- “Is the elf a boy or a girl?”
- “I strut in a mocking way”
- “Why’d he lick it?!”
Introductions are important. As they always about first impressions; you only get one.
The cast of characters for this game were brought together under online recruitment. They had never met until game day, and all character planning was done on one-on-one Session Zero’s with just me, the GM. So when the actual first session came around, other than a general and very basic idea of what the others were playing as roles(dwarf gunner, human fencer/actor, half-beastman mercenary), the players had no idea of personality, or mood, or really, anything.
I was a bit nervous about the first session as well. I had dodged a bullet with Player Zero, (and his rampantly weird fixation on racism), and I wasn’t very confident on how normal or weird these three players were going to be. I had recruited on 4chan after all; a Mecca of no-holds-barred internet subculture. What hidden land mines of personality were going to surface? I didnt want to lose a limb, or a campaign, to some explosion of hideous personality.
The hook for the game was simple: The King of GreyHold had issued “A Call to Arms!”
For all Ye Citizens of the Kingdom of GreyHold, Landsmen of Oakway, PerryWeather, Finnbar and the villages of Bandobras!
Your King Idar of the Grey Sword calls you to arms!
The wretched Beastmen of Gorgoth seek to lay claim to the lands of your holdings; already they grow too bold and have set camps to the south of our verdant forests. Their unrighteous leader is a madman and warlord, and would see your homes and farms burned to cinders! Make haste! To Oakway! Join the valiant forces of the King’s army, and ready yourselves to defend the land!
Each of the players built a character who was answering the call, headed to Oakway to join the militia. There they met in-character for the first time.
Gray was the first to dive right in with great detail; his character took “Easy to read” and essentially started the game living with his heart and mind on his shoulder. He emoted all his descriptions and reactions to the world around him, so everyone could easily “read” his thoughts on the situation. “Gray has little patriotic love for King and Country and finds himself uneasy as he travels to Oakway to join the others. A mercenary, he sets aside whatever reservations he has facing Beastmen, but wonders if the Men will look past his own brutish nature.” “Gray is a striking figure, heavy shield held across broad, powerful back and dark mask hiding his face but failing to disguise his true nature, given it’s locked to dark horns that curl back from his brow. More then seven feet in height and twenty stone, the brute lifts his head to gaze at the banners while people pass him like water flowing around a stone in a stream.” Gray is a gruff and aloof creature, and its always interesting how his character says so little, but his player provides so much insight into his reactions. The half-Beastman follows the Call to Arms with the stability of pay and service, but as he points out, this has little to do with fealty and more to do with gold.
Bomrek Zirilkeskal Götom is one of the party’s primary troubleshooters. A dwarf hailing from the mountain-holds of the Dwarven Clans, he was answering the call for the coin it promised, as he had been wandering the lands as a mercenary for hire. He definitely played up the classic tropes of a Dwarven penchant for liquor, pipe-smoking, and Dwarven craftsmanship superiority. A clever spin was the fascination with Human culture and society; as a player, he was always digging deeper for more and more of the setting information. His character as well ended up with a personality of constant curiosity and intrigue. He always asks for the Why and How behind everything happening in the game.
Master Jean Horsa rounded out the trio; a son of a poet, he was an aristocratic actor and had a fascination with Dwarven culture and particularly, their duelling traditions. The ‘modern movement’ of formal duelling between the high sons of the Kingdom had become a lucrative arena for Master Horsa to earn fame and fortune. He now answered the Call to Arms for the promise of high adventure! Whether it inspires new performances, or a whetstone to sharpen his skills against, the experience would be memorable.
The party met in-game, headed through town and reporting in at the Timber Keep in Oakway, to the Militia Commander. They made small talk, Gray impressed to them how big and scary he was, Bomrek wondered at everything from apples to architecture to command decisions, and Master Horsa was witty and dashing. (I saw them roleplaying, speaking in character, and otherwise interacting like human beings. I breathed a sigh of relief, and thanks the dark gods they weren’t murderhobos).
They met the Lord Marshall Geofferson (a pompous and officious aristocrat with quite evidently more fashion sense than military experience), who inducted them into the militia, had them sign contracts of service, and handed out their badges. Each of the players remarked on how few other recruits were around; they had walked through town and seen no other volunteers, and at the keep, only the standing career-soldiers were seen. The Lord Marshall had scoffed at the situation, and brushed it off with some weak humour about the lack of recruits today. None of the players seemed very convinced.
Once inducted, the group was led through the Keep; soldiers were drilling pike formations, gunners were practising with muskets, and otherwise the keep seemed on high alert preparing for war. The party were led through the Marshall’s offices, past disapproving looks from other pompous looking officials, then to a back storeroom. It was musty and unassuming, and seemed quite out of the way for the staging of a militia, but deep in the belly of the keep they were introduced to their commanding officer: Aachen Silverleaf. They discovered him ‘meditating’ on the straw floor of a musty storeroom, and he leisurely appeared to wake up from a nap before making introductions. Geofferson seemed to deeply disapprove, but quickly left the party to mingle.
The Elven ranger went on to explain the odd meeting as precaution against spies. The upper ranks were quite worried about espionage from the Kingdom of Gorgoth, apparently! But Aachen seemed the trusting sort, he met everyone’s gaze levelly, took each of their hands (which surprised the bestial Gray) , and made them aware of their mission:
“We’re headed deep into the south, to the Ruins of Glardenfen boys; we’re retaking the keep and rebuilding the Alliance!”
The collective shock was immediate; it is quite the undertaking to face off against an army with another, but to sneak past one, scout ahead without backup, and retake a KEEP unassisted? Quite daunting.
But the group was confident. After all, what could go wrong?
The Gaming Musings of a Mad GM 