[RPG] Swords Against Khyber
Jan. 25th, 2007 08:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stevekensonChapter 1: Any Tor In a Storm...
In the four years since the Day of Mourning destroyed the nation of Cyre, our four heroes have returned once a year to Angwar Keep, where they fought their last battle on the Cyrans on that fateful day. This year, they find a message from their old Captain, Farrik, along with passage on board the airship Silver Princess to the Mror Holds. In Korunda's Gate, the stronghold of House Kundarak, the heroes receive an odd bequest from their former comrade and commander: a locked iron strongbox, but without a key or any means to open it.
The four—dwarf scout Vandal Thorn, dragonmarked elf Marik Pharilan, ranger Corlan Half-Elven, and Achon Vaildos, priest of the Silver Flame—decide to return to Thrane on board the Princess. A storm diverts the airship from its planned course towards the grey expanse of the Mournland then, during the height of the storm, Karnnathi skeletons attack, slaying the crew and crippling the ship before the heroes fight them off. Barely escaping the last skeleton on-deck, our heroes leap from the falling Silver Princess using life-rings to carry them safely to the ground, and find themselves amdist a storm in the dark of night in the middle of nowhere.
They find a small, abandoned tower on a lone tor overlooking the mud-soaked plain. When Achon attempts to use his arcane senses, they are overwhelmed by the terrible wrongness of the Mournland and his companions are forced to drag him into the tower to revive him.
The interior of the tower is strangely bare: two floors and a set of stairs, but no furniture or debris. Corlan's wolf companion Dapple is nervous and edgy, but the heroes find shelter on the second floor of the tower and try to get some rest. That's when Corlan notices something dripping from the ceiling. Rain? No... for when it drops on his cloak, it sizzles and smokes! A massive grey ooze attacks from the ceiling, as the very walls of the tower seem to melt, for it turns out the whole of it is alive: some kind of amorphous creature with an acidic touch. With their torches and Achon's Silver Flame, they are able to hold this living tower at bay long enough to escape its gullet and flee into the storm. Their last sight is the massive creature, tendrils waving, silhouetted against the storm by a lightning flash.
By morning, the mysterious tower is gone, and the companions make their way westward to the Brey River and the border of the Mournland. There they are able to swim across the river into Thrane and return to Angwar Keep. At Olladra's Inn, the halfling proprietess Yollanda tells them a man has been looking for them. He introduces himself as Sul Namuras, Maester Sul Namuras, a professor at Morgrave University in Sharn, and he asks them why it is his old friend Captain Farrik has sent him this small silver key...
Game Play: Overall the Savage Worlds system performed pretty well. There's some definite variability in the system, with the capability of "acing" on a roll: getting multiple re-rolls. We saw a couple instances where aces permitted d6 rolls of 12-18 for some pretty spectacular results. On the other hand, that added some spice to the action. Likewise, characters suffered some damage, but no more than a wound in any given (short) fight, and resources like bennies and power points seemed to last sufficiently for a three hour game session. The system itself is pretty simple, and I like the use of playing cards to determine iniative, since you can leave the cards out face-up and see at a glance who goes when. Overall, a successful first game.
In the four years since the Day of Mourning destroyed the nation of Cyre, our four heroes have returned once a year to Angwar Keep, where they fought their last battle on the Cyrans on that fateful day. This year, they find a message from their old Captain, Farrik, along with passage on board the airship Silver Princess to the Mror Holds. In Korunda's Gate, the stronghold of House Kundarak, the heroes receive an odd bequest from their former comrade and commander: a locked iron strongbox, but without a key or any means to open it.
The four—dwarf scout Vandal Thorn, dragonmarked elf Marik Pharilan, ranger Corlan Half-Elven, and Achon Vaildos, priest of the Silver Flame—decide to return to Thrane on board the Princess. A storm diverts the airship from its planned course towards the grey expanse of the Mournland then, during the height of the storm, Karnnathi skeletons attack, slaying the crew and crippling the ship before the heroes fight them off. Barely escaping the last skeleton on-deck, our heroes leap from the falling Silver Princess using life-rings to carry them safely to the ground, and find themselves amdist a storm in the dark of night in the middle of nowhere.
They find a small, abandoned tower on a lone tor overlooking the mud-soaked plain. When Achon attempts to use his arcane senses, they are overwhelmed by the terrible wrongness of the Mournland and his companions are forced to drag him into the tower to revive him.
The interior of the tower is strangely bare: two floors and a set of stairs, but no furniture or debris. Corlan's wolf companion Dapple is nervous and edgy, but the heroes find shelter on the second floor of the tower and try to get some rest. That's when Corlan notices something dripping from the ceiling. Rain? No... for when it drops on his cloak, it sizzles and smokes! A massive grey ooze attacks from the ceiling, as the very walls of the tower seem to melt, for it turns out the whole of it is alive: some kind of amorphous creature with an acidic touch. With their torches and Achon's Silver Flame, they are able to hold this living tower at bay long enough to escape its gullet and flee into the storm. Their last sight is the massive creature, tendrils waving, silhouetted against the storm by a lightning flash.
By morning, the mysterious tower is gone, and the companions make their way westward to the Brey River and the border of the Mournland. There they are able to swim across the river into Thrane and return to Angwar Keep. At Olladra's Inn, the halfling proprietess Yollanda tells them a man has been looking for them. He introduces himself as Sul Namuras, Maester Sul Namuras, a professor at Morgrave University in Sharn, and he asks them why it is his old friend Captain Farrik has sent him this small silver key...
Game Play: Overall the Savage Worlds system performed pretty well. There's some definite variability in the system, with the capability of "acing" on a roll: getting multiple re-rolls. We saw a couple instances where aces permitted d6 rolls of 12-18 for some pretty spectacular results. On the other hand, that added some spice to the action. Likewise, characters suffered some damage, but no more than a wound in any given (short) fight, and resources like bennies and power points seemed to last sufficiently for a three hour game session. The system itself is pretty simple, and I like the use of playing cards to determine iniative, since you can leave the cards out face-up and see at a glance who goes when. Overall, a successful first game.
