Actual Play: IKRPG Season II Session 7

Here it is, our first entirely combat episode. It's also the last episode of the season so, you know, make an educated guess.

Episode 7: Cephalyx Blues (download)

Actual Play: IKRPG Season II Session 6

The party momentarily forgets their woes as they pillage anything perceived to be of worth in the Orgoth maze. But are they the only ones raiding this tomb?

Episode 6: Blinded by Greed (download)

Actual Play: IKRPG Season II Session 5

Lost in an Orgoth labyrinth, the Immoren Liberation Front must avoid heinous traps (and their mutual distrust) in order to survive and see the sun again.

Episode 5: Lost in the Dark (download)

Actual Play: IKRPG Season II Session 4

The group descends into the blast site to discover its perpetrator and bring him to justice. But will their path be as straight forward as they hope?

Episode 4: Into the Sewers (download)

Actual Play: IKRPG Season II Session 3

With their marching orders set, the Immoren Liberation Front decides to take care of the High Captain's problem the only way they know how: but will their heavy-handed tactics defuse the powder keg politics of Chaser Island?

Episode 3: No Hope for the Future (download)

Actual Play: IKRPG Season II Session 2

Arriving in Five Fingers, the ILF honors their strange invitation and encounters a figure from their recent past, who appears to be strangely...altered.

Episode 2: My Dear Komrades (download)

Actual Play: IKRPG Season II Session 1

Welcome back to IKRPG! Season two kicks off with the Immoren Liberation Front receiving a mysterious and threatening missive.

Episode 1: Every Story Begins With a Journey (download)

Actual Play: IKRPG Session 13

Well here it is, finally. The end of an era, or at least a campaign arc of thirteen (really 14) episodes that managed to last for what, like 20+ weeks?

I entered into these finale sessions, completely abandoning a final twist that would have probably broken what was left of my players' spirits, instead deciding that after beating them down so continuously for session after session, it was time to give them something badass to do. It was time to roll out an iconic set-piece, and it was past time for the players to take a little vengeance on everyone who thought they were better than the Immoren Liberation Front.

I will say that I definitely enjoyed these last two sessions, enough that I am super pumped to get back into the setting (after finally reading through Unleashed, of course) and coming up with plot lines related to things that each of the players revealed to me throughout our story arc. I will say that I am exceptionally pleased that Privateer Press is about to release a bunch of new minis, as a fair few of them are Hordes specific, even Minions specific (so Gobbers and such. Sweet.)

I think, in terms of plotting out what will be happening in what I've been secretly dubbing Season 3 of IKRPG (Yeah, I know, this was Season 2 because Season 1 was the one that Susan was running. And now I need to look for that.) Anyway. Words. Plotting. I'm thinking of making season 3 a super open-world aspect for my players. They've set up these great relationships and conflicts, so I'm going to give them a state of the world every few sessions, but basically just let them run buck-wild through everything they want. There will obviously be places they just plain don't want to go, and that's fine, but meh, I suppose that's life. There's plenty more trouble for them to get into.

Final thoughts before I consider recording a GM aftermath for Unabashed Gaming...I think four players is pretty ideal. Though I kind of wish I could bring someone new into the game every arc. That would be cool.

Eh, whatev's.

Session 13: The Siege of Fellig

Actual Play: IKRPG Session 12

The penultimate episode of Season 1, and the players are in for a rollercoaster ride of red hot chile proportions....or something.


Session 12: The 180 Turnabout

Actual Play: IKRPG Session 11

Well, here we are a few weeks later. I suppose it's only to be expected, these two sessions are kind of examples of a GM taking an idea too far and running with it. In two weeks we've basically passed two days of sessions, because I was too focused on creating consequences for characters instead of moving plot. This could partially be because we haven't been at a full table for more than a month now, but one should place the blame where it belongs, on the vengeful GM.

It's not a bad stance to take, really, but in these two games I violated my stance of 'moderation in everything.'

Hopefully they're still interesting to listen to.

Episode 11: More and More Trouble

Actual Play: IKRPG Session 10

Originally posted as a two-parter, episode 10 is the beginning of where I really let myself fall into the trap of just creating consequences for characters, instead of introducing consequences during the normal phase of just going through the plot.

But I suppose that's a pitfall of off-the-cuff GMing, stuff tends to be a bit slipshod.

Episode 10: Trouble

Actual Play: IKRPG Campaign Session 9

Well, there was quite a bit more action (not fighting, just plot movement) this session than last, but I remain firmly seated on the fence regarding the shorter runtime for the game. It has its pros and cons, but it does seem like there are fewer things the group is actually able to accomplish per session; that lends itself to being both pro and con all on its own.

