A Feast for Crows: Campaign Journal: Session 2

Totems of the Dead: A Feast for Crows

 

Campaign Journal: Session 2

Real World Date: Saturday, February 28, 2015

Campaign World Date: Days 3-4, Month of Planting, 112 Summers since the Founding of the League of the Longhouse

The Heroes

Devin

Zogar. A First One skinwalker who can turn into a lynx.

Jeremy

Ohanzee. A First One warrior and a skilled bowman.

Keanu

Hope. A First One shaman. Faith is her sister.

Miranda

Faith. A First One shaman. Hope is her sister.

Know, Oh Prince, What Has Happened Before Our Tale Begins . . . 

The city of Ottnondaeg in the lands of the League of the Longhouse has been beset by strange illnesses. These are believed to be the work of the nigh invulnerable Necromancer who dwells in the swamplands and demands tribute, fancying himself the de-facto ruler of the region.

The party has come from the lands of the League of the Longhouse to the lands of the Wannua Confederacy. They sought and found Isiqua’s Knife, a jade dagger that is enchanted to help fight against demons, necromancers, and other evil beings. In their moment of triumph, however, the party found themselves surrounded by an Atlantean war party . . . .

 

Let Me Tell You of the Days of High Adventure!

Meeting the Atlanteans

• [Last week, Devin played the Turncoat Adventure Card just before the adventure ended. The epic battle I had planned was not going to happen.]

• The party managed to negotiate with the Atlantean war party. Faith convinced the Atlanteans that she and her comrades had retreated from the cave after encountering some undead horrors.

• Zogar also chimed in that Isiqua’s Knife was still in the cave. The leader of the Atlanteans asked for Zogar’s name and promise, both of which the skinwalker gave him. The Atlantean introduced himself as Cormac. He stated that he would hunt Zogar down if there were any untruths involved. [Devin played the Enemy Adventure Card. I decided that a good choice would be the Atlantean lieutenant to whom the party was lying. So now Devin has “Cormac the Atlantean Warrior” as an Enemy.]

The Spirit Mist

• For the first time, the members of the party encountered the Spirit Mist as they were returning to Lahnoak. A bright sunny day suddenly turned dark and foggy. The heroes found themselves separated from each other, even though they had been standing close together only a moment before. Then each hero heard something very large and ominous rumbling in the mist, approaching them. Before danger struck, however, an animal unique to each hero appeared and helped them escape or scare off whatever was stalking them.

• [Party members had to make two successful Spirit checks over two rounds. Those who succeeded are eligible for the Totem Animal Edge, TotD, PG, p. 35. Those who failed suffered a level of Fatigue that went away after 24 hours.]

The Missing Seer

• The party returned to the city of Lahnoak and discovered that Angry Dog the Seer was missing. Rumors were flying about that she had been kidnapped by malevolent and unknown forces. Further, Bloodhawk the city’s shaman had decreed that the seer’s wigwam had been declared off limits; no one was to enter the area.

• Naturally, the party headed to Angry Dog’s hovel to investigate.

• There they met Mimiteh, a young girl and one of the many refugees in the city. She served as Angry Dog’s servant and apprentice of sorts.

• Mimiteh expressed her fear that Bloodhawk had kidnapped the seer. Angry Dog had long been wary of the shaman.

• When asked about where Bloodhawk might have taken Angry Dog, Mimiteh said that the Haunted Burial Mound would be the only logical place.

A Battle against Demonic Frogs

• A moat surrounded the Burial Mound.

• As the party approached, they were attacked by swarms of tiny, demonic frogs. Then the water of the moat churned and a giant demonic frog leaped out.

• Ohanzee dispatched the giant demonic frog with one well placed arrow to its eye.[42 damage!

• The party used the corpse of the giant demonic frog as a boat to cross the moat.

The Burial Mound

• Party followed a series of caverns and passageways down deep below the earth.

• The passageway ended at an immense cavern that contained a ten foot tall statue of the dread god Tornassuk. On a ledge overlooking the statue stood Bloodhawk. At his feet was Angry Dog the seer, tied up and about to be sacrificed.

