the other matt's rpg blog

Game : Troika! + Ultraviolet Grasslands Module : Ultraviolet Grasslands Players : 4 This was session 4 of the weekly Troika! game I’m playing with friends online.  I’m still getting the hang of writing play reports as a player, and I have a strong feeling that writing “in character” is maybe annoying to read, but also the way I’m leaning towards.  I’m gonna try it out here. Characters : Higbert, Ardent Giant of Corda, my character Walter Arnold, Member of the Sublime Society of Beefsteaks (a long running character.  Her player played this character in my year long Troika! Pandemic game, and as such has many skills, items, and experiences waaaay beyond a beginning character) Phil, a Gremlin Catcher who is heavily inspired by Edward Norton’s character in Moonrise Kingdom Mr. Zoravu, a sorcerer from the academy of doors Session : To recap everything from beforehand: Our characters are drawn to a strange, floating portrait which acts as a dimensional portal.  We each bel...

Game : Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha Module : n/a Players : 4 This was session 5 of the twice monthly runequest game I/ve been playing online.  Sorry there aren’t reports for sessions 0-4 but I’m trying to make sure I write play reports from when I am a player.  Since I was a player I think my report will naturally focus more on my character’s perspective. Characters : Oli, my humakti duck Galgo, a lodrili caladralander Sera, Ernaldan Sartarite Mago, the storm bull sartarite Session : To recap everything from beforehand: Sera, Galgo, and Oli played through the events of the quickstart: The Broken Tower.  We recovered most of the cattle and captured Danakos.  Idrima remains in the tower. Back in Clearwine, we spoke to the events that happened, and after attending to our seasonal duties, were charged with traveling to the Shaker temple to ask the priestess how to deal with Idrima. The group hired a duck boat, and plied their way past the upland marsh, and to the ...

I started this blog as a way to keep track of my RPG sessions.  I wanted some kind of record of my gaming, and play reports felt like an easy way to do that.  On a couple occasions, sharing the play reports has also been interesting, but the main goal was to write it for myself, to look back on. And I have!  I have taken the time to look back and reread how a scenario or an adventure or module went, and I’ve looked at how it was homebrewed by me or if it was a published scenario.  And I’ve enjoyed that.  But it seems clear to me that: I like writing session reports for games that I GM I don’t like writing session reports for games that I am a mere player in I wonder why?  I’m not sure, but if my blog is a record of my gaming, it is sorely lacking.  I’ve been a player in a Troika!+UVG game on Fridays for about 4 sessions, and I’ve been a player in a Runequest Campaign for about 5 sessions as well.  The games are interesting and fun and completely d...

  Session Notes (08/18/22 - 11/12/22) I’ve been busy but I haven’t been typing up my session notes! Dungeons & Dragons (5th edition) Almost every Wednesday since school started, the tabletop gaming club has met to play Dungeons and Dragons.  We’ve had a steady number of students each week.  One student has been running horde of the dragon queen for a dedicated group, whereas I’ve been running an open table game for the students that are more infrequent.  The game has been a rollercoaster, and I’m getting madder and madder at D&D for being D&D hah (I’m so tired of it!  I was tired of it 4 years ago!).  But there have been some highlights.  The best one for example being when the deck of many things was introduced and two players both drew “the sun” which raised them to 9th level immediately.  It was an exciting time and everyone was high fiving, which is basically the best possible outcome in a D&D game. UVG+TROIKA! My group of onli...

Session Notes (08/17/22) Game : D&D 5e Module : n/a Players : 4 I sponsor the D&D club at school and the kids play 5e.  We just started and we’ve got about 8 players and only one kid that can DM, so I take four  of them and try to keep the premise simple: it’s D&D! I built up a small sandbox / open table concept using the city guidelines from the alexandrian’s blog . Characters : Vi, plasmoid druid Valcrius, tiefling sorcerer Theodore, harongon sorcerer Astor, goliath barbarian Session : The characters arrived in Ottgar, and after briefly describing themselves, ended up at the Smoked Salmon, a waterlogged house for wayward adventurers.  They picked up a job from the notice board, and took a gondola up river to a neighborhood of wealthy citizens known as “The Whaleback”.  Here they found the house of the Wizard Geld, who hadn’t been heard from in quite some time.  Their job was to find out what happened to him. I’m going to just briefly gloss over the...

Session Notes (08/14/22) Game : Mythic Bastionland Module : n/a or maybe "& The Order" Players : 4 Moving from the midwest to the east coast took a long time, but I was super happy to sit down and play online.  We played the most recent Mythic Bastionland playtest. Characters : Brya, the Moss Knight Yaw the Bull, the Tourney Knight Harold, the Snare Knight Sanguine, the Bloody Knight Session : After 10 minutes of character creation, we discussed “start” and “scope” from the book, and settled on Petty and Open. The knights were introduced to the Domain: And told that they were seeking Castle Achnam, the seat of power in the domain, where they would find powerful seers, and hospitality from the king. They approached from the west, and found a great forest.  In a sunlit clearing, they saw a vassal, holding a pitchfork, keeping a wild horse at bay.  He shouted in his commoner’s tongue for help. The four knights cautiously approached and spent some time observing.  Br...

Session Notes (05/21/22) Game : Runequest: Roleplaying in Glorantha Module : The Broken Tower Players : 3 A very short session!  We only had an hour, but we were all excited to play 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 : With only the cattle tracks to follow, the three set off on their mounts.  Elfriede and Mago on horseback and Vasana on her bison. Not far along the trail, they heard the cries of a cow, so Mago dismounted to run up the hill and see what was there.  He discovered a cow being assaulted by 5 stone-skinned reptiles, clawing at the poor herd animal.  He sounded a call and ran headlong down into the small gully to save the cow. Vasana and Elfriede spurred themselves and joined quickly.  Vasana attempt...