the other matt's rpg blog

Session Notes (05/21/22) Game : Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha Module : The Broken Tower Players : 3 I’m lucky to have lots of friends that want to play RPGs online.  Part of the group that played through “Curd Your Enthusiasm” with WFRP gathered to play Runequest! Characters : Elfriede (homebrewed character), an Ernaldan Farmer, from the Tarling Clan of the Colymar Tribe  Vasana (pregenerated character), a Vingan Warrior, from the Ernaldoring Clan of the Colymar Tribe Mago (pregenerated character), a Storm Bull Mercenary, from Wilmskirk Session : After the shortest possible bullet point “this is the setting of Glorantha” list I could possibly make, the adventurers began with a summons to the Chief of the Ernaldoring Clan’s home in Clearwine.  There they met Zarah, the wife of chief Baranthos, and two other women: Emane, a runner, and Bara, an injured herder. Bara told how the Greydog clan had raided them, and slain her brothers and stolen 60 cattle.  She recogn...

Session Notes (05/08/22) Game : Mothership Module : The Danse Macabre (Homebrew) Players : 3 After some discussion about how we want to play mothership, we settled on an “anthology” style though it might dip in and out of narrative depending on how we feel. Characters : Lee, Engineer, “Biohazard” patch, and flint hatchet trinket, high score 1 Marli, Planetologist, “SUCK IT UP” patch, and DNR beacon trinket, high score 0 Antheridium 420 (Anthony), Android, “Plays well with others” patch, and calendar of military battles trinket, high score 0 Session : Lee’s new crew picked up the following mission: The moon Katje V was set up by the Paxton-Vibe Corporation to grow grain products (rye, bread, whiskey, etc.) and cattle inside an agricultural station (Callsign “Control 13”).  The latest cargo ship did not return, and there are no responses via long range comms.  It is suspected that a disaster of some kind has occurred, ceasing production.  You must go to the station, and fin...

Session Notes (04/23/22) Game : Mothership Homebrew Module : Co-Location Players : 3 I had a chance to play online with some friends and run a homebrewed Mothership module Characters : Lee, Scientist, “Biohazard” patch and flint hatchet trinket Minami, Teamster, “Drink, Fight, F**k” patch and golf club trinket Sizix, Android, “Do You Sign My Paychecks?” patch and Shiv carved from butter knife trinket Session : We started by reviewing the safety notes in the WIP rulebook for Mothership, and I pre-emptively “X’ed out” my usual suspects (sexual situations & torture).  We rolled up characters following the 1st edition rules right after, and began playing within about 15-20 minutes of starting. The mission brief: The Yoyodyne* Conglomeration has hired you to retrieve a valuable experimental technological prototype stored on one of their ships, The Anubis.  Unfortunately the ship has suffered an accident, and the prototype is still on board.  The Anubis is in the San Narci...

  Session Notes (04/15/22) Game: Beyond the Wall Scenario Pack: The Witch’s Mistake Players: 3 Not everyone could make it for Call of Cthulhu this week so we played a Beyond the Wall One-Shot: Characters: Shimeka, the untested thief Dumitru, the young woodsman Ihrin, the witch’s prentice Session: We began by making characters and filling out the scenario.  This process in Beyond the Wall is really great and produces a village map along with a list of Important People in the village, all designed by the players when prompted by their character packs. The adventurers are on the cusp of adulthood, and the shared world creation is both simple and highly inspired.  With a short break, I used the shared work to create a small scenario using one of the game’s scenario packs.  An important detail that had been established was the death of the village witch due to some demonic or spiritual possession of her apprentice.  This led nicely into the “witch’s mistake” scenario...

  Session Notes (04/01/22) Game: Call of Cthulhu Scenario: Pride of Yirrimburra Players: 5 Our third session in Yirrimburra brought the investigators underground.  Our investigators: Abigail, Jack Ramsey’s nephew and Boundary Rider Millie, American Geologist Liam, American Hypnotist (fakes it, is actually a grifter) Vena, Tasmanian Cleverman Polly, Aussie Jillaroo At the behest of town patriarch Fred MacKenzie, the investigators went into the gold mine, after hours, to investigate his suspicions that someone is stealing from the mines. In previous sessions, they learned that Peter MacGuire (mine foreman) had run into the mine about a month ago claiming to see lights.  He brought his shotgun and was found dead from cave-in the next morning.  Townsfolk are split on the matter: most believe its the ghosts of dead miners, who brought him down there to kill him.  Others think he was getting old and seeing things.  And Fred thinks there were thieves down there. T...

  Session Notes (3/12/22) Game: WFRP Scenario: Curd Your Enthusiasm Players: 5 We concluded our adventure in the corrupted cheesemonger’s shop. The crew: Harteena, halfling bawd Roderick, racketeer Romilda, thief Vaenteur, priest Verena, bounty hunter We began in the cheese shop, after discovering the opening behind Herbert Herzert’s cheese bust of his wife.  The halfling and the thief decided to sneak in, and walked along the sewer, just a few feet from a nasty sludgy river.  They heard voices around a corner: one that sounded like the ghost of Herbie’s wife, and two more snarly, guttural, squeaky voices, all chatting about poisoning the man-things. After a slip up, the rat-men came through the tunnel, and the resulting ambush/sewer fight was very flip-floppy.  The old “fire in a bottle” trick worked very well to block two of the rat-men from getting to the fight, and after some fumbles with Romilda and Verena, Roderick was able to KO one of the Rats with a knuckle ...

  Session Notes (3/11/22) Game: Call of Cthulhu Scenario: Pride of Yirrimburra Players: 5 Our second foray into the bush was much more open ended and freeform.  Our investigators: Abigail, Jack Ramsey’s nephew and Boundary Rider Millie, American Geologist Liam, American Hypnotist (fakes it, is actually a grifter) Vena, Tasmanian Cleverman Polly, Aussie Jillaroo In the previous session, the group disembarked and discovered that Abigail’s uncle had passed in his sleep.  After the funeral, Abigail found herself in possession of the farm and town patriarch Fred McKenzie asked the investigators to look into the mine: he thinks someone is stealing from it. The investigators had two mysteries: what was the cause of Uncle Jack’s death?  And Was someone stealing from the mine? They split up and hit the town.  Vena and Liam had a mostly unsuccessful visit to the mine during the daytime, where they were reminded that they would have to go down at nighttime, when all the sh...