Here is the latest from our Known World campaign from RJ…I believe it was our ninth session. The party is continuing their trek across the Isle of Dread and there continue to be potential spoilers below the break for the original Isle of Dread (X1) and the more recent version in Dungeon Magazine #139. When we last left the party, they had discovered a passage through some mountains and were planning on continuing their journey.
And we’re walking…
Here is the write-up of our eighth session of our Known World campaign. This is from Rachel who is playing Mick. When we had last left our band of adventurers, they had traveled for a couple of days through the jungles of the Isle of Dread and had reached a wide swath of grasslands at the edge of some mountains. Niccolo had spotted a cave mouth, presumably the tunnel they were seeking but between them and it were dozens of terror birds!
There are spoilers below the break for X1 Isle of Dread as well as the re-imagining of that classic module in Dungeon #142. I’ve added, of course, my own re-imagining to each. As always, my GM comments are in [brackets and italics].
Insula Metus: A Walkabout
Here is the write-up of our seventh session of our Known World campaign. This is from Todd who is playing Niccolo. When we had last left our band of adventurers, they had escaped the island of Carcerus but were essentially lost at sea with no food or water. Each had succumbed to exhaustion, exposure, and starvation…except for Mick had earlier succumbed to some grievous wounds.
The party was rescued by a passing ship, the Sea Wyvern. We took the opportunity at the start of this session to backtrack a little bit and let the PCs interact a bit more with the crew of the ship and to ask whatever questions that the players might have about Insula Metus, the Isle of Dread.
There are spoilers below the break for X1 Isle of Dread as well as the re-imagining of that classic module in Dungeon #142. I’ve added, of course, my own re-imagining to each. As always, my GM comments are in [brackets and italics].
Da Boat Da Boat
I’m assuming that RJ, who has provided this write-up of our sixth session of our Known World campaign, is making a play on “ze plane, ze plane” from the old tv show Fantasy Island. Not sure the choice is completely apt as the island, Carcerus, the PCs had found themselves on was anything from one of their fantasies. 😉
When we last left our band of adventurers, they had found the thing that they sought after most…a boat. Mick was still down and out from a previous fight and the others were still feeling many of the effects of their recent adventures. Plus, their pursuers did not seem to be too far behind them and, after having slept for who knows how long, they had no idea how much time they had left.
There are still some spoilers for N4 Treasure Hunt below the break and my GM comments, as usual, are in [brackets and italics].
The day in the life of a bodyguard
Here is the write-up from the fifth session of our Known World campaign. This one is from Bridgett who is playing Moe. When we started playing the one-shot that turned into this (potentially mini, potentially not mini) campaign, Bridgett said that Moe was working (apparently for free) as Erica’s bodyguard. Thus the post title.
When we last left the party, they had snuck into the “palace” and had begun exploring it. They had made it through a couple of wings before narrowly escaping being caught between two sets of opponents while the players had violated the number one rule, never split the party. After rejoining and fearing the reinforcements of their opponents, they hurried to the location of the hidden entrance to the catacombs following Demenus’ lead. After finding the entrance and opening it, they had started heading down as orcs began battering on the door.
Although I’ve made a number of modifications, there are certainly spoilers for N4 Treasure Hunt below the break. As always, my GM comments are in [brackets and italics].
Will Mick and Moe Get Shafted?
Here is the fourth session write-up from our newest Savage Worlds Campaign; this one is from Rachel. The party is continuing their exploration and fight for survival and departure from the island of Carcerus, where they shipwrecked after being drugged and taken captive in the city of Porto and were being shipped to Freeport for sale as slaves.
There are spoilers below the break for N4: Treasure Hunt as it is the primary inspiration for the current situation that the PCs find themselves in. As usual, my GM comments are in [brackets and italics].
Food and rest…is that too much to ask?
Here is the second journal from our Known World mini-campaign. This is from Todd. Despite the re-imagining of the module, there are certainly spoilers for N4 Treasure Hunt below. As always, my GM comments are in [italics and brackets].