• Bloodhawk announced that the Tusks of Tornassuk would summon their god. He began chanting some foul ritual.

• The party engaged in a great battle against the Tusks of Tornassuk. The heroes won, stopped the ritual, and freed Angry Dog. However, Bloodhawk got away.

A Bargain with Atlantis

• Party took Angry Dog back to Lahnoak. There, the heroes heard that a great Skadian fleet had been sighted less than a day’s sail away. Skadian ambassadors were even now talking with Broken Arrow, the chieftain of Lahnoak, about the town’s surrender or destruction.

• The party and Angry Dog proceeded to the wigwam where the counsel was being held.

• Cormac and the rest of the Atlanteans showed up. One of the Atlanteans was a beautiful woman named Isabel. She stated that she could summon a storm that would destroy the Skadian fleet. In return, all she wanted was Broken Arrow’s agreement that Atlantis may occupy the old Atlantean fortress, Heb Gular, that lies near Lahnoak.

• After some discussion, with the party, Broken Arrow agreed to Isabel’s proposal.

• As Isabel promised, a great storm rose up a couple of hours after the meeting. The next day, numerous bodies of Skadian warriors washed ashore, along with the flotsam and jetsam of a wrecked invasion fleet.

Investigating the Atlantean Tower

• The party snuck into the tower.[Dramatic Task]

• They observed Isabel and several of her minions painting runes on the walls of the fortress with red paint, or perhaps blood. More terrifying, the heroes saw the Atlanteans drag up a carcass of some beast from the dungeons.

And that’s where we stopped for the night.

Active Quests

Return to the lands of the League of the Longhouse with Isiqua’s Knife and kill the Necromancer.

Kill Cormac the Atlantean Warrior. [Zogar’s hook.]

Completed Quests

Find Isiqua’s Knife.

XP

3 Experience Points awarded.

Ohanzee                                  24 XP

Built-Like-A-Bear                   21 XP

Zogar                                       24 XP

Hope                                       24 XP

Faith                                        24 XP

A Feast for Crows: Starting Area for the Campaign

One of the great questions a GM faces when contemplating a Totems of the Dead campaign is, “where to start?” Totems takes place on a continent called the Untamed Lands. It is a campaign world larger than North America, every part of which is filled with interesting cultures and sources of conflict.

The map for the Untamed Lands is no longer available on Gun Metal Game’s web site, though you can find it on the web. If you were to look at the map you would see that the geography of the Untamed Lands is roughly based on that of North America and part of South America. Its cultures, too, are roughly based on those found in our own earth’s past.

In the far south are the Matzlani and Yaurcoan Empires, which are the Totem equivalents to the Aztec and Inca empires respectively. The Matzlani Empire has recently completed a great road through the Anazi Badlands and is threatening to invade the northern lands.

To the west you have the native cultures of the rain soaked Eagle Coast and the towering Grandfather Mountains. These cultures are clashing with the city-state of Shen, an outpost established by a more technologically advanced empire from beyond the Western Ocean.

In the icy north, you have a culture reflecting that of the Inuit. Another foreign people, the Ruskar, have appeared in the northwest. They come from over the sea, riding strange war beasts, brandishing steel, and drinking vodka. The evil winter spirit of the Wendigo dwells in the arctic. It is growing stronger and expanding father southwards every year.

In the east, a great forest stretches from the coast to the heartland of the continent. The native cultures mimic those of the Algonquin tribes, with longhouses and strange burial mounds dotting the landscape. In the northeast, the Skadians have invaded and displaced the native tribes. The Skadians wear horned helms, favor great axes, and ply the oceans in dragonships. The Skadians continue to expand their lands, pushing to the west and south.

Somewhere off of the eastern coast of the Untamed Lands lies the mysterious and somewhat evil island of Atlantis, another civilization with knowledge of iron working and seagoing ships. The sorcerers and slavers of Atlantis have been raiding and scouting the coasts of the Untamed Lands. There are rumors that Atlantis is planning a large scale invasion.