What I did heartily enjoy about this session was the result of a certain mindset I find myself actually needing to force myself to present at the table; one in which I actually say yes to players occasionally.

Of course, there are circumstances where players will indeed act recklessly, and in those situations you need to punish the players most harshly for their trespasses: there is a good example of this in the tail end of our game, in fact. There was no hit point damage, or potential for death, but when the use of sound and setting gives players a hint of their own mortality, and you gift them a moment of 'oh shit,' such are the joys of being a GM.

I did have a combat encounter planned for this session, however the extra week of prep time will allow me to further elaborate upon a concept that came to me late before last night's session, and thus I would have been unable to fully capitalize upon it. Now, though, it is on. It is so on.

IKRPG Session 9: A Deal is a Deal

Actual Play: IKRPG Campaign Episode 8

Well, session 8 is a thing that happened, and beyond the plot progression, which was minor, I have a few talking points. Let's just say that events occurred this game, events that were scripted in a less than stellar fashion, and the end result was a slapdash mishmash of roleplaying, roadblocks, and gaming woes.

The first new development here is the introduction of a new player character, who wanted to give the IKRPG a test run. It's always a difficulty introducing someone fresh into a game that's been running for awhile; it's much like a person unfamiliar with a television show just jumping into the newest season with not even a basic knowledge of who/what/when/where/how/why. They're just sort of left wondering what's going on with little to do. Aside from that, there's also the difficulty with introducing a tenuous player, because if they decide not to return to the gaming table (as this one did), you need to find a way to A) get them into the party with as little hassle as possible and B) keep their inclusion as minor as possible, so that if they decide not to return there isn't a massive amount of plot threads just left dangling. It's a fine line, and difficult to walk, and kind of just feels undercooked when it's done wrong, which is pretty much the only way to do it.

Aside from the new player, we also had an experiment with allowing a player to generate plot points due to their weekly interlude. I won't discuss the minutia of this player-input, or my personal reactions to it; all I'm really willing to say is that if you're planning on telling a player they can create some sort of event that will happen in the next gaming session, make sure you know that player and you know how to turn that event into something actually meaningful. I'm of two minds towards how I reacted to this development, despite using it to perform a call-back to another player's interaction with the setting in an earlier game, and I still have a bit to think about regarding exactly how I'm going to move forward from here with it.

Lastly, I'd like to talk about breadcrumbs and plot trails. Usually, I find myself throwing very few clues towards where I want my plots to go, because my players tend to cleverly bungle their ways into my main plot lines in ways that create more and more; however, in this situation I tried to be more sly about my plot crumbs and ended up dead-ending the players' investigations. They have a conspiracy, but no actual way in which to pursue it, and we left our session with them starting across a table at a plot-forwarding NPC with no way of actually getting him to move the plot forward.

This is what comes from games with slipshod preparation. Sigh.


IKRPG Session 8: Old Friends

Actual Play: IKRPG Campaign Episode 3

Well, I seem to have gotten this week's game out on time. Huzzah for me! Another solid session tonight, though I did weaken and break one of the cardinal rules I'd laid out for myself in the IKRPG, and that's to have more than one session pass between major combats. This game, we started with some good roleplaying, followed by a pretty long and drawn-out combat, but at least the players were enjoying themselves.

I do have to say, though, that when I receive compliments about what happens during a session or campaign, it is rarely a grateful expression towards a combat experience, so that's another incentive to either figure out a way to shorten the fight scenes or find a way to make them as engaging as the entwining plotlines that the players are creating with me.

In any case, the party has left Merin behind and is moving forward to a plot point that intrigues everyone, which is the great Gatorman ceremony. They really seem to want to 'do well' in it, which is good, because I haven't exactly plotted out how I want it to go, and their roleplaying and intentions have been building it up significantly, so when we reconvene in two weeks (I know, I'm sporadic, but I'm gonna be in Southern California next week, and gods know I have good reasons to be there and good people to see.

In any case, look forward to the next session; with any luck, I'll be able to make it entirely role-playing and non-combat, but with serious tension and player satisfaction.

Cheers.

IKRPG Session 3: Luxury Cruise



p.s. I'm also debating uploading an mp3 of my players chatting about the various conspiracies that are combining and conflicting in the background. They've woven a story that is both intriguing and believable, and hell yes I'm going to steal some of the plot threads they've created out of their own perceptions. I'm just not going to tell them which guesses they have were right all along, and which ones were better than the ideas I had myself.

I will never tell them that last one.