Jumped
Here is the first session of the actual campaign, continuing on from the one-shot that we had done the week before. The three players Bridgett, Rachel, and RJ have kept their characters Moe, Mick, and Erica respectively. Todd, who missed the prior session, is joining in with Niccolo, a wizard of the Arcane Guild and, I believe, something of a treasure hunter. RJ wrote this journal entry.
It is also time to let everyone in on the “experiment” that I’m doing with this mini-campaign (that I mentioned a couple of posts ago). I’m re-imagining some classic D&D modules and running them with Savage Worlds. First up is the AD&D module for zero-level characters, N4 Treasure Hunt. Since Savage Worlds isn’t a strictly level-based game, I’m not using one of the selling points of N4…starting as 0-level characters. Instead, I’m using the basic situation/story and incorporating it into my own setting.
All that said, there are potential spoilers for Treasure Hunt below. As always, my GM comments are in [italics and brackets].
Delivering Messages
Here is the journal from our first session (aka initally a one-shot). As I noted in a prior post, I was largely winging it but it was largely inspired and based on the PEG one-sheet Blood Feast so there will be some spoilers below! This entry is from RJ and, as usual, he’s taken some liberties with his fictionalization and, also as usual, my GM comments are in [italics and brackets]. RJ is playing Erika. Rachel is playing Mick. Bridgett is playing Moe.
The Unanticipated Benefits of the Perils and Pitfalls of Scheduling
Our newest Savage Worlds campaign (in our Known World homebrew) began in a somewhat bizarre fashion a couple of weeks ago. RJ and Bridgett couldn’t make the game the week prior so Todd took a turn in the big chair and ran the Skyrim intro game that he had been wanting to do. Rachel and I made characters (a Nord fighter type and a Breton who specialized in spellcasting and lots of it, respectively). I don’t really know much of anything about Skyrim but my understanding is that we went through the intro scene of the computer game. We didn’t, gasp, get as far as Todd thought that we would. We planned on continuing it the next week.
Todd was sick the following week and RJ had forgotten to charge his phone so when I tried to get in touch with him about whether or not he and Bridgett still wanted to come over, I didn’t get an answer until an hour or so before game time. So I decided on a one-shot and happened upon the Soloman Kane one-sheet, Blood Feast. I took inspiration from it and winged it.
The plan for the following week was to pick up Todd’s game again but we hit some snags. Todd wasn’t sure when he was going to be able to make it and, as GM for the night, that kind of made things difficult. One of our friends, Dave, was planning on visiting and wanted to play. He used to play D&D with us but he’s never really played Savage Worlds. Given these uncertainties, I ended up offering to run the game with the idea of doing a one-shot. Then Dave decided that he couldn’t make it to town after all and Todd was now available to start at our normal time but was more interested in getting his character going than running the game. So I decided to continue with the game we had started the week before and it is now a full-blown mini-campaign with the following characters.
- Erika: A Sclavenic priestess of the Temple of the Twelve from Hevelland who, for whatever reason, ended up in the city of Ptolus…something of an innocent country girl in the big city. Played by RJ.
- Mick: An Oscan rogue (thief?) from Kemorr, greedy and vengeful. Played by Rachel.
- Moe: An Oscan fighter/duelist from Kemorr or Ptolus (I don’t remember which off the top of my head), loyal and heroic. Played by Bridgett.
- Niccolo: An Oscan wizard and member of the Arcane Guild from, I believe, Kemorr. Played by Todd.
When this was going to be a one-shot, I had decreed the stipulation that the players had to play characters different than they usually play…some of them have some rather strong tendencies to play certain types of characters in terms of abilities and personalities. Something a bit different would be good for them. That’s also why Bridgett and Rachel are playing male characters…they always play female characters. Todd was told that he just couldn’t be a mischievous trouble-maker or drama queen as those are his tendencies. 😉
So things went from running a fill-in one-shot at the last minute to a mini-campaign that will last I have no idea how long. Ah, the joys of gaming with 40-somethings. 😀