Subplot Kudzu

In which our troubles multiply.

( Session 5 )

In which our problems begin.

( Session 3 )

These are well after the fact, but I did eventually want to post them here. Once they're all up I'll be making some public musings on how I might have improved the campaign.

( Session 1 )

I'll likely be doing more formal write ups for A&E and to e-mail to the players, but I wanted to touch on a few things with my LJ readers.

My goal for the campaign is to present the players with a series of encounters which are puzzling but consistent, and can usually be approached either through combat or thought & experiment. Some will be purely one or the other, but most in most cases the players actions and reactions will determine which path things take. Since it is, so far, just the 6 PCs in a world otherwise empty of name-giving (i.e., intelligent) races, I don't have any NPCs on the scene to voice an opnion (or, alas, force more characterization and role playing, but they're doing pretty well with that and everyone is laughing a lot, so it's all good). In many ways this is the most purely simulationist game I've ever attempted. I expect a narrative to form soon enough, but for now it's just "we poke the world like this, what does it do?"

My task here is complicated because one of the players, ashacat , actually has her masters in biology and two others (at least) have much more wilderness experience than I do. I am gratified that so far they have found no sweeping cause for complaint, and Ashacat actually complimented my presentation of a diverse ecoweb. My task is aided because the EarthDawn setting is, in many ways, pretty scientific. Yes, there's magic, but the magic is predictable and rational: I can introduce the fact that griffins' wings are infused with elemental air that lets a 300 lb creature take flight and the players can accept that as being logically true, and then question how the muscle structure of a hexipedal creature would operate and what parts of the beast would make for the best eating. This is a huge boon when the players - taichigeek  in particular - are approaching the game with a 21st century scientific mindset. They find a poisonous snake or plant and his archer (skilled in survival,. hunting and herbalism) wants to find a small animal on which to test the toxin to learn its effects and if he can convert it to some rational use. In some fantasy settings I'd slap this sort of thing down for being out of synch with the genre, but for this sort of game it fits right in.

I'll put up some key moments from the game later, but I wanted to get that thought out there.