So I had the Untamed Lands, and I needed a place to start. I initially thought of starting the campaign roughly where Indianapolis would be on the map. From the Players Guide, I knew that the area would be in the middle of several native tribal groupings: the League of the Longhouse, the Iniwek Confederacy, the League of Three Fires, and the Te-Rok Alliance. The area would provide easy plot hooks as these four groups jockeyed for position. However, I was lacking the foreign cultures that had recently made an appearance on the continent, and I wanted them to be prominent parts of the campaign. That meant that the party would have to be closer to the eastern coast.

The Players Guide mentioned a tribal group, the Wannua Confederacy, which lived on the east coast.  The Wannuans were being pushed closer and closer to the coast by the larger and stronger League of the Longhouse. To the south, the Tsenacomacah League was a new and aggressive tribal grouping. From the map, I could see that the Wannua Confederacy was also being threatened by the ever expanding Skadians to the northeast. I could bring Atlantis into play with the Wannua Confederacy being a coastal nation.

So I had a starting area ripe with intrigue and politics. The fundamental question is whether or not the Wannua Confederacy will survive. The League of the Longhouse and the Skadians both want the land occupied by the Wannuans. At some point the Tsenacomacah League will be drawn into whatever conflict arises, but on whose side? At the edge of the conflict lurks Atlantis, with sorcery that could tip the balance.

So, the first adventures of the party will take place in the lands of the Wannua Confederacy against the backdrop of the machinations of all these rival factions. Throw in a dark cult; a mad wizard or two; and you have the basis for some good adventures.

I decided that all of the PCs would call the League of the Longhouse home. This not only provides a common point of reference for all of the PCs, it also makes the fate of the Wannua Confederacy less important to them. If they want to become involved in the politics of the area, they have options. They might want to help the League of the Longhouse destroy the Confederacy or they might want to convince their chieftains to make peace. They might end up helping Atlantis or the Tsenacomacah League make the Confederacy a puppet state, or any number of other options.

Most likely, my players won’t care about what army is marching through which lands, or that the evil sorcerer they killed was allied with what nation. They’ll just want to throw dice and kill things. This is fine. I usually get players engaged with a setting through character backgrounds. I'll be discussing those next post.

Tim

House Rule: Knowledge Skills

I have been thinking deep thoughts, as I often do. My thoughts this time are about Knowledge skills. Knowledge skills provide background info for a character and might provide a profession as well. Knowledge skills also allow a GM to provide campaign info. However, skill points are valuable and most players would rather sink a point into Fighting than Knowledge: Occult. A higher Fighting die may help kill the evil priest. Knowledge: Occult may tell you that the evil priest was casting Summon Cthulhu, but that Knowledge does not make an enemy dead.

 

I’ve tried to think of ways that Knowledge: Occult would provide a +1 Bonus / +2 on a Raise. However, tracking which Knowledge skill was used, remembering the bonus number, and determining when the bonus could be applied are all problems. I am sure that it would lead to power-spanking-munchkinism as well.

 

Besides, I want Knowledge skills to be ways to flesh out your character, not just provide a bonus to a roll. There’s a difference between a character with Knowledge: Occult d6 and one with Knowledge: Battle d6. Every character should have some kind of Knowledge skill. Knowledge skills are also an easy way for the GM to provided campaign info that he wanted to give to you guys anyway.

 

So then I thought of free Knowledge skills based on your Smarts die. Totems lets a character know a number of languages equal to his Smarts divided by two. The same concept could be applied for Knowledge skills except that the number derived by dividing your Smarts die by two is the number of skill points you get to assign to Knowledge skills only. So a character with a d4 Smarts would have two skill points to spend on Knowledge skills.

 

Example: Built-Like-A-Bear is a two weapon fighter with Smarts d6. This would give him three free Knowledge skill points. He might assign the points as “Knowledge: League of the Long House d4”, “Knowledge: Weapon Making d4”, and “Knowledge: Battle d4”. Faith, a shaman, also has Smarts d6. She might take “Knowledge: Arcane d4” and Knowledge: Religion d6”. This reflects her interest in magic and religion. It also shows a sheltered upbringing, or growing up in a backwoods village, as she doesn’t know much about local events.