Actual Play: IKRPG Campaign Episode 2

Back again, and once again a week(ish) late posting last episode of IKRPG: Ord. What we're experiencing, mostly, in this session is a combat in the Khadoran Embassy, followed by that time-honored gaming tradition of new parties where they look at anything not riveted or welded to the ground, trying to pick it up, and carting it off.

It seems like the group had a decent enough time with the session, despite most of it being combat; as GM, I'm definitely in favor of keeping these combat-intensive sessions few and far between; even if spacing them out doesn't give the players a constant learning experience when it comes to the battle mechanics (not Battle Mechaniks, totally different thing, there.) of IKRPG.

What I'm mostly enjoying about this last session is that, despite handing my party a serious advantage in any future combat they may figure into, it's also technically handing them a serious liability. I'm finding in my now-thirties, that I'm able to look beyond the superficial acquisition of 'desirables' and really focusing on the cost behind such choices. My players are absolutely obsessed with shinies (shinys? shiny's? ...iunno), and they seem to either not notice or not care that they are digging themselves into holes that they may not be fully capable of getting out of.

Of course, the point in putting your players into holes is to emphasize the direness of their choices to them, and of the consequences of their actions, and so the best thing a GM can do at any time of their day when they aren't consumed with work or sleep or loved ones is to imagine how they can create situations that will make their game groups lives both terrible and exciting.

I should probably figure out a blog post to do on that one.

Sometime.

IKRPG Session 2: The Red Scare

Actual Play: IKRPG Campaign Episode 1

Well, finally catching up here. Last night (a Thursday), I once again brought my good friends and players into the Iron Kingdoms, this time to play a full-party game in the city of Merin, in Ord.

Scott returned as Gork, newly modified as an Intellectual Gobber Investigator/Pistoleer, but still retaining his penchant for stealing other people's drinks from their tables in crowded taverns.

Aidan returned, but due to events from her prelude Stershan was forced to change his name to Belisar . He remains Trollkin Gunmage/Soldier, and still manages to kick all kinds of ass. Good times.

Returning his appearance in the Fools Rush In system test is Russell, playing Rhulio the Dwarf Warcaster/Field Mechanic from...Rhul. He's as good at naming characters as Abed, apparently. Thus far, Rhulio is an abrasive tee-totaler.

Lastly, new to the IKRPG table is Joseph, playing Tiberio Antelero, Ordic Arcanist/Explorer, a respected author of exotic travelogues, penny dreadfuls, and bodice rippers.

They meet with Tiberio's patron, Padri Duranti, in the Broken Drum for a job offer, but soon are embroiled in a confounding series of violent eruptions by Merin's Khadoran population. Soon the party discovers that they are in a race against time to resolve a plot for bloody vengeance, pitted against an elderly and disfigured one-armed man whose deadly grudge against the Northern Empire may be all-too justified.

IKRPG Session 1: The Evils of Drink

Actual Play: IKRPG Campaign Prelude (Stershan and Gork)

Well, a few weeks late with this one, the Actual Play was recorded two Thursdays ago, but I suppose I need to post this one before I post the second one.

Ever since my good friend and GM Susan over at EpicMiniPainting ran a nice, lengthy IKRPG campaign, I've wanted to run my own, bringing more and more people into the world of Caen and, specifically, into the region of Western Immoren.

This session I had some players cancel, but two were able to make it in, and so I had the distinct pleasure of running a prelude for my buddies Scott and Aidan, who were more than thrilled to come back after I'd previously run Fools Rush In, which also featured them in the pre-gen party.

All the action in this session takes place in the 'officially' Cygnaran city of Fellig that has been long-since cut off from the Cygnar mainland by Khador's southward expansion.

Scott is playing Gork, a Gobber black marketeer and drink-stealer from Merin, while Aidan is playing Stershan, a Trollkin gunmage deserter from the Cygnaran Army who is also the only survivor of his platoon of Arcane Tempest Gunmages.

They become involved with an Ordic military officer who is troubled by his mistress' seeming recent coolness, and hires the gobber and trollkin to follow her and see if she has been 'stepping out' with any other men.

Is everything as it seems? Find out in today's episode of Crit This! Presents...

IKRPG Session 0: For the Love of a Good Woman


Mechanical Errors:

2:18:00ish Gunmages do indeed cast their Rune Shot spells immediately before firing their weapons: they do not need to keep a list of imbued Rune Shots. They do, however, still need to make their bullets beforehand.

2:28:00ish Combat actions in IKRPG are Move, Attack, Quick action. There is no specific order in which you can take them; this is in contrast to the wargame, where one moves then attacks.

2:48:20ish Stat rolls cannot be boosted, only trained skills can be boosted with Feat Points.