After a week off, it was good to get back to gaming. While a weekly game feels like it has just the right amount of time between sessions, long enough to build anticipation, short enough to not forget what happened, missing a week was rough. Still, I'm happy to have met the parents I did at conferences and I was pleasantly surprised that the school let me run my conferences from home.
The Cliff Hanger
I do try to structure my sessions to end on some kind of twist or cliff hanger because I really want to give the players (and the audience) something to talk about between sessions. While I had hoped the party would get through the entire "dungeon" last session, I'm even more pleased that we ended on the reveal of "the boss fight".
To that end, I find that the concept of the "boss fight" is a bit of a mixed bag. I believe every fight in an RPG should have stakes. Fighting monsters to fight monsters feels hollow. However, the idea of "this is all building to" creates significant dramatic tension over time. I see this also in the module Dragon Heist, where one of the early "dungeons" does indeed build to a final reveal and final showdown. It provides a satisfying end to a given chapter.
DM Talk - The Spider Lord
This beast was, I think, one of the greatest disappointments I had for a combat encounter in a while. While it was great to see NLK finish it off with a critical hit, the fact that the fight was two rounds of combat and in those rounds, the spider had one and only one action on which it missed made things very unexciting to me.
The stat block was simply a modified "Ice Spider Queen" (https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ice-spider-queen). I took the icy effects off and was left with what should have been an otherwise interesting CR2 creature.
From a game running point of view this encounter put a bright light on the "Action Economy". While hitting the beast was by no means guaranteed (an AC 14 means that unmodified attacks will only hit 30% of the time) but the players rolled high, and just pounded the spider down. At 44 HP I thought it would last longer. All said, though, I think it provided a satisfying fight for the players.
Heading back to Town
I was very happy to introduce Mackenzie to the group. She runs a forge out of a store front that used to be corner bakery. I may commission a picture of her because I do love her dearly but I don't know how long the party will remain in Oxford.
The alderman council is also a political structure I really like for small towns and settlements. While there seemed to be some "the bureaucracy!" from chat, such mechanisms don't need to get bogged down in paperwork. And for a settlement like this it makes sense. Rather than having a political system of electing a mayor (which in most fantasy settings fails given the "newness" of democracy) or having an appointed sheriff or lord, a settlement can simply agree to rule by consensus by way of those with the most experience and wisdom. As long as the governed feel that the governance is fair, it can work as a legitimate.
In contrast, I was also a fan of the TV show Gilmore Girls. The town of Stars Hollow was also run by a council that met apparently randomly and frequently in the steam room of a local gym. There it was plagued by Taylor's need to find a rule for everything. Thankfully Oxford has no Taylor.
Speaking of Oxford
The town I'm using is an actual location here in South East Michigan. Its a far northern exurb of Detroit. Out this way, there is a great deal of farm land surrounding the concentrated Main Street, which itself is connected by a major road down to Pontiac and from there a highway into Detroit itself. Within the context of the game, this provides an established road that people can travel North and South (north into the less civil areas, and south towards the Imperial City upon the Straits). Also, the name Detroit in French means "Straits".
The Gazebo in the Town Center
Main Street
The Pharmacy
When picturing Mackenzie's Forge, I envision something like that corner store above, with the windows knocked out and chimneys built out and through the second story windows. I also imagine that there is an apothecary set up in the smaller brown store front with the tower. Because... Tower.
The Third Imperial Regiment or The Queen's Own Dragoons
With out getting in to the legacy of royal titles here, the 3rd Regiment is a mounted regiment, deployed in peace time as law enforcement, tax collection, and imperial reporting. As was revealed in game, each Dragoon is paired with a celestial mount that appears to be a unique creature. As we go further into getting to know the them, we will learn more about the relationship between rider and horse.
This is actually something I'm drawing from history. In the 17th and 18th centuries, dragoons referred to troops that used horses to travel but would dismount to fight. They were not trained as cavalry and were not seen as useful in battle while mounted. Because of their high mobility, they could be sent around behind the lines to maintain order. In many areas they were the first appearances of a formal "police force".