 

Once the free points are assigned, Knowledge skills are raised like any other skills. Built-Like-A-Bear could spend 1 skill point to raise his Knowledge: Battle from a d4 to a d6, or 3 points to a d8.

 

Gambling is renamed to “Knowledge: Gambling” and falls under this house rule. Our group hardly ever uses this skill. Maybe giving it away for free will mean PCs actually using it.

 

Knowledge: Herbalism is going to be just Herbalism and doesn’t fall under this house rule. Otherwise, every player in our game would crank this skill to the max and then spend every session making peyote and smoking hallucinogenic mushrooms.

 

Tim

A Feast for Crows. Campaign Journal: Session 1.

Totems of the Dead: A Feast for Crows.

Campaign Journal: Session 1

Real World Date: Saturday, January 31, 2015

Campaign World Date: Days 1-2, Month of Planting, 112 Summers since the Founding of the League of the Longhouse

 

The Heroes

 

Jeremy

Ohanzee. A skilled bowman.

 

Heath

Built-Like-A-Bear. A warrior who, strangely enough, is not built like a bear. He fights with two weapons.

 

Brandon

Haldor. A warrior who fights with his fists. Helgrim is his brother.

 

Devin

Zogar. A human who can turn into a lynx.

 

Keanu

Hope. A shaman. Faith is her sister.

 

Miranda

Faith. A shaman. Hope is her sister.

 

Steven

Helgrim. A Skadian warrior. Haldor is his brother.

Know, Oh Prince, What Has Happened Before Our Tale Begins . . .  

The city of Ottnondaeg in the lands of the League of the Longhouse has been beset by strange illnesses. These are believed to be the work of the nigh invulnerable Necromancer who dwells in the swamplands and demands tribute, fancying himself the de-facto ruler of the region.

Songs from the loremasters of your tribes say that years ago a demon terrorized the lands around the city of Lahnoak in the lands of the Wannua Confederacy. Then a warrior named Isiqua came to Lahnoak to kill the demon. He had a jade knife blessed by the shamans of the League of the Longhouse. Tales say that he entered a cave where the demon laired, but never returned. However, the demon never again appeared. It would seem that Isiqua sacrificed himself to kill the demon.

Based on this tale, the loremasters reason that Isiqua’s knife is somewhere in the demon’s cave. You have come to the city of Lahnoak in hopes of finding the magic item. You will then return to Ottnondaeg and use the Knife to kill the Necromancer!

Let Me Tell You of the Days of High Adventure!

 

Saving a Seer

· Angry Dog the Seer is being attacked by a band of scoundrels.

· An imp disguised as a crow.

· The seer tells the party that there is evil in Lahnoak. Someone is disturbing the spirits through sorcery. She doesn’t know who, though.

· Angry Dog has the gift of the Second Sight. She is able to give the party a portent: “A sorcerer of great power seeks to unlock the mystery of a Totem of the Dead”.

· Totems of the Dead are ancient stone effigies that imprison powerful and alien spirits. Evil sorcerers and cults have always sought out these totems for nefarious purposes. With the recent turmoil in the spirit world, many of the wards and spells that hid and guarded the Totems are failing.

Meeting the Leaders of the Lahnaypay Tribe

· Broken Arrow the chieftain.

· Bloodhawk the shaman.

· According to the laws of the Lahnaypay tribe, no one may enter the Demon’s Cave, under penalty of death. The City of Lahnoak is in need of food. The Party offers to find food in return for being allowed to enter the Cave.

Finding Food for Lahnoak

· Short Extended Task: Survival. Success!

Spirit Dance

· Bloodhawk is impressed that the party was able to secure food for the city. He calls for a Spirit Dance to divine the will of the Spirits of the Ancestors. After the dance, Bloodhawk says that the Ancestors are pleased with the actions of the party. He gives them permission to enter the cave. However, he demands the Knife.

