-6 range, which is quite enjoyable. Given how long we've been playing, I'm happy with the pace we've been keeping.
  • Thanks to a strange idol, Brother Candor lost 10 years from his physical age, making him a youth in his late teens or early 20s. Amusingly, his henchman, Gaztea, attempted to reproduce the effect but was unable to do so, leading her to retort, "It figures."
  • The characters encountered a colony of ancient Thulians -- "ancient" being a relative word here, as they were probably 400-500 years old -- who'd managed to avoid death by resorting to cannibalism. They tried to make the PCs their next meal and suffered the very fate they wished to avoid as a result.
  • An elevator leading to Levels 5 and 6 of Dwimmermount was discovered, enabling the party to begin exploration of Level 5, as Level 4's layout proved to be something of a conundrum (that is, they knew there had to be more to the level but couldn't quite figure out how to reach some of its other areas).
  • Level 5, it turns out, is where the Termaxian cultists had set up their "command post" and were busy doing something, in league with werewolves. Now that the PCs have found a more controllable way to enter that level, they're considering options for dealing with the Termaxians -- a very wise move, given that the cultists seem to have a white dragon in their employ.
  • While exploring, the party rescued two survivors of the Band of the Hawk, the rival adventuring party sent into Dwimmermount by the Despot of Adamas. One of these survivors, a human fighter named Sir Aelric, thanked the party for their help but warned them that the Despot was moving to make charters necessary for any group exploring Dwimmermount. Those without such a charter would be subject to fines and possibly imprisonment for flouting the new law.
  • Sir Aelric's companion was a elf called Mordranar, who, while he nodded in acknowledgment of Dordagdonar, said nothing else. Aelric explained that this was simply "his way" and added that he was willing to put up with the elf's disdainful behavior towards "ephemerals" because he "knew much about Dwimmermount."
  • The two survivors were escorted back to Muntburg and Sir Aelric promised to buy them all drinks in thanks should they ever meet again in Adamas.
  • Dordagdonar continues to acquire "materials" needed to create a flesh golem, using the grimoire he acquired in the old Thulian bolthole.
Along the way, there were, of course, many battles with monsters and some treasure found, but the aforementioned are the most important events to have transpired. If I've missed anything truly noteworthy, I'm sure some of my players might chime in and remind me of them.

18 comments:

  1. I like the bulleted points-of-interest format. :)

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  2. >>Dordagdonar continues to acquire "materials" needed to create a flesh golem, using the grimoire he acquired in the old Thulian bolthole.

    How close is he to finishing?

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  3. I'll second what Delta said. I tend to check out on lengthy, blow by blow session recaps, but the bullet format with just the highlights, was quite enjoyable.

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  4. I prefer the other kind of actual-play report, the "lenghty" ones. The reports are also amongst my favorite posts. Keem em coming!

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  5. I'll third it. Loooong reports of anything make me dizzy. This is great!

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  6. I on the other hand preferred long and detailed reports. They were more fun and had a lot of details which I appreciated.

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  7. I have to agree with those who prefer the long reports. I had missed them. I like the sort of window they give into your campaign and it's structure which I feel is somewhat lacking in this format. The play reports have been my favorite part of the blog actually, though I (obviously) enjoy the other features as well.

    Just my two cp.

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  8. You may not enjoy writing these posts, Chevski, but I enjoy reading them. Of course, now people will expect both the bulleted AND expository session summaries.

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  9. "Of course, now people will expect both the bulleted AND expository session summaries."

    Nah, I'm not that demanding. I'll take what I can get. :)

    I will, however, swipe the bullet format idea, for my own campaign reports.

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  10. Count me in the camp that likes the full write-ups. Though the bullet-point style acts like an appetizer, making me hungry for more. :)

    For example:
    "The characters encountered a colony of ancient Thulians -- "ancient" being a relative word here, as they were probably 400-500 years old -- who'd managed to avoid death by resorting to cannibalism. They tried to make the PCs their next meal and suffered the very fate they wished to avoid as a result."

    I'd really like to know the story behind this, since you have such a gift for creating memorable NPCs.

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  11. Too bad you loathe writing these gaming updates. I view RPGs as interactive storytelling, too bad you aren't enthused about telling your own (and that of your players) story.

    I really enjoy the updates, even the lengthier ones, but if you're not jazzed about them then pursue the current format of your posts.

    :(

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  12. Not much to add-- I, too like your reports very much-- with a preference for the longer ones. And I agree that in general adventure reports are not interesting to read-- but yours really are-- in twenty years or so maybe I'll write a blog trying to figure out why.

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  13. I have to say that I am in agreement on long campaign reports making me tune out...most of the time.

    Yours, however, are ones I look forward to. They give us little glimpses into your world that the bullet points just skim over. I mean, where did the idol come from. Was it among the stuff the "ancient" Thulians had? or the Termaxians? Did they rescue the survivors from the Termaxians, or someone else?

    I know you don't particularly like writing these up, but you might also have a guest post by one of the players every once in a while to help out.

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  14. I'll just chime in to note that I enjoy and prefer the longer form game reports, myself.

    To me, a game is a series of events which can then become a story in the telling. These reports, then, are not "let me tell you about my character" for GMs, but rather the process of converting the essentially meaningless, stochastic events that make up a game into a meaningful story. This is precisely, to me, the difference between the older style of gaming and the newer, story-based one where stories inform the action rather than arising from it.

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  15. Count me in with those who like long session reports.

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  16. I like the “lengthly” reports, which really are not all that lengthly, and are certainly not blow by blow.

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  17. I just wanted to echo everyone else in saying that I love to read your session reports (long style greatly preferred). You may not love writing them, but they are so good and interesting (finding out about your world is fascinating) that I really hope you keep doing them.

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