Introducing this year's big holiday gift idea: The Celestial Mount
So one of my hopes for bringing in the Dragoons was to create a connection to the Empire and Imperial forces. But what caught me a bit off guard was Aveline's immediate "I don't like them" reaction. To be fair, I think it was very in character and spot on in the moment. But it also created a need for me to adjust the role play on the fly. I needed to create room for sympathy with the members of Company Meteor while at same time not leaning too heavily the "these guys are great". But thanks to Pond's quick thinking and solid RP, we were able to set up a few scenes where Pvt. "Doc" Roe got to show one side of the company. At same time, Cpl. O'Dugan showed another and Lt. Emberflight, a third. What I really wanted out of this was to break down the vision of the dragoons as a monolith.
The other big twist I did not see coming was a level 1 character, with only one available spell slot, in a party that is in desperate need of a long rest attempting (and succeeding) at stealing one of the saddles for a celestial mount.
I take some of the blame. I don't like to over play the "These guys are too tough for you to mess with right now" because that can really dampen down on a group's enthusiasm. I would think that being outnumbered 11 to 4 would be enough to cause a little pumping of the brakes. But hey, they just have something do figure out. And I've got a week to use it against them. We have established that the saddles do not work without the gorget worn by each member of the company. I won't use this space here to go into depth but a gorget refers to armor platting specifically to protect the neck. As armies moved away from wearing armor, the concept remained as a sign of rank. Officers would wear them with increasingly complex metal work designs. You can see more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorget
Also, absolutely, the single most dramatic plot twist possible was "you stole the saddle of the one dragoon your party is coming to like". Thus, it was so. And between "how do we turn it on?" and "what happens when we turn it on?" and lastly but probably not well considered "how do we control it once it's on?" I'm going to have fun with them.
The Plot Twist
The real thing I wanted to be sure we got to in this session turned out to be one of the most understated parts of the night. It was, really, hard to top the "we stole a magic saddle". In a pure sandbox campaign I may have left out the stranger with the crystal. But there is an actual overall arc here and while I'm happy to indulge the "let's mess with the world", I also want to be sure the players don't miss the main pathway either. I think it will provide an additional challenge for our gnome artificer. What is more interesting to experiment on? The magic saddle or the crystal with what appears to be a fragment of a convergence event?
Looking Forward - POSSIBLE SPOILERS
I had also planned at this session to introduce another faction of blackguards, brigands and sell swords: The New Blades. The good news is that they'll make their appearance next session with a vengeance. I would also say that one of our KS backers had the art work for their designed NPC created this week over at Beekakke's channel and it turned out great. But he is still a few sessions away from introduction, more if the PC's spend too much time getting arrested and imprisoned by the dragoons.
And that shard is central to the main story arc of the campaign. In good DM fashion it is the mcguffin that they need. They just need to make a plan for where to take it, and a plan for learning its secrets. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going get them to head towards the "dungeon" that has both the "Big NPC" and the next piece of the shard-puzzle but I've got some time to form a plan. Or let them form it and just move the needed bits of the world to be along their way.
I do have a plan for dealing with the (in my mind prematurely) stolen saddle. I appreciate that Sam had a curiosity to act on (something I need to exploit later) and will dedicate her time and energy to figuring out how to get the thing to work. But as noted above my front runner for "let's make this interesting" is the issue of "how do we control this?" To that end, summoning the mount might not be as hard as they think. The issue then will be: "You had a plan for turning it on, you didn't have a plan to turn it off?"
Likewise I'm keeping Aveline's to find her fiancé in the back of my head but my hope is to learn more about Syb and what I can do really give Tiffany some character focused thread. We have 4 great players and I want to give all of them some spotlight time.
Reminders and Thanks:
We are in the process of getting the cast photos out and around. KickStarter backers who have not filled in the backer survey will need to do that in order to get their cast photo. Similarly I will need an email address to send the link for the virtual wrap party at the end of the campaign.
We are slated to play next week on the 11/17. We have not discussed playing on the Eve of Thanksgiving in the US, 11/24. You'll know when we know.
Lastly, we would all like to thank Retro Stu for supporting the stream and sponsoring this episode. You can check out his website for all sorts of retro gaming inspired merch: https://www.retrollectables.co.uk/. And an additional thank you to "OuterDork" for his continued support and generosity on the channel.
Thank you all for coming up and we'll see you next time.
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