Exploring the Demon’s Cave

· 6 statues of demonic creatures. Fear checks. Blows with a tomahawk, an iron axe, and a fist do no damage to the statues.

· Another room. Sulfur smell. Explosion when the party’s torch is brought into the cave.

· Drawings of human sacrifice on the walls and a strange creature: a tentacled body and a seal-like head bearing a multitude of spider-like eyes; its long arms end in clawed fins and its enormous gaping mouth is a mass of jagged tusks arranged in shark-like multiple rows.

· Faith tells everyone that this is Tornassuk, an ancient deity of deep caverns and the ocean depths. It consumes those souls unworthy of entering the Eternal Hunting Grounds after death. Once every few centuries, this wrathful deity has been known to rise up from the underworld and above the waves to satiate its unnatural hunger on the bodies and souls of the living, devastating entire communities and driving all who look upon it mad with terror. Tornassuk’s cultists worship it out of fear and the dark desire to understand the spirit’s sorcerous secrets of power over life and death.

· Another room. Cliff top, 100 feet down. Hundreds of skeletons (not undead) at bottom. As the party descended, strange human like creatures attacked. They were able to climb the walls easily and their touch caused paralysis. [I used the stats for the Ghouls out of the Fantasy Companion. I changed their paralyzing attack to a target being automatically Shaken when hit, before the damage dice were rolled.]

· The party had to explore the pile of bones for the Knife, while fighting off the creatures. They eventually found a jade dagger etched with runes that glowed slightly when touched. They found another jade knife next to it as well. This one did not have runes and did not glow when touched.

Meeting the Atlanteans

· As the party exits the cave, they are confronted by a large, mysterious group of warriors. They wear strange, blue armor; and carry long daggers. Atlanteans!

· The Atlanteans demand the Knife.

And that’s where we stopped for the night.

Active Hooks

Find Isiqua’s Knife and return to the lands of the League of the Longhouse with it.

Other Hooks

Kill the Necromancer.

XP

1 Experience Point awarded. We spent the first half of the session on character creation. Actual gaming was about 2 hours.

Ohanzee 21 XP

Built-Like-A-Bear 21 XP

Haldor 21 XP

Zogar 21 XP

Hope 21 XP

Faith 21 XP

Helgrim 21 XP

Totems of the Dead: A Feast for Crows

Totems of the Dead: A Feast for Crows


My group and I have started a new Savage Worlds Campaign: Totems of the Dead.

 

Tomahawk and Sorcery

 

Totems of the Dead is a sword and sorcery fantasy setting loosely based on pre-Columbian Native American legends and history. Many sword and sorcery tropes are present:

• All of the PCs are human, or at least human-like.
• PCs are larger than life.
• Action, not words.
• Morality is more gray than black and white.
• The use of magic easily leads to corruption.
• War and violence is glorious.
• There are evil things from beyond the stars or hidden deep in the earth that seek to do harm to the human race.
• Wealth is easy come, easy go.

The Untamed Lands

The campaign takes place on a large continent called the Untamed Lands. The geography mimics that of North and South America. The cultures too reflect those of the historical Americas. For example, they are rough Aztec and Inca analogues in the very south of the Untamed Lands.

The cultures native to the Untamed Lands are at a stone age level of technology. However, more advanced civilizations have come: the Skadians, a Viking-like culture; and the Atlanteans, sorcerers and slavers.

 

The arrival of the newcomers has upset the geopolitical balance of the Untamed Lands. Wars and raiding are on the increase. The spiritual realm is in chaos as well, as the newcomers have brought their gods and myths with them. Old, evil entities long kept at bay are now stirring.

The adventures of the PCs take place against the background of this maelstrom.

 

The Elevator Pitch

 

In a primitive land, a buckskin wearing Conan, adorned with war paint, fights sorcerers and demons with his bloodstained tomahawk. War looms as strangers have come to the Untamed Lands: steel clad warriors in dragon ships that look to carve out new kingdoms with their swords, while forces from the mysterious island of Atlantis threaten to invade.

Tim