DF Novices, Session 1 - Beginning
Last night we played the first session of the new campaign. Sadly one player couldn't make it, so the group started off without a dedicated archer. Hopefully the scout will join us for the next session, which should be in 2 weeks time.
Characters were built using the 62 point Novice templates from Delvers to Grow. On top of that I give an extra 2 character points towards a secondary language* of their choice**. I give a further 1 point towards a non-combat secondary skill, for those players who write me a brief background for their PC.
Session Date: Tuesday 13 September 2022
Party roster:
Agis Keylar, wood elf cleric, 64 points (PC)
Borgergorg, half-ogre barbarian, 65 points (PC)
Borgergorg, half-ogre barbarian, 65 points (PC)
Doran Longbeard, dwarf warrior (knight), 65 points (PC)
Eleanor Bayley, human thief, 65 points (PC)
Erizax Ofaris, human wizard, 65 points (PC)
It was a simple premise for starting novice adventurers, looking for work. The PCs, having never met before, each find themselves in the city of Abdurna, where a caravan was hiring guards and other support staff, for a journey into the wilderness.
The PCs had to apply and be interviewed by Baris, the head guardsman. Each had to prove themselves, and thankfully there were no major screw-ups, and Baris hired each of them***. The PCs learned that the caravan would travel from the kingdom of Grallmarg, across the wilderness, to reach the kingdom of Alcyondy on the other side. The journey was expected to take about 2 weeks, where they would be paid on arrival. All going well, they could expect to be hired again for the return journey back to Abdurna.
The first day of the journey took the caravan across countryside, and was uneventful. On the second day of travel, the caravan left the safety of the kingdom and entered the forest beyond. After a few hours hiking in the forest, Baris brought the caravan to a stop and Baris sent the PCs ahead to investigate the possible risk of bandits in ambush.
There were indeed bandits, six of them, and a fight ensued. They were lightly armed with small axes and light medium shields, with no armour to speak of. Although slightly outnumbered, the PCs acquitted themselves fairly well. The dwarf and elf each dropped one bandit, with axe and shortsword respectively. The wizard bagged two with some entirely prosaic application of his staff. The fight was over in seconds. I believe there were 5 blows landed in total. The four bandits who fell, each took a single hit, which was powerful enough to be a major wound in each case, and they each collapsed from a single blow. The only successful hit from the bandits was to the back of the barbarian and he was unable to defend, however the axe blow was so weak (1 dmg) that the half-ogre's Tough Skin shrugged off the hit as a mere scratch. The remaining 2 bandits thought the better of the situation, and ran away.
Erizax suggested that they should try and revive one of the fallen bandits, for interrogation. Agis the cleric attempted to minister First Aid, but fumbled his roll, and then declared that the bandits were beyond saving. The party looted the fallen of their shields and weapons, and the meagre few copper coins the bandits had between them were split evenly between the five party members.
There were indeed bandits, six of them, and a fight ensued. They were lightly armed with small axes and light medium shields, with no armour to speak of. Although slightly outnumbered, the PCs acquitted themselves fairly well. The dwarf and elf each dropped one bandit, with axe and shortsword respectively. The wizard bagged two with some entirely prosaic application of his staff. The fight was over in seconds. I believe there were 5 blows landed in total. The four bandits who fell, each took a single hit, which was powerful enough to be a major wound in each case, and they each collapsed from a single blow. The only successful hit from the bandits was to the back of the barbarian and he was unable to defend, however the axe blow was so weak (1 dmg) that the half-ogre's Tough Skin shrugged off the hit as a mere scratch. The remaining 2 bandits thought the better of the situation, and ran away.
Erizax suggested that they should try and revive one of the fallen bandits, for interrogation. Agis the cleric attempted to minister First Aid, but fumbled his roll, and then declared that the bandits were beyond saving. The party looted the fallen of their shields and weapons, and the meagre few copper coins the bandits had between them were split evenly between the five party members.
We paused it there...
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* I use the full GURPS rules for languages, rather than the simplified binary language levels of DFRPG.
** I do this because I think that language variation (even in a world where most people speak "Common") is interesting, and I want to encourage that. Also, DF assumes no automatic racial/cultural/heritage languages by default, no doubt for reasons of maximising point efficiency. That was the case with 250 point templates; it goes quadruple for 62-pointers! So it seems the fairest way to the desired results is to give some bonus points on top of the template, specifically for languages.
*** I made it clear OOC that the PCs would be hired by the caravan, no matter what happened, otherwise there would be no adventure. However that didn't mean there were no consequences for failure: doing poorly in the interview would mean getting hired for less pay